Apollo and ZoomInfo are two popular B2B database providers and general lead generation platforms. Both providers offer lead sourcing and contact databases that help you target and generate business leads. Each offers a platform with different features and capabilities, depending on the selected plan or tier. Let’s dive into what ZoomInfo and Apollo both offer to help you decide which best fits your business’s sales and marketing needs.
Software Spotlight: ZoomInfo SPONSOREDWhile Apollo does offer a free version of their software, it’s a feature that is best used by small to mid-sized businesses looking for basic email credits, lead filters and assisted email writing. If you’re a growing business looking for a more scalable B2B database provider with sales automations and multichannel marketing, I suggest ZoomInfo. |
Comparison table: Apollo vs ZoomInfo
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| Browser extension | ||
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Pricing: Apollo vs ZoomInfo
Apollo has several plans depending on your team size and how many credits and lead exports you want per year.
- Free: Basic sequence automations plus 60 credits and 120 exports a year.
- Basic: $49 per user per month for 900 credits and 12,000 exports a year.
- Professional: $79 per user per month for 1,200 credits and 24,000 exports a year.
- Organization: $119 per user per month for 2,400 credits and 48,000 exports a year.
If you’re interested in a more in-depth breakdown, head over to this full Apollo review.
- SalesOS: Access company insights and contact information. Contact for quote.
- MarketingOS: Pipeline management and digital marketing solutions. Contact for a quote.
- TalentOS: Source and manage candidates for company recruitment. Contact for a quote.
Read the ZoomInfo review for more detailed information on this provider.
Feature comparison: Apollo vs ZoomInfo
Apollo and ZoomInfo offer similar services that make their B2B databases great options. They both have a series of data enrichment capabilities as well as extensive sales and marketing functionalities. Beyond the core features of a provider, there are features that might make one a better fit for your business’ needs, such as lead routing, having a Chrome extension for prospecting, buyer intent data and pipeline forecasting.
Lead routing
Winner: ZoomInfo
Both Apollo and ZoomInfo can score, segment and route leads based on criteria you set around what you consider a high-quality lead. But once that scoring is complete, lead routing means the provider then funnels leads to your sales reps on an automated and customizable schedule. You can coordinate with the rep’s availability, seniority and expertise to make sure the right reps are talking to the right leads.
Apollo’s lead scoring and routing function is detailed and uses AI predictions and rich demographic, firmographic and behavioral data for powerful scoring models. Admins can then create inbound routers for meetings across sales teams.
ZoomInfo uses a unique round-robin system for their lead routing feature. This feature distributes leads between online sales reps based on their workload or experience. You can also customize who, how and when leads are routed to reps through a weighted distribution workflow. This way, managers can pull activity reports and monitor engagement.
Browser extension
Winner: Tie
Browser extensions are shortcut tools that sales teams can attach to their browser to generate direct online leads. When users activate the extension on a targeted lead’s company website or their personal LinkedIn page, the tool pulls as much information as possible about the individual lead, such as contact information, or data around the targeted company, such as firmographics.
Apollo does offer a specific Chrome extension that can gather direct phone numbers and email addresses while users are prospecting on LinkedIn. It can also sync to your Gmail and automate follow-up emails directly after you add email templates and configure tracking.
ZoomInfo offers a Chrome extension tool in tandem with their Sales platform as well. They also offer extensive integration options. Their platform is robust, but can also sync and automate data throughout your sales and marketing tech stack. It can integrate with your CRM, calendar, email, and dialer automations.
Buyer intent data
Winner: Apollo
A B2B database provider who offers buyer intent data uses data and information about a lead to define where they are in their buyer’s journey. These data signifiers of high buyer intent can be the lead’s search history, if they currently use a solution like the one you sell or if they’re actively on your website.
Apollo looks for leads who are in the research stage of their buyer’s journey and are looking up solutions like yours, with both third-party and first-party intent data. They create signals from this insight and even send you AI-created talking tips. These signals and scores help your reps prioritize the most valuable leads.
ZoomInfo identifies prospects using a signal score. They can easily identify who the key players or decision makers are at a target company by collecting data like who’s researching specific topics around your solution. They then push that intent and contact data onto your dashboard for sales reps to start engaging.
Pipeline forecasting
Winner: ZoomInfo
Pipeline forecasting refers to how businesses estimate upcoming deals and revenue. Pipeline forecasting is critical for individual reps and entire companies to be able to visualize their progress towards goals. Forecasting takes your historical data with closing deals, timelines, engagement strategies, and more and uses it to project what your next week, month, quarter, or year will look like.
Apollo’s pipeline forecasting can notify you of real-time deal alerts so your team can prioritize upcoming opportunities and get proactive AI-generated recommendations for engagement. Apollo uses its pipeline execution to anticipate revenue and make data-backed decisions to help you identify the right targets. The platform also allows you to view these metrics by combining multiple reports into one customized dashboard.
ZoomInfo offers similar pipeline forecasting, where they take your demand generation strategy to create a pipeline of incoming and forecasted prospects. With the help of your account’s historical data, ZoomInfo can scale your go-to-market strategy to create visual dashboards of projected leads, engagements, and deals.
Apollo pros and cons
Pros of Apollo
- Offers a demo.
- 275+ million contacts.
- Has a limited free tier.
Cons of Apollo
- User reports of incomplete contact profiles.
- Inconsistent international data.
- Users request more onboarding training.
To understand how other providers compare to Apollo, read this guide for Apollo alternatives.
ZoomInfo pros and cons
Pros of ZoomInfo
- Offers a 14-day free trial.
- Identifies anonymous site visitors.
- Supports multiple industries.
Cons of ZoomInfo
- No upfront pricing.
- Buyer intent cost extra.
- Reports of a steep platform learning curve.
Should your organization use Apollo or ZoomInfo?
Deciding between Apollo or ZoomInfo can be difficult since both platforms offer advanced prospecting tools, data accuracy and direct sales outreach. ZoomInfo’s pricing isn’t transparent and can be customized, so one is not clearly more affordable than the other.
Also consider your business size, if you want an open source software, and just how much you expect your B2B database provider to do on your behalf. If you’re looking for a provider who can help you automate your sales engagement and multichannel marketing, ZoomInfo does that.
Apollo’s free tier is robust and offers a good mix of core and advanced features like unlimited email credits, basic filters and even AI-assisted email writing. This is ideal for smaller businesses or even freelancers or consultants looking for an easy way to have high value leads funneled into their sales pipeline without much effort.
Review methodology
To compare Apollo and ZoomInfo, first we defined a few categories, such as cost, core offerings, reporting or analytics, customer support, and what the industry standard is in each category. We then compared each product to that average.
We read through each product page to gather detailed information on pricing, features, and integration capabilities. We also referenced real customer feedback through peer and client reviews.