Apollo.io
Brevo
| Feature | Apollo.io | Brevo |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $49/mo | Free / from $25/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.4 / 5 | 4.3 / 5 |
| Best For | startups, sdrs, sales-teams, growth-teams | small-businesses, startups, ecommerce, developers-needing-transactional-email |
| Founded | 2015 | 2012 |
| Contact Database | ✓ | ✗ |
| Sequences | ✓ | ✗ |
| Email Tracking | ✓ | ✗ |
| Dialer | ✓ | ✗ |
| Deal Management | ✓ | ✗ |
| Enrichment | ✓ | ✗ |
| Email Campaigns | ✗ | ✓ |
| Sms Marketing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Whatsapp Campaigns | ✗ | ✓ |
| Marketing Automation | ✗ | ✓ |
| Crm | ✗ | ✓ |
| Transactional Api | ✗ | ✓ |
| Landing Pages | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Apollo.io Pros
- Huge contact database
- Good free tier
- Sequences included
- Affordable
✗ Apollo.io Cons
- Data accuracy varies
- Email deliverability
- Complex interface
✓ Brevo Pros
- Generous free plan with 300 emails per day
- Multi-channel: email, SMS, WhatsApp, push in one tool
- Built-in CRM included in all plans
- Transactional email/SMS API for developers
✗ Brevo Cons
- Email editor less polished than Mailchimp
- Automation features less advanced than ActiveCampaign
- Customer support can be slow on free plan
The Verdict
Apollo.io is built for startups and sdrs, with a focus on contact-database and sequences. Brevo targets small businesses and startups and leads with email-campaigns and sms-marketing.
On pricing, Brevo is the clear winner for budget-conscious users — starting at $25/mo compared to $49/mo for Apollo.io. That $24/mo difference adds up quickly for growing teams.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Feature-wise, Brevo offers broader built-in capabilities (7 features vs 6), while Apollo.io takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
Both tools are a solid fit for startups — in those cases, the decision often comes down to workflow style and how your team prefers to organize work.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.