Apollo's Starter plan costs $49 per month for 1,200 export credits per year. That works out to about 100 contacts per month. Wiza's pay-as-you-go rate is $0.15 per verified contact, so those same 100 contacts cost you $15. For a team pulling 500 LinkedIn contacts monthly, that's a $420 annual difference before you touch sequences or a dialer.

By Rishabh Ambasta, Founder, Modern Inbound.

Apollo is a full outbound platform with 270M+ contacts and built-in sequences, but it's earned complaints about stale data on job changers, credit burn from partial matches, and a pricing ladder where the useful features sit behind the $99/month Professional tier. The strongest option for LinkedIn-first outbound teams in 2026 is Wiza for real-time LinkedIn accuracy, Clay for enrichment workflows, and Cognism for European-market lists.

TL;DR: Wiza vs Apollo

Cheapest entry	Wiza (PAYG at $0.15/contact, no monthly minimum)
Best for sequences	Apollo (multi-step email sequences and dialer built in)
Most accurate LinkedIn data	Wiza (real-time extraction from LinkedIn Sales Navigator)
Best database depth	Apollo (270M+ contacts across industries, per Apollo's website)

Wiza vs Apollo: Quick Comparison

Wiza is a LinkedIn extraction tool. Apollo is a full outbound platform. They don't compete on the same axis. Wiza does one thing well: pulling real-time email addresses from LinkedIn Sales Navigator lists. Apollo covers more ground at a lower ceiling of quality on each individual feature.

Tool	Starting Price	Best For	Standout Feature
Wiza	$0 PAYG ($0.15/contact)	LinkedIn-first prospecting	Real-time email extraction from Sales Navigator lists
Apollo	$49/mo (Starter)	Full outbound stack	270M+ contacts with built-in multi-step sequences
Lusha	$39/mo (50 credits)	Quick rep-level lookups	Chrome extension with real-time phone and email lookup
Hunter.io	$49/mo (500 searches)	Domain-based email finding	Company-wide email finder with verified confidence scores, per Hunter's pricing page
Cognism	Custom (est. $1,000+/mo)	European market prospecting	Phone-verified mobile numbers with Diamond Data verification

Data Accuracy: Wiza Wins on LinkedIn, Apollo Wins on Breadth

Wiza's emails are more accurate for LinkedIn-sourced contacts because the data is pulled in real-time from LinkedIn profiles, not from a cached and periodically refreshed database. Apollo's accuracy advantage is breadth: 270M+ contacts across industries where LinkedIn coverage is thin.

Apollo's average email accuracy runs around 80 to 85 percent across its database, per user reviews on G2. Wiza reports 99 percent accuracy for real-time extractions, though that drops when a contact's email isn't publicly findable. On a 1,000-contact list, that difference might be 120 to 150 fewer bounces with Wiza. Bounces at that scale can hurt your sender reputation enough to tank open rates across your whole sending domain.

If your ICP isn't active on LinkedIn, Wiza can't help you. Manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare contacts often have thin LinkedIn profiles. Apollo's database fills those gaps.

Pricing: Where Each Tool Gets Expensive

Apollo's Starter plan at $49/month looks affordable until you realize sequences and advanced filters require the Professional tier at $99/month. Wiza's pay-as-you-go model at $0.15 per contact has no monthly minimum, which works well for variable prospecting volume but gets costly fast at high scale.

Monthly Volume	Wiza (PAYG at $0.15)	Apollo Professional ($99/mo)
100 contacts/mo	$15	$99 (sequences included)
500 contacts/mo	$75	$99 (sequences included)
1,000 contacts/mo	$150	$99 + overage or custom
3,000+ contacts/mo	$300+	Custom pricing

At 500 contacts per month, Apollo Professional costs less and includes sequences. That's the crossover where Apollo's all-in-one pitch makes financial sense. Under 500 monthly, Wiza's PAYG saves money and avoids a subscription you might not fully use.

One hidden cost on Apollo: some plan tiers charge credits for viewing a profile, not just exporting it, per Apollo's documentation. Teams that browse and filter heavily before exporting can burn through credits faster than expected.

Outreach Features: Apollo Leads, With Caveats

Apollo has multi-step email sequences, a dialer, LinkedIn task steps, and A/B testing. Wiza has none of those. If outreach features are part of your buying criteria, Apollo wins outright. But Apollo's sequences aren't as strong as dedicated tools for high-volume sending.

Teams running 3,000+ emails per day often use Apollo as a data source and route sends through Smartlead or Instantly. If you're already doing that, Apollo's built-in sequences aren't a differentiator over Wiza plus a separate sequencer. You're paying for the feature but not using it.

Wiza integrates directly with HubSpot, Salesforce, and Outreach, so the export-to-CRM handoff is clean. You don't need to touch a CSV if your integrations are set up correctly.

Who Should Choose Wiza vs Apollo

Wiza is the right call for LinkedIn-first prospecting teams that already have a sequencer. Apollo wins when you need a full outbound stack or database coverage beyond what LinkedIn provides. Don't buy Apollo's all-in-one pitch if you're just going to use the data layer.

Choose Wiza if you:

Run LinkedIn Sales Navigator searches as your primary prospecting method
Already use Smartlead, Instantly, or Outreach for sending
Want pay-as-you-go credits without a monthly minimum
Prospect into SaaS, tech, or professional services where LinkedIn coverage is strong

Choose Apollo if you:

Need sequences and contact data in one platform without a second subscription
Prospect into industries with low LinkedIn penetration, like manufacturing or logistics
Want intent data layered onto your outbound targeting
Need a dialer alongside your email outreach

If you're a founder or small GTM team doing your own outbound, Apollo at $99/month is a defensible starting point. If you're scaling a dedicated outbound function and care about deliverability, Wiza plus a dedicated sequencer is worth the extra tool overhead. If you'd rather not manage the stack, Modern Inbound runs Research-Led Outreach end to end for B2B teams.

Scale Outreach Without Hiring SDRs

Most B2B teams underestimate the work before sending: buyer-language research, list logic, DNS, warm-up, deliverability, copy testing, and reply handling. Modern Inbound runs the operating layer so founders can stay focused on sales calls.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Wiza more accurate than Apollo?

For LinkedIn-sourced contacts, yes. Wiza extracts emails in real-time from LinkedIn profiles, so the data reflects LinkedIn's current state. Apollo's database relies on periodic refreshes, so job changers are more likely to be stale.

Does Wiza have email sequences?

No. Wiza exports contacts to CSV or your CRM but doesn't have built-in sequencing. You'll need a separate tool like Smartlead or Instantly to run sequences.

At what contact volume does Apollo become cheaper than Wiza?

Around 500 contacts per month is the crossover. Apollo Professional at $99/month works out to roughly $0.20 per contact at that volume, comparable to Wiza's $0.15 PAYG rate, and Apollo includes sequences.

Can I use Wiza without LinkedIn Sales Navigator?

Wiza's Chrome extension works on individual LinkedIn profiles without Sales Navigator, but the bulk export that makes Wiza useful at scale requires a Sales Navigator subscription, which starts at $99/month per LinkedIn's pricing page.

Should I use both Wiza and Apollo together?

Some teams do. They use Wiza for LinkedIn accuracy and Apollo to fill gaps in industries where LinkedIn coverage is thin. The main downside is paying for two subscriptions plus LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

Wiza vs Apollo: an honest comparison for cold outbound teams