Are you searching for the best cold email software to generate leads, drive sales, and scale your business? However, with so many tools claiming to be the best, knowing which ones actually deliver is not exactly a walk in the park.

Recognizing how hard it is to find objective information, we’ve decided to give you some. Thus, we’ve tried a total of 21 of the best cold email software, evaluated them according to several criteria, and are bringing you our findings.

And if this is TL;DR for you, here’s a table for quick comparison.

However, if you’re curious to see which cold email software we ranked as the best and why, be sure to check out our hands-on experience with each one.

What is cold email software?

Cold email software is a type of tool designed to simplify and optimize the process of reaching out to prospects through email. It is commonly used by salespeople, marketers, recruiters, and agencies looking to connect with potential clients, partners, or candidates at scale.

What to look for in the best cold email software?

There are plenty of cold email software on the market, meaning the margin for error is high.

So, how do you choose the best cold email software out there?

It all boils down to the following:

1. Automation

Manual cold outreach is time-consuming, not to say exhausting. Thus, to save yourself more than 11 hours a week you’d spend on it, look for tools that do more than just send task alerts.

However, our advice is to go with a tool that has a Smart sequences feature, such as our Skylead. Smart sequences are outreach sequences that execute steps in a logical order according to the way your prospects' behave, thanks to if/else conditions. Using them, you can maximize touchpoints with leads to make sure your initial emails don't go to waste.

2. Deliverability

What good are your emails if they keep landing in spam?

That is to say, your software of choice should come equipped with features that ensure your emails make it to the Primary inbox. In other words, shop around for those with email warm-up, deliverability testing, blacklist monitoring, and similar functionalities.

3. Integration

For cold email software to be considered the best, it needs to work seamlessly with your existing tool stack (e.g., CRM, Slack, etc.). Otherwise, you are sure to experience workflow interruptions.

4. Personalization

Did you know that personalized email subject lines can see up to 20% higher open rates compared to those without personalized details?

For that reason, your best bet is to go with the software that lets you personalize your outreach. This may include the option to insert placeholders (a.k.a. variables) that auto-populate based on your leads’ information, such as first and last name and company name. The other handy feature is image and GIF personalization, which lets you personalize visuals with the text, logo, or name of your leads.

5. Analytics

You can’t know how good of a job the cold email software is doing without having insight into the data. Therefore, your go-to choice must have an Analytics dashboard that gives you the birds-eye-view of different metrics (e.g., open rate, click-through rate, reply rate).

6. Cost-effectiveness

The best cold email software for you is the one with the best price vs. feature ratio. In other words, a one-stop-shop tool that gives you the most value for your money. Simple as that.

Our testing methodology

So, you know what it is that makes a cold email software ‘’the best.’’ But you still need options. And options we’ll provide. Tried and tested ones, as a matter of fact.

But not before we’ve explained the criteria we used for the testing.

That said, we got hands-on with the most popular cold email tools to see what they’re really made out of, focusing on:

• Ease of setup - We signed up for each tool, went through the onboarding process, and tested how easy it was to get everything up and running.
• Key features - We poked around every feature to see if it actually worked as promised. Did the tools make life easier? Did they deliver on their big claims? We were bent on finding that out!
• Deliverability - We run actual email outreach campaigns to see whether emails would land in the Primary inbox or spam.
• User-friendliness - Some tools are so complicated they feel like they need a manual. Therefore, we made sure to assess how intuitive and easy-to-use each tool was.
• Price vs. features - Finally, we compared pricing to what each tool actually delivered. Our goal was to identify which tool was the best value.

The 21 best cold email software we tried

Now that you know what makes a great cold email tool and how we tested them, let’s get to the main event.

We’ve rounded up the 21 best cold email software on the market, carefully evaluating each one based on the criteria we laid out earlier.

With this in mind, for each tool, we’ll cover:

• User score
• Key features
• Pros
• Cons
• Pricing

And to keep it real, we’ll also share expert opinions—straight from the mouths (or keyboards) of actual users who’ve worked with these tools. 

So, let’s dive in!

1. Skylead - Best cold email software for salespeople looking for one tool that has it all

User score: ⭐ 4.7 / 5

Well, hello there! This is us! 🙂

Skylead is a LinkedIn automation and cold email software that’s consequently your one-stop-shop tool for all your outreach needs.

Key features

Why do we say Skylead is a one-stop-shop tool? 

Because it has everything you could possibly need for cold email outreach in one place and at one cost, including support for:

• Unlimited email outreach to send tens of thousands of emails at no extra cost;
• Email discovery and verification to reduce bounces and protect your domain;
• Image & GIF hyper-personalization to increase your response rate up to 76%;
• Email warm-up to keep your emails away from spam.

But what if we told you that, using our tool, you don’t have to settle for the email channel only?

Namely, Skylead is the 1st tool on the market to introduce Smart sequences. In other words, algorithms that combine if/else conditions with email and LinkedIn steps to form coherent outreach flows. Why? To find the fastest path to your leads.

It’s all thanks to Smart sequences that you can combine email automation with cloud-based LinkedIn automation.

Yours is just to choose a lead source from one of these…

…build your Smart sequence using these LinkedIn and email steps…

…and define your messages. While at it, you can even A/B test up to 5 versions of your subject lines, message copies, or CTAs and for email, LinkedIn messages, and inMails.

Thanks to an advanced Reports page, you can also easily evaluate the performance of all your campaigns in 3 modes (table, graph, step-by-step). 

Moreover, you can also review the performance of your A/B tests and see which version is performing best.

Here, you can also download reports in CSV and/or PDF. Or, you can push your leads’ data straight into your CRM of choice by integrating it with Skylead through Webhooks or API. The same goes for any other tool out there.

Finally, you don’t have to go back and forth between multiple mailboxes and LinkedIn accounts. You can keep track of all your messages in one place—our Smart inbox. This is also where you can write notes and label leads to, say, measure conversions and ROI.

Now, let’s get deeper into features that make Skylead one of the best, if not the best cold email software.

Unlimited email automation

With Skylead, you can connect as many mailboxes as you need, making it possible to send tens of thousands of emails a month at no extra cost.

There’s no cap on the number of active leads you can manage, either. That basically means you can reach out to as many leads as you want and expand your outreach without limits.

Curious how it’s possible to send so many emails? It’s all thanks to our inbox rotation feature, which alternates sending emails across multiple mailboxes that you connected (email accounts). This way, your email-sending volume is distributed evenly, which keeps your accounts within safe sending limits.

As a cherry on top, we have a handy guide that walks you through how to simply connect and set up your email account and get it ready for outreach.

Email discovery & verification 

Using email discovery and verification, you can find and double-verify your leads’ email addresses to reduce the chances of bounces that could harm your deliverability and sender reputation. But the best part? It won’t interrupt your campaign creation flow.

Simply add the Find & verify business email step to your Smart sequence, and the tool will automatically locate and double-verify your leads’ emails.

What sets this feature apart is its exceptional accuracy—one of the highest on the market. Plus, it’s unlimited and included in your subscription at no extra cost. That means you can use it as much as you need without worrying about additional fees.

Infinite Email warm-up

Cold email software can only bring desired results if the accounts used for outreach are ready for it. But to make sure that happens, they need to be properly warmed up. Otherwise, the risk of your emails landing in spam runs high.

And since we know how important email warm-up is to the outreach process, we decided to partner up with the email warm-up tool, InboxFlare, to bring you infinite email warm-up.

And yes, this is another feature you can use as a Skylead user at no extra cost.

With InboxFlare, you can:

• Warm up infinite mailboxes in 30+ languages
• Choose your own warm-up topics
• Perform regular deliverability testing
• Monitor blacklists

Once you’ve activated your InboxFlare seat, you’ll be able to connect it to your mailbox(es), be they with Gmail, Outlook, or another ESP. InboxFlare also lets you add custom SMPT. Once connected, it will use AI to craft a unique warm-up strategy.

Skylead pros

• Unlimited email outreach to send tens of thousands of emails per month at no added cost.
• Built-in email discovery and verification to reduce bounces and protect your sender reputation.
• Infinite email warm-up in more than 30 languages.
• Smart sequences combining email and LinkedIn to maximize getting in touch with leads.
• Image and GIF hyper-personalization to increase the response rate.
• Advanced reporting with export options and integration capabilities via Webhooks or API.
• Smart inbox to manage all email and LinkedIn conversations in one place.

Skylead cons

• InboxFlare isn’t built directly into Skylead.
• No native integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce, and other popular CRMs (integration is possible, though, through Zapier or API).

Pricing

Skylead is one of the few software that has one pricing plan to rule them all. That said, for just $100 a month per seat, you get all of the above features, plus a 1-on-1 onboarding call to get you started and a targeting support call.

What more could you ask for?

Expert opinion

‘’I’ve been using emails, InMails, and LinkedIn connection requests and messages altogether. But emails and LinkedIn messages are giving me the best conversion rate.’’

—Dennis Goyal, Co-founder & COO

‘’If/else conditions in Smart Sequences are also great. It's low code, so it's great because I'm not good at coding yet. I also like the Find & verify business email step, which finds email addresses most of the time. So you get, like, two ways you can get in touch with the client.’’

—Toine Boelens, Founder

2. Smartlead - Best for in-app email warm-up

User score: ⭐ 4.3 / 5

Smartlead is a relatively new software that automates and streamlines cold email outreach.

Key features

Smartlead comes with support for unlimited mailboxes, inbox rotation, and a built-in email warm-up feature that helps build a strong senders’ reputation. We found it very reliable while testing the tool.

The software also has a Subsequences feature, a.k.a. email sequences that get triggered once specific conditions are met (e.g., if a lead bounces, if they reply, etc.).

Moreover, Smartlead has a Unibox, which lets you keep track of all emails and respond to them from one place. 

Finally, they have an Analytics dashboard where you can keep track of your email campaigns’ performance.

Pros

• Good deliverability rates, courtesy of the built-in email warm-up feature with ESP matching.
• Support for unlimited mailboxes, as well as mailbox rotation.
• User-friendly interface that doesn’t overwhelm.
• Unibox to keep conversations organized.
• Native integration with HubSpot and 3rd party integrations via Webhooks and API.

Cons

• You can’t use it for LinkedIn lead generation because it lacks real multichannel outreach capabilities. Namely, you can add multichannel tasks into your sequences but need to perform them manually.
• No options for personalization other than variables, thereby positioning Smartlead alternatives like Skylead as a better option.
• Lack of email verification and discovery.

Pricing

Expert opinion

‘’Smartlead's email follow-up automation is a time-saver for crafting and delivering outreach sequences. Pre-designed templates are cool and a helpful advantage, especially for those new to cold emailing. The interface isn't the most intuitive. If you're new to cold email platforms, there might be a learning curve involved.’’

— Stephen O., Director of Sales Marketing

3. Apollo - Best for its built-in lead database

User score: ⭐ 4.5 / 5

Apollo is a powerful multichannel sales engagement platform that allows users to combine email, LinkedIn outreach, and cold calls in their campaigns.

Key features

Using Apollo, you can set up simple campaigns with automatic or manual emails while leveraging LinkedIn automation features to send connection requests and messages and engage with your leads’ posts.

Additionally, the tool integrates natively with platforms like Pipedrive, HubSpot, and Slack to provide seamless data synchronization.

It also includes A/B testing capabilities to optimize your campaigns and an AI-powered feature for crafting personalized outreach messages.

Lastly, Apollo boasts a database of over 275M contacts, which you can use to pull leads directly into your campaigns, along with an email verification and inbox rotation features.

Pros

• Multichannel support for email, LinkedIn, and phone outreach.
• Access to a large database of 275M+ contacts.
• Native integrations with Pipedrive, HubSpot, and Slack.
• A/B testing capabilities to refine your outreach strategy.

Cons

• Limited number of connected mailboxes (up to 15 for users of the most expensive plan).
• Multichannel sequences lack conditional logic, a.k.a if/else conditions found in Smart sequences.
• The tool uses Chrome extension to scrape lead information on LinkedIn, which could get your LinkedIn account restricted.
• AI functionality for crafting personalized messages is fairly basic, as we found.
• They integrate with Hyperise for Image & GIF personalization, which adds costs to the subscription (+$69 a month per seat).
• Lack of email warm-up feature.
• The tool also doesn’t have an integrated inbox, which was pretty inconvenient for us.

Pricing

Expert opinion

‘’Apollo is an easy go-to tool for generating leads and understanding the size of your market. The user interface is a bit clunky and not super intuitive at times, though.’’

—Zack P, CPO

4. Instantly - Best cold email software for its ease of use

User score: ⭐ 4.6 / 5

Instantly is a cold email software and email management platform that has quickly gained popularity for its scalability and user-friendliness, which we couldn’t help but notice the moment we set it up.

Key features

Instantly allows you to connect and manage unlimited email accounts, like Skylead and Smartlead, making it possible to scale your outreach significantly. While all connected accounts can be used in the same campaign, inbox rotation alternates sending emails from different accounts, so you can send more emails daily.

The software includes a built-in unlimited email warm-up feature. They also offer a B2B Lead finder, a database of 160M contacts, with filters similar to LinkedIn Sales Navigator filters (e.g., job titles, locations, industries, etc).

Using Instantly.ai, users can also conduct A/Z testing with up to 26 email variations.

What’s more, the software’s Unibox consolidates all email conversations into a single inbox for easy management. Meanwhile, its built-in CRM allows users to track lead statuses, make calls, and send SMS directly from the platform.

Instantly users can also verify their leads’ emails to reduce bounces and protect domain reputation.

Pros

• Simple and fast set-up.
• User-friendly interface.
• Unlimited mailboxes with inbox rotation to enhance deliverability.
• Unlimited email warm-up feature included.
• Unibox for streamlined conversation management.
• A/Z testing to optimize email performance.

Cons

• Basic reporting features may not meet the needs of users seeking detailed analytics. Furthermore, we didn’t like how you cannot export CSV or PDF reports.
• B2B Lead database and CRM cost extra.
• Lacks email-finding capabilities.
• Instantly is a cold email software only, meaning it’s not suitable for those relying on LinkedIn prospecting and outreach across multiple channels.
• Some users complain using Instantly damages their domain reputation, though we cannot say we experienced this while testing it ourselves.

Pricing

Expert opinion

‘’I am really happy with Instantly this far. It is such a well-rounded platform. You do have to pay quite a bit if you want to get the full experience, though.’’

—Niryen Z., CEO

5. Lemlist - Best for advanced personalization in email outreach

User score: ⭐ 4.5 / 5

Lemlist is a cold email software with advanced personalization capabilities. However, higher-tiered plans turn it into a multichannel platform.

Key features

We tested Lemlist’s most expensive plan. Therefore, we could create multichannel sequences combining email, LinkedIn, and cold calls. Additionally, conditions can be added to sequences to cover multiple outreach scenarios.

But what the software is best known for is its personalization features. Specifically, using Lemlist, users can customize images, intro lines, and even create dynamic landing pages. 

Lemlist also offers Lemwarm, a built-in email warm-up tool that’s meant to keep emails out of spam folders.

To aid lead generation, Lemlist includes an email finder and verifier, as well as access to a B2B lead database with over 450M contacts.

Pros

• Supports multichannel outreach with LinkedIn actions and calls.
• Advanced personalization features, including custom images and dynamic landing pages.
• Lemwarm email warm-up tool to enhance deliverability.
• B2B lead database with as much as 450M contacts.

Cons

• Limited email discovery and verification, even with the highest-tier plan. Additional credits cost extra ($1 for every 100 emails found and verified).
• The quality of leads in the B2B database is inconsistent, as we found.
• For those who’d like to go beyond their lead database, the tool offers a Chrome extension for LinkedIn prospecting. This disappointed us, though, as using Chrome extensions on LinkedIn can lead to account restrictions.
• Cannot connect unlimited email accounts. Namely, the highest-paid plan lets you connect up to 15 mailboxes maximum.

Pricing

Expert opinion

‘’Lemlist is better than many other tools because it gives you the tools to actually be unique and send emails in a slick manner. I WISH WISH WISH they had unlimited email accounts. That's the only thing I don't like about it, it caps you at 5 email accounts (15 with the pro plan).’’

—Zach Y., Founder

6. Reply.io - Best for AI sales engagement

User score: ⭐ 4.5 / 5

Reply.io is a versatile sales engagement platform built for teams who prefer handling their entire outreach in one place.

Key features

Although primarily a cold email software, over the years, Reply.io has turned into a multichannel platform. That said, you can use it to create sequences with conditional logic that combine emails with automatic and/or manual LinkedIn actions.

Email-wise, we loved that, much like with Skylead, Smartlead, and Instantly, we could connect unlimited mailboxes to the tool, and it would later auto-rotate through these while sending emails. There’s also no cap on how many emails you can send monthly.

Moreover, each Reply.io user gets free access to Mailtoaster.ai for email warm-up.

In terms of integrations, the software natively integrates with some of the best CRM for sales, HubSpot and Pipedrive. Nonetheless, the support for 3rd party integrations via Zapier webhooks is there as well.

We found their Analytics dashboard intuitive and noticed that it contains a lot more details than some other sales outreach tools.

The newest addition to Reply.io is Jason, their AI SDR agent who finds leads, creates outreach sequences, personalizes interactions, automatically replies, and books meetings.

They also provide a sales AI chatbot to turn website visitors into traffic, although we haven’t tried this feature and can’t objectively rate it.

Pros

• Support for multichannel outreach combining email and LinkedIn tasks.
• Unlimited mailboxes and inbox rotation.
• Free Mailtoaster.ai seat for email warm-up.
• Native integrations with HubSpot and Pipedrive.
• AI SDR Jason for automated prospecting and engagement.
• Detailed analytics dashboard for performance tracking.

Cons

• AI SDR Jason requires an additional subscription. Moreover, the price heavily depends on the number of active contacts. Moreover, it’s not as advanced and certainly can’t replace human SDRs, as they claim.
• Full access to their +1M B2B lead database requires a separate subscription, and so does the AI chatbot.
• Chrome extension (Findy) to find leads directly on LinkedIn can cause account restrictions,.
• Message personalization is scarce (despite AI assistance), and the option for image and GIF personalization is lacking.

Pricing

Reply.io has 4 main pricing plans, whereas multiple sub-plans are available.

In the meantime, if you’d like to use their AI SDR agent, expect to pay $299 for 1,000 active contacts a month. However, if your needs exceed this, the price can easily skyrocket as it’s volume-based.

Expert opinion

‘’Reply is very easy to use, with a straightforward UX design and plenty of features for base-level users like me. I started using Reply for outreach campaigns in my role, and getting over the learning curve was a cinch. Unfortunately, as I'm writing this, Reply does not have a direct integration with Microsoft Outlook, which might inhibit some of my use cases.’’

—Ian L, Customer Success Manager

7. Expandi - Best for ESP integration

User score: ⭐ 4.3 / 5

Expandi is a cloud-based LinkedIn automation tool that also extends its capabilities to the email channel.

Key features

As opposed to Reply.io, Expandi was originally a LinkedIn automation tool that added the email channel into the mix. Thus, now, you can use it to create Smart sequences combining LinkedIn messages, inMails, and emails in a single workflow.

While testing Expandi, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that the tool lets you connect all email accounts, whether from major ESPs (Gmail, Outlook) or a custom SMTP.

Personalization-wise, this software comes with predefined variables, though you can also add your own. Additionally, provided you pay for Hyperise, you can even enrich your emails with personalized images and GIFs thanks to their direct integration.

Finally, if you wish to connect Expandi with other tools, the good news is that you can do so through Zapier webhooks or API.

Pros

• Smart sequences for multichannel outreach.
• Predefined and custom variables for message personalization.
• Integrates with major ESPs like Gmail and Outlook, as well as custom SMTP.
• Zapier webhooks for third-party integrations.

Cons

• Focused more on LinkedIn, with basic support for email automation.
• You can connect 1 mailbox at a time. We found this rather limiting.
• 100 emails a day sending limit.
• Expandi doesn’t have an email warm-up feature, nor does it offer it through a partner.
• The tool can’t discover and verify leads’ emails. It can only scrape publicly available emails on LinkedIn and only if you’re connected with someone.
• Image and GIF personalization, while there, is possible thanks to Expandi’s integration with Hyperise. Thus, it costs extra. Moreover, our impression is that it’s inconvenient to use.
• The UX is confusing, which is especially noticeable during the campaign creation.

