Choosing the right sales intelligence platform is crucial for B2B sales teams looking to streamline their prospecting efforts and close more deals. Two of the leading options on the market are Lusha and Apollo – but which one is the best fit for your specific needs and use cases?
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll dive deep into the key features, pros and cons, and differences between Lusha and Apollo. By the end, you’ll have all the information you need to confidently decide which platform is right for you and your sales team.
What are Lusha and Apollo?
Before we jump into comparing the two, let’s quickly define what Lusha and Apollo are and what they aim to accomplish for sales teams.
Overview of Lusha
Lusha is a B2B contact and company data platform that enables sales professionals to quickly find accurate contact information like email addresses, phone numbers, and background details on their leads. With its LinkedIn extension and integrations with popular CRMs, Lusha streamlines the process of enriching and actioning contact data for prospecting.
Some of Lusha’s key features include:
- Access to 100M+ business profiles with direct contact info
- Salesforce and other CRM integrations
- LinkedIn prospecting extension for fast research
- Contact data validation tools
- Simple browser extension for on-the-go prospecting
Overview of Apollo
Apollo is an all-in-one sales intelligence and engagement platform that pairs a robust contact database with tools for outreach, lead prioritization, and performance tracking. By combining prospecting and sales outreach capabilities, Apollo aims to be an end-to-end solution that takes teams from lead to deal.
Apollo’s core features include:
- Database of 200M+ contacts and 10M+ companies
- Lead scoring and sales engagement tools
- Automated and tracked email sequences
- Bi-directional Salesforce and other CRM integrations
- Reporting and analytics on team performance
While both Lusha and Apollo offer B2B contact data at their core, their overall feature sets and use cases have some key differences. Let’s explore those further.
Lusha vs Apollo: Key Differences
To help you better understand how Lusha and Apollo compare, we’ll break down the key differences across the areas that matter most, like core capabilities, user experience, data quality, and pricing.
Core Features and Functionality
One of the biggest differences between Lusha and Apollo is the breadth of features. Lusha is primarily focused on providing contact data for prospecting, with capabilities centered around finding, enriching and validating B2B contact information.
In contrast, Apollo couples its contact database with a fuller suite of sales engagement and enablement features. In addition to providing lead information, it also offers tools for:
- Email outreach and sequencing
- Task and activity logging
- Lead scoring and prioritization
- Analytics and reporting
- Meetings and calendar integrations
So while Lusha is more of a specialized tool for the prospecting stage, Apollo is designed to support the end-to-end sales workflow. This makes Apollo appealing for teams looking for an all-in-one platform, whereas Lusha is ideal if you just need contact data to fuel your existing sales stack.
Ease of Use and User Interface
Another factor to consider is the overall user experience and ease of use for each platform.
Lusha is known for its simplicity and intuitive interface that makes it easy to get up and running quickly. The browser extension allows for on-the-go prospecting as you browse LinkedIn or company websites. It puts key contact info at your fingertips without a ton of extra features or customization to worry about.
Apollo has a steeper learning curve due to its breadth of features, but offers a lot of flexibility for teams to optimize their workflows. Capabilities like email templating, lead scoring, tasks and logging activities come with more setup steps. But for teams looking to build a process around Apollo, it offers a lot of horsepower.
The UI of Apollo is clean and modern with customizable views, but some users report that the many features can feel overwhelming at first compared to Lusha’s straightforward contact-finding experience.
Integrations with Other Platforms
For teams with an existing tech stack, evaluating the integrations and interoperability of Lusha and Apollo with their CRM and sales tools is key.
Both Lusha and Apollo offer native integrations with Salesforce and other popular CRMs to enable seamless data syncing and embedded functionality. However, the implementation and bi-directionality of those integrations does vary:
- Lusha’s integrations are primarily focused on exporting contact and company data into your CRM. You can access and use Lusha’s data within the CRM, but there’s less flow of data back into Lusha.
