Project Management by Team · Researched comparison

Best AI BDR Software for Lead Enrichment

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Key takeaways

  • Clay, Apollo.io, Lusha and Seamless.AI all offer a free plan, so a team can test enrichment data before it commits to a monthly price.
  • Cognism, ZoomInfo and Seamless.AI are quote only, which means budget planning starts with a sales call rather than a price list.
  • Credits decide the real cost. Lusha charges 5 credits per phone number, Apollo.io credits expire without rollover, and Clay charges a 30 percent premium on credit top-ups.
  • Clay starts at $167 per month billed annually, the highest published starting price here, and its free plan caps tables at 200 rows.
  • Instantly splits its product in two: outreach starts at $37.60 per month billed annually, and the lead database costs extra, so the full stack starts at $94 per month.

Comparison

How these compare
ToolBest forPrice rangeFree plan
ClayTeams that want enrichment, AI research and outreach in one workspace$167 per month (billed annually)Yes
Apollo.ioSmall teams that want a contact database and sequences in one tool$49 per user/month (billed annually)Yes
CognismTeams that need phone-verified mobiles and intent dataquote onlyNo
ZoomInfoLarge teams that want deep company data and Copilot AIquote onlyNo
LushaReps who want to pay only for the contacts they reveal$37.45 per month (billed annually)Yes
Seamless.AISolo prospectors who want real-time contact searchquote onlyYes
InstantlyTeams that send high-volume cold email$37.60 per month (billed annually)No

How we choose

We compared the vendor pricing pages, plan structures and feature lists for the seven tools above, checking each page on 11 November 2026. We focused on the entry price, the free plan or trial, the credit system that decides the real monthly cost, and the features gated to higher tiers. We did not run hands-on trials, and we did not use review scores, because scores vary by source and by date. Prices change, so confirm the figure on the vendor page before you buy.

Our full method

The shortlist

★ Best overall

The best AI BDR software for lead enrichment

2

Clay

Best for Teams that want enrichment, AI research and outreach in one workspace

Website: https://www.clay.com/

Best for: Teams that want enrichment, AI research and outreach in one workspace

Starting price: $167 per month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Enrichment from 150+ data providers with multi-provider waterfalls; Claygent AI agent researches accounts and tracks job-change and company-news signals

Cons: Free plan excludes phone enrichment and caps tables at 200 rows; CRM sync and HTTP API sit in the Growth tier, and credit top-ups cost a 30 percent premium

Clay is a data enrichment workspace rather than a simple contact list. It pulls data from more than 150 providers and runs them in a waterfall, so one row can try several sources in sequence until it finds a verified email or phone number. Claygent, the built-in AI agent, researches accounts on the web, generates custom data points and watches for job changes, company news and social signals that mark a good time to reach out. The free plan includes 500 actions and 100 data credits per month, with unlimited seats and tables, which is enough to test the workflow on a small list.

The Launch plan starts at $167 per month billed annually, or $185 per month billed monthly, with pricing metered by actions and credits, not seats. Growth starts at $446 per month billed annually and adds CRM auto-sync and HTTP API access, while Enterprise is custom priced with an annual commitment. Top-ups cost a 30 percent premium over the plan rate, and the free plan cannot enrich phone numbers at all, so a team that needs mobiles should budget for Launch or higher from the start.

3

Apollo.io

Best for Small teams that want a contact database and sequences in one tool

Website: https://www.apollo.io/

Best for: Small teams that want a contact database and sequences in one tool

Starting price: $49 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Built-in database of 240M+ contacts and 30M+ companies with 98 percent email accuracy; AI Research Agent, AI Sequence Builder and buyer intent signals built in

Cons: Unused credits expire at the end of each cycle with no rollover; all seats must sit on the same plan, and API access is available only on Custom plans

Apollo.io combines a B2B contact database with outreach sequences, so a team does not need a separate data subscription. The database holds more than 240 million contacts and 30 million companies, with the vendor claiming 98 percent email accuracy, and waterfall enrichment fills gaps from several sources. The AI Research Agent, AI Sequence Builder, AI call scripts and buyer intent signals are built in, and multi-channel sequences run from the same screen as the contact data. The free plan includes 900 credits per year, two sequences and basic filters, which suits a solo rep testing the database.

Basic starts at $49 per user per month billed annually, Professional at $79 and Organization at $119 with a three-seat minimum. The pricing page also offers a free trial of the selected plan, though it does not state the trial length. The limits matter: unused credits expire at the end of each billing cycle and do not roll over, all seats on an account must sit on the same plan, so a team cannot mix Basic and Professional seats, and API access is available only on Custom plans, which blocks teams that want to sync data elsewhere.

