Hunter io Review in 2023: Email Finder Tool for Outreach Marketing

Hunter.io is a leading solution for finding and verifying professional email addresses.

The tool helps you gather accurate data about potential clients and validate email addresses, enhancing email campaign effectiveness by providing more precise information.

In this Hunter.io review, we will explore grasping the tool’s functionality, helping you steer clear of drawbacks while taking full advantage of its numerous benefits.

Hunter.io Overview: What is it?

Hunter io review the main page

Hunter io serves as a resource for discovering professional email addresses, typically utilized for outreach purposes.

In contrast to its competitors, Hunter io delivers a reliable method to find and validate publicly available email addresses.

That being so, it proves to be an excellent choice for link-building initiatives and outreach email campaigns.

This email finder tool enables you to generate leads efficiently and quickly for cold email outreach efforts.

Hunter io enables you to link your Gmail account to boost your business outreach with more leads. Moreover, you can enhance your campaigns by crafting email templates.

Importantly, managing large quantities of data and swiftly verifying domain or address lists becomes a breeze.

The tool employs several approaches to achieve its goal, including a Chrome extension for website data extraction and verifying email addresses.

How Does Hunter.io Function?

Hunter io operates by examining a company’s website and cataloging all discovered email addresses.

This grants you access to a comprehensive view, encompassing email verification for addresses that might not be immediately noticeable upon initial examination.

However, Hunter io’s capabilities extend beyond merely extracting relevant email addresses from websites.

In fact, it can assist you in pinpointing the correct email address for a specific individual, even if their address isn’t available within the provided list.

The tool achieves this by identifying patterns in a company’s email addresses and offering informed suggestions.

This feature is particularly useful when connecting with an email address related to a particular individual within a company.

By trying out different mixtures using these suggestions, you can then verify professional email addresses and confirm them with the supplied email verification tool.

What are the Strengths of Hunter.io? 

The numerous advanced features of Hunter.io may be rendered insignificant if the data provided cannot be trusted.

This concern is not without merit, as my experience searching for the best email marketing tools has shown that many overpromise and underdeliver.

With Hunter io, however, you receive data that has been thoroughly scrutinized for accuracy. This does not guarantee that every email address generated will be flawless.

It is important to mention that the tool typically demonstrates greater precision when dealing with medium to large-sized enterprises.

During the cold outreach campaign, I noticed that smaller local businesses produce less consistent results, frequently due to the lack of email addresses and a preference for contact forms.

This occurs because numerous small businesses do not use branded email addresses. Finding personal email addresses for small businesses is not a primary focus for Hunter.io.

Hunter.io Review: Pros

Email outreach can certainly be a key revenue-generating activity for sales and marketing teams, particularly in the context of cold outreach or offering link-building services. However, the actual process of finding emails does not directly contribute to profit generation.

By using Hunter io, valuable time can be saved and redirected toward your core income-producing tasks. Additionally, the tool can enhance the effectiveness of email campaigns by providing more accurate information.

Pros of Hunter io include:

  • User-friendly interface
  • Handy Google Chrome extension
  • Complimentary basic plan
  • Email Finding tool
  • Email verification tool

Hunter.io Review: Cons

Despite its merits, Hunter io is not without certain shortcomings. Firstly, its pricing is somewhat higher compared to similar tools. Numerous alternatives, discussed later, offer more credits each month at an equal or lower cost.

Another limitation is the inability to search LinkedIn for email addresses. In contrast, alternative tools such as GetProspect, provide this feature. Therefore, an additional tool may be required for these specific functions.

Cons of Hunter io include:

  • Lack of social media search capability: no Linkedin integration
  • Lack of data for small business: focused on medium to large size of business email
  • Higher pricing compared to similar solutions

Hunter.io Review: Key Features

The following are some more advanced features that contribute to Hunter io’s effectiveness as an email discovery tool.

Domain Search The primary homepage of the Hunter io platform enables users to search for email addresses by entering a specific domain.

This streamlines the process of exploring an entire website instead of sifting through pages individually in search of the desired email.

Another significant advantage of the domain search function is the software’s ability to examine an entire website, including its underlying code that may not be visible.

This increases the likelihood of locating the precise email address without conducting a manual site inspection. Moreover, users can perform bulk domain searches.

This feature also enhances the probability that Hunter io’s pattern recognition tool will discern the company’s email configuration, simplifying the task of predicting the intended recipient’s email address.

Who Utilizes Hunter io?

Hunter io caters to diverse users, with various use cases spanning multiple sectors.

For instance, journalists seeking contact information, sales, and marketing teams focusing on lead generation, or SEO professionals running link-building campaigns can all greatly benefit from its features, particularly the domain search.

Hunter io is frequently mentioned in affiliate marketing groups and forums when discussing the best available email discovery tool.

Notable tech giants such as IBM, Google, Microsoft, and Adobe also use Hunter io.

Thus, it successfully meets the feature and performance requirements of both large and small businesses alike.

