Comparison · QD vs Apollo
Apollo finds contacts. We verify them before you pay for the bounce.
Apollo is a database you export from. We are a research firm you brief. This page sets the two side by side on accuracy, method, bounce policy and price, with a source and a date on every figure.
- 92%+
- Deliverability target
- Stated guarantee · 2026
- 750
- Verified leads, Pilot
- 250 companies · 3 contacts each · 2026
- 5–7d
- Turnaround
- From a confirmed brief · 2026
Accuracy
What each figure is, and what backs it.
| Measure | Apollo.io | Qualified Deals |
|---|---|---|
| Email accuracy | Apollo publishes a 98% email accuracy rate, produced by its own verification logic. No bounce policy accompanies the figure.apollo.io/product/b2b-data · checked 17 Aug 2026 | We target 92%+ deliverability and back it: above an 8% hard-bounce rate we replace every bounced record free.Stated guarantee · 2026 |
| Verification method | A seven-step automated process — dataset checks, catch-all handling, real-time verification, bounce prediction and cleaning. No human step is described.apollo.io/product/b2b-data · checked 17 Aug 2026 | Every contact is cross-checked by a person against LinkedIn and the company website before delivery, and the date of that check is recorded on the row.Delivery SOP stages 1–5 · 2026 |
| Bounce policy | None stated on Apollo’s published data or pricing pages.apollo.io/product/b2b-data · checked 17 Aug 2026 | Seven-day bounce replacement. Report above 8% inside the window and every bounced record is replaced, re-verified, within 5 working days.Stated guarantee · 2026 |
The two figures measure different things. Apollo’s is an accuracy rate for records held in its database. Ours is a deliverability target for the file we hand you, with a replacement clause attached to it. Compare what backs each number, not only the number.
Apollo’s figure is Apollo’s own published claim, restated here and not tested by us. We publish no independent measurement of a competitor’s data, because we have not run one.
For a third reference point, the industry benchmark for email deliverability is 87.2% average inbox placement — Validity, 2026 Email Deliverability Benchmark Report.
How we verify
Brief, Source, Verify, QA and deliver.
| Stage | What happens | Artifact produced |
|---|---|---|
| 01Brief | A 30-minute Project Brief call with a senior analyst — not an SDR — to scope the ICP, territory, titles, volume and timeline. Ten fields, all required before research begins. If the brief shows we are not a fit, we say so before any work starts. | The signed research brief |
| 02Source | Analysts map the territory across twenty-plus sources — ZoomInfo, Apollo, Clay, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Cognism, Lusha, Crunchbase, PitchBook and company websites — triangulated rather than exported. Accounts outside the brief are dropped here. | The raw master source sheet |
| 03Verify | Every contact is cross-checked by a person against LinkedIn and the company website: current role confirmed, employer matched, email format validated. The date of that check is recorded on the row. SMTP-only verification is the floor, not the ceiling. | The LinkedIn cross-check log |
| 04QA and deliver | A 10% spot-check by a second person, with zero QA failures permitted — anything that fails goes back to the analyst. Records that cannot be confirmed are removed, not shipped as Pending. Then a CRM-ready XLSX and CSV with a count summary. | The QA spot-check sheet |
What you receive
One workbook, four sheets, and a CSV that imports cleanly.
Delivered as QD_[Client]_[Package]_[YYYYMMDD].xlsx with a matching UTF-8 CSV for direct CRM import. Phone columns are formatted as text, so long numbers do not arrive as scientific notation.
1 · Read Me
Client, package, ICP summary, delivery date, record counts, the verification method, and the guarantee stated verbatim.
2 · Verified Leads
One row per person. Company, contact, exact title, LinkedIn URL, verified email, confirmation date, status.
3 · Companies
One row per company. Domain, employee band, HQ country, sector, and the accounts we excluded.
4 · Method
Sources used, the verification steps applied, the exclusions, and the QA sample size.
| Company | Contact | Title | Confirmed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N•••••• Systems | D. R••••• | VP Engineering | 2026-07-28 | Verified |
| C•••••• Labs | R. M••••• | Head of Infrastructure | 2026-07-29 | Verified |
| A••••••• Digital | S. T••••• | Director, Service Delivery | 2026-07-29 | Verified |
| V•••••• Cloud | J. P••••• | Chief Technology Officer | 2026-07-30 | Verified |
If you already use Apollo
Three things buyers say first.
We already use Apollo.
So do we, as one source
Apollo is one of several places we start. The difference is that we don’t stop there — every contact is cross-checked against LinkedIn and the company website before it leaves our hands.
Isn’t manual slower?
The days are the feature
5–7 days is the feature, not the wait. Apollo returns records instantly; ours are the ones left after the ones that would have bounced are removed.
Why not just filter inside Apollo?
Filtering is not checking
Filtering narrows Apollo’s existing records. It doesn’t check whether the person named still holds the job — that is the missing step, not the volume.
Cost
A seat you rent, against a project you commission.
Apollo’s range is the published per-user annual list price recorded in Master Business Document §P.2 on 13 August 2026. It is a floor: a contract with add-ons or extra seats usually lands above it. Both rows exclude tax.
Figures outside USD are converted at the mid-market rates recorded for 16 August 2026. Our own prices are unchanged from the pricing page.
FAQ
What buyers ask when Apollo is already in the stack.
Does Qualified Deals use Apollo’s data?
Yes, as one of twenty-plus sources — alongside ZoomInfo, Clay, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Cognism, Lusha, Crunchbase, PitchBook and company websites. Sources are triangulated rather than exported. What separates the file you receive is what happens after that: a researcher confirms every contact against LinkedIn and the company website, and the record is removed if it cannot be confirmed.
How is the 92%+ figure guaranteed rather than just claimed?
Because a replacement clause is attached to it. Your delivery is covered for 7 days. If your campaign records a hard-bounce rate above 8% — the rate a 92%+ target implies — send the bounce report from your sending tool inside that window and we replace every bounced record, re-verified, at no charge, within 5 working days. A published accuracy rate with no policy behind it costs the vendor nothing when it is wrong.
What happens if a lead bounces after delivery?
Send us the bounce report within the 7-day cover window. Above 8% hard bounce we replace every bounced record free, re-verified, within 5 working days, and replacements come from the same company as the original record rather than a different account. One replacement cycle per delivery, up to the full volume you bought. Soft bounces, out-of-office replies and spam-filter blocks are sending problems rather than data problems — we help you read those rather than replace against them.
We already have an Apollo seat — does the Pilot replace it or run alongside it?
Alongside. Keep the seat for discovery, sequencing and the parts of the platform your team already runs. The Pilot is 750 verified records built against one brief, delivered as a file you can import. Most clients run both and compare the bounce rates on the same send.
What markets does verification cover?
We research primarily into the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East. Verification is the same method in every market: LinkedIn and the company website, checked by a person, dated on the row. The research team is in Kochi, India, and the analysts are named on the About page.
Related comparisons
Weighing more than one of these.
- An enterprise contract
- Both of us put people on the problem — theirs on the database, ours on your file. Accuracy, where each one’s researchers work, coverage and what a contract runs to.
- Strong where they say it is
- Cognism calls itself EMEA-centric, and it is one of the sources we buy from. What each side checks, how far the scope reaches, and what a package is estimated to run to.
Book a project brief
Run a Pilot alongside your Apollo seat. Compare the bounce rates on the same send.
A senior researcher reads every brief and replies from a named address.