Best Free B2B Databases in 2026 (Honest Comparison)
Fifty-plus tools promise a free B2B database with usable contact data. Most give you just enough to get hooked, then gate the useful stuff behind a paywall. The real question isn't "which tool is free?" - it's "which free tier gives you contacts that actually work?"
Here's the thing: B2B contact data decays at roughly 22.5% per year. People change jobs, companies get acquired, email domains rotate. On a free plan, you're already working with limited credits - you can't afford to waste them on contacts that bounce.
Our Picks
- Prospeo - Best for accuracy. 75 free verified emails per month at 98% accuracy.
- Apollo.io - Best for filtering. 65+ search filters, but verify everything before you send.
- Hunter.io - Best for email-only prospecting. 50 credits per month with built-in sequences.
All three are worth signing up for simultaneously. They solve different problems.
Free B2B Contact Database Comparison
Here's what each tool actually gives you at $0. We compared these free tiers side by side - pay close attention to the gotchas column.
| Tool | Free Credits/Mo | Data Type | Verification | Gotchas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apollo.io | ~720 | Email + phone | Basic | Was 10k; changes often |
| Hunter.io | 50 | Email only | Yes | No phone data |
| Lusha | 70 | Email + phone (unequal) | Yes | 10 credits per phone |
| Kaspr | 15 B2B + 5 direct email, 5 phone | Both | Yes | Invite 3 for unlimited; 20-connection min |
| Snov.io | ~50 | Email only | Yes | Tight caps |
| RocketReach | ~5 | Email + phone | No | Nearly unusable |
| Skrapp.io | ~100 | Email only | Basic | Email only |
The Best Free B2B Databases
Prospeo
Use this if: You're a founder or small sales team that needs contacts that don't bounce.
Prospeo's free tier gives you 75 verified emails and 100 Chrome extension credits per month. Every contact runs through a 5-step verification process with catch-all handling, spam-trap removal, and honeypot filtering - delivering 98% email accuracy, the same quality as paid plans.
The database covers 300M+ professional profiles with 30+ search filters, including buyer intent signals across 15,000 topics powered by Bombora, technographics, job changes, and headcount growth. Data refreshes every 7 days - the industry average is closer to 6 weeks. No contracts, no colleague invitations, no hoops. For anyone searching for a free B2B lead database that delivers usable contacts out of the box, it's the strongest starting point.
Apollo.io
Pros:
65+ search filters - one of the deepest filtering setups you'll find in an all-in-one prospecting platform. Slice by tech stack, headcount, revenue, funding stage, and more.
~720 credits per month covers decent volume for early-stage prospecting.
Built-in sequencing lets you find and email from one platform. Cons:
The free plan used to offer 10,000 credits per month. It's now ~720. Free plans change without warning.
Practitioners on r/LeadGeneration describe Apollo as a "jack of all trades, master of none" and recommend verifying exported data with a separate tool before sending.
Avoid Apollo's built-in open/click tracking if deliverability matters to you - use an external sending tool instead.
Paid plans start at $49/user/month, with a median ACV around $17,000/year for teams. Apollo remains one of the most popular options for teams evaluating free B2B lead databases, though the credit reductions make it less generous than it once was.
Hunter.io
Use this if: You only need email addresses and want a clean, simple workflow.
Hunter's free plan includes 50 credits per month, plus Sequences with one connected email account and up to 500 recipients, the Discover company database, API access, and a Chrome extension. That's a surprisingly complete toolkit for $0.
The limitation is scope - no phone data, CSV exports capped at 10 emails per domain, and no premium filters like technographics. Fifty credits goes fast. As a free contact database for email-only outreach, it's hard to beat for simplicity. Paid plans start at $49/month.
Lusha
Lusha's free plan advertises 70 credits per month, which sounds generous until you do the math. One credit reveals an email. A phone number costs 10 credits. So 70 credits get you either 70 emails or 7 phone numbers - not both at useful scale.
If you're prospecting into C-suite or VP-level roles where direct dials matter, you'll burn through credits revealing maybe 5-6 phone numbers and a handful of emails. That's barely a day's work for an active SDR. Lusha users on G2 frequently praise the phone data quality but note the credit math makes the free tier feel misleading. Unused credits roll over up to 2x your plan limit. Paid plans start at $37/user/month.
Kaspr
Skip this if you're a solo founder. Kaspr's free tier looks reasonable on paper - 15 B2B email credits, 5 direct email credits, 5 phone credits, 10 export credits per month. The fine print kills it.
Want unlimited B2B emails? Invite three colleagues first. There's also a minimum of 20 connections on your professional profile before you can even use the tool. And those 10 export credits mean you can only push 10 contacts to a CSV or CRM per month. Kaspr is owned by Cognism and built primarily as a Chrome extension for individual contributors. Paid plans start at $49/user/month.
