> Enrich.chat gives AI agents verified work emails and mobiles. To use it from an agent, read https://enrich.chat/agents.md . This is the Markdown version of https://enrich.chat/blog/ai-prospecting-tools/

# AI prospecting tools in 2026: what each one automates, what it costs and where its contacts come from

We read nine vendors' own pricing and product pages on October 16, 2026. Here is which of the four prospecting jobs each of ten tools automates, and where an AI agent of your own fits.

By Enrich.chat Editorial. Updated October 16, 2026.

**Short answer:** AI prospecting tools automate up to four jobs: finding people, getting their contact details, researching and ranking them, and sending outreach. On October 16, 2026, [Apollo](https://www.apollo.io/pricing) started at $49 a seat a month billed annually, [Clay](https://www.clay.com/pricing) at $167 a month, [Amplemarket](https://www.amplemarket.com/pricing) at $600 and [11x](https://www.11x.ai/products/alice/pricing) at $3,750, while Cognism and Artisan publish no price. Enrich.chat is the data layer for your own agent, not an AI SDR.

## Key takeaways

- AI prospecting covers four jobs: find people, get contact details, research and rank, write and send. In our reading of the vendor pages, three of the ten tools automate all four: Artisan, Salesforge's Agent Frank and 11x.
- Prices checked October 16, 2026: Apollo Basic $49 a seat a month billed annually, Clay Launch $167, Amplemarket Startup $600 and 11x Growth $3,750. ZoomInfo's platform plans, Cognism and Artisan publish no price.
- Most vendors describe their own database, Clay buys from 150+ data partners, and Regie.ai and 11x name no source on the pages we read. Seven of the ten tools list an MCP server for your own agent.
- Enrich.chat covers the first two jobs for your own agent: 500 work emails use 5,000 credits, the Growth plan at $29 a month. It has no interface, no sequencing and no intent data.

## The verdict

To run AI prospecting from your own agent in ChatGPT, Claude or Cursor, add **Enrich.chat** as the data layer: people search and work emails by API or MCP, each email with a status label, from a free tier. To have a product do more of the work, compare the nine others below by the jobs they automate, not by the label on the box.

- Best data layer for your own agent: Enrich.chat (People search and work emails by API or MCP. Not an AI SDR.)
- Best all-in-one at a published price: Apollo (Data, an AI Assistant, sequences and a dialer from $49 a seat, billed annually)
- Best for custom research workflows: Clay (A research agent and 150+ data partners, from $167 a month billed annually)
- Best for a managed AI SDR: 11x (From $3,750 a month billed annually, with contact data bundled)

## AI prospecting tools at a glance

|  | Enrich.chat | Apollo | ZoomInfo | Clay | Cognism | Amplemarket | Artisan | Regie.ai | Salesforge | 11x |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Starting price | Free, then $29 a month | Free, then $49 a seat, yearly | GTM AI top-ups from $20; platform quoted | Free, then $167 a month, yearly | Not published | $600 a month, annual term | Not published | Free, then $49 a month | Agent Frank $499 a month, yearly | $3,750 a month, yearly |
| Free start | Yes: 10 lookups a day, no signup | Yes: 900 credits a seat a year | Yes: 1,000 data and 1,000 AI credits, once | Yes: free plan | No: talk to sales | Partial: free trial | No: talk to sales | Yes: 250 credits, no card | Partial: 14-day trial on Growth | No: talk to sales |
| No annual contract required | Yes | Yes: monthly billing option | Partial: GTM AI has no contract | Yes: monthly billing option | Not stated | No: annual term | Not stated | Yes: monthly billing option | Partial: monthly plans, Frank yearly | No: billed annually |
| Runs outreach for you | No: data only, no sending | Partial: AI drafts, you send | Partial: Copilot drafts emails | Partial: sends email | No: none listed | Partial: Duo drafts for a rep | Yes: Ava emails, replies, books | Partial: agents draft and follow up | Yes: Agent Frank, autopilot or copilot | Yes: Alice sends |
| MCP or API for your own agent | Yes: MCP and API, no key to start | Yes: MCP and API | Yes: MCP, API and CLI | Yes: MCP | Yes: MCP and API listed | Yes: MCP listed | Not stated | Not stated | Yes: MCP, CLI and API on Growth | Partial: API on Enterprise |
| Mobile numbers | Yes: 250 credits each | Yes: 8 credits each | Partial: top tier only | Yes: from Launch | Yes | Yes: phone credits | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |

## The 10 options, from data layer to AI SDR

Enrich.chat is first because it is the data layer your own agent calls, not a prospecting product. The nine others follow, from data and AI workspaces to AI SDRs. The order is not a quality ranking. Prices come from each vendor's own site, checked October 16, 2026.

### Enrich.chat

Contact and company data for your own AI agent. Your agent calls a plain HTTPS API or a keyless MCP server to find people from a plain-English description, then looks up work emails and mobiles, each with a status label.

