Top 10 Cold Email Software of 2024 in My Opinion

Are you searching for the right cold email software to help you generate more leads for your business?

Well, in that case, you better grab yourself a jug of coffee and buckle up!

With so many platforms out there claiming to be ‘THE BEST,’ it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and lost in the sea of options.

But don’t worry—I’m here to help you out.

I’ve been in the cold emailing niche for over a decade, keeping track of trends and tools alike.

With this experience, I’ve put together this list of the 10 Best Cold Email Software in 2024.

I’ve tried and tested each tool and shared my unbiased opinion on how they perform. Plus, I also considered feedback from actual users to give you a well-rounded view of each platform.

So take a sip of that coffee, and let’s dive in together and find the right cold email tool for you.

TL;DR: Best Cold Emailing Software in My Opinion.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the best tools on the list.

I recommend you read further to know why and how I have ranked and rated them.

You can click on the tool to jump directly to its section and read more about it.

1. Saleshandy – Overall best cold emailing software for businesses and agencies of all sizes.
2. Smartlead.ai – Scalable cold email software for agencies.
3. Apollo.io – Best for businesses looking for a single platform with great prospect data and multichannel outreach. Not for agencies!
4. Reply.io – Best software for agencies handling multichannel outreach for multiple clients.
5. Lemlist – Best platform for businesses looking for cold email and LinkedIn outreach automation.

Table of Contents: Cold Email Software

• Head-to-Head Comparision of the Top 3/4 Cold Email Software
• Top 10 Cold Email Software To Help You Generate More Leads
• How to Choose The Best Cold Email Software?
• Generate More Revenue With The Right Cold Email Software
• Cold Email Software: FAQs

Head-to-Head Comparision of the Top 3 Cold Email Software

Top 10 Cold Email Software To Help You Generate More Leads

With the quick view out of our way, it’s time to get into the details of each and every tool on my list.

I signed up for 15 tools that provided cold email automation functionality and evaluated each tool based on these key factors:

• Core Sequencing Functionality
• Scalability
• Deliverability
• Team Collaboration
• Client Management (for agencies)
• Customer Support
• UI/UX
• Cost

This is the result of the evaluation – 10 cold email software ranked based on key metrics:

1. Saleshandy
2. Woodpecker
3. Smartlead.ai
4. Instantly.ai
5. Klenty
6. Reply.io
7. Lemlist
8. Apollo.io
9. Snov.io
10. Hunter.io

1. Saleshandy

G2 Review: 4.6/5 ⭐ (600+ Reviews)

Known For: Scalable and cost-efficient cold email automation + Prospecting

Best For: Businesses and agencies of all sizes.

You can call me biased, but our 9,500+ happy customers agree with us and have solid reasons to rank us the #1 cold email software—hear us out.

Saleshandy is an all-in-one cold email software that helps you scale your outreach efforts to generate high-quality leads efficiently.

Me and my team built this platform from the ground up to make cold emailing simpler, effective, and accessible for everyone.

Our goal was to create a tool that takes the guesswork out of cold emailing, helping you focus on what matters most: connecting with prospects and closing deals.

Apart from users, here’s why I ranked Saleshandy at the top.

1. Core Sequencing Functionality: You can create unlimited sequences with as many follow-ups as you like. You can personalize your cold email copies and make them more relevant to your prospects at scale.
   
   To further increase your chances of success, you can schedule your emails to reach your prospects in their time zone. Plus, you can A/Z test (A/B testing up to 26 variants) your cold emails to find what attracts your prospects more.

2. Scalability: You can connect unlimited email accounts to safely bypass ESP sending limits and scale your outreach.
   
   The best part! This is available right from the base plan at no additional cost.
3. Deliverability: You get features such as email warm-up,sender rotation, email ramp-up, sequence score and more to help improve your email accounts sender reputation with ESPs and improve inbox placement.
   
   You’ll get to know some of them in the key features section.
4. Team Collaboration: You can invite as many team members as you have to help manage and scale your cold email campaigns.
   
   But, this is available only from the Outreach Pro plan of Saleshandy – $74/Month (billed annually).
5. Client Management (for agencies): Saleshandy is one of the most cost-efficient tools that you can get your hands on! Why?
   
   Because you can add and manage unlimited clients from the starting plan of $25/Month (billed annually).
6. Customer Support: Saleshandy has one of the fastest response times in the market. Here’s what our users have to say.

“Saleshandy has helped us create consistently well performing outbound campaigns“

The most helpful thing about Saleshandy is their rich set of features, and our favorites are the sequence scores and sequence automations… Their customer support has been phenomenal and quick to respond to any questions we have…

“Saleshandy makes cold emailing fun and easy!“

It’s easy and quick to add to contacts and create your sequences.

Saleshandy constantly gives you tips on how to improve your cold emails to make them work! And it’s trustworthy… Customer Support is quick and helpful, it really feels like they want to help you with your problem.

Saleshandy is a great tool – I really recommend it!

7. UI/UX: Saleshandy has one of the cleanest and most user-friendly interfaces in the segment.
   
   And don’t just take my word for it—that’s exactly what many users on G2 have to say!
8. Cost: At Saleshandy, we’ve designed our pricing plans to help you achieve ROI faster.
   
   The base plan is priced at $25/Month (billed annually). This is great for solopreneurs, freelancers, and anyone starting out with cold emailing.
   
