# Apollo.io

Apollo.io is a sales intelligence and engagement platform rated 4.7/5 on G2 (7,700+ reviews) and 4.6/5 on Capterra. Profile: pricing, funding, data quality, leadership.

**Category:** Sales intelligence & engagement platform  
**Vendor:** Apollo.io, Inc.  
**Founded:** 2015  
**HQ:** San Francisco, California, US  
**Website:** https://www.apollo.io  


## About

Apollo.io is a sales intelligence and engagement platform that combines a B2B contact database of over 275 million contacts and 60 million companies with an outbound sequencing engine, dialer, email tracking, and AI-assisted writing tools in a single product. Founded in 2015 in San Francisco by Tim Zheng, Roy Chung, and Ray Li, the company repositioned itself around 2021 from a niche prospecting tool into a full-stack sales platform to compete directly with ZoomInfo plus Outreach as a bundled alternative. Apollo raised approximately $251 million total across four funding rounds and reached a reported valuation of $1.6 billion on its Series D in 2023, making it a unicorn. The company serves more than 500,000 businesses including teams at Autodesk, Rippling, Gong, and Snowflake, and has roughly 1,000 employees as of 2026.

## Ratings

| Source | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| G2 | 4.7/5 | 7,742 |
| Capterra | 4.6/5 | 357 |
| Gartner Peer Insights | 4.5/5 | 88 |
| TrustRadius | 8.8/10 | 212 |

## Funding

~$251M total (Seed through Series D)

| Round | Amount | Date | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | $1.75M | 2015 | Y Combinator (W16 batch) |
| Series A | $7M | 2018 | Nexus Venture Partners |
| Series B | $32M | 2021 | Tribe Capital |
| Series C | $110M | 2022 | Insight Partners |
| Series D | $100M | Aug 2023 | Bain Capital Ventures (valuation ~$1.6B) |

## Viability

Moderate-to-low risk. Apollo is a unicorn-valued private company with a credible product in a large TAM and strong G2 review velocity, which is a leading indicator of genuine market traction. The company is not known to be profitable. Its usage-based credit model and high free-tier adoption rate generate strong top-of-funnel conversion but can create unit economics pressure at scale. Data quality and compliance (particularly GDPR) are Apollo's most-cited enterprise blockers and the primary competitive attack surface for ZoomInfo. The realistic risk for buyers is not platform survival but data freshness: Apollo's contact database quality in specific regions and verticals is meaningfully uneven, and teams should validate before committing.

## Pricing

Apollo's pricing looks simple on the surface but hides complexity in the credit model. The free tier gives 50 email credits and 5 mobile credits per month, which is enough to validate your target ICP but not enough to run a real outbound motion. Basic at $49/user/mo (annual) jumps to 1,000 email credits and 50 mobile credits. Professional at $79/user/mo unlocks advanced filters, A/B testing, call recording, and more credit volume. Organization at $119/user/mo adds SAML SSO, call transcription, and custom permission sets. The catch is that contact-enrichment API calls and CRM sync operations consume credits separately from manual prospecting, so CRM-enrichment use cases can exhaust credit pools faster than expected. Apollo's annual commitment pricing is roughly 25-30% cheaper than monthly.

| Plan | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 50 email credits/mo, basic prospecting filters, limited sequencing; sufficient for a solo rep validating ICP before committing |
| Basic | $49/user/mo (annual) | 1,000 email credits/mo, unlimited sequences, basic integrations; early-stage sales teams running manual outbound |
| Professional | $79/user/mo (annual) | Advanced filters, A/B testing, call recording, AI email assist, higher credit volumes; growing SDR teams |
| Organization | $119/user/mo (annual; 3-seat minimum) | SAML SSO, call transcription, advanced permissions, intent data, custom reporting; teams of 10+ reps |

## What reviewers say

_7,742 G2 reviews at 4.7/5 and 357 Capterra reviews at 4.6/5; one of the highest-volume review datasets in its category, reflecting broad SMB adoption_

**Praised:**
- The database-plus-sequencing combination in one tool is Apollo's most-cited strength: reps can find a prospect, verify the email, build a sequence, and send the first touch without leaving the app or paying for two separate tools
- Value relative to ZoomInfo is cited constantly; Apollo's pricing at $49-$119/user/mo compared to ZoomInfo's $15,000+ annual minimums makes it the default choice for sub-50-person sales teams
- The free tier is generous enough to generate real pipeline: 50 email credits/mo, basic filters, and sequence access let an individual seller test the database quality on their target market before upgrading

