Lusha vs Apollo vs Hunter for Cold Email Data 2026: Head-to-Head
By Puzzle Inbox Team · June 29, 2026 · 12 min read
Lusha vs Apollo vs Hunter for cold email prospecting. Accuracy, pricing, coverage, and which fits SMB, mid-market, or enterprise outbound.
Lusha vs Apollo vs Hunter for Cold Email Data 2026
Lusha (12k monthly), Apollo, and Hunter.io (3.6k) are top cold email data tools. Each serves different use cases. This head-to-head covers accuracy, pricing, and fit.
Quick Verdict
- Apollo wins for general B2B prospecting at SMB-mid-market
- Lusha wins for phone + email combined
- Hunter wins for finding emails at specific companies
Lusha
- Free: 5 credits/month
- Pro: $39/user/month
- Premium: $79/user/month
Database: 100M+. Heavy phone focus.
Strengths: Best mobile phone accuracy, strong LinkedIn extension, affordable. Weaknesses: Smaller database, email accuracy 75-85%, no sequencer.
Apollo
- Free: 60 credits/month
- Basic: $59/user — 2,400 credits
- Professional: $99/user — 5,000 credits
- Organization: $149/user — 10,000 credits
Database: 275M+ contacts.
Strengths: Best price-performance, built-in sequencer, largest commercial database. Weaknesses: Email accuracy 75-85%, less accurate than ZoomInfo for enterprise.
Hunter.io
- Free: 25 searches/month
- Starter: $34/month — 500 credits
- Growth: $104/month — 5,000 credits
Database: Domain-based email finder.
Strengths: Best for "find emails at companies", email verification included. Weaknesses: Not a prospecting database, no sequencer.
Use Case Matrix
"Find 1,000 prospects matching ICP"
Apollo wins.
"Phone numbers for 100 prospects"
Lusha wins.
"Find all emails at [Company]"
Hunter wins.
Direct Comparison
| Metric | Lusha | Apollo | Hunter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Database | 100M+ | 275M+ | Domain-based |
| Email accuracy | 75-85% | 75-85% | 85-92% |
| Phone accuracy | Best | Good | Limited |
| Starting price | $39/user | $59/user | $34/month |
| Sequencer | No | Yes | No |
Combined Stack
- Apollo Basic $59 + Hunter Starter $34 = $93/month (solo SDR)
- Apollo Basic + Lusha Pro = $98/user (phone-heavy)
Cold Email + Data Stack
- Data: Apollo + Hunter
- Verification: Bouncer
- Sending: Smartlead
- Inboxes: pre-warmed from Puzzle Inbox
Lusha, Apollo, Hunter solve different cold email data problems. Apollo for general prospecting. Lusha for phones. Hunter for company-specific email discovery. Pair with pre-warmed inboxes from Puzzle Inbox.
Related Reading
- Apollo vs ZoomInfo vs Cognism vs Lusha: B2B Data Provider Comparison 2026
- Clay vs Apollo for Cold Email Enrichment 2026: Which Pays Off?
- Lusha Review 2026: B2B Contact Data Platform Analysis
- Apollo vs ZoomInfo vs Clay: Which B2B Data Tool for Cold Email?