Apollo vs Instantly: Which is the Best Cold Email Software?

Apollo and Instantly are the most popular sales engagement tools out there.

But which one is the best fit for your business?

Well, to help you decide, in this in-depth comparison, I’ll break down Apollo vs Instantly in terms of:

• Sequence automation
• Personalization features
• Email warm-up & deliverability features
• B2B database quality

And much more!

But that’s not all… I’ll also introduce Saleshandy—a better alternative to BOTH Apollo and Instantly. 

(Because… Why settle for good when you can have the best?) 

Let me help you choose the perfect tool for your email outreach!

Instantly Vs. Apollo? A Quick 30-Second Breakdown

Are you in a hurry to send that cold email?

Well, no worries – I’ve got your back!

Here’s a quick breakdown of Apollo and Instantly to help you pick your winner.

P.S. – I’ve also compared them with Saleshandy, so you can confidently choose the most effective cold email platform—no settling for less.

Let’s get into it!

Apollo Vs. Instantly Feature Comparison

In the previous section, I shared a brief overview of how Apollo and Instantly stack up against each other. 

Now, it’s time to tear them down—feature by feature.

I’ve compared the core features that every top-tier cold emailing tool must have, including:

• B2B Database
• Sequence Automation
• Personalization
• Email Warm-Up & Deliverability
• Features for Agencies
• Reply Management
• Integrations
• Customer Support

P.S. – I’ve also highlighted what makes Saleshandy a strong contender in this space.

Keep reading!

Which Tool Has the Best Database?

First, I decided to see which tool was best for finding leads.

Let’s see who comes out as a winner.

Apollo.io 

Among all of them, Apollo is a more advanced lead-finding tool.

With Apollo, you get these features to find leads and enrich data:

• People
• Companies
• Lists
• Data Enrichment

Let’s see how each one works.

The People and Company features work just like other B2B database providers on the market.

Apollo has a B2B database of 210M contacts and 35M companies.

First, with the People feature, you can choose and apply basic or advanced filters such as job titles, locations, industries, keywords, revenue, headcount, buying intent, and technologies. This will generate a list of prospects along with their contact information.

Next, with Companies, you can precisely find businesses that would benefit from your services using filters like Website Visitors, Technologies, Job Postings, Scores, etc.

You can also use its Data Enrichment functionality to enhance existing records in your CRM or upload a CSV with your prospect’s first name and company to retrieve detailed information.
Additionally, you can enable Job Change Alerts to get notified whenever your prospects start working at a new company.

So, if you’re looking for a tool that allows you to prospect and enrich data simultaneously, Apollo can be SUPER helpful.

Read our Apollo.io 2026 review.

Instantly.ai 

Instantly offers a traditional B2B database search tool. You can search Instantly’s database of 160M+ contacts using either standard search filters or an AI search box.

I tried the AI search tool and found it extremely user-friendly. With a simple prompt, I received a list of prospects along with their contact information, keywords, and company news.

To use the data enrichment functionality, you have to upload a list of people and the enriched information will come.  

Winner? 

While Apollo and Instantly have great B2B database tools, users have been facing some frustrating roadblocks with them. 

Let me share what users are saying:

Apollo User Review 

Imagine sending emails that keep bouncing back. That’s exactly what’s happening with Apollo – their contact information isn’t as reliable as you’d hope, and it’s really hurting people’s outreach campaigns.

Instantly User Review 

With Instantly, you’re stuck with a smaller pool of prospects, especially if you’re targeting markets outside the US.

How Does Saleshandy Stand Out As 💪🏼 Alternative to Apollo & Instantly?

Saleshandy helps you to overcome both these problems!

Want to know how? 

First off,  Saleshandy has a big B2B database with 700M+  contacts and 60M+ companies – way bigger than what Apollo and Instantly offer. 

But here’s what’s really cool: they’re super serious about email accuracy. They only show you A-grade verified email addresses that have 98% deliverability. 

And if they’re not completely sure about a contact’s information, they won’t show it to you. 

The best part? They don’t even charge you credits for those unverified leads!

