Batch lookup services for contact information take a file of partial records, usually a name plus a company, a work email or a LinkedIn address, and return the missing fields row by row. Submit the same few identifying columns every time, and judge the result by what happened to each row: matched, not found, duplicated or rejected.
The lookup task here is business contacts at companies, not consumer people-search. The four tools compared below publish how they take input, count rows and charge for them, and those rules matter more than the headline "match rate" on a sales page.
Find your next 5 business leads free is Lead Seeker's own offer for finding verified business contacts at accounts that match your profile. It does not promise a contact at any particular company or phone coverage. The comparison below needs no signup. Check the terms on the try-free page before you use the offer.
Two Jobs Share the Name
Search results for this phrase mix two different jobs. One is finding contact data you do not have: you submit a name and a domain, and the service returns an email or phone. The other is checking data you already hold, such as whether an address or number is valid. This guide covers the first. If your file already has emails and you only need to know whether they will deliver, see B2B contact verification methods.
A third case, where a vendor staff runs the file for you, is covered in outsource data enrichment services. This page is about files you upload yourself.
What to Submit: Input Keys by Tool
All four tools below match on identifying columns, and a row with too few of them is rejected or wasted. The minimums come from each vendor's help documentation.
| Tool | Minimum input per row | File limits stated | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hunter Bulk Email Finder | First and last name (or full name) plus a company name or domain. Domains give better results; "Ltd" and "LLC" should be stripped | CSV or TXT; up to 50,000 emails per file depending on plan; unpaid-row caps by plan (2,500 on Free) | November 6, 2026 |
| Apollo CSV enrichment | One of: first name, last name and company URL; first name, last name and company name; a LinkedIn URL; or an email | .csv up to 50 MB and 100,000 rows | November 6, 2026 |
| Lusha CSV enrichment | A LinkedIn URL, an email, or full name plus company name | CSV up to 20 MB and 10,000 rows; per-file row caps by plan, from 100 on Free to 10,000 on Scale | November 6, 2026 |
| Dropcontact file upload | First name, last name and a company name, website, domain or LinkedIn URL | CSV or Excel; limits not stated on the upload page | November 6, 2026 |
Fact: Apollo and Lusha accept a LinkedIn profile URL or email as a stand-alone identifier; Hunter and Dropcontact require name-plus-company information. Inference: keep first name, last name, company name and domain in your master file, then map the columns required by each tool. Opinion: build that file once and keep it as your master input.
What to Check: Results, Provenance, Duplicates, Billing
The same four tools differ more in what they tell you about each row than in what they accept.
| Check | Hunter | Apollo | Lusha | Dropcontact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result labels per row | Valid, Accept all, Unknown, Not found, plus a score in percent | The status page counts total, matched and duplicate rows; a report separates matched, enriched and unmatched records | Matched rows return data; the help page gives no per-row label | The help page describes a downloaded enriched file and does not list row labels |
| Source of a value | Optional "Include sources in the results" adds the URLs where the email can still be found | The help page describes no per-field source | The help page describes no per-field source | The help page describes no per-field source |
| Duplicate handling | Repeat requests in the same period do not use credits again, except in bulk uploads, which always use credits | A Duplicates count is shown per file | Not described on the help page | Not described on the upload page |
| Billing unit | 1 credit per email found, verification included | Credits are consumed once the job runs and deleting results does not restore them; credit availability is shown before you confirm | 1 credit for email, 5 for phone, up to 6 for both, per matched contact | Credits needed are shown before launch |
| Unmatched rows | No credits used if no email is found | The help page states no per-row rule | Free | Credits refunded for emails not found |
| Result retention | Paid files kept 15 months, unpaid 6 months; claimed or do-not-contact emails are cleared from stored files about every two weeks | Job and results stay visible | Enriched files stay in the Enrich tab for 3 months | Download from the dashboard |
Fact: only Hunter documents a source option, and only Hunter says stored results can shrink after download. Inference: if you need to show where a value came from, that is a feature to test, not assume. Opinion: do not compare tools on a single "accuracy" claim, because the pages here describe no shared definition of a match.
