Lusha, Apollo, ZoomInfo and LinkedIn Sales Navigator are good tools for looking people up once you know who you want. None of them watches Seek, and none of them tells you who to call this morning. Here is the same desk, side by side.
A recruiter's lead is a new job ad. Databases start from a company list and leave the finding to you.
One recruiter, calling 20 new companies a day. Over a month that is about 420 companies, 400 verified emails and 250 mobiles. The data tools are cheaper per record. The time to find the right person is where the money goes.
| Rectask Growth | Lusha | Apollo | ZoomInfo | LinkedIn Sales Navigator | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly spend on the tool | $649 | $1491,650 credits from a $650 pack of 7,200 | $319$79 Professional seat, plus 150 mobiles over the 100 included | $1,250annual contract, from about $15,000 a year | $99Core seat |
| Price of a mobile number | 5 credits, about $0.65 at the Growth rate, $0 when none is found | 5 credits, about $0.45 | 8 credits. About 100 a month included, then about $1.60 each | Bundled in the contract | No mobiles, you still need a data tool |
| Price of a verified email | 1 credit, about $0.13 | 1 credit, about $0.09 | 1 credit, within the plan | Bundled in the contract | No emails |
| Unused credits at month end | Roll over a month | A pack lasts until it is used | Expire each billing cycle | Set in the contract | No credits |
| Hours a month spent finding who to call | About 0, the list is ready | About 84, four hours a day | About 84, four hours a day | About 84, four hours a day | About 84, four hours a day |
| Cost of those hours at $40 an hour | $0 | $3,360 | $3,360 | $3,360 | $3,360 |
| All-in cost for the month | $649 | $3,509 | $3,679 | $4,610 | $3,459plus a data tool |
| Cost per ready-to-call lead | $1.55 | $8.35 | $8.76 | $10.98 | $8.24 |
| Leads found while the ad is still new | All of them | The ones you got to first | The ones you got to first | The ones you got to first | The ones you got to first |
Rectask Growth includes 5,000 enrichment credits, more than this desk uses, and unused credits roll over a month. Lusha priced from a 7,200-credit pack at US$650, Apollo from its Professional plan at $79 a seat billed annually, with mobiles beyond the included 100 bought at $0.20 a credit, 8 credits each, ZoomInfo from commonly reported entry contracts, Sales Navigator from its Core seat price, October 2026. The four hours a day is what a Melbourne recruitment desk measured before Rectask, at a loaded cost of US$40 an hour. Your numbers will differ, the shape will not.
Rectask does one job. If your job is different, use the tool built for it.
| You need | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| To look up one person's number right now | Lusha | Cheapest per record, and you already know who you want. |
| Outbound sequences to a big account list | Apollo | Built for sales teams running email cadences at volume. |
| Enterprise account research across thousands of companies | ZoomInfo | The deepest company and org-chart data, priced for large sales teams. |
| To follow people as they change jobs | LinkedIn Sales Navigator | Best signal on moves and promotions inside saved accounts. |
| To be the first agency on the phone when an employer posts a role | Rectask | The ad is caught within 30 minutes, the people are ranked, the email is checked, the mobile is a tick away. You can keep your Lusha subscription next to it, but Rectask can't use your Lusha credits: Lusha's terms don't allow it. |
Set up takes five minutes. The first leads arrive with the next batch of ads.