Apollo vs Lusha: Data, Pricing, and Features Compared

Apollo.io is a full-stack sales platform that bundles a 210M+ contact database with email sequences, a built-in dialer, deal tracking, workflow automation, and CRM integrations. It is designed to be the single tool a sales team uses for prospecting, outreach, and pipeline management.

I tested Apollo's Professional plan for several months. The database is genuinely impressive, with strong coverage across US and European contacts. The sequencing engine is solid, and having prospecting and outreach in one tool reduces context switching. The Chrome extension works well on LinkedIn and company websites.

The challenge is pricing. Apollo charges per seat: $49/user/mo on Basic, $79/user/mo on Professional, and $119/user/mo on Organization. All paid plans require annual billing. A 5-person team on Professional pays $4,740/year, and that is before you factor in credit overages. Phone numbers cost 8 credits each, which adds up quickly for cold-calling teams.

Apollo also tries to do everything, which means no single feature is best-in-class. The enrichment layer is good but not great. The sequencing engine works but is not as powerful as dedicated tools like Instantly or Lemlist. The CRM is basic compared to Salesforce or HubSpot.

Lusha takes a different approach. Instead of building an all-in-one platform, Lusha focuses on speed: one click on a LinkedIn profile or company website reveals verified email and phone data instantly. The Chrome extension is Lusha's core product, and it is one of the fastest in the market.

In my testing, Lusha's phone data was surprisingly good, particularly for US and European contacts. The Chrome extension integrates directly with LinkedIn and Sales Navigator, making it natural for reps who live in LinkedIn. Direct Salesforce integration lets reps enrich CRM records without leaving their workflow.

The downsides mirror Apollo's pricing model. Lusha charges per seat: Pro at $49/user/mo (480 credits) and Premium at $79/user/mo (960 credits). A 5-person team on Pro pays $2,940/year. Credits are shared across email and phone lookups, so heavy phone usage burns through credits fast.

Lusha also has significant feature gaps. There is no email validation, no reverse email lookup, no company enrichment beyond basic firmographics, no waterfall enrichment, and no API-first workflows. The bulk processing capabilities are limited compared to API-first tools. If you need more than quick LinkedIn lookups, Lusha runs out of depth quickly.

Apollo and Lusha overlap on contact data but differ on everything else.

Database size: Apollo's 210M+ contacts is roughly double Lusha's 100M+. In my testing, Apollo found more contacts in niche industries and smaller companies. Lusha had better phone number coverage for the contacts it did find.

Feature depth: Apollo is a platform; Lusha is a tool. Apollo includes sequences, a dialer, deal tracking, and a basic CRM. Lusha is essentially a Chrome extension with a contact database behind it. If you need an all-in-one solution, Apollo wins. If you just need quick contact lookups from LinkedIn, Lusha is faster and simpler.

Pricing at scale: Both use per-seat pricing, which means costs scale with your team rather than your usage. A 10-person team on Apollo Professional pays $9,480/year. The same team on Lusha Pro pays $5,880/year. In both cases, you are paying for seats whether those users do 10 lookups or 10,000.

Enrichment depth: Neither offers reverse email lookup, waterfall enrichment, or MCP server support. Apollo's enrichment is broader (company data, technographics via the platform) but still misses key endpoints. Lusha's enrichment is shallow beyond email and phone.

The per-seat problem: This is the fundamental issue with both tools. Per-seat pricing punishes growing teams. Adding a new SDR costs $79 to $119/mo on Apollo or $49 to $79/mo on Lusha, regardless of how many lookups that person runs. Credit-based pricing (pay for usage, not users) is a more efficient model for teams that care about unit economics.

Enrich solves the per-seat pricing problem entirely. Instead of paying per user, your whole team shares a credit pool. The Growth Pack is $49/mo for 100K credits. No seat limits, no annual contracts.

Let me put that in perspective. A 5-person team on Apollo Professional pays $4,740/year for access to a shared contact database. A 5-person team on Lusha Pro pays $2,940/year for Chrome extension lookups. A 5-person team on Enrich pays $588/year for 100K credits per month, and every team member has full access.

What Enrich adds that Apollo and Lusha lack:

• Reverse Email Lookup (10 credits): Input an email, get back the complete person and company profile. Neither Apollo nor Lusha offers this.
• Email Validation (1 credit): Verify deliverability with SMTP checks, catch-all detection, and disposable email identification. Lusha does not offer this.
• Waterfall Enrichment (1 credit/record): Multi-source cascading lookups with ICP scoring from 0 to 100. Neither competitor offers this.
• Lead Finder (300M+ contacts, 100+ filters): A larger database than both Apollo and Lusha, with technographic, funding, hiring signal, and traffic data filters.
• People Search (1 credit/person): Find employees at any company by LinkedIn URL, filtered by job level, function, and geography.
• MCP Server: Connect to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and VS Code for AI-powered enrichment workflows.

Enrich is not trying to replace Apollo's sequences or Lusha's Chrome extension. It replaces the enrichment layer underneath, delivering better data at a fraction of the per-seat cost. Use Enrich for data, then feed that data into your outreach tool of choice.

Apollo is the right choice if you need a single platform for prospecting, sequencing, calling, and pipeline management, and you are willing to pay per seat for that convenience. Lusha is the right choice if your reps live in LinkedIn and need the fastest possible Chrome extension for one-click contact lookups.

But if what you actually need is the data enrichment layer, both tools charge too much for too little. Enrich delivers match rates above 94%, a 300M+ contact database, full-stack enrichment (email + phone + reverse lookup + waterfall + lead finder + people search), and MCP server support for $49/mo with no per-seat fees.

Start with 100 free credits at dash.enrich.so to compare the data quality. No credit card, no sales call, no commitment.