   If you want to collaborate more with your team, you can take the Outreach Pro plan priced at $74/Month (billed annually). 
   
   For more mature businesses and agencies that need separate team functionality and large sending volume (250K emails monthly), I’ll suggest the Outreach Scale plan – $149/Monthly (billed annually)

Next, let me show you some of the awesome features Saleshandy has!

Key Features of Saleshandy

• Email Warm-up: Saleshandy has partnered with TrulyInbox to provide you with the best warm-up feature to boost the sender reputation of your new email accounts and improve inbox placement.
  
  You can also warm up your existing email accounts to improve deliverability, ensuring your outreach efforts consistently land in your prospects’ primary inboxes.
• Centralized Reply Management: With Unified Inbox, you can manage all your important emails directly from Saleshandy without having to go through multiple email accounts.
  
  Moreover, you can draft and schedule your emails to reach prospects in their time zones.

• B2B Lead Finder: In Saleshandy, you can even find the right prospects to reach out to, along with their accurate email addresses and phone numbers.
  
  Saleshandy has an extensive B2B database of over 700M contacts from 60M+ companies across the globe. You can use the various filters to narrow down your search and find prospects who match your ideal customer profile (ICP) and buyer persona.

• Team Management: You can invite your team members and assign roles like Member, Team Manager, Admin, and Owner to help manage and scale your cold email campaigns. 
  
  Additionally, you can create separate teams to keep campaigns organized and ensure everyone is working efficiently.
• Client Management: With Saleshandy, you can manage multiple clients seamlessly from a single location. You also have the flexibility to assign specific permissions to each client to give them just view access or edit access to sequences and more.
• Advance Graphical Reports: With an intuitive dashboard, you can get in-depth analysis of your key metrics and insights into your cold email campaigns using filters for prospects and emails.

• White-labeling: You can use your agency’s branding instead of Saleshandy’s and add your domain, logo, company name, and favicon. This is changed separately!

Pros and Cons of Saleshandy

Pros:

• It is an easy-to-use tool with a low learning curve.
• Connect unlimited email accounts for warm-up.
• In-built content guide to help you follow best practices for cold email writing. (Avoid words that trigger spam filters)
• In-built verification tool to reverify prospect email addresses.
• It integrates with many popular CRMs like HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, and Zoho CRM.
• Saleshandy can be your go-to single solution for prospecting and outreach.
• Excess Lead Finder credits are rolled over every month.

There is so much that Saleshandy offers that I could go over it in the blog, but it would be quite lengthy.

You can sign up for a free trial and check the platform out for yourself!

This way, you and your team can get first-hand experience of Saleshandy’s cold emailing capabilities.

Cons:

• The trial period is limited to 7 days.
• You only get 5 free lead finder credits.

Pricing of Saleshandy (Annual Billing)

Saleshandy offers pricing plans suitable for businesses and agencies of every size.

Each pricing tier is based on the number of prospects you can have and the volume of emails you can send monthly.

You can check out the detailed pricing plans here.

2. Woodpecker

G2 Review: 4.3/5 ⭐ (Less than 100 Reviews)

Known For: Scalable and cost-efficient cold email automation + Prospecting

Best For: Businesses looking for scalable cold email outreach. Suitable for agencies, but it is not cost-effective.

The next cold email tool I tested out is Woodpecker.

Let me get straight to the point.

1. Core Sequencing Functionality: You can create multiple sequences with unlimited follow-ups. Personalize your cold email copies, schedule them, and A/B test (up to 5 variants).
   
   In addition to the usual, I found that you can create condition-based campaigns. This way, you can create a more tailored experience for your prospects.

2. Scalability: You can add unlimited email accounts right from the base plan to safely scale your cold outreach without triggering ESP spam filters.
3. Deliverability: Woodpecker has a good set of features, such as email warm-up, inbox rotation, adaptive sending, etc., to boost and maintain deliverability.
   
   Of these features, I found adaptive sending quite helpful as it automatically scales down your sending volume to protect deliverability. I have explained it in detail in the key features section.
4. Team Collaboration: You can invite unlimited team members to help manage campaigns and scale outreach efforts. This is available from the starting plan.
5. Client Management (for agencies): Woodpecker has a separate platform for agencies. Moreover, each of your clients has different portals where only their campaigns can be created and managed.
   
   This is great if you want to keep each client separate, but it can also be a hassle if you have multiple clients.
   
   But there’s a catch!
   
   Woodpecker charges $27/Active Client/Month. 
6. Customer Support: Here’s what Woodpecker’s users have to say.
   

“Easy to Use, Exceptional Support, and Top-Notch Deliverability!”
I’ve had a great experience with this platform! The customer service team is incredibly attentive and always ready to help make my campaigns successful. The software itself is straightforward and user-friendly…

“Great tool for bulk email sending”
They need more people working customer support, I get the impression it’s just three people there at all times, so when I have a question sometimes I have to be a little patient. 

“Great tool, bad Customer Service”

It’s a great tool to create and manage cold e-mail campaigns.

Customer Support and Sales Team treat ready-existing customers different then new one. The long you use it the less they care. They communication is chaotic and once it caused a serious risk for my company services.

7. UI/UX: I found Woodpecker’s UI to be clean and minimalistic. It did take me some time to get used to, but that’s the case with every tool.
   
