LinkedIn automation tools are the future of sales, and let me tell you why.

LinkedIn is a professional social media platform with over 875 million users. It is used for Business-To-Business lead generation because the conversion rate is 3x better than any other social media platform. Moreover, the audience on LinkedIn has 2x buying power.

So, no wonder many sales teams use LinkedIn prospecting as their basis for targeting. After all, without LinkedIn, many sales executives would have a hard time generating B2B leads. Even marketers around the world use LinkedIn campaigns for B2B lead generation. Not to mention recruiters who started to use LinkedIn to find top talents for their companies.

So, as the usage of LinkedIn lead generation progressed, people started to search for a solution to ease their LinkedIn marketing and sales efforts. In particular, they wanted to find something that would perform their operative tasks, such as the process of LinkedIn outreach. That’s when LinkedIn automation tools were born.

Since then, LinkedIn automation tools are changing the LinkedIn outreach and prospecting game as we know it. Moreover, they started to define the future of sales, marketing, and recruiting with every new feature developed.

So, do you wish to find and use the LinkedIn automation tool for yourself? Yes? Well, let me help you out with that. 

In this article, we cover the most popular and best LinkedIn automation tools, their pros and cons, and their features. Furthermore, we will emphasize the safest LinkedIn automation tool and what to consider when deciding which one to use. 

Grab your popcorn and enjoy.


Eating popcorn GIF

What Is LinkedIn Automation?

LinkedIn Automation is a technology that tools use to perform different LinkedIn activities you would usually do manually. In other words, this technology automates the tasks meaning it performs them on your behalf. These activities include LinkedIn profile views, sending connection requests, follow-up messages, or LinkedIn InMails.

LinkedIn automation serves for LinkedIn lead generation purposes. For example, you can build your LinkedIn network, make new connections, and outreach them on autopilot, or automate sharing gated posts.

In outreach terms, LinkedIn automation essentially recognizes your lead source, for example, a LinkedIn search URL. It analyzes the LinkedIn pages, performs actions according to your settings and interacts with the selected LinkedIn users. Moreover, some LinkedIn automation tools can take your list of LinkedIn accounts and search for publicly available information. 

Best LinkedIn automation tools can even send personalized messages, and images according to individual leads information available on LinkedIn. Also, they even use messaging sequences to send follow up LinkedIn messages if the lead doesn’t respond.

Lastly, some tools can send bulk messages to all leads at once. However, this is something you need to be wary of when it comes to safety. Don’t worry, though. We will talk about how the best LinkedIn automation tools do it below. 


Why Use A LinkedIn Automation Tool?

LinkedIn automation tools streamline the most time-consuming LinkedIn activities, such as sending thousands of connection requests and messages. This way, you can invest time in more important tasks. In addition, these tools test and analyze your performance and show you what you need to improve. 

In other words, LinkedIn automation tools are software that helps you automate your LinkedIn activities. There are many more benefits other than what we mentioned above. So let's go over the  6 most important ones. 


Image of 6 benefits of using LinkedIn automation tools

LinkedIn Automation Tools Save Your Time

By streamlining the most time-consuming LinkedIn activities, these tools really do save your resources. That said, they can save you 5+ hours of work per week, depending on which one you choose.


They Give You A Detailed Reporting

You can perform manual outreach by yourself. However, keep in mind that you would need to dig into reporting yourself, as well. In other words, this can take you hours to gather and analyze the metrics. LinkedIn automation tools will do all this on your behalf.


You Have The Option To A/B Test - Everything

Depending on which LinkedIn automation tool you choose, you will have the option to A/B test your outreach efforts, such as: 

Then, you can see which works best and apply those to future outreach efforts.


These Tools Help You Personalize Your Outreach

LinkedIn automation tools can also help you send personalized messages at scale. In other words, these tools use custom variables so you can get in touch with more leads naturally. 

In addition, by using personalized images and GIFs, you can increase the response rate by 63%.


Run Multiple Campaigns At The Same Time

If you have different ICPs or Buyer Personas, you can run multiple outreach campaigns at the same time. This way, you can be more productive, as you don’t have to wait to finish with one target audience to outreach another.


Focus On Building The Relationship

By streamlining the most operative tasks, your focus can be directed elsewhere. In other words, you now have time to focus on more crucial tasks such as:


Types Of LinkedIn Automation Tools

Every LinkedIn automation software has its functionality base to set different LinkedIn activities on autopilot. In other words, these tools can be:

A cloud-based LinkedIn automation tool means it is managed and processed thanks to a dedicated IP address. This IP address, also known as the proxy hosted on the internet, shields your activity. Moreover, all your data is not stored on local servers or your personal computer but on the internet. 

The software can run even when your PC is off. In addition, you can choose your IP address from your or another country. What’s more, only cloud-based software can have multiple accounts and integrated inboxes

Lastly, cloud-based LinkedIn automation platforms mimic human behavior. In other words, it clicks and views pages on this professional network platform as humans would. Thus, it makes the tool undetectable. So you can outreach new leads and send new connection requests carefree.

Extensions, desktop apps, and web browsers don’t have a dedicated IP address, nor do they have the option to mimic human-like behavior, which causes sending of bulk messages. Moreover, they do not have the possibility of managing multiple accounts. Lastly, you must have your PC turned on to keep your campaigns running. 

Sometimes you cannot find information on how a LinkedIn automation platform functions. In that case, you can ask their customer support team to answer this question.


Should I Use A LinkedIn Automation Chrome Extension? 

No. Even though LinkedIn automation tools based on chrome extensions are cheaper, you shouldn’t jump right into using them. These Chrome extensions are not safe since they inject the code into the LinkedIn platform. This way, LinkedIn can easily detect automation and get your LinkedIn account restricted permanently.

Web browsers and desktop apps are a bit safer than extensions because they don’t inject the code into the LinkedIn platform. However, they do not offer additional features that cloud-based tools do.


Why You Should Use A Cloud Based LinkedIn Automation Tool

If you wish to avoid LinkedIn restrictions and make the best of automation software, choose a cloud-based solution. They don’t inject any code into LinkedIn, like extensions, nor do they require you to keep the PC turned on. They also mimic human behavior, so LinkedIn can't detect them.

Besides functioning like humans and being the safest LinkedIn automation tool, cloud-based solutions offer integrated inboxes and multiple-account management systems.


What To Consider When Choosing A LinkedIn Automation Tools

When choosing among LinkedIn automation tools, you need to be aware of all the best features for your LinkedIn outreach. So here is what you need to consider to choose the best LinkedIn automation tool for yourself.


Cloud-Based Solution

As mentioned, other types of LinkedIn automation tools either inject the code into LinkedIn, or they do not offer other perks, such as an integrated inbox. So: 

You should consider using only a cloud-based solution.


Create Drip Campaigns

Why use LinkedIn automation just for scraping publicly available information when you can do much more with it? That’s right - some LinkedIn automation tools only have the data scraping option and do not have the possibility to set up your outreach campaigns. 

So, when choosing such a tool, first answer the question of what you want to do with it. If you wish to use it more than just as a data scraper, consider the tools that have drip campaigns feature. Or, even better, choose the tools that offer Smart Sequences - an algorithm that follows your leads’ behavior and acts accordingly.


Use Of Hyper-Personalized Messages

If you were thinking that using LinkedIn automation will remove any chance to send personalized messages, think again. Most of the best LinkedIn automation tools are going to great lengths to make this possible for their users - and they did.

For example, if you wish to personalize the text of your follow-up messages or InMails, you can use native variables such as:

Moreover, with some tools you can even create your custom variables.


Image of CTA banner 1 for Skylead salesbook - ready-to-use outreach template that can be applied to our LinkedIn automation and cold email software


Automatic Stop When Prospect Replies

You don’t have to be afraid of tools not stopping to send messages once your lead responds. The best LinkedIn automation tools will stop sending follow-up messages or emails as soon as the lead responds. This way, you can take over the conversation or send them back to another campaign. So, keep this in mind when researching the right tool for you.


Image & GIF Personalization

You can hyper-personalize your Images and GIFs with some tools, as well. After all, such personalization is proven to increase the response rate by 63%. So it is indeed worth considering. 

Once we go through our list of the best LinkedIn Automation tools, you will see which ones have native variables and Images & GIF hyper-personalization. So, stay tuned.


Reporting & Insights

LinkedIn automation tools analyze your target audience behavior and provide you with detailed reporting instantly. They can show you the metrics like response rate, the number of profile views, or connection requests accepted. You can even calculate the conversion rate if you label your leads, but we will speak of this later.

The idea is to make data-driven decisions faster and easier with any tool. You just need to choose the one with the best analytics for your needs.


Inbox To Communicate With Prospects

If you’re already using multiple tools, you probably know how difficult it is to navigate between the platforms to communicate with clients. Therefore, one feature you really need to consider is an integrated inbox. 

For example, our tool Skylead has a Smart Inbox feature that gathers all communication platforms, leads and messages in one place. So you don’t need to navigate between different software anymore.


Integration With Other Tools

If the CRM is part of your workflow, then you don’t have to sacrifice CRM integration when choosing the LinkedIn automation tool. Simply find the LinkedIn automation software that offers such a feature.

CRM integration is useful as it allows data transfer between your CRM and LinkedIn automation tool. Thus you don’t have to download CSV files from one software and upload them back to another. 

Some software algorithms offer CRM integration through Zapier webhooks or API. Or both. Whatever option you choose, a Zapier webhook or API, remember that integration is a necessity for productivity, not a luxury. So make sure to consider tools that can provide you with such integration.


Image of CTA banner 1 for watching Skylead - LinkedIn automation and cold email software demo


Multichannel Outreach

LinkedIn automation tools are perfect for lead generation. Some would argue that LinkedIn outreach is enough. However, let’s be honest. Sales teams do their best work when they multichannel their outreach. Moreover, LinkedIn’s connection request limitation made multichannel outreach a must on accident, as people needed to find an alternative way to reach more leads per week. 

So, to maximize getting in touch with your leads, search for a tool that is not only LinkedIn automation but Email outreach software too. 


Send Thousands Of Email Per Month

Speaking of multichannel outreach, if you want to reach more leads and bypass the email limit, exploring a tool that offers that capability is essential. For example, Skylead allows you to add unlimited email addresses to one campaign and send thousands of emails monthly without damaging your domain. In other words, it enables you to contact your leads more effectively and achieve your goals.


Best LinkedIn Automation Tools [+Free Options]

Now you know everything you need to choose such a SaaS product for yourself. So let’s jump to the list of the best and most popular LinkedIn automation tools.


Skylead

Yes, that’s us. Hi! 🙂 

Skylead is a LinkedIn automation tool & Cold Email software and the first all-in-one solution on the market. It offers founders, sales teams, recruiters, marketers, and alike to streamline and multichannel their outreach efforts. 

With this tool, you save 11+ hours of work per week. This way, you have a lot of time to focus on building relationships and closing the deals.

Skylead is a cloud-based solution, and you know what that means - you get extra features and don’t have to keep your PC turned on to work. In addition, you can integrate Skylead with your favorite CRM via webhooks using Zapier, or you can transfer the leads between the two via API.

Furthermore, it is completely safe to use since it mimics human-like behavior. In addition, it executes each action a different number of times every day to keep your account safe and healthy.

Lastly, Skylead’s reporting system and A/B testing will help you analyze your campaign metrics. Thus, you can see what works best for your target audience clearly and make data-driven decisions. 

That said, let’s get into the main features.


Smart Sequences 

Skylead is the first-ever tool to start using Smart Sequences - a groundbreaking algorithm that executes steps in the order you set, depending on your leads’ behavior. To clarify, Smart Sequence is a combination of different activities you can perform on LinkedIn or using Email. 

What makes the Smart Sequences Smart is the If/then condition. To explain it, let’s create a smart drip campaign together. Say we want to invite a person to connect. Now, they can behave differently depending on whether they accept the invite or not. That is where the If/then condition comes in handy. 


Image of Smart Sequence feature in LinkedIn automation tool Skylead

If the person accepts the connection request, you can instruct Skylead to send a regular message, per the example above. If they don’t accept, you can send an InMail or even Email to multichannel your outreach.

In regular sequences, if the prospect doesn’t accept your connection request, the rest of the sequence stops. With Smart Sequences, the flow continues thanks to the conditions

Even if Skylead doesn’t manage to reach out directly, you still have View and Follow steps to send them a subtle reminder

Another benefit of Smart Sequences is you don’t spend countless hours reaching out to each lead manually. Skylead does it all for you, making your outreach 5x more effective than any other LinkedIn lead generation tool. 

Lastly, you can have as many touchpoints in the Smart Sequence as you’d like, and Skylead will do it all for you in real time. Or, if you don’t wish to create a Smart Sequence by yourself, you can use some of Skylead’s pre-tested templates.


Image of Free Trial CTA banner with Skylead support team and text "We suport you from day 1"


Email Outreach

Apart from LinkedIn, this all-in-one tool offers email outreach. Email helps you get to the leads that are not that active on LinkedIn. Moreover, this channel has astonishing ROI, according to studies

Furthermore, having an Email and LinkedIn outreach combo - a multichannel outreach in your sales strategy is a must in 2024. It will give your prospects a well-rounded lead generation experience, but more importantly, it will show them that you care and wish to help them remove any pain points they experience. 

What will surprise you is that Skylead is the only tool from this list that allows you to connect unlimited email accounts. In other words, you can send thousands of emails daily without damaging your domain and at no additional cost.

In addition, whether the leads respond to your outreach from LinkedIn, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Recruiter, or Emails, you won’t have to jump from platform to platform to respond to them since Skylead has an Integrated Smart Inbox

You know where your prospects answered from, and what their status is at any moment thanks to the Smart Inbox well-defined icons, labels, and overall user-friendly interface. 


Email Discovery & Verification

When we said all-in-one solution, we really meant it. In addition to LinkedIn and Email outreach, Skylead also offers Email Discovery & Verification steps, so you can find your leads’ email addresses and reach them out over email.

Skylead is the only LinkedIn automation and Cold Email software with both limitless Email Discovery & Verification features. Other tools can only discover but not verify business emails. Or they can collect publicly available emails, but only if you have that lead in your LinkedIn network.


Image & GIF Hyper-Personalization

Once you finally get through to that lead, you want to make an impact, don’t you? That’s when Skylead’s Image and GIF Hyper-Personalization come into play! You can offer products and services less conventionally, wish your clients happy holidays, or schedule a casual meeting. 

Skylead will personalize for you by pulling the person’s profile picture, company logo, and other information from the profile. So you don’t need to waste time creating countless versions of the same image.

Skylead is the only tool to have native, in-built Image and GIF personalization. In other words, you don’t need to pay extra for it, unlike other tools from the list.


Image of Image & GIF hyper-personalization feature in LinkedIn automation tool Skylead

Pricing

All the previously mentioned features are native, meaning Skylead doesn’t outsource any of them. Plus, they all come with your monthly subscription of only $100 per account with no limitations in number of uses.

Skylead works with LinkedIn Premium, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, or Recruiter accounts. Moreover, it supports CSV-imported campaigns.

Lastly, Skylead offers video and article tutorials, sales hacks, plus live customer support chat, should you need any help. 


Image of Skylead LinkedIn Automation Tool reviews

LinkedIn Sales Navigator


Image of Sales Navigator interface with advanced filters

One tool that is familiar to all sales teams around the world is LinkedIn Sales Navigator. This LinkedIn's subscription plan is widely used for prospecting, sales funnel, or social selling as it has its own inbox.

Even though it is for sales, you can view it as a recruiting or marketing lead generation tool since both teams can use it to generate leads, gather information, and perform outreach. 


Pros

Unlike LinkedIn Premium, LinkedIn Sales Navigator has advanced filters. You can choose among 44 Lead and Account filters, depending on whether you wish to find your ICP or Buyer Persona. 

Moreover, with LinkedIn Sales Navigator you: 


Cons

Even though Sales Navigator is perfect for prospecting, it is not ideal for outreach on autopilot. However, other LinkedIn automation tools, such as Skylead, can integrate with it, thus, you can get the best from both worlds. Simply grab the search URL or your saved lead list URL, and paste it into Skylead. And just like that, you have imported your lead for the outreach.


Pricing Plans For LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator has 3 pricing plans: 

Sales Navigator Core, Advanced and Advanced Plus plans. The price for these plans vary depending on the VAT and the country. However, the prices + VAT are respectively around $93, $167 and $173 per month. Lastly, you can get up to 25% discount for your Sales Navigator account if paid annually. 


Phantombuster


Image of Phantombuster LinkedIn automation tool interface

PhantomBuster is an extension-based solution for data extraction. It acts as a sales and marketing tool that automates the scraping of publicly-available data from LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, and other platforms. 


