Apollo.io vs People.ai
A detailed comparison of Apollo.io and People.ai. Find out which AI SDR solution is right for your team.
📌Key Takeaways
- 1Apollo.io vs People.ai: Comparing 6 criteria.
- 2Apollo.io wins 5 categories, People.ai wins 1, with 0 ties.
- 3Apollo.io: 4.5/5 rating. People.ai: 4.3/5 rating.
- 4Overall recommendation: Apollo.io edges ahead in this comparison.
Apollo.io
End-to-end B2B sales intelligence and engagement platform with 265M+ contacts, AI-powered research, and multi-channel outreach automation
People.ai
AI revenue operations platform that captures activity data and provides insights on accounts, opportunities, and team performance
5
Apollo.io wins
0
Ties
1
People.ai wins
Feature Comparison
| Criteria | Apollo.io | People.ai | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Email Deliverability | 4 | 3 | Apollo.io |
| Personalization | 5 | 4 | Apollo.io |
| Automation Level | 5 | 4 | Apollo.io |
| CRM Integration | 3 | 5 | People.ai |
| Ease of Use | 5 | 4 | Apollo.io |
| Multi-channel Support | 5 | 4 | Apollo.io |
Detailed Analysis
Email Deliverability
Apollo.ioApollo.io
Apollo.io's email deliverability capabilities
People.ai
People.ai's email deliverability capabilities
Comparing email deliverability between Apollo.io and People.ai.
Personalization
Apollo.ioApollo.io
Apollo.io's personalization capabilities
People.ai
People.ai's personalization capabilities
Comparing personalization between Apollo.io and People.ai.
Automation Level
Apollo.ioApollo.io
Apollo.io's automation level capabilities
People.ai
People.ai's automation level capabilities
Comparing automation level between Apollo.io and People.ai.
CRM Integration
People.aiApollo.io
Apollo.io's crm integration capabilities
People.ai
People.ai's crm integration capabilities
Comparing crm integration between Apollo.io and People.ai.
Ease of Use
Apollo.ioApollo.io
Apollo.io's ease of use capabilities
People.ai
People.ai's ease of use capabilities
Comparing ease of use between Apollo.io and People.ai.
Multi-channel Support
Apollo.ioApollo.io
Apollo.io's multi-channel support capabilities
People.ai
People.ai's multi-channel support capabilities
Comparing multi-channel support between Apollo.io and People.ai.
Feature-by-Feature Breakdown
Massive AI‑enhanced contact database
People.aiApollo.io
Provides access to over 270 million verified contacts and 30 million companies, continuously enriched by AI algorithms that validate emails, phone numbers, and firmographic data, ensuring high‑quality prospect lists for outbound campaigns. Higher lead accuracy reduces bounce rates and improves conversion.
✓ Higher lead accuracy reduces bounce rates and improves conversion
People.ai
People.ai's flagship capability automatically captures every customer-facing activity across email platforms (Gmail, Outlook), calendar systems, phone calls, video conferencing tools (Zoom, Teams, Webex), and other digital channels. The system uses secure API connections and intelligent parsing to extract relevant interaction data, match it to the correct contacts and accounts in your CRM, and log activities without any manual intervention from sales representatives. This technology captures not just the occurrence of activities but also analyzes content to understand engagement quality, stakeholder involvement, and conversation topics—providing a complete picture of customer relationships that manual logging could never achieve. Eliminates 4-6 hours of weekly data entry per rep while achieving 95%+ activity capture rates, compared to 20-30% with manual logging.
✓ Eliminates 4-6 hours of weekly data entry per rep while achieving 95%+ activity capture rates, compared to 20-30% with manual logging
Both Apollo.io and People.ai offer Massive AI‑enhanced contact database. Apollo.io's approach focuses on provides access to over 270 million verified contacts and 30 million companies, continuously enriched by ai algorithms that validate emails, phone numbers, and firmographic data, ensuring high‑quality prospect lists for outbound campaigns., while People.ai emphasizes people.. Choose based on which implementation better fits your workflow.