   That said, the campaign builder can be a bit overwhelming at first.
8. Cost: Starting at $20/Month (billed annually), you might think that Woodpecker is highly affordable for all the features they offer.
   
   But that’s not the case. The main limitation is the number of prospects you can contact monthly. So, for $20, you can only reach out to 500 prospects, which is quite restrictive if you ask me.

Let’s now dive into some of the features of Woodpecker

Key Features of Woodpecker

• Adaptive Sending: This feature will automatically reduce your daily or hourly email sending quote right before you hit the limits set by your ESPs. This will help protect and maintain your sender reputation and deliverability.
• AI-generated email copies: You can use Woodpecker’s built-in AI to generate email copies quickly.
• Condition-based campaigns: You can set up follow-up email variations depending on your prospect’s behavior.
• Adjustable daily sending limits: With flexible daily sending limits, you can decide how many prospects you want to contact in a day. 

Pros and Cons of Woodpecker

Pros:

• Simple to use and quick to learn.
• You get unlimited email verification (via Bouncer)
• Woodpecker gives you a certain number of email accounts you can connect to warmup for free based on your pricing tier.
• You can invite unlimited team members from even in the starting plan.
• GDPR and CCPA compliant.

Cons:

• Agencies have to pay $27/per active client every month.
• The pricing plan is based on the number of prospects you can reach out to, which is quite restrictive.
• You must pay $20/month to access integrations, APIs, and webhooks.

Pricing of Woodpecker (Annual Billing)

3. Smartlead.ai

G2 Review: 4.7/5 ⭐ (200+ Reviews)

Known For: Scalable cold emailing with high deliverability

Best For: Best for businesses and agencies looking for scalable cold email automation.

Smartlead.ai is another popular cold email automation software that has become popular in quite a short amount of time.

So, how does it measure up? Let me show you!

1. Core Sequencing Functionality: You can create personalized cold email campaigns with multiple follow-ups, schedule them to reach prospects in their time zones, and also A/Z test your cold email copies.
   
   Apart from the usual, in Smartlead.ai, you can also create sub-sequences. This is quite useful when you want to move prospects from your main campaigns to a sub-campaign when they have met certain criteria.

2. Scalability: You can add unlimited email accounts to scale your campaigns easily.
3. Deliverability: Besides the usual email warm-up and mailbox rotation, Smartlead.ai has a newly launched feature called Smart Delivery.
   
   It is a deliverability testing feature that can help you understand your inbox placement rates.
4. Team Collaboration: Smartlead.ai allows you to invite unlimited teammates from the Pro plan – $78.3/Month (billed annually).
5. Client Management (for agencies): In Smartlead.ai, you can add and manage multiple clients. But for each client, you’ll have to pay $29/Month (billed monthly). 
6. Customer Support: Here’s what Smartlead.ai’s users have to say:

“Smart choice for cold email sending“

Great community/knowledge sharing, API, built in spam word detection, warmup tagging, cost effectiveness (when adding multiple clients) & agile customer support.

“2 Year User, Easy to Use, Great Community“

I’ve been using SmartLead for two years, and it has truly transformed my outbound experience… The platform is exceptionally user-friendly, the customer support is outstanding, and the features are what keep me loyal…

“the ONE and ONLY killer software in the cold emailing space“

How easy it is to get started with – you’ll get a shit load of video guides available.

And the customer support is just WOW. The founder will literally reply to all your doubts on Slack… I really don’t know how he finds time for this 🙂

7. UI/UX: I was able to get acquainted with the tool quickly. The onboarding process is good and valuable. That said, I felt the UI looks a bit outdated and not that appealing.
8. Cost: Smartlead.ai’s pricing plan is based on the number of emails you can send monthly. You get a fairly good monthly email-sending limit for the price you pay.
   
   However, agencies will have to pay extra to handle clients. Apart from that, Smartlead.ai is quite cost-efficient.

Next, let’s go through some of the features that I found useful in this cold email platform.

Key Features of Smartlead.ai

• Unified Master Inbox: You can manage your entire client conversation and deal flow in one place. 
• Smart Delivery: This is a new deliverability testing feature I found in Smartlead.ai. The test results will give you insights into the inbox placement rates of your connected email accounts.
  
  You can use this information to take corrective action to improve your deliverability. This feature is charged separately.
• Analytical Dashboard: With Smartlead’s robust analyzing capabilities, you can get real-time insights into important metrics like open rates, click rates, reply rates, etc.
• Customized White Labeling: Smartlead allows you to add your agency logo and other brand assets to the platform and make it like yours.

Pros and Cons of Smartlead.ai

Pros:

• You get unlimited email warm-up.
• Smartlead.ai has a mobile app that you can use.
• The reporting feature is quite detailed and advanced.
• You can connect to ChatGPT via API to help you quickly generate complete cold email sequences.

Cons:

• Agencies can only add and manage client from the PRO plan, additional you also have to pay $29/Month per client.
• The UI looks outdated.
• Limited integrations (HubSpot, Listkit, and Clay)

Pricing of Smartlead.ai (Annual Billing)

4. Instantly.ai

G2 Review: 4.8/5 ⭐ (3.3K Reviews)

Known For: Scalable cold email outreach + Prospecting

Best For: Businesses and agencies looking for scalable outreach.

If you are an agency or mid-sized business that wants to create high-volume campaigns, you can consider Instantly.ai as your go-to cold email software.

