No. 17 Guides, filed under Comparison
Instantly vs Smartlead (2026): Client Logins or One Shared Portal?
Oct 2026: Smartlead Pro plus 10 private client logins costs $384/mo vs $970 on Instantly; Instantly’s shared portal is $97.
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Quick answer
As of October 25, 2026, pick Smartlead if each client needs a private login, and Instantly if clients can share one portal.
Smartlead Pro plus ten client logins costs $384 a month17. Instantly charges $970, a workspace each7. Without clients, Smartlead suits solo senders ($3917 against $471 a month) and teams re-using contacts (counted once, not per campaign).
Instantly or Smartlead
Best fit: Smartlead when every client needs its own login, Instantly when they can share one portal.
Both offer a 14-day free trial with no card. After paying, Instantly’s terms allow no refund; Smartlead’s help center gives new customers a 7-day refund window with exclusions, and its terms say fees are non-refundable where the law permits (checked October 25, 2026).
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On this page 12 sections
What do Instantly and Smartlead cost at 5, 20, 50 and 150 mailboxes?
Per both vendors’ pricing pages on October 25, 2026, Smartlead costs $8 a month less than Instantly at 5 mailboxes and stores twice the contacts; at 20 and 50 mailboxes the two are $3 apart billed monthly, and at 150 the cheaper one depends on how often you delete finished campaigns.
Both columns use the same three inputs; the last two are our assumptions:
- 30 campaign emails per mailbox a day, Instantly’s recommendation13. The Smartlead pages we read give figures only for mailboxes bought through SmartSenders, such as “We caution you from sending beyond 20 emails per day per inbox” for InfraInbox’s Outlook mailboxes (SmartSenders FAQ35, October 25, 2026).
- 22 sending days a month, as in our example outreach stacks.
- A three-step sequence, so each month brings one new contact for every three emails sent.
Each cell names the plan that covers the emails, its contact cap and how long that cap lasts if you never delete a finished campaign.
| Mailboxes (emails / new contacts a month) | Instantly | Smartlead |
|---|---|---|
| 5 (3,300 / 1,100) | Growth: $47, $37.60 yearly. 1,000 contacts, full in 4 weeks; no webhooks or client portal | Base: $39, $32 yearly. 2,000 contacts, full in 8 weeks; no API, webhooks or client logins |
| 20 (13,200 / 4,400) | Hypergrowth: $97, $77.60 yearly (Growth’s 5,000 emails are too few). 25,000 contacts, full in 5½ months | Pro: $94, $78 yearly (Base’s 6,000 sends are too few). 30,000 contacts, full in 7 months |
| 50 (33,000 / 11,000) | Hypergrowth: $97, $77.60 yearly. 25,000 contacts, full in 10 weeks; then +$87 per 25,000 | Pro: $94, $78 yearly. 30,000 contacts, full in 12 weeks; then Unlimited Smart ($174, $144 yearly), no cap |
| 150 (99,000 / 33,000) | Hypergrowth: $97, or $184 with one add-on. 25,000 contacts full in 3 weeks; 50,000 with the add-on, in 7 | Unlimited Smart: $174, $144 yearly; no contact cap. Pro’s 90,000 emails are too few |
List prices from each vendor’s pricing page1 and pricing file, October 25, 2026, in US dollars before tax. A yearly price is the monthly equivalent of paying for 12 months at once. Fill times assume no contact sits in two campaigns. Mailboxes, domains and promotions are left out. Under 5 mailboxes, both entry plans still apply: Growth covers 5,000 emails a month, Base 6,000.
At 20 emails a day instead of 30, 150 mailboxes send 66,000 emails a month, which fits Smartlead Pro’s 90,000, though its 30,000 contacts would fill in about six weeks.
Instantly’s yearly Outreach prices are about 20% below monthly, and its pricing file2 lists the $87 contact add-on only as a monthly price.
Smartlead’s pricing file18 says yearly billing saves 17% and lists the yearly prices to the cent ($32.50, $78.30 and $144.50 a month); this page uses the whole-dollar prices on the yearly cards of Smartlead’s pricing page17, as rendered on October 25, 2026.