- Best for: Teams that run their own agent in ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor or n8n and need prospects and contact details, not an AI SDR
- Pricing: Plans from $29 a month for 100,000 credits: 10 credits per work email, 250 per mobile, 5 per person or company profile
- Strength: Credits are used only when a lookup finds something: nothing found is 0 credits
- Strength: One prompt or a keyless MCP server, and the free tier needs no account
- Strength: Every work email comes back with a status label: verified, catch_all or unknown
- Strength: Unlimited seats, billed monthly, no annual contract
- Watch out for: Not an AI SDR: no sequencing, dialer or sending, and no interface or saved lists
- Watch out for: No intent, funding or traffic signals, and a company must be a website, not a name

### Apollo

A sales platform with a contact database, an AI Assistant that builds lists and sequences, a dialer, and an MCP server.

- Best for: Small teams that want data, AI help and sequences in one seat at published prices
- Pricing: Free; Basic $49, Professional $79 and Organization $119 per seat a month, billed annually. Basic includes 30,000 credits per seat a year ([Apollo pricing](https://www.apollo.io/pricing), Oct 16, 2026)
- Strength: Published prices, a free plan, and an AI Assistant that is free on paid plans as an introductory offer
- Strength: An MCP server and API access, so your own agent can call it
- Strength: Charges credits only for emails Apollo can verify, per its credits page
- Watch out for: Some actions the AI Assistant runs, such as enrichment, still use credits
- Watch out for: Unused credits expire at the end of each billing cycle, and the MCP server needs an Apollo account

### ZoomInfo

Two routes: GTM AI sells data and AI credits for agents over API, MCP and CLI with no contract, and Copilot is a quoted sales workspace that prioritises accounts, drafts outreach and sequences.

- Best for: Enterprise teams that want ZoomInfo data and signals, or builders who want a self-serve credit meter
- Pricing: GTM AI: 1,000 data and 1,000 AI credits free, top-ups from $20, a data credit $0.38 at the 5,000-credit setting and an AI credit $0.05. Copilot and other platform plans have no listed price ([GTM AI pricing](https://gtm.ai/pricing) and [ZoomInfo pricing](https://www.zoominfo.com/pricing), Oct 16, 2026)
- Strength: Search, lookup and find similar are free on GTM AI
- Strength: MCP, API and CLI access on the free start, and credits do not expire while the account is active, per its pricing page
- Strength: Copilot lists account prioritisation, email drafting and sequencing in one workspace
- Watch out for: Copilot and the other platform plans publish no price
- Watch out for: Mobile phone data is listed under Enterprise packages, and MCP uses your own ZoomInfo login

### Clay

A table where each row is enriched across data partners and researched by Claygent, an AI research agent, with an email sequencer and an MCP server.

- Best for: Growth and ops teams that want to build custom prospecting workflows
- Pricing: Free; Launch from $167 a month billed annually ($185 monthly) with 2,500 data credits and 15,000 Actions a month; Growth from $446 ($495 monthly) ([Clay pricing](https://www.clay.com/pricing), Oct 16, 2026)
- Strength: Multi-provider waterfalls and Claygent research in one table
- Strength: No data credits or Actions are charged when an enrichment returns nothing
- Strength: Its MCP page lists Claude, ChatGPT and Codex
- Watch out for: Two meters, data credits and Actions, plus AI model credits, make the monthly cost hard to forecast
- Watch out for: Phone enrichment and signals start on Launch, and the free plan has no phone enrichment

### Cognism

A sales intelligence platform with AI Search, AI company research and an AI persona builder over its contacts, signals and a browser extension.

- Best for: Teams that want a sales intelligence platform with mobiles and signals and are happy to buy by quote
- Pricing: Not published. Standard and Pro each include 5 seats and route to a quote ([Cognism pricing](https://www.cognism.com/pricing), Oct 16, 2026)
- Strength: Lists AI Search, AI company research, MCP and API access on Standard
- Strength: One credit per revealed contact, shared across the platform, CRM enrichment and API
- Strength: Pro adds a premium mobile filter, on-demand mobile verification and intent data
- Watch out for: No price on any package, so cost is unknown until a sales call
- Watch out for: Intent data and on-demand mobile verification are on Pro only

### Amplemarket

A sales platform with a B2B database, signals and Duo, AI agents that scan for buying signals, research prospects and draft multichannel sequences.

- Best for: Teams that want AI to prepare outreach and a rep to approve it
- Pricing: Startup $600 a month on an annual term with 2 users. Growth and Elite are custom ([Amplemarket pricing](https://www.amplemarket.com/pricing), Oct 16, 2026)
- Strength: Duo scans for buying signals daily and drafts multichannel sequences ([Duo page](https://www.amplemarket.com/duo))
- Strength: Lists an MCP connector for Claude and ChatGPT ([MCP post](https://www.amplemarket.com/mcp))
- Strength: Includes sequences and email validation
- Watch out for: Startup needs an annual term, and Growth and Elite prices are not published
- Watch out for: Credits are set per user per year, so a small team gets a small pool

### Artisan

Ava, an AI BDR that finds leads, enriches them, sends personalised outreach, handles replies and books meetings, with a built-in contact database.

