Apollo.io is a self-serve sales-intelligence platform that starts at $49 per user per month on annual billing (Basic), with Professional at $79 and Organization at $119 with a 3-seat minimum, plus a credit meter that charges 1 credit per verified email and 8 per phone number. For staffing firms that want their offer delivered to 1,500+ target businesses without learning or staffing a tool, SentFirst is a done-for-you form-outreach agency starting at a $497 one-time pilot, with monthly plans from $597/mo. The honest trade-off: Apollo gives your team data and tools to run outreach yourselves; SentFirst runs the outreach for you.
Bottom line: These solve different problems: Apollo.io is a data-and-sequencing platform your team operates, while SentFirst is a done-for-you outreach service. Staffing firms with in-house SDRs get more from Apollo; firms without outreach capacity get more from SentFirst.
TL;DR
- Apollo.io's published seat prices run $49, $79, and $119 per user per month on annual billing (Basic, Professional, Organization), or $65, $99, and $149 monthly.
- The Organization tier requires a 3-seat minimum, making its real entry price $357/month billed annually ($4,284/year).
- Apollo's credit system is the real cost driver: 1 credit per verified email, 8 per phone number, 1–8 per enrichment, and 2 per dialer minute — credits expire each billing cycle and don't roll over.
- Vendr data on 101 Apollo purchases puts the median contract at $19,000/year, and third-party estimates suggest heavy outbound teams budget $150–$400 per user per month once overages and add-ons are included.
- User reviews report Apollo data accuracy around 65–70% with email bounce rates of 15–25%, which may push teams toward supplementary verification tools.
- SentFirst is a done-for-you alternative: a $497 one-time pilot contacts 1,500 unique businesses via their website contact forms inside 7 days, with monthly plans from $597/mo for 2,000 businesses/month.
- For staffing firms, the choice is capacity: Apollo suits firms with in-house reps who will run outreach themselves; SentFirst suits firms that want outreach executed and interested replies routed to them.
Head-to-head
| Dimension | Apollo.io | SentFirst |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $49/$79/$119 per user/mo annual (3-seat min on Organization); credits and add-ons extra; median contract $19,000/yr | $497 one-time pilot; $597–$1,997/mo flat monthly; white-label from $3,500/mowinner |
| Ease of use | Self-serve platform your team must learn: lists, sequences, credit management, plan tiers | Done-for-you — no hiring, configuring, or learning anythingwinner |
| Features | 275M+ contact database, email sequencing, US/international dialer, intent signals, enrichment, call recordingwinner | Form-outreach at scale with per-business AI personalization, quality review, and reply routing |
| Support | Self-serve on paid tiers; dedicated support reserved for Custom plans | Dedicated campaign manager at the Scale tier; human review on every messagewinner |
| Integrations | Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach, SalesLoft, Marketo, Sendgrid, LinkedIn; API on Custom planswinner | Interested replies routed to the client within minutes; no CRM integrations stated |
| Setup | Sign up and configure seats, connections, and sequences yourself; 14-day Professional trial available | Pilot of 1,500 unique businesses runs fully inside 7 dayswinner |
| Contract terms | Month-to-month available at 20–30% higher cost; best pricing requires a 12-month annual commitment; no mid-term refunds | Month-to-month, cancel with 30 days' noticewinner |
Scores
Apollo.io
apollo.io ↗Apollo.io is an all-in-one sales intelligence and engagement platform that packages a B2B contact database of more than 275 million contacts with an email sequencer and a phone dialer, letting teams consolidate separate subscriptions for contact data, email sending, and calling into one tool. It runs on a credit system: credits unlock verified emails (1 credit), phone numbers (8 credits), enrichment (1–8 credits per record), AI research runs (1 credit), and dialer minutes (2 per minute on the US dialer). Plans are Free, Basic, Professional, and Organization, with features like the international dialer, custom reports, SSO, and advanced API access gated behind the higher tiers. The company is independent, reported to be approaching $200M in annual recurring revenue with nearly 100,000 paying customers as of early 2026, and is used by over 600,000 companies including Intel, AT&T, Adobe, SAP, and Shopify. For staffing firms, Apollo works best when you have in-house reps who will build lists, write sequences, and manage campaigns themselves.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 900 credits per seat per year, 2 active sequences, 250 daily emails, Gmail only, 1 seat |
