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ApollovsClearbit

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All-in-one sales intelligence and engagement platform with 275M+ contacts, built-in sequencing, and outbound automation for SDR-heavy teams. — B2B data enrichment and website intelligence platform — now rebranded as HubSpot Breeze Intelligence — built for marketing ops, RevOps, and API-first teams.

The Verdict

Apollo vs Clearbit

Apollo and Clearbit are fundamentally different tools that happen to overlap on one feature: contact and company data enrichment. Understanding that distinction is the starting point for any honest comparison. **Apollo** is a full-stack outbound sales platform. It combines a database of 275M+ contacts with built-in email sequencing, dialer, LinkedIn integration, A/B testing, and CRM sync — making it the go-to choice for SDR teams running high-volume outbound. It's the closest thing to a one-stop-shop for prospecting and engagement without paying for ZoomInfo plus Outreach/Salesloft separately. For budget-conscious teams at startups and SMBs, Apollo's free tier (with limited credits) and $49/user/month paid plan represent outstanding value relative to enterprise alternatives. **Clearbit**, however, has undergone a fundamental transformation. In late 2023, HubSpot acquired Clearbit and has since rebranded it as **Breeze Intelligence**, embedding it natively into the HubSpot CRM ecosystem. This is a critical context shift that almost no comparison article acknowledges in 2025. What was once a standalone enrichment API product serving developers and RevOps engineers across multiple CRM environments is now primarily positioned as a HubSpot-native enrichment layer. If you're not on HubSpot — or planning to be — Clearbit/Breeze Intelligence is a significantly weaker choice than it was two years ago. For **outbound-focused SDR teams**, Apollo wins decisively. Its combination of prospecting database, email sequencing, phone dialer, and CRM integrations in a single workflow — at a price point well below ZoomInfo + Outreach — is difficult to beat. The caveat is Apollo's LinkedIn situation: Apollo was restricted by LinkedIn for scraping profile data in violation of LinkedIn's terms of service. This means Apollo can no longer reliably source or verify LinkedIn data in real time, which matters if your prospecting workflow depends on LinkedIn-enriched contact records. For **HubSpot-native marketing and RevOps teams** focused on website visitor identification, form shortening, and CRM record enrichment, Clearbit/Breeze Intelligence is the superior product — tightly integrated, no CSV exports required, and enrichment happens automatically on deal and contact creation. For **developers and API-first teams**, Clearbit historically had a major advantage with its enrichment API. Post-acquisition, that API is still available but increasingly bundled into HubSpot's commercial terms, reducing flexibility for non-HubSpot stacks. **Bottom line by profile:** - **Startup SDR team on a budget:** Apollo (free to start, scales affordably) - **SMB running outbound sequences:** Apollo - **HubSpot-native marketing team:** Clearbit/Breeze Intelligence - **Enterprise RevOps enriching CRM records:** Clearbit if on HubSpot; Apollo or Cognism if not - **Developer building enrichment into a product:** Clearbit API (with caveats around HubSpot dependency) or consider alternatives like People Data Labs or Clearout - **European B2B team with GDPR requirements:** Neither is perfect, but Cognism has invested more heavily in GDPR-compliant data sourcing with do-not-call list suppression and consent frameworks — a gap both Apollo and Clearbit leave underaddressed The apollo vs clearbit decision ultimately comes down to workflow: if you need prospecting + outreach in one tool, Apollo. If you need enrichment embedded in HubSpot, Clearbit.

