Smartlead vs Instantly.ai: Honest Comparison of Features, Pros, Cons & Pricing

If you have been running cold email campaigns for a while, you have probably heard this debate

Smartlead.ai vs. Instantly.ai?  

Both allow you to add unlimited inboxes and offer advanced  AI and deliverability features. 

But when you actually use them to run campaigns, you will notice big differences
In how they handle deliverability, scaling, and even pricing.

Smartlead allows you to scale your outreach with unlimited mailboxes, warmups, and premium deliverability-focused features. 

Instantly helps you find targeted leads and scale email campaigns with AI Copilot and personalization.

Therefore, to understand how they actually function, I tested both tools in real campaigns.

I checked their campaign builders, personalization, deliverability, and ease of use.

In this blog, I will show 

• How each tool handles campaign setup, personalization, and deliverability
• Where Smartlead wins and where Instantly does better
• And finally, why some teams (including mine) prefer a third option that scales without overpaying for “premium” features

By the end, you will know exactly which tool fits your outreach goals in 2026 or whether it is time to switch to a much better alternative.

Let us get into it!

Smartlead vs Instantly: 30-Second Rundown

If you want a quick side-by-side view, here is the fast comparison.

To make your decision easier, I have also included Saleshandy as a third option.

This way, you can see how both tools perform when placed next to another strong platform.

Smartlead vs Instantly.ai Feature Comparison

Instead of just sharing what is on feature pages and internat, 

I am going to share with you how each feature of Smartlead and Instantly feels to use

1. Sequence Automation & Campaign Management
2. Personalization
3. Email Warm-up & Deliverability
4. Prospecting
5. CRM
6. Client & Team Management
7. Integrations

When you are building campaigns and sending emails for real.

1. Sequence Automation & Campaign Management

Creating and running outreach campaigns is usually the main reason teams look for a cold email tool.
So the experience of building sequences matters more than the feature list alone.

When I created sequences inside Instantly, the interface felt intuitive and easy to navigate.

And I will be honest here, I was actually impressed by how fast it felt to move from one step to the next.

I could upload leads first, then start writing emails, and finally set things up. 

With Smartlead, you need to follow the same steps to create sequences.

But the interface is outdated, and it did not feel fluid when switching between steps.

With both Smartlead and Instantly’s campaign builder, you can

• compose your emails
• add personalization
• preview the messages
• attach files/images
• do A/B testing
• add variants 
• visually view the campaign steps in a simple sequence layout

So the basic campaign builder experience is almost the same in both.

Another feature, which both Smartlead and Instantly offer, is subsequences. 

With this feature, you can send follow-ups depending on how leads respond.

However, to run subsequences in both, you must launch the campaign,
then come back to define the conditional emails.

You can create follow-ups based on conditions like:

• Lead status (interested, not interested)
• Certain keywords/phrases in replies, such as “I am interested” 

This thus upset me because, first of all, it takes extra effort, and second, it is limited to statuses/keywords.
So you can handle only one scenario (either positive or negative) per subsequence at a time.

“So yeah, both instantly’s and SmartLead’s condition-based sequences are very limited.”

The unique feature that stood out to me most during testing was AI Copilot in Instantly.

You have to give it a few prompts with information like your website, offer, and list of leads.
It generates a complete, multi-step sequence for you.

All in all, in sequence-building capabilities, Instantly.ai wins over Smartlead.

It offers everything Smartlead does, but also adds the advanced AI sequence generator, which helps you create multi-step campaigns much faster.

But here is the catch.

Instantly starts limiting you when you try to scale.

Advanced features like subsequences, A-Z testing, and advanced automation are available in the Hyper Growth plan.

So the more you want to automate, the more you end up paying.

2. Personalization

Personalization helps you get maximum replies from cold email outreach.

So the tool you choose needs to support hyper-personalisation, not just basic merge fields.

Now, both Smartlead and Instantly let you:

• Add merge tags
• Use custom variables
• Add spintax variations
• Insert personalized first lines while creating sequences

But when I was adding merge tags in Instantly.ai it required a lot of extra work.

