Apollo began as a contact database and added email sequences and calling. lemlist began as an outreach tool and added contact data. Both can now find and email people. The right one depends on which half you lean on.
The short answer
Pick Apollo if finding the right people is your main problem, you want to start on a free plan, and email plus calls is enough.
Pick lemlist if you already know who to contact, you want email and LinkedIn steps in one sequence, or you want several people sending on one email plan.
Pricing
Apollo. As of October 2026, Apollo's pricing page lists a free plan and paid plans called Basic, Professional and Custom. Paid plans are charged per seat, and every seat on one account is on the same plan. Credits pay for contact details, warm-up and other actions. They are shared across the team and do not roll over.
lemlist. As of October 2026, lemlist's pricing page lists, on monthly billing:
- Email: $69 a month, 50,000 emails a month, unlimited users and email senders.
- Multichannel: $109 a month, priced by number of users, with LinkedIn and SMS automation, a call dialer and five senders per user.
- Enterprise: custom price.
Contact data on lemlist is an add-on. The lead data add-on is $20 a month on monthly billing, with 2,000 credits, which the page says covers about 400 emails or 100 phone numbers.
Finding people
This is Apollo's home ground. You search its database for people and companies, then use credits to reveal contact details. The free plan lets you try this with a limited number of credits.
lemlist also has a lead database and an email and phone finder, paid for with credits. Its trial includes 200 credits. For a few contacts a week, either works. For heavy prospecting, test both with your own market.
Reaching people
This is lemlist's home ground. Its Multichannel plan mixes emails with LinkedIn steps, such as a profile visit or a connection request, and calls. Its help article shows how to build that kind of sequence.
Apollo sends email sequences from your own mailbox and has a dialer for calls. For email plus phone, it covers the basics.
If you plan to automate LinkedIn, read LinkedIn's user agreement first. It says members must not use bots or other unauthorised automated methods to add contacts or send messages.
Mailboxes and warm-up
Sending from more than one mailbox spreads the load. The tools handle it differently.
- Apollo: its mailbox help article says Basic allows one linked mailbox per user. Professional allows unlimited Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 mailboxes. Its warm-up article says paid plans usually include warm-up for one mailbox per seat, and each extra mailbox uses 200 credits every 30 days.
- lemlist: the Email plan lists unlimited email senders, and the Multichannel plan five per user. lemwarm is included in all plans.
Trials and free plans
Apollo has a free plan with no time limit. lemlist has a 14-day free trial that includes Multichannel features, apart from in-app calls, with 200 credits. That makes Apollo easier to keep testing slowly, and lemlist easier to test in full for two weeks.
How to decide
- Do you have your list? If not, start with data. If yes, start with outreach.
- How many channels? Email only, email plus calls, or email plus LinkedIn?
- How many people will send? Per-seat prices add up. lemlist's Email plan has no user limit.
- How many mailboxes? Check the limit on the plan you would buy.
- Test both with the same 20 people and the same short email.
Then write like a person
Neither tool decides what you say. The first email should be short and about the reader. Follow-ups should each add one new thing.
Nive is being built for that part: you write down how your business works and how you sound once, and it drafts outreach in your voice for you to review and send from your own tools. Join the waitlist to get the demo first.
For more options, see Apollo.io alternatives and lemlist alternatives.