Feature Comparison

Contact & Company Database

Feature
Apollo
Clearbit
Database Size
275M+ contacts and 73M+ companies with global coverage across industriesWinner
Approximately 200M+ contacts (Breeze Intelligence); historically strong on US firmographic data, with company coverage across 20M+ businesses
Data Freshness & Verification
Uses a combination of crowdsourced verification, email validation, and machine learning to refresh records; bounce rates reported around 5–10% by users depending on segment and industry
Real-time enrichment pulls from multiple third-party sources at point of form submission or CRM record creation; historically cited 85%+ match rates on email enrichment for US companiesWinner
LinkedIn Data Integration
Previously relied on LinkedIn scraping; Apollo was restricted by LinkedIn for ToS violations and can no longer pull real-time LinkedIn profile data — a significant limitation for prospecting workflows dependent on LinkedIn signals
Does not rely on LinkedIn scraping; enrichment is firmographic and technographic, sourced from web crawling and data partners — unaffected by LinkedIn restrictionsWinner
Technographic Data
Provides technology stack data on target companies, useful for filtering by CRM, marketing automation, or infrastructure tools usedTie
Strong technographic coverage historically; Breeze Intelligence continues to offer tech stack filtering as part of enrichment, integrated into HubSpot workflowsTie

Outreach & Engagement

Feature
Apollo
Clearbit
Email Sequencing
Built-in multi-step email sequences with A/B testing, send-time optimization, reply detection, and automatic thread management — comparable to Outreach or Salesloft at a fraction of the priceWinner
No native sequencing — Clearbit/Breeze Intelligence is a data enrichment product, not an engagement tool; must integrate with HubSpot Sales Hub or third-party sequencers
Phone Dialer
Built-in power dialer with call recording, local presence numbers, and disposition logging — available on paid plansWinner
No dialer functionality; relies on HubSpot's calling features or third-party integrations
LinkedIn Outreach Automation
Previously offered LinkedIn automation (connection requests, messages) via Chrome extension; heavily restricted post-LinkedIn enforcement action — functionality is degraded and unreliableTie
No LinkedIn automation offered — not part of the product scopeTie
Email Deliverability Tools
Includes email warm-up (via Mailreach partnership or native tools), domain health monitoring, and spam score checking on paid plansWinner
No email deliverability tooling; relies on sending infrastructure of HubSpot or connected ESP

Data Enrichment & API

Feature
Apollo
Clearbit
CRM Enrichment
Syncs enriched contact and company data to Salesforce, HubSpot, and other CRMs; bidirectional sync available on higher plans; bulk enrichment via CSV upload
Deep native HubSpot enrichment — automatically enriches contacts, companies, and deals in real time on record creation; also enriches existing CRM records in bulk via Breeze Intelligence creditsWinner
Enrichment API Access
REST API available for contact and company lookup by email or domain; rate limits apply by plan tier; primarily designed for CRM sync, not high-volume enrichment pipelines
Historically best-in-class enrichment API for developers — person enrichment, company enrichment, and prospector endpoints; post-HubSpot acquisition, API access is increasingly bundled with HubSpot commercial terms, reducing standalone flexibilityWinner
Website Visitor Identification
No native website visitor identification (de-anonymization) feature
Clearbit Reveal (now part of Breeze Intelligence) identifies anonymous website visitors by company using IP matching — a core differentiator for ABM and inbound marketing teamsWinner
Form Shortening / Enrichment
No form enrichment functionality
Clearbit Forms (now Breeze) pre-fills or reduces form fields by enriching known visitor data in real time — reduces friction and improves conversion rates for inbound funnelsWinner

Intent Data & Signals

Feature
Apollo
Clearbit
Buyer Intent Data
Offers third-party intent data through partnerships (Bombora-powered signals) on higher-tier plans — identifies companies researching relevant topics across the webWinner
No dedicated third-party intent data product; relies on HubSpot behavioral signals (page visits, email opens, form submissions) as first-party intent proxies
Job Change Alerts
Tracks champion and contact job changes — available on paid plans as a prospecting trigger for outbound sequencesWinner
Limited job change tracking; not a core product feature in the Breeze Intelligence roadmap
Hiring & Funding Signals
Filters for companies with recent funding rounds, headcount growth, and open job postings — useful for identifying high-growth ICP accountsWinner
Firmographic filters include employee count ranges and industry codes; funding data available but less granular than Apollo's hiring signal filters

