Written by the Inboxrise team. We make one of the tools on this list, and we put it first. The criteria behind the order are below, so you can judge them yourself. Every price for another tool comes from that company's own pricing page, checked on 28 October 2026. Prices change, so check theirs before you buy.
The short version
- Inboxrise: best for founders and small agencies who need their first clients and cannot afford to burn their domain getting them.
- Instantly: best when you need high sending volume at a flat monthly price.
- Smartlead: best for a flat price with unlimited email accounts, starting lower than Instantly.
- Lemlist: best if you want a lead database and multichannel outreach in one tool, and you are fine paying per user.
- Apollo: best if finding contacts is your main problem.
- Saleshandy: best for large lists: its Scale plan has no limit on prospects.
How we ranked them
If you are after your first clients, a big send is not the goal. A first reply is. So we asked three questions of every tool:
- Does it protect your domain? A new domain that sends too much, too soon, ends up in spam, and every email after that is wasted.
- Is every email about the person who gets it? An email that could have gone to anyone gets treated that way.
- What does it cost one founder to start, with warmup included?
We weighted the first two most. Tools built for volume do well on the third and less well on the first two, by design. If volume is what you need, the order changes, and each section says when another tool is the better pick.
1. Inboxrise
Best for: founders and small agencies landing their first clients.
Inboxrise is cold email software with warmup built in. Its job is to stop sending when sending would hurt your domain.
What it does differently
- It protects your domain on every plan. Every inbox you connect is warmed for 14 days, and campaigns can start on day 10. A new inbox starts at 5 emails a day and ramps up from there. An inbox whose health drops is paused, an address that hard-bounces is stopped in every campaign, and you can test where a campaign lands before it goes live.
- Every email starts with the lead. In Target mode, each email opens with one sentence about the lead's own business, checked against their website, then a linking line you approved that ties it to your offer. Lex writes each lead's subject line from words on their site. If a fact cannot be checked, that lead gets your email exactly as you wrote it.
- Lex does the work. Lex, the AI assistant inside the app, builds campaigns with you, tests where they land, explains why a campaign is not sending, and drafts replies to prospects. Anything that changes your account waits for your confirmation.
Pricing
- Starter, $29 a month: unlimited inboxes, each warmed; 2,500 contacts; 10,000 emails a month; 5 active campaigns.
- Growth, $79 a month: 25,000 contacts, no hard email limit, Lex drafts emails and replies, Target mode with 2,500 openings a month.
- Scale, $249 a month: 100,000 contacts, Target mode with 10,000 openings a month, webhooks and API, a workspace per client.
- Annual billing saves 25%. The 14-day free trial needs no credit card and includes Target mode.
Pros
- Warmup on every inbox, at no extra cost, on every plan.
- Domain protection is part of every plan, never an add-on.
- Personalisation is checked against the lead's own website, so it does not invent things about them.
Cons
- No built-in lead database. You bring your own list as a CSV.
- Fewer integrations than older tools. Webhooks and the API are on Scale only.
- Target mode starts on Growth. On Starter, your emails go out as you wrote them.
- Gmail and Outlook connect with an app password, which takes a few minutes to set up.
- It is newer and smaller than the other tools on this list.
2. Instantly
Best for: high sending volume at a flat monthly price.
Pricing (billed monthly; lower with yearly billing)
- Growth, $47 a month: 1,000 uploaded contacts, 5,000 emails a month.
- Hypergrowth, $97 a month: 25,000 contacts, 125,000 emails a month.
- Light Speed, $358 a month: 100,000 contacts, 500,000 emails a month.
- Every listed plan includes unlimited email accounts and unlimited warmup. You can start without a credit card.
Pros
- Unlimited email accounts and warmup on every listed plan.
- One flat price, not a price per user.
- Very large email allowances on the higher plans.
Cons
- The entry plan allows 1,000 uploaded contacts, so a list of a few thousand needs Hypergrowth at $97.
Pick Instantly over Inboxrise if your plan depends on sending tens of thousands of emails a month from many inboxes.
3. Smartlead
Best for: a flat price with unlimited email accounts, starting lower than Instantly.
Pricing (billed monthly, with the yearly price in brackets)
- Base, $39 a month ($32): 2,000 active leads, 6,000 emails a month.
- Pro, $94 a month ($78): 30,000 active leads, 90,000 emails a month.
- Unlimited Smart, $174 a month ($144): 150,000 emails a month.
- Unlimited Prime, $379 a month ($315): 500,000 emails a month.
- In Smartlead's words, "All Smartlead plans include unlimited email accounts at no extra cost." Every plan has a free trial with no credit card.
Pros
- Unlimited email accounts on every plan.
- A lower entry price than Instantly.
Cons
- Its pricing page mentions a warmup pool but does not say which plans include warmup. Check before you buy.
