Teams leave Apollo's API because it meters three things at once. Credits: an email costs 1 and a phone number 8, and credits expire each cycle (Apollo pricing, September 2026). Rate limits: Basic and Professional allow 200 requests a minute and 2,000 a day on general endpoints, per team, not per key (Apollo API docs, September 2026). Seats: Basic is $49 per seat per month, and the standard plans are for internal use only.
At 1 credit per email, a 1M-email month costs $24,750 a month on monthly billing (250 Professional seats at $99, 4,000 credits each). Billed yearly it is $19,600 a month (400 Basic seats at $49, 2,500 credits each). Apollo's API is on every plan, including Free.
Below are 7 Apollo.io API alternatives for teams that pull data in code or through an agent. For a two-way view, read LeadOcean vs Apollo. For UI-first tools, see Apollo.io alternatives.
TL;DR
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Cost at 1M records a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| LeadOcean | API, agents and volume | Free, then $499 a month | $499 a month flat |
| People Data Labs | Data products and licensing | $98 a month | No public 1M price. Above about 100,000 profiles a year it is quote only |
| Coresignal | Raw company, employee and job data | $49 a month | $5,000 a month on Elite for 1M Base records. Not an email cost |
| Crustdata | Live signals and change alerts | Credits, no public dollar price | Not published |
| LeadMagic | Finding emails for known people | $99 a month | No public price at 1M. Top public tier is Ultimate, $849 a month for 100,000 credits |
| Lusha | Reps in a browser extension | Free, then $49.90 a month | No public price at 1M. Top public tier is Premium, 120,000 credits a year for $9,539.10 billed yearly |
| Hunter | Emails by domain, with outreach | Free, then $49 a month | $6,900 for 1,000,000 Search credits on Data Platform, bought once and valid 12 months |
What we evaluated
- API and rate limit: REST access and requests allowed.
- Price at volume: what 1M records a month costs at list price.
- MCP: a hosted server, and how it signs in.
- Data fit: people, company and contact fields.
- Other limits: seats, caps and expiry.
1. LeadOcean: best for API, agent and volume pulls
LeadOcean is a data layer only: 693M people and 63M companies over REST and MCP. Pro is a flat $499 a month with no credits and no seats.
Search has 50 people filters and 34 company filters, and counts are free. Exports run to 50,000 rows per request. The MCP server at https://api.leadocean.io/mcp has 12 tools and signs in with OAuth 2.1.
Pros
- Flat price. Past the fair-usage line a very large month is paced down, not billed extra.
- 100 requests per second per key on every plan, Free included.
- 366M people with an email and 166M with a phone number, with an email status on every record.
Cons
- No rep workspace, sequences or dialer. Export to your own sequencer.
- No intent data.
Best for: engineers, RevOps and agents that need volume at a fixed bill.
Pricing: Free (1,000 records, one-off) or Pro at $499 a month (LeadOcean pricing, September 2026). See pricing.
2. People Data Labs: best for data products and licensing
People Data Labs sells person and company data by API and by bulk license. It charges one credit per person record returned (PDL enrichment docs, September 2026). Pro starts at $98 a month for 350 credits, and PDL puts Pro profiles at about $0.20 to $0.28 each. Above about 100,000 profiles a year it sells by quote only.
Pros
- Bulk data license and enterprise feeds.
- Paying customers default to 1,000 enrichment requests a minute.
- Contact data is included on Pro. Free hides it.
Cons
- Entry price per record is high, and there is no public 1M price.
- Person search defaults to 10 requests a minute (PDL search docs, September 2026).
- none listed in PDL's docs index (PDL docs, September 2026)
Best for: teams building a data product on licensed records.
Pricing: Pro from $98 a month (PDL pricing, September 2026).
3. Coresignal: best for raw company, employee and job data
Coresignal sells employee, company and job records on credits. A base record costs 10 credits, a multi-source record 20, a job posting 1 and a contact enrichment 20. Mini is $49 a month for 2,500 credits. Elite is $5,000 for 10M (Coresignal pricing, September 2026).
Pros
- Job postings and social posts too.
- Hosted MCP server with OAuth 2.1 (Coresignal MCP docs, September 2026).
- Rate limits reach 100 requests a second and above (Coresignal rate limits, September 2026).
Cons
- 1M base records is 10M credits, so you need Elite. 1M work-email lookups are 20M credits, with no public price.
- Lower plans cap at 5 to 10 requests a second.
Best for: analytics and AI teams that need profiles and jobs.
Pricing: $49 to $5,000 a month (Coresignal pricing, September 2026).
4. Crustdata: best for live signals and change alerts
Crustdata is a credit-based API for people, companies, jobs and posts, with watchers for changes. Person search costs 0.03 credits a result, person enrich 1 to 7 (Crustdata pricing docs, September 2026). The docs list credits, not dollars. The MCP server is https://install.crustdata.com/mcp (Crustdata MCP docs, September 2026).
Pros
- Watchers and live endpoints for hiring, funding and profile changes.
- Cheap discovery: 1M search results is 30,000 credits.
- Hosted MCP server with sign-in.
Cons
- Defaults are 15 requests a minute on person enrich and 30 on search (Crustdata rate limits, September 2026).
- Credits expire after 12 months.
Best for: teams that act on job changes and hiring signals.
Pricing: credits, no public dollar price. no public dollar price per credit (Crustdata pricing, September 2026)
5. LeadMagic: best for finding emails for known people
LeadMagic is an email and mobile finder with an API and search. A valid email costs 1 credit and a mobile 5. Essential is $99 a month for 5,000 credits, Ultimate $849 for 100,000, and Enterprise starts at $2,490 a quarter (LeadMagic pricing, September 2026).
