Apollo alternative: Re:Shark vs Apollo
Teams look past Apollo when they sell to Dutch companies and don't want a per-seat bill with mailboxes paid in credits. Re:Shark finds the companies, writes the mail and sends it from EU servers, in one plan.
Why teams choose Re:Shark
Re:Shark is built for selling to Dutch companies: Reef knows what a company does, where it operates and how its team is structured, and Kai uses that to write every mail. The plan price covers the users, credits, domains and mailboxes, and your data and sending stay in the EU with a Dutch company.
When Apollo.io is enough
If you sell mainly into the US or across many countries and want calling alongside email.
Apollo alternative: Re:Shark vs Apollo
| Compared on | Re:Shark | Apollo.io |
|---|---|---|
| Who finds your leads | Kai builds the audience from your brief, using Reef and enrichment from multiple sources. | You search a global database of 240M+ contacts and 30M+ accounts, or let Apollo's agents build lists. |
| Who writes the personalisation | Kai researches each company and writes the personalised parts, with the source shown. You preview every recipient before launch. | AI agents that research accounts and write outreach, trained on your ICP through its AI Context Center. |
| Dutch company data | Reef, built around Dutch companies: what a company does, where it operates and how its team is structured. | A global contact and account database with waterfall enrichment. |
| Domains and mailboxes | Included in every plan, from 1 domain with up to 10 mailboxes to 4 domains with up to 20 each. DNS, DMARC, DKIM, SPF, warm-up and rotation run automatically. | Bought through Apollo with credits. Deliverability suite and warm-up on paid plans. |
| What's in the price | Kai, credits, domains, mailboxes and sending infrastructure, with 1 user on Plug & Play, 3 on Growth and 5+ on Enterprise. Unlimited access to the company and people database. | A credit allowance per seat. Domains and mailboxes are paid with credits; international calling is an add-on. |
| Pricing (as of September 2026) | Plug & Play €395 a month (1 user, 2,000 credits), Growth €695 (3 users, 7,500), Enterprise €995 (5+ users, 30,000), excl. VAT. Billed quarterly €345, €645, €945; annually €295, €595, €895. | Per seat: Free $0; Basic $49, Professional $79, Organization $119 (min. 3 seats) a month, billed annually. Monthly billing costs more. |
| Company and data location | Dutch company (The Ocean B.V.). Data stored and processed in the EU, sending on our own EU mail servers. | US company (ZenLeads, Inc. d/b/a Apollo.io). EU transfers rely on Standard Contractual Clauses and the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. |
| Channels | Email, with Kai reading replies and drafting responses. LinkedIn steps and phone numbers are on the way. | Email sequences and a dialer (US dialer on paid plans, international calling as an add-on). |
We read Apollo.io’s own website for these facts on 30 September 2026. Prices and features change; their site is leading.
Why teams look for an Apollo alternative
Apollo is a US sales platform with a global contact database, sequences, a dialer, AI agents and more than 200 integrations. Its database covers markets worldwide. If your buyers are Dutch companies, a few things start to add up.
You pay per seat. Each person on the team is another $49 to $119 a month billed annually, and Organization needs at least three seats. Sending domains and mailboxes can be bought through Apollo, but you pay for them with credits. And Apollo is based in the United States, with transfers from the EU relying on Standard Contractual Clauses and the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework.
Teams that come to us want the opposite: data made for the market they sell to, sending that is set up for them, and a plan that already includes the users, the mailboxes and the sending.
What Re:Shark does differently
Re:Shark takes you from “who should we talk to?” to a mail in the right inbox, in one flow.
Say you sell to Dutch logistics companies. You tell Kai, your AI colleague, who you want to reach. Kai searches Reef for companies that fit, finds the right people and reads each company’s own website. He writes the personalised parts of your message and shows the source behind each one. You preview every recipient and approve the launch. The mail goes out from warmed-up domains on our own EU servers, and when a prospect replies, Kai reads it and drafts a response.
You decide per campaign how much Kai does: Manual, where you build every step; Copilot, where Kai prepares and you decide, and nothing is sent without your approval; or Autopilot, where Kai works within your rules and you still approve the launch.
Data built for Dutch prospects
Apollo’s strength is breadth: 240M+ contacts and 30M+ accounts worldwide, with waterfall enrichment and buying signals.
