ContactOut and Snov.io both sell work emails, but they are built for different people. ContactOut is a LinkedIn-first finder with personal emails and phones. Snov.io is an outreach suite with a CRM, LinkedIn automation and a public plan ladder. Neither publishes a price at 1M records.
Verdict
- Pick ContactOut if a recruiter or rep works from LinkedIn in a browser and needs personal emails and direct dials. Email + Phone is $99 a month on monthly billing, or $79 a month billed yearly.
- Pick Snov.io if you want finding, verifying, sequences and a CRM in one login, with an API on paid plans. Pro M gives 20,000 credits for $189 a month, or $141.75 a month billed annually.
- Pick neither if you need to build a list by title, industry or country at volume, with a price you can read. Both bill per record found. LeadOcean searches 693M people for a flat $499 a month.
Side by side
All prices are USD list prices. Monthly price first, billed-yearly figure after it. ContactOut pricing and terms were checked in September 2026, its other pages in October 2026. Snov.io was checked in October 2026.
| ContactOut | Snov.io | |
|---|---|---|
| Data size | 800 million people profiles and 40M company profiles on its data page. The homepage and MCP page quote 350M and 600M+ (data; MCP) | Claims 500M+ verified contacts and 60M+ companies. Its Database Search guide says 50M+ prospects (lead finder; guide) |
| Email coverage | 150 million personal and 200 million work emails (data) | No email count published. 1 credit per email found with a valid or unknown status (API docs) |
| Phone coverage | 100 million direct dials. Needs the Email + Phone plan (data; pricing) | No count published. Phone Number Finder costs 10 or 22 tokens per number found (knowledgebase) |
| API | REST, token header. Keys come from booking a meeting (API docs) | REST, Bearer token from client credentials. Free plans book a demo for test access (API docs) |
| MCP | 15 tools and 600+ free credits at onboarding (MCP) | Remote server, OAuth, on every plan including Trial. Tool count not published (MCP) |
| Rate limit | People Search 60 a minute, Contact Checker 150, other APIs 1,000 (API docs) | 60 requests a minute across the API (API docs) |
| Bulk export | 300 exports a month on Email, 600 on Email + Phone. Bulk lookup takes 1,000 profiles per request (pricing; API docs) | Unlimited export on paid plans. Bulk domain search takes up to 20,000 domains (pricing; lead finder) |
| Price model | Seat plans for the app, credits in the API, API price on request (pricing) | Monthly, 3-month or annual credit plans, plus separate phone and enrichment tokens (pricing) |
| Entry price | Free: 5 emails, 5 phones, 5 exports a day. Email $49 a month, or $39 billed yearly (pricing) | Starter $39 a month, or $29.25 billed annually, for 1,000 credits (pricing) |
| Cost at 1M records | No public price at 1M (terms) | No public price at 1M. Top public plan is 100,000 credits for $738 a month (pricing) |
Data and coverage
ContactOut is a contact index built around LinkedIn profiles, and Snov.io is a prospect database wrapped in a sales suite. ContactOut's data page lists 800 million people profiles, 150 million personal emails, 200 million work emails, 100 million direct dials and 40M company profiles (ContactOut data, October 2026).
Treat the headline numbers with care. ContactOut's own pages disagree: the data page says 800 million, its MCP page says 600M+, and the homepage says 350M (ContactOut MCP, October 2026). The vendor has not settled which one your plan reaches.
Snov.io has the same problem. Its lead finder page claims 500M+ verified contacts and 60M+ companies. Its Database Search guide says the database holds more than 50 million prospects, updated monthly (Snov.io guide, October 2026). Neither vendor publishes a find rate on the pages we read.
Phones split the two. ContactOut returns phones inside the same profile call, but only on the Email + Phone plan, and the API bills 1 phone credit when a number is found. Snov.io sells phones through enrichment tokens at $0.02 each. A number costs 10 tokens from Wiza or 22 from Zeliq, so $0.20 or $0.44 per number found (Snov.io pricing, October 2026; knowledgebase).
Search is where they differ in shape. ContactOut searches people and companies across 20+ attributes, including skills and technology used. Snov.io filters prospects by title, skills, location, management level and department, and companies by six more fields. Snov.io Database Search shows name, title and company first, and adds the email after you save the prospect to a list.
API and developer experience
ContactOut is one GET request with a header token. Snov.io is a token call, a start call and a result call. Both need a key you do not get instantly.
ContactOut LinkedIn enrich, from its API docs.
curl "https://api.contactout.com/v1/linkedin/enrich?profile=https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-doe" \
-H "Accept: application/json" \
-H "token: $CONTACTOUT_API_TOKEN"It returns emails, phones and the profile in one response. It consumes 1 email credit if an email is found and 1 phone credit if a phone is found. You get the key by booking a meeting (ContactOut API docs, October 2026).
Snov.io emails by domain and name, from its API docs. You first exchange a client ID and secret for a Bearer token that lasts 3,600 seconds.
curl -X POST "https://api.snov.io/v2/emails-by-domain-by-name/start" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SNOV_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"rows":[{"first_name":"Jane","last_name":"Doe","domain":"acme.com"}]}'A request holds up to 10 rows. You then read the answer from a result URL, or pass a webhook_url and Snov.io posts it to you. Each email found with a valid or unknown status costs 1 credit.
The limits decide which one fits a pipeline. ContactOut allows 1,000 requests a minute on most endpoints, 150 on Contact Checker and 60 on People Search. Its v2 bulk lookup takes 1,000 profiles per request and runs as a background job (ContactOut API docs, October 2026).
Snov.io caps the whole API at 60 requests a minute. At 10 rows a request that is 600 lookups a minute, so 1,000,000 / 600 is about 1,667 minutes, or 28 hours of nonstop calls. ContactOut at 1,000 single lookups a minute is 1,000 minutes, about 17 hours. Both figures assume you already hold a key and the credits.