Instantly’s own pages differ on one figure here. Its pricing page lists Hypergrowth at 125,000 emails a month on its plan cards, but its feature table, FAQ and Scale bundle card on the same page still say 100,000 (read October 8, 18 and 25, 2026), while its pricing file and plan comparison5 also say 125,000, which this page uses.
Smartlead’s FAQ page19, which put Pro at 150,000 emails a month on October 3, 2026, was rewritten by October 17 and now matches its pricing page at 90,000 (read October 18, 2026).
For Instantly’s other charges, priced setup by setup, see what Instantly costs for common setups; its other conflicting figures are under where Instantly’s own pages disagree.
If you’d rather buy mailboxes from the vendor (list prices, October 25, 2026):
- Instantly: $5 a month for a done-for-you Google account ($10 pre-warmed, $4 for its own Airmail accounts), plus $15 a year per domain (pricing file2).
- Smartlead SmartSenders: $4.50 a month for a fresh Google mailbox ($9 pre-warmed, $3.99 to $5 from other providers), plus $13 to $19 a year per domain (pricing page17).
Neither set of mailboxes moves to another tool. Instantly’s terms16 (section 4.6(g)) give you no “right to transfer, port, migrate, or take control of” its sending infrastructure, and Smartlead’s SmartSenders FAQ35 says they “can’t be transferred and used outside of Smartlead.”
The same FAQ says SmartSenders domains run a fixed 12-month term with no renewal, and its mailboxes are billed until you delete them. Mailboxes in your own Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 account aren’t tied to either tool (see setting up Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 mailboxes).
Ten clients: separate Instantly workspaces or Smartlead client logins?
Per both vendors’ pricing pages and workspace guides on October 25, 2026, ten clients who each need a private login cost $384 a month on Smartlead Pro, with ten $29 logins, against $970 for ten Instantly Hypergrowth workspaces; if clients can share one portal, one $97 Instantly workspace is cheapest.
On Instantly, a client who should see only their own campaigns needs their own workspace, and each workspace requires its own subscription7 (see how Instantly bills an agency per client).
Smartlead’s pricing page17, pricing file and FAQ page19 put client logins on Pro at $29 a month each (read October 3, 18 and 25, 2026; on October 3 the FAQ said one client was free).
Its comparison page against lemlist20 still said “$29/client, 1 free on Pro” on October 25, 2026, and its client-access article28 offers client logins “without costing you a single dollar extra” with no plan or price named, so if a free login changes your sums, ask Smartlead to confirm the fee in writing before you sign up.
Instantly’s plan comparison leaves its agency view out of the trial. Smartlead’s help center25 says its trial leaves out only white labeling, yet when an AI assistant in the owner’s trial account clicked “+ Add Client” on October 3, 2026, the subscription page opened instead of a client form.
The setup below is ten clients with five mailboxes each (the 50-mailbox row of the cost table), with the agency bringing its own leads. The Smartlead rows with logins count $29 for every client, the price in Smartlead’s pricing file18.
| Setup | What each client sees | Monthly (yearly, per month) |
|---|---|---|
| Instantly: one Hypergrowth workspace with the agency portal | All campaigns in the workspace, if you give Campaigns access (Instantly can’t narrow that to some) | $97 ($77.60) |
| Instantly: a Hypergrowth workspace per client | Only their own workspace | $970 ($776) |
| Smartlead: Pro with no client logins | Nothing; you send them reports | $94 ($78) |
| Smartlead: Pro plus 10 client logins at $29 | Only the campaigns and mailboxes you assign to them | $384 ($368*) |
| Smartlead: Unlimited Smart plus 10 client logins at $29 | Same as the row above | $464 ($434*) |
List prices checked October 25, 2026, US dollars before tax. *Smartlead doesn’t publish a yearly price for client logins, so the $29 is counted as-is. Unlimited Prime ($379) includes 3 clients and three dedicated servers (pricing file18); with 7 more clients at $29 it’s $582 ($518 yearly).