Here’s what I have found about Instantly.ai

1. Core Sequencing Functionality: The email sequence builder was simple and easy to use. It has all the features you’ll need to create personalized cold email campaigns, schedule them, and also A/Z test to find out what works and what doesn’t.
   
   But there’s a small catch: some of the key features, like Unibox (centralized reply management), minimum time gap between emails, and lead prioritization, are only available in the higher-priced plans.
2. Scalability: In Instantly.ai, you can add an unlimited number of emails to scale your outreach safely.
3. Deliverability: Instantly.ai has many deliverability features to help improve your inbox placement.
   
   You also get a Done-For-You (DFY) service, where their team will do the set up for all your email accounts.

4. Team Collaboration: You can invite an unlimited number of team members, but this is available only from the Hyper Growth plan – $77.6/Month (billed annually)
5. Client Management (for agencies): Instantly.ai can be quite expensive if you have to manage clients, as you have to create separate workspaces for each client and pay for the subscription for each workspace.
6. Customer Support: Here’s what Instantly.ai’s users have to say:

“Highly recommended to anyone looking to streamline their email campaigns and maximize results!”

Instantly has been a game-changer for our outreach process. The platform is user-friendly, reliable, and packed with features…

What sets Instantly apart is its exceptional customer support—Samson and the team have been responsive and proactive, ensuring we get the most out of the platform…

“Really easy to get started with for beginners!”

I started cold-emailing for my business and it only took 20 minute video tutorial to learn fully how the platform works. Really user-friendly and customer support is great!

As you can see, Instantly.ai’s support team has nothing but praise!

7. UI/UX: Instantly.ai has an easy-to-navigate and clean interface. Even if you are new to cold emailing, you can easily get a hang of the tool.
8. Cost: In my opinion, Instantly.ai is expensive. You get more value only in their highest plan, Light Speed – $286.3/Month (billed annually).

The other plans are pretty expensive, and the other cold emailing software on this list offers more email-sending volume at a lesser cost.

Key Features of Instantly.ai

• Lead finder: Instantly.ai’s in-built database has over 160 million contacts. You can use the various search filters to find the right prospects and their contact information.
  
  You have to pay for this separately.
• Unibox: This is one of the core cold emailing features in Instantly.ai (centralized reply management). You can view and respond to your prospects’ replies using this feature.
• Website Visitors: This feature allows you to identify website visitors (B2B only). You can then reach out to people with high intent, such as those who have visited the pricing page, contact us page, etc.
  
  You’ll have to pay separately for this feature.
• Slow Ramp-up: This is a newly released feature. You can use it to gradually increase the email-sending volume in your campaigns, which will help protect your email accounts’ sender reputations.

Pros and Cons of Instantly.ai

Pros:

• You get unlimited email warmups.
• It has an in-built email verification tool that you can use to re-verify your emails.
• You get advanced reporting and analytics.
• It has a database that you can use to find prospects along with their contact information.

Cons:

• It is quite expensive for businesses and agencies.

Pricing of Instantly.ai (Annual Billing)

5. Klenty

G2 Review: 4.6/5 ⭐ (200+ Reviews)

Known For: Sales Engagement and Intelligence

Best For: Businesses looking to transition from cold emailing to multichannel eventually.

Klenty is the first sales engagement platform in the list that can help you create multichannel campaigns to engage with your prospects.

I have Klenty here because it offers a separate pricing plan for cold emailing only.

So, if you want to start with cold email outreach and slowly take a multichannel route, then this tool is perfect for you.

Let’s look at how Klenty scores as a cold email software:

1. Core Sequencing Functionality: You can create personalized cold email cadences in Klenty. You can schedule your emails and A/B test them as well.
   
   Klenty has an in-built AI in the beta stage, which you can use to quickly generate cold email copies.
2. Scalability: You can add unlimited number of email accounts from a particular domain.
   
   If you want to add email addresses from a different domain, then you have to pay a small fee of $30/domain.
3. Deliverability: Klenty has very basic deliverability features like sending emails at random intervals and email volume control.
4. Team Collaboration: You can invite unlimited team members to help manage outreach campaigns.
5. Client Management (for agencies): Klenty is also suitable for agencies, but you’ll have to get in touch with their support team to learn about its pricing.
   
   Here’s what I know: you can manage multiple clients, and for each client, you have a separate portal to manage your cadences.
6. Customer Support: This is what Klenty’s users have to say:

“Never before have I experienced the quality of customer service Klenty provides!”

What I like the most about Klenty isn’t the software, or the affordability, it’s the people behind the logo that have made the customer experience completely unique compared to any other software I have had. Everytime I have a question they answer so fast, sometimes within just a few minutes…

“Great Customer Service”

Their support and customer service team are very quick in answering any questions I have quickly. I message them almost every week with a question as I am slowly learning the platform and they always are able to help me resolve my issues or concerns. The whole team is super helpeful.

7. UI/UX: Klenty recently rebranded and gave its product a new look. Now, Klenty has chosen a lighter color scheme, which makes it more appealing.
8. Cost: The cold emailing-only plan in Klenty is the Sales Engagement Starter plan. Pricing is based on the number of contacts and emails you can send monthly.
   
   In my opinion, Klenty is priced reasonably for the email volume and features it offers.

Let’s now move on and take a look at some of the key features.

