Compared on Nov 8, 2026.

Apollo alternatives: a fixed price for every row, set before the run

Apollo sells credits, and a record can cost 1 credit or 9 depending on whether a mobile number comes back. SpecStream is the live web data engine for teams and agents. Describe the accounts you want in plain words, and Deep Search returns every one that meets each condition as a structured row, with the source URL of every value. A row costs 5¢, 15¢ or $1, an email adds 5¢ and a phone adds 15¢, and you approve the most a run can cost before it starts. SpecStream leads two public benchmarks: WideSearch, at 60.9 on the low-cost model, where the best other API scores 57.6 even on the larger model, and SimpleQA Verified, at 99. The scores and their sources are on benchmarks.

Describe your data

New accounts get $10 of credit for their first 30 days, no card.

SpecStream and Apollo side by side

	SpecStream	Apollo
What you send	The data you want in plain words, with the conditions every row must meet	Searches in its app, or calls to its API on Custom plans
What you get back	Structured rows, one record per company, place or filing, with facts from many sites joined. Source URL and read time on every value	People and organization records, with exports of up to 10,000 leads in one click. A source for each value: Not stated
Data already held	Public databases read every morning at specstream.ai/data: every company that filed a Form D since 2023 with its filing history, nearly 2 million US nonprofits, every US bank failure since 1934, federal rules, open federal contracts and grants, and local businesses. Signals such as funding rounds, new executives and layoffs at specstream.ai/signals. Ask for your own cut of any of them	Not stated on its pricing pages
A list you already have	Import a CSV, Excel file, Google Sheet or Airtable base of up to 20,000 rows. SpecStream fills in or checks each row and matches it to one identity, with any namesakes shown alongside their evidence. Import is free. A row that matches pays its rate, and a row that does not costs 5¢	API enrichment: 1 to 9 credits a person and 1 credit an organization
What a row costs	A delivered row: 5¢, 15¢ or $1 by how much the row needs, plus 5¢ for an email and 15¢ for a phone. The same rate on every plan	Credits. A person is 1 credit, plus 8 when a mobile number comes back. Waterfall email is typically 1 to 4 credits and can pass 20; waterfall phone typically 8 to 25 and can pass 45. The dollar value of a credit: Not stated
Plans	$10 of credit for your first 30 days, no card. Pro $19, Scale $99 and Team $499 a month, all spent as credit at the same row rates. A yearly plan adds 20% more credit	Free, Basic, Professional and Custom. Dollar prices: Not stated. Yearly plans are paid upfront and committed for 12 months; monthly plans can be canceled anytime
Failed or empty work	Nothing. Duplicates, rows you already own and rows a page contradicts are not charged, and a run that finds nothing costs nothing	Not stated
Before a run	The most the run can cost, quoted before it starts. Nothing runs until you approve it, and there are no automatic overages	Not stated. Credits are granted each cycle and reset with no rollover. Add-on credits are charged at once and renew each cycle
Reruns	Hourly to yearly. Each row comes back labeled changed, unchanged or no longer matching. A changed or new row costs half its rate, an unchanged row 1¢	Not stated
API and delivery	MCP server, REST API, Python and TypeScript SDKs, a CLI and A2A. Rows go to Google Sheets, Excel, Airtable, Notion, monday.com, HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Attio, Slack, Teams, Zapier, Make, n8n and signed webhooks	API access stated on Custom plans only. Calls over the rate limit get a 429 reply

Why Apollo buyers move to SpecStream

A fixed price for every row

Apollo's API pricing puts a waterfall phone at 8 to 25 credits, and sometimes more than 45, and its pricing page does not say what a credit costs in dollars. SpecStream adds 15¢ for a phone and 5¢ for an email to a row rate of 5¢, 15¢ or $1. The rate is the same on every plan.

Before a run starts you see the most it can cost, and nothing runs until you approve it. Duplicates, rows you already own and rows a page contradicts are not charged.

Accounts that meet every condition

Your best accounts share a trait no filter lists. Describe it, and every account that has it reaches your CRM with its buying committee and a link to where the trait shows.

Write the request as you would brief an analyst, for example software companies in Germany with 50 to 500 employees that are hiring salespeople, with the job post and a contact email. SpecStream checks each condition on the live web and keeps the page where it read each value.

