Cold email software compared: Smartlead, Instantly, lemlist and Apollo (2026)
Disclosure: AI Sales Bench has offered paid directory listings to Apollo, Smartlead, Instantly and lemlist. None has bought one, none paid for this video or post, and none saw the script. No affiliate links.
In short: If you're choosing a cold email tool for a small sales team, you need two answers: which one fits, and what it will really cost. Smartlead and Instantly both include unlimited email accounts for sending from many inboxes. lemlist adds LinkedIn, calls and SMS to email. Apollo helps you find leads, with email campaigns built in, and has a free plan. The real price depends on three numbers: emails a month, contacts loaded, and people who log in.
Prices were accurate when we re-checked each vendor's pricing page on 18 October 2026, but they change, so check the latest pricing and terms before you buy. To keep it concrete, we use Layla: she's invented, but you may recognise her situation. She runs a small company with two salespeople, so three people will log in, and she wants to send cold email every week.
Do these four tools all do the same job?
They don't, and that matters more than the price.
- Smartlead and Instantly both include unlimited email accounts, for sending from many inboxes.
- lemlist adds LinkedIn, calls and SMS to your email.
- Apollo helps you find leads, with email campaigns built in.
Smartlead: price, more volume, strengths and limits
Smartlead's Base plan is $39 a month, or $32 a month if you pay yearly. That includes unlimited email accounts, 2,000 contacts and 6,000 email sends a month.
What if you need more? For more than 6,000 sends a month, the pricing page lists the Pro plan: $94 a month, or $78 yearly, for 30,000 contacts and 90,000 sends. For Layla, that means checking her monthly volume before choosing Base or Pro.
Strengths: Smartlead's pricing page lists unlimited email accounts on every plan, with no charge per mailbox, 17% off for yearly billing, and a free trial. Limits: the pricing page lists 6,000 sends a month on the Base plan, a free trial, with no free plan among the plans it lists, and email verification as a paid add-on on the Base plan.
Instantly: price, lead data, strengths and limits
Is its price one number or two? Two, because Instantly sells sending and lead data separately. The Outreach Growth plan is $47 a month, or $37.60 yearly, with unlimited email accounts and warm-up, 1,000 uploaded contacts and 5,000 emails a month. If you need more, Hypergrowth is $97 a month, or $77.60 yearly, with 25,000 uploaded contacts.
Lead data sits on its own plan. The Credits plan starts from $47 a month on monthly billing, with a database of more than 450 million B2B leads. Or you can buy both together in the Starter bundle, at $94 a month on monthly billing.
Strengths: Instantly's pricing page lists unlimited email accounts and warm-up, a database of more than 450 million B2B leads, and a bundle with both under one price. Limits: the pricing page lists 1,000 contacts and 5,000 emails a month on the Growth plan, and lead data as a separate plan, also in the Starter bundle at $94 a month, so compare like with like.
lemlist: price, per-user cost, strengths and limits
lemlist's Email plan is $69 a month, or $55 yearly, and that one price covers unlimited users and senders, an email and phone finder, and a database of more than 650 million leads. For Layla, adding her two salespeople adds nothing to the bill.
The cost grows when you move up a plan. The Multichannel plan adds LinkedIn automation, SMS and a built-in dialler, and it's priced per user: $109 a month per user, or $87 yearly. For Layla, that's three times $109 every month.
Strengths: lemlist's pricing page lists unlimited users on the Email plan, LinkedIn, SMS and calls on the Multichannel plan, credits that roll over while you stay subscribed, and a 14-day trial of the Multichannel features. Limits: the pricing page lists the Email plan from $69 a month, or $55 yearly, and the Multichannel plan priced per user.
Apollo: free plan, per-seat cost, strengths and limits
Can you really start for free? Yes: Apollo has a free plan, and says it stays free with no time limit. Email campaigns are included on every account, but on the free plan you can only connect Gmail.
What happens when the team joins? Paid plans are priced per seat, and every seat must be on the same plan. Basic is $65 per seat a month, or $49 yearly, and Professional is $99 per seat a month, or $79 yearly. For Layla's team on Basic, that's three times $65 every month.
Strengths: Apollo's pricing page lists a free plan that it says stays free with no time limit, tools to find leads, and email campaigns on every account. Limits: the pricing page lists paid plans priced per seat, with every seat on the same plan, credits that reset each billing cycle without rolling over, and add-on credits that renew automatically until removed.
Which one suits you?
| Tool | Entry price on its pricing page (monthly / yearly billing) | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Smartlead | Base $39 / $32 a month | Teams that already have their lists and want to send at volume from many inboxes, without paying per mailbox |
| Instantly | Outreach Growth $47 / $37.60 a month; lead data on a separate plan | A similar team that may also want lead data, in one bundle |
| lemlist | Email $69 / $55 a month | Teams that work email, LinkedIn and calls together, or want unlimited users on email |
| Apollo | Free plan; Basic $65 / $49 per seat a month | Anyone starting from scratch who needs to find leads first and wants to try it for free |
How to choose: three numbers
Here's how Layla decides. She writes down three numbers: the emails she'll send each month, the contacts she'll load, and the people who'll log in. Then she finds the first plan on each tool that covers all three, and that's her real price, which is often not the big number at the top of the page. Finally, she trials her top two on the same list, with the same copy.
How we wrote this
We don't claim to have tested these tools. Every figure comes from each vendor's public, logged-out pricing page, re-checked on 18 October 2026 (Apollo's Basic price was $59 on 17 October and $65 on 18 October). Prices were accurate when we made the video and this post; check the latest pricing and terms on each vendor's site before you buy. Apollo, Smartlead, Instantly and lemlist are trademarks of their respective owners. AI Sales Bench is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them.
Sources
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