Pricing

Expandi, like Skylead, has a single plan that will set you back $99 a month per seat. 

Nonetheless, if you want to combine it with Hyperise, count on paying an additional $69 a month. This brings the total cost to $168 per 1 seat. For this reason, certain Expandi alternatives are proving to be better cold email software.

Expert opinion

‘’Great automation for LinkedIn. Easy UX. Constant webinars to learn. Tons of new features are always being added. Email outreach is very limited, though. I cannot see if the lead booked a meeting on a calendar to trigger enrollment - if they had this, I would use it for email as well.’’

—Jacob M., SDR

8. Hunter.io - Best for email discovery and verification

User score: ⭐ 4.4 / 5

Hunter.io is a popular email discovery tool. Nonetheless, it has expanded its services to include cold email outreach capabilities through its Campaigns feature.

Key features

Hunter.io's strength lies in its ability to discover and verify email addresses associated with specific domains or individuals.

However, with the introduction of Hunter Campaigns, users can now create and manage simple cold email campaigns directly within the platform. This feature supports personalized email sequences with automated follow-ups. It also integrates seamlessly with Gmail, Outlook, and custom SMTP.

The number of mailboxes you can connect to Hunter.io depends on the plan. Nonetheless, all plans support mailbox rotation.

Moreover, we couldn’t help but notice how simple Hunter Campaigns are to use. Not to mention, you get access to the Reports page to track your campaign performance.

For integrations, Hunter supports Zapier webhooks and has a public API, making it easy to connect with other tools in your tech stack.

Pros

• Great email discovery and verification capabilities.
• Direct Gmail and Outlook integration for sending emails.
• User-friendly interface suitable for beginners.
• Free plan available for users with limited needs.

Cons

• Email outreach features are scarce compared to other cold email software.
• Email sequences are basic and lack if/else conditions.
• No built-in email warm-up feature.
• Limited email discovery and verification credits. It’s possible to purchase more, though the exact rate varies by plan. Moreover, the tool, while accurate, isn’t as successfully at finding and verifying emails as Skylead.
• Theoretically, you could connect unlimited mailboxes to the tool. However, this would cost you $10 for each additional mailbox, which is a con if you ask us.

Pricing

Hunter Campaigns is available under all 5 paid plans.

Expert opinion

‘’Email verifier and Email finder come in very handy whenever I upload bulk leads. Also, the option to follow up in the same thread just by keeping the subject line blank is something I like. There are a few downsides. First up, the UX could be far better, it takes a while to find simple options like cloning the campaign. Moreover, the follow-up frequency is confusing- it never shows you the date of sending. All the sent mails are also visible in my gmail sent-box.’’

—Vinayak H., Product Marketing Associate

9. Saleshandy - Best cold email software for email tracking

User score: ⭐ 4.4 / 5

Saleshandy is a go-to tool for anyone who values unlimited email capabilities and reliable campaign tracking capabilities.

Key features

Saleshandy is considered one of the best cold email software because it allows for unlimited email accounts, sequences, and email tracking. 

The tool also offers email warm-up through its partner, TrulyInbox. However, the daily warm-up limit varies by plan. We also didn’t find it to be very reliable during our testing since our emails landed in spam, regardless.

Additionally, Saleshandy includes email discovery and verification, as well as mailbox rotation.

Meanwhile, direct integrations with CRMs like HubSpot, Pipedrive, and Salesforce allow seamless workflow automation.

The platform also offers A/Z testing and detailed email performance analytics to help users optimize their campaigns.

Pros

• Unlimited email accounts, sequences, as well as email tracking.
• Email warm-up through TrulyInbox integration.
• Mailbox rotation to send more emails daily.
• Direct CRM integrations with HubSpot, Pipedrive, and Salesforce.

Cons

• The number of active prospects is limited by plan, and so is the number of emails sent monthly.
• We realized their ‘’unlimited mailboxes’’ claim isn’t exactly true because you can use a maximum of 50 mailboxes per campaign. And that’s with the highest subscription!
• Email discovery and verification credits aren’t unlimited, either, as is the case with Skylead. Instead, credits are capped by the plan.
• The subscription also determines the number of warm-up emails exchanged daily.

Pricing

Saleshandy offers 4 email outreach plans.

Expert opinion

‘’The price is very reasonable and has many features like unlimited email warm-up, email automation, analytics, and many more. I hope there will be some improvement in email warm-up features in the future.’’

—Shamim Ahmed A., SDR

10. Snov.io - Best for its real-time sentiment analysis

User score: ⭐ 4.7 / 5

Snov.io is a sales engagement platform rather than merely a cold email software. It’s meant to help you automatically find leads and reach out to them to close more deals in less time.

Key features

Snov.io’s email campaigns are enhanced by smart triggers that adapt based on recipient behavior. The platform also has an A/B testing feature, which lets you experiment with multiple variations of your subject lines and email bodies.

One feature we really liked is the AI sentiment analysis, which detects a lead’s interest level in real-time and suggests how to adjust messaging.

If you're interested in using multiple channels for your outreach, the good news is that Snov.io even offers an optional LinkedIn automation add-on. However, we were surprised to find it costs extra.

Additionally, Snov.io, much like Skylead, Smartlead, Instantly, and similar tools, allows you to connect unlimited mailboxes. Similarly, it supports unlimited mailbox rotation. 

The platform also includes email discovery and verification and directly integrates with HubSpot, Pipedrive, and Calendly.

Finally, it has built-in email warm-up, email tracking (for Gmail), and deliverability testing features.

Pros

• Unlimited mailboxes with rotation.
• Built-in email warm-up to improve sending reputation.
• AI-driven sentiment analysis for real-time adjustments.
• Native integrations with HubSpot, Pipedrive, and Calendly.
• Multichannel support with LinkedIn touches (via paid add-on).

Cons

• LinkedIn automation, while there, requires an additional fee.
• Slight learning curve due to the platform's broad range of features.
• Limited email discovery and verification credits.
• The Starter plan lets you warm up up to 3 mailboxes.
• Given that the Pro plan has volume-based pricing, the cost can easily skyrocket.

Pricing

The add-on for LinkedIn automation costs an extra $69 a month per account.

Expert opinion

‘’Reliable outreach and research tool. I like the efficiency and speed of searching and validating emails, ease of use, and customer support. However, lots of emails are not really in the database. There’s also a lack of detailed statistics and dark mode.’’

—Denis B.

11. Klenty - Best cold email software for video personalization

User score: ⭐ 4.7 / 5

Klenty is a cold email automation platform that helps sales teams hyper-personalize their outreach.

Key features

While testing Klenty, we were really impressed with their Liquid email templates. These templates use dynamic formulas to automatically adjust email content based on when prospects receive or open your emails. As a result, they make each touchpoint feel extra personalized.

And if plain text isn’t cutting it, Klenty lets you take it a step further with video personalization. Namely, you can embed videos into your emails with custom elements to further stand out.

We also appreciated Klenty’s flexibility when it comes to sequencing. You can reorder steps, adjust delays, and even clone successful sequences to save time and replicate winning campaigns.

Klenty also provides deliverability insights to help you understand how many emails land in the primary inbox, like a warm-up tool that you can use with Skylead.

Additionally, the tool includes email verification, supports unlimited mailboxes with inbox rotation, and has email tracking to keep you informed about engagement levels.

Lastly, the platform can be integrated with other software via API or Webhooks.

Pros

• Liquid email templates for advanced personalization.
• Video personalization to stand out in inboxes.
• Flexible email sequencing.
• Detailed deliverability insights to optimize campaigns.
• Email discovery and verification based on prospects’ name and company domain.
• Integrations via API and Webhooks.

Cons

• No monthly pricing plans; only quarterly or annual payments are available.
• LinkedIn automation, albeit there, relies on a Chrome extension, rendering it unsafe.
• If your bounce rate is high (which can happen if you’re using their tool to verify emails, as we experienced), the campaign won’t automatically stop.
• You can connect unlimited mailboxes to the tool, as we discovered, only if they share the same domain. You can add more domains if you’d like, but only if you pay an additional $30 per domain.
• There are no 1-on-1 onboarding calls. And seeing that the platform isn’t easy to navigate, this is definitely a disadvantage.

Pricing

Klenty only has quarterly and annual plans, with the latter being up to 20% cheaper.

That being said, there are a total of 3 pricing plans available.

Expert opinion

‘’I liked the ability to run campaigns through Klenty using salesforce data. However, I didn’t like that Klenty does not automatically stop a campaign if an email is bouncing.’’

—Matthew D., Distribution Manager

12. Woodpecker - Best for teams prioritizing email deliverability

User score: ⭐ 4.7 / 5

Woodpecker is a cold email software designed to maintain optimal email deliverability.

Key features

Woodpecker is best known for its focus on email deliverability. The platform includes a built-in email warm-up feature, auto-reply detection, and email verification (powered by Bouncer), which ensures your emails avoid the spam folder.

The tool also supports A/B testing, allowing you to experiment with up to 5 variations of subject lines and email content.

The good news for teams managing multiple email accounts is that Woodpecker also offers unlimited mailbox connections with auto-rotation to spread your sending load and protect your domain.

It also fits right into your tool stack through native integrations with HubSpot and Pipedrive, along with Google Sheets and Calendly.

Speaking of integrations, it can be expanded into a multichannel outreach platform through the integration with Dux-Soup, a LinkedIn automation tool.

Pros

• Built-in email warm-up for improved deliverability.
• Auto-reply detection to better manage follow-ups.
• Unlimited mailboxes with auto-rotation.
• Integrates directly with popular CRMs, plus Google Sheets and Calendly.

Cons

• The subscription limits the number of prospects you can contact, and costs can escalate quickly if you need to scale.
• The number of mailboxes you can warm up, and emails you can send monthly is capped. Unless you’re paying for the highest subscription.
• No built-in LinkedIn automation.

Pricing

Woodpecker offers 4 plans, albeit pricing depends on the number of contacted prospects, mailboxes warmed up, and emails sent. 

That said, prices start from:

Expert opinion

‘’Over the years, I have used all the major players, from the large SEPs to platforms with similar functionality and costs to Woodpecker. Woodpecker stands out for me due to the fundamental fact that it has deliverability at the forefront of everything it does. Nonetheless, the Hubspot integration is basic and does not allow activity tracking at the contact level. Moreover, the warm-up feature is new and works, but it needs more ability to monitor and control settings.’’

—Oliver K., Head of Sales Development

13. Mailshake - Best for its AI email writer SHAKEspear

User score:⭐ 4.7 / 5

Mailshake is a cold email software with support for multichannel outreach.

Key features

One of Mailshake’s unique selling points is SHAKEspeare AI Email Writer, which is included for free with every account. Its job is to help you write personalized emails at scale.

However, using Mailshake, you’re not limited to automating cold email outreach only. The tool supports outreach via multiple channels (LinkedIn and phone), although only under its Sales Engagement plan. This means you can seamlessly switch between email, LinkedIn, and direct calls within the same sequence. Still, these sequences are simple, as opposed to Skylead’s Smart sequences.

The platform also offers unlimited email warm-ups and mailbox rotation for better deliverability. Moreover, we found its A/B testing to be particularly helpful for testing different variations of messaging.

Finally, the tool integrates directly with Salesforce, Pipedrive, and HubSpot and supports over 1,000 additional integrations via Zapier webhooks. Therefore, it’s rather easy to fit into your workflow.

Pros

• SHAKEspeare AI Email Writer is included for free.
• Unlimited email warm-ups and mailbox rotation for improved deliverability.
• A/B testing to keep track of what’s working, as well as what’s not.
• Direct integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Pipedrive.
• Supports more than 1,000 integrations via Zapier webhooks.

Cons

• SHAKEspear AI, though useful, can be easily replaced with Chat GPT for sales copywriting.
• The Starter plan doesn’t support multichannel outreach.
• There is no built-in email verification (you’ll need a 3rd-party tool).
• You can connect up to 5 mailboxes maximum. And that’s only if you’re subscribed to their most expensive Sales Engagement plan. Other than that, you’re left to work with only 2 email accounts.
• LinkedIn automation operates through a Chrome extension.
• Analytics can be hard to comprehend, in our opinion.
• Frequent bugs.
• Annual billings only and no free trial.

Pricing

Expert opinion

‘’Easy to get started and use, high deliverability, and great customer support team. Several cons are limited analytics, the fact that you can't create bespoke email sequences based on an action (e.g., a click,) and you can't upload lists for bulk deletion.’’

—Ayrton E.

14. Outreach.io - Best for enterprise-level sales engagement

User score: ⭐ 4.4 / 5

Outreach.io is a sales execution platform built for larger teams looking to scale their prospecting and closing efforts.

Key features

Outreach.io goes beyond your regular cold email software. In fact, it’s a full-fledged platform that you can use to engage prospects through email, phone, and Sales Navigator—all from one place. Moreover, its smart automation features make it easy to schedule, track, and analyze sequences for maximum efficiency.

While exploring the tool, we really liked its AI-powered insights, which provide recommendations for the best times to engage with prospects and suggest improvements to your messaging based on past performance. Additionally, Outreach.io’s predictive analytics help sales teams identify high-potential leads, forecast outcomes, and focus their efforts on deals most likely to close.

The platform also includes CRM integrations with Salesforce and HubSpot.

Not to mention, Outreach.io’s reporting and analytics capabilities provide a detailed overview of sequence performance to help teams optimize their outreach strategies.

Pros

• Multichannel engagement through email, phone, LinkedIn, and more.
• AI-powered insights for improving outreach strategy.
• Seamless integrations with Salesforce and HubSpot.
• Advanced reporting and analytics for performance tracking.
• Enterprise-grade scalability for large sales teams.

Cons

• Outreach.io lacks many features found in the best cold email software. This includes email warm-up, email discovery and verification, and inbox rotation.
• It’s impossible to connect more than 2 mailboxes to the tool.
• Pricing is on the higher end, making it less accessible for smaller teams.
• Steeper learning curve compared to simpler cold email tools.
• The integration with HubSpot doesn’t work very well.

Pricing

Outreach.io doesn’t publicly disclose its pricing. What we can tell you, though, is that connecting even 1 email account is expensive, way past $100 per email account. Moreover, there’s no monthly subscription, only annual, and they have no free trial.

Expert opinion

‘’It makes it very easy to manage a lot of prospects and keep track of who is being reached out to. I like that it enables you to be flexible and set up a lot of integrations. There are some functionalities that don't work as well as they should. For example, being able to edit steps of a sequence when emailing, having a small drafting window, and syncing activity.’’

—Benjamin S., Owner

15. QuickMail - Best for its customizable Analytics

User score: ⭐ 4.7 / 5

QuickMail is one of the best cold email software that stands out for its customizable Analytics dashboard.

Key features

Every QuickMail account includes free email warm-up via MailFlow to help keep emails out of spam folders. 

The platform also supports LinkedIn outreach (through a Chrome extension) via multiple LinkedIn accounts, as well as inbox rotation for email, which evenly distributes email loads across multiple inboxes to protect your domain.

Speaking of multiple inboxes, QuickMail allows you to connect up to 50 mailboxes on the highest subscription plan.

Moreover, it integrates with Hyperise to add custom images or GIFs to your emails. The option to customize the Analytics dashboard any way you look is another nice touch, in our opinion.

Finally, the software integrates directly with HubSpot and Pipedrive, supports Zapier for additional workflows, and allows you to import prospects from Google Drive or CSV files.

Pros

• Free email warm-up via MailFlow is included with every account.
• Inbox rotation to protect your domain.
• Customizable analytics dashboards.
• Native CRM integrations with HubSpot and Pipedrive, plus 3rd-party integrations via Zapier.

Cons

• Email verification is available through 3rd-party integrations and costs extra.
• LinkedIn outreach relies on a Chrome extension and requires higher subscriptions.
• Image and GIF personalization is outsourced through Hyperise, as is the case with Expandi. Thus, it costs extra.
• Limited to 50 mailboxes on the highest subscription.
• Capped monthly email sends and active prospects.
• The tool isn’t the simplest to set up.

Pricing

QuickMail has 2 plan types: Single & Agency.

Expert opinion

‘’All you have to do is write email copies and build prospect lists and Quickmail manages everything else such as inbox rotation and measurement of the campaign's results along with recommendations. Nonetheless, Quickmail is difficult to setup in the very beginning and would require some assistance if your team is not very technical.’’

—Nico Chiong M., Marketing Manager

16. Close - Best for its CRM with basic cold email functionalities

User score: ⭐ 4.7 / 5

Close is primarily a CRM but comes with built-in cold email functionalities.

Key features

Close simplifies email outreach by integrating it directly into its CRM. With it, you can create and use email templates and schedule emails with follow-up reminders to ensure timely communication with prospects.

On top of automating workflows, you can use Close to send bulk emails to multiple recipients at once. Additionally, the tool allows teams to create and share email snippets with each other.

Close supports A/B testing for subject lines and email bodies, much like many other cold email software on the list.

You can also track performance through the Sent Email Report page, which provides insights into open rates, click rates, and more.

Close integrates with HubSpot, Calendly, ChatGPT, and many others, making it a good choice for sales teams with extensive tool stacks.

Pros

• Combines CRM and cold email functionalities in one platform.
• Built-in A/B testing for subject lines and email content.
• Sent Email Report for performance tracking.
• Bulk email sending with team-wide email snippet sharing.
• Extensive integrations, including HubSpot, Calendly, and Chat GPT.

Cons

• Primarily a CRM, meaning the email functionalities are not be as advanced as in standalone cold email software.
• Bulk email sending lacks more sophisticated automation features like smart sequences.
• No email warm-up feature.
• No inbox rotation.
• Lacks advanced personalization features, like image and GIF personalization.

Pricing

Expert opinion

‘’I love how easy it is to use Close. I had never used it before in my current role, and it has been very simple to learn. I have found it's not as easy to create templated emails as I would like, and it's harder to include attachments in emails, though.’’

—Brianna G., Account Executive

17. Yesware - Best for automating cold email campaigns straight from your inbox

User score: ⭐ 4.4 / 5

Yesware is a cold email software with direct Gmail and Outlook integrations.

Key features

Yesware integrates directly into Gmail and Outlook through a Chrome extension. Once installed, you can send emails as usual while benefiting from Yesware’s tracking and engagement tools.

Moreover, Yesware enables users to create automated follow-up sequences to stay top-of-mind with prospects who don’t reply. The tool also supports multichannel campaigns that combine emails, calls, and social touches.

The platform offers email templates that can be personalized and saved for future use. You can also use placeholders (a.k.a. variables) to personalize emails at scale.

The email tracking feature notifies you when recipients read your emails, click on links, or view attachments, allowing you to focus on the most engaged prospects. Meanwhile, the Analytics dashboard gives you a weekly overview of your email performance.

Additionally, Yesware includes a B2B contact database with over 100M contacts for lead generation. However, this feature comes at an extra cost.

Pros

• Direct integration with Gmail and Outlook through a Chrome extension.
• Pre-defined email templates..
• Automated follow-ups for improved prospect engagement.
• Multichannel campaign support with emails, calls, and social touches.
• Detailed email tracking and engagement history for each contact.
• Weekly performance insights through Analytics dashboard.

Cons

• Does not track email deliverability rates.
• The B2B contact database is a paid add-on.
• Lacks email warm-up feature.
• Limited to Gmail and Outlook users.
• We noticed that Yesware is often buggy.
• The interface looks very outdated if you ask us.

Pricing

Yesware has a free plan that offers basic functionalities.

Meanwhile, there are a total of 4 paid plans:

Expert opinion

‘’Yesware makes it easier for me to track my emails and it also scans for viruses when I try to upload any files. The UI can be better. I mean, seriously, tools like Mailchimp have a much better UI.’’

—Johnson T., Senior Account Executive

18. HubSpot Sales Hub - Best for its connection to HubSpot

User score: ⭐ 4.5 / 5

HubSpot Sales Hub is a sales software that works seamlessly with its namesake CRM.

Key features

Using HubSpot Sales Hub’s automation features, you can connect up to 200 inboxes. You can use these to schedule emails and follow-ups at scale. Alternatively, the platform allows you to set reminders for manual actions, like:

• Sending LinkedIn invites
• Emails, 
• Or making calls.

