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We used Oden to analyze how Outreach, Salesloft, Apollo.io, and Gong stack up on ratings, pricing signals, features, and real user feedback. If you’re trying to pick a Sales Engagement platform, the noise is brutal: every vendor promises AI, productivity, and pipeline. In this guide, we cut through that by looking only at verifiable data from product pages, G2 reviews, third‑party pricing breakdowns, and active Reddit discussions. You’ll see where each tool actually excels, where users struggle, and which trade‑offs matter for your team.
Which Sales Engagement platform has the best rating?
All four platforms are highly rated, but with different strengths and sample sizes on G2.
| Platform/Tool | Rating (G2) | # Reviews (G2) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outreach | 4.3 / 5 | 3,511 | Leading Sales Engagement platform focused on sales execution; mid‑4s rating with thousands of reviews in 2025. Source: G2 – Outreach(g2.com) |
| Salesloft | 4.5 / 5 | 4,237 | Slightly higher rating than Outreach with a similarly large review base in Sales Engagement. Source: G2 – Salesloft(g2.com) |
| Apollo.io | 4.7 / 5 | 9,235 | Highest volume of reviews and a 4.7 average across sales intelligence/engagement use cases. Source: G2 – Apollo.io(g2.com) |
| Gong | 4.8 / 5 | 6,407 | Top average rating, primarily in Conversation Intelligence / Revenue Intelligence categories. Source: G2 – Gong(g2.com) |
Takeaways
- All four platforms are “safe” from a satisfaction standpoint: each sits above 4.0/5 with thousands of reviews, which is statistically meaningful.
- Gong has the highest average score (4.8) on a large sample, suggesting very strong product‑market fit for conversation and revenue intelligence use cases.(g2.com)
- Apollo.io combines a high rating (4.7) with the largest review volume, reflecting wide adoption for data + engagement, especially among smaller teams.(g2.com)
- Salesloft edges Outreach on rating (4.5 vs 4.3) with a comparable number of reviews, which often comes up in “Outreach vs Salesloft” evaluation threads.(g2.com)
- Differences of 0.2–0.5 on G2 can matter when backed by thousands of reviews, but you should still weigh category (engagement vs intelligence), team size, and specific features more heavily than rating alone.
How much do Sales Engagement platforms really cost?
Public list pricing is rare for Outreach, Salesloft, and Gong, so most numbers come from vendor pages plus synthesized estimates from third‑party breakdowns and G2 pricing insights. Treat these as directional, not quotes.
| Platform/Tool | Free/Trial tier | Main billing units | Example entry point (directional) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outreach | No free plan; sales‑led trial/POC only | Per‑user licenses by package (Engage, Call, Meet, Deal, Forecast, Amplify) | Officially “per user pricing, no platform fees,” but all pricing is quote‑based; third‑party comparisons peg typical deployments in the low‑thousands of dollars per user per year, with larger enterprise deals higher. Source: Outreach pricing page; Clay comparison(outreach.io) |
| Salesloft | No free plan; demo‑driven | Per‑user licenses across its Revenue Orchestration Platform | Pricing page lists plans but no numbers; independent analyses and user reports suggest roughly ~$1,000/user/year as a ballpark for core Sales Engagement, with additional cost for modules like Forecast and Conversations. Source: Salesloft pricing page; Clay comparison(salesloft.com) |
| Apollo.io | Yes – Free tier with 1 user and limited credits; 14‑day trials for paid tiers | Per‑user subscription + monthly “credits” for data, exports, and dialer | Tech and pricing guides consistently show four tiers: Free, Basic ( |
| Gong | No free plan or public trial; custom demo only | Combination of annual platform fee + per‑user licenses + onboarding services | Multiple pricing breakdowns converge on a three‑part model: annual platform fee ($5k–$50k), per‑user licenses (~$1,360–$1,600/user/year), and onboarding services, leading to first‑year costs in the mid‑five to low‑six figures for mid‑market teams. Source: Avoma, Claap, CloudTalk pricing analyses(avoma.com) |
What this means in practice
- Outreach and Salesloft both sit in the “enterprise Sales Engagement” tier: no transparent pricing, high per‑seat costs, and contracts typically negotiated annually. Mid‑market teams commonly report total spend in the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year once dialers, intelligence, and services are included.(g2.com)
- Apollo.io is the only one with a true free plan and clear SaaS‑style pricing, making it far more approachable for small teams and startups; your main variable cost becomes credits rather than seats alone.(apollo.io)
- Gong is usually the most expensive on a per‑user basis due to its platform fee + license model and mandatory onboarding, but buyers justify it when call intelligence and revenue AI are central to their strategy.(avoma.com)
- Real‑world pricing for all four varies heavily by region, user count, product mix (engagement, forecasting, revenue intelligence), and contract length or discounts.
