Best cold email software
Dedicated sending platforms built for outbound at volume, compared on price per tier, sending caps and what's bundled beyond the send itself.
Smartlead wins on raw price-per-volume: its Unlimited Prime plan matches Instantly's highest sending tier at roughly 40% less cost. Instantly wins instead if you want a bundled lead database and an AI reply agent alongside the sending infrastructure, not only the send.
The short answer
- Instantly's Growth plan is $47/month for 5,000 emails with unlimited email accounts and warmup; its Scale bundle at $175-194/month adds a 450M+ lead database and an AI Reply Agent, per instantly.ai/pricing.
- Smartlead's Base plan is $39/month (or $32.50 annually) for 6,000 sends and 2,000 verified emails, scaling to 500,000 sends a month at $379/month on Unlimited Prime, per smartlead.ai/pricing.
- Mailshake's Sales Engagement plan at $99/month ($85 annually) adds 5 phone numbers with unlimited North American dialer minutes, combining cold email and cold calling in one subscription, per mailshake.com/pricing.
Cold email platforms compared
| Tool | Starting price | Entry volume | Lead database | Best for | Not for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instantly | $47/mo (Growth, outreach-only) | 5,000 emails/mo | Bundled on Starter+ bundle plans (450M+ contacts) | A team that wants sending and a lead source in one subscription | A team that already has its own verified list and doesn't need the database |
| Smartlead | $39/mo (Base, or $32.50/mo annual) | 6,000 sends/mo, 2,000 verified emails | Not included; bring your own list | The lowest cost per send at high volume | A team that wants lead sourcing bundled in |
| Mailshake | $29/mo (Starter, or $25/mo annual) | 1,500 sends/mo, 1 email address | Data Finder add-on at $19/mo | A team that wants cold email and cold calling under one plan | High-volume senders — its unlimited-send tiers start higher than the other two |
Figures checked on instantly.ai/pricing, smartlead.ai/pricing and mailshake.com/pricing, September 2026.
What each one is built around
Instantly
The most bundled of the three: beyond sending and warmup, its Scale and Agency plans add an AI Reply Agent and access to a large B2B contact database, positioning it as an all-in-one outbound stack rather than a pure sending tool. Credits-only plans exist separately for teams that just want database access. Not for: a team that wants to pay only for sending and nothing else.
Smartlead
Priced around volume tiers with unlimited mailboxes included at every level, which keeps the cost predictable as you add sending infrastructure rather than paying per connected inbox. Its own pricing page emphasizes 'only pay for what you really need' with AI warmup and a master inbox standard across tiers. Not for: a team that wants a bundled lead database rather than bringing its own list.
Mailshake
The only one of the three that puts a phone dialer in the same subscription: the Sales Engagement plan includes 5 phone numbers with unlimited North American dialer minutes alongside email sending. That makes it a reasonable single subscription for a team running both channels, at the cost of a lower sending ceiling on its top-listed tier than Instantly or Smartlead. Not for: pure high-volume email sending, where its top plan costs more per send than the alternatives.
When none of these is the answer
A team sending fewer than a few hundred emails a month to warm, opted-in contacts does not need dedicated cold-email infrastructure; a normal mailbox and a spreadsheet get that volume out the door without paying for warmup and deliverability tooling built for scale.
Disclosure: SalesCrew is our product. It allows cold outbound as a matter of policy and sends from a pool of your own connected mailboxes with per-mailbox and per-domain caps, but it does not do domain warmup itself; that stays with a dedicated tool like the ones above, and SalesCrew's own sender/domain registry mirrors Instantly's if you want both in sync. It is not included in the ranking above because its core job is the pipeline the reply lands in, not the sending infrastructure itself.
Questions
- What's the cheapest way to start cold email?
- Instantly's Growth plan is $47/month for 5,000 emails a month with unlimited email accounts and warmup, per instantly.ai/pricing. Smartlead's Base plan is a bit cheaper at $39/month (or $32.50 annually) for 6,000 sends, per smartlead.ai/pricing.
- Do these tools include a lead database, or just sending?
- Instantly bundles access to a 450M+ B2B lead database on its bundle plans, per its own pricing page. Smartlead and Mailshake are built around sending, verification and warmup rather than lead sourcing, so you would bring your own list or pair the tool with a separate data source.
- Is cold email actually legal?
- It depends on your list, your recipients' location and your consent record. CAN-SPAM in the US, GDPR in the EU and similar laws elsewhere set the rules, and no sending tool's pricing page is a substitute for checking your own obligations. This is not legal advice.
- Which tool handles the highest volume?
- Instantly's Agency bundle plan supports 500,000 emails a month at $500-555/month. Smartlead's Unlimited Prime plan supports 500,000 sends a month at $379/month ($314.60 annually), a comparable ceiling at a lower price on the figures checked here.