Hunter.io Review: User Experiences

1. Domain Search

Hunter io review Domain Search feature

The primary homepage of the Hunter io platform enables users to search for email addresses by entering a specific domain.

This streamlines the process of exploring an entire website instead of sifting through pages individually in search of the desired email.

Bulk domain search allows users to efficiently locate precise email addresses without manually inspecting a website, as the software examines the entire site, including hidden code. This feature simplifies the process and increases accuracy.

This feature also enhances the probability that Hunter.io’s pattern recognition tool will discern the company’s email configuration, simplifying the task of predicting the intended recipient’s email address.

The tool also works as an Author Finder, which is a fresh approach to finding specific email addresses for bloggers and journalists. Simply enter the article URL, and you’ll get the author’s contact info in no time.

2. Email Finder

Hunter io review email finder feature

Email Finder is a handy feature offered by Hunter io, designed to help you locate a specific individual’s email address within a company.

To utilize the tool, simply select the “Finder” button in the top menu. This directs you to the form above, where you can input the person’s name and the domain you wish to search.

With Hunter io, you can easily locate specific email addresses if you have the person’s full name and their company website. This allows for efficient and targeted email searching in a user-friendly manner.

The tool operates by attempting various combinations of a person’s email address, using patterns derived from other detectable corporate email addresses within the company.

While not infallible, this method generally yields better results for larger companies and websites.

3. Email Verifier

Hunter io review email verifier feature

The Email Verifier empowers you to validate your gathered emails, ensuring their validity and current functionality.

To access the email verifier tool, click the “Verifier” button in the header menu and enter the email address you wish to examine.

The tool will send a query to the email address to confirm valid email addresses.

A notable feature is that even if the email address is incorrect, the tool will indicate whether the domain is capable of receiving emails.

This enables you to test different combinations until you discover a valid email address.

4. Bulk Task

For those who frequently conduct mass outreach for link building, press releases, or large-scale cold emailing for business purposes, Hunter.io provides convenient bulk task features.

The Bulk Tasks Tool enables users to perform bulk domain searches, locate email addresses, find authors, and verify email addresses.

To access the tool, click the “Bulk” button in the top menu and choose the desired functions to execute.

Users can manually input the domain or import a list for these bulk tasks. To import a list, accepted file formats include. CSV file, Excel, Numbers, and TXT.

Please note that this response is composed in a formal tone, conversational writing style, and in English.

5. Leads

The Leads section is designated for storing the contact information of individuals you plan to reach out to.

Once you have identified the accurate email address and confirmed its functionality using the email verification tool, you can add the details to the Leads section.

This feature functions as a basic customer relationship management (CRM) system.

It can also integrate with other CRM solutions you might be utilizing. Hunter.io is compatible with:

  • Salesforce
  • Pipedrive
  • HubSpot
  • Zoho CRM
  • Gmail
  • Outlook
  • Zapier

Users can effortlessly add contacts and manage over 14 data points about them, ranging from their LinkedIn and Twitter profiles to the date of their last interaction.

6. Campaigns

Hunter ai review creating campaigns feature

The Campaigns tool in Hunter.io allows seamless integration with either Gmail or Outlook to manage outreach campaigns effectively.

This can be an excellent solution if you seek a straightforward outreach tool or aim to reduce the number of tools you utilize.

I have used it previously for link-building endeavors and found that it serves its purpose well.

However, the tool may seem relatively basic compared to more comprehensive outreach solutions such as Postaga or Snov.io.

7. Chrome Extension Intetrarion

Hunter ai revew a free Google Chrome extension saving tons of time

One aspect of Hunter.io that I benefit from is the Chrome extension. While it may appear trivial, consistently switching between screens and copying and pasting domains and names can be time-consuming.

Performing these actions hundreds or thousands of times daily can waste a significant amount of time, possibly around 30 minutes, just from switching screens and moving information.

The Chrome extension enables users to conduct a one-click search on a website they are currently browsing.

This feature not only saves a significant amount of time but also simplifies the process of sifting through email addresses related to larger companies with hundreds or thousands of employees.

The Hunter io Chrome extension is available at no cost, making it accessible even for users on the basic plan.

8. Google Sheets Add On

Hunter ai review offers a free Google Sheets, saving tons of time

One final feature that establishes Hunter.io as an ideal email solution for numerous businesses is its integration with Google Sheets.

Users can swiftly populate lists of names with corresponding business email addresses by utilizing the Hunter io Google Sheets integration.

It allows users to verify a massive list of emails from a purchased email list, assisting in list cleanup.

To employ the Google Sheets integration, users must directly add the add-on from the Google Sheets add-on menu.

The Hunter io Google Sheets add-on is accessible even with the free plan. However, be aware that utilizing this feature may rapidly consume your credits.

The Google Sheets add-on allows you to process up to 1,000 domain names or company names with Domain Search, find emails for up to 10,000 rows with Email Finder, and verify up to 10,000 email addresses with Email Verifier.

