Side-by-side comparison · Sales & Customer Support
Apollo.io vs Retell AI vs Salesforce Agentforce
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: Service businesses and agencies that want an AI receptionist or phone agent without hiring developers.
Pick it if: Mid-size and larger businesses already on Salesforce that want AI agents handling customer questions and routine sales work.
Overview
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Retell AI | Salesforce Agentforce |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | B2B contact database with emails and phone numbers, plus sequences to reach them. | AI phone agents that answer calls, book appointments and make outbound calls. | Salesforce's AI agents that answer customers and help sales reps inside Salesforce CRM. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Paid | Paid |
| Starting price | $49/seat/mo | About $0.07–$0.31/min | $500 per 100 |
| Free plan | Yes | No | Yes |
| 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 | Retell AI | Salesforce Agentforce |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.0 | 4.1Winner | 3.3 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.5 | 3.5 | 2.5 |
| 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 | 4.5 | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Retell AI | Salesforce Agentforce |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | No | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes | – | 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 | Yes |
| Understands images | – | – | – |
| Makes images | No | No | No |
| Makes video | No | No | No |
| Writes code | – | – | – |
| Runs agents or automations | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Learns your brand or style | – | – | Yes |
| Works in many languages | – | Yes | Yes |
| Capabilities score | 8/ 17 | 7/ 17 | 10/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Retell AI | Salesforce Agentforce |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Free Free Founders testing outbound. | Pay as you goOur pick About $0.07–$0.31/min Most small businesses and agencies. | Salesforce Foundations Free Existing Salesforce customers who want to try agents. |
Basic $49/seat/mo billed yearly Individual sellers doing regular outbound. | Enterprise Custom High call volumes and compliance needs. | Flex CreditsOur pick $500 per 100,000 credits Businesses paying per action an agent takes. | |
ProfessionalOur pick $79/seat/mo billed yearly Full-time reps. | Conversations $2 per conversation Customer-facing agents where you want a simple per-chat price. | ||
Organization $119/seat/mo billed yearly (min 3 seats) Sales teams wanting advanced controls. | Agentforce add-ons From $125/user/mo Teams wanting AI help for every rep or agent seat. | ||
Agentforce 1 editions From $550/user/mo Large Salesforce customers buying the full bundle. | |||
| 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. | 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. | Start with the free Foundations tier to prove one agent works, then move to Flex Credits so you pay only for what agents actually do. Per-user add-ons and Agentforce 1 editions are for large teams that have already proven the value. |
Key features
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Retell AI | Salesforce Agentforce |
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Retell AI | Salesforce Agentforce |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Apollo.io | Retell AI | Salesforce Agentforce |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Apollo.io, Retell AI or Salesforce Agentforce?
Retell AI scores highest overall in our ratings (Apollo.io 4.0/5, Retell AI 4.1/5 and Salesforce Agentforce 3.3/5). Apollo.io is best for finding business emails and phone numbers and Building B2B lead lists. Retell AI is best for AI receptionist for a small business and booking appointments by phone. Salesforce Agentforce is best for salesforce customers adding AI to support and answering common customer questions 24/7.
Which is cheaper, Apollo.io, Retell AI or Salesforce Agentforce?
Apollo.io: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $49/seat/mo. Retell AI: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at About $0.07–$0.31/min. Salesforce Agentforce: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $500 per 100.
Which is easier to use, Apollo.io, Retell AI or Salesforce Agentforce?
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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