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13 Best Sales Prospecting Tools to Get More Leads

20 min read
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Human slavery ended in 1865.

Now (in 2025), we lean on tools to get the job done.

Sales pros? They’ve turned it into an art form.

They use sales prospecting tools to,

  • Find prospects that match their ICPs
  • Reach out & engage with them
  • Close deals

All this while sipping their morning coffee.

Want that kind of efficiency? Perfect.

I have tested the best tools out there and rounded up the top 13 sales prospecting tools to help you convert leads faster than ever.

My List of Top Sales Prospecting Tools

CategoryBest forPricing
SaleshandyLead Finding + Email OutreachSMBs, Startups, Solopreneurs, Agencies$25/mo
ApolloLead FindingSMBs, Medium to Large Businesses$49/user/mo
Outreach.ioMultichannel Outreach + Sales ExecutionMedium to Large Businesses, AgenciesCustom Pricing
Salesforce CRMCRM + Sales ManagementMedium to Large Businesses, Enterprises$25/mo

How Do I Select These Sales Prospecting Tools?

My criteria are simple – Any tool that allows you to do world-class sales prospecting falls into this list. Everything else? Out. Period.
But all these tools have one thing in common—good support. So you don’t have to worry if you face any issues.

13 Best Sales Prospecting Tools

  1. Saleshandy (Recommended)
  2. UpLead
  3. Hunter.io
  4. Apollo.io
  5. Clay
  6. Lusha
  7. Outreach.io
  8. Instantly
  9. Lemlist
  10. HubSpot SalesHub CRM
  11. Salesforce CRM
  12. Zoho CRM
  13. Pipedrive

1. Saleshandy

Saleshandy is an AI-assisted cold outreach platform that helps you find prospects, reach out to them, and generate leads faster.

Best for: SMBs, Startups, Solopreneurs, and Agencies

Category: Lead Finding + Email Outreach

Pricing: Starts at $25/month (for sending emails) | $24/month (for finding leads)

Do you know why I’m suggesting Saleshandy?

It’s because your targets are too high.

You can’t waste your time switching platforms while prospecting.

For this, you will need an all-in-one kind of sales prospecting platform.

And Saleshandy covers all your requirements.

  • First – You get a huge database of 700M+ verified prospects
  • Second – You can automate your cold emails (with high deliverability)
  • Third – You get a support team that actually helps

The best part is that Saleshandy keeps improving its platform with helpful features that enhance your outreach campaigns.

In fact, Saleshandy recently launched its email infrastructure.

It received a lot of love from its users because now the users don’t have to go through the hassle of setting up email accounts.

Unique feature of Saleshandy – Sequence scoring.

It analyzes your cold email sequence and suggests certain action items so that you can avoid spam filters as much as possible.

What’s more? Its AI features are top-notch.

The best ones are AI Variants and AI Bounce Detection.

  • AI Variants: It allows you to A/B test your campaigns by creating multiple versions of your email with AI.
  • AI Bounce Detection: The AI will detect if your email is rejected by ESPs and pause your email account to avoid ruining your sender authority.

User Rating

  • G2: 4.6/5 ⭐ (685+ reviews)
  • Capterra: 4.5/5 ⭐ (125+ reviews)

Pros

  • You get unlimited email warm-ups
  • Unlimited clients
  • Huge database (700M+ verified contacts) for sales prospecting
  • Built-in email verification system (for sending emails)
  • Native integrations with CRMs like Salesforce, Zoho, HubSpot, and Pipedrive.
  • SOC 2 & ISO 27001 compliant
  • Easy to use

Cons

  • The trial period is limited to 7 days.
  • Only 50 free leads are available per month.

2. UpLead

UpLead is a B2B contact data provider, which is quite handy for sales prospecting. It comes with a database of 160M+.

Best for: Medium to Large-Sized Businesses and Enterprises

Category: Lead Finding

Pricing: Starts at $99/month (Essentials plan)

For sales reps, getting access to the correct contact details is most important. And UpLead ensures to deliver that.

It comes with 50+ search filters that allows you to pinpoint your ICPs and contact them without any email bounces or wrong numbers.

UpLead Dashboard

The best part about UpLead is that it checks emails in real time. In fact, their database is around 90%-95% accurate (and if the data you get is wrong, you will get a refund).

Recently, they’ve come up with buyer intent data, which helps you prioritize prospects that have more chances of being your customer.

