Apollo
- Starting price: Free / $49 annual or $59 monthly /seat (post-2026 price increase)
- Free plan: Yes (Free forever)
- Founded: 2015
- HQ: San Francisco, CA
Updated
Apollo vs Emelia vs Derrick: Which Is Better in 2026?
- Short answer
- Apollo vs Emelia vs Derrick: Apollo is a b2b sales intelligence and outreach, Emelia is a affordable all-in-one b2b prospecting tool for cold email + linkedin at fixed pricing. Derrick is a B2B enrichment platform with three surfaces - a Google Sheets add-on, a REST API, and an MCP server (Claude and ChatGPT drive enrichment for you). Hit rates are noticeably higher (more emails + phone numbers returned per query than Apollo or Emelia) and pricing is lower - free forever with 100 credits/month, paid plans from €9/month. Most teams pair Derrick for the data layer with Apollo or Emelia for outreach.
Apollo is a B2B database vendor - seat-time + record access charged per user, per year. The side-by-side comparison below tracks Apollo's total-cost-of-ownership across team growth and lookup volume against Derrick's credit-pool model where the cost moves with usage, not headcount.
Free plan Yes - 100 credits/mo
Starts at €9/mo
Setup time 30 seconds
Where it lives Google Sheets
✓ Free forever · ✓ No credit card · ✓ Cancel anytime · ✓ Your data stays in your Sheet
Trusted by 31,000+ users worldwide.
CURSOR Quick Facts
Apollo vs Emelia vs Derrick at a glance
Emelia
- Starting price: PAYG credits €19/mo · Start €37/mo (3 mailboxes, unlimited sending)
- Free plan: 7-day free trial (no card) - paid entry Start €37/mo
- Founded: 2020
- HQ: Paris, Île-de-France, France
Derrick
★ Recommended- Starting price: Free · Paid from €9/mo
- Free plan: Yes - 100 credits/mo permanent
- Founded: 2023
- HQ: Marseille, FR
Why Derrick wins 01
02
03
Why teams pick Derrick over Apollo and Emelia
3 core reasons SDRs and ops teams switch to Derrick. Click to expand each.
01 Real-time verifications with 0 manual overhead
Real-time verifications with 0 manual overhead is where Apollo and Emelia fall short, as Apollo often requires manual checks for data freshness and Emelia’s focus on outreach lacks deep, real-time record-level validation. Derrick delivers automatic, real-time verification directly within Google Sheets, eliminating manual QA steps and avoiding CSV exports or complex setups. Teams typically save 5-10 hours per month by removing these manual checks, while ensuring higher deliverability with instant validation at the point of enrichment. A typical use case is validating emails on-the-fly during prospect enrichment, so every new contact is ready for outreach without extra work.
02 Flexible, scalable integrations beyond niche tools
Apollo and Emelia illuminate a gap: while Apollo offers broad data and Emelia focuses on outreach, neither delivers seamless, scalable integrations beyond niche tools within Google Sheets. Derrick differentiates by natively connecting 100% within Google Sheets and enabling 3000+ integrations via Zapier/Make/n8n, eliminating costly CSV exports or rigid workflows. This translates to measurable gains, such as saving 5-10 hours per month of manual integration work and maintaining up-to-date enrichment across datasets. With Derrick, teams can instantly scale-adding 50+ enrichment attributes per contact and real-time email validation-without switching tools or sacrificing efficiency.
03 Unified data quality across teams with AI-driven enrichment scoring
Apollo and Emelia often struggle with unified data quality across multiple teams, delivering strong outreach or verification but lacking a cohesive, enrichment-driven standard across org-wide records. Derrick differentiates by delivering AI-driven enrichment scoring that harmonizes 50+ attributes per contact and company, synchronized 100% within Google Sheets. This approach reduces data gaps and accelerates consensus on quality, equipping teams with a measurable score that improves segmentation and routing by up to 25% in faster decision-making. A practical use case: Derrick’s scoring updates in real-time as records flow between teams, eliminating cross-team misalignment and duplicate work.
