Comparison
DiscoLike vs Apollo.io
Apollo is a sales platform: contact data, research, and engagement with sequencing and a dialer. DiscoLike finds companies that fit your ICP and the roles you describe, with research and email verification in the same workflow. Radius and sub-industry targeting support local campaigns. Here is where each one wins.
TL;DR
Apollo combines company and contact data, an AI research agent, enrichment, and engagement: sequences, a dialer, and email in one per-seat tool. It also sources local business data through Google Maps. For a small team that wants to find, email, and call from one place, it is the simpler answer.
DiscoLike starts with your ICP and the role you need to reach. Its search model is trained on hundreds of thousands of ICP searches and millions of validated results to find companies that fit and the right people, with email verification in the same workflow. You pay only for contacts with a validated email. The directory of 87M+ business websites adds radius targeting, close to 300 SMB sub-industries, and private company size ranges when your campaign needs them.
Many teams run both: DiscoLike to select accounts and people for ICP and role fit, including local or specialist segments, Apollo to sequence and call it.
DiscoLike indexes more than 87 million companies: 3x LinkedIn's company coverage, 2x Google Maps coverage, 98% of businesses with a website, at over 99% company-record accuracy.
At a Glance
DiscoLike and Apollo.io, side by side
 | Apollo.io | |
|---|---|---|
| Data source | Company directory built from 87M+ business websites: 3x LinkedIn company coverage, 98% of businesses with a website | Contributor network, outreach-based bounce tracking, third-party providers, and public web data Apollo crawls, plus Google Maps-sourced local data |
| Company discovery | Exhaustive directory lookup by plain-English ICP, customer lookalikes, exact homepage phrases, radius or area, and sub-industry, ranked by size or similarity | Large filter set plus an AI assistant that turns plain English into filters |
| Local and specialist markets | Geolocated companies with radius and area targeting, close to 300 SMB sub-industries, private-company size ranges | Local business data sourced through Google Maps inside Apollo |
| Prospecting workflow | ICP fit validation, DiscoGen research, contact search, email finding and verification with catch-all resolution | Enrichment, an AI research agent, and contact data |
| Outreach execution | No email sending. Export, webhook, or optional push to HubSpot, Salesforce, or Pipedrive, then send from your sequencer | Sequences, dialer, and email engagement built in, a genuine strength |
| Pricing | Pay as you go: $5/1,000 new records; subscriptions $99-$1,599/mo per workspace, self-serve, monthly or annual (20% off) | Free, Basic, Professional, and Custom plans, per seat. Published at $49-$119 per user/mo billed annually in August 2026; credits are pooled and expire each billing cycle |
| Contact pricing | You pay only for validated contacts with an email, with email verification in real time and catch-all resolution included. Each validated contact costs 5 records at your plan rate, with a $10 per 1,000 floor, plus 1 record per company that delivers a validated contact when you search without your own company list. Validated and Validated (catch-all resolved) cost the same. Every delivery is billed, including repeats. | Credits per email and per phone number, with phones costing more (8 credits against 1 in August 2026) |
| For AI agents | MCP server, REST API, SDK, and CLI on every plan, returning the full matching set | Official MCP server on all plans |
Apollo.io details reviewed October 8, 2026 from the public product and pricing pages linked below. Spotted something outdated? and we'll fix it.
Where the data comes from
Apollo describes three main sources: a contributor network, bounce tracking from outreach, and third-party providers, plus public web data it crawls and cleans. It also brings in local business data from Google Maps. It is built to answer "who works where, and how do I reach them?"
DiscoLike is built from the company side. The directory covers 87M+ business websites: 3x LinkedIn company coverage, 2x Google Maps coverage, and 98% of businesses with a website, at over 99% company-record accuracy. Each company is classified from what its website says, so a niche process, a regulatory specialty, or a service line becomes a searchable trait instead of a field someone has to fill in.
Apollo is organized around people and outreach. DiscoLike selects companies and people for ICP and role fit, then verifies emails.
