Apollo vs Vainu 2026: which is better for the Nordics?

Choose Vainu if you sell in the Nordics and want company data from registries such as Sweden's Bolagsverket in your CRM: Vainu reports 1.9 million companies and 3.2 million contacts in Sweden alone, from €250 a month on an annual license. Choose Apollo if you sell globally and want contact data, sequences and a dialer in one per-seat license: a free plan, then $49 per seat per month billed annually, but Apollo publishes no figures for the Nordics. You can try Apollo on your own right away, while trying Vainu means booking a demo.

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 list prices excluding VAT.

What each tool is

Vainu sells Nordic company data from Helsinki, with an office in Stockholm. The site's headline is "Every Nordic company. Wherever you need them." Its three products are Reach for finding accounts and buyers, Data Sync for keeping a CRM, data warehouse or ERP up to date, and Discover for market monitoring with AI agents. Data is delivered in the web platform, via API, MCP and CLI, or as a service. Contact data rests on legitimate interest, with a source given for each field (vainu.com, Vainu data).

Apollo describes itself as "one connected GTM system": a global contact database with sequences, a dialer and AI agents in the same platform. Apollo says more than 600,000 companies use it, and the database holds 240 million contacts and 30 million companies. On data protection, the pricing page refers to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, ISO 27001 and SOC 2 (apollo.io, Apollo pricing).

Side by side

Sources: Vainu pricing (Swedish), Vainu data, Vainu CRM connector, Vainu free trial (Swedish), apollo.io, Apollo pricing.

Where Vainu is better

• Figures for every Nordic country. Vainu reports 1.9 million companies and 3.2 million contacts in Sweden, 1.3 and 2.6 million in Finland, 1.1 and 3.1 million in Norway, and 0.9 and 1.8 million in Denmark. Apollo publishes no figures per country (vainu.com).
• Built on registry data. Company data comes from Bolagsverket and the equivalent registries in Finland, Norway and Denmark, plus annual accounts, public records and websites. Decision makers in Sweden and Finland are reviewed manually about every six months (Vainu data).
• Native CRM connectors. HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Dynamics 365 Sales and SuperOffice, and Data Sync also keeps data warehouses and ERPs up to date (Vainu CRM connector).
• Local language. Vainu has a Swedish website, an interface in English, Finnish or Swedish (help article updated 27 August 2026) and a Research Agent that answers in Swedish. No Swedish version of Apollo's site was found (Vainu help article).

Where Apollo is better

• Data and outreach in one license. Sequences, a dialer and AI agents are part of the platform. Vainu's site mentions neither outreach nor sequences, so with Vainu you need another tool for the actual outreach (apollo.io).
• Global reach. 240 million contacts and 30 million companies according to Apollo, for teams that sell far beyond the Nordics.
• Start on your own, free or monthly. The free plan has 75 credits per seat per month and 2 sequences, there is a 14-day trial, and Basic can be paid monthly at $65. Vainu is sold on an annual license (Apollo pricing).
• Website visit signals. Apollo has intent, job changes and website visits, while Vainu's site does not mention website visitor identification. Which signals are worth tracking is covered in the buying signals guide.

Limitations

Vainu

• No self-serve trial. The free trial route books a 30-minute demo (Vainu free trial).
• Annual license with one country database. Each license covers one country database and one to two users, and the Premium and Full data packages cost an extra €83 and €167 a month (Vainu pricing).
• Data only. The site mentions neither outreach nor website visitor identification.

Apollo

• No Nordic figures. You only know how well the coverage holds for your market once you have tested it.
• Visitor contacts in the US only. The Inbound add-on identifies companies in "US & Global" but contacts "US only", and it costs from $119 per team per month billed annually (Apollo pricing).
• Credits and seats. Emails, mobile numbers and AI research draw on the same credit pool, a mobile number costs 8 credits, and Organization requires an annual contract and at least 3 seats.

What changed in 2025 and 2026

• 20 March 2026: Built In reported that Apollo had acquired Pocus (Built In).
• 25 August 2026: Apollo appointed a new head of product (Apollo newsroom).
• 15 September 2026: Apollo became the "Flagship Data Partner" for Salesforce Hunter (Apollo newsroom).
• Vainu: the site mentions no ownership changes in 2025 or 2026. We could not check news beyond Vainu's own pages, so we cannot confirm that nothing happened.

Which should you choose?

• You sell to companies in Sweden or the Nordics and want registry data in your CRM: Vainu.
• You sell globally, or want data, sequences and a dialer in one tool: Apollo.
• You want to test on your own before talking to sales: Apollo. Vainu starts with a demo.
• You want both Nordic registry data and sequences: plan for two tools, because Vainu does not do outreach.

Whichever you pick, test coverage on companies you already know before buying. Goava, Lime Go, Lusha, UC and other tools with Nordic data are compared in Nordic B2B data tools 2026, and other routes from Apollo in Apollo alternatives and Clay vs Apollo.

Another option

If you want the outreach done for you on buying signals, agents such as Leo by Revexa, which uses Swedish sources such as Platsbanken and writes in Swedish, take a different approach. Leo costs 999 SEK per month in Sweden, €89 in Europe and $99 in the US, with 7 days free (pricing).

Frequently asked questions

Is Apollo or Vainu better for Sweden?

For Swedish company data, Vainu is the only one of the two that publishes figures: 1.9 million companies and 3.2 million contacts, with data from Bolagsverket among other sources. Apollo publishes no figures for Sweden but has sequences and a dialer, which Vainu does not. Choose based on whether you need data or data plus outreach.

How much do Vainu and Apollo cost?

Vainu Reach starts at €250 (2,500 SEK) a month, Data Sync at €417 and Discover at €583, all on an annual license and excluding VAT. Apollo has a free plan, Basic at $49 per seat per month billed annually ($65 monthly) and Professional at $79 ($99 monthly). More prices are in the sales tool pricing research.

Can I try Vainu for free?

Not on your own. The free trial route on Vainu's site books a 30-minute demo. Apollo has a free plan and a 14-day trial.

Is Vainu an Apollo alternative with better European data?

For the Nordics, Vainu publishes per-country figures and names its sources, such as Bolagsverket, while Apollo publishes no country figures at all. Vainu publishes no figures outside Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark, so for the rest of Europe compare Cognism, Leadfeeder and Lusha in Nordic B2B data tools 2026.

Does Apollo have good data for the Nordics?

Apollo publishes no figures for the Nordics or individual countries, so coverage cannot be compared on paper. Among the multi-country contact data tools we checked, only Vainu and Lusha publish figures for Sweden: 3.2 million and more than 3.1 million contacts respectively. Test Apollo's free plan on companies you already know.