Apollo vs ZoomInfo: 2025 Comparison Guide

If you’re building out a sales stack right now, you’ve probably hit the same question everyone does: Apollo or ZoomInfo? It’s the classic David versus Goliath story in the B2B data world, and honestly, both tools can be the right answer depending on what you’re actually trying to accomplish.

I’ve spent time with both platforms, talked to dozens of sales teams using each, and watched companies switch from one to the other (sometimes back again). Here’s what you actually need to know to make the right choice for your team.

Quick Comparison

Understanding What You’re Actually Buying

Let’s start with the basics, because these platforms come from different philosophies about what a sales tool should do.

Apollo launched in 2015 with a simple mission: give growing companies access to the same data that enterprise teams have, but at a price point they can actually afford. They’ve built an all-in-one platform that combines contact data with the actual tools you need to reach out to people - email sequences, a dialer, LinkedIn automation, the works. Think of it as your data provider and outreach platform rolled into one.

ZoomInfo has been around since 2000 and has basically become the gold standard for enterprise B2B data. They’ve spent two decades building the most comprehensive contact database in the market, acquiring companies, and perfecting their data collection methods. Their focus is laser-sharp: provide the deepest, most accurate data possible. Outreach? That’s what integrations are for.

This fundamental difference shapes everything else about these tools.

The Database Showdown

Let’s talk numbers, because that’s what matters when you’re trying to find the VP of Marketing at a company you want to sell to.

ZoomInfo has the larger database - over 300 million contacts and 100 million companies. Apollo clocks in at 275 million contacts and 60 million companies. On paper, ZoomInfo wins. But here’s the thing: the size difference often doesn’t matter as much as you’d think for most use cases.

What really matters is whether they have the specific contacts you need. If you’re selling to enterprise companies in North America, both platforms will have solid coverage. If you’re targeting mid-market SaaS companies, Apollo often has better coverage because they’ve been aggressive about collecting data in that segment. If you need international contacts, especially in Europe or Asia, ZoomInfo generally has the edge.

The accuracy gap has narrowed significantly. Apollo delivers 85-90% email accuracy, while ZoomInfo is typically in the 90-95% range. A few years ago, that gap was much wider. Today, for most practical purposes, both are good enough that you’ll spend more time on your messaging than dealing with bounces.

Where ZoomInfo really pulls ahead is direct dial coverage. They’ve invested heavily in phone data, and it shows. Their direct dial hit rate is noticeably better, and they have significantly more mobile numbers. If your sales motion relies on cold calling, that matters a lot.

Data Depth and Detail

Here’s where the enterprise DNA of ZoomInfo really shows up. Both platforms give you the basics - name, email, title, company information. But ZoomInfo goes several layers deeper.

Their company data is remarkably detailed. You’re not just getting “500-1000 employees” - you’re getting precise headcount, often down to the department level. Revenue figures are verified, not estimated. They track every office location, not just headquarters. Their technographic data is comprehensive enough to tell you not just that a company uses Salesforce, but which modules and when they started.

Apollo provides solid company data that covers what most teams need - industry, employee count, revenue estimates, location, funding information, and basic technology stack. For most SMB and mid-market sales motions, that’s plenty.

The org chart feature is where ZoomInfo really shines for enterprise sellers. You can map out reporting structures, understand who reports to whom, and navigate complex organizational hierarchies. If you’re doing strategic account selling where you need to understand the entire buying committee, this is invaluable. Apollo doesn’t offer this depth of organizational mapping.

Intent Data: The Game Changer (Maybe)

This is the feature that ZoomInfo sales reps lead with, and for good reason - when it works, it’s incredibly powerful.

ZoomInfo’s intent data tells you which companies are actively researching topics related to your product. They track billions of online signals - content consumption, search behavior, technology research - and score companies based on their buying intent. If you sell marketing automation software and ZoomInfo tells you that Company X has been heavily researching marketing automation for the past two weeks, that’s a warm lead worth prioritizing.

Their intent data integrates with Bidstream, giving them visibility into companies researching across thousands of B2B sites. They offer topic-based intent, predictive scoring, and surge alerts when a company’s research activity spikes.