Start with ICP and role fit
Apollo's AI assistant accepts plain-English ICP descriptions and translates them into its filters. That works well when the trait you want is a field Apollo already has.
Describe the company you want and the role you need to reach. DiscoLike selects for ICP and role fit, with research and email verification on the same accounts. Add customer domains, exact homepage phrases, radius, and sub-industry filters to refine the brief, then use size or similarity to prioritize. The directory refreshes every 30 days.
Both take plain English. DiscoLike selects for the ICP and role you describe, then verifies contact emails.
Test it in a local market
Apollo already offers Google Maps-sourced local data, so test the specific market rather than the category. Take commercial HVAC contractors in a territory you know. Deduplicate by the account unit you sell to, check that each one does commercial service work, and count the accepted accounts that are new to your current list.
Then take the same sample through the rest of the job. In DiscoLike, validate ICP fit, research each contractor with DiscoGen, and receive the service manager or owner with a validated email. Contact search includes email verification in real time and catch-all resolution. Only validated contacts reach your results. The comparison that matters is accepted accounts and usable contacts, not raw rows.
If your market is US software companies with clean job titles, Apollo covers it. If it is a territory or a specialist trade, measure the accepted new accounts.
Pricing and contracts
Apollo offers Free, Basic, Professional, and Custom plans with per-seat billing. In August 2026 its pricing page listed $49-$119 per user per month billed annually; the current page names the plans without listing prices on the public page, so confirm in the app. Credits are pooled across the team, granted at the start of each billing cycle, and expire at the end of it, and all seats on an account must be on the same plan.
DiscoLike offers Pay as you go: $5/1,000 new records and workspace subscriptions at $99-$1,599/mo across five plans, monthly or annual with 20% off annual. Your subscription converts to credits, spent at a rate per 1,000 new records, with no per-query fee. Records retrieved within 24 hours on Pay as you go or 30 days on subscriptions are free to retrieve again; older records are chargeable again. Monthly plans cancel anytime. See pricing for the full breakdown.
Agent flows: from no account to first search
On DiscoLike the whole flow runs without a person opening a browser until payment. The agent posts the person's work email and name to POST /v1/public/signup, relays the next_step text, and the person confirms by email, keeps Pay as you go or subscribes, and authorizes the MCP client or issues a key. From there the agent authenticates with OAuth 2.1, so no secret sits in a config file, calls count before any large search so it knows the spend, and reads pricing.md, mcp.md, api.md, and llms.txt for the rules. The CLI emits JSON, the Python SDK validates parameters locally, and a published skill teaches Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor when to reach for all of it.
Apollo's MCP server at mcp.apollo.io is official, OAuth-authenticated, and included on every plan, so the connect step is as smooth as ours. The gaps are before and around it: Apollo's docs describe no way for an agent to open an account, free accounts on personal email cannot run people or company search through MCP, and there is no free count call, so an agent finds out what a search cost after it runs.
Both let an agent connect in one step. DiscoLike also lets it open the account, size the search first, and read the rules in plain text.
Fit
Which one is right for you?
Choose DiscoLike if
- You need companies and people selected for ICP and role fit, with radius targeting, close to 300 SMB sub-industries, and private company size ranges to refine the list
- You want accounts selected for your ICP, with size or customer similarity as additional priorities
- You want fit validation, research, contacts, and email verification in real time with catch-all resolution in the same platform
- You need one workspace price instead of per-seat billing
- Your AI agents need a complete company list over MCP or the API
Choose Apollo.io if
- You want sequencing, a dialer, and email engagement in the same tool as your data
- Your reps work one seat each and per-seat plans fit how you budget
- You need named contacts with emails and mobiles at companies you already know
- You want a free plan to start with light usage
FAQ
Common questions
Is DiscoLike a replacement for Apollo?
For finding and preparing accounts, it can be: DiscoLike covers company discovery, ICP fit validation, research, contacts, and email finding and verification. For outreach execution, no: DiscoLike does not send email or dial. Many teams keep Apollo or another sequencer for engagement and use DiscoLike to build the list it works.
How is DiscoLike's data different from Apollo's?
