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Instantly vs lemlist: pricing, features and which to choose

Plans, prices, deployment options, strengths and limits for Instantly vs lemlist, taken from each company's pricing page, docs and changelog. Updated October 2026.

Instantlylemlist
Instantly logo

Instantly

Sales AI Tools

Instantly is a hosted sales platform for cold email outreach, lead discovery, enrichment, verification, deliverability testing, and CRM workflows. Paid access starts at $47 per month for Outbound Growth or Data Credits Growth, while bundled plans start at $94 monthly. The service also lists custom Enterprise and VIP arrangements.

Full reviewWebsite
lemlist logo

lemlist

Sales AI Tools

lemlist is a hosted sales engagement platform for B2B teams and agencies running email, LinkedIn, SMS, WhatsApp, and calling campaigns. It combines automation, enrichment, intent signals, deliverability tools, CRM integrations, and AI personalization. Email pricing starts at $69 per month for 50,000 monthly emails, while Multichannel Expert starts at $109 per user monthly.

Full reviewWebsite

Quick comparison

FeatureInstantlylemlist
CategorySales AI ToolsSales AI Tools
Main useCold emailMultichannel sales
Pricing modelPaid onlyPaid only
Free plan No Yes
Entry paid plan$47/month monthly basis; $37.60/month annual basis (Outbound Growth)$69/month (Email monthly)
PlatformsWeb and APIWeb & API
Open source No No
Self-hosted No No
Public API No Yes
Profile updatedOctober 2026October 2026

Pricing plans

Every public plan, as listed on each company's pricing page.

Instantly

  • Outbound Growth$47/month monthly basis; $37.60/month annual basis

    Unlimited email accounts and warmup; 1,000 uploaded contacts; 5,000 emails monthly.

  • Outbound Hypergrowth$97/month monthly basis; $77.60/month annual basis

    Unlimited email accounts and warmup; 25,000 uploaded contacts; 125,000 emails monthly.

  • Outbound Light Speed$358/month monthly basis; $286.30/month annual basis

    Unlimited email accounts and warmup; 100,000 uploaded contacts; 500,000 emails monthly; SISR System.

  • Outbound EnterpriseCustom pricing

    500,000+ emails monthly, 100,000+ uploaded contacts, and private deliverability network.

  • Outbound Add-on$87/month

    Adds 25,000 uploaded contacts and 125,000 emails monthly to Hypergrowth or Light Speed.

  • Data Credits Nano$9/month monthly basis

    150 credits monthly.

  • Data Credits Growth$47/month monthly basis; $37.60/month annual basis

    1,500 credits monthly; annual display lists 18,000 credits.

  • Data Credits Supersonic$97/month monthly basis; $87.30/month annual basis

    5,000 credits monthly; annual display lists 5,000 to 7,500 credits.

  • Data Credits HyperFrom $197/month monthly basis; $177.30/month annual basis

    10,000 to 200,000 credits monthly; annual display lists the same range.

  • Data Credits Add-on$425/month per add-on

    Adds 50,000 credits monthly; available on Hyper credits and above.

  • CRM Growth$47/month

    CRM access with unlimited seats listed by the help center.

  • CRM Hyper$97/month

    CRM access with unlimited seats and expanded CRM capabilities.

  • Inbox Placement Growth$47/month

    Unlimited one-time tests.

  • Inbox Placement Hypergrowth$97/month

    Unlimited one-time and automated tests.

  • Starter Bundle$94/month monthly basis; $85/month annual basis

    5,000 emails monthly, 1,000 uploaded contacts, and 1,500 credits monthly.

  • Scale Bundle$194/month monthly basis; $175/month annual basis

    100,000 emails monthly, 25,000 uploaded contacts, and 5,000 credits monthly.

  • Agency Bundle$555/month monthly basis; $500/month annual basis

    500,000 emails monthly, 100,000 uploaded contacts, and 10,000 credits monthly.

  • VIPCustom pricing

    Setup for AI Sales Agent, inbox manager, domains, accounts, campaigns, support, account management, and GTM engineering.

lemlist

  • Email monthly$69/month

    Includes 50,000 monthly emails with unlimited users and senders at this volume. Higher volumes reach 1 million emails monthly, with custom pricing above that.

  • Email quarterly$62/month billed quarterly

    The displayed price applies to the 50,000-email monthly volume. Higher quarterly prices depend on the selected email volume.

  • Email annual$55/month billed yearly

    The displayed price applies to 50,000 monthly emails. Annual prices rise to $71 for 100,000, $127 for 200,000, $287 for 500,000, and $527 for 1 million.

  • Multichannel Expert monthly$109/user/month

    Includes LinkedIn automation, SMS, calling and VoIP, a multichannel inbox, five sending emails per user, 400 monthly calling minutes per user, and five guest seats.

