Alternatives to ZoomInfo
ZoomInfo alternatives for small businesses: 7 options compared
The main ZoomInfo alternatives for a small business are Apollo, Lusha, UpLead, Seamless.AI, Cognism and Clay, plus FoxKnock, our own product, which researches accounts and drafts outreach you approve instead of selling a contact database.
ZoomInfo's pricing page shows no dollar figures, so this page compares what each vendor publishes: plan prices, credit rules and contract terms. We read each page on 2026-10-17 and label vendor claims and third-party figures as such. FoxKnock is listed first because it is ours, and we say where it falls short.
Looking for something cheaper than ZoomInfo? Start with the pricing table below. ZoomInfo may still fit some larger teams, and the decision guide says when.
Facts checked from public sources listed at the end. Tools change often, so check before you decide. Written by the FoxKnock team, so read it knowing who wrote it.
Why people look for an alternative to ZoomInfo
- No published price. ZoomInfo's pricing page names its sales packages (Professional, Copilot Advanced and Copilot Enterprise) but shows no dollar figure. It says cost depends on features, number of licenses and credit usage, while its homepage describes consumption credits without fixed seat tiers. Either way, no price is listed.
- Annual contracts. ZoomInfo's own buying guide says paid plans are annual subscriptions with a minimum number of seats, and that renewal pricing can rise from the initial rate. Vendr, a third-party software buying platform, reports a median ZoomInfo contract of $33,500 a year (range $7,240 to $156,042) across 1,577 purchases, on a page last updated in February 2026. That is Vendr's transaction data, not a list price.
- Credits are spent on export. Per its pricing page, each export of a contact or company profile costs one credit, each package includes a set number of monthly credits, and more can be added.
- Signals sit in the higher packages. Its pricing page lists buyer intent signals, website visitors, champion tracking and buying-group filters from Copilot Advanced, and real-time intent, custom intent signals and a dedicated customer service manager from Copilot Enterprise.
- It is a suite. ZoomInfo sells Sales, Marketing and Talent products, including advertising audiences and conversation intelligence. If you mainly need work emails for outbound, ask what each package bundles and which parts your team would use.
- The free plan is limited. ZoomInfo Lite is a permanent free plan with no credit card. It needs a business email address (no Gmail or Yahoo), its credits do not roll over, and ZoomInfo's buying guide lists 10 monthly credits. Its FAQ says Lite is for people who are not current or past subscribers of ZoomInfo's premium enterprise services.
The alternatives at a glance
| Tool | Best for | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| FoxKnock | A small team or agency that wants researched, approved outreach instead of a contact database: it finds companies like your best customers, researches the ones you pick with cited sources and drafts emails you approve before they send from your own mailboxes. | As of Oct 2026: Free is $0 with 500 one-time credits (added once your email is verified). Starter is $49/mo (5,000 credits, 2 seats), Growth $149/mo (20,000 credits, 5 seats), Agency $399/mo (60,000 credits, unlimited seats), Enterprise custom. Billed monthly, no contract. One credit is $0.01 at list price, credits roll over and failed lookups are free. Credit costs per action can change, so see the pricing page. |
| Apollo | A self-serve contact database with sequences in one seat-based tool: search a database Apollo puts at 240M+ contacts (Apollo's figure), then email and call from the same app, with a free plan to test. | As of Oct 2026: Free has no time limit and 900 credits per seat per year, granted monthly. Basic is $49, Professional $79 and Organization $119 per seat per month billed annually (Organization has a 3-seat minimum). Monthly billing costs more per month. Credits are granted per plan and do not roll over. |
| Lusha | Looking up verified emails and phone numbers for people you have already chosen, at a monthly price a small team can read straight off the page. | As of Oct 2026: Free is 40 credits a month. Starter is $49.90/mo billed monthly (400 credits) or $37.45/mo billed annually, Pro $69.90/mo monthly (600 credits), Premium $399.90/mo monthly (3,400 credits). Seats included: 1 on Starter, 2 on Pro, 5 on Premium; teams of more than 5 users contact sales. An email reveal costs 1 credit and a phone number 5. |