- Best for: Teams that want a managed AI BDR and are fine asking for a quote
- Pricing: Not published. Team (about 2,500 leads contacted a month), Scale (about 6,000) and Enterprise all route to sales ([Artisan pricing](https://www.artisan.co/pricing), Oct 16, 2026)
- Strength: Approve before sending, lock tone and calls to action, and set banned phrases
- Strength: Two-way Salesforce and HubSpot sync, per its pricing page
- Strength: Every plan includes the full platform
- Watch out for: No price on any plan, so you cannot compare cost before a sales call
- Watch out for: Ava sends in your reps' names from your own domains, so a bad list costs you sender reputation

### Regie.ai

RegieGO, an agentic sales workspace with built-in enrichment, emailing, dialing and workflows. You prompt agents to source, rank, write and follow up.

- Best for: Founders and small teams that want a self-serve start
- Pricing: Free; Pro $49 a month ($41 billed annually) for one person; Team $150 per seat a month ($125 annually), two seats minimum ([Regie.ai pricing](https://www.regie.ai/pricing), Oct 16, 2026)
- Strength: Self-serve plans with monthly and annual billing
- Strength: Sends from your own Gmail or Outlook, with a power dialer on Pro
- Strength: Credits pool across a team on the Team plan
- Watch out for: Does not say where contact data comes from
- Watch out for: Approval controls and MCP or API access are not described on its pricing page

### Salesforge

A cold email platform with Agent Frank, an AI SDR that researches each prospect and runs outreach on autopilot or copilot, and Leadsforge, a separate lead search product.

- Best for: Teams that want a sender and an AI SDR from one vendor stack
- Pricing: Pro $40 and Growth $80 a month billed annually; Agent Frank $499 a month billed annually; Leadsforge Essential $49 a month for 2,000 credits ([Salesforge pricing](https://www.salesforge.ai/pricing) and [Leadsforge pricing](https://www.leadsforge.ai/pricing), Oct 16, 2026)
- Strength: Growth lists Salesforge MCP, CLI and API access
- Strength: Agent Frank has autopilot and copilot modes
- Strength: Leadsforge searching costs nothing; credits go to enriched results
- Watch out for: Agent Frank is available only after a demo
- Watch out for: Mailboxes and domains are priced separately in the Forge stack

### 11x

Alice, an AI SDR for outbound, sold as a managed platform with contact data, managed mailboxes and CRM sync bundled into the price.

- Best for: Teams that want outbound run for them and can sign a yearly contract
- Pricing: Growth from $3,750 a month billed annually: up to 5 users and 2,000 new prospects a month. Pro and Enterprise are custom ([11x pricing](https://www.11x.ai/products/alice/pricing), Oct 16, 2026)
- Strength: Priced per lead, not per send, and the entry price is published
- Strength: Includes managed mailboxes, warmup, rotation, bounce suppression and two-way CRM sync
- Strength: Lists multi-language outreach on Pro
- Watch out for: Annual billing is the default, and Growth works out to about $45,000 a year
- Watch out for: The page shows $3,750 a month while its FAQ says $36,000 a year, so confirm the price in writing

## What do AI prospecting tools actually automate?

AI prospecting tools automate up to four jobs: finding people who fit your buyer, getting their contact details, researching and ranking them, and writing and sending outreach. Most tools cover two or three of the four. Figure 1 shows which jobs each of ten tools describes on its own pages.

The ten tools fall into three kinds. A **data layer**, such as Enrich.chat, finds people and returns contact details to an agent you run yourself. A **data and AI workspace**, such as [Apollo](https://www.apollo.io/ai/assistant), [ZoomInfo](https://www.zoominfo.com/products/copilot), [Clay](https://www.clay.com/pricing), [Cognism](https://www.cognism.com/pricing) and [Amplemarket](https://www.amplemarket.com/duo), adds research and drafting and usually leaves the sending to a rep. An **AI SDR**, such as [Artisan](https://www.artisan.co), [Regie.ai](https://www.regie.ai), Salesforge's [Agent Frank](https://www.salesforge.ai/agent-frank) and [11x](https://www.11x.ai/products/alice/pricing), runs outreach as well. Our guide to the [best AI SDR tools](https://enrich.chat/blog/best-ai-sdr-tools/) goes deeper on the third kind, and [AI sales agents](https://enrich.chat/blog/ai-sales-agents/) covers the evidence.

**Figure 1: Which of four prospecting jobs each tool automates.** A grid of ten AI prospecting tools against four jobs: find people, get contact details, research and rank, and write and send. Enrich.chat automates finding people and getting contact details, does part of research with company profiles, and does no sending. Apollo, ZoomInfo, Clay, Cognism and Amplemarket automate the first three jobs, and all but Cognism help with writing and sending while a rep runs it. Artisan, Salesforge Agent Frank and 11x automate all four jobs, and Regie.ai automates the first three and part of the fourth.