Both have a remote MCP server. ContactOut lists 15 tools and 600+ free credits at onboarding. Snov.io's MCP reaches past data into CRM deals and LinkedIn actions, and it spends the credits, recipients and LinkedIn slots in your plan (Snov.io MCP, October 2026).
Pricing
ContactOut is cheaper for a person who needs 2,000 emails a month, and Snov.io is the only one with a public plan that holds 10,000. At 1M, neither publishes a price. Both examples assume every lookup finds an email, so a lower find rate lowers both bills.
10,000 records a month
- ContactOut Email: $49 a month, or $39 a month billed yearly ($468 a year). Unlimited emails, 300 exports a month (ContactOut pricing, September 2026). Paid unlimited plans follow a fair use policy of 2,000 email credits per account a month (terms).
- 10,000 / 2,000 = 5 accounts. 5 x $49 = $245 a month is arithmetic only. Self-serve plans list a 1 user per company limit, so this is not a public path. The API has no public price.
- Snov.io Pro M: $189 a month for 20,000 credits, or $141.75 a month billed annually (Snov.io pricing, October 2026). Pro S has 5,000 credits for $99, so Pro M is the smallest plan that holds 10,000. Cost per email at 10,000 used: $189 / 10,000 = $0.0189.
At 2,000 emails a month the order flips. ContactOut Email at $49 beats Snov.io Pro S at $99, which holds 5,000 credits. ContactOut's range is a one-person workflow, and Snov.io's is a team one.
1M records a month
- ContactOut: No public price at 1M. Self-serve is capped at 2,000 emails per account a month with one user per company, and the API price is on request. The highest public tier is Email + Phone at $99 a month ($79 billed yearly), with 600 exports a month (ContactOut terms, September 2026).
- Snov.io: No public price at 1M. The top self-serve plan is Ultra at $738 a month for 100,000 credits. Custom Ultra starts at 200,000 credits through sales (Snov.io pricing, October 2026).
We do not multiply either rate out to 1M, because neither vendor sells a plan at that size. Ask both for a quote at your volume. Two details move the total. Snov.io phones run on a second meter, tokens in packages valid 90 days. ContactOut phones need the Email + Phone plan and a phone credit per number.
Where ContactOut wins
- Personal emails and phones from a profile. ContactOut states 150 million personal emails and 100 million direct dials, and one LinkedIn call returns both. Snov.io sells phones as a separate token spend.
- Cheaper for one seat. Email at $49 a month gives a person unlimited emails up to the fair use line. Snov.io's cheapest plan is $39 for 1,000 credits.
- A higher API ceiling. Most endpoints take 1,000 requests a minute, against 60 across the whole Snov.io API, and bulk lookup takes 1,000 profiles per request.
- Size before you spend. People Count shows how many profiles match a search before you spend a credit, and the MCP server exposes it (ContactOut MCP, October 2026).
Where Snov.io wins
- One suite. Snov.io pairs finding with a CRM, unlimited senders, LinkedIn automation and warm-up, with unlimited team seats (Snov.io pricing, October 2026). ContactOut lists email campaigns but no built-in CRM.
- A public ladder. Five plans from $39 to $738 a month are on the page, and annual billing is 25% off. ContactOut shows Contact Us for Team / API.
- Teams. Snov.io includes unlimited team seats. ContactOut self-serve plans are one user per company.
- Unlimited export. Paid Snov.io plans export without a cap. ContactOut self-serve caps exports at 300 or 600 a month.
If you need volume through an API
Both tools meter every record, and neither shows a price at 1M. LeadOcean starts from the audience. It holds 693M people, 366M with an email and 166M with a phone number, plus 63M companies, behind REST and a 12-tool MCP server. Pro is $499 a month flat with no credits, and Free gives 1,000 records one-off with no card.
POST /v1/exports returns up to 50,000 rows per request, and the rate limit is 100 requests per second per key. LeadOcean has no Chrome extension, sequencer or CRM, so it replaces the data source, not the sending tool. See the ContactOut alternative for a line-by-line view, or LeadOcean pricing.
FAQ
Is ContactOut or Snov.io cheaper?
It depends on volume. At 2,000 emails a month ContactOut Email is $49 and Snov.io Pro S is $99. At 10,000 records only Snov.io has a public plan, Pro M at $189. At 1M, neither publishes a price.
Which has the bigger database?
ContactOut states more, at 800 million profiles on its data page, but its other pages say 600M+ and 350M. Snov.io claims 500M+ contacts, while its own guide says 50M+ prospects. The numbers are not measured alike, so test both on a sample of your own list.
Does either tool return phone numbers?
Yes, both. ContactOut returns phones on the Email + Phone plan and bills 1 phone credit per number found. Snov.io sells a Phone Number Finder at 10 or 22 tokens per number, at $0.02 a token.
Do ContactOut and Snov.io have an MCP server?
Yes, both. ContactOut's has 15 tools and 600+ free credits at onboarding. Snov.io's uses OAuth, works on every plan including Trial, and also covers CRM and LinkedIn actions.
Which is better for cold email?
Snov.io sends sequences, and it adds a CRM and LinkedIn automation. ContactOut lists email campaigns too, but its core is the LinkedIn lookup. If you only need the list, pull it from a data API and send from either tool.
What are the API rate limits?
ContactOut allows 60 requests a minute on People Search, 150 on Contact Checker and 1,000 on other APIs. Snov.io allows 60 requests a minute across its API, with up to 10 rows per request.
Related: Prospeo vs Snov.io, Findymail vs Snov.io, Crustdata vs Snov.io and ContactOut alternatives. Back to the blog.
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