Pros 

PhantomBuster is not a LinkedIn automation tool with the full package. However, it does come in handy and saves you a lot of time when you wish to scrape particular leads from LinkedIn or anywhere else.

It is a nice addition to outreach tools, as it saves your automated scraped data in CSV file and JSON formats. Therefore, you can download them and upload them elsewhere to create outreach campaigns. 

Moreover, it offers email enrichment features. In other words, with PhantomBuster, you can find email addresses. However, you cannot verify them and may risk a bounce rate for your outreach and get your domain damaged. 


Cons

Although PhantomBuster offers automation for some LinkedIn actions (sending LinkedIn connection requests or messages), it doesn’t have Smart Sequences. In other words, you cannot create your advanced workflows. Lastly, it doesn’t offer email outreach automation, and it is an extension, so it is not the safest tool to use. 


Pricing Plan 

PhantomBuster offers 3 different pricing options. They depend on the time the software runs during a 1-month period, and the number of automated actions:


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TexAu


Image of TexAu, one of the LinkedIn automation tools

TexAu is a data scraping tool with chrome extension and the desktop app. This is a direct alternative to PhantomBuster and can automate activities like sending LinkedIn connection requests messages, and engaging posts on autopilot.


Pros

TexAu can scrape data from almost anywhere, including Facebook and LinkedIn groups, Google and LinkedIn search results, LinkedIn profiles, YouTube, Quora, and Twitter.

Moreover, this software offers email enrichment. In other words, it can analyze LinkedIn accounts and find and verify business emails. 


Cons

People on review websites reported having difficulty setting up proxies. What’s more, there are frequent bugs and a lack of tutorials for beginners. Lastly, TexAu doesn’t have Smart Sequences and the integrated inbox like other tools from the list.


Pricing Plan 

Like PhantomBuster, TexAu gives 3 pricing plans depending on the time software executes the activities, email enrichment during the day, storage, and more. Here are their pricing plans:

If you decide to subscribe annually to this service, you’ll get 2 months free. 


Dux-Soup


Image of Dux-Soup interface, LinkedIn automation tool

Next in line, we have Dux-Soup with basic automation of LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, Recruiter, and CSV-type outreach. Dux Soup is useful for beginners or a one-person team because of its simplicity and free account option. 


Pros

With Dux Soup, you can create Recruiter-based campaigns and reach out to all candidates from LinkedIn that seem a good fit for your business. 


Cons

Dux Soup doesn’t have some other more advanced features such as Image & GIF hyper-personalization, post engagement campaigns (only for posts published by the account’s user), and free InMails. It also lacks Smart Sequences, and Email Automation. Lastly, it is a chrome extension, which means it is not the safest tool to use.


Pricing Plans

Dux Soup has 3 pricing plans available.

Individual pricing plan:

Team pricing plan:

Agency plan:

In addition to a monthly cost, Dux Soup also charges support help with Zapier webhooks and tailored technical process setup.


Linked Helper 2


Image of one of the LinkedIn automation tools, LinkedHelper 2 interface

Unlike Dux Soup, Linked Helper is a LinkedIn automation tool based on a desktop app. Unfortunately, this still means that it has no dedicated IP address and the possibility of running multiple accounts. In addition, your PC needs to be on  to be able to work in the background.


Pros 

As Dux Soup, Linked Helper 2 offers the creation of a LinkedIn Recruiter-based campaign to help all recruiters out there manage potential candidates.

All processed contacts are stored in Linked Helper’s internal CRM. You can view the history of contacts through all your campaigns, search by tags and add notes. Linked Helper’s internal CRM comes in handy even when you wish to interact with contacts manually.


Cons

Linked Helper doesn’t have some other more advanced features that many other LinkedIn automation tools already have. These features include Image and GIF hyper-personalization, post engagement campaigns options, Smart Sequences and A/B testing. Additionally, it does not have Email Automation


Pricing

For as low as $15 per month (or $8.25 a month if you choose an annual subscription), you will get some basic Lead Generation options such as LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, and outreach based on CSV file outreach. However, they limit these pricing plans by messages and connection requests you can send per day. 

Linked Helper also offers a $45 pricing plan with an unlimited number of connection requests.


Zopto


Image of Zopto dashboard, one of the LinkedIn automation tools

This LinkedIn automation software is a cloud-based solution for social selling. Zopto is compatible with LinkedIn Sales Navigator, LinkedIn Premium, and Recruiter accounts. In addition, it also supports Twitter engagement automation.


Pros

Firstly, Zopto offers an email enrichment feature. In other words, it can find business emails, like Skylead, PhantomBuster and TexAu, and verify them. Secondly, it has a posts scheduling feature and can gather data such as the list of LinkedIn group members. Lastly, Zopto offers A/B testing and integrated inbox features.


Cons

The downsides of Zopto are that it doesn’t have Email Automation. In addition, it offers a simple drip campaign. In other words, Zopto doesn’t offer the quality and long-term, automated outreach solutions you get with Smart Sequences like Skylead. It has only a 4-step message workflow without any conditions.


Pricing

Zopto costs $215 per month. This is a higher price in comparison to other solutions in the market, having in mind advanced features VS price ratio.


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MeetAlfred


Image of MeetAlfred dashboard, one of LinkedIn automation tools

MeetAlfred is a cloud-based software with automated social media features. It focuses on social selling via your LinkedIn profile. In addition, it can schedule posts on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.


Pros

All processed contacts are stored in MeetAlfred’s internal CRM. This means you can easily access and manage all your 1st-degree connections information and filter the contacts by company, industry, type of LinkedIn account, Twitter, and much more. 

MeetAlfred also offers integrated inbox and Email Outreach features. However, it can only send emails to 1-degree connections, unlike Skylead that can find and send emails to anyone.


Cons

MeetAlfred doesn’t have Smart Sequences, email discovery, and verification that are advanced features. Secondly, it doesn't have native GIFs and Image personalization features. There is, however, an integration with Hyperise as Expandi, which will make your monthly subscription fee $108 in total if you choose the middle package.


Pricing

MeetAlfred offers 3 pricing plans: $49 for single users and limited features, $89 for Sales Navigator users, and $699 for large sales teams.


Dripify


List of best LinkedIn automation tools, Dripify sequence builder

This cloud-based LinkedIn automation tool works with Premium, Sales Navigator, Recruiter Lite, and Free LinkedIn accounts. 


Pros

Dripify allows the creation of sales funnels on LinkedIn by automating some actions as a part of their sequence with conditions. These actions include viewing profiles, sending regular messages and connection requests, and skill endorsement. 

In addition, you can integrate other software, such as HubSpot, through Zapier. Lastly, it supports A/B testing and has a Recent activity feature on its reports page.


Cons

Dripify indeed offers Smart sequences. However, be aware that you need to pay more expensive pricing plans to have it. In addition, you don’t have the option to automate the InMail step, and there are only 3 sequence templates available.

Secondly, Dripify has no email automation feature. Thus, you can’t multichannel your outreach and get leads that do not spend that much time on LinkedIn.

Thirdly, you cannot send more than 75 connection requests a day. In addition, there is activity control. However, you need to be an advanced user to get it. 

Dripify also doesn’t offer Image & GIF hyper-personalization, nor can you create custom variables with CSV campaigns.

Lastly, Dripify doesn’t have an email discovery and verification feature. So, if the email is part of your outreach, this tool is not for you.


Pricing

Dripify has 3 different pricing plans:


Expandi


Image of one of LinkedIn automation tools, Expandi smart sequence builder

Expandi is a cloud-based LinkedIn automation tool with both LinkedIn and Email Outreach options. 


Pros

Expandi published its Smart Sequence feature a year after Skylead did, making it the second tool on the market to do so. They offer additional actions such as skill endorsement and following companies

Like Skylead, Zopto, and Linked Helper, Expandi has the option of creating LinkedIn Recruiter-based campaigns. 

Lastly, Expandi can integrate with any other tool via Zapier webhooks. 


Cons

Expandi offers the option of an Image & GIF hyper-personalization feature. However, they outsource this feature to Hyperise. That’s why it adds $69 per month to a regular Expandi subscription of $99 per month. It comes down to a total of $148 per month. Please note that the mentioned Hyperise package is limited to 5 templates and 5000 impressions (counted each time an image is viewed).

Apart from this additional cost, another downside is that Expandi doesn’t have Email Discovery & Verification. These features are essential for a domain safety and verified multi-touch approach. However, Expandi can scrape publicly available email addresses from the leads’ LinkedIn profiles once connected to them. Although, these emails are almost always personal ones.

Lastly, many users on review websites report that this tool has become too buggy to use lately. 


Pricing

Expandi has one pricing plan of $99 per month.


Image of Free Trial CTA banner with Skylead's smart sequence that demonstrates multichannel outreach using LinkedIn automation and email steps with if/else conditions


WeConnect


Image of WeConnect dashboard, LinkedIn automation tool

WeConnect is a cloud-based LinkedIn automation tool like Skylead, Dripify, Zopto, and Expandi. 


Pro

WeConnect has A/B testing, a convenient feature for those who are still researching their perfect outreach strategy or wish to test different outreach messaging. In addition, you can send messages to LinkedIn group members on autopilot. 

Whether your prospects come from LinkedIn Premium or Sales Navigator, you’ll be able to see them, as WeConnect has an integrated inbox. Moreover, it has auto endorse and post-engagement features, as well as API and Zapier integration. 


Cons

Sadly, WeConnect doesn’t offer advanced features like Post Engagement Campaigns, Image personalization, or Smart Sequences. Also, it doesn’t have Email Automation or Email Discovery and Verification features. However, you can find all these features and more in Skylead.


Pricing 

If you need some basic Campaign Creation options, such as from LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, or CSV, without the features and conveniences other tools have, then WeConnect can be the right option for you for $49 per month.


Octopus CRM


Image of Octopus CRM dashboard, one of LinkedIn automation tools

This is another LinkedIn automation tool that is extension-based. As it is designed for LinkedIn automation only, Octopus CRM users can solely perform LinkedIn outreach once they connect their LinkedIn profile.


Pros

One of the main features is that Octopus CRM allows you to send bulk messages to first-degree contacts

In addition, its reporting page has very detailed analytics for the features it offers. The report page includes various activities, such as the number of connection requests sent or the current Social Selling Index. 

Lastly, Octopus CRM supports Zapier and HubSpot integration.


Cons

Firstly, as it is a browser extension, this LinkedIn automation bot is not the safest to use. Secondly, it doesn’t have Smart Sequences, nor does it have an InMail message step.

Lastly, Octopus CRM supports all LinkedIn subscriptions. However, you need to pay the highest subscription plan if you use a Recruiter account. 


Pricing

Depending on the features available, Octopus CRM offers 3 pricing options:


Salesflow


Image of Salesflow, one of the LinkedIn automation tools

SalesFlow is a cloud-based solution with an integrated inbox with its own CRM and Zapier integration. It is adequate for anyone who wants to leave the campaign running to professionals with the modest features available. 


Pros

Unlike Zopto, which offers a 4-step message sequence, in SalesFlow, you can send as many LinkedIn messages and follow-ups as you wish. Moreover, you can either create campaigns from Sales Navigator or LinkedIn search results and send their template messages


Cons

Unfortunately, SalesFlow doesn’t offer email automation, discovery, verification, and Smart Sequences features. Hence, there is no possibility of complete multi-channel outreach. Furthermore, it doesn’t have any Image personalization features, so you cannot go all personalized on your prospects. 

Lastly, it doesn’t support Recruiter campaigns, nor it sends an increased number of connection requests.


Pricing

SalesFlow has 3 plans depending on the features available: 


LinkedFusion


Image of LinkedFusion, LinkedIn automation tool

Another LinkedIn automation tool worth mentioning is LinkedFusion. It is a cloud-based solution with an integrated inbox that perfectly works with any LinkedIn profile. 


Pros

With LinkedInFusion, you can personalize messages with a few variables like name, company, and location. It also supports campaign creation from the CSV file.

You can also connect it with any other app through Zapier. What’s more, it has Google Sheets and Hubspot native integration, plus it offers native integration with most CRM software

Lastly, LinkedFusion offers many LinkedIn tutorials that explain advanced growth hacks. 


Cons

LinkedFusion doesn’t have Smart Sequences, and some users reported the existing sequences are confusing. Furthermore, even though it offers image personalization, it does so through Hyperise, so you need to pay extra per month. 

Lastly, its pricing plan limits how many connection requests you can send per day.  


Pricing

LinkedInFusion has 3 pricing plans in store. They depend on other features and the number of connection requests, and messages you can send per day:


Lead Connect


Image of Lead Connect, one of the LinkedIn automation tools

Lead Connect is an extension-based tool that supports LinkedIn basic or Sales Navigator campaigns. It also allows CSV type of campaign. 


Pros

Lead Connect has a pretty simple drip campaign with only a few steps available. On the other hand, it offers various templates. However, the number of templates depends on the pricing plan. 

Speaking of integration, you can link Lead Connect with HubSpot. In addition, you can even get the email discovery feature thanks to the integration with other tools such as Hunter.io. Although, you need to pay more for it. 


Cons

Lead Connect doesn’t offer Smart Sequence like Skylead or Expandi. In addition, it doesn’t support Recruiter integration and needs Zapier to integrate with other CRM software. Lastly, it doesn’t support image personalization or images of any kind, for that matter. 


Pricing Plans

LeadConnect offers 4 subscription plans based on the number of templates, connection requests, and messages you can send per day:


Waalaxy


Image of Waalaxy dashboard, one of the LinkedIn automation tools

LinkedIn automation tool, Waalaxy, is extension-based software. This means it’s not the safest to use since it injects code into the LinkedIn platform and acts like a bot.  


Pros

Waalaxy supports Recruiter, Sales Navigator, and LinkedIn accounts. It can create a campaign from a LinkedIn group member search or from the Who viewed your LinkedIn profile feature. It also has auto engagement and endorsement features. 

Furthermore, it uses voice cloning technology to personalize your voice message using LinkedIn, Twitter, and Voicemail. 


Cons

As it is extension-based, Waalaxy is not the safest tool to use, and you need to keep your tab open to work. Moreover, many users on review websites have reported having their LinkedIn account banned once they started using this tool.

In addition, it doesn’t have image & GIF personalization, and it only has 3 text variables: company, first and last name. So personalization is at its minimum. 

Waalaxy doesn’t support A/B testing, so you cannot optimize your campaigns like in Skylead. Also, they do not offer Smart Sequences, and you can’t build your campaigns, as you are limited to their templates. Lastly, they restrict the number of connection requests you can use per month. 


Pricing

Waalaxy has 4 different pricing plans depending on basic features availability:


Salesloop


Image of Salesloop drip campaign, LinkedIn automation tools

As a fairly new cloud-based solution on the market, Salesloop works with almost any type of LinkedIn account.  


Pros

Salesloop offers a simple 2-step drip campaign with no conditions. It works both with LinkedIn Premium and Sales Navigator. In addition, you can create a campaign with a CSV file with a few text personalization variables.

If you are not automation savvy, they also offer a done-for-you deal, but you need to pay a steep price for it.


Cons 

Salesloop doesn’t have Smart Sequences. Furthermore, the drip campaign doesn’t support many LinkedIn activities. In other words, it supports invite-to-connect and follow-up message steps only. Lastly, it has no email automation, and doesn’t integrate with any CRM.


Pricing

Salesloop has three pricing plans with monthly subscription:


IFTTT


Image of IFTTT LinkedIn automation tool

This tool is not for lead generation. However, it is extension-based, and you can automate your LinkedIn activities, such as publishing content, sharing a link, or an update. 

It is created mainly for the automatization of activities on countless platforms, including WordPress, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Evernote, and others.

It doesn’t automate LinkedIn messaging


Pricing

The pricing of IFTTT is fairly simple:


Image of CTA banner 2 for Skylead salesbook - ready-to-use outreach template that can be applied to our LinkedIn automation and cold email software


Frequently Asked Questions About LinkedIn Automation

We’ve noticed some questions regarding LinkedIn automation tools burning online with no answers. At least not the precise ones. So, let’s change that.


Is LinkedIn A Lead Generation Tool?

LinkedIn is a social media platform used by professionals. Marketers, salespeople, and recruiters also use it to find and generate new leads via LinkedIn campaigns. It is not a lead generation tool per se but rather a place where you can generate leads using different LinkedIn automation and generation tools.


Can You Automate Lead Generation?

Yes. For example, you can find the leads’ data through LinkedIn prospecting. Then, use automation tools to scrape the contacts and create a sequence to reach out to them on autopilot. In other words, with LinkedIn automation tools, you can automate parts of LinkedIn lead generation activities.


How Do You Automate In LinkedIn?

