Instantly vs Smartlead: which is better for your agency?
Instantly is the simpler sender: unlimited mailboxes and warmup on every plan from $47 a month, but each client workspace needs its own subscription. Smartlead is built around one agency account: plans start at $39, and client workspaces cost $29 a month each from the $94 Pro plan. For a few clients and plain email volume, pick Instantly. For many clients under one login, pick Smartlead. Running both? Revbound pulls the replies from Instantly and Smartlead into one inbox and books the meetings.
from $47/mo
from $39/mo
- Choose Instantly if you run a handful of clients, want the quickest setup and like having a 450M+ contact database (SuperSearch) next to the sender.
- Choose Smartlead if you manage many clients from one login, want client workspaces under your own brand, or mix email, LinkedIn and calls in one sequence.
- Entry plans: Instantly Growth $47 a month, Smartlead Base $39. Replying inside Instantly's Unibox starts on Hypergrowth ($97). Smartlead's API, webhooks and client workspaces start on Pro ($94).
- At 10 clients, one Instantly Hypergrowth workspace per client costs $970 a month. Smartlead Pro plus 10 workspace add-ons costs $384, though Pro's 90,000 sends are shared by every client.
- Verdict: past five clients, Smartlead is the better fit for most agencies. Instantly wins on simplicity, built-in lead data and send volume per client.
Instantly vs Smartlead side by side
| Instantly | Smartlead | |
|---|---|---|
| Price and contract | ||
| Entry plan | Growth, $47 / month: 5,000 emails, 1,000 contacts | Base, $39 / month: 6,000 sends, 2,000 contacts |
| Middle plan | Hypergrowth, $97 / month: 125,000 emails, 25,000 contacts | Pro, $94 / month: 90,000 sends, 30,000 contacts |
| Top self-serve plan | Light Speed, $358 / month: 500,000 emails | Unlimited Prime, $379 / month: 500,000 sends |
| Billing | Monthly or yearly | Monthly or yearly (17% off), cancel any time |
| Free trial | 14 days, no card, 1,000 emails | Yes, no card |
| Sending and deliverability | ||
| Mailboxes | Unlimited on every plan | Unlimited on every plan |
| Warmup | Unlimited on every plan | Included, pool tier rises with the plan |
| Dedicated infrastructure | SISR server and IP rotation on Light Speed | SmartServers at $39 a month each from Pro |
| Agency | ||
| Client workspaces | Yes, each workspace needs its own subscription | $29 a month each from Pro, 3 included on Unlimited Prime |
| White label | Not listed on the pricing page | Comes with the client workspace add-on |
| Team members | Invites from Hypergrowth | No per-seat pricing |
| Replies, data and integrations | ||
| Reply inbox | Unibox, one per workspace. Preview-only on Growth | Master Inbox across every mailbox and client |
| AI reply handling | AI Reply Agent, 5 credits per reply on a separate credits plan | Inbox Agent triages replies |
| API and webhooks | API on every plan, webhooks from Hypergrowth | Both from Pro, none on Base |
| LinkedIn actions listed in its CRM | Email, LinkedIn and calls in one sequence | |
| CRM | Own AI CRM. HubSpot and Salesforce through OutboundSync | CRM access from Pro. HubSpot and Salesforce integrations |
| Lead database | SuperSearch, 450M+ B2B contacts, on Instantly Credits | SmartProspect verified emails, included from Unlimited Smart |
Monthly list prices from each vendor's pricing page. Smartlead's per-seat line comes from its pricing notes, which say plans are not priced per seat or per mailbox.
Instantly vs Smartlead pricing as you add clients
The two tools bill agencies in opposite ways. Instantly's help center says each workspace requires its own subscription, so a new client means a new plan. Smartlead keeps one account and charges $29 a month for each client workspace, starting on Pro.
| Clients | Instantly Growth per client | Instantly Hypergrowth per client | Smartlead Pro + add-ons | Smartlead Unlimited Smart + add-ons |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | $235 / month | $485 / month | $239 / month | $319 / month |
| 10 | $470 / month | $970 / month | $384 / month | $464 / month |
| 20 | $940 / month | $1,940 / month | $674 / month | $754 / month |
Instantly: one workspace per client at $47 (Growth) or $97 (Hypergrowth). Smartlead: one account at $94 (Pro) or $174 (Unlimited Smart) plus one $29 workspace add-on per client. Monthly billing, before any yearly discount.
