Cold email software compared: Instantly, Smartlead, Lemlist

Starleads wrote this guide. Starleads sells business contact lists and is not one of the tools compared here. Facts about the tools come from their own websites, checked on 20 October 2026; prices change, so check before you buy.

The quick answer

"Email software" covers two different kinds of tool. Cold email tools such as Instantly, Smartlead, lemlist, Saleshandy and Mailshake send one-to-one emails from your own mailboxes, a small number a day from each, with follow-ups that stop when someone replies. Newsletter tools such as Zoho Campaigns, Brevo and Mailchimp send one campaign to many people at once, and are meant for people who asked to hear from you. All three newsletter tools forbid bought or rented lists in their own policies. So a list you buy, from Starleads or anyone else, belongs in a cold email tool, used carefully and within that tool's terms, never in a newsletter tool.

Which one to pick:

• Instantly: many mailboxes for one fixed monthly price.
• Smartlead: unlimited mailboxes with automatic rotation from $39 a month; client workspaces for agencies.
• lemlist: email, LinkedIn, calls and SMS steps in one sequence.
• Saleshandy: Indian teams that want rupee prices and user seats included.
• Mailshake: a single seller who wants a simple tool.
• Zoho Campaigns, Brevo or Mailchimp: newsletters to customers and people who opted in, not cold outreach.

Cold email tools compared

Prices are as shown on the tools' own pricing pages on 20 October 2026: the cheapest plan paid monthly, with the yearly rate in brackets.

The three newsletter tools showed rupee prices from India:

The five cold email tools

Instantly

Every Instantly outreach plan includes "Unlimited Email Accounts" and "Unlimited Email Warmup", so you can spread sending across as many mailboxes as you need.

Instantly pricing. Growth is $47 a month for 5,000 emails a month and 1,000 uploaded contacts; Hypergrowth $97 for 125,000 emails and 25,000 contacts; Light Speed $358 for 500,000 emails and 100,000 contacts; Enterprise is custom. Yearly billing shows $37.6, $77.6 and $286.3 a month. The 14-day free trial needs no card and includes 250 uploaded contacts and 1,000 emails.

Limits. The lead database is a separate subscription ("Instantly Credits"), webhooks start at Hypergrowth, and above a plan's volume you move up a tier. Its sending policy requires an opt-out method in every campaign and sending domains at least one month old.

Smartlead

Smartlead prices by sends and stored contacts. Every plan includes unlimited email accounts, and it "automatically rotates sending across all connected mailboxes within a campaign".

Smartlead pricing. Base is $39 a month (2,000 contacts, 6,000 email sends), Pro $94 (30,000 contacts, 90,000 sends), Unlimited Smart $174 (unlimited contacts, 150,000 sends) and Unlimited Prime $379 (500,000 sends). Yearly billing ("17% OFF") makes these $32, $78, $144 and $315 a month. Every plan has a free trial without a card, and no lock-in.

Limits. CRM access, API and webhooks start at Pro. Verified prospect emails are a $59 a month add-on on Base and Pro; email verification is a separate add-on; agency workspaces cost $29 a month each.

Smartlead vs Instantly: both include unlimited mailboxes and warm-up. Smartlead starts lower ($39 for 6,000 sends against $47 for 5,000 emails); one tier up, Instantly gives 125,000 emails for $97 and Smartlead 90,000 sends for $94.

lemlist

lemlist (the company writes its name in lowercase) is multichannel: email, LinkedIn, calls, SMS and WhatsApp can sit in one sequence.

lemlist pricing. The Email plan is $69 a month ($62 quarterly, $55 yearly) at 50,000 emails a month, with "Unlimited users & Email senders". Multichannel is $109 a month for one user ($99 quarterly, $87 yearly) and adds LinkedIn and SMS automation, a dialer, a WhatsApp add-on and "5 senders per user". The 14-day trial gives the Multichannel features, except in-app calls, plus 200 credits. Warm-up is in all plans.

Limits. Lead data is extra: $20 a month for 2,000 credits, which the page equates to 400 emails or 100 phone numbers. LinkedIn steps are subject to LinkedIn's rules, quoted in our LinkedIn automation guide. On bought lists, its sending policy is the most explicit we found: their use "has to follow the local privacy regulations in order to be accepted on lemlist servers."

Saleshandy

Saleshandy's team is based in Ahmedabad, and its pricing page can show rupee prices.

