Apollo vs Instantly vs lemlist 2026: which fits a startup?

Apollo fits a founder who wants data, sequences and a dialer in one seat, free to start or $49 per seat per month billed annually, as long as one mailbox and 250 emails a day is enough. Instantly fits when cold email volume is the main job: $47 a month buys unlimited mailboxes and warmup, while leads and AI agents cost extra. lemlist fits teams that need email and LinkedIn in one sequence or want EU-hosted data, from $69 a month for email and $109 per user for multichannel.

Checked against each vendor's own pages on 15 October 2026.

Revexa builds Leo, an AI agent in the same market, so read with that in mind. This comparison is about the tools in the title. Prices are USD list prices excluding VAT, and "annual" means billed annually.

What each tool is

Apollo is a contact database with sequences, a dialer and CRM sync, priced per seat. Apollo says the database holds "240M+ contacts and 30M+ accounts" (Apollo data). Basic is $49 per seat annual or $65 monthly, Professional $79 or $99, and Organization $119, annual only, from 3 seats (Apollo pricing). Apollo split-tests that page, so plans may differ.

Instantly is built for sending cold email. Growth costs $47 a month ($37.60 annual) with unlimited email accounts and warmup, 5,000 emails and 1,000 uploaded contacts a month. Its database of 450M+ B2B contacts needs a separate Credits plan from $9 a month, or the Starter bundle of sending plus leads at $94 ($85 annual) (Instantly pricing, pricing.md).

lemlist is a multichannel outreach tool. The Email plan is $69 a month ($55 annual) for 50,000 emails with unlimited users, and Multichannel is $109 per user per month ($87 annual) and adds LinkedIn and calls (lemlist pricing). lemlist claims 650M+ leads, with data credits at $0.05 per email (lemlist credits guide).

Side by side

Sources: Apollo pricing, Instantly pricing.md, Instantly llms.txt, Instantly CRM, lemlist pricing, lemlist signals.

Where Apollo is better

• Start at $0 with data. Free includes 75 credits a month, 2 sequences and CRM integrations, and Basic includes 2,500 credits per seat per month (Apollo pricing).
• Phone and data in one seat. Paid plans include a US dialer and call recording with AI insights, and mobile numbers cost 8 credits each (Apollo pricing).
• Intent and pipeline tools bundled. Basic includes 6 intent topics, job change enrichment, 100 identified visiting companies a month, deals and a meeting scheduler (Apollo pricing).
• A startup discount. Companies with fewer than 20 employees can get 50% off Basic or Professional for a year, for up to 5 seats, through an Apollo partner (Apollo for Startups).

Where Instantly is better

• The cheapest paid plan, with free extra inboxes. Growth is $47 a month with unlimited email accounts and warmup (pricing.md).
• Sending infrastructure in the app. Domains cost $15 a year and done-for-you Google accounts $5 a month, and inbox placement tests are included (pricing.md).
• Modular pricing. Pay only for sending and bring your own leads, or add Credits from $9 a month (pricing.md).
• AI reply handling. The AI Reply Agent, launched on 15 July 2025, can run with you approving each reply or on autopilot, at 5 credits per reply (Instantly changelog, pricing.md).

Where lemlist is better

• Real multichannel sequences. LinkedIn visits, invites, messages, voice messages and InMail, plus calls, and SMS and WhatsApp as an add-on, with conditional next steps (lemlist pricing).
• The most email volume at the entry price. 50,000 emails for $69 with unlimited users, against 5,000 for $47 on Instantly Growth and 250 a day on Apollo Free and Basic (lemlist pricing, pricing.md).
• Data kept in the EU, per lemlist. lemlist says all data is stored on servers in France and that no personal data is exported outside the EEA (lemlist GDPR).
• Credits roll over while the subscription is active. Apollo credits expire every cycle, and Instantly credits expire 2 months after purchase on monthly plans (lemlist pricing, pricing.md).