| Basic (annual billing) | $49/mo | 30,000 credits/year granted upfront, unlimited sequences, CRM integrations, waterfall enrichment, email warmup, 6 intent topics; $65/mo on monthly billing |
| Professional (annual billing) | $79/mo | 48,000 credits/year, unlimited Gmail/Microsoft mailboxes, unlimited daily sends, A/Z testing, call recordings with AI insights (4,000 minutes), US dialer; $99/mo on monthly billing |
| Organization (annual billing) | $119/mo | 3-seat minimum ($4,284/year entry), 72,000 credits/year, 12 intent topics, SSO, advanced security, custom reports, international dialer, BYO LLM API key; $149/mo on monthly billing |
Pros
- Published, self-serve pricing starting at $49/user/month on annual billing — rare transparency in the category
- Consolidates contact data, email sequencing, and calling into a single platform, replacing multiple subscriptions
- Huge database (275M+ contacts) with built-in enrichment and intent signals
- Deep integration coverage including Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach, and SalesLoft
- Free plan and a 14-day Professional trial let staffing firms test data quality before committing
- Used by over 600,000 companies including Fortune 500 names like Intel, AT&T, Adobe, and SAP
Cons
- The credit system makes real costs unpredictable: phone numbers cost 8 credits each, credits expire each billing cycle with no rollover, and phone-heavy teams burn through allowances mid-month
- Vendr's data on 101 purchases puts the median contract at $19,000/year, and third-party estimates suggest $150–$400 per user per month for heavy outbound once overages and add-ons are included
- User reviews report data accuracy around 65–70% with email bounce rates of 15–25%, which may require a supplementary verification tool
- Advanced features (international dialer, custom reports, SSO, API) are locked behind the Organization tier with its 3-seat minimum
- Annual billing — where the best pricing lives — locks you into 12 months with cancellations taking effect only at the end of your term and no mid-term refunds
- Requires in-house capacity: your reps must build lists, write sequences, and manage campaigns themselves
SentFirst
SentFirst is a done-for-you B2B form-outreach agency operated by AIQ Labs, built for businesses — including staffing and recruiting firms — that want their offer placed in front of target businesses without hiring, configuring, or learning any software. It targets businesses via Google Maps by niche and city, enriches each business individually, and writes AI-personalized messages from each business's real data. Every message is LLM quality-judged with human review before sending, then delivered through a browser agent that submits the client's offer into each business's website contact form. Replies are tracked and AI-classified, with interested replies routed to the client within minutes. Engagement starts with a one-time pilot of 1,500 unique businesses completed inside 7 days, then scales through monthly packages up to 15,000 businesses per month with a dedicated campaign manager. Reporting is transparent: attempted vs confirmed vs failed submissions with reasons. Month-to-month terms with 30 days' cancellation notice — no annual contracts.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Pilot — 'The First Send' (one-time) | $497/one_time | 1,500 unique businesses, one niche/region, full run inside 7 days |
| Launch | $597/mo | 2,000 unique businesses contacted per month |
| Growth (featured) | $997/mo | 5,000 businesses/mo, up to 2 niches/regions, two segmented campaigns |
| Scale | $1997/mo | 15,000 businesses/mo, priority throughput, dedicated campaign manager |
| Agency white-label | $3500/mo | White-label delivery for lead-gen agencies, starting price |
Pros
- Fully done-for-you: no hiring, configuring, or learning anything — the pilot runs completely inside 7 days
- Flat, predictable pricing ($497 pilot, $597–$1,997/mo) with no seats, credits, or overages to manage
- Month-to-month terms with 30 days' notice — no annual contract lock-in
- Quality controls before send: LLM judging plus human review on every message
- Interested replies routed to you in real time, so yeses reach your team within minutes
- Honest guarantees: targeting quality, delivery attempts, sender identification, opt-out honoring, and transparent reporting
Cons
- Forms-only at launch — cold email on warmed domains is a coming-soon lane, not yet generally available
- Single-touch per business: no follow-up sequences are sold at launch
- No guaranteed-reply claims — the guarantees cover targeting, delivery attempts, and reporting, not response volume
- Volume is measured in unique businesses contacted per month, so results depend on your offer and target market
Pricing compared: seat fees and credits vs flat monthly volume
What staffing firms actually get done with each
Data quality and risk
Which should you pick?