- Instantly’s limits are per workspace: 25,000 contacts and 125,000 emails a month, so the shared workspace splits them across all ten clients.
- Smartlead’s limits are one allowance for all ten clients: 30,000 contacts and 90,000 emails on Pro, or no contact cap and 150,000 emails on Unlimited Smart.
- At this volume Pro’s contacts fill in about 12 weeks unless you delete finished campaigns; Unlimited Smart removes that chore for $80 more.
- With no client login at all, Smartlead Pro is cheapest billed monthly ($94 against $97), and the shared Instantly workspace billed yearly ($77.60 against $78, on Instantly’s yearly cards1).
- Instantly Growth ($47) can’t replace Hypergrowth in any of these setups, because it has no agency view or team invites5.
Branding and client controls work differently too:
- Branding on Instantly (Hypergrowth and Light Speed): you set up the branded address yourself with a CNAME record and hand each client their invite link, because Instantly doesn’t email them9.
- Branding on Smartlead (from Pro): white labeling runs through support30, where you send your subdomain and add the TXT and CNAME records they give you, and each client you create gets an email31 with their login details.
- Controls. Smartlead lets you28 choose which reply categories a client can’t see and cap each client’s lead and email credits27. Instantly lets you choose which sections a portal client sees: Campaigns (view or edit), Unibox, Analytics, CRM or Blocklist.
Instantly or Smartlead for an agency
Best fit: Instantly if your clients can share one portal (one $97-a-month workspace), Smartlead if every client gets a login of their own ($29 a month each on Pro). Both trials last 14 days with no card (checked October 25, 2026).
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How do Instantly and Smartlead count the contacts you store?
As of October 25, 2026, Smartlead counts each email address once across all your campaigns and Instantly counts it once per campaign, per Smartlead’s26 and Instantly’s6 help centers, so the same person in two campaigns takes one Smartlead slot and two Instantly slots.
| Rule | Instantly | Smartlead |
|---|---|---|
| What counts | Every contact uploaded to a campaign, whether it’s active, paused, completed or a draft; deleting from Lists doesn’t free space | Every unique email address stored in your account (“active leads”) |
| Same person in two campaigns | 2 uploads | 1 active lead (“three different campaigns … still counts as just one”) |
| Resets monthly? | No: a fixed total on monthly and yearly billing | No. Email credits reset on your billing date; lead credits don’t |
| How to free space | Delete leads or whole campaigns | Delete finished campaigns or their lead lists; the leads return to your allowance |
| Cap by plan | Growth 1,000, Hypergrowth 25,000, Light Speed 100,000; +25,000 per $87 add-on (Hypergrowth and up) | Base 2,000, Pro 30,000, Unlimited Smart and Prime unlimited |
From Instantly’s uploaded-contacts guide6, Smartlead’s active-leads article26 and both pricing pages, checked October 25, 2026. Instantly’s rules in more detail: does Instantly’s contact limit reset?
On October 14, 2026 (Japan time), an AI assistant in the owner’s Smartlead trial ran the same check: one address uploaded to two draft campaigns left Contact Storage at 1 of 1,250, and Smartlead’s CSV import, on its default settings, didn’t skip the copy in the second campaign.
The difference matters most if you re-use people: a follow-up campaign to everyone who didn’t reply, or the same list sent a new offer next quarter. On Instantly each re-run takes another slot (or is skipped by the import’s default duplicate check); on Smartlead it doesn’t.
If you only ever email a contact in one campaign and delete it when the sequence ends, the two rules come out the same, and the cost table above is what you’ll pay.
What “unlimited mailboxes” means on each
Both vendors say every plan includes unlimited email accounts, and both attach conditions on a different page:
- Instantly: its warmup-pool help page14 keeps at most 100 SMTP accounts in the standard pool on Growth, 500 on Hypergrowth and 1,000 on Light Speed (+500 per add-on).
- Past Instantly’s cap, the whole workspace drops to the Basic Warmup Pool, Google and Outlook accounts too, and the same page calls the basic pool weaker for deliverability.
