Hunter.io Pricing: Free Plan To Scale, Explained (2026)

Updated August 2026

Hunter.io pricing in 2026: free plan, credit tiers, connected-account caps, and how it compares to flat-price cold email tools.

Hunter.io runs from a genuinely free plan (50 credits a month) to $299/month Scale, simple, credit-based and fair. The catch isn't hidden fees; it's the caps: even the top plan connects at most 20 sending accounts, and campaigns are basic by design.

Quick verdict on Hunter pricing 4.4 on G2, ~600+ reviews real free plan checked July 2026

The cleanest pricing in the category: a real free plan (50 credits/mo), then credit tiers from $34/mo annual.
The limits are structural, not financial: at most 20 connected sending accounts even on the $299 Scale plan.
Where it genuinely shines: trusted public-web lookups, a polished API and MCP server, verification built in.

Hunter.io homepage — hunter.io homepage, captured July 2026

- Hunter's plans, explained
- What the credits and caps actually mean
- When Hunter is genuinely the right buy
- How it compares for cold email at scale

free plan, 50 credits/mo

$34

Starter, per month annual

max connected accounts (Scale)

4.6

Capterra, ~650+ reviews

Hunter's plans, explained

Verified on hunter.io/pricing, July 2026:

Plan	Monthly	Annual (per mo)	Credits/mo	Connected accounts	Campaign recipients
Free	$0	$0	50	1	500
Starter	$49	$34	2,000	3	2,500
Growth	$149	$104	10,000	10	5,000
Scale	$299	$209	25,000	20	15,000
Enterprise	Custom				Custom

The Scale plan is newer (launched January 2025) and exists for teams that kept hitting Growth's credit ceiling.

What the credits and caps actually mean

Credits power everything. Domain searches, email finding and verification all draw from the same monthly pool; heavy list-building burns through them faster than you'd guess.
Connected email accounts are capped at 1-20 by plan. This is the structural limit for cold outreach: serious volume needs inbox rotation across many mailboxes, and 20 is the absolute ceiling at $299/month.
Campaign recipients are capped too (500 to 15,000 by plan). Hunter Campaigns is honest, lightweight outreach, sender rotation and A/B testing exist, but it's not a full sequencer.
The finder only sees the public web. Hunter's index is built from publicly crawlable sources. In our own 100-person test, Emailchaser's email finder found 88% of addresses vs Hunter's 67%, because we also resolve non-public emails, that's 21% more found, and you can re-run that comparison yourself.

What your real bill looks like at three sizes

Three honest sizings, using the plan table above. Every tool wins somewhere; the point is to know your bracket before you subscribe.

Free forever

Light lookups, one inbox

Free plan$0

Their bill$0/mo

Emailchaser: no free tier, $47/mo

Solo prospector

2,000 credits, 3 accounts

Starter, monthly$49

Their bill$49/mo

Emailchaser: $47/mo, 30 accounts

High-credit team

25,000 credits, 20 accounts

Scale, monthly$299

Their bill$299/mo

Emailchaser: $47/mo flat

Monthly-billing math from Hunter's live pricing page, July 2026. Annual billing is roughly 30% less across tiers.

When Hunter is genuinely the right buy

You mainly need to find and verify addresses. Hunter's domain search, verifier, browser extension and API are polished, trusted (4.4 on G2 from ~600+ reviews; 4.6 on Capterra from ~650+), and the free plan is real, we don't offer a free tier.
You're API-first. Hunter's API ecosystem and its official MCP server (2025) are mature; developers integrate it in an afternoon.
Light outreach on top of lookups. If you send a few hundred emails a month from a couple of inboxes, Starter at $34-49 does the whole job.

How it compares for cold email at scale

The comparison flips when outreach is the point rather than the side feature. Emailchaser is a flat $47/mo with up to 30 sending accounts (vs Hunter's 3 at a similar price), unlimited active leads, automatic mailbox ramp-up, a built-in Sales CRM, the LinkedIn Sales Navigator-based Lead Finder, and double email verification, two independent providers must both approve every address before we send it, keeping bounces under 1%. See pricing for the $297 unlimited tier.

For the head-to-head, read Hunter vs Emailchaser and our full Hunter.io review. If you're comparing finder-first tools, the best email finder tools round-up covers the field, and the best cold email software list covers the sender side. The free email verifier will grade any list Hunter builds for you.

Frequently asked questions

Is Hunter.io free?

There's a genuinely free plan: 50 credits/month, 1 connected email account, 500 campaign recipients (verified July 2026). Paid plans start at $34/mo on annual billing.

How much does Hunter.io cost per month?

Starter $49/mo ($34 annual), Growth $149 ($104), Scale $299 ($209), checked July 2026 on hunter.io/pricing. All are credit-based with connected-account caps of 3/10/20.

What do Hunter credits get used for?

Domain searches, email lookups and verifications all draw from one monthly pool. When it's gone you wait for the reset or upgrade, credits are the whole pricing model.

Can I run cold email campaigns with Hunter?

Yes, but modestly: campaigns are capped at 500-15,000 recipients by plan, and you can connect at most 20 sending accounts on the top plan, fine for light outreach, limiting for scaled cold email with inbox rotation.

Is Hunter cheaper than Emailchaser?

For lookups, yes, its free plan and $34 Starter undercut us, and we don't offer a free tier. For sending, no: $47/mo at Emailchaser includes 30 sending accounts, double verification, a CRM and unlimited seats, where Hunter's $49 Starter connects 3 accounts and verifies once.

The bottom line

Hunter's pricing is among the cleanest in the category, a real free plan, fair credit tiers, no hidden fees. Its limits are architectural, not financial: 20 connected accounts max, capped campaigns, and a finder that only sees the public web. Use it as a lookup tool and it's excellent; use it as your cold email engine and you'll outgrow it. When that happens, try Emailchaser free for 7 days.

Transparency note: I'm the founder of Emailchaser, so I'm biased: we compete with Hunter. Every number above was checked in July 2026 against the sources linked in the text, and I've aimed to be just as clear about where Hunter beats us as where we beat them.