Apollo.io alternative
Google, LinkedIn, and local leads through one API. No seats.
One request, real response
Apollo.io hands you a database to filter inside its app. CrustAPI hands you an API you call from your own stack: here is a business-leads query and the records it returns, as clean JSON or the same rows as CSV.
Those businesses as CSV, one row each (phone masked here, full data in the API):
Add gl and hl for country and language, and raise limit for a bigger list. Every endpoint runs from the docs and the no-code playground too.
What data do you get?
Every business comes complete, so you build a list or a dataset with no second call. The API returns clean JSON, and the same rows are available as CSV for Sheets or a database:
Or the same record as clean JSON straight from the API:
Notice what is missing: an email. Google Maps records never carry email addresses, and any tool claiming they do is guessing. If verified personal emails and outreach are the core of your job, that is where Apollo.io earns its price.
Apollo.io vs CrustAPI
These are different tools, so the fair comparison is by job: an all-in-one sales platform you sit inside, or the raw public data itself, billed by the result.
| Apollo.io | CrustAPI | |
|---|---|---|
| What you buy | A sales platform: a pre-built B2B contact database plus sequences, a dialer, and deal tracking | One clean data API for public data across the Google menu, LinkedIn profiles, and local business leads, pulled fresh on demand |
| Billing model | Per-seat plans metered by a credit allowance | Pay only for results at the applicable endpoint rate. Google Search bills per successful request and Maps per business returned. LinkedIn reads bill per successful request, People and Jobs per successful search, Refresh per accessible profile, and enriched People per full profile. Empty and failed requests are free. The pricing page lists every rate. |
| Free tier | A real free plan with monthly limits | free to try, no card |
| Balance expiry | Tied to your plan period | Never expire |
| Data ownership | Access to their database under your plan | Clean JSON you keep and export, or the same rows as CSV, no storage limits |
| Endpoints covered | Its own B2B contact and company database | Twelve Google surfaces: Search, Maps, Places, News, Shopping, Images, Videos, Scholar, Patents, Reviews, Autocomplete, and Webpage |
| People and emails | Verified person-level contacts with emails and direct dials | Public web, business, and profile records, not verified personal emails or a dialer |
| Data freshness | A pre-built database refreshed on their schedule | Pulled from public pages at query time |
| Outreach | Built in: sequences and a dialer | None. Bring your own sending tool |
| Integrations | Native CRM integrations | MCP, n8n, LangChain, CrewAI, Clay, plain JSON everywhere else |
The Apollo.io column describes their public product and plan model in general terms as of July 2026. We put their strengths in the table on purpose. Check their site for current pricing and specifics.
How much does CrustAPI cost?
No seat, no plan tier, no renewal date. You pay the applicable price per successful call: Maps bills per business returned, while other Google endpoints bill per successful request. Empty and failed requests cost nothing.
| Deposit | Google Search / 1,000 requests | Maps / 1,000 businesses | LinkedIn reads / 1,000 requests | People, Jobs, Refresh / 1,000 units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10+ | $1.00 | $1.96 | $6.00 | $1.96 |
| $149+ | $0.76 | $1.49 | $4.50 | $1.49 |
| $549+ | $0.56 | $1.10 | $3.30 | $1.10 |
| $1,999+ | $0.41 | $0.80 | $2.45 | $0.80 |
| $6,500+ | $0.33 | $0.65 | $1.95 | $0.65 |
| $27,500+ | $0.28 | $0.55 | $1.65 | $0.55 |
| $50,000+ | $0.26 | $0.50 | $1.50 | $0.50 |
| $100,000+ | $0.20 | $0.40 | $1.50 | $0.40 |
Every eligible account gets $6 of free usage monthly. Each deposit keeps its prices until spent; paid funds never expire. People and Jobs bill per successful search, Refresh per accessible profile. Full profiles in People use the read rate per full profile. See all billing details.
Larger deposits unlock lower endpoint prices. Each deposit keeps its prices until spent. See the full deposit table on the pricing page. Prices in USD, ex-tax.
Paid funds never expire, so a paused project keeps what you bought. All self-serve, no sales call.
How do you get started?
From zero to your first list in about two minutes:
- 1
Create a free account. Try it free, no card needed.
- 2
Type a search in the playground. Something like staffing agencies in Phoenix, AZ. The businesses land in a table.
- 3
Export the CSV, or copy your key and run the curl above. Same data, JSON or CSV.
When Apollo.io is the better pick: you want one tool that finds the contact and sends the email, your SDR team shares sequences and a dialer all day, or you would rather browse a database with filters than write queries. CrustAPI is the better pick when you mainly want fresh public lists flowing into your own stack, paid by the result.
Who switches from Apollo.io?
- Lead gen teams. Pull every business in a niche with phone and website, export the CSV, and start outreach the same day.
- Founders. Build the first prospect list without paying for seats and a dialer nobody opens.
- Agencies. Fresh lists per client, billed per result, with no per-seat license to split.
- Growth engineers. Wire live business and web data straight into Clay, n8n, or your own stack.
Related: Google Maps scraper API · Business leads database · Google Search API · Google Reviews API
Common questions
No, and we will say so up front. Apollo.io bundles a person-level contact database with verified emails, sequences, a dialer, and deal tracking. CrustAPI is a raw public data API you build business and web lists with. If you rely on Apollo.io's contacts and outreach tools, CrustAPI will not replace that. If you mainly pay Apollo.io for fresh company and local-business lists, an API plus your own workflow does that part for less.
Google Search starts at $1.00 per 1,000 successful requests, Maps at $1.96 per 1,000 businesses, LinkedIn reads at $6.00 per 1,000 successful requests, and People, Jobs and Refresh at $1.96 per 1,000 billing units. Full profiles in People use the LinkedIn read rate per full profile. Each deposit saves its own prices until spent. Every eligible account gets $6 of free usage monthly; paid funds never expire.
No. CrustAPI returns public business and web data, not personal email addresses. Google Maps business records carry name, address, phone, website, rating, reviews, categories, and hours, and any tool that claims Google Maps returns emails is guessing. If verified person-level emails are what you need, that is Apollo.io's strength, not CrustAPI's.
Twelve Google surfaces: Search, Maps, Places, News, Shopping, Images, Videos, Scholar, Patents, Reviews, Autocomplete, and Webpage. Everything returns clean JSON, with the same rows available as CSV, and works with MCP, n8n, LangChain, CrewAI, and Clay.
Yes. The API returns clean JSON, and the CSV view drops the same rows straight into Sheets, Clay, or a database with no transformation. There is no storage limit, so what you pull is yours to keep, export, and build on.
No. There are no sequences and no sending here. CrustAPI returns data, and you plug it into whatever sends for you: your outreach tool, Clay, n8n, or a CRM. If you want finding and sending in one product, that is Apollo.io's job, and it does it well.
Clay
Run one real query first
The free plan covers a real test. Pull a business list for your market, run a few Google searches around it, and look at the JSON before you spend a dollar.
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