- Smartlead: its Fair Use Policy38 (dated February 1, 2026) applies “even by those Users who have subscribed to an unlimited plan” and counts setting up mailboxes in a way that “subverts the reasonable and acceptable use of the Service” as excessive use, with no mailbox number (read October 25, 2026).
- Smartlead’s numbers came out: on October 3, 2026 the same policy listed 100 mailboxes on “Basic”, 300 on “Popular” and 800 on “Pro”; by October 25 those lines were gone and its date unchanged, and its terms37 let Smartlead “put reasonable restrictions on volume limits on your use of the Mailbox Services”.
What do Instantly’s credits and Smartlead’s SmartProspect add to the bill?
Lead data costs extra on both entry plans: Instantly sells credits as their own subscription on every plan (its pricing file), while Smartlead’s pricing page17 sells SmartProspect as a $59-a-month add-on on Base and Pro and includes it on Unlimited Smart and Prime (October 25, 2026).
| Volume (new contacts a month) | Instantly: Outreach plus Credits | Smartlead: plan plus SmartProspect |
|---|---|---|
| 5 mailboxes (about 1,100) | Growth $47 + Growth credits 2, $77 for 2,000 credits (1,100 rows need about 1,650 at 1.5 credits a row) = $124 | Base $39 + $59 (2,000 verified prospect emails) = $98 |
| 50 mailboxes (about 11,000) | Hypergrowth $97 + Hyper credits 2, $300 for 20,000 credits = $397 | Pro $94 + $59 (30,000) = $153, or Unlimited Smart $174 with 50,000 included |
Monthly list prices, October 25, 2026. Instantly’s pricing file2 puts a work-email lookup at about 1.5 credits a row, so 11,000 new contacts need about 16,500 credits, more than the 10,000 that Hyper credits starts with; Instantly’s credit-system article3 (updated October 23, 2026) prices the next tier, Hyper credits 2, at $300 a month for 20,000, which would make that row $397.
A verified email costs 1 Instantly credit when Instantly finds it itself and 2 or more when a data partner supplies it (its waterfall-enrichment guide10); the rest is under what an Instantly credit buys.
Instantly claims 450M+ B2B leads on its pricing page1 and in its Lead Finder guide11 (read October 25, 2026; the guide said 610M+ on October 18), while Smartlead’s SmartProspect guide32 claims 300M+ verified business profiles and a Smartlead blog post21 750M+ verified contacts. These are the vendors’ own counts; we haven’t compared their coverage or accuracy.
Smartlead’s SmartProspect guide calls the add-on “available as an add-on to any Smartlead plan,” while its pricing page and FAQ page include the allowance on Unlimited Smart and Prime; the table follows the pricing page (read October 3, 18 and 25, 2026), as our Smartlead pricing guide does wherever Smartlead’s pages disagree.
For the ten-client agency above, SmartProspect adds $59 to the Pro setups and nothing to Unlimited Smart, which includes 50,000 verified prospect emails (Smartlead’s pricing file18). On Instantly, either setup needs a credits plan on top of Outreach, so its $97 and $970 totals go up.
Is Instantly or Smartlead better for deliverability?
As of October 25, 2026, Instantly’s and Smartlead’s pages include no inbox-placement comparison with a stated method, and we haven’t run one, so this page doesn’t rank them; it compares what each vendor documents and charges for.
