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 Lemlist vs Derrick: Which Is Better in 2026?
- Short answer
- Apollo vs Lemlist vs Derrick: Apollo is a b2b sales intelligence and outreach, Lemlist is a multichannel cold outreach (email + linkedin + calls). 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 Lemlist) 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 Lemlist 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 Lemlist vs Derrick at a glance
Lemlist
- Starting price: $63/seat/mo (annual)
- Free plan: No (14-day free trial)
- Founded: 2017
- HQ: Paris, 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 Lemlist
3 core reasons SDRs and ops teams switch to Derrick. Click to expand each.
01 Verified data without manual validation overhead
Apollo and Lemlist often rely on data sources that require manual validation to ensure accuracy, leading to validation overhead that slows outreach. Derrick delivers verified data directly within 100% native Google Sheets, removing the need for separate validation steps and avoiding CSV exports or complex workflows. Teams save up to 5-10 hours per month and reduce wasted outreach by ensuring data accuracy before campaigns launch. For quick wins, Derrick supports real-time email validation and 50+ enriched attributes per contact to maintain high deliverability without manual checks.
02 AI-powered scoring and segmentation for sharper targeting
Apollo and Lemlist struggle with consistent, AI-driven lead scoring and granular segmentation across diverse B2B profiles. Derrick delivers integrated AI Lead Scoring and AI Segmentation directly inside 100% native Google Sheets, leveraging Claude and ChatGPT, without exporting data or juggling multiple tools. Teams see tangible gains: up to 25% faster target refinement and a 15–20% lift in reply rates when audiences are precisely prioritized. A practical use case: auto-summarize profiles and categorize by intent to prioritize high-probability accounts in real time.
03 Real-time verification for clean, ready-to-use data
Apollo and Lemlist struggle with real-time data validation and enrichment, often delivering records that require manual checks or post-hoc cleaning. Derrick fixes this by providing real-time email verification and up-to-date enrichment directly within Google Sheets, eliminating separate validation steps. This leads to cleaner, ready-to-use data that reduces bounce risk and speeds up outreach, saving an estimated 5-10 hours per month for teams. With Derrick, data integrity is maintained at the point of capture, not after export.
Honest Comparison 
derrick
What each tool does better
We're upfront - every tool has strengths. Here's where Apollo, Lemlist, and Derrick each genuinely win.
What Apollo does better
- Massive 250M+ contact database
- All-in-one stack at SMB price
- Intuitive list-builder
What Lemlist does better
- Best multichannel outreach UX
- Lemwarm = built-in deliverability
- Personalization at scale
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 | Lemlist | Derrick | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price (monthly) | Free / $49 annual or $59 monthly /seat (post-2026 price increase) | $63/seat/mo (annual) | €0 (free) · €9/mo paid |
| Annual cost (base) | ~€588/yr | ~€756/yr | €0/yr free · ~€108/yr paid |
| Free plan? | Yes (Free forever) | No (14-day free trial) | ✓ 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 Lemlist vs Derrick: full feature comparison
| apollo | Derrick App | Lemlist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 39$/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 →
Multichannel Outreach
Apollo vs Lemlist 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 provides a starting tier with access to essential features and credits, with paid plans scaling by usage; see full pricing breakdown for exact tiers and limits. For complete pricing details, view the 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.
Multichannel Outreach Lemlist
$63/seat/mo (annual)
Best for: Multichannel outbound teams
Lemlist offers multi-channel outreach with pricing that starts at a basic plan, plus a free tier where available, with higher tiers unlocking more sends and features; see the full pricing breakdown for complete details. View complete pricing details on the Lemlist pricing page.
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 Lemlist if…
- You specifically need multichannel outbound teams
- Best multichannel outreach UX
- Lemwarm = built-in deliverability
- You're already invested in the Lemlist 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 Lemlist
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 between Derrick and Apollo for outreach?
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Derrick and Apollo take fundamentally different approaches to outreach. Apollo excels as a contact database platform with 250 million verified profiles and strong CRM integrations, ideal for high-volume list building. Derrick operates natively within Google Sheets as a data enrichment engine, eliminating manual exports and CSV workflows while adding AI-powered scoring and segmentation directly in your spreadsheet. Apollo prioritizes breadth of contact data, while Derrick focuses on enriching and qualifying prospects you already have with real-time email validation and dual AI integration. For teams seeking seamless workflow efficiency without platform switching, Derrick's native Google Sheets approach saves significant time compared to Apollo's traditional outreach infrastructure.