Thanks to the A/B testing feature, you can fine-tune your messaging to maximize lead engagement. HubSpot also enables users to turn their best-performing emails into templates that can be optimized, personalized, and shared across the team.

Additionally, HubSpot’s email tracking notifies you when prospects open emails or click links to help you prioritize the most engaged leads. It also comes with email health reporting.

Meanwhile, the platform’s integrated dashboard lets you score deals, assign tasks, and monitor your pipeline in real time, so no opportunity is missed.

Pros

• Supports personalized, automated email sequences.
• Email tracking to monitor engagement.
• Run multiple A/B tests to refine email sequences.
• Create, optimize, and share team-wide email templates.
• Integrates with HubSpot CRM for end-to-end deal management.

Cons

• Not a full-fledged cold email software since features like mailbox rotation and email warm-up are missing.
• No email discovery or verification features are available.
• No image and GIF personalization.
• Pricing can be steep for small teams.
• We experienced lots of lagging while using the platform.

Pricing

Expert opinion

‘’It is very user-friendly, and dashboards and integrations are really easy to use even for people that have never used it before. I think the cost is a little bit high.’’

—Diego P., VP of Engineering

19. GMass - Best for beginners

User score: ⭐ 4.7 / 5

GMass is a cold email software that integrates directly with Gmail through a Chrome extension.

Key features

GMass allows users to send emails directly from their Gmail account. 

With its mail merge capabilities, you can customize emails using data from Google Sheets, making for more efficient and targeted outreach.

The platform supports automated follow-ups and email tracking to notify you when emails are opened or links are clicked. It also has a deliverability testing feature to check where your emails land in recipients’ inboxes.

GMass also includes tools like email verification to clean your list and reply detection to help manage responses.

Additionally, GMass integrates seamlessly with Google Workspace, meaning no external apps or complex setups are required. At the same time, you can connect GMass to other software via Zapier.

Pros

• Direct integration with Gmail for ease of use.
• Personalized bulk emails with mail merge from Google Sheets.
• Automated follow-ups to maintain prospect engagement.
• Email tracking to monitor opens and clicks.
• Integrations with 3rd-party software via Zapier.

Cons

• Limited to Gmail users. Therefore, it isn’t suitable for those using other email providers.
• You can use it on one email account at a time.
• No advanced cold email features like inbox rotation or email warm-up.
• Bulk email sending is capped by Gmail’s daily sending limits. Your account could get flagged if you try to ‘’bypass’’ the limit.
• Makes the Gmail interface seem kind of ‘’all over the place’’.

Pricing

GMass has Individual and Team plans.

Expert opinion

‘’It's better than mass email senders (i.e., Mailchimp/Hubspot) for sending organic emails directly from your Gmail. But it's not a substitute for mass email senders because it doesn't have all the features they do.’’

—Alejandro S., Executive Director

20. Mixmax - Best for teams after seamless email productivity tools

User score: ⭐ 4.5 / 5

Mixmax is an email productivity platform that integrates with Gmail, much like Yesware and GMass.

Key features

Mixmax offers features designed to make email outreach more efficient. Its email tracking provides real-time notifications when recipients open emails, click on links, or download attachments, giving users insights into engagement.

Mixmax allows you to use custom templates and insert dynamic fields to customize messages for recipients at scale. The platform also supports sequenced campaigns to automate follow-ups and nurture leads effectively. Moreover, you can add manual multichannel tasks into campaigns, including calls, LinkedIn connection requests, and inMails.

Another standout feature is Mixmax’s calendar scheduling, which lets users embed their availability directly into emails for easy appointment booking. This is complemented by the platform’s polling and survey tools, which gather feedback directly in email threads.

Mixmax integrates with Google Workspace and CRMs like Salesforce, thus allowing users to easily sync workflows and track leads. Finally, advanced users can leverage its rules and triggers feature to automate repetitive tasks and set conditions for outreach.

Pros

• Real-time email tracking for opens, clicks, and downloads.
• Calendar scheduling is embedded directly into emails.
• Automated sequenced campaigns for follow-ups.
• Dynamic fields for personalized email templates.
• Integrates with Salesforce and Google Workspace.

Cons

• The least expensive plan has no automation.
• The least expensive plan also lacks email personalization.
• Multichannel sequences are available to teams under their most expensive Scale plan. On top of that, multichannel tasks need to be executed manually.
• Its extension for Gmail and Outlook slowed our browser.
• There is no email verification, email warm-up, or inbox rotation available.

Pricing

Mixmax comes with Individual and Teams plans.

Expert opinion

‘’I've been using Mixmax almost every day for a while now, and it's been a game-changer for my workflow. This tool has significantly helped me automate my outreach campaigns, saving me a ton of time and effort. I'd like to be able to download reports for my different campaigns. It would be very helpful to have information on a target by target, especially to re-contact them if they haven't replied in a certain time, or if they never opened my emails.’’

—Ana A., Business Development Associate

21. Salesforge - Best cold email software for outreach in 20+ languages

User score: ⭐ 4.7 / 5

Salesforge is a cold outreach platform combining human effort with AI to manage email campaigns and personalize outreach at scale—in as much as 20+ languages.

Key features

Salesforge streamlines cold outreach with its Forge Ecosystem, which includes:

• Mailforge: A distributed email infrastructure with automated DNS setup.
• Infraforge: Customizable private email architecture with multiple IP addresses and domain masking for better deliverability.
• Warmforge: Automated, unlimited warm-up for Gmail and Outlook mailboxes.
• Agent Frank: An AI-powered SDR that handles everything from prospecting and outreach to booking meetings.

The platform allows users to connect unlimited mailboxes with smart rotation to guarantee even distribution of email loads. In the meantime, email verification protects your sender's reputation by verifying emails directly within the dashboard.

Salesforge also integrates with Slack, Clay, and other tools via Zapier webhooks, thus providing seamless workflow automation.

Pros

• AI-powered email personalization in more than 20 languages.
• Unlimited mailboxes with smart rotation.
• Automated email warm-up and email validation.
• Native integrations and those made possible through Zapier.
• All-in-one dashboard to manage mailboxes and sequences.

Cons

• Advanced features such as Infraforge may be too technical for beginners.
• Plans limit the number of active prospects.
• The maximum number of emails you can send monthly is 50,000 on the highest plan.
• Email verification credits are limited to 1,000 maximum, as well.
• Agent Frank, Mailforge, Infraforge, and Warmforge cost extra.

Pricing

Expert opinion

‘’Love how they utilize the power of AI to craft unique emails as well as increase delivery rate. It's a new product, so some features are missing.’’

—Simonas D.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

What is cold email software and how does it differ from regular email marketing tools?

Cold email software is specifically designed to help businesses reach out to leads who may not have prior knowledge of their company. Unlike regular email marketing tools, which typically send bulk campaigns to opt-in subscribers, cold email software focuses on personalized, 1-on-1 emails to build connections and drive conversions. 

Is it legal to send cold emails?

Yes, provided that you adhere to regulations. In the US, the CAN-SPAM Act requires you to include an unsubscribe button, avoid misleading subject lines, and identify your email as an advertisement if applicable. Meanwhile, in the EU, GDPR requires a legitimate interest or prior consent to contact individuals.

How does cold email software help with email deliverability?

Cold email software includes features specifically designed to improve deliverability and keep your emails out of spam folders. These typically include features such as email warm-up, deliverability testing, inbox rotation, and domain authentication, among others.

Can I integrate cold email software with my existing CRM?

Generally speaking, most cold email software support integration with popular CRMs. These integrations enable you to sync contact data seamlessly, track engagement directly in your CRM, as well as manage follow-ups and tasks in one place. If a native integration isn’t available, tools like Zapier or API access can bridge the gap.

How do I personalize emails using cold email software?

The best cold email software allows for both basic and advanced personalization. In other words, most let you use placeholders (variables) to insert first names, company names, etc., to personalize your emails dynamically. Also, some cold email software, like Skylead, lets you personalize images and GIFs for greater impact.

What is the best cold email software?

Still here? Great! That means you’re probably wondering, What’s the best cold email software out there?

If you asked us, we’d say Skylead—and no, it’s not just because we built it. It’s because it truly checks all the boxes.

But truth be told, there's no single answer to this question, simply because you yourself best know your needs.

So, how do you figure out which software is right for you? You make a top 5 out of 21 on this list and test them out—just like we did.

For example, start with Skylead—our ultimate LinkedIn automation and cold email software that has all the essential cold email features you need. In one place, at that!

So, sign up for our 7-day free trial now, explore everything Skylead offers, and who knows? You might not even need to look anywhere else.

Have you spent hours crafting those perfect emails for them to finally land…but in SPAM? We know how frustrating that can be! Email service providers nowadays are stricter than ever about what they let through, and if your email accounts aren't warmed up properly, chances are, your emails will never see the light of day. Worse yet, when your deliverability is affected, so is your sender reputation and, ultimately, your entire success in cold outreach. But that's what you've got email warm-up tools for!

Think of them as personal trainers, but for your email. They exist to gradually build up your sender reputation, helping you avoid those dreaded spam filters so your emails land directly where they belong—in your recipients' primary inboxes.

Many companies have decided to develop their own email warm-up tools, resulting in your having quite a pick. The question is, how do you choose from the bunch?

There are several criteria that you should consider when deciding on the perfect email warm-up solution. We’ll go through each one in detail, but first, let’s explain:

• What email warm-up is,
• Why you should warm up your emails,
• The ins and outs of email warm-up tools.

As a cherry on top, we’ll walk you through 12 email warm-up tools we personally tested to help you find the perfect fit and boost your deliverability today!

What is email warm-up?

Email warm-up is the process of gradually increasing the number of emails sent from a new or low-activity account. This helps you build a positive reputation with email service providers (ESPs).

During the warm-up phase, you start by sending a small number of emails, either manually or automatically, through an email warm-up tool. These tools usually have a database of email addresses, often from other tool users. What they do is automatically exchange emails between these addresses and reply to them to simulate real conversations. Moreover, they typically organize warm-up emails into dedicated folders in your inbox to keep them from cluttering it. 

This process helps make your email activity look natural to ESPs, showing them that your emails are valuable and wanted. As your engagement grows, you can safely scale your email outreach without risking your sender's reputation.

Benefits of email warm-up

In 2023, approximately 45.6% of all emails worldwide were marked as spam.

Want to make sure that doesn’t happen to yours? Start warming up your email accounts!

That said, here’s what you stand to gain from doing so!

1. Better deliverability

Warming up your account improves deliverability by building trust with email providers. When you start small and slowly increase your sending volume, providers recognize you as a reliable sender. This keeps your emails out of spam folders and makes sure they reach primary inboxes.

2. Lower bounce rate

When you warm up your account manually, you’ll probably take time to make sure you’re only sending emails to valid addresses likely to receive them. Email warm-up tools, however, already have a database of active and valid email addresses, helping you avoid sending to inactive ones. As a result, your bounce rate becomes lower. With fewer bounces over time, your account maintains a stronger standing reputation, ultimately supporting your long-term outreach success.

3. Improved sender reputation

Sender's reputation is like the credit score of email outreach. It’s the measure ESPs use to decide whether to trust your emails. Email warm-up builds this reputation steadily through positive interactions like opens and replies. A stronger reputation means your emails are more likely to reach their destination, helping you maximize your results.

What are email warm-up tools?

Email warm-up tools ''train'' your email account to handle large-scale outreach campaigns without triggering spam alarms. They automate the process of slowly ramping up your email-sending volume, which helps you establish a solid sender reputation with ESPs. By keeping your email activity consistent and boosting engagement, these tools improve deliverability, lower bounce rates, and set the stage for successful outreach.

How do email warm-up tools work?

Most email warm-up tools operate by sending emails from your account to a network of engaged contacts—often other users within the tool’s ecosystem. They also handle recipient interaction by opening emails, replying, and sometimes even marking them as ‘’Not spam.’’ This simulated engagement is what ESPs look for in trusted senders, making email warm-up tools a fast and reliable way to build credibility.

Common features of email warm-up tools include:

• Automated sending and replying: The tool sends a controlled number of emails each day, gradually scaling up. They also engage with these emails from the recipients’ side, mimicking real interactions that ESPs expect from reputable senders.
• Spam recovery: If any of your emails end up in spam, many tools can help pull them out to reinforce your sender's reputation.
• Customizable settings: Most tools offer flexibility, allowing you to adjust daily limits, warm-up duration, and engagement targets to align with your outreach goals.

Simply put, email warm-up tools make it easy to scale up safely. They handle the warm-up process automatically to allow you to run email campaigns that actually find their way to your audience.

Pros and cons of email warm-up tools

As you can see, email warm-up tools are pretty handy. But just like anything else, they are not perfect. 

Let’s break down their pros and cons to get a full sense of what they offer and where they fall short.

Pros of email warm-up tools

1. Automated process

Email warm-up tools take the manual work out of the equation. They automate the sending, replying, and engagement needed to build up your reputation, which saves you time and ensures a consistent process.

2. Improved deliverability

By gradually increasing your sending volume and facilitating positive engagement between you and other tool users, email warm-up tools help you avoid spam filters and boost deliverability. As a result, your emails are more likely to land in your leads’ inboxes, which means more of them will actually see them.

3. Reputation building

Warm-up tools make it easier to build and maintain a good sender’s reputation. Many of these tools simulate human interactions, which ESPs recognize as positive signals. This reputation-building function is particularly important for new accounts or accounts that have experienced deliverability issues in the past.

4. Customizable settings

Most email warm-up tools offer settings you can adjust according to your requirements. This may include making adjustments to daily sending limits or setting the warm-up duration.

Cons of email warm-up tools

1. Subscription costs

Email warm-up tools can come at a hefty price. This cost may feel like a barrier to some, specifically when other expenses are also in play.

2. Potential for over-reliance

While great for warming up new accounts or improving deliverability, email warm-up tools don’t have the same quality. Moreover, relying solely on one without considering email content quality, frequency, or list hygiene could lead to issues down the road.

3. Lack of instant results

Building a reputation takes time, and even with automated assistance, it may take weeks for a new account to reach full-scale sending. So, if you’re looking for a quick fix, a warm-up tool might not be the immediate solution you need.

4. Varying success across providers

Some email service providers are more receptive to warm-up techniques than others. Depending on the ESPs you’re targeting, you may see different levels of success.

Best email warm-up tools to boost deliverability and stay away from spam

So, you know what email warm-up is all about. But now it's time to find the right tool for the job.

Lucky for you, we’ve curated a list of 12 email warm-up tools, all so we can help you improve deliverability, reduce bounce rates, and stay clear of those pesky spam filters.

1. InboxFlare - Best for AI-powered, infinite email warm-up

InboxFlare is an email warm-up tool that is only integrated with partnership tools like our Skylead. As a result, you get everything you need for outreach without paying extra!

Skylead has long been your ultimate LinkedIn automation and cold email software. 

In fact, we were the 1st tool on the market to introduce Smart sequences—ground-breaking algorithms that let you take advantage of multichannel outreach to reach your leads wherever they are.

Smart sequences combine LinkedIn and email actions to form coherent outreach sequences that Skylead will follow to get in touch with your leads. This way, it makes sure you find the fastest path to your leads!

Now, thanks to our partnership with InboxFlare, we’ve taken Skylead to a whole new level! 

We've become a real one-stop-shop solution that lets you:

• Harness the full power of LinkedIn automation and unlimited email outreach,
• Discover & double-verify leads' emails to reduce bounce rates and protect your domain,
• Hyper-personalize GIFs and images to increase your response rate to over 76%,

...but also warm up infinite email accounts to keep your emails away from spam—forever!

That's right! You get all of this at one cost!

All Skylead users can create InboxFlare accounts to start warming up their emails in 30+ languages.

Once you’ve created the account, just add your email and let InboxFlare handle the rest. It's compatible with all major email providers, including Gmail, Outlook, and Zoho, and also supports custom SMTP.

InboxFlare’s AI crafts a warm-up strategy customized to your domain’s unique needs, improving your sender reputation on autopilot. 

But it doesn’t send just any generic warm-up emails—you can choose specific topics, and it will generate and send customized messages on your behalf, making the warm-up process even more authentic.

In addition to building reputation, InboxFlare continuously monitors your email health by checking blacklists, domain configurations, and inbox settings. 

Plus, you can run deliverability tests to assess whether your mailbox server is blacklisted, see where your emails land in different inbox providers, and adjust warm-up accordingly.

Pricing

InboxFlare comes at no extra cost! With a Skylead subscription, you can warm up an infinite number of emails and unlock every other feature Skylead offers—all for just $100 a month. 

That means full power to boost your deliverability, automate email and LinkedIn outreach, and manage leads in one package.

2. Lemwarm by Lemlist - Best for detailed deliverability insights

Lemwarm is an email warm-up tool developed by Lemlist. But since it’s an add-on rather than integrated into the platform, it’s available for standalone usage.

It works by sending automated emails to a network of over 20,000 users, gradually boosting your deliverability. 

The tool also offers alerts on your deliverability score, spam risk detection based on your email content, and daily insights with expert tips to optimize performance. 

Moreover, detailed deliverability reports help you stay on track and keep your emails landing in the right place.

However, the pricing structure is based on the number of emails you warm up, meaning costs can quickly add up. 

Not to mention, while our testing ran smoothly, one reviewer, Vinayak G., noted:

‘’All our warm-up emails were going to the spam and categories section, which was really frustrating.’’

So, while Lemwarm proved effective to us, specific cases suggest it’s not ideal.

Pricing

Lemwarm is free for Lemlist users.

If you’d like to use it alone, you can, but expect to pay the following amount:

3. Mailivery - Best for domain reputation tracking

Mailivery is an AI-driven email warm-up tool designed to boost deliverability by interacting with real emails behind the scenes. 

It removes emails from spam, generates positive replies, like Lemwarm, and works with a network of over 20,000 real users to simulate authentic engagement.

Its intuitive dashboard provides real-time insights into spam placement and detailed analytics to track your domain reputation. What’s more, you can check if you're blacklisted and get personalized recommendations for improvement.

While Mailivery offers full customization of warm-up volume and timing, which we liked, some users report there’s a bit of a learning curve to it. 

Additionally, the tool limits the number of warm-up emails sent daily despite allowing you to warm up unlimited mailboxes.

Pricing

4. Warmbox - Best for simple self-setup

Warmbox is one of the easiest email warm-up tools to use and is great for those who want a simple, self-setup experience.

The software automates the whole email-warm-up process using inboxes from real users and doesn’t interfere with your email routine.

Beyond improving deliverability, Warmbox also calculates your Reputation Score, compares it against a community benchmark, and suggests ways to improve. It even sends you alerts if your score drops below a certain percentage, so you can pause campaigns before things get worse.

However, it can get pricey, especially since you’re charged per inbox, and there’s no free trial available. 

Pricing

5. Mailwarm - Best for flexibility in warm-up intensity

Mailwarm helps raise your sender reputation by interacting with your emails daily. 

It automatically sends dozens of emails to over 1,000 Mailwarm accounts, where they get opened, marked as important, replied to, and pulled out of spam.

You can track everything through a dashboard that gives you insights into your email activity. You also have the flexibility to adjust Mailwarm’s intensity or pause the warm-up process if and when necessary.

Nevertheless, the major limitation we found is that even with the highest subscription plan, you’re capped at warming up a maximum of 10 inboxes. And considering its hefty price, you may be better off choosing a different email warm-up software.

Pricing

6. Folderly by Belkins - Best for keeping emails out of the Promotions folder

Folderly is developed by Belkins, a company known for its B2B lead generation and outreach services. 

Its main promise is to keep your emails out of spam and promotions folders with an impressive 99% inbox placement rate. It offers insights on why emails end up in spam, helps you optimize templates, checks your DNS records, and integrates with the most popular ESPs like Gmail and Outlook.

We haven't experienced major issues while testing Folderly, but multiple users have complained about it doing more harm than good.

And after reading this review left by Oguzhan U., in particular, we are seriously starting to question the tool’s reliability:

‘’Folderly sent 42,000 undelivered emails in 2 days (Saturday and Sunday) using 8 email addresses in our domain. Our team didn't realize the issue until Monday. Our email domain reputation is completely destroyed. That is completely the opposite of why we wanted to use Folderly.’’

Pricing

Folderly doesn’t have pricing plans, per se.