*Which of the four prospecting jobs each tool describes on its own pages. This is an editorial reading of the pages listed in Sources, such as [Apollo's AI Assistant](https://www.apollo.io/ai/assistant), [ZoomInfo's Copilot](https://www.zoominfo.com/products/copilot), [Amplemarket's Duo](https://www.amplemarket.com/duo) and [Salesforge](https://www.salesforge.ai/agent-frank), checked October 16, 2026, not a test of any product.*

Most pages that rank for this query are written by vendors. The lists from [Artisan](https://www.artisan.co/blog/ai-for-sales-prospecting), [Salesforge](https://www.salesforge.ai/blog/ai-prospecting-tools), [Regie.ai](https://www.regie.ai/blog/5-ai-tools-for-prospecting-compare-features-and-suitability) and [1mind](https://www.1mind.com/blog-articles/best-ai-sales-prospecting-tools) each put their own product first, and the Artisan, Regie.ai and 1mind lists give no prices. This page is also written by a vendor, and Enrich.chat is the first pick, so check each claim against the linked vendor page.

## How much do AI prospecting tools cost in 2026?

Published entry prices run from free plans to $3,750 a month on a yearly contract, and ZoomInfo's platform plans, Cognism and Artisan publish no price at all. The table shows each vendor's own page, checked October 16, 2026. The units differ, so read the second and third columns together.

| Tool | Published price | What the price buys | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Apollo](https://www.apollo.io/pricing) | Free; Basic $49, Professional $79, Organization $119 per seat a month, billed annually | A seat plus credits: Basic includes 30,000 a seat a year. An email costs 1 credit and a phone number 8 | The AI Assistant is free on paid plans as an introductory offer. Unused credits expire each billing cycle |
| [ZoomInfo GTM AI](https://gtm.ai/pricing) | 1,000 data and 1,000 AI credits free once; top-ups from $20 | A data credit is $0.38 at the 5,000-credit setting and an AI credit $0.05. Search and lookup are free | A limited 70% off first data purchase is shown. Copilot and other [platform plans](https://www.zoominfo.com/pricing) list no price |
| [Clay](https://www.clay.com/pricing) | Free; Launch $167 and Growth $446 a month billed annually ($185 and $495 monthly) | Data credits plus Actions. Launch includes 2,500 data credits and 15,000 Actions a month | No charge when an enrichment returns nothing. AI models cost extra data credits |
| [Cognism](https://www.cognism.com/pricing) | Not published | Standard and Pro, 5 seats each, 1 credit per revealed contact | Quote only. See our [Cognism pricing guide](https://enrich.chat/blog/cognism-pricing/) |
| [Amplemarket](https://www.amplemarket.com/pricing) | Startup $600 a month on an annual term | 2 users, Duo Copilot, 13,500 email and 600 phone credits per user a year | Growth and Elite are custom. Free trial on all plans |
| [Artisan](https://www.artisan.co/pricing) | Not published | Plans sized to leads contacted: about 2,500 (Team) or 6,000 (Scale) a month | All three plans route to sales |
| [Regie.ai](https://www.regie.ai/pricing) | Free; Pro $49 a month; Team $150 per seat a month | Credits for research, drafting, enrichment and dialing. Annual billing takes 17% off | Free is 250 one-time credits per person. Enrichment that finds nothing costs nothing |
| [Salesforge](https://www.salesforge.ai/pricing) | Pro $40 and Growth $80 a month billed annually; Agent Frank $499 a month billed annually | Pro and Growth are the sender. Agent Frank is the AI SDR | Agent Frank needs a demo. [Leadsforge](https://www.leadsforge.ai/pricing) lead search starts at $49 a month |
| [11x](https://www.11x.ai/products/alice/pricing) | Growth from $3,750 a month, billed annually | Up to 5 users and 2,000 new prospects a month, with mailboxes included | Its FAQ says $36,000 a year, so confirm in writing |
| Enrich.chat | 10 free lookups a day; plans $29, $90 and $299 a month | Credits: 10 per work email, 250 per mobile, 5 per profile | Billed monthly, unlimited seats. See [pricing](https://enrich.chat/pricing/) |

Figure 2 puts the entry prices on one scale. It is not a like-for-like chart, because the bars buy different things, from a data meter to a managed AI SDR.

**Figure 2: Monthly entry prices of AI prospecting tools.** A bar chart of published entry prices per month, billed annually unless noted, on a scale from 0 to 4,000 dollars. Enrich.chat Growth is $29, billed monthly. Regie.ai Pro is $41, Apollo Basic $49 per seat, Clay Launch $167, Salesforge Agent Frank $499, Amplemarket Startup $600 and 11x Alice Growth $3,750. Cognism, Artisan and ZoomInfo platform plans publish no price. The bars buy different things, so they are not like for like.

