If you’re trying to help your sales team find more leads, you’ve already seen the endless pitches: “Best B2B Lead Generation Tool! Unmatched Data Accuracy! 10x Your Pipeline!” Frankly, most of it’s just noise. You want something that works, fits your workflow, and doesn’t eat your budget alive. This guide is for you—the person who actually has to pick a tool and live with the fallout.
Here’s how to cut through the marketing fluff and compare Aeroleads with other B2B lead gen tools, so you can make a real choice that won’t come back to bite you.
Step 1: Get Clear on What Your Sales Team Actually Needs
Before you open a dozen browser tabs and start free trials, figure out your actual requirements. Otherwise, you’ll end up dazzled by features you’ll never use.
Ask: - How does your team currently find leads? Where is the pain? - Do you need email addresses, phone numbers, company info, or all of the above? - Are you doing outbound at scale, or just a handful of targeted campaigns? - What’s your CRM setup? Do you need tight integrations? - Any must-have compliance or data privacy needs?
Pro tip: Write down your non-negotiables and your “nice to haves.” This will anchor you when every tool starts sounding like the answer to all your problems.
Step 2: Know What Aeroleads Actually Does (and Doesn’t)
Aeroleads is a B2B prospecting tool that helps you find business emails and phone numbers from platforms like LinkedIn, Crunchbase, and company websites. It does this via a Chrome extension and a web app. The pitch is “find leads in seconds,” but here’s what’s under the hood:
What works: - Easy LinkedIn prospecting: You can pull contact data while browsing LinkedIn or company sites. - Bulk search: Upload a list of company names or domains to get a batch of contacts. - Integrations: It connects to tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zoho. - Pricing: Generally cheaper than big names like ZoomInfo, especially for smaller teams.
What to watch out for: - Data accuracy: Like every scraper, results can be hit-or-miss. Expect to verify some emails yourself. - Coverage: You won’t get every company in every country. Heavily reliant on LinkedIn data. - UI/UX: Usable, but not fancy. Don’t expect bells and whistles. - No enrichment: It doesn’t append deep firmographic data (think revenue, tech stack) like some pricier tools.
Ignore: Any claim of “95%+ accuracy.” No tool is that good, especially with B2B emails.
Step 3: Identify the Real Competition
There are dozens of B2B lead gen tools, but most fall into a few camps. Don’t compare apples to oranges.
Direct competitors:
- Hunter.io – Simple, email-focused, not heavy on extras.
- Snov.io – Adds email outreach/automation, decent all-in-one for small teams.
- Lusha – Focuses on direct dials and direct contact info, popular with recruiters.
- Apollo.io – Offers database search, enrichment, and some outreach tools.
Heavyweights (more expensive): - ZoomInfo – Huge database, deep enrichment, but very pricey and contracts lock you in. - Cognism – Good EU data, GDPR-compliant, but not cheap.
Other flavors: - Seamless.ai – Focuses on “real-time search” but can be noisy. - LeadIQ – Chrome extension, integrates with Salesforce, good for list-building.
Tip: If you only need verified emails and light company info, Aeroleads, Hunter, or Snov.io are the main ones to compare. If you need deep org charts, buying signals, or compliance guarantees, you’ll need to look upmarket.
Step 4: Compare the Features That Actually Matter
Don’t get distracted by feature lists. Focus on the core things your team will use every week:
1. Data Quality and Coverage
- How fresh is the data? No tool is perfect. Try sample exports and run them through an email verifier.
- Geography: Some tools are US-centric; others do better in Europe or APAC.
- Types of data: Do you get direct dials, LinkedIn URLs, job titles, company info, or just emails?
2. Ease of Use
- Browser extensions: Does it work where your reps actually prospect (LinkedIn, company sites)?
- Bulk actions: Can you upload lists, or is it all manual?
- Learning curve: How long before a new rep can use it without a walkthrough?
3. Integrations
- CRM: Can it push leads straight to your Salesforce/HubSpot/Zapier flow, or do you need to fiddle with CSVs?
- Email tools: Does it work with your outreach stack (Mailshake, Lemlist, etc.)?
4. Pricing and Scalability
- Per seat or per credit? Some tools charge by user, others by how many leads you pull.
- Minimum contract: Are you stuck for a year, or can you pay monthly?
- Hidden fees: Watch for data enrichment or export limits.
5. Compliance and Security
- GDPR/CCPA: If you’re dealing with EU data, this matters. Most US-focused scrapers are vague on this.
- Data sourcing transparency: Do they tell you where the data comes from, or is it a black box?
What to ignore:
- “AI-powered” anything. Most of these tools use similar scraping or database techniques. It’s not magic.
Step 5: Test with Real Data, Not Just Demos
Don’t trust the sales demo or the “sample data.” Actually load up your own use case:
- Try the Chrome extension on your real LinkedIn targets.
- Upload a list from your actual ICP (ideal customer profile) and see what gets returned.
- Push a few leads to your CRM and see if the workflow holds up.
- Check bounce rates on exported emails (use a tool like NeverBounce or ZeroBounce).
Pro tip: Give two or three tools a real test over the same week. Don’t judge by “number of leads found” alone—look at quality and how much manual cleanup you have to do.
Step 6: Consider Support, Documentation, and the “Annoyance Factor”
It’s not just about features. Sometimes, the deciding factor is: How much does this tool get in your way?
- Support: Is there live chat, or are you waiting days for help?
- Docs and onboarding: Can you get up to speed fast, or are you lost in vague help articles?
- Annoyance: Popup upsells, buggy Chrome extensions, confusing credit systems—these small things add up.
Watch out for:
- Tools that change their UI every month, breaking your team’s workflow.
- “Unlimited” plans that throttle you once you start pulling real volume.
- Sales teams that promise custom features, then ghost you after you buy.
Step 7: Factor in the Real-World Cost
Cheapest isn’t always best, but price creep is real. Watch for: - Add-ons: Some tools nickel-and-dime for extra exports, integrations, or “premium” data. - Locked contracts: Big players love annual deals that are hard to escape. - Team growth: Will adding five more reps triple your cost?
If you’re a small-to-mid team and price matters, Aeroleads or its peers stay affordable. Big teams with complex needs usually end up paying more for the ZoomInfos of the world.
Step 8: Make a Call and Set a Time to Re-Evaluate
Pick the tool that covers your actual use case with the least friction. Don’t overthink it. Set a reminder to check in after three months—if it’s a pain, you can always switch. Don’t let the “what-ifs” freeze you out of making a call.
Keep it simple:
Don’t chase shiny features, don’t believe every promise, and don’t let a sales rep rush you. Find a tool that fits your workflow, test it with your real data, and plan to adjust if it doesn’t work out. Simple beats perfect—especially when you just need to get your sales team moving.