Saleshandy pricing. Starter is $41 a month paid monthly or $34 billed annually; Pro $99 or $76; Scale $189 or $149. In rupees: Starter ₹3,927 a month paid monthly or ₹3,257 billed annually (₹39,084 a year), Pro ₹9,483 or ₹7,280, Scale ₹18,103 or ₹14,272, with "Rates are exclusive of applicable taxes." The 7-day trial needs no card; trial sending is capped at 100 emails.

What you get. Starter covers 1 user, 2,000 active prospects and 6,000 emails a month; Pro 10 users, 30,000 prospects and 100,000 emails; Scale unlimited users and 200,000 emails. All plans have unlimited email accounts, warm-up and monthly Lead Finder credits. The separate Dialer sells numbers in Indian cities after a one-time business verification; they call Indian (+91) numbers only.

Limits. Starter rotates across at most 10 email accounts, and the trial is the shortest here.

Mailshake

Mailshake pricing. Starter is $29 a month ($25 yearly) with 1 email address per account and 1,500 sends a month. Email Outreach is $49 ($45) with 2 addresses, unlimited sends, rotation and CRM integrations. Sales Engagement is $99 ($85) with 10 addresses, a power dialer and free minutes to North American numbers. Billing depends on how many users you buy, and there is no free trial: "we collect payment up front".

Limits. Fewer sending addresses per plan than the others. Its terms list "transmitting spam, chain letters, or other unsolicited email" among prohibited activities, so read them before importing any list.

Zoho Campaigns, Brevo and Mailchimp: the list rules

Newsletter tools send campaigns through the provider's own servers, so one sender's bounces and complaints can hurt the provider's sending reputation. All three ban bought lists, whatever the law in your country.

Zoho Campaigns

Zoho Campaigns pricing. Forever Free covers up to 2,000 contacts, 6,000 emails a month and 5 users. Standard is ₹240 a month, or ₹180 billed annually, for 500 contacts with unlimited emails; Professional ₹345, or ₹258.75. There is a 14-day trial, and "Local taxes (VAT, GST, etc.) will be charged in addition".

Its rule: you shall not send campaigns to a contact if "You have bought, loaned, rented or acquired the contacts through any other means from a third party". Its help centre adds that it "does not allow purchased lists."

Brevo

Brevo pricing. The Free plan sends up to 300 emails a day once Brevo approves your account. Starter is ₹625 a month (₹562.50 yearly) from 5,000 emails, Standard ₹1,345 (₹1,210.50) with automation and A/B testing, and Professional ₹44,680 (₹40,212.42).

Its rule: lists "scraped on the internet, acquired or purchased from a third-party" are "strictly prohibited", and you must be able to show proof of opt-in for every contact.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp pricing. Free covers up to 250 contacts. For 0 to 500 contacts, Essentials starts at ₹845 a month, Standard ₹1,265 and Premium ₹25,300; a current offer halves these for the first 12 months.

Its rule: you may not "Upload or send email Campaigns to purchased, rented, third-party, co-reg, publicly available data, or partner lists of any kind." Its policy counts "one to one commercial emails" as possible spam too.

Mailchimp alternatives. For newsletters to your own subscribers, Zoho Campaigns starts lowest of the three in rupees. None of the three is an alternative for cold outreach; use them for customers, enquiries and people who replied and agreed to hear more.

How to choose

• Where the list came from. Bought or researched contacts go into a cold email tool; only opted-in contacts go into a newsletter tool.
• Rupees or dollars. Saleshandy, Zoho Campaigns, Brevo and Mailchimp showed rupee prices; Instantly, Smartlead, lemlist and Mailshake charge in foreign currency, so the rupee cost moves. Zoho and Saleshandy add taxes.
• Per user or per volume. Instantly and Smartlead price by emails and contacts; Saleshandy includes 1, 10 or unlimited seats; lemlist Multichannel and Mailshake charge by user.
• Mailboxes. Instantly, Smartlead and Saleshandy allow unlimited email accounts; Mailshake 1, 2 or 10 per account.
• Other channels. lemlist adds LinkedIn, SMS and calls; Saleshandy's dialer can use Indian numbers.

A safe cold email routine

1. Verify every address. Bounces damage a new mailbox quickly; see our email verification tools comparison.
2. Authenticate the domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, as our SPF, DKIM and DMARC guide shows, ideally on a separate sending domain.
3. Keep volumes small. For example, start a new mailbox at 10 to 20 new emails a day and build up over a few weeks while warm-up runs.
4. Write to one person: their name, their company, one reason you are writing. Our B2B cold email templates are a starting point.
5. Offer an opt-out, a link or a line such as "Reply 'no' and I won't write again", and honour it at once. Instantly requires an opt-out in every campaign; lemlist requires an unsubscribe link.
6. Stop after two or three follow-ups. Only people who say yes to updates go into a newsletter tool.

