Apollo.io Review 2024: Pros, Cons, Ratings

Apollo.io is among the biggest players in the outreach and sales industry.

They have come a long way since their first release. As of today, Apollo has added many features, from an extensive database to multichannel outreach capabilities, to deep automation and sequences.

In this Apollo.io review, we use our sales and outreach knowledge to offer an in-depth insight into the features and use cases that Apollo offers.

We go over the strengths and weaknesses of this tool so you can decide if it’s the right sales, outreach, and cold email platform for you and your business.

Our favorite Apollo.io features

Apollo.io is a sales engagement platform primarily used for lead generation, data collection, and outreach.

• Beneficial for B2B companies that require data points on business contacts, including phone numbers and email addresses.
• Database with over 273+ million data points, along with tools for data enrichment and multichannel outreach.
• Features for cold emailing and cold calling directly within its system, making it a potential all-in-one solution for data management and outreach activities.
• Supports multiple users, making it suitable for larger sales or prospecting teams.
• Buyer intent data, which can be crucial for targeted marketing and sales efforts.
• Combination of sales intelligence and execution workflows with a B2B buyer database of over 270 million verified contacts.
• Offers an AI-powered assistant tool that helps sellers target the most relevant prospects.

Interface and navigation

Apollo has a clean interface.

They lay out all of their features at the top, like so ⬇️

Under Home, you have two sections:

• Control Center: This is where you get alerts, view your activity, and manage tasks.
• Cockpit: Offers more detailed insights into calls, tasks, and emails.

With the Search functionality, Apollo.io holds its database (with over 270 million contacts).

You can search for leads using various filters like industry, job title, location, company size, etc.

Create buyer personas to target specific types of leads.

Apollo allows you to use AI for this or create them manually based on specific criteria.

Manage lists from here and include or exclude existing lists to avoid contacting the same leads.

In Engage we can connect our email accounts, send email campaigns, schedule calls, and tasks, organize templates, and so much more.

With Enrichment, Apollo focuses on enhancing your existing customer and prospect data by adding valuable information.

This can include details like contact information, company size, industry type, technological usage, and other relevant business intelligence.

Apollo has a small learning curve.

That being said, let’s dive deeper into its features.

Apollo.io’s features analyzed

Apollo has many features, so we’ll go over the most impressive and important features and use cases, dissect the most important elements about them, and who should use them to maximize Apollo’s potential as an all-around sales engagement platform.

Lead Database and Search

Apollo.io's Lead Database and Search feature is a powerhouse for anyone needing access to a vast repository of business contacts.

Here's a breakdown of what makes this feature stand out:

• Extensive Database Access

Apollo.io boasts a staggering 270+ million data points, offering users a vast pool of potential leads. This extensive database is a goldmine for businesses looking to expand their reach.

• Advanced Search Filters

The platform allows users to filter through these data points with precision, ensuring highly targeted lead generation.

Filters include technologies used by companies, buying intent, and more. Here’s the full list of filters you can use with these advanced search filters:

• Lists
• Persona
• Name
• Job Titles
• Company
• Location
• Employees
• Industry & Keywords
• Buying Intent
• Email Status
• Scores
• Technologies
• Revenue
• Funding
• Job Postings
• Signals
• Email Opened

• List Management

Users can select thousands of people at once and add them to organized lists.

This feature is crucial for managing large-scale outreach campaigns efficiently.

• Direct Outreach Integration

One of Apollo.io’s standout features is the ability to add leads directly to outreach sequences from the search interface.

This seamless integration between data search and outreach tools streamlines the entire lead generation process.

• Enrichment Capabilities

While not used as extensively, the enrichment feature allows users to enhance their data, either within Apollo.io or via API, adding another layer of value to the lead database.

✅ Pros

• With access to over 250 million data points, the possibilities for lead generation are nearly limitless.
• The advanced search filters allow for highly targeted lead selection, increasing the efficiency of outreach campaigns.
• The ability to directly add leads to outreach sequences from the search interface is a significant time-saver.

❌ Cons

• For users looking to export a large volume of data for external use, Apollo.io presents some limitations, which can be a drawback for some users.
• Accessing personal phone numbers for contacts requires extra payment, which can add up, especially for businesses focusing on cold calling.

Outreach tools

Apollo.io is also a powerful platform for executing and managing outreach campaigns.

It provides comprehensive outreach solutions for email, LinkedIn, and cold calling channels.

Let’s explore these outreach tools and how to take advantage of them.

• Email sequences:

Apollo.io allows users to create and manage email sequences, making it easier to automate and personalize outreach campaigns.

The platform's interface is super intuitive, allowing for easy setup and tracking of email campaigns.

Users can customize emails and conduct A/B testing to optimize campaign performance.

• Cold Calling Integration

It has a built-in dialing system, streamlining the process of cold calling directly from the platform.

One unique feature is that the dialing system mimics the area code of the call recipient, potentially increasing answer rates.

Furthermore, you can track and manage calls within the platform, making it easy to follow up and maintain records.

• Task Management

Apollo.io offers task management features, allowing sales teams to stay organized and on top of their outreach activities.

Tasks can be linked to specific outreach campaigns for better tracking and efficiency.

• Multi-Mailbox Linking

Users can link multiple email accounts to Apollo, facilitating diverse outreach strategies.

The platform allows for easy management of different email accounts, streamlining the outreach process.