Pros
- MCP on every plan, with OAuth (LeadMagic MCP docs, September 2026).
- Search is unmetered on $499 and up.
- Email Finder allows 600 requests a minute (LeadMagic docs, September 2026).
Cons
- Search runs at 5 requests a second on Professional, 10 on Ultimate.
- A 1M-credit month has no public price, and Enterprise rates are not published. Ultimate is $0.00849 a credit, so 1M extrapolates to about $8,490. That is arithmetic, not a plan.
Best for: teams that have names and domains and need emails.
Pricing: $99 to $849 a month (LeadMagic pricing, September 2026).
6. Lusha: best for reps in a browser extension
Lusha is a contact data platform with an extension, API and MCP server. An email costs 1 credit and a phone number 5. Free gives 40 credits a month, Starter is $49.90 for 400 and Premium $399.90 for 3,400 (Lusha pricing, September 2026).
Pros
- Extension and CRM integrations.
- MCP at
mcp.lusha.comwith 50 tools (Lusha MCP docs, September 2026).
Cons
- Premium allows 300 requests a minute and 18,000 a day (Lusha API guide, September 2026).
- No public price at 1M. The lowest published rate is about $0.0795 a credit, on Premium billed yearly at 120,000 credits.
Best for: sales reps who reveal contacts while browsing.
Pricing: Free, then Starter at $49.90 a month (Lusha pricing, September 2026).
7. Hunter: best for emails by domain, with outreach
Hunter finds and verifies emails by domain and ships sequences. Credits cover Email Finder, Verifier and Domain Search. A verification costs 0.5 credit. Starter is $49 a month for 2,000 credits, Growth $149 for 10,000 and Scale $299 for 25,000 (Hunter pricing, September 2026). For API and bulk volume, Data Platform sells 1,000,000 Search credits for $6,900, bought once and valid 12 months (Hunter Data Platform, September 2026).
Pros
- MCP on all plans (Hunter MCP, September 2026).
- Domain Search allows 15 requests a second (Hunter API docs, September 2026).
- Sequences included.
Cons
- Monthly plans stop at 25,000 credits a month. Volume means Data Platform packs, bought once and valid 12 months.
Best for: small teams that look up emails and send from one tool.
Pricing: Free, then Starter at $49 a month (Hunter pricing, September 2026).
Comparison table
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Cost at 1M records a month | API | MCP | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LeadOcean | API, agents and volume | Free, then $499 a month | $499 a month flat | REST, every plan | Yes, OAuth 2.1, 12 tools | 100 requests per second per key |
| People Data Labs | Data products and licensing | $98 a month | No public 1M price. Quote only above about 100,000 profiles a year | REST | Not confirmed | 1,000 a minute enrichment, 10 a minute search |
| Coresignal | Raw company, employee and job data | $49 a month | $5,000 a month on Elite for 1M Base records. Not an email cost | REST | Yes, OAuth 2.1 | 5 to 100+ requests a second by plan |
| Crustdata | Live signals and change alerts | Credits, no public dollar price | Not published | REST | Yes | 15 a minute enrich, 30 a minute search |
| LeadMagic | Finding emails for known people | $99 a month | No public price at 1M. Top public tier is $849 a month for 100,000 credits | REST | Yes, OAuth | 600 a minute Email Finder |
| Lusha | Reps in a browser extension | Free, then $49.90 a month | No public price at 1M. Top public tier is 120,000 credits a year for $9,539.10 billed yearly | REST | Yes, 50 tools | 300 a minute on Premium |
| Hunter | Emails by domain, with outreach | Free, then $49 a month | $6,900 on Data Platform, bought once, valid 12 months | REST | Yes, all plans | 15 a second Domain Search |
Figures come from each vendor's pricing and docs pages, checked in September 2026. Cost at 1M is list price times volume only where a public plan sells that volume. Otherwise the cell says so and names the top public tier.
How to choose
- API or agent pulls at a fixed bill: LeadOcean.
- Licensed data in a product: People Data Labs or Coresignal.
- Jobs, posts or hiring signals: Coresignal or Crustdata.
- Names and domains in, emails out: LeadMagic or Hunter.
- Reps revealing contacts in a browser: Lusha.
- Sequences and a dialer: keep Apollo, add a data API for bulk pulls.
Verdict
LeadOcean wins for volume through an API or an agent, because the price does not move with records. People Data Labs fits licensed data products. Coresignal and Crustdata win on jobs and live signals. LeadMagic and Hunter win when you only need emails. Lusha wins for reps in a browser.
FAQ
Does Apollo have a public API?
Yes, on every plan, including Free. Endpoints that only manage records cost 0 credits, while enrichment costs 1 to 9 credits per person (Apollo API pricing, September 2026).
What are Apollo's API rate limits?
On general endpoints, Basic and Professional get 200 requests a minute and 2,000 a day. Paid enrichment endpoints allow 1,000 a minute (Apollo API docs, September 2026). Limits are per team and per endpoint.
Which Apollo API alternative is cheapest at volume?
LeadOcean, at a flat $499 a month. The others meter by credit, so cost grows with records.
Which alternatives have an MCP server?
LeadOcean, Coresignal, Crustdata, LeadMagic, Lusha and Hunter list hosted MCP servers. Apollo has one too, on any plan (Apollo MCP, September 2026).
Can I build a product on Apollo data?
Not on the standard plans. Apollo says they are for internal business use, and resale needs a separate agreement (Apollo pricing, September 2026).
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