Updated

Hunter vs Octopus CRM vs Derrick: Which Is Better in 2026?

Short answer
Hunter vs Octopus CRM vs Derrick: Hunter is a email finder, verifier and lightweight cold-email platform, Octopus CRM is a budget chrome-extension linkedin automation tool for solo prospectors. 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 Hunter or Octopus CRM) and pricing is lower - free forever with 100 credits/month, paid plans from €9/month. Most teams pair Derrick for the data layer with Hunter or Octopus CRM for outreach.

Hunter competes on hit rate, accuracy and waterfall fallback when one source is blank. The side-by-side comparison below isolates Hunter's per-find cost (email vs mobile vs direct-dial), real-world deliverability of what comes back, and how it fits into Derrick's 10-source waterfall enrichment workflow.

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.

Quick Facts

Hunter vs Octopus CRM vs Derrick at a glance

Hunter

  • Starting price: Free 50 credits/mo · Starter €34/mo (annual)
  • Free plan: Yes - 50 credits/mo, 500 recipients/sequence
  • Founded: 2015
  • HQ: Wilmington, DE (US entity) - team distributed (Paris, remote-first)
4.4/5 G2 4.4/5 Capterra

Octopus CRM

  • Starting price: $9.99/mo (Starter)
  • Free plan: 7-day free trial
  • Founded: 2018
  • HQ: United States (remote-first team)
4.4/5 G2 4.5/5 Capterra

Derrick

★ Recommended
  • Starting price: Free · Paid from €9/mo
  • Free plan: Yes - 100 credits/mo permanent
  • Founded: 2023
  • HQ: Marseille, FR
4.8/5 G2 4.8/5 Capterra
Why Derrick wins

Why teams pick Derrick over Hunter and Octopus CRM

3 core reasons SDRs and ops teams switch to Derrick. Click to expand each.

01

Real-time enrichment without LinkedIn dependency

Hunter and Octopus CRM rely on LinkedIn-driven data or limited enrichment, leaving real-time, independent updates uncertain. Derrick delivers real-time enrichment directly in Google Sheets without LinkedIn dependency, unlike Hunter’s email-first scope or Octopus CRM’s basic data needs. With 50+ enrichment attributes per contact and live validation, Derrick speeds up prospect profiling and reduces wait times for fresh insights by up to 30-40% in typical reachouts. A quick use case: auto-refresh of contact context as you type, without leaving your sheet.

02

Real-time enrichment avoided; deeper data reliability guarantees

Hunter and Octopus CRM rely on real-time enrichment and LinkedIn data, often delivering incomplete or inconsistent profile context and limited multi-source insights. Derrick avoids real-time enrichment dependencies by delivering deeper, verifiable data reliability within 100% native Google Sheets, reducing reliance on volatile sources. This approach yields measurable gains: up to 15-20% higher data accuracy in contacts and companies, with monthly billable credits preserved for unused actions. Use cases include rapid, trustworthy prospect profiling with multi-attribute enrichment (50+ fields) and real-time email validation to boost deliverability.

03

Rapid, scalable setup with no onboarding friction

Derrick eliminates onboarding friction by delivering a 100% native Google Sheets experience, unlike Octopus CRM’s LinkedIn-centric setup that forces users into platform-specific workflows. Hunter, while excellent at email discovery, lacks deep multi-source enrichment and quick setup for scalable outreach, a gap Derrick fills with 50+ enrichment attributes and real-time validation directly in Sheets. With Derrick, teams can deploy a scalable prospecting hub in minutes, saving 5-10 hours per month on setup and configuration. A typical use case: import, enrich, and segment 3,000 contacts in a single workflow without exporting data or learning new interfaces.

Honest Comparison

What each tool does better

We're upfront - every tool has strengths. Here's where Hunter, Octopus CRM, and Derrick each genuinely win.

What Hunter does better

  • Outstanding email accuracy + verification
  • No charge if Hunter can't find it
  • Strong free tier + simple onboarding
Read full Hunter review →

What Octopus CRM does better

  • Cheapest LinkedIn automation tool worth using
  • Genuinely intuitive UI
  • Built-in safety controls + smart delays
Read full Octopus CRM review →
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.

Hunter Octopus CRM Derrick
Starting price (monthly) Free 50 credits/mo · Starter €34/mo (annual) $9.99/mo (Starter) €0 (free) · €9/mo paid
Annual cost (base) ~€600/yr ~€120/yr €0/yr free · ~€108/yr paid
Free plan? Yes - 50 credits/mo, 500 recipients/sequence 7-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

Hunter vs Octopus CRM vs Derrick: full feature comparison

hunter Derrick App Octopus CRM
Works natively in Google Sheets
Requires LinkedIn Sales Navigator ($100/month)
Sales Navigator 1-click import
Email finder with real-time validation
Phone finder from LinkedIn
Company tech stack lookup
SimilarWeb & G2 insights integrated
AI integration (Claude & ChatGPT)
Automatic AI Lead Scoring
Data cleaning & normalization
Multi-platform scraping (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook)
Zapier, Make, n8n integrations
Public API available
Native CRM integrations (HubSpot, Salesforce)
Entry price (paid plan) 49$/mois 9€/mois 9.99$/mois
Permanent free plan
Rollover credits to next month
Simple and transparent credit system
Simple setup & onboarding
Complete documentation
Pricing in a nutshell

Hunter vs Octopus CRM vs Derrick pricing breakdown

Budget LinkedIn Automation (Chrome Extension)

Octopus CRM

$9.99/mo (Starter)

Best for: Budget-conscious solo SDRs running basic LinkedIn outreach

Octopus CRM offers affordable entry-level pricing with plans starting at a low monthly rate and a free tier for lightweight users; full pricing details and plan specifics are available on the dedicated pricing page. See full pricing breakdown for all features, limits, and plan options.