Multi‑channel sequence automation
People.aiApollo.io
Allows users to create email, phone, LinkedIn, and social media sequences with conditional triggers, A/B testing, and automated follow‑ups, all managed from a single dashboard. Saves time and ensures consistent outreach cadence.
✓ Saves time and ensures consistent outreach cadence
People.ai
The platform's deal intelligence engine analyzes historical patterns from thousands of won and lost opportunities to score current deals based on engagement signals, stakeholder coverage, and activity momentum. Machine learning models continuously evaluate factors like email response rates, meeting frequency, executive involvement, and multi-threading depth to predict deal outcomes with remarkable accuracy. Sales managers receive real-time alerts when deals show warning signs—such as declining engagement, missing stakeholders, or stalled progression—enabling proactive intervention before opportunities are lost. The system also identifies which activities and engagement patterns correlate most strongly with successful closes, providing data-driven guidance for deal strategy. Improves forecast accuracy by 25-40% and enables early identification of at-risk deals, giving teams time to course-correct.
✓ Improves forecast accuracy by 25-40% and enables early identification of at-risk deals, giving teams time to course-correct
Both Apollo.io and People.ai offer Multi‑channel sequence automation. Apollo.io's approach focuses on allows users to create email, phone, linkedin, and social media sequences with conditional triggers, a/b testing, and automated follow‑ups, all managed from a single dashboard., while People.ai emphasizes platform's deal intelligence engine analyzes historical patterns from thousands of won and lost opportunities to score current deals based on engagement signals, stakeholder coverage, and activity momentum.. Choose based on which implementation better fits your workflow.
Integrated CRM and data enrichment
People.aiApollo.io
Bidirectional sync with Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, Pipedrive and others, plus real‑time enrichment that updates contact records with new job changes, intent signals, and company data. Eliminates duplicate data entry and keeps the sales pipeline up‑to‑date.
✓ Eliminates duplicate data entry and keeps the sales pipeline up‑to‑date
People.ai
People.ai provides comprehensive analytics dashboards designed specifically for revenue operations teams, offering visibility into pipeline health, sales velocity metrics, activity benchmarks, and performance trends across the entire organization. The platform calculates key metrics like average deal cycle time, stage conversion rates, activity-to-outcome correlations, and territory coverage automatically from captured data. RevOps leaders can drill down from organization-wide views to individual rep performance, identifying coaching opportunities and best practices that can be scaled across the team. Custom reporting capabilities allow teams to build the specific views they need, while automated alerts notify stakeholders when metrics deviate from targets. Provides single source of truth for revenue metrics, eliminating hours of manual reporting and enabling data-driven sales management.
✓ Provides single source of truth for revenue metrics, eliminating hours of manual reporting and enabling data-driven sales management
Both Apollo.io and People.ai offer Integrated CRM and data enrichment. Apollo.io's approach focuses on bidirectional sync with salesforce, hubspot, microsoft dynamics, pipedrive and others, plus real‑time enrichment that updates contact records with new job changes, intent signals, and company data., while People.ai emphasizes people.. Choose based on which implementation better fits your workflow.
AI Assistant & AI Projects
People.aiApollo.io
AI‑driven assistants generate personalized email copy, recommend next‑best actions, and can be prompted to build targeted prospect lists or trigger workflows, acting as a co‑pilot throughout the sales process. Accelerates content creation and improves relevance of outreach.
✓ Accelerates content creation and improves relevance of outreach
People.ai
The platform automatically builds comprehensive stakeholder maps for every account and opportunity by analyzing communication patterns across the organization. People.ai identifies all contacts engaged in deals, maps their roles and influence levels, tracks relationship strength based on interaction frequency and recency, and highlights gaps in stakeholder coverage. The system recognizes when key decision-makers or influencers are missing from deals, when relationships are going cold, or when competitive threats emerge based on communication patterns. This intelligence helps sales teams ensure they're building the multi-threaded relationships necessary for complex enterprise deals. Increases deal win rates by ensuring comprehensive stakeholder engagement and identifying relationship gaps before they derail opportunities.
