Apollo.io runs from a free plan up to $119 per user per month (annual billing), with a credit system where a verified email costs 1 credit and a phone number costs 8, and unused credits expire each billing cycle. For commercial cleaning companies that want booked outreach rather than another tool to learn, SentFirst is a done-for-you alternative starting at $497 one-time for a 1,500-business pilot. Apollo suits teams with in-house sales reps; SentFirst suits owners who want their offer placed directly in front of target businesses without hiring or configuring anything.
Bottom line: Apollo.io is a strong self-serve sales platform for cleaning companies with reps who can manage sequences, credits, and CRM work themselves. SentFirst wins for owners who want outreach executed for them, with per-business targeting and replies routed within minutes.
TL;DR
- Apollo.io's paid tiers run $49 to $119 per user per month billed annually ($65 and $99 billed monthly); Organization requires a minimum of 3 seats and is annual only.
- Apollo charges credits per action: a verified email costs 1 credit, a phone number 8, and unused credits expire at the end of each billing cycle.
- Apollo holds a 4.7/5 rating across 9,690 reviews on its own site, and Capterra users rate value for money 4.4/5, though some report confusing pricing and features removed without notice.
- Apollo added 1,500-credit-per-year domains and 300 to 1,500-credit-per-month mailboxes bought inside the platform, plus a $149/month Advanced Dialer add-on, which raise the real cost above the seat price.
- SentFirst's Pilot costs $497 one-time for 1,500 unique businesses contacted within 7 days; monthly plans run $597 to $1,997/mo, month-to-month with 30 days' notice to cancel.
- SentFirst places your offer directly in the contact forms of target businesses (niche x city via Google Maps) and routes interested replies to you within minutes.
- Apollo needs a rep or ops person to run it; SentFirst needs nothing from your team beyond approving the targeting.
Head-to-head
| Dimension | Apollo.io | SentFirst |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free to $119/user/mo (annual); credits billed per action and expire each cycle | $497 one-time pilot; $597-$1,997/mo flat packages; month-to-monthwinner |
| Ease of use | Full platform your team must learn and operate | Done-for-you; nothing to learn or configurewinner |
| Features | Database, sequences, dialer, intent data, enrichment, analyticswinner | Targeting, enrichment, personalized form outreach, reply routing, reporting |
| Support | 4.2/5 on Capterra; poor support is a common review complaint | Dedicated campaign manager on the Scale tier; human review on every sendwinner |
| Integrations | Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach, SalesLoft, Marketo, SendGrid, LinkedIn, API on Custom planswinner | None at launch; forms-only channel |
| Setup | Self-serve signup; connect mailbox, build lists, configure sequences | Pilot runs fully inside 7 days once targeting is approvedwinner |
| Fit for commercial cleaning | Strong list-building for facility contacts, but self-run outreach | Commercial services (cleaning, security, facilities) is an explicit target niche with city-level targetingwinner |
Scores
Apollo.io
apollo.io ↗Apollo.io is a B2B sales intelligence and engagement platform combining a large contact database (about 240 million contacts) with email sequencing, a dialer, intent data, and CRM integrations. For a commercial cleaning company, the pitch is simple: search the database with 65+ filters to build a list of facility and office managers in your service area, then run automated email sequences from the same tool. It is used by over 600,000 companies and carries a 4.7/5 rating from 9,690 reviews on its own pricing page. The trade-off is operational: pricing is a hybrid of per-seat fees and usage credits, and credits cover everything from email reveals (1 credit) to phone numbers (8 credits) to mailbox warm-up (200 credits per extra mailbox per month). Credits pool across the team and expire each billing cycle, so budgeting depends on how aggressively your reps use the tool. Users on Capterra rate it 4.4/5 for value and praise the database and LinkedIn integration, but a recurring complaint is that features get removed or limits imposed without prior notice, and some report outdated contacts leading to bounces.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 75 credits/mo, 2 sequences, 250 emails/day, 1 mailbox per user, Gmail only |
| Basic (annual) | $49/mo | 2,500 credits per licence/mo, unlimited sequences, 250 emails/day, CRM integrations, waterfall enrichment |
| Basic (monthly) | $65/mo | Same limits as annual Basic; month-to-month, cancel anytime |
| Professional (annual) | $79/mo | 4,000 credits per licence/mo, unlimited Gmail and Microsoft mailboxes, A/Z tests, AI agents, US dialer |
| Professional (monthly) | $99/mo | Same limits as annual Professional; month-to-month |
| Organization (annual only) | $119/mo | 6,000 credits per licence/mo, 15 SMTP mailboxes per user, SSO, custom reports; minimum 3 licences |
Pros
- Large database (about 240M contacts) with deep filtering, useful for building lists of property and facility managers by region
- Low entry cost on annual billing at $49/user/month, plus a genuinely free tier to test data quality
- Strong integration coverage across major CRMs and email providers, with API access on Custom plans
- Highly rated by users: 4.7/5 from 9,690 reviews on its pricing page, 4.4/5 value for money on Capterra
- All-in-one: prospecting, sequencing, dialer, and analytics in a single platform
Cons
- Credit system makes real costs unpredictable: emails (1 credit), phone numbers (8 credits), warm-up (200 credits per extra mailbox), and credits expire each cycle with no rollover
- Reviewers report features removed or limits imposed without prior notice; Basic lost unlimited daily sending and A/Z tests, and record-selection caps were cut from 10,000 to 1,000-2,500
- Data accuracy complaints: outdated contacts and bounce rates higher than expected per user reviews
- Support rated 4.2/5 on Capterra, with poor support a recurring G2 complaint
- Organization plan is annual only with a 3-seat minimum, and seat reductions aren't allowed mid-term
- Someone on your team has to learn and operate the platform; it's a tool, not a service
SentFirst
SentFirst is a done-for-you B2B form-outreach agency operated by AIQ Labs, built for businesses that want new commercial clients without running software themselves. Instead of handing you a database and a sequencer, it places your offer directly into the contact forms of your target businesses at scale. Targeting is Google Maps-driven by niche and city, so a cleaning company can aim at office buildings, property managers, or medical facilities in specific metros. Each business gets per-business enrichment, and messages are AI-personalized from that business's real data, quality-judged by an LLM with human review before anything is sent. A browser agent submits the forms, and replies are tracked and AI-classified, with interested replies routed to you within minutes. Reporting is transparent: attempted vs confirmed vs failed sends, with reasons. Packages run from a $497 one-time pilot of 1,500 unique businesses to a $1,997/mo Scale tier of 15,000 businesses per month with a dedicated campaign manager. It's month-to-month, and the guarantee covers targeting quality, delivery attempts, honest sender identification, and opt-out honoring, with no guaranteed-reply claims.