| UpLead | One person who wants verified emails and mobile direct dials at a clear monthly price, with technographic filters on Plus and CRM integrations on paid plans. | As of Oct 2026: a 7-day free trial with 5 credits. Essentials is $99/mo billed monthly (170 credits a month) or $74/mo billed annually (2,040 credits a year). Plus is $199/mo monthly (400 credits a month) or $149/mo annually (4,800 credits a year). Professional is annual billing only, with custom seats and credits. One credit covers one contact, with email and mobile direct dial. |
| Seamless.AI | Sales reps who want contact search that returns emails and phone numbers and are comfortable getting a sales quote first. | As of Oct 2026: not published. Its pricing page is an inquiry form with no dollar figures. Per its help center, the Free license has 50 credits that do not replenish, Basic has 250 credits a month and Pro has 10,000 credits a month. |
| Cognism | A sales team with budget that wants a contact database with mobile data and intent signals, where viewing contacts you already revealed costs no credit. | As of Oct 2026: not published. Its pricing page shows Standard and Pro prospecting packages with 5 seats included each, plus a CRM Enrichment add-on, and sends you to sales for a quote. |
| Clay | A builder: a spreadsheet-style workbench over 150+ data providers with waterfalls and an AI research agent, for teams with someone who will own the workflows. | As of Oct 2026: Free includes 500 actions and 100 data credits a month, with tables capped at 200 rows. Launch is from $167/mo and Growth from $446/mo with annual billing (monthly billing costs more; the page says annual saves 10%). Enterprise is custom. A 14-day trial is offered. |
Each alternative in detail
1.FoxKnock
Try it free →Best for: A small team or agency that wants researched, approved outreach instead of a contact database: it finds companies like your best customers, researches the ones you pick with cited sources and drafts emails you approve before they send from your own mailboxes.
Pricing: As of Oct 2026: Free is $0 with 500 one-time credits (added once your email is verified). Starter is $49/mo (5,000 credits, 2 seats), Growth $149/mo (20,000 credits, 5 seats), Agency $399/mo (60,000 credits, unlimited seats), Enterprise custom. Billed monthly, no contract. One credit is $0.01 at list price, credits roll over and failed lookups are free. Credit costs per action can change, so see the pricing page.
Strengths
- Research you can click through: every fact shows its source URL, a quote and a date. AI-written drafts with a claim no fact supports are blocked until a person fixes them. The claim check is AI, so it is not infallible, and templates you write yourself are not claim-checked.
- Seats are included in each plan, not billed per seat (2 on Starter, 5 on Growth, unlimited on Agency), with one credit balance and a monthly spend cap you set.
- Email and phone lookups, enrichment and research charge only when a result is found. At default credit prices (they can change), a verified work email is 11 credits: 10 to find, 1 to verify.
- Approval first: every email waits for you by default. Auto-send is opt-in per sequence and unlocks only after 50 individually approved emails with under 10% edited and under 5% rejected.
- If an email address FoxKnock found hard-bounces, the email-find credits are refunded automatically.
Trade-offs
- New: launched in October 2026, so there are no customer reviews or track record to check yet.
- No built-in contact database: it finds companies and people through web search and data providers, so coverage varies, and a discovery run in the app returns 10 to 100 results.
- Not yet certified (no SOC 2 or ISO 27001 audit), no SSO or two-factor sign-in, and the only CRM sync is a one-way push to HubSpot.
- Mailboxes connect with an app password over SMTP and IMAP: Google Workspace or any SMTP and IMAP server. Microsoft 365 is limited, because Microsoft no longer accepts passwords (Basic authentication) for IMAP in Exchange Online and is retiring it for SMTP AUTH, so a Microsoft 365 mailbox may not connect or may not sync replies. FoxKnock does not offer Microsoft sign-in.
2.Apollo
WebsiteBest for: A self-serve contact database with sequences in one seat-based tool: search a database Apollo puts at 240M+ contacts (Apollo's figure), then email and call from the same app, with a free plan to test.
Pricing: As of Oct 2026: Free has no time limit and 900 credits per seat per year, granted monthly. Basic is $49, Professional $79 and Organization $119 per seat per month billed annually (Organization has a 3-seat minimum). Monthly billing costs more per month. Credits are granted per plan and do not roll over.
Strengths
- A free plan with no time limit, plus a 14-day trial of Basic and Professional, so you can test data quality on your own list before paying.
