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 Expandi vs Derrick: Which Is Better in 2026?
- Short answer
- Apollo vs Expandi vs Derrick: Apollo is a b2b sales intelligence and outreach, Expandi is a cloud-based linkedin automation with smart conditional sequences. 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 Expandi) 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 Expandi 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 Expandi vs Derrick at a glance
Expandi
- Starting price: $79/mo (Business, annual) · 14-day free trial
- Free plan: 14-day free trial (no credit card)
- Founded: 2019
- HQ: Eindhoven, Netherlands
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 Expandi
3 core reasons SDRs and ops teams switch to Derrick. Click to expand each.
01 Real-time validation plus complete enrichment without data gaps
Real-time validation and complete enrichment without data gaps is where Apollo and Expandi fall short: Apollo often delivers broad data but can require manual validation to fix incomplete records, while Expandi focuses on LinkedIn outreach with limited multi-source data quality. Derrick solves this by providing 100% native Google Sheets enrichment with real-time email validation and over 50 attributes per contact, ensuring data completeness within the same workflow. Teams can expect measurable improvements in deliverability and richer profiles without switching apps, reducing manual cleanup and rework. Free and scalable credits support ongoing validation as campaigns grow.
02 Flexible automation across 3000+ integrations for multi-source data
Derrick outshines Apollo and Expandi by delivering truly flexible automation across 3000+ integrations for multi-source data, instead of relying on siloed tools with limited integration ecosystems. Apollo struggles with multi-source enrichment and often relies on separate workflows for validation, while Expandi focuses on LinkedIn outreach rather than broader data integration. Derrick unifies data from diverse sources via Zapier/Make/n8n, enabling automated workflows inside Google Sheets without CSV exports, saving 5-10 hours per month. This multi-source automation translates to faster, more accurate prospect profiling and scalable outreach across channels.
03 Unified data quality checks with AI-driven enrichment validation
Apollo and Expandi struggle with holistic data quality across multi-source records, often yielding incomplete or inconsistently enriched profiles. Derrick differentiates by delivering unified data quality checks with AI-driven enrichment validation directly inside a 100% native Google Sheets workflow. This approach reduces gaps and improves accuracy, as teams see a measurable uplift in valid, enriched records-typically a 20-35% decrease in data gaps within the same cycle. In practice, Derrick consolidates validation, enrichment, and scoring in one pass, enabling faster, more reliable outreach without leaving Sheets.
Honest Comparison 
derrick
What each tool does better
We're upfront - every tool has strengths. Here's where Apollo, Expandi, and Derrick each genuinely win.
What Apollo does better
- Massive 250M+ contact database
- All-in-one stack at SMB price
- Intuitive list-builder
What Expandi does better
- Smart conditional sequences (best in the cloud category)
- Cloud-based with dedicated country IPs
- Comprehensive LinkedIn feature set
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 | Expandi | Derrick | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price (monthly) | Free / $49 annual or $59 monthly /seat (post-2026 price increase) | $79/mo (Business, annual) · 14-day free trial | €0 (free) · €9/mo paid |
| Annual cost (base) | ~€588/yr | ~€948/yr | €0/yr free · ~€108/yr paid |
| Free plan? | Yes (Free forever) | 14-day free trial (no credit card) | ✓ 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 Expandi vs Derrick: full feature comparison
| apollo | Derrick App | Expandi | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 99$/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 →
LinkedIn Automation (Cloud, Agency-Established)
Apollo vs Expandi 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 featuring limited credits, with paid plans beginning at accessible monthly credits; see full pricing breakdown for details. For complete pricing details, view the dedicated pricing page.
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.
LinkedIn Automation (Cloud, Agency-Established) Expandi
$79/mo (Business, annual) · 14-day free trial
Best for: Established agencies + B2B teams running smart LinkedIn sequences
Expandi offers starter plans with a low entry price and scalable credits, plus a documented pricing page for full details. For exact tiers and limits, please see the complete pricing breakdown on their site.
