# Cheapest waterfall enrichment API: cost per found email, FullEnrich vs BetterContact vs Icypeas

We make RouterGrowth, one of the four options on this page, so read it as a vendor's view. Every figure about another product was taken from that product's own pricing page on 24 October 2026 and is linked at the end. RouterGrowth prices on this page are read from our live catalog when the page is built.

The short answer: for a fixed monthly plan, Icypeas is the cheapest per found email ($19 for 1,000 found emails, down to under half a cent at volume), but it is one finder, not a waterfall. Among true multi-provider waterfalls, BetterContact Pro ($49 for 1,000 credits) is a little cheaper than FullEnrich Pro ($55 for 1,000). With no plan at all, a pay-per-call waterfall like RouterGrowth charges $0.0187 when its first provider finds the email, more when a later provider does, and nothing on a miss.

## What is the cheapest waterfall enrichment API?

It depends on how many emails you find a month, and whether you need a waterfall or one good finder. All four charge only for an email that is found. The differences are the monthly commitment, the number of sources behind each lookup, and what happens to unused credits.

| Tool | Sources per lookup | Entry plan | Cost per found work email at entry | At volume | Miss billed? | Unused credits |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Icypeas | its own finder | $19 a month, 1,000 credits | $0.019 | $0.005 ($499 for 100,000) | no | never expire |
| BetterContact | 20+ providers | $15 a month, 200 credits | $0.075 | $0.049 (Pro, 1,000 credits) | no | roll over, capped at 2x the plan |
| FullEnrich | 20+ providers | $55 a month, 1,000 credits | $0.055 | $0.048 (15,000 credits for $720) | no | roll over 3 months (12 on yearly) |
| RouterGrowth | up to 3 per call | none, prepaid balance | $0.0187 on a first-provider hit | same per call; plans lower it | no | deposits never expire |

A work email is one credit on every credit plan here. Mobile numbers cost ten credits at FullEnrich and BetterContact, and Icypeas lists its phone finder as coming soon, so a list that needs phones burns a credit plan ten times faster than the table suggests.

## How do you compare cost per found email?

Divide what you pay by the emails you actually get. Because none of these tools bills a miss, the cost per found email on a credit plan is simply the price of one credit, as long as you use every credit you bought. Two things move the real number away from the sticker:

- **Credits you do not use.** A $55 plan for 1,000 credits costs $0.11 per email in a month where you find 500. Roll-over softens this; credits that never expire remove it.
- **Find rate.** A cheaper finder that misses more leaves rows empty, and those rows then go to a second tool you pay separately. That is the whole case for a waterfall: several sources behind one lookup, so a miss on one becomes an attempt on the next.

FullEnrich says its find rate averages around 80%, depending on industry and geography. BetterContact says a single source typically finds 30 to 60% of emails or mobiles. We have not run the same list through all four, so this page compares prices, not coverage.

## What does each one cost, one by one?

### FullEnrich: the waterfall with no seat limits

FullEnrich chains more than 20 providers for work emails, mobile numbers and personal emails, and verifies what it finds. Pro is $55 a month for 1,000 credits ($0.055 a credit); larger tiers go down to $720 a month for 15,000 credits on the pricing calculator. One work email is one credit, a personal email three, a mobile number ten. Credits are used only when verified data is found and roll over for three months on monthly plans, twelve on yearly. Every plan includes unlimited users, an API, an MCP server, and people and company search. New accounts get 50 free credits, and the pricing page publishes a machine-readable copy for agents.

- **Choose it when** you want the widest waterfall for emails and mobiles in one product, with a team of users on it.
- **Skip it when** you only need work emails and want the lowest price per email, or when a monthly plan sits unused half the year.

### BetterContact: the cheapest way into a real waterfall

BetterContact aggregates more than 20 data sources and verifies every email through Bouncer. Starter is $15 a month for 200 credits; Pro starts at $49 a month for 1,000 credits and scales up to 50,000; Enterprise starts at $799 a month. One credit buys one email with verification, ten buy a mobile number. It charges only for valid data, says it never charges for catch-all addresses, and rolls unused credits over up to twice the plan amount. Annual billing gives two months free, and Enterprise lets you plug in API keys you already pay for.

- **Choose it when** you want a multi-provider waterfall at the lowest monthly commitment, or catch-all handling matters to your deliverability.
- **Skip it when** you need data beyond emails and phones around the lookup.

### Icypeas: the lowest price per email, from one finder

Icypeas is an email finder and verifier, not a multi-vendor waterfall. It is the cheapest on this page per found email: $19 a month for 1,000 credits, $39 for 4,000, $89 for 10,000 and $499 for 100,000, before VAT, with 20% off yearly. One credit per found email, a tenth of a credit per verification. Credits never expire and roll over without a cap, even after you cancel. Plans include the API, catch-all verification and an MCP server; a phone finder is listed as coming soon.

Icypeas is also the first provider in RouterGrowth's email waterfall. If your volume is steady and Icypeas alone finds enough of your list, buying it directly is cheaper than going through us.

- **Choose it when** volume is steady, cost per email is the main constraint, and one finder covers your segment.
- **Skip it when** you need phone numbers today, or a miss should fall through to another source automatically.