- Basic already lists unlimited sequences, CRM integrations, waterfall enrichment and a US dialer (calls use credits); Professional adds A/Z testing, AI lead scoring and more call-recording minutes.
- Prices for every self-serve plan are published, so you can budget without a sales call.
- Admins can set per-user credit caps and filter credit usage by user and credit type.
Trade-offs
- Unused credits expire at the end of each billing cycle and do not carry over, add-on credits included.
- Billed per seat, all seats on an account share one plan level, and Organization needs at least 3 seats.
- A phone number costs 8 credits and enrichment 1 to 8 credits per record, per Apollo's pricing page, so credit use depends on what you pull.
- Annual billing is a 12-month commitment: moving from annual to monthly means waiting for the term to end.
3.Lusha
WebsiteBest for: Looking up verified emails and phone numbers for people you have already chosen, at a monthly price a small team can read straight off the page.
Pricing: As of Oct 2026: Free is 40 credits a month. Starter is $49.90/mo billed monthly (400 credits) or $37.45/mo billed annually, Pro $69.90/mo monthly (600 credits), Premium $399.90/mo monthly (3,400 credits). Seats included: 1 on Starter, 2 on Pro, 5 on Premium; teams of more than 5 users contact sales. An email reveal costs 1 credit and a phone number 5.
Strengths
- Pay by the reveal, with a free plan of 40 credits a month and no credit card.
- Pro and Premium monthly plans list rollover of unused credits up to twice the monthly amount. Its FAQ says this applies to monthly plans generally, but the Starter card does not list it, so confirm before you rely on it.
- Published prices for the Free, Starter, Pro and Premium tiers; paid plans start at $49.90 a month on monthly billing.
Trade-offs
- A phone number costs 5 credits, so a 400-credit Starter month covers at most 80 phone reveals.
- On annual plans, credits are granted upfront and unused credits reset at the end of the annual cycle.
- Teams of more than 5 users have to go through sales.
4.UpLead
WebsiteBest for: One person who wants verified emails and mobile direct dials at a clear monthly price, with technographic filters on Plus and CRM integrations on paid plans.
Pricing: As of Oct 2026: a 7-day free trial with 5 credits. Essentials is $99/mo billed monthly (170 credits a month) or $74/mo billed annually (2,040 credits a year). Plus is $199/mo monthly (400 credits a month) or $149/mo annually (4,800 credits a year). Professional is annual billing only, with custom seats and credits. One credit covers one contact, with email and mobile direct dial.
Strengths
- One credit unlocks a contact's email and mobile direct dial. UpLead says it verifies emails with a 95% data accuracy rate (a vendor claim).
- Per its FAQ, monthly plans have no contract, and Essentials already includes CRM integrations and 1,500+ apps through Zapier.
- Plus adds data enrichment, technographics, advanced filters and suppression-list uploads.
Trade-offs
- Free, Essentials and Plus are single-user accounts. Team management, full API access and bi-directional CRM sync are on Professional, which is annual only and quote-based.
- Credits are 170 a month on Essentials and 400 on Plus, so contact volume is capped by the plan.
- Its plan table lists no email-sending feature, so outreach runs in a tool you connect.
5.Seamless.AI
WebsiteBest for: Sales reps who want contact search that returns emails and phone numbers and are comfortable getting a sales quote first.
Pricing: As of Oct 2026: not published. Its pricing page is an inquiry form with no dollar figures. Per its help center, the Free license has 50 credits that do not replenish, Basic has 250 credits a month and Pro has 10,000 credits a month.
Strengths
- A Free license to test the data, with 50 credits.
- One credit on its Find button returns the full contact profile, including emails and phone numbers, per its help center.
- Its help center lists credit costs for data enrichment (1 per contact or row), Autopilot (1 per contact) and its AI assistant (0.2 per interaction), so one balance spans several features.
Trade-offs
- No price list on its pricing page: you need a sales conversation to learn what a paid plan costs.
- Basic and Pro allowances refresh monthly on the contract date, and its help center does not describe rollover.
6.Cognism
WebsiteBest for: A sales team with budget that wants a contact database with mobile data and intent signals, where viewing contacts you already revealed costs no credit.
Pricing: As of Oct 2026: not published. Its pricing page shows Standard and Pro prospecting packages with 5 seats included each, plus a CRM Enrichment add-on, and sends you to sales for a quote.
