Compare
The best cold email software in 2026
7 tools for sending cold email from your own mailboxes, on price, free trial and who each one suits best.
We make Outsquid, so it comes first. Everything about the other tools is from their own pricing pages, with the date each was checked. How we write these pages.
Where to start
You bring your own list and send a few thousand emails a month
Look at Outsquid or Woodpecker
You send at high volume across many mailboxes and want a warm-up network
You want LinkedIn, calls or SMS automated alongside email
You need to find leads, not just email them
The tools
- 01
Outsquid
Best for: Founders and small teams who bring their own list and want safeguards on by default
- Starting price
- $19/month (5,000 emails)
- Free trial
- 14 days, 1,000 emails, no credit card
- 02
Instantly
Best for: High-volume senders who want a warm-up network and a lead database
- Starting price
- $47/month (Growth, 5,000 emails)
- Free trial
- 14 days, 1,000 emails, 250 leads, 2 email accounts, no credit card
From Instantly's pricing page, checked 2026-10-08
- 03
Smartlead
Best for: Agencies and teams running outreach across many mailboxes and clients
- Starting price
- $39/month (Base, 6,000 emails, 2,000 active leads)
- Free trial
- 14 days, 2,500 emails, 1,250 active leads, no credit card
From Smartlead's pricing page, checked 2026-10-08
- 04
lemlist
Best for: Teams that want email, LinkedIn and calls automated in one sequence
- Starting price
- $69/month (Email plan; $55 billed yearly)
- Free trial
- 14 days, 50 emails a day, no credit card
From lemlist's pricing page, checked 2026-10-08
- 05
Woodpecker
Best for: Small teams who want verification and warm-up bundled, priced per prospect
- Starting price
- $35/month (500 contacted prospects, 8,000 emails)
- Free trial
- 14 days or 100 cold emails, whichever comes first, no credit card
From Woodpecker's pricing page, checked 2026-10-21
- 06
Apollo
Best for: Sales teams that want lead data, sequences and a dialer in one platform
- Starting price
- $65 per seat a month (Basic; $49 billed yearly)
- Free trial
- Free plan (2 sequences); 14-day trial of Basic and Professional
From Apollo's pricing page, checked 2026-10-21
FAQ
Choosing a cold email tool.
What does cold email software do?
It sends a sequence of personal emails and follow-ups from your own mailboxes to a list of prospects, spaces them out so mailbox providers don't see a burst, stops when someone replies or opts out, and collects the replies in one place.
Do I need a warm-up network?
Tools disagree. Warm-up networks exchange automated emails between many mailboxes to build engagement; others, Outsquid among them, rely on a slow ramp for new mailboxes and pacing instead. Either way, correct SPF, DKIM and DMARC records, a clean list and modest volume per mailbox matter more.
How were these tools chosen and checked?
They're the tools people most often compare with each other for cold email. Every price and limit comes from the vendor's own public pricing page on the date shown; where a page didn't say, we say so rather than guess.
Isn't this biased? You make Outsquid.
Yes, we make Outsquid, and it's listed first. That's why every other tool's facts link to their source, and why each one says plainly who it suits better than Outsquid.
Send your next campaign without worrying about the domain.
14-day free trial · 1,000 emails · no credit card