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 Scalelist vs Derrick: Which Is Better in 2026?
- Short answer
- Apollo vs Scalelist vs Derrick: Apollo is a b2b sales intelligence and outreach, Scalelist is a email finder · chrome extension · job-change monitoring. 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 Scalelist) 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 Scalelist 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 27 000+ users worldwide.
CURSOR Quick Facts
Apollo vs Scalelist vs Derrick at a glance
Scalelist
- Starting price: $49/month
- Free plan: Free email verifier (no credits)
- Founded: 2023
- HQ: Singapore (founders Youssef El Kaddioui CEO + Arnaud Renoux CMO both Singapore-based)
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 Scalelist
3 core reasons SDRs and ops teams switch to Derrick. Click to expand each.
01 Built for teams whose pipeline runs in Sheets
Apollo and Scalelist both run as standalone platforms — separate UIs, separate logins, CSV exports + imports to move data into your CRM or spreadsheet. Derrick skips that entire layer : you enrich a Google Sheet with a formula (=DERRICK_EMAIL, =DERRICK_PHONE, =DERRICK_TECH) and the column populates inline. No platform-switching, no CSV round-trip.
02 Flat $10/month pricing — no credit walls
Apollo (Free / $49/seat/mo) and Scalelist ($49/month) follow the SaaS-standard model : tier the features, cap the credits, upsell when you outgrow it. Derrick is the opposite — one tier, $10/month, no caps, no seats. Predictable spend for teams that hate budgeting around credit-pool refills.
03 MCP-ready for AI workflows in 2026
Derrick exposes its enrichment API via MCP (Model Context Protocol) — Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and other LLM agents can call Derrick directly from your sheet without writing integration code. Apollo and Scalelist require Zapier, Make, or custom API wiring to do the same.
Honest Comparison 
derrick
What each tool does better
We're upfront - every tool has strengths. Here's where Apollo, Scalelist, and Derrick each genuinely win.
What Apollo does better
- Massive 250M+ contact database
- All-in-one stack at SMB price
- Intuitive list-builder
What Scalelist does better
- Job-change monitoring at no extra cost
- Credits roll over, verification is free
- Triple-source verification keeps bounce rates low
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 | Scalelist | Derrick | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price (monthly) | Free / $49 annual or $59 monthly /seat (post-2026 price increase) | $49/month | €0 (free) · €9/mo paid |
| Annual cost (base) | ~€588/yr | ~€588/yr | €0/yr free · ~€108/yr paid |
| Free plan? | Yes (Free forever) | Free email verifier (no credits) | ✓ 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 Scalelist vs Derrick: full feature comparison
| Apollo | Derrick App | Scalelist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | Free / $49/seat/mo | $10/mo flat | $49/month |
| Free plan | Yes (Free forever) | 14-day full trial | Yes (limited) |
| Best for | SMB & mid-market outbound | Sheet-native enrichment | SDRs tracking job changes |
| Category positioning | Sales Intelligence | Spreadsheet-native B2B data | B2B contact data |
| G2 rating | 4.7/5 | — | 4.6/5 |
| Founded | 2015 | 2022 | 2023 |
| Email accuracy / verification | Standard | Real-time, included | Triple-source, included free |
| Phone-number coverage | Available via providers | Via integrated providers | Available via providers |
| Credit / volume model | Free / $49/seat/mo | Unlimited rows in Sheets | Volume-tiered, roll-over |
| Works natively in Google Sheets | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Per-row pricing (no credit caps) | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| MCP-ready for AI / LLM agents | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
Pricing in a nutshell Sales Intelligence derrick
best value for money
Results first.
Discover Derrick →
B2B contact data
Apollo vs Scalelist vs Derrick pricing breakdown
Sales Intelligence Apollo
Free / $49 annual or $59 monthly /seat (post-2026 price increase)
Best for: SMB & mid-market outbound
Sales Intelligence category : Apollo entry tier is Free / $49/seat/mo. Best-for : smb & mid-market outbound. See the complete Apollo pricing page for tier comparison, credit cap behaviour, and annual-vs-monthly delta.
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.
B2B contact data Scalelist
$49/month
Best for: SDRs tracking job changes
B2B contact data category : Scalelist entry tier is $49/month. Best-for : sdrs tracking job changes. See the complete Scalelist pricing page for tier comparison, credit cap behaviour, and annual-vs-monthly delta.
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 Scalelist if…
- You specifically need sdrs tracking job changes
- Job-change monitoring at no extra cost
- Credits roll over, verification is free
- You're already invested in the Scalelist 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 Scalelist
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
Apollo vs Scalelist: when does each fit best?
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Apollo is positioned as sales intelligence for smb & mid-market outbound. Scalelist is positioned as b2b contact data for sdrs tracking job changes. Both compete in the B2B contact data category, so the choice comes down to which best-for profile your team matches most closely. G2 reviewers rate Apollo at 4.7/5 and Scalelist at 4.6/5 — both products work, the deciding factor is workflow fit, not product quality.
How do Apollo and Scalelist pricing actually compare in 2026?
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Apollo entry-paid tier : Basic at $49/seat/mo. Next tier up is Professional ($79/seat/mo). Apollo's free tier : Yes (Free forever). Scalelist entry-paid tier : Scaler 1.5K at $49/month. Next tier up is Scaler 5K ($99/month). Scalelist's free tier : Free email verifier (no credits). Worth noting : Derrick App at $10/month for unlimited rows is the simplest TCO answer if your workflow already lives in Sheets.
What's the biggest reason to pick Apollo over Scalelist?
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Massive 250M+ contact database. Apollo's contact graph is one of the deepest in the category, especially for US-based prospects. Buying-intent signals layered on top help SDRs prioritize accounts already researching solutions. (Source : Verified G2 user, RevOps, G2 review (Q1 2026).) If this single capability maps to a real pain in your sales motion, Apollo is the right pick over Scalelist.
What's the biggest reason to pick Scalelist over Apollo?
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Job-change monitoring at no extra cost. Upload a list of former customers, hot leads, or champions — Scalelist pings you when any of them takes a new job. Most enrichment tools either don't offer this or charge a separate monitoring fee. (Source : Léa M., Account Executive, G2 review (Mar 2026).) If this is the differentiator that matters most for your stack, Scalelist is the right pick over Apollo.
Can Derrick replace both Apollo and Scalelist?
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Both Apollo and Scalelist compete in the B2B contact data category. Derrick is data-and-Sheets-native — it doesn't replace a full B2B contact data platform feature-for-feature, but it eliminates the data + spreadsheet layer that teams typically use alongside Apollo or Scalelist. For teams whose primary need is enrichment + list-building in Sheets, Derrick at $10/mo replaces 60-80% of typical B2B contact data stack workflows. For teams running heavy B2B contact data feature surface (sequencer, dialer, AI agents), Derrick complements rather than replaces.
Beyond Apollo and Scalelist, what other tools should I evaluate?
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Four other tools in the same competitive set worth evaluating : Hunter, Findymail, Wiza, Snov.io. Each has its own positioning trade-off versus Apollo and Scalelist — Hunter typically appears as a direct competitor on G2 review pages, with Findymail, Wiza, Snov.io as adjacent picks for different team sizes or use cases. Each tool's full review on this site has the deep trade-off matrix — start there before shortlisting.
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 → 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