Strengths
- One credit reveals one contact, there is no charge for viewing contacts already revealed, and the same credits work across the platform, enrichment and API.
- Pro adds on-demand mobile verification, higher-quality mobile data and intent data (Bombora Company Surge, with up to 12 topics chosen by an admin).
- Standard lists API and MCP access, AI account research and signal-based filters.
Trade-offs
- No published price: the page sends you to sales for a personalised quote.
- Intent data and on-demand mobile verification are listed with Pro, not Standard.
- A revealed contact stays usable through the contract, but a credit is used again if that contact changes jobs.
7.Clay
WebsiteBest for: A builder: a spreadsheet-style workbench over 150+ data providers with waterfalls and an AI research agent, for teams with someone who will own the workflows.
Pricing: As of Oct 2026: Free includes 500 actions and 100 data credits a month, with tables capped at 200 rows. Launch is from $167/mo and Growth from $446/mo with annual billing (monthly billing costs more; the page says annual saves 10%). Enterprise is custom. A 14-day trial is offered.
Strengths
- 150+ data providers, multi-provider waterfalls, bring-your-own API keys and its Claygent research agent on every plan, Free included.
- Launch adds phone enrichment, job-change and other signals, and email campaigns through the Clay Sequencer or an integration; Growth adds CRM and data-warehouse sync, HTTP APIs and webhooks.
- Data credits roll over to a cap: up to twice the monthly amount on Launch and Growth, per Clay's FAQ.
- Enterprise lists SSO and SAML, SCIM, role-based access and a custom data processing agreement.
Trade-offs
- Two meters: actions reset every billing cycle and never roll over, while data credits roll over to a cap.
- You design and maintain the tables and workflows yourself, so it suits teams with someone to own them.
- The Free plan cannot enrich phone numbers, and CRM sync, HTTP APIs and webhooks start on Growth.
ZoomInfo alternative for a small business: how to choose
Start with the job you were doing in ZoomInfo. These ZoomInfo competitors fall into four groups.
You want a contact database at a lower price. Apollo, UpLead and Lusha publish their prices. Apollo bundles a database with sequences and a dialer, billed per seat; see Apollo alternatives if it is your shortlist. UpLead and Lusha sell contacts by the credit, which suits one person looking up a list. Cognism and Seamless.AI work the way ZoomInfo does, with a quote first, so ask for the term and the renewal price in writing.
You want a table you build, not a database. Clay pulls from 150+ providers and lets you design the workflow. It suits a team with someone who will own it.
You want the research and outreach done, not a list. FoxKnock does not sell contacts. You give it your website and your best customers, and it finds similar companies, researches the ones you pick into cited evidence cards, finds work emails and drafts outreach you approve before it sends. See AI prospect research and approval-first outreach for how each step works. It is also the newest tool on this list.
You need intent data and controls across a big team. ZoomInfo may still fit. Its pricing page lists buyer intent, website visitors, champion tracking and conversation intelligence, and its homepage claims 500M+ contacts and 100M+ companies (ZoomInfo's numbers, not ours). Cognism Pro lists intent data and Clay Enterprise lists SSO and role-based access, so compare quotes if you need either. FoxKnock has no SOC 2 or ISO 27001 audit yet and no SSO.
ZoomInfo competitors by team size
- Solo founder: start free. ZoomInfo Lite (not open to current or past subscribers of its premium enterprise services), Apollo, Lusha, Clay, Seamless.AI and FoxKnock have free plans or licenses, and UpLead offers a 7-day trial. They are small: Apollo's is 900 credits per seat per year, Lusha's 40 credits a month, Seamless.AI's 50 credits that do not replenish and FoxKnock's 500 one-time credits. Use them to test, not to run a full outbound program.
- Two to five salespeople: check the seat rules first. UpLead Essentials and Plus are single-user accounts, Apollo bills per seat, Lusha includes 1 seat on Starter and 2 on Pro, Cognism lists 5 seats on both packages, FoxKnock Starter includes 2 seats and Growth 5, and ZoomInfo's price depends on the number of licenses.
- Agency: FoxKnock Agency ($399 a month) gives separate client workspaces, up to 25, but plan and credits belong to each workspace and are not pooled. Whatever you choose, read each vendor's terms on client work: Apollo's pricing FAQ, for example, says its standard plans are for internal business use and that sharing its data with customers or reselling it needs a separate agreement.
