Side-by-side comparison · Sales & Customer Support
Apollo.io vs Hiver vs Sierra
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 and mid-sized teams who answer customers or suppliers from a shared Gmail address and want structure without leaving Gmail.
Pick it if: Large consumer brands that want an AI agent to handle a big share of their customer conversations end to end.
Overview
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Hiver | Sierra |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | B2B contact database with emails and phone numbers, plus sequences to reach them. | Shared inbox and helpdesk that runs inside Gmail, with AI that drafts and answers replies. | Builds and runs AI customer service agents for big brands, across chat, email and phone. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Paid | Paid |
| Starting price | $49/seat/mo | $25/user/mo | See website |
| Free plan | Yes | No | No |
| Works with Claude Code | Yes | Yes | No |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Hiver | Sierra |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.0Winner | 3.9 | 3.9 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.5 | 4.5 | 3.0 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together. | 4.5 | 4.0 | 4.5 |
| Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them. | 3.0 | 3.5 | 4.5 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.0 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 4.0 | 3.5 | 4.5 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Hiver | Sierra |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | No | No |
| Mobile app | Yes | Yes | – |
| Desktop app | – | – | – |
| Browser extension | Yes | Yes | – |
| API access | Yes | Yes | – |
| Teams & business | |||
| Team workspace | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise plan or SSO | Yes | Yes | 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 | – | – | Yes |
| Works in many languages | – | – | Yes |
| Capabilities score | 8/ 17 | 7/ 17 | 7/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Hiver | Sierra |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Free Free Founders testing outbound. | Growth $25/user/mo billed yearly, or $35 monthly Small teams running one or two shared inboxes. | EnterpriseOur pick Custom Large companies with high conversation volumes. |
Basic $49/seat/mo billed yearly Individual sellers doing regular outbound. | ProOur pick $55/user/mo billed yearly, or $65 monthly Support teams that need targets and connected tools. | ||
ProfessionalOur pick $79/seat/mo billed yearly Full-time reps. | Elite $85/user/mo billed yearly, or $95 monthly Larger teams wanting AI quality checks and tighter security. | ||
Organization $119/seat/mo billed yearly (min 3 seats) Sales teams wanting advanced controls. | |||
| 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. | Growth is enough for a small team that just needs a tidy shared inbox with AI help. Choose Pro if you need response-time targets, CRM or Shopify data next to each email, or the API. Voice is an add-on at $30 per seat. | There is one route: talk to Sierra's sales team. Agree clearly what counts as an outcome you pay for, and what setup and services cost, before you sign. |
Key features
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Hiver | Sierra |
|---|---|---|---|
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Hiver | Sierra |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Hiver | Sierra |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Apollo.io, Hiver or Sierra?
Apollo.io scores highest overall in our ratings (Apollo.io 4.0/5, Hiver 3.9/5 and Sierra 3.9/5). Apollo.io is best for finding business emails and phone numbers and Building B2B lead lists. Hiver is best for running support@ or info@ as a team and assigning and tracking customer emails. Sierra is best for high-volume customer service at large brands and AI phone agents that take real actions.
Which is cheaper, Apollo.io, Hiver or Sierra?
Apollo.io: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $49/seat/mo. Hiver: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $25/user/mo. Sierra: Pricing isn't published; check the vendor's site for a quote.
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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