Apollo offers basic intent signals - job changes, funding announcements, company news - which are useful but nowhere near as comprehensive. Think of it as intent-lite: better than nothing, but not the sophisticated buying signal engine that ZoomInfo provides.

Here’s the catch: intent data is only valuable if you know how to use it and have the sales capacity to act on it quickly. I’ve seen companies pay for ZoomInfo’s intent data and barely use it because their sales team was too busy with existing pipeline. Don’t pay for capabilities you won’t actually leverage.

The Outreach Tool Difference

This is where Apollo completely flips the script.

Apollo includes a full sales engagement platform as part of the core product. You can build email sequences, make calls through their dialer, automate LinkedIn connection requests and messages, manage tasks, and track everything in their built-in CRM. For a small or growing sales team, this is huge because you’re not juggling multiple tools and paying for multiple subscriptions.

Their email sequencer is straightforward and works well for basic nurture campaigns. The dialer gets the job done. The LinkedIn automation walks the line of LinkedIn’s terms of service (like all such tools do). It’s not as sophisticated as dedicated tools like Outreach or Salesloft, but for many teams, it’s more than adequate.

ZoomInfo takes the opposite approach. They offer Engage as an add-on product at extra cost, but their core competency is data, not outreach. Most enterprise teams using ZoomInfo integrate it with dedicated sales engagement platforms. They push data to Outreach, Salesloft, or Salesforce, and run their outreach from there.

This creates a meaningful total cost of ownership difference. With Apollo, you might be paying $99 per user per month and you’re done. With ZoomInfo, you’re paying for ZoomInfo plus your outreach tool plus your CRM - the costs add up quickly.

The Pricing Reality Check

Let’s talk about what these tools actually cost, because this is often the deciding factor.

Apollo’s pricing is transparent and starts low. Their credit system means you pay per contact you reveal, which can be limiting if you export large lists, but for most teams, the Professional plan at $99 per month gives you plenty of runway.

ZoomInfo doesn’t publish pricing, which tells you everything you need to know about their market. Based on conversations with dozens of companies using it, expect to pay $15,000 to $25,000 annually for Professional, $25,000 to $40,000 for Advanced, and $40,000+ for Elite packages. Multi-user teams often see quotes in the $50,000 to $100,000 range, especially when adding features like intent data and org charts.

Let’s make this concrete. A five-person sales team using Apollo Professional would pay about $5,940 per year. That same team on ZoomInfo Professional would typically pay $20,000 to $30,000 per year, and that’s before adding any engagement tools.

ZoomInfo also typically requires annual contracts, while Apollo offers monthly billing. That flexibility matters when you’re testing a new tool or have seasonal sales cycles.

Real-World Use Cases

I’ve seen this decision play out dozens of times. Here are the patterns that emerge.

A typical Apollo customer is a Series A SaaS company with a team of five AEs selling to mid-market companies. They need good data, they need to move fast, and they have a limited budget. Apollo gives them everything they need in one platform - they can find contacts, verify emails, and start outreach within minutes. The data is good enough that their bounce rates stay reasonable, and the built-in sequencer means they’re not paying for another tool.

A typical ZoomInfo customer is an enterprise software company with 50 sales reps selling $100K+ deals with 6-month sales cycles. They need to map out buying committees, understand organizational structures, and identify accounts showing buying signals. The sales ops team integrates ZoomInfo with Salesforce and Outreach, creating a sophisticated tech stack where each tool does one thing extremely well.

But here’s what’s changed recently: more mid-sized companies are choosing Apollo even when they could afford ZoomInfo. Why? Because ZoomInfo’s advantages (deeper data, org charts, intent signals) don’t always translate into enough additional revenue to justify the 3-5x price difference. Apollo has gotten good enough that the incremental value of ZoomInfo isn’t worth it for many sales motions.

Integration Ecosystem

Both platforms play nicely with the major CRMs and sales tools you’re probably already using.

Apollo integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Outreach, Salesloft, and most major CRMs. The integrations are solid and let you push contacts directly into your CRM or sales engagement platform. Because Apollo has its own engagement features, many teams use it as a standalone tool and just sync deals back to their CRM.

