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Best cold email software in 2026, grouped by the job each tool does
Cold email software splits into three kinds of tool: sending engines priced by volume (Instantly and Smartlead), sequence tools priced per user or per prospect (Reply.io, lemlist, Woodpecker, Mailshake), and platforms that add a contact database (Apollo, Snov.io). An AI SDR such as Sellinger is a fourth kind that writes and answers rather than only sends. Every price below is read from the vendor's own page on 19 October 2026 with what it counts. Nothing is scored or ranked.
Published by Sellinger AI. Numbers and settings checked on 19 October 2026 against the fact register. Report an error.
- Smartlead Base per month for 6,000 sends, and Sellinger Email Starter from $39; the two prices count different things
- $39
- Instantly Growth per month for 5,000 emails and 1,000 uploaded contacts, on monthly billing
- $47
- Woodpecker for 500 contacted prospects a month, priced by prospects, not by plan
- €35
How this page was built
- Inclusion: a tool is here if its own pages describe sending cold email sequences as a core function, or an agent that sends them.
- Every cell was read from the vendor's own page on 19 October 2026 and links to it. A price the page showed in a currency other than USD is shown in that currency, not converted.
- Prices are shown as the vendor lists them, on the monthly view, with what the price counts. Different units are not mixed into one score.
- There is no total score, no ranking and no winner badge. Rows within a group are alphabetical. No hands on deliverability or reply rate results appear on this page.
Job one: sending at volume from many inboxes
| Tool | Plans as listed | What the price counts | Free trial |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instantly | Growth $47 (5,000 emails, 1,000 uploaded contacts); Hypergrowth $97 (125,000 emails, 25,000 contacts); Light Speed $358 (500,000 emails, 100,000 contacts) | Flat per tier, unlimited email accounts and warmup; AI agents and lead data are a separate credits plan | 14 days, no card |
| Smartlead | Base $39 (6,000 sends, 2,000 contacts); Pro $94 (90,000 sends); Unlimited Smart $174 (150,000 sends); Unlimited Prime $379 (500,000 sends) | Flat per tier by send volume, unlimited email accounts; client workspaces and servers priced separately | 14 days, no card |
Sources: instantly.ai, read 19 October 2026; smartlead.ai, read 19 October 2026; trial terms help.instantly.ai, read 19 October 2026; helpcenter.smartlead.ai, read 19 October 2026. Both vendors cap volume per plan and have no overage, so you move up a tier.
Job two: sequences with more than one step, priced per user or prospect
| Tool | Plans as listed | What the price counts | Free trial |
|---|---|---|---|
| lemlist | Email €69 a month for unlimited users and senders, 50,000 emails; Multichannel €109 per user | Email plan is flat by volume; Multichannel is per user | 14 days, no card |
| Mailshake | Starter $29; Email Outreach $49; Sales Engagement $99 per month (the page did not label the toggle) | Per user purchased; each user connects 1 mail account | No free trial |
| Reply.io | Email Volume from $59 per user a month for 1,000 active contacts; Multichannel $99 per user; Jason AI SDR from $500 a month billed annually | Active contacts per month; per user at the lower tiers | 14 days, no card |
| Woodpecker | 500 contacted prospects €35 a month; 2,000 €67; 10,000 €188 | Contacted prospects per month; a prospect in 5 campaigns counts 5 times | 14 days or 100 cold emails, no card |
Sources: lemlist.com, read 19 October 2026; mailshake.com, read 19 October 2026; reply.io, read 19 October 2026; woodpecker.co, read 19 October 2026. Currency shown as the page rendered it.
Job three: sending plus a contact database
| Tool | Plans as listed | What the price counts | Database claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apollo | Free $0; Basic $65; Professional $99 per seat a month; Organization $149 per seat, minimum 3 seats, annual only | Per seat, plus credits pooled across the team | 240M+ contacts, 30M+ accounts, its own claim |
| Snov.io | Starter $39; Pro S $99; Pro M $189 a month, unlimited team seats | Flat per tier bundling credits, recipients and enrichment tokens | 500M+ contacts, its own claim |
Sources: apollo.io, read 19 October 2026; snov.io, read 19 October 2026. Database sizes are the vendors' claims and are not tested here.
Which of them go beyond email
| Tool | Live chat | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apollo | Partial | Listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Instantly | Partial | Listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| lemlist | Listed | Listed | Partial | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reply.io | Listed | Listed | Partial | Not listed | Not listed |
| Sellinger | Listed | Listed | Listed, connected account, small daily volume | Listed, replies and inbox | Listed |
| Smartlead | Partial | Listed | Not native | Not listed | Not listed |
| Snov.io | Listed | Listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Woodpecker | Listed | Listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
Alphabetical, not ranked. Listed means the vendor's pages list the channel. Partial means through an integration, a manual step or a paid add on. Not listed means not found on the pages checked. Cells read 19 October 2026. Sellinger's row is from the facts page.
Where Sellinger sits
Sellinger is an AI SDR, so it is a different kind of tool from the groups above. Its Email module is $39 a month at Starter, $149 at Growth and $449 at Scale, and the agent writes the first message and every follow up, answers replies and books the meeting. A campaign can run in approval mode, where every message waits for a person to approve it, or send automatically. A person can take over any conversation, and the agent stops on its own when it cannot answer, for example a price it has no answer for.
Sellinger works best when the email is one channel of several and a person does not want to write the sequences. It sends from your own connected mailbox, and this page does not claim a deliverability or reply rate for it.
When not to choose Sellinger
- You want to send email at very high volume from dozens of inboxes. Instantly and Smartlead are priced and built for that, up to 500,000 sends a month.
- You want to write and control every sequence step yourself. A sequence tool such as lemlist, Reply.io or Woodpecker gives you that control.
- You want one tool for email only at the lowest price. Mailshake starts at $29 and Smartlead at $39 for 6,000 sends.
- You need Salesforce or Pipedrive connected today. Sellinger lists Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho as coming soon, with a two way HubSpot sync today.
Common questions
What is cold email software?
Which cold email tool is the cheapest?
Do these tools find contacts too?
How current are the prices?
Sources and method
Vendor cells read from each vendor's own pages on 19 October 2026, linked in the tables. Sellinger from the facts page.
Related: Cold email tools: prices side by side, Instantly alternatives, Smartlead alternatives, Best email finder tools, Sellinger alternatives.
