RocketReach vs Apollo comes down to how you want to pay for contact data and how much of the sales process you want in the same tool. Both return verified emails and phone numbers, both have a Chrome extension, an API and CRM integrations. RocketReach charges by lookups and exports and adds sequences and automations on top. Apollo charges per seat and bundles a full outbound platform with sequences, a dialer and deal management. Each figure below comes from the vendor’s own pricing page or documentation, checked October 10, 2026.
Disclosure: we make emailvalidation.io, a third option covered briefly at the end. We have no partnership with either vendor, and the sources are at the end.
RocketReach vs Apollo at a glance
| Row label | RocketReach | Apollo |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per seat; lookups and exports | Per seat; credits per seat |
| Free plan | 5 lookups | 75 credits per seat a month |
| Entry plan, monthly billing | Essentials: $39, 100 lookups and 100 exports a month, email only | Basic: $65 per seat, 2,500 credits a month |
| Entry plan, yearly billing | Essentials: $19 a month ($229 a year), unlimited lookups, 1,200 exports a year | Basic: $49 per seat a month, 30,000 credits a year |
| Mid plan | Pro: $79 monthly (250 lookups) or $52 a month yearly ($619, 3,600 exports a year), email and phone | Professional: $99 per seat monthly (4,000 credits) or $79 yearly (48,000 credits a year) |
| Top self-serve plan | Ultimate: $169 monthly (1,000 lookups) or $115 a month yearly ($1,379, 20,000 exports a year) | Organization: $119 per seat a month, annual only, min. 3 seats, 72,000 credits a year |
| Team plans | From $6,000 a year | Custom plans through sales |
| Charge when nothing is found | Lookup refunded without a verified email or phone | API: only if credit-consuming data is found |
| Phone numbers | Pro and Ultimate | 8 credits per phone number |
| API | MCP and API access on every paid plan | Listed from the Free plan; limits vary by plan |
| Data export | Exports counted per plan (100 a month to 20,000 a year) | Bulk export of saved records; up to 10,000 leads at once without a selection limit |
| Chrome extension | Google Chrome extension | Prospecting, Gmail and Salesforce extensions on every plan |
| CRM integrations | Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach, Salesloft, Bullhorn (Pro and up) | CRM integrations from Basic |
| Outreach | Sequences, AI email writer, up to 500 emails a day, Autopilot jobs | Sequences (2 on Free, unlimited from Basic), dialer, call recordings, workflows |
| Database (vendor’s claim) | 700 million professionals, 60 million companies | 240 million contacts, 30 million companies |
On RocketReach, a lookup unlocks a contact’s data inside the platform and an export moves it out (CSV, CRM, API or MCP). Annual plans have unlimited lookups with a fair-use limit of about 10,000 a month, per RocketReach’s help center, but a fixed number of exports per year.
RocketReach vs Apollo pricing for the same volume
Say one person needs about 250 contacts with email and phone a month.
- RocketReach: Pro covers 250 lookups and 250 exports a month at $79 on monthly billing. On yearly billing, $619 buys unlimited lookups and 3,600 exports a year, enough for 300 a month.
- Apollo: Basic’s 2,500 credits a month at $65 cover that. Apollo lists 1 credit per email and 8 per phone number, so 250 contacts with both use 2,250 credits.
For emails only, the numbers move further apart: RocketReach’s Essentials gives 100 email lookups a month for $39, while Apollo’s Basic gives 2,500 credits, enough for 2,500 emails at 1 credit each, for $65 per seat.
For teams: both price per seat. RocketReach takes 5% off the first additional seat; Apollo’s Organization plan needs at least 3 seats.
Apollo vs RocketReach: which one fits
RocketReach fits if you look up people one at a time and want to pay only for results: lookups without a verified email or phone are refunded, and annual plans remove the lookup count. Its database claim is the larger of the two, it returns personal as well as professional emails, and its Pro plan adds technographics, news and org charts.
Apollo fits if you want the outbound work in one place: prospect search, unlimited sequences, a dialer, call recordings, meeting scheduling and deal management, with a free plan that includes 75 credits per seat a month. Its credits don’t roll over, and every seat is billed.
Neither vendor’s pricing page includes an independent accuracy test, and we haven’t run one, so we don’t compare data quality here.
A third option: an email finder without a database
If you mostly need verified work emails for people you have already chosen, a finder without a database can cost less than either. emailvalidation.io’s email finder takes a first name, last name and company domain and checks the address with the company’s mail server before it returns it; on catch-all domains it returns the most common pattern (first.last@) and marks it as risky. The LinkedIn email finder works from LinkedIn profiles, Sales Navigator and Groups.
- An email search or LinkedIn search uses 10 credits, a verification 1 credit.
- Free plan: 100 credits a month (10 searches); Small $9.99 for 5,000 credits (500 searches); Medium $34.99 for 25,000; Large $94.99 for 100,000 a month. See email validation API pricing.
- Lists exported from RocketReach or Apollo can be checked with the email validation API or the bulk API (up to 100,000 addresses per job) before you send.
It has no phone numbers, prospect search or sequences. Our RocketReach alternative and Apollo alternative pages go into the details, and Apollo vs Lusha compares Apollo with Lusha.
Sources
Checked October 10, 2026: RocketReach pricing (plans with monthly and annual billing, lookups, exports, plan comparison, FAQ on free lookups and refunds, team plans); RocketReach: annual vs. monthly plans and What are RocketReach credits?; Apollo pricing (plans, prices, credits, features, credit and export FAQ); Apollo API pricing and credits; Apollo homepage (database size); emailvalidation.io pricing.