Instead, their rates depend on the number of mailboxes you’re warming up and are structured like this:

7. Instantly - Best for automated cold emailing with the built-in warm-up

Instantly isn't a standard email warm-up tool but one of the best cold email software with built-in warm-up functionality that can be activated with a click.

The software allows you to monitor your deliverability score, showing exactly how many emails land in the inbox or spam. You can also emulate human-like reading by enabling the read emulation feature, which scrolls through emails to simulate authentic interaction.

The tool sends a random number of warm-up emails daily, and you can choose specific open and response rates. 

Moreover, with a pool of over 550,000 real email accounts for warm-up, Instantly.ai's coverage is vast.

The price is reasonable, considering that, starting at $37, you can warm up unlimited emails. 

Nonetheless, some users have reported that its warm-up can blacklist your domain with certain ESPs, so exercise caution if you decide to use it.

Pricing

Instantly doesn’t have a dedicated email warm-up plan. 

Nonetheless, email warm-up is included in their following Sending & Warmup plans, along with email outreach.

8. Warm Up Your Email by Mailshake - Best for manual email warm-up

Mailshake, a popular cold email software, acquired the email warm-up tool ‘’Warm Up Your Email’’ in 2024 to ensure its customers' emails hit the inbox, not the spam folder. 

The team at Warm Up Your Email manually interacts with your emails by opening them, replying, and pulling them out of spam. This interaction helps signal ESPs that you’re a trusted sender.

All you have to do is connect your email account and set your daily send volume while they handle the rest. You’ll get insights on how many of your emails land in spam and track your progress with a 10-day spam pattern report that shows your account’s improvement over time.

The downside? The process isn’t fully automated—it’s done manually by the Warm Up Your Email team. This can feel a bit counterproductive if you’re looking for full automation.

Additionally, their top plan caps the number of email accounts you can warm up at 8. 

Not to mention, replies are sent as separate messages, not within the same thread, which might limit the natural conversation flow.

Pricing

Mailshake users can use Warm Up Your Email free of charge. 

As for those who’d like to use it separately, the available plans are as follows:

9. MailReach - Best for real-time reputation tracking

MailReach is an email warm-up tool designed to enhance your email deliverability, helping you hit more inboxes and land more deals. 

It automatically repairs, improves, and maintains your sender reputation by facilitating genuine, positive interactions with a network of high-reputation accounts.

Its main feature is consistent spam checking, which allows you to track inbox placement and measure deliverability performance. You can run these tests manually or automate them based on your preferred frequency.

MailReach comes with a Smart AI warming algorithm that makes sure your account is properly warmed up before hitting full-scale outreach. At the same time, the Reputation Tracking Dashboard gives you real-time insights into your email performance, allowing you to fine-tune your campaigns as needed.

MailReach works with any email service provider that supports SMTP. However, the setup process can be tricky, especially when connecting emails for the first time. 

Downsides-wise, since pricing is inbox-based and spam checker credits aren’t included in the base cost, you’ll need to account for those extras when budgeting.

Pricing

MailReach prices are based on the number of mailboxes you’re warming up, starting at $25 per mailbox. 

Spam credits are sold separately, starting at $28 for 100, though you get 20 free credits to start you off.

10. Smartlead - Best for email provider matching

Smartlead is another tool that bundles email warm-up into its larger cold outreach infrastructure. 

Its AI-powered warm-up emulates human conversations, allowing emails to appear natural and avoid automation detection. In addition to authentic AI conversations, the system delivers a gradual ramp-up for safe email sending.

One feature we really liked is how Smartlead automatically matches your email provider with that of your recipient. So, for instance, if you have both Gmail and Outlook accounts, and your recipient is using Gmail, Smartlead will use your Gmail account for optimal deliverability.

One downside, however, is the lack of customization—you can’t choose the topics or content for the warm-up messages. For this reason, and the fact that other warm-up tools offer more functionalities, you may be better off opting for one of the Smartlead alternatives.

Pricing

Much like Skylead and Instantly, Smartlead doesn’t have a sole email warm-up plan. 

Instead, this functionality is included in their standard plans, which also give you access to email outreach.

11. Mailflow by QuickMail - Best for blacklist tracking

Mailflow is QuickMail's email warm-up tool, primarily aimed at its users. Nevertheless, it can also be used separately.

The tool is designed to improve your email deliverability with features like a real-time auto-warmer score for each inbox, SPF and DKIM monitoring, and blacklist tracking across nearly 100 lists. The latter makes it easy to act quickly if any blacklist flags your domain.

Unfortunately, its analytics are somewhat limited for our taste. In addition, the support team is only accessible via email, which can delay issue resolution.

Pricing

The tool is free for all QuickMail users. 

Nevertheless, those who’d like to use it separately can expect to pay the following amounts:

12. Allegrow - Best for integration with CRM and outreach platforms

Allegrow is an email warm-up tool focused on delivering in-depth insights to help optimize your deliverability. 

It offers unique features like Spam Rate Analysis, allowing you to see exactly how much of your email traffic ends up in spam. Also, there’s the Safety Net™, which automatically stops emails that could damage your sender's reputation. 

With continuous DKIM, SPF, and DMARC testing, like InboxFlare in Skylead has, you’re also covered in authentication. At the same time, the Deliverability Leaderboard ranks users by spam rate to prevent one bad sender from affecting the whole team.

Another plus is that Allegrow natively integrates with popular CRM and sales outreach tools like Outreach.io and SalesLoft.

Not everything is ideal about Allegrow, though. The lack of pricing transparency is a con in our eyes. Moreover, the customization of warm-up messages is rather limited.

Pricing

Allegrow doesn’t share its pricing details publicly, so it’s likely they adjust prices based on the number of connected mailboxes. 

However, sources suggest their plans start at $300 for 10 inboxes, which is, consequently, also the minimum you can connect.

How to choose an email warm-up tool

You’ve seen the top email warm-up tools—now let’s show you how to pick the best one for your workflow.

1. Look for features you need

Not all email warm-up tools are created equal, meaning they come with different features. With that in mind, start by identifying the ones that matter most to you. 

Do you need automated sending and replying? 

Customizable warm-up settings? 

Or perhaps spam recovery features? 

Either way, the tool you choose should have the functionality you need. Otherwise, what’s the point of paying for it?

2. Verify ESP compatibility

Before you invest in a tool, check that it’s compatible with your ESP. Some tools are specifically suited for Gmail, while others are optimized to work better with Outlook, Zoho, or more specialized ESPs. This step saves you from potential headaches down the line.

3. Assess ease-of-use and setup

Your ideal warm-up tool shouldn’t have a steep learning curve. Instead, it should be simple to set up and easy to navigate. 

That said, look for intuitive dashboards, straightforward settings, and clear instructions. The less time you spend figuring out the tool, the sooner you’ll start seeing results.

4. Confirm support for multiple accounts and team usage

Running campaigns across multiple accounts and teams? You’ll want a tool that can handle it. So, make sure the tool supports multi-account use and includes team collaboration features. That way, you can streamline your efforts and keep everything organized.

5. Gauge the quality of customer support

Customer support can make or break your experience with any tool. After all, if things go sideways, you’ll need reliable help.

But how do you know the support quality if you haven’t used the tool yet? Check out reviews from real users. Their feedback usually reveals how responsive and helpful the support team is and whether they’re truly invested in resolving issues.

Ideally, the support team should be reachable 24/7 through multiple channels—live chat, email, phone, you name it.

6. Evaluate cost vs. feature ratio

Finally, consider whether the cost is appropriate for what you’re getting. Some tools are pricey but lack crucial features. Meanwhile, others offer everything you need at a reasonable rate. Compare pricing plans and weigh the cost against features to make sure you’re getting the best quality you can afford.

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Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Is email warmup necessary?

Yes, if you want your emails to reach inboxes instead of spam folders. Skipping this step can result in poor deliverability and a damaged reputation. Both of these can seriously hurt your outreach.

How can I warm up my email?

You have 2 options: manually or with an email warm-up tool.

To warm up manually, start by sending a small number of emails each day to trusted contacts—people who will open, reply, and engage with your messages. Gradually increase the volume over several weeks, allowing email providers time to recognize your account as trustworthy.

For a faster and more efficient approach, consider using an email warm-up tool. These tools automate the process by sending emails to a network of engaged users who interact with your messages, helping to quickly build your sender reputation and improve deliverability with minimal effort.

What is the best email warm-up tool?

One person's best may be another person's worst. So, the best email warm-up tool for you is the one that has the features you need, all while fitting within your budget.

Did Google ban email warmup?

Google didn’t ban email warm-up outright. However, they have restricted the use of third-party tools that access the Gmail API, which is often used for email warm-up. However, this move is about enforcing their policies against unauthorized API access, not banning the concept of warm-up itself.

That said, this doesn’t mean you can’t use email warm-up tools altogether. Many tools offer warm-up services that comply with Google’s policies by avoiding direct API access or by using methods that align with Gmail’s guidelines. So, if you’re using Gmail, just make sure you choose a tool that follows these regulations to avoid any issues.

Email warm-up tools: Final comparison

Your search for effective email warm-up tools ends here!

By now, you should understand just why you should warm up your emails.

And sure, there are plenty of email warm-up tools out there. But here’s the bottom line: your emails deserve to be seen. So, why mess around testing each tool when there’s already one that does it all—Skylead?

Skylead is a one-stop-shop tool that can help you warm up an infinite number of emails, discover and verify your leads' emails, and automate your LinkedIn and email outreach—all at a single price!

Sounds too good to be true? 

Take it for a spin with our 7-day free trial to see the results yourself and start getting your emails exactly where they belong: in front of your audience!

Is Dripify falling short of your expectations for LinkedIn outreach?  Or maybe you're starting to question if another tool can deliver better results for your LinkedIn lead generation? LinkedIn automation has come a long way, and today, we don’t have just 1 Dripify alternative but many more. 

And guess what? They all come with distinct features, integrations, and pricing models to suit different preferences.

Curious to know more about these tools? We've compared the top 9 Dripify competitors to help you find the ideal match.

But first, let’s:

• Learn more about Dripify and its features.
• Discover the pros and cons of using Dripify.
• Go through user reviews and pricing details.

What is Dripify?

As per their official website, Dripify is a:

"LinkedIn autopilot that works while you sleep."

In other words, it's a LinkedIn automation tool that helps users manage their lead generation and outreach with automation. 

Dripify connects to free and Premium LinkedIn accounts and enables you to create search or CSV-based drip campaigns to automatically:

• Send invites to connect
• Message your leads
• Send free inMails
• View leads’ profiles
• Follow them
• Endorse their skills
• Like their content

Moreover, the tool allows you to personalize messages with over 15 variables to give your outreach a more human feel.

Beyond outreach, Dripify also serves as a lead extraction tool. It scrapes your leads’ data from LinkedIn, including their:

• Full name
• Company
• Position
• Number of connections
• Email
• Phone number
• Website URL

All this information can be compiled into a CSV file that you can download at your convenience.

Dripify also has you covered if you want to collaborate with your team. Namely, you can invite team members directly from the tool, assign them roles, set permissions, and track their performance. Important metrics like conversion rates are displayed on the Analytics page, giving you a bird's-eye view of how everyone performs.

There’s also the integrated inbox that lets you reply to all your LinkedIn messages straight from the platform. Plus, it lets you mark important conversations for easy access later and even add notes to your leads’ profiles to keep everything organized.

Not to mention, Dripify supports over 1000 integrations via Zapier webhooks, making it incredibly flexible for any workflow.

Who is Dripify for?

Although anyone can use Dripify, the tool is primarily aimed at:

• Business owners
• Sales teams
• Marketing agencies
• Recruiters

For business owners, it’s primarily a time-saving tool that takes over the grunt work associated with prospecting, lead generation, and outreach. As a result, it frees up valuable time, which they can use to focus on scaling their operations.

In the meantime, sales teams typically use Dripify to automate lead-generation campaigns and track team performance. The platform's analytics dashboard is especially useful here because it helps refine strategies on the go.

Since Dripify supports multiple LinkedIn accounts, it’s a good option for marketing agencies that are managing multiple clients.

As for recruiters, they can use the software to scale their talent acquisition. Want to fill the open roles faster? Dripify automates the entire process, allowing them to focus on finding the perfect match.

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Is Dripify allowed on LinkedIn?

Generally speaking, LinkedIn is against automation. But that doesn't mean all tools are created equal. 

That said, there are 3 types of LinkedIn automation tools you’ll come across:

• Cloud-based tools
• Desktop apps
• Chrome extensions

Dripify falls under the cloud-based category, which is considered the safest. And since it does, the chances of getting your LinkedIn account restricted when using it are a lot lower compared to when using, say, Chrome extensions.

However, the question is, is it as perfect as it seems, or are you better off with a Dripify alternative?

Dripify cons

While good in many aspects, Dripify is far from perfect. The biggest limitation? It supports just 1 channel: LinkedIn.

Many sales outreach tools nowadays (and outreach tools in general) offer the ability to reach leads across multiple platforms. Why is this valuable, though? Because with support for multichannel outreach, you can reach prospects where they’re most active.

Say someone you’re targeting isn’t active on LinkedIn. Dripify can still send them a connection request, but what good is it if they never see it? If you could send them an email, however—which they’re likely to check—the chances of getting a response would be much higher.

That said, here are some other areas where Dripify falls short that may warrant looking for an alternative solution:

• No paid InMails – You can use the tool to send free inMails only.
• No email finding or verification – While it scrapes LinkedIn data, the software can’t find or verify your leads' emails.
• Lacks A/B testing – Although you can create multiple campaigns and compare their results, Dripify doesn’t have real in-campaign A/B testing.
• Limited personalization options – There’s no support for advanced personalization, like using images or GIFs in your messages, which can make them feel more engaging.
• No one-on-one onboarding– Their customer support team is available 24/7. Nonetheless, Dripify doesn’t offer personalized onboarding. This can be a drawback for users who prefer more hands-on help when getting started.

So, if you find any of these functionalities essential, Dripify may not be the most ideal option.

But a Dripify alternative just might!

What do Dripify reviews say?

During our research, we came across both positive and negative Dripify reviews.

As for the positives, a lot of users appreciate the software’s ease of use and the effectiveness of its automation features. 

For instance, Jong Chan C., a Venture Manager, said:

‘’I tried Dripify, which revolutionized my LinkedIn outreach strategy with its rich features and automation.’’

Conversely, some users have pointed out areas where Dripify could improve.

Although he mentioned how intuitive the tool is, Zach E. mentioned that it:

‘’Would be great if they had the ability to use the paid InMail credits through campaigns.’’

Meanwhile, Laurens V. noted that: 

‘’Inbox is a bit slow in updating. Not super easy to see where your converted leads come from.’’

Dripify pricing

Dripify offers 3 distinct pricing plans:

If you opt to pay for the annual subscription, you’ll get a 35% discount.

As for the differences, with the Basic plan, you can run 1 drip campaign at a time. Meanwhile, Pro & Advance plans let you run as many as you want.

That said, if you're managing multiple campaigns or clients, the Pro or Advanced plan may be better suited. 

Or another Dripify alternative, that is.

9 Dripify competitors to help you find a perfect alternative

Dripify is a solid LinkedIn automation tool, but it's not the only player in the game. With that in mind, we’ve rounded up 9 Dripify competitors that prove superior. 

Let’s break them down one by one to help you find your ideal Dripify alternative!

Dripify alternative #1: Skylead

Why, yes. That’s us! 😊

Skylead is your ultimate LinkedIn automation and cold email software. 

It’s designed to help sales teams, marketers, founders, agency owners, and recruiters scale their outreach while saving +11 hours a week.

It’s an All-In-One platform that offers every tool you need in one package—and at a single price.

That said, our Skylead is a combination of a:

• LinkedIn prospecting tool
• LinkedIn automation tool
• Cold email software
• Email finder & verifier

Unlike Dripify, Skyleads supports multichannel outreach. This means you can use it to connect with leads on LinkedIn AND via email, courtesy of our first-to-market Smart sequences.

Speaking of email outreach, Skylead lets you send tens of thousands of emails a month at no extra cost. How? It allows you to connect unlimited email accounts and auto-rotates between them when sending emails, all while protecting your domain.

Thanks to our partnership with an email warm-up tool, InboxFlare, you also get to warm up infinite mailboxes to keep your emails away from spam.

Moreover, with its cloud-based infrastructure and 3-layer protection, the tool makes sure your activity is safe from LinkedIn restrictions. 

But how exactly does Skylead ensure account safety?

It does so by:

• Assigning a unique IP address from your local region to your account so all LinkedIn actions appear natural.
• Micking how real people interact with LinkedIn—viewing profiles, clicking buttons, and adding random delays between actions.
• Warming up your LinkedIn account by gradually increasing the limits of your LinkedIn activity.

Skylead also supports A/B testing, helping you fine-tune your campaigns by testing the impact of different message variations and subject lines. 

Personalization-wise, there are different message variables for you to try alongside our native image & GIF personalization.

And, with the Smart Inbox, you can keep all your conversations—whether from LinkedIn or email—in one place, making it easy to track, label, and manage responses.

Finally, if you need to integrate Skylead with another tool, you can do so. The tool can connect to any CRM or software via Zapier webhooks or API.

Exciting, right?

Now, let’s cover the features that make Skylead truly shine in greater detail!

LinkedIn & email automation

Let’s be honest: LinkedIn alone isn’t enough.

That’s why Skylead combines both LinkedIn and email automation, giving you the flexibility to reach your audience through the channel that works best for them.

And the best part? It all happens in one seamless outreach flow, thanks to our Smart sequences.

Smart sequences are algorithms that combine different LinkedIn and email actions with if/else conditions. Actions in the sequence unfold according to your prospects’ behavior with the goal of finding the fastest path to them.

These are the actions and conditions you can add to a Smart sequence.

As mentioned, Smart sequences react to the way your prospects’ behave. And they do it in real-time.

Here’s one Smart sequence.

In this example, when Skylead finds someone's email, it sends them an email followed by a follow-up. If it can't find their email, it sends a connection request instead. 

If they accept the invite, the next step is sending them a message. But if they don’t, the tool automatically sends an InMail.

Of course, this is just one scenario. You can create a Smart sequence any way you like to cover an infinite number of them.

Or, feel free to replicate any of our tried-and-tested Smart sequence templates for guaranteed results!

Email finder & verifier

So, you’ve set up your perfect Smart sequence and have your LinkedIn outreach covered. 

But what if you also want to reach your prospects via email and you’re missing their contact details? 

That’s where our email discovery and verification feature comes in to save the day. Add it as a step while creating your outreach campaign, and the tool will provide you with double-verified emails.

But why is our email finder and verifier so powerful? Because it reduces bounce rates and increases the chances of your messages being actually seen. Moreover, unlike other tools that rely on risky Chrome extensions to find emails, we use a safer, more reliable method. Combine that with our market-leading email verification accuracy, and you’ve got a winning solution.

Not to mention, this functionality is built right into the platform. So, yes, it doesn’t rely on third-party tools, as is the case with some other tools that offer it.

Image & GIF personalization

Your leads are more likely to pay attention to—and remember—messages that stand out visually.

And what better way to ensure that than with our very own image and GIF personalization feature?

Instead of sending a plain message, add an image to it. Then, use our built-in editor to enrich it with your prospect's name, company logo, or another detail that feels like it was created just for them. The same goes for GIFs.

Choose to use it, and you’ll see an increase in response rate of 63% or more.

Who knows? You may even beat this result!

Smart inbox

No more bouncing between platforms to keep track of messages, emails, or LinkedIn inMails. Everything is right here, in Skylead’s Smart inbox.

What sets our Smart Inbox apart, however, is its labeling feature. You can label chats to monitor your leads’ journey, track conversions, and even measure ROI. 

That said, feel free to create custom ones that fit seamlessly into your workflow. Whether you want to categorize based on lead status, priority, or custom tags, the flexibility is all yours.

Advanced reporting

Do you feel like digging deeper into your outreach campaigns to see what’s working and what needs tweaking? The Reports page has got you covered!

Here, you can analyze your campaigns in:

1. Graph view  – This view helps you quickly spot oscillations to assess your campaigns at a glance.
2. Table view – The table format makes it easy to observe how your metrics fluctuate day by day, giving you insights into which days perform best.
3. Step-by-step view – This is especially useful for A/B testing, as it shows precisely how recipients engage at each stage of your sequence.

