Apollo.io or Outreach: which should you choose?
Apollo.io vs Outreach compares a self-serve prospecting platform with an enterprise revenue platform. Choose Apollo.io for built-in contact data and published per-user plans, from a free plan. Choose Outreach for engagement, conversation intelligence, deal management and forecasting, quoted per user with AI credits.
Choose Apollo.io if…
- You want contact data and outreach in one tool: Apollo.io says it has "240M+ contacts and 30M+ accounts", and its Basic plan "Includes email sequencing and core integrations".
- You want to start without a sales call: Apollo.io lists a Free plan, and its September 2026 plan guide puts Basic at $49 per user per month billed annually and Professional at $79 per user per month.
- You want an AI assistant included for now: Apollo.io's AI Assistant is "currently free as an introductory offer on Basic, Pro, and Org plans", and free plans get up to 5 chats.
- Your budget is smaller: Vendr's median Apollo.io contract is $19,000 a year (101 purchases, February 2026), against $45,600 for Outreach.
Choose Outreach if…
- You want forecasting and deal management beside engagement: Outreach lists Sales Forecasting, Pipeline and Deal Management and Deal Insights on its platform, with forecasting features in Amplify Pro.
- You want conversation intelligence from the same vendor: Outreach's Kaia joins and records meetings with real-time transcription, Real-time Assist content cards and translations.
- You want to share plans with buyers: Mutual Action Plans (Success Plans) hold documents, recorded demos, success criteria and next steps, and show who on the buying committee opened them.
- Your security review asks about AI governance or HIPAA: Outreach's trust page lists ISO 42001 and HIPAA alongside SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27701 and CSA STAR.
Apollo.io vs Outreach at a glance
| Apollo.io | Outreach | |
|---|---|---|
| Positioning | Calls itself "the AI sales platform rebuilt as one connected AI GTM system", with data, intelligence and execution layers, under the headline "Grow revenue with one connected GTM system" (Apollo.io). | Calls itself the "Agentic AI Platform for Revenue Teams" and "the only revenue orchestration platform" for prospecting, deals, forecasting, coaching and account expansion (Outreach). |
| Core modules | Apollo Data Access, Workspace, Apollo Anywhere and Builder Studio, with waterfall enrichment, deliverability, a Chrome extension, Parallel Dialer, AI Assistant, Apollo MCP and integrations; email sequencing listed on Basic. | Sales Engagement, Pipeline and Deal Management, Deal Insights, Mutual Action Plans (Success Plans), Sales Forecasting, Conversation Intelligence (Kaia), Rep Coaching and Account Management; no sales content management or digital sales rooms listed. |
| AI and agents | AI Assistant, launched 4 March 2026, runs natural-language, full-funnel workflows with a human in the loop; free as an introductory offer on Basic, Pro and Org plans; free plans get up to 5 chats. | AI Agents including Omni, Research, Revenue, Deal, Personalization and Meeting Prep Agents, Agent Studio for workflows, Kaia meeting AI, and Outreach MCP (server and client) for Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot; Reply Agent "coming soon". |
| Pricing model | Free, Basic, Professional and Custom plans with team-pooled credits; Apollo's 17 September 2026 plan guide lists Basic at $49/user/month billed annually and Professional at $79/user/month (pricing). | Quote-based "per user pricing" with "no platform fees", plus AI credits; Amplify Essentials, Core, Plus and Pro packages (10,000 to 100,000 credits); no prices on its pricing page. Its AWS Marketplace listing shows one 12-month "Orchestrate (50 seats)" contract at $108,000, a name not among the Amplify packages, with no listing date. |
| Third-party price data | Vendr median $19,000 a year; range $4,284 to $45,000; 101 purchases; last updated February 2026 (the page header shows 87 deals handled). | Vendr median $45,600 a year; range $8,660 to $215,400; 919 purchases; February 2026 (a header on the same page shows 545 "Deals handled"). |
| Analyst recognition | No analyst evaluation found on the Apollo.io pages opened. | Outreach says it was named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Revenue Action Orchestration (second year), The Forrester Wave: Revenue Orchestration Platforms for B2B, Q3 2026 and the 2026 IDC MarketScape for Worldwide Unified Revenue Orchestration Platforms; none is a revenue enablement evaluation. |
| Company status | Venture-backed: announced a $100M Series D led by Bain Capital Ventures at a $1.6B valuation on 29 August 2023, bringing total funding to about $250M (release). | Seattle-based and investor-backed, started in 2014; CEO Abhijit Mitra since September 2024; its About page cites $489M in funding, including a $200M Series G at a valuation of more than $4.4B (June 2021, Fenwick); no merger announcement found. |
| Best for | Sales teams, from founders to full-time reps, that want contact data, enrichment, sequencing, a dialer and an AI assistant in one self-serve platform, starting free. | Revenue teams that want engagement, conversation intelligence, deal management and forecasting on one agentic platform, priced per user with AI credits. |
What is the difference between Apollo.io and Outreach?
