7 Best ContactOut Alternatives in 2026 (Compared)

People leave ContactOut when they need an API or volume, not a browser tool. The API is not self-serve. The docs say to book a meeting for a key (ContactOut API docs, September 2026). The pricing page lists Team / API as "Contact Us" (ContactOut pricing, September 2026).

The self-serve plans are built for one person. Email is $49 a month and Email + Phone is $99 on the monthly toggle. Each allows one user per company and 300 or 600 exports a month. "Unlimited" stops at 2,000 email credits and 1,000 phone credits per account a month (ContactOut terms, September 2026). People Search allows 60 requests a minute. That fits a recruiter on LinkedIn, and it does not fit a pipeline.

This page ranks seven alternatives for API and volume buyers. LeadOcean is first because it has one flat price, no credits and an MCP server that returns records. For a two-column view, see LeadOcean vs ContactOut. For the API angle alone, read ContactOut API alternatives.

TL;DR

"1M records" here means 1M work-email lookups that return a result, one credit each where the vendor uses credits. Where a vendor sells no plan at 1M, the cell says so and names the top public tier. Ask each vendor for a quote at your volume.

What we evaluated

• API access: how you get a key, which plan opens it, and the default rate limit.
• MCP: whether an agent can search and enrich through the server, or only read documentation.
• Price model: flat, credits or seats, and what 1M records a month costs at list price.
• Data: stated coverage, email and phone fields, and how you search before you pay.
• Limits that bite: export caps, seat limits, plan gates and fair-use clauses.

We read each vendor's pricing page and docs in September 2026. We ran no find-rate or accuracy test for this page, so we quote no quality numbers.

1. LeadOcean: best for API, agent and volume buyers

LeadOcean is one dataset behind one REST API and one MCP server. It holds 693M people, 366M with an email and 166M with a phone number, plus 63M companies. You search with 50 people filters and 34 company filters. Counts are free.

Enrichment is POST /v1/people/enrich, phones are GET /v2/people/phone, and exports run up to 50,000 rows per request. Getting a key takes a sign-up, not a meeting. The free plan has the same API and MCP server as Pro.

curl -X POST "https://api.leadocean.io/v1/people/enrich" \
  -H "x-api-key: $LEADOCEAN_API_KEY" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-doe","reveal_email":true}'

The price does not move with volume. Pro is $499 a month with unlimited searches, enrichments and lookups, 5 API keys and 100 requests per second per key. There are no credits and no overage invoice. A very large month is paced down to one request a minute until the reset, not cut off.

The MCP server at https://api.leadocean.io/mcp signs in with OAuth 2.1 and exposes 12 tools, from search_leads to find_phone and export_leads. For people who do not write code, the app at app.leadocean.io has an Exports page. It has a filter builder, a column picker, the record price before you start and a CSV download.

Pros

• Flat $499 a month at any volume, with no credit meter.
• REST and MCP on every plan, including Free.
• Email status on every record, from verified to spam_trap.
• Free counts, and a miss on POST /v1/people/enrich is a free 404.

Cons

• No Chrome extension, so no one-click lookup on a LinkedIn page.
• No sequencer, dialer or CRM. You send from another tool.
• No published personal-email count, and one dataset with no waterfall.

Best for: engineers, RevOps and agents that need volume and a fixed bill.

Pricing: Free is 1,000 records, one-off, no card. Pro is $499 a month, flat (LeadOcean pricing, September 2026).

2. LeadMagic: best for a low per-credit price on valid emails

LeadMagic is a credit-based enrichment API. It lists 400M+ people profiles and 25M+ companies, and reaches them through REST, CSV, a command-line tool and a hosted MCP server (LeadMagic, September 2026). Failed lookups cost nothing.

Unlike ContactOut, the API is on every plan and the price is on the page. Essential is $99 a month for 5,000 credits. Growth is $249 for 20,000, Professional is $499 for 50,000 and Ultimate is $849 for 100,000, or $0.0085 a credit (LeadMagic pricing, September 2026). A valid email costs 1 credit and a mobile 5. Annual billing is cheaper, and the page advertises credits from $0.007. No plan sells 1M credits a month. Extending Ultimate's rate gives $8,490, which is arithmetic and not a public price.

The Email Finder endpoint allows 600 requests a minute. LeadMagic also states that a sustained find rate below 10% can lead to throttling or suspension (LeadMagic docs, September 2026). Bad input lists carry a real risk. The MCP server uses OAuth, and a preview_cost call shows the price of a large job first (LeadMagic docs, September 2026).

Pros

• The lowest per-credit list price among the credit vendors here.
• No charge when an email is not found.
• Hosted MCP with a cost preview before large operations.
• API on every plan, with a published price.

Cons

• The top self-serve plan is 100,000 credits, so there is no public price at 1M a month.
• A smaller stated database than ContactOut's 800 million profiles.
• A minimum find-rate policy can throttle lists with poor match rates.

Best for: teams that enrich a few hundred thousand valid emails a month and want the cheapest credits.

Pricing: Essential $99, Growth $249, Professional $499, Ultimate $849 a month (LeadMagic pricing, September 2026).