Looking for a tool that is one with both quantity AND quality at a much affordable price? 

Saleshandy might just be your perfect match! 

Which Tool Offers the Best Sequence Automation?

The next important feature I wanted to test and compare is the sequence builder.

It’s one of the most important aspects to evaluate when choosing a cold emailing tool.

After all, your outreach success often depends on how each platform handles sequence creation, automation, and flexibility—so you can decide which one fits your workflow best.

So, I’m putting Instantly vs Apollo to the test—let’s see who comes out on top!

Apollo.io

Apollo allows you to create automated & manual multichannel sequences. 

You can either choose to create sequences with 

• AI-assisted: You can use Apollo’s AI to help you create a simple outbound email sequence.
• Pre-formatted: Apollo has various pre-built templates that you can use.
• Clone: This is a helpful option that you can use to duplicate an existing sequence.
• From scratch: You can use this option if you manually want to create your sequence.

Once you choose how you want to create your sequence, it will ask you to add a step. No, you can choose how you want to reach out to prospects. 

• Automatic Email: Set up your email sequence once, and let Apollo handle the rest! The system automatically sends your carefully crafted emails to prospects at the scheduled time.
• Manual Email: This option creates a task for you to personalize every message. Remember – these emails only go out when you give the green light by scheduling them.
• Phone Call: Ready to make those sales calls? Apollo creates organized calling tasks and even gives you space to prepare your pitch in the notes section. 
• Action Item: Think of this as your custom task manager. Whether it’s a follow-up or a special outreach activity, Apollo keeps you on track with timely reminders.
• LinkedIn Tasks: Looking to streamline your LinkedIn outreach? With Apollo’s Chrome extension, you can automate several key activities. 

I found Apollo’s email editor quite impressive. Using it, I can write, personalize, and immediately preview my emails to see exactly how they’ll appear to prospects.

I especially liked the fact of how clean its interface is for building multichannel sequences. You can simply add follow-up steps or a variant for A/B testing.

Instantly.ai

Instantly’s campaign builder is simple to use. 

While it doesn’t offer multichannel outreach like Apollo does (you’re limited to cold emails only), it has powerful features like you can connect and manage multiple email accounts within a single campaign. This helps boost your reach and improves email deliverability.

I found the platform incredibly user-friendly – it’s a breeze to customize timing between emails, build campaigns, and upload your prospect lists.

That said, if you want to run A/B tests or use AI to generate email sequences, you’ll need to upgrade to their Hypergrowth plan to unlock these features.

Winner? 

Well, here it is, a tie! 

Apollo is the best for those who want to do multichannel outreach and Instantly is good for those who want only to do targeted cold emailing.

How Does Saleshandy Stand Out As 💪🏼 Alternative to Apollo & Instantly?

Well, guess what? Saleshandy packs all the same features Instantly does, like:

• AI sequence generator
• Conditional-based sequences
• A/Z testing
• Spam checker

And the kicker? You get it all for just $25/month.

No fancy plans, no upsells— all the great features right from the start.

Which Tool Offers the Best Personalization Features?

Another feature I wanted to compare in the Apollo vs. Instantly battle was personalization. 

Thus, while setting up my email campaign, I decided to explore their email personalization features to see which tool offered the best capabilities!

Let’s see what happens next! 

Apollo.io

Apollo offers extensive personalization options. You can personalize your emails with:

• Dynamic Tags: {{contact.first_name}}, {{contact.seniority}}, {{account.website_url}}, and more
• Conditional Tags: {{#if first_name}}text to show only if dynamic variable exists{{#endif}}, {{#if first_name == John}}text to show if first_name equals John{{#else}}text to show if first_name is not John{{#endif}}, and more
• AI Variable Tags: Create fully dynamic custom tags

Plus, Apollo integrates with Vidyard, allowing you to create personalized AI sales videos. 

While creating my sequence, I used all these personalization features, which made my emails more targeted for each prospect.

Instantly.ai

Instantly also offers variable tags and AI personalization features, but there’s a catch.