Key Features of Klenty

• Delivery Windows: With delivery windows, you can schedule your emails to be sent at the best times for your prospects, making it more likely that they’ll actually read them.
• Liquid Email Templates: Another great feature is Liquid email templates. These let you change the content of your emails based on conditions, like the day your prospects will receive them. It helps make your outreach more effective.
• Ask Kai: This is the AI writer I used in Klenty to create my cold emails quickly. That said, it will take some time to figure out the right prompts to 

Pros and Cons of Klenty

Pros:

• Klenty has multichannel outreach capabilities.
• It has an in-built database that you can use to find prospects and their email addresses.
• You can use the internal routing system to assign interested leads to specific sales representatives.
• There are various integrations available, such as HubSpot, MS Dynamics, Zoho, Hippo Video (video personalization), etc.

Cons:

• You can only connect email accounts from a specific domain. If you want to add email accounts from other domains, you’ll have to pay a fee of $30/domain.
• It does not have many email deliverability features.
• The multichannel pricing plans do not allow you to invite unlimited team members. You have to pay per user.

Pricing of Klenty (Annual Billing)

6. Reply.io

G2 Review: 4.6/5 ⭐ (1.3K+ Reviews)

Known For: AI Sales Outreach & Cold Email Platform

Best For: Businesses and agencies of all sizes.

Reply.io is a sales outreach platform that you can use purely for cold emailing or for multichannel outreach.

This platform will be an ideal tool if you have plans to start with cold emailing and expand to a multichannel approach.

Coming to the cold emailing part of Reply.io, here’s what I found out:

1. Core Sequencing Functionality: The sequence builder is clean and simple. You can easily create multiple campaigns with automated follow-ups, personalize your copies, and create variants for A/B testing.
   
   I also tried Reply.io’s AI tool, Jason AI, to help me write personalized email copies. It was super helpful—I could input all sorts of details about my business and then prompt the AI to create tailored email content based on what I needed.
2. Scalability: The cold emailing plan allows you to connect unlimited email accounts, but the other plans that offer multichannel have restrictions on this number.
3. Deliverability: Reply.io offers basic deliverability features like email warm-up, email limits, and inbox rotation.
4. Team Collaboration: In Reply.io, you can add unlimited team members, but that option is available only when you pay for the 25K active contacts/month plan. So, if you want to invite team members, you can pay for the seats.
5. Client Management (for agencies): There is a separate pricing plan for agencies starting at $166/Month (billed annually). In this plan, you will be able to add and manage unlimited number of clients.
6. Customer Support: Let’s see what Reply.io’s users have to say

“Easy tool to use and great customer service”

It has a ton of great features, some I didn’t even realize that would interest me… Customer support was also super helpful in not just recommending articles to help with my issues but also in making sure I had a good experience.

“Great experience so far”

User-friendly software with clear and easy steps to build your sequence and monitor its performance.

They also have a very responsive customer support service to help you set up everything quickly and solve issues…

7. UI/UX:  Reply.io is not as simple to navigate as the other cold emailing software, as it has various features.
   
   I had to spend some time figuring things out, but once I got the hang of the platform, it was all good.

8. Cost: I found Reply.io to be on the expensive side. The starting plan is priced at $49/Month (billed annually). In this plan, you can have only 1 user and reach out to 1,000 contacts.
   
   In my opinion, multiple other cold email software offers more at a lesser cost. But in the long run, if you were to shift to multichannel, then you could consider Reply.io.

Key Features of Reply.io

• Deliverability Suite: Reply.io offers email deliverability features that ensure your emails land in the primary inbox, not the spam folder.
• AI agent: You can use Reply’s AI agent, Jason, who automates finding prospects and handling responses.
• Live Data: This is a new feature that I got to experience. With this feature you can use various filters to find prospects matching your ideal customer profile (ICP) and buyer persona. Reply.io then runs a live search to find prospects and their information in real-time.
  
  The only downside is that it is very slow, as the data is scrapped live for each prospect.
• ESP Matching: It automatically pairs prospects with the same email addresses. 

Pros and Cons of Reply.io

Pros:

• You get free email warm-up for each connected email account.
• You get onboarding help right from the basic plan.
• Reply.io has an in-built database that you can use to find prospects.
• You can store unlimited contacts.

Cons:

• It’s a bit expensive compared to other tools.
• In the multichannel plans, you are charged per user.

Pricing of Reply.io (Annual Billing)

7. Lemlist

G2 Review: 4.5/5 ⭐ (200+ Reviews)

Known For: Cold Emailing, Multichannel (email + LinkedIn) and Prospecting

Best For: Businesses and agencies looking for multichannel outreach along with lead-finding capabilities.

Lemlist is quite a popular platform you would have come across in many cold emailing communities online.

Apart form cold email automation, it can also help you automate LinkedIn tasks (profile visits, comments, messages).

It also has a built-in database that you can use to find prospects to contact. Now, let’s discuss its performance.

1. Core Sequencing Functionality: I found Lemlist’s campaign builder very unique and intuitively designed. Moreover, you can also create custom images and landing pages to make your emails stand out and eye-catching.
   