### RouterGrowth: a waterfall with no plan

RouterGrowth is an API and MCP server that gives an agent `contact.find` as one call. Behind it, auto routing tries up to three providers in price order, starting with the cheapest, and stops at the first one that finds a valid email. You pay that one provider's price: $0.0187 when the first provider finds it, $0.042 or $0.0437 when a later one does, and nothing when all of them miss. The price is shown before the call, there is no monthly minimum, and the same balance pays for verification, phones, people search and sending.

What it does not do: there is no spreadsheet or browser interface, no bring-your-own-key, and no native CRM sync. The waterfall is three providers deep per call, not twenty. On a 582-contact pilot (founders and GTM leads at French and UK B2B SaaS, October 2026), about nine in ten contacts came back with an email across the waterfall, and 92% of the found emails verified as valid.

- **Choose it when** an agent or a script does the enrichment, volume is bursty, or you want emails, phones and the next step on one key.
- **Skip it when** you find thousands of emails every month at a steady pace: a credit plan, or Icypeas direct, will cost less per email.

## How much does a list of 1,000 contacts cost on each?

Assume 1,000 contacts and 850 found emails, roughly in line with the find rates the vendors publish. On a credit plan, you buy the plan that covers 850 credits and pay for it in full.

| Tool | What you buy | Bill for the month | Per found email |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Icypeas | Basic, 1,000 credits | $19 | $0.022 |
| BetterContact | Pro, 1,000 credits | $49 | $0.058 |
| FullEnrich | Pro, 1,000 credits | $55 | $0.065 |
| RouterGrowth | nothing; 700 found by the first provider, 150 by the second | $19.38 | $0.0228 |

The unused 150 credits roll over on the credit plans, so a second month at the same volume costs less per email on each of them. Icypeas is a single finder: the 850 is an assumption for the waterfalls, and a single source usually finds fewer. If the rest of the list then goes to a second tool, add that tool's bill.

## When is a credit plan cheaper than pay per call?

When your volume is steady and high. The arithmetic is simple: a plan wins once you would use most of its credits every month at a lower per-credit price than the pay-per-call price. Icypeas at $89 for 10,000 credits is under a cent per email; no pay-per-call waterfall matches that for a list where one finder is enough. FullEnrich and BetterContact also come down at 10,000+ credits a month, and both handle mobile numbers in the same plan.

Pay per call wins when volume is uneven (a 3,000-row month followed by a quiet one), when the enrichment is one step in a job an agent runs end to end, or when you do not want another subscription to watch.

## What does the price leave out?

- **Verification.** BetterContact and FullEnrich verify every found email in the credit. Icypeas includes catch-all verification and charges a tenth of a credit for a standalone check. On RouterGrowth, `contact.find` returns a verification status with the email, and `contact.verify` is a separate call for addresses you already have.
- **Catch-all addresses.** BetterContact does not charge for them. Elsewhere, read the status before you send: a catch-all is not a confirmed inbox.
- **Phones.** Ten credits per mobile number on the credit plans. On RouterGrowth, `contact.phone` is its own call with its own waterfall and price.
- **Commitment.** Credit plans renew monthly or yearly. A prepaid deposit has no renewal and never expires.

## How do you run the cheapest waterfall from an agent?

1. Give the agent a CSV of first name, last name and company domain.
2. It inspects `contact.find` once for the price and the waterfall, then runs the batch with the cap set high enough for every provider to try. A cap at the first provider's price stops the waterfall after one miss.
3. It verifies the rows that came back catch-all or risky with `contact.verify`.
4. It reports the found rate and the cost per found email.

The mechanics are in the [waterfall enrichment guide](/use-cases/waterfall-email-enrichment). The wider field, including Clay itself, is compared in [Clay alternatives](/use-cases/clay-alternatives), and per-seat databases in [Apollo API pricing](/use-cases/apollo-api-pricing).

## FAQ

### Which waterfall enrichment tool has the best find rate?

We have not run the same list through all of them, so we do not rank them on coverage. FullEnrich publishes an average around 80% and BetterContact describes 30 to 60% for a single source as the reason to use a waterfall. Test your own segment: all four give free credits or a small first purchase.

### Do waterfall enrichment tools charge for misses?

None of the four on this page does. FullEnrich, BetterContact and Icypeas use credits only when data is found, and RouterGrowth charges only the provider that found the email. Some waterfalls configured inside other platforms do charge per lookup on certain vendors, so check before you connect one.

### Is Icypeas a waterfall?

No. Icypeas is a single email finder and verifier with its own method. It is often used as the first step inside a waterfall because it is cheap, including as the first provider in RouterGrowth's.

### Can I use my own provider API keys?

FullEnrich offers bring-your-own-key on Enterprise, and BetterContact lets Enterprise customers paste in keys from providers they already pay. RouterGrowth does not offer bring-your-own-key today; every call runs on our provider accounts.

### What is the cheapest waterfall enrichment API for low volume?

For a few hundred emails a month or less, a pay-per-call waterfall usually costs least because there is no plan to fill. BetterContact Starter at $15 a month is the cheapest fixed plan with a multi-provider waterfall.

## Sources

Pricing pages, read on 24 October 2026: [FullEnrich](https://fullenrich.com/pricing), [BetterContact](https://bettercontact.rocks/pricing), [Icypeas](https://www.icypeas.com/pricing). RouterGrowth prices: the live [contact.find](/catalog/contact.find) capability.