| What’s documented | Instantly | Smartlead |
|---|---|---|
| Warmup | Included and unlimited on every Outreach plan, in a standard pool; the workspace drops to a basic pool past its SMTP cap | Included on every plan, in a pool set by the plan: Foundation (Base), Growth (Pro), Premium (Unlimited Smart, Prime; Ultra Premium by eligibility) |
| Dedicated servers and IPs | SISR (dedicated servers and IP rotation) comes with Light Speed, $358 a month ($286.30 yearly) | SmartServers, $39 per server a month from Pro, each with a dedicated IP; Unlimited Prime includes three |
| Inbox placement tests | Inbox Placement, $47 or $97 a month; the trial includes 2 free tests | SmartDelivery, $49, $174 or $599 a month |
| Daily volume guidance | 30 a day recommended per account you connect; its own Airmail accounts are capped at 20 (help center, updated October 22, 2026) | None for your own mailboxes; its SmartSenders FAQ advises 20 a day or fewer for most providers (InfraInbox 2–20, Mailreef 20, Zapmail 15–20, InboxAutomate 15–25) |
Checked October 25, 2026, on both pricing pages, Instantly’s plans overview4, Smartlead’s pricing-plans article22, Instantly’s account-limits article13 and Smartlead’s SmartSenders FAQ35. Both pricing pages show customer performance figures (Instantly’s “30% higher inbox placement”; Smartlead’s case studies citing reply rates), and neither describes a method. The daily-volume row was re-read on October 18 and 25, 2026 (Instantly’s limits article, now updated October 22, and Smartlead’s SmartSenders FAQ).
Much of inbox placement depends on things you control on either tool: your domains, authentication, list quality and volume (see how warmup and ramp-up work). If you want to compare the two yourself during the trials:
- Use a secondary domain. Set up the same kind of mailboxes (for example, two Google Workspace accounts) on a domain you don’t use for normal mail, with SPF, DKIM and DMARC in place.
- Warm up before sending. Instantly’s trial connects 2 accounts; Smartlead’s has no mailbox cap. Keep the number equal so the comparison is fair.
- Send only to addresses you control. Seed inboxes at Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo tell you where mail lands without emailing prospects from a trial.
- Read the results outside both tools. Check the seed inboxes and Google Postmaster Tools (see monitoring your sender reputation), then compare with Instantly’s two free placement tests. Fourteen days leaves little time for warmup, so treat what you see as a rough signal, not a verdict.
What do the free trials, refunds and cancellations allow?
As of October 25, 2026, Instantly and Smartlead both run 14-day trials with no card; after you pay, Instantly’s terms allow no refund while Smartlead’s help center allows one, with exclusions, within 7 days of a first payment.
Both let you cancel an outreach plan in your account and keep the paid period, Smartlead on Base and Pro (Custom-plan users ask support), and Instantly ends a CRM or Inbox Placement plan at once if another plan stays active (Instantly15, Smartlead34).
Smartlead’s trial allows more emails, stored contacts and mailboxes.
| Term | Instantly | Smartlead |
|---|---|---|
| Free trial | 14 days, no card: 1,000 emails, 250 contacts in campaigns, 2 email accounts | 14 days, no card: 2,500 email sends, 1,250 stored contacts, unlimited mailboxes |
| Left out of the trial | Including the API, webhooks, the agency view, team invites and Unibox replies (plan comparison) | White labeling only, per its help center25; for client logins, see the agency section |
| When the trial ends | No charge; the account is deleted unless you upgrade | The pages we read don’t say |
| Refunds | None (terms 5.3) | Within 7 days of a first payment, with exclusions (help center); its terms call fees non-refundable where law allows |
| Price rises | Possible at the start of any renewal (terms 5.2) | 30 days’ notice (terms clause 7) |
| Your data after cancelling | Access until the billing cycle ends, then accounts, warmup and campaigns pause (help center) | Kept two weeks (help center); the terms allow deletion one month after termination (clause 10) |
From each vendor’s terms (Instantly’s16, with Foo Monk, LLC, dated October 23, 2026; Smartlead’s SaaS Terms of Use37, with 521 Products Pty Ltd, May 19, 2026) and help centers, read October 25, 2026. This summarizes published terms and isn’t legal or tax advice.
Both price in US dollars with tax added on top, though neither says which VAT or GST you’d pay at checkout. Instantly’s billing rules in full are under Instantly’s refunds, renewals and cancellation, and Smartlead’s under Smartlead’s tax, refunds and cancellation terms.
Instantly’s billing screen in the owner’s trial account, read by an AI assistant on September 30, 2026, with nothing sent or bought, showed a 1,250-email cap where its help article says 1,000 (see what Instantly’s free trial includes).
What do Instantly Growth and Smartlead Base leave out?
