This article was last updated on July 4, 2025

If you're reading this, chances are you've either heard of or used Lemlist. But you're also wondering what else is out there. And that’s smart. Lemlist has earned its flowers as a cold outreach platform, with a strong feature set and a great track record among email senders.

But software is never one-size-fits-all. And in a fast-moving market, it's natural to consider other tools that offer better pricing, more generous campaign limits, or a cleaner fit for the way you work.

Depending on what matters most to you, whether it's deliverability, ease of use, automation, or collaboration, there's almost certainly an option that suits you better.

We’ve done the digging, so you don’t have to. This guide breaks down what to look for in a cold outreach tool, compares Lemlist with Instantly, and explores other strong Lemlist alternatives, each tailored to different outreach goals.

What To Prioritize In a Lemlist Alternative for Cold Outreach

G2 Rating: 4.4/5 ⭐ from 275 reviews

Before diving into Lemlist comparisons, it helps to get clear on what matters in a cold email tool. The best software doesn't focus more on cramming in features over fitting how real senders work and helping you reach your audience with less hassle.

Here’s what to keep in mind when weighing Lemlist against other tools:

Account Warmup That Just Works

If you're sending emails from a new domain or inbox, warmup isn’t optional. Without it, you risk tanking your sender reputation before your campaign even begins.

The best tools automate this entirely. They gradually ramp up sending volume, mimic real human behavior, and keep your deliverability strong in the long run. Some, like Instantly, even run this in the background without eating into your sending limits. That’s a small detail that makes a big difference.

Focused, Flexible Campaign Builder

Most cold email campaigns don’t need fancy visuals or heavy formatting. What you do need is a clean, simple interface that lets you set up effective email sequences fast. Look for tools that make it easy to:

• Add custom sending schedules
• Personalize at scale with custom variables and spintax
• Handle multi-step campaigns (including auto-follows)
• Import and manage lists without friction

If a platform feels clunky or too rigid, you’ll feel it every day you use it.

Deliverability Safeguards

Even a perfectly written email is worthless if it lands in spam. That’s why deliverability tools built into your software matter. At a minimum, your tool should:

• Include email warmup features and a solid deliverability network
• Flag risky, spam-like content before you hit send
• Let you preview emails on different devices and inbox types
• Automatically handle replies, bounces, and unsubscribes

Template Library and Customization

Nobody wants to start from scratch every time. Quality outreach tools provide professionally written templates you can customize for your brand and message. The best platforms offer drag-and-drop features that let you create professional emails without touching a line of code.

You should be able to add your logo, adjust colors, insert images, and restructure content without technical knowledge. Templates save time, but flexibility keeps your campaigns fresh and on-brand.

Mobile-First Design

McKinsey tells us that 71% of buyers today expect personalized interactions at every stage of their journey. Many of these interactions happen on mobile devices. If your emails don't render properly on phones and tablets, you're losing potential responses before recipients even read your message.

With that in mind, you need a platform that automatically optimizes emails for mobile viewing. Your templates should adapt to different screen sizes, with readable fonts and appropriately sized buttons that work with touch navigation.

Preview and Spam Testing

Different email clients render messages differently. What looks perfect in Gmail might appear broken in Outlook. The best outreach tools let you preview how your emails will appear across various clients and devices before sending.

Equally important is built-in spam testing. With average bounce rates sitting at 2.48% across industries, you need to identify potential spam triggers before they derail your campaigns. Look for tools that scan your content, subject lines, and sender information for red flags.

Transparent Scaling Options

You shouldn’t have to dig through support pages to figure out what you’re paying for. A solid cold outreach tool shows you upfront how many inboxes you can connect, how many emails you can send, and what it costs to grow from there.

Avoid platforms that hide their pricing structure or make you contact sales for basic information. The best tools display their pricing openly and make it easy to understand what you get at each level.

Campaign Analytics That Show What's Working

Data should help you make better decisions, not just decorate your dashboard. Look for tools that surface the email metrics that actually matter for cold outreach. We're talking:

• Open rates (or better yet, inbox placement data)
• Click-throughs (if you use links)
• Reply rates
• Bounce and unsubscribe rates
• Campaign-level comparisons and A/B test performance

Some tools just show you numbers. Others help you understand how exactly to make those numbers work for you. The latter is what you want.

Instantly vs. Lemlist: A Head-to-Head Comparison

G2 Rating: 4.8/5 ⭐ from 3,698 reviews

Now let's see how two popular outreach platforms stack up against each other: Instantly.ai and Lemlist. Both platforms serve cold emailers, but they don’t serve them in quite the same way.

While Lemlist is known for its multichannel outreach and creative personalization options, Instantly takes a more focused, systems-first approach to cold email outreach.

Let’s see how the two stack up.

Pricing and Value Breakdown

First things first, let's address arguably the biggest factor for any cold email sender: pricing.

Instantly's Growth Plan starts at $37 per month and includes unlimited email accounts, unlimited email warmup, and 5,000 monthly emails. You get everything you need to start scaling from day one.

Lemlist's Email Pro plan costs $69 per user per month. The good news is that lemwarm (their email warmup service) is now included free with every seat, which wasn't always the case.

Right off the bat, you're looking at nearly double the monthly cost with Lemlist for their entry-level outreach plan.

Account Management and Scaling

Here's where the philosophies diverge. Instantly lets you connect unlimited email addresses and automatically rotate sending across them. More accounts mean more emails you can send, and more potential customers you can reach.

By contrast, Lemlist takes a per-seat approach. Each additional team member means another monthly fee. If you're planning to scale your outreach operations, this cost structure adds up quickly.

