The best cold email software depends on how you send. Instantly is the simplest way to send at volume, Smartlead fits agencies running many clients, Email Bison gives you dedicated IPs, and PlusVibe gets you the most emails per dollar. Lemlist, Saleshandy and Woodpecker cover multichannel outreach, small teams and deliverability. Each card below gives the price and trial terms, and the last section covers what to pair with your sender once replies come in.
Starting prices are each vendor's monthly billing rate for its cheapest paid plan.
Method
How we picked
Vendor pricing
Every price comes from the vendor's own pricing page, on monthly billing unless a line says yearly.
Sending limits
Emails a month and contacts per plan, and whether you pay per mailbox or per seat.
Warmup
Whether warmup is included, capped or sold as an add-on.
Agency workspaces
Can each client get a separate workspace, and what does one more client cost?
Reply handling
Where replies land, which plans let you answer them, and whether the API exposes them.
1Instantly, best for simple high-volume sending
Instantly homepage
Instantly charges by emails sent and contacts uploaded, never by mailbox. Every plan includes unlimited email accounts and unlimited warmup, so adding a batch of new inboxes for a client leaves the bill where it was.
Growth costs $47 a month for 5,000 emails and 1,000 uploaded contacts. Hypergrowth, at $97, raises that to 125,000 emails and 25,000 contacts. Light Speed, at $358, covers 500,000 emails and adds a dedicated server with IP rotation. Go past a limit and you move up a tier, with no overage charge.
Read the feature list closely if replies matter to you. On Growth, the Unibox (Instantly's reply inbox) is preview-only, and answering inside the app starts at Hypergrowth. The AI Reply Agent draws on Instantly Credits, a separate subscription, at 5 credits per reply.
Best for
Teams that send a lot from many inboxes and don't want to pay per mailbox
Strengths
Unlimited email accounts and warmup on every plan
No overage charges, you upgrade instead
14-day trial with 1,000 emails and no card
API access on all plans
Weaknesses
Unibox is preview-only on Growth
Webhooks start at Hypergrowth
AI agents need the separate Credits subscription
Pricing
Growth $47, Hypergrowth $97 and Light Speed $358 a month. Enterprise is priced on request.
2Smartlead, best for agencies running many clients
Smartlead homepage
Smartlead prices on send volume and verified prospect emails, with unlimited email accounts on every plan. Base is $39 a month for 6,000 sends and 2,000 contacts. Pro is $94 for 90,000 sends, Unlimited Smart is $174 for 150,000, and Unlimited Prime is $379 for 500,000. Annual billing takes 17% off.
The agency side starts at Pro. Each client workspace is a $29 monthly add-on, and Smartlead says the same add-on lets you brand the platform as your own. Unlimited Prime includes 3 client workspaces, 3 dedicated SmartServers, a dedicated manager and a private Slack channel. For the per-client cost against Instantly, see Instantly vs Smartlead for agencies.
API access and webhooks also begin at Pro. If you plan to pipe replies into another tool, budget for Pro from day one, since Base has neither.
Best for
Agencies that want each client in a separate, brandable workspace
Strengths
Unlimited email accounts on every plan
Client workspaces with your branding from $29 each
Dedicated servers as a $39 monthly add-on
Free trial with no card and no long-term contract
Weaknesses
Base has no API, webhooks or client workspaces
Workspace costs rise with every client
Verified prospect emails are a $59 add-on on Base and Pro
Pricing
Base $39, Pro $94, Unlimited Smart $174 and Unlimited Prime $379 a month, 17% less on annual billing.
Email Bison sells a single plan: $599 a month for 500,000 emails. Sending runs on isolated infrastructure with dedicated IPs, and warmup, API access and real-time webhooks come with it.
Everything except send volume is unlimited. Leads, workspaces and teammates carry no per-seat fee, so an agency can give every client its own workspace with its own leads and sending setup. Past 500,000 emails you buy extra monthly buckets.
The pricing page lists no self-serve trial. You start by booking a demo, and support runs through a private Slack channel with 1:1 onboarding and migration help.
Best for
Agencies sending hundreds of thousands of emails a month that want their own IPs
Strengths
Dedicated IPs on the only plan
Unlimited workspaces, leads and teammates
Full API plus real-time webhooks
Weaknesses
$599 entry price is steep for a small client roster
No free trial listed, a demo comes first
No G2 profile to check reviews against
Pricing
$599 a month for 500,000 emails, then extra monthly buckets.
No G2 profile found
4PlusVibe, best for budget-conscious teams
PlusVibe homepage
PlusVibe gives you the most sending per dollar on this list. Personal is $37 a month for 25,000 emails and 30,000 active leads. Business is $77 for 150,000 emails and 100,000 active leads. Yearly billing gets you 2 months free, which works out to $30.8 and $64.2 a month.
