--- title: "WhoLayer vs Apollo (2026): pricing, features, and where each is stronger" description: "A sourced, dated comparison of WhoLayer and Apollo: person-level ID, ecommerce, API, MCP, and pricing, plus where Apollo is the better pick." url: https://wholayer.com/compare/apollo --- Compare · Contact data, enrichment, and MCP # WhoLayer vs Apollo Apollo in one line: All-in-one prospecting: contact database, sequences, dialer, website visitors, AI assistant, and MCP. WhoLayer identifies website visitors (person-level for US traffic, company-level free) and offers contact data through an API and MCP server, all from one credit wallet, starting with a free plan with 100 credits a month. Pick Apollo if you need A large contact database with sequences and a dialer in one tool. Checked November 4, 2026. Every Apollo figure links to its source. ## Side by side WhoLayer compared with Apollo |   | Apollo | WhoLayer | | --- | --- | --- | | Positioning | All-in-one prospecting: contact database, sequences, dialer, website visitors, AI assistant, and MCP. [\[1\], November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/apollo#source-1) | Website visitor identification, ecommerce shopper ID, and contact data for teams and AI agents. | | Person-level visitor ID | US only, through the Inbound add-on; company-level visitors on base plans [\[4\] third-party, November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/apollo#source-4) | Yes, US traffic only (1 credit per person, charged once a month); company-level worldwide (free) | | Ecommerce | No ecommerce product found in our research | Yes: Shopper ID sends identified US shoppers to Klaviyo, Customer.io, Mailchimp, Omnisend, Iterable, Braze, ActiveCampaign, or Brevo, with Returning Shopper events for existing Attentive and Postscript subscribers (2 credits per new shopper, 1 credit for shoppers already on your list where the platform can be checked), Growth plan and up | | API | Yes; pay-per-result API credits [\[5\], November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/apollo#source-5) | Yes: REST API with an OpenAPI 3.1 spec | | MCP server | Yes, a remote MCP server [\[1\], November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/apollo#source-1) | Yes: a data MCP server with 13 tools, plus a public docs MCP server with 5 | | Pricing model | Per seat, plus pooled credits that don't roll over [\[3\], November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/apollo#source-3) | Monthly or annual plans with credits from one wallet for every product; overage between $0.045 and $0.060 a credit on paid plans | | Entry price | Free; Basic about $49 per seat a month billed annually (third-party figure) [\[2\] third-party, November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/apollo#source-2) | Free plan with 100 credits a month; paid plans from $49 a month | WhoLayer's column is generated from our live pricing and API limits. See [pricing](https://wholayer.com/pricing) and the [MCP docs](https://wholayer.com/docs/mcp). ## Where Apollo is stronger An honest list. If one of these is what you need, it may be the better pick. - A large contact database with sequences and a dialer in one tool - An MCP server that can write (for example, create contacts and sequences) - AI assistant workflows across prospecting and outreach - A Chrome extension for LinkedIn and Gmail ## Where WhoLayer is different ### Built for agents A data MCP server with 13 tools and a REST API with an OpenAPI spec. Per-key daily caps, a 250-credit default ceiling per call, read-only keys, and idempotent retries keep an agent's spending predictable. ### Contact data with checks Work and personal emails come with a risk grade, mobiles come with a carrier and line-type check, and you can verify lists of up to 1,000 emails per call. ### Company-level ID is free Company identification is free and unlimited on every plan. Person-level ID is US-only and charged once per person per month; repeat visits are free. ### One wallet, published per-result prices Visitor ID, Shopper ID, the Data API, and the MCP server draw from the same credits, and every credit cost is listed on the pricing page. Misses aren't charged. ### Opt-outs honored everywhere Opted-out and suppressed people are never returned, delivered, or charged. Global Privacy Control signals are honored, and the rules we enforce are published as a machine-readable