The law. India has no law written specifically for commercial email, as the CAN-SPAM Act is in the United States. General laws such as the Information Technology Act and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 can still apply to how you collect and use personal data, and recipients abroad bring their own rules. This is general information, not legal advice.

Where a leads database fits

Every tool above sends email; none of them gives you a market to write to. Their lead credits look up people one search at a time, which works when you know whom you want. When you want every decision-maker of one kind in a city or across India, a ready list is the quicker route, and growth needs a steady supply of new contacts.

Our CEOs, MDs & Directors list has 36,173 contacts in 219 cities: 94% of rows have an email and 87% a mobile number. The HR Professionals list has 18,055, with an email in 89% of rows. Every list page shows 60 real contacts and the share of each field before you pay.

The same list by city:

• Mumbai 7,229 contacts · 93% email · 80% mobile ₹499
• Bengaluru 3,271 contacts · 92% email · 98% mobile ₹499
• Hyderabad 2,747 contacts · 95% email · 88% mobile ₹499

A city or state list costs ₹499 and an All-India bulk list ₹1,999, with no GST added. For other industries and cities, use the list builder.

1. Download the Excel file and keep the columns you need: name, company, designation, email, city.
2. Delete rows without an email and verify the rest.
3. Save as CSV and import it in batches that fit your plan (Instantly Growth: 1,000 uploaded contacts; Smartlead Base: 2,000).
4. Map name and company to the tool's personalisation fields, then assign mailboxes and a sequence.
5. Keep the mobile numbers for follow-up calls, after a DND check.

What Starleads doesn't do. The data is compiled from business directories and similar sources, so not every row has an email or a named person, and contact details change. There is no look-up of one named executive, no CRM integration or API (you import the file), no data outside India, and payment is by UPI or bank transfer, confirmed by hand.

What it costs: a worked example

A two-person team in Pune selling an HR service to companies, for one month:

• Tool: Instantly Growth at $47, about ₹4,100 at roughly ₹88 to the dollar; or Saleshandy Pro at ₹9,483 paid monthly, plus taxes, for up to 10 users.
• Mailboxes: four on a separate domain, at your email provider's price.
• Contacts: the All-India HR list at ₹1,999 and one city list at ₹499: ₹2,498, paid once.

On Growth, upload the 1,000 best-matched contacts, say HR professionals in Pune and Mumbai. A first email and up to two follow-ups each is at most 3,000 emails, inside the 5,000 allowed, and about 11 first emails a day per mailbox over 22 working days. As an illustration only: if 1 in 50 contacts replied with interest, that would be 20 conversations. Your numbers will differ, and the dollar price moves with the exchange rate. The rest of the list is ready for next month.

Our verdict

Instantly and Smartlead suit teams that want many mailboxes for a fixed price, lemlist suits teams that also prospect on LinkedIn and by phone, Saleshandy suits Indian teams that want rupee prices and seats included, and Mailshake suits a single seller with simple needs. Zoho Campaigns, Brevo and Mailchimp are newsletter tools whose own policies rule out bought lists, so keep them for people who opted in. Whichever tool you choose needs relevant, verified contacts; a ready list for your trade and city is the quickest way to supply them.

Questions people ask

What is the best cold email software?

It depends on your setup. On 20 October 2026 Mailshake had the lowest entry price ($29 a month, one sending address), Instantly, Smartlead and Saleshandy included unlimited email accounts, lemlist covered the most channels, and Saleshandy showed rupee prices with seats included.

Is Zoho Campaigns free?

The Forever Free plan covers up to 2,000 contacts and 6,000 emails a month for 5 users. Paid plans start at ₹240 a month for 500 contacts, or ₹180 billed annually, plus taxes.

Can I use Mailchimp or Brevo for cold emails to a bought list?

No. Mailchimp's Acceptable Use Policy forbids purchased, rented and third-party lists of any kind, Brevo's anti-spam policy calls them "strictly prohibited", and Zoho Campaigns' terms say the same. Use a cold email tool and your own mailboxes instead.

How much does lemlist cost?

The Email plan is $69 a month, or $55 a month on yearly billing, at 50,000 emails a month. Multichannel is $109 a month per user, or $87 yearly. Lead data credits cost extra.