Side-by-side comparison · Sales & Customer Support
Apollo.io vs lemlist 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 sales reps who reach prospects on email and LinkedIn and want each message to feel personal.
Pick it if: Service businesses and agencies that want an AI receptionist or phone agent without hiring developers.
Overview
| Attribute | Apollo.io | lemlist | Retell AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | B2B contact database with emails and phone numbers, plus sequences to reach them. | Personalised cold outreach by email, LinkedIn, calls and WhatsApp in one sequence. | AI phone agents that answer calls, book appointments and make outbound calls. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Paid | Paid |
| Starting price | $49/seat/mo | From $69/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 | lemlist | Retell AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.0 | 3.7 | 4.1Winner |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.5 | 3.5 | 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 | 3.5 | 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 | lemlist | Retell AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | No | No |
| Mobile app | Yes | No | – |
| Desktop app | – | – | – |
| Browser extension | Yes | 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 |
| Makes video | No | No | No |
| Writes code | – | No | – |
| Runs agents or automations | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Learns your brand or style | – | – | – |
| Works in many languages | – | Yes | 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 | lemlist | Retell AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Free Free Founders testing outbound. | From $69/mo, or $55/mo billed yearly Teams doing email-only outreach. | 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. | MultichannelOur pick $109/user/mo, or $87/user/mo billed yearly Reps who reach prospects on LinkedIn and by phone too. | Enterprise Custom High call volumes and compliance needs. | |
ProfessionalOur pick $79/seat/mo billed yearly Full-time reps. | Enterprise Custom Larger teams with security and compliance needs. | ||
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. | If you only send email, the Email plan is fine, but compare it with Instantly first. Pick Multichannel if LinkedIn or calls are part of how you sell, since that's what lemlist does best. Add the data add-on ($16 a month billed yearly for 2,000 credits) if you need to find emails and phone numbers. The 14-day trial includes Multichannel features and 200 credits. | 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 | lemlist | Retell AI |
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | Apollo.io | lemlist | Retell AI |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Apollo.io | lemlist | Retell AI |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Apollo.io, lemlist or Retell AI?
Retell AI scores highest overall in our ratings (Apollo.io 4.0/5, lemlist 3.7/5 and Retell AI 4.1/5). Apollo.io is best for finding business emails and phone numbers and Building B2B lead lists. lemlist is best for sequences that mix email, LinkedIn and calls and personalised cold email with custom images and first lines. Retell AI is best for AI receptionist for a small business and booking appointments by phone.
Which is cheaper, Apollo.io, lemlist or Retell AI?
Apollo.io: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $49/seat/mo. lemlist: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at From $69/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, lemlist 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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