| 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 | $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 program for lead-gen agencies, from $3,500/mo |
Pros
- Fully managed: no hiring, configuring, or learning anything
- Flat, predictable pricing with no credits, seats, or expiring allowances
- Local, niche-specific targeting that fits how cleaning companies actually sell (by city and facility type)
- Interested replies routed to you within minutes, so hot leads don't sit in a dashboard
- Month-to-month terms with a low-risk $497 one-time pilot
Cons
- Single-touch per business at launch; no follow-up sequences are sold yet
- Forms-only at launch; cold email on warmed domains is a coming-soon lane offered privately later
- No guaranteed-reply claims; the guarantee covers targeting, delivery attempts, and reporting, not outcomes
- No CRM integrations or self-serve dashboard; you depend on the agency's reporting
Pricing compared: seats and credits vs flat packages
Who actually does the work
Fit for commercial cleaning companies specifically
Which should you pick?
FAQs
How much does Apollo.io actually cost for a small cleaning company team?
The seat price starts at $49 per user per month on Basic with annual billing ($65 billed monthly), $79/$99 on Professional, and $119 on Organization, which is annual only with a 3-seat minimum. On top of that, actions consume credits from a shared team pool: a verified email costs 1 credit, a phone number 8, and extra mailbox warm-up 200 credits per month per mailbox. Credits expire at the end of each billing cycle, so budget for usage, not just seats.
Is Apollo.io's free plan useful for a commercial cleaning business?
It's useful for testing, not for running campaigns. The free plan includes 75 credits a month (about 75 emails or 9 phone numbers), 2 sequences, a 250-email daily cap, and Gmail-only sending. That's enough to pull a shortlist of facility managers in your area and check whether the contact data is accurate before you pay, but it won't support real outbound volume.
What does SentFirst cost and what do I get for it?
The Pilot, called 'The First Send', is $497 one-time and puts your offer in front of 1,500 unique businesses in one niche and region, with the full run completed inside 7 days. Ongoing plans are Launch at $597/mo (2,000 businesses/mo), Growth at $997/mo (5,000/mo, up to 2 niches/regions, two segmented campaigns), and Scale at $1,997/mo (15,000/mo with a dedicated campaign manager). All plans are month-to-month, cancellable with 30 days' notice.
Does SentFirst guarantee replies or booked jobs?
No, and that's stated plainly. SentFirst guarantees targeting quality, delivery attempts, honest sender identification, opt-out honoring, and transparent reporting that shows attempted vs confirmed vs failed sends with reasons. It does not sell guaranteed-reply claims, so treat any vendor in this space promising guaranteed bookings with skepticism.
Can I use both Apollo.io and SentFirst together?
Yes, and for some cleaning companies that's the sensible split. SentFirst handles the front door: getting your offer into the contact forms of 1,500 to 15,000 relevant local businesses and routing interested replies to you within minutes. Apollo handles the back end: nurturing longer-cycle prospects with email sequences, dialing, and CRM pipeline management. Just note that SentFirst is forms-only at launch with single-touch per business, so multi-touch email nurturing would come from your Apollo seat, not from SentFirst.
What are Apollo.io's biggest drawbacks according to users?
Capterra reviewers rate it 4.4/5 for value but report that the pricing structure gets confusing and expensive when features are removed or limits imposed without prior notice, which happened several times in 2026 (Basic lost unlimited daily sending and A/Z tests; record-selection caps dropped from 10,000 to 1,000-2,500). Other recurring complaints include outdated contacts causing bounces, slow performance and occasional crashes, and customer service rated 4.2/5.
Sources
- Apollo.io Pricing Plans | Sales Intelligence Platform Pricing
- Apollo.io Pricing 2026: Plans, Credits and Real Costs
- Apollo.io Pricing 2026 | Capterra
- Apollo.io Pricing 2026: Plans, Credits and Real Costs | Salesmotion
- Apollo.io Pricing vs. Top 10 Alternatives: 2026 Comparison
- Apollo.io Pricing Explained: Real Costs and Plan Breakdown
- Apollo.io Pricing 2026: what's really included in each plan
- 5 Apollo.io Alternatives For Sales Teams in 2026