Side-by-side comparison · Sales & Customer Support
Apollo.io vs Instantly vs Pipedrive
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: Founders, agencies and small sales teams who send cold email to find new customers and want it to reach the inbox.
Pick it if: Small businesses, agencies and sales teams of one to twenty people who want a clear view of every deal without a complicated CRM.
Overview
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Instantly | Pipedrive |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | B2B contact database with emails and phone numbers, plus sequences to reach them. | Sends cold email at scale from many inboxes, warms them up, and finds leads to email. | Simple sales CRM that shows every deal as a card on a board, with an AI sales assistant. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Paid | Paid |
| Starting price | $49/seat/mo | $47/mo | $14/seat/mo |
| 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 | Instantly | Pipedrive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.0 | 3.9 | 4.1Winner |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.5 | 4.0 | 4.5 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together. | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.0 |
| Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them. | 3.0 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 4.0 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Instantly | Pipedrive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | No | No |
| Mobile app | Yes | – | Yes |
| Desktop app | – | – | – |
| Browser extension | Yes | – | Yes |
| API access | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Teams & business | |||
| Team workspace | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise plan or SSO | Yes | Yes | – |
| Connects to other apps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open source or self-hosted | No | No | No |
| AI abilities | |||
| Works with your files | – | – | – |
| Understands images | – | – | – |
| Makes images | No | No | No |
| Makes video | No | No | No |
| Writes code | – | No | No |
| Runs agents or automations | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Learns your brand or style | – | No | – |
| Works in many languages | – | – | Yes |
| Capabilities score | 8/ 17 | 5/ 17 | 7/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Instantly | Pipedrive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Free Free Founders testing outbound. | GrowthOur pick $47/mo, or $37.60/mo billed yearly Founders starting cold email. | Lite $14/seat/mo billed yearly, or $24 monthly One person who just needs a pipeline and reminders. |
Basic $49/seat/mo billed yearly Individual sellers doing regular outbound. | Growth Credits $47/mo, or $37.60/mo billed yearly Anyone who needs leads to email. | GrowthOur pick $39/seat/mo billed yearly, or $49 monthly Small teams who live in their inbox. | |
ProfessionalOur pick $79/seat/mo billed yearly Full-time reps. | Starter bundle $94/mo, or $85/mo billed yearly Small teams who want sending, leads and AI together. | Premium $59/seat/mo billed yearly, or $79 monthly Teams that want to capture and score leads too. | |
Organization $119/seat/mo billed yearly (min 3 seats) Sales teams wanting advanced controls. | Hypergrowth $107/mo, or $85.58/mo billed yearly Teams sending at real volume. | Ultimate $79/seat/mo billed yearly, or $99 monthly Bigger teams that need the highest limits and tighter security. | |
Scale bundle $194/mo, or $175/mo billed yearly Teams that want AI to handle replies too. | |||
Light Speed $358/mo, or $286.30/mo billed yearly Agencies sending for many clients. | |||
| 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. | If you already have a lead list, Growth is all you need to start. If you need leads too, compare Growth plus Growth Credits with the Starter bundle, which adds the AI Sales Agent for about the same money. Agencies sending for clients usually end up on Hypergrowth or Light Speed. | Growth is the plan most small teams should start on, because Lite has no proper email sync or automations. Move to Premium if you want web forms and lead scoring without paying for add-ons. Prices exclude tax and vary by country. |
Key features
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Instantly | Pipedrive |
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Instantly | Pipedrive |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Instantly | Pipedrive |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Apollo.io, Instantly or Pipedrive?
Pipedrive scores highest overall in our ratings (Apollo.io 4.0/5, Instantly 3.9/5 and Pipedrive 4.1/5). Apollo.io is best for finding business emails and phone numbers and Building B2B lead lists. Instantly is best for sending cold email campaigns at volume and keeping cold email out of spam with warmup. Pipedrive is best for tracking deals from first contact to signed and reminders so no lead is forgotten.
Which is cheaper, Apollo.io, Instantly or Pipedrive?
Apollo.io: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $49/seat/mo. Instantly: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $47/mo. Pipedrive: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $14/seat/mo.
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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