Cold email lists come from three places: a B2B contact database, an email finder that works from a company domain, and directories or manual research. Apollo and Hunter sit in the first two groups. Which one fits depends on who you target and what you can spend per verified address, and the published pricing shows the two charge in different ways.
The short version
Use a database when you need to filter by role and company, an email finder when you already know the companies, and directories or your own research for local and niche businesses. Whichever you choose, verify addresses before sending. The price per found address matters less than the price per address that survives verification.
Three ways to source a cold email list
| Method | Example | Best for | Main weakness |
|---|---|---|---|
| B2B contact database | Apollo, which lists 240 million contacts and 30 million companies on its pricing page | Filtering by job role, company size and industry | Data ages, and credit costs are hard to estimate in advance |
| Email finder from a domain | Hunter, with Domain Search and Email Finder | Turning a list of target companies into addresses | You must already know which companies to target |
| Directories and manual research | Local listings and company websites | Local or niche businesses a database misses | Slow, and each directory sets its own rules on collecting data |
How Hunter charges
Hunter publishes its plan details, so the cost per address can be worked out. One credit is charged for each email found with Domain Search or Email Finder, and 0.5 credit for each email verified. Searches that find nothing and verifications that fail use no credits. Unused monthly credits do not roll over, and yearly billing is charged upfront.
| Plan | Monthly price, monthly billing | Monthly price, yearly billing | Credits a month | Email accounts for sequences |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 50 | 1 |
| Starter | $49 | $34 | 2,000 | 3 |
| Growth | $149 | $104 | 10,000 | 10 |
| Scale | $299 | $209 | 25,000 | 20 |
Here is a worked example, using the Starter plan, and the arithmetic is ours. At the yearly-billing price of $34 for 2,000 credits, one credit costs $0.017. Finding 1,000 addresses uses 1,000 credits and verifying them uses 500 more, so 1,500 credits cost about $25.50. At the monthly-billing price of $49, the same 1,500 credits cost about $36.75.
How Apollo charges
Apollo’s pricing page lists Free, Basic, Professional and Custom plans, but at the time we checked it showed no dollar price per user and no credit quantity per plan. Credits are pooled across the team, granted at the start of each billing cycle, and do not roll over. Apollo’s help center says emails are charged when they are verified and net-new, and that a mobile number is charged once per contact. It does not list exports as a credit-consuming action.
The help article gives no cost per action, and the pricing page points to the in-app credit page for those figures. In practice you cannot compare Apollo’s cost per lead with Hunter’s until you have seen the plan overview inside an account.
Where directories and manual research fit
Local businesses such as clinics, restaurants and trades are often missing from B2B databases. Directory listings and company websites can fill the gap, but listings rarely show an email address, and each directory sets its own rules on automated collection and on how its content may be used. We did not review Yelp’s terms for this guide, so read them before collecting anything. If you email people in the EU or UK, our guide to GDPR and cold email covers what changes when the list is not yours.
Questions to ask about any sourcing tool
- How old is the data, and how is it refreshed?
- Does the tool verify addresses, and are credits charged for results that fail?
- Do unused credits roll over, and when do they expire?
- Does exporting the list cost credits?
- Which figures on the vendor’s site are the vendor’s own claims?
Verify before you send, whatever the source
A database or finder reports what it found, and addresses go stale. Run the list through a verifier before the first send, as described in our guide to B2B email verification, because a high bounce rate damages your domain regardless of where the list came from. Then keep volume within safe limits using the figures in how many cold emails per day per domain, and warm a new domain first with the warm-up timeline guide.
Questions about cold email lead sourcing
Is Apollo or Hunter better for cold email lead sourcing?
It depends on your starting point. Apollo is a contact database you filter by role and company, while Hunter finds addresses at companies you already know. Neither removes the need to verify addresses before you send a campaign.
How does Hunter charge for finding emails?
Hunter charges 1 credit per email found with Domain Search or Email Finder and 0.5 credit per email verified. Searches that find nothing and failed verifications use no credits, and unused monthly credits do not roll over to the next month.
Does Apollo publish its credit costs?
Not on the pricing page we reviewed. It lists plan names and says credits are pooled across the team, but gives no credit quantities per plan or cost per action. Apollo points to its in-app credit page for those figures.
Can I use Yelp as a lead source?
Yelp lists local businesses, but each directory sets its own rules on automated collection and on use of its content. We did not review Yelp’s terms for this guide, so read them first and check privacy law for the region you email.
Do I still need to verify emails from a paid database?
Yes. A database or finder reports what it found, and addresses go stale over time. Verify the list before sending so bounces stay low, because a high bounce rate damages your domain no matter where the list originated.
Bottom line
Pick the source that matches how you target: a database for filtering, a finder for known companies, directories for local trades. Then judge the tool by its cost per verified address, not its cost per credit, and read the vendor’s own pricing and terms pages before you commit.
Related reading
- B2B email verification: cleaning a list before you send
- GDPR and cold email: what changes when the list is not yours
- How many cold emails per day per domain: volume limits once the list is ready