Because there are no built-in, pre-defined merge tag fields.

You need to create the personalization fields (merge tags) inside your CSV first, and then upload it. 

Once uploaded, you can insert those placeholders while writing your emails. 

Now, both tools offer AI-driven prospect enrichment.

Instantly has a built-in B2B database, which allows you to find and enrich lead data automatically, like:

• Recent LinkedIn activity
• Team growth signals
• Funding news
• Role changes

I used this data to write personalized icebreakers and valuable offers, which doubled the reply rate of my campaign. (Yaay!!)

That said, Smartlead does not have a built-in B2B database. 

But with Smartlead’s integration with Clay, you can find and enrich lead data.

You can create a workflow where Clay enriches the leads first, and Smartlead uses those enriched fields while sending.

So, in Personalization, Instantly.ai beats Smartlead.

It keeps the workflow simpler and more automated, especially when you rely on enriched insights to make emails feel specific and human.

3. Email Warm-up & Deliverability

High deliverability rate = maximum inbox placement.

And both Instantly and Smartlead are known for offering strong deliverability features that help your emails land in the primary inbox rather than spam.

Both platforms provide unlimited email warm-up at no extra cost.
I genuinely appreciate this because it allows you to warm up and scale multiple inboxes without paying separately for a warm-up tool.

I warmed up my inboxes on both Instantly.ai, and the process was smooth.
The tool gradually increased sending volume each day.
After about four weeks, my inboxes reached around 95 percent inbox placement consistently.

Once warm-up was done, I ran inbox placement tests on both tools to check where my emails would actually land.

Here are the free test limits:

• Smartlead offers 7 free inbox placement tests
• Instantly offers 2 free tests

These reports were helpful.

They showed inbox placement across Gmail, Outlook, and others.

If there was a possibility of messages landing in spam, the report highlighted the reason and suggested how to fix it.

This helps prevent mistakes that could affect your campaign after launch.

Apart from this, both Smartlead and Instantly include additional deliverability protection features like:

• ESP matching
• Inbox rotation
• Bounce detection
• IP rotation
• Blacklist monitoring

These features help maintain a strong sender reputation as you scale your outreach.

Both Smartlead and Instantly also offer pre-warmed mailboxes and domains.
These mailboxes already have SPF, DKIM, and DMARC set up and warmed.
So you can start sending campaigns immediately without waiting for the warm-up period.

However, these pre-warmed mailboxes come at an additional cost.
And honestly, I would not mind paying extra if I get the promised results. 

There are mixed reviews online about pre-warmed sending pools.
On Reddit, many Instantly users reported that their deliverability dropped by 30 to 40 percent after switching to these shared warmed accounts.

The concern is that if the same sending pool is used by many people at the same time, it can get flagged, which impacts everyone

Smartlead users have shared similar experiences.
One user on Reddit mentioned that when using SmartSenders, their deliverability fell noticeably.

Again, likely because the sending reputation was shared across users.

So while pre-warmed accounts sound great, I am not fully confident that paying extra for them is worth it.

The performance seems dependent on who else is using the same pool at that time, which makes results inconsistent.

So, who won this Smartlead vs Instantly.ai deliverability comparison?

Well, both Smartlead and Instantly offer strong built-in warm-up and deliverability features.

But when it comes to paying extra for shared pre-warmed accounts, I would recommend thinking twice.

4. Prospecting

Prospecting features inside a cold email tool can actually save a lot of time because you are not jumping between multiple apps to build and clean your lead list.

So if you can find and enrich good prospects directly inside the tool, it makes outreach much simpler.

Now, Smartlead does not have a built-in B2B database.

So you will always need another tool like Clay or Sales Navigator to find leads before importing them.

When I was building a list targeting SaaS founders in the EU region, I tested Instantly’s database.
The search filters were really targeted. 

You can also use Instantly’s AI Lead Finder, where you simply describe the type of leads you want in a prompt.

For example, I tried:

“Founders of early-stage SaaS companies in Germany and the Netherlands hiring for growth roles.”