**Complaints:**
- Data quality is the most common complaint, particularly for international contacts outside the US and UK: email bounce rates from European and APAC accounts are reported as significantly higher than domestic rates, and mobile number coverage outside North America is sparse
- Customer support at the Basic tier is slow and often limited to documentation links; multiple reviewers flag week-long response times on billing and data disputes
- The credit system confuses buyers: export credits, email credits, mobile credits, and sequence credits are separate pools with different replenishment rates, and new users frequently burn their monthly allocation in the first week

## Compliance

- **SOC 2:** Yes (SOC 2 Type II)
- **GDPR:** Yes (with data processing agreement available)
- **HIPAA:** No
- **SSO:** Yes (SAML SSO on Organization plan)

## Integrations

- Salesforce
- HubSpot
- Outreach
- Salesloft
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator
- Gmail
- Outlook
- Zapier
- Slack
- Pipedrive

## FAQs

### How accurate is Apollo's database?

In the US, Apollo's email accuracy is generally competitive: independent tests typically show 15-25% hard bounce rates, which is on par with or slightly better than comparable tools at its price point. International data is materially weaker. European B2B emails bounce at 25-35% in reported tests, and mobile coverage outside North America is sparse. Apollo verifies emails in real time via its email validator, which catches obvious invalid addresses but not all role changes. If your target market is EMEA or APAC-heavy, validate a sample before buying.

### Is Apollo GDPR compliant?

Apollo publishes a GDPR compliance stance and offers a Data Processing Agreement for paid customers. In practice, the GDPR legality of using Apollo's database for cold outreach into the EU depends on your legal basis (legitimate interest is commonly cited) and your own outreach process, not just Apollo's compliance posture. EU-based legal teams should review Apollo's data provenance documentation and your own outbound program design before using it for European prospecting at scale.

### How does Apollo compare to ZoomInfo?

Apollo is the clear winner on price-to-value for sub-100-seat sales teams. ZoomInfo requires annual contracts starting around $15,000-20,000, has a more comprehensive enterprise dataset, and is better for account-based selling at scale. Apollo wins on accessibility, self-serve onboarding, and the built-in sequencing layer that eliminates a second tool purchase. Teams at 3-25 reps on a budget almost always go Apollo. Teams at 100+ reps with enterprise accounts in regulated industries often justify ZoomInfo's price on data depth alone.

### What is Apollo's refund policy?

Apollo's standard annual subscription is non-refundable after the initial billing period, which multiple Capterra reviewers flag as a pain point. Monthly plans are cancellable at any time but also non-refundable for the current period. If you're evaluating Apollo for a larger team commitment, run the free tier and a single-seat monthly plan before committing to an annual multi-seat contract. Apollo's sales team can often negotiate trial periods or credit packs for enterprise deals.

### Who is Apollo best for?

Apollo is best for outbound-focused sales teams of 2 to 75 reps who need prospecting data and a sequencing engine in one tool at a price that does not require a VP of Sales to approve. It is particularly strong for software, marketing, and staffing companies targeting US-based SMBs and mid-market accounts. Teams targeting enterprise accounts in heavily regulated industries, or with meaningful EMEA or APAC territory, should validate data quality in their specific segment before committing to an annual plan.


## Sources

- [G2: Apollo.io reviews](https://www.g2.com/products/apollo-io/reviews): rating 4.7/5, 7,742 reviews, read live
- [Capterra: Apollo](https://www.capterra.com/p/176657/Apollo/): rating 4.6/5, 357 reviews, sub-scores and demographics
- [TrustRadius: Apollo.io](https://www.trustradius.com/products/apollo-io/reviews): score 8.8/10, 212 reviews
- [Crunchbase: Apollo.io](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/apollo-io): funding history, Series D at $1.6B valuation, investors
- [Apollo.io pricing page](https://www.apollo.io/pricing): Free/Basic/Professional/Organization tiers, credit allocations, feature gates
- [LinkedIn: Apollo.io company page](https://www.linkedin.com/company/apolloio/): employee count, HQ, industry, specialties
- [Apollo.io blog: Series D announcement](https://apollo.io/blog): Series D raise details, valuation, product roadmap commentary from Tim Zheng
- [Wikipedia: Apollo.io](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo.io): founding, founders, product history, funding overview