It’s like having a radar for hot leads.

UpLead also allows you to integrate any CRM or third-party system. This ensures that your data is synced across your channels and team.

The only drawback is that UpLead has a small database, which can be exhausted after some extensive prospecting. I would recommend you to check out these UpLead alternatives.

User Rating

  • G2: 4.7/5 ⭐ (785+ reviews)
  • Capterra: 4.6/5 ⭐ (75+ reviews)

Pros

  • 160M+ contact database
  • Real-time email verification
  • Chrome extension for LinkedIn
  • Integration with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zoho CRM
  • 95% accuracy or your money back

Cons

  • Costly (starts with $99 per month)
  • Relatively small database
  • No outreach can be done from UpLead

3. Hunter.io

Hunter.io is your quick tool for finding emails and starting your outreach in the simplest way possible.

Best for: Freelancers, Startups, Solopreneurs, and Agencies

Category: Lead Finding + Email Outreach

Pricing: Free plan; paid plan starts from $49/month (billed monthly)

Hunter’s forte is in finding relevant contact details from company domains.

You simply need to add details to the filter, and it will fetch all the B2B profiles that match your needs.

You can either export or add them to your sending list to kickstart your outreach.

Hunter Dashboard

But there’s a small issue in all this. Even though Hunter.io provides a lead database and email outreach option, it’s not good enough.

Why? Because you can’t warm-up your emails in Hunter.io (which is a very fundamental need for cold emails).

That’s why Saleshandy and other Hunter.io alternatives are preferred by sales reps and businesses more.

User Rating

  • G2: 4.4/5 ⭐ (570+ reviews)
  • Capterra: 4.6/5 ⭐ (680+ reviews)

Pros

  • Free plan with 25 searches/month
  • Built-in email verification
  • Easy-to-use interface

Cons

  • Not recommended for agencies (You can’t add/manage clients)
  • Extra costs for adding email accounts.
  • Its pricing is not justified when we look at the features it provides

4. Apollo.io

Apollo.io is an AI-powered sales prospecting platform that also helps you engage with your potential leads.

Best for: Small to Medium-Sized Businesses and Hiring Agencies

Category: Lead Finding + Sales Engagement

Pricing: Free plan; paid plan starts at $49/user/month

If you are very picky with your prospects and want high-intent leads, then Apollo is your call.

It makes prospecting easier with Intent Topics & Intent Filters.

All you need to do is specify your ICPs and requirements, and Apollo will do its job of finding potential clients who are already looking for services or products in your niche.

Apollo Dashboard

Also, you can link multiple email accounts so that you can send emails from one place.

The best part – Apollo allows you to enrich your data right from your CRM.

Note: Apollo does not provide email warm-ups. So, you need to rely on a third-party platform for that.

If you are considering Apollo but are still skeptical about using it, then I suggest these Apollo alternatives.

User Rating

  • G2: 4.7/5 ⭐ (8480+ reviews)
  • Capterra: 4.6/5 ⭐ (360+ reviews)

Pros

  • Multichannel outreach (email, calls, LinkedIn)
  • CSV & CRM enrichment
  • 275M+ verified contacts
  • Integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, and more

Cons

  • Free plan’s limited (60 credits/month)
  • Can feel overwhelming for total newbies

5. Clay

Clay is a database platform that gives you access to 100+ premium data sources with AI research agents.

Best for: Medium to Large-Sized Businesses and Agencies

Category: Lead Finding + Enrichment

Pricing: Free plan; paid plan starts at $149/month

If you think that Clay is just a data platform, you are wrong.

Clay’s major use case is to help you turn insights into revenue with workflows.

Here’s how.

You can automate your inbound and outbound transactions with Clay.

For inbound, you can connect your web forms and automatically enrich the data and score leads.

When it comes to outbound, you can build your prospect list, score them, and reach out to them in seconds.

Lead generation tool

The best feature of Clay is that it provides intent data along with CRM enrichment.

This helps you prioritize leads and keep your CRM updated with the best data without any human involvement.

User Rating

  • G2: 4.9/5 ⭐ (150+ reviews)
  • Product Hunt: 4.9/5 ⭐ (170+ reviews)

Pros

  • Free plan with 100 credits per month
  • AI-powered email personalization
  • It has “Claygent” for deep lead research
  • Integrates with CRMs and tools like Zapier

Cons

  • The $149/month starting price is quite steep for smaller businesses
  • Learning curve if you’re new to enrichment

6. Lusha

Lusha is a sales intelligence platform that helps you get access to 155M+ profiles while ensuring top-tier quality and compliance.

