ContactOut vs Findymail (2026): Data, Pricing and API Compared

ContactOut is a LinkedIn email and phone finder with a browser extension, and its API is priced on request. Findymail is a verified-email finder with a self-serve API key and a credit meter. ContactOut fits people who work in a browser. Findymail fits teams that call an API and want to pay only for what is found.

All prices and limits below were checked in September 2026, each with its source link. Where a vendor publishes nothing, the page says so.

Verdict

• Pick ContactOut if your team works from LinkedIn in a browser, you need personal emails or phones in the same plan, or you buy fewer than 2,000 emails a month. Email is $49 a month, and there is a free tier of 5 emails a day.
• Pick Findymail if you call an API from code, want a key you can test today, and want to pay only for verified emails. A lookup that finds nothing costs no credit, and phones are US only.
• Pick neither if you want volume through an API on one flat plan. ContactOut's API has no public price, and this page quotes no Findymail price at 1M. LeadOcean is one option.

Side by side

All figures checked September 2026. Both vendors change plans and promotional prices often, so check before you buy.

Data and coverage

The counts are not like for like, so test both on your own list. ContactOut lists 800 million people profiles and 40M company profiles (ContactOut data, September 2026). Findymail publishes no record count.

ContactOut disagrees with itself on size. Its homepage headline says 350M professionals, and its MCP page says 600M+ (ContactOut MCP, September 2026). Ask which number your plan reaches.

Email differs in kind. ContactOut counts 200M work emails and 150M personal emails, and its homepage claims 99% confidence without a test method ([ContactOut data, September 2026][co-data]; ContactOut, September 2026). Findymail returns a contact only when it finds a verified email, and a miss is free (Findymail docs, September 2026).

Phones are where they split. ContactOut sells 100M direct dials and a regional plan for coverage outside the US (ContactOut pricing, September 2026). Findymail's phone finder returns US numbers only and nothing for EU citizens (Findymail docs, September 2026). For a global phone list, ContactOut has the wider reach.

Search is the other gap. ContactOut searches people and companies by name, location, job title, industry and 20+ other attributes (ContactOut, September 2026). Findymail lead search is Intellimatch, a plain-language query capped at 5,000 companies per run. Its Find Employees call returns at most 5 contacts and no email (Findymail docs, September 2026).

API and developer experience

Both are plain REST, with different inputs. ContactOut's profile call takes a LinkedIn URL and returns work_email, personal_email and phone arrays plus profile fields. It charges a credit when an email or phone is found (ContactOut API docs, September 2026).

curl "https://api.contactout.com/v1/linkedin/enrich?profile=https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-doe" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --header "Accept: application/json" \
  --header "token: $CONTACTOUT_API_TOKEN"

Findymail's email finder takes a name and a company domain, and costs 1 finder credit only if a verified email is found. It also accepts a webhook_url to run the search in the background (Findymail docs, September 2026).

curl -X POST "https://app.findymail.com/api/search/name" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FINDYMAIL_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name":"Jane Doe","domain":"acme.com"}'

The difference is access. Findymail's page says to sign up and get a key from the dashboard (Findymail API page, September 2026). ContactOut asks you to book a meeting first, so you cannot test the API before a sales conversation (ContactOut API docs, September 2026).

ContactOut also needs a LinkedIn URL for its profile call, while Findymail works from a name and a domain. If your list holds names and company domains, that saves a step.

Rate limits are measured differently. ContactOut's other APIs allow 1,000 requests a minute, so 1M calls take about 1,000 minutes, or 17 hours, but People Search stops at 60 a minute. Findymail caps simultaneous requests at 300, with 5 for find-from-domain, and states no per-minute figure (Findymail docs, September 2026).

For agents, both ship an MCP server. ContactOut's has 15 tools and 600+ free credits at onboarding. Findymail's has 14 tools, signs in through the browser, and takes a bearer token for scripted setups (Findymail plugin, September 2026).

Pricing

ContactOut charges per account with a monthly credit ceiling. Findymail charges per found result from a credit pool. To compare them, use work emails found, because both sell that.

At 10,000 records a month. Findymail needs 10,000 finder credits if every record is found, and fewer when some miss, because misses are free. The price of the plan that holds 10,000 credits is on Findymail's pricing page. This page quotes none.

ContactOut has no public price at 10,000. Paid "unlimited" plans cap at 2,000 email credits and 1,000 phone credits per account per month (ContactOut terms, September 2026). 10,000 / 2,000 is 5 account-months, and 5 x $49 is $245. That is arithmetic, not a public path, because every self-serve plan lists a one-user-per-company limit. Volume means the Team / API plan, priced on request.

At 1M records a month. Findymail needs 1,000,000 finder credits for 1M emails, and 10,000,000 for 1M US phone numbers at 10 credits each. Ask Findymail for a written price at that volume. We do not multiply a small plan's rate out to 1M.

ContactOut has no public 1M price either. 1,000,000 / 2,000 is 500 account-months of capacity, and the one-user limit blocks that route. The API docs state credit use but no dollar price per credit (ContactOut API docs, September 2026). We will not multiply a seat price out to a number nobody can buy.

Two cost traps. ContactOut's struck-through "original" prices ($99 on Email, $199 on Email + Phone) carry no end date, so the sale price may not last (ContactOut pricing, September 2026). On Findymail, a phone costs ten times an email, and checking an email you already own spends a separate verifier credit.

Where ContactOut wins

• Browser workflow. A Chrome extension, a search portal and a free tier of 5 emails a day, where recruiters and reps already work (ContactOut pricing, September 2026).
• Personal emails and global phones. 150M personal emails and 100M direct dials, with a regional plan for coverage outside the US. Findymail's docs list no personal-email lookup and return no EU phones.
• Real search. People and company filters on 20+ attributes, where Findymail has a plain-language query.
• A free tier for agents. 600+ free MCP credits at onboarding.

ContactOut's weak points are the API and the ceilings. There is no public API price, and "unlimited" stops at 2,000 emails per account. Refund and renewal terms sit in a Subscription Agreement that is not public (ContactOut terms, September 2026).

Where Findymail wins

• A key you can test today. Sign up, copy the Bearer token and send the request above. No meeting.
• Pay on success. One credit per verified email, nothing on a miss, and only verified emails come back (Findymail docs, September 2026).
• Name plus domain. Find an email from a name and a company domain, with an async webhook for batches.
• More than lookups. A standalone verifier, reverse-email lookup, lookalike search and Signals for job changes and keyword mentions, all in the API.

Findymail's weak points are phones and search depth. A phone costs 10 credits, covers US numbers only, and Find Employees returns at most 5 contacts per call with no email.

If you need volume through an API

We build LeadOcean, so weigh this section accordingly. It has a free plan with 1,000 records, one-off, no card. Pro is $499 a month, flat, with unlimited searches, enrichments and lookups, and no credits or per-record price (LeadOcean pricing, September 2026).

It holds 693M people, 366M with an email and 166M with a phone number, plus 63M companies. The same REST API and a hosted MCP server with 12 tools run on every plan, at 100 requests per second per key (LeadOcean MCP docs, September 2026).

For bulk pulls, POST /v1/exports returns up to 50,000 rows per request, or you can use the Exports page in the app. 1M rows is 20 requests over two days (LeadOcean exports docs, September 2026). It has no name-plus-domain lookup, so search by domain first. See pricing, the ContactOut alternative page and ContactOut alternatives.

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