*Entry prices from each vendor's own page, checked October 16, 2026: [Regie.ai](https://www.regie.ai/pricing), [Apollo](https://www.apollo.io/pricing), [Clay](https://www.clay.com/pricing), [Salesforge](https://www.salesforge.ai/pricing), [Amplemarket](https://www.amplemarket.com/pricing), [11x](https://www.11x.ai/products/alice/pricing) and [Enrich.chat](https://enrich.chat/pricing/). Enrich.chat is billed monthly; the others are the yearly-billing rate shown on the page. The scale is linear, so the three lowest plans are barely visible.*

A small workload shows how the units work. Suppose you need a work email for 500 contacts in a month. [Apollo](https://www.apollo.io/pricing/about-credits) charges 1 credit per email, so that is 500 of the 30,000 credits a Basic seat gets for the year, on a seat that costs $49 a month billed annually. [GTM AI's pricing page](https://gtm.ai/pricing) prices 500 data credits at $215 in its own workflow example, before its limited 70% first-purchase offer. On Enrich.chat the same 500 emails use 5,000 credits and fit the Growth plan at $29 a month. These totals are our arithmetic from published prices. Apollo's seat also includes sequences and a dialer, and Enrich.chat sends nothing. For vendor detail, see our [Apollo](https://enrich.chat/blog/apollo-pricing/), [Clay](https://enrich.chat/blog/clay-pricing/), [ZoomInfo](https://enrich.chat/blog/zoominfo-pricing/) and [Cognism](https://enrich.chat/blog/cognism-pricing/) pricing guides.

## Where do AI prospecting tools get their contacts?

Most AI prospecting tools bundle a database, and each vendor describes it in its own words. Clay is the exception that resells data from a marketplace of partners. Table 2 shows what each vendor says, so you know what to ask before you buy. These are vendor claims, and we did not verify them.

| Tool | What the vendor says about its contacts | Agent access |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Apollo](https://www.apollo.io/pricing/about-credits) | Credits page: a proprietary data contributor network. MCP docs: 240M+ contacts. Credits are charged only for emails Apollo can verify | [MCP server](https://docs.apollo.io/docs/apollo-mcp) with OAuth, or an API key. Needs an Apollo account |
| [ZoomInfo](https://gtm.ai/pricing) | Its research team verifies every record, and it is not a web scrape. API docs cite 500M+ professionals | [MCP](https://gtm.ai/docs/mcp/getting-started), API and CLI. You sign in with your own ZoomInfo login |
| [Clay](https://www.clay.com/pricing) | Data credits buy from 150+ data partners (its [MCP page](https://www.clay.com/mcp) says 200+ providers) | MCP for Claude, ChatGPT and Codex. API access on Enterprise |
| [Cognism](https://www.cognism.com/our-data) | Fuses data points from press releases, company sites, news, earnings releases and public registries, and validates third-party sources | MCP and API access listed on Standard |
| [Amplemarket](https://www.amplemarket.com/pricing) | A built-in B2B database with email and phone credits per user | An [MCP connector](https://www.amplemarket.com/mcp) for Claude and ChatGPT, using your Amplemarket account |
| [Artisan](https://www.artisan.co) | Says Ava searches 250M+ verified B2B contacts and enriches from 22+ data sources | Not stated. Webhooks bring in your own data |
| [Regie.ai](https://www.regie.ai/pricing) | Built-in enrichment. Sources are not named | Not stated |
| [Salesforge](https://www.salesforge.ai/pricing) | Agent Frank prospects through Leadsforge, which says it gives access to 500M+ contacts | MCP, CLI and API on the Growth plan |
| [11x](https://www.11x.ai/products/alice/pricing) | Contact data is bundled in every plan. Sources are not named | API on Enterprise |
| Enrich.chat | Your agent calls the API or MCP server. Every work email returns a status label: verified, catch_all or unknown | MCP server and API. No key on the free tier |

A larger database is not a better one. People change jobs, so ask each vendor for a blind sample of contacts you already know. Our guides to [B2B data decay](https://enrich.chat/blog/b2b-data-decay/), [waterfall enrichment](https://enrich.chat/blog/waterfall-enrichment/) and [B2B data providers](https://enrich.chat/blog/best-b2b-data-providers/) explain how to run one. A model cannot fill the gap on its own. [A 2025 paper by Kalai and colleagues](https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.04664) argues that language models guess when they are unsure, and a guessed email looks just like a real one.

## Which AI prospecting tool should you pick?

Pick by the jobs you want handed over and by where your records live. Each line matches a situation to the tool whose own pages fit it.

- **You already run an agent and need contacts.** Enrich.chat returns people and work emails to ChatGPT, Claude or Cursor with no sign-in on the free tier. [Apollo](https://docs.apollo.io/docs/apollo-mcp), [ZoomInfo](https://gtm.ai/docs/mcp/getting-started) and [Clay](https://www.clay.com/mcp) also offer MCP, but each connects to your own account with that vendor.
- **You want data, AI help and sequences in one seat.** [Apollo](https://www.apollo.io/pricing) publishes prices from $49 a seat a month billed annually. Our [Apollo pricing guide](https://enrich.chat/blog/apollo-pricing/) has the detail.
- **You want custom research workflows.** [Clay](https://www.clay.com/pricing) pairs a table with a research agent and 150+ data partners, from $167 a month billed annually.
- **You want enterprise data and signals by quote.** [ZoomInfo](https://www.zoominfo.com/pricing) and [Cognism](https://www.cognism.com/pricing) sell by quote. ZoomInfo also has a self-serve credit meter in GTM AI.
- **You want AI to prepare outreach and a rep to approve it.** [Amplemarket's Duo](https://www.amplemarket.com/duo) drafts multichannel sequences for a rep to send.
- **You want a vendor to run outbound.** [Artisan](https://www.artisan.co/pricing), [11x](https://www.11x.ai/products/alice/pricing) and [Agent Frank](https://www.salesforge.ai/agent-frank) describe all four jobs as automated. Compare them in our [AI SDR guide](https://enrich.chat/blog/best-ai-sdr-tools/).
- **You want to start small and self-serve.** [Regie.ai](https://www.regie.ai/pricing) has a free plan with 250 one-time credits per person, and [Salesforge](https://www.salesforge.ai/pricing) has a Pro plan at $40 a month billed annually.