  • Multichannel Expert quarterly$98/user/month billed quarterly

    Includes the Multichannel Expert feature set. WhatsApp is a paid add-on, and calling is limited to 400 minutes per user monthly.

  • Multichannel Expert annual$87/user/month billed yearly

    Includes the Multichannel Expert feature set. WhatsApp is a paid add-on, and calling is limited to 400 minutes per user monthly.

  • EnterpriseCustom

    Annual plan with a five-seat minimum, custom roles and permissions, SSO or SAML, a dedicated account manager, priority support, and custom terms.

  • TrialFree for 14 days

    Includes Multichannel features except in-app calls, 200 free credits, and access to test lemAgent.

  • Lead data enrichment$20/month

    Includes 2,000 credits, about 400 emails or 100 phone numbers. Successful-result credits roll over while the subscription remains active.

  • Lead data enrichment annual$16/month billed yearly

    Includes 2,000 credits. Successful-result credits roll over while the subscription remains active.

  • Buying intent signals$29/month

    Includes 100 intent signals.

  • Buying intent signals annual$21/month billed yearly

    Includes 100 intent signals.

Strengths and limits

Instantly

  • Outbound plans include unlimited connected email accounts and unlimited warmup.
  • Separate credit plans cover lead discovery, enrichment, verification, and AI actions.
  • Inbox Placement checks authentication factors and 94 blacklists.
  • The published API covers campaigns, leads, accounts, analytics, webhooks, and workspaces.
  • The available product information provides no self-hosted deployment option.
  • Usage is divided across outbound limits, data credits, and separate product subscriptions.
  • The privacy policy describes collection and sharing of marketing information with customers and partners.

lemlist

  • It combines email, LinkedIn, SMS, WhatsApp, and calling in one campaign platform.
  • The REST API and MCP server support campaign, lead, enrichment, and statistics workflows.
  • Email plans include unlimited users and senders at the selected volume.
  • lemAgent and AI Variables support personalization and enrichment actions.
  • Pricing changes with email volume, users, billing term, and optional data features.
  • WhatsApp, enrichment, and intent signals can create additional charges.
  • The company does not publish a blanket no-training guarantee for customer content.

Which should you choose?

Choose Instantly if

  • Agencies managing multiple outbound campaigns across many sending accounts.
  • Sales teams needing lead data, enrichment, verification, and email sequencing together.
  • Operators wanting separate usage budgets for sending and data credits.
  • Teams requiring hosted deliverability testing and reply management.

Look elsewhere if

  • Organizations requiring self-hosted deployment or open source software.
  • Teams seeking a general purpose CRM unrelated to outbound prospecting.
  • Senders unable to manage consent, suppression, and applicable marketing regulations.

Choose lemlist if

  • B2B teams coordinating email, LinkedIn, SMS, WhatsApp, and calling campaigns.
  • Agencies managing multiple sending identities and client outreach workflows.
  • Sales teams needing CRM-connected enrichment and intent signals.
  • Teams wanting AI personalization inside multichannel sequences.

Look elsewhere if

  • Teams seeking an open-source or self-hosted sales engagement platform.
  • Senders wanting one flat price regardless of email volume or channel mix.
  • Organizations requiring a published guarantee against AI training on customer data.

Instantly logo Instantly in brief

Instantly is a hosted sales platform centered on outbound email campaigns. Its Outbound plans support unlimited connected email accounts and unlimited warmup, with contact and monthly email limits that rise from 1,000 contacts and 5,000 emails on Growth to 25,000 contacts and 125,000 emails on Hypergrowth, then 100,000 contacts and 500,000 emails on Light Speed. Campaign automation, scheduling, analytics, reputation protection, bounce detection, blocklists, A/Z testing, integrations, webhooks, and reply management are part of the product family. Instantly also sells lead data, verification, enrichment, website visitor identification, inbox placement testing, CRM, managed email accounts, and AI-assisted sales products. Customers access the service through hosted web software and an API rather than installing it on their own infrastructure.

Instantly began in 2021 after the founders of a lead generation agency built internal outreach software to address account-based costs they faced with other services. The founders later closed the agency and launched the software publicly. In an October 2022 interview, CEO and co-founder Raul Kaevand described four co-founders, including one developer and three founders with marketing or sales backgrounds. The interview reported an AppSumo launch, early agency customers, and growth through the founders’ outreach, content, and community activity. External company profiles describe Instantly as unfunded and bootstrapped, with no outside capital reported. The company operates through Foo Monk, LLC doing business as Instantly.ai, according to its privacy policy.