- Apollo’s integrations with Salesforce and other CRMs tend to be more robustly bi-directional. Since Apollo offers engagement features like email sequences and tasks, it syncs that activity data back to the CRM as well.
Apollo also provides more flexibility to build custom integrations using its API and webhooks. For teams with unique needs or wanting to connect Apollo with their other sales or marketing tools, this opens up more possibilities compared to Lusha.
So if you just need to connect contact data with your CRM, both Lusha and Apollo have you covered. But if you’re looking for deeper CRM embedding and more integration flexibility, Apollo has the edge.
Contact Data Accuracy and Validation
At their core, both Lusha and Apollo are only as good as the quality of their underlying contact databases. So how do they stack up in terms of data accuracy and freshness?
Lusha’s data validation process is one of its standout features. It combines human verification with tools like email pattern matching to validate contact information before it’s provided to users. Lusha boasts high deliverability and accuracy rates as a result.
On an individual lead basis, Lusha is known for having more accurate emails and direct dials than many other data providers. Since it focuses solely on contact data, the quality is often a notch above more generalized platforms.
Apollo’s database is much larger in scale than Lusha’s – over 200 million contacts compared to around 100 million. But with that scale, Apollo relies more heavily on automated validation and its user community to flag outdated info, rather than the proactive verification Lusha performs.
Apollo’s data quality is still strong compared to other large-scale data platforms, but if you’re working with a more narrow list of leads, Lusha may have an accuracy edge. Apollo is better suited for wide net prospecting.
Both Lusha and Apollo also provide ways to assess contact data health, whether it’s Lusha’s health scores or Apollo’s algo that predicts email bounce rate. And both integrate with email verification tools for further validation.
Lead Management and Collaboration Tools
For teams collaborating on outreach and deal progression, having tools to easily share lead info, log activities, and align on next steps is hugely valuable. Here’s how Lusha and Apollo compare for lead management and team collaboration:
Lusha is fairly light on collaborative features, functioning more as a lookup tool for individual reps than a shared system of record. There aren’t native tools for assigning leads, leaving notes, or logging activities. The assumption is that you’ll sync key info to your CRM for collective visibility and next steps.
Apollo goes much further in providing a collaborative workspace for sales teams. With Apollo you can:
- Assign leads to specific reps
- Leave notes on contacts for your team to reference
- Log activities like calls and emails
- Create tasks for yourself or others on an account
- Get alerts when leads are viewed or actioned by another team member
So if you’re looking for a space to collaborate with your sales colleagues on accounts, Apollo provides more of that functionality natively than Lusha does. It aims to be the hub for not just contact info, but coordinated outreach and deal strategy.
Pricing and Value
Of course, a crucial factor in any platform decision is pricing and the value for your budget. Both Lusha and Apollo offer several tiered packages aimed at different team sizes and use cases.
Lusha’s pricing is more accessible for individuals and small teams, with plans starting at $98/month for 2 users. Its most popular “Pro” plan is $245/month for 5 users, with unlimited contact exports and extra CRM integrations. Lusha also offers an annual discount of 25%.
Apollo’s pricing offers a competitive entry point, starting at $59/month per user for the Basic plan, or $49/month per user with annual billing. This plan includes at least 10,000 email credits per month for the account. Apollo’s widely utilized ‘Professional’ plan begins at $99/month per user with monthly billing, or $79/month per user with annual billing, enriched with features like advanced reporting, unlimited email credits, and extensive sales engagement tools.
Apollo also provides add-on features for an extra cost, like automating contact list building and adding custom outreach stages to sequences. So costs can climb higher than Lusha depending on your Apollo features and number of reps.
Overall, Lusha tends to be the better value for smaller teams or individual reps who primarily need contact data to fuel their outreach. Apollo’s wider feature set makes it more compelling for teams that want to consolidate their tech stack and/or have more advanced requirements around automation and analytics.