Per both pricing files and Instantly’s plan pages, October 25, 2026, Instantly Growth ($47) can’t answer replies from Instantly’s inbox, and neither Growth nor Smartlead Base ($39) includes webhooks, a CRM or client logins.
Past the entry plans, LinkedIn and calls cost extra on both tools: Instantly’s plans overview4 prices its CRM plans, Smartlead’s pricing file18 prices SmartDialer calls, and Smartlead’s blog names a LinkedIn add-on while its comparison page against lemlist describes LinkedIn as going “via HeyReach/Aimfox”, two outside tools.
- Replying from the inbox. Growth’s Unibox is preview-only; replying from it starts on Hypergrowth ($97), per Instantly’s pricing file2. Smartlead’s pricing page and pricing file don’t list any plan limits for its Master Inbox.
- Webhooks, CRM and client logins. Smartlead’s pricing file18 lists all three from Pro ($94), while Instantly puts webhooks and its client portal on Hypergrowth ($97) and sells its CRM as a separate plan ($47 or $97 a month).
LinkedIn and calls cost extra on both. Instantly puts calls, SMS, tasks and LinkedIn connections in that separate CRM plan (plans overview4). Smartlead’s blog21 lists LinkedIn as an add-on that neither its pricing page nor its pricing file prices, and its calls run through SmartDialer, an add-on from $9 a month in credits.
lemlist publishes a full price for LinkedIn and calls: its Multichannel plan39 includes LinkedIn automation and a built-in call dialer at $109 per user a month, billed monthly (October 25, 2026). That is more than twice either entry plan here, so it’s worth it only if you need those steps; see LinkedIn, calls and SMS on Instantly and lemlist.
For where a sending tool sits in the rest of your setup, see the sequencing layer of a cold outreach stack.
How we compared
What we read. We read both vendors’ pricing pages and plain-text pricing files, both sets of terms and 28 help-center articles (13 from Instantly, 15 from Smartlead); 27 of them were re-opened on October 3 and all of them on October 25, 2026, Instantly’s credit-system article was first read on October 8, and later re-reads are dated in Sources.
Also read that day. Smartlead’s FAQ page, Fair Use Policy, one blog post and its comparison page against lemlist, plus lemlist’s pricing page; each is in Sources. The FAQ page was rewritten by October 17, so this page re-read it, and the pages it disagreed with, on October 18, 2026.
What we didn’t use. Ranking comparison pages were read only to see which figures are out of date, and none is a source here.
What we priced. Every setup on both tools, with the same inputs (see the cost table) and at list prices before tax.
What’s first-hand. What we have first-hand is plan, billing and contact-counter screens and Smartlead’s client-portal button: the owner opened both 14-day trials on September 30, 2026, and an AI assistant in the owner’s accounts read those screens and ran the October 3 and October 14 checks, with nothing sent to prospects or bought.
What we didn’t test. No campaign has run on either tool, so nothing here rates deliverability or ease of use, and we haven’t checked either lead database’s accuracy.
How AI was used. An AI assistant (Claude) gathered these pages, drafted this comparison and matched every figure to the source page’s own text (how we use AI).
Where the verdict comes from. Between 20 and 50 mailboxes the monthly plan prices sit $3 apart, so the verdict rests on the two documented rules that move the bill further: how a contact in several campaigns counts, and what a login limited to one client’s campaigns costs.
Commissions. Instantly, Smartlead and lemlist pay us a commission if you sign up through our links. Commissions play no part in the verdict, Instantly and Smartlead get the same buttons in the same places, and we sell no sending tool or CRM of our own.
Verdict
- Pick Smartlead if each client needs a private login: ten such clients cost $384 a month on Pro, against $970 on Instantly (October 25, 2026), both before lead data.
- Smartlead also fits if you re-use contacts across campaigns, or send under 6,000 emails a month alone: Base keeps 2,000 contacts for $39, Instantly Growth 1,000 for $47.
- Pick Instantly if your clients can share one portal: one $97 Hypergrowth workspace covers all of them, while every Smartlead client login adds $29 a month.
