Quarvio vs Hunter.io: honest comparison for cold email list buyers
Hunter charges 1.5 credits per verified contact (1 to find + 0.5 to verify) and its Discover database is company-first, not people-first.
TL;DR — 5 things to know
- •Hunter.io charges ~$184 for 5,000 contacts vs Quarvio’s $129 — you save 30%
- •Credits per contact: 1.5 (1 find + 0.5 verify)
- •Discover database: Company-first, not people-first
- •Pricing model: Monthly recurring subscription
- •People-first filters (title, seniority, function) in one step - Hunter requires finding companies first, then people
Our take
Hunter.io built its reputation on one thing: finding emails at a specific domain. The Domain Search feature — 'show me everyone at company.com' — is still the best tool for that specific use case, and the email verification reputation is solid.
The limitation for bulk list builders is the two-step workflow. Hunter is company-first, not people-first. To find contacts by job title across thousands of companies, you would need to search each company individually and then filter by person. That process consumes 1.5 credits per contact (1 to find, 0.5 to verify) and is not built for the 'give me 5,000 VP Marketing contacts across these industries' use case that Quarvio handles in a single order.
Price comparison
Starter $49 x 3.75mo at 1.5 credits/contact
Starter $49 x 4.6mo at 1.5 credits/contact
Scale $299 x 1.5mo at 1.5 credits/contact
Scale $299 x 3mo at 1.5 credits/contact
Quarvio: one-time purchase, valid 12 months, pre-verified before delivery. Hunter.io pricing verified against their live pricing page, 2026.
Feature comparison
Where Quarvio wins
- ✓People-first filters (title, seniority, function) in one step - Hunter requires finding companies first, then people
- ✓Pre-verified on delivery - Hunter charges separately to verify (0.5 credits per contact)
- ✓30% cheaper at most tiers on true cost basis
- ✓One-time purchase vs monthly subscription
- ✓No credit burn on the find-then-verify two-step
Where Hunter.io wins
- ✓Domain Search is the best tool for finding all emails at a specific company
- ✓Clean, simple UI - easiest onboarding in the category
- ✓Strong email verification reputation - well-trusted deliverability
- ✓Generous free tier (50 credits/month) for testing
- ✓Excellent API for custom prospecting workflows
Key facts about Hunter.io
Source: Hunter.io help documentation
Source: Hunter.io Discover product, verified June 2026
Source: Hunter.io pricing page, verified June 2026
“Hunter is perfect for 'find everyone at this company' but terrible for building filtered lists by title. I needed 2,000 HR Directors across mid-market companies. With Hunter that's a manual process company by company. Just not the right tool for bulk prospecting.”
— u/sdr_tooling · r/coldemail · 189 upvotes
Verdict: cold email list buyers
Hunter is the best tool for domain-based email discovery - 'find everyone at company.com' is where it excels. For bulk filtered lists by job title and industry across thousands of companies, Quarvio delivers in one step what Hunter requires two steps and 1.5x the credits to achieve.
Frequently asked questions
What is Hunter.io's 1.5 credits per contact model?
Hunter charges 1 credit to find an email address and 0.5 credits to verify it. Buying a contact that is both found and verified costs 1.5 credits total. On the Starter plan with 1,000 credits/month, that means roughly 666 verified contacts per month, not 1,000. This compounds the monthly cost for bulk list building.
Is Hunter.io good for finding contacts by job title?
Hunter is primarily a domain-search tool — it finds emails at a specific company domain. Its Discover database allows people-based searching, but it is company-first by design. For bulk filtered prospecting by job title across thousands of companies in one step, Hunter requires a different workflow than most outbound list builders expect.
What is the difference between Hunter's Domain Search and Discover?
Domain Search finds all discoverable email addresses associated with a company domain. Discover is Hunter's people-search feature that allows filtering by name, title, and company. Domain Search is Hunter's strongest feature. Discover is more limited compared to purpose-built people-first databases, and both consume credits from the same monthly pool.
Does Hunter.io have a free tier?
Yes. Hunter offers 50 credits per month on the free plan, with no credit card required. The free tier is useful for occasional single-domain lookups or small-scale testing but is not practical for list building at any meaningful volume.
How accurate are Hunter.io's email addresses?
Hunter's verification accuracy is consistently rated as one of the stronger in the category. Independent tests put accuracy at 85-95% depending on the domain. The 'risky' category — emails Hunter can find but not verify — often bounce and should be treated with caution before sending.
Switch from Hunter.io today
Verified B2B contacts from $129 for 5,000. One-time purchase, 12 months valid, 90%+ deliverability guaranteed. No subscription, no seat limits.