ApolloFree plan
Paid from
$65 a month
View plans and limitsUpdated 4 September 2026 · Independent comparison
Apollo vs Read AI:
which should you use?
Apollo and Read AI, side by side. Find the one that fits what you need to do.
Find your best fitThe 30-second answer
Apollo contact data, sequences and call recording in one place, so research and outreach do not live in separate tools.
Read AI summarises meetings, email and messages together, so the follow-up lands in one place rather than three.
Pricing, simplified
Start free. Upgrade when you need more.
Read AIFree plan
Paid from
$19.75 a month
View plans and limitsThe 30-second comparison
If you only read one section, make it this one. Rows where both sides say the same thing are left out — the point is where they differ. Where each row came from is listed underneath.
| Category | Apollo | Read AI | Better fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it's built for | Contact data, sequences and call recording in one place, so research and outreach do not live in separate tools. | Summarises meetings, email and messages together, so the follow-up lands in one place rather than three. | Tie |
| Free plan | Yes. Free plan with 75 credits per seat per month | Yes. Free forever plan, no card required: 5 meeting transcripts a month, unlimited enterprise search, summaries across meetings, email and messaging, a personalised meeting coach, Topic Readouts, more than 20 languages and apps for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS | Tie |
| Cheapest way to pay | $65 a month. | $19.75 a month. | Read AI |
| What the paid tiers cost |
|
| Tie |
| What to watch out for | Contact data is never as accurate as the counter suggests, and the AI writes on top of whatever it found. Every plan is metered in credits, so what you pay tracks how much you export rather than how many people log in. | Reaches across a lot of surfaces at once, which is the point and also the thing to check against your own data rules. The free plan stops at five meeting transcripts a month, and the compliance features sit in Enterprise+, which takes a minimum of five licences and so starts near $150 a month. | Tie |
| Made by | Apollo.io — San Francisco, US. | Read AI — Seattle, US. | Tie |
Read AI is ahead on 1 of the 6 rows compared — cheapest way to pay — and it is not about how well it does the job. On fitness for the work, it and Apollo are level. Treat this as a tiebreaker, not a recommendation.
Read AI
Summarises meetings, email and messages together, so the follow-up lands in one place rather than three.
✓ Summarises meetings, email and messages together, so the follow-up lands in one place rather than three.
✓ You want the cheaper paid plan, $19.75 against $65
✓ Free forever plan, no card required: 5 meeting transcripts a month, unlimited enterprise search, summaries across meetings, email and messaging, a personalised meeting coach, Topic Readouts, more than 20 languages and apps for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS
✓ It is aimed at working professionals
Contact data, sequences and call recording in one place, so research and outreach do not live in separate tools.
Apollo is the better answer when the job is what it was built for rather than what the pick above does broadly.
✓ Contact data, sequences and call recording in one place, so research and outreach do not live in separate tools.
✓ Free plan with 75 credits per seat per month
✓ It is aimed at working professionals
✓ Paid plans start at $65 a month
How we know
Every row that separated these two, and where it came from. Nothing here is a hands-on test — if a line rests on a vendor’s own pricing page, it says so and links it.
| Row | Favours | Weight | Where it came from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest way to pay | Read AI | Everything else | From each vendor’s own pricing page. Dates and pages are listed below. |
The prices
Apollo. Read by hand on 4 September 2026, because Apollo cannot be read automatically: apollo.io draws its ladder in JavaScript. The fetch step read $0.02 off the page — a credit unit rate, not a plan — which looks like a successful read and never changes, so the watch was worse than none. Checked by hand against the vendor page, both billing toggles. apollo.io/pricing
Read AI. Read by hand off read.ai on 4 September 2026. It is not on the monthly re-check, so confirm there before paying. read.ai/plans-pricing
The ratings
The category these two share. Business, Finance & Professional Work — both are listed there in the catalogue, and the fit recorded against each listing is a judgement made here, by hand.
The nine-category grid below. Derived from what each product is listed for, by one script, once per build — so the same pair always reads the same. It is a derivation, not a review.
What this is not
Neither product was run side by side to produce this page. Nobody was paid to appear on it and nothing here is ranked by commission.
To put the same question to both and read the answers yourself, run them side by side — that is a live test, and this is not.
Choose based on what you’re doing
All ten categories, including the ones where neither of these is the answer. These ratings are derived from what each product is listed for, not from running it — a rating here is a reading of the record, and the record is linked.
01
General-Purpose AI Assistants
Questions, brainstorming, explanations, everyday tasks, decision-making, general advice.
Apollo
Not a good fitRead AI
Not a good fitBest choice: Neither
02
Search, Research & Academics
Web research, deep research, books, academic papers, citations, news, fact-checking.
Apollo
Not a good fitRead AI
Not a good fitBest choice: Neither
03
Writing, Communication & Language
Emails, reports, essays, editing, summarizing, translation, presentations.
