InsightBee vs Apollo
European mobile numbers, GDPR-compliant by design, from Cologne.
At a glance
InsightBee or Apollo?
Choose InsightBee if…
- You call into Europe and need mobiles and direct dials.
- You want an EU-based provider.
Choose Apollo if…
- You want one tool for database, sequences and outreach.
- You need a free plan.
The core difference
Where the numbers come from
Numbers come from a source databases don’t have: out-of-office replies from your own contacts. An out-of-office reply names who is covering right now and how to reach them.
Connect your CRM
Any CRM, live in under a day.
Out-of-office replies surface
InsightBee surfaces out-of-office replies from your existing contacts. Nothing is ever sent to them.
Numbers are written back
Mobiles, direct dials and replacement contacts are verified and written back to your CRM.
Comparison
Side by side
As of October 2026. Based on publicly available information; see sources below.
| Criterion | InsightBee | Apollo |
|---|---|---|
| Where numbers come from | Out-of-office replies from your own CRM contacts | Its own contact database |
| How current the data is | Current by design – the reply names who is covering now | — |
| Mobiles and direct dials | Yes, business numbers only | — |
| Day-to-day workflow | Automatic inside your CRM – no lookups, no credits to manage, no extension | Prospecting platform with database search and email sequencing |
| Look up a specific person on demand | Not available. Numbers arrive automatically from out-of-office replies. | Yes |
| Contacts are emailed or notified | No – 0 emails sent | — |
| Data broker chain | None | — |
| Company location | Cologne, Germany (EU) | — |
| CRM support | Any CRM, writes back automatically | — |
| Setup | Minutes to connect, live in under a day | — |
| Pricing model | No credits to manage | Free plans, plus paid plans with credits |
| Brand-new accounts not yet in your CRM | Not covered – for these, a contact database remains the right tool | Yes, from its contact database |
Apollo in brief
Why it matters
Built for European calling
InsightBee is built around the phone: business mobiles and direct dials for the people your team needs to reach – never private numbers. It sends nothing itself: 0 emails go to your contacts.
The numbers come from out-of-office replies sent by contacts already in your CRM, so they belong to the people your team actually works with.
And InsightBee is a European company: Pomelos Group GmbH, based in Cologne, Germany. GDPR-compliant by design, with documentation available on request.
Customer case study
Six weeks at Boardwise
Boardwise is a German software company. It connected its HubSpot, with 91,000 contacts, to InsightBee.
Results after 6 weeks
- 14,440phone numbers found
- 19,035new decision makers found
- 1,564contacts who left the company
- 4,861job changes
- 42,269out-of-office messages found
InsightBee surfaced mobiles our data provider swore didn’t exist. Our connect rate doubled inside a quarter – and legal signed off without a single follow-up question.
- 100+companies trust InsightBee, from scale-ups to enterprises
- 0emails sent to your contacts
- 100%business data – never private numbers
- 98%number accuracy at first dial
Compliance
Compliance you can show your DPO
- Business data only, never private numbers
- No data broker chain – numbers come from your own business correspondence
- Nothing is sent to your contacts
- EU company based in Cologne
- Documentation available on request
When you buy contact data, you’re responsible for knowing where it came from. With InsightBee, the source is your own CRM.
Use both
Using InsightBee alongside Apollo
Teams that run their sequences in Apollo can use InsightBee to keep the contacts in their CRM reachable by phone, with business mobiles and direct dials written back automatically.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Apollo is a prospecting platform with a contact database and email sequencing. InsightBee does one thing inside your CRM – it surfaces business mobiles and direct dials from your contacts’ out-of-office replies and writes them back automatically, from an EU company in Cologne.
Yes. Teams that run their sequences in Apollo can use InsightBee to keep the contacts in their CRM reachable by phone, with business mobiles and direct dials written back automatically.
Not today. InsightBee works automatically: numbers arrive when your contacts send out-of-office replies. With active email traffic that happens at scale – at Boardwise, 42,269 out-of-office messages surfaced across 91,000 contacts in six weeks. For brand-new accounts that aren’t in your CRM yet, a contact database remains the right tool.
Yes. We process business contact data only, nothing is sent to your contacts, and our numbers don’t come from data brokers. Documentation is available on request.
Minutes to connect, under a day to go live. The first enriched contacts typically land in your CRM the same week.
Any CRM – Salesforce, HubSpot, Dynamics, Pipedrive or your own build.
Notes and sources
Comparison as of October 2026, based on publicly available information. If anything here is out of date, let us know at jonathan@pomelos.co.
All product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners. InsightBee is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.
Sources
- Apollo – company websitehttps://www.apollo.io/
- Apollo – pricinghttps://www.apollo.io/pricing