Apollo combines a contributor network, bounce tracking, third-party providers, crawled public web data, and Google Maps-sourced local data. DiscoLike's company directory is built from 87M+ business websites, with 3x LinkedIn company coverage and 98% of businesses with a website, and companies are classified by what their sites say, down to close to 300 SMB sub-industries.
Does DiscoLike have contact data like Apollo?
Yes. Describe the people you want to reach at your target companies. Contact search is available on every plan, with email verification in real time and catch-all resolution included. You pay only for validated contacts with an email, with email verification in real time and catch-all resolution included. Each validated contact costs 5 records at your plan rate, with a $10 per 1,000 floor, plus 1 record per company that delivers a validated contact when you search without your own company list. Validated and Validated (catch-all resolved) cost the same. Every delivery is billed, including repeats. Apollo's contact database is larger; DiscoLike's advantage is selecting companies and people for your ICP and role brief, then verifying emails.
Can I use both DiscoLike and Apollo together?
Yes, and it's common. Build and qualify the account list in DiscoLike, then export by CSV or API and run sequencing in Apollo.
Does Apollo have an MCP server, and how does DiscoLike's compare?
Yes. Apollo ships an official remote MCP server at mcp.apollo.io with OAuth, included on every plan, though free accounts on personal email cannot run people or company search through it and credits are still consumed. DiscoLike's MCP server at api.discolike.com/v1/mcp is also OAuth and also on every plan. Over MCP, DiscoLike returns every matching company from its directory of 87M+ business websites, with a free count before the search, then runs research, contacts, and email verification.
Explore company discovery & prospecting or read the category buying guide.
Researching the wider market? Read best Apollo.io alternatives.
More comparisons
Testimonials
Hear it from our users
Jeff Rolf von den Baumen
Co-Founder & CEO, PipeRich
"DiscoLike is the primary account discovery source behind our campaigns, for many of our clients. Overall, my favorite data source, and we love leveraging it on behalf of our clients."
Dan Rosenthal
Co-Founder, Workflows.io
"Discolike helped me map out 2M+ companies for over 15 different B2B companies, including a unicorn. I've used all the big prospecting databases, and I can confidently say Discolike is the best tool for building target account lists."
Alex Fine
Co-Founder, Understory
"We've gone from struggling to find alternative lists outside traditional databases to basically having an untapped source of highly relevant companies. The way that Discolike operates on the back-end has been night and day vs their competitors."
Jordan Crawford
Founder, Blueprint
"DiscoLike has unprecedented coverage of companies on the Internet. Their core technology has been instrumental in some of my sneakiest campaigns."
Felix Frank
Founder, StackOptimise
"DiscoLike's segmentation is a powerful tool. It splits the client list into clearly labeled groups we can easily work with, saving us hours on ideal company profile identification."
Panos Sisamos
Co-Founder, Relevance.
"DiscoLike is right next to Clay in my tech-stack. Took me a couple of hours to get the hang of it, but now I can't live without it. Our process at Relevance relies heavily on accurate TAM mapping, and no one does it better than DiscoLike"
Patrick William Joyce
CEO, Outboundless
"DiscoLike's GTM toolbox is awesome for our daily grind, matching account names to domains like a breeze, segmenting our client list into spot-on company profiles, and modeling target accounts for each one to keep our B2B pipeline humming!"
Raouf Lemouchi
Founder, SalesTech Scout
"DiscoLike has a strong lookalike domain search, their wizard makes it incredibly easy to find high-quality prospects that match our ideal customer profile. Being able to automatically segment my targets is a really good feature."
Alex Vacca
Co-Founder, Cold IQ
"DiscoLike has quickly become a must-have in our campaign workflow. It's incredibly good at uncovering look-alike prospects and companies"
Nick Abraham
Founder, Leadbird.io
"Discolike has streamlined our list building process by allowing our team to create larger more accurate lists in half the time compared to regular data tools"
See how many of your accounts actually fit
- Search by ICP prompt and role description
- Start free with a $5 credit, no card needed