Lusha vs Apollo 2026: which is better for phone numbers?

For phone numbers at volume, Apollo is cheaper at list price: Basic's 2,500 monthly credits cover about 312 numbers at 8 credits each for $49 a seat billed annually or $65 monthly, roughly 16 to 21 cents a number. Lusha charges 5 credits a number, so Starter's 400 credits cover 80 for $37.45 billed yearly or $49.90 monthly, roughly 47 to 62 cents each. Lusha publishes phone accuracy (85% in the US, 86% globally) and contact counts per country, but no independent test compares the two.

Checked on 15 October 2026 against each vendor's own pages. Prices are US dollar list prices excluding tax; the cost per number is our calculation.

Revexa builds Leo, an AI agent in the same market, so read with that in mind. This comparison is about the two tools in the title.

Lusha vs Apollo at a glance

Sources: Lusha pricing, Lusha facts, Lusha data, Lusha do-not-call docs, Lusha terms, Apollo pricing, Apollo data, Apollo do-not-call screening.

What phone numbers cost

Every plan and credit rule is in Lusha pricing and Apollo pricing, and 30 tools are compared in our pricing research. The table shows the cheapest list price that covers one person's monthly need, by our calculation.

Apollo charges per seat, so three people on Basic cost three times as much but pool 7,500 credits, while Lusha's Pro includes 2 seats and Premium 5 on one balance. Even on Lusha's largest self-serve tier, Premium with 120,000 credits a year for $9,539.10, a number costs about 40 cents, against about 16 cents on any Apollo plan billed annually.

Neither vendor gives credits back for a wrong number. Apollo says it "doesn't refund any credits for mobile numbers", and Lusha's terms say "no replacement Credits or refunds will be provided based on the amount or quality of a particular record".

Phone data quality: what is published

• Lusha states 98% email accuracy and 85% US and 86% global phone accuracy, "refreshed daily". The measurement it publishes with a full method is a data decay study: in September 2026, across 148,000 records, 12.25% of US sales leaders had changed roles within a year. A July 2026 test on 322 US contacts returned a mobile number for 97.5%, a hit rate rather than a check of the numbers, which Lusha calls "a pilot, not a benchmark".
• Apollo states "98% email accuracy" and "Built-in email and phone verification", but its data page gives no phone accuracy figure, no count of phone numbers and no figures per country.
• Coverage you can check before buying. Lusha lists contacts per country, for example 23.3M+ in the UK, 10M+ in Germany and 3.1M+ in Sweden, and says Italian contact data is not available. Apollo's only figures are global.
• Independent tests. We found none that covers phone numbers from both, and Lusha's own comparison says: "We did not find an equivalent independent test that included Lusha or Cognism." Two ranking pages we checked also say Lusha charges 10 credits per phone number; its pricing page said 5 on 15 October 2026.

The free plans cover only 8 or 9 numbers each, so a fair test takes one paid month: reveal the same 50 to 100 people in both tools and count numbers that reach the right person.

When to pick Lusha

• You reveal contacts while you browse. The extension works on LinkedIn, Sales Navigator and company sites, and one credit balance covers it, the web app, the API and the MCP server for Claude or ChatGPT.
• You want figures before you buy. Lusha publishes phone accuracy by its own measure and contact counts per country, which helps if you sell outside the US.
• Your usage is uneven. On monthly Pro and Premium, unused Lusha credits roll over up to twice the monthly amount; Apollo's credits expire at the end of every billing cycle.
• Your CRM or ATS is Bullhorn, Zoho, Dynamics, Pipedrive or monday, which Lusha lists as native integrations next to Salesforce and HubSpot.

When to pick Apollo

• You need many numbers per dollar. About 312 numbers per seat a month on Basic, roughly 16 cents each billed annually.
• You call from the same tool. Paid plans include a US dialer at 1 credit per 30 seconds of a connected call, and Apollo blocks numbers flagged on supported do-not-call lists unless you override a single call with consent.
• You also want sequences, deals and meeting scheduling in the same seat, from $49 a month billed annually.
• You are an early startup. Startups with fewer than 20 employees that are affiliated with an Apollo partner can get 50% off Basic or Professional for a year, for up to 5 seats.

When neither fits

• You call mostly into Europe and need do-not-call checks in many countries. In Europe, Apollo screens only the UK and Germany, and Lusha only the UK, on its Scale plan. See Apollo alternatives and Nordic B2B data tools.
• You need US enterprise direct dials at scale. ZoomInfo publishes 135M+ direct dials and claims 87% mobile number accuracy, but it publishes no prices and sells annual contracts.
• You do not want to cold call at all. An agent such as Leo by Revexa watches buying signals such as hiring and funding, writes LinkedIn and email messages in your voice, and by default you approve each draft before it is sent; $99 a month in the US, €89 in Europe, 999 SEK in Sweden, excluding VAT, 7 days free. Wrong choice if your motion depends on calling: Leo has no phone numbers, no dialer and no database to export.

GDPR, calling rules and where the data is

• Lusha says "our data is stored on Amazon Web Services in the United States of America". Staff in Israel work under the EU's adequacy decision for Israel, and other transfers use Standard Contractual Clauses. Lusha relies on its "legitimate interest in providing accurate and up to date Contact Data" and lists a GDPR certification by ePrivacyseal GmbH.
• Apollo says the personal data it processes "is hosted in the United States", under Standard Contractual Clauses and the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, and relies on its own and its customers' legitimate interests. Records you already pulled stay your responsibility as "an independent controller", even if the person later asks Apollo to delete them.
• Calling rules differ by country. Apollo's own help center puts it plainly: screening is "a compliance aid, not a consent-management system", and in countries with opt-in rules you must confirm "valid consent or another applicable lawful basis before calling". Lusha's docs likewise tell users to "ensure compliance with applicable regulations before conducting phone outreach". This is not legal advice.

Common questions

Is Lusha or Apollo better for phone numbers?

Apollo gives more numbers per dollar: about 312 per seat a month on Basic, roughly 16 to 21 cents each, against 47 to 62 cents on Lusha Starter. Lusha publishes phone accuracy and per-country counts, which Apollo's data page does not. No independent test compares the two.

How many credits does a phone number cost in Lusha and Apollo?

Lusha charges 5 credits per phone number, or 8 through Data Waterfall on Pro and above, only on a confirmed match. Apollo charges 8. Some comparison pages say Lusha charges 10; its pricing page said 5 on 15 October 2026.

Are Lusha's phone numbers more accurate than Apollo's?

Unknown. Lusha states 85% US and 86% global phone accuracy, and Apollo's data page gives no phone accuracy figure. We found no independent test of phone numbers from both, so test them on people you can verify.

Do Lusha and Apollo check do-not-call lists?

Apollo screens numbers against do-not-call lists in the US, UK, Germany, Canada, Australia and New Zealand once an admin turns it on, and still charges credits for flagged numbers. Lusha hides numbers on UK and US do-not-call tables, but only on its custom Scale plan.

Do I get credits back for a wrong number?

No. Apollo refunds credits only for verified emails that bounce when sent from Apollo within 30 days, never for mobile numbers, and Lusha's terms rule out replacement credits or refunds based on a record's quality.