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Prospecting tools answer one question: who should I contact, and how do I reach them? Some are best at finding the right people, others at getting their email address or phone number. Many teams combine two.
Our short answer: start with Apollo for contacts and emails on a small budget. Add LinkedIn Sales Navigator when your buyers are active on LinkedIn and you need accurate job titles and timing signals.
Top pickApollo.io
Best for: Finding contacts and sending first sequences from one tool, on a budget
- Large contact database with email and phone data
- Usable free plan for one rep
- Sequences, dialer and a light CRM included
- Credits run out fast if you reveal many phone numbers
- Data quality varies by country and industry
From $0, then $49 a month
Visit Apollo.io ↗LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Best for: B2B sellers whose buyers are active on LinkedIn
- The most up-to-date data on job titles and job changes
- Lead and account alerts
- InMail credits to reach people outside your network
- No email addresses or phone numbers
- Expensive for one person
From $89.99 a month
Visit LinkedIn Sales Navigator ↗lemlist
Best for: Personalised, multichannel outreach: email, LinkedIn and calls in one sequence
- Strong personalisation, including custom images and landing pages
- LinkedIn steps and call tasks in the same sequence
- Email warm-up (lemwarm) included
- Priced per user, which adds up for bigger teams
- More than you need if you only send plain emails
From $69 a month
Visit lemlist ↗Compared
| Apollo.io | LinkedIn Sales Navigator | lemlist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Prospecting and email | Prospecting | Cold email |
| Best for | Finding contacts and sending first sequences from one tool, on a budget | B2B sellers whose buyers are active on LinkedIn | Personalised, multichannel outreach: email, LinkedIn and calls in one sequence |
| Free plan | Yes, with limited credits | No | Only for finding emails, not sending |
| Try it | Free plan | Usually one month free | 14 days, no card needed |
| Price | Basic $49 a user a month on annual billing (about $59 monthly), Professional $79 (about $99 monthly) | Core $119.99 a month ($89.99 annual), Advanced $159.99 ($149.99 annual) | Email Pro $69 a user a month, Multichannel Expert $99 |
| See Apollo.io pricing ↗ | See LinkedIn Sales Navigator pricing ↗ | See lemlist pricing ↗ |
Apollo: the budget all-rounder
Apollo combines a large B2B database with email sequences and a dialer. Filter by job title, industry, company size and location, and get verified email addresses for most results. The free plan is a good test; paid plans add more credits, CRM sync and buying-intent data.
Sales Navigator: the best people data
LinkedIn profiles are updated by the people themselves, so job titles and job changes are fresher than in any database. Sales Navigator adds advanced search, saved lead lists and alerts when a prospect changes jobs or their company is in the news, which are perfect reasons to reach out. It doesn't give you email addresses or phone numbers, though.
lemlist's database: find and send in one place
lemlist includes a lead database and email finder inside the outreach tool, so you can build a list and start a sequence in one place. It's handy if you're already on lemlist; it's not a reason to choose lemlist on its own.
A simple prospecting stack
- Find the companies and people in Sales Navigator or Apollo, using your ideal customer profile.
- Enrich them with email addresses in Apollo.
- Reach out with a short sequence in your cold email tool and a call on day three.
- Log every reply and meeting in your CRM.
That stack costs from under $100 a month for one seller. Before spending more, check whether you have a list problem or a message problem: if reply rates are under 2%, fix the message first with our cold email guide.
Stay on the right side of the rules
Only contact people at their work addresses about something relevant to their job, say who you are, and honour opt-outs straight away. In the US, the CAN-SPAM Act requires your physical address and a working unsubscribe in commercial email. If you also sell into Europe, GDPR applies to your prospect data.