By using LinkedIn automation tools, you can automate LinkedIn lead generation tasks. The activities you can automate range from data scraping to sending connection requests, follow-up messages, InMails, follows, and profile views. Simply log into your LinkedIn automation tool, and set the activities you wish for the algorithm to perform. 


What Is An Automation Tool In LinkedIn?

The automation tool for LinkedIn is software used to perform different activities on LinkedIn that you usually do manually. In other words, these tools automate the list of LinkedIn activities such as profile views, following other LinkedIn users, sending connection requests, regular LinkedIn messages, or InMails.


Is Linkedin Automation Illegal? 

No. LinkedIn automation isn’t illegal. However, since LinkedIn doesn’t like its users to use automation, it carefully analyzes accounts’ activities. If it registers unusual activity, LinkedIn can get your LinkedIn account restricted. So be careful about what LinkedIn automation tool you choose and what is considered a cause for restriction.   


Does LinkedIn Allow Automation Tools?

No. LinkedIn doesn’t like its users to use automation. That is why they imposed limitations, such as the number of connection requests per week. They even analyze users’ behavior and can get your LinkedIn profile restricted. Better choose a tool like Skylead that operates safely.


Is There A LinkedIn Bot?

LinkedIn automation tools (also known as LinkedIn bots) are software that uses bots to automate your activities on LinkedIn. Sales teams and recruiters around the world use LinkedIn automation tools to automate tasks such as sending connection requests, messages, and InMails to get in touch with the leads.


Ready To Automate Your LinkedIn Outreach?

Now that you are familiar with the most popular LinkedIn automation tools, which one would you choose?


Reviewing LinkedIn automation tools meme

…Skylead! 

Jokes aside, our advice is to go with the tool that gives you the most options you need for your business. Trust us, the more you start feeling comfortable with your automation tool of this professional network platform, the more creative you will want to become with lead generation to stand out from your competitors.

If you are unsure what features to make a priority in LinkedIn automation tools, here’s our top 7 list. 


Image of the list of features you need to consider when researching LinkedIn automation tools

Now, go and automate your LinkedIn outreach and reach those ambitious goals!

Let’s chat! Drop by and say hi to our customer support team and let them help you sign up for Skylead’s 7-day free trial. We can’t wait to meet you.


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For those who have just started researching LinkedIn automation tools, SaaS startup Expandi appeared in the market in 2019. They initially created software that focused solely on LinkedIn automation. 

After years of development, many small business sales teams and recruiters started using it for Email outreach and LinkedIn lead generation

However, as the market has changed and other tools progressed, one question poses itself. Is Expandi the best Email and LinkedIn outreach tool? Or is there a better alternative on the market? 

Let’s check that together. We will go over what Expandi offers, its disadvantages, the comparison with other solutions, and the pricing itself. 


Perfect GIF

Expandi or alternatives?

Expandi is a LinkedIn automation and Email outreach tool. In other words, it performs the outreach activities on both platforms on autopilot, so you don’t have to.  

It is a cloud-based solution with a dedicated IP address that shields your activity. In addition, your data is stored on the internet, not servers, like in some LinkedIn automation tools.

Unlike Chrome extensions (e.g., Dux-Soup), or desktop apps (e.g., LinkedHelper), a cloud-based solution like Expandi doesn’t require you to keep your PC turned on. Moreover, it doesn’t inject code into LinkedIn and mimics human behavior. These two parameters make this software a safer solution than extension-based tools. This way, you can send connection requests and perform LinkedIn outreach carefree.

Many small businesses, and startups teams use Expandi for LinkedIn prospecting and lead generation. These professionals include salespeople, recruiters, and even outbound marketing managers.

You can use Expandi with any LinkedIn account. To clarify, you can create campaigns based on Sales Navigator, Recruiter, or Premium and basic LinkedIn search URL. Moreover, you can create an outreach campaign with a CSV file.

Lastly, Expandi can integrate with any other tool via Zapier webhooks or API. 

Now that we’ve covered the basics let’s get into the specific features.


Expandi features


Smart Sequences

To clarify, Smart Sequence is an algorithm that streamlines LinkedIn activities you create in a workflow. In other words, it performs each action you set for each lead from the target audience source on autopilot. 

Expandi introduced a Smart Sequence feature almost a year after Skylead did (another LinkedIn automation & Cold Email software). 

With Expandi, you can automate various activities: 

Expandi also provides non-essential steps for lead generation, such as LinkedIn Post liking, Skill Endorsement, and Following Company.  


Email outreach

Expandi added Email outreach to their features list so you can use multichannel as part of the Smart Sequence workflow. In other words, this feature allows you to expand your LinkedIn lead generation to another channel. By using email as your secondary channel, you can connect with less active leads on LinkedIn. 

What’s more, Expandi offers attractive metrics analysis and A/B testing, so you can test what messaging works best for you and optimize your campaign. Or you can choose to use one of their message templates. 


Disadvantages

Expandi lacks some outreach features. Firstly, even though it offers Image & GIF hyper-personalization, Expandi outsources this feature to Hyperise. So, what does this mean for you? First, you pay an additional monthly price if you wish to use this feature. In addition, Hyperise itself limits this feature depending on the number of templates and impressions(counted each time someone sees the image). Thus, for example, the lowest Hyperise package of $69 limits the use of 5 templates and 5000 impressions.

Secondly, Expandi doesn’t have Email Discovery & Verification features, meaning it cannot find leads’ business email addresses and verify them. Even though Expandi can scrape publicly-available personal email addresses from LinkedIn profiles, it can do so only after the prospects accept your connection request.

Therefore, if the lead isn’t responsive on LinkedIn or doesn’t accept, you cannot reach them via Email as Expandi cannot find their address. Therefore, you miss the shot to multichannel your outreach and get in touch with that lead. Moreover, you risk a high bounce rate and having your domain damaged. So, if you wish to find business emails, you cannot do it in Expandi. In other words, you would need to find an Email Discovery tool and increase your monthly subscription.  

Lastly, if you use Expandi yourself or read reviews, you will notice that most users reported that this tool had become buggy lately. Too buggy to use. Moreover, their customer support team is not the most responsive, nor are the issues solved promptly.


Image of Free Trial CTA banner with Skylead support team and text "We suport you from day 1"


Pricing

Expandi offers one pricing plan of $99 for one seat a month and a whitelabel solution. However, if you decide to use Hyperise Image & GIF personalization feature, you end up with a monthly receipt of $168 per 1 seat. And if you wish to include Email Discovery & Verification, count an additional $50+ per month, at least. Therefore the total monthly pricing for 1 Expandi account with all the features is $218 minimum. 

However, some Expandi alternatives possess the same, better, or similar features at different prices. So, let’s check them out.


5 best Explandi alternatives

Whether you’ve found out about Expandi recently or are not satisfied with this tool and looking for a change, here is the list of Expandi alternatives. 


1. Skylead

The first and best Expandi alternative is Skylead. Yes, that is us 🙂 Hello.

Skylead is an All-In-One solution that helps founders, sales teams, recruiters, marketers, and others streamline their outreach efforts.

Skylead is the best LinkedIn automation tool & Cold Email software with all outreach native features. In other words, it is a perfectly-rounded Lead generation tool.  

As opposed to Chrome extensions like Dux-Soup, or desktop apps like LinkedHelper, Skylead is a cloud-based solution. In other words, each user gets a dedicated IP address that shields their activity. In addition, it mimics human behavior and performs a different number of actions in real-time each day. These features make Skylead the safest software out there.

Being a cloud-based software comes with additional perks. For example, Skylead offers an integrated inbox that gathers all messages in one place and an option to operate with multiple accounts.

Like Expandi, you can use it with any LinkedIn account type, including all Sales Navigator and Recruiter subscription plans.

Thanks to these integrations, you can use Skylead to create outreach campaigns and target audiences from 8 different sources:

Moreover, Skylead supports integration with your CRM or any other tool via Zapier webhooks or API.

Lastly, with Skylead, you can scrape publicly available data only, such as email and phone numbers. Or you can choose to create an outreach campaign.

Now that we've covered the basics let's jump to more features Skylead offers.


Skylead features


Smart Sequences

Skylead is the first tool that launched Smart Sequences on the market and thus has changed how the entire market performed its outreach. As previously mentioned, this groundbreaking algorithm executes steps in the order you set, according to your leads’ behavior. 

The If/Else conditions make the Smart Sequences special. In other words, Skylead can recognize what path your leads choose to follow in your workflow and perform future actions in real time.


Image of Skylead's Smart Sequence example, Expandi alternative

You can create a sequence from any outreach action you imagine. These actions include sending free and paid InMails, and connection requests. You can create custom conditions as well. 

Fear not, though. If you do not wish to create the sequence from scratch, you can always use one of Skylead’s pretested sequence templates along with its message templates

With Smart Sequences, you don’t spend countless hours reaching out to every single lead manually. Skylead does it all for you.


Image of CTA banner 2 for Skylead salesbook - ready-to-use outreach template that can be applied to our LinkedIn automation and cold email software


Email outreach 

Having a multichannel outreach will give your LinkedIn prospects a well-rounded lead-generation experience. But, more importantly, it will show that you wish to help them resolve any problems they might have. 

That is why Skylead has an integrated Email Outreach feature that you can combine with LinkedIn outreach in one sequence. In addition, Skylead’s email outreach offers various personalization variables so you can write your most converting messages and follow-up emails

In addition, as opposed to Expandi or any other tool from this list, Skylead allows you to connect unlimited email accounts. In other words, you can send thousands of emails daily without damaging your domain and at no additional cost.

Lastly, unlike Expandi, with Skylead, you can use Email outreach at its full potential. Here’s how. 


Email discovery & verification

Skylead recognized how mandatory Email Discovery & Verification steps are in multichannel outreach. Thus they created both features for the users. Using these features, you can find business emails, thus lowering the bounce rate, saving your domain authority, and maximizing getting in touch with leads

Moreover, you can find and verify your prospects’ emails without linking your LinkedIn profile with Skylead.

Email Discovery & Verification features are native, meaning you don’t pay an extra monthly price for it. Lastly, Skylead is the only solution on the market that allows users to use both of these features without limitations. In other words, Skylead offers unlimited Email Discovery & Verification credits, meaning it doesn’t charge an additional monthly sum. 


Native image & GIF hyper personalization

To maximize your response rate, Skylead introduced a native Image & GIF Hyper-Personalization feature. This way, you can send LinkedIn InMails, messages, emails, or follow-ups in a more personalized and unique way and catch your prospects’ attention.

Skylead personalizes your chosen images and GIF on autopilot by pulling the person’s profile picture, company logo, and other information from the profile. So you don’t need to personalize countless versions of the same image. Instead, Skylead does it all for you.


Screenshot of Image and GIF hyper-personalization in Skylead, Expandi's alternative

Report and analytics

Skylead offers 3 levels of detailed, real-time insight:

Therefore, you can analyze the metrics of every aspect of your outreach campaigns. Moreover, with Skylead, you can A/B test your messaging, subject, line, or connection requests, see what works best and optimize your efforts. 


Pricing

Skylead is an All-In-One tool you need for your multichannel outreach, and it costs $100 per 1 account/month. Unlike other LinkedIn automation and lead generation tools such as Expandi or Zopto, Skylead doesn’t limit the features by the number of uses. Moreover, Skylead has a very dedicated customer support team that is ready to help you any time. 

Lastly, like Expandi, Skylead provides a Whitelabel solution to its partners.


Expandi vs. Skylead

To simplify the analysis, we’ve created a comparison table between Expandi and Skylead. In addition, we included the most important to less essential features of both software, so you can make your decision easier.


Skylead Vs Expandi feature comparison table

2. Zopto

LinkedIn automation tool, Zopto, is another cloud-based solution and Expandi.io alternative. It is compatible with Sales Navigator, LinkedIn Premium, and Recruiter accounts. 

What distinguishes Zopto and Expandi is that Zopto offers an Email Enrichment feature. In other words, Zopto can find and verify business emails like Skylead. However, the downside is that Zopto limits how many leads you can enrich with the email, depending on the pricing plan. 

As opposed to other mutual features, like A/B testing, Zopto offers a LinkedIn Post scheduling feature. It means you can create and schedule posts on LinkedIn using this software. Moreover, Zopto expanded incomplete automation to another social media channel - Twitter. In other words, it can automate only post likes on Twitter. 

Lastly, being a cloud-based solution, Zopto has combined Inbox, as well as CRM, and Hubspot integration through Zapier webhooks and API.

Another major disadvantage is that Zopto doesn’t have Smart Sequence functionality. Instead, it offers a simple 4-step drip campaign without any conditions


Pricing

Zopto’s pricing includes 3 plans. Each plan comes with an assigned account manager.

This price for all packages is higher considering other tools, features they offer, and the pricing itself.


Expandi vs. Zopto

Having in mind all other features mentioned above, here is a total comparison between Skylead, Expandi and Zopto.


Image of Expandi and Zopto features comparison by features

3. MeetAlfred

This is another SaaS startup that developed an outreach solution for small businesses, salespeople, and agencies. MeetAlfred primarily automates social media activities, including scheduling Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn posts.  

MeetAlfred is a cloud-based solution with an internal CRM. It means that, like Expandi.io and Skylead, you can easily access and manage your leads. In addition, this tool also offers integrated inbox and Email Outreach features. However, you can only send emails to 1-degree LinkedIn connections, like Expandi.io, making it an incomplete multichannel outreach tool.

Lastly, MeetAlfred supports Zapier integration or integration with any other tool via webhooks.

One of the most significant disadvantages is that MeetAlfred doesn’t offer Smart Sequences. Instead, it only provides a simple drip outreach campaign. However, it does offer more steps in a sequence than Zopto.

Secondly, MeetAlfred doesn’t have email discovery and verification features. Moreover, it doesn’t have a native Image & GIF hyper-personalization. But, they have a Hyperise integration as Expand.io that increases your monthly subscription cost.


Pricing

MeetAlfred has 3 pricing plans: 

To this day, MeetAlfer doesn’t offer a Whitelabel solution.


Expandi vs. MeetAlfred 

MeetAlfred tries hard to follow the amount of features Expandi, Skylead and Zopto introduced. However, they balance these lacks in pricing.


Expandi and MeetAlfred features comparison table

4. LinkedFusion

Another great LinkedIn automation tool like Expandi is LinkedFusion. It is a cloud-based solution that offers an integrated inbox. Furthermore, you can outreach your target audience using any LinkedIn account or CSV file. 

You can link LinkedFusion with any other app through Zapier webhooks. Moreover, this tool has Hubspot and Google Sheets native integration, unlike Expandi. 

Moreover, they offer message templates they claim to be tested and conversion-driven.

Should you need any help, LinkedFusion also has a technical customer support team at your disposal 24/7.

The major disadvantage of LinkedFusion is that it doesn’t have Smart Sequences functionality, so you cannot fully control your outreach. 

Lastly, this tool offers image personalization. However, you can do it only through Hyperise integration. 


Pricing

LinkedInFusion has 3 subscription plans. They all depend on the number of connection requests, messages you can send per day, and other features:


Expandi vs. LinkedFusion

One of the best things about Expandi and Skylead is the Smart Sequence function. However, if this is not something you’re interested in, look at other features found in LinkedFusion.


Expandi vs LinkedFusion comparison table

5. LinkedHelper 2

Linked Helper 2 is another LinkedIn automation tool. However, unlike Expandi, it is a desktop app, meaning it doesn't have a dedicated IP address and the functionality to run multiple accounts. Moreover, your PC needs to be kept on for LinkedHelper to run. 

On a brighter note, LinkedHelper offers Recruiter-based campaigns, unlike LinkedFusion and MeetAlfred. Moreover, you have your internal CRM to monitor the contacts' history.

Sadly, LinkedHelper doesn't have Image & GIF personalization in any form, so you cannot hyper-personalize your outreach. Moreover, it doesn't support post-engagement campaign type, Smart Sequences or A/B testing functionality.


Pricing

What lacks in functionality, LinkedHelper V2 makes up for in pricing. However, they limit pricing plans based on the number of messages and connection requests you can send per day:


Expandi vs. LinkedHelper V2

Apart from the difference in basic functionality type (cloud-based and desktop app), here is the list of other differences between Expandi and LinkedHelper. 


Expandi and LinkedHelper feature comparison table

6. Phantombuster

Last but not least, we have Phantombuster - an extension-based tool like Dux-Soup. Although it isn’t an automation tool like Expandi, it contributes to lead generation since its algorithm focuses on data extraction. In other words, Phantombuster automates data scraping from any social media platform, including LinkedIn. 

This tool is an excellent addition to your outreach, saving time scraping the data for your CSV-based campaigns. Moreover, Phantombuster has an email discovery feature but cannot verify them. 