Do not buy several overlapping tools at once. Two data sources and two senders cost more than one of each, and they make it harder to tell what worked.

## What should you check before you buy an AI prospecting tool?

Check six things before you pay: the jobs, the contact source, the contract, the agent access, the approval step and the rules for your channel. Vendors publish their own results, so treat those as claims. For example, [Apollo](https://www.apollo.io/ai/assistant) says beta users of its AI Assistant were 36% more likely to book a meeting in the first 14 days, and ZoomInfo's GTM AI page shows its own benchmark against other tools. Neither is an independent study.

1. **Which of the four jobs are you paying for?** A tool that finds people but cannot send is not a defect. Paying for sending you will not use is.
2. **Where do contacts come from, and what does a miss cost?** [Clay](https://www.clay.com/pricing) and [Regie.ai](https://www.regie.ai/pricing) say an enrichment that finds nothing costs no credits, and [Apollo](https://www.apollo.io/pricing/about-credits) says it charges only for emails it can verify. Ask the vendors that do not say.
3. **What is the contract?** [Amplemarket](https://www.amplemarket.com/pricing) needs an annual term for its Startup plan, and [11x](https://www.11x.ai/products/alice/pricing) bills annually. Apollo, Clay and Regie.ai list monthly billing.
4. **Can your own agent call it?** Check whether MCP or API access is on the plan you can afford, and whether it needs a vendor login. [The MCP project's introduction](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/getting-started/intro) explains the standard.
5. **Is a person approving what goes out?** [Artisan](https://www.artisan.co/pricing) lets you approve before sending, and Amplemarket's Duo drafts for a rep. [Google](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/81126?hl=en) tells bulk senders to keep the spam rate below 0.10% and never reach 0.30%, and not to buy email addresses. Our guide to [how to build an AI SDR](https://enrich.chat/blog/how-to-build-an-ai-sdr/) shows a supervised pilot.
6. **Do the rules for your channel allow it?** Email, calls and texts each have rules, and you stay responsible when a tool sends for you. Our guide to [AI lead generation](https://enrich.chat/blog/ai-lead-generation/) covers CAN-SPAM, the TCPA, GDPR and the UK's PECR in short form. This is general information, not legal advice.

## How do you use Enrich.chat as the data layer for AI prospecting?

Give your agent a prompt that starts with "Use www.enrich.chat". It reads [enrich.chat/agents.md](https://enrich.chat/agents.md) and learns the endpoints and rules. You can also add the keyless MCP server at `enrich.chat/mcp`, with steps for each app on the [install page](https://enrich.chat/install/). The free tier needs no key. Two calls cover the first two prospecting jobs: `/v1/search` finds people from a plain-English description, and `/v1/person` returns a work email with a status label.

```text
Use www.enrich.chat to find 10 heads of operations at US logistics companies with 200 to 1,000 employees. Rank them from best to worst fit for a warehouse software vendor and say why in one line each. Then look up the work email for the top 3 and show the status of each. Put verified emails in a send list, put catch_all and unknown in a hold list, and say not found when nothing comes back. Do not write or send anything. Tell me the total credits_used.
```

Behind that prompt, your agent sends requests like the ones below. The response is illustrative and uses fictional people and an example.com address. Your agent does the ranking, which is the AI part. Enrich.chat returns the data.

```
# Step 1: find people (illustrative response, fictional people)
curl -G "https://enrich.chat/v1/search" \
  --data-urlencode "q=heads of operations at logistics companies" \
  --data-urlencode "country=United States" \
  --data-urlencode "employees_min=200" \
  --data-urlencode "employees_max=1000" \
  --data-urlencode "limit=3"

{
  "found": true,
  "count": 3,
  "people": [
    {"name": "Jane Doe", "title": "Head of Operations",
     "company": "Acme Logistics",
     "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-doe-ops"},
    {"name": "John Roe", "title": "Head of Supply Chain",
     "company": "Globex Freight",
     "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-roe-sc"},
    {"name": "Sam Sample", "title": "Head of Operations",
     "company": "Initech Cargo",
     "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-sample-ops"}
  ],
  "credits_used": 15,
  "free_lookups_remaining": 9
}

# Step 2: look up a work email for the best fit
curl -G "https://enrich.chat/v1/person" \
  --data-urlencode "linkedin_url=linkedin.com/in/jane-doe-ops" \
  --data-urlencode "fields=email"

{
  "found": true,
  "name": "Jane Doe",
  "title": "Head of Operations",
  "company": {"name": "Acme Logistics"},
  "work_email": {"value": "jane.doe@example.com", "status": "verified"},
  "credits_used": 10,
  "free_lookups_remaining": 8
}
```

**Figure 3: One prospecting run through Enrich.chat.** Three steps with illustrative fictional people. Step one searches for three people and uses 15 credits. Step two looks up one work email, which comes back verified and uses 10 credits. Step three happens in your own agent, which ranks, drafts and holds, outside Enrich.chat. The run uses 25 credits in total, or 2 of 10 free daily lookups on the free tier.