But Lusha’s plans scale up more affordably, whereas costs rise steeply for large Apollo deployments. Evaluating which features are must-haves vs. nice-to-haves based on your team size and prospecting approach is key in comparing overall value.
Lusha Pros and Cons
To summarize, here are some of the biggest strengths and limitations of Lusha as a contact data and sales intelligence platform:
Advantages of Lusha
- High accuracy direct dials and email addresses for contacts
- Simple, intuitive browser extension for on-the-go prospecting
- Proactive contact data verification for higher deliverability
- Accessible pricing plans for individuals and small teams
- Integrations with key CRMs and LinkedIn for workflow efficiency
Disadvantages of Lusha
- Lacks tools for sales engagement and email automation
- Minimal collaboration features for team lead management
- Smaller overall database than some platforms (100M+ vs. 200M+)
- Fewer customization options for integrations and data management
- Focus primarily on contact data vs. company insights and trends
For more details on Lusha’s strengths and drawbacks, check out our full Lusha review. And for other options to consider alongside Lusha, explore these top Lusha alternatives.
Apollo Pros and Cons
On the flip side, here’s a high-level look at the main pros and cons of Apollo for B2B sales teams:
Advantages of Apollo
- End-to-end platform from prospecting to deal tracking
- Robust database with 200M+ contacts and 10M+ companies
- Engagement tools like email sequencing and task management
- Bi-directional Salesforce CRM integration for data continuity
- Collaborative environment for team visibility and handoffs
- Flexibility to build custom workflows with API and webhooks
Disadvantages of Apollo
- Higher learning curve with many features to onboard and adopt
- More expensive entry point, especially for larger teams
- Quantity of data prioritized over manual verification
- Many high-value features limited to expensive plans
- Compliance with GDPR and other regs requires oversight
For a deeper analysis of Apollo’s capabilities and considerations, see our in-depth Apollo.io review. You can also explore top-rated Apollo.io alternatives here.
Lusha vs Apollo: Which is Better?
Having explored the key differences and tradeoffs between Lusha and Apollo, hopefully you have a clearer sense of which platform aligns best to your needs. But to summarize, here are some common scenarios and priorities where each tool is likely the better choice:
Scenarios Where Lusha is the Best Choice
- Teams primarily focused on enriching lead data for outreach
- Individual sales reps who need fast, on-the-go contact info
- Orgs who value data accuracy and verification above all else
- Teams with limited budget and simple integration needs
- Users wanting an intuitive, instantly accessible platform
Scenarios Where Apollo is the Best Choice
- Teams looking to consolidate their sales tools and workflows
- Organizations with large-scale, multi-channel outreach needs
- Reps who require lead context and management features
- Leaders looking to track team activity and performance
- Orgs with complex Salesforce and other integration needs
Ultimately, the best platform for you depends on your specific sales process, stack, team structure, and growth goals. For straightforward contact finding, Lusha is hard to beat. But for holistic sales intelligence and engagement at scale, Apollo will provide more firepower.
Alternatives to Lusha and Apollo
While Lusha and Apollo are two of the category leaders, there are several other strong sales intelligence platforms on the market worth considering:
Other Sales Intelligence Platforms to Consider
- ZoomInfo – Comprehensive B2B database with 150M+ contacts used by many enterprises. Offers deep company insights and org chart features. See how it compares to Lusha and stacks up vs Apollo.
- Seamless.AI – Contact data provider with 100M+ prospects, AI search capabilities, and integrates with dialers for efficient outreach.
- DiscoverOrg – Focused on technographic and intent data to help identify accounts most likely to buy. Integrates with sales engagement platforms.
- RocketReach – High quality contact data and list building, with a Chrome extension for fast lookups while prospecting. Here’s how it compares to Lusha and Apollo.
- Cognism – Blends B2B contact data with sales engagement tools like dialer and email sequencing. See how it stacks up vs Lusha and Apollo.