Phantombuster offers some automated actions on LinkedIn. For example, it can only send connection requests and messages on autopilot. However, it doesn’t have Smart Sequence functionality nor is it safe to use as it injects the code in the LinkedIn platform. Therefore, it works best as a social media scraper tool that you can combine with other LinkedIn automation tools like Expandi or Skylead. 

Lastly, Phantombuster offers Hubspot & Pipedrive CRM enrichment via integration through API key.


Pricing

PhantomBuster has 3 pricing plans depending on the number of automated actions and the time it runs during 1 month:


Expandi vs. Phantombuster

Feature-wise, Phantombuster may be different from other LinkedIn automation tools. However, you may reconsider it if you plan to create a campaign based on a CSV file using other tools.


Expandi and Phantombuster freature comparison table

How to cancel Expandi?

If you are unsatisfied with Expandi and want to try out other tools from our list, here is how to cancel your Expandi account.

First, log into your account and click the Profile Settings button in the side menu. Then, navigate to the Subscription Plan section.


Image of how to cancel Expandi account step 1

Next, click the Remove button. 


Image of how to cancel Expandi account step 2

Expandi will ask you to state the reason why you wish to cancel. You cannot proceed unless you do. 


Image of how to cancel Expandi account step 3

Once you cancel your account, you won’t be able to access your dashboard anymore, and you will be done. 


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Frequently asked questions


How do these alternative tools compare in terms of overall cost-efficiency, particularly for small businesses or individual entrepreneurs?

The overall cost-efficiency of alternative tools varies, with some offering more advanced features at a higher price point. For small businesses or solo entrepreneurs, choosing a tool that balances functionality with affordability is key to maximizing ROI.


What specific advantages do these alternatives offer over Expandi in terms of features like A/B testing, integration capabilities, and customer support responsiveness?

Compared to Expandi, these alternatives, such as Skylead may offer unique features such as more robust A/B testing capabilities, seamless integrations with other tools, and superior customer support, providing a tailored approach to LinkedIn automation and cold emailing strategies.


How user-friendly are these alternatives for someone with minimal experience in LinkedIn automation or cold emailing strategies?

The user-friendliness of these alternatives ranges widely, with some prioritizing a straightforward interface and guided setup processes to accommodate users new to LinkedIn automation, while others may offer advanced customization options suited for experienced marketers.


Ready to try other tools from the list?

Now that you know other Expandi alternatives and their main features, choose the best LinkedIn automation tool for you to test. The good practice is to analyze what you personally need for your outreach and the budget you have.

To recap, let's go over all Expandi alternatives' features compared to one another. 


Image of Expandi, Skylead, LinkedFusion, MeetAlfred, Zopto LinkedHelper and Phantombuster features comparison

Would you like to give Skylead a try? 🙂

Then sign up for a 7-day Free Trial. Or if you have any questions, drop by and say hi via chat on our website. We will be happy to meet you!


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Wondering how to automate LinkedIn? Here’s why you should use a LinkedIn bot for lead generation and business scaling.

Have you heard the news? LinkedIn is the place to be. It’s a business-oriented social platform with over 930 million worldwide users. Many companies and industries rely on its high conversion rate, which is 3 times higher than on any other social media platform. It is considered the safe haven for B2B lead generation.

For example, salespeople worldwide use LinkedIn prospecting as the main targeting tool for outbound marketing. On the other hand, marketers also largely benefit from LinkedIn by running marketing campaigns and collecting potential leads. Recruiters can utilize the platform’s promising possibilities to find top talent for their companies.

Moreover, we’ve come to find that LinkedIn is 277% more effective for generating leads than any other social media platform out there. So, the question is, how do we use its full potential? After testing and trying out different tools and approaches, we’ve got the answer - LinkedIn bots.

Ever since 2019, we have been operating in the SaaS industry and developing a bot for LinkedIn that will change the outreach game for you. Today, we’ve served 15,000 users from 93 countries, and our goal is to give you the ultimate automation experience.

Over the years, we’ve learned a lot, which is why we want to help you understand LinkedIn bots - our field of expertise. In this article, you will learn how they work and how you can benefit from them. Finally, we’ll review different LinkedIn bots for you and help you pick one to fit your business needs.


Let's go meme

Cheat sheet

LinkedIn Bot 🤖Best for 🏆Rating ⭐️🔗Link
Skyleadmultichannel, hyper-personalized LinkedIn, and cold email outreachCapterra: 4.8 (17)
G2: 4.3 (11)
Read more...
CrystalKnowsgiving detailed personality data reports on leadsCapterra: 4.8 (10)
G2: 4,6 (76)
Read more...
Octopus CRMLinkedIn outreach and detailed analyticsCapterra: 4.6 (269)
G2: 4.4 (113)
Read more...
Salesloopsomeone who’s looking for a done-for-you dealG2: 3.5 (3)Read more...
Phantombusterdata extraction and data scrapingCapterra: 4.6 (59)
G2: 4.3 (38)
Read more...
IFTTTautomatization of numerous activities on different platformsCapterra: 4.6 (210)
G2: 4.5 (107)
Read more...
GetProspectgetting quality prospectsCapterra: 4.5 (90)
G2: 4.1 (37)
Read more...
Lead connectsimple drip campaigns on LinkedInCapterra: 4.4 (98)
G2: 3.4 (5)
Read more...
Linkedprospectautomated prospectingG2: 3.4 (4)Read more...
UseViralLinkedIn promotionSitejabber: 2.1 (84)Read more...
SidesMediaadding exposure to your social platformsN/ARead more...
Crowdfireappsocial media managementCapterra: 4.2 (39)Read more...
Planablecontent scheduling and detailed planningCapterra: 4.5 (305)
G2: 4.6 (589)
Read more...
Evabootdata scraping on Sales NavigatorCapterra: 4.9 (13)
G2: 4.5 (30)
Read more...
Aeroleadsfinding quality leads and for prospecting effortsCapterra: 4.5 (38)
G2: 4.0 (60)
Read more...
Lempodincreasing user engagement on LinkedInPR Marketing Tools: 3 (1)Read more...
Linkboostqualified LinkedIn engagementChromeStats: 3.9 (15)Read more...
Social Pilotsocial media planning and managementCapterra: 4.4 (358)
G2: 4.5 (603)
Read more...
WeConnectautomating some LinkedIn actionsGetApp: 4.6 (54)Read more...
Buzzlicreating LinkedIn contentN/ARead more...
Podawaaincreasing LinkedIn’s reachChromeStats: 3.6 (36)Read more...
Zoptosocial selling, multi-channel outreach, and free tutorialsCapterra: 4.4 (65)
G2: 4.6 (60)
Read more...
Luna AIcreating, editing, and sharing outreach contentCapterra: 4.7 (32)Read more...
Tapliopersonal brandingProductHunt: 4.2 (18)Read more...
Waalaxy voice messages and air callsCapterra: 4.5 (241)
G2: 4.7 (285)
Read more...
Reply.ioall-around social automationG2: 4.6 (1,129)Read more...
Dux-Soupbeginners Capterra: 4.5 (11)
G2: 4.3 (66)
Read more...
ExpandiLinkedIn and email automationCapterra: 4.3 (29)
G2: 4.1 (66)
Read more...
Dripifymany integration possibilitiesCapterra: 4.6 (120)
G2: 4.5 (164)
Read more...
Linked Helper 2 automating LinkedInCapterra: 4.8 (85)Read more...
TexAudata scraping and some automated LinkedIn activitiesG2: 4.3 (52)Read more...
MeetAlfredsocial selling on LinkedInCapterra: 2.8 (11)
G2: 2.5 (15)
Read more...
LaGrowth Machineautomated outreachG2: 4.9 (38)Read more...

What is a LinkedIn bot?

LinkedIn bots, also known as LinkedIn automation tools, are designed to simplify the outreach process by largely decreasing the number of manual tasks. This means time-consuming actions like sending messages, invites to connect, follow-ups, scraping profiles, and posting updates are fully automated.

But how does it work? Here’s an example. 👇

The bot analyzes your lead source, which could be one of the following:

It then performs all the previously mentioned actions according to your settings and interacts with the selected prospects on autopilot. Did we mention that this happens while you’re focusing on something else? The magic of LinkedIn bots is this - once you tune it according to your needs, it works on its own for you.


Image of Free Trial CTA banner with Skylead support team and text "We suport you from day 1"


What types of LinkedIn bots exist?

Diving right into the technical side of our software-picking process, we need to look at different types of bots for LinkedIn before we make a choice.


Built-in LinkedIn AI bot

Automation and AI seem to go hand in hand these days, which means LinkedIn bots are likely to follow this trend. In fact, this time, LinkedIn is the one to introduce its own version of a LinkedIn AI bot. To clarify, it’s a built-in feature that acts like an AI writer. The feature supports generative AI content, which can be used for LinkedIn ad copy suggestions.

Back in June, LinkedIn started testing AI-generated copy within the share box for writing posts. That way, all users get to test the power of AI bots within their own profile. The idea is to help the post creation process, saving loads of time on forming the right copy.


Browser-based LinkedIn bots

Browser-based LinkedIn bots or extension-based automation tools require an extension download to work. Many bots come in the form of Chrome extensions. In fact, some cloud-based tools also support certain features in the form of add-ons or extensions, which can be added or removed later on.

Now, to use a browser-based bot, open LinkedIn in the browser of your choice and activate the extension. However, the tricky thing about these bots is that they insert a code into LinkedIn. This makes them less safe to use, which can ultimately send you to LinkedIn jail - getting your LinkedIn account restricted or permanently banned if LinkedIn’s algorithms spot suspicious behavior.

More downsides besides safety:


Desktop-based bots

Desktop-based bots are those that require a PC download to work. They act like desktop apps, and they need to work in the background at all times for the automation to happen. Apart from that, all data is stored on your computer or a local server.

Downsides:


Cloud-based Linkedin bots

Cloud-based LinkedIn bots work thanks to a dedicated IP address. They serve as a proxy and shield against all automated activity. This means your data is not stored on a local server or your personal computer but rather on the internet/cloud. And the best thing of all? The software runs even when your PC is shut down.

Furthermore, cloud-based LinkedIn bots are the only ones that let you connect multiple accounts and have an integrated inbox. To clarify, this means you can find messages, be it LinkedIn regular messages, InMails, emails, Sales Navigator messages, or Recruiter messages, in one unique place.

Thanks to all the perks that go with this type of solution, Skylead developed a cloud-based LinkedIn bot. We decided this is best because we wanted you to be safe while using automation and to have as many convenient features as possible.


LinkedIn automation: How do LinkedIn bots work?

LinkedIn bots are usually programmed tools that allow you to automate LinkedIn activities in different ways. To use a LinkedIn bot, you need to connect your LinkedIn account with the tool. This usually means giving the bot access to your account.

LinkedIn connection bots are used for sales automation to increase productivity in the sales process. They can be used to automate certain parts of the sales process or most of them. You can use LinkedIn automation for:

  1. Prospecting
  2. Lead generation
  3. Drip campaigns
  4. Follow-ups
  5. Data collection and more.

Speaking of data collection, CRM systems (Customer Relationship Management) are one of these useful automation tools. CRMs are used to support sales management while delivering actionable insights. They can integrate with other tools and allow for team communication and collaboration.

Now, imagine all these possibilities on LinkedIn. This is where LinkedIn bots come in, as powerful automation tools. These bots give you a bigger and more effective outreach, and this is where they can help. 👇


Helps you write new posts on LinkedIn

Some bots, such as the LinkedIn built-in AI bot, help you write new posts on LinkedIn. If you simply don’t have a lot of time to formulate an already attention-grabbing thought, you can use an AI bot to generate meaningful copy.

Fun fact: AI has the potential to automate 40% of the average workday. We’ll keep that in mind as we watch artificial intelligence develop in the near future.


Send LinkedIn connection requests

LinkedIn connection bots can help with one of the most basic LinkedIn tasks, such as sending connection requests. You can target a certain group of people when entering a lead source, and the bot will do the rest.


Accept LinkedIn connection requests

After sending connection requests, automation bots can even accept the ones you get for you. It’s networking on autopilot!


Send drip messages & run sequences of actions 

You’ve found your target audience, but now it’s time to reach them with your pitch. LinkedIn bots can automate the entire process by sending a series of messages in a drip campaign. You craft the campaign and messages, and the bot delivers. Some tools even offer a multichannel smart sequence feature, that lets you combine outreach methods. This means you can send outreach messages according to your prospects’ actions, covering all scenarios with if/else conditions.


Personalize LinkedIn messages

A good LinkedIn connection bot can offer you the option to personalize your content. Most tools are working hard to give as many personalization options as possible to balance out the automation. Message hyper-personalization is possible by adding native variables to your message requests, InMails, or follow-up messages such as:

Custom variable: lets you create your own placeholder.



Posting updates on LinkedIn

Some LinkedIn tools can even post for you. Although there’s nothing new about software that lets you schedule all posting activities, it could be a great additional feature of a more complex LinkedIn bot.


Visiting user profiles

LinkedIn connection bots are designed to mimic human behavior on the internet. At least the best bots were designed with this in mind. Apart from sending messages, your bot of choice can visit user profiles for you. This way, it can catch your prospect’s attention, making sure your interest in communication is being seen loud and clear.


Follow users

Automation is truly marvelous, and it can take a simple task as following a user on LinkedIn off your to-do list. Why focus on repetitive tasks when you can focus on really building those lead relationships?


Send InMail message

LinkedIn connection bots are made to make your life easier. These powerful tools can even send InMail messages to user accounts from your leads list. Now, an important thing to note here is that most tools, if they have this option, tend to send only free InMail messages to open accounts. However, there are some tools out there that support sending both free and paid InMail messages. This means your outreach is bigger, and your chances of conversion are higher.


Find user email

Some LinkedIn bots have the option to scrape the data from a selected source and find your prospects' emails. If the bot of your choice has LinkedIn and email automation in one, this can be a useful feature. You’ll be able to get a whole other outreach channel in case your prospects aren’t as active on LinkedIn.


Export LinkedIn data

A useful bot for LinkedIn has the option to export data via a CSV file or PDF. This data can include lead lists and analytics for better result tracking and ultimate outreach optimization.


Analyze user profiles

LinkedIn bots can do a lot, but did you know that they can analyze user profiles before you even interact with them? Some tools, such as Crystal Knows, are designed to give you a heads-up about your prospect, analyzing their available data and creating a report. This way, you can adapt your approach before scheduling a meeting.


Boost engagement on LinkedIn posts

We can use LinkedIn outreach to boost our social media presence and actually draw people’s attention to a certain post. LinkedIn bots can help boost engagement on specific posts by running campaigns that promote your post to a certain target group.


Image of CTA banner 2 for watching Skylead - LinkedIn automation and cold email software demo


What are the benefits of Linkedin bots?


Save time by automating recurring tasks

We’ve done the research; we’ve done the math! The main benefit of automated outreach is the time-saving aspect. The right automation tool helps you save up to 11+ hours per week on manual work. That’s one and a half free days per week and a staggering 6 days per month. That’s more than one whole workweek!


Scalable

Your business goals are high, and the workload is heavy, so what do you do? You use tools that can help scale your business. With automation bots, you get to expand your outreach in the most efficient way and interact with more prospects in a shorter period of time. Startups can grow rapidly with the help of SaaS tools.


More accuracy

You can use LinkedIn bots to help you with prospecting and narrowing down your target group. There are multiple ways of finding high-quality leads with pinpoint accuracy. It can be by:


Provide additional data

In our analysis of different LinkedIn bots, we found that some bots can help you find more information about your prospects. We’re talking about data scraping and enrichment features. Some bots can be used to scan all publicly available data and help you expand your outreach to different channels.


Team access

When we tested LinkedIn bots for the first time, we discovered that it’s very useful if they have team management. To clarify, this means that all involved sectors from your company can access the bot and create, adjust, look at, and draw data from the tool. Moreover, you can set permissions for each team member and optimize your workflow even further.


33 best LinkedIn bots to automate LinkedIn tasks in 2023

We've spent months analyzing the effectiveness of LinkedIn bots, and our findings show that these are the LinkedIn connection bots worth looking at.


Drumroll meme

1. Skylead

Best for multichannel, hyper-personalized LinkedIn, and cold email outreach.


Skylead app interface screenshot

Skylead is a cloud-based bot made for LinkedIn automation and cold email software that thinks and works for you! It’s made for sales teams, founders, marketers, recruiters, individuals, and agencies looking to scale their business.


Pros

Skylead is an all-in-one bot that contains multiple complex outreach features. One of our main features is smart sequences. Skylead is the first software to introduce smart sequences to automation tools. You can use them to combine LinkedIn and email outreach according to your prospects’ behavior by using if/else conditions and multiple actions.