FAQs
How much does Apollo.io cost for a small staffing firm in 2026?
Apollo.io's published plans are Free ($0, 900 credits per seat per year), Basic at $49 per user per month on annual billing ($65 monthly), Professional at $79 ($99 monthly), and Organization at $119 ($149 monthly) with a 3-seat minimum — so the smallest Organization contract is $4,284/year. The seat price is only part of the bill: credits unlock emails (1 credit), phone numbers (8 credits), and dialer minutes (2 per minute), credits expire each billing cycle, and Vendr's data on 101 purchases puts the median contract at $19,000/year. Third-party estimates suggest heavy outbound teams budget $150–$400 per user per month once overages and add-ons are included.
Is Apollo.io a good fit for staffing firms without a dedicated sales team?
Generally no. Apollo.io is a self-serve platform: it gives you a 275M+ contact database, sequencing tools, and a dialer, but your own people must build lists, write sequences, manage credit burn, and run campaigns. A staffing firm without in-house business development capacity will struggle to extract value from the seats and credits. A done-for-you alternative like SentFirst executes the outreach instead — placing your offer in target businesses' contact forms at scale and routing interested replies to you within minutes — which fits firms that want outcomes rather than tools.
What does SentFirst cost and what do you get?
SentFirst starts with a one-time pilot called 'The First Send' at $497, which contacts 1,500 unique businesses in one niche and region with the full run completed inside 7 days. Ongoing monthly plans are Launch at $597/mo (2,000 businesses/month), Growth at $997/mo (5,000/month, up to 2 niches/regions, two segmented campaigns), Scale at $1,997/mo (15,000/month with priority throughput and a dedicated campaign manager), and agency white-label from $3,500/mo. Terms are month-to-month with 30 days' cancellation notice.
Does SentFirst guarantee replies?
No — SentFirst makes no guaranteed-reply claims. What it does guarantee is targeting quality, delivery attempts, honest sender identification, opt-out honoring, and transparent reporting that separates attempted from confirmed from failed submissions with reasons. Every message is AI-personalized from each business's real data and passes LLM quality judgment with human review before sending, and interested replies are routed to the client within minutes. Actual response volume depends on your offer and target market.
How does Apollo.io's credit system work in practice?
Credits are Apollo's internal currency, pooled across your team and granted upfront each billing cycle. Unlocking a verified email costs 1 credit, a phone number costs 8, data enrichment runs 1–8 credits per record, AI research costs 1 credit per run, and the US dialer burns 2 credits per minute. Credits expire at the end of each billing cycle and do not roll over. This is why two teams on the same plan can have very different experiences: a phone-heavy team burns credits roughly 8x faster than an email-only team, and a Basic seat's 2,500 monthly credits buy only about 312 phone numbers if nothing else consumes them.
Can I use both Apollo.io and SentFirst together?
They occupy different lanes. Apollo.io is a data-and-engagement platform your team operates; SentFirst is a done-for-you form-outreach service. A staffing firm could use Apollo for in-house list building and CRM work while SentFirst handles executed form outreach to local businesses — though SentFirst's targeting is Google Maps-driven by niche and city rather than database-driven, so the two don't overlap directly. Note that SentFirst is forms-only at launch, with cold email on custom warmed domains planned as a coming-soon lane.
Sources
- Apollo.io Pricing Plans | Sales Intelligence Platform Pricing
- Apollo Pricing 2026: Seats, Credits, and the Real Cost
- Apollo.io Pricing 2026: Plans, Credits & Is It Worth It?
- Apollo.io Pricing Breakdown 2026: Plans, Credits, and Real Costs
- Apollo.io Pricing 2026: Free Plan to $119/mo (Real Costs)
- 11 Best B2B Lead Generation Companies & Services in 2026
- Top B2B Marketing Companies in 2026
- Best B2B Marketing Agencies for SaaS & Enterprise (2026)