Apollo.io starts from data. It calls itself "the AI sales platform rebuilt as one connected AI GTM system" (Apollo.io), says it has "240M+ contacts and 30M+ accounts with trusted B2B data", and names Apollo Data Access, Workspace, Apollo Anywhere and Builder Studio, plus waterfall enrichment, deliverability tools, a Chrome extension, a Parallel Dialer, AI Assistant and Apollo MCP. A rep can find a contact, reveal an email or phone number with credits and add them to a sequence in the same tool.
Outreach starts from engagement and the deal. It calls itself the "Agentic AI Platform for Revenue Teams" and "the only revenue orchestration platform" for prospecting, deals, forecasting, coaching and account expansion (Outreach). Its platform covers sales engagement, pipeline and deal management, deal insights, mutual action plans, forecasting, conversation intelligence on its Kaia meeting AI, rep coaching and account management. Outreach does not list a contact database among those modules; its Revenue Agent finds high-intent accounts and new contacts, and its MCP client brings in data from tools such as ZoomInfo and Demandbase.
So the two often meet in the same stack rather than in a straight swap: teams use a data provider such as Apollo.io or ZoomInfo to find buyers and an engagement platform such as Outreach to work them. Apollo.io's pitch is that one platform can do both for teams that do not need enterprise forecasting and deal inspection.
How do Apollo.io and Outreach compare on sequencing, calls and forecasting?
Both sell multi-channel outreach. Apollo.io's pricing page describes Basic as for "Individual sellers doing regular outbound" with email sequencing, and Professional as for "Full-time reps needing higher credit limits, AI features, call recording, and advanced CRM integrations"; its plan guide says Professional "adds workflow automation, AI research, and a dialer". Outreach lists multi-channel sequencing in Amplify Core and above, and Amplify Essentials adds the Outreach Voice dialer, real-time transcription and meeting scheduling (Outreach pricing).
Outreach goes further into calls and coaching. Its conversation intelligence runs on Kaia, which joins and records live meetings with real-time transcription, Real-time Assist content cards, Kaia Translations, playlists, one-sided call recording and CRM sync, and its Rep Coaching adds custom topics, Smart Kaia Coach and coach card reports. Apollo.io lists call recording on Professional; the Apollo.io pages we checked do not describe a coaching module.
Forecasting is Outreach's alone here. Outreach builds Sales Forecasting into its platform and lists the forecasting features (AI Forecast Projection, a scenario planner, forecast rollups and trends, territory management, and multi-currency and parallel forecasts) in Amplify Pro, its top package. The Apollo.io pages we checked do not list forecasting or deal inspection.
Which AI features do Apollo.io and Outreach offer?
Apollo.io launched AI Assistant on 4 March 2026. It runs natural-language workflows across the funnel with a human-in-the-loop approach, is "currently free as an introductory offer on Basic, Pro, and Org plans", and free plans get up to 5 chats. AI research jobs still draw on credits.
Outreach's AI Agents page lists Outreach MCP and the Omni Agent as available now, alongside the Revenue, Research, Meeting Prep, Deal and Personalization Agents and Agent Studio, a visual canvas for building workflows that connect agents and triggers; a Reply Agent is marked "Coming soon". AI actions use the credits in each Amplify package.
Both connect to outside AI assistants: Apollo MCP on Apollo.io's homepage, and Outreach's full MCP suite, announced on 2 June 2026, with an MCP Server for Claude, Microsoft Copilot, Agentforce, ChatGPT and Codex and an MCP Client that brings in Seismic, Snowflake, Slack, ZoomInfo, Glean and Demandbase among others (Outreach).
How does Apollo.io pricing compare to Outreach pricing?
Apollo.io prices per user per month and publishes its plans. Its pricing page names Free, Basic, Professional and Custom, and its plan guide, dated 17 September 2026, says "Free costs $0, Basic runs $49/user/month billed annually, Professional is $79/user/month" and lists an Organization plan at $119 per user per month "with a 3-user minimum"; the pricing page now shows Custom in its place. Credits are "pooled across your entire team and granted upfront at the start of each billing cycle" and "do not roll over if unused" (Apollo.io pricing).
Outreach quotes. Its pricing page says "Per user pricing. No platform fees. Support included." AI use is metered in credits across four Amplify packages: Essentials with 10,000 AI credits, Core with 25,000, Plus with 50,000 and Pro with 100,000, each with a "Request pricing" button. The page states no list price, currency, billing period, minimum seat count, contract length or free trial.
The only dated contract data with sample sizes we found is Vendr's: a median Apollo.io contract of $19,000 a year, ranging from $4,284 to $45,000 (101 purchases, February 2026) (Vendr), and a median Outreach contract of $45,600 a year, ranging from $8,660 to $215,400 (919 purchases, February 2026) (Vendr). These are Vendr estimates, not vendor prices, and the two buy for different scopes, so compare quotes for the same users, products and term. The Apollo.io pricing and Outreach pricing guides go into more detail.
What do Apollo.io and Outreach say about security and ownership?
