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ContactOut alternatives: Telegram for 21 of 30 founders and CEOs

By NAUT Research · · 6 min read

21 of 30 ContactOut alternatives crypto founders and CEOs with a Telegram on NAUT, read 14 November 2026. Logos: Binance, Hamster Kombat, OKX, Blum, Dogecoin, Pi Network, Trust Wallet, Ethereum, Solana, TON, OpenSea, Uniswap.

Among ContactOut alternatives for crypto founder contacts, NAUT tracks a Telegram for 21 and a LinkedIn for 25 of the 30 founders and CEOs it lists at the 30 most-followed live crypto companies and projects on its project list, as read on 14 November 2026. Of the 6 contact tools NAUT checked that day (ContactOut, Hunter, Lusha, Apollo.io, RocketReach and NAUT), NAUT's own records were the only founder data that could be measured without paying, so the rivals' paid contact data is marked not tested.

The sample includes media and data companies such as CoinDesk and CoinGecko. NAUT holds an X account for 28 of the 30 and an email for 1, so a team whose outreach runs on email should test the rivals on its own list.

Disclosure: NAUT published this test and is 1 of the tools in it. The same 3 criteria below were used for every tool, every rival fact comes from that rival's own pricing page as read on 14 November 2026, and any rival data behind a login or a paid plan is marked "not tested". NAUT will rerun the test by 14 December 2026.

Which ContactOut alternatives did NAUT check, and on what criteria?

NAUT checked 6 contact finder tools: ContactOut as the baseline, 4 alternatives (Hunter, Lusha, Apollo.io and RocketReach) and NAUT itself. Each was scored on the same 3 criteria, used for every tool:

  • Channels held for the 30 people. Email, phone, LinkedIn, Telegram and X, counted only where the data shows without paying. In this test that was possible for NAUT's own records and for none of the 5 rivals, so every rival's founder data is "not tested".
  • A free allowance stated on the tool's own pricing page, read on 14 November 2026 and kept only when the page's own wording was matched again on a second read.
  • A readable pricing page. Whether a plain fetch of the page returned plan figures at all.

The 30 people are 1 person each at the 30 companies and projects with the most X followers on NAUT's project list, picked from 2,137 live entries on that list with a person titled founder, co-founder or CEO on file. 26 of the 30 hold a founder or co-founder title on NAUT and 4 hold a CEO title, 1 of them regional: Rifad Mahasneh is listed as CEO for MENA at OKX.

ContactOut alternatives compared: what each pricing page showed

NAUT checked 8 claims about the 5 rivals against their own pages. 1 matched word for word on a second read and is used below; the other 7 are left out (2 were contradicted by the page, 1 was not found, 4 were read once but their wording did not match again).

Tool Pricing page Free plan
ContactOut 2 lines read once, not matched again Not matched
Hunter 1 figure contradicted, 1 not matched Not matched
Lusha Loaded 40 credits a month
Apollo.io Plan list contradicted the claim Not matched
RocketReach Title only, no plan figures Not matched
NAUT Free plan $0, paid from $49 a month Free directory search and public profiles

Paid data from the 5 rivals was not tested on the 30 people. NAUT measured its own: X 28, LinkedIn 25, Telegram 21, email 1, phone 0.

Lusha's page states: "The Free plan provides you with up to 40 credits per month." That is the 1 rival free allowance this test could confirm. "Not matched" means NAUT could not confirm the figure from the page, and says nothing about whether the tool has one.

Which channels does NAUT hold for the 30 founders and CEOs?

NAUT's data shows at least 1 channel for 29 of the 30 people, and LinkedIn or Telegram for 26. 20 have both LinkedIn and Telegram on file, and 19 have X, LinkedIn and Telegram together.

Channel People Share
X 28 93%
LinkedIn 25 83%
Telegram 21 70%
Email 1 3%
Phone 0 0%

Email is NAUT's gap in this sample: 1 of 30 people has an email on file, and none has a phone. A team whose outreach runs on email should test the email-first tools on its own list, since their paid data was not tested here.

Who are the 30, and what does NAUT hold for each?