Compliance & Data Privacy

Feature
Apollo
Clearbit
GDPR Compliance
Apollo provides a GDPR compliance framework and data processing agreements (DPAs); however, its data sourcing methodology relies heavily on public web scraping and third-party sources without explicit consent collection — a concern for European B2B teams and legal reviewers
Clearbit/Breeze Intelligence similarly relies on public and third-party data; HubSpot's enterprise agreements include DPAs and GDPR-compliant data handling terms, giving enterprise buyers slightly more legal comfort through HubSpot's broader compliance infrastructureWinner
CCPA Compliance
Offers data removal requests and opt-out mechanisms in line with CCPA requirements; privacy policy covers California resident rights
HubSpot's acquisition means Breeze Intelligence benefits from HubSpot's mature CCPA compliance program, including consumer data request workflowsWinner
Do-Not-Call List Suppression
No built-in DNC list suppression for phone numbers — users must manage suppression lists manually or through CRM workflowsTie
No built-in DNC suppression either; both tools lag behind Cognism and Lusha in this area for call complianceTie

Integrations & Workflow

Feature
Apollo
Clearbit
CRM Integrations
Native integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, and others; bidirectional field mapping; activity logging for calls, emails, and tasksWinner
Deep native HubSpot integration (it IS HubSpot); limited native integrations with non-HubSpot CRMs post-acquisition — Salesforce integration is available but less seamless than pre-acquisition
Zapier / Workflow Automation
Zapier integration available; also supports webhooks for custom automation triggers based on prospect activity or list changesTie
HubSpot workflows natively handle Breeze Intelligence enrichment triggers; Zapier integration available for non-HubSpot stacks but with reduced feature depthTie
Chrome Extension
Chrome extension for prospecting on LinkedIn (functionality degraded post-LinkedIn restrictions), company websites, and Gmail for contact lookup and sequence enrollmentWinner
Chrome extension available for Clearbit Connect (email finding); post-acquisition, extension development focus has shifted to HubSpot-native tooling

Pricing Comparison

Apollo

Free

$0/mo
  • 60 email credits/month
  • 5 phone number reveals/month
  • Basic sequence automation (2 active sequences)
  • Limited CRM integrations
  • Basic filters for prospecting
  • Chrome extension access

Basic

$49/user/mo (billed annually)
  • 900 email credits/month
  • Unlimited email sequences
  • Basic phone credits
  • CRM integrations (HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive)
  • A/B testing on sequences
  • Email open/click tracking
  • CSV import/export

Professional

$99/user/mo (billed annually)
  • Unlimited email credits (with fair use policy)
  • Advanced sequence automation
  • Dialer with call recording
  • LinkedIn automation (limited, post-restriction)
  • Intent data signals
  • Advanced reporting and analytics
  • Custom fields and stages
  • Email deliverability tools

Organization

$149/user/mo (billed annually, minimum 5 seats)
  • Everything in Professional
  • Advanced permission controls
  • Custom roles
  • Enhanced data enrichment
  • Dedicated customer success
  • SSO (Single Sign-On)
  • Advanced API access
  • Custom reporting

Clearbit

Breeze Intelligence (Free/Starter via HubSpot)

Included with HubSpot Starter ($15/mo+) with limited credits
  • Basic contact and company enrichment
  • Limited Breeze Intelligence credits (varies by HubSpot tier)
  • Form shortening (limited)
  • HubSpot CRM native integration

Breeze Intelligence Add-On (HubSpot Professional)

Credits-based: ~$40–$80 per 100 credits (pricing varies by volume and HubSpot tier)
  • Contact and company enrichment credits
  • Buyer intent signals (website visitor identification)
  • Automated CRM record enrichment on creation
  • Form shortening and progressive profiling
  • HubSpot workflow triggers based on enrichment
  • Bulk CRM enrichment

Clearbit API (Legacy/Enterprise)

Custom pricing — contact HubSpot sales; historically $12,000–$24,000+/year for API access
  • Person enrichment API (by email)
  • Company enrichment API (by domain)
  • Reveal API (website visitor de-anonymization by IP)
  • Prospector API (list building)
  • Webhook and real-time enrichment
  • Custom volume pricing for high API call volumes