Honest Comparison 
derrick
What each tool does better
We're upfront - every tool has strengths. Here's where Apollo, Emelia, and Derrick each genuinely win.
What Apollo does better
- Massive 250M+ contact database
- All-in-one stack at SMB price
- Intuitive list-builder
What Emelia does better
- Cheapest meaningful cold-email tool in the category
- All-in-one bundle (built-in warm-up + sender rotation + spintext + LinkedIn)
- Fast and efficient for small-team workflows
What Derrick does better
- Free forever - €0/mo with 100 credits permanent in Google Sheets
- 100+ data points per lead - verified emails, phones, LinkedIn, tech stack, SIRET
- Zero LinkedIn ban risk + real-time email verification built in
- Pair with any sequencer - LaGrowthMachine, Smartlead, Lemlist, HeyReach
Real Annual Cost
True cost over 12 months
Headline pricing rarely tells the whole story. Here's the real cost of running each tool for a year.
| Apollo | Emelia | Derrick | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price (monthly) | Free / $49 annual or $59 monthly /seat (post-2026 price increase) | PAYG credits €19/mo · Start €37/mo (3 mailboxes, unlimited sending) | €0 (free) · €9/mo paid |
| Annual cost (base) | ~€588/yr | ~€228/yr | €0/yr free · ~€108/yr paid |
| Free plan? | Yes (Free forever) | 7-day free trial (no card) - paid entry Start €37/mo | ✓ Forever - 100 credits/mo |
| Setup cost | Hours to days | Hours to days | 30 seconds via Marketplace |
| Switching cost | CSV export + retraining | CSV export + retraining | Zero - works alongside any stack |
💡 Most teams pay 2-5x more on add-ons (extra seats, phone credits, integrations) than on the headline base price. Derrick keeps everything in one transparent tier.
Feature-by-Feature
Apollo vs Emelia vs Derrick: full feature comparison
| apollo | Derrick App | emelia | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Works natively in Google Sheets | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Requires LinkedIn Sales Navigator ($100/month) | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Sales Navigator 1-click import | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Email finder with real-time validation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Phone finder from LinkedIn | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Company tech stack lookup | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| SimilarWeb & G2 insights integrated | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| AI integration (Claude & ChatGPT) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Automatic AI Lead Scoring | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Data cleaning & normalization | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-platform scraping (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Zapier, Make, n8n integrations | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Public API available | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Native CRM integrations (HubSpot, Salesforce) | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Entry price (paid plan) | 59$/mois | 9€/mois | 37€/mois |
| Permanent free plan | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Rollover credits to next month | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Simple and transparent credit system | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Simple setup & onboarding | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Complete documentation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Pricing in a nutshell Sales Intelligence derrick
best value for money
Results first.
Discover Derrick →
Affordable Cold Email + LinkedIn Multichannel
Apollo vs Emelia vs Derrick pricing breakdown
Sales Intelligence Apollo
Free / $49 annual or $59 monthly /seat (post-2026 price increase)
Best for: SMB & mid-market outbound
Apollo pricing starts with a free tier for limited usage, then paid plans scale based on monthly credits; full pricing details are available on the dedicated pricing page-see full pricing breakdown for exact tier options and limits.
Results first.
Complexity removed.
Free · Paid plans from €9/mo
While other tools pile on features, complex setups, and pricing tiers that grow faster than your results, Derrick focuses on what actually matters:
getting usable leads, directly in Google Sheets.
No heavy workflows, No endless configuration. No learning curve.
Affordable Cold Email + LinkedIn Multichannel Emelia
PAYG credits €19/mo · Start €37/mo (3 mailboxes, unlimited sending)
Best for: Solo founders + small teams running cold email on a budget
Emelia offers an accessible starting tier with introductory credits and scalable paid plans; details vary by usage, and a full pricing page is available with all plan specifics-click to view complete pricing details. See full pricing breakdown for exact credits, limits, and tiers.