Migration Guide

How to switch from Hunter 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 Hunter, 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 Hunter if…

  • You specifically need solo sdrs and small teams doing email-first outbound
  • Outstanding email accuracy + verification
  • No charge if Hunter can't find it
  • You're already invested in the Hunter ecosystem
Read full Hunter review →

Pick Octopus CRM if…

  • You specifically need budget-conscious solo sdrs running basic linkedin outreach
  • Cheapest LinkedIn automation tool worth using
  • Genuinely intuitive UI
  • You're already invested in the Octopus CRM ecosystem
Read full Octopus CRM review →

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
Try Derrick free →

What teams say after switching from Hunter vs Octopus CRM

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

Reviewed on Product Hunt

"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

Reviewed on Product Hunt

"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

Reviewed on Capterra

"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

Reviewed on Capterra

"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

Reviewed on Capterra

"This app is fantastic. Brilliantly created to help small and mid sized businesses."

Dan Hughes

Founder/CEO, AlmanacIO

Reviewed on Product Hunt

"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

Reviewed on G2

"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

Reviewed on Capterra

"Have tested over 10+ LI scraper apps, Derrick beats them all. Simple to use, accurate data, and affordable price."

AJ Alexander

Opportunity Prospector

Reviewed on Capterra

Frequently Asked Questions

How does Derrick compare to hunter for email accuracy?

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Derrick and Hunter both prioritize email accuracy, but they serve different needs. Hunter specializes exclusively in email discovery and verification with strong accuracy rates for finding valid business emails. Derrick, however, delivers real-time email validation as part of a broader enrichment platform native to Google Sheets, eliminating manual exports and CSV workflows. While Hunter excels as a standalone email finder, Derrick combines email verification with fifty-plus contact and company attributes, integrated AI scoring, and rollover credits-making it more comprehensive for teams building complete prospect profiles directly in their spreadsheets without additional tool complexity.

Is Derrick a better alternative to Octopus CRM?

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Whether Derrick is a better alternative to Octopus CRM depends on your specific needs. Octopus CRM excels as a LinkedIn-focused automation platform for teams heavily reliant on LinkedIn prospecting, while Derrick operates as a native Google Sheets enrichment platform designed for teams wanting to build complete prospecting workflows without leaving their spreadsheets. If you need LinkedIn automation, Octopus CRM is solid, but if you prioritize data enrichment with 50+ contact attributes, real-time email validation, integrated AI scoring, and monthly rollover credits all within Google Sheets, Derrick offers a more comprehensive and flexible approach. Both serve different workflows, so your choice depends on whether LinkedIn automation or spreadsheet-native enrichment aligns better with your sales process.

Which is Derrick vs hunter vs Octopus CRM on pricing?

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Derrick offers a unique pricing model with rollover credits starting at zero euros for 100 free credits, then nine dollars for 4,000 credits monthly. Hunter operates as a standalone email verification platform with separate pricing tiers focused purely on email discovery accuracy. Octopus CRM positions itself as an affordable LinkedIn automation tool with basic CRM functionality. Unlike both competitors, Derrick integrates natively into Google Sheets without requiring external platforms or CSV exports, eliminating setup complexity while delivering fifty-plus enrichment attributes per contact alongside integrated AI scoring capabilities, making it cost-effective for teams seeking comprehensive data enrichment without LinkedIn Sales Navigator subscriptions.

What’s the difference between Derrick and hunter for enrichment?

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Derrick and Hunter approach enrichment from different angles. Hunter specializes in accurate email finding and verification, offering strong deliverability and straightforward contact-level data, but its enrichment depth stops with basic firmographic context and limited company insights. Derrick, by contrast, delivers 50+ enrichment attributes per contact or company directly inside Google Sheets, plus real-time email validation, AI-powered scoring and segmentation, and a broad, native integration ecosystem. If you need robust, multi-attribute enrichment with ongoing scoring and seamless Google Sheets workflows, Derrick provides broader, deeper data while maintaining email deliverability.

Does hunter have a better review than Octopus CRM?

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Hunter generally maintains stronger user reviews than Octopus CRM, particularly for email accuracy and verification reliability. However, both platforms serve different purposes-Hunter excels at email discovery while Octopus CRM focuses on LinkedIn automation and basic pipeline management. Neither offers comprehensive data enrichment comparable to dedicated platforms. If you're evaluating solutions, consider that Derrick provides deeper enrichment with 50+ attributes per contact, real-time email validation, integrated AI scoring, and operates entirely within Google Sheets without requiring external tools or CSV exports, making it a more complete prospecting solution than either alternative.

Can Derrick replace both hunter and Octopus CRM?

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Derrick cannot fullyreplace both Hunter and Octopus CRM in every scenario, but it can cover many core needs depending on your use case. For email finding and verification, Hunter excels at delivering accurate contact addresses quickly, while Derrick focuses on enriching data within Google Sheets and validating emails in real time, with 50+ attributes per contact and robust AI-driven scoring. For LinkedIn-centric automation and basic CRM-like workflow, Octopus CRM shines, whereas Derrick offers native data enrichment, multi-source integrations, and scalable prospect intelligence directly in Sheets without extra exports. If your team requires deep firmographic insight, account-level signals, and extensive multi-channel outreach, you may still pair Derrick with Hunter or Octopus CRM. However, if you prioritize a single, Google Sheets–native platform with rich enrichment, real-time validation, and AI-assisted segmentation, Derrick provides a compelling, cost-efficient alternative that can reduce tool sprawl and save time.
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