Best for: Freelancers, Small to Medium-Sized Businesses, and Agencies

Category: Lead Finding + Enrichment

Pricing: Free plan; paid plan starts at $29/user/month

You might be thinking that 155M+ data does not seem worthwhile.

But let me tell you, quality is better than quantity.

In fact, when I checked the distribution of Lusha’s lead database, I found that it’s more suited if the target audience is in Europe, the UK, or North America.

Lusha dashboard

But if you are interested in finding prospects from other places, then I would suggest that you move on to a better Lusha alternative.

But here’s a feature of Lusha – CSV enrichment feature.

All you need to do is upload a CSV, and you can enrich your data with the latest information.

But please note that this feature is only available in higher plans.

User Rating

  • G2: 4.3/5 ⭐ (1495+ reviews)
  • Capterra: 4.0/5 ⭐ (375+ reviews)

Pros

  • Peak compliance: SOC 2, GDPR, CCPA, and ISO 27701
  • It has a Chrome extension for LinkedIn
  • Fast email and phone number lookups
  • Affordable at $29/user/month

Cons

  • Limited bulk show for basic plans
  • Filters are limited (as compared to other tools)
  • Lack of inbuilt features for outreach

7. Outreach.io

Outreach.io is a sales execution platform that helps you efficiently engage prospects and close more deals faster.

Best for: Medium to Large Businesses and Agencies

Category: Multichannel Outreach

Pricing: Custom pricing

If you want to achieve your targets without overworking yourself, then Outreach.io is your best bet.

Why? Outreach.io was built to streamline the entire sales prospecting process.

It recently launched an AI feature that can do prospecting on your behalf.

It can automatically track insights on your prospects and generate relevant content to increase response rates. That too by engaging at the right time.

Why have I listed Outreach.io in this list?

Because it’s not about sending emails, it’s about helping you close deals.

The best feature? Kaia (AI-powered assistant).

It joins your sales calls, takes notes, and provides real-time insights to help reps stay on track.

Recently, Outreach.io has doubled down on its analytics part.

Now, you get a crystal-clear view of what’s working (and what’s not) in your campaigns.

The only catch is that it’s not cheap. And the pricing isn’t transparent.

You’ll need to get on a call with their team to get a quote. However, for larger teams with complex needs, the investment could pay off big time with Outreach.io.

User Rating

  • G2: 4.3/5 ⭐ (3460+ reviews)
  • Capterra: 4.4/5 ⭐ (300+ reviews)

Pros

  • Multichannel outreach (email, calls, LinkedIn)
  • AI-driven insights and sequence optimization
  • Deep integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, and more
  • Real-time call coaching with Kaia
  • Robust analytics for performance tracking

Cons

  • Pricing isn’t public (custom quotes only)
  • There is steep learning curve for new users
  • Too costly for small teams or solopreneurs

8. Instantly

Instantly is an AI-powered cold email outreach platform that helps you scale campaigns and land in primary inboxes with top-notch deliverability.

Best for: Startups, Medium-Sized Businesses, and Agencies

Category: Email Outreach

Pricing: Starts at $37/month (Email Outreach plan)

Instantly is built to ensure that your emails hit the inbox.

It comes with a database of 160M+ verified contacts and a deliverability system that’s tough to beat.

Its AI features help you to customize your campaigns and reach out to people in a more personalized manner.

Instantly also provides AI-powered campaign optimization.

Here’s what it does.

When you set up your email campaigns, the AI analyzes your sequences and tweaks them so that they perform better.

Plus, the Unibox feature unifies all your inboxes so that you can manage replies and close deals without switching email accounts.

You can also create condition-based subsequences that help you create personalized journeys based on the response from the recipient.

Instantly, it does have a lead database, but I would not recommend it since it’s quite small.

For better features and pricing, you can check out Instantly alternatives.

User Rating

  • G2: 4.8/5 ⭐ (3645+ reviews)
  • Capterra: 3.8/5 ⭐ (5+ reviews)

Pros

  • 160M+ verified B2B contacts
  • Unlimited email accounts and warm-ups
  • AI-powered personalization and optimization
  • Native integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce, and Zapier

Cons

  • Lead finder credits can run out fast for heavy users
  • No phone outreach options
  • Quite expensive for agencies

9. Lemlist

Lemlist is a cold outreach platform that helps you find prospects, personalize emails at scale, and hit inboxes with multichannel sequences.