Business adds AI reply agents, webhooks and API access. Agency starts at $497 a month and brings an isolated sending server, dedicated client workspaces and white labeling for each client, while extra workspaces on smaller plans start at $29 a month.
Every plan has a unified inbox and AI reply sentiment detection, and enrichment credits are bundled in (1,000 a month on Personal). The 14-day trial needs no card, though it caps you at 1,000 emails and 3 email accounts.
Best for
Small agencies and founders who need volume on a tight budget
Strengths
25,000 emails for $37 a month
Warmup and a unified inbox on every plan
Enrichment credits included
Weaknesses
Dedicated client workspaces need the Agency plan or add-ons
Agency plan starts at $497
Trial limited to 3 email accounts
Pricing
Personal $37, Business $77 and Agency from $497 a month. Yearly billing gives 2 months free.
Pick Lemlist when email is only part of the sequence. The Email plan costs $69 a month ($55 on yearly billing) for 50,000 emails, with unlimited users and senders, warmup and a deliverability hub.
Multichannel, at $109 a month ($87 yearly), adds LinkedIn, SMS and calling, with WhatsApp as an add-on and 5 senders per user. Both plans come with a 650M+ lead database and an email and phone finder, so prospecting and sending sit in one place.
For an email-only agency, a lot of that goes unused and you still pay for it. The 14-day trial is the cheap way to find out whether the extra channels earn their keep.
Best for
Teams running email, LinkedIn and calls in one sequence
Strengths
LinkedIn, SMS and calls on Multichannel
Built-in lead database and finder
Unlimited users on the Email plan
Weaknesses
Costs more than email-only senders
WhatsApp is an extra add-on
Lead enrichment is a separate add-on from $20 a month
Pricing
Email $69 and Multichannel $109 a month. Quarterly billing saves 10%, yearly 20%.
Starter costs $41 a month ($34 billed yearly) for 6,000 emails, 2,000 active prospects and 1 user. Pro, at $99 ($76 yearly), moves you to 100,000 emails, 30,000 active prospects and 10 users. Scale, at $189 ($149 yearly), adds unlimited users, 200,000 emails and white label for agencies.
Every plan has unlimited email accounts, unlimited warmup, a unified inbox and API access. Lead Finder credits come bundled, starting at 1,500 a month on Starter, and seats are never billed per user.
The 7-day trial needs no card, but trial sending stops at 100 emails. That is enough to test setup, not deliverability.
Best for
Small sales teams that want sending and lead data on one bill
Strengths
Unlimited email accounts and warmup
Lead data credits included
Seats come with the plan
Weaknesses
1 user on Starter
White label only on Scale
Short trial capped at 100 emails
Pricing
Starter $41, Pro $99 and Scale $189 a month, or $34, $76 and $149 on yearly billing.
7Woodpecker, best for deliverability-first senders
Woodpecker homepage
Woodpecker builds around inbox placement. Adaptive sending, a deliverability monitor, sending randomization, a spam words checker and a domain audit for SPF and DKIM are all in the product, and email verification, catch-all checks included, is free and unlimited.
The Email plan is $39 a month for 5,000 emails, or $26 on annual billing, a 33% saving. It includes 3 warmups, unlimited email accounts and unlimited team members. Multichannel, at $68, adds LinkedIn steps to the same campaign.
Replies get sorted by AI interest level, and out-of-office messages are filtered automatically. Managing clients needs the Agency Panel, sold as an add-on. The free trial lasts 14 days or 500 cold emails, whichever comes first.
Best for
Senders who care more about landing in the inbox than raw volume
Strengths
Free, unlimited email verification
Adaptive sending and a deliverability monitor
Unlimited email accounts and team members
Weaknesses
5,000 emails on the entry plan
Only 3 warmups before add-ons
Client management is a paid add-on
Pricing
Email $39 and Multichannel $68 a month, or $26 and $55 on annual billing.
Every tool above is built to send. The trouble starts after the send. One client runs on Instantly, another on Smartlead, a third on Email Bison, and each one has its own reply inbox to watch. Interested leads, out-of-office notes and referrals end up in different tabs, and a reply nobody opens never becomes a meeting.
Revbound doesn't send cold email, which is why it isn't in the ranking. It pulls replies from Instantly, Smartlead, Email Bison, PlusVibe, SendKit and ArcSend into one inbox and sorts them with AI: interested, meeting requested, out of office, referral, not interested. It drafts or sends the answer and offers times that are free on your Cal.com or Google Calendar, and when the lead says yes, Revbound books the meeting.