Instantly bills several product families separately and shows monthly and annual billing views for selected plans. Outbound monthly pricing lists Growth at $47 for 1,000 uploaded contacts and 5,000 emails, Hypergrowth at $97 for 25,000 contacts and 125,000 emails, and Light Speed at $358 for 100,000 contacts and 500,000 emails. Annual billing displays $37.60, $77.60, and $286.30 monthly equivalents. Data Credits lists Nano at $9 for 150 credits, Growth at $47 for 1,500, Supersonic at $97 for 5,000, and Hyper from $197 for 10,000 to 200,000 credits monthly. CRM and Inbox Placement each list Growth at $47 and Hypergrowth at $97 monthly. Bundles range from Starter at $94 monthly to Agency at $555 monthly, with annual equivalents shown. Enterprise and VIP pricing is custom.

Read the full Instantly review

lemlist logo lemlist in brief

lemlist is a Paris-based B2B sales engagement company founded in 2018. It supports email, LinkedIn, SMS, WhatsApp, calling, lead discovery, enrichment, intent signals, AI personalization, deliverability, CRM connections, and a unified inbox. The company says it is bootstrapped and profitable and serves more than 20,000 customers. Tech.eu reported that its founders declined a $30 million venture offer and reached $5 million in annual recurring revenue without external funding. Other reports describe a 2021 $30 million secondary transaction in which Expedition Growth Capital acquired a 20 percent stake. In October 2025, lemlist announced a self-financed acquisition of Claap, a call recording, transcription, and sales intelligence company. The funding history is therefore better described as initially bootstrapped with a later reported growth-equity transaction.

A typical lemlist workflow starts with Lead Finder, CRM import, or an existing contact list. Users can enrich records, divide them into segments, and build sequences combining email with LinkedIn automation, SMS, WhatsApp, or calling. Replies are handled in a multichannel inbox, while CRM integrations connect campaign activity with HubSpot or Salesforce. AI Variables and lemAgent can generate personalized fields and signal-based actions. lemwarm prepares mailboxes and supports deliverability work. The company describes Lead Finder as drawing from more than 450 million B2B records, although records can be incomplete or outdated and must be checked before outreach. VoIP calling is included in Multichannel Expert, which documents 400 minutes per user each month. WhatsApp is available as a separate paid add-on.

lemlist covers more native channels than Smartlead, Instantly, or QuickMail, but the pricing structure is harder to forecast. Email is priced by monthly volume, Multichannel Expert by user, and enrichment, intent signals, and WhatsApp can add separate charges. The hosted service has no documented open-source core or customer-managed deployment. Its privacy materials describe service improvement and subprocessors without a blanket promise that customer content is never used to train general models. Customers remain responsible for list quality, consent, and outreach compliance. Smartlead is stronger for mailbox rotation and sending infrastructure, Instantly for high-volume cold email, and Apollo for data combined with engagement. lemlist is the better choice for B2B teams and agencies that want email, LinkedIn, SMS, WhatsApp, calling, enrichment, and CRM activity in one workspace.

Read the full lemlist review

Frequently asked questions

How do Instantly vs lemlist compare on price?

Instantly has no free plan, and its first paid plan (Outbound Growth) is listed at $47/month monthly basis; $37.60/month annual basis. lemlist has a free option, and its first paid plan (Email monthly) is listed at $69/month. Prices are from each company's pricing page and can change, so check before you buy.

Which has a free plan, Instantly vs lemlist?

lemlist offers a free plan or free self-hosted use. Instantly requires a paid plan.

Can I self-host or integrate Instantly vs lemlist?

None of them is open source. All of them run as hosted services only. lemlist offers a public API.

How much does Instantly cost?

The lowest listed paid entry is $47 per month for Outbound Growth or Data Credits Growth. Outbound Growth includes 1,000 uploaded contacts and 5,000 emails monthly. Data Credits Growth includes 1,500 credits monthly. Instantly also lists a 100-credit data trial and an outbound trial with 250 uploaded contacts and 1,000 emails, while paid API access requires an active paid plan.

Is Instantly free?

Instantly lists limited trials rather than a permanent free plan. The outbound trial includes 250 uploaded contacts and 1,000 emails, while the data trial includes 100 credits. CRM has a 14-day trial, and Inbox Placement provides two free one-time tests. Continued use of the paid product families requires subscriptions, with monthly and annual billing options shown for selected plans.

How much does lemlist cost?

The Email plan starts at $69 per month for 50,000 monthly emails, or $55 per month with annual billing. Quarterly billing displays $62 per month. Multichannel Expert costs $109 per user monthly, $98 quarterly, or $87 yearly. Enrichment costs $20 monthly and intent signals cost $29 monthly. Enterprise pricing is custom.

Does lemlist have a free plan?

lemlist does not publish a permanent free plan. It offers a 14-day trial with Multichannel features except in-app calls, 200 free credits, and access to test lemAgent. Continued use after the trial requires a paid Email, Multichannel Expert, or Enterprise plan.

Related comparisons

Instantly vs Apollo.iolemlist vs Apollo.iolemlist vs Outreachlemlist vs Smartleadlemlist vs Salesloftlemlist vs QuickMail

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