However, due to Google Sheets limitations, tasks stop after 30 minutes, requiring you to click the button again to resume. For larger tasks, it’s recommended to use bulk tasks on Hunter’s website.

9. Linkedin Integration

Previously, Hunter.io integrated directly with LinkedIn, making it an extremely potent method for obtaining and identifying email addresses associated with genuine businesses.

This had the potential to enhance your link-building endeavors significantly.

However, LinkedIn altered its Terms of Service, now barring Hunter.io and similar tools from connecting to their platform.

Hunter.io Pricing

Hunter io review pricing plans

Once you transition from the ‘Free’ plan, the ‘Starter’ plan costs $49 per month for monthly payments or $34 per month with annual payments.

The subsequent tiers include ‘Growth’ at $99 per month, ‘Pro’ at $199 per month, and the ‘Enterprise’ plan at $399 per month.

However, the pricing structure is more complex than just the base cost, as each plan comes with a specific number of “credits” for email searches and verification:

FeatureFreeStarter PlanGrowth PlanPro Plan
Searches per month255002,50010,000
Verifications per month501,0005,00020,000
Full database accessNoYesYesYes
Connect Google WorkspaceNoUp to 5Up to 5Up to 5
Track links in emailsNoYesYesYes
Insert images in emailsNoYesYesYes
Priority supportNoYesYesYes

Although the ‘Starter’ plan is quite affordable, it limits you to 500 email searches and 1,000 email verifications per month.

In short, those running extensive outreach campaigns will likely need to upgrade to the ‘Growth’ plan. We utilize the ‘Pro’ plan, which suits the volume of link-building outreach we conduct.

While Hunter io’s pricing strategy is clever, some users may feel excluded.

Hunter.io Alternative

Snov.io

If Hunter.io is a software service focusing on email marketing, Snov.io combines email marketing, sales, and CRM functions. Snov.io is an alternative to Hunter.io because it offers integration for connecting to CRM for sales.

HunterSnov.io
Pricing$49.00/ month$39.00/month
Free VersionYes
No
Free TrialYesYes
FeaturesSolution to improve their email marketing, Integrations (22 listed)Sales reps, CRM, email marketing, Integrations (31 listed), and Email Warm-up

Final Thoughts

As evident from this Hunter.io review, it has become an essential tool in my daily workflow.

Although it might be pricier and offer fewer credits compared to similar solutions, the high accuracy and comprehensive features more than compensate for the cost.

The database you’ll be working with is quite extensive and continues to expand each year, increasing the likelihood of finding the precise emails you need.

If your primary focus is on social media, Hunter.io may not be your ideal tool, as it lacks these features.

However, if you’re involved in regular B2B outreach or link-building outreach, Hunter io is definitely worth trying out for its free features before deciding on a paid plan.

Hunter.io Review: PAA (People Also Ask)

Is Hunter.io GDPR Compliant?

Hunter.io has made some efforts to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Given the complexity of the issue, we felt it necessary to address it in our Hunter io review.


You can use Hunter.io’s email search tools without compromising your privacy.

It follows the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other data protection guidelines. This is because all the information they gather is publicly available.


Hunter.io is useful for various tasks; however, some of them might infringe on data privacy regulations.

Specifically, their email verification and pattern suggestions could cause problems.

Using their suggested method to predict email addresses and then employing those addresses in unsolicited email marketing campaigns breaches data protection laws (provided those individuals reside in the EU).


Additionally, storing the addresses in a database is a violation of the GDPR, even if they are never used. It’s just something to bear in mind.

What sets the Email Finder apart from other email search tools? 

Hunter has a huge database of over 100 million professional email addresses, helping you find the most current contact info for any professional.

Every email found with the Email Finder goes through an email verification check. It gives you the verification status and a special confidence score to measure accuracy.

If an email address is found publicly on the internet, the Email Finder shows the public sources where it was found, along with the discovery dates.

The Email Finder follows GDPR rules. Even though GDPR only covers data from EU residents, we use the regulation’s requirements for our entire database.

Is Hunter.io Safe to Use?

Yes, Hunter.io is safe to use. You need not worry about any harm resulting from using Hunter io. It searches the web for email addresses to enhance your lead generation and customer communication. 

Generally, using the information in your campaigns is subject to data usage limitations. This applies to any lead generation tool.

Is Hunter.io any good?

Hunter.io is a good choice for email verification software compared to many others. Although it’s not 100% accurate, it does well with the email verification process. Predicting email patterns can be really helpful and a useful feature too.

Is Hunter.io Legal?

Hunter.io is a tool that searches the internet to find the results you’re looking for. It’s completely legal, and as a user, you can use the software because it accesses publicly available information.

What does Hunter.io do?

Hunter.io is a top email finder tool for locating and checking professional email addresses. All you need to do is enter a domain name in Hunter’s domain search to begin looking.

Hunter has over three million users and is chosen by leading business groups.

Is Hunter.io free?

Hunter.io provides a free version. If you register for free today, you can get 75 credits each month. 25 search credits for the domain search tool and 50 verification credits for email verification.

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