How to Scrape Apollo.io with Apify: A Cheaper Alternative

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This guide shows how to export Apollo.io-style B2B rows using Apify Store Actors (usage-based billing) instead of an Apollo subscription.

• Who this is for: Teams that want flexible, usage-based lead extraction without committing to a subscription.

Create a free Apify account →

⏱️Time~10 min

CostOften lower than Apollo subscriptions

DifficultyBeginner

OutputCSV / Excel / JSON

Apify vs. Apollo API

Feature	Apollo Official API	Apify Store Actors
Best for	Deep CRM integration, guaranteed access	Flexible, usage-based extraction
Cost structure	Monthly subscription	Usage-based (pay per result, per event, or platform usage)
Setup	Requires API key & dev time	No-code UI available

What You Can Extract from Apollo

Using Apify Actors that interact with Apollo's publicly accessible data, you can typically extract:

📊Output Data Fields

Field	Description	Example
companyName	Company name	Acme Corp
industry	Company industry	Software & SaaS
companySize	Employee count range	51-200
location	Company headquarters	San Francisco, CA
website	Company website URL	https://acmecorp.com
revenueRange	Estimated revenue	$10M-$50M
contactName	Contact full name	Jane Smith
jobTitle	Contact job title	VP of Marketing
email	Contact email (when public)	jane@acmecorp.com
technologies	Tech stack used	React, AWS, Salesforce
fundingTotal	Total funding raised	$25M

Prerequisites

• An Apify account (free plan works, no credit card required)
• A search query or list of target companies

Step-by-Step Tutorial

Step 1: Find an Apollo Scraper on Apify

1. Go to the Apify Store.
2. Browse the Apollo scraper Actors listed.
3. Look for Actors specifically designed for Apollo.io data extraction.
4. Evaluate the Actor using our How to Choose the Right Actor guide: check ratings, last update date, and run success rate.
5. Open the Pricing tab to confirm the billing model and rates before running.

Step 2: Configure the Actor

Most Apollo scraping Actors accept inputs like:

• Search URL: A URL from an Apollo search page with your filters applied (industry, location, company size, etc.)
• Search Queries: Keywords or company names to search for
• Max Results: How many leads to extract (start small for testing)

Example configuration:

💾Sample Actor Input

A typical configuration for an Apollo scraping Actor.

{
  "searchUrl": "https://app.apollo.io/#/people?...",
  "maxResults": 100,
  "includeEmails": true
}

Step 3: Run the Actor

1. Click "Start" to run the Actor.
2. Monitor progress in the "Log" tab.
3. Once complete, go to the "Dataset" tab to preview results.

Step 4: Export Your Data

1. Click "Export" on the Dataset tab.
2. Choose your format: CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.
3. Download and open in your preferred tool.

Step 5: Enrich and Verify (Optional)

Apollo data may not always include email addresses. Enhance your results by discovering publicly listed contact info:

1. Run the Website Content Crawler with the website URLs from your Apollo data.
2. This will crawl each company's website to find additional contact details and public email addresses (if listed).
3. Merge the enriched data with your original Apollo export.

Cost Comparison: Apify vs. Apollo Subscription

Feature	Apollo.io Subscription	Apify Approach
Monthly Cost	Varies by Apollo plan	$0–$29/month (Free or Starter plan) + usage
Export Limits	Plan-dependent	Limited by prepaid credits and Actor pricing
Data Freshness	Real-time	On-demand (scrape when needed)
Email Verification	Built-in	Requires separate enrichment step
CRM Integration	Native	Via n8n or Make.com
Minimum Commitment	Monthly subscription	None (free plan, no credit card)

For many small to medium lead gen workflows, Apify can be cheaper than a subscription. The trade-off is that you need to set up the workflow yourself, and email enrichment is an additional step.

Apollo API vs. Store Actors

Apollo provides official APIs for approved use cases. If you need guaranteed access or higher limits, review Apollo’s API documentation and terms. Apify Actors are useful for extracting publicly visible data and building flexible, usage‑based pipelines, but you should always confirm compliance with Apollo’s policies.

Building an Automated Apollo Pipeline

For recurring lead generation, automate the entire process:

1. Schedule the Actor to run weekly or monthly with your target search criteria.
2. Connect to n8n or Make.com to automatically process new results.
3. Push to your CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive) for immediate follow-up.
4. Set up alerts to notify your sales team when new high-value leads are found.

See our Lead Generation Guide for the complete automated pipeline setup.

Tips for Best Results

1. Start small: Test with 50–100 results first to validate data quality.
2. Use specific filters: The more targeted your Apollo search, the higher quality your leads.
3. Combine data sources: Merge Apollo data with Google Maps and LinkedIn data for comprehensive lead profiles.
4. Set spending limits: Configure a maximum monthly budget in your Apify account to avoid surprises. See our Cost Optimization Guide.

Legal Considerations

• Only scrape publicly accessible data from Apollo.io.
• Respect Apollo's terms of service and rate limits.
• Comply with GDPR, CCPA, and other data protection regulations when handling personal contact data.
• Use the data responsibly: don't send unsolicited bulk emails.

For more details, see our guide: Is Web Scraping Legal & Ethical?

Frequently Asked Questions

Scraping legality depends on context, jurisdiction, and platform terms. Only extract publicly visible data, respect Apollo’s terms and rate limits, and comply with GDPR/CCPA where applicable. For more context, see Is web scraping legal?.

Most Apollo scraping Actors on Apify cost a fraction of an Apollo subscription. With Apify's free plan ($5/month in credits), you can extract a small dataset at no cost. Paid plans start at $29/month with significantly more capacity.

Apollo Actors may return email addresses that are publicly listed. For additional discovery, you can chain the results with Apify's Website Content Crawler, which crawls company websites to find public contact information.

Yes. Every Apify Actor can be scheduled to run automatically, whether daily, weekly, or monthly. You can also connect it to n8n or Make.com to push new leads directly into your CRM or email marketing tool.

You can export your Apollo data in CSV, Excel (XLSX), JSON, JSONL, and XML formats. CSV and Excel are the most popular for importing into CRMs and spreadsheet tools.