3. FullEnrich: best for waterfall emails and mobiles behind an API

FullEnrich asks 25+ sources for each contact (FullEnrich pricing, September 2026). Its pitch is "verified, or it's free". ContactOut searches one database. FullEnrich chains several, so a miss in one source can be filled by another. Its pricing page lists API access, people and company search and an MCP server on Pro, with unlimited users.

Credits are the meter. A work email costs 1 credit, a personal email 3 and a mobile 10. Pro starts at $29 a month for 500 credits ($0.058 each). The 1,000-credit tier is $55 a month ($0.055 each), and the top monthly tier is 100,000 credits for $3,500 a month ($0.035 each) (FullEnrich pricing, September 2026). Search costs 0.25 credits per person returned (FullEnrich docs, September 2026). A mobile at the $0.055 tier costs $0.55.

There is no public price at 1M. Above 100,000 credits a month, contact sales. The yearly toggle lists 1,200,000 credits a year for $37,800 billed yearly.

The API allows 60 calls a minute, with up to 100 contacts in a bulk request. Higher limits are an Enterprise feature (FullEnrich docs, September 2026). The MCP server can search, enrich and export, and it asks you before it spends credits (FullEnrich help, September 2026).

Pros

• Waterfall across 25+ sources, so one call can cover several vendors.
• Search, enrichment and export in the MCP server.
• SOC 2 Type II, GDPR and CCPA listed on the pricing page.
• Credits roll over for 3 months on monthly plans and 12 on yearly.

Cons

• Mobiles cost 10 credits each, so phone-heavy pulls get expensive fast.
• The default API limit is 60 calls a minute.
• A credit meter at volume. There is no public price for 1M work emails, and the top monthly tier is 100,000 credits for $3,500.

Best for: teams that want waterfall contact data, mostly emails and mobiles, through an API or an agent.

Pricing: Pro from $29 a month for 500 credits, up to 100,000 credits for $3,500 a month. Above that, contact sales (FullEnrich pricing, September 2026).

4. Findymail: best for verified emails with a bounce guarantee

Findymail verifies each email at the moment you ask, and returns only verified addresses. It advertises a bounce guarantee on its pricing page, which is a stronger promise than ContactOut's "triple-verified" claim.

Findymail does not publish its prices in a form we can read, so see Findymail's pricing page for plans. An email costs 1 credit and a phone number 10. The phone endpoint returns US numbers only (Findymail API docs, September 2026).

It also has the workflow ContactOut users expect. There is a Chrome extension and one-click push to Instantly, Smartlead, Lemlist and Woodpecker (Findymail, September 2026). The official MCP server has 14 tools (Findymail Cursor plugin, September 2026). The API allows 300 concurrent requests.

Pros

• Real-time verification on every email, and a bounce guarantee advertised on its pricing page.
• Chrome extension and sequencer push, like ContactOut.

Cons

• Phones cost 10 credits and cover US numbers only.
• Search is a plain-language query capped at 5,000 companies, with no structured filters in the docs.
• No price we can quote here. Check its pricing page for the cost at your volume.

Best for: outbound teams and agencies that want verified emails they can send to with a guarantee.

Pricing: Not published here. See Findymail's pricing page.

5. Prospeo: best for reps who want an extension and pay-as-you-go credits

Prospeo is an email and mobile finder sold per user. It has a Chrome extension on every plan. Its API docs claim 200M+ contacts and 30M+ companies (Prospeo API docs, September 2026). It sits closest to ContactOut in feel, with a clearer path to an API.

One verified email costs 1 credit and one mobile costs 10 (Prospeo help center, September 2026). Starter is $49 a user a month, Growth $99 and Pro $249. Add-ons start at 500 credits for $10 on monthly billing, and 1,000 credits cost $20 ($0.02 a credit). The rate falls to $0.01 at 350,000 credits a month and $0.009 at 500,000 credits a year (Prospeo pricing, September 2026).

No add-on reaches 1M in a month. The cheapest public path is 44 Pro seats at $249 plus the 350,000-credit add-on at $3,500, which is $14,456 a month for 1,010,000 credits. Billed yearly, 3 Pro seats at $2,241 plus the 500,000-credit yearly add-on at $4,500 is $11,223 once for 1,040,000 credits.

Prospeo's own pages disagree on API access for Free. The pricing table shows no public API. The help center lists 50 requests a day, and the API docs say free access for all users (Prospeo help center, September 2026). The help center plan table lists "Limited" API access for Free, so two of the three pages say Free has some API access. Prospeo does not say which page is current, so test a Free key before you plan around it. Paid plans carry daily caps. Starter allows 2,000 enrichment requests and 1,000 search requests a day, at 5 enrichment requests a second (Prospeo rate limits, September 2026). Search returns 25 results a page with no email, so you pay again to enrich (Prospeo search docs, September 2026). The hosted MCP server has 8 tools (Prospeo MCP docs, September 2026).

Pros

• Chrome extension on every plan, plus a free plan with 100 credits a month.
• No credit charged when a lookup finds nothing.
• Hosted MCP server with OAuth or an API key.