- Always double-check current prices with each vendor's calculator or sales team.
What are the key features of each platform?
Outreach
Core positioning: AI Revenue Workflow Platform that orchestrates every stage of the sales process, from pipeline creation through forecast and expansion.(outreach.io)
Key Features:
- AI‑driven revenue workflows across prospecting, deal management, coaching, and forecasting, with “AI Agents” that surface next‑best actions and automate research. Source: Outreach AI Revenue Workflow Platform(outreach.io)
- Sales Engagement engine with advanced sequences, snippets, templates, task prioritization, and sales playbooks to standardize outreach across teams. Source: Outreach sales engagement features(outreach.io)
- Smart Email Assist & LinkedIn messaging to generate and refine personalized messages using your own engagement data and AI.(outreach.io)
- OOO detection and multi‑stakeholder sequencing so sequences pause intelligently and consolidate replies across complex buying committees.(outreach.io)
- Modules for call, meetings, deals, forecast, and AI agents that can be added as packages (Call, Meet, Deal, Forecast, Amplify) under a unified platform.(outreach.io)
Best For:
- Mid‑market and enterprise teams standardizing SDR + AE workflows on a single Sales Engagement stack.(g2.com)
- Organizations that care about AI‑guided workflows across pipeline, deals, and forecasting—beyond pure outbound email.(outreach.io)
- Teams already deep in Salesforce or Azure ecosystems, where Outreach has strong integrations and enterprise‑grade governance.(prnewswire.com)
Salesloft
Core positioning: AI‑powered Revenue Orchestration Platform that unifies engagement, analytics, forecasting, coaching, and deal management.(salesloft.com)
Key Features:
- Salesloft Cadence for multi‑channel engagement (email, phone, SMS, LinkedIn via integrations) with automatic CRM sync and cross‑channel reporting.(salesloft.com)
- Revenue Orchestration Platform that combines sales engagement, conversation intelligence, deal management, and forecasting in a single workspace.(salesloft.com)
- AI agents and workflows (“Closing Power” suite, Rhythm, research agents) that prioritize actions, surface deal risk, and provide in‑workflow coaching recommendations.(salesloft.com)
- Robust analytics & reporting spanning the buyer lifecycle, including forecasting tools and pipeline visibility.(salesloft.com)
- Extensive integrations with CRM, conferencing, dialers, email, calendar, and a growing ecosystem (including Drift chat).(salesloft.com)
Best For:
- Teams that want tightly integrated engagement + revenue intelligence + forecasting in one mainstream platform.(salesloft.com)
- Organizations adopting “revenue orchestration” as an operating model, not just SDR email sequencing.(salesloft.com)
- Companies that value AI‑driven guidance for reps (Rhythm, coaching, key moments) but don’t need as heavy a call‑intelligence focus as Gong.(salesloft.com)
Apollo.io
Core positioning: AI sales platform that unifies B2B data, outbound channels, and engagement automation with an accessible, product‑led pricing model.(apollo.io)
Key Features:
- Large B2B contact database (hundreds of millions of contacts) embedded directly into workflows for prospecting and enrichment.(apollo.io)
- Sales Engagement module with smart sequences across email, phone, and tasks, plus AI‑powered email writing and personalization.(apollo.io)
- Deliverability tooling including inbox warm‑up, deliverability scoring, and authentication support (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) to keep emails out of spam.(apollo.io)
- Dialer and call recording with click‑to‑call, CRM logging, transcriptions, and optional parallel dialing for high‑volume outbound.(apollo.io)
- Tight CRM and tool integrations (Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach, Salesloft, Marketo, etc.) for syncing data and activities.(apollo.io)
Best For:
- Early‑stage and growth teams that want database + engagement + basic CRM‑adjacent workflows in one affordable tool.(apollo.io)
- Outbound‑heavy teams that value prospecting volume and AI sequences over deep pipeline or forecast orchestration.(apollo.io)
- Organizations comfortable layering separate tools for advanced reporting, governance, or dedicated conversation intelligence.(techrepublic.com)
Gong
Core positioning: Revenue AI Platform focused on capturing every customer interaction, extracting insight, and driving predictable growth across the go‑to‑market team.(gong.io)
Key Features:
- Conversation intelligence that records, transcribes, and analyzes calls and meetings, with powerful search and AI summaries.(g2.com)
- Revenue intelligence and forecasting that connects conversational data to pipeline health, win‑rate analysis, and forecast accuracy.(gong.io)
- Revenue AI agents and models trained on billions of customer interactions to recommend actions and highlight risk across deals.(gong.io)
- Ecosystem integrations & MCP support to unify data across Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, and other enterprise platforms, reducing AI “fragmentation.”(gong.io)
- Global, enterprise‑ready platform with strong security, governance, and adoption in large revenue organizations.(gong.io)
Best For:
- Teams where call and meeting insights are mission‑critical (e.g., complex B2B sales, large AE/CSM teams).(g2.com)
- Enterprises willing to invest in a premium revenue intelligence layer on top of existing Sales Engagement and CRM.(avoma.com)
- Organizations pushing into advanced AI workflows driven by unified conversation and pipeline data.(gong.io)
What are the strengths and weaknesses of each platform?