Instantly generated a refined lead list based on that description — which saved time compared to manually stacking multiple filters.

Instantly also supports waterfall enrichment, meaning it verifies work emails across multiple data sources and enriches lead profiles with:

• LinkedIn and company links
• Team growth signals
• Job postings
• News mentions

Plus, its Website Visitor Identification feature shows which companies visited your site, and lets you immediately add those contacts into outreach sequences.

So, in prospecting, Instantly clearly performs better than Smartlead.

But there is a catch.

Instantly’s lead data is limited, and the data accuracy is not always consistent.
You may still need to run external verification when scaling lists.

5. CRM

Cold email tools usually do not come with a built-in CRM.
So the fact that both Smartlead and Instantly offer CRM capabilities is actually pretty great.

Smartlead’s CRM is simple and mainly designed for tracking lead progress after outreach.

When I used it, the workflow looked like this:

• Visual Kanban board inside CRM → Deals
• Default stages like: New Lead → Email Sent → Reply Received
• I could add custom columns like Interested or Meeting Booked
• It synced smoothly with the Master Inbox, so replies appeared without manual updates

Now, its CRM doesn’t give you advanced reporting capabilities.
But it doesn’t cost extra; this CRM is included in every plan.

Whereas Instantly’s CRM is known for providing deeper analytics.

Here is what stood out when I tested it:

• Unified Inbox to view every email interaction in one place
• Ability to manage Email, Calls, SMS, LinkedIn touchpoints, and tasks together
• Lead stage tracking that actually feels like a proper sales pipeline
• AI-assisted messaging suggestions that helped me maintain tone and consistency
• Custom deal flows based on conditions (e.g., reply sentiment or deal value)
• Dashboard-level reporting for conversions, meetings booked, and pipeline progress

This felt like a real sales CRM, not just a tracking board.

But it is not included for free.

So, Instantly’s CRM comes out stronger.

I personally felt more in control when I managed leads in Instantly because I could see the entire sales motion from first email → reply → meeting → close.

6. Client & Team Management

Both Smartlead and Instantly are built for agencies.

So, both tools let you:

• Create separate workspaces for each client
• Invite team members to collaborate
• Set role-based permissions
• Keep sending domains and campaigns isolated
• Use white-label capabilities for client-facing work

So both Smartlead and Instantly.ai give similar functionality.

But where they differ is in pricing.

Smartlead allows you to create multiple client workspaces.

But every new client workspace costs $29/month.

So if you manage 10 clients:

10 clients × $29 = $290/month

This is on top of your main subscription. (Just highlighting it!)

Instantly also supports multi-workspace agency setups.
But to use agency features, you must be on the Hypergrowth plan, which costs $77.60/month.

And if you are managing 10 clients, you are realistically buying multiple seats/workspaces anyway.

$77.60 × 10 clients = $776/month

So for agency use, Instantly becomes one of the most expensive options & Smartlead wins by the edge.

7. Integrations

Integrations matter a lot when you want your outreach, CRM, and lead management to stay in sync.

Both Smartlead and Instantly integrate with major CRMs, but the type of integrations you can access depends heavily on the plan you are on.

Smartlead supports:

• Native CRM integrations: HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive
• Data & enrichment partners: Clay, Listkit
• Automation connectors: Zapier, Make, Webhooks, Smartlead API

But webhooks and API access is available on the Pro plan.

So Smartlead has strong integration support, but the important automations are locked behind higher plans.

Instantly also integrates with major CRMs, but the structure is similar:

• Native CRM integrations: HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive (available on all plans)
• Zapier + Webhooks (only available on the hypergrowth and above plans)

So, it is a tie! Both Instantly and Smartlead tools offer great integration capabilities.

Smartlead or Instantly: Pricing Plans Compared

Pricing is the most important factor that 

I will break down the pricing of both tools and show you which one is worth choosing as you scale.

1. Smartlead
2. Instantly

1. Smartlead

Smartlead has 2-year plans

Basic Plan – $32.5/month

You can use this plan to test the waters.

In this plan, you can have 2k active leads and send 6k emails/month.