Ranked by their company's X following on NAUT's record, largest first. "On file" lists the channels each person page shows as held by NAUT.

Company Person On file at NAUT
X, LinkedIn, Telegram
None yet
X, LinkedIn, Telegram
X, LinkedIn, Telegram, email
X, LinkedIn, Telegram
X, LinkedIn
X, Telegram
X, LinkedIn, Telegram
X, LinkedIn, Telegram
X, LinkedIn
X
X, LinkedIn
LinkedIn, Telegram
X, LinkedIn, Telegram
X, LinkedIn, Telegram
X, LinkedIn, Telegram
X, LinkedIn, Telegram
X, LinkedIn
X, LinkedIn, Telegram
X, LinkedIn, Telegram
X, LinkedIn, Telegram
X, LinkedIn
X, LinkedIn, Telegram
X, LinkedIn, Telegram
X, LinkedIn, Telegram
X, LinkedIn, Telegram
X
X
X, LinkedIn, Telegram
X, LinkedIn, Telegram

Anyone listed can ask NAUT to remove their page at https://naut.so/legal/data-deletion.

What this tells a BD team

  • LinkedIn (25) and Telegram (21) are the private channels these crypto founder contacts carry on NAUT; email trails at 1 of 30.
  • 3 people, Ryan Fugger, Aaron Davis and Xavier Lee, have only X on file, so a public reply or a warm intro is the route there.
  • For Alexander Pasechnik at Hamster Kombat, NAUT holds no channel yet; check the company page for other team members on file.
  • If email is the whole plan, trial a rival on your own list first: this test could not see their paid data.
How a BD team can work this list
  1. Pick the companyStart from a project page such as Uniswap or Solana, which lists its team.
  2. Open the founderEach person page says which channels NAUT has on file: Telegram for 21 of the 30 here.
  3. Choose the channelUse Telegram or LinkedIn for the 26 people with either; X for the 3 with only X.
  4. Unlock and sendVerified channels open on any paid NAUT plan, from $49 a month.

Related reading on NAUT: Crypto contact database: 6 tools, 50 founders, 44 X handles and How to find a crypto founder email: 5 methods, 10 tested.

Can you pull this data through the NAUT API?

Yes: GET https://api.naut.so/v1/projects/binance with the header Authorization: Bearer $NAUT_KEY returns Binance with its team, and GET https://api.naut.so/v1/people/{id} returns 1 person record with the hasTelegram, hasLinkedin and hasEmail flags behind this article's channel counts, at 5 credits a call (60 calls for the 30 companies and 30 people is 300 credits, inside the 3,000 on the $49 Essential plan). Revealing a person's private channels with include=private costs 10 credits the first time and is a permanent unlock; the docs are at naut.so/docs/api and plans at naut.so/pricing. Verified Telegram, email and LinkedIn unlock on any paid NAUT plan, so you can start a 7-day trial and reach these founders today.

ContactOut alternatives FAQ

What is the best ContactOut alternative for crypto founder contacts?

Of the 6 tools NAUT checked on 14 November 2026, NAUT was the only 1 whose data on 30 crypto founders and CEOs could be measured without paying: it holds Telegram for 21, LinkedIn for 25 and email for 1. The paid contact data of ContactOut, Hunter, Lusha, Apollo.io and RocketReach was not tested, so for email-first outreach test them on your own list.

Where can I find crypto founders' Telegram and LinkedIn?

NAUT's person pages show which channels it holds for each founder: for the 30 most-followed crypto companies and projects on NAUT, 21 founders and CEOs have a Telegram and 25 a LinkedIn on file, as read on 14 November 2026. Verified Telegram, email and LinkedIn unlock on any paid NAUT plan, so you can start a 7-day trial.

Does Lusha have a free plan?

Yes. Lusha's own pricing page, read on 14 November 2026, says its Free plan gives up to 40 credits per month.

When will NAUT rerun this ContactOut alternatives test?

NAUT will rerun the test on the same 3 criteria by 14 December 2026 and update this page with any change to the rivals' pricing pages or to the 30 founders' channels on file.

Sources

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