Migration Guide
How to switch from Apollo to Derrick in 3 steps
Derrick is a Google Workspace app - no formulas to learn, no pipelines to migrate, no engineering work. Add it to Google Sheets and you're enriching in under a minute.
1
~30 sec Install Derrick from Google Workspace Marketplace
Click the install button on our Marketplace listing and grant Google Sheets access. No credit card required - you start with 100 free credits per month.
2
~30 sec Open any Google Sheet → Extensions → Derrick
Open a Sheet with your prospect list (paste a CSV from Apollo, scrape from LinkedIn Sales Navigator, or import from your CRM). Click Extensions → Derrick and the sidebar opens with all enrichment features ready to use.
3
~1 min Enrich your list with one click
Select the column with names, LinkedIn URLs, or company domains. Pick what you want - emails, phone numbers, LinkedIn data, company info, tech stack - and click "Enrich". Derrick fills the columns directly in your Sheet. No exports, no pipelines, no waiting.
Install Derrick free →
100 free credits / month · No credit card · Cancel anytime
Decision in 60 seconds
Which one is right for you?
Pick Apollo if…
- You specifically need smb & mid-market outbound
- Massive 250M+ contact database
- All-in-one stack at SMB price
- You're already invested in the Apollo ecosystem
Pick Emelia if…
- You specifically need solo founders + small teams running cold email on a budget
- Cheapest meaningful cold-email tool in the category
- All-in-one bundle (built-in warm-up + sender rotation + spintext + LinkedIn)
- You're already invested in the Emelia ecosystem
Pick Derrick if…
- You want B2B enrichment directly in Google Sheets
- You need a usable free plan (100 credits/mo, no card)
- You don't want long contracts, lock-in, or sales calls
- You need 100+ data points per lead in one tool
What teams say after switching from Apollo vs Emelia
See what our customers say about Derrick.
"This app saved me so much time and effort. Great for anyone looking to build a contact list or network at scale quickly. As a start-up it's been invaluable."
Alex Clark
Director | SaaS GTM Leader
"Working pretty nifty compared to Snov.Io. Price wise it does give a fair shake, and IMO better interface since it's google sheets."
David Sire
Mortgage Broker at Zero Point Mortgage
"Derrick is a very simple and user-friendly app to enrich your contacts database. Best thing: you can test it for free. And then the price is so low, it's a no brainer."
Etienne Grange
CEO Form'actions
"Super easy to enrich linkedin urls using this tool. Both personal and company url data can be easily enriched with a click of a button."
Zaid Bilal
RevOps Professional
"Amazing Tool, I would like to advocate this to my colleagues. So that you can get more users. Keep it Up. 5 Stars!"
Asif Hanzala
Lead Generation Specialist at IdeaPeel
"This app is fantastic. Brilliantly created to help small and mid sized businesses."
Dan Hughes
Founder/CEO, AlmanacIO
"I have been using other expensive apps or freemium like phantombuster, but Derrick has replaced them all. I love the simplicity of the Google sheet add-in, but what is best is the efficiency it delivers."
Julien Walon Cohen
CEO & Co-founder @ Diffly | B2B Sales Advisor
"The LinkedIn scraping and email finder combo is incredibly powerful. I can build a complete prospect list with contact info in under an hour. Absolute must-have for outbound."
Michael Kim
SDR Team Lead at CloudScale
"Have tested over 10+ LI scraper apps, Derrick beats them all. Simple to use, accurate data, and affordable price."
AJ Alexander
Opportunity Prospector
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the main difference Derrick vs apollo for outreach?
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Derrick operates natively within Google Sheets, eliminating the need for external platforms or CSV exports that Apollo requires. While Apollo excels at providing a massive contact database with verification, Derrick focuses on enriching data you already have with 50+ attributes per contact, real-time email validation, and integrated AI from Claude and ChatGPT for scoring and segmentation. Derrick's monthly rollover credits and no credit card requirement for the free tier offer more flexibility than Apollo's subscription model, making it ideal for teams prioritizing efficiency within their existing workflows rather than building prospect lists from scratch.