policy. ### Monthly plans, spend caps Monthly plans stop at the end of the billing period, and you can set a hard monthly spend cap so overage never surprises you. ### WhoLayer isn't the right fit if - You need a large global contact database for prospecting by country. WhoLayer's person-level data is US-only. - You need person-level identification of visitors outside the US. WhoLayer identifies people for US traffic only; elsewhere it's company-level, after consent. - You want a full ABM advertising suite, an on-site AI chat agent, or a built-in sequencer and dialer. WhoLayer identifies and enriches; it doesn't run ads, chat, or send email for you. ## Pricing Apollo's published entry price, next to WhoLayer's plans. Apollo Free; Basic about $49 per seat a month billed annually (third-party figure) [\[2\] third-party, November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/apollo#source-2) Per seat, plus pooled credits that don't roll over [\[3\], November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/apollo#source-3) WhoLayer WhoLayer plans | Plan | Monthly | Credits | Overage | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Free | Free | 100 | None | | Starter | $49 | 1,000 | $0.060 a credit | | Growth | $199 | 5,000 | $0.050 a credit | | Scale | $799 | 20,000 | $0.045 a credit | Example: identifying 1,000 US people a month uses 1,000 credits. The cheapest fit is Starter at $49 a month. Repeat visits by the same person in a month are free, and company-level ID doesn't use credits. [Price your own volume](https://wholayer.com/calculator) ## Use them together Keep Apollo for sequences and dialing. Send WhoLayer's identified visitors to it through a signed webhook (via Zapier, Make, or n8n), or run WhoLayer's MCP server next to Apollo's in the same agent. ## Questions ### Is WhoLayer cheaper than Apollo? It depends on what you need and how much. Apollo's entry price is: Free; Basic about $49 per seat a month billed annually (third-party figure) (as of November 4, 2026). WhoLayer: Free plan with 100 credits a month; paid plans from $49 a month. Use the WhoLayer cost calculator to price your own volume. ### Does WhoLayer identify people outside the US? No. Person-level identification is US-only. Outside the US, WhoLayer identifies the company, and only after the visitor's consent is recorded. ### Do Apollo and WhoLayer have MCP servers? Apollo: Yes, a remote MCP server. WhoLayer: Yes: a data MCP server with 13 tools, plus a public docs MCP server with 5. ### When is Apollo the better choice? When you need A large contact database with sequences and a dialer in one tool, or an MCP server that can write (for example, create contacts and sequences). ### Can I use Apollo and WhoLayer together? Keep Apollo for sequences and dialing. Send WhoLayer's identified visitors to it through a signed webhook (via Zapier, Make, or n8n), or run WhoLayer's MCP server next to Apollo's in the same agent. ## Sources - \[1\] [apollo.io](https://www.apollo.io/) (vendor's own page, checked November 4, 2026) - \[2\] [Costbench: Apollo.io pricing](https://costbench.com/software/sales-intelligence/apollo-io) (third-party source, checked November 4, 2026) - \[3\] [Apollo pricing](https://www.apollo.io/pricing) (vendor's own page, checked November 4, 2026) - \[4\] [Releasebot: Apollo updates](https://releasebot.io/updates/apollo/apollo) (third-party source, checked November 4, 2026) - \[5\] [Apollo API pricing docs](https://docs.apollo.io/docs/api-pricing) (vendor's own page, checked November 4, 2026) - \[6\] [Trustpilot reviews of Apollo](https://www.trustpilot.com/review/apollo.io) (third-party source, checked November 4, 2026) - \[7\] [Costbench: Apollo price changes (2026)](https://costbench.com/changelog/apollo-price-decrease-2026-08/) (third-party source, checked November 4, 2026) Competitor information is from public sources as of November 4, 2026 and may have changed. Trademarks belong to their owners. WhoLayer wrote this page; if something here is wrong, [tell us](https://wholayer.com/contact?topic=sales) and we'll fix it. [Apollo alternatives](https://wholayer.com/alternatives/apollo) · [All comparisons](https://wholayer.com/compare) Ready when you are ## See who's on your site this week Install one tag. Your first 100 identified people are free, no card needed. [Start free](https://wholayer.com/signup) [Talk to sales](https://wholayer.com/contact?topic=sales)