You found a broken link while reading and blog post, and you think– I have a similar post they could link to!
But you look for the author’s contact information and you find nothing!
That’s just what Hunter.io can help you with, and more.
In this post, I have shared my experience of using Hunter.io for outreach.
I have also shared what, I think, are the best alternatives to this tool.
Let’s dive right in!
What is Hunter.io and How It Works for Link Building?
Hunter.io is an email finder and verification tool that helps marketers, sales teams, and link builders connect with the right people. Instead of manually digging through websites to find contact emails, Hunter.io scrapes publicly available data and provides verified email addresses, helping you build and manage outreach lists more efficiently.
How I Use Hunter.io For Outreach
It Lets You Find Contact Details From Domains
Hunter.io’s Domain Search saves me a lot of time. You just enter a website’s domain, and within seconds, it’ll give you a list of professional email addresses associated with it. This lets you quickly find the right contacts without having to manually search the domain. I use it to find email addresses of editors or content managers for guest posts or collaborations.
It also offers filters to refine contacts.
You can filter emails by department (e.g., marketing, editorial) so that you can find and target the right contacts. If I see titles like “Editor” or “Content Manager,” I know these are the people I should be contacting for link building.
It also gives a Confidence Score for deliverability. Emails that come with a high confidence score are most likely to respond– so I can prioritize contacts accordingly.
The process saves me hours of manual searching and increases my chance of reaching the right person to secure a quality link.
And It’s Super Easy to Use
Another thing I really love about Hunter.io is its clean and intuitive interface. Even if you’re new to SEO, the dashboard is simple enough to get started without a long learning curve.
On the left of the dashboard, all the tools are neatly stacked in a logical order with self-explanatory labels. And when you open each tool– you’ll know what to do.
This means you’ll spend less time figuring out the tool and more time on actual outreach. As someone who’s often really busy and wants quick results, these little details matter.
It Also Lets You Verify Emails Before Sending Outreach
One of the biggest outreach challenges is email bounces – if your emails continue to bounce, your sender reputation takes a hit, and your campaigns become less effective.
Hunter.io doesn’t just stop at finding emails – it also integrates email verification and basic outreach functionalities directly within the platform.
Hunter.io’s Email Verifier lets you check if an email is valid before sending an outreach email. This has reduced my bounce rate significantly and improved my campaign performance.
This, in turn, prevents your domain from getting flagged for sending to too many bad addresses. And eventually, it saves you from wasting time contacting inactive or wrong email addresses.
You Can Also Verify Email Addresses in Bulk
For large-scale outreach campaigns, manually finding and verifying emails becomes very time-consuming. This is where Hunter.io’s Bulk Search and Bulk Verification features are helpful.
It lets you upload a list of contacts and checks each email to make sure it is legit. This reduces your bounce rate and keeps you from wasting time on invalid leads.
This, in turn, scales your outreach efficiently, so you can focus on personalizing emails instead of spending hours collecting contacts.
It Automates Follow-Ups for Better Email Outreach
Hunter.io also has an email outreach feature that lets you send and schedule personalized follow-ups directly from your Gmail account.
Pre-built templates help you quickly draft outreach emails. It also has an automated follow-ups feature that makes sure you don’t miss a second email if someone doesn’t respond. It also lets you see who opened and engaged with your email.
While it’s not as advanced as full-fledged outreach tools like BuzzStream, it’s perfect for small to medium-sized campaigns.
And A Few Nifty Additional Features
Hunter.io goes beyond basic email search and verification. It provides some extra features that really come in handy during the outreach process.
For starters, you can easily extract email data directly from any website you visit– thanks to its browser extension. This feature makes on-the-spot outreach research much faster and more efficient.
It also has a Google Sheets add-on that lets you easily export, organize, and share your keyword and email data with your team.
Plus, connecting Hunter.io with CRM smoothens the workflow. It automatically verifies every lead and immediately adds to your contact database. This integration saves time and helps maintain a consistent follow-up process.
On top of that, Hunter.io lets you collaborate with your team members. It’s one of the rare programs that provide this functionality even with the fee plan.
But There Are a Few Things I’m Not a Fan of
One of the biggest downsides of Hunter.io is it only verifies professional emails. So even if it is legit, Hunter.io won’t verify personal emails.
Other than that, it can’t extract emails from social media profiles– which is a feature many of its competitors provide. For someone who uses LinkedIn a lot for outreach, Hunter.io feels lacking in this department.
Other than that, entities like small businesses or beginners might have a hard time justifying its high cost. Hunter.io’s premium plans can be pretty steep.
I’m also not a fan of the credit system. Every 10 emails count as one search request, so large domains can quickly deplete your credits if you’re not careful. (More about it in the next section).
Is It Worth the Money?
Hunter.io has certain premium plans based on your needs but if you’re not comfortable putting your money into it right away– you can try out the free plan first. It lets you search 25 and verify 50 emails per month. You can also run a campaign with up to 500 recipients.
I think for a free plan, this limit is really good. You can easily do some basic outreach with it.
Then there are the premium plans for higher quotas and more intensive outreach:
Starter – $34/month is suitable for those starting to scale their outreach. It increases your search and verification limits significantly.
Growth – $104/month is ideal for marketers and agencies needing robust data to support large-scale link-building campaigns.
Finally, there’s the Scale – $209/month plan– tailored for high-volume outreach. It provides ample credits and advanced features to meet extensive link-building needs.
So, does Hunter.io’s pricing justify its benefits for scaling link-building outreach?