Outreach
Strengths:
- Mature Sales Engagement workflows – users highlight sequences, task management, and Salesforce/LinkedIn integrations as core to their daily prospecting. Source: G2 – Outreach(g2.com)
- Strong UI for daily SDR/AE work – reviews frequently mention an easy‑to‑navigate interface that keeps calls, emails, and tasks in one place.(g2.com)
- AI‑enhanced workflows across the revenue cycle – Outreach’s AI Agents and Sales AI help prioritize accounts, generate content, and assist with deals and forecasts, which is a differentiator among classic engagement tools.(outreach.io)
Weaknesses:
- Learning curve & complexity – some G2 reviewers note that new team members take time to get familiar with the breadth of features and automation.(g2.com)
- Desire for richer automation logic – users compare Outreach unfavorably to traditional marketing automation when it comes to branching logic and trigger‑based flows.(g2.com)
- Cost and contract friction for smaller teams – individual reviewers have reported being pushed into multi‑seat packages and facing abrupt account changes tied to renewals, reinforcing the perception that Outreach optimizes for larger customers.(g2.com)
Salesloft
Strengths:
- High satisfaction for core engagement use cases – 4.5/5 rating with over 4,200 reviews; users praise Salesloft for keeping outreach consistent and organized in a single workspace. Source: G2 – Salesloft(g2.com)
- All‑in‑one revenue orchestration – combines Cadence, Conversations, Deals, Forecast, and Analytics into one AI‑powered platform, which many revenue teams value over stitching tools together.(salesloft.com)
- Strong CRM integrations and governance – reviews frequently reference reliable Salesforce integration and enterprise security/OKTA support.(g2.com)
Weaknesses:
- Steep learning curve for some users – reviewers call out that mastering the full platform can be challenging, particularly for less experienced sellers.(g2.com)
- Technical issues (dialer, email/calendar disconnects) – multiple G2 reviews mention dialer reliability, outages, and the need to repeatedly re‑authorize email/calendar connections.(g2.com)
- Mixed sentiment in communities – Reddit threads show some reps who preferred older, “pre‑AI” Salesloft and others who found Outreach clunkier but still miss Salesloft compared to newer tools; overall, expectations for performance and simplicity are high and not always met.(reddit.com)
Apollo.io
Strengths:
- Exceptional value vs. peers – high G2 rating (4.7) plus a generous free plan and low entry‑level pricing make Apollo appealing for budget‑constrained teams.(g2.com)
- Unified data + engagement – users like having prospect database, enrichment, and sequences in the same UI, reducing tool‑hopping.(g2.com)
- Fast adoption in small GTM teams – product‑led onboarding and credit‑based plans align well with small SDR teams, agencies, and founders doing their own outreach.(apollo.io)
Weaknesses:
- Data accuracy concerns – multiple Reddit threads report higher bounce rates than expected and a need to re‑verify Apollo data with third‑party services to avoid spam issues.(reddit.com)
- Deliverability variability – users describe periods where “verified” emails bounce immediately or overall deliverability drops, triggering concern about using Apollo’s sending infrastructure directly for critical campaigns.(reddit.com)
- Sequence flexibility and “unlimited” limits – some users feel constrained by sequence options and note that “unlimited” plans carry hidden daily or credit caps.(reddit.com)
Gong
Strengths:
- Market‑leading satisfaction – 4.8/5 with over 6,400 reviews, plus #1 rankings in multiple G2 categories, indicate very strong satisfaction among users.(g2.com)
- Best‑in‑class call and meeting insight – users emphasize accurate transcripts, powerful search, and AI summaries that materially improve coaching and deal execution.(g2.com)
- Clear revenue impact story – Gong’s own metrics (e.g., >$300M ARR, strong AI adoption) and case studies focus on improved win rates, forecast accuracy, and productivity at scale.(gong.io)
Weaknesses:
- High and opaque pricing – multiple independent breakdowns show mandatory platform fees, per‑user licenses, and onboarding, pushing first‑year cost into mid‑five or six figures for many teams; pricing is entirely quote‑based with no public list.(avoma.com)
- Not a full engagement replacement on its own – while Gong has Engage capabilities, many teams still pair it with Outreach or Salesloft for deeper sequencing and task workflows.(gong.io)
- AI/recording limitations raised by some users – G2 cons mention occasional recording or AI accuracy issues, though these appear as minority feedback relative to the overall score.(g2.com)
How do these platforms position themselves?