Snov.io, RocketReach, Skrapp.io
Let's be blunt: RocketReach's free tier is a demo, not a tool. Five lookups per month is enough to test the interface and nothing more.
| Tool | Free Credits | Best For | Paid From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snov.io | ~50/mo | Email finding + drip campaigns | $39/mo |
| RocketReach | ~5/mo | Nothing useful | ~$39/mo |
| Skrapp.io | ~100/mo | Lightweight B2B email extraction | $29/mo |
Snov.io and Skrapp.io are worth knowing about as secondary sources, but neither is a serious free-tier contender for primary prospecting.
Most free B2B databases give you unverified contacts that destroy your domain reputation. Prospeo's free tier includes 75 verified emails and 100 Chrome extension credits monthly - every contact runs through 5-step verification with catch-all handling and spam-trap removal. 98% accuracy, same as paid plans.
Get 75 free verified emails that actually land in inboxes.
What "Free" Actually Gets You
Let's do realistic math. Say you're a founder with 50 target accounts this month.
In our testing, the gap between verified and unverified contacts showed up within the first 50 sends. Two hundred unverified credits aren't worth more than 50 verified ones when your domain reputation is on the line.
Gotchas Most Lists Won't Mention
A few things we've seen trip people up that other comparison articles gloss over:
Apollo's credit drop. The free plan went from 10,000 credits to ~720. Free plans are lead magnets for the sales team - they change overnight.
Kaspr's invite wall. Unlimited free emails require inviting three colleagues. Solo founder? Non-starter.
Lusha's phone tax. At 10 credits per phone number, your 70 "free credits" buy exactly 7 direct dials. That's a free email database with an expensive phone add-on.
Export caps everywhere. Kaspr limits you to 10 exports. Hunter caps CSV downloads at 10 per domain. Finding contacts is one thing; getting them into your CRM is another.
No downloadable database exists without strings. Every tool on this list requires account creation, and most gate bulk exports behind paid plans. If someone promises a downloadable CSV of millions of contacts at no cost, the data is almost certainly stale or scraped without consent.
Here's our honest take: if your average deal size is under $15k, you don't need a six-figure ZoomInfo contract. A free tier paired with a $39-49/month paid plan covers most SMB outbound needs. The enterprise data budget is a tax on teams that haven't tested the alternatives.
Why Accuracy Beats Volume
A database with 200M contacts at 60% accuracy is worse than one with 50M at 98%. Every bounced cold email chips away at your sender reputation, and once your domain gets flagged, you lose deliverability across every future send - not just one campaign.
Industry estimates suggest 70% of CRM data is already outdated or incomplete, and reps lose around 500 hours per year cleaning bad records. Weekly data refreshes matter far more than raw database size. This is the core reason a free B2B database without built-in verification often costs more in the long run than a paid plan with validation baked in.
When to Stop Using Free
Free tiers are perfect for testing. They stop being enough when:
- You're hitting credit caps every week and rationing lookups
- You need phone numbers at scale - free plans are terrible for this
- Your team has 3+ reps who all need access simultaneously
- You're running CRM enrichment workflows that require API-level volume
The jump from free to paid doesn't have to mean $15,000+/year. Paid tiers from most tools on this list start at $29-49/month. That's the affordable bridge between "free tier founder" and "enterprise data budget."
You just saw the math: 200 unverified credits aren't worth 50 verified ones when your sender reputation is at stake. Prospeo refreshes data every 7 days - not 6 weeks - so even free-tier contacts reflect real, current roles. No invites required, no credit bait-and-switches.
Stop gambling your domain on stale data from bloated free tiers.
FAQ
How accurate are free B2B databases?
Accuracy ranges from under 70% to 98% depending on the provider. Apollo's dataset has known gaps - practitioners recommend external verification. Prospeo delivers 98% verified accuracy on its free tier thanks to a 5-step verification process. Always test a sample batch against your actual target accounts before scaling.
Can I export free leads to my CRM?
Most tools allow exports with caps. Kaspr limits free exports to 10 contacts/month. Hunter caps CSV downloads at 10 per domain. Prospeo's free tier includes CRM integrations with Salesforce and HubSpot - no export workarounds needed.
How many leads can I get per month for free?
Between 5 on RocketReach and ~720 credits on Apollo (unverified). For verified, deliverable emails, expect 50-75 per month from the best free tiers - enough for a solo founder doing targeted outreach to 50 accounts.
Do free plans give the same data quality as paid?
Not always. Some providers reserve fresher data or stricter verification for premium tiers. Look for tools that refresh on the same cycle regardless of plan level - Prospeo's 7-day refresh applies to free and paid users alike, which is the clearest signal of honest free-tier quality.