With Skylead, safety is the number one priority when it comes to automating LinkedIn. That’s why we’ve developed 3-layer protection that will shield your account from LinkedIn’s algorithms fishing for suspicious activity. Making our bot human-like is one of the main things that makes Skylead software the safest out there. This is how we keep you safe:

Combine cold email outreach with LinkedIn automation to get even higher conversion results via smart sequences.

One major pro of Skylead is the fact that it has a native image & GIF personalization feature and a personalized messages option. Our research suggests that when using personalization, you get a 63% higher response rate.

You can also integrate Skylead with your chosen CRM via a Zapier webhook or an API and transfer data between tools. Lastly, Skylead offers thorough insights and analytics and the A/B testing option. This means you’ll see detailed reports about your results, plus you’ll get to test out what approach works best with your prospects.

Note: Skylead connects to LinkedIn Premium, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and Recruiter accounts.


Cons

You can make campaigns in Skylead from multiple sources: a CSV file, a LinkedIn search URL from all supported account types, and even from LinkedIn posts, but you cannot make campaigns from a group search. Nonetheless, if you want to create a group-based campaign, you can do so by using LinkedIn Sales Navigator filters. Select group filter, scrap the data, and import prospects via a CSV file.

Another thing to note is that Skylead does not have a Twitter integration, which is used as a means of expanding your social selling strategy. However, bots that support Twitter can only automate post likes and retweets, which won’t help much with overall outreach efforts.


Conclusion

We believe that Skylead is a comprehensive tool that supports multiple advanced features that you would have to pay extra for with other bots. Keep in mind that when picking a bot, you need to have a combination of quality features, safety, a friendly interface, and a reasonable price per month. Skylead checks all the boxes, plus impeccable customer support. All of these factors contribute to our tool's effectiveness, cutting manual tasks and saving up to 11 hours of manual work per week.


Image of CTA banner 1 for watching Skylead - LinkedIn automation and cold email software demo


2. CrystalKnows

Best for giving detailed personality data reports on leads.


Crystal Knows LinkedIn bot

CrystalKnows is an extensions-based bot designed to focus on prospecting and give DISC personality profiles of potential prospects.


Pros

CrystalKnows bot analyzes potential customers and gives out detailed personality reports. All sales teams have to do is adapt their approach to the DISC personality profile of the lead and use it to their advantage.

Another notable feature is the suggestive content writing option. This feature writes suggestive copy for emails according to each lead's personality analysis. You can also find the advanced segmenting option a useful tool for prospecting and lead generation.


Cons

Despite the advanced prospecting features, CrystalKnows is not a classic multichannel outreach tool. This means it does not support complex features such as smart sequences, and it cannot make campaigns from search URLs or CSV files. Additionally, drip campaigns are out of the question, which suggests that a huge part of outreach is missing.


Conclusion

From what we could learn about CrystalKnows, the tool can be very useful for detailed prospecting, as it focuses on knowing your target group and adapting the approach. However, if you’re looking for supercharged multichannel outreach (which is what you should be doing), then we advise you to pick another tool and use this bot as an additional helpful feature.


3. Octopus CRM

Best for LinkedIn outreach and detailed analytics.


Octopus CRM LinkedIn connection bot

Octopus CRM is an extension-based bot that focuses on automating LinkedIn.


Pros

One of the main notable features of Octopus CRM is the ability to send bulk messages to 1st-degree contacts. We’ve mentioned detailed analytics, which gives you insights like the number of connection requests sent or the current Social Selling Index. If you’re interested in social selling, you should consider a tool that focuses on boosting the LinkedIn SSI score.


Cons

With Octopus CRM, you won’t be able to use multichannel outreach because the tool only supports LinkedIn automation. This means there’s no email automation, which is a large outreach channel and should be used paired with LinkedIn for better results.

Additionally, because it is an extension, this could potentially mean it’s less safe to use and might be detectable by LinkedIn.

Note: Octopus CRM does not support sending LinkedIn InMail messages.


Conclusion

We believe that Octopus CRM is missing a lot of key features that can affect the safety and effectiveness of your outreach. The fact that it does not have email automation could be a potential deal breaker. A good LinkedIn bot should have as much as native features as possible, so be sure to look for an all-in-one bot. 


4.  Salesloop

Best for someone who’s looking for a done-for-you deal.


Salesloop LinkedIn automation tool

Salesloop is a fairly new cloud-based bot that focuses on automating LinkedIn.


Pros

Salesloop has a simple 2-step drip campaign for LinkedIn. It works with LinkedIn Premium and LinkedIn Sales Navigator. Unlike Skylead, it does not support Recruiter profiles. As for campaigns, Salesloop lets you create them via a CSV file with a couple of text personalization variables.

If you’re new to automation, they also offer a done-for-you deal, which can simplify your outreach effort. However, you’d have to pay a large sum for the service.


Cons

Salesloop does not have Smart sequences because it does not support email automation to begin with. In fact, it does not support many prominent LinkedIn actions as well. Salesloop can only send invites to connect and drip messages.

Additionally, Salesloop does not integrate with any CRM, which can slow down workflows for those who utilize a number of different tools.


Conclusion

After analyzing the Salesloop bot, we found that if you want a comprehensive tool, this is not a perfect choice for you. Missing email automation and limited LinkedIn actions can potentially slow down your outreach efforts, which is the opposite of what a LinkedIn bot should be doing.


5. Phantombuster

Best for data extraction and data scraping.


Phantombuster LinkedIn bot interface screenshot

Phantombuster is an extension-based sales and marketing bot that automates the scraping of publicly available data from LinkedIn and other platforms.


LinkedIn Follower Bot

With LinkedIn bots, you can automate everything, even who you want to follow and unfollow on LinkedIn. Phantombuster has a browser-based feature that focuses on that. It’s called the LinkedIn follower bot, and it’s here to get your prospects to notice you and warm them up for further outreach.


Pros

Phantombuster is not a full-package LinkedIn automation bot. However, it can come in handy if you want to scrape certain leads from LinkedIn or anywhere else. Moreover, the tool offers an email enrichment feature, which means it can find email addresses for you. However, it does not support email verification, which can affect your email account’s safety and increase bounce rates.


Cons

Even though this bot automates certain LinkedIn actions, it also does not have Smart sequences. Apart from that, email outreach is not possible since there’s no email automation, so you can’t create complex sequences. 

Lastly, Phantombuster is an extension that can affect the overall safety of your account and potentially lead to restrictions.


Conclusion

After reviewing Phantombuster, we came to the conclusion that it can be useful as an additional outreach tool. It saves your automated scraped data in the form of CSV files or JSON formats. This means you can upload and download lead lists to some other tool and create outreach campaigns.


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6. IFTTT

Best for the automatization of numerous activities on different platforms.


IFTTT Interface screenshot

IFTTT is an extension-based bot that automates activities on WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, and others.


Pros

The IFTTT bot can automate certain activities, such as sharing links, publishing content, and updates across named platforms.


Cons

IFTTT does not automate any form of LinkedIn messages.


Conclusion

After looking at this simple bot, we can tell you from our humble opinion that it is not for those who want to use LinkedIn and email outreach for results. However, it can come in handy as a content management tool that saves time by automating posting and similar social media activities.


7. GetProspect

Best for getting quality prospects.


GetProspect Interface Screenshot

GetProspect is an extension-based bot that acts as an email finder & verifier and extracts useful prospect data.


Pros

GetProspects bot, as the name suggests, wants to assist you in finding high-quality leads. This includes a list of leads with information such as name, profession, LinkedIn URL, and finally, email. It has a large B2B database, a lead enrichment feature, a native CRM, and the Google Sheets add-on.

Additionally, Get Prospects categorizes leads and can arrange them according to previously set criteria. You can later export these files and use them in other tools.


Cons

Although the tool focuses on email features, it does not support LinkedIn automation. This means there’s no way of sending any kind of messages on LinkedIn, creating drip campaigns, and utilizing multichannel Smart sequences.


Conclusion

In our honest opinion, this tool can be useful if your primary goal is reaching out by email. But, if you wish to expand to LinkedIn, you would have to get another tool for automating LinkedIn since there’s nothing you can do with the provided LinkedIn profile URLs unless you want to reach out to those prospects manually. We all know by now that this defeats the purpose of automation bots. So, if you want more from a tool, then keep looking.


8. Lead connect

Best for simple drip campaigns on LinkedIn.


Lead Connect LinkedIn bot profile page

Lead Connect is an extension-based bot that connects to LinkedIn basic or Sales Navigator profile types.


Pros

Lead Connect offers a simple drip campaign with a few available steps. On the other hand, the bot offers various templates, but the number of available templates depends on the pricing plan you choose.

One notable feature of Lead Connect is the ability to integrate with any workflow and tool via an API key. You can even gain access to the email discovery feature, but you’d have to pay extra to use it.


Cons

Lead Connect doesn’t support Smart sequences as Skylead does. Additionally, it doesn’t support a Recruiter account type, which narrows down your outreach and campaign creation choices.

Lastly, this bot does not support image & GIF personalization of any kind, which can affect your response rate significantly.


Conclusion

We believe that the tool is missing some key outreach features. If you’re looking to supercharge your outreach efforts, we consider this bot to be incomplete, so you should keep looking for more features in one tool.


9. Linkedprospect

Best for automated prospecting.


Linkedprospect invitations screenshot

Linkedprospect is a cloud-based bot that focuses on LinkedIn automation.


Pros

Linkedprospect helps you with finding prospects and sending automated message sequences to those prospects on LinkedIn. The tool can also send bulk messages and offers a Boolean search tool and a Headline generator tool.


Cons

The tool does not support email automation, which, as we’ve learned so far, only slows down outreach and overall results.


Conclusion

If you want to get your money’s worth, you should opt to look for tools that have it all.


10. UseViral

Best for LinkedIn promotion.


UseViral LinkedIn promotion Service

UseViral is a social media marketing service that allows you to boost your networking platform profiles to gain more virtual trust and authority.


Pros

If you’re looking to build your network and become a thought leader, you can use this bot to add more followers, further boosting your profile. You can connect UseViral with multiple platforms, including Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, of course, and more. It automates sending connection requests.


Cons

It is not recommended to use such bots as they can be unsafe and appear scammy. Despite the large number of followers you gain, there’s no engagement, as all of these followers are usually fake. Thus, it is easily detectable and can damage your reputation.


Conclusion

We advise you not to use profile-boosting bots, as they can tamper with the safety and trustworthiness of your account. Try social networking without scams.


11. SidesMedia

Best for adding exposure to your social platforms.


SidesMedia website screengrab

SidesMedia is a social boosting tool that offers multiple platform options.


Pros

If you’re looking for extra exposure on your social platform, LinkedIn included, then you can use SidesMedia. They claim to offer real engagement on multiple platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and more.


Cons

Again, using social media boosting platforms can be tricky despite the outrageous claims that they can offer real engagement. You should be cautious when it comes to buying followers, likes, and connections.


Conclusion

Just like UseViral, we share the same opinion. To emphasize, we strongly disagree with using social media boosting platforms. You should opt for an organic and real approach in order to gain a huge, thought-leader following. Focus on building strong relationships rather than taking shortcuts. On the other hand, you can use LinkedIn bots to assist in your quest.


12. Crowdfireapp

Best for social media management.


Crowdfire app screengrab

Crowdfire is an app that’s used for growing the online presence of individuals and businesses.


Pros

The Crowdfire app offers a series of features that help users manage and optimize their social media accounts, LinkedIn included. You can schedule and publish content and track the numbers for each post. Additionally, you can find and manage followers who are not engaging with you and focus on building those relationships.


Cons

Apart from scheduling content posting, you won’t be able to reach out to your target audience or send bulk messages via LinkedIn and email. To put it differently - no automation means no successful outreach.


Conclusion

In our honest opinion, you can use this tool to establish your thought leader persona on LinkedIn, but apart from that, you won’t be able to use this tool for multichannel outreach.


13. Planable

Best for content scheduling and detailed planning.


Planable, pups & paws calendar app view

Planable is a social media collaboration tool that helps manage the entire content creation process.


Pros

With Planable, you can obviously plan, create, collaborate, approve, and schedule content. The tool is designed to support the entire content management process with ease and simplicity. Using such a tool can help with saving lots of time and focusing on other tasks instead.


Cons

Although it can be useful for content management, it is not a tool for outreach.


Conclusion

After reviewing the app’s abilities, we believe that it can be useful for those who want to establish a strong social media presence and optimize their marketing strategy seamlessly. This includes LinkedIn, of course. You can gain a strong following if you manage your content and post it continuously. You can use LinkedIn connection bots simultaneously to aid in growing your network.


14. Evaboot

Best for data scraping on Sales Navigator.


Evaboot Leads list

Evaboot is an extension-based bot that offers a powerful Sales Navigator data scraping tool.


Pros

This bot can extract, clean, and enrich Sales navigator search results, which you can later export and use with other LinkedIn bots to create outreach campaigns.


Cons

Evaboot is simply not made for outreach but rather focuses on the initial steps - lead generation. The fact that it can only extract data from Sales Navigator search results is also a downside.

Additionally, there’s a safety concern due to its extension nature, so LinkedIn might discover your activity and restrict your profile.


Conclusion

If you’re looking for a tool that generates leads exclusively, then Evaboot is for you. However, if you’re interested in multichannel outreach, keep looking.


Image of Free Trial CTA banner with Skylead's smart sequence that demonstrates multichannel outreach using LinkedIn automation and email steps with if/else conditions


15. Aeroleads

Best for finding quality leads and for prospecting efforts.


Aeroleads Prospects Screenshot

Aeroleads is a cloud-based tool that focuses on prospecting and lead generation.


Pros

Aeroleads bot has an email discovery feature that not only retrieves business emails but also LinkedIn connections. Therefore, they provide additional data points that can be used in crafting your outreach strategy. Finally, you can export the collected data and use it as you please.

Additionally, they have a large email database with personal and business emails and phone numbers. Lastly, the tool not only discovers but also verifies emails.


Cons

If you’re looking for a LinkedIn bot that covers most of the outreach process, Aeroleads is simply an incomplete tool. With no LinkedIn and email automation, you won’t be able to send drip message campaigns or create Smart sequences.


Conclusion

Again, if you’re looking for a tool that covers most of the outreach process, including email discovery & verification, then you should be looking at a different feature set in a LinkedIn connection bot.


16. Lempod

Best for increasing user engagement on LinkedIn.


Lempod dashboard

Lempod is a part of the Lemlist family and a Chrome extension that focuses on LinkedIn post engagement.


Pros

Firstly, Lempod is easy to use and a great tool if you want to increase LinkedIn post views with automatic likes and comments. The Lempod bot has a User Satisfaction Index and a Popularity Index, which can help with tracing engagement and user involvement in your LinkedIn content. 

Secondly, their LinkedIn Engagement Pods marketplace connects other LinkedIn content makers with you, which allows for mutual engagement. Lempod can also automatically leverage colleagues' networks, further boosting your LinkedIn reach.


Cons

The tool is made for engagement and not multichannel outreach. Plus, as an engagement tool, it lacks certain characteristics, such as the ability to personalize your audience and automate scheduling posts.


Conclusion

To sum up, if you’re looking to boost your network and meet with other content creators, you can use Lempod for those purposes. However, if you want to use LinkedIn and email automation for outreach, then you should consider another bot.


17. Linkboost 

Best for qualified LinkedIn engagement.


Linkboost Marketplace Screenshot

LinkBoost is an engagement and profile-boosting platform made for users who want to find their engagement niche.


Pros

If you’re a thought leader who wants to expand your network even more, or you’re just beginning your journey, LinkBoost can contribute to your engagement efforts. You can even join relevant engagement pods and link up with people interested in the same content as you.


Cons

Unlike Lempod, LinkBoost doesn’t have certain parameters (e.g., a User Satisfaction Index and a Popularity Index) that can help with tracking overall engagement success. Ultimately, the tool is not made for multichannel outreach.


Conclusion

Lastly, if you’re looking for supercharged outreach and scaling your business, this is not a tool for you. It’s made for individuals who want to reach out to a similar audience and expand their network. A pro tip is to use LinkedIn bots for making solid connections on LinkedIn as well as promoting your content.


18. Social Pilot

Best for social media planning and management.


Social pilot Calendar screenshot

Social Pilot is a social media management and analytics app that connects with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok, and more.


Pros

You can easily plan and schedule content-posting activities with Social Pilot. What makes it stand out from similar apps is the fact that it has a great analytics section, where you can track your success and optimize your content plan accordingly. There’s also a Smart AI Assistant that can help with time management even more.


Cons

Social Pilot is not a LinkedIn and email outreach tool.


Conclusion

If you’re looking to organize your content posting activities on LinkedIn and not think about whether your content is posted or not, you can use Social Pilot to boost your LinkedIn presence. Hence, you can use this tool to establish a solid LinkedIn presence, and Skylead can help with LinkedIn automation and cold email outreach.