Use Case Recommendations

Early-stage startup building outbound pipeline from scratch with a small SDR team

Apollo

For a seed or Series A startup that needs to generate pipeline quickly without a large tech budget, Apollo is the clear winner. The free tier gives new reps 60 email credits per month to test messaging and ICP targeting before committing to paid plans. At $49/user/month on the Basic plan, a team of two SDRs gets access to prospecting data, multi-step email sequences, CRM integration, and A/B testing — capabilities that would cost $10,000+ per year on the ZoomInfo plus Outreach/Salesloft stack. Clearbit, now embedded in HubSpot, is not designed for outbound prospecting at all — it enriches inbound leads and website visitors. A startup without significant inbound traffic gets almost no value from Clearbit's core features. Apollo lets a founder or first SDR build a list of 500 target accounts, filter by funding round and headcount, enrich contacts, and launch a sequence in under an hour — all in one platform.

HubSpot-native marketing team running ABM campaigns and wanting to enrich inbound leads automatically

Clearbit

Clearbit/Breeze Intelligence is purpose-built for this use case. When a prospect fills out a demo request form, Breeze Intelligence automatically enriches the contact record with company size, industry, revenue range, and technology stack — no manual data entry, no CSV upload, no third-party lookup required. The form shortening feature reduces friction by pre-filling known fields, which improves conversion rates on high-intent landing pages. For ABM teams, the website visitor identification feature (formerly Clearbit Reveal) surfaces which target accounts are visiting the website anonymously and passes that data into HubSpot workflows for triggered outreach. Apollo has none of these inbound enrichment or website intelligence capabilities. If your go-to-market motion is inbound-led or ABM with a HubSpot CRM at the center, Clearbit/Breeze Intelligence is not just better — it's the only product in this comparison that actually solves the problem.

Developer or RevOps engineer building an enrichment pipeline into a custom CRM or data warehouse

Clearbit

Historically, Clearbit's enrichment API was the gold standard for developers who needed to enrich email addresses or company domains programmatically — with clean JSON responses, reliable uptime, and person/company/reveal endpoints. Apollo's API is primarily designed to support its own UI workflows and lacks the depth and flexibility of Clearbit's API for custom data pipelines. However, buyers in this category need to proceed with caution in 2025: post-HubSpot acquisition, Clearbit's API is increasingly tied to HubSpot commercial agreements, and access for non-HubSpot stacks may come with higher costs and less favorable terms than pre-acquisition. For developers who need a truly stack-agnostic enrichment API with transparent pricing, it's worth also evaluating People Data Labs, Clearout, or Diffbot as alternatives that have not been absorbed into a single CRM vendor's ecosystem.

Enterprise sales team evaluating GDPR-compliant contact data for prospecting into European markets

Clearbit

Neither Apollo nor Clearbit is a perfect solution for European GDPR compliance, but Clearbit/Breeze Intelligence — operating under HubSpot's enterprise legal framework — offers more mature data processing agreements, privacy shield documentation, and compliance infrastructure than Apollo. Apollo's data sourcing relies on web scraping, crowdsourced data, and third-party providers, and its compliance documentation for EU data subjects is less robust than enterprise buyers' legal teams typically require. That said, neither tool has invested in the kind of explicit consent-based data collection or national do-not-call suppression that Cognism has built as a core differentiator for the European market. For enterprise teams with strict legal requirements around contacting EU prospects, the honest recommendation is to evaluate Cognism alongside both Apollo and Clearbit — and involve your legal and privacy teams in the vendor selection process before committing to either platform.

Mid-market RevOps team enriching Salesforce CRM records across a 50,000+ account database

Clearbit

For bulk CRM enrichment at scale — filling in missing firmographic data like employee count, revenue range, industry SIC code, and technology stack across tens of thousands of existing records — Clearbit/Breeze Intelligence's enrichment accuracy and API throughput historically outperform Apollo's enrichment capabilities. Clearbit's match rate on company domains has been cited at 85%+ for US companies, and its firmographic data quality is generally considered more reliable for RevOps use cases like lead scoring, territory assignment, and routing rules. Apollo's CRM enrichment is solid but secondary to its prospecting and sequencing features. If your primary need is data quality across an existing CRM — not net-new prospecting — Clearbit's enrichment engine (even post-acquisition) is the stronger fit. The caveat: if your CRM is Salesforce rather than HubSpot, the post-acquisition integration depth is reduced, and you may need to evaluate whether the HubSpot-native features justify the trade-offs.

