Apollo vs Closely (2026): Features, Pricing & Which Platform Fits Your Sales Team

Choosing between Apollo and Closely comes down to a fundamental question: do you need a LinkedIn-centric outreach tool, or a full-stack GTM platform that spans data, engagement, and execution across every channel? Both platforms serve B2B sales teams, but their scope, data depth, and workflow coverage differ significantly.

This comparison breaks down what each platform actually does, what it costs, and which use cases each serves best.

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Key Takeaways

• Platform scope: Apollo unifies sales intelligence, multi-channel engagement, dialers, and AI research in one connected system. Closely centers on LinkedIn automation and email outreach with AI-assisted personalization.
• B2B database: Apollo includes a database of 240M+ people and 30M+ companies with 98% email accuracy. Closely focuses on LinkedIn-sourced contacts and email finding through credits.
• Audience: Apollo serves B2B GTM teams, GTM Engineers, and AI Builders building headless GTM workflows with the Apollo API, CLI, and MCP, alongside Sales Professionals, SDRs/BDRs, AEs, RevOps, Marketing, and Revenue Leaders. Closely targets individual sellers, SDRs, and agency teams that prioritize LinkedIn outreach.
• AI capabilities: Apollo offers AI research agents, AI-generated sequences, call summaries, and sentiment analysis. Closely offers AI-assisted personalization for LinkedIn DMs and emails.
• Dialer: Apollo includes a built-in Power Dialer and Parallel Dialer. Closely does not include a built-in dialer.

What is Apollo?

Apollo is an AI sales platform that unifies data, intelligence, and execution into one connected GTM system. Sales teams use Apollo to find and verify contacts, run multi-channel outreach sequences across email, phone, and social, enrich CRM records automatically, and measure pipeline performance, without stitching together separate tools for each job. Apollo's sales engagement platform covers the full outbound and inbound workflow, from ICP discovery through booked meetings.

Apollo meets sellers inside the tools they already use. Through Apollo MCP, Apollo's Model Context Protocol, teams can access Apollo's data and workflows directly inside AI assistants including ChatGPT, Codex, Claude, and Perplexity, without switching context. The Chrome extension enables prospecting across the web. For technical and advanced users, Apollo CLI provides terminal-native access for headless GTM workflows and API-driven automation.

According to Ramp's vendor data, as of July 2026, 38% of organizations that use any Sales Data Providers tool have adopted Apollo, up 5 percentage points year over year, making Apollo the fastest-growing vendor in the category. Apollo holds a 22% competitor switch rate, meaning nearly one in four Apollo customers previously used a different platform before moving to Apollo.

Apollo is trusted by nearly 5M users across 600K+ companies, including 100+ teams at Fortune 500 companies. It holds a 4.7/5 rating on G2 and was recognized with the 2026 MarTech Breakthrough Award for "Best AI-Powered Sales Solution". Apollo offers transparent pricing starting at $49/user/month (annual billing), with a free tier available.

What is Closely?

Closely is a LinkedIn automation and multi-channel outreach platform designed for sales teams that prioritize LinkedIn-led prospecting. The platform combines LinkedIn automation, email campaigns, AI-assisted personalization, and data enrichment into a workflow aimed at scaling outreach while maintaining human-like engagement patterns.

Closely's core feature set includes automated LinkedIn connection requests, profile visits, follow-up sequences, and InMail outreach, all designed to operate within LinkedIn's activity limits. It also supports email outreach alongside LinkedIn, creating coordinated multi-channel campaigns from a single interface.

For data, Closely offers an email finder and phone number finder powered by a credit system. Credits are allocated per plan tier and are consumed based on lookup type: email lookups, phone lookups, and AI personalization each draw from the same credit pool.

A unified inbox consolidates LinkedIn DMs, InMails, and email replies in one view.

Closely integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, and GoHighLevel for CRM synchronization. The platform also includes A/B testing, campaign analytics, and a white-label option aimed at agencies managing outreach for multiple clients.

A LinkedIn account warmup feature uses dedicated residential IPs to help maintain account health.

Closely's AI capabilities focus on personalization at scale, generating tailored messages for LinkedIn DMs, InMails, and emails based on prospect data. Sales AI agents handle lead research, qualification, and scoring within the platform's workflow.

Closely's target audience includes individual sellers and SDRs, sales leaders building LinkedIn-led outbound programs, founders running lean prospecting operations, and agencies managing outreach on behalf of clients. The platform's pricing structure is built around LinkedIn account slots rather than per-user seats, which makes it a distinct model from most sales engagement tools.

Feature Comparison

The table above highlights a key structural difference: Apollo is built around a proprietary B2B database with multi-channel engagement and a built-in dialer, while Closely is built around LinkedIn automation with email as a secondary channel and data sourced through per-credit lookups. Teams that rely heavily on phone outreach or need CRM-grade data enrichment will find those capabilities built into Apollo but absent from Closely's current feature set.