Email Warmup and Deliverability

Both platforms understand that getting to the inbox is everything. Instantly maintains a warmup pool of over 1,000,000 real human accounts that interact with your emails to build your sender reputation. This network approach all but guarantees your emails landing in primary inboxes rather than spam folders.

Lemlist includes their lemwarm service with all plans, which handles the technical side of warming up your accounts. Both approaches work, but Instantly's network-based system tends to be more robust for high-volume senders.

Features and Functionality

Feature-wise, Lemlist and Instantly share plenty of ground, as they've both evolved to meet modern outreach demands. Both offer massive lead databases (450 million+ verified B2B contacts) as well as built-in email verification, advanced campaign sequencing, and AI features to speed up campaign planning and optimization.

But the differences show up in how each tool supports your broader outreach system. Lemlist goes multichannel, letting you reach prospects through email, LinkedIn, and phone calls. Their standout feature is custom image and video creation for deeper personalization. They also offer a handy Chrome extension.

Instantly takes a slightly more robust approach with its all-in-one cold outreach engine. Alongside the core campaign tools, you’ll get a built-in CRM, a website visitor identification tool (Instantly Pixel), and and Done-For-You (DFY) email account setup with all the technical records handled for you.

For even more hands-on support, Instantly's VIP service pairs you with a dedicated account strategist for ongoing campaign management and support tailored to your goals.

The Bottom Line

If you're testing the waters with cold outreach, both Instantly and Lemlist work fine. But if you're serious about scaling your efforts, the numbers speak for themselves. Instantly's unlimited account approach at a lower price point gives you more room to grow without constantly bumping into limits or surprise costs.

Both platforms offer solid integrations with popular tools like Slack, HubSpot, and Zapier. The choice really comes down to whether you want to pay per seat or per result. For most growing businesses, the unlimited model makes more financial sense as your outreach efforts expand.

Other Lemlist Alternatives Worth Considering

The cold email space is crowded with options, and that's actually good news for you. Different tools excel in different areas, so you're sure to find the right fit for your specific needs and budget.

Here are five additional Lemlist alternatives worth exploring in no particular order:

Reply.io

G2 Rating: 4.6/5 ⭐ from 1,443 reviews

Reply.io is an all-in-one sales engagement platform with a strong focus on sales automation. It's designed for teams that want to coordinate their outreach across multiple channels while keeping everything organized in one place.

More specifically, the platform's multichannel approach lets you combine email, LinkedIn touchpoints, SMS, and phone calls into cohesive sequences. Plus, their AI-powered features help optimize send times and personalize messages at scale.

Standout Features:

• Multichannel sequences (email, LinkedIn, calls, SMS)
• Automated sequences and task queues
• Email validation and contact enrichment
• Chrome extension for prospecting
• Built-in meeting booking features

Mailshake

G2 Rating: 4.7/5 ⭐ from 320 reviews

Mailshake has built a reputation as one of the most user-friendly cold email platforms around. It starts at $29 per month and focuses on making outreach simple without sacrificing effectiveness.

Mailshake's biggest selling point is its clean interface and strong automation capabilities. You won't get lost in complicated workflows or spend hours figuring out basic features.

Standout Features:

• Intuitive drag-and-drop campaign builder
• Built-in phone dialer for follow-ups
• Social media integration for LinkedIn outreach
• A/B testing for subject lines and content

Woodpecker

G2 Rating: 4.5/5 ⭐ from 92 reviews

Woodpecker takes a no-frills approach to cold email, focusing largely on deliverability and compliance. They're particularly popular with senders looking to stay on the right side of Europe's GDPR. The platform automatically handles unsubscribes and maintains detailed audit trails.

Their biggest strength is keeping things simple while ensuring your emails actually reach inboxes. If you're in a regulated industry or dealing with strict compliance requirements, Woodpecker deserves a serious look.

Standout Features:

• GDPR compliance built-in
• Automatic bounce and unsubscribe handling
• Detailed deliverability monitoring
• Integration with popular CRMs

Outreach.io

G2 Rating: 4.3/5 ⭐ from 3,479 reviews

Outreach.io is the enterprise-grade option on this list. It's designed for larger sales teams that need sophisticated, AI-powered workflow management and detailed analytics. The price point reflects this positioning (starting at roughly $100/user/month), but the feature set is comprehensive.

What sets Outreach apart is its focus on sales enablement beyond just email. They provide AI agents, conversation intelligence, sales coaching tools, and advanced reporting that help optimize entire sales processes.

Standout Features:

• Advanced conversation intelligence
• Sales coaching and enablement tools
• Sophisticated workflow automation
• Enterprise-grade security and compliance

Apollo.io

G2 Rating: 4.7/5 ⭐ from 8,838 reviews

Apollo.io combines prospecting, outreach, and CRM functionality into one platform. Their database contains over 210 million B2B contacts and 35 million+ companies.

The platform stands out for its prospecting capabilities. You can find leads, verify their contact information, and launch outreach campaigns all from the same interface. For teams that need help with the entire lead-to-close process, Apollo offers compelling value.

Standout Features:

• Massive built-in prospect database
• Real-time email verification
• Integrated prospecting and outreach
• Comprehensive sales intelligence tools

Key Takeaways

The right lemlist alternative depends on your specific outreach needs and growth plans. If you're scaling quickly, you'll want to prioritize platforms with unlimited account models over per-seat pricing.

For most businesses evaluating lemlist alternatives, Instantly.ai offers the best combination of features, pricing, and scalability. Unlimited email accounts, built-in warmups, and comprehensive outreach tools make it particularly attractive for growing teams.

Before committing to any Lemlist alternative, take advantage of free trials to test deliverability and ease of use with your actual prospects. Ready to explore how Instantly.ai stacks up as your Lemlist alternative? Start your free trial today.