Instantly vs Apollo: a volume sequencer against a per-seat data platform

Apollo is a contact database with sequences attached, priced per seat with credits; Instantly is a sending tool priced by volume with unlimited mailboxes. For cold email at volume from SMTP mailboxes, Apollo's limit of 5 IMAP/SMTP mailboxes per Professional seat (15 on Organization) sets the bill: $1,666 a month in seats at 5,000 emails a day against $184 on Instantly.

Create mailboxesBook a call
  • Warm-up and sending included
  • $2.50 a mailbox, 12 minimum
  • Month-to-month billing

Instantly

Apollo

Entry price
$47 a month (Growth, 5,000 emails)$65 per seat a month (Basic); free plan with 75 credits
Priced by
By emails a month and uploaded contacts; email accounts unlimited, no per-seat pricePer seat a month plus a credit allowance per seat; credits pay for data, warm-up, domains and mailboxes
Warm-up
Unlimited warm-up included in every planOn paid plans: 1 mailbox per seat included, extra mailboxes 200 credits each per 30 days
At 5,000 a day, all lines
$727.33$2,209.33

Instantly vs Apollo, line by line

Each cell links to the vendor's page it comes from.

Instantly and Apollo prices

Instantly

Instantly plans and prices
PlanPriceWhat it buysBillingIncludes
Growth$47 a month5,000 emails, 1,000 uploaded contactsmonthlyUnlimited email accounts and warm-up; no team members or webhooks source (opens the vendor's page in a new tab)
Hypergrowth$97 a month125,000 emails, 25,000 uploaded contactsmonthlySubsequences, webhooks, Unibox, team members, workspaces source (opens the vendor's page in a new tab)
Light Speed$358 a month500,000 emails, 100,000 uploaded contactsmonthlyDedicated sending server and IP rotation (SISR) source (opens the vendor's page in a new tab)
EnterpriseCustom500,000+ emails, 100,000+ contactsmonthlyPrivate deliverability network, account manager source (opens the vendor's page in a new tab)

Apollo

Apollo plans and prices
PlanPriceWhat it buysBillingIncludes
Free$075 credits per seat a month, 2 sequencesmonthlyGmail mailboxes only source (opens the vendor's page in a new tab)
Basic$65 per seat a month2,500 credits per seat a month, 1 linked mailbox per usermonthlyUnlimited sequences, deliverability suite and warm-up, domain and mailbox purchasing source (opens the vendor's page in a new tab)
Professional$99 per seat a month4,000 credits per seat a month; unlimited Google and Microsoft mailboxes, 5 IMAP/SMTP per usermonthlyA/Z testing, dialer on credits, AI lead scoring source (opens the vendor's page in a new tab)

List prices from Instantly's pricing page and Apollo's pricing page, checked . Taxes and card fees excluded.

Full monthly cost at 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 emails a day

Each sequencer plan the volume needs, with the same mailboxes and domains on both sides.

  • Instantly + Outreach2day mailboxes

    Keep the sequencer, buy the mailboxes from us

    1,000 a day (40 mailboxes)

    $205.67

    5,000 a day (200 mailboxes)

    $727.33

    10,000 a day (400 mailboxes)

    $1,357.67

  • Apollo + Outreach2day mailboxes

    Keep the sequencer, buy the mailboxes from us

    1,000 a day (40 mailboxes)

    $465.67

    5,000 a day (200 mailboxes)

    $2,209.33

    10,000 a day (400 mailboxes)

    $4,299.67

  • Outreach2day all-in

    Mailboxes, warm-up and the sequencer in one bill

    1,000 a day (40 mailboxes)

    $108.67

    • 40 mailboxes at $2.50, warm-up and sequencer included: $100
    • 8 domains at $13 a year: $8.67
    5,000 a day (200 mailboxes)

    $543.33

    • 200 mailboxes at $2.50, warm-up and sequencer included: $500
    • 40 domains at $13 a year: $43.33
    10,000 a day (400 mailboxes)

    $1,086.67

    • 400 mailboxes at $2.50, warm-up and sequencer included: $1,000
    • 80 domains at $13 a year: $86.67

25 cold emails per mailbox a day and 5 mailboxes per domain: 1,000 a day = 40 mailboxes, 8 domains, 22,000 emails a month; 5,000 a day = 200 mailboxes, 40 domains, 110,000 emails a month; 10,000 a day = 400 mailboxes, 80 domains, 220,000 emails a month (22 sending days). Monthly list prices on monthly billing; .com domains at $13 a year spread over 12 months.

