Hunter.io Pricing: Plans, Costs & Pricing Breakdown [2026]

TL;DR – Hunter.io Pricing

• Free: $0 – 25 searches + 50 verifications/month
• Starter: $49/month ($34/month annual) – 500 searches + 1,000 verifications
• Growth: $99/month ($69/month annual) – 2,500 searches + 5,000 verifications
• Scale: $199/month ($139/month annual) – 10,000 searches + 20,000 verifications
• Enterprise: Custom pricing – >15,000 credits/month
• Model: Unified credit system (1 credit = 1 email found, 0.5 credit = 1 email verified)
• Rollover: Monthly plans = credits expire each month; Annual plans = credits valid for 12 months
• Additional costs: +$10/month per extra email account, $0.10 per search beyond quota

💡 Hunter.io costs $0.098/email (Starter plan). Derrick offers email finding at €0.01125/email (SMALL plan, €9/month) with unlimited credit rollover on all paid plans — 9x cheaper.

Hunter.io Overview

Hunter.io is a professional email finding and verification platform launched in 2015. The tool enables sales and marketing teams to find and verify B2B email addresses from domain names or individual names.

The platform combines three core functionalities: Domain Search (find emails on a domain), Email Finder (find a specific person’s email), and Email Verifier (check deliverability). Hunter.io also offers cold emailing features with campaign management and multiple email account connections.

Hunter positions itself in the mid-market segment with a freemium model: limited free plan to test the service, then paid plans starting at $49/month. The tool is used by over 6 million professionals according to their own figures.

Hunter.io Pricing Plans

Hunter.io operates with a unified credit system: credits are used for both finding emails (Domain Search, Email Finder) and verifying them (Email Verifier). Each action consumes a defined number of credits.

Free Plan ($0)

Hunter.io’s free plan offers 25 email searches and 50 verifications per month. This quota allows testing basic features (Domain Search, Email Finder, Email Verifier) but remains insufficient for regular prospecting. The Free plan supports one email account for sending campaigns (limit: 500 recipients/month).

Starter Plan ($49/month)

The Starter plan includes 500 email searches and 1,000 verifications monthly, equivalent to 12,000 credits per year on annual billing ($34/month). This plan allows connecting up to 3 email accounts and sending campaigns to 2,500 recipients per month. Auto-verification of leads and access to advanced B2B database filters are included.

Growth Plan ($99/month)

Growth offers 2,500 searches and 5,000 verifications per month. On annual billing ($828/year, or $69/month), this plan suits prospecting teams with moderate volume. It includes 10 connectable email accounts and allows sending campaigns to 7,500 monthly recipients. All premium features (AI Writing Assistant, lead enrichment, advanced filters) are available.

Scale Plan ($199/month)

Scale offers 10,000 searches and 20,000 monthly verifications ($139/month annual). This plan targets large sales teams with 20 connectable email accounts and 15,000 campaign recipients per month. Priority support is included along with a dedicated account manager according to sources.

Enterprise Plan (Custom)

The Enterprise plan is reserved for organizations requiring more than 15,000 credits per month or 180,000 annual credits. Pricing is customized after consultation with Hunter’s sales team. This plan includes unlimited email accounts, custom quotas, and a dedicated account manager. Some Enterprise configurations allow adding an “over-quota” option (additional credits billed per unit beyond the package).

Detailed Pricing Model Analysis

The Unified Credit System

Hunter.io simplified its model in 2026-2026 with a single credit pool. Previously, search and verification credits were separate. Now, all credits come from the same monthly quota, simplifying management but potentially creating tension if you consume heavily on one function over another.

Consumption per action:

• Domain Search: 1 credit per email found
• Bulk Domain Search: 1 credit for up to 10 emails found (optimized for mass searches)
• Email Finder: 1 credit per email found (0 credit if Hunter doesn’t find the email)
• Email Verifier: 0.5 credit per verified email (0 credit if verification fails, “Unknown” status)

This structure favors users doing mass Domain Search (1 credit = 10 emails max) but penalizes those seeking specific individual emails (Email Finder).