Unlike Apollo, it doesn’t have a pre-saved list of variable tags. You need to add placeholder names while creating your prospect list, and it will automatically detect and attribute the tags later in the sequence. 

Source: Instantly’s Help Doc

This means whatever tags you want to use, you have to add to your lead list. 

This means you must first add any tags you want to use to your lead list. When I was creating an email copy, I found this confusing since it differs from other cold emailing tools I’ve used. Personally, I didn’t like this approach – it’s simply too much work!

Additionally, while Instantly offers AI personalization, I couldn’t test it because it’s only available in the Hypergrowth plan ($77.6/month) and isn’t included in the free trial. 

Winner? 

In the Instantly Vs Apollo showdown clearly, Apollo stands out as the winner with its superior personalization features, offering both customized placeholders and advanced AI variables.

But let’s look at what actual users are experiencing…

Apollo User Review 

I can confirm this from personal experience. While testing Apollo’s conditional features, I found them challenging to use. There’s definitely a learning period required to master these features.

Instantly User Review 

Let’s be honest – this kind of problem is pretty much unavoidable when you’re stuck doing things manually. Think about it: when you’re typing in placeholders again and again, you’re bound to make a few slip-ups. 

After all, the more monotonous and tedious work you do, the chances of making mistakes become higher!

Hence, while Apollo offers more advanced features, both tools have their limitations.
Apollo requires time to learn its complex features, while Instantly’s manual approach may lead to accuracy issues. Neither tool provides a perfect solution for email personalization. 

How Does Saleshandy Stand Out As 💪🏼 Alternative to Apollo & Instantly?

Here, Saleshandy comes in as the complete solution. 

You will get the pre-saved placeholders, such as 

• Merge Tags such as {{First Name}}, {{Last Name}}, {{Job Title}}, {{Industry}}, etc. 
• Spintax as {Hi | Hello | Hey there}, {Best regards, | Sincerely, | Regards}, etc. 
• Variable Tags such as {{SenderFirstName}}, {{CurrentDate + N}},{{DaysLeftInMonth}}, etc. 

They are placed right on the top of the email container; therefore, finding them is no rocket science. 

Moreover, Saleshandy also provides an AI Prospect Enrichment that allows you to personalize your emails with the latest and relevant information.

Instantly also offers the same feature, but Saleshandy’s is better!

How? Let’s see 👇🏼

Where Instantly falls short:

• Basic enrichment only
• Available only in higher plans
• No choice of AI models
• No option to update or re enrich fields once the data is added

Where Saleshandy is stronger:

• Choose from multiple AI models: GPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok
• Enrich even on the Starter plan using credits
• Update existing fields anytime
• Overwrite enriched fields whenever needed
• Add new enrichment columns freely

This has really helped me to cut my writing time in half and get more personalized emails that get delivered.

Which Tool Offers Best Email Warm-Up & Deliverability Features?

Email deliverability is the make-or-break factor in any outbound cold email campaign.

That’s why I’m comparing the email deliverability features of both tools— to help you choose the one that ensures your emails land in the inbox, not the spam folder!

PS… Take it from me: Your CIBIL score and email deliverability are two things you definitely don’t want to risk!

Instantly vs Apollo – who’s coming out on top? 

Let’s find out the tool that helps your emails hit the inbox every time!

Apollo.io 

Apollo does not have any built-in warmup feature.

For me, this was a huge disappointment! 

It only provides an ‘Inbox Ramp-up’ feature that gradually increases the volume of your emails (and it’s still in beta 🥹) 

The only way to warm up your emails is to warm them up manually! 

Instantly.ai 

On the other hand, Instantly offers unlimited email warm-up. Their warm up tool mimics human conversations between email accounts, helping you to build a solid sender reputation. 

Instantly also has these email deliverability features: 

• ESP Matching
• DNS Setup Assistance
• Rotating IP Pool

And a very cool done-for-you domain and email setup feature. 

As the name suggests, it will set up domains and email accounts, including automatic DNS record configuration for you. 

Winner? 

When it comes to email warm-up and deliverability, Instantly is the winner. 