Re:Shark goes for depth where you sell. Reef is our own company database, built around Dutch companies. It brings records for the same company or person together in one profile and shows what a business does, where it operates and how its team is structured. Enrichment fills in missing details from multiple sources, and every research answer links to the passage on the company’s own website it is based on. That is what Kai writes from, so a mail refers to what the company actually does.
Sending is part of the same plan. Every plan includes domains and mailboxes, and Re:Shark sets up DNS, DMARC, DKIM and SPF and runs warm-up and rotation for you. More on how outreach works and on deliverability (in Dutch).
What you actually pay
Apollo’s pricing page (September 2026) lists Free at $0, Basic at $49, Professional at $79 and Organization at $119 per seat per month billed annually, with a credit allowance per seat. Monthly billing costs more.
For a team of three that is 3 × $79 = $237 a month on Professional, or 3 × $119 = $357 on Organization, billed annually. Every extra person adds another seat. Domains and mailboxes come on top, paid with credits.
Re:Shark prices per plan, with the users included. The plans, excl. VAT:
- Plug & Play: €395 a month (€345 billed quarterly, €295 billed annually), 1 user, 2,000 credits, 1 domain with up to 10 mailboxes.
- Growth: €695 a month (€645 quarterly, €595 annually), 3 users, 7,500 credits, 2 domains with up to 20 mailboxes each.
- Enterprise: €995 a month (€945 quarterly, €895 annually), 5 or more users, 30,000 credits, 4 domains with up to 20 mailboxes each.
About 13 credits cover a prospect from start to finish: finding and verifying the address, checking fit and writing a personalised sequence. A search that finds no address is refunded. Kai, unlimited access to the company and people database, the domains, the mailboxes, warm-up and sending are in the price, and top-up packs are available.
Side by side: one user on Plug & Play is €295 a month billed annually against $79 on Apollo Professional, three users on Growth €595 against $237 to $357, and five users on Enterprise €895 against 5 × $119 = $595 on Organization. On Apollo, domains and mailboxes still come on top, paid with credits. On Re:Shark they are part of the plan, together with Kai researching each company and writing the personalised parts, unlimited access to the company and people database, and warm-up and sending on our own EU servers.
Built for the Dutch market
Re:Shark is a Dutch company, The Ocean B.V. Your data is stored and processed in the EU, and your mail is sent from our own EU mail servers, under the AVG. Apollo says it is based in the United States and may process personal data in the US and other countries. If you want your prospect data and sending to stay in the EU, that is a clear difference. More in our article on GDPR and B2B data (in Dutch).
Switching from Apollo
Start a 7-day trial, no card needed, with 750 credits and one user. Kai reads your website to build your business profile, and you set up a first audience the same day. New domains need two to three weeks of warm-up before they send at volume, and Re:Shark runs that for you. You can also connect a Gmail or Outlook mailbox, limited to 10 prospect emails per user per day.
Would you rather not run the campaigns yourself? Our team runs them for you at €70 an hour excl. VAT. Compare the plans or book a demo to talk it through. Also comparing other tools? See Re:Shark vs lemlist and Re:Shark vs Cognism.
Frequently asked questions
Is Re:Shark a good alternative to Apollo?
Yes, if your customers are Dutch companies and email is how you reach them. Reef is built around Dutch companies, Kai researches each one and writes the personalised parts, and domains, mailboxes and warm-up come with every plan. Your data is processed in the EU by a Dutch company, and your users are part of the plan, from 1 on Plug & Play to 5 or more on Enterprise.
What does Apollo really cost compared to Re:Shark?
Apollo prices per seat. As of September 2026, one person on Professional pays $79 a month billed annually, three pay 3 × $79 = $237, and on Organization (minimum 3 seats) 3 × $119 = $357. Domains and mailboxes are paid with credits on top. Re:Shark Plug & Play for 1 user is €295 a month billed annually (€345 quarterly, €395 monthly), and Growth for 3 users €595 (€645, €695), excl. VAT. Both include Kai researching and writing each mail, unlimited database access, credits, domains, mailboxes, warm-up and sending.
Can I switch from Apollo?
Yes. Try Re:Shark free for 7 days without a card, with 750 credits and one user. When you choose a plan, your domains and mailboxes are set up inside Re:Shark, and you can also connect a Gmail or Outlook mailbox. If you would rather not run the campaigns yourself, our team runs them for you at €70 an hour excl. VAT.
Does Re:Shark have a dialer or phone numbers like Apollo?
Not yet; phone numbers and LinkedIn steps are on the way. Today Re:Shark focuses on doing email outreach completely: the research, the writing and the sending.