   I was also able to create decision branches based on certain conditions. This will be really helpful if you are doing multichannel outreach.
2. Scalability: Scalability comes at a cost in Lemlist. One of the major drawbacks, in my opinion, is that the number of email accounts you can connect depends on the seats you purchase.
3. Deliverability: Lemist is not short on deliverability features. You get email warmup, inbox rotation, email sending limits, deliverability testing, and more. All these features are designed to help improve and maintain your sender reputation.
4. Team Collaboration: In Lemlist, you have to pay per user. So, collaborating with your team can get quite expensive.
5. Client Management (for agencies): You have to buy separate workspaces and seats for each client. Again this will add to the increasing cost.
6. Customer Support: This is what Lemlist’s users have shared recently on G2:

“The tool has allowed me to centralize most of the things I need for my cold outreach strategy.”

It is very easy to implement and configure the part of domain tracking, inboxes and LinkedIn, also the customer support is fast and the templates and webinars are quite practical…

“Very happy with features and documentation, but blown away by amazing customer service”

I’ve looked at many options for our first email campaign, and after giving it all some thought I’ve opted for lemlist… But the thing that really stands out is the amazing customer support. I’ve used hundreds of services over the years, but I have to say lemlist’s customer service is second to none. Definitely recommended.

7. UI/UX: Lemlist has a simple step-by-step onboarding process to help new users get accustomed to the tool. If you are someone who has experience using a cold emailing software before, you can get through the platform with your eyes closed.
8. Cost: Cost is Lemlist’s major drawback. Collaborating, scaling, and managing clients will cost quite a lot.

Key Features of Lemlist

• B2B Lead Database: You can access Lemlist’s AI-powered B2B database of 450 million+ contacts to target accurate leads.
• Email Verifier: Lemlist has an email verifier that allows you to verify your email addresses to reduce hard bounces.
• Warm-up Tool: Lemlist helps you avoid spam folders with the help of Lemwarm.
• Inbox: Lemlist launched their centralized reply management system while I was testing their tool. This will help you manage all your communication from a single location (email and LinkedIn).

Pros and Cons of Lemlist

Pros:

• You can connect ChaptGPT through API and use its capability to help generate personalized cold email copies.
• You can integrate with CRMs like Pipedrive, HubSpot, and Salesforce.
• Lemlist just launched Inbox, which is their centralized reply management feature.
• It has an in-built database that you can use to find prospects or enrich an existing list.

Cons:

• Lemlist is highly expensive because of its pricing structure (for both businesses and agencies)
• Most of the basic features, such as A/B testing, email warm-up, etc., are available only in the higher-pricing plans.

Pricing of Lemlist (Annual Billing)

8. Apollo.io

G2 Review: 4.8/5 ⭐ (7.6K+ Reviews)

Known For: Sales Intelligence and Engagement Platform

Best For: Businesses looking for a one-stop cold outreach solution. Not for agencies!

Apollo.io started out as a sales intelligence platform and is quite well-known.

They eventually expanded to provide cold emailing, calling, and deal management solutions and became a fully-fledged sales platform.

Usually, cold emailers would use Apollo.io for accurate prospect data and then export that data to a standalone cold email software to create personalized campaigns to reach out to them.

But here I have evaluated Apollo.io as a cold email platform, and this is what I found:

1. Core Sequencing Functionality: Apollo.io’s campaign feature is quite easy to use. You can create a full cold email campaign either by yourself or with the help of AI.
   
   I found it extremely useful to create multiple sequences quickly. You can also use AI to create personalized cold email copies, schedule them, and create multiple variants to A/B test your campaigns.
   
   You can also create multichannel sequences with emails, calls, and automated LinkedIn tasks.
2. Scalability: In Apollo.io, you can connect only a certain number of email accounts based on your subscribed plan.
3. Deliverability: You only get very basic deliverability features. Apollo.io does not offer email warm-up, so if you have new email accounts, you must manually warm them or use a warm-up service. 
4. Team Collaboration: Apollo.io has a user-based pricing plan, so if you want to collaborate, you have to pay for those users.
5. Client Management (for agencies): Apollo.io does not have a client management function. You cannot run campaigns for your clients as some of the specialized cold email softwares on this list.
6. Customer Support: This is what Apollo.io’s users have to say

“Great tool for prospecting”

Apollo is great for creating targeted email campaigns using AI tools. It is also effective for creating follow up tasks and staying on top of pipeline integrations with CRM systems is also an added bonus. Their customer support channels are also easy to use and have solved any issues i have experienced in the past.

“A simple tool to help you sell better”

I like their Chrome extension. I use it every day! It helps me prepare for my meeting and my prospecting activities. It integrate with our CRM and is super easy to use. They also offer great customer support.

7. UI/UX:  I found the prospecting side of Apollo.io to be quite advanced, with multiple features, filters, and functionalities. It took me a while to get used to everything.
   
   In my opinion, new users should be prepared for a bit of a learning curve. For example, good luck trying to find the ‘Mailbox Rotation’ feature on your own—I sure couldn’t!
   
   I ended up having to reach out to support, and even then, it took me a while to figure out where that option was hidden. So, be ready to invest some time in getting familiar with the interface.
8. Cost: Apollo.io can be pretty expensive since their pricing plan covers prospecting, cold emailing, and multichannel outreach all bundled together.
   
   If you’re looking for a simple solution, this might be overkill and heavy on your wallet. 