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 Expandi if…
- You specifically need established agencies + b2b teams running smart linkedin sequences
- Smart conditional sequences (best in the cloud category)
- Cloud-based with dedicated country IPs
- You're already invested in the Expandi 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 Expandi
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 Derrick vs Apollo difference for data enrichment?
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Derrick specializes in AI-powered data enrichment directly within Google Sheets with no CSV exports or external platforms needed, while Apollo operates as a comprehensive B2B database with 250 million contacts and strong email verification. Apollo excels at scale and breadth across contact data, but Derrick offers deeper enrichment with 50+ attributes per record and real-time email validation in your existing workflow. Derrick's integrated Claude and ChatGPT AI enables automatic scoring and segmentation, whereas Apollo requires manual validation for complex data scenarios. For teams prioritizing efficiency and data quality without leaving Google Sheets, Derrick eliminates the overhead Apollo demands while delivering comparable enrichment depth at a fraction of the cost.
Is Derrick a better alternative to Apollo for accuracy?
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Derrick and Apollo both prioritize accuracy, but they approach it differently. Apollo excels at contact database verification with its 250 million records, while Derrick focuses on enrichment accuracy through real-time email validation and 50+ data attributes per contact. Derrick's advantage lies in its native Google Sheets integration, eliminating manual CSV exports that introduce errors, plus AI-powered Claude and ChatGPT integration for intelligent data validation and segmentation. For teams already in Google Sheets, Derrick reduces manual verification workflows by 5-10 hours monthly. Both platforms deliver strong accuracy, but Derrick's streamlined workflow minimizes the data handling friction where accuracy often deteriorates during transfers between tools.
How does Derrick compare to Expandi on automation?
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Derrick automates enrichment directly within Google Sheets with zero manual exports or configuration, saving teams five to ten hours monthly compared to Expandi's LinkedIn-focused approach. While Expandi excels at automating LinkedIn outreach sequences, it lacks comprehensive data enrichment capabilities and relies heavily on manual campaign setup. Derrick's integrated AI scoring, real-time email validation, and fifty plus enrichment attributes per contact deliver deeper prospect intelligence automation than Expandi's outreach-only model, making it ideal for teams prioritizing data quality alongside workflow efficiency.
Which tool has better pricing: Derrick vs Expandi?
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In terms of pricing, Derrick App offers a simple, credit-based model with a free tier and scalable options that start at 4,000 credits for $9 and go up to 100,000 credits for $175, plus credits roll over each month and no credit card is required for the free plan. Expandi, by contrast, tends to structure pricing around LinkedIn outreach features and tiered plans, which can be less flexible for non-Lithuanian-specific workflows and may feel pricier for teams focused on data enrichment rather than outreach alone. If your goal is cost-efficient, data-rich prospecting with native Google Sheets integration and AI-assisted segmentation, Derrick generally provides more transparent, scalable value at varying usage levels compared with Expandi.
Derrick vs Apollo vs Expandi: who wins on features?
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Each platform excels in different areas. Apollo wins on contact database scale and verification accuracy with 250 million profiles, making it ideal for high-volume prospecting. Expandi dominates LinkedIn automation with natural-feeling sequences and compliance. However, Derrick stands out for data enrichment depth, offering 50+ attributes per contact with real-time email validation, integrated AI scoring with Claude and ChatGPT, and seamless Google Sheets native integration without CSV exports. Derrick's rollover credits and no credit card requirement for free tier provide superior flexibility compared to both competitors' rigid pricing structures.
Can Apollo replace Expandi for LinkedIn outreach?
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Apollo cannot fully replace Expandi for LinkedIn outreach, as Apollo excels in broad data access, verification, and multi-channel outreach, while Expandi specializes in LinkedIn automation, connection requests, and messaging workflows within the LinkedIn ecosystem. If your goal is heavy LinkedIn-led outreach with scalable automation, Expandi remains the stronger fit. Derrick App can complement both by enriching data and boosting multi-channel efficiency, leveraging Derrick’s native Google Sheets workflow, AI scoring, and broad integrations to enhance outreach quality across channels.
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-oneExpandi vs Derrick - solo duel
Drop the third-party context and see how Expandi 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
