Side-by-side comparison · Sales & Customer Support
Apollo.io vs Instantly vs Retell AI
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: Service businesses and agencies that want an AI receptionist or phone agent without hiring developers.
Overview
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Instantly | Retell AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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. | AI phone agents that answer calls, book appointments and make outbound calls. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Paid | Paid |
| Starting price | $49/seat/mo | $47/mo | About $0.07–$0.31/min |
| 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 | Retell AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.0 | 3.9 | 4.1Winner |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.5 | 4.0 | 3.5 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together. | 4.5 | 4.5 | 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 | 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 | Retell AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | No | No |
| Mobile app | Yes | – | – |
| Desktop app | – | – | – |
| Browser extension | Yes | – | – |
| API access | Yes | 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 | – | 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 | Retell AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Free Free Founders testing outbound. | GrowthOur pick $47/mo, or $37.60/mo billed yearly Founders starting cold email. | Pay as you goOur pick About $0.07–$0.31/min Most small businesses and agencies. |
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. | Enterprise Custom High call volumes and compliance needs. | |
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. | ||
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. | ||
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. | Start on pay as you go with the free credits, build one agent for your most common call and test it on your own phone. Talk to sales only once you run thousands of minutes a month. |
Key features
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Instantly | Retell AI |
|---|---|---|---|
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Instantly | Retell AI |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Instantly | Retell AI |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Apollo.io, Instantly or Retell AI?
Retell AI scores highest overall in our ratings (Apollo.io 4.0/5, Instantly 3.9/5 and Retell AI 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. Retell AI is best for AI receptionist for a small business and booking appointments by phone.
Which is cheaper, Apollo.io, Instantly or Retell AI?
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. Retell AI: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at About $0.07–$0.31/min.
Which is easier to use, Apollo.io, Instantly or Retell AI?
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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