Key Features of Apollo.io

• Extensive Database Access: Apollo.io gives you access to an extensive database of 270+ million data. 
• Advanced Search Filters: You can use Apollo’s 65+ advanced filters to segment your data to ensure highly targeted lead generation.
• List Management: With exceptional list management features, you can select thousands of people at once and add them to organized lists.
• Data Enrichment: The cold email platform offers data enrichment features, allowing you to enhance the quality of your CRM data.

Pros and Cons of Apollo.io

Pros:

• With Apollo, you can help prioritize high-value leads and companies using AI.
• You can automatically sync & enrich your CRM data.
• Apollo.io offers a conversation intelligence feature to track, record & analyze conversations.
• Apollo’s buying intent filter aims to help you target potential clients who are interested in your services or similar products.

Cons:

• Pricing plans are not effective for startups and small-size businesses.
• Agencies cannot use Apollo.io to manage outreach for clients.
• It does not have any email warm-up function.

Pricing of Apollo.io (Annual Billing)

9. Snov.io

G2 Review: 4.6/5 ⭐ (400+ Reviews)

Known For: Sales Engagement

Best For: Small to mid-sized businesses and agencies.

Snov.io is a platform that can help you find prospects and reach out to them through cold emails and LinkedIn.

Let’s dive into it’s cold emailing capabilities:

1. Core Sequencing Functionality:  I found Snov.io’s sequence builder to be straightforward and effective. You can create drip campaigns with automated follow-ups, making it easy to stay on top of your outreach.
   
   I really liked how intuitive it was to personalize emails at scale, and the built-in options for A/B testing helped me tweak my campaigns for the best results. If you’re looking for simplicity mixed with solid functionality, Snov.io does a great job.
2. Scalability: You can connect unlimited email accounts to scale your outreach, which is a big plus for growing teams or businesses with high-volume needs.
   
   However, the number of contacts you can reach out to depends on the tier you choose
3. Deliverability: Snov.io comes with some handy deliverability features, like email verification and warming up new email addresses.
   
   You can also set sending limits for your email accounts to avoid getting flagged by email service providers. 
4. Team Collaboration: Snov.io offers unlimited seats in all their pricing plans.
5. Client Management (for agencies): Snov.io has a separate pricing plan for agencies in which you get unlimited seats and can add unlimited clients.
6. Customer Support: Snov.io’s customer support is quite responsive and helpful. Check out some of their user reviews from G2.

“Simple yet powerful platform”

The first interaction I had with Snov was back in Jan 2024 and this is by far the most simple and easy to setup platform which integrates almost everything i need with fast customer support.

“Great tool for email outreach, amazing customer support.”

Ease of use, user friendly interface and navigation, great deliverability check process, great customer support team.

7. UI/UX: The platform is quite easy to navigate, and you can easily find what you need. If you’re stuck, Snov.io’s support team will help you out.
8. Cost: Snov.io’s pricing plan comes with email-finding credits, so if you already have a platform for sourcing prospect information, then Snov.io would be expensive.

Key Features of Snov.io

• Drip Campaigns: The Snov.io email drip campaigns feature lets you nurture leads, build relationships, and guide prospects to enter the sales funnel using AI.
• LinkedIn Automation: You can automate your linkedin outreach process with a few clicks. 
• Email Deliverability Check: Snov takes care of the technical and complex part of setting up your email deliverability to ensure your emails land in your prospects’ inboxes.  

Pros and Cons of Snov.io

Pros:

• Snov has a user-friendly interface.
• It has an in-built email warm-up feature.
• You can use the email verification tool to verify email addresses in your prospect list.
• It has multiple templates that you can use to set up your campaigns.
• You can also use the in-built AI to create email copies quickly.

Cons:

• Limited prospecting capabilities.
• Snov has limited reporting and visibility features.
• The A/B testing feature is not available in basic paid plans.

Pricing of Snov.io (Annual Billing)

10. Hunter.io

G2 Review: 4.4/5 ⭐ (500+ Reviews)

Known For: Scalable and cost-efficient cold email automation + Prospecting

Best For: Businesses that are looking for basic cold email outreach capabilities. No for agencies.

The last cold email software on my list is Hunter.io.

Just because it’s at the last spot doesn’t mean it’s not a good tool. Hunter.io is great for freelancers, solopreneurs, and people who are new to cold emailing.

1. Core Sequencing Functionality: Hunter.io offers the basics you need for building simple cold email sequences. You can set up campaigns with automated follow-ups, but the options are more limited compared to some of the more advanced tools.
   
   It’s straightforward and easy to get the hang of, which is perfect if you’re just getting started.
2. Scalability: Based on the pricing tier, you can connect a set number of email accounts to scale your campaigns.
   
   If you want to add more, you have to pay a fee of $10/Month/account.
3. Deliverability: Hunter.io has only basic deliverability features like mailbox rotation and email sending limits. It does not have an in-built email warm-up solution.
4. Team Collaboration: You get unlimited seats to expand your team.
5. Client Management (for agencies): Hunter.io is not for agencies. There is no way to manage multiple clients and campaigns.
6. Customer Support: Hunter.io’s support team is loved by its customers quite a lot, but there are only a few reviews on G2.

“Great Product, Great Value!”

Great Product for the Price. Great Customer Service, difficult to beat. When I needed to contact them, they responded quickly and went above and beyond with their support. I’ve been a Recruiting Consultant for years and have trained lots of Recruiters. This is a tool that I always recommend!!