Skylead also lets you export these reports in 2 different formats: CSV and PDF. You can download them to share results with your team or keep track of your progress over time.

What do Skylead reviews say?

If you think we’re biased—with Skylead being ours and all—look at all the glowing reviews that we’ve got!

For example, Ian B. said we have:

‘’Full, rich features combined with a logical interface and 24-hour customer care. Easy to set up and manage. This platform has important features others are missing.’’

Tony B. has also praised us, our customer success team in particular. He said:

‘’Customer service is fantastic, response time is excellent, I have sent thorough screenshots when I have hit a snag, and they are all over it. This has saved me a huge amount of time, and there is no way that I could ever connect with 60 new people a day without this automation.’’

Skylead pricing

Skylead is the only Dripify alternative that comes with a single pricing plan.

For just $100 a month per seat, you’re getting a one-stop-shop tool for your outreach.

No confusing tiers, no hidden fees—just one price for all the tools you need to supercharge your outreach.

And what more could you ask for?

Dripify vs. Skylead

Dripify alternative #2: Expandi

Expandi is a cloud-based Dripify alternative.

Much like Skylead, it comes with Smart sequences that allow you to automate multichannel campaigns. 

Thanks to them, you can send automated LinkedIn connection requests, messages, and free inMails. The tool can also perform additional automatic actions, which include auto-liking posts and endorsing skills.

But it’s not all rainbows and sunshine.

Although Expandi technically allows users to enrich outreach messages with personalized images and GIFs, this feature isn’t natively built into the platform. Instead, it’s integrated through a third-party tool called Hyperise and costs an additional $69 a month.

Furthermore, if you need to verify emails or find contact information outside of LinkedIn, don’t count on Expandi to help. It doesn’t offer this functionality.

Another limitation is that Expandi doesn’t support sending paid inMails. So, if reaching out to LinkedIn users outside your network through this method is essential to your strategy, you’ll have to look elsewhere. Or rely on free inMails only.

Expandi pricing

Dripify vs. Expandi

Dripify alternative #3: Dux-Soup

Dux-Soup is another LinkedIn automation tool on our list. 

Originally a Chrome extension, it’s now available as a cloud-based solution, but only if you opt for their highest-tier plan.

With Dux-Soup, you can automate actions like:

• Follows
• Profile views
• Connection requests
• Messages to 1st-degree connections
• Free & paid inMails
• Endorsements

You can combine these into simple drip campaigns that stop when your prospects respond. Plus, you can customize time delays between actions to make your outreach appear more natural.

Dux-Soup offers real-time performance tracking so you can keep an eye on your campaign results. It integrates directly with Pipedrive and HubSpot, and you can connect it to other CRMs through Zapier webhooks.

However, the tool has some limitations. It doesn’t support email outreach, so your outreach efforts are restricted to LinkedIn.

And, if you’re not on their highest-tier plan, you’ll have to rely on the Chrome extension, which comes with its own risks. Not only does it run the risk of getting your LinkedIn account flagged, but it also only works while your browser is open, limiting how hands-free your campaigns can be.

Dux-Soup pricing

Dripify vs. Dux-Soup

Dripify alternative #4: Meet Alfred

Meet Alfred is a cloud-based Dripify alternative that takes multichannel outreach up a notch.

It supports outreach across LinkedIn, email, and X (formerly Twitter). But here’s the catch: you’ll need to be on the Pro or Teams plan to access all those channels. The Basic plan leaves you to work with LinkedIn alone.

With Meet Alfred, you can build campaigns with unlimited steps, including:

• Profile views
• Connection requests
• Follow-up messages
• inMails
• Emails
• X DMs

To keep things looking natural, you can also set delays between actions.

When it comes to personalization, the tool offers message variables and templates to save you time crafting messages.

While you can connect your Instagram and Facebook accounts, you won’t be able to run outreach campaigns on those platforms. Instead, you can use them to schedule posts and manage content.

Another limitation is that Smart sequences aren’t available. 

Paid inMails are also not supported, just like in Dripify and Expandi.

Lastly, Meet Alfred has an integrated inbox, but it only shows LinkedIn messages. If you need to check your DMs or emails, you'll have to do that manually.

Meet Alfred pricing

Dripify vs. Meet Alfred

Dripify alternative #5: Waalaxy

Waalaxy is a cloud-based solution that’s great if you’re just getting started with LinkedIn outreach.

It supports multichannel outreach, combining both LinkedIn and email, so you can connect with your prospects on the platforms they prefer. 

Setting up campaigns is easy. You can build them from:

• LinkedIn search URLs
• Sales Navigator lead lists
• CSV files

With message variables and A/B testing, Waalaxy lets you personalize and fine-tune your outreach to see which versions get the best responses. 

Plus, if you need help crafting those messages, the platform has an AI writing assistant. It could potentially replace ChatGPT for sales and marketing copywriting.

But, as with any tool, there are a few limitations.

One of the biggest downsides is that you can’t create outreach sequences from scratch. Instead, you’ll have to work within pre-made templates, which can feel restrictive if you want more control over your campaigns.

Also, the email discovery and verification feature isn’t natively built into Waalaxy. It relies on a third-party integration with Dropcontact, which adds extra cost. 

Speaking of extra costs, Waalaxy’s inbox feature—which consolidates your messages—requires an additional payment.

Finally, while Waalaxy does offer a free version, it runs as a Chrome extension. As with other extensions, this can potentially put your LinkedIn account at risk. So, be cautious if using the free plan.

Waalaxy pricing

Waalaxy charges an extra $44 a month for LinkedIn inbox. 

Also, if you need additional email finder credits, you can purchase them. However, expect to pay another $0.01 for each email address found.

Dripify vs. Waalaxy

Dripify alternative #6: Apollo

Apollo is a multichannel sales engagement platform that’s primarily cloud-based.

Its multichannel sequences—Playbooks—let you mix emails, LinkedIn actions, and calls into a single workflow. However, the Playbooks aren’t "smart," meaning they won’t adjust automatically based on your prospect’s responses like Skylead’s Smart sequences do.

On the bright side, Apollo integrates with tools like PipeDrive, HubSpot, and Slack.

It comes with A/B testing to help you optimize your campaigns. Moreover, if you’re ever stuck on how to write a message, Apollo’s built-in AI assistant is there to help.

Apollo also gives you access to its internal lead database of over 275 million contacts. But, fair warning—some users have found the lead quality to be a bit inconsistent.

Another downside is that Apollo scrapes new leads from LinkedIn using a Chrome extension, which isn’t ideal. Using it can be risky and might put your LinkedIn account in jeopardy.

Apollo pricing

Dripify vs. Apollo

Dripify alternative #7: HubSpot Sales Hub

HubSpot Sales Hub is a cloud-based platform built with sales professionals in mind.

With it, you can connect up to 200 mailboxes (100 on a lower-tier plan) and send up to 1,000 emails daily (500 on a lower plan). Plus, the platform lets you create up to 5,000 sequences, albeit not smart, that include automated emails and follow-ups—ideal for scaling your outreach.

While HubSpot offers multichannel capabilities, they’re somewhat limited. You can add cold calling and LinkedIn outreach to your sequences. Unfortunately, both of these are manual steps. So, if you're looking for fully automated multichannel sequences, this might feel a bit restrictive.

When it comes to LinkedIn, HubSpot only supports connection requests and inMails. Not to mention, you’ll need a Sales Navigator subscription to access those features. While HubSpot does offer a relatively high limit on connected mailboxes, it’s still a bit limiting. Skylead, however, gives you the freedom to connect an unlimited number of email accounts.

HubSpot Sales Hub pricing

Dripify vs. HubSpot Sales Hub

Dripify alternative #8: Salesrobot

Salesrobot is a cloud-based LinkedIn and email automation tool that uses a Chrome extension to execute tasks.

It allows you to pull prospects from:

• CSV files 
• Sales Navigator search URL
• LinkedIn search URL
• LinkedIn groups
• LinkedIn events
• Post comments

When it comes to LinkedIn actions, Salesrobot goes the extra mile. You can automatically:

• Like your prospect’s most recent post
• Leave an automated comment
• Follow them
• Send a connection request
• Endorse their skills

The tool supports 2-way integrations with all CRMs and outreach tools through webhooks. Not to mention, there are direct integrations with popular platforms like Salesforce, Pipedrive, and HubSpot. 

Its mini CRM, equipped with smart reply detection, lets you handle everything in one place. Here, you can reply to messages, tag positive leads, and apply advanced filters to keep your outreach organized.

Downsides-wise, Salesrobot only supports free inMails, so if you need paid inMails, you’re out of luck.

It also can’t find prospects’ or verify leads’ emails unless they’re publicly available.

Lastly, since it uses a Chrome extension for executing tasks, it can potentially lead to LinkedIn account restrictions. Therefore, it isn’t a perfect Dripify alternative.

Salesrobot pricing

Dripify vs. Salesrobot

Dripify alternative #9: Lemlist

Lemlist is a cloud-based platform primarily designed for email outreach. However, with the higher-tier subscription, it expands to multichannel outreach, specifically supporting LinkedIn outreach and cold calling.

On LinkedIn, Lemlist can automatically:

• Visit leads' profiles, 
• Send them connection invites, 
• Send messages. 

If you want to perform additional actions on LinkedIn (and make calls) using Lemlist, you can. However, you’ll have to do it manually once the tool reminds you to.

Nonetheless, this is somewhat compensated for with the ability to add conditions to your sequences. These make it possible to cover several different outreach scenarios.

When it comes to the key Lemlist feature, we must mention the so-called Lemwarm, its email warm-up. Using email warm-up tools like Lemwarm, you can boost your email deliverability and keep emails from landing in the spam folder.

But where does Lemlist fall short?

For starters, its email finder and verifier, albeit useful, is quite limited. Even on the highest subscription, you're capped at finding and verifying up to 1,000 emails only. You can purchase more of these, but this will cost you extra.

Likewise, connecting up to 15 mailboxes is restricted to the top-tier plan. Not to mention, this is quite far from the unlimited number of mailboxes Skylead lets you add.

Finally, while Lemlist is cloud-based, its reliance on a Chrome extension for LinkedIn prospecting is concerning. So, if you're focused on keeping your LinkedIn account safe, this might be a dealbreaker that pushes you toward a different Dripify alternative.

Lemlist pricing

Need more email verification credits? You can get an additional 20 for $1.

Dripify vs. Lemlist

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

1. What does Dripify do?

Dripify is a LinkedIn automation tool that streamlines outreach, lead generation, and prospecting. It automates tasks like sending connection requests, messages, and free inMails while also helping personalize messages with 15+ variables. Moreover, Dripify extracts lead information from LinkedIn and offers detailed analytics for managing campaigns and tracking performance.

2. Does Dripify offer a free trial?

Yes, Dripify offers a free trial, allowing potential users to explore the platform and its features before committing to a paid plan.

3. How long is Dripify free trial?

Dripify’s free trial lasts for 7 days.

Find your ideal Dripify alternative

We’ve gone through all the Dripify alternatives on the list. Now, it’s time to choose the one to level up your outreach.

As you make your decision, keep in mind—the right tool should save you time, streamline your workflow, and deliver real, measurable results.

Skylead checks all these boxes!

With multichannel outreach, Smart sequences, powerful personalization, and built-in analytics, it gives you everything you need—all in one platform.

Ready to supercharge your outreach, save +11 hours a week, and drive more conversions?

Give our 7-day free trial a chance and discover a smarter, more efficient way to connect with leads.

If you are looking to scale your outreach, you've likely come across Instantly.ai. This cold outreach software, launched in 2021, promises to help you find, contact, and close your ideal clients.

But before you commit to it, there are a few things to consider. 

Is it worth the investment? 

What do others have to say about it? 

And how does it compare to other tools on the market?

If you're ready to get answers to these questions, dive into our review that reveals:

• Notable Instantly.ai features
• Downsides to using it
• Real users’ opinions on the tool
• How much it costs

We’ve even added a list of 12 alternatives, just in case Instantly features do not fulfill your business needs.

Let’s jump right in!

Instantly.ai or alternatives?

Instantly.ai is one of the best cold email software and an email management platform that’s quickly become popular for email outreach. 

This cloud-based tool allows users to set up automated email campaigns with follow-ups to reach leads at scale.

Users can add leads to their campaigns by either importing a CSV file with lead information or using Instantly.ai’s native B2B Lead Finder tool.

The software also offers a Unibox, which consolidates all email conversations in one place and various options for message personalization. 

Speaking of personalization, to enhance your outreach, you can use its:

• Pre-set or custom variables
• Spintax - multiple variations of a text to avoid repetition
• Liquid syntax - dynamic text based on data

Additionally, Instantly.ai supports A/Z testing, which lets you test up to 26 different versions of email copy.

Data from Instantly.ai can be pushed to different CRMs and tools via Zapier webhooks.

However, the platform also has a built-in CRM that helps track lead statuses and enables you to make calls and send SMS directly from the platform.

Finally, the software can verify your leads' emails, reducing the chance of bounces and protecting your domain's reputation.

With the basics covered, let’s take a closer look at Instantly.ai’s main features.

Instantly.ai features

Unlimited email accounts

Instantly.ai allows you to connect and manage unlimited email accounts.

As they like to say, this enables you to:

‘’Infinitely scale your outreach.’’

However, despite being able to connect unlimited email accounts, the tool caps the number of active leads and emails you can send per month based on the subscription plan.

Nonetheless, Instantly.ai is still useful for email outreach, especially for those who need to reach a large number of leads quickly.

Why? Because you can use all connected accounts in the same campaign. 

This is possible due to the software’s inbox rotation feature. This feature alternates sending emails from different accounts. In turn, it helps you send more emails daily without triggering automation detection.

Unlimited email warm-up

Instantly.ai is one of the few sales outreach tools (or outreach tools in general) with a built-in unlimited email warm-up functionality. 

This means that you can warm up every new email address that you connect to it to ensure that:

• Fewer emails end up in spam
• Your sender’s reputation remains optimal 

B2B Lead Finder

Instantly's B2B Lead Finder is a database with 160M contacts designed to help find leads that are highly relevant and accurate.

The feature relies on a range of filters — some of which match Sales Navigator filters. These include:

• Job Titles
• Location
• Industry
• Employees
• Revenue
• Domains
• ...etc.

What's more, the feature supports keyword-based searches and lets you apply multiple filters simultaneously. This helps you better narrow your search and pinpoint the most promising leads according to your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and buyer persona.

Another useful feature of the Lead Finder is Lead Enrichment. To use it, upload a list of contacts, and the system will enrich it with additional data. 

Instantly.ai disadvantages

Instantly.ai excels in many aspects. However, certain disadvantages make it less than ideal and position other tools as superior.

For example, while you can connect multiple email accounts to the software, the same can’t be said for multiple LinkedIn accounts. 

In fact, Instantly.ai doesn’t support LinkedIn automation at all. Hence, it misses out on the opportunities that social selling and multichannel outreach provide.

Moreover, email sequences that you can create with Instantly.ai are pretty basic. You can’t set them up to adjust based on your leads’ behavior. So, if your leads don’t respond, there’s not much you can do.

Why, yes, messages can be personalized. Unfortunately, rich media content, including images and GIFs, can’t.

Analytics could also be improved to provide deeper insight into campaign performance. Additionally, there is no option to export stats to CSV or PDF.

While Instantly.ai claims you can scale your outreach infinitely, that's not quite accurate. In fact, their basic plan lets you send 5,000 emails per month only. Consequently, the mid-tier plan limits you to 100,000 emails, and the top plan caps at 500,000 emails. 

Plus, they limit the number of leads you can upload to the platform. Depending on the plan, you can either upload 1,000, 25,000, or 100,000 leads.

Finally, while the tool can enrich your leads’ information, including their emails, this functionality will cost you extra. Not to mention, there are limits to how many leads you can enrich.

This is a huge con, considering that a certain tool lets you send tens of thousands of emails a month and verify as many emails as you want at no additional cost.

But we’ll get to that shortly.

What Instantly.ai reviews say

While doing the research, we stumbled across both positive and negative Instantly.ai reviews.

As for the positive aspects, we noticed many users are praising the interface.

For instance, one of them, Jonas R, says:

‘’The automation of follow-ups and the user-friendly interface make it incredibly efficient for managing my cold outreach campaigns.’’

On the other hand, Zirva Z. has pointed out certain flows in her review:

‘’The leads aren't great, and being limited to adding only 100 at a time is really frustrating.’’

She also went on to mention that:

‘’It's not very useful unless you have a really high budget.’’

Instantly.ai pricing

Instantly.ai has 2 main pricing categories  — Sending & Warmup and Leads — with multiple sub-plans.

Sending & Warmup is the pricing plan for sending and warming up emails. 

As such, it doesn’t include access to the B2B Lead Finder and is divided into 3 individual sub-plans. 

The pricing varies and is determined based on the number of leads you can upload and emails you can send.

Meanwhile, Leads plans are meant to streamline prospecting and entail full access to the B2B Lead Finder feature. 

There are a total of 4 of these. They differ in price depending on the number of leads you can verify and include:

But remember, if you want to use Instantly.ai to send and warm up emails and generate leads, you can’t purchase a plan from a single category. Instead, you’ll need one from each.

This means that the price of using the software can quickly skyrocket. 

For instance, if you were to subscribe to their lowest-tier subscriptions, you’d pay a total of $84 for both each month. On the other hand, their highest-tier plans combined set you back an exorbitant $850 a month. 

That said, you might be better off using a tool that offers much more at a lower price.

12 best Instantly.ai alternatives

Are you interested in exploring other software on the market? If so, here are 12 compelling alternatives to Instantly.ai that may provide you with better value for your money.

1. Skylead

Well, hello - that’s us! 😊

Skylead is a leading LinkedIn automation and cold email software that puts time-consuming outreach tasks on autopilot.

It's commonly used by:

• Sales professionals and entrepreneurs who aim to free up as much as 11 hours a week for booking 3x more meetings.
• Marketing professionals seeking to distribute content and secure more backlinks.
• Recruiters on the hunt for the best talent.
• Lead generation agencies focused on acquiring high-quality leads for their clients. 

The biggest difference between Instantly.ai and Skylead is the support for LinkedIn outreach. 

As a matter of fact, our software allows you to create multichannel campaigns that combine different email and LinkedIn actions. All thanks to our Smart sequences.

The tool also lets you personalize messages with preset and custom variables. While at it, you can even engage in A/B testing to determine how to best approach leads. 

However, what truly sets Skylead apart in the personalization department is our native image and GIF personalization feature.

Not to mention, Skylead also offers infinite email warm-up, courtesy of our partnership with an email warm-up tool, InboxFlare.

Finally, our tool comes with advanced reporting capabilities and even supports CSV and PDF exports. You can also integrate it with any CRM or tool you like using Zapier webhooks or API.

Now, let’s get deeper into our features that are changing the outreach game as we know it.

LinkedIn automation

Skylead is a cloud-based LinkedIn automation tool.

It’s the best among other types of LinkedIn automation tools (browser extensions & desktop apps) in that:

• It exists on the ‘’Cloud’’. This means that it doesn’t require an Internet connection or power to run.
• It comes with a dedicated IP address (proxy) that shields your activity, an integrated inbox, and the possibility of adding multiple accounts.
• The tool mimics human behavior, browsing through LinkedIn and scrolling just as a human would. 

Now, with Skylead, you can automate much of your LinkedIn prospecting and LinkedIn lead generation through targeted outreach campaigns.

To create one, you can use the following lead sources:

And, yes, you can connect any LinkedIn Premium, Sales Navigator, or Recruiter account to the software.

Once you do, you can use Skylead to:

• View your leads' profiles
• Follow them
• Send them invites to connect
• Automate LinkedIn messages and LinkedIn inMails

However, the tool isn’t limited to performing actions on LinkedIn. So, feel free to add emails to the mix — including the email discovery and verification feature — and turn the tool into a complete multichannel outreach platform.

Email automation

Much like Instantly.ai, Skylead lets you add unlimited email accounts to help you send tens of thousands of emails a month. 

However, unlike it, it doesn’t limit the number of active leads you can have. You can input unlimited leads, allowing you to reach out to more people.

