A general B2B database is a reasonable default until the whole market is e-commerce brands, and Apollo covers every market; see Apollo's pricing page for its plans.
ShopLeads replaces the industry filter with a brand check: rules and an AI check run over each store's own website decide whether it sells its own products, and the people who decide there come with a work email that carries a mailbox test and dated signals.
ShopLeads does not send your email, so your sending tool stays in the stack.
Updated
Four reasons a general database stops fitting.
- Retail is not D2C. An industry, keyword or platform filter still returns marketplaces, resellers, dropship and print-on-demand stores, plus the agencies and suppliers around them. ShopLeads checks each store with rules and an AI check over its own website.
- Titles do not scale down. At a small brand the person who decides on email, ads or fulfilment may be the founder. ShopLeads shows the people who decide at that store.
- The company record is generic. Here each profiled store comes with a context block: its company story, what it sells, who buys, where it sells, its size, its tech stack, recent changes and key people.
- There is no store-shaped timing. Signals are dated events for e-commerce: Meta and Google ads, hiring, new leaders, funding, app and tech changes, and product launches. Signals are open on every plan and priced in credits: 10 credits a store on a plan, 20 on the free trial. Pro and Scale include signal unlocks every month.
What carries over, and what changes.
Carries over
- Your sending tool and sequences. ShopLeads does not send email. Export is free and there is a REST API and an MCP server, so the contacts go where they go today.
- Your other markets. Plenty of teams keep a general database for everything that is not e-commerce and use ShopLeads for the D2C side. That is a reasonable answer, not a failure of either tool.
- Your CRM fields. Template variables come out as columns on export, so the same mapping work applies.
- Phone-first plays. A phone, with the email and LinkedIn, is 5 credits; a store inbox or phone is 1.
Changes
- The universe gets smaller on purpose. You search e-commerce stores that sell their own products, not every company in every industry.
- Verification is built in. Every email gets a mailbox test, shown as verified, or unconfirmed when the mail server accepts any address or the check could not confirm it.
- Timing arrives with the person. Dated signals sit on the person as a reason to reach out now, with the real date on every event.
- The cost model inverts. Search, filters and export are free, and credits are spent only when a contact is opened, once per person and kind, so browsing a big segment costs nothing.
You pay for contacts, not for looking.
- Search, filters and export are free. Credits are spent only when a contact is opened.
- A work email with LinkedIn is 2 credits, a phone with the email and LinkedIn is 5, a store inbox or phone is 1, a full name when no contact is on file is 1, a profile is 2, and a full profile with the store's dated signals is 10.
- A contact you already opened stays open at no charge, and you are charged once per person and kind.
- Launch pricing until Dec 31, 2026: Starter $49 (regular $98) for 2,000 credits, Plus $99 (regular $198) for 4,500, Growth $149 (regular $298) for 7,500, Pro $449 (regular $898) for 25,000 plus 250 signal unlocks, Scale $1,299 (regular $2,598) for 80,000 plus 1,000. Every one of them is 50% off the regular price it goes to after the launch. Packs: 1,000 for $25, 2,500 for $49, 10,000 for $179. Subscribe before Dec 31 and keep your launch price for life, as long as you stay subscribed.
- Every plan starts with a 7-day trial and 500 free credits. A card is needed, nothing is charged until the trial ends, and you can cancel before then. Unused free credits end with the trial.
Switching costs you 500 free credits and an afternoon.
Keep your current seat for the first week. Rebuild one D2C segment here, compare it to the same filter in your general database, and only then spend credits.
- Day 1, sign up. A 7-day trial with 500 free credits. A card is needed, nothing is charged until the trial ends, and you can cancel before then.
- Search before you spend. Filters and search are free, so build the segment and look at the stores and the masked contacts without using a credit.
- Put the same segment side by side. Run the list you already have from your current tool next to ours. Comparing costs nothing on our side.
- Open the people you would really write to. A work email with LinkedIn is 2 credits, so 500 free credits is around 250 verified emails.
- Export, or pull it by API. Export is free, the context variables come out as columns, and ShopLeads does not send your email, so your sending tool stays as it is.
- Decide before day 7. Unused free credits end with the trial, so judge it on the replies you get from what you opened.
Three cases where the general database is still the right buy.
- You sell into several markets and want one tool for all of them. ShopLeads only covers e-commerce stores that sell their own products.
- You need the database and the sending in one place. ShopLeads does not send your email or run sequences.
- Your motion is phone-first across all industries, rather than written outbound to brands.
Need the stores and people in bulk?
Enterprise data is not self-serve. We build custom data sets to your own fields, in bulk, with volume pricing per contact, priced on what you need.
Questions people ask before switching.
What is the best Apollo alternative for selling to e-commerce brands?
If the whole market is e-commerce brands, look for a tool that decides what a brand is instead of filtering an industry field. ShopLeads runs rules and an AI check over each store website to confirm the store sells its own products, then gives you the people who decide there with a work email that carries a mailbox test and dated signals. Marketplaces, resellers, dropship and print-on-demand stores are filtered out on purpose, so if those are your buyers a general database is the better fit.
What does Apollo cost?
See the Apollo pricing page for their plans. We do not quote an Apollo price here because we have not read one today. ShopLeads plans are on the pricing page, where search, filters and export are free and credits are spent only when you open a contact.
Does ShopLeads send email?
No. ShopLeads does not send your email. Export is free, and there is a REST API and an MCP server, so contacts land in the tool you already send with. Apollo describes sequences on its own pages (apollo.io), so teams that want the database and the sending in one place often keep both.
How do agencies find Shopify stores that need their service?
Start from the gap the service fixes: filter for stores with no email or SMS platform, no reviews app, no subscriptions, no loyalty, no helpdesk or no upsell, then narrow by platform, monthly sales band, country and vertical. Add a signal filter, such as Meta or Google ads activity, hiring, a new leader, funding or an app change, so every store you open did something worth writing about. The people who decide at those stores sit on the same page, with their email status and a plain-text context block.
Can I find stores by the apps they have installed?
Yes. Stores can be filtered by the apps and technologies installed, by exact name, and by the gaps where one is missing: no email or SMS platform, no SMS, no reviews app, no subscriptions, no loyalty, no helpdesk and no upsell. The same filters work in the app, over the REST API and through the MCP server, and counting a segment is free.
Is ShopLeads free to try?
Yes. A new account starts on a 7-day trial with 500 free credits. Card required, nothing is charged until the trial ends, and you can cancel before then. Search, filters and export are free, so credits are spent only when you open a contact, and the plans are on the pricing page.