Hunter vs Lusha (2026)
Pick Hunter if the job is finding and verifying email addresses with the source of each one shown, for a team of any size, and Lusha if reps need direct phone numbers alongside emails and procurement wants a long list of certifications. Hunter finds addresses from a company domain or a person's name and separates those found on public pages from those built from an email pattern. It shows the pages and dates behind each sourced contact, and it charges for data and mailbox capacity rather than people, so teammates are unlimited. Lusha sells contact and company data through its browser extension, web app and API, where an email costs 1 credit and a phone number 5. Its self serve plans stop at five seats before a sales conversation. Lusha holds SOC 2 with ISO 27001, 27701, 42001 and three more ISO standards, and sends notices to European data subjects. Hunter hosts in Belgium on Google Cloud, while Lusha processes data in the United States and Israel.
- Every sourced email should show the public page and date it came from.
- The whole team should use it without paying per seat.
- Primary hosting in the EU, on Google Cloud in Belgium, suits your privacy review.
- Reps need direct phone numbers as well as email addresses.
- Procurement asks for SOC 2 and a full set of ISO certifications, including ISO 42001 for AI.
- Prospecting should run from a browser extension while reps move through profiles and company sites.
This comparison is published by GTM Tech Index, an independent research platform that compares go to market software vendors objectively. Hunter and Lusha are each graded against the same capability taxonomy, from each vendor's own public materials, under the GTM Tech Index verification standard. No vendor pays for placement, and no vendor has reviewed this page. How this evidence is graded
Plain facts
| Hunter | Lusha | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | Data & Enrichment | Data & Enrichment |
| Founded | 2015 | Not published |
| Headquarters | Not published | Boston, MA |
| Website | hunter.io | www.lusha.com |
Side by Side
| Axis | H Hunter |
L Lusha |
|---|---|---|
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AI Capability
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| AI Centrality | ||
| Autonomy and Oversight Model | ||
| AI Disclosure and Model Transparency | ||
| Operational and Outcome Evidence | ||
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Compliance and Risk
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| Outreach Compliance Posture | ||
| Data Privacy Posture | ||
| Data Licensing and Provenance | ||
| Platform Terms Exposure | ||
| AI Safety and Data Stewardship | ||
| Recipient Disclosure and Authenticity | ||
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Integration and Deployment
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| Ecosystem and Integration Depth | ||
| Deployment Model and Data Residency | ||
| Security Certifications and Trust Center | ||
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Commercial and Operational
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| Commercial Transparency | ||
| Exit and Data Portability | ||
| Deliverability and Sending Discipline | ||
| Segment and Market Coverage | ||
The short version of each
Hunter
Hunter finds and verifies professional email addresses and helps teams use them in outbound sequences. Domain Search works from a company website, Email Finder from a person's name and employer, and Discover builds prospect lists from filters or a plain language request. Sourced contacts carry the public pages and dates behind them, addresses built from an email pattern are marked, and each result has a confidence score. Sequences send through connected Gmail, Outlook or SMTP accounts with a team wide suppression list. A Chrome extension, a Google Sheets add on, CRM connectors, an API and MCP extend it. Paid plans run $49, $149 and $299 a month with unlimited teammates, and canceling drops an account to Free with saved data intact. Among the data vendors in the GTM Tech Index, Hunter shows the clearest trail from each address back to the page it was found on.
Source: GTM Tech Index, 2026
Lusha
Lusha sells business contact and company data through a browser extension, a filtered web app and an API, on a credit model where an email costs 1 credit, a phone number 5 and a recorded call 8. It has grown into enrichment, buying signals, email sequences and conversation intelligence, all drawn from the same pool, and claims more than 300 million verified contacts. Self serve plans run from free with 40 credits a month to Premium at $299.95 a month billed yearly for five seats, and two way CRM sync sits on the quoted Scale plan. Lusha is a registered California data broker, sends notices to European data subjects and runs its own MCP server for AI clients. The GTM Tech Index counts its certification set, SOC 2 with ISO 27001, 27017, 27018, 27701, 31700 and 42001, as the broadest in data and enrichment.
Source: GTM Tech Index, 2026
Common questions
Is Hunter or Lusha better?
Hunter is the better fit for email led prospecting, with source pages, discovery dates and confidence scores on each address and sequences built in. Lusha is the better fit when reps call as much as they email, since phone numbers sit beside emails in the same credit pool, and when security review weighs certifications heavily. The GTM Tech Index tracks both in data and enrichment.
Which is better for phone numbers, Lusha or Hunter?
Lusha. It sells direct phone numbers at 5 credits each from the same pool as emails, and its Premium plan adds recorded calls at 8 credits. Hunter's product centers on email addresses, with finding, verification and sequences built around them. Graded by GTM Tech Index against seventeen capability axes from each vendor's own published materials, verified October 17, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
How much do Hunter and Lusha cost?
Hunter's paid plans are $49, $149 and $299 a month, with unlimited teammates and 2,000, 10,000 and 25,000 credits a month. Billed yearly they come to $408, $1,248 and $2,508. Finding an email costs one credit and verifying one half a credit. Lusha has a free plan with 40 credits a month, then Starter at $37.45 a month billed yearly for one seat, Pro at $52.45 for two and Premium at $299.95 for five, with larger teams quoted on Scale. Graded by GTM Tech Index against seventeen capability axes from each vendor's own published materials, verified October 17, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Where do Hunter's and Lusha's contacts come from?
Hunter crawls public web pages under robots.txt and shows the source locations and discovery dates behind each sourced address, marking which addresses come from a company's email pattern instead. Lusha limits its data to what appears on a business card or email signature and draws it from unnamed data brokers and public interfaces. Graded by GTM Tech Index against seventeen capability axes from each vendor's own published materials, verified October 17, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
How do Hunter and Lusha handle privacy in Europe?
Hunter hosts on Google Cloud in Belgium, separates its controller role over public profiles from its processor role over customer data, sets retention by data type and lets people claim or remove their profiles. Lusha relies on legitimate interest, sends notices to European data subjects with a right to opt out, runs a self serve privacy center and processes data in the United States and Israel under standard contractual clauses. The GTM Tech Index counts both among the stronger privacy records in data and enrichment.
Related comparisons
Other published head to head assessments involving these vendors or their closest peers. The full set for this category is on the Sales Engagement & Outreach page.
Neither product comes with an overall match, accuracy or bounce rate for the data it sells. Lusha is a registered California data broker that draws on other data brokers and public interfaces from unnamed suppliers, while Hunter crawls public pages under robots.txt. Lusha's browser extension surfaces contact details beside professional network profiles, with no stated arrangement with that network. Hunter's CASA Tier 2 letter covering its Google mailbox access expired in February 2026. Both companies are independent.