If you were wondering how it’s possible to send thousands of emails a month, well, it’s because our tool supports inbox rotation. This means that Skylead alternates sending emails from different accounts to keep you within safe limits on each.

Email discovery & verification

Speaking of safety, did you know that Skylead goes a step further to ensure it? 

Namely, our software can find and verify your leads’ emails. In turn, it reduces the chances of bounces that impact deliverability and your sender’s reputation.

And guess what? You can take advantage of this feature without breaking your campaign creation flow. 

Just add the Find & Verify Email step to your sequence for the tool to find and double-verify the existence of your leads’ emails.

The best thing about this feature is that it has one of the highest, if not the highest, email-finding probabilities on the market. 

Not to mention, it’s both unlimited and comes at no extra cost. In other words, as long as you’re subscribed to the tool, you can use it as much as you want. 

This makes Skylead more cost-effective than Instantly.ai, which requires a separate subscription to enrich emails.

Smart sequences

And that brings us to the star of the show: Smart sequences.

In essence, they are algorithms that combine the above-mentioned LinkedIn and email actions with if/else conditions. As a result, you get coherent outreach flows that unfold according to the way your prospects behave.

For instance, let’s say you tried adding a lead to your network on LinkedIn, but they haven’t accepted the invite.

If this were a simple sequence, you’d get stuck at this step and miss the opportunity to get to the lead.

But with Smart sequences, you get to maximize touchpoints by covering every possible scenario.

In this case, you can add the ‘’If Connected’’ condition to your campaign and then define the following steps.

For example, you can set up Skylead to automatically message your lead when they accept your connection request. If they don't, you can try to locate their email address, and if the tool finds it, send them an email. But if that doesn't work, you can always send an InMail to maximize getting in touch with leads.

Of course, there are a thousand more ways this can go. Smart sequence builder is your playground, so feel free to experiment with different branching paths.

Or, you can visit our tried and tested Smart sequences template library and replicate one of ours for guaranteed results!

Smart inbox

Smart inbox, although serving the same purpose as Instantly.ai’s Unibox, is far superior. That’s because it doesn’t only aid email management. It also lets you manage your conversations on LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, and Recruiter, whether it’s messages or inMails.

But what makes our Smart inbox truly irreplaceable is the opportunity to label chats. These labels are great because they can help you keep track of ROI and conversions. That said, you can choose between a couple of predefined ones or add your own.

Image & GIF personalization

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. And we agree, which is why we introduced our image and GIF personalization feature.

Believe it or not, by personalizing visuals for each recipient, you can increase your response rate to more than 63%.

That said, our image and GIF editor lets you upload any picture you like and personalize it with:

• Your lead’s name
• Their and/or your LinkedIn profile image
• Their and/or your company logo
• A custom message

The choice is yours! Either way, you’ll surely leave a lasting impression. 

In fact, just look at the astonishing 76% response rate we got using the following visual!

Advanced analytics

Speaking of results, Skylead comes equipped with advanced analytics, which are available on the Reports page. 

Here, you can see how all of your campaigns are performing or examine the stats for a single campaign.

That said, there are 3 ways to observe results:

• In a graph form, to visually compare oscillations between different metrics;
• In table-view, to observe fluctuations on a daily basis;
• Step-by-step, to see how your A/B tests are performing.

Unlike Instantly.ai, Skylead even lets you download these reports. The good news is that there are 2 different formats to choose from: CSV and PDF.

What Skylead reviews say

Skylead reviews are positive, with people praising it for what it has helped them accomplish.

For instance, Daniel Hoffmann, a Managing director at Toplevel Performance, has said that:

“Since I’ve started working with these clients and using Skylead, I have earned approximately $33.000.”

In the meantime, NewPoort's founder, Toine Boelens, has highly praised our Smart sequences and email finder and verifier:

‘’If/else conditions in Smart Sequences are also great. It's low code, so it's great because I'm not good at coding yet. I also like the Find & verify business email step, which finds email addresses most of the time. So you get, like, two ways you can get in touch with the client. ‘’

Instantly.ai vs. Skylead

Pricing

Skylead has a singular plan that costs $100 per LinkedIn seat. To test out the tool and its functionalities, feel free to take advantage of our 7-day free trial period. Moreover, our customer support remains available for a 1-on-1 onboarding call—completely free of charge!

2. Lemlist

Lemlist is a cloud-based tool primarily used for email outreach. Nonetheless, its higher-tier subscription supports multichannel outreach, letting you add automatic LinkedIn actions and calls to the mix.

In terms of LinkedIn automation, the tool can visit your lead's profiles, invite them to connect, and send them a message. Moreover, you can add conditions to your sequences to cover several outreach scenarios.

You can also perform any other action on LinkedIn. However, you’ll need to add it as a manual step to your campaign, the same as calls.

The software offers advanced personalization features, including custom images, intro lines, and dynamic landing pages. 

It's also known for Lemwarm, a built-in email warm-up tool that helps emails stay away from spam.

Now, even though Lemlist comes with an email finder and verifier, like Skylead and Instantly.ai, it limits the number of emails you can discover and verify by plan. In fact, even with their most expensive plan, you can only discover and verify up to 1,000 emails a month. If your needs exceed this, you can purchase additional credits. However, this comes at a cost of $1 per 100 verified emails.

That's not it for limitations, though. For instance, you can't connect unlimited email accounts to the tool. Moreover, although Lemlist offers a B2B lead database with over 450M contacts, the quality of leads isn't the highest.

This is somewhat compensated for with the Chrome extension for prospecting on LinkedIn. However, considering that Chrome extensions inject code into LinkedIn that may jeopardize your account, you might want to think twice before using it.

Instantly.ai vs. Lemlist

Pricing

3. Apollo

Apollo.io is a multichannel sales engagement platform that combines email, LinkedIn outreach, and cold calls in seamless sequences. 

It allows users to set up campaigns that feature both automatic and manual emails.

When engaging leads via LinkedIn, Apollo can automate connection requests, messages, and interactions with posts. 

However, its multichannel sequences—known as Playbooks—are relatively simple. Namely, unlike Skylead's Smart sequences, they don't unfold according to your lead's behavior, making them less than ideal.

Regarding integrations, the platform natively integrates with tools like Pipedrive, HubSpot, and Slack. 

The software also has A/B testing capabilities, which help optimize outreach efforts. Additionally, it comes with a built-in AI writing assistant that those previously using ChatGPT for sales writing may find convenient.

Now, in terms of pulling leads into a campaign, Apollo does it through its databases of over 275M contacts. However, certain users have complained about the quality of these leads.

Like Lemlist, the platform can also scrape new leads from LinkedIn. However, this process, yet again, involves using a Chrome extension and could lead to account penalties.

Instantly.ai vs. Apollo

Pricing

4. Smartlead.ai

Smartlead is a robust email outreach tool designed to automate and streamline lead generation efforts. 

It supports unlimited email accounts and email warmups, features inbox rotation, and uses a Master Inbox for streamlined email management. 

The platform offers advanced personalization options like variables, spintax, and liquid syntax, along with split testing capabilities for up to 26 email variants. 

Smartlead also integrates with various CRMs, including HubSpot, via API and webhooks.

However, it has some drawbacks. 

Despite claiming to support multichannel outreach, LinkedIn integration for automatic steps has been discontinued, leaving only manual tasks. 

Additionally, it lacks image and GIF personalization and an email discovery feature that Skylead has.

Finally, while you can create subsequences for each campaign to make it reactive to your leads' behavior, you must break the campaign creation flow to do so. Not to mention, you can only add leads to your campaign through a CSV file or HubSpot.

Instantly.ai vs. Smartlead.ai

Pricing

Pro and Custom plans support adding additional seats, with each costing $29 a month.

5. Mailshake

Mailshake is a cloud-based tool designed primarily for sending emails and follow-ups. 

Nonetheless, it does have a Chrome extension that transforms it into a multichannel outreach tool. You can use to set up simple outreach sequences to automatically:

• View your leads' profiles on LinkedIn,
• Send them invites to connect,
• And messages.

At the same time, you can use the extension for cold-calling purposes, as it comes with a built-in dialer and call recorder. However, this option is available strictly for leads based in the US and Canada. 

Moreover, you can integrate the tool with more than 1,000 software via Zapier webhooks. In terms of native integrations, there are those with Pipedrive and Hubspot.

A/B testing is supported, too, and so is inbox rotation. Unfortunately, you can't connect unlimited email accounts to Mailshake as you can with Skylead and Instantly.ai. In fact, the highest-tier subscription limits you to a maximum of 5 accounts.

LinkedIn automation and calls are restricted to the highest-tier plan, too.

Lastly, the use of a Chrome extension for LinkedIn actions risks account restrictions.

Instantly.ai vs. Mailshake

Pricing

6. Woodpecker

Woodpecker is a tool that automates emails and follow-ups to help individuals connect with ideal clients.

What's great about it is that it lets you connect as many email accounts to it as you want, just as Skylead, Instantly.ai, and Smartlead do. The same can be said about inbox rotation.

Sequences you can create with Woodpecker are condition-based. This means they adapt according to the way your leads behave.

With Woodpecker, you can A/B test up to 5 different variations of your message copy. And if you have trouble writing, its AI writing assistant is there to help.

Moreover, the tool supports plenty of 3rd party integrations, such as the one with Dux-Soup. This integration allows its users to tap into LinkedIn outreach, not just email, but it will cost you more.

That said, not everything's ideal with this tool. 

Why, yes, the Dux-Soup integration turns Woodpecker into a multichannel outreach solution. The catch is, however, that they must subscribe to Dux-Soup’s Turbo plan for this to be made possible. This raises the cost of a subscription that's already steep and depends heavily on the number of contacted prospects.

Instantly.ai vs. Woodpecker 

Pricing

The exact cost of the Cold Email and Agency plan is determined by the number of leads contacted. It ranges between $29 for 500 contacted leads and $395 a month for 25,000. 

Although price points for these plans are the same, they differ in one thing: the Cold Email plan is designed for individuals, whereas the Agency plan is meant to be used by teams. That said, the latter supports adding additional users at the price of $27 per each.

Additionally, the Dux-Soup integration adds an extra $55 a month to the subscription.

7. Salesloft

Salesloft is a cloud-based sales engagement platform ideal for sales teams that want to automate workflows and connect with more prospects. 

Its Cadences—a form of campaign—integrate email, phone, and Sales Navigator tasks, though only emails are automated.

Nonetheless, the platform shines in email tracking and advanced analytics, offering A/B testing and customizable email templates. 

However, Salesloft only integrates with Sales Navigator, missing support for LinkedIn Premium and Recruiter accounts.

Additionally, it lacks the Smart sequences that Skylead has, which limits touchpoints with leads. 

Users have also complained about a less user-friendly interface and a buggy dialer.

Instantly.ai vs. Salesloft

Pricing

At this time, Salesloft doesn’t disclose its pricing details for either of its plans: Essentials, Advanced & Premier. Instead, upon visiting the "Pricing" page, their bot prompts you to contact their team for a tailored quote.

However, the information on the Internet suggests that users are paying anywhere from $75 to $125 per user a month.

8. Outreach.io

Outreach.io is a complete sales engagement platform designed to streamline the sales process for enterprise teams. 

It integrates email, phone, LinkedIn, and live chat into a unified workflow, allowing for seamless multichannel outreach.

The platform lets you create personalized outreach sequences with automated follow-ups and response-based triggers. However, any actions on LinkedIn that are part of your sequences must be completed manually.

The tool integrates well with popular CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot for smooth data synchronization.

Key features include robust email tracking, detailed analytics, A/B testing, and a library of customizable email templates. 

Outreach.io also provides AI-driven sentiment analysis, call scheduling, and a pipeline calculator to estimate necessary sales expenses.

Its conversation intelligence tool, Kaia, offers real-time call transcription and insights, enhancing sales interactions and coaching.

In terms of cons, it's worth noting that the platform can be expensive for small businesses. Furthermore, no free trial is available, and the interface is complex.

Also, the platform connects to Sales Navigator accounts only and caters primarily to sales professionals. As such, it may lack features that marketing experts and lead generation agencies need, such as email discovery and verification.

Lastly, users can connect a maximum of 2 email accounts to the tool unless otherwise outlined in the contract.

Instantly.ai vs. Outreach.io

Pricing

Much like Salesloft, Outreach.io doesn’t disclose pricing details to non-users. Instead, the price is customized and heavily depends on the number of users within a team.

However, we did some research online and found that one user was quoted $130 per month per user, with a minimum requirement of 20 users.

9. QuickMail

QuickMail is an effective outreach tool that goes beyond email campaigns. 

It supports multichannel outreach, combining email, LinkedIn, calls, and SMS to help you reach your prospects where they are.

Linked outreach actions that QuickMail can perform are automatic and include:

• Profile views
• Connection requests
• Messages

Contrary to tools like Skylead, which lets you import leads directly from LinkedIn, QuickMail offers 2 import options: a CSV file or Google Drive.

The tool comes with a built-in email warm-up and an inbox rotation feature that maintains high deliverability rates. It supports A/B testing and natively integrates with popular CRMs like Pipedrive and HubSpot. Nonetheless, you can integrate any tool with it via Zapier.

While email verification is available, QuickMail relies on 3rd party tools for this. 

Similarly, Image and GIF personalization, while there, isn't native. For this, you’ll need Hyperise, which incurs additional costs.

Moreover, if you want to use LinkedIn in your outreach, you'll need QuickMail’s Chrome extension, which can put your account at risk.

You can add unlimited team members to your QuickMail account. However, you can connect a maximum of 50 email accounts and 15 LinkedIn accounts to the tool. And this is for the highest-tier subscription.

Instantly.ai vs. QuickMail

Pricing

10. Snov.io

Snov.io is a cloud-based multichannel outreach tool that lets you create automated campaigns that combine emails and LinkedIn touches. These include profile visits, post likes, messages, and connection invites.

The platform lets you add "triggers" to your sequences, similar to Skylead's if/else conditions. These make your outreach smart and adaptable based on how your prospects react. 

Additionally, Snov.io comes with a built-in email warm-up tool and a CRM. While the CRM isn’t the most advanced, it has enough functionality to be a good choice for those on a budget.

Snov.io can verify your leads' emails, but this feature isn’t unlimited. In fact, the number of emails you can verify depends on your plan. 

Furthermore, for LinkedIn automation, you’ll need to pay an extra $69 per LinkedIn account you want to add to the software.

While Snov.io's LinkedIn automation is cloud-based, the tool prompts you to use their 2 Chrome extensions: 

• One for prospecting on LinkedIn
• Another for finding leads' emails across the web. 

However, if you choose to use them, be cautious: they may put your account at risk.

Instantly.ai vs. Snov.io

Pricing

11. Salesblink

SalesBlink is one of the best Insantly.ai alternatives for cold emailing. 

It uses its AI, BlinkGPT, to craft smart email sequences with follow-ups that adapt based on your leads' behavior. 

Plus, with its email warm-up feature, your messages are more likely to land in your leads’ inboxes instead of their spam folders.

SalesBlink lets you connect unlimited email accounts and automatically rotates them while sending emails, thus keeping you within safe limits. 

Furthermore, it comes with a Unified inbox that keeps all your conversations in one place, similar to Skylead, Instantly.ai, and Smartlead.

Although SalesBlink supports adding multichannel tasks to your sequences, these tasks need to be done manually. So, it doesn’t offer true multichannel outreach. 

The tool also provides email verification, but this feature is limited. Simultaneously, it isn't available to the subscribers to the lowest-tier plan.

Instantly.ai vs. Salesblink

Pricing

The number of emails you can send with the software depends on your plan. 

For example, the basic plan lets you send up to 6,000 emails, while the top tier allows up to 100,000.

12. Hunter.io

Hunter.io is a tool renowned for its email finding and verification capabilities.

It boasts a user-friendly interface and frequently updates its database with new publicly available emails. 

One of its standout features is the ability to invite team members and grant role permissions, which makes team collaboration much easier. 

Additionally, Hunter.io offers multiple cold email templates and supports integrations with various CRMs and software via Zapier.

However, there are some limitations. For example, you can only create outreach campaigns if you connect a Gmail or Outlook account. Other email service providers are not supported. It also lacks features like A/B testing, advanced message personalization, and email warm-up.

Furthermore, the tool requires a bit of a learning curve, and the support response time can be slow. 

Finally, Hunter.io can't perform any actions on LinkedIn. This makes it less versatile compared to Instantly.ai alternatives that can.

Instantly.ai vs. Hunter.io

Pricing

How to cancel Instantly.ai subscription?

If you’re not satisfied with Instantly.ai, you can cancel your subscription and try another tool from our list.

Here's how:

1. Log into your account.
2. Go to the Billing page.
3. Under your active plan (s), find the "Cancel plan" button. Click it to confirm your cancellation.

If you have one plan only, you can use it until the end of the billing cycle.

However, if you have both a Lead Finder and Email Outreach plan and cancel only one, the cancellation of said plan takes effect immediately.

Also, if you want to cancel multiple plans, keep in mind that you'll need to cancel each one individually.

Lastly, to confirm your plan is canceled, look at the date listed next to the plan on the Billings page.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

What is instantly.ai?

Instantly.ai is an advanced email automation tool designed to help individuals manage their email campaigns more effectively. It offers a range of features, including unlimited email accounts, email warm-up, B2B Lead Finder, and a Unibox.

What does instantly AI do?

Instantly.ai automates various aspects of cold emailing and customer relationship management. It helps users manage multiple email accounts, warm up emails to improve deliverability, find new leads, and keep track of them. The platform also consolidates all emails into a single inbox, making it easier to manage conversations and follow-ups.

How to use instantly.ai?

Using Instantly.ai is easy. Just create an account, add and configure email accounts, and use the email warm-up feature to prepare your accounts for sending. Then, create and launch your email campaigns and manage interactions through Unibox. Finally, use the tracking and analytics page to analyze campaign performance.

Is instantly.ai free?

Instantly.ai is not free but offers various pricing plans to suit different needs and budgets. Each plan provides access to a range of features, allowing you to choose the one that best fits your requirements.

Does Instantly AI have a free trial?

Yes, instantly.ai offers a free trial for new users. This allows you to test out the platform and its features before committing to a paid plan.

How many emails can you send with instantly AI?

The number of emails you can send per month depends on the plan. For instance, the lowest plan limits you to sending 5,000 a month, whereas the Custom plan allows you to send more than 500,000.

Instantly.ai vs. alternatives: What’s the better option?

And there you have it—our deep dive into Instantly.ai and its top 12 alternatives.

As you’ve discovered, Instantly.ai has some powerful features.  But it's not perfect, mainly because of the lack of multichannel outreach support that tools like Skylead have.

That said, if your strategy relies heavily on engaging prospects across multiple channels, Instantly may not be for you.

Luckily, your perfect alternative is out there, waiting for you to discover it.

We've given you the options. Now, it's up to you to try them out.

But why not start with Skylead? 

With a 7-day free trial, you can experience the true power of email and LinkedIn automation combined.

So, come chat with us, sign up, and begin scaling your outreach — to infinity and beyond!

If much of your job revolves around lead generation, chances are you’ve heard of Smartlead — a tool that automates and streamlines email outreach.

Released in 2021, the software has risen above the noise, and nowadays, many salespeople, marketers, and agencies use it.

But is it the best outreach automation tool on the market?

Lucky for you, this article is your one-stop shop for all things Smartlead. We’ll break down its features and pricing and see what real users have to say about it. But most importantly, we'll introduce you to 11 alternatives so you can compare and choose the perfect tool for you!

Let’s get into it!

Smartlead or alternatives?

Smartlead is a cold email outreach software that promises to, and we quote:

❝Convert cold emails to consistent revenue❞

This means it’s aimed at anyone who uses cold outreach to generate leads and scale their business on autopilot, but primarily:

• Lead generation agencies
• Marketing agencies
• Sales professionals 

Smartlead is a cloud-based software. 

The software allows its users to create email campaigns with automatic follow-ups by importing CSV files with leads’ information. Alternatively, since the tool natively integrates with HubSpot, they can import leads directly from it. The integration works both ways, meaning that campaign data can be pushed into HubSpot as well. 

Moreover, Smartlead can integrate with any other tool or CRM via Webhooks or API.

The tool is unique for its unlimited email warmup feature and dedicated IP servers that boost deliverability. It also supports inbox rotation and has a Master Inbox that keeps all emails in one place.