Pick Smartlead over Inboxrise if you want volume and a lower entry price than Instantly.
4. Lemlist
Best for: a lead database and multichannel outreach in one tool, if you are fine paying per user.
Pricing (per user, billed monthly, with the yearly price in brackets)
- Email, $69 per user a month ($55): unlimited email senders.
- Multichannel, $109 per user a month ($87): 5 senders per user.
- Lemlist's own warmup, lemwarm, is included in all plans. Lemlist lists a lead database of more than 650 million leads; finding emails and phone numbers uses enrichment credits, with an add-on of 2,000 credits a month for $20. There is a 14-day free trial.
Pros
- A built-in lead database.
- Warmup included on every plan.
- A multichannel plan for teams that work more than email.
Cons
- Priced per user, so a team of three pays three times over.
- Finding contact details costs enrichment credits on top of the plan.
Pick Lemlist over Inboxrise if you need to find leads and work several channels from one tool.
5. Apollo
Best for: finding contacts. Apollo says it has 240 million contacts and 30 million companies.
Pricing
- There is a free plan, which connects Gmail only. Paid plans add other email providers.
- Apollo's pricing page did not show its paid prices in a form we could read on 28 October 2026, so we have not quoted one. See apollo.io/pricing.
- Credits are shared across your team, granted each billing cycle, and do not roll over.
Pros
- A very large contact database.
- Prospecting, outreach and a dialer in one product.
Cons
- The free plan works with Gmail only.
- Unused credits do not carry over to the next month.
- Its pricing page does not say whether email warmup is included.
Use Apollo with Inboxrise: plenty of founders find contacts in Apollo and send from a separate tool. Export a CSV from Apollo and import it into Inboxrise.
6. Saleshandy
Best for: large lists. Its Scale plan has no limit on prospects, at $189 a month.
Pricing (billed monthly, with the yearly price in brackets)
- Starter, $41 a month ($34): 2,000 active prospects, 6,000 emails a month.
- Pro, $99 a month ($76): 30,000 prospects, 100,000 emails a month.
- Scale, $189 a month ($149): unlimited prospects, 200,000 emails a month.
- Unlimited email accounts and unlimited warmup on every plan, with a daily warmup limit that depends on the plan. There is a 7-day free trial.
Pros
- Unlimited email accounts and warmup.
- No prospect limit on its Scale plan, for less than Instantly charges for 100,000 contacts.
Cons
- The 7-day trial is the shortest on this list.
Pick Saleshandy over Inboxrise if you are working a very large list and want no cap on prospects.
Side by side
Entry plan, billed monthly, as each company's own pricing page showed it on 28 October 2026.
| Tool | Starting price | Email accounts | Warmup included | Contacts | Emails a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inboxrise | $29 | Unlimited | Yes, every inbox | 2,500 | 10,000 |
| Instantly | $47 | Unlimited | Yes, unlimited | 1,000 | 5,000 |
| Smartlead | $39 | Unlimited | Not stated per plan | 2,000 | 6,000 |
| Lemlist | $69 per user | Unlimited senders | Yes, lemwarm | Not stated | Not stated |
| Apollo | Free plan; paid not shown | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Saleshandy | $41 | Unlimited | Yes, unlimited | 2,000 | 6,000 |
Common questions
What is the best cold email software for a founder with no clients yet?
The one that keeps you out of spam while your domain is new, and makes every email clearly about the person reading it. That is what Inboxrise is built for. If your plan depends on very high volume from day one, look at Instantly, Smartlead or Saleshandy instead.
Do I need to warm up a new inbox?
Yes. A new inbox has no sending reputation, and mail from it is treated with suspicion until it has one. Inboxrise warms every inbox you connect for 14 days, and campaigns can start on day 10. Instantly, Lemlist and Saleshandy also say warmup is included on their plans.
How many emails a day should a new inbox send?
Start low and build up. In Inboxrise, a new inbox starts at 5 a day and ramps up, and each inbox sends up to its own daily limit, 50 a day unless you change it.
Can I use contacts from Apollo in Inboxrise?
Yes. Export them from Apollo as a CSV and import the file into Inboxrise.
Does Inboxrise write the whole email with AI?
No, on purpose. You write the email once, or draft it with Lex. For each lead, Lex adds one sentence about their business, checked against their website, picks one of the linking lines you approved, and writes a subject from words on their site. The rest goes out exactly as you wrote it.
Why is Inboxrise first on a list written by Inboxrise?
Because we wrote it, and we ranked by what matters most when you are after your first clients: protecting your domain and writing to each lead. If you rank by volume or price per email instead, the order changes, and the sections above say when another tool is the better choice.
Try it
Start a 14-day free trial. No credit card, and Target mode is included.