*An illustrative run of the loop above: a search for three people, then one work email. Credits follow the published rates of 5 per person returned by search and 10 per work email found, on the [pricing page](https://enrich.chat/pricing/). The people are fictional.*

The status is a label, not a delivery guarantee: `verified`, `catch_all` (the domain accepts every address, so the mailbox cannot be confirmed) or `unknown`. Treat every contact as a strong lead. A lookup that finds nothing returns `found: false` and uses 0 credits. The free [catch-all checker](https://enrich.chat/tools/catch-all-checker/) shows why a catch-all domain is risky.

Here is the credit maths. One search counts as one free lookup however many people it returns, so the free tier covers a search plus about nine email lookups a day. On a plan, each person from search uses 5 credits and each work email found uses 10. A pilot of 50 prospects with an email each uses 750 credits. A month of 2,000 prospects uses 30,000, which fits the Growth plan at $29 a month. A month of 10,000 uses 150,000, the Scale plan at $90. A mobile adds 250 credits. Every plan has unlimited seats and no annual contract. See [pricing](https://enrich.chat/pricing/) for each plan.

To go further, read the [people search API](https://enrich.chat/api/people-search/) and [person enrichment API](https://enrich.chat/api/person-enrichment/) pages, or try the free [lead list builder](https://enrich.chat/tools/lead-list-builder/), which runs one search at a time. Our guides to [AI agents for lead generation](https://enrich.chat/blog/ai-agent-for-lead-generation/), [Claude Code for sales](https://enrich.chat/blog/claude-code-for-sales/) and [AI email finders](https://enrich.chat/blog/ai-email-finder/) show the same loop in other setups.

## When is another AI prospecting tool the better choice than Enrich.chat?

Another tool is the better choice when you want a product to do more than return data. Enrich.chat is a data layer, not a prospecting product. It has no user interface, no saved lists or bulk export on self-serve plans, no sequencing, dialer or sending, and no Chrome extension. It has no intent, funding or traffic signals, so it cannot tell you who is in market. A person lookup takes a LinkedIn URL, a work email or a name plus a company website, and company names alone are not supported. One search returns up to 25 people, and your agent should pace requests at about one a second. SDKs are planned.

- **Choose Apollo** if you want a database, sequences and a dialer in one seat, with an AI Assistant to build the lists.
- **Choose ZoomInfo or Cognism** if you need signals and intent data by quote. Our guide to [intent data](https://enrich.chat/blog/intent-data/) explains what that buys.
- **Choose Clay** if you want a table with a research agent on every row and many data partners behind it.
- **Choose Amplemarket** if you want AI-drafted sequences that a rep approves, with signals built in.
- **Choose Artisan, 11x or Agent Frank** if you want a vendor to run outbound and you accept a quote or a yearly contract.
- **Choose Enrich.chat** if you already run an agent and need people and work emails as a tool call, with 10 free lookups a day first and plans from $29 a month.

You stay responsible for CAN-SPAM, TCPA and GDPR compliance in your outreach, and anyone can opt out of Enrich.chat at [enrich.chat/opt-out/](https://enrich.chat/opt-out/). This is general information, not legal advice.

## Frequently asked questions

### What are AI prospecting tools?

AI prospecting tools automate parts of finding and reaching buyers: finding people who fit your target, getting their contact details, researching and ranking them, and writing and sending outreach. Few cover all four. [Artisan](https://www.artisan.co/pricing), [11x](https://www.11x.ai/products/alice/pricing) and Salesforge's [Agent Frank](https://www.salesforge.ai/agent-frank) describe all four jobs in one product. Apollo, Clay and ZoomInfo cover the first three and leave most of the sending to you.

### What is the best AI prospecting tool?

It depends on how much you want automated. [Apollo](https://www.apollo.io/pricing) bundles data, an AI Assistant and sequences from $49 a seat a month billed annually. [Clay](https://www.clay.com/pricing) suits custom research workflows from $167 a month billed annually. 11x and Artisan run outbound for you at higher prices. If you already run your own agent, Enrich.chat supplies the contacts, with 10 free lookups a day. It is not an AI SDR.