Best for: Startups, SMBs, and Agencies

Category: Multichannel Outreach (Email + LinkedIn + Call)

Pricing: Starts at $69/month (for Emails); $99/month (for Multichannel)

Lemlist has a database of 450M+ verified contacts and cool tools that help you automate your outreach campaign from one place.

You can send cold emails, reach out to prospects via LinkedIn, and even cold-call them.

Lemlist dashboard

Why is Lemlist on this list of sales prospecting tools?

It’s because Lemlist is obsessed with email deliverability and prospect engagement.

With a single prompt, you can create entire outreach sequences or personalize messages.

For more details, check Lemlist review.

User Rating

  • G2: 4.5/5 ⭐ (270+ reviews)
  • Capterra: 4.6/5 ⭐ (385+ reviews)

Pros

  • 450M+ verified B2B contacts
  • AI-powered personalization
  • Multichannel outreach (email, LinkedIn, calls)
  • Lemwarm for email warm-ups

Cons

  • The interface can feel a little outdated
  • Full features are locked behind higher plans

10. HubSpot SalesHub CRM

Hubspot SalesHub is a robust CRM platform designed specifically for sales prospecting and outreach.

Best for: Medium to Large-Sized Businesses and Enterprises

Category: CRM + Sales Engagement

Pricing: Free plan; paid plan starts at $20/user/month

One of the major benefits of Hubspot is that it allows you to stay updated with your prospecting with the help of email notifications.

You can create a workspace and use it to manage lists of prospects to contact.

With this, you can prioritize your outreach based on the status of contacts in the sales funnel.

Lead generation crm

Also, Hubspot’s CRM gives you a suite of tools to capture new leads from multiple channels (your website forms, email, social media, or even live chat).

Any new prospects that come in are automatically added to your CRM so that you can continue to nurture and engage them based on their intent.

Hubspot CRM’s users love the intuitive design and scalability, but it’s not flawless.

The free plan’s branding (e.g., on emails and forms) can feel unprofessional. And the pricing can jump fast based on your requirements.

User Rating

  • G2: 4.5/5 ⭐ (264+ reviews)
  • Capterra: 4.6/5 ⭐ (383+ reviews)

Pros

  • Smart send time (for sending emails based on prospect’s activity)
  • Custom views to filter and segment your prospect list
  • Automated email sequences to nurture your prospects
  • Deep integrations with Gmail, Outlook, and CRMs
  • Customizable pipelines and reporting

Cons

  • HubSpot branding on free plan tools
  • Advanced features (e.g., forecasting) require higher tiers

11. Salesforce CRM

Salesforce CRM is the world’s #1 AI-powered customer relationship management platform that helps you drive customer success with a single, shared view of data.

Best for: Sales Teams, Medium to Large Businesses, and Enterprises

Category: CRM

Pricing: Starts at $25/user/month (Starter Suite)

Why Salesforce CRM? Because it’s built for the AI era.

It tracks the journey of leads to see if they reach deals. By analyzing this, the CRM provides excellent sales forecasting. Its forecasting report allows you to know your top performers on a real-time leaderboard.

You can also use your judgment on the forecasted amount and plan strategies accordingly.

Salesforce AI-CRM

However, its best feature is that it gives you a complete view of your pipeline and business performance in the market.

Also, its real-time analytics from Tableau and data integration via MuleSoft are gems.

And the best part is that Salesforce’s AI helps you predict and automate your outreach.

The learning curve can be a bit steep for newbies, and premium features—like advanced forecasting—require higher plans.

But still, for a CRM that evolves with your business, Salesforce is unmatched.

User Rating

  • G2: 4.3/5 ⭐ (405+ reviews)

Pros

  • AI agents (Agentforce) for automation and productivity
  • Multichannel engagement (email, calls, Slack, LinkedIn)
  • Seamless integrations with Gmail, Outlook, and 9,000+ apps

Cons

  • Beginners might need time to get used to the features
  • Higher-tier plans can get pricey (Pro suite starts from $100/user/month)

12. Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM is an AI-powered platform that helps you manage leads and automate workflows so that you can build long-lasting customer relationships.