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Pricing Comparison

Apollo's full pricing breakdown (annual billing) is available at apollo.io/pricing:

• Free: $0, 900 credits/year, 2 sequences, basic filters
• Basic: $49/user/month, 30,000 credits/year, unlimited sequences, CRM integrations, 6 intent topics
• Professional: $79/user/month, 48,000 credits/year, US dialer, 5 mailboxes, automated workflows, AI research
• Organization: $119/user/month (min. 3 users), 72,000 credits/year, international dialer, 15 mailboxes, SSO, advanced security

Closely's pricing (from closelyhq.com/pricing) is structured around LinkedIn account slots rather than per-user seats:

• Starter: $29/month (annual) / $49/month (monthly), 1 LinkedIn account, unlimited email accounts, no bonus credits
• Growth: $87/month (annual) / $127/month (monthly), 3 LinkedIn accounts, 3,000 credits/month (750 emails or 150 phones or 1,500 AI personalizations)
• Essential: $145/month (annual) / $205/month (monthly), 5 LinkedIn accounts, 5,000 credits/month, customer success manager
• Custom: $206/month (annual) / $350/month (monthly), 10 LinkedIn accounts, customizable credits, customer success manager

The pricing models differ in a meaningful way. Apollo prices per user and includes a large built-in credit allocation for data lookups, prospecting, and enrichment.

Closely prices per LinkedIn account slot, with credits shared across email finding, phone finding, and AI personalization. Teams managing multiple LinkedIn accounts for outreach (such as agencies) may find Closely's seat model fits their structure.

Teams that need per-rep data access, phone outreach, and CRM enrichment alongside sequencing will find Apollo's model covers more ground within a single subscription.

How Apollo Differs from Closely

The clearest difference is depth of data and execution channel coverage. Apollo's proprietary database gives sales teams direct access to verified business contact information, emails, direct dials, firmographic data, and buyer intent signals, without needing to source contacts from LinkedIn profiles one by one.

That database feeds directly into Apollo's sequencing, dialer, and enrichment workflows, so reps move from research to outreach inside one system.

Closely's outreach model is built on LinkedIn as the primary prospecting surface. It automates the actions a rep would take manually, visiting profiles, sending connection requests, messaging, and pairs that with email for multi-channel coverage.

This works well for teams whose ICP is reachable and responsive on LinkedIn. However, teams that need phone outreach, intent-based targeting beyond LinkedIn signals, or deep CRM enrichment will need to source those capabilities elsewhere.

Apollo's built-in Power Dialer and Parallel Dialer are a meaningful differentiator for outbound-heavy teams. Reps can move from a sequenced email to a live call without switching tools, with AI-generated call scripts, automatic voicemail drop, and AI call summaries logged directly to the CRM.

Closely does not include a dialer.

According to Ramp's Sales Data Providers category data as of July 2026, Apollo is the fastest-growing vendor in the Sales Data Providers category, averaging +0.7 percentage points of adoption per month, ahead of every other vendor tracked. That growth reflects teams actively choosing Apollo as their primary GTM data and engagement platform.

Apollo also integrates with over 50 tools through its integrations marketplace, including Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach, SalesLoft, Marketo, Orum, and Nooks, making it compatible with existing sales tech stacks rather than requiring teams to rebuild workflows around it.

"We reduced the complexity of three tools into one." Collin Stewart, CEO at Predictable Revenue

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Apollo better than Closely for outbound sales?

Apollo and Closely serve different outbound models. Apollo covers the full outbound workflow, B2B data discovery, email sequencing, phone calling, and CRM enrichment, in one platform.

Closely specializes in LinkedIn-led outreach with email as a secondary channel. If your outbound motion relies on phone calls or requires a large verified contact database, Apollo covers those use cases directly.

If your team's primary channel is LinkedIn, Closely is purpose-built for that workflow.

Does Apollo include LinkedIn automation like Closely?

Apollo includes social steps as part of its multi-channel sequences, allowing reps to include social outreach tasks alongside email and phone steps in a coordinated sequence. Closely is purpose-built for LinkedIn automation, with features like automated connection requests, profile visits, and InMail campaigns at the core of its product.

Teams whose outreach is entirely LinkedIn-native will find Closely's automation depth in that channel more specialized.

Which platform has better data for prospecting?

Apollo maintains a proprietary database of 240M+ people and 30M+ companies, continuously validated through its Living Data Network, with 98% email accuracy as covered in the platform overview above. Closely sources contact data through credit-based lookups tied to LinkedIn profiles.

Apollo's database is accessible directly through search filters, AI-assisted ICP targeting, and intent signals, without needing to find and visit individual LinkedIn profiles first.

Who is Apollo designed for?

Apollo serves B2B GTM teams, GTM Engineers, and AI Builders building headless GTM workflows with the Apollo API, CLI, and MCP, alongside Sales Professionals, SDRs/BDRs, AEs, RevOps, Marketing, and Revenue Leaders. Closely is oriented toward individual sellers, SDRs, founders, and agencies that run LinkedIn-first outreach programs.

Can I try Apollo for free?

Yes. Apollo offers a free tier with no time limit, as detailed in the pricing section above.

Closely offers a 14-day free trial on all paid plans. Both platforms allow teams to evaluate the product before committing to a paid subscription.

Conclusion

Apollo and Closely approach sales prospecting from different starting points. Closely is a focused LinkedIn automation tool with email support, well-suited for teams running LinkedIn-first outbound programs or agencies managing multi-account outreach.

Apollo is an AI sales platform that connects data, engagement, dialing, and enrichment into one GTM system, serving teams that need coverage across every outbound and inbound channel.

For teams that need a verified B2B database, multi-channel sequencing, a built-in dialer, and CRM enrichment without assembling multiple tools, Apollo delivers that coverage in one place. Trusted by Anthropic, Redis, Smartling, and 100K+ paying customers, Apollo is built to scale with your team's needs from startup through enterprise.

Ready to see what Apollo can do for your pipeline? Try Apollo free today.

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