4

Cognism

Best for Teams that need phone-verified mobiles and intent data

Website: https://www.cognism.com/

Best for: Teams that need phone-verified mobiles and intent data

Starting price: quote only

Free plan: No

Pros: Phone-verified mobile numbers with Do-Not-Call screening; intent data from Bombora, with up to 12 topics chosen from a library of more than 11,000

Cons: No published prices at all; intent data and on-demand mobile verification sit in the Pro package, and each package includes only 5 seats

Cognism is built for teams that call prospects, and its headline feature is Diamond Data, a set of phone-verified mobile numbers screened against Do-Not-Call lists, aimed at improving connect rates. Intent data comes from Bombora Company Surge, and administrators can select up to 12 intent topics from a library of more than 11,000, so a team can watch for accounts researching its category. On-demand mobile verification sits in the Pro package, which means the strongest data features are not in the entry package.

The vendor publishes no price for any package, and its pricing page states only that pricing is tailored to the product, the team setup and the planned use. There is no free plan and no self-serve trial. Each package includes five seats and the vendor publishes no price for extra seats, so a growing team should ask for the per-seat cost in writing before it signs.

5

ZoomInfo

Best for Large teams that want deep company data and Copilot AI

Website: https://www.zoominfo.com/

Best for: Large teams that want deep company data and Copilot AI

Starting price: quote only

Free plan: No

Pros: Contact and company profiles with mobile numbers, business emails and CRM integrations; Copilot AI writes emails, scores accounts and gives buyer intent signals

Cons: Buyer intent, Account Fit Score, workflows and Copilot chat sit in the Copilot Advanced and Enterprise tiers, and each export costs one credit

ZoomInfo sells six packages, from Professional to Copilot Enterprise and two ABM editions, and its pricing page shows no dollar figure for any of them. The core product is a large set of contact and company profiles with mobile numbers and business emails, plus quick and advanced search, exporting, CRM integrations and a Chrome extension. Copilot adds AI email generation and personalisation, intelligent dialing, buyer intent signals, an Account Fit Score and AI talking points for each account.

Pricing is based on features, licence count and credit usage, per the page FAQ, and every package is sold through a sales conversation. The pricing page carries free trial links on the Professional, Copilot Advanced and Copilot Enterprise plans, but it does not state a trial length. The main cost trap is credit usage: each export of a contact or company profile costs one credit, so heavy exporting burns the allowance fast, and the intent and workflow features sit only in the two Copilot tiers.

6

Lusha

Best for Reps who want to pay only for the contacts they reveal

Website: https://www.lusha.com/

Best for: Reps who want to pay only for the contacts they reveal

Starting price: $37.45 per month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Revealing a verified email costs 1 credit and a phone number costs 5 credits, so buyers pay only for data they reveal; browser extension and CRM integrations for prospecting inside the workflow

Cons: Starter's 4,800 yearly credits buy only 960 phone numbers, and annual credits reset at the end of the cycle

Lusha prices by credit, not by seat, which makes the cost easy to model. Revealing a verified email costs one credit and a phone number costs five, so a rep pays only for the data it actually reveals. The free plan provides up to 40 credits per month, with basic prospecting features, the browser extension and CRM integrations, which is enough to test data quality on a small list. Higher tiers add bulk enrichment and API access, and the extension lets reps prospect from LinkedIn without switching tools.

Starter costs $37.45 per month billed yearly, or $49.90 billed monthly, with Pro at $52.45 per month billed yearly and Premium at $299.95, while Scale is custom priced. Note the credit math: Starter includes 4,800 credits a year, which buys 4,800 emails but only 960 phone numbers, and on annual plans all credits are granted up front and any unused credits reset at the end of the annual cycle. A team that needs mostly phone numbers should check the Pro or Premium allowance before it commits to Starter.

7

Seamless.AI

Best for Solo prospectors who want real-time contact search

Website: https://www.seamless.ai/

Best for: Solo prospectors who want real-time contact search

Starting price: quote only

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Real-time search engine that researches contact data live and returns verified emails and cell phones; Chrome extension for prospecting from LinkedIn, with HubSpot CRM integrations

Cons: No published prices for any tier; annual contracts auto-renew unless changed at least 60 days before renewal, and credits are not refunded for inaccurate data

Seamless.AI runs a real-time search engine that researches contact data live, rather than serving records from a static database, and returns verified emails and cell phones for the people it finds. A Chrome extension lets reps prospect from LinkedIn, and integrations cover CRMs such as HubSpot, while Pitch Intelligence sits on the Pro tier. The free licence gives 50 Universal Credits for one user, covering email addresses and cell phones, which is enough to test whether the live search finds the contacts a team needs.

