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Saniya Sood
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Published November 11, 2026 · Updated November 11, 2026
The short answer: use Sales Navigator to find the right person and read what they are doing now, because LinkedIn profiles are kept current by the people themselves. Use Apollo when you need email addresses and phone numbers at volume and want to sequence them from one tool. Most outbound teams that can afford it run both: Sales Navigator for targeting and timing, Apollo for contact data and email.
Disclosure: Valley makes one of the tools mentioned on this page and has marked its entry clearly. Where another tool is the better fit, this page says so.
Valley is an AI outbound platform that finds the people most likely to buy from you, from live buying signals, natural-language search, or your own lists, qualifies them against your ICP, researches each one, and sends personalized messages across email and LinkedIn that get 15-45% reply rates, against a category average of about 2%.
Sales Navigator vs Apollo at a glance
LinkedIn Sales Navigator | Apollo | |
|---|---|---|
What you get | LinkedIn's own search with 50+ filters, real-time alerts and InMail | A contact database with emails, phone numbers and email sequencing |
Data source | LinkedIn profiles, updated by the members themselves | Apollo's database: 240M contacts and 30M companies, per its pricing page |
Contact details | None listed on the plans page; outreach runs through LinkedIn | Emails and phone numbers, revealed with credits |
Outreach channel | InMail (50 a month listed on the plans page) and connection requests | Email sequences from the Basic plan |
Buyer signals | Buyer intent signals, Account IQ and Lead IQ on Advanced | Search filters on Apollo's own database |
Price | Core $119.99 a month or $1,079.88 a year; Advanced $159.99 a month or $1,799.88 a year | Free; Basic $49, Professional $79 a user a month billed annually |
Best for | Finding the right person and seeing what they are doing now | Getting emails and phones at volume and sequencing them |
Sales Navigator prices and features were read on LinkedIn’s compare-plans page and Apollo's on its pricing page on November 11, 2026. Apollo's page did not print per-seat prices to a plain read that day; those come from Apollo’s plan walkthrough (September 17, 2026).
Key takeaways
Freshness vs reach: Sales Navigator reads profiles people keep current; Apollo gives contact details LinkedIn does not show.
Channel: Sales Navigator keeps outreach on LinkedIn (InMail and connection requests); Apollo is built for email and calls.
Cost: one Sales Navigator Core seat is $1,079.88 a year; one Apollo Basic seat is $49 a month billed annually, before extra credits.
Together: a Sales Navigator search gives the who and the when; Apollo or another enrichment tool supplies the email.
► Try Valley free for 7 days: find the people most likely to buy and message them in your voice
Give your sales team
an unfair advantage.
Both tools answer the question of who to contact, but they hold different data and reach people through different channels.
What Sales Navigator does well
Search LinkedIn's own member data with 50+ advanced search filters, get real-time alerts on signals such as job changes and new content, and message through InMail. Advanced adds AI lead and account research, buyer intent signals and CRM integrations with Salesforce and HubSpot (LinkedIn compare plans). Is it worth the money for your team? See the honest Sales Navigator review, and for the buyer-intent filter in detail, the category interest filter.
Where it stops: the plans page lists no email addresses or phone numbers, and InMail is a monthly allowance. Teams that want email reach pair it with another tool. What Sales Navigator users layer on top covers the options.
What Apollo does well
Filter a large database, reveal emails and phone numbers with credits, and send sequences without leaving Apollo. Email sequencing is included from Basic (Apollo pricing). The plan and credit detail is in Apollo's pricing and credits, explained.
Where it stops: database records age between refreshes, so titles and companies can be out of date, and email-only outreach misses buyers who answer on LinkedIn first. Verify emails before sending and check the profile before you write.
Prospecting workflow: using both
Target in Sales Navigator. Build the search with the advanced filters (role, seniority, company size, region).
Time it with signals. Prioritize people who changed jobs, posted recently or whose company is hiring. The buying signals list ranks them.
Enrich for email. Find and verify emails for the people LinkedIn alone will not reach.
Reach them on both channels. A connection request or InMail first, then an email that refers to something real about them.
Which one for which team
Your situation | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
Buyers are active on LinkedIn | Sales Navigator | Current profiles and InMail reach them where they already are |
Calling team or email-first motion | Apollo | Emails, phones and sequences in one place |
Tight budget, one seat | Apollo Basic | Lower seat price, email included |
Enterprise accounts, few targets | Sales Navigator Advanced | Account IQ, intent signals and CRM integration |
You want the search turned into researched messages | Sales Navigator plus a sending layer | See below |
Give your sales team
an unfair advantage.
When Valley fits instead (Valley's own product)
Valley works on top of a Sales Navigator search rather than replacing it: paste the search URL and Valley treats it as a targeting input, scores each person against your ICP, researches them and drafts a LinkedIn message in your voice, with email as an add-on. It also finds people from LinkedIn signals such as profile views and job changes. Valley is priced per seat (current prices at joinvalley.co/pricing). Starter covers LinkedIn, with email sending as an add-on; Plus, through a demo, adds 1,000 emails a month. Finding new prospects and finding and verifying emails use credits. There is a 7-day trial with a payment method.
Choose Valley when your team already has the right search and the bottleneck is writing researched messages and getting replies. Choose Apollo when you need emails and phone numbers at volume for your own sequencer or a calling team. A side-by-side is in Valley vs Apollo, and the fuller Sales Navigator decision is in Sales Navigator vs Recruiter.
► Book a demo: see how Valley would find, research and message your buyers
FAQ
Is Sales Navigator better than Apollo for prospecting? For finding the right person and timing outreach, yes, because LinkedIn profiles are current. For contact details and email at volume, Apollo is better. Many teams use both.
How much does Sales Navigator cost compared with Apollo? On November 11, 2026, Sales Navigator Core was US$119.99 a month or US$1,079.88 a year and Advanced US$159.99 a month or US$1,799.88 a year. Apollo's plan walkthrough lists Basic at $49 and Professional at $79 a user a month billed annually, plus a free plan.
Does Sales Navigator give email addresses? Its compare-plans page lists search, InMail, intent signals and CRM integrations, not email addresses or phone numbers. Teams add an enrichment tool for email.
Can Apollo replace Sales Navigator? Partly. Apollo covers search, contact data and email, but it does not give LinkedIn's live activity, alerts or InMail.
How many InMails does Sales Navigator include? LinkedIn's compare-plans page lists 50 a month.
What is the best way to use Sales Navigator and Apollo together? Target and time outreach in Sales Navigator, enrich the chosen people with Apollo for email, then reach them on LinkedIn and email with a message that refers to something real about them.