Rows that stay up to date

Set a request to rerun from hourly to yearly. Each row comes back labeled changed, unchanged or no longer matching. A changed or new row costs half its rate, and an unchanged row costs 1¢.

SpecStream also reads public databases every morning and tracks funding rounds, new executives and layoffs at specstream.ai/signals, so a new trigger at an account reaches you the day it shows.

How SpecStream scores

The same numbers as the benchmarks page, from the official tasks and scorers.

	SpecStream	Parallel	Exa	Tavily	Perplexity
Web researchWideSearch, GPT-5.6 Luna	60.9	45.5	53.0	47.9	47.0
Factual accuracySimpleQA Verified, GPT-5.6 Luna	96	94	91	94	94
Factual accuracySimpleQA Verified, GPT-5.6 Sol	99	97	91	92	95

WideSearch score against cost

Solid: GPT-5.6 Sol. Faded: GPT-5.6 Luna.

WideSearch score

SpecStream 60.9, $39.40

60.9$39.40

Parallel Turbo 44.0, $10.10

44.0$10.10

Parallel Fast 45.5, $10.50

45.5$10.50

Perplexity 47.0, $24.80

47.0$24.80

Tavily 47.9, $107

47.9$107

Exa Auto 53.0, $41.20

53.0$41.20

Perplexity 53.5, $547

53.5$547

Parallel Basic 55.3, $965

55.3$965

Exa Auto 55.9, $1,061

55.9$1,061

Tavily 55.9, $1,072

55.9$1,072

Parallel Advanced 57.6, $692

57.6$692

$10$100$1,000

Cost per 1,000 tasks, log scale

How to switch from Apollo

Export your Apollo list and import it, up to 20,000 rows, and SpecStream fills in or checks each row and shows where it read each value. Or write the accounts you want in plain words. Sign up and you get $10 of credit for your first 30 days, no card. At 5¢ a row, that is up to 200 rows.

Or send the request from code. This call spends nothing: the 402 reply shows how SpecStream read the request, the columns and the most it can cost.

curl -i https://api.specstream.ai/v1/agent/lists \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"request": "Software companies in Germany with 50 to 500 employees that are hiring salespeople. Include the job post and contact email.", "count": 25}'

Describe your data

Frequently asked questions

Something we didn't answer? Talk to a human

Is SpecStream cheaper than Apollo?

Apollo sells what its database holds, by credits whose dollar value its pricing page does not state, and through its API a person with a mobile number costs 9 of them. SpecStream checks each account against your conditions, shows where it read each value and bills only rows delivered, under a maximum you approve: 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row, plus 5¢ for an email and 15¢ for a phone.

Do I need a yearly contract?

No. New accounts start with $10 of credit for 30 days and no card, and plans run by the month from Pro at $19. Apollo's yearly plans are paid upfront and committed for 12 months, and its downgrades take effect at once with no refund.

Can SpecStream enrich my Apollo export?

Yes. Import a CSV of up to 20,000 rows for free. SpecStream matches each row to one identity, shows any namesakes beside it, and fills in or checks the row. A row that matches pays its rate, and a row that does not costs 5¢.

How accurate is SpecStream?

SpecStream leads two public benchmarks: WideSearch, at 60.9 on the low-cost model, where the best other API scores 57.6 even on the larger model, and SimpleQA Verified, at 99. The scores and their sources are on benchmarks. Every value in a row carries the source URL and the time it was read.

What else does a SpecStream account include?

The same account runs the Search API at $5 per 1,000 searches and the Extract API at $0.80 per 1,000 pages, where a page with no text is not charged. Your agent can use all of it through the MCP server at https://api.specstream.ai/mcp.

Sources

SpecStream wrote this page. Each rival figure comes from that company's own page.

SpecStream pricingspecstream.ai/pricing, read Nov 8, 2026
SpecStream for agentsspecstream.ai/agents.md, read Nov 8, 2026
SpecStream benchmarksspecstream.ai/benchmarks, read Nov 8, 2026
Apollo pricingapollo.io/pricing, read Nov 8, 2026
Apollo API pricingdocs.apollo.io/docs/api-pricing, read Nov 8, 2026