Clearbit vs. Apollo.io: Which should you choose?

About Clearbit

Clearbit transforms basic email addresses and domain names into rich company and contact profiles — pulling from public web sources and proprietary databases to deliver detailed intelligence. It works through robust APIs and native CRM integrations with HubSpot and Salesforce, automatically enriching lead data and revealing website visitors in real-time.

About Apollo.io

Apollo.io combines a database of 200+ million contacts with sales engagement tools — offering email outreach, basic CRM functions, and lead tracking through a freemium model starting at $49/user/month. The platform merges prospecting data with sales automation like email sequences and Chrome extensions, though users report data accuracy issues due to crowd-sourced information and email deliverability challenges.

What do users say?

Users praise Clearbit as a powerful, intuitive tool for lead generation and data enrichment that integrates seamlessly with Gmail and Salesforce. They highlight its accurate data quality and time-saving capabilities — delivering comprehensive company and contact intelligence that transforms sales prospecting. However, some users criticize outdated data coverage, poor customer support response times, and pricing transparency issues that can catch teams off-guard.

Users view Apollo.io as solid value for sales automation — particularly for its massive contact database and advanced search filters that help identify high-quality prospects. Many consider it the "best bang for the buck" compared to expensive alternatives like ZoomInfo, especially for multi-channel outreach combining email, LinkedIn, and phone in one platform. But users frequently encounter significant data accuracy problems, emails landing in spam folders, billing headaches including difficult subscription cancellations, and LinkedIn outreach limitations that don't match the email features.

Comparison

Clearbit

Clearbit excels at high-accuracy data enrichment — delivering real-time firmographic and technographic intelligence that integrates seamlessly into existing workflows. The downside? It focuses solely on enrichment rather than providing complete sales platform capabilities, and pricing can become expensive at scale with its credit-based model.

Apollo.io

Apollo.io provides an all-in-one solution combining a massive contact database with sales engagement tools at an affordable price point. The trade-off: data accuracy suffers due to crowd-sourced approaches, and you'll hit limitations with advanced integrations and email deliverability.

Clearbit suits growth teams and inbound marketers who prioritize data quality and need sophisticated enrichment capabilities — particularly those already using HubSpot or requiring developer-friendly APIs. Apollo.io fits startups and SMBs focused on outbound sales who need an affordable, comprehensive solution combining prospecting with basic sales engagement.

Both tools support contact-based marketing, but with different approaches. Clearbit enriches existing contacts with rich firmographic data for better segmentation and personalization. Apollo.io provides the contacts themselves along with basic engagement tracking. For marketers seeking true contact-based marketing capabilities — advanced lead scoring, behavioral tracking, and sophisticated nurture campaigns — neither tool delivers the full marketing automation features that dedicated platforms like Marketo or Pardot offer. Integration with specialized marketing tools becomes essential for comprehensive contact-based marketing strategies.

Do you need account-based marketing, or something else?

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How does this solve the traditional intent-based marketing puzzle? It eliminates the guesswork.

With contact-level data, you can reveal high-priority leads by identifying the individuals behind key touchpoints. Deliver hyper-targeted ads based on specific contact behaviors. Bridge the gap between marketing and sales alignment with actionable, lead-level insights that actually drive pipeline.