19. WeConnect

Best for automating some LinkedIn actions.


WeConnect Analytics screengrab

WeConnect is a cloud-based tool that automates some LinkedIn actions.


Pros

You have the ability to send messages to LinkedIn group members. Apart from that, you can also A/B test your content, which is a perfect feature for those who are still trying to find their perfect approach. This bot also supports the auto-endorse and post-engagement features, along with Zapier and API integrations.


Cons

WeConnect does not have the Post engagement campaign option or Image & GIF personalization. Smart sequences are also out of the question because there’s no Email automation. Also, there’s no Email discovery and verification feature. However, you can find all of these features and more at Skylead.


Conclusion

Finally, if you’re looking to put all manual tasks on autopilot, you should be looking for a solution that can actually perform most of the tasks without having to pay extra for certain services you can get with just one tool.


20. Buzzli

Best for creating LinkedIn content.


Buzzly LinkedIn bot

Buzzli is an AI-powered platform that automates the content creation process on LinkedIn.


Pros

You can use Buzzli to expand your reach and engagement while creating top-notch, SEO-friendly content with artificial intelligence. Use the Topic generator to find what you want to talk about and generate away! You can also use the Improve LinkedIn post option for a bigger engagement boost.


Cons

Buzzli is not a LinkedIn and email outreach tool.


Conclusion

To sum up, if you're looking to boost engagement, you can use Buzzli and its AI-powered features to help create true thought leader content.


21. Podawaa

Best for increasing your LinkedIn’s reach.


Podawaa LinkedIn bot interface

Podawaa is an extension-based bot that helps you expand your engagement on LinkedIn by automating comments and likes.


Pros

Similar to Lempod, Podawaa helps you connect with other users on LinkedIn so you can interact with each other, creating more engagement. Hence, you get to personalize your audience and receive relevant and real comments and likes on your LinkedIn content.


Cons

This is not a LinkedIn and email outreach tool.


Conclusion

If you’re looking for a platform that helps you engage with real people on LinkedIn, Podawaa can give your profile the right push toward growth. Also, it could be useful for LinkedIn marketing. However, if you’re looking to automate LinkedIn and email outreach, you should be looking at other bots for LinkedIn.


Image of CTA banner 1 for Skylead salesbook - ready-to-use outreach template that can be applied to our LinkedIn automation and cold email software


22. Zopto

Best for social selling, multi-channel outreach, and free tutorials.



Zopto is a cloud-based automation software made for social selling.


Pros

Unlike other tools, it offers a Twitter integration for automated platform engagement. With this integration, you are increasing your chances of getting noticed by automating certain Twitter actions, further expanding your outreach efforts. 

Apart from automating LinkedIn, the tool offers email enrichment, which means it can fetch and verify business emails like Skylead. You can also A/B test your messages and enjoy an integrated inbox feature.

Lastly, the platform can schedule posts and gather data from LinkedIn group members to create a campaign lead source for a more specific outreach.


Cons

Zopto does not have a native image & GIF personalization feature, which adds up to the already costly monthly subscription. Apart from that, their inbox is limited to LinkedIn messages only, which makes it harder to navigate multichannel sequence campaigns. Lastly, Zopto does not support team management.


Conclusion

We believe that a good tool should have a large number of native features to avoid paying more for extensions. Another reason is that these extensions are less safe to use because they are easily detectable by LinkedIn’s surveillance. Opt for safety first and a comprehensive tool that covers all the features you need.


23. Luna AI

Best for creating, editing, and sharing outreach content.


Luna AI LinkedIn bot, all emails

Luna AI is a LinkedIn growth tool that uses artificial intelligence to create and fetch content and data.


Pros

You can use this tool to generate content for LinkedIn posts and emails using AI. Luna AI also acts as a prospecting tool, and it helps with finding the right leads.


Cons

Luna AI can’t create campaigns and perform a large portion of actions that other LinkedIn bots can. Moreover, it has no Smart sequences and no email automation.


Conclusion

While the tool can help with prospecting, generating leads, and content creation via AI, it is still missing crucial parts of LinkedIn and email automation. Opt for a bot that can do it all!


24. Taplio

Best for personal branding.


Taplio LinkedIn connection bot, contacts list

Taplio is an extension-based bot designed to help with LinkedIn growth. It was purchased by Lemlist and is now part of the Lemlist family.


Pros

The tool was created to help users with content creation and distribution. Therefore, you can use it to grow your personal brand with AI-powered suggestive features. The tool generates content for you, and it helps you get inspired with an AI-picked inspirations library.


Cons

This tool is not for outreach as it does not support LinkedIn automation, such as sending messages and crafting campaigns or email outreach.


Conclusion

Taplio looks like a good feature to use if your main focus is growing your brand on LinkedIn. It can be useful to thought leaders ready to create impactful content. Nonetheless, if you’re looking for all-around outreach, this extension is not your cup of tea.


25. Waalaxy

Best for its voice cloning technology which allows sending voice messages and air calls.


Waalaxy LinkedIn bot

Waalaxy is an extension-based software solution for prospecting and generating leads on LinkedIn. It might not be the safest option since a code is inserted, which allows the software to act like a bot.


Pros

Waalaxy supports all LinkedIn profile types: LinkedIn Premium, Sales Navigator, and Recruiter. It can even create campaigns from a LinkedIn group member search, which might come in handy if this is your LinkedIn lead generation strategy.

As a multichannel outreach tool, Waalaxy supports an integrated inbox (although they charge extra to use it), which allows easy lead navigation. Lastly, it uses voice cloning technology to allow users to send personalized voice messages on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Voicemail.


Cons

As we’ve mentioned earlier, if you want to use the integrated inbox feature, Waalaxy is charging extra, apart from the usual monthly subscription. This means that there are hidden costs for a feature that is native to the majority of tools.

Besides, with no smart sequences, it might be hard to combine multiple outreach sources. When using LinkedIn, Waalaxy does not give you the option to send free or paid InMails, as Skylead does. This can significantly lower your outreach numbers.

Lastly, your personalization options are minimal. Since the tool does not have a native image & GIF personalization, this just means more extensions and more additional costs.


Conclusion

Safety should be your primary concern when it comes to bots for LinkedIn, so try avoiding extensions. Given these points, we believe that a tool should have all native features, and with Waalaxy, you’d have additional costs.


26. Reply.io

Best for all-around social automation.


Reply.io LinkedIn bot, Data page

Reply.io is an extension-based tool that focuses on email outreach - finding prospects and their data.


Pros

Reply offers social automation, which includes email, LinkedIn, voice calls, and WhatsApp. When using LinkedIn with Reply, you can send connection requests and regular and InMail messages. You can also automate certain actions like view profile and follow.

Apart from image & GIF personalization, Reply lets you use video personalization for a better response rate and generally more successful outreach. They also offer multi-channel sequences, where you can create drip campaigns and watch as your prospects convert one by one.


Cons

However, with Reply, not everything is as promised. There are multiple features you can use only if you pay extra. For example, if you want email automation or email verification & discovery, you can get them as third-party services from different software providers. This can significantly add to your monthly costs and complicate the outreach process.


Conclusion

Finally, if you're looking for something more intuitive and user-friendly, opt for a more comprehensive, all-in-one kind of solution.


27. Dux-Soup

Best for beginners who want to incorporate LinkedIn bots into their cold outreach.


Dux-Soup LinkedIn connection bot, Automated actions page

Dux-Soup is an extension-based tool that supports basic LinkedIn automated actions via LinkedIn Premium, Sales Navigator, and Recruiter.


Pros

Unlike some other tools, you can use Dux-Soup to create a Recruiter campaign as well, which is an option not all bots have. The interface is user-friendly and simple, and you can send free and paid InMails in your campaigns.


Cons

Despite the pros, Dux-Soup is missing crucial outreach features like Image & GIF personalization and Smart sequences. Apart from that, you can’t create post engagement campaigns only from your own posts.

Lastly, the fact that it’s a Chrome extension can damage your account’s health and safety, which makes the bot detectable, and LinkedIn could restrict you.


Conclusion

Based on our knowledge, the best LinkedIn automation tools are safe and comprehensive, so if you’re looking for safety-first solutions, you should go cloud-based instead.


28. Expandi

Best for LinkedIn and email automation.


Expandi LinkedIn bot, 2nd smart sequences

Expandi is a cloud-based solution with both LinkedIn and email automation.


Pros

They are the second bot on the market to introduce the smart sequence feature after Skylead. Plus, they offer additional automated actions such as auto skill endorsement and automated post likes.

One more thing to note is that, like Skylead, and Zopto, Expandi has the option to create LinkedIn Recruiter campaigns. You can also integrate the tool with other tools using only Zapier webhooks. Lastly, if you wish to learn more, you can always access their free tutorials.


Cons

Although the notable features might sound pretty good, the bot could be considered incomplete without the Email Discovery and Verification feature. To clarify, multichannel outreach should contain a find & verify feature. If it doesn’t, you’ll miss an opportunity to contact a lead via email if he’s not responding on LinkedIn. However, this bot has the option to scrape publicly available data and fetch personal emails, but only if you’ve connected with the lead.

After a lot of tests, we’ve discovered that not having a native Image & GIF Personalization feature could be a potential downside. Here’s how. In this case, these features are outsourced to Hyperise, which means apart from the regular subscription, you’d have to pay a hidden fee.

Note: Hyperise does not offer unlimited feature access.


Conclusion

After testing different bots for LinkedIn, we’ve found that although Expandi has a lot of built-in features, it is missing some key elements that support a strong and successful outreach. Why settle when you can have more in just one tool?


Image of Free Trial CTA banner with Skylead's Customer Success Manager, Nevena and text "Let's onboard you 1 on 1!"


29. Dripify

Best for its many integration possibilities.


Dripify LinkedIn bot sequence example

Dripify is a cloud-based automation solution that supports LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Recruiter Lite, Premium, and free LinkedIn accounts.


Pros

The Dripify bot allows users to automate a majority of LinkedIn actions as a part of their sequence with conditions. These actions include viewing profiles, endorsing skills, as well as sending connection requests and regular messages.

Dripify, just like many other tools, integrates with over 10,000+ software thanks to webhooks so that you can expand and optimize your outreach according to your work habits.


Cons

Firstly, despite the fact that Dripify has the smart sequence feature, to use it, you would need to pay extra and acquire a more expensive pricing plan. Even if you get one, you won’t be able to send free or paid InMails. Additionally, you can’t create campaigns with a Sales Navigator leads list or from a LinkedIn post, like with Skylead, which can narrow down your targeting options.

Lastly, with Dripify, there is no email automation or email discovery & verification, for that matter. If you’re on the lookout for an all-in-one tool, Dripify should not be your first choice.


Conclusion

All in all, hidden costs are never a good thing, and that’s precisely why you should opt for automation tools that cover a wide range of services under one monthly subscription.


30. Linked Helper 2

Best for automating LinkedIn.


Linked Helper 2, Campaigns page, Dark mode

LinkedHelper 2 is a desktop app that focuses on generating leads and automating LinkedIn.


Pros

Linked Helper 2 offers the ability to create Recruiter search campaigns to help recruiters get to top talent. One of the pros is that Linked Helper 2 has an internal CRM, so you won’t need to integrate it with any other CRM. Finally, you can use filters to view your contact information history, search by tags, and add notes.


Cons

Safety should always come first when it comes to LinkedIn bots. This is a desktop app, which means it does not have a dedicated IP address. Additionally, the automation won’t work when your PC is off. There are no Smart sequences, an A/B testing option, or email automation, which can significantly downsize your outreach chances of success. Hence, you’d have to pay extra for Image & GIF personalization, as Linked Helper 2 outsources those services to Hyperise.


Conclusion

As we’ve said, we advise you to look at bots that don’t demand so many add-ons and third-party extensions. This means more funds and a scattered outreach. For that reason, look for a streamlined tool that has it all.


31. TexAu

Best for data scraping and some automated LinkedIn activities.


TexAu inputs, Facebook group profile extraction, Screenshot

TexAu is an extension-based tool and a desktop app that is mainly used as a data scraper.


Pros

This bot can scrape data from almost any source. That includes Google, Facebook, LinkedIn groups, LinkedIn search results, LinkedIn profiles, YouTube, Twitter, and Quora.

Lastly, the software offers an email enrichment feature that analyzes LinkedIn profiles and finds and verifies business emails.


Cons

Many TexAu users have reported frequent bugs and a lack of learning materials for beginners. Another downside is that it seems to be difficult to set up a proxy. Lastly, TexAu does not support Smart sequences, which can, as we’ve learned, largely improve your outreach efforts.


Conclusion

Our journey with LinkedIn bots led us to the conclusion that you should be able to trust in your tool’s effectiveness. Therefore its features should be bug-free and trustworthy.


32. MeetAlfred

Best for social selling on LinkedIn.


MeetAlfred LinkedIn bot, Team management page

MeetAlfred is a cloud-based tool that focuses on social selling on LinkedIn with automated social media features, such as Instagram and Twitter.


Pros

All connections are stored in one convenient place - MeetAlfred’s native CRM. With this bot, you can personalize messages, and all prospect responses can be found in an integrated inbox

MeetAlfred also offers an email outreach feature. However, it can only send emails to your 1st-degree contacts, whereas Skylead can find, verify, and send emails to anyone.


Cons

MeetAlfred does not support progressive features such as smart sequences and email discovery & verification. Additionally, the tool doesn’t support a LinkedIn Recruiter account, and there’s no native image & GIF personalization. However, it supports Hyperise for an additional fee per month.


Conclusion

After researching and testing, we found many negative user feedback about the MeetAlfred bot. Also, the additional cost aspect is not a good thing, as you should opt for keeping all your native features under one solution.


33. LaGrowth Machine

Best for automated outreach.


LaGrowth machine, Sequence example screenshot

LaGrowth Machine is a LinkedIn and email outreach platform with lead enrichment and actionable analytics.


Pros

With LaGrowth Machine, you can automate your outreach and create sequences with a series of actions. Another notable feature is the lead enrichment feature. You get to manage your leads effectively and get useful reports. Lastly, you can integrate with almost any other tool thanks to Zapier webhooks.


Cons

Despite the fact that the bot can perform so many actions, a crucial part is missing - the option to hyper-personalize your messages. We know that using them can significantly boost response rates. What's more, no native image & GIF feature can only lead to paying extra for a third-party service, which is something you should avoid doing.


Conclusion

Go for a tool that offers more features in one place without the need to pay for add-ons and third-party apps.


Frequently asked questions

If you’re still unsure of whether you need a LinkedIn bot or some things still might be unclear, we’ve prepared a list of FAQs just to be sure we’ve covered the basics.


Does LinkedIn allow bots?

The answer is no. LinkedIn does not support bots. This is why they constantly make an effort to impose limitations on their users (e.g., the number of connection requests per week). Their algorithms analyze user behavior and can restrict certain profiles only to send them to LinkedIn jail.


Is LinkedIn automation illegal?

It’s not illegal. However, LinkedIn does not like its users to use automation tools. That's why all account activity is under surveillance, and if LinkedIn notices something suspicious (e.g., excessive use of automation), they might restrict your account. Be sure to pick a tool that has your safety in mind.


How to tell if someone on LinkedIn is a bot?

Fake bot profiles usually lack crucial information, or the data provided is nonspecific and vague. This could mean no educational background, nonsense job titles, and missing or incomplete work histories. Watch out for a small number of connections, stock profile photos, no recommendations, and stolen identities as well.


Does LinkedIn block bots?

LinkedIn does not block bots but doesn’t support their usage, either. The platform fights against browser plug-ins, crawlers, browser extensions, or third-party add-ons by imposing certain limitations, such as limiting the number of sent connection requests and InMail messages.


Does LinkedIn have bots?

Yes. LinkedIn presented an AI-writing tool that is meant to help LinkedIn users create posts. However, the built-in LinkedIn AI bot is not a classic automation tool and cannot send connection requests and messages but rather just generates AI-powered post content.


Is using LinkedIn bots safe? 

Depending on which bot you choose, using LinkedIn bots can be safe. In fact, some tools have multiple protection layers that battle against LinkedIn’s limitations. This includes a dedicated IP address, human-like behavior, and priorly set limits and delays that shield any account using a LinkedIn bot.


Ready to automate your LinkedIn outreach yet?

Our journey with LinkedIn bots began with a simple curiosity, and it led us to a series of surprising discoveries that we’ve shared with you. And now that we’ve reviewed the LinkedIn bots' potential, the options you have, and the FAQs, it’s safe to say that you are fully equipped to make a well-informed decision - Skylead! 😆

We’re kidding (or are we?!)

