As a marketer or sales professional, having access to accurate B2B contact data is essential for running effective outreach campaigns and filling your pipeline with qualified leads. Two of the top providers in this space are Clearbit and Apollo. But which one is the best fit for your specific needs and budget?
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll do a deep dive on Clearbit vs Apollo, comparing their key features, data quality, integrations, pricing and more. By the end, you’ll have all the information you need to make a confident decision about which B2B data solution is right for you.
Why Quality B2B Data Matters
Before we jump into comparing providers, it’s important to understand why having high-quality B2B data is so crucial in the first place. Consider these statistics:
- Bad data costs organizations an average of $12.9 million per year. (Gartner)
- Up to 30% of B2B database contacts contain critical errors. (Dun & Bradstreet)
- Every year 25-33% of email addresses become outdated. (HubSpot)
Poor quality data leads to bounced emails, wasted efforts reaching out to the wrong people, and ultimately missed sales opportunities. On the flip side, good data allows you to:
- Personalize outreach at scale
- Better segment and target ideal buyers
- Prioritize accounts more likely to convert
- Enrich existing database with fresh intel
- Route leads to the right salespeople
With the stakes so high, choosing a data provider you can trust is paramount. So how do Clearbit and Apollo stack up? Let’s find out.
Clearbit Overview
Clearbit is a marketing data engine that provides real-time intelligence on prospects and customers. Their database covers over 44 million companies and 395 million contacts. Key features include:
- Data Enrichment: Clearbit can enrich any email or domain with 100+ firmographic and demographic data points like job title, location, company size, tech stack and more. Leads are automatically refreshed to ensure data stays current.
- Website Visitor ID: Clearbit reveals anonymous website visitors, capturing behavioral data for better lead scoring, segmentation and marketing personalization.
- Prospector: Build targeted lead lists based on your ideal customer profile. Get contact info for decision makers instantly.
- Integrations: Clearbit integrates with popular CRMs, marketing automation, and analytics tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo, Segment and more.
Clearbit is a strong contender, but it’s not the only option. Check out our roundup of the top Clearbit alternatives to explore more solutions.
Apollo Overview
Apollo is an all-in-one sales intelligence and engagement platform to help go-to-market teams connect with their most valuable buyers. Their database spans 200+ million contacts and 60 million companies. Top capabilities include:
- Lead Enrichment: Automatically fill in missing details on contacts and accounts like direct dials, verified emails, job seniority, tech install base, intent signals and more.
- Sales Engagement: Build multi-channel sequences combining email, phone, social touches. Call prospects directly through the Apollo dialer.
- Chrome Extension: Get contextual prospect data as you browse LinkedIn or company websites. Add contacts to sequences or export in a click.
- Scoring & Routing: Use AI-based scoring to identify your best leads. Route hot prospects to sales reps instantly based on custom criteria.
Apollo is powerful, but you may want to explore Apollo.io alternatives to find the perfect fit for your team. For a head-to-head look at two top providers, see our comparison of ZoomInfo vs Apollo.
Clearbit vs Apollo: Data Quality Comparison
Now let’s examine how Clearbit and Apollo compare in perhaps the most important area – the accuracy and breadth of their underlying data. Here’s how the two providers measure up:
Clearbit
- 98%+ data accuracy
- 100+ company and person data points
- Verified contact data via automated email verification
- Backed by data partnerships with Zoominfo and others
- GDPR & CCPA compliant
Apollo
- 90%+ direct dial accuracy
- 96%+ email validity
- 200+ data points
- Data re-verified every 90 days
- Proprietary data aggregation across dozens of sources
- GDPR & CCPA compliant
Both providers stake their reputations on having extremely accurate, reliable data drawn from both public and private sources. Apollo emphasizes the accuracy of their direct dial phone numbers, a key advantage for sales teams looking to connect with prospects live.
Clearbit doesn’t provide phone data, but offers a wider breadth of firmographic and technographic data points to fuel precision targeting and personalization. Ultimately, both databases are best-in-class. Your specific use case may make one provider more suitable. For a deeper look at how Clearbit compares to another leading provider, see our post on Clearbit vs ZoomInfo.
Integration Comparison
Another key consideration is how well Clearbit and Apollo integrate with your existing sales and marketing tech stack. Native integrations allow data to flow seamlessly between systems, empowering your revenue efforts.
Popular Clearbit Integrations:
- Salesforce
- HubSpot
- Marketo
- Segment
- Intercom
- Google Analytics
- Slack
- Zapier
Popular Apollo Integrations:
- Salesforce
- HubSpot
- Outreach
- Salesloft
- Slack
- Sendoso
- Gong
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator
While there is considerable overlap, a notable difference is Apollo’s focus on integrating with sales engagement platforms like Outreach and Salesloft. This allows sales reps to weave Apollo intelligence directly into their multi-channel outreach campaigns.
If your team relies heavily on one of these platforms, Apollo may provide a more seamless experience. To see how Apollo compares to another sales engagement leader, check out our post on Apollo vs RocketReach.
However, both Apollo and Clearbit offer extensive integration possibilities through direct API access and intermediaries like Zapier or custom development. So with some configuration, either provider can likely connect to your key systems.
User Experience & Ease-of-Use
To get the most out of your investment in a data intelligence solution, it needs to be intuitive and frictionless for your team to use day-to-day. Here’s how Clearbit and Apollo compare on user experience:
Clearbit
- Modern, clean interface
- Powerful search and filtering capabilities
- Convenient data refresh and re-upload tools
- Hands-on customer support and onboarding
- Robust documentation and developer resources
Apollo
- Consolidated platform for prospecting, enrichment, and outreach
- Chrome extension for on-the-go data as you browse
- Handy lead list building and management
- Robust activity logging and analytics
- Live chat support
From an ease-of-use perspective, both Clearbit and Apollo earn high marks from users. Clearbit’s core strength is its simplicity – the platform makes it easy to find and enrich prospect data without a big learning curve. Documentation is clear and customer support is consistently praised.