✓ Increases deal win rates by ensuring comprehensive stakeholder engagement and identifying relationship gaps before they derail opportunities
Both Apollo.io and People.ai offer AI Assistant & AI Projects. Apollo.io's approach focuses on ai‑driven assistants generate personalized email copy, recommend next‑best actions, and can be prompted to build targeted prospect lists or trigger workflows, acting as a co‑pilot throughout the sales process., while People.ai emphasizes platform automatically builds comprehensive stakeholder maps for every account and opportunity by analyzing communication patterns across the organization.. Choose based on which implementation better fits your workflow.
Advanced analytics & reporting
People.aiApollo.io
Tracks sequence performance, open/click/reply rates, buyer intent scores, and provides built‑in dashboards for A/B testing, pipeline forecasting, and revenue attribution. Gives sales leaders data‑driven insights to optimize strategies.
✓ Gives sales leaders data‑driven insights to optimize strategies
People.ai
People.ai transforms sales coaching from subjective opinion to data-driven guidance by providing managers with detailed visibility into rep activities, engagement patterns, and performance metrics. The platform benchmarks individual performance against team averages and top performers, identifying specific areas where reps can improve—whether that's email response rates, meeting frequency, multi-threading depth, or follow-up consistency. Managers can see exactly how top performers structure their deals and activities, then coach others to replicate those patterns. The system also tracks coaching effectiveness over time, showing whether interventions are translating into improved performance and outcomes. Enables targeted, data-driven coaching that improves rep performance by focusing on the specific activities that drive results.
✓ Enables targeted, data-driven coaching that improves rep performance by focusing on the specific activities that drive results
Both Apollo.io and People.ai offer Advanced analytics & reporting. Apollo.io's approach focuses on tracks sequence performance, open/click/reply rates, buyer intent scores, and provides built‑in dashboards for a/b testing, pipeline forecasting, and revenue attribution., while People.ai emphasizes people.. Choose based on which implementation better fits your workflow.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Apollo.io
Strengths
- ✓Massive B2B database with 270M+ verified contacts and 30M+ companies, continuously enriched by AI for high data accuracy and low bounce rates.
- ✓All-in-one platform combines prospecting, sequencing, CRM sync, and analytics - eliminates need for multiple point solutions and reduces tool sprawl.
- ✓AI-powered email writer and assistant generates personalized outreach at scale, recommends next-best actions, and builds targeted prospect lists from natural language prompts.
- ✓Bidirectional CRM integration with Salesforce, HubSpot, and others keeps data synchronized in real-time and eliminates duplicate data entry.
- ✓Flexible pricing with free tier and credit-based model makes enterprise-grade sales intelligence accessible to startups and SMBs.
Weaknesses
- ✗Credit system can be confusing - mobile numbers cost extra credits, and heavy users may find credit consumption adds up quickly.
- ✗Data accuracy varies by region - while US/EU contact data is strong, international markets may have less reliable information.
- ✗Per-user pricing on higher tiers can become expensive for large sales teams compared to flat-rate competitors.
- ✗Learning curve for advanced features - workflow automation and AI assistant require time to configure optimally.
People.ai
Strengths
- ✓Automatic Activity Capture: People.ai's flagship capability automatically captures every customer-facing activity across email platforms (Gmail, Outlook), calendar systems, phone...
- ✓AI-Powered Deal Intelligence: The platform's deal intelligence engine analyzes historical patterns from thousands of won and lost opportunities to score current deals based on enga...
- ✓Revenue Operations Analytics: People.ai provides comprehensive analytics dashboards designed specifically for revenue operations teams, offering visibility into pipeline health, sa...
- ✓Stakeholder Mapping & Relationship Intelligence: The platform automatically builds comprehensive stakeholder maps for every account and opportunity by analyzing communication patterns across the orga...
- ✓Sales Coaching & Performance Management: People.ai transforms sales coaching from subjective opinion to data-driven guidance by providing managers with detailed visibility into rep activities...
Weaknesses
- ✗Learning curve for advanced automation features - optimal configuration may require experimentation and iteration.
- ✗Data accuracy varies by region - international markets may have less comprehensive or current contact information.
- ✗AI-generated content requires human review to ensure accuracy and brand voice consistency.