With Outreach2day mailboxes on both: $206 on Instantly and $466 on Apollo at 1,000 a day, $727 and $2,209 at 5,000, $1,358 and $4,300 at 10,000. Apollo is priced on Organization, $119 a seat billed annually, because it links 15 SMTP mailboxes per user against 5 on Professional.

Apollo links unlimited Google and Microsoft mailboxes per Professional seat. If your mailboxes are Google Workspace, one $99 seat can hold them, but Apollo's warm-up then costs 200 credits per extra mailbox every 30 days, against 4,000 credits per seat.

Where they differ

Data first, or sending first

Apollo's center is its database: 240M contacts and 30M companies, enrichment and verification paid with credits, a dialer, deals and AI agents. Sequences are one feature among many.

Instantly's center is sending: unlimited mailboxes, warm-up, rotation and Unibox. Its own database, SuperSearch, is a separate Credits plan.

Using both

One way to use both: Apollo to find and export contacts, Instantly to send. That keeps Apollo to the seats that prospect and moves the mailbox count to a tool that does not charge per mailbox.

Our Apollo MCP comparison and Instantly MCP comparison show how each server works from an assistant.

Refunds and trials

Apollo has a free plan and a one-time 14-day trial of its paid plans; it gives no refund for unused time on a downgrade. Instantly offers a 14-day trial and refunds no fees.

Which one to pick

Pick Instantly if

  • You send high volume from many mailboxes
  • You already have contact data and need a sending tool
  • You want mailboxes unlimited without per-seat pricing

Pick Apollo if

  • You need a B2B database with enrichment in the same tool
  • Your team sends personal sequences from a few Google or Microsoft mailboxes each
  • You want a dialer and deals next to the sequences

Where Outreach2day fits

Outreach2day is a third option: mailboxes, warm-up and a sequencer in one subscription. It is ours, so it has its own section.

Outreach2day mailboxes sync into Instantly by API key and export to Apollo as a CSV. In Apollo, each Organization seat holds 15 of them.

For email-only campaigns from lists you already have, Outreach2day all-in covers mailboxes, warm-up and the sequencer: $543 a month at 5,000 a day. Apollo's database and Instantly's lead tools have no counterpart with us.

From 1,000 mailboxes Outreach2day quotes a volume price below the per-mailbox list price of every vendor in our comparisons, including Maildoso's $0.49, with warm-up and sending in the price. Book a call and we quote your volume.

Instantly vs Apollo: questions

Is Instantly or Apollo cheaper for cold email?

For sending volume, Instantly: $97 to $271 a month at 1,000 to 10,000 emails a day against Apollo's per-seat pricing, which grows with the number of SMTP mailboxes. Apollo is the cheaper way to get contact data.

How many mailboxes can one Apollo seat use?

Basic links 1. Professional links unlimited Google and Microsoft mailboxes plus 5 IMAP/SMTP. Organization links 15 IMAP/SMTP per user.

Does Apollo include warm-up?

For 1 mailbox per seat. Each extra mailbox costs 200 credits every 30 days.

Can I use Apollo and Instantly together?

Yes. You can prospect in Apollo, export the contacts and send from Instantly.

Do both have MCP servers?

Yes: mcp.instantly.ai with an API key, mcp.apollo.io on all plans including Free.

Deliverability call

Talk to our deliverability team

Book a call with the people who run our mailbox infrastructure. We look at your current setup and tell you what to change. Running 1,000+ mailboxes? We also quote a volume price below every vendor list price in our comparisons, warm-up and sending included.

  • Review your domains, DNS records and current inbox placement
  • Size the setup: domains, mailboxes per domain and daily volume per mailbox
  • Plan warm-up and the move from your current provider or sequencer
  • 1,000+ mailboxes: a volume price per mailbox for your setup

Free call

See open times in your time zone and book on this page.

Or open the booking page

More on Instantly and Apollo

Sources

Each vendor's own pages. Vendors change prices and plans; if something here is out of date, write to support@outreach2day.com and we will fix it.

First cold emails on day 14, full volume on day 21

Add domains, create mailboxes and turn on warm-up. You see every mailbox's warm-up numbers from day one.

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