ZoomInfo has deep, sophisticated integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, and every major sales engagement platform. Their Salesforce integration is particularly robust, with features like automatic contact updates, organizational charts visible in Salesforce, and intent signals surfaced right in your CRM records. With 100+ integrations, they’ve built ZoomInfo to slot into complex enterprise tech stacks.

For most teams, both options will integrate with what you’re using. The difference is that ZoomInfo assumes you’re building a best-of-breed stack, while Apollo assumes they might be your primary tool.

Making Your Decision

Choose Apollo if your sales team is under 20 people, you’re selling to SMBs or mid-market companies, your annual data budget is under $15,000, you want outreach tools included, you need monthly contract flexibility, or you’re a startup moving fast and watching every dollar.

Choose ZoomInfo if you’re selling to enterprise customers, you have complex sales cycles requiring account mapping, intent data would significantly impact your pipeline, you have budget for a comprehensive sales tech stack ($30,000+ annually), you need the absolute deepest data available, or you’re managing a large sales team where incremental data accuracy improvements generate meaningful revenue.

There’s also a hybrid approach that some companies use: Apollo for volume prospecting and top-of-funnel work, ZoomInfo for strategic accounts and enterprise deals. Use Apollo to fill your pipeline with good leads, then leverage ZoomInfo’s deeper data for your most important opportunities.

What About Alternatives?

If Apollo feels too expensive for your early-stage startup, consider Hunter.io for email finding, Snov.io as a budget option, or Lead411 as a mid-tier alternative.

If ZoomInfo is out of reach but you need better data than Apollo, look at Cognism (especially strong for European data), Lusha (simpler and cheaper), or Kaspr (good for LinkedIn prospecting).

For specialized needs, Clearbit offers API-first enrichment that’s perfect for product-led growth motions, Bombora provides standalone intent data, and BuiltWith focuses specifically on technographic intelligence.

The Bottom Line

The Apollo versus ZoomInfo debate isn’t really about which tool is “better” - it’s about which tool matches your sales motion, budget, and team size.

Apollo has democratized access to B2B data. For $99 per month, you get access to contact information that would have cost tens of thousands of dollars a few years ago, plus the tools to actually reach those contacts. For most growing companies, that’s the right choice.

ZoomInfo remains the enterprise standard for a reason. Their data is more comprehensive, their features are more sophisticated, and for companies doing complex B2B sales, that depth matters. If you can afford it and will use the advanced features, it’s worth the investment.

The good news? Both tools offer trials. Test them with your actual use case, with your actual target accounts, and see which one gives you the results you need. Your CFO will thank you for making a data-driven decision about your data provider.

Key Takeaways

Here’s what you need to remember when choosing between these platforms:

Apollo costs $49-99 per user per month with monthly contracts available, while ZoomInfo typically starts at $15,000+ per year with annual commitments. The price difference is substantial and often the deciding factor for smaller teams.

Database sizes are comparable, with Apollo offering 275M+ contacts and ZoomInfo providing 300M+ contacts. Both cover most use cases adequately, though ZoomInfo has stronger international coverage.

Apollo includes built-in outreach tools (sequencer, dialer, LinkedIn automation) as part of the core product. ZoomInfo is data-focused and requires separate tools or add-ons for outreach capabilities.

ZoomInfo leads significantly in intent data and organizational mapping. If you need to identify companies actively researching solutions or map complex org charts, ZoomInfo’s capabilities are substantially better.

For value-focused decisions, Apollo wins by providing good-enough data with outreach tools at a fraction of the cost. For depth-focused decisions, ZoomInfo wins with the largest database, best accuracy, and most comprehensive features.

Most SMBs, startups, and mid-market sales teams will find Apollo provides everything they need. Enterprise teams selling complex, high-value deals will benefit from ZoomInfo’s additional capabilities if budget allows.

Ready to Build Your Sales Stack?

Choosing the right data tool is just one piece of building an effective sales engine. We’ve helped dozens of companies optimize their sales tech stacks and prospecting strategies using both Apollo and ZoomInfo.

If you want personalized guidance on which platform makes sense for your specific situation - or help getting the most value from whichever tool you choose - book a call with our team. We’ll review your sales process, target market, and budget to recommend the right approach for your business.