Credit Expiration Policy

Hunter.io’s rollover policy depends on billing type:

• Monthly plans: Unused credits expire at month end. If you only consume 200 credits on a Starter plan (500 credits), the remaining 300 are lost.
• Annual plans: Credits are allocated for the entire year upon initial payment and remain valid for 12 months. On an annual Starter plan (12,000 credits for $408/year), you can use your credits flexibly throughout the year.

Comparison with Derrick: Derrick offers unlimited rollover on all paid plans, with no time limit. If you only consume 1,000 credits on a SMALL+ plan (10,000 credits/month), the remaining 9,000 accumulate for following months — practical for activity spikes.

Additional Costs and Hidden Fees

Beyond base pricing, Hunter.io charges several additional elements:

• Additional email accounts: $10/month per account beyond plan quota (e.g., 4th account on Starter plan)
• Quota overage: $0.10 per additional search if you consume all your monthly credits
• API Access: starting at $50/month for structured Hunter API access (according to some sources, API is included in Scale and Enterprise plans)
• One-time exports: Option to purchase one-month data exports without subscription (pricing not public)

These additional fees can quickly increase the bill, especially for teams needing multiple email accounts or regularly exceeding their quota.

Cost per Action Comparison: Hunter.io vs Alternatives

Hunter.io pricing should be evaluated not on gross subscription price, but on actual cost per email found or verified. Some tools display an attractive price/month but consume multiple credits per action.

Comparison Table: Price per Email

Analysis:

• Email Finder: Derrick SMALL+ (€0.01 = ~$0.0106) is 9.2x cheaper than Hunter Starter ($0.098) and 3.7x cheaper than Hunter Growth ($0.0396)
• Email Verifier: Derrick SMALL+ (€0.002 = ~$0.0021) is 23x cheaper than Hunter Starter ($0.049)
• Domain Search: Hunter is slightly more advantageous for Bulk Domain Search (1 credit = up to 10 emails vs 5 credits at Derrick), but Derrick remains competitive on unit cost

Comparison Table: Equivalent Plans

Key Points:

• For equivalent budget (~$50/month), Derrick MEDIUM (€47.50 = ~$50) offers 10x more emails than Hunter Starter (5,000 vs 500) with unlimited rollover
• Hunter Growth ($99/month) and Derrick MEDIUM (€47.50/month) offer similar volume (2,500 vs 5,000 emails), but Derrick is 52% cheaper and includes rollover
• The best email finding tools now compare on rollover and cost per action, not just subscription price

ROI Calculation for Typical Use Case

Use case: Growing startup, need 1,000 emails/month + verification

Hunter Growth ($99/month):

• Quota: 2,500 searches + 5,000 verifications
• Consumption: 1,000 emails (1,000 credits) + 1,000 verifications (500 credits) = 1,500 credits
• Cost: $99/month = $1,188/year
• Unused credits on monthly: 1,000 searches + 3,500 verifications lost each month

Derrick SMALL+ (€20/month):

• Quota: 10,000 credits/month
• Consumption: 1,000 emails (5,000 credits) + 1,000 verifications (1,000 credits) = 6,000 credits
• Cost: €20/month = €240/year (~$254/year)
• Unused credits: 4,000 credits preserved and accumulated for following months

ROI: Derrick is 4.7x cheaper ($254 vs $1,188) for the same volume, with bonus rollover flexibility to absorb activity spikes.

What’s Included in Each Hunter.io Plan

Features Common to All Paid Plans

All Hunter plans (Starter, Growth, Scale, Enterprise) include:

• Auto-verification of leads: Automatic verification of found email deliverability
• Lead enrichment: CRM data enrichment with additional information (position, location, etc.)
• Advanced B2B Database filters: Access to segmentation filters in the Discover database
• AI Writing Assistant: AI assistant to write cold email campaign content
• Unlimited team members: Unlimited users in the team (all share the credit pool)
• Priority support: Customer support access with reduced response time

Differences Between Plans

Plans differ mainly on three dimensions:

1. Credit Volume:

• Starter: 500 searches + 1,000 verifications
• Growth: 2,500 searches + 5,000 verifications
• Scale: 10,000 searches + 20,000 verifications
• Enterprise: Custom (>15,000/month)