• Outreach Analytics

The platform provides detailed analytics on outreach campaigns, offering insights into performance and areas for improvement.

You can access real-time data to make informed decisions about your outreach strategies.

• Integration with CRM

Apollo can be integrated with various CRM platforms, ensuring a seamless workflow between lead generation and outreach.

• Data Enrichment

The platform offers data enrichment features that enhance the quality of CRM data.

Buying intent filter

Apollo.io's Buying Intent Filter aims to help you target potential clients who are actively seeking services or products in their industry.

This feature is not just about identifying leads; it's about finding leads that are already halfway through the buying process.

But what are the key aspects of the buying intent filter?

• Intent Score Classification

Apollo.io categorizes leads into high, medium, or low buying intent based on their online activities, such as searches on Google or Bing, and engagement with relevant content.

The more you tighten your intent score, your lead pool is going to shrink and narrow.

• Industry-Specific Targeting

The filter allows up to six intent topics, making it possible to tailor the search to specific industries or parallel sectors.

• Customizable Time Frame

Users can adjust the time frame to capture leads showing recent interest, ensuring the data is always fresh and relevant.

How does it enhance lead generation?

• Focused Outreach

By targeting leads with a demonstrated interest in your industry, the chances of conversion are significantly higher compared to cold outreach.

• Dynamic Data

The filter continuously updates, adding new potential leads who have recently shown interest, keeping your outreach efforts timely and relevant.

• Integration with Marketing Campaigns

The data from the Buying Intent Filter can be integrated into various marketing platforms, enhancing both digital and email marketing strategies.

✅ Pros:

• Highly targeted lead generation.
• Continuous data refresh for up-to-date leads.
• Customizable to specific industry needs.

❌ Cons:

• Not as effective for niches with low online search volume.
• Requires regular monitoring and updating for best results.

This feature is great for businesses with high online search volumes, such as marketing agencies, consultants, and software companies.

It's less effective for very niche markets or industries where online research is not a common part of the buying process.

Apollo.io pricing and plans

If you want to pay for a monthly subscription, this is what Apollow.io will cost you:

Apollo has a generous free plan with 10,000 credits per month.

They have three paid tiers: basic, professional, and organizational.

Basic ($49/month)

This plan is great for small businesses looking to do a high volume of sequences and outreach campaigns.

It has enough export credits next to unlimited email credits.

If you are looking to do cold calling, this plan might not be for you as it only accesses 25 contacts from Apollo to call them.

Here is the rundown of the most important features of this plan:

Professional ($79/month)

For smaller sales teams or those conducting limited cold email campaigns, Apollo.io offers plans starting at $79 per month per user.

This plan is affordable and allows for a decent amount of cold emailing and other functionalities.

Aside from everything in the basic plan, these are the standout features of this plan:

Enterprise ($119/month)

Perfect for large sales teams and massive lead-generation campaigns.

For teams who require more extensive features, such as the ability to select and export large numbers of records, Apollo.io offers custom Enterprise plans.

These plans are more suitable for users who need to export thousands of data points for large-scale cold emailing campaigns.

These are the most important features:

Comparing Apollo’s pricing to other competing platforms like ZoomInfo makes it that much more affordable.

For example, ZoomInfo's basic plan is around $40,000 per year, which is astronomically higher than Apollo.io's offerings.

In summary, Apollo.io's pricing varies based on the scale of use and the specific needs of the business, with options ranging from relatively affordable standard plans to more comprehensive and customizable Enterprise solutions.

Apollo alternatives

While Apollo.io is a robust platform for lead generation and outreach, it's not the only player in town.

The market for such tools is dynamic and competitive, with lemlist emerging as a major alternative. Let's explore how lemlist stands out.

lemlist in a nutshell

• lemlist is known for its innovative approach to email outreach, offering features that are distinct from Apollo.io.
• lemlist excels in personalizing email campaigns. Unlike Apollo.io, which focuses more on data and outreach tools, lemlist allows users to add personalized images and videos to emails, making each outreach effort more engaging and unique.
• Users often praise lemlist for its intuitive and easy-to-navigate interface, which can be a significant advantage over Apollo.io's more data-heavy layout.

lemlist vs. Apollo.io: How they match up

We compared lemlist vs. Apollo and put both tools to the test, here’s the most important findings:

1. Advanced Personalization Features: lemlist's ability to include dynamic content like personalized images and videos in emails is something that Apollo doesn't offer. This feature can significantly increase engagement rates in email campaigns.
2. Simpler User Experience: For users who prioritize ease of use and a straightforward interface, lemlist is often considered more user-friendly than Apollo.
3. Focused on Email Outreach: While Apollow io offers a broader range of tools, including lead generation and CRM integration, lemlist focuses specifically on email outreach, making it a more specialized tool in this area.
4. Cost-Effectiveness: In terms of pricing, lemlist can be more affordable, especially for small businesses or individual users who need advanced email outreach capabilities without the extensive lead generation features of Apollo.io.

lemlist stands out as a strong alternative to Apollo.io, particularly for users looking for advanced email outreach personalization and a more straightforward, user-friendly interface.  

Apollo is comprehensive in its lead generation and outreach tools, lemlist offers a more focused and innovative approach to email campaigns, making it an attractive option for those who prioritize engagement and personalization in their outreach efforts.

For users weighing their options, considering the specific needs of their email outreach strategies is key in choosing between these two powerful tools.