- Clearbit – Data enrichment and validation platform to fill in key details on contacts and accounts in your existing CRM or database.
Each of these platforms brings a unique focus and set of capabilities, so it’s worth exploring them in depth to find the best fit for your lead generation and sales engagement needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
To round things out, here are answers to some of the most common questions and points of comparison between Lusha and Apollo:
Q: Which is more affordable for a small team – Lusha or Apollo?
A: In most cases, Lusha is more affordable for small teams, with plans starting at $99/month compared to Apollo’s $149/user per month. Lusha doesn’t charge by the user but rather tiers up the number of users with each progressively larger plan. So costs scale up slower than with Apollo’s per-user model.
Q: Is Lusha or Apollo better for data accuracy?
A: Both platforms offer high quality contact data, but Lusha has an edge when it comes to proactive human verification before contacts are surfaced to users. Apollo relies more on user feedback and algorithmic signals to validate data at scale, so some outdated contacts may slip through. But for general prospecting, both offer strong hit rates compared to other data providers.
Q: Can I use Apollo instead of my CRM?
A: Apollo does offer a lot of opportunity and deal management features, but it’s not a full-fledged CRM. Most teams use Apollo in conjunction with their CRM to get the best of both worlds – Apollo for streamlining outreach and logging activity, synced to their system of record CRM. Apollo can largely replace your need for standalone prospecting and sales engagement tools, however.
Q: Does Lusha or Apollo integrate with LinkedIn?
A: Lusha offers a handy LinkedIn Sales Navigator extension that allows you to view contact data as you browse prospect profiles. So you can quickly grab verified emails and direct dials without leaving LinkedIn. Apollo doesn’t offer a browser extension currently but does integrate to automatically update contact info in Apollo based on a prospect’s LinkedIn activity and job changes.
Q: Which platform has better customer support?
A: Both Lusha and Apollo provide comprehensive online knowledge bases, guided onboarding sessions, and dedicated customer success teams for enterprise clients. One advantage of Apollo is that it offers live chat support on its website to all users, which Lusha doesn’t provide currently. But in terms of support and training resources, both platforms are quite robust.
Q: Can I export prospect lists from Lusha and Apollo?
A: Yes, both Lusha and Apollo allow you to build lead lists within the platform based on criteria like job title, company size, location, etc. and export those contacts for outreach. Lusha’s cheapest plan offers 100 list exports per month, while Apollo’s starts at 200 exports before scaling up on larger plans. Both also offer integrations with popular outreach tools and CRMs.
Key Takeaways
We’ve covered a lot in this comparison of Lusha and Apollo, but here are the key points to remember as you evaluate the two platforms for your sales needs:
- Lusha is a streamlined contact data platform best for simple, accurate prospecting, while Apollo offers a full sales engagement suite with lead management and outreach features.
- Lusha excels in direct dial and email accuracy, with proactive data verification, while Apollo provides more scale and flexibility with a 200M+ contact database.
- Lusha is more intuitive and affordable for small teams, while Apollo is built to support complex workflows and large team collaboration.
- Both platforms offer key CRM and sales stack integrations, but Apollo provides more bi-directional syncing and custom integration options.
- Lusha is the better choice for reps needing fast, accurate contact data, while Apollo is ideal for teams looking to consolidate tools and automate sales activities.
- Hopefully this in-depth guide has given you a clearer sense of how Lusha and Apollo stack up and which platform aligns best with your sales process and growth objectives. Both are powerful tools with loyal user bases – the key is finding the one that will enhance your team’s outreach without adding complexity.
- By thoroughly evaluating your data enrichment strategy, outreach channels, deal management needs, and integration requirements, you’ll be well positioned to choose the sales intelligence platform that will help you crush your pipeline goals this year – whether that’s Lusha, Apollo, or another provider entirely.
- The world of B2B sales data is always evolving, so stay tuned for more tools and strategies to take your prospecting to the next level. Happy selling!