Revbound Unibox
The follow-ups run on their own too. Revbound writes back when an out-of-office lead returns (useful in Q4, when holiday out of office messages fill the inbox), contacts the person a lead points you to, and keeps following up for about two months (our cold email follow up guide covers the timing and templates behind that). Agency and up adds client workspaces, client reports and meeting proof.
Pair it with
Instantly, Smartlead, Email Bison or PlusVibe from this list, or SendKit and ArcSend. Mailboxes connect from Gmail or Outlook.
What it adds
One inbox for every sequencer and client
AI labels on every reply
Answers with free calendar times
Out-of-office and referral follow-ups
Honest limits
Does not read Lemlist, Saleshandy or Woodpecker replies
No LinkedIn, SMS or CRM sync
Newer and smaller than every sender here
Plans are Solo $49, Agency $99 and Connector $149 a month with unlimited clients, AI included and month to month; the details are on Revbound's pricing page. If you're weighing reply inboxes rather than senders, the Master Inbox alternative comparison covers that choice.
Pricing
Cold email software pricing compared
Tool
Entry plan
Next plan
Top published plan
Longer billing
Revbound reads its replies
Instantly
Growth, $47
Hypergrowth, $97
Light Speed, $358
Yearly option offered
Yes
Smartlead
Base, $39
Pro, $94
Unlimited Prime, $379
17% off yearly
Yes
Email Bison
One plan, $599
Extra monthly buckets
One plan, $599
None listed
Yes
PlusVibe
Personal, $37
Business, $77
Agency, from $497
2 months free yearly
Yes
Lemlist
Email, $69
Multichannel, $109
Enterprise, on request
10% off quarterly, 20% yearly
No
Saleshandy
Starter, $41
Pro, $99
Scale, $189
Starter $34 a month yearly
No
Woodpecker
Email, $39
Multichannel, $68
Scale, on request
33% off annual
No
Monthly billing in USD, per account. Add-ons such as extra workspaces, mailboxes and data credits cost extra.
FAQ
Cold email software questions
What is the best cold email software for agencies?
For agencies with many clients, Smartlead fits best: client workspaces are a $29 monthly add-on from the Pro plan ($94 a month), and Unlimited Prime includes 3. Agencies sending more than 500,000 emails a month on dedicated IPs should look at Email Bison at $599 a month. Instantly suits agencies that mainly need volume across many inboxes.
Is Instantly or Smartlead better for cold email?
Instantly is simpler and includes unlimited email accounts, warmup and API access on every plan from $47 a month. Smartlead starts lower at $39 but keeps API access, webhooks and client workspaces for Pro ($94) and up. Pick Instantly for one brand sending at volume, and Smartlead for an agency with separate clients.
What is the cheapest cold email software?
On monthly billing, PlusVibe Personal gives the most volume for the money: 25,000 emails for $37 a month. Smartlead Base costs $39 for 6,000 emails, and Woodpecker drops to $26 a month on annual billing for 5,000 emails. Free trials run from 7 days on Saleshandy to 14 days on Instantly, PlusVibe, Lemlist and Woodpecker.
Do I need a separate tool to manage cold email replies?
Not if you run one sequencer and answer every reply yourself, since each sender has its own reply inbox. Once replies come from several sequencers or several clients, a separate reply tool saves checking each inbox. Revbound pulls replies from Instantly, Smartlead, Email Bison, PlusVibe, SendKit and ArcSend into one inbox and books meetings from free calendar times, from $49 a month.
Which cold email tools include warmup?
Instantly and Saleshandy include unlimited warmup on every plan. Smartlead, Email Bison and Lemlist include warmup in their plans, and PlusVibe includes basic warmup on Personal and advanced warmup on Business. Woodpecker includes 3 warmups and sells more as an add-on.
Do cold email tools charge per mailbox?
Most of the leading ones do not. Instantly, Smartlead, Saleshandy and Woodpecker include unlimited email accounts on every plan, and Lemlist's Email plan includes unlimited senders. Their prices are set by emails sent and contacts stored instead.
Does Revbound send cold emails?
No. Revbound is not a sender. Campaigns keep running in Instantly, Smartlead, Email Bison, PlusVibe, SendKit or ArcSend, and Revbound handles the replies: it sorts them, answers interested leads and books the meeting. Plans start at $49 a month with a 3-day free trial.
Instantly, Smartlead, Email Bison, PlusVibe, Lemlist, Saleshandy and Woodpecker are trademarks of their owners, and Revbound is not affiliated with them. Prices are published list prices and can change, so confirm them on each vendor's pricing page before you buy.
Three days free
Whichever sender you pick, Revbound handles the replies
Connect Instantly, Smartlead, Email Bison or PlusVibe and a calendar. Revbound pulls every reply into one inbox, answers interested leads and books the meetings.