It’s worth noting that Instantly has received mixed feedback, with several users expressing concerns about its features in reviews on G2 and Reddit.

Instantly User Review 

Apart from this, you also have to pay additional fees to use the advanced deliverability features because, in the basic plan, you can only warm up your email accounts. 

How Does Saleshandy Stand Out As 💪🏼 Alternative to Apollo & Instantly?

Psst… Saleshandy offers the same email warm-up and deliverability features as Instantly, like:

• Unlimited email warm-up
• Inbox Radar
• Sender rotation
• ESP matching
• Sequence score

And guess what? You get all this right from the basic $25/mo plan.

Meanwhile, with Instantly, you have to go for the Hypergrowth plan (or higher) to unlock these choices

(Your choice! 😉)

Which Tool Is Best for Agencies?

If you’re running an agency that offers lead generation services or uses cold emailing to attract new clients, you know how important it is to have the right tool.

Why does it matter so much? 

Simple: the perfect tool helps you reach more prospects while keeping your costs down as you scale.

In this Instantly vs Apollo breakdown – let’s see which one’s best!

Apollo.io 

To cut it short, Apollo is not the tool for agencies! 

It doesn’t have any functionality to onboard or manage clients.

Instantly.ai

Instantly has features for agencies! 

An agency can

• Create separate workspaces for their clients 
• Managed client access 
• White labelling 
• Seamless team management 

But they are all available in the HyperGrowth plan and above! (Yeah, I know the cost will just start ramping up!) 

Winner? 

Here’s where things get interesting! 

When compared to Apollo, Instantly shines as a cold emailing tool for agencies, I agree! 

But there’s a catch – its pricing structure can get expensive fast, and there are more affordable alternatives out there that are offering more and at much more cost-effective prices.

Many Instantly users have raised concerns about the cost, especially for agencies. Here’s what they’re saying:

Instantly User Reviews

Let me break down the math for you:

For each new client, you need to purchase the Hyper Growth plan at $77.6/month. So, with 10 clients, you need 10 workspaces.

That adds up to a whopping $9,312 per year!

And remember – this number only goes up as you bring on more clients. Think about how much of your revenue would be eaten up by these costs!

How Does Saleshandy Stand Out As 💪🏼 Alternative to Apollo & Instantly?

Unlike Instantly, you don’t have to pay extra bucks to add and manage clients. You can add UNLIMITED CLIENTS and get all the features Instantly has at just $25/mo!  (It’s a win-win scenario)

Which Tool Is Best For Reply Management?

At this time, I have compared all the important features for sending emails. Now, it’s time to compare the features to manage replies and conversations from your prospects. 

Let’s settle this – Instantly vs Apollo: which one’s the right tool for managing replies? 

Apollo.io 

One thing that really frustrates me about Apollo is the lack of a unified inbox, which means you can’t view and manage all your prospect conversations in one central location.

Therefore, it is already out of the race! 

Instantly.ai

Instantly has a robust unified inbox. 

It allows you to 

• Get centralized view
• Organize emails with 8 default tabs 
• Perform operations on multiple emails at once.
• Filter replies by campaigns and sending accounts.

You can access the Unibox on all our email outreach plans. However, the ability to reply directly from Unibox varies depending on your plan:

• Growth plan: You can view and preview replies in Unibox but can’t send replies directly.
• Hyper Growth plan & above: Full access to Unibox, including the ability to send replies directly.

Winner?

Clearly, in this showdown Instantly comes out as a winner, but you can’t fully access it in the basic plan itself. 

You need to buy the Hypergrowth plan priced at $77.6/mo or above to access its features like replying fully, detecting sentiment in conversations, etc. 

How Does Saleshandy Stand Out As 💪🏼 Alternative to Apollo & Instantly?

Whereas with Saleshandy you can access all these features right from the basic plan priced at $25/mo. 

Which Tool Is Best For Integrations with Third-party Tools?

Integrations are important to streamline the workflow.  

A single tool cannot help you achieve your goals effectively. So, it’s quite important for all the tools you use to work together as a tight-knit solution.

