Find and verify emails for HubSpot prospects using Apollo and Hunter in n8n

Prerequisites

Why n8n?

n8n's branching and HTTP Request nodes make it ideal for the find→verify→update chain. You can visually see the Apollo-verified path vs. the Hunter-verification path, and IF nodes handle the routing logic without code. Self-hosted n8n is free with unlimited executions, so the only variable cost is Apollo and Hunter credits.

The trade-off is setup complexity. You'll configure 6-8 nodes with HTTP headers, JSON bodies, and conditional logic. If you want a single script you can read top-to-bottom, the Code approach is simpler to understand.

Step 1: Schedule the workflow

Add a Schedule Trigger node:

• Trigger interval: Days
• Days between triggers: 1
• Hour: 6
• Timezone: Your team's timezone

Running daily catches new prospects imported the previous day.

Step 2: Search HubSpot for contacts without emails

Add an HTTP Request node to find contacts that have a name and company but no email:

• Method: POST
• URL: https://api.hubapi.com/crm/v3/objects/contacts/search
• Authentication: HubSpot credential
• Body:

{
  "filterGroups": [
    {
      "filters": [
        {
          "propertyName": "email",
          "operator": "NOT_HAS_PROPERTY"
        },
        {
          "propertyName": "firstname",
          "operator": "HAS_PROPERTY"
        },
        {
          "propertyName": "company",
          "operator": "HAS_PROPERTY"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "properties": ["firstname", "lastname", "company", "domain", "email"],
  "limit": 50
}

Step 3: Loop through contacts and call Apollo

Add a Split In Batches node to iterate over the search results (set batch size to 1).

Add an HTTP Request node to find the email via Apollo:

• Method: POST
• URL: https://api.apollo.io/api/v1/people/match
• Headers:
  • x-api-key: Your Apollo API key
  • Content-Type: application/json
• Body:

{
  "first_name": "{{ $json.properties.firstname }}",
  "last_name": "{{ $json.properties.lastname }}",
  "organization_name": "{{ $json.properties.company }}"
}

Apollo returns the person's email in person.email along with a confidence indicator. If no match is found, person will be null.

Step 4: Check confidence and decide whether to verify

Add an IF node to evaluate the Apollo result:

• Condition: {{ $json.person.email }} is not empty

On the true branch, add a second IF node to check confidence:

• High confidence (skip verification): Check if {{ $json.person.email_status }} equals verified
• Lower confidence (needs verification): Everything else goes to Hunter

Step 5: Verify with Hunter

On the "needs verification" branch, add an HTTP Request node:

• Method: GET
• URL: https://api.hunter.io/v2/email-verifier
• Query Parameters:
  • email: {{ $json.person.email }}
  • api_key: Your Hunter API key

Hunter returns a data.result field with one of these values:

• deliverable — safe to use
• risky — might bounce
• undeliverable — definitely bad
• unknown — Hunter couldn't determine

Add an IF node:

• Condition: {{ $json.data.result }} equals deliverable

Step 6: Update HubSpot with the verified email

On the verified branch, add an HTTP Request node:

• Method: PATCH
• URL: https://api.hubapi.com/crm/v3/objects/contacts/{{ $('Search Contacts').item.json.id }}
• Authentication: HubSpot credential
• Body:

{
  "properties": {
    "email": "{{ $json.person.email }}",
    "email_verification_status": "verified",
    "email_source": "apollo+hunter"
  }
}

For contacts where the email was risky or undeliverable, route to a separate update that sets a flag:

{
  "properties": {
    "email_verification_status": "unverified",
    "email_source": "apollo"
  }
}

Step 7: Add a Wait node for rate limiting

Add a Wait node (set to 1 second) after the Apollo HTTP Request to stay within Apollo's rate limits (5 req/sec on Basic plans).

Step 8: Test and activate

1. Click Execute Workflow to run against your prospect list
2. Check each node — verify Apollo returns emails and Hunter verifies them
3. Open a few contacts in HubSpot to confirm the email was written
4. Toggle the workflow to Active

Cost

• n8n cloud: Starts at $24/mo. Each prospect uses ~5-7 executions depending on branch.
• Apollo: 1 credit per people match lookup. Basic plan ($49/mo) = 900 credits.
• Hunter: 1 credit per verification. Starter plan ($49/mo) = 1,000 verifications. Free plan = 25/month.
• Per prospect (typical): 1 Apollo credit + 0-1 Hunter credit = 1-2 credits total. High-confidence Apollo results skip Hunter entirely.

Common questions

How many Hunter credits does the Apollo-verified shortcut save?

Typically 30-40% of Apollo results come pre-verified. For a batch of 50 contacts, you'd skip Hunter for 15-20 of them, saving 15-20 Hunter credits per run. Over a month of daily runs, that's 450-600 credits saved.

Can I use n8n's built-in HubSpot node for the search?

The built-in HubSpot node supports basic contact operations but not the Search API with complex filters (NOT_HAS_PROPERTY + HAS_PROPERTY). Use an HTTP Request node for the search and the built-in node for simple updates.

What happens when both Apollo and Hunter can't find or verify an email?

The contact stays without an email in HubSpot, and you can set an email_verification_status of "not_found" to exclude it from future runs. Route these contacts to a HubSpot list for manual research.

Next steps

• Add company domain resolution — if contacts only have a company name, add a step to find the domain first using Hunter's Domain Search endpoint
• Flag for manual review — route contacts with risky emails to a HubSpot list for a human to decide
• Add a completion notification — send a Slack summary with counts: found, verified, failed