Apollo
Not a good fitRead AI
Not a good fitBest choice: Neither
04
Coding, Data & Technical Work
Programming, debugging, data analysis, spreadsheets, math, engineering, technical research.
Apollo
Bad fitRead AI
Bad fitBest choice: Neither
05
Business, Finance & Professional Work
Business strategy, investing, market research, legal, sales, HR, accounting, consulting.
Apollo
Good fitRead AI
Good fitBest choice: Tie
06
Image & Design
Image generation, photo editing, logos, graphics, product design, advertising creatives.
Apollo
Bad fitRead AI
Bad fitBest choice: Neither
07
Video
Video generation and editing, clipping, subtitles, avatars, animation and motion capture.
Apollo
Bad fitRead AI
Bad fitBest choice: Neither
08
Audio, Voice & Music
Voice generation, transcription, music, dubbing, sound cleanup and podcast production.
Apollo
Bad fitRead AI
Bad fitBest choice: Neither
09
Marketing & Content Creation
Social media, SEO, advertising, copywriting, content ideas, scripts, brand development.
Apollo
Not a good fitRead AI
Not a good fitBest choice: Neither
10
Productivity, Automation & Personal Life
AI agents, workflows, scheduling, meetings, organization, shopping, travel, personal finance.
Apollo
Not a good fitRead AI
Not a good fitBest choice: Neither
Contact data, sequences and call recording in one place, so research and outreach do not live in separate tools.
by Apollo.ioContact data, sequences and call recording in one place, so research and outreach do not live in separate tools.
Free plan with 75 credits per seat per month
It is aimed at working professionals
Paid plans start at $65 a month
Summarises meetings, email and messages together, so the follow-up lands in one place rather than three.
Seattle, USSummarises meetings, email and messages together, so the follow-up lands in one place rather than three.
You want the cheaper paid plan, $19.75 against $65
Free forever plan, no card required: 5 meeting transcripts a month, unlimited enterprise search, summaries across meetings, email and messaging, a personalised meeting coach, Topic Readouts, more than 20 languages and apps for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS
It is aimed at working professionals
Pricing, simplified
The plans people actually compare, read from each vendor’s own page.
PricingSimple, up-to-date plan overview.
Free version
Apollo
Yes — Free plan availableFree plan with 75 credits per seat per month
Read AI
Yes — Free plan availableFree forever plan, no card required: 5 meeting transcripts a month, unlimited enterprise
Individual plans
Apollo
Basic
$65 / month$49 / month (annual)
Professional
$99 / month$79 / month (annual)
Read AI
Pro
$19.75 / month$15 / month (annual)
Business plans
Apollo
From $119 / user / month (annual)Organization
Read AINot sold to teams
Enterprise
ApolloNot published
Read AI
From $29.75 / user / monthFrom $22.50 / user / month (annual)Enterprise+
Tell us what you use AI for
Pick your main job and the verdict below changes to match. Every answer is on the page already, so this works as a reader, not a lookup.
The verdict for that job
Evenly matched
Close call. Both cover business, finance & professional work at the same level; both have a free plan you can start on; Read AI is cheaper to start paying for, $19.75 against $65.
6 rows compared
Frequently asked questions
Is Apollo or Read AI better?
Read AI is ahead on 1 of the 6 rows compared — cheapest way to pay — and it is not about how well it does the job. On fitness for the work, it and Apollo are level. Treat this as a tiebreaker, not a recommendation. both have a free plan you can start on; Read AI is cheaper to start paying for, $19.75 against $65. Apollo: Contact data, sequences and call recording in one place, so research and outreach do not live in separate tools. Read AI: Summarises meetings, email and messages together, so the follow-up lands in one place rather than three.
Is Apollo or Read AI cheaper?
Read AI — paid plans start at $19.75 a month against $65 a month.
Do Apollo and Read AI both have free plans?
Yes. Apollo: Free plan with 75 credits per seat per month. Read AI: Free forever plan, no card required: 5 meeting transcripts a month, unlimited enterprise search, summaries across meetings, email and messaging, a personalised meeting coach, Topic Readouts, more than 20 languages and apps for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS.
What should I watch out for?
Apollo: Contact data is never as accurate as the counter suggests, and the AI writes on top of whatever it found. Every plan is metered in credits, so what you pay tracks how much you export rather than how many people log in. Read AI: Reaches across a lot of surfaces at once, which is the point and also the thing to check against your own data rules. The free plan stops at five meeting transcripts a month, and the compliance features sit in Enterprise+, which takes a minimum of five licences and so starts near $150 a month.
Read more
Apollo
What it is for, who makes it, what it costs and what to use instead.
Read AI
What it is for, who makes it, what it costs and what to use instead.
Best AI for Business
Business strategy, investing, market research, legal, sales, HR, accounting, consulting.