Apollo vs ZoomInfo:
choose the job, then the contract.

ZoomInfo cites a larger database than Apollo on its own pages: 500M+ contacts against 240M+. The two figures are self-reported and counted under each vendor’s own definition of a contact. Neither page publishes accuracy percentages, regional breakdowns or direct-dial totals, so the headline numbers do not tell you how many of your target buyers you will find.

The vendors describe maintenance differently. ZoomInfo says 300+ human researchers verify records. Apollo describes regularly updated data and waterfall enrichment. Both are descriptions of method, not measured results.

The useful test is local. Take 100 accounts you actually sell to, including the awkward roles and regions, and ask each vendor for the contacts it would return. Count usable emails and phone numbers, duplicates and records your team would accept. This guide reports no independent accuracy or conversion test.

As of November 2026, Apollo’s pricing page shows Basic at $49, Professional at $79 and Organization at $119 per seat per month, billed annually, with Organization requiring at least three seats. Credits are granted per seat per year: 30,000, 48,000 and 72,000. An email costs 1 credit and a phone number 8, so Basic’s allowance equals 3,750 phone numbers per seat per year if it bought nothing else. Credits are pooled across the team and do not roll over, all seats share one plan, and annual billing is shown as saving 24% against monthly. The FAQ also describes a Custom plan that the cards do not show. Apollo pricing, checked 2026-11-05.

ZoomInfo’s pricing page lists no dollar amounts. Packaging is “based on the number of licenses our customers require and the desired level of access,” while its homepage FAQ says it does not charge by fixed seat tiers and teams pay for the credits they use. The pages do not reconcile those statements, and they do not state contract length, overage rates or minimums. Its integrations “require a minimum purchase of bulk credits.” Each export costs one credit. ZoomInfo pricing, checked 2026-11-05.

Give both vendors the same brief: number of users, target accounts, fields you need, export volume, term and renewal notice. Ask for a written total. Add the tools you would still need alongside each, and the time spent maintaining the process. For the cost-focused view of each, see Apollo alternatives and ZoomInfo alternatives.

Choose Apollo to test contact data and sequencing together at low commitment. It publishes a per-seat price, lists a free plan and unlimited sequences from Basic, so one person can try the whole motion before anyone signs a contract. Check the credit allowance against your phone-number needs, since a phone number costs eight times an email.

Choose ZoomInfo when intent, website visitors and a sales-led relationship are part of the requirement. Its packages list buyer intent, visitor data and workflows, and it sells through a conversation about licenses and credits. That suits a team with several sellers and a procurement process more than one founder running a spreadsheet.

Pick neither until you have run the sample. If either returns most of your accounts with the fields you need, the choice then comes down to total cost and who will use it. If neither does, a narrower tool may serve you better; see Clay vs Apollo and Clay vs Cognism.

Coil is an agent-operated outbound platform for founder-led B2B teams of 1–20. It is not a contact database and does not compete with Apollo or ZoomInfo on record counts. If your working setup is Sales Navigator, a spreadsheet and Instantly, the cost you may want to cut is the manual work between them, not the data subscription.

A connected agent works through the REST API, the JSON CLI (@usecoil/cli) and runtime skills; humans inspect the same state in the web app. Recipes hold reusable steps and runs keep execution state. Supported steps include Sales Navigator scraping through Apify, OpenRouter transforms and a configured SmartLead handoff. Coil has no built-in email sender and no general Instantly connector. See the agent interface and recipes.

Agents draft workflows and run permitted published work; human admins manage credentials and publish recipes. Coil is $0 during open beta, with provider charges separate. See Coil pricing. Buy a database first if records are what you lack; consider Coil when the process around them is.

As of Nov 2026; vendor pages fetched on 2026-11-05: Apollo pricing, Apollo homepage, ZoomInfo pricing, ZoomInfo homepage and ZoomInfo free trial. These pages establish advertised capabilities, not independent proof of results. Vendor pages change; confirm before you buy.

For wider shortlists, read Apollo alternatives, ZoomInfo alternatives, Clay vs Apollo and AI outreach tools compared.