### How much do AI prospecting tools cost?

On October 16, 2026, Apollo Basic was $49 a seat a month billed annually, Regie.ai Pro $49 a month, Clay Launch $167 a month billed annually, Salesforge's Agent Frank $499 a month billed annually, Amplemarket Startup $600 a month and 11x Growth $3,750 a month billed annually. ZoomInfo's platform plans, Cognism and Artisan publish no price. Enrich.chat plans start at $29 a month. See [pricing](https://enrich.chat/pricing/).

### Can ChatGPT or Claude do AI prospecting?

Yes for research, ranking and drafting, but not for contact details. A model cannot recall a real work email, so give it a data tool through [MCP](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/getting-started/intro) or an API. Apollo, ZoomInfo, Clay, Amplemarket and Enrich.chat each list an MCP server. Our guides cover [Claude for sales](https://enrich.chat/blog/claude-for-sales/) and [whether ChatGPT can find email addresses](https://enrich.chat/blog/can-chatgpt-find-email-addresses/).

### How do you find leads with AI?

Describe your buyer in plain English, search a contact source for matching people, look up a work email for the ones you keep, then review the list before anything is sent. With Enrich.chat, one prompt that starts with "Use www.enrich.chat" runs that loop through [people search](https://enrich.chat/api/people-search/) and the [person lookup](https://enrich.chat/api/person-enrichment/). Our guide to an [AI lead finder](https://enrich.chat/blog/ai-lead-finder/) walks through it.

### Where do AI prospecting tools get their contact data?

Most describe their own database. Apollo cites a data contributor network, Artisan says 250M+ verified contacts, and Cognism says it fuses public sources. Clay buys from 150+ data partners, and ZoomInfo says its research team verifies each record. Regie.ai and 11x do not name a source on the pages we read. These are vendor claims, so ask for a blind sample, as our [B2B data providers](https://enrich.chat/blog/best-b2b-data-providers/) guide suggests.

## Sources

1. [Apollo pricing plans](https://www.apollo.io/pricing)
2. [Apollo AI Assistant](https://www.apollo.io/ai/assistant)
3. [What are Apollo credits?](https://www.apollo.io/pricing/about-credits)
4. [Apollo MCP](https://docs.apollo.io/docs/apollo-mcp)
5. [GTM AI pricing](https://gtm.ai/pricing)
6. [ZoomInfo pricing and plans](https://www.zoominfo.com/pricing)
7. [ZoomInfo Copilot](https://www.zoominfo.com/products/copilot)
8. [ZoomInfo MCP quickstart](https://gtm.ai/docs/mcp/getting-started)
9. [Clay pricing](https://www.clay.com/pricing)
10. [Clay MCP](https://www.clay.com/mcp)
11. [Cognism pricing](https://www.cognism.com/pricing)
12. [Cognism data](https://www.cognism.com/our-data)
13. [Amplemarket pricing](https://www.amplemarket.com/pricing)
14. [Duo Copilot](https://www.amplemarket.com/duo)
15. [Run outbound in Claude and ChatGPT with Amplemarket](https://www.amplemarket.com/mcp)
16. [Artisan plans and pricing](https://www.artisan.co/pricing)
17. [Artisan: the AI BDR that runs in your stack](https://www.artisan.co)
18. [Regie.ai pricing](https://www.regie.ai/pricing)
19. [RegieGO, the agentic sales workspace](https://www.regie.ai)
20. [Salesforge pricing](https://www.salesforge.ai/pricing)
21. [Agent Frank](https://www.salesforge.ai/agent-frank)
22. [Leadsforge pricing](https://www.leadsforge.ai/pricing)
23. [11x Alice pricing](https://www.11x.ai/products/alice/pricing)
24. [How to use AI for sales prospecting](https://www.artisan.co/blog/ai-for-sales-prospecting)
25. [7 best AI prospecting tools](https://www.salesforge.ai/blog/ai-prospecting-tools)
26. [5 AI tools for prospecting](https://www.regie.ai/blog/5-ai-tools-for-prospecting-compare-features-and-suitability)
27. [The 7 best AI sales prospecting tools in 2026](https://www.1mind.com/blog-articles/best-ai-sales-prospecting-tools)
28. [AI for sales prospecting: use cases and strategies](https://www.cognism.com/blog/ai-sales-prospecting)
29. [Email sender guidelines](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/81126?hl=en)
30. [What is the Model Context Protocol (MCP)?](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/getting-started/intro)
31. [Why Language Models Hallucinate](https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.04664)

## Try this prompt

Build a ranked prospect list with a status on every email

```text
Use www.enrich.chat to find 10 heads of operations at US logistics companies with 200 to 1,000 employees. Rank them from best to worst fit for a warehouse software vendor and say why in one line each. Then look up the work email for the top 3 and show the status of each. Put verified emails in a send list, put catch_all and unknown in a hold list, and say not found when nothing comes back. Do not write or send anything. Tell me the total credits_used.
```

## Related

- [Best AI SDR tools (2026): prices, data and control](https://enrich.chat/blog/best-ai-sdr-tools/)
- [AI lead finder: what it can and cannot do](https://enrich.chat/blog/ai-lead-finder/)
- [Best MCP servers for sales: sign-in, cost and tools](https://enrich.chat/blog/best-mcp-servers-for-sales/)