Apollo.io
Folk
| Feature | Apollo.io | Folk |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $59/mo | Free / from $20/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.4 / 5 | 4.4 / 5 |
| Best For | sales-teams, sdrs, founders, growth-teams | agencies, founders, partnerships-teams, investor-relations |
| Founded | 2015 | 2020 |
| Contact Database | ✓ | ✗ |
| Email Sequences | ✓ | ✓ |
| Dialer | ✓ | ✗ |
| Crm | ✓ | ✗ |
| Linkedin Extension | ✓ | ✗ |
| Intent Signals | ✓ | ✗ |
| Contact Management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Pipelines | ✗ | ✓ |
| Mail Merge | ✗ | ✓ |
| Browser Extension | ✗ | ✓ |
| Enrichment | ✗ | ✓ |
| Integrations | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Apollo.io Pros
- Massive contact database
- Good free plan
- All-in-one prospecting tool
- Strong email sequences
✗ Apollo.io Cons
- Data accuracy varies
- Can be overwhelming
- Email deliverability management needed
✓ Folk Pros
- Intuitive spreadsheet-like interface
- Browser extension captures contacts from anywhere
- Built-in email sequences and mail merge
- Great for lightweight relationship management
✗ Folk Cons
- Limited reporting and analytics
- Not suited for large enterprise sales teams
- Fewer automations than Salesforce/HubSpot
The Verdict
Apollo.io is built for sales teams and sdrs, with a focus on contact-database and email-sequences. Folk targets agencies and founders and leads with contact-management and pipelines.
On pricing, Folk is the clear winner for budget-conscious users — starting at $20/mo compared to $59/mo for Apollo.io. That $39/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, Folk 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 founders — 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.