SDR team that previously relied on Apollo's LinkedIn integration for prospect research and outreach

Apollo

Despite Apollo's LinkedIn restrictions, Apollo remains the better choice for this team compared to Clearbit — Clearbit offers no LinkedIn-adjacent features at all. Apollo was restricted by LinkedIn for scraping profile data in violation of LinkedIn's Terms of Service, which means its Chrome extension can no longer reliably pull real-time LinkedIn profile data or automate LinkedIn connection requests and messages. However, Apollo still functions as a prospecting and sequencing platform — the LinkedIn data layer is degraded, not eliminated. For teams that heavily relied on LinkedIn sourcing, the mitigation is to use Apollo for its email database and sequencing while sourcing LinkedIn data separately through LinkedIn Sales Navigator or compliant tools like Kaspr or Lusha. Apollo's core value proposition (prospecting + sequencing in one tool) remains intact even with LinkedIn restrictions — it's Clearbit that is entirely irrelevant for this workflow.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the core difference between Apollo and Clearbit?
Apollo is an all-in-one outbound sales platform combining a 275M+ contact database with built-in email sequencing, dialing, and CRM sync — designed for SDRs running prospecting and outreach in one workflow. Clearbit (now rebranded as HubSpot Breeze Intelligence following its acquisition by HubSpot) is a B2B data enrichment tool focused on enriching inbound leads, website visitor identification, and CRM record quality — it has no outreach or sequencing capabilities. The apollo vs clearbit comparison is fundamentally a choice between outbound engagement tooling (Apollo) and inbound/enrichment tooling (Clearbit), not two tools competing in the same category.
Why was Apollo removed from LinkedIn?
Apollo was restricted by LinkedIn for violating its Terms of Service, specifically around scraping user profile data without authorization. LinkedIn prohibits automated data collection from its platform, and Apollo's Chrome extension and data sourcing methodology relied on extracting profile information at scale. As a result, Apollo's LinkedIn integration was significantly degraded — its Chrome extension can no longer reliably pull real-time LinkedIn profile data, and LinkedIn automation features (connection requests, automated messages) are no longer functional or sanctioned. This directly impacts SDR teams who relied on LinkedIn-enriched contact data or LinkedIn automation as part of their Apollo prospecting workflow. Teams should now use LinkedIn Sales Navigator separately and treat Apollo primarily as an email prospecting and sequencing tool.
Is Clearbit still a standalone product in 2025?
Not in the way it was before. HubSpot acquired Clearbit in late 2023 and has since rebranded it as Breeze Intelligence, embedding it natively into the HubSpot CRM platform. While the underlying enrichment API still exists, access and pricing are increasingly tied to HubSpot commercial agreements. Teams using Salesforce or other CRMs who previously relied on Clearbit as a standalone enrichment API will find that the product's roadmap, pricing, and integration depth are now oriented around HubSpot-first use cases. If you're evaluating Clearbit for a non-HubSpot tech stack in 2025, you should factor this acquisition into your long-term vendor risk assessment.
How accurate is Clearbit's data?
Clearbit has historically reported match rates of approximately 85%+ for company enrichment on US-based domains, making it one of the more reliable enrichment tools for firmographic data quality. Email enrichment accuracy varies by industry and company size — enterprise and mid-market companies see higher match rates than small businesses or startups with limited web footprint. Post-HubSpot acquisition, data freshness and sourcing methodology are maintained through Breeze Intelligence, which pulls from HubSpot's broader data network and third-party partners. For RevOps teams using enrichment for lead scoring and routing, Clearbit's data quality on company-level attributes (industry, revenue, employee count, technology stack) is generally considered strong — more reliable than Apollo for pure enrichment use cases, though less comprehensive for contact-level mobile phone numbers.
Does Apollo.io really work for outbound sales?
