lemlist vs Apollo.io: Automated LinkedIn Steps or a Dialer

The short answer: if LinkedIn carries part of your conversations, Apollo.io's own help centre settles it: its LinkedIn sequence steps are tasks a person completes by hand, while lemlist's Multichannel plan automates profile visits, invitations, messages and voice notes for $109 per user a month on monthly billing (Apollo LinkedIn tasks article, lemlist pricing, checked on 26 October 2026). If the phone carries them instead, an Apollo.io Professional seat at $99 puts the dialer next to a database where a number costs 8 credits, per its pricing page.

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Settle these three first:

1. Price three people on each. For example, three sellers on lemlist Multichannel cost 3 x $109 = $327 a month, and on Apollo Professional 3 x $99 = $297, both on monthly billing, per the lemlist and Apollo pricing pages. Then price the phone numbers: lemlist's enrichment add-on is $20 a month for 2,000 credits, enough for 100 phones, while 100 phones in Apollo use 100 x 8 = 800 of a Professional seat's 4,000 monthly credits.
2. Ask your CRM where the last 20 meetings started. The first reply in each thread, by channel. Mostly LinkedIn points one way, mostly phone the other, mostly email to neither in particular.
3. Choose the signal you will track. Connection acceptance rate if LinkedIn is the bet; connected calls per 100 dials if the phone is.

lemlist is an outreach platform built around one campaign that moves across email, LinkedIn, calls, SMS and WhatsApp. Apollo.io is a contact database with a sequencer and a dialer in each seat, where LinkedIn appears as a to-do list.

Head to head on the documented features

Three differences, in order of weight

LinkedIn: automated, or a reminder

Apollo's help centre is unambiguous. LinkedIn steps in a sequence (send a connection request, view a profile, interact with a post, send a message) are tasks, and "Apollo doesn't automatically complete LinkedIn tasks for you," per its LinkedIn tasks article. A rep gets a reminder and does the clicking. lemlist's Multichannel plan runs those steps itself inside the campaign, voice messages and InMail included, per its pricing page. For a team that sells through LinkedIn conversations, that one line is most of the comparison.

Calls: two dialers, two meters

Both call. Apollo charges credits only when a call connects to a person, voicemail or machine, with a 30-second minimum and rounding up to the next 30 seconds, per its dialer overview, and keeps power, parallel and international calling in the Advanced Dialer add-on at $119 per team a month billed annually, per the pricing page. lemlist's Multichannel plan lists a built-in dialer and VoIP integrations, its feature table includes in-app calling and a power dialer, and its pricing page shows no per-call meter. One wrinkle to know before a trial: Apollo's trial article says the dialer comes with a Professional trial, not a Basic one, and caps trial calls at 60 minutes.

Data: in the seat, or bought beside it

Apollo's data sits in the seat: a Professional seat's 4,000 credits a month buy emails at 1 and phones at 8, per its pricing page. lemlist lists a 650M+ lead database and email and phone finders on every plan, then sells the data itself as an add-on: 2,000 credits for $20 a month, enough for 400 emails or 100 phones, per its pricing page. For a team that calls hard, that ratio matters more than the seat price.

An agent that drafts the campaign

lemAgent, lemlist's assistant, builds campaigns in conversation: you describe the audience and the offer, and it finds leads, structures the sequence and writes the messages, per its help article. The same article says you review and validate each step before anything goes live, and that on a free trial lemAgent runs on limited credits while launching a campaign needs a paid plan. That is the human check: a person reads every LinkedIn message the agent wrote, against the prospect's actual profile, before the campaign is allowed to start.

Prices, plan by plan

Checked on 26 October 2026, in USD per month.

• lemlist, on its pricing page: Email plan $69 billed monthly or $55 yearly for 50,000 emails with unlimited users; Multichannel $109 or $87 per user; lead enrichment add-on $20 or $16 for 2,000 credits; buying signals $29 or $21 for 100.
• Apollo.io, on its pricing page: Basic $65 billed monthly or $49 annually per seat, with 2,500 credits a month; Professional $99 or $79 per seat, with 4,000; Advanced Dialer $119 per team, billed annually.

Apollo's dialer draws on the same pooled credits as emails and phone numbers, at 1 credit per 30 seconds of US calling on its pricing page, so a team that calls a lot runs down its data allowance with every connected minute, and the shortfall is sold back as add-on credits.

Test the channel by hand first

Before either trial, find out whether your buyers answer on LinkedIn at all. For two weeks, send 20 connection requests a week with a short note to people on your target list, from your own profile, and log who accepts and who replies. That costs nothing and tells you whether automating LinkedIn is worth $109 a seat. Then use the trials for what each can show: lemlist's 14 days run on Multichannel features except in-app calls, with 200 credits, per its pricing FAQ; Apollo's Professional trial includes the dialer.

Choose lemlist if

• Your job is running sequences where LinkedIn steps go out on their own between emails.
• Your team works in French, German or Spanish, or pays in euros or pounds.
• You send email only and want unlimited users on a volume plan.

Choose Apollo.io if

• Your job is calling and emailing from the same list, with phone numbers paid from the seat.
• LinkedIn is a touch your reps do by hand anyway.
• You want the contact database to be the centre and the sequence to follow it.

Background on each: the lemlist entry and the Apollo.io entry.

FAQ

Does Apollo.io automate LinkedIn messages?

No. Its LinkedIn tasks article says LinkedIn tasks must be completed manually, for example by visiting the profile to send the request.

Does lemlist have its own contact database?

Yes. Every plan lists a 650M+ lead database and an email and phone finder, and the data itself is charged through the enrichment add-on's credits, per the pricing page.

Do unused credits carry over?

On lemlist, yes, for as long as the subscription stays active, per its pricing FAQ. On Apollo, no: plan and add-on credits expire at the end of each billing cycle, per its pricing FAQ.