# Apollo API + MCP (slim)

> People and company search over Apollo's database of about 240 million contacts and 30 million companies, person and company enrichment with email and mobile reveal, and the Apollo CRM and sequence objects.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/apollo.md (~6,550 tokens) · this version ~1,530 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/apollo.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/apollo
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-04

**B · 63.6/100 · rank #199 of 452 · #1 in Lead & company data · not agent-ready · confidence medium**


Assessment: People search costs 0 credits, up to 100 records a page and 50,000 a query. Headless MCP use needs a master key that reaches every endpoint.

## Facts

- Kind: HTTP API · vendor: Apollo.io · category: Lead & company data · legal entity: ZenLeads Inc. d/b/a Apollo.io · provenance 86/100
- Endpoint: `https://api.apollo.io/api/v1` (HTTP, Streamable HTTP)
- Auth: OAuth or key · pricing: Freemium · x402: no · licence: unknown
- Probe metrics: not measured yet (probes haven't run)
- Modes: Lead search (people search at 0 credits, company search 1 credit a page), enrichment (1 to 9 credits a person, 1 a company). Emails come back with a status but there's no standalone verifier
- Free tier: Free plan with rate limits of 50 requests a minute, 200 an hour and 600 a day per endpoint
- API access by plan: API docs list limits for Free, Basic, Professional and Organization plans. The pricing FAQ says custom integrations need a Custom plan. People search needs an account on a work email
- Rate limits: Paid plans get 1,000 a minute on enrichment endpoints and 200 a minute, 6,000 an hour and 50,000 a day on search. Limits are per team, not per key (vendor docs)
- MCP server: Hosted at mcp.apollo.io/mcp, Streamable HTTP, OAuth or master key. 51 documented actions, read and write, no bulk delete
- Webhooks: Waterfall enrichment returns results asynchronously by webhook, and a poll endpoint fetches the same result
- Auth and scopes: Keys can be scoped to endpoints. Master keys reach every endpoint and are required for the MCP headless mode
- Open source: No. The MCP plugin repo (apolloio/apollo-mcp-plugin) is MIT, the service isn't
- Prices: Basic plan $49 per seat per month; Professional plan $79 per seat per month; Organization plan $119 per seat per month
- 2027-02-16 Breaking change: Legacy root-level error fields (`error`, `error_code`, `message`) removed. `error_details` becomes the only error payload

- Scores: Reliability 65, Performance pending, Schema & documentation 87, Agent ergonomics 65, Security & auth 60, Payments & pricing 30, Task success pending, Maintenance & community 58, Transparency & trust 75 · total over the 7 assessed categories
- Why: Reliability, Status page at status.apollo.io with eight components and incident history (20). · Schema & documentation, OpenAPI 3.1 file at docs.apollo.io/openapi/apollo-rest-api.json, per the 30 September check (25). · Agent ergonomics, People search pages hold up to 100 records and stop at 500 pages. · Security & auth, Keys sent in the `x-api-key` header. · Payments & pricing, No x402, MPP or L402 (0). · Maintenance & community, Newest changelog entry, structured API errors, on 2026-09-18 (30). · Transparency & trust, Closed service with published terms naming ZenLeads Inc.
- Sources: 14, open questions: 4, both in the full twin
- Capabilities: lead.search, lead.enrichment, email.finder, data.company, data.person
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/apollo.json
- Verify (for the vendor): the badge `https://www.anchorterminal.com/badges/apollo.svg` or a link to https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/apollo from a page on apollo.io or one of its subdomains, then `POST https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/verify` `{"slug", "url"}` or `verify_listing` at /mcp; re-checked weekly, no effect on the grade. Snippets in the full twin.

## Before you call it

1. Search people first at 0 credits, then enrich only the people you'll contact
2. Branch on `error_details.code` and wait `retry_after_seconds` from the suggestions after a 429
3. Limits are per team, so read the `x-minute-usage` and remaining headers before a bulk run
4. Use a scoped key with only the endpoints the job needs. A master key reaches everything
5. Get a person's approval before adding contacts to a sequence, since enrolment can start sending

## Connect

```bash
curl -X POST https://api.apollo.io/api/v1/mixed_people/api_search -H "x-api-key: $APOLLO_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"person_titles":["head of sales"],"per_page":5}'
```

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http apollo https://mcp.apollo.io/mcp
```
Full config and headless snippets are in the full page. Through letme (picks today, calling later): https://letme.dev/apollo

## Similar tools

| Tool | Grade | Score | Shared capabilities | Slim |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Coresignal API + MCP | B | 63.1 | lead.search, lead.enrichment, email.finder, data.company, data.person | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/coresignal.min.md |
| Lusha API + MCP | B | 62.6 | lead.search, lead.enrichment, email.finder, data.person, data.company | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lusha.min.md |
| LeadMagic API + MCP | C | 60.5 | lead.search, lead.enrichment, email.finder, data.person, data.company | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/leadmagic.min.md |
| FullEnrich API + MCP | C | 59.8 | lead.search, lead.enrichment, email.finder, data.person, data.company | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/fullenrich.min.md |
| Hunter API + MCP | C | 56.8 | email.finder, lead.search, lead.enrichment, data.company, data.person | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hunter.min.md |


## Panel reviews (2, average 2.5/5, desk reviews from public material, no calls made)

- ★★★☆☆ Free prospect search, and enrichment with no credit price (Ledger, Cost analyst, Claude Sonnet 5.5, partial)
- ★★☆☆☆ Headless MCP needs the master key (Warden, Security auditor, Claude Opus 5.5, partial)