Apollo.io Free Plan Review 2026 (Real Credit Limits)
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Apollo.io's free plan is real — but it's built for testing data quality and light solo prospecting, not running an ongoing outbound campaign. You get roughly 100 email credits, 5 mobile credits, and 10 export credits a month, capped at 2 active sequences. There's no "60 credits a month" anywhere in the plan — that number comes from a mobile-credit figure reported annually, not monthly.
- Apollo's free plan gives roughly 100 email credits, 5 mobile/phone credits, and 10 export credits per month — not a flat "60 credits"
- The "60 credits" figure floating around SEO blogs is actually 5 mobile credits/month reported as 60/year, without converting it back to monthly
- CRM sync with HubSpot or Salesforce is paid-only — the free plan connects to Gmail for sending and nothing else
- Apollo restructured its free tier in late 2025, cutting the email credit allowance significantly for most signups
- Best use case for the free plan: testing Apollo's data quality for 2-4 weeks before deciding whether to pay
Apollo.io Free Plan Review 2026 (Real Credit Limits)
Search "Apollo.io free plan" and you'll find a different credit number in almost every article — 10,000, 100, 900 a year, "unlimited," and, in one widely-copied figure, "60 credits." None of those numbers are wrong exactly, they're just measuring different things, or measuring the plan from before Apollo changed it. Here's what the free plan actually gives you right now, cross-checked against Apollo's own documentation and current pricing.
What Is Apollo.io's Free Plan?
Apollo.io is a combined B2B contact database and outreach platform — you search its database for leads, then send cold email sequences straight from the same tool instead of stitching together a separate data provider and a separate sender. The free plan is Apollo's way of letting you test the database before paying for the sequencing and CRM features that make the platform worth using at scale.
The Real Credit Breakdown
| Credit/Feature Type | Monthly Allowance | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Email credits | ~100/mo | Down from 10,000/mo before Apollo's late-2025 free-tier restructuring — older articles still quoting 10,000/mo are out of date |
| Mobile/phone credits | 5/mo | Equals roughly 60/year — this is almost certainly where the "60 credits" figure came from |
| Export credits | 10/mo | Capped at 25 records per individual export |
| Active sequences | 2 | Gmail sending only — no Outlook/Microsoft on the free plan |
| AI credits | 50/mo | Powers Apollo's AI-assisted features (email drafting, research); a much smaller allowance than the paid tiers |
Apollo's own credit documentation [OPEN IN NEW TAB] explains how the system works underneath these numbers: each action (an email reveal, a mobile number reveal, an export) draws down a different credit type, and unused credits expire at the end of the billing cycle rather than rolling over.
The email credit number is the one worth paying attention to. Apollo restructured its free tier in late 2025, and the allowance most new signups see now sits far below what older reviews still quote. If you're reading a 2024 or early-2025 "Apollo is free and generous" article, assume it's out of date.
The "60 Credits" Number, Resolved
It's an easy mistake to make when you're skimming a pricing table instead of reading it line by line, and it's now spread across enough SEO content that it shows up as a real search query. The actual monthly picture is the credit table above: around 100 email credits, 5 mobile credits, and 10 export credits — three separate numbers, not one combined total.
What the Free Plan Does NOT Include
- No HubSpot or Salesforce CRM sync. Both integrations are paid-only, confirmed on Apollo's official pricing page [OPEN IN NEW TAB] as starting on the Basic plan at $59/month. On the free plan, getting contacts into a CRM means manually exporting and importing a CSV.
- No non-Gmail sending. If your business runs on Outlook or a Microsoft 365 inbox, you can't send sequences from Apollo's free plan at all.
- No advanced filters or full buying-intent data. Basic search filters are included; deeper segmentation and intent-topic tracking are gated to paid tiers.
- Only 2 active sequences at a time. Enough to test one or two outreach angles, not to run a real multi-sequence campaign.
Apollo's Free Plan vs. Other Free Tools
Apollo's free plan covers contact-finding and light sending in one place, but it's not the most generous free tier at any single job. If you're building a zero-budget stack from the wider AI Sales & CRM category, you'll likely end up pairing tools rather than relying on Apollo alone.
| Tool | Best For | Free Plan | Starting Paid Price | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apollo.io | Contact database + light sending in one tool | ~100 email credits, 5 mobile, 10 export/mo | $59/mo | 4/5 |
| Instantly | Cold email sending with AI warmup | Free tier available, no CRM built in | $37/mo | 4/5 |
| Seamless.AI | Contact-finding only, similar free-credit scale | Free lifetime credits, earn more via activity | Custom | 3.5/5 |
| HubSpot | Free CRM to hold contacts long-term | Free forever, unlimited users | $0–20/mo | 4.5/5 |
A practical zero-budget stack: use Apollo's free plan to find and verify contacts, export what you can within the 10-credit cap, drop them into HubSpot's genuinely free CRM, and send sequences from Instantly's free tier once Apollo's 2-sequence limit runs out. No single tool solves the whole workflow for free — combining two or three narrowly does. For the complete picture of how Apollo fits alongside every other option in this category, see our full roundup of AI sales tools for solopreneurs and freelancers.
Who the Free Plan Is Actually For
The free plan makes sense if:
- You want to test Apollo's contact data quality before committing to a paid plan
- Your outbound volume is genuinely light — under roughly 25-30 contacts a month
- You already have a CRM (or use HubSpot's free tier) and just need Apollo for finding contacts
Look elsewhere if:
- You need CRM sync with HubSpot or Salesforce out of the box
- You send from an Outlook or Microsoft 365 inbox
- You need more than 2 active sequences running at once
Frequently Asked Questions
How many free credits does Apollo.io give per month?
Roughly 100 email credits, 5 mobile/phone credits, and 10 export credits per month. This is down sharply from the 10,000 email credits/month Apollo used to offer before its late-2025 free-tier restructuring — if you're reading an article that still quotes 10,000/month, it hasn't been updated since that change.
Does Apollo.io's free plan work with HubSpot or Salesforce?
No. CRM integrations are paid-only, starting on the Basic plan. The free plan connects only to Gmail for sending — there's no native CRM sync at all.
Is Apollo.io's free plan enough to replace a paid CRM or outreach tool?
No. It's built for testing data quality and light solo prospecting — 2 active sequences and a 10-export-credit monthly cap aren't enough to run an ongoing campaign. Treat it as a trial with no expiration date, not a permanent free tool.
Why did Apollo.io's free plan get worse in 2026?
Apollo restructured its free tier in late 2025, cutting the monthly email credit allowance for most non-corporate signups. It's a real, confirmed change — the confusion comes from older articles and pricing roundups that never updated their numbers.
Final Verdict
Apollo's free plan is worth signing up for if you want to see how good its contact data actually is before you pay for anything. It is not worth relying on as your only sales tool — the credit caps and missing CRM sync make sure of that within the first week of real use. My honest recommendation: use the free plan for 2-4 weeks to judge data accuracy for your specific niche, then decide whether the $59/month Basic plan earns its keep or whether a cheaper, more focused tool like Instantly or Seamless.AI fits your actual workflow better.