Cheaper than ZoomInfo: pricing units compared
ZoomInfo cannot go in this table with a price, because its pricing page lists no dollar figures. Vendr's page (last updated February 2026) reports a median contract of $33,500 a year across 1,577 purchases, says annual prepayment is standard and calls auto-renewal clauses common. Treat that as a market signal, not a quote. The published entry prices below are lower, but seats, credits and data depth differ, so they are not like-for-like. Figures for the others are as of Oct 2026 from each vendor's own pages.
| Tool | Billed per | Unused credits | Entry price |
|---|---|---|---|
| ZoomInfo | Licenses and credits (one per export), per its pricing page | Paid plans: not stated on its pricing page. Lite: do not roll over | Not published |
| FoxKnock | Monthly plan with seats included, plus credits | Roll over every month | Free, then $49/mo |
| Apollo | Per seat, with a credit allowance | Expire each cycle | Free, then $49 per seat (annual) |
| Lusha | Credits (email 1, phone 5) | Pro and Premium monthly plans roll over to 2x; annual plans reset | Free, then $49.90/mo (monthly billing) |
| UpLead | Credits, one per contact | Not stated on its pricing page | $99/mo monthly, $74/mo annual |
| Seamless.AI | Universal credits | Free credits do not replenish; paid allowances refresh monthly; rollover not described | Not published |
| Cognism | Credits per revealed contact, 5 seats included | Not stated on its pricing page; revealed contacts stay usable for the contract | Not published |
| Clay | Actions plus data credits | Actions expire; data credits roll over to a cap | Free, then $167/mo (annual) |
Published prices let you work out rough unit costs. These are our own arithmetic on monthly-billing prices, not vendor figures. Lusha Starter at $49.90 for 400 credits is about $0.12 per email reveal. UpLead Essentials at $99 for 170 credits is about $0.58 per contact, email and mobile included. At default credit prices (which can change), FoxKnock charges 5 credits for a contact found plus 11 for a verified email, so 16 credits or $0.16 at list price, and a standard research report is 225 credits ($2.25 at list price).
These units are not the same. Lusha and UpLead sell a contact record, while FoxKnock's research and drafting are separate credit charges on top of finding the contact. Compare the cost per finished result, not per record. See FoxKnock pricing for the current credit table and credit-based pricing traps for what to ask any vendor.
Before you switch from ZoomInfo
- Get your ZoomInfo terms in writing. Find the renewal date, the notice window and any cap on renewal increases. ZoomInfo's own buying guide tells buyers to confirm these, and to ask what happens to exported data if you do not renew.
- Keep only what you are allowed to keep. Check what your contract lets you use after it ends, and export only what it allows. FoxKnock imports CSV files of up to 5,000 rows.
- Test on 50 of your own accounts. Run the same list through two tools and compare how many contacts each found and how many emails bounced. Ask each vendor what a failed lookup and a bounce cost. FoxKnock's email and phone lookups charge only when a result is found, and it refunds the email-find credits if an address it found hard-bounces.
- List what your team actually used. Intent, website visitors, phone numbers and conversation intelligence are different features at ZoomInfo, and some sit in higher packages. Replace what your team used in the last quarter and drop the rest.
- Read the term. Apollo's lower prices need annual billing, UpLead Professional is annual only and Clay's lower price is annual. Lusha, UpLead Essentials and Plus, and FoxKnock can be billed monthly.
- Carry your compliance data. Bring your suppression list and any country or lawful-basis fields. Vendors describe their own data sources and compliance practices in their own terms, and those claims do not replace your own checks as the sender. This is general information, not legal advice.
Try FoxKnock with the free credits
If researched, approved outreach sounds closer to your job than a database, test it on a short list of your own accounts. FoxKnock's free plan has 500 one-time credits and needs no card (credits are added once your email is verified). At default credit prices (they can change) that is about 45 verified emails or two standard research reports. Create a free account and judge the research and the drafts before you pay for anything.
Frequently asked questions
How much does ZoomInfo cost?