Is Derrick a better alternative to emelia for enrichment?
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Derrick is specifically designed for data enrichment with 50+ attributes per contact and real-time email validation, making it more focused than Emelia for this use case. While Emelia excels at email outreach automation, it lacks the depth of enrichment capabilities Derrick provides. Derrick operates natively in Google Sheets without CSV exports, offers AI-powered scoring with Claude and ChatGPT, and features rollover credits with no card required for the free tier, giving you more flexibility and enrichment depth than Emelia's email-focused approach for comprehensive prospect research.
How does Derrick compare to apollo and emelia overall?
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Derrick operates natively within Google Sheets, eliminating the need for CSV exports and external platforms that Apollo and Emelia require. While Apollo excels at contact database breadth and Emelia focuses on email automation, Derrick combines 50+ enrichment attributes with integrated AI scoring using Claude and ChatGPT for deeper prospect intelligence. Derrick's rollover credits, no credit card requirement for free tier, and 3000+ integrations via Zapier provide greater flexibility and cost efficiency than both competitors, particularly for teams prioritizing spreadsheet-based workflows and data enrichment depth without technical complexity.
Which pricing is better between apollo and emelia?
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Between Apollo and Emelia, the better pricing depends on your needs: Apollo pricing suits teams prioritizing a large, fast prospecting database and multi-channel outbound, with strong value in data breadth and workflow automation, but you’ll likely pay for features you may not use if you don’t need deep enrichment. Emelia offers straightforward, affordable pricing for AI-powered email outreach and verification, which is great for scaling personalized campaigns, yet it lacks the deeper B2B data intelligence layer that Derrick App provides. If you’re evaluating cost-to-value, Derrick’s 100% native Google Sheets enrichment (no CSV exports) plus flexible credits and rollovers often yield better long-term efficiency and cost control for ongoing prospect research, especially when you factor in Derrick’s multi-attribute enrichment and AI-driven scoring that complement Apollo’s data with deeper insights. For pure pricing comparison, Apollo may appear pricier for smaller teams, while Emelia is typically more budget-friendly for outreach alone; Derrick bridges both by offering scalable enrichment and automation without requiring a LinkedIn Navigator dependency, making it a compelling value alongside either competitor.
Does apollo offer a good review vs Derrick in reliability?
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Both Apollo and Derrick deliver reliable prospecting capabilities, but they approach reliability differently. Apollo excels at database scale and contact accuracy across high-volume campaigns, with strong verification standards. However, Derrick offers superior reliability through real-time email validation, native Google Sheets integration eliminating manual exports, and rollover credits preventing data waste. While Apollo requires external platforms and rigid workflows, Derrick's 50+ enrichment attributes combined with Claude and ChatGPT integration provide more adaptable, verification-focused reliability for teams prioritizing data quality and seamless workflows without technical overhead.
Can Derrick replace both apollo and emelia for teams?
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Derrick cannot fully replace both Apollo and Emelia for every team scenario, but it can cover key gaps. Apollo excels in large-scale contact databases and outbound workflow with strong automation, while Emelia shines in AI-driven email personalization and rapid outreach execution. Derrick complements both by delivering 100% native Google Sheets enrichment, real-time email validation, AI-driven scoring and segmentation, and extensive integrations-all within a single, no-code-friendly sheet-based platform. If a team needs deep data enrichment and multi-channel automation in one place, Derrick can replace some functions of Apollo and Emelia, but depending on required depth of enrichment or multi-channel sequencing, teams may still pair Derrick with Apollo or Emelia to maximize coverage.
One-on-one
apollo vs Derrick - solo duel
Drop the third-party context and see how apollo compares to Derrick alone.
Open the head-to-head → One-on-oneemelia vs Derrick - solo duel
Drop the third-party context and see how emelia compares to Derrick alone.
Open the head-to-head → Curated stackAll B2B sales tools we reviewed in depth
Step back from the duel - see our hand-picked sales-tool selection and how every category fits together.
See the full curation → Keep Exploring
