You're sitting on a list of LinkedIn profiles or company names, and you need contact data — fast. Both Lusha and AeroLeads promise to solve that problem, but after spending time with both tools, it's clear they're built for pretty different types of sales teams. Picking the wrong one doesn't just waste your subscription budget; it costs you hours of manual cleanup and missed opportunities. Let's cut through the marketing fluff and figure out which one actually deserves a spot in your stack.
What Each Tool Is Actually Built For
Lusha is a contact intelligence platform that's made its name in the browser extension game. Its Chrome extension sits on top of LinkedIn and company websites and surfaces verified phone numbers, email addresses, and job titles in real time. It's a prospector's tool — built for reps who are actively hunting leads and want to enrich profiles on the fly without leaving their browser tab.
AeroLeads takes a slightly different approach. It's more of a prospecting and lead generation pipeline tool that also offers a Chrome extension, but its core value proposition leans toward bulk prospecting — finding contact data for a list of names or companies and pushing that data into a CRM or CSV. It has historically been popular with smaller sales teams and solopreneurs who want a cheaper, lighter-weight alternative to the enterprise-grade tools like ZoomInfo or Apollo.
The distinction matters. If your workflow is "I'm on LinkedIn Sales Navigator, I find a prospect, I want their direct dial now" — Lusha is designed for that moment. If your workflow is "I have a list of 300 companies, give me contacts for all of them" — AeroLeads is closer to what you need, though it still has real limitations there.
Data Quality and Coverage: Where It Actually Counts
This is the make-or-break factor for any contact intelligence tool, and honestly, both platforms have their weaknesses.
Lusha's data quality is generally strong for North American and European markets. Their email verification and phone number accuracy — especially for direct dials — is one of their biggest selling points. In practice, you'll find that mobile numbers and direct dials are more reliably accurate than with many competitors. That said, Lusha's database isn't as expansive as something like ZoomInfo or Apollo, so if you're prospecting into niche verticals or smaller companies with fewer than 50 employees, you'll hit gaps.
AeroLeads pulls data from multiple sources including LinkedIn, web scraping, and their own database. The honest reality is the data can be inconsistent. You might get a solid email address but a phone number that's three years out of date. For some use cases — early-stage outreach where you just need a verified work email — that's fine. For SDRs who live and die by call connect rates, it's a real problem.
If data accuracy is your non-negotiable, Lusha wins this round. If "good enough to get started" is acceptable and budget is tight, AeroLeads remains workable.
Pricing: What You're Actually Paying For
Pricing is where things get interesting — and where context matters a lot.
Lusha pricing (approximate, as of 2024):
- Free plan: 5 credits/month — barely enough to test the product
- Pro: Around $49/month per user for 40 credits/month
- Premium: Around $79/month per user for 80 credits/month
- Scale: Custom pricing for teams needing bulk data or API access
AeroLeads pricing (approximate):
- Take Off: Around $49/month for 1,000 credits
- Climb: Around $149/month for 4,000 credits
- Cruise: Around $499/month for 15,000 credits
- Enterprise: Custom
At first glance, AeroLeads looks like a dramatically better deal on a per-credit basis. And in raw credit volume, it is. But credits aren't equal — Lusha's verified direct dial is worth more than an unverified email in many outbound contexts. You're not just buying contacts; you're buying time saved on verification and bounce management.
Worth noting: if you're already using a platform like Apollo or Snov.io, you may find their bundled contact data + sequencing packages make both Lusha and AeroLeads redundant purchases. Always audit your existing stack before adding another data tool.
Integrations and Workflow Fit
Both tools integrate with major CRMs, but the depth of those integrations varies significantly.
Lusha connects natively with HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce, and Zoho, and the integrations are genuinely clean. When you pull a contact from LinkedIn using the Lusha extension, you can push them directly to your HubSpot pipeline with mapped fields, tags, and lists. For teams running a tight CRM-driven process, this is a real time-saver. Lusha also has an API that's reasonably well-documented for teams wanting to build custom enrichment workflows.
AeroLeads integrates with HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce, Mailchimp, and a few others, plus it offers CSV export as a fallback. The integrations work, but they're less polished. You're more likely to find yourself doing a bit of manual cleanup on the data before it's truly CRM-ready. If your team uses a tool like Saleshandy or Lemlist for outreach sequencing, you'll likely be importing CSVs rather than pushing data directly — which adds steps to the workflow.
For teams who want a tight, automated loop between prospecting and CRM, Lusha's integrations are more reliable in day-to-day use.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Lusha | AeroLeads |
|---|---|---|
| Primary use case | Real-time contact enrichment, LinkedIn prospecting | Bulk lead generation, list building |
| Data accuracy | High (especially direct dials) | Moderate (emails stronger than phones) |
| Chrome extension | Yes — polished and fast | Yes — functional but basic |
| Credit volume for price | Lower volume, higher accuracy | Higher volume, variable accuracy |
| CRM integrations | HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce (native, clean) | HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive (works, less polished) |
| Best for | SDRs, AEs doing targeted outbound | Solopreneurs, early-stage teams, bulk list building |