2. Number of Connectable Email Accounts:

• Starter: 3 accounts
• Growth: 10 accounts
• Scale: 20 accounts
• Enterprise: Unlimited

3. Campaign Sending Limits:

• Free: 500 recipients/month
• Starter: 2,500 recipients/month
• Growth: 7,500 recipients/month
• Scale: 15,000 recipients/month
• Enterprise: Custom

The Enterprise plan adds a dedicated account manager and the ability to configure an “over-quota” option (additional credits billed per unit if you exceed the package).

Limitations and Restrictions

Hunter.io applies certain technical limitations that can impact usage:

• Variable success rate: According to several user analyses (G2, Reddit), Email Finder success rate varies between 35% and 45% depending on regions. European and American emails are better covered than those in Asia or Latin America.
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator dependency: For some advanced LinkedIn profile searches, Hunter recommends using Sales Navigator ($1,200/year additional), though this isn’t mandatory for all features (unlike some competitors like Clay which are fully dependent on it).
• Monthly credit expiration: In monthly billing mode, all unused credits are lost — unlike Derrick where rollover is unlimited on all paid plans.
• No “pay-as-you-go” option: Hunter doesn’t offer a pure pay-per-use model (pay only what you consume). The “over-quota” option on the Enterprise plan is the only alternative for managing occasional spikes.

FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions About Hunter.io Pricing

What is Hunter.io’s price for a small team?
For a small team (2-5 people), the Starter plan at $49/month (or $34/month annual) is generally sufficient. It offers 500 email searches and 1,000 verifications per month, corresponding to about 25 emails/day. If your team does more prospecting, the Growth plan at $99/month (2,500 searches) becomes necessary. Alternative: Derrick SMALL+ at €20/month offers 2,000 findable emails with unlimited rollover for a 4x lower budget.

Does Hunter.io have a free plan?
Yes, Hunter.io offers a free plan with 25 searches and 50 verifications per month. This quota allows testing the tool but remains insufficient for regular professional use. The Free plan also includes campaign sending to 500 recipients/month with one connected email account.

Do Hunter.io credits expire?
It depends on billing mode. On monthly billing, unused credits expire at month end — if you only consume 200 credits on a Starter plan (500 credits), the remaining 300 are lost. On annual billing, credits are allocated for the entire year and remain valid for 12 months, offering more flexibility. Derrick preserves all unused credits from month to month with no time limit on paid plans.

Can you change plans mid-month?
Yes, Hunter.io allows changing or canceling a plan anytime from the dashboard. After cancellation, premium plan access remains active until the end of the current subscription period. Plan changes (upgrade or downgrade) take effect at the next billing cycle.

How much does Hunter.io’s API cost?
According to some sources, API access starts at $50/month additional on Starter and Growth plans. Scale and Enterprise plans generally include API access at no extra cost. Hunter.io also offers a Data Platform for users who want only to consume the API without cold email campaign features — pricing is then customized based on required credit volume.

Does Hunter.io offer a free trial?
Hunter.io doesn’t offer a free trial of paid plans in the classic sense. However, the Free plan ($0) allows indefinitely testing basic features with limited quota (25 searches + 50 verifications/month). This amounts to a permanent trial rather than a time-limited trial period.

What is Hunter.io’s success rate?
According to user feedback on G2 and Reddit, Email Finder success rate varies between 35% and 45%, meaning Hunter finds a valid email in about 1 out of 2 to 3 cases. Success rate is better for American and European companies than for Asian or Latin American markets. Email enrichment with complementary tools often helps improve this rate.

Is Hunter.io GDPR compliant?
Hunter.io claims to be GDPR compliant as a data processor. The tool only aggregates publicly available data on the Internet (company websites, professional social networks). However, using Hunter for cold email prospecting requires respecting GDPR rules on the user side: consent, right to erasure, transparency on data origin. Email verification before sending is best practice for maintaining compliance and reducing bounces.

Last updated: December 2026 (rates verified on Hunter.io official website and third-party sources)