Apollo vs Instantly: which cold email tool should you choose in 2026?

Apollo is a per-seat sales platform with a contact database; Instantly is cold email priced per workspace. Pricing, mailboxes, credits and tests compared.

Published 20 October 2026. Prices and features from each vendor's own pages.

The short answer

ApolloPaid from $49/seat

Choose it if you want a free plan and a per-seat price that suits a small team.

InstantlyPaid from $76.50/workspace

Choose it if you want unlimited email accounts without a per-user mailbox limit.

PromptLabIn the CRM from $11.99/seat

Choose it if you email accounts you already know, and replies should land on the deal.

Apollo and Instantly both give you a B2B lead database and email sequences, but they bill in opposite ways. Apollo charges per seat and limits mailboxes per user. Instantly charges per workspace and includes unlimited email accounts.

Below, the two are compared on price, mailboxes and sending limits, data and credits, LinkedIn, and testing and CRM links. Every figure comes from the vendors' own pricing and product pages; prices are per user a month for Apollo and per workspace a month for Instantly, billed annually, unless we say otherwise.

Apollo vs Instantly at a glance

With PromptLab in the third column: the same job done inside a CRM.

Apollo vs Instantly, with PromptLab: prices and features
Checked on 20 October 2026	Apollo	Instantly	PromptLab
Pricing
Free plan	900 credits a year
Paid plans, a month	$49 – $119per seat	$76.50 – $695per workspace	$11.99per seat on Basic
Free trial	14 days	14 days
Billing	Billed annually	Billed annually	Billed monthly
Cold email
Multi-step sequences
Sending mailboxes	1 per user	Unlimited	Up to 20 per campaign
Email warm-up			Volume ramp-up
LinkedIn steps	Manual tasks
Built-in lead database
A/B testing	From$79/month	From$238/month
CRM integrations	HubSpot, Salesforce	From$238/month	Built in

Pricing: $49 to $119 against $76.50 to $695

Apollo has a free plan with 900 credits per seat a year. Paid plans are Basic at $49 per seat, Professional at $79 and Organization at $119, with a 3-seat minimum. A 14-day trial includes 75 credits.

Instantly's pricing page lists no free plan. Starter is $76.50 a month, Scale $238 and Agency $695, per workspace and not per user, and a 14-day free trial is offered. The page also shows some visitors a different price list: Growth at $47, Hypergrowth at $97 and Light Speed at $358 a month. A team of five on Apollo Basic pays $245 a month, so seat count decides which is cheaper.

Mailboxes and sending limits

Instantly includes unlimited email accounts on every plan, with limits on sends: 5,000 a month on Starter, 125,000 on Scale and 500,000 on Agency. Warm-up is included from Starter.

Apollo limits mailboxes per user instead. Basic and Free allow 1 mailbox per user and 250 emails a day. Professional allows unlimited Google and Microsoft mailboxes plus 5 SMTP mailboxes per user, with unlimited daily sends. Apollo includes warm-up and its Deliverability Suite from Basic.

Lead data and credits

Both include a lead database from the entry plan. Apollo's credits are per seat a year: 30,000 on Basic, 48,000 on Professional and 72,000 on Organization. An email costs 1 credit and a phone number 8, credits are pooled across the team, and unused credits do not roll over.

Instantly's Starter includes a database of 450M+ B2B leads and waterfall email enrichment, drawn from 1,500 Instantly credits a month. Scale gives 10,000 credits, and a pack of 50,000 extra credits is $425 a month.

LinkedIn and calling

Apollo covers more channels. Its sequences mix automated emails with manual tasks such as phone calls and LinkedIn actions, and it sells a US dialer that uses credits.

Instantly's pricing page lists no LinkedIn steps or rep dialer. It is built for cold email, so it fits teams that run calls in another tool.

Testing and CRM links

Apollo includes A/Z testing from Professional at $79 a seat. It lists CRM integrations from Basic and says it syncs with Salesforce and HubSpot.

Instantly keeps A/Z testing, integrations, the API and webhooks for Scale at $238 a workspace. Its marketplace lists a HubSpot integration.

We make PromptLab, so here is where it fits.

Or send sequences from inside your CRM

PromptLab's campaigns send multi-step sequences from your own mailboxes, rotating up to 20 per campaign. A sequence stops when the contact replies or the email bounces, and you can test subject and body variants.

New mailboxes ramp up their daily volume over the first three weeks, and each campaign spaces its emails out within the hours you choose. There's no lead database or warm-up network, so you bring your own list.

Sales automation in PromptLab

Try PromptLab freeIncluded in PromptLab Basic, from $11.99 a user a month, with a 14-day free trial.

Which should you choose?

Choose Apollo if…

You want a free plan and a per-seat price that suits a small team.
You want contact data, sequences and a dialer in one product.
You want CRM integrations and warm-up from the $49 Basic plan.

Choose Instantly if…

You want unlimited email accounts without a per-user mailbox limit.
Your outreach is email only and you send at high volume, up to 500,000 a month on Agency.
You have a large team and prefer one workspace price instead of per-seat fees.

Choose PromptLab if…

You email accounts you already know, and replies should land on the deal.
You want sequences to stop on a reply without syncing two tools.
You'd rather not pay for a CRM and an outreach tool separately.

Frequently asked questions

Is Apollo better than Instantly?

Apollo suits teams that want data, sequences and calling in one per-seat product, from $49 a seat. Instantly suits email-focused senders who want unlimited email accounts, from $76.50 a workspace.

Does Apollo have a free plan?

Yes. Its free plan gives 900 credits per seat a year and 2 sequences per team. Instantly's pricing page lists no free plan, only a 14-day free trial.

How many mailboxes can I use on Apollo and Instantly?

Instantly allows unlimited email accounts on every plan. Apollo allows 1 mailbox per user on Basic, and unlimited Google and Microsoft mailboxes plus 5 SMTP mailboxes per user on Professional.

Which is cheaper for a team, Apollo or Instantly?

It depends on seats. Apollo Basic is $49 per seat, so five seats cost $245 a month, while Instantly Starter is $76.50 for the whole workspace but allows 5,000 sends a month.

Do Apollo and Instantly include A/B testing?

Both offer A/Z testing, but not on the cheapest plan. It starts on Apollo Professional at $79 a seat and on Instantly Scale at $238 a workspace.

Is there a CRM with email sequences built in?

Yes. PromptLab's campaigns send multi-step sequences from up to 20 of your own mailboxes, stop on replies and bounces and test A/B variants, on every plan from $11.99 a user a month with a 14-day free trial.