Apollo.io vs Lavender
Apollo.io and Lavender side by side: what each one is, what it costs to start, and whether you can try it free. Everything below comes from the vendors' own sites and other public sources, not from hands-on testing.
At a glance
| Apollo.io | Lavender | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Sales & CRM | Sales & CRM |
| Starting price | Free; paid plans from $49/mo | Free; paid plans from $27/mo (checked October 2026) |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Profile | Read profile | Read profile |
Prices are in US dollars unless shown otherwise. Confirm the current price on the vendor's site before you buy.
Key differences
Both list a free tier, so you can try each before paying.
Lavender has the lower starting price ($27/mo against $49/mo for Apollo.io). The cheapest plan rarely has the same limits or features, so compare plans before choosing on price.
Both are in our Sales & CRM category.
About each tool
Apollo.io
B2B contact database with sequences, dialing and AI research tools. Free plan available; Basic is $49 per user a month billed annually (Reported).
Who it is for
Apollo's pricing page describes Free for founders and early-stage teams, Basic for individual sellers doing regular outbound, and Professional for full-time reps who need higher credit limits and AI features. A Custom tier is described for teams that need custom volumes, SSO and dedicated support.
Strengths
- Apollo says its database holds 240M contacts and 30M companies, and its pricing page lists integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach, SalesLoft and Marketo.
- Apollo's AI Overview lists an AI Assistant, AI Research, Outbound Copilot, Lookalikes, Scores, an AI Writing Assistant, Pre-meeting Insights and Conversation Intelligence.
- Apollo's comparison article lists Free at $0 with 900 credits a year, 2 sequences and basic filters, and Basic with 30,000 credits per user a year, unlimited sequences and CRM integrations.
- The same article lists Professional with 48,000 credits per user a year, 5 mailboxes, a dialer, workflow automation and AI research, and Organization with 72,000 credits, 15 mailboxes, SSO and an international dialer.
- Apollo's pricing page says credits are pooled across the team and that extra credits can be bought mid-cycle from Settings.
- Apollo's AI policy says it does not share Customer Data with third-party providers to train their models without disclosure and consent, and that data sent to those providers is deleted from their platforms within 30 days.
Limitations
- Apollo's credits page says unused credits expire at the end of each billing cycle and do not roll over; its terms say fees are based on credits purchased, not actual usage.
- Apollo's terms say subscriptions are non-cancelable during the term, auto-renew unless you give 30 days' written notice, and payments are nonrefundable except in cases such as Apollo's convenience termination.
- Apollo's help article says data-sharing from a connected mailbox (to improve its contact database) is generally not optional on Free, Basic and Professional; Organization customers can discuss options with their account manager.
- Apollo's own pages disagree on plan names and prices: the pricing page lists Free, Basic, Professional and Custom with no dollar figures, while Apollo's comparison articles list Organization at $119 per user a month, and the pricing page and one article differ on dialer wording.
Lavender
Email coach for Gmail and Outlook that scores sales emails and suggests edits. Free plan covers 5 emails a month; Starter is $27 a month billed annually ($29 monthly).
Who it is for
Lavender has separate pages for sellers, sales leaders and "anyone" who writes email, and it offers the Coach free to students, job seekers and bootstrapped entrepreneurs who follow its steps. Its Team plan adds a coaching dashboard and team analytics for sales teams.
Strengths
- Lavender says it integrates with Gmail, Outlook, Outreach, Salesloft, HubSpot, Apollo, Groove and Gong.
- The Coach page lists a 7-day free trial that includes all integrations, says month-to-month plans are available and says no credit card is required.
- Paid individual plans are listed with unlimited emails, personalization and AI recommendations, plus an AI Email Writer, Lavender Anywhere and multi-inbox support (Starter).
- The privacy page says data is encrypted with TLS in transit and AES at rest, and that users can delete their data; the terms say Lavender does not retain copies of your emails and will not sell customer data to third parties.
- Lavender lists a free Basic plan that includes Gmail and Outlook support and an AI Email Writer.
Limitations
- The free Basic plan analyzes 5 emails and personalizes 5 emails per month.
- Vendor pages disagree on Team pricing: the Coach page lists $89 per seat a month billed annually ($99 per seat monthly), while an older-looking help-center pricing article says Lavender for Teams starts at $8,500 for teams of 2 or more with no billing period stated.
- Vendor pages differ on what the individual tiers include: the help-center article describes Pro as the tier with all integrations (Outreach, HubSpot, Salesloft) and prices Starter at $29 a month or $319 a year and Pro at $49 a month or $539 a year, while the Coach page lists integrations on every plan and shows $27 and $45 a month on annual billing.
- The terms say refunds are at the discretion of the Lavender team, pro-rated refunds are not offered, cancellation must be processed at least 48 hours before renewal, recurring charges continue until you cancel, and prices can change at any time.
- The terms give a license for personal, non-commercial use of the Services and restrict commercial endeavors unless specifically endorsed; they say the Services are hosted in the United States. Neither the terms nor the privacy page addresses whether email content is used to train AI models.