Best for: Small to Medium-Sized Businesses and Startups

Category: CRM

Pricing: Starts at $14/user/month (Standard)

If you prefer a CRM that does the job without messing up your monthly budget, then Zoho CRM is your answer.

It comes with a massive ecosystem of 40+ in-house apps and 1,000+ integrations.

Why Zoho CRM? It’s packed with value.

The free plan alone supports up to 3 users with core features like lead tracking and contact management, which makes it perfect for testing the waters.

CRM tool for SDRs - Zoho CRM Dashboard

Their coolest feature is Zia (their AI assistant).

It can predict trends, draft emails on your behalf, and even spot anomalies in your data. The only drawback is that Zia comes under higher-paid plans.

Also, Zoho allows you to create custom reports and dashboards that can measure operations in real time. With only one look, you can get an overview of what’s going right/wrong.

User Rating

  • G2: 4.1/5 ⭐ (2740+ reviews)
  • Capterra: 4.3/5 ⭐ (6935+ reviews)

Pros

  • Free plan with up to 3 users (best for small teams)
  • AI-powered tool (Zia) for predictions and automation
  • Multichannel support (email, calls, social, chat)
  • 1,000+ integrations (Google Workspace, Slack, Mailchimp)
  • Highly customizable with Canvas and workflows

Cons

  • Steep learning curve for advanced features

13. Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a sales pipeline software known for its intuitive functionality and simplified layout to optimize your sales prospecting process.

Best for: Sales Teams, SMBs, Startups, and Agencies

Category: CRM

Pricing: Starts at $14/user/month (Essential)

Pipedrive helps you optimize and streamline your workflows by setting up customizable stages for your sales funnel.

Its software’s strength lies in its lead tracking. You can monitor both active and inactive leads to understand all customer interactions.

Pipedrive uses this prospect data and compiles it into a multi-dimensional sales pipeline.

This significantly improves revenue prediction and helps you allow data-driven decisions. (Very helpful during strategy meetings)

It also offers native iOS and Android integration, which enables you to stay on top of your responsibilities from anywhere.

User Rating

  • G2: 4.3/5 ⭐ (2400+ reviews)
  • Capterra: 4.5/5 ⭐ (3040+ reviews)

Pros

  • Intuitive drag-and-drop pipeline
  • AI-driven sales assistant for smart insights
  • Affordable entry price (at $14/user/month)
  • 400+ integrations with tools like Google and Slack
  • LeadBooster add-on for easy lead capture

Cons

  • Limited marketing tools without add-ons
  • Advanced features (e.g., forecasting) require a higher tier of paid plans

Other Tools I Use in Our Prospecting Workflow

I have already suggested some cool tools that can help you with your sales prospecting process.

But there’s one more tool that I would like to recommend to you.

Its Saleshandy Connect – A Chrome extension that allows you to find contact details directly from LinkedIn.

Other than this, there are other tools like RocketReach, Klenty, and Zoominfo, which didn’t make it into this list because of certain limitations like automation, data quality, and integrations.

What Works – What Does Not?

Nothing will work if you don’t have quality contact information.

The most critical part of sales prospecting starts with finding prospects and reaching out to them.

For that, you need a very reliable platform.

I strongly recommend that you try Saleshandy.

You will get a bonus of 50 FREE leads when you sign up, along with a 7-day FREE trial, which is enough to see how things work out for you.

FAQs

1. What are sales prospecting tools, and how do they help businesses?

Sales prospecting tools are platforms that help you find, connect with, and convert potential customers by streamlining the lead generation process. They also help you find quality contact data and automate outreach (like emails or LinkedIn messages).

2. Is it possible to automate sales prospecting?

You can automate prospecting by using tools that identify potential prospects from databases, automatically send follow-up emails, and schedule tasks to keep prospects moving through your sales workflow.

3. How do you get prospects fast?

You can get prospects fast by using sales prospecting tools to find quality leads. Ideally, you should opt for tools that integrate databases, analytics, and automation.

4. What type of sales prospecting tool is the most popular?

Tools that allow automation are usually the most popular sales prospecting tools because they reduce the tedious work and help marketers scale. Tools like Saleshandy and Hubspot are quite popular for sales prospecting.

5. What are the 5Ps of prospecting?

The 5Ps of prospecting are a framework for effective sales outreach. This includes Purpose, Preparation, Personalization, Patience, and Practice.

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