ZoomInfo does not publish a price. Its pricing page lists packages (Professional, Copilot Advanced, Copilot Enterprise) and says cost depends on features, number of licenses and credit usage. Vendr, a third party, reports a median contract of $33,500 a year (range $7,240 to $156,042) from 1,577 purchases. Treat that as a market signal, not a quote.
What is a cheaper alternative to ZoomInfo for a small business?
Apollo, Lusha and UpLead publish prices that start well below Vendr's median ZoomInfo contract, though the scope differs. As of Oct 2026, Lusha paid plans start at $49.90 a month on monthly billing, UpLead at $99 a month and Apollo at $49 per seat per month on annual billing. FoxKnock starts free, then $49 a month, but it is not a contact database. Compare cost per finished result, not entry price.
Who are ZoomInfo's main competitors?
Apollo, Lusha, UpLead, Seamless.AI and Cognism sell contact data, Clay is a workbench you build in, and FoxKnock (our own product) researches accounts and drafts outreach you approve. They differ on price transparency, credit rules and contract terms, so compare those before features.
Does ZoomInfo have a free plan?
Yes. ZoomInfo Lite is a permanent free plan with no credit card, and ZoomInfo's buying guide says it includes 10 monthly credits (25 with Community Edition, which asks you to share business contact data). A free trial of the full platform is also offered. Lite needs a business email, its credits do not roll over, and its FAQ says it is not open to current or past subscribers of ZoomInfo's premium enterprise services.
Is there a free alternative to ZoomInfo?
Yes, several. Apollo, Lusha and Clay have permanent free plans (Apollo 900 credits per seat per year, Lusha 40 credits a month, Clay 500 actions and 100 data credits a month), FoxKnock gives 500 one-time credits, Seamless.AI's Free license has 50 credits that do not replenish, and UpLead offers a 7-day trial with 5 credits. All are small, so use them to test data quality on your own list.
Do ZoomInfo contracts auto-renew?
Often, though it depends on your order form. ZoomInfo's own buying guide says paid plans are annual subscriptions, warns that renewal pricing can rise from the initial rate and tells buyers to confirm the notice period before auto-renewal. Vendr's page calls auto-renewal clauses common and puts annual price escalation at typically 5 to 10 percent. Terms are negotiated, so read your own contract. This is not legal advice.
Which ZoomInfo alternatives have no annual contract?
Several can be billed month to month. As of Oct 2026, FoxKnock, Lusha and UpLead Essentials and Plus list monthly billing, per their pricing pages. Apollo and Clay also offer monthly billing, at a higher monthly price than annual. UpLead Professional is annual only. Cognism and Seamless.AI do not publish their terms on the pages we read, so ask for them before you sign.
Is FoxKnock a ZoomInfo replacement?
Not for the database. FoxKnock has no contact database of its own: it finds companies and people through web search and data providers, so coverage varies. It suits teams that want researched, cited accounts and emails they approve before anything sends. If you depend on ZoomInfo's database size, intent data or enterprise controls, keep it or compare quotes from the data vendors above. See pricing.
Sources
- ZoomInfo pricing page (packages, credits, features by tier) (checked 17 October 2026)
- ZoomInfo: How much does ZoomInfo cost? (buying guide, updated 2026-07-07) (checked 17 October 2026)
- ZoomInfo Lite FAQ (free plan eligibility, Community Edition, credits) (checked 17 October 2026)
- ZoomInfo homepage FAQ (free plan, free trial, pricing description, database size claim) (checked 17 October 2026)
- Vendr: ZoomInfo pricing data (third party, 1,577 purchases, last updated February 2026) (checked 17 October 2026)
- Apollo pricing page and FAQ (plans, credits, expiry, billing, data use) (checked 17 October 2026)
- Apollo: plan details and credit usage (Sept 17, 2026; 240M+ contacts figure) (checked 17 October 2026)
- Lusha pricing page (plans, credit costs, rollover, seats) (checked 17 October 2026)
- UpLead pricing page (plans, credits, contract FAQ) (checked 17 October 2026)
- Seamless.AI help center: credit and license types (checked 17 October 2026)
- Seamless.AI pricing inquiry page (checked 17 October 2026)
- Cognism pricing page and FAQ (packages, seats, credits, intent data) (checked 17 October 2026)
- Clay pricing page (plans, features) (checked 17 October 2026)
- Clay FAQ: do unused data credits or actions roll over? (checked 17 October 2026)