Industry-Specific Fit
| Industry | Apollo.io | People.ai | Better Fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Industries | Apollo.io’s flexible data filters, AI‑driven intent detection, and customizable workflows allow any vertical—from SaaS to manufacturing—to build precise prospect lists, automate outreach, and integrate with existing CRMs, making the platform universally applicable. | Not specified | Apollo.io |
| SaaS | Provides deep technographic filters and product‑usage intent signals that help SaaS companies target accounts showing trial usage or recent funding, enabling timely outreach and faster customer acquisition. | Not specified | Apollo.io |
| Healthcare | Offers compliance‑ready GDPR and HIPAA‑compatible data handling, along with industry‑specific filters for hospital systems and medical device manufacturers, helping sales teams reach decision‑makers while maintaining regulatory standards. | Not specified | Apollo.io |
| Financial Services | Includes financial‑industry SIC codes, intent data for regulatory compliance software, and secure data encryption, allowing banks and fintech firms to prospect safely and efficiently. | Financial services organizations use People.ai to gain visibility into relationship-driven sales processes where trust and engagement depth are paramount. Banks, insurance companies, and wealth management firms benefit from relationship intelligence that tracks client engagement across multiple stakeholders and product lines. The platform's compliance-friendly architecture supports the regulatory requirements common in financial services, while activity analytics help identify cross-sell opportunities and ensure consistent client coverage. | People.ai |
| E‑commerce | Leverages buying‑intent signals such as recent cart activity or ad spend spikes to identify high‑value merchants, and integrates with e‑commerce platforms for seamless lead capture. | Not specified | Apollo.io |
| Manufacturing | Provides extensive SIC code filtering (see source 13) and equipment‑specific contact data, enabling manufacturers to target procurement officers and engineering leads. | Not specified | Apollo.io |
| Education | Offers filters for K‑12, higher‑education, and ed‑tech organizations, plus intent data around curriculum purchases, helping vendors engage administrators and IT directors. | Not specified | Apollo.io |
| Real Estate | Supports property‑management and commercial‑real‑estate contact enrichment, allowing brokers to locate owners, investors, and leasing managers with high‑precision targeting. | Not specified | Apollo.io |
Our Verdict
Apollo.io and People.ai are both strong AI SDR solutions. People.ai stands out for massive ai‑enhanced contact database. Choose based on which specific features and approach best fit your workflow and requirements.
Choose Apollo.io if you:
- ✓You operate in All Industries
- ✓You prefer Apollo.io's approach to ai sdr
- ✓You prefer Apollo.io's approach to ai sdr
Choose People.ai if you:
- ✓You need massive ai‑enhanced contact database capabilities
- ✓You need multi‑channel sequence automation capabilities
- ✓You operate in Technology & SaaS
Need Help Choosing?
Get expert guidance on selecting between Apollo.io and People.ai for your specific use case.
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Sources & Evidence
Fully agentic end‑to‑end GTM platform with AI agents that orchestrate prospecting, engagement, and deal execution across the entire sales funnel
Source: Apollo.io introduced the industry’s first fully agentic GTM platform in Oct 2025, enabling AI assistants to automate list building, outreach sequencing, and deal workflow without manual intervention (source 12).
Automatic activity capture and analysis from all customer touchpoints without manual data entry
Source: People.ai's patented technology automatically captures emails, calls, meetings, and other interactions without requiring sales reps to manually log activities. According to customer testimonials, this eliminates the CRM data entry burden that typically consumes 4-6 hours per week per rep while ensuring 100% activity visibility. Unlike Salesforce and other CRM platforms that depend on manual logging (achieving only 20-30% data completeness), People.ai customers report achieving 95%+ activity capture rates, fundamentally changing the reliability of pipeline analytics and forecasting.
Apollo Wins “Best AI‑Powered Sales Solution” in 2025 MarTech Breakthrough Awards
Source: Apollo News - View source
Apollo.io Unveils Industry’s First Fully Agentic End‑to‑End GTM Platform
Source: Apollo News - View source
A complete overview of Apollo AI for 2025 - eesel AI
Source: eesel.ai - View source
Sales Development Representative – Role, Skills & Success Tips
Source: apollo.io - View source
Apollo.io
Source: knowledge.apollo.io - View source