7. UI/UX: Hunter.io is quite easy to use and navigate, even for first-time cold emailers.
8. Cost: Honestly, Hunter.io is a bit expensive compared to the other cold email softwares on the list.

Key Features of Hunter.io

• Domain Search: With this feature, you can enter a domain name and find the email addresses of a particular company.
• Email Finder: Hunter’s extension allows you to find the email addresses of key decision-makers in the company.
• Email Verifier: You can verify your email addresses and avoid hard bounces. 
• Signals: Hunter gives you the signal using intent data and helps you find your next customer. 

Pros and Cons of Hunter.io

Pros:

• Hunter has a simple and easy user interface.
• You can invite as many team members as you want right from the base plan.
• Hunter.io has multiple integrations with CRMs, ESPs, and other third-party providers, such as HubSpot, Close, Woodpecker, etc.
• Hunter has a simple and easy user interface.
• It also has a built-in database that contains information about businesses and their employees.

Cons:

• Not for agencies. You cannot add and manage clients.
• You will be charged $10 for adding an additional email account.
• The pricing plans are expensive for what you get.

Pricing of Hunter.io (Annual Billing)

How to Choose The Best Cold Email Software?

If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of cold email tools out there? Trust me, I get it.

I know how tricky it can be to make the right choice.

Honestly, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer because the “best” tool for you depends on your unique needs and preferences.

Curious to know what factors matter most?

Let me break down the essentials from my experience:

1. Essential Cold Email Features

Why invest in cold email software in the first place? Simple: you want to automate the manual, repetitive tasks like sending emails, warming up accounts, and writing personalized messages. Here’s what I’ve found crucial:

• Email Personalization: Personalization is everything when it comes to cold emailing. Look for a cold email software with robust personalization features, like merge tags for inserting the prospect’s name, company, etc. This can make your emails more personalized and relevant to your prospects.
• Cold Email Automation: The ability to automate cold emails and schedule follow-ups is a must. I’ve seen firsthand how tools that offer seamless automation make managing campaigns so much easier.
• Deliverability Suite: This one is non-negotiable. Deliverability can make or break your campaigns, and I always prioritize tools with features to prevent emails from landing in spam. If it has email warm-up, sender rotation, and reputation management, you’re on the right track.
• A/B Testing: Testing is key to understanding what works. From my experience, having A/B testing functionality is a game-changer. I love that Saleshandy lets you test up to 26 variants, which has helped me fine-tune my email strategies.
• Reporting and Analytics: Effective tracking is crucial. Tools with robust analytics have helped me stay on top of my campaigns, monitor open and click-through rates, and adjust as needed. Don’t settle for software that skimps on this.
• Integration Capabilities: A smooth workflow makes everything more efficient. I always check if the cold email software integrates seamlessly with popular CRMs and automation tools. It saves a ton of time and keeps everything connected.

2. Cost-Effective Pricing Plans

Once you find software that checks all the feature boxes, cost comes into play. In my experience, doing a cost-value analysis is a must.

Look for a tool that offers great features at a reasonable price. For example, search for a cold email software where you can: connect unlimited email accounts, invite as many team members as you have and manage multiple clients, at a reasonable cost.

3. Scalability

As you grow, your needs will, too. From running small campaigns to managing large-scale outreach, it’s important to have software that scales with you.

I’ve learned to always check if a tool can handle more email accounts, bigger prospect lists, and advanced team management when needed.

4. Customer Support

Last but definitely not least: customer support. From my own experience, a responsive and helpful support team can be a lifesaver when you run into issues.

I always check for fast response times, multiple support channels, and a solid resource library. It makes troubleshooting and learning so much easier.

Once you find cold email software that meets these criteria, you’re set. Trust your research, and when you feel confident, go for it!

It makes all the difference in running smooth and successful outreach campaigns.

Generate More Revenue With The Right Cold Email Software

I hope this detailed blog helped cut down your research time and made the process a bit easier. By now, you should have a couple of cold email software options that seem like a great fit for your business.

But remember, reading about these tools only gives you about 40% of the picture—the real magic happens when you test them out for yourself.

So, go ahead and sign up for the ones that caught your eye, play around with the features, and see which one feels right for you.

Trust me, there’s nothing like firsthand experience to make the best decision. Happy emailing, and here’s to your outreach success!

Cold Email Software: FAQs

1. Is Cold Emailing Considered Illegal?

No, it’s not illegal, but you need to follow rules like the CAN-SPAM Act or GDPR, depending on where you’re sending emails. Just make sure to include an unsubscribe link and respect people’s privacy.

2. How Many Cold Emails Am I Allowed To Send in a Single Day?

It’s recommended to send 40-50 emails per day from a single email account. This helps you stay under the radar and avoid getting flagged by spam filters, especially when you’re just starting out.

3. What Is the Most Scalable Cold Email Tool Available?

If you need to scale your outreach, I’d recommend Saleshandy—it lets you connect unlimited email accounts and offers powerful automation to grow as you do.

4. Which Cold Email Platform Is Best Suited for Agencies?

If you’re managing multiple clients, Saleshandy is a fantastic option. It lets you add and manage unlimited clients, making it perfect for agencies looking to streamline their outreach efforts.

5. Which Platform Should I Choose if I Want To Expand to Multichannel Outreach in the Future?

If you’re thinking about going multichannel, check out Reply.io. It supports cold email, LinkedIn, SMS, and more, making it perfect for expanding your outreach strategy.