In terms of message personalization, users can enrich their emails with:

• Variables;
• Spintax - different variations of words/phrases/sentences (e.g. Hey there | Hello | Hi);
• Liquid syntax - a template language that adjusts content dynamically based on the available information (e.g. {{#if first_name}} Hey {{first_name}}, {{else}} Hey Mr {{last_name}} ).

The platform also supports split testing with up to 26 different email variants.

Now that we've got the essentials down, let's look at Smartlead's features more closely.

Key Smartlead features

Inbox rotation

Smartlead doesn’t limit the number of email addresses you can connect to it and use in your campaigns. This is particularly beneficial for agencies or businesses running outreach campaigns for multiple clients. Once added, the tool automatically rotates these email addresses to maximize the number of emails sent.

Unlimited email warmup

New email addresses need to be warmed up before using them for outreach. Smartlead’s unlimited email warmup feature is powered by AI and takes care of this by:

• Sending warm-up emails to a pool of other Smartlead users;
• Sending different numbers of emails every day;
• Opening emails and saving them from spam;
• Replying to these.

The result? Positive sender reputation and fewer emails flagged as spam.

Subsequences

Smarlead elevates email outreach through Subsequences — additional email sequences that you can create based on recipient behavior.

Subsequences can be set up to complement any campaign. They are condition-based and activate only once the chosen condition is fulfilled.

Leads can be added to a subsequence depending on the following conditions:

• If they are categorized a certain way,
• If their reply contains specific words/phrases,
• In case they haven’t replied,
• If they bounced,
• If they are connected to you on LinkedIn.

This adds another layer of personalization to communication and helps improve engagement and conversions.

Unibox

Juggling multiple inboxes for different campaigns can get overwhelming. The premise behind Smartlead’s Unibox is to eliminate this chaos by providing a single location to manage all email conversations. This streamlines the workflow and allows for easier responding and lead categorization.

Smartlead disadvantages

Smartlead may seem like a great tool. Nonetheless, it does have its limitations.

For instance, while Smartlead claims to support multichannel outreach, it’s superficial at best because you can only add manual tasks to the campaign flow. The tool will remind you to complete these when the time comes. But, since manual work is involved, wouldn’t you say this beats the purpose of using an automation tool?

For a brief moment, Smartlead users could add certain automatic LinkedIn steps to their campaigns. Unfortunately, this is no longer possible for reasons their customer support team referred to as ‘’private.’’. 

That said, if you were hoping to use it for LinkedIn lead generation, feel free to explore some of the alternatives we'll discuss later.

Additionally, while the tool lets you personalize messages, it lacks the feature for image & GIF personalization. To this date, you can only insert visuals into the email copy.

Another major con is the software’s inability to discover and verify your leads’ email addresses. So, to get the email addresses of people you want to reach out to, you need to use another tool. This implies an additional cost.

Moreover, to create a Subsequence, you first need to create a simple sequence with no conditions. Subsequences are created separately based on the condition you choose. So yes, you’re breaking the campaign creation flow to do it. This is not only inconvenient but also time-consuming — especially when running multiple campaigns simultaneously.

Lastly, since Smartlead can only pull leads from a CSV file or HubSpot, it’s rather limited compared to tools that can scrape leads from multiple sources (e.g., LinkedIn search, LinkedIn posts, Sales Navigator lead lists, etc.).

Smartlead pricing

Smartlead offers 3 different month-to-month payment plans. Yearly subscriptions are also available and come with a 17% discount compared to their monthly counterparts.

That said, here is the breakdown of Smartlead pricing plans.

Pro and custom plans support adding unlimited users, although each is charged an additional $29 a month.

What others say about Smartlead

Smartlead has plenty of mixed reviews.

For instance, Antonio said:

‘’We've had 5 sets of emails having a sudden drop in deliverability from 40-90% to 10-20% in a matter of days (on successful campaigns), and according to their Slack community, a lot of people experienced identical issues.’’

He went on to mention that Smartlead’s customer support is slow. In fact, it often takes them between 24 and 48 hours to respond!

Another reviewer, Nick G., praised the interface but stated:

‘’I signed up because they had a LinkedIn feature, but they removed it.’’

11 best Smartlead alternatives

Smartlead has some useful features. However, its drawbacks and steep pricing make it an incomplete solution. 

Considering the stated, you are better off choosing another tool, and here are our top picks!

1. Skylead

Hi, that’s us! 🙂

Skylead is a LinkedIn automation and cold email software that helps salespeople, marketers, founders, and recruiters use outreach at scale. 

It’s an All-In-One solution that has all the tools you need under one roof — and price.

Unlike Smartlead, it supports real multichannel outreach (LinkedIn outreach and email outreach), allowing you to reach more leads on more channels.

Moreover, it’s cloud-based and comes with a 3-layered protection. This means that the tool:

• Assigns a dedicated IP address to users that shields their activity;
• Mimics human behavior to prevent experiencing restrictions on LinkedIn.
• Randomizes delays between different actions.

Similar to Smartlead, Skylead supports A/B testing. This feature allows you to experiment with different messaging, subject lines, and connection requests.

It also has a Smart inbox that keeps your messages from all platforms in one place. Additionally, you can label your conversations and thus track how many people have converted each month.

Finally, you can integrate the tool with any software or CRM using Webhooks or API. And, yes, that includes HubSpot.

If you find all this fascinating, wait till you see what else Skylead’s got! 😀 

So, let’s break it all down!

LinkedIn automation

As one of the best LinkedIn automation tools ever, Skylead takes over your manual outreach on the platform and lets you get in touch with more leads faster.

With it, you can view your leads’ profiles, follow them, invite them to connect, and send them a message or an inMail, both free and paid. On autopilot, nonetheless, to save yourself +11 hours a week!

Skylead helps you cut back on manual outreach activities, but it also saves you time when importing leads. 

Namely, it connects to all LinkedIn Premium subscription plans and can pull lead information from:

• LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, and Recruiter search results
• Sales Navigator lead lists
• Recruiter Talent Pool and Pipeline URLs
• LinkedIn posts
• LinkedIn events
• Your CSV file  

Unlimited email outreach

As a true multichannel outreach tool, Skylead supports not only LinkedIn outreach but also email outreach!

It lets you connect and use an unlimited number of email addresses at no extra cost. And yes, the tool also auto-rotates between them to help you send tens of thousands of emails a month. 

But do you know what makes our unlimited email outreach feature better? The fact that you can combine it with LinkedIn outreach in one seamless sequence. This multichannel approach helps you maximize touchpoints with your leads and reach those you thought were unreachable before.

Moreover, our native and custom variables let you personalize your communication even further. With them, you can craft reply-inducing emails and follow-ups. 

And to make sure your mailboxes are 100% ready for sending emails at scale, we've got another surprise in store. Infinite email warm-up, powered by an email warm-up tool, InboxFlare. As a Skylead user, you get access to it free of charge to warm up unlimited mailboxes and keep your emails away from spam—forever!

Email discovery & verification

Skylead can discover your leads’ email addresses and turn seemingly lost opportunities into potential conversions.

The software won’t only find your leads’ emails, though. It will double-verify them to decrease the chance of your emails bouncing and improve your sender's reputation. What’s more, you can include it as a step, and Skylead will do it without breaking the outreach flow.

Some other tools have this capability as well. However, many of them use a Chrome extension for this purpose, which isn’t safe.

Moreover, Skylead’s success rate in finding and verifying emails is one of the highest on the market, if not the highest!

Finally, this feature comes at no extra cost, and there’s no cap on how many emails the tool can find and verify. This is something no other tool can say!

Smart sequences

Think of our Smart sequences as an improved version of Smartlead’s Subsequences. 

But why improved? 

Because, with them, you don’t have to break your outreach campaign creation flow to cover different outreach scenarios. In other words, you can do it as you work on building your campaign.

Smart sequences let you combine different if/else conditions with LinkedIn and email actions and find the best route to your leads based on their behavior. 

They are reactive and operate in real-time, meaning that, for example:

1. If a prospect accepts a connection request, a message can be sent.
2. Meanwhile, if they don’t, Skylead can find and verify their email address and reach them out via email.
3. If they open that email but don’t reply, an automatic follow up email can be sent.
4. If no response comes after the follow up email, the tool can contact the lead via LinkedIn inMail.
5. An inMail can also be sent if the tool doesn’t manage to verify the leads’ email or the lead doesn’t open the initial email.

Feel free to experiment with different conditions and actions, though, as the scenarios you can create are limitless!

As you can see, Smart sequences ensure that your outreach is highly personalized and responsive to your prospects' actions. In turn, they make your campaigns more effective and increase the chances of conversion.

Image & GIF personalization

Want to make a lasting impression on your leads? Our image and GIF personalization feature is the answer. 

Thanks to it, you can create dynamic images and GIFs that personalize themselves for each recipient. You can include their name, their and/or your LinkedIn profile photo, company logo, and even write a custom message. 

It might seem like a small touch, but hey, it can increase your response rate by up to 63%!

Advanced analytics

Feel like analyzing your campaigns to determine what works and what doesn’t?

Skylead lets you do that in 3 different view modes available on the Reports page:

• Graph - Lets you compare the ratio between different metrics (e.g. open rate, click rate, reply rate).
• Table -  Makes it easy to spot day-to-day variations in metrics and identify trends.
• Step-by-step - Breaks down each step of your sequence, showing you exactly how recipients are engaging at every stage. This is especially useful for A/B testing.

Smartlead vs. Skylead feature comparison

Pricing

Skylead comes with a singular price of $100 per seat. Unlike Smartlead, which has tiered pricing with limited features at lower levels, it offers everything you need in one plan. This makes it more cost-effective.

2. Instantly

Instantly.ai is a cloud-based email outreach tool.

Like Skylead and Smartlead, it lets you connect an unlimited number of email accounts, and it rotates through them while sending emails to avoid triggering spam filters. This is complemented by its unlimited email warm-up feature, which improves senders’ reputation.

For those seeking personalization, Instantly offers message personalization with variables. Furthermore, the integrated Unibox consolidates your conversations into a single inbox, making them easier to manage and respond to.

However, Instantly is not a multichannel outreach tool, so it might not be the greatest if you are looking for a Smartlead alternative that has it all.

Also, while it offers basic reporting, the insights are somewhat limited, which might not suffice for users requiring in-depth analytics. 

Finally, email verification is available but comes at an extra cost on top of already steep pricing.

Smartlead vs. Instantly feature comparison

Pricing

Instantly offers 2 pricing plans with sub-plans that vary in features available.

3. Apollo

Apollo is a powerful multichannel sales engagement platform that lets users create sequences that combine email, LinkedIn outreach, and cold calls.

With it, you can set up campaigns that include automatic or manual emails. 

As for engaging your leads via LinkedIn, the software can automatically:

• Send connection requests
• Messages
• Interact with your leads’ posts.

However, bear in mind that Apollo's multichannel sequences are simple. They don’t support branching paths or complex conditions, making them unsuitable for those who prefer their outreach to be more automatic and advanced.

In terms of integrations, the tool natively integrates with platforms like Pipedrive, HubSpot, and Slack. Moreover, it has A/B testing capabilities that help optimize your outreach. 

You can also leverage its AI to craft personalized messages. Nonetheless, this feature isn’t that advanced. In fact, it’s equivalent to using Chat GPT for sales copywriting, which you can do while using Skylead as well.

Apollo has a database of over 275M contacts that you can pull directly into your campaigns. Additionally, it can also scrape new leads from LinkedIn.

However, a major con is that it does so through a Chrome extension. Chrome extensions inject code into LinkedIn that the platform can easily detect and penalize you for. Therefore, we don’t recommend you use any tool that relies on one.

Smartlead vs. Apollo feature comparison

Pricing

• Free
• Basic: $59/mo per seat
• Professional: $99/mo per seat
• Organization: $119/mo per seat (billed annually)

4. Lemlist

Lemlist is a cloud-based email outreach tool that also includes a Chrome extension for prospecting and outreach on LinkedIn. 

Although primarily focused on email outreach, Lemlist supports multichannel campaigns like Skylead. As such, it allows you to add connection invites, profile visits, and messages to your sequences. Additionally, it integrates with AirCall for cold calling.

One of Lemlist's standout features is its advanced personalization options. To make your outreach more effective, you can use its custom intro lines, images, and landing pages.

Lemlist also offers Lemwarm, a warm-up and deliverability booster designed to keep your emails out of spam.

While the tool can find and verify emails, the highest plan limits the number of finder and verifier credits to 1,000. You can purchase additional credits, but keep in mind that $1 will only get you 5 verified emails.

Once again, since a Chrome extension is involved in LinkedIn outreach, we say you think twice before using it.

Smartlead vs. Lemlist feature comparison

Pricing

5. Woodpecker

Woodpecker is a cloud-based cold emailing software that can be expanded into a full multichannel campaign platform with add-ons. These add-ons support LinkedIn actions and calls through integrations with Dux-Soup and AirCall.

One of Woodpecker’s key features is the ability to connect unlimited email accounts with auto-rotation to maintain high email deliverability. It also offers email verification to ensure your leads’ emails are valid. Nevertheless, this feature isn’t as advanced as Skylead’s.

Woodpecker lets you A/B test up to five different email variants. Additionally, it comes with an AI assistant that can generate copy for your outreach, making the process more efficient.

While Woodpecker supports multichannel outreach, the integration with Dux-Soup adds extra cost to the software. Moreover, they limit the number of prospects you can contact by price. This means that if you need to contact many leads, the cost of your subscription can quickly skyrocket.

Smartlead vs. Woodpecker feature comparison

Pricing

Woodpecker offers 2 plans: Cold email and Agency. Both plans are priced identically, starting at $29 for contacting up to 500 leads. The difference between them is their intended use. The Cold Email plan is designed for individual users, while the Agency Plan allows multiple users to be added, with each additional user costing $27. 

Custom plans are available as well but require booking a call with the sales team.

Moreover, the added Dux-Soup subscription raises the cost. Depending on the plan, you’re looking at paying anywhere between the additional $14,99 and $99,00 a month.

6. Reply.io

Reply.io is a multichannel outreach tool that handles tasks across multiple channels, both automated and semi-automated. It also has a Chrome extension for finding and verifying emails.

In terms of automated actions, it can send emails and like recent LinkedIn posts. 

Meanwhile, actions such as profile views, connection requests, LinkedIn messages, and InMails can be both automated and semi-automated, depending on your setup.

However, keep in mind that Reply.io lets you create simple drip campaigns only with no conditions. This is a downside compared to Skylead’s Smart sequences.

The tool directly integrates with Pipedrive and HubSpot, but it also supports integrations via Zapier. 

For those who’d like to save additional time, the software has a collection of email and sequence templates. You can adjust them as you like and even split-test pre-made message copies against your own.

As for disadvantages, Reply.io’s smart inbox isn’t that advanced, unlike Skylead’s all-in-one inbox. To be precise, you can only use it to manage emails. To view and reply to LinkedIn messages and inMails, you’ll have to visit the platform directly.

At the risk of sounding repetitive, using Reply.io’s Chrome extension to find and verify your leads’ emails is risky. So, why use it when safer alternatives like Skylead exist?

Smartlead vs. Reply.io feature comparison

Pricing

• Free
• Starter: $59/mo per seat / 1 mailbox
• Professional: $99/mo per seat/ 5 mailboxes
• Ultimate: $139/mo per seat/ 15 mailboxes
• Custom Agency Plan: Starts at $166/mo per seat

7. Mailshake

Mailshake is a cloud-based software that you can use to send personalized emails and follow-ups at scale. It also features a Chrome extension that lets users tap into multichannel outreach by automating LinkedIn actions such as:

• Connection requests, 
• Profile views, 
• And messages.

As part of its multichannel outreach capabilities, Mailshake includes a Dialer for cold-calling prospects in the US and Canada. The Dialer lets you make calls and record phone conversations to analyze and improve campaign performance. 

Mailshake offers unlimited email warmups and A/B testing and integrates with Salesforce, Pipedrive, and HubSpot. It also supports over 1,000 integrations via Zapier webhooks.

The software is far from perfect, however. 

For instance, it doesn’t support inbox rotation. 

Simultaneously, LinkedIn automation and cold calling are only available with the highest-tier subscription. 

Finally, since a Chrome extension is involved in the process, if you use it, you risk getting your LinkedIn account restricted.

Smartlead vs. Mailshake feature comparison

Pricing

• Starter: $29/mo per seat
• Email Outreach: $59/mo per seat
• Sales Engagement: $99/mo per seat

8. Saleshandy

Saleshandy is another cloud-based tool designed to streamline cold email outreach. 

Its key features include email sequences, email scheduling, and email tracking. The software also supports split testing, allowing users to test up to 26 different subject lines, messages, and CTAs.

You can connect unlimited email accounts to Saleshandy. Unfortunately, while the software has inbox rotation, it lets you use a maximum of 50 emails in one campaign with the highest subscription. In contrast, Smartlead and Skylead have unlimited inbox rotation.

When it comes to prospecting, the tool has a pool of over 700M verified leads that you can search through and include in your outreach. It also features a Chrome extension that finds prospects’ emails on LinkedIn and even phone numbers at a higher cost. However, as we said many times before, using an extension can compromise the safety of your LinkedIn account.

Finally, while Saleshandy excels at email outreach, it doesn’t support reaching out to prospects via LinkedIn or other non-email channels. Therefore, you are better off choosing a more complete Smartlead alternative.

Smartlead vs. Saleshandy feature comparison

Pricing

Saleshandy comes with 4 different pricing plans and multiple sub-plans.

9. Snov.io

Snov.io is a cloud-based solution that lets you automate sending cold emails. Nevertheless, it also offers 2 Chrome extensions:

• One for finding prospects on LinkedIn;
• Another for finding their email addresses on the Internet.

One of its highlight features is the advanced email warm-up, compared to other email warm-up tools with limited functionalities. The tool initiates realistic email conversations, marks emails as important, reads them, and even moves them from spam to inbox to improve the sender’s reputation.

Similarly to other software on the list, you can connect unlimited email accounts to Snov.io. The software also supports inbox rotation, like Skylead, which improves deliverability. And thanks to its built-in CRM, there’s no need to pay for additional software.

Its advantages aside, Snov.io isn’t perfect primarily because:

1. It can only be used to reach prospects via email.
2. Its Chrome extension for prospecting may compromise the safety of your LinkedIn account.

Smartlead vs. Snov.io feature comparison

Pricing

• Trial: $0
• Starter: $39/mo per seat
• Pro: $99 / $189 / $369 / $738/mo per seat
• Managed Service: Starting at $3,999/mo per seat

10. Klenty

Klenty is a tool built to automate cold email campaigns, track emails, and warm up email addresses.

Nonetheless, it also supports multichannel outreach, allowing you to send SMS and WhatsApp messages, make calls, and/or perform basic LinkedIn actions like:

• Visiting profiles,
• Sending connection requests, 
• Messages,
• And inMails.

Klenty adjusts its approach to outreach smartly — through Playbooks. Playbooks are similar to Skylead’s Smart sequences in that they cover different outreach scenarios to meet prospects where they are in their journey.

Additionally, Klenty can find and verify prospects’ emails based on their name and company domain.

Despite its many features, Klenty lacks one of Skylead’s most prominent ones: image and GIF personalization. 

It may stand out among some other tools due to its comprehensive capabilities. However, the fact that it uses a Chrome extension for LinkedIn outreach sets it back immensely.

Smartlead vs. Klenty feature comparison

Pricing

Klenty offers quarterly and annual plans that are 20% cheaper.

• Startup: $60/mo per seat / billed quarterly
• Growth: $85/mo per seat / billed quarterly
• Pro: $125/mo per seat / billed quarterly
• Enterprise: Contact sales

11. Hunter.io

Hunter.io is a cloud-based platform that can seamlessly integrate with your workflow due to its native integrations with many tools and Google Sheets. 

It supports email outreach and offers readily available variables. These help you craft highly personalized emails that increase the likelihood of getting replies.

Hunter.io also has excellent email enrichment capability. In fact, it’s almost as successful in finding and verifying emails as Skylead. 

Unfortunately, the downside is that its email discovery and verification are not integrated into the outreach flow. This means you need to discover and verify emails first before creating a campaign. 

Additionally, Hunter.io is limited to email outreach only and does not support LinkedIn outreach.