That’s why I have listed down the number of integrations you will get with both of the tools. 

Apollo.io 

Apollo offers the necessary integration to CRMs that most cold emailers would look for. 

But there are other tools that can integrate with many other helpful software in the market.

Here’s a list of integrations that Apollo has to offer:

• Salesforce & HubSpot (two-way data sync)
• Pipedrive 
• Outreach 
• SalesLoft
• Marketo
• Zapier 

Instantly.ai

Instantly.ai provides you with 3 native integrations with CRMs while it integrates with other tools through API.

Here’s a list of integrations you’ll get with Instantly.ai

• HubSpot (The native Hubspot integration is currently limited to importing leads to Instantly.) 
• Pipedrive (Native )
• OpenAI (with API) 
• Zapier & OutboundSync (Third-party integrations)

Which Tool Has Best Customer Support?

When choosing a tool, customer support can make or break your experience. 

That’s why I decided to put both tools to the test. 

Let’s see how they stack up!

Apollo.io

Getting help from Apollo was straightforward – I just clicked the chat button in the bottom right corner of the page. 

Easy! Right? 

Within 5 seconds, I got a response through their live chat. 

And if you need more help, you can always connect with a support agent.

Instantly

I found Instantly’s customer support to be quite similar to Apollo’s. 

They also offer a live chat feature, and I was impressed with their quick response time.

Winner? 

It’s a tie! In terms of customer support, both tools are fantastic! 

Instantly Vs. Apollo: Pricing Comparison

When you are in the decision-making process, pricing plays a crucial role. 

Since all automation tools require serious investment through annual subscription fees, you’ll want to ensure good ROI from your choice.

That’s why I want to provide you with this Apollo vs. Instantly pricing breakdown.

Apollo’s pricing starts at $39/month/user (when billed annually), with mobile credits available as an add-on. 

Even with the Professional plan priced at $79/month/user, you’ll only get 600 mobile credits per year. 

Also Read: Apollo.io pricing and plan comparison here.

So, if cold calling is one of your outreach channels and you’re considering Apollo, keep in mind the extra cost of mobile credits.

That said, Apollo offers a free forever plan that includes 600 email credits per year and access to features like integrations and their AI email writing assistant.

This isn’t the case with Instantly – they don’t offer any free plan. While you do get a 14-day free trial, after that, a block screen appears, and you can’t access your account anymore.

As for Instantly’s pricing plan, it starts at $30/month for cold emailing and warm-up. However, if you want to access their database or CRM, you’ll need to subscribe to additional pricing plans.

Apollo vs. Instantly: And The Winner Is

In the battle between Apollo vs. Instantly.ai, we’ve learned that both are undoubtedly great cold outreach tools.

However, it’s worth noting that there are various other excellent – and perhaps even better – cold email tool alternatives available.

I know there are a lot of tools out there in the market, and choosing the right one can be an overwhelming task.

But one of the tools that will help you to scale your cold emailing efforts at cost-effective prices is Saleshandy! 

As I’ve detailed above in this blog, Saleshandy not only competes with Apollo and Instantly but excels in several key areas that make it a strong competitor.

FAQs: Apollo vs. Instantly.ai

1. Is there anything better to opt for than Apollo and Instantly?

Well, if you want both a lead database and a cold email campaign set up in a single tool, you must try Saleshandy. It has a 700M+ lead database to help you scale up your cold emailing campaigns effectively. 

2. Which cold emailing tool is best for managing unlimited clients?

Well, Saleshandy is the only tool that helps manage unlimited clients and is an ideal tool for large-scale agencies. Most importantly, there is no additional cost for adding clients.

3. Does Saleshandy offer the unlimited team feature?

Yes, Saleshandy helps lead gen agencies add unlimited teams and team members to manage cold email campaigns. The admin can add managers and team members and assign roles and authorities. 

4. Who tool helps with an accurate B2B lead database?

Apollo is definitely one of the most recommended tools for B2B lead databases. Also, Saleshandy has an extensive database of 700M+ with advanced filters to search your ICPs in minutes.