In all seriousness, having a comprehensive, all-in-one tool and getting your money’s worth is important. LinkedIn bots are a good investment and can significantly improve your business. If you choose correctly, that is. If you’re comfortable using your newly acquired tool, you can focus more on making top-performing results. Your competitors won’t stand a chance!

Now go, automate away, and remember to choose wisely, as it may determine the next successful phase of your business.


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Need more guidance? Chat with us! Say hello to Skylead’s support team, and let them help you start your 7-day free trial now!

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Nowadays, to get qualified prospects, you need a detailed plan and a few prospecting tools. 

A detailed plan will make your lead generation smoother and increase conversion rates. At the same time, B2B sales prospecting tools help you speed up specific discovery and lead management tasks that would take up so much of your time otherwise. 

The most widely-known prospecting tool is, for sure, LinkedIn, the #1 professional social media aimed at connecting companies from all over the world and encouraging them to make meaningful business-to-business connections. Even though LinkedIn prospecting is the best way to find new leads, there is still a lot of manual work, such as finding the leads’ contact information. 

That said, here are 18 other B2B prospecting tools you should consider using. They are meant for sales teams doing in-house prospecting activities or for a prospecting company offering it as a service.


Why use B2B prospecting software & sales prospecting tools? 

B2B prospecting software is designed to automate otherwise time-consuming prospecting activities, giving you more time to nurture qualified leads and close the deal. 

In other words, these tools give you the following:

All B2B prospecting tools listed below are software as a service (Saas), which means they are entirely delivered over the Internet and are accessible from anywhere on the planet. 

This makes them suitable for anyone interested in sales and marketing automation - from cold email campaigns and messaging on LinkedIn, to email finder, data generator or any other step in the outbound marketing process and lead management overall. 


18 best B2B prospecting tools you need in 2024 [Including free tools]


1. Skylead - LinkedIn prospecting tool

Skylead is one of the best sales outreach and prospecting tools on the market. To clarify, it is LinkedIn automation and cold email software as service (Saas). It helps you find your B2B leads’ data, maximize touchpoints with your leads and, therefore, reach your qualified prospects faster. 

How? Firstly, Skylead supports Premium, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and Recruiter URLs. So salespeople can search for your new prospects via these platforms and import them directly into your Skylead outreach campaign. Or you can import your sales leads via CSV.

Secondly, Skylead can find your qualified leads’ B2B contact data with native Email finder & verifier. This feature is unique on the market because you don’t need any 3rd-party tool or the need to connect with leads on LinkedIn first.

Moreover, Skylead combines LinkedIn connection requests, connection messages, free and paid InMails, and the View and Follow steps with cold emails into Smart sequences. This way, you can use multichannel outreach and maximize getting in touch with every lead.


Skylead, B2B prospecting and outreach tool, Outreach sequence example

Lastly, Skylead offers its users the Boost mode to bypass LinkedIn connection limits and send over 500 invites per week. 

Skylead has an All-in-one pricing plan of $100 per seat/month. You can, though, test out all of Skylead’s features by signing up for a 7-day Free Trial


Image of Free Trial CTA banner with Skylead's smart sequence that demonstrates multichannel outreach using LinkedIn automation and email steps with if/else conditions



2. LinkedIn Sales Navigator - Sales prospecting tool for lead generation 


Sales Navigator interface

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is Premium built for salespeople to discover and connect with the most qualified leads for their business. 

With Sales Navigator filters, you can see all targeted members’ LinkedIn profiles, but you can access a series of sales-oriented features. These features are perfect for handpicking high-quality prospects, getting company data, segment target accounts for different outreach, and so on. 

It’s best when used with a LinkedIn automation tool and cold email software such as Skylead. To clarify, you can import leads through a Sales Navigator search result or Lead list. Once you do, you can create the outreach sequence with the highest number of touchpoints with your leads. 

LinkedIn Sales Navigator has 3 pricing plans:


Sales Navigator masterclass banner with Relja, Skylead's CEO


3. Hubspot - B2B prospecting tool with free plan


Hubspot interface, one of the B2B prospecting tools on the list

Another tool that is widely used for prospecting and lead management is Hubspot. They offer a free CRM solution to help anyone track their prospect lists and outreach stage. 

This free CRM helps you take complete control of your sales process, starting with creating your prospect lists. Once you import new prospects, Hubspot’s enrichment feature will get you essential company insights. 

Hubspot also has a paid version within its Sales Hub product. Its pricing goes for $500 a month per minimum of 5 users and includes the following main features:


4. Zoominfo


B2B prospecting tools list, Zoominfo dashboard

Zoominfo is a B2B database and a Chrome extension used by salespeople, marketing, and talent acquisition professionals. Accordingly, it has 3 pricing plans:

That said, to get pricing for each plan, you must leave your contact information and jump on a call with their sales representative. In addition, the word on the street is that Zoominfo makes contracts with companies, not single users, which implies the pricing height. So if a minimum of 3 seats per contract is not for you, you should consider using other solutions.

Keep in mind that it's not entirely necessary to buy contact data from companies such as Zoominfo. Instead, you can use Skylead's "Email finder & verifier" feature as part of your outreach workflow. This way, you can gather all B2B contact data such as company name, business email & domain.


5. Contactout - B2B prospecting tool with free plan


Contactout dahsboard, B2B prospecting tools

Inspired by Zoominfo, Contactout is a subscription-based, Chrome extension database suitable for occasional searches and long-term use.

Namely, it has a free plan that allows you to search up to 40 emails and 3 phone numbers and works for basic LinkedIn profiles only. Contactout’s free plan can also be an excellent way to test the database before committing to a paid pricing plan. 

Speaking of pricing, Contactout has 3 paid plans, billed annually:


6. Lusha - B2B prospecting tool with free plan


Lusha, B2B prospecting tool example

Another solution similar to Zoominfo is Lusha. This B2B prospecting tool helps you find prospects that belong to your ideal customer profile and respective decision-makers. 

Lush does this by accessing your LinkedIn account and using Chrome extension to scrape your leads’ contact information like company name or email. However, remember that Chrome extensions are not the safest since they inject code into this social media platform. In other words, LinkedIn can easily detect this code and get your LinkedIn account restricted.

Lusha has 4 pricing plans billed annually, with the following main features:


7. Clearbit - B2B prospecting tool with free plan


best B2B prospecting tools list, Clearbit dashboard

This is another database sales prospecting tool that lets you automate finding high-quality leads. Even though it helps sales teams find potential customers and enrich the data, Clearbit is more of an inbound lead generation solution for marketers. 

To clarify, Clearbit turns your website visitors into a sales pipeline by automating autofill on website forms. Moreover, Clearbit ties anonymous visitors with accounts and can immediately enrich your contacts. 

In addition, Clearbit gets more high-quality leads to your sales team by capturing intent. It does this by automating adding accounts and key buyer contacts to your CRM (Salesforce or Hubspot) from websites such as G2. 

Lastly, it offers marketers a unified dash for Google, Facebook, or YouTube ads and can perform exclusion for people who don’t belong in your ideal customer profile. 

Clearbit has 3 pricing plans:

However, you need to schedule a call with their salespeople to get to the price. This way, they can give you a custom quote based on the number of credits you need. 


8. SalesIntel


Best B2B prospecting tools list, Salesintel

Another database classified as a pretty good outbound sales prospecting tool is Salesintel. They provide 95% accurate and human-verified account and contact data so you can search through and find your ICP or a decision-maker.

They have 17 million contacts and 22 million company records and have 65% coverage of SaaS decision-makers. This is a nifty tool because you only need to insert the firmographic or demographic filters and let SalesIntel do its job. After you find your leads, you can import them to your outreach tool and send LinkedIn, multichannel, or email sequences. 

SalesIntel has one pricing plan that offers:

However, you’d need to contact their sales reps to get a custom quote. 


9. Seamless AI - B2B prospecting tool with free plan


Seamless AI dashboard - Best B2B prospecting tools list

Like SalesIntel, this outbound B2B sales prospecting tool is a simple database solution to find new leads. Sales professionals use Seamless AI to get real-time data verification, such as social media profiles and company insights, and use email finder. 

Salespeople can also use sales intelligence, aka buyer intent, to increase their prospecting efforts and determine their ICP’s needs. This way, they can write the right messaging and even follow-ups before the cold outreach

Lastly, Seamless AI offers data for social media advertising via lookalike audiences and retargeting to drive inbound B2B leads. 

Seamless AI has 4 pricing plans:


10. Leadfeeder - B2B prospecting tool with free plan


Leadfeeder, B2B prospecting tools list

Leadfeeder is a prospecting software that helps ABM managers step up their lead generation game. To clarify, Leadfeeder has an IP enrichment API feature that can transform IP addresses into firmographic data in real time. 

In other words, once a lead visits your website, Leadfeeder can recognize the companies and filter out the ones that are not interested. In addition, it can filter visitors by country, industry, or pages they visited. You can then use the Leadfeeder Contacts feature to identify decision-makers from that company. Or you can personalize your chat to send particular messages depending on their behavior. 

Once you generate leads, you can integrate Leadfeeder with your CRM, such as Salesforce. This way, you can send potential customers along with the notification to your salespeople and help out their prospecting efforts.

Lastly, with the Leadfeeder, you can monitor the existing customers’ behavior. This way, if you see any anomaly, you can alert sales professionals, improve their sales process and prevent potential churn.

Leadfeeder has 2 pricing plans:


11. Aeroleads - B2B prospecting tool with free plan


Aeroleads dashboard - Best B2B prospecting tools list

If you primarily cold email outbound campaigns, then AeroLeads is for you. AeroLeads ease up your sales process with the email verification feature that can find business and personal emails. In addition, this tool can even find phone numbers if you prefer cold calling. 

Only keep in mind that you’d need to use their Chrome extension to extract these emails from LinkedIn, Aeroleads search, and other websites. In addition, you can send your LinkedIn prospect to your CRM via plugin, thus sending a notification to your sales team. 

Aeroleads has 4 pricing plans:


Image of CTA banner 2 for Skylead salesbook - ready-to-use outreach template that can be applied to our LinkedIn automation and cold email software


12. Rocketreach


Rocketreach dashboard, B2B prospecting tools list

This is one of the best sales databases with 700M profiles and 35M companies that you can search by title, industry, and company details. In addition, with Rocketreach, you can find social media profiles and discover company connections from any platform.

Lastly, Rocketreach supports workflow integrations with CRM or any other app. 

Rocketreach has 3 pricing plans:


13. Salesloft


Salesloft tool, B2B prospecting tools

This is a sales engagement platform that can help you use a single app to: 

In addition, Salesloft makes it easy for you to make calls, create emails, follow-ups, and meetings through the platform, and it will automatically sync with your CRM. 

Moreover, Salesloft can Identify sales leads’ buyer engagement on your website and in your communication so you can act on situations fast. 

Lastly, you can create a library of email templates, and Salesloft will keep track of the number of emails sent, clicks, and replies. This way, you’ll know what follow-ups or cold email templates are a winner. 

Salesloft has 3 pricing plans:

However, you need to schedule a call with their sales team to get the pricing for each. 


14. Datanyze


B2B prospecting tools, Datanyze tool

The next tool that can help your prospecting process is Datanyze. Essentially, it's a Chrome extension to help you gather the sales lead info from LinkedIn and other company websites. 

In addition, Datanyze provides ideas for icebreakers by what is happening in a prospect's world, curated from personal social media feeds, current weather, etc.

Datanyze has 3 clear pricing plans:


15. Voila Norbert - B2B prospecting tool 


Voila Norbert, B2B prospecting tools

Voila Norbert is an extension-based email finder tool that, in addition, offers email verification and enrichment services. In other words, if you want to collect data beyond emails, Voila Norbert can find the prospect’s location, job title, and social media profiles. All you need to start is a prospect’s name and company URL

With a 98% success rate and ease of use, Voila Norbert can find any email provider including Gmail. And this is why it ranks among the best sales prospecting tools for lead generation. 

This tool doesn’t have a free plan. However, it provides the first 50 emails free of charge. Speaking of costs, Voila Norbert has 4 basic pricing plans. Every plan includes 50 bulk workers and API usage, and:

However, verification and enrichment services are charged separately: 


16. Hunter - B2B prospecting tool with free plan


B2B prospecting tools, Hunter, email finder

Another software on our best sales B2B prospecting tools list is Hunter. This is a Chrome extension tool that can find emails by company or name and verify them. It can also perform a domain search to find out who to contact within the company. 

Even though they are an email outreach platform, they are still most used for email discovery. However, Hunter can automate sending cold email campaigns and follow-ups from your Gmail and Outlook accounts.
Lastly, you can integrate Hunter with any other tool and, for example, send your high-quality leads to your CRM.

Hunter has 4 pricing plans:

Pricing# Of Monthly searches# Of Verifications# Of Email Account Linked# Of Recipients per Campaign
Free0€25501500
Starter49€5001K32500
Growth149€ 5K10K105K
Business499€ 50K100K2010K

Image of CTA banner 1 for watching Skylead - LinkedIn automation and cold email software demo



17. Evaboot - Sales prospecting tool with free plan


Evaboot dashboard, B2B prospecting tools

Evaboot is a Sales Navigator scraper. To clarify, it is a Chrome extension-based tool that finds emails using Sales Navigator and adds additional data such as name, company size, and job title. Then, you can later export data via CSV and use it elsewhere. 

It can automatically clean the names, job titles, and company names of any emoji or symbols. Moreover, it can detect leads that are not your Buyer Persona and remove them automatically.

Evaboot has 3 subscription plans:

However, if these plans do not suit your needs, you can always pay their one-time fee for different amounts of emails you want to find and export. Lastly, when you install their extension, you get one-time 1000 credits free to export leads. 


18. GetProspect - B2B prospecting tool with free plan


GetProspects dashboard, B2B prospecting tools list

Last but not least, we have GetProspect. This is a simple email finder solution that scrapes the contacts from LinkedIn using the Chrome extension.

Moreover, they have a B2B contact database, which you can access, find leads via 15 filtering options, and get real-time data and email verifications. 

Lastly, you can link and sign up with your Gmail or Microsoft emails and try the tool for free.

GetProspect has 5 pricing plans, paid monthly or yearly: 


Frequently asked question


How do these tools ensure data privacy and comply with regulations like GDPR?

B2B prospecting tools prioritize data privacy and compliance with regulations like GDPR by implementing secure data handling practices and providing features for consent management.


What integration capabilities do these tools have with existing sales and marketing platforms?

These tools often feature robust integration capabilities with popular CRM, sales platforms, facilitating seamless data flow and activity tracking across sales ecosystems.


For businesses with global outreach, how do these tools handle and segment data across different regions and languages?

For global outreach, many B2B prospecting tools offer functionalities to segment and manage data by region and language, enabling businesses to tailor their strategies to diverse markets.


Wrap up and advice

Choosing the right B2B prospecting tools can be challenging. However, it doesn’t have to be hard - our advice is to start the research by defining what you need

If, for example, you need an email finder only, then use tools such as Voila Norbert or GetProspect. However, if you need an entire database, check Salesintel or Contactout.

Lastly, if you find yourself in a situation where you need all the above and the multichannel solution, then choose Skylead. Simple as that. Just define what you want and then go for it.


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Speaking of Skylead, wish to try it out for free? Then sign up for a  7-day free trial, and we’ll help you get onboard in no time. 😊 


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If LinkedIn prospecting, lead generation, and even marketing automation are a part of your job, you’ve probably heard of Dux-Soup. This tool helps you to find and engage with your target audience in real-time and on autopilot.

However, there is a lot of discussion about whether Dux-Soup is safe to use for your LinkedIn account, how effective it is, or if there is any better alternative. So, to resolve any mysteries revolving Dux-Soup, in this article, we cover everything you need to know, including:

Let’s dive into it.


Dux-Soup or alternatives?

LinkedIn automation software, Dux-Soup, helps sales teams, recruiter specialists, and outbound marketers find LinkedIn prospects, reach them on autopilot, and close deals. In other words, it optimizes outreach workflow by streamlining some of the time-consuming tasks on LinkedIn. 

These tasks include: 

Dux-Soup also offers drip outreach campaigns that allow you to send messages and follow-ups in a simple sequence. In addition, you can add up to 12 messages in the campaign and set delays between them. However, these features are only available for Turbo plan subscribers.


Dux-Soup drip campaign image

Moreover, Dux-Soup is able to find email addresses of your 2nd and 3rd-degree connections. However, you will need to buy additional Dux-Soup points to do so. Prices of these points range from $11.91 for 100 emails, to $135.44 for 2000 emails.

For all those who wonder how it works, this LinkedIn automation software is a chrome extension. To clarify, you need to create your account and install a chrome extension to use it. Moreover, you need to keep your PC and browser on to run successfully.

If you use any CRM, like Pipedrive or Hubspot, you can integrate it via Zapier. If you need help with integration, you can always contact the Dux-Soup support team.