- Skip Instantly if each client must see only their own campaigns and a $97 workspace per client is more than you want to pay.
- Skip Smartlead if one company sends 90,000 to 125,000 emails a month and deletes finished campaigns within about three weeks: past Pro’s 90,000 emails Smartlead needs Unlimited Smart ($174), while Instantly’s Hypergrowth ($97) covers that volume as long as its 25,000 contacts don’t fill.
Between 20 and 50 mailboxes the plans cost within $3 a month, so lead data decides it there: at 50 mailboxes Smartlead Pro plus SmartProspect is $153, against $397 for Hypergrowth with enough credits.
Instantly or Smartlead
Best fit: Smartlead for private client logins, contact re-use and solo senders; Instantly for one shared portal.
Both trials last 14 days with no card. After you pay, Smartlead’s help center allows a refund within 7 days of a first payment, with exclusions, and Instantly’s terms allow none (checked October 25, 2026).
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If you’re still choosing, see which tool runs LinkedIn and call steps in the same sequence, or Instantly’s monthly cost for three typical setups, credits included.
FAQ
Why use Instantly instead of Smartlead?
Use Instantly instead of Smartlead when your clients can share one portal, since one Hypergrowth workspace ($97) then covers them where Smartlead charges $29 a client, or when one company sends 90,000 to 125,000 emails a month, where Hypergrowth ($97) undercuts Smartlead’s Unlimited Smart ($174) as long as its 25,000 contacts don’t fill (both pricing files, October 25, 2026).
On setup, Instantly documents a self-serve branded address (you add a CNAME record) while Smartlead’s white labeling runs through its support team; see the agency section.
Is Smartlead worth it?
Smartlead is worth it when its two rules work for you: a private login for each client at $29 a month on Pro, and a contact counted once however many campaigns it’s in (its pricing page and help center, October 25, 2026). If your clients can share one portal, Instantly’s single workspace costs less; the agency section totals both for ten clients.
Which plan do you need to add teammates?
Per Instantly’s plan comparison and Smartlead’s team-members article (October 25, 2026), adding teammates takes Hypergrowth ($97) on Instantly’s Outreach plans (its CRM plans also allow invites) or Pro ($94) on Smartlead, and neither charges per mailbox.
Instantly prices each plan flat per workspace and puts team invites on Hypergrowth and Light Speed in its plan comparison5. Its workspace guide also allows invites on the CRM plans, which its CRM guide gives unlimited seats for a flat fee; neither guide says whether such a teammate can create or send campaigns.
Smartlead’s pricing file calls its prices “not per seat and not per mailbox,” and its team-members article allows unlimited teammates once you “Subscribe to the Pro plan, if you haven’t already.”
Smartlead’s comparison page against lemlist says seats are unlimited on all plans, so ask Smartlead before you count on a second login on Base.
Does either tool include API access on its entry plan?
Smartlead Base has no API, and Instantly’s pages disagree about Growth (October 25, 2026): its pricing file2 and plan comparison5 include the API on Growth, while its pricing page’s feature table1 lists “API, webhooks, and integrations” only from Hypergrowth.
If you’re buying Growth for the API, confirm with Instantly first; webhooks start on Hypergrowth on all three pages. Smartlead’s pricing file18 puts API and webhooks on Pro and above. Instantly’s other conflicts are under where Instantly’s own pages disagree.
Do the AI features cost extra?
Partly: Instantly’s built-in AI features come inside its Outreach plans, its AI agents and Copilot need a separate credits subscription, and Smartlead says its SmartAgents are free on every plan (October 18, 2026).
As of October 18, 2026, Instantly’s pricing file lists AI features inside its Outreach plans, the AI Sequence Writer and AI Spam Words Checker on Growth and the Deliverability AI Agent and AI Blocklist Triggers on Hypergrowth, while its AI agents and Copilot run on a separate credits subscription.
Instantly’s AI Sales and Reply Agents use 5 credits per lead or reply, and its Recruiting, Investment, User Research and Partnership Agents 5 credits per generated lead, from a credits plan bought on top of Outreach; the pricing file2 says credits also power SuperSearch lookups and Copilot (credit-system article, updated October 23, 2026; what each credit tier costs).
