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

Apollo pairs a contact database with sequences, priced per seat; Smartlead sells unlimited mailboxes by send volume. Pricing, mailboxes and data 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 the contact database, sequences and a dialer in one per-seat product.

SmartleadPaid from $32.50/account

Choose it if you want unlimited mailboxes and a high send limit on every plan.

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 Smartlead both send cold email sequences, but they start from different places. Apollo is a sales platform: a B2B contact database with sequences, a dialer and a deliverability suite, priced per seat. Smartlead is a sending tool built around unlimited mailboxes, priced by send volume.

Below, the two are compared on price and how each one bills, mailboxes and sending limits, lead data, LinkedIn, and CRM links. Every figure comes from the vendors' own pricing and product pages; Apollo is priced per seat a month and Smartlead per account a month, both billed annually, unless we say otherwise.

Apollo vs Smartlead at a glance

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

Apollo vs Smartlead, with PromptLab: prices and features
Checked on 20 October 2026	Apollo	Smartlead	PromptLab
Pricing
Free plan	900 credits a year
Paid plans, a month	$49 – $119per seat	$32.50 – $314.60per account	$11.99per seat on Basic
Free trial	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	Via integrations
Built-in lead database		Add-on
A/B testing	From$79/month
CRM integrations	HubSpot, Salesforce	From$78.30/month	Built in

Pricing: $49 to $119 against $32.50 to $314.60

Apollo charges per seat: Basic is $49 a month, Professional $79 and Organization $119, which has a minimum of 3 seats. There is a free plan with 900 credits a year, and a 14-day trial with 75 credits. Annual billing saves 24% against monthly.

Smartlead charges per account, not per seat. Base is $32.50, Pro $78.30, Unlimited Smart $144.50 and Unlimited Prime $314.60, sized by contacts and sends. Every plan has a free trial and needs no card. A team of five on Apollo Basic pays five seats; the same team pays one Smartlead plan.

Mailboxes and sending limits

Smartlead includes unlimited email accounts on every plan and rotates sending across the mailboxes in a campaign. Base allows 6,000 sends a month and Unlimited Prime 500,000.

Apollo limits mailboxes by plan. Basic allows 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 suggests starting at about 20 cold emails a day per mailbox and not exceeding 50.

Lead data

Apollo is the stronger of the two on data, because the contact database is the product. Credits are per seat a year (30,000 on Basic, 48,000 on Professional) and are pooled across the team. An email costs 1 credit and a phone number 8. They reset each billing cycle and do not roll over.

Smartlead sells verified prospect emails from SmartProspect as a $59 a month add-on on Base and Pro, and includes 50,000 on Unlimited Smart and 170,000 on Unlimited Prime.

LinkedIn, testing and CRM links

Apollo sequences mix automated email steps with manual tasks, such as phone calls and LinkedIn actions, that the rep completes. A/Z testing starts on Professional at $79. Smartlead includes A/B testing, and runs LinkedIn outreach through SmartAgents, which integrates with LinkedIn automation tools such as HeyReach and AimFox.

Apollo says it syncs contacts, activities and deal data with CRMs such as Salesforce and HubSpot, and includes CRM integrations from Basic. Smartlead lists native integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive and Zoho CRM, with CRM access starting on Pro at $78.30.

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 the contact database, sequences and a dialer in one per-seat product.
Your reps work through calls and LinkedIn tasks as well as email.
You want a free plan to try the data before you pay.

Choose Smartlead if…

You want unlimited mailboxes and a high send limit on every plan.
You want one account price instead of paying for every seat.
You want to buy Google mailboxes inside the tool, from $4.50 a month each.

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 Smartlead cheaper than Apollo?

At entry level, yes. Smartlead Base is $32.50 a month for the account; Apollo Basic is $49 a month for each seat. For a team, Smartlead's flat account pricing widens the gap.

Does Apollo have a free plan?

Yes. The free plan includes 900 credits a year, 2 sequences per team and Gmail accounts only. Paid plans start with a 14-day trial that includes 75 credits.

Does Smartlead include a lead database?

Not in the base price. Verified prospect emails from SmartProspect are a $59 a month add-on on Base and Pro, and are included on the two Unlimited plans.

How many mailboxes can I connect to each?

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

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.