Read the volume before the price. Every Instantly Hypergrowth workspace includes 125,000 emails a month for that client alone. Smartlead Pro's 90,000 sends are shared by the whole roster, which works out to 4,500 sends per client at 20 clients. Heavy senders end up on Unlimited Smart (150,000 sends) or Unlimited Prime (500,000), and the gap narrows.
Growth looks cheap per client, with a catch for agencies: its Unibox is preview-only, so your team cannot answer replies inside Instantly until that workspace moves to Hypergrowth.
Deliverability and warmup
Both tools give you unlimited mailboxes and warmup, so the difference sits in the warmup network and in what you can buy on top.
Instantly
Warmup is unlimited on every plan. Instantly's warmup page puts its pool at over 1,000,000 real email accounts and lists read emulation, a slow ramp and a deliverability dashboard. Light Speed ($358 a month) adds SISR, a dedicated server with IP rotation. You can also buy pre-warmed Google accounts at $10 a month and domains at $15 a year inside the app.
Smartlead
Smartlead runs a private pool that only vetted senders get into, and the tier rises with your plan: Foundation on Base, Growth on Pro, Premium on Unlimited Smart and Unlimited Prime. Dedicated SmartServers cost $39 a month each from Pro, inbox placement testing (SmartDelivery) starts at $49 a month, and pre-warmed Google mailboxes are $9 a month.
Each vendor says its warmup lifts inbox placement, and neither figure is independent. Run a placement test on your own domains before you move a client across, and put the first email through an email spam checker so the copy is not the problem.
Instantly Unibox vs Smartlead Master Inbox
This is where agencies feel the difference every day, because replies are the part clients pay for.
Instantly Unibox
The Unibox collects replies from every mailbox connected to a workspace, groups threads, tags them with AI reply labels such as Interested or Not Interested, and lets you assign them to teammates. On Growth it is preview-only. Full in-app replies and custom labels start on Hypergrowth, and a View / VA role lets an assistant answer Unibox messages without touching billing.
Two catches. The Unibox lives inside one workspace, and Instantly's help center says you can't view consolidated data from multiple workspaces in one dashboard, so 10 clients means 10 inboxes to check. The AI Reply Agent also bills separately: 5 Instantly Credits per reply, and the $9 Nano credits plan covers 30 replies a month.
Smartlead Master Inbox
Smartlead's Master Inbox shows replies from every mailbox and every client under one login. It tags out-of-office, bounce and unsubscribe replies on its own, filters by campaign, sender or reply type, and can route an interested lead into a follow-up sequence or a booking calendar when a keyword appears. Replies can be assigned with internal comments, pushed to a CRM, or announced in Slack, and the client dashboards can carry your brand.
For an agency with many clients, the Master Inbox is the stronger reply inbox, mostly because it spans clients. One naming note: Smartlead's feature shares a name with Master Inbox (masterinbox.com), a separate reply tool. If that is the one you are weighing, read our Master Inbox alternative breakdown.
Agency features: sub-accounts, white label, client reporting
Sub-accounts
Instantly keeps each client's leads, campaigns and inbox in a separate workspace. Workspace groups let one admin workspace manage the others, share a Hyper Credits plan and move email accounts between them. Team invites need Hypergrowth or Light Speed, with Owner, Admin, Editor and View / VA roles.
Smartlead puts every client workspace under one account. The add-on is $29 a month per client from Pro, and Unlimited Prime ($379) includes 3 workspaces, 3 SmartServers, a dedicated manager and a private Slack channel.
White label
Smartlead says the same $29 workspace add-on lets an agency brand the platform as its own, and its Master Inbox page describes white-labeled client dashboards. Instantly's pricing page lists no white-label option.
Client reporting
Instantly's agency page promotes shareable per-client reports. Smartlead tracks reply volume, bounce rate, out-of-office trends and interest levels, and gives clients the branded dashboard above.
The sentiment on Reddit matches the setup. A common take in r/DigitalMarketingTools: "Instantly is easier to spin up fast, while Smartlead gives you more control and tends to be more stable long term."