Along with that, you get the basic sending features, sequence setup,
and account management tools to run small campaigns smoothly.

Pro Plan – $78.3/month

This plan is better if you are running outreach at a larger scale.

You can have 30k active leads and send 150k emails every month.

Also, if you are an agency managing clients, this is the plan you will need to start operating smoothly.

Custom Plan- $174/month onwards

Custom plan is only available when billed monthly and gives you flexible active and email credits

If you want to know in detail about Smartlead’s pricing, you can check out …

Also ready to explore the best SmartLead pricing?

2. Instantly

Instantly has 3 major products and multiple add-ons

1. Outreach
2. Supersearch
3. CRM

Breakdown of Instantly’s Outreach Plan

Under Outreach, you get 4 plans:

Growth – $30/month

This is good for small outreach teams, solofounders, and freelancers.

In this plan, you can upload 1k contacts and send 5k emails monthly

Hypergrowth – $77.6/month

This is for serious senders and small and medium businesses.

Also, this is the base plan you will need if you are an agency and want to start managing workspaces for clients.

You can upload 25k contacts and send 100k emails every month.

Light Speed – $286.3/month

This plan is for agencies and businesses that rely heavily on cold email outreach at scale.

It is built for very high sending volumes and large client loads.

You can upload up to 100k contacts and send 500k emails monthly.

This is the plan where you get Instantly’s SISR system, which automatically handles server and IP sharding and rotation for better inbox placement.

Enterprise – Custom

This is the plan you consider if you are running very large teams and need to customize quotas to support your workflow, or sending volume

You typically get:

• 100,000 plus contacts
• 500,000 plus emails each month

If you want a detailed explanation of its add-ons like Lead Search and CRMs, I have covered it in my blog on Instantly.ai pricing.

Smartlead Vs Instantly: Final Verdict

So let us come back to the main question. 

Which tool should you choose, Instantly or Smartlead?

Well, 

Smartlead.ai → better for agencies handling multiple client inboxes and needing CRM 

Instantly.ai → better for faster execution because of built-in database + AI Copilot

Between the two, Instantly has a slight edge for most users because it connects prospecting and outreach in one workflow and takes less time to set up.

However, if you are still exploring and want something that works smoothly now and continues to work well as you scale, it may be worth trying the third option we discussed.

Saleshandy offers:

• AI sequence generator
• Strong deliverability features
• Unlimited inboxes without extra cost
• A B2B database of 700 million contacts
• Native CRM integrations
• Advanced conditional follow-ups that can be set at the start of the sequence

If you are currently comparing tools and still have not found one that feels smooth both now and when you scale, Saleshandy is worth taking on a free trial. 

That experience will make the final decision clearer than any comparison table ever could.

Explore the best Instantly pricing guide for smarter cold email outreach.

FAQs for Smartlead vs Instantly

1. Is Smartlead Better Than Instantly for Agencies?

Cost-wise, I would definitely choose Smartlead over Instantly.ai. The reason is that Smartlead charges you a flat fee of $29/month/client over your plan subscription fee.

Meanwhile, with Instantly.ai, you will have to create a separate workspace for each client, and each workspace needs its own subscription.

This can increase your total cost pretty quickly if you handle many clients.

2. Which Tool Has Better Deliverability?

Both tools offer features to support deliverability. But when I tested them myself, emails sent through Instantly landed in spam more often than I expected.

Smartlead gave me a more stable inbox placement and fewer issues overall.

That said, results can vary. On Reddit, you will find users thrashing both tools for poor deliverability.

So the final outcome can depend on how well you maintain your sending practices and domain health.

3. Does Smartlead Include a CRM?

Yes, Smartlead has a built-in CRM.

4. Can You Manage Multiple Clients Instantly?

Yes, you can invite and manage as many clients as you want.

5. What is the Best Alternative to Smartlead and Instantly?

If you are looking for a better alternative to both Smarlead and Instantly, I would suggest looking at Saleshandy.

It is more cost-effective, works smoothly when you scale, and many users have seen stronger deliverability results with it in real campaigns.