Outreach markets itself as the “AI Revenue Workflow Platform” and “only end‑to‑end sales solution”, emphasizing AI agents that help teams forecast, coach, close, renew, and build pipeline across the entire customer lifecycle.(outreach.io)
Salesloft describes itself as the “leading AI Revenue Orchestration Platform” that helps B2B organizations drive durable revenue growth by orchestrating prospecting, deal management, forecasting, and coaching with AI agents embedded in the revenue workflow.(salesloft.com)
Apollo.io brands itself as “the AI sales platform for smarter, faster revenue growth” and claims the “#1 in B2B sales engagement” position, leaning heavily into its large B2B data network plus unified outbound and automation capabilities.(apollo.io)
Gong positions as the “Revenue AI Platform” and “leader in Revenue AI”, focusing on capturing every customer interaction, turning it into insight, and driving predictable growth; recent press emphasizes its scale (>$300M ARR) and expansion to support enterprise AI use cases across ecosystems.(gong.io)
Which platform should you choose?
Choose Outreach If:
- You want a deep, opinionated Sales Engagement engine as your system of action for SDRs and AEs, with advanced sequences, tasks, and AI‑guided messaging.(outreach.io)
- You plan to standardize workflows across pipeline, deals, and forecasting in one vendor, and prefer AI agents that span the full revenue lifecycle rather than just top‑of‑funnel.(outreach.io)
- You’re a mid‑market or enterprise team comfortable with sales‑led, quote‑based pricing and multi‑year contracts in exchange for enterprise‑grade governance and support.(outreach.io)
- Your reps live in Salesforce and Outlook/LinkedIn and need tight integrations plus strong governance/security controls.(prnewswire.com)
- You’re already investing in AI‑driven sales processes and want a vendor actively rolling out new AI features (e.g., personalized homepages, smart account & deal assist).(support.outreach.io)
Choose Salesloft If:
- You want an all‑in‑one revenue orchestration layer—Cadence, Conversations, Deals, Forecast, and AI analytics—without stitching separate products together.(salesloft.com)
- You prioritize strong out‑of‑the‑box multi‑channel engagement (email, phone, SMS, LinkedIn via integrations) with robust CRM sync and reporting.(salesloft.com)
- Your leadership team cares about forecasting and pipeline visibility at least as much as raw outbound volume, and wants those in the same UI sellers use daily.(salesloft.com)
- You’re okay with enterprise pricing but want slightly better cost efficiency than Outreach for typical seat mixes, based on third‑party comparisons.(clay.com)
- You value a mature AI roadmap focused on “closing power” and coaching, not just generative email content.(salesloft.com)
Choose Apollo.io If:
- You need a low‑friction entry point—a free plan and transparent pricing—so you can test and scale outbound without committing to six‑figure contracts.(apollo.io)
- You want contact data and outreach in one tool, especially if you don’t already pay for a separate data provider like ZoomInfo or Cognism.(apollo.io)
- Your primary use case is high‑volume outbound and experimentation, not deep pipeline forecasting or complex revenue orchestration.(apollo.io)
- You’re willing to invest in deliverability hygiene and external verification, running Apollo data through tools like NeverBounce or similar to mitigate bounce and spam risks.(reddit.com)
- You expect to iterate on your data strategy—for example, using Apollo primarily as a lead source and sending via specialized cold‑email infrastructure once you grow.(reddit.com)
Choose Gong If:
- Your biggest gaps are in call quality, coaching, and forecast accuracy, and you want a dedicated Revenue AI layer to surface what’s really happening in deals.(g2.com)
- You already have a Sales Engagement tool (or are fine with a lighter engagement module) and want Gong to sit across AE, CSM, and leadership to drive behavioral change.(gong.io)
- You’re an enterprise or upper‑mid‑market company with budget for platform + per‑user fees, and your leadership is comfortable with a six‑figure investment for measurable revenue impact.(avoma.com)
- You need deep integrations with Salesforce, Microsoft, and other enterprise systems, plus new capabilities like Model Context Protocol (MCP) to unify AI agents.(gong.io)
- You’re betting heavily on AI‑driven revenue operations and want a vendor demonstrably investing in AI R&D and global expansion.(prnewswire.com)