Apollo provides a more expansive feature set spanning the entire sales development process. While this makes the platform extremely powerful, some users note that it can take time to fully learn the system.
However, Apollo’s Chrome extension is a favorite for its ability to surface actionable data in just a click while sales reps prospect. For a comparison of Apollo to another well-regarded sales intelligence tool, see our post on Cognism vs Apollo.
Plans & Pricing Comparison
Of course, a major factor in any buying decision is budget. Here’s a snapshot of how Clearbit and Apollo’s pricing and packages compare:
Clearbit Pricing
- Free: Access to basic enrichment credits and features
- Growth: Starting at $99/month for startups
- Business: Custom pricing for larger data needs
- Enterprise: Custom pricing for high-volume and API usage
Apollo Pricing
- Starter: $59/user/month for basic prospecting
- Professional: $99/user/month for advanced features
- Enterprise: Custom pricing for larger teams and high-volume usage
Both providers offer a free option to get a taste of their data, as well as custom plans for larger organizations with high-volume needs. Clearbit’s free tier is more generous, including 100 company enrichment credits per month.
For growing teams, Apollo’s $59/seat starter plan provides an affordable entry point, but with some feature limitations. Clearbit’s $99/month growth plan is great for early-stage startups but requires an application and only includes data for 1 user.
Pricing between the two is most comparable at the business/professional tier and up, where both providers create custom packages scoped to your specific data requirements and use case. Enterprise plans also include premium offerings like dedicated account management, custom data tracking, and SLAs.
One notable difference is that Apollo charges per-seat, while Clearbit charges based primarily on data usage. If you have a large team needing hands-on access to data, Clearbit’s pricing model may be more cost-effective. However, Apollo’s user-based model can be advantageous if you have a lean team with high data needs.
The best way to determine which provider fits your budget is to estimate your monthly contact and company data needs, and request a custom quote from each.
Key Takeaways
Clearbit and Apollo are both powerful B2B data solutions with a track record of fueling growth for thousands of companies. To summarize how they stack up:
Clearbit Advantages
- Extremely high data accuracy and coverage
- Simpler, more intuitive platform
- Robust website visitor identification
- Flexible, usage-based pricing model
- Extensive integration options
Apollo Advantages
- Consolidated prospecting, enrichment, and outreach
- Highly accurate direct dial phone data
- Handy Chrome extension for on-the-go data
- AI-powered lead scoring & routing tools
- User-friendly lead list building
Ultimately, both platforms provide best-in-class data that can supercharge your sales and marketing efforts. If your primary need is data enrichment, Clearbit’s platform is hard to beat. If you’re looking for a consolidated platform to handle the end-to-end sales development process, Apollo may be a better fit.
The best way to evaluate Clearbit vs Apollo for your needs is to take advantage of their free options, pilot each system with a small team, and closely compare data quality, integrations, and ease-of-use. No matter which you choose, upgrading your B2B data will have a measurable impact on revenue performance.
FAQs
- How accurate is Clearbit and Apollo’s data?
Both providers promise extremely accurate data, with Clearbit advertising 98%+ accuracy and Apollo promoting 90%+ direct dial accuracy and 96%+ email validity. However, no database is perfect, so it’s important to regularly clean and re-verify data.
- Do Clearbit and Apollo offer direct dials?
Apollo places a strong emphasis on providing accurate direct dial phone numbers for contacts, which can be a major advantage for sales teams. Clearbit does not offer phone data currently.
- How often is data refreshed?
Clearbit and Apollo both use automated processes to regularly refresh their contact databases. Apollo re-verifies data every 90 days, while Clearbit updates data in real-time as they detect changes. Both providers also offer convenient tools for manually refreshing and re-uploading lists.
- What is Clearbit’s Reveal and how does it work?
Clearbit Reveal is a powerful tool for uncovering the identities of anonymous website visitors. It captures visitor IP addresses and matches them to Clearbit’s company database, providing actionable firmographic data in your CRM or other systems. Many customers use Reveal to personalize their marketing and identify hot inbound prospects for sales outreach.
- Does Apollo offer a Chrome extension?
Yes, Apollo offers a robust Chrome extension designed to help sales reps prospect more efficiently. When browsing LinkedIn or company websites, the extension surfaces contact data, account insights, and actionable sales intelligence. You can also add contacts to lists or sequences directly from the extension.
- What is the pricing difference between Clearbit and Apollo?
Clearbit’s pricing is primarily usage-based, with plans starting at $99/month for limited access and scaling up based on data needs. Apollo starts at $49/user/month for basic access and goes up to $99/user/month for advanced features. Both providers offer custom enterprise plans for high-volume needs. Comparing exact pricing requires scoping your specific data requirements and use case with each sales team.
- Which CRMs and platforms do Clearbit and Apollo integrate with?
Clearbit and Apollo both integrate with popular CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot. They also offer direct integrations for many marketing automation, sales engagement, and analytics platforms like Marketo, Outreach, and Slack. Apollo has a particularly strong focus on sales engagement integrations. However, both providers offer API access and intermediaries like Zapier to cover additional integration needs.
- How long does it take to onboard and learn each system?
Both Clearbit and Apollo are praised by users for their intuitive, modern interfaces. Many users can get value from the tools within minutes. However, Apollo has a wider set of features across prospecting, enrichment, and outreach, which can take more time to fully learn. Clearbit’s platform is more streamlined around core enrichment use cases. Both providers offer extensive onboarding support and knowledge resources.
