Side-by-side comparison · Sales & Customer Support
Apollo.io vs Close vs Gong
Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.
Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.
At a glance
Pick it if: Founders, small sales teams and marketers who need to find B2B contacts and email them.
Pick it if: Small sales teams and solo sellers who call and email a lot of leads and want it all in one tool.
Pick it if: Sales leaders running a team of reps who want to coach from real calls and forecast deals more accurately.
Overview
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Close | Gong |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | B2B contact database with emails and phone numbers, plus sequences to reach them. | Sales CRM with calling, texting and email built in, plus an AI agent that calls leads. | Records and analyses sales calls and emails to coach reps and forecast deals. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Paid | Paid |
| Starting price | $49/seat/mo | $9/user/mo | See website |
| Free plan | Yes | No | No |
| Works with Claude Code | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Close | Gong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.0 | 4.1Winner | 4.0 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together. | 4.5 | 4.5 | 5.0 |
| Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them. | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.5 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 4.0 | 4.0 | 2.5 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Close | Gong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | No | No |
| Mobile app | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop app | – | Yes | – |
| Browser extension | Yes | No | Yes |
| API access | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Teams & business | |||
| Team workspace | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise plan or SSO | Yes | No | Yes |
| Connects to other apps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open source or self-hosted | No | No | No |
| AI abilities | |||
| Works with your files | – | Yes | – |
| Understands images | – | – | – |
| Makes images | No | No | No |
| Makes video | No | No | No |
| Writes code | – | No | – |
| Runs agents or automations | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Learns your brand or style | – | No | – |
| Works in many languages | – | No | Yes |
| Capabilities score | 8/ 17 | 7/ 17 | 8/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Close | Gong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Free Free Founders testing outbound. | Solo $9/user/mo billed yearly, or $19 monthly One person selling on their own. | Platform fee Custom (billed yearly) Every Gong customer pays this, scaled to team size. |
Basic $49/seat/mo billed yearly Individual sellers doing regular outbound. | Essentials $35/user/mo billed yearly, or $49 monthly Small teams sharing leads. | Per-user licenceOur pick Custom per user (billed yearly) Each rep or manager who records and reviews calls. | |
ProfessionalOur pick $79/seat/mo billed yearly Full-time reps. | GrowthOur pick $99/user/mo billed yearly, or $109 monthly Teams that want follow-ups and AI on autopilot. | Add-ons (Engage, Forecast, Enable) Custom Teams that want outreach, forecasting or coaching in Gong too. | |
Organization $119/seat/mo billed yearly (min 3 seats) Sales teams wanting advanced controls. | Scale $139/user/mo billed yearly, or $149 monthly High-volume calling teams. | ||
| Which plan to pick | Start on Free to check the data covers your market. Basic suits one person prospecting; Professional is worth it if you also call prospects or want AI scoring. Monthly billing costs noticeably more than the yearly prices shown. | Take the 14-day trial, which needs no card. Solo is a bargain if you sell alone and follow up by hand. Growth is where Close earns its price, because that's where automated follow-ups, the power dialer and Chloe in workflows start. Budget a little extra each month for call minutes. | Start with the core licence for reps who run customer calls and add Forecast or Engage only once the team uses Gong daily. Push back on bundles and multi-year terms during negotiation. |
Key features
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Close | Gong |
|---|---|---|---|
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Close | Gong |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Close | Gong |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Apollo.io, Close or Gong?
Close scores highest overall in our ratings (Apollo.io 4.0/5, Close 4.1/5 and Gong 4.0/5). Apollo.io is best for finding business emails and phone numbers and Building B2B lead lists. Close is best for calling and texting leads straight from the CRM and following up leads automatically by email and text. Gong is best for coaching reps from real call recordings and spotting at-risk deals early.
Which is cheaper, Apollo.io, Close or Gong?
Apollo.io: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $49/seat/mo. Close: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $9/user/mo. Gong: Pricing isn't published; check the vendor's site for a quote.
Which is easier to use, Apollo.io, Close or Gong?
Apollo.io rates highest for ease of use in our scores. Founders, small sales teams and marketers who need to find B2B contacts and email them.
How we compare
Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.
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