Yes — Apollo is one of the most widely adopted outbound sales platforms for SMB and mid-market teams, and it genuinely delivers on its core promise of combining prospecting data with email sequencing in a single platform. Teams using Apollo report being able to move from ICP definition to launched sequence in under an hour without needing separate tools for list building, enrichment, and engagement. That said, results depend heavily on your ICP targeting, email copywriting, and sending infrastructure setup. Apollo's data accuracy is good but not perfect — users in niche industries or non-English-speaking markets report higher bounce rates. The LinkedIn restrictions reduce its effectiveness for LinkedIn-dependent workflows. For email-first outbound motions at startups and SMBs, Apollo works well and delivers strong ROI relative to its price point.
Who are Apollo's biggest competitors in 2025?
Apollo's biggest competitors vary by use case. For outbound prospecting and sequencing combined, the closest competitors are ZoomInfo (with Engage), Cognism (especially for European markets with GDPR compliance), and Lusha. For sequencing-only, Outreach and Salesloft compete with Apollo's engagement layer. For data-only, Hunter.io, Lusha, and Kaspr offer contact finding at lower price points. ZoomInfo is commonly cited as Apollo's most direct enterprise competitor — it offers a larger and more verified database but at significantly higher cost (often $15,000–30,000+/year), making Apollo the preferred choice for cost-sensitive teams. Cognism is Apollo's strongest competitor for European B2B teams due to its investment in GDPR compliance and mobile phone number accuracy. Clearbit competes with Apollo only on the enrichment feature, not on the broader outbound workflow.
Which is better for a developer building an enrichment API integration — Apollo or Clearbit?
Clearbit has historically been the stronger choice for API-first developers needing to programmatically enrich email addresses or company domains. Its person enrichment, company enrichment, and reveal (website visitor IP lookup) endpoints return clean, well-documented JSON and have been widely used in product-led enrichment workflows and data pipelines. Apollo's API is designed primarily to support its own platform workflows and is less suitable for standalone high-volume enrichment use cases. However, in 2025, developers should note that post-HubSpot acquisition, Clearbit's API access is increasingly bundled with HubSpot commercial terms. For stack-agnostic enrichment at scale, also evaluate People Data Labs, Clearout, or Diffbot as alternatives with transparent API pricing not tied to a single CRM platform.
Is there anything better than Apollo for outbound sales in 2025?
For pure outbound prospecting and sequencing in a single affordable tool, Apollo is difficult to beat at its price point. However, 'better' depends on your specific needs. ZoomInfo offers a larger and more verified contact database with stronger data guarantees, but costs 5–10x more — appropriate for enterprises with high data quality standards and budget to match. Cognism is better than Apollo for European B2B teams because of its focus on GDPR compliance and verified mobile numbers from consent-based sources. For sequencing quality alone, Outreach and Salesloft offer more sophisticated workflow orchestration, AI-powered rep coaching, and enterprise reporting — but they require a separate data source like Apollo or ZoomInfo. If you're an SDR at a startup or SMB with a $50–100/user budget, Apollo remains the highest-value option in the market in 2025.
What are the GDPR compliance differences between Apollo and Clearbit?
Neither Apollo nor Clearbit was purpose-built with GDPR compliance as a core feature, and both rely on third-party data aggregation that involves scraping publicly available web data without collecting explicit consent from data subjects. Both provide Data Processing Agreements (DPAs) for enterprise customers. The key difference in 2025 is that Clearbit/Breeze Intelligence operates under HubSpot's enterprise compliance infrastructure, which includes more mature privacy frameworks, Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) for EU data transfers, and established GDPR response workflows from HubSpot's years of operating in European markets. Apollo's GDPR documentation has improved but is less mature. Neither tool offers do-not-call list suppression for European markets or consent-based sourcing — for teams that need this, Cognism is the industry leader for GDPR-first contact data in Europe.

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