A Synthetic Example: Eight Rows In, Five Matched
The people and companies below are invented, and the unit price is illustrative, not any vendor's.
| Row | Submitted | Outcome | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dana Whitcombe, brightlanefreight.example | Matched | Name and domain given |
| 2 | Omar Reyes, harbourpoint.example | Matched | Name and domain given |
| 3 | Priya Nandakumar, tideline.example | Matched | Name and domain given |
| 4 | Lee Marsh, northgate.example | Not found | Domain exists, no public email found |
| 5 | O. Reyes, Harbourpoint Ltd | Matched, duplicate | Same person as row 2, written differently |
| 6 | Sam Okafor, (no company) | Rejected | Company column empty |
| 7 | Joanna Pike, kestrelmed.example | Matched | Name and domain given |
| 8 | Chen Wu, oldfirm.example | Not found | Domain no longer active |
Count the file back to what you sent: 8 submitted = 5 matched + 2 not found + 1 rejected. The five matched rows are four distinct people, because rows 2 and 5 are the same person. If the illustrative unit is one credit per matched row, you pay for five and get four contacts. Removing the duplicate before upload, and filling the empty company cell, would have changed both the bill and the result.
Checking a Batch in Seven Steps
- Build one input file. Use separate first name, last name and domain columns, and add a LinkedIn URL or email column where you have one.
- Clean before upload. Remove middle names, strip "Ltd" and "LLC", drop placeholder rows and delete exact duplicates. Hunter's help page lists these same steps.
- Check the file limits. Compare your row count with the plan caps before you upload.
- Preview the cost. Where the tool shows credits before launch, as Apollo and Dropcontact do, read the figure before you confirm.
- Count the return. Write submitted, matched, not found, duplicate and rejected, and make them add up.
- Sample the matches. Open a handful of matched rows and compare the value with a public page, such as the company's own contact or team page.
- Save a dated copy. Keep the file with the day and tool, because stored results can change after download.
From Result File to Outreach
A matched row is a candidate, not a verified contact. Before it goes into a sequence, check the email's deliverability status, remove anyone who should not be contacted, and record the source and date. To organise what you learn about one account, see the prospect dossier template.
Where Lead Seeker Fits
Lead Seeker is a sales-intelligence tool, not a batch file service. If you do not yet have a list, Lead Compass reads your website and ICP to suggest accounts, and a search returns verified people with the public signal behind each one. A batch tool is for completing a list you already have.
Limitations
- Vendor help pages change. Limits, credits and retention here are as of the date shown; check the live page before you upload.
- "The help page describes no..." is a statement about that page, not proof that the feature does not exist.
- The example is invented and shows how to count rows, not how any tool performs.
- No match rate or accuracy figure is given, because the pages checked define none.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are batch lookup services for contact information?
They are tools that take an uploaded file of partial records, such as a name and a company domain, and return missing fields like a business email or phone for each row.
What should I put in a batch lookup file?
Put separate first name, last name and domain columns in a CSV, and add a LinkedIn URL or work email where you have one. Remove middle names and suffixes such as Ltd, and delete duplicate and empty rows.
Are unmatched rows charged?
Not by three of the four tools. Hunter uses no credits when no email is found, Lusha says unmatched rows are free and Dropcontact refunds credits for emails not found. Apollo's CSV help page states no per-row rule.
How do I check a batch result before I use it?
Make the counts add up to the rows you sent, sample matched rows against a public company page, and check email status before sending. Keep a dated copy, because some vendors clear stored results later.
How This Guide Was Built
The seven steps and the two comparison tables are this guide's own method. Each tool fact comes from that vendor's own help or documentation page, dated in the table. Fact, Inference and Opinion mark what a source states, what follows from it and what the author recommends. The example rows are invented. This is a November 6, 2026 snapshot.
Sources
- Hunter, Bulk Email Finder and How do credits work in Hunter?, checked November 6, 2026.
- Apollo, Use CSV Enrichment, checked November 6, 2026.
- Lusha, CSV Enrichment and How credits are counted, checked November 6, 2026.
- Dropcontact, How to upload a file on Dropcontact, checked November 6, 2026.
- Lead Seeker, Lead Compass and try-free page. Lead Seeker publishes these pages.
About the Author
Bob Generale is President of Percepture. He works across SEO, AI search, digital PR, sales intelligence and AI-powered revenue systems, with a focus on connecting visibility, buyer intent and sales action.
Next Steps
Build one clean input file, count every row back to what you sent, and keep a dated copy of each result. To find verified business contacts at accounts that match your own profile, find your next 5 business leads free and check the terms on that page.