Lastly, Dux-Soup is considered one of the simplest LinkedIn lead generation software, as it doesn’t offer many prospecting and outreach features. So it’s suitable for small businesses that are just getting started and freelancers who are beginners.


Chrome extension disadvantages

Being a chrome extension, Dux-Soup does come with some severe drawbacks

Firstly, chrome extensions are unsafe since they automatically inject the code into LinkedIn. This code injection would’ve been fine if this social media platform didn’t like its users to use any LinkedIn automation. Thus, by injecting the code into this social media platform, LinkedIn can register if you’re using automation software. Furthermore, you risk getting your LinkedIn profile restricted.

Moreover, this LinkedIn automation tool doesn’t offer a dedicated IP to shield your activity

Secondly, chrome extensions cannot work unless your PC or laptop is on. This means you cannot set the software to run in the background, turn off your computer and forget about it for the day. 

Apart from these disadvantages, chrome extensions don’t offer an advanced reporting system or integrated inbox, nor do they mimic human-like behavior.

Due to the previously-mentioned limitations, you might find worth in exploring cloud-based LinkedIn automation tools. In other words, a cloud-based solution provides a dedicated IP address, doesn’t inject any code, and mimics human-like behavior. What’s more, with this type of automation, you can manage multiple accounts, have an integrated inbox, and, most importantly, it works even when your PC is turned off. What’s better than that? 🙂


Dux-Soup pricing

Dux-Soup offers 3 pricing plans and sub-plans, depending on team size and available features.


Individual Pricing Plan

IndividualMain featuresPrice per seat / month (ex. VAT)
FreeVisit profiles only;Search by tags;$0
Pro Dux- Scan & visits profiles;- Send connection requests;- Sends follow-up messages;- Sends direct LinkedIn messages & InMails;- Auto endorse;- Auto profile tagging;- Data export/import;$11.25
Turbo Dux- Scan & visits profiles;- Send connection requests;- Sends follow-up messages;- Sends direct LinkedIn messages and InMails;- Auto endorse;- Unlimited drip campaigns;- Integrations;- Reports;- Auto profile tagging;- Data export/import;$41.25

Dux-Soup charges Individual pricing plans monthly or yearly, as per your choosing. In addition, if you’re looking to use the free version, you’ll soon notice that you cannot do much with it. So, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid version if you wish to use this software for real outreach. 


Team pricing plan

TeamMain featuresPrice per seat / annually (ex. VAT)
Pro Edition- Scan & visits profiles;- Send connection requests;- Sends follow-up messages;- Sends direct LinkedIn messages & InMails;- Auto endorse;- Auto profile tagging;- Data export/import;
- Dux-Soup VIP customer support;
$135
Turbo Edition- Scan & visits profiles;- Send connection requests;- Sends follow-up messages;- Sends direct LinkedIn messages and InMails;- Auto endorse;- Unlimited drip campaigns;- Integrations;- Reports;- Auto profile tagging;- Data export/import;
- Dux-Soup VIP customer support;
$495

To clarify, Team plans are only charged annually and use a tiered pricing model. For example, choosing between 1-10 seats will cost you $135 per seat. If, however, you select a seat number between 11 and 20, you’ll pay $121.50 per seat, etc.


Agency pricing plan

AgencyMain featuresPrice per month total (ex. VAT)
Pro- Scan & visits profiles;- Send connection requests;- Sends follow-up messages;- Sends direct LinkedIn messages & InMails;- Auto endorse;- Auto profile tagging;- Data export/import;
- Dux-Soup VIP customer support;
$337.50
Turbo- Scan & visits profiles;- Send connection requests;- Sends follow-up messages;- Sends direct LinkedIn messages and InMails;- Auto endorse;- Unlimited drip campaigns;- Integrations;- Reports;- Auto profile tagging;- Data export/import;
- Dux-Soup VIP customer support;
$412.50

Pro and Turbo Agency sub plans have 10 and 30 prepaid accounts, respectively. You can always add more seats, which will be charged additionally. However, if you do not use some seats, you cannot refund them.


Image of CTA banner 1 for Skylead salesbook - ready-to-use outreach template that can be applied to our LinkedIn automation and cold email software


7 best Dux-Soup alternatives

Dux-Soup is a beginner-friendly LinkedIn automation tool with very limited features. However, if you wish to really step up your outreach game and protect your LinkedIn profile, we suggest trying out one of the following Dux-Soup alternatives.


Skylead

That’s us - Hello! It’s nice to meet you 🙂

Skylead is a LinkedIn Automation & Cold Email Software that helps sales teams, recruiters, and alike streamline tedious outreach tasks. It even serves as marketing automation, helping individuals with backlink outreach and network expansion.

It’s not like we’re praising Skylead for no reason, but it really is the best alternative to Dux-Soup on the market. Let us explain.

Firstly, Skylead is a cloud-based solution. It means it doesn’t inject any code into LinkedIn, so this social media can’t notice the automation. Most importantly, your LinkedIn profile gets threefold security: 

In addition, with Skylead, you get to manage multiple accounts. Moreover, you get an integrated Smart Inbox to see all your correspondence with the lead from any platform.

Skylead integrates with LinkedIn Premium, Sales Navigator, Recruiter, and Recruiter Lite. Therefore, anyone can use it to close deals - from sales teams, recruiters, marketers of any small businesses, agencies, and even freelancers. That said, you can create outreach campaigns based on 6 sources:

Lastly, while we’re still on the integration train, you’d be happy to know that Skylead can integrate with any other app via API, Zapier, or Integromat. You can even integrate it with your favorite CRM, like Pipedrive or HubSpot.

Sounds amazing, right? We’re just getting started. 😀 

Let’s cover other amazing features of Skylead.


Change your LinkedIn outreach game with Smart Sequences

Unlike Dux-Soup's simple outreach campaigns, Skylead offers Smart Sequences - a ground-breaking algorithm that performs actions according to your lead's behavior. In other words, Smart Sequences gather all outreach activities in one place and execute them depending on your leads’ actions

The true benefit of this unique algorithm is that it optimizes your workflow by streamlining all time-consuming tasks in real-time. Skylead then continues executing further actions depending on your lead's behavior, thanks to If/Else conditions.

Image of a smart sequence feature from a Dux-Soup alternative, Skylead

In addition, Dux-Soup limits your drip campaign to a maximum of 12 messages. However, with Skylead, you can send an unlimited amount of LinkedIn messages, InMails, and emails and perform other actions in a sequence. 

Whatsmore, you also get advanced analytics and reporting for each step and action in a sequence. To be precise, you can analyze:

Moreover, with Skylead, you can A/B test each part of the messages and see which one works best for you. 


Increase conversion rates with email outreach

Dux-Soup specializes in LinkedIn outreach alone. However, we all know that email is an essential means of communication. So, the best sales approach is to multichannel your outreach. That’s why Skylead introduced an Email Outreach, allowing you to expand your reach to leads who aren’t active on LinkedIn. With this functionality you will increase response rate and the conversion rate, as well.


Decrease a bounce rate with email discovery & verification feature

Dux-Soup offers an email finder feature. However, there is no say if these emails are verified. Thus, the validity of these emails might be compromised, and you can end up with a high bounce rate and damaged domain. 

With Skylead, you can find and verify leads' business emails with any connection type from the chosen lead source. In addition, Skylead can find and verify an unlimited number of emails, whereas, with Dux-Soup, you can only find 2000.

Lastly, unlike Dux-Soup, Skylead doesn’t charge extra for Email Discovery & Verification features. In other words, you can find and verify as many emails as you’d like at no additional cost.


Increase your response rate with hyper-personalized images & GIFs

Did you know that you can increase the response rate and the acceptance rate by simply incorporating a personalized image or GIF? Yes, it’s true. This feature demonstrates the alternative sales approach and shows that you’re a human, not just another salesperson. 

That’s why Skylead offers Native Images & GIFs Hyper-Personalization feature, so you can stand out in the crowd and need not pay for this feature to other platforms to do so. 


Image of Dux-Soup alternative software, Skylead with image & GIF hyper-personalization feature

Connect with your leads faster by sending 500+ invites a week

With Skylead, you can send 500+ invitations per week and thus avoid LinkedIn’s limits. This way, you can reach leads faster than with any tool on the market.  Most importantly, you’ll also achieve your sales quota by closing more deals per month. 


Image of CTA banner 2 for watching Skylead - LinkedIn automation and cold email software demo


Pricing

Skylead is an All-In-One tool that costs $100 per seat a month. However, unlike other LinkedIn outreach tools on the market, and from this list, Skylead doesn’t limit the number of features you can use. 

In addition, we offer different video and article tutorials, as well as sequence and message templates to get inspired.

Lastly, Skylead has a very dedicated customer support team that is ready to help anyone with the questions they might have. 


Zopto


Image of Dux-Soup alternative software Zopto dashboard

Next in line for the best alternative to Dux-Soup is Zopto. This tool is another cloud-based Dux-Soup alternative sales teams use for LinkedIn prospecting and lead generation. 

Firstly, Zopto supports LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Recruiter, or Premium accounts. Moreover, being a cloud-based solution, it offers integrated inbox and integrations with Hubspot, Pipedrive, or other CRMs via Zapier or API.

Secondly, feature-wise, Zopto has an email discovery functionality, named Email Enrichment. However, unlike Dux-Soup, it can verify them. Sadly, Zopto limits how many leads you can enrich with the email, depending on the pricing plan, whereas Skylead doesn’t. 

What differs between Zopto and Skylead is that with Zopto, you can create and schedule LinkedIn posts and like Tweets on autopilot. 

However, Zopto doesn’t have Smart Sequences like Skylead, which is a significant disadvantage. Instead, it offers a simple 4-step drip campaign with no conditions available. 

Zopto offers 3 monthly-subscription-based plans. 

As you can see, Zopto estimates their pretty basic lead generation tool at the highest price on the market. So if you're considering Dux-Soup alternatives, you should analyze this and other tools' cost VS features ratio to make the right decision.


WeConnect


Image of Dux-Soup alternative WeConnect; campaign dashboard

WeConnect is another cloud-based LinkedIn automation tool that can be used with either LinkedIn Premium, Sales Navigator, or Recruiter Lite accounts (it doesn’t support Recruiter accounts).

Firstly, WeConnect offers an integrated inbox where you can see all your messages. In addition, you can integrate WeConnect with any tool using API or Zapier and streamline your workflow to the fullest. 

As for other exciting features, WeConnect offers A/B message testing like Zopto and Skylead. 

Sadly, WeConnect, an Expandi alternative, doesn’t offer advanced features like Post Engagement Campaigns, Image & GIF personalization, or Smart Sequences. Even if they claim they have Smart Sequences, they do not since this sequence doesn’t have conditions, as Skylead does. Instead, they offer a simple drip campaign with a different action, including:

Lastly, the significant disadvantage of WeConnect is that you cannot use a multichannel outreach. In other words, it doesn’t offer Email Discovery & Verification and Email Automation features.

If you need some basic LinkedIn outreach campaign, such as from LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, Recruiter Lite search, or CSV, then WeConnect could work for you for $49 per user/month.


Image of Free Trial CTA banner with Skylead's smart sequence that demonstrates multichannel outreach using LinkedIn automation and email steps with if/else conditions


Lead Connect


Image of Lead Connect, a Dux-Soup alternative; sequence feature

Another Dux-Soup alternative is Lead Connect - a chrome extension you can use with LinkedIn Premium or Sales Navigator accounts. 

Even though it’s not a cloud solution, you can use it to create a campaign via CSV file. In addition, Lead Connect offers a drip campaign with a few features and steps available: 

If you don’t know what to write in a message, Lead Connect has got your back. They offer various templates to get inspired. However, you should know that the number of templates available depends on your chosen pricing plan. 

Lead Connect has integration with Hubspot, or you can connect it with any other CRM via Zapier. Moreover, it’s integrated with other email discovery tools, such as Hunter.io, so you can find your prospect’s emails. Sadly, you’d need to pay an additional cost for it. 

Unfortunately, Lead Connect doesn’t have Smart Sequences, Image & GIF Personalization, nor does it support Recruiter. 

Price-wise, this tool offers 4 plans depending on the number of invites and messages you can send and templates you can use per day: 


Linked Helper 2


Dux-Soup alternative, Linked Helper 2, LinkedIn automation software

As opposed to Dux-Soup, Linked Helper 2 is a desktop-based tool. In other words, it’s a bit safer since it doesn’t inject code into LinkedIn. However, this kind of software still doesn’t offer a dedicated IP address, nor can you manage multiple accounts. Furthermore, you need to keep a PC on to work. 

With Linked Helper 2, you can create Recruiter search campaigns. In addition, all contacts are kept in Linked Helper’s CRM, and you can search them by tags and add notes. 

Sadly, Linked Helper 2 doesn’t offer a list of advanced cold outreach features other tools have, such as:

Linked Helper 2 is affordable, and you can get some basic lead generation features for $15 a month. Needless to say that they limit this plan based on invites and messages you can send a day. 

If you wish to get rid of this limit, you can opt-in for a $45 subscription with unlimited basic features. 


Meet Alfred


Dux Soup alternative LinkedIn automation software, MeetAlfred dashboard

Another cloud-based LinkedIn outreach tool that salespeople use for lead generation is Meet Alfred. What separates Meet Alfred from other tools is that it mainly automates social media activities such as scheduling Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn posts.  

Even though they point out Email Outreach as their second main feature, it's worth noting that it is incomplete. To clarify, with Meet Alfred, you can only send emails to your 1st-degree connections. This means that if the prospects don't accept your LinkedIn invitation, you won't be able to reach them via email. So, you can't use multichannel to its fullest potential.

In addition, like other tools mentioned above, you can connect Meet Alfred with other software via Zapier's webhooks.

Unlike Skylead, Meet Alfred doesn't have Smart Sequences but offers a simple drip campaign with more steps available than Zopto. Other disadvantages include a lack of email discovery and verification features. In addition, it doesn't have native Image & GIF personalization. However, since they are integrated with Hyperise, you can pay an additional monthly amount for this feature. 

Price-wise, Mee tAlfred offers the following plans:


Salesflow


Image of Dux-Soup alternative software, Salesflow, campaign builder

A cloud-based solution, Salesflow, is a tool that isn’t compatible with Recruiter, unlike other solutions from our list. So you can create the campaigns only from Sales Navigator or LinkedIn search results.

You can also import a CSV file with the customer’s info and create a campaign sequence based on that source. Speaking of campaign sequences, like Zopto, Salesflow doesn’t offer Smart Sequences. However, you can send as many LinkedIn messages as possible, whereas Zopto limits you to a 4-step campaign sequence. Moreover, they offer some message templates should you need any inspiration. 

When connection requests, with Salesflow, you can send 400 invites per month.


Image of CTA banner 1 for watching Skylead - LinkedIn automation and cold email software demo


In addition, Salesflow doesn’t have an Email Outreach feature, nor does it have Email Discovery & Verification. So, you cannot use multichannel outreach to the fullest. 

Lastly, it provides CRM. However, if you don’t find it adequate, you can always integrate it with other tools via Zapier.

SalesFlow users can opt-in for one of the 3 pricing plans, depending on the number of users and features available: 


How to cancel Dux-Soup?

If you wish to try out any of the LinkedIn automation tools listed above, you need to cancel your Dux-Soup subscription first and link your LinkedIn account to other software.

Here’s a short tutorial on how to do it.

To cancel your subscription, you need to access your Dux-Soup dashboard. Simply click the Dux-Soup extension at the top of your browser, and click the Dux-Dash button. 


Image of how to cancel Dux Soup step 1

Then, from your dashboard go to Manage Account & Subscription.


Image of how to cancel Dux-Soup step 2

Then click the Dux-Soup subscription button. 


Image of how to cancel Dux-Soup step 3

Lastly, click the Cancel Subscription button. Yes- it’s that easy.


Image of how to cancel Dux-Soup step 4

Final thoughts and feature comparison

As mentioned, Dux-Soup has a so-called feature starters pack for LinkedIn lead generation, outreach, and prospecting. However, if you wish to step up your game, it might be time to move on to the next LinkedIn automation tool on the market. 

Thus, here is the table with full feature comparison to help you choose the best alternative.


Image of comparison table among Dux-Soup alternatives; feature comparison

And remember, it’s about your business needs. So, take time to analyze the features, check for limitations, and integrations, calculate the price VS features ratio and inspect LinkedIn profile compatibility. Only then will you be able to find the right tool for your cold outreach that will help you with your outreach conversion rate.

Enjoy the research! 


You've got this; GIF

If you have any questions about Skylead, feel free to contact our support team via chat. They’ll be more than happy to meet you and help. Or simply dive right in and try Skylead yourself by starting a 7-day Free Trial.


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