The pricing page is an inquiry form rather than a price list, and it publishes no dollar figure for any tier, so every upgrade requires a sales quote. Third-party guides report a Basic plan at $147 per user per month billed annually, but that figure is unverified against the vendor and should not be used for budgeting. Read the contract terms closely: subscriptions are annual contracts that auto-renew unless the account is changed at least 60 days before renewal, and credits are not automatically refunded for data that turns out to be inaccurate.

8

Instantly

Best for Teams that send high-volume cold email

Website: https://www.instantly.ai/

Best for: Teams that send high-volume cold email

Starting price: $37.60 per month (billed annually)

Free plan: No

Pros: Unlimited email accounts and unlimited email warmup on every outreach plan, with 5,000 emails a month on Growth; 450M+ lead database with waterfall enrichment from 5+ providers

Cons: The lead database is a separate product, so the full stack starts at $94 per month, not $47; Unibox is gated to Hypergrowth and above

Instantly is built for cold email at volume. Every outreach plan includes unlimited email accounts and unlimited email warmup, and Growth allows 5,000 emails a month. The platform also runs a lead database of more than 450 million B2B contacts, with waterfall work-email enrichment from five or more providers, plus AI agents for sales, email writing and web research. A free trial is offered on outreach plans, though the pricing page does not state its length.

Growth Outreach costs $47 per month billed monthly, or $37.60 per month billed annually, but the lead database is a separate product, so a team that needs both sending and lead data pays from $94 per month for the Starter bundle, not $47. The Unibox unified reply inbox is gated to Hypergrowth and above, and all fees are non-refundable under the vendor terms. Check one detail at checkout: the pricing page shows two different annual figures for Hypergrowth, $77.60 and $85.58, so confirm the real figure before you buy.

9

Which tool fits your team size

What to check before you buy

First, work out your credit burn before you compare prices: a phone number costs five credits on Lusha, exports cost one credit each on ZoomInfo, and Apollo.io credits expire without rollover. Second, ask which features sit in the quoted tier: CRM sync and API access sit in Clay Growth, intent data sits in Cognism Pro, and Unibox sits in Instantly Hypergrowth. Third, read the renewal clause, because Seamless.AI auto-renews unless changed 60 days before renewal. Fourth, test data quality on a free plan first: Clay, Apollo.io, Lusha and Seamless.AI all offer one. Fifth, get quotes for the same scope from at least three vendors, since three of the seven tools here are quote only.

FAQ

How many credits does a small team need each month?

That depends on whether the team needs emails or phone numbers. Lusha charges one credit per email and five per phone number, so 100 phone numbers a month costs 500 credits, while 100 emails costs 100. Apollo.io gives 900 credits a year on its free plan, which covers about 75 contacts a month. Count the contacts your team enriches each month, split them into emails and phones, and compare that total with each plan allowance before you buy.

Which AI BDR tool has a free plan?

Four of the seven tools here offer a free plan. Clay gives 500 actions and 100 data credits a month, Apollo.io gives 900 credits a year, Lusha gives 40 credits a month, and Seamless.AI gives 50 credits for one user. Cognism and ZoomInfo have no free plan on their pricing pages, and Instantly has no free plan, though it offers a free trial on outreach plans.

Why are some AI BDR tools quote only?

Cognism, ZoomInfo and Seamless.AI sell through sales calls because their price depends on seat count, data volume, modules and contract length. The vendor pages show no dollar figure, so the only way to compare them is to request quotes for the same scope, the same number of users and the same term from each vendor, and to ask for the credit allowance in writing.

What is the cheapest way to start with AI BDR software?

Start with a free plan. Apollo.io, Lusha, Clay and Seamless.AI all let a team test enrichment data without a card, and the free allowances range from 40 credits a month on Lusha to 900 credits a year on Apollo.io. For a first monthly plan, Lusha Starter at $37.45 a month billed yearly is the lowest published starting price here, and Instantly Growth Outreach at $37.60 a month billed annually is the lowest for cold email sending.

Does a free trial replace a free plan?

No. A free plan stays free, while a trial ends after a set period. Instantly and ZoomInfo offer trials but no free plan, so a team that wants to test slowly should pick one of the four tools with a free plan instead, and use the trial only when it is ready to buy.

Sources we checked

  • Clay: https://www.clay.com/pricing
  • Apollo.io: https://www.apollo.io/pricing
  • Cognism: https://www.cognism.com/pricing
  • ZoomInfo: https://www.zoominfo.com/pricing
  • Lusha: https://www.lusha.com/pricing/
  • Seamless.AI: https://www.seamless.ai/pricing
  • Instantly: https://www.instantly.ai/pricing
How we score

Need the method behind these picks?

We publish the criteria and the weights, so you can disagree with them.

The best AI BDR software for lead enrichment#1 PICK