Cons

• Priced per user, and credits sit on top of the seat fee.
• Daily request caps on the lower plans.
• Search results carry no contact data, so volume means two charges per person.

Best for: reps and small teams that want an extension and pay for emails as they go.

Pricing: Free. Starter $49, Growth $99, Pro $249 per user a month (Prospeo pricing, September 2026).

6. Hunter: best for finding emails by domain and sending from the same tool

Hunter is an email finder with outreach attached. Its homepage cites 150,430,313 verified email addresses (Hunter, September 2026). It starts from a domain, or a name plus a domain, not from a LinkedIn profile like ContactOut.

Credits cap the month. One credit is one email found, and verifying an email costs half a credit. On monthly billing, Starter is $49 for 2,000 credits, Growth is $149 for 10,000 and Scale is $299 for 25,000 (Hunter pricing, September 2026). Yearly billing brings Scale to $209 a month.

Email Finder and Domain Search allow 15 requests a second and 500 a minute. Domain Search returns 100 results at most per call (Hunter API docs, September 2026). The MCP server at mcp.hunter.io/mcp uses your plan credits (Hunter MCP, September 2026). For API and bulk volume, Data Platform sells Search credits in one-off packs valid 12 months. 1,000,000 credits cost $6,900 (Hunter Data Platform, September 2026).

Pros

• API on every plan, including Free, with a public price list.
• Sequences, a browser extension and signals in the same account.
• MCP server with API key or OAuth on every plan.

Cons

• A domain-first lookup is slow for building a list by title or seniority.
• Self-serve stops at 25,000 credits a month.
• Phone numbers come back only when Domain Search finds one.

Best for: teams that find emails domain by domain and send from the same tool.

Pricing: Free with 50 credits a month. Starter $49, Growth $149, Scale $299 a month billed monthly (Hunter pricing, September 2026).

7. RocketReach: best for reps and recruiters who work in a browser extension

RocketReach is the nearest match to ContactOut's shape. It is a contact finder with a Chrome extension, outreach tools and an API. It claims 700M+ professionals and 60M+ companies (RocketReach pricing, September 2026). It ranks last for volume buyers because its API is metered in two ways.

The API bills Universal Credits (RocketReach docs, September 2026). People search is 1 per page, a professional email 2, a personal email 3 and a phone 6. The docs publish no price per credit. They tell you to email the API team to set up a plan (RocketReach docs, September 2026).

The rate limit is 10 requests per second across all APIs. Person lookups cap at 50,000 a month on Ultimate and 200,000 on Custom. A 1M-record job is a five-month job at the highest published tier. The MCP server has 9 tools and OAuth 2.1 (RocketReach MCP docs, September 2026).

Pros

• Extension, CRM sync and sequences in one app, like ContactOut.
• A stated 700M+ professionals and 60M+ companies.
• Credits are charged only on A or A- graded emails (RocketReach FAQ, September 2026).

Cons

• No published dollar price per API credit.
• Monthly lookup caps of 50,000 to 200,000 and a 10,000-result search ceiling.
• Self-serve exports cap at 1,200, 3,600 or 20,000 a year.
• Plans are sized for one person.

Best for: reps and recruiters who want a browser extension and a larger LinkedIn-style database than a single email finder.

Pricing: Essentials $69, Pro $119 and Ultimate $209 a month on monthly billing, reported by G2. RocketReach's pricing page blocks automated reading, so see its pricing page for annual prices and team plans.

Comparison table

Sources are linked in each tool section, all checked in September 2026. Vendors change plans often, so confirm on the pricing page before you buy. The 1M column covers email lookups. Hunter's figure is its published Data Platform price for 1,000,000 Search credits. Findymail publishes no price we can quote. LeadMagic, FullEnrich and RocketReach sell no plan at 1M, so their cells name the top public tier. Prospeo's figure stacks public Pro seats and add-ons. RocketReach sells 2 credits per professional email, which is 2M credits for 1M emails.

How to choose

• You pull data in code or with an agent, at volume: LeadOcean. One flat price, a key on sign-up, REST and MCP on every plan, 100 requests per second.
• You buy valid emails by the hundred thousand: LeadMagic, at $0.0085 a credit on Ultimate.
• You need waterfall emails and mobiles: FullEnrich, and budget 10 credits per mobile.
• You send to the addresses you buy and want a guarantee: Findymail, which advertises a bounce guarantee on its pricing page.
• Your reps live in an extension: Prospeo, RocketReach, or stay on ContactOut.
• You look up emails by company domain: Hunter.
• You want a recruiter-style tool in the browser: stay on ContactOut or test RocketReach.

Verdict

LeadOcean wins for API, agent and volume buyers. It has a flat price, emails and phones in one plan, a key on sign-up and an MCP server that returns records. LeadMagic wins for cheap valid emails and FullEnrich for waterfall mobiles. Findymail wins for sending with its advertised bounce guarantee, Prospeo for reps who want an extension and Hunter for domain-first lookups. RocketReach is the closest to ContactOut itself. Stay on ContactOut if your team works in a browser on LinkedIn all day. Otherwise start on the free plan and compare the same lookups.

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