Smartlead vs. Hunter.io feature comparison

Pricing

• Free: €0
• Starter: €49/mo for 3 email accounts
• Growth: €149/mo for 10 email accounts
• Business: €499/mo for 20 email accounts
• Enterprise: Contact sales

You can connect additional email accounts to the software. However, each will cost you an additional €10 per month. 

Furthermore, each plan comes with a set amount of email verification credits. Again, you can purchase more, but this will also cost extra.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

1. What is Smartlead AI?

Smartlead AI is one of the best cold email software designed to automate and streamline the process of sending personalized emails. It helps users manage email campaigns, warm up new email addresses, and track campaign performance.

2. What is Smartlead AI used for?

Smartlead is used for automating email outreach to generate leads and scale business operations. It allows users to create personalized email campaigns with automatic follow-ups and integrates with CRM systems like HubSpot. It is primarily used by lead generation agencies, marketing agencies, sales professionals, and recruiters.

3. How to cancel a Smartlead subscription?

To cancel your Smartlead subscription, firstly, log into your account. Then, navigate to the "Plans & Billing" section under "Settings," and click on “Subscription.” This is where you should see an option to cancel it. Click the button and follow the on-screen prompts to confirm the cancellation. For assistance or complete account deletion, you can also contact their customer support team.

Smartlead vs. alternatives: Which tool wins the race?

While Smartlead offers a range of features suitable for various outreach needs, its lack of multichannel outreach support and pricing makes it less than ideal. Thus, tools like Skylead, Lemlist, and Apollo, with their multichannel outreach features and more affordable pricing plans, make for compelling alternatives.

However, bear in mind that the software that works for one might not work for another. So, when deciding on the right tool to use for your outreach, choose the one based on your:

• Goals
• Budget
• Features you need

Of course, if you were to ask us which tool is the best, we’d say Skylead. And yes, we know we seem biased, considering it's ours. 

But why not give us a chance to prove to you that it really is the best Smartlead alternative? 

Take advantage of our 7-day free trial period, and we promise to sweep you off your feet so much that you never again consider using another software!

Are you thinking of launching your first automated outreach campaign to reach out to your leads, book meetings, distribute content, or find new clients, ideal candidates, and backlinking partners?

We’ve got your back!

In this blog, we’ll take you through the entire campaign creation process using our powerful LinkedIn automation tool and cold email software - Skylead - as an example.

We’ll even throw in some tips and tricks on achieving outreach success and cover use cases and outreach messages for every profession.

Let’s dive into it. 

What is an outreach campaign?

An outreach campaign is an automated campaign that uses tools to streamline all outreach activities, thus allowing individuals to connect with their target audience faster. People may initiate these for email and/or LinkedIn lead generation purposes. However, they also use outreach campaigns to find new clients, nurture relationships with existing clients/customers, increase brand visibility, or promote content.

In the past, outreach campaigns revolved around individuals contacting other individuals manually, typically over the phone. Fast forward to now, we have outreach tools like Skylead to handle the reaching out part — over multiple channels, nonetheless!

The benefits of setting up an outreach campaign

Outreach automation has revolutionized the workflow of countless people! Here’s why!

Firstly, there’s the time-saving aspect. Automated outreach campaigns can be real game-changers, saving you as much as 11+ hours per week on manual work. That’s an extra 6 days each month to focus on other tasks!

What’s more, with outreach campaigns running on autopilot, you can reach a larger audience in a shorter period. This allows you to allocate resources more effectively and, thus, improve overall productivity. You can even reach people you thought were unreachable before, as email enrichment features like Skylead’s email discovery & verification can be included in the campaign flow.

Yes, as your business grows, so will your outreach. But that’s not a reason to worry! You can automate multiple campaigns at the same time and scale without compromising quality.

Finally, automated campaigns ensure no lead falls through the cracks. The system keeps things moving, whether through personalized emails, follow-ups, LinkedIn messages, or inMails.

Outreach campaign use cases

Salespeople

Sales professionals are often seen juggling multiple leads at a time. With so many leads to manage, little time is left for other tasks, plus the risk of missing important messages increases. Outreach campaigns streamline the process and ensure consistent communication across multiple channels.

Sales reps can continuously create campaigns with thousands of leads to keep their calendars consistently full. These campaigns also allow them to automate various outreach tasks, leaving them only to respond to messages and book calls. 

Why does this matter, though? 

Because automating outreach tasks such as sending LinkedIn connection requests, inMails, messages, and emails helps sales professionals save +11 hours a week—hours they can now focus on lead nurturing.

Lastly, outreach campaigns permit salespeople to A/B test their messages. This allows them to see what works and what doesn’t, which in turn helps them optimize their campaigns for better results.

Marketers

When it comes to marketers, they can use outreach campaigns to:

• Generate leads for their sales teams;
• Find backlinking partners faster;
• Distribute content and reach wider audiences;
• Increase conversion — Marketers can leverage Skylead’s email discovery and verification feature to find their leads' email addresses. Once the tool finds and verifies emails, they can use them to create a lookalike audience on LinkedIn, Google Ads, and/or Facebook, which will result in better targeting and increased conversions;
• Expand their network and become thought leaders.

Recruiters

Manual cold outreach can be time-consuming for recruiters who are constantly scouting for the best talent. Thankfully, automation simplifies candidate engagement. 

That said, recruiters can set up automated sequences to:

• Generate a large pool of candidates and pick the best from the crowd;
• Speed up the hiring process;
• Target individuals attending specific job fairs;
• Personalize the outreach to keep candidates’ interest high.

Company founders and agency owners

Company founders and agency owners typically have a full plate of managing daily operations, strategizing business development, ensuring financial health, and more. Automated outreach campaigns lighten the load and accelerate revenue growth.

If you are a company founder and have a B2B product or service to sell, outreach campaigns can help you reach out to a wider pool of leads and find clients faster on autopilot.

Meanwhile, if you are offering lead generation services as an agency, you can often white-label the tool used for campaign creation and thus help yourself to another stream of income. Moreover, outreach campaigns can also help you generate new leads for yourself and your clients!

How to conduct an outreach campaign: Step-by-step guide

Now that we’ve covered the basics, it’s time to launch your first campaign! We’ll use our own tool, Skylead, to show you how you can use outreach tools to create one.

When you don’t know where to start…choose LinkedIn. 

Jokes aside, in this blog, we will make a LinkedIn search-based campaign to ease you into the entire outreach campaign creation process.

However, you should know that, when it comes to Skylead, options are far more extensive. Aside from LinkedIn search, you can target leads from a:

• Sales Navigator search
• Sales Navigator lead list
• Recruiter search, Talent pool, and Pipeline URL
• LinkedIn post
• LinkedIn event

You can also import them through:

• API,
• And a CSV file.

That said, here’s how to start creating your outreach campaign.

#1 Target your audience

Start by typing a keyword in the search area. 

We went by a job title.

After you click "People", choose the LinkedIn connection type you want your outreach campaign to target.

1st-degree connections are members with whom you are already connected on LinkedIn. Choose this connection type if you want to run a LinkedIn message campaign.

Meanwhile, 2nd-degree connections are leads you aren’t connected to but with whom you have mutual connections. You can’t send them a message right away. Instead, you need to connect with them first or reach out to them via LinkedIn inMail or email.

As for 3rd-degree connections, you aren’t connected to them either, but you also don’t have any mutual connections. Similarly to 2nd-degree connections, you can also reach them via email and/or inMail (free or paid).

Back to pinpointing your audience, you can also apply other filters to narrow down your search further (see the ‘’All Filters’’ option on the right).

Your search can result in thousands of leads, but LinkedIn limits the results to 100 pages, with 10 leads per page. So, if you create a LinkedIn search-based campaign, you can reach a maximum of 1000 people. However, if you're using Sales Navigator, the limit increases to 2,500 leads per campaign. Therefore, it is recommended that you narrow the list down as much as possible.

This is where defining your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and buyer persona comes in handy. 

Your ICP is the type of company that would benefit most from your product/service, and your buyer persona is a fictional representation of your ideal customer within that company, as informed by market research and actual customer data.

That said, define your ICP and buyer persona first and use the corresponding LinkedIn filters to find them. That's how you'll target the best leads!

#2 Import your leads

You’ve completed LinkedIn prospecting and carefully chosen your audience. What now? 

You proceed to build an outreach campaign!

To do so, firstly, go to your Skylead dashboard and locate the Campaigns page.

Once there, click ‘’Create new campaign’’.

Now, go back to LinkedIn and copy the search result URL.

Return to Skylead, insert your campaign name, and paste the link you just copied.

Under the URL, you’ll see a connection-type button. If you’ve selected the connection type on LinkedIn, Skylead will automatically recognize it. If not, you can select it now.

Click ‘’Next’’.

#3 Define outreach campaign settings

Now comes the time to define the settings for your outreach campaign.

On the left side, you’ll see 3 different types of settings:

• Email settings
• LinkedIn settings
• Global settings

Email settings

If you plan to use email outreach for your campaign, firstly, click the ‘’email settings’’ button. 

This is where you’ll notice 3 drop-down menus. 

Expand the first menu to select the email account(s) to use in your campaign. 

Skylead lets you add an unlimited number of email accounts at no extra cost. 

Once added, the software will auto-rotate them so you can send tens of thousands of emails per month. This way, you can bypass the email limit while protecting your domain.

The second menu gives you the option to choose a schedule that Skylead will follow for your email outreach.

Here, you can select your default schedule or create a new one. You can also manage your team’s schedule (unless you are a one-person team).

Lastly, it’s time to set up your email tracking preferences. 

With these options on, you can:

• Track the number of email link clicks
• Track the number of opened emails
• Authorize Skylead to send text-only emails (no HTML) with no visuals. However, if you turn this option on, you won’t be able to track opened emails and email link clicks.

LinkedIn settings

In terms of specific options, you can customize the LinkedIn part of your outreach with:

• Discover Premium LinkedIn accounts only — Turning this one on singles out leads that have a LinkedIn Premium account;
• Discover Leads with Open Profile status only — Select this, and the tool will exclude leads whose profile is set to ‘’Private’’ (aka leads who can only receive paid inMails).
• Collect contact information — With this option on, Skylead will collect all publicly available information from the lead’s LinkedIn profile. This option implies a “View profile” step. You don’t need to add it to your outreach campaign, though; it will be executed in the background.
• Remove leads with pending connection requests to exclude unresponsive leads.
• Refresh search automatically — Turn it on, and Skylead will periodically refresh your search results URL for new leads. Moreover, if they emerge, it will automatically add them to your campaign.

Global settings

Under global settings, you can define targeting options and schedule the start of your outreach campaign.

As for targeting options, you can choose to (or not):

• Include leads that replied to your messages—applies to leads you had a conversation with via LinkedIn messages, inMails, or emails.
• Include leads found in other campaigns from your and your team's seats—this is not applicable to your first campaign, so feel free to keep it turned off. However, if anyone on your team has run outreach campaigns in Skylead in the past, we suggest turning this option off.
• Discover new leads only—If turned off, this option can also include leads from other campaigns under your seat. As such, it’s not applicable to your first campaign. However, if this is your second campaign, keep it turned on to ensure you don’t have any duplicates.

Once you’ve determined the leads to target, select the date and time when your campaign will kick off.

💡 Pro tip: Make sure your campaign starts running (and keeps on running) during your leads’ working hours.

If you’re only interested in finding leads and their contact information for future outreach, click on the ‘’Discover Leads Only’’ button. Then, you can find them on your Leads page.

However, if you wish to reach them out on autopilot, continue to the ‘’Create sequence’’ button.

#4 Build a Smart sequence

Multichannel outreach is currently the most effective way of generating leads, and Smart sequences represent a groundbreaking realization of that path! 

It’s precisely these Smart sequences that make our outreach campaign flow. We are talking about an algorithm that lets you combine different actions and if/else conditions that unfold depending on the prospect’s behavior. But what for? To make sure you get to each of them as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Now, let’s create one, shall we?

After clicking the ‘’Create sequence’’ button, a pop-up will appear that prompts you to decide between using a sequence template or building a sequence from scratch.

You are welcome to browse through proven smart sequence templates that our team of experts made (and tested) for you. These are templates with real data that you can use immediately. 

But for the sake of this blog, we’ll show you how to create one yourself.

So, choose the ‘’From scratch’’ option.

Smart sequence builder

Upon entering the Smart sequence builder, this is what your dashboard will look like.

As you may see, there are actions and conditions on your right. 

Drag them one by one to the workspace dashboard and connect them in a coherent way to create your outreach flow! Don’t forget to set delays between the actions because they ensure human-like behavior and enhance your account security. 

Certain actions let you insert the message (Invite to Connect, Message, inMail, Email) and personalize it further using all the variables you need (preset and custom ones). You can also A/B test up to 5 different variants of your copy to determine which one resonates best with your leads.   

If you wish to further personalize inMails, emails, and LinkedIn messages, you can do so with Skylead’s native Image and GIF hyper-personalization feature.

To access it, click the ‘’Add image’’ button above the message editor.

Then, you’ll be taken to a library of templates. Hit the ''Create new template''. 

Next, upload the image you wish to edit.

After choosing an image, click ‘’Submit’’.

Then, a new window will open where you’ll have the option to add: 

• Your profile picture (extracted from LinkedIn)
• Your lead’s profile picture
• A custom logo
• Your lead’s logo
• Text

…and here’s what the final result can look like.

Of course, feel free to play around with the image editor as you see fit and create something that will keep those replies coming! 

Once you are happy with the steps, your copy, and delays, you can save your sequence as a template to reuse at a later date. 

Finally, click ‘’Start campaign,’’ and that’s it! Your outreach campaign has been successfully launched!

#5 Analyze and optimize your outreach campaign

The work doesn’t stop the moment you hit the ‘’Start campaign’’ button. In fact, after putting your outreach campaign in motion, it’s time to sit back and observe the results.

Luckily, Skylead has a nifty Reports page that lets you track performance in three different view modes:

1. Graph
2. Tabular
3. Step-by-step

Here, you can monitor different metrics, such as your connection request acceptance rate, email open and click rates, response rate, and more. 

The graph and table view differ from step-by-step campaign analysis in that they show daily fluctuations in metrics. As a result, they make it easy to spot patterns and trends. Once you’ve got a handle on these, you can fine-tune your ongoing campaign and make informed choices for the ones down the line.

On the flip side, a step-by-step breakdown really comes in handy when running A/B tests. The results produced by different variants are displayed side by side, making it simple to determine what messages work and should be used in your next campaign vs. those you should discard.

#6 Talk with your leads

Skylead automates the initial outreach. But remember, the goal is to spark conversations that you will take over. Once a lead responds, the sequence stops for them, and it’s your cue to jump in and build that relationship.

Luckily, Skylead makes it easy for you to manage these conversations! The software comes with a Smart inbox that consolidates all messages received via LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, Recruiter, and emails into one place. 

Moreover, to keep things organized, you can label your chats based on their status or any criteria that suit your workflow. This can help you prioritize your responses and measure your conversion rates.

Additionally, Skylead allows you to leave notes on your chats. These can be reminders to follow up, points to mention in the next interaction...or any other information that can help you personalize and enhance the conversation.

Tips for a successful outreach campaign

Now you know how to set up your outreach campaign and what to look out for. However, you have yet to learn how to make the most of your outreach.

Personalize your messages

People are more likely to respond to personalized outreach messages that feel relevant to them. So, take the time to customize your messages based on the information you have about your leads. 

With Skylead, you can reach a whole new level of personalization in cold outreach. Use pre-defined variables, add custom ones if using a CSV file as a lead source, and don’t forget to take advantage of our image & GIF hyper-personalization feature. They can increase your response rate up to 63%!

Feeling uninspired? Head over to our blog to explore personalized image and GIF templates that improve response rate!

Follow up in due time

Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get a response right away. Sometimes, all it takes is a well-timed follow-up message. However, be mindful of the frequency of your follow-ups to avoid coming off as spammy. The golden rule is to wait between 2 and 5 days from the initial message. And if you aren’t sure how to write a follow up email after no response, we have a handy guide to help you out!

Outreach campaign examples and templates for each role

Remember how Skylead came with the premade templates for you to use? Here, we’re sharing some of the best-performing sequence and message templates applicable to each role and different situations.

Sequence for sales professionals

If you want to target someone in an alternative way, why not use a viral LinkedIn post that your target audience has commented on? 

In that case, you can use this template to reach out to leads who have engaged with it.

We tested it out, and our results were:

• 76% acceptance rate
• 35% reply rate
• 85% open rate

Furthermore, you’ll find every step comes with a corresponding message that you can tweak as you like.

Outreach campaign template for marketers

Feel like targeting your website visitors? You might like this sequence template, which aims to do precisely that! However, feel free to use the message templates that come with it, as well!

For this one, we had a whopping:

• 43% acceptance rate
• 23% reply rate
• 71% open rate

Template for company founders and agency owners

Check out this template specifically designed for reaching out to B2B founders.

We’ve run the numbers and found that, with it, our acceptance rate was 44%, reply rate 29%, and open rate 82%!

LinkedIn outreach template for recruiters

For example, let’s say you wish to reach out to your perfect candidate for the job in your company. In that case, your LinkedIn connection request can sound like this:

Hey {{firstName}},

My name is {{yourName}}, and we’re currently seeking a {{Occupation}}, and I truly believe that this role offers you a platform to leverage your skills and make a significant impact at our company. 

I’d be happy to share more details about the role and benefits we offer.

Choose to use it, and you might see results similar to ours, which were:

• Acceptance rate 79%
• Reply rate 46%

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

1. What metrics or KPIs are most important to track the success of an outreach campaign?

Key metrics to focus on include response rate, conversion rate, and ROI. These indicators help gauge engagement, effectiveness in converting prospects, and the overall financial efficiency of the campaign.

2. How do you conduct an outreach campaign?

To conduct an outreach campaign, define your target audience and choose the appropriate channels. Create a structured plan, personalize messages, and use automation for efficiency. Monitor important metrics to adjust strategies and follow up regularly to maintain engagement and improve response rates.

3. How can you segment the audience for different types of outreach campaigns?

For successful segmentation, you must understand and divide your audience based on factors like industry, job role, company size, and past interactions. This will ensure your messages resonate more effectively with each segment and will reflect positively on response rates and campaign relevance.

4. What are the common challenges or pitfalls in managing automated outreach campaigns, and how can they be avoided?

Common challenges include impersonal communication and message fatigue among recipients. To avoid these, make sure email and LinkedIn automation tools of your choice mimic human interaction patterns, use varied content, and regularly update messaging strategies to maintain personalization.

Ready to splash into outreach waters?

As our guide comes to an end, it marks the beginning of your cold outreach journey. 

All it takes is that first outreach campaign to get you started, and it's just a couple of clicks away.

But remember, cold outreach isn't a one-and-done type of process. In other words, you can't just build your campaign, launch it, and be done with it. It's what comes after launch that actually matters.

So, in the aftermath of creating an outreach campaign, pay a close eye on the results it brings. But don't get discouraged if everything doesn't go as planned! Instead, observe the data, learn from it, and use it to improve your subsequent outreach efforts. 

And you know what the best thing is? Skylead comes with a free 7-day trial period that you can use to test out the outreach waters. Create your account now, build that sequence, and watch as your outreach — and conversions — skyrocket!

Gone are the days of going through business cards, calling prospects left and right only to close a deal. Over the years, numerous sales outreach tools have emerged, all aimed at streamlining prospecting and lead generation.

Yet, because there are so many of them, today's sales reps are often at a crossroads, wondering which tool they would benefit the most from.

To help you choose, we've tested the top cold outreach solutions on the market and are sharing our two cents. 

So, if you are looking for the perfect outreach software for sales, brace yourself—the ultimate breakdown of tools is coming!

Sales outreach tools overview

What are sales outreach tools?

Sales outreach tools are software or platforms designed to facilitate and streamline the sales outreach process. These tools automate repetitive tasks, such as sending connection requests on LinkedIn and follow-up emails, leaving you with more time to focus on researching and nurturing your leads to conversion.

To clarify, with sales outreach tools, sales teams can:

• Get to more prospects faster,
• Maximize touchpoints through multichannel outreach,
• Personalize communication,
• Segment prospects according to their stage in the sales funnel,
• and close more deals.