Before I get to that, you need to know that it counts every 10 emails returned in a search as 1 search request. This means if you perform a domain search that returns 100 emails, it will use 10 of your allotted searches.
You need to keep this credit system in mind when planning outreach, as heavy domains can quickly deplete your free credits. As already mentioned, I find it to be one of the biggest downsides of Hunter.io. It’s not fun to have to be conscious of my credit utilization while doing link-building outreach.
Ultimately, it depends on your needs and budget. If you’re serious about link building and can invest in quality data, Hunter.io saves time and improves your overall link-building outreach campaign.
What I Like and Don’t Like About Hunter.io
To sum up my experience of using Hunter.io for link-building outreach:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| ✔ Quickly finds email addresses– No more manual searching on websites. | ❌ Expensive for heavy users– Plans can get pricey if you need a lot of searches. |
| ✔ Accurate email verification– Helps prevent email bounces. | ❌ Limited social media insights– Only finds email addresses, no social media profiles. |
| ✔ Bulk email search & verification– Saves hours for large-scale outreach. | ❌ Credit-based system– Each search costs credits, and they run out fast if you’re not careful. |
| ✔ Easy-to-use interface– No learning curve, everything is intuitive. | ❌ No advanced personalization for outreach– Lacks deep automation features like AI personalization. |
| ✔ Google Sheets & CRM integration– Makes organizing data seamless. |
5 Best Hunter.io Alternatives for Link Building Outreach
1. Snov.io – For Multichannel Outreach and LinkedIn Prospecting
If Hunter ceased to exist tomorrow, the first tool that I will switch to will be Snov.
Snov.io integrates email searches with social media data, including LinkedIn. It helps you find not just emails but also additional contact details that can make your outreach strategy more effective. It even lets you connect with leads across different platforms– which is something that Hunter.io lacks.
2. Anymail Finder – For Cost-Effective, Verified Emails
Anymail Finder operates on a pay-per-use model where you only pay for confirmed emails. So, if you’re looking for a budget-friendly option to find verified contacts, without committing to a monthly subscription, go for Anymail Finder. It’s perfect for beginners and small businesses on a tight budget, doing in-house outreach.
3. Coldlytics – For Highly Targeted, Manually Curated Lists
If you want precisely curated contact lists, Coldlytics is the perfect Hunter.io alternative for you. You can target a very specific segment with precision with Coldlytics. It helps you manually build a list of verified leads that are relevant to your outreach goals.
4. RocketReach – For Reliable Data with Clear Contact Markers
RocketReach is one of my favorite link-building outreach tools. It gives detailed contact information with clear markers, including personal email identifiers. It has a reputation for reliable data. If you want to target very specific contacts and are very serious about accuracy of the information, you should definitely try it out.
5. ContactOut – For Quick Email Extraction from LinkedIn
ContactOut is sort of an email search engine that extracts emails directly from LinkedIn profiles. It has a super handy Chrome extension and solid database, suitable for targeting professionals in specific industries. As someone who often looks for link-building opportunities on LinkedIn, it is one of my go-to tools for outreach.
Is Hunter.io the Right Choice for Your Outreach?
Overall, if you’re serious about scaling your outreach and have the budget to invest in quality data, Hunter.io is a solid choice. But if you have budget concerns or specific needs, you might find a suitable option in the alternatives I mentioned.
Want to up your link-building game? Check out these tools:
↳ Best backlink monitoring tools
↳ Best automated link building tools
↳ Semrush Vs Ahrefs: see which SEO tool is better suited or you
Frequently Asked Questions
Hunter.io is a cloud-based tool that finds and verifies professional email addresses from websites. I use it to quickly compile lists of contacts from domains, enabling me to reach out to editors and site owners for guest posts and link insertions. It streamlines link-building outreach with fast, reliable data extraction.
Hunter.io actively checks each email address with its Email Verifier tool. It tests for deliverability to ensure the address accepts messages, reducing bounce rates and boosting outreach success. This process helps me focus on contacts that will likely respond, improving my link-building campaign results.
Yes, the free plan restricts you to a limited number of email searches and verifications each month. I often reach the limit quickly, which hampers large-scale outreach efforts. For serious link building, upgrading to a premium plan becomes necessary, though it may require a higher budget.
Anymail Finder is an excellent option for those on a tight budget. It uses a pay-per-use model, so you only pay for confirmed, verified emails. This model minimizes unnecessary expenses and ensures you invest only in contacts that add real value to your outreach efforts.
Yes, you can integrate Hunter.io with your CRM. I export verified data to Google Sheets or directly connect it to my CRM system, which streamlines my outreach process and simplifies lead management. This integration allows me to track and follow up on contacts efficiently.
Hunter.io extracts professional email addresses from websites, allowing me to build targeted outreach lists. I use it to connect with editors and site owners for guest posts and link insertions. It supports both small and large-scale link-building efforts by providing fast, verified contact data.
Sending cold emails means reaching out to prospects who have not interacted with your brand before. I use cold emails to introduce my content, pitch guest posts, or propose collaborations. The goal is to initiate conversations with potential partners, building relationships that eventually earn quality backlinks.
Yes, Hunter.io is a legitimate and trusted tool used by thousands of professionals worldwide. I rely on it for finding and verifying professional emails reliably. Its robust data extraction process and compliance with GDPR and CCPA standards make it a dependable choice for effective outreach.
I find Hunter.io better for link-building outreach due to its intuitive interface and highly accurate email verification. Although Snov.io offers similar features and solid CRM integrations, Hunter.io provides reliable, verified contact data quickly, which reduces bounce rates and streamlines my outreach process and leads to better link-building results.