Limitations and criticisms

Apollo

• Sending limits. Several mailboxes need Professional, and Apollo itself advises no more than 50 emails per mailbox per day (Apollo pricing, Apollo deliverability).
• Billing rules and reviews. Credits expire every cycle and downgrades are not refunded. Trustpilot showed 3.1 out of 5 from 1,365 reviews on 15 October 2026, 36% of them one-star, with complaints about billing after cancelling, credit limits and slow support (Trustpilot).

Instantly

• Reviews. Trustpilot hides Instantly's rating "due to a breach of our guidelines" and says it removed "a number of fake reviews". Of 1,174 reviews, 67% are five-star and 25% one-star, and 2026 complaints cover charges after cancelling, the no-refund policy, features locked to higher tiers and hard-to-reach support (Trustpilot).
• Plan limits and extra costs. Growth caps uploads at 1,000 contacts, replying in the Unibox requires Hypergrowth, leads and AI agents need separate Credits, there is no LinkedIn channel, and native CRM sync mainly pushes one way (pricing.md, Instantly CRM).

lemlist

• Reviews. Trustpilot showed 4.7 as the headline score but 4.5 in the star graphic, from 248 reviews, a smaller sample than the other two. September 2026 complaints mention unclear seat and mailbox costs after upgrading and features removed without notice (Trustpilot).
• LinkedIn costs more and carries risk. LinkedIn steps need Multichannel at $109 per user. LinkedIn also prohibits tools that automate its site and may restrict accounts that use them, which applies to any LinkedIn automation, not only lemlist's (LinkedIn Help).

What changed in 2025 and 2026

• 6 March 2025: LinkedIn removed Apollo's company page. Apollo said its service was not disrupted, and the page was live again on 15 October 2026 (MarTech).
• 6 October 2025: lemlist acquired Claap, a call recording and AI notes tool. Terms were not officially released (Nordic9).
• 20 March 2026: Apollo acquired Pocus, a revenue intelligence and signals startup, on undisclosed terms (TNW).
• 17 June to 29 September 2026: Instantly launched an AI Deliverability Agent (17 June), a Lead Finder Agent (23 July), "Instantly Agents" (22 September) and a redesigned app (29 September) (Instantly changelog).
• 15 September 2026: Apollo became a flagship data partner for Hunter, Salesforce's outbound agent (Apollo newsroom).
• 30 September 2026: Apollo launched an "AI GTM System", parts of it still "coming soon" (Apollo newsroom).

lemlist also moved to its current Email and Multichannel plans during 2026, and the date is not public (lemlist pricing guide).

Which one should you choose?

• Solo founder who wants one tool, calls included: Apollo Free, then Basic.
• Cold email at volume across many inboxes: Instantly Growth, adding Credits or the $94 Starter bundle if you need leads.
• Email and LinkedIn in one sequence: lemlist Multichannel.
• Selling into Europe and want EU-hosted data: lemlist, which stores data in France.

For more options, see Apollo alternatives and Instantly alternatives.

Another option

If you want the outreach done for you on buying signals with approval before anything is sent, agents such as Leo by Revexa ($99/month in the US, €89 in Europe, 999 SEK in Sweden, 7 days free) take a different approach.

Frequently asked questions

What does a working setup cost a solo founder per month?

Apollo Basic is $49 per seat billed annually or $65 monthly, with one mailbox. Instantly's Starter bundle is $94 for 5,000 emails and 1,500 lead credits, plus mailboxes from $5 a month and $15 a year per domain. lemlist's Email plan is $69 plus data credits from $20 a month.

Can Apollo replace Instantly or lemlist for cold email?

At low volume, yes, since every Apollo plan includes email sequences. But Free and Basic send from one mailbox at up to 250 emails a day, while Instantly and lemlist's Email plan include unlimited sending accounts.

Which of the three automates LinkedIn?

Only lemlist, on Multichannel. Apollo adds LinkedIn steps as manual tasks, Instantly has no LinkedIn channel, and LinkedIn's own rules prohibit tools that automate activity on its site.

How do they compare on GDPR if we sell into Europe?

None of them removes your duties as data controller. lemlist stores data in France (lemlist GDPR), Apollo hosts it in the US under Standard Contractual Clauses and the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (Apollo privacy policy), and Instantly offers a DPA dated 2023 and excludes EU visitors from website identification (Instantly DPA).