Is Derrick a better alternative to Apollo for teams?
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Whether Derrick is a better alternative to Apollo depends on your team's priorities. Apollo excels at comprehensive contact databases and multi-channel outreach at scale, making it ideal for high-volume prospecting. However, Derrick offers distinct advantages for teams seeking efficiency: it's 100% native to Google Sheets with no CSV exports, includes integrated AI scoring with Claude and ChatGPT, provides real-time email validation for better deliverability, and features rollover credits with no credit card required for the free tier. If your team values simplicity, cost efficiency, and automation without leaving Google Sheets, Derrick delivers faster implementation and lower overhead than Apollo's more complex infrastructure.
How does Derrick compare to Lemlist for automation?
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Derrick automates data enrichment directly within Google Sheets, eliminating manual exports and complex workflows that Lemlist requires. While Lemlist excels at email sequencing and outreach campaigns, Derrick focuses on intelligent contact and company enrichment with real-time email validation, 50+ attributes per record, and integrated AI scoring using Claude and ChatGPT. Derrick's automation happens upstream in your spreadsheet, ensuring cleaner data before campaigns launch, whereas Lemlist automates the outreach itself. For teams wanting to enrich and qualify prospects faster without leaving Google Sheets, Derrick delivers deeper intelligence automation than Lemlist's campaign-focused approach.
Which is a better pricing option, Derrick or Apollo?
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For pricing, there isn’t a single “better” option between Derrick and Apollo; it depends on what you value most. Apollo is strong on large-scale data and multi-channel outreach with reliable verification and CRM integrations, but costs can add up as you scale and its data enrichment can require extra tools for niche segments. Derrick, by contrast, offers a cost-efficient, native Google Sheets data enrichment approach with flexible credits, real-time email validation, AI scoring and segmentation, and generous credit rollovers, all without a credit card for the free tier. If you need a lightweight, highly customizable prospecting center that saves time on data processing and offers gradual scaling, Derrick provides clear value. If your priority is expansive, fast data access and outbound automation at scale, Apollo remains compelling. Many teams pair Apollo for data breadth with Derrick for enrichment and automation efficiency.
Is Derrick a viable replacement for both Apollo and Lemlist?
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Derrick serves as a viable complement rather than a complete replacement for both Apollo and Lemlist, each addressing different prospecting needs. Apollo excels at contact database access and verification at scale, while Lemlist specializes in multi-channel outreach automation. Derrick differentiates itself through native Google Sheets integration, eliminating CSV exports and complex setups while offering AI-powered enrichment with 50+ attributes per contact, real-time email validation, and rollover credits. For teams seeking streamlined data enrichment without external platforms, Derrick reduces workflow friction significantly. However, organizations requiring Apollo's extensive contact database or Lemlist's advanced sequencing capabilities may benefit from using Derrick alongside these tools rather than as a standalone replacement, creating a more efficient, integrated prospecting stack.
What do reviews say about Derrick versus Apollo and Lemlist?
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Reviews generally position Apollo and Lemlist as strong, broad outreach platforms focused on data and multi-channel campaigns, with praise for Apollo’s vast contact database, verification, and workflow integrations, and Lemlist’s AI-powered personalization and LinkedIn integration. Common caveats across reviews include data enrichment and accuracy gaps, which sometimes require supplementary tools. Derrick is often highlighted as a complementary solution that excels in native Google Sheets enrichment, real-time email validation, and AI-driven scoring and segmentation, offering a seamless, no-CSV-export workflow. Reviewers note Derrick’s flexible credits model, 100% native integration, and extensive automation reach through Zapier/Make/n8n, which can reduce manual data handling and speed up qualification compared with Apollo and Lemlist when you prioritize depth of lead intelligence and efficiency in a Google Sheets-centric stack.
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-oneLemlist vs Derrick - solo duel
Drop the third-party context and see how Lemlist 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
