AI Indexes
GTM AI Index
Index › Sales › Sales engagement › Apollo.io vs Instantly
Sales engagement platforms · October 2026 Edition

Apollo.io vs Instantly

Five of fourteen models named Apollo.io first on the direct prompt; zero named Instantly. Apollo.io was named by fourteen of the fourteen models and Instantly by eight and Apollo.io carries 66 labels and Instantly 12, so the shares are not directly comparable.

Apollo.io

endorsed leader

San Francisco, United States, founded 2015. Named in twenty-six categories this edition.

Instantly

accepted challenger

founded 2019. Named in eight categories this edition.

First-choice share35%2%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate14%8%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#1#5A position in a field of 11; printed, not drawn.
Labels6612A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Apollo.io reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Salesloft was named alongside these two in twelve of the fourteen direct answers. Apollo.io vs Salesloft · Apollo.io vs HubSpot Sales Hub · Apollo.io vs Outreach

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the sales engagement platforms page.

By framing

How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Apollo.ioFirst choices, of fourteen modelsInstantly
Direct50
Paraphrase50
Comparative00
Budget-constrained91
Scale-constrained001 against Apollo.io
Negative018 against Apollo.io · 1 against Instantly
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.

Every model, every framing

The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Apollo.io and Instantly stood in it.
ModelDirectParaphraseComparativeBudget-constrainedScale-constrainedNegative
Claude Haiku 4.5
GPT-5.4 mini
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Perplexity Sonar
Grok 4.20
Mistral Small
DeepSeek V4 Flash
Llama 4 Maverick
Qwen 3.7 Flash
Kimi K2
GLM 4.7 FlashX
MiniMax M2.5
GPT-6 Luna
Muse Glimmer 30B
Apollo.io Instantly first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Apollo.io on the left and Instantly on the right.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Apollo.io and Instantly stood in it.

Apollo.io first, Instantly not the choice

5 of 14 modelsInstantly was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.
Gemini 3.5 FlashApollo.io alternatives: Amplemarket, HubSpot Sales Hub, Klenty, Salesloft
Grok 4.20Apollo.io alternatives: Groove, HubSpot Sales Hub, Salesloft
Mistral SmallApollo.io, Outreach, Salesloft
Kimi K2Apollo.io alternatives: HubSpot Sales Hub, Salesloft
MiniMax M2.5Apollo.io, HubSpot Sales Hub alternatives: Outreach, Revenue Grid, Salesloft

Neither was the first choice, one was named

8 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.
Claude Haiku 4.5HubSpot Sales Hub alternatives: Amplemarket, Apollo.io, Reply.io, Salesloft
GPT-5.4 miniSalesloft alternatives: Apollo.io, HubSpot Sales Hub
Perplexity SonarSalesloft alternatives: Apollo.io, HubSpot Sales Hub, Outreach
DeepSeek V4 FlashHubSpot Sales Hub alternatives: Apollo.io, Klenty, Rework
Qwen 3.7 FlashHubSpot Sales Hub alternatives: Apollo.io, Outreach, Salesloft
GLM 4.7 FlashXSalesloft alternatives: Apollo.io, HubSpot Sales Hub
GPT-6 LunaSalesloft alternatives: Apollo.io, Outreach
Muse Glimmer 30BSalesloft alternatives: Apollo.io, HubSpot Sales Hub, Rework, Salesforce Sales Engagement

Neither was named

1 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.
Llama 4 MaverickOutreach alternatives: Amplemarket

Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Apollo.io leads by forty-seven points.
Apollo.io51%#1 of 11
Instantly4%#5 of 11
The full small business standing →
Mid-marketThe figures above
Apollo.io leads by thirty-three points.
Apollo.io35%#1 of 11
Instantly2%#5 of 11
The full mid-market standing →
Enterprise
Level: the same share of first choices.
Apollo.io0%#8 of 8
Instantly0%#– of 8
The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about Apollo.io

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. One of one in this category shown.

“Credit system is deceptive ... they profit when your data is wrong because you burn more credits.” DeepSeek V4 Flash · negative prompt · hard negative

What the models said about Instantly

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Two of two in this category shown.

“user sentiment has shifted negatively due to hidden costs and technical instability” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“look toward modern "unlimited mailbox" platforms (like Smartlead, Instantly, or Salesforge)” Gemini 3.5 Flash · negative prompt · first choice
Also compared

Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.