Apollo.io's homepage cites "Enterprise-grade security and certifications, including SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001" and says its agents have "built-in support for consent and opt-out rules". Outreach's trust page lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27701, ISO 42001, HIPAA and CSA STAR. These are the vendors' statements; whether your own use of contact data is lawful is a question for your privacy counsel.
Both are venture-backed. Apollo.io announced a $100 million Series D led by Bain Capital Ventures at a $1.6 billion valuation on 29 August 2023, bringing total funding to about $250 million (release). Outreach is headquartered in Seattle and cites $489M in funding (About Outreach); the latest round we found is a $200 million Series G in June 2021 at a valuation of more than $4.4 billion (Fenwick).
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, Apollo.io or Outreach?
Neither is better in general. Apollo.io suits teams that want contact data, sequencing and a dialer in one self-serve platform with published per-user plans and a free plan. Outreach suits revenue teams that want engagement, conversation intelligence, deal management and forecasting on one platform, bought by quote. Many teams pair a data provider with an engagement platform instead.
How much do Apollo.io and Outreach cost?
Apollo.io's September 2026 plan guide lists Free at $0, Basic at $49 per user per month billed annually and Professional at $79 per user per month. Outreach shows no prices; it prices per user with no platform fee, plus AI credits by Amplify package. Vendr reports median contracts of $19,000 a year for Apollo.io (101 purchases) and $45,600 for Outreach (919 purchases), both February 2026.
Does Outreach have its own contact database?
Outreach does not list a contact database among its platform modules. Its Revenue Agent finds high-intent accounts and new contacts, and its MCP client brings in data from tools such as ZoomInfo and Demandbase. Apollo.io, by contrast, says it has 240M+ contacts and 30M+ accounts built in.
Can Apollo.io replace Outreach?
For prospecting-led teams it can, since it combines contact data, sequencing, a dialer and call recording. Teams that rely on Outreach's forecasting, deal inspection, mutual action plans or Kaia conversation intelligence would need other tools for those, as the Apollo.io pages we checked do not list them.
Do Apollo.io and Outreach have a free plan or trial?
Apollo.io lists a Free plan for "Exploring Apollo or very light usage", and free plans get up to 5 AI Assistant chats. Outreach's pricing page states no free plan or free trial; each Amplify package has a "Request pricing" button.
Sources
All 24 sources were opened and checked by 2026-10-21. Vendor statements are paraphrased; figures belong to the source that published them.
- Apollo.io. Apollo.io homepage (Grow revenue with one connected GTM system). Checked 2026-10-21.
- Apollo.io. Apollo.io pricing. Checked 2026-10-21.
- Apollo.io. Apollo plan details: what you're really paying for. 2026-09-17; checked 2026-10-21.
- Apollo.io. Apollo launches AI Assistant, powering end-to-end agentic workflows in the first AI-native all-in-one GTM platform. 2026-03-04.
- Apollo.io via PR Newswire (CMSWire). Apollo.io secures $100 million Series D at $1.6B valuation to make world-class go-to-market accessible to all. 2023-08-29.
- Vendr. Apollo.io software pricing. Last updated February 2026; checked 2026-10-21.
- Outreach. Outreach homepage (Agentic AI Platform for Revenue Teams). Checked 2026-10-20.
- Outreach. What is Outreach? Agentic AI revenue platform overview. Checked 2026-10-20.
- Outreach. Outreach pricing (Amplify packages and AI credits). Checked 2026-10-20.
- Outreach. AI Agents for Revenue Teams. Checked 2026-10-20.
- Outreach. Mutual Action Plans (Success Plans). Checked 2026-10-20.
- Outreach. Sales Forecasting. Checked 2026-10-20.
- Outreach. Conversation Intelligence (Outreach Kaia). Checked 2026-10-20.
- Outreach. Rep Coaching. Checked 2026-10-20.
- Outreach. Outreach becomes the first agentic AI platform for revenue teams with full MCP suite (press release). 2026-06-02.
- Outreach. Outreach trust. Checked 2026-10-20.
- Outreach. About Outreach. Checked 2026-10-20.
- Fenwick. Fenwick represents Outreach in $200 million Series G financing. 2021-06-02.
- Vendr. Outreach software pricing. Last updated February 2026; checked 2026-10-20.
- AWS Marketplace (sold by Outreach). Outreach Sales Execution Platform listing. Checked 2026-10-20.
- Outreach. Outreach named as a Leader in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Revenue Action Orchestration for the second consecutive year (press release). 2026-10-15 (Magic Quadrant dated 2026-10-13).
- Outreach. Outreach named a Leader in the 2026 IDC MarketScape for Worldwide Unified Revenue Orchestration Platforms (press release). 2026-09-21.
- Outreach. Outreach named a Leader in the Forrester Wave for revenue orchestration (Q3 2026). 2026-09-24; modified 2026-10-05.
- Revspire. Revspire pricing (per module, unlimited user licenses). Checked 2026-10-15.
Last updated: