ApolloThe AI GTM System for Go-to-Market Teams
vs
InstantlyTurn leads into clients with automated outreach, a B2B lead database, email deliverability tools, and an AI-powered CRM.
Comparison · Sales Engagement · weekly run Nov 3
Apollo vs Instantly
Which one do AI engines recommend, and how do they differ on price, fit and features?
The short answer
Apollo is the stronger AI pick in Sales Engagement: it has a visibility score of 51 versus 10.1 for Instantly, and ranks ahead in 84% of the answers that name both.
Choose Apollo if…
- You want the brand AI engines rank higher (51 vs 10.1)
- You want a free plan to start
- You need more native integrations (200+ vs 50+)
- AI answers describe it more positively (60% vs 28% positive)
Choose Instantly if…
- Flat tiers pricing suits your budget better than per seat
- Cost-effective platform for cold email outreach
- Strong for high-volume cold email outbound and lead generation
- Deliverability, warm-up and sending infrastructure
AI visibility side by side
Latest weekly run · Nov 3
| Metric | Apollo | Instantly |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 51% | 10.1% |
| Change vs last week | down−2.8% | up+0.1% |
| Rank in Sales Engagement | #4 | #9 |
| Share of voice | 9.4% | 3% |
| Mentions this run | 59 | 19 |
| Positive in AI answers | 60% | 28% |
The stronger value in each row is marked with a ✓.
Visibility score trend
Weekly runs over the last 60 days
Apollo −2.799999999999997pp · Instantly +0.09999999999999964pp over 1 weekly runs.
Engine by engine
Apollo leads on 3 of 3 engines
ChatGPT
AI Mode
Perplexity
ApolloInstantly
Head to head in AI answers
19 engine answers name both brands
16Apollo ranked higher
3Instantly ranked higher
| Prompt | Engine | Apollo | Instantly |
|---|---|---|---|
| What should a sales engagement platform integrate with? | AI Mode | #5 | #3 |
| What are the best Sales Engagement tools in 2026? | ChatGPT | #3 | #7 |
| What are the best Sales Engagement tools in 2026? | AI Mode | #5 | #7 |
| What are the best Sales Engagement tools in 2026? | Perplexity | #3 | #13 |
| Top sales engagement platform options for B2B SaaS companies | Perplexity | #3 | #11 |
| Best sales engagement platform for startups | ChatGPT | #1 | #5 |
| Best sales engagement platform for startups | AI Mode | #3 | #7 |
| Best sales engagement platform for startups | Perplexity | #1 | #4 |
| Which sales engagement platform has the best reviews? | ChatGPT | #2 | #6 |
| Which sales engagement platform has the best reviews? | Perplexity | #3 | #1 |
| Compare the leading Sales Engagement platforms | Perplexity | #5 | #9 |
| Alternatives to the most popular sales engagement platform | ChatGPT | #3 | #11 |
Features, pricing & fit
| Dimension | Apollo | Instantly |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per seat | Flat tiers |
| Entry price | Contact sales | $47 / mo |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Deployment | Cloud platform | Web-based |
| Integrations | 200+ | 50+ |
| Compliance | GDPR, SOC 2, CCPA, ISO/IEC 27001, CASA Tier 2, CPRA, EU-US DPF, PCI DSS | — |
| Support | Email support at support@apollo.io, Dedicated support on Custom plans, Sales team for Custom plan discussions | Chat support, Premium live support, Dedicated account manager and shared Slack channel on Enterprise plans |
| Founded | 2015 | 2021 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, CA | Sheridan, Wyoming, United States |
| Employees | 501–1,000 | 51–200 |
| Funding | Series D · $250M raised | Bootstrapped |
| Best for | Sales and go-to-market teams that run prospecting, outreach and dialing and want data, AI and execution in one system | Small teams, agencies and freelancers running cold email outbound at scale. |
Plans side by side
Instantly
Outreach Growth$47month
Outreach Hypergrowth$107month
Outreach Light Speed$358month
Outreach EnterpriseCustomcustom
Credits Growth$47month
Credits Supersonic$97month
Hyper Credits$197month (from)
Credits EnterpriseCustomcustom
Starter Bundle$94month
Scale Bundle$194month
Agency Bundle$555month
VIPCustomcustom
Pros and cons
Themes from the AI answers that mention each brand
Apollo
- Large B2B contact database combined with prospecting and email sequencing
- Transparent self-serve per-user pricing with a free tier
- Strong all-in-one value for prospecting and outreach
- Affordable, reliable choice for small teams and startups
- Widely used and highly rated by reviewers
Instantly
- Cost-effective platform for cold email outreach
- Strong for high-volume cold email outbound and lead generation
- Deliverability, warm-up and sending infrastructure
- Good for agencies managing many sending accounts
- Highest G2 rating among sales engagement platforms
- Narrow focus on cold email rather than an all-in-one platform
- Not a complete CRM or full sales engagement suite
Data collected ·ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode·coverage 98.8%·next run
Cite as: SlateIndex, “Apollo vs Instantly”, https://slateindex.ai/compare/apollo-vs-instantly, data of Nov 3, 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.