Clickback vs Hunter: They're Not Competitors (Here's What You Actually Need)
Clickback and Hunter both touch email, but comparing them is like comparing a fishing rod to a frying pan - both involve fish, completely different jobs. Clickback sends cold emails to purchased B2B lists with deliverability protections so you don't torch your sender reputation. Hunter finds email addresses for people you already know by name or company.
On G2, Clickback sits under Sales Engagement alongside tools like Outreach and Salesloft. Hunter is an email finder and verifier. Let's break down what each costs, what it does well, and whether you need one, both, or neither.
30-Second Verdict
Use Clickback if you have a purchased B2B list and need to send cold campaigns without destroying your sender reputation. Starts at $300/mo with a 12-month commitment.
Use Hunter if you need to find email addresses for prospects you've identified by name or company. Free tier available, paid plans from $49/mo.
What Each Tool Does
Clickback: Cold List Sending
Your marketing team just got your Mailchimp account suspended for uploading a purchased list. Now what?
That's Clickback's origin story. The platform is built for emailing purchased or cold B2B contacts - a use case that [Mailchimp](https://mailchimp.com/legal/acceptable_use/), [Constant Contact](https://knowledgebase.constantcontact.com/lead-gen-crm/articles/KnowledgeBase/50363-Understanding-Purchased-Email-Recipient-Lists-and-Email-Verification-Services?lang=en_US), Brevo, [AWeber](https://docs.aweber.com/subscriber-management/subscribers/can-i-import-and-use-purchased-leads), and [GetResponse](https://www.getresponse.com/legal/antispam-us) all explicitly ban. It runs your list through 287+ deliverability variables on import, stripping spam traps, honeypots, and invalid addresses before a single email goes out. Campaigns are gated for CAN-SPAM, [CASL](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/canada-anti-spam-legislation/en/canadas-anti-spam-legislation, and GDPR compliance](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/direct-marketing-and-privacy-and-electronic-communications/sending-direct-marketing-choosing-your-lawful-basis/), and everything sends from Clickback's designated IPs so your own infrastructure stays clean.
On Capterra, it holds a 4.6/5 from 11 reviews, with customer service scoring 4.8/5. One reviewer called the UI "terrible" (2020 Capterra review), and multi-campaign management remains clunky - a frustration we've heard echoed in sales communities. G2 gives it 4.4/5 from 13 reviews.
Hunter: Email Finder and Verifier
Hunter does one thing well: it finds professional email addresses. Give it a name and company domain, and it returns the most likely email. Domain search, email finder, a Chrome extension, and a verification API serve 6M+ users.
The credit-based model is straightforward - verification costs just 0.5 credits, making it cheap to clean lists. Hunter accuracy sits around 85-90%, so you'll want a dedicated verification step for high-stakes outreach (see our breakdown of email verification options). One Reddit user documented using Hunter's API with Zapier to prospect 50,000 companies, which is a common power-user workflow. The free tier gives you 50 credits per month - generous enough to test before committing.
Hunter finds emails at ~85-90% accuracy. Clickback cleans lists on import. But neither solves stale data. Prospeo's 300M+ profiles refresh every 7 days with 98% email accuracy - so whether you're feeding Hunter or loading Clickback, your data is already clean.
Start with 75 free verified emails. No contracts, no demo required.
Pricing Compared
| Detail | Clickback | Hunter |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Cold list sending | Email finder/verifier |
| Free tier | None | 50 credits/mo |
| Starter | $300/mo | $49/mo ($34 annual) |
| Mid-tier | $400/mo | $149/mo ($104 annual) |
| Top tier | $600/mo | $299/mo ($209 annual) |
| Model | Volume (clean + send) | Credits per action |
| Contract | 12-month lock-in | Month-to-month |
| Best for | Sending to purchased lists | Finding email addresses |
G2's listing shows Clickback's Starter at $280/mo and Essential at $380/mo, while the official pricing page lists $300 and $400 - minor discrepancy, but worth noting if you're budgeting tightly.
Hunter's annual billing knocks 30% off. Starter drops to $34/mo billed yearly versus $49 monthly.
Here's the thing: Clickback's 12-month agreement means you're committing up front. If you need to evaluate it first, book a demo and get clarity on onboarding and any trial options before you sign.
When to Use Each Tool
Scenario 1 - Clickback: You bought a B2B list, your ESP banned you for uploading it, and you need dedicated sending infrastructure. Clickback is one of the few platforms built for exactly this (and if you're trying to avoid getting flagged, see the best way to send bulk email without getting blacklisted).
Scenario 2 - Hunter: You know your target companies and people but don't have their email addresses. Hunter finds and verifies them so you can build your own list (more options in our Hunter alternatives guide).
Scenario 3 - Both: Hunter finds the emails, you verify them, then Clickback sends the cold campaigns on its protected infrastructure. We've seen this pairing work well for teams running purchased-list outreach at scale - Hunter handles discovery, Clickback handles the risky sending.
But the quality of your contact data determines whether either tool actually works. Bad data in means wasted Clickback sends and burned Hunter credits.
Look, most teams agonizing over this decision are solving the wrong problem. If your contact data is stale or inaccurate, no sending platform or email finder will save you. Fix the data first (start with data enrichment services). The tooling choice becomes obvious after that.
The Missing Piece: Data Quality
Neither Clickback nor Hunter solves the upstream problem - getting accurate, fresh contact data. In our experience, this is where campaigns actually break down, long before anyone picks a sending tool (especially if you’re not tracking email bounce rate and deliverability signals).
Prospeo covers 300M+ professional profiles with 98% email accuracy and refreshes data every 7 days, compared to the 6-week industry average. That means you're not sending to contacts who changed jobs two months ago. The free tier gives you 75 emails and 100 Chrome extension credits per month with no contracts, and paid plans run roughly $0.01 per email. Whether you're feeding data into Hunter for verification or loading lists into Clickback for cold sends, starting with clean data keeps bounce rates low and your domain safe (more on email deliverability fundamentals).
Clickback costs $300/mo with a 12-month lock-in. Hunter charges $49/mo for credits. Prospeo gives you verified emails at $0.01 each with no contract - and the data is fresh enough that you won't burn credits or sends on dead addresses.
Stop paying to send emails that bounce. Fix the data first.
FAQ
Can I use Hunter to send emails to a purchased list?
No. Hunter is an email finding and verification tool, not a sending platform. Emailing a purchased list requires dedicated sending infrastructure with deliverability controls - that's what Clickback is built for. Using the wrong sending setup risks your domain reputation.
Is Clickback worth $300/month?
Only if you're regularly emailing purchased lists at volume. Clickback's Starter includes 25,000 total emails per month (cleaned + sent). For smaller teams building their own prospect data, the 12-month commitment at that price floor is hard to justify.
What if I need both email finding and cold sending?
Use a data platform to find and verify contacts first, then send through your preferred outreach tool. Whether that's Clickback for purchased lists or another platform for self-built lists, starting with clean, verified data keeps bounce rates under control and your domain safe.