Choose Instantly or Smartlead
Choose Instantly if
- You run a few clients and want the quickest setup
- You want SuperSearch's 450M+ B2B contacts in the same tool as the sender
- Each client should carry its own plan and bill
- A single client needs high volume: Hypergrowth includes 125,000 emails for that workspace alone
Choose Smartlead if
- You manage many clients and want them all under one login
- Clients expect a dashboard under your brand
- Your sequences mix email, LinkedIn and calls
- You want warmup tiers and dedicated servers you can buy as you grow
- You want the lower entry price, $39 a month on Base
Still shortlisting senders? Our cold email software rankings put both next to Email Bison, PlusVibe and three more.
Running both? One inbox for every reply
Instantly and Smartlead replies in one list
It happens more than you would think: one client insists on Instantly, the next arrives with a Smartlead account. That splits replies across a Unibox per Instantly workspace plus Smartlead's Master Inbox.
Revbound reads replies from Instantly and Smartlead, plus Email Bison, PlusVibe, SendKit and ArcSend, and puts them in one inbox. Your campaigns keep running where they are.
Sorted, answered and booked
Revbound's AI sorts each reply as interested, meeting requested, out of office, referral or not interested. For interested leads it drafts an answer for review or sends it on its own, offers times that are free on your Cal.com or Google Calendar, and books the meeting when the lead says yes.
Out-of-office leads get a follow-up when they return, referrals get contacted, and long follow-ups keep going for about two months. For what to send at each step, see these cold email follow up templates.
One flat price across both tools
Revbound Connector is $149 a month with unlimited clients, month to month, with the AI included. Client workspaces, client reports and meeting proof come with Agency ($99) and up. See every Revbound plan.
Be clear on what it is not. Revbound does not send cold email, does not handle LinkedIn replies and does not sync to a CRM. It is also newer and smaller than either sender, with fewer integrations.
Instantly vs Smartlead questions
Is Smartlead better than Instantly for agencies?
For agencies with more than a few clients, usually yes. Smartlead keeps every client in one account, charges $29 a month per client workspace from the $94 Pro plan, and lets you brand the client dashboards. Instantly needs a separate subscription for each client workspace, which suits agencies that want simple setup, built-in lead data or high volume for a single client.
Which is cheaper, Instantly or Smartlead?
Smartlead has the lower entry price: Base is $39 a month against $47 for Instantly Growth. For agencies the gap grows with client count, because Instantly bills each client workspace as its own plan. At 10 clients, Instantly Hypergrowth per client costs $970 a month, while Smartlead Pro with 10 workspace add-ons costs $384 with 90,000 sends shared across all clients.
Can I use Instantly and Smartlead together?
Yes. An agency can run some clients on Instantly and others on Smartlead. Replies then sit in separate inboxes: one Instantly Unibox per workspace and the Smartlead Master Inbox. Revbound reads replies from both tools and puts them in one inbox, where it sorts them and books meetings from interested leads.
Does Smartlead have a unified inbox?
Yes. Smartlead's Master Inbox shows replies from every connected mailbox and every client workspace under one login. It tags out-of-office, bounce and unsubscribe replies automatically, filters by campaign or reply type, and lets you assign replies to teammates with internal comments.
Does Instantly charge per client workspace?
Yes. Instantly's help center says each workspace requires its own subscription. An agency that gives every client a separate workspace pays for a plan per client, from $47 a month on Growth or $97 on Hypergrowth, where replying inside the Unibox is included.
Do Instantly and Smartlead include email warmup?
Both include warmup and unlimited email accounts on every plan. Instantly runs unlimited warmup on all plans. Smartlead includes warmup too, with a pool tier that rises with the plan: Foundation on Base, Growth on Pro and Premium on Unlimited Smart and Unlimited Prime.
Does Revbound work with both Instantly and Smartlead?
Yes. Revbound connects to Instantly, Smartlead, Email Bison, PlusVibe, SendKit and ArcSend and pulls their replies into one inbox. Plans are Solo $49, Agency $99 and Connector $149 a month with unlimited clients, month to month, with a 3-day free trial.
Instantly and Smartlead are trademarks of their owners, and Revbound is not affiliated with either. Plans and prices can change, so confirm them on the Instantly pricing page and the Smartlead pricing page before you buy.
Running Instantly and Smartlead side by side?
Revbound puts every reply from both in one inbox and books the calls. Month to month, with the AI included.