Smartlead’s comparison page against lemlist20 says SmartAgents are “included on all plans at no extra cost,” citing “natural human-AI writing patterns, dynamic sequences,” though they appear in neither the plans on its pricing page17 nor its pricing file (read October 18, 2026).
Is Smartlead or Instantly easier to set up?
We haven’t tested ease of use; what the two vendors document (October 25, 2026) differs in two places. Instantly’s agency branding is self-serve, a CNAME record and an invite link you send yourself, while Smartlead’s white labeling runs through its support team and Smartlead emails each client its login.
Their CSV imports also treat a contact already in another campaign differently, which changes what you pay for stored contacts; see how each counts the contacts you store.
Is Instantly a good company?
We don’t rate either company: we haven’t run live campaigns on either, so this page compares their published prices, limits and terms.
Instantly is run by Foo Monk, LLC and Smartlead by 521 Products Pty Ltd, per Instantly’s terms16 (updated October 23, 2026) and Smartlead’s37 (May 19, 2026).
What you can check: Smartlead’s help center refunds a new customer on request within 7 days of paying, with exclusions, though its terms treat fees as non-refundable where the law permits, and Instantly’s terms allow no refund; Smartlead’s terms promise 30 days’ notice of a price rise, while Instantly’s allow one at the start of any renewal with no notice clause (see trials, refunds and cancellations).
In the owner’s Instantly trial on October 3, 2026, an AI assistant ran a CSV import, which skipped a duplicate address until its default duplicate check was switched off.
What’s better than Instantly or Smartlead?
If you need LinkedIn and call steps in one sequence, lemlist’s Multichannel plan includes both at $109 per user a month39, billed monthly (lemlist’s pricing page, October 25, 2026); otherwise no tool beats both for every team, and the better pick depends on what you need that they lack (see LinkedIn, calls and SMS on Instantly and lemlist).
For lead data and sending from one tool, see Instantly vs Apollo; for cheaper email-only sending at your volume, see which tools send email-only campaigns for less.
Sources
- Pricing - Plans for Outreach, Leads, and CRM — Instantly, monthly and yearly cards and feature table, accessed October 3, 8, 18 and 25, 2026
- Instantly Pricing (pricing.md, the plain-text pricing file linked from the pricing page) — Instantly, accessed October 3 and October 8, 2026 (the file’s Last-Modified header changes daily)
- Data Credit System — Instantly Help Center, updated October 23, 2026, accessed October 8, 18 and 25, 2026
- Instantly Plans Overview — Instantly Help Center, updated October 23, 2026, accessed October 3, 18 and 25, 2026
- Outbound Plans Comparison — Instantly Help Center, updated October 9, 2026, accessed October 3, 18 and 25, 2026
- Uploaded Contacts Limits — Instantly Help Center, updated October 22, 2026, accessed October 3, 18 and 25, 2026
- Manage Workspaces and Team Members — Instantly Help Center, updated October 20, 2026, accessed October 3, 18 and 25, 2026
- Instantly Free Trial — Instantly Help Center, updated October 23, 2026, accessed October 3, 18 and 25, 2026
- Agency White Labeling — Instantly Help Center, updated October 9, 2026, accessed October 3, 18 and 25, 2026
- Waterfall Enrichment — Instantly Help Center, updated October 23, 2026, accessed October 3, 18 and 25, 2026
- Lead Finder (formerly SuperSearch) — Instantly Help Center (lead-search guide), updated October 23, 2026, accessed October 3, 18 and 25, 2026 (610M+ on October 18, 450M+ on October 25)
- Instantly CRM — Instantly Help Center, updated October 9, 2026, accessed October 3, 18 and 25, 2026
- Account and Campaign Limits — Instantly Help Center, updated October 22, 2026, accessed October 3, 8, 18 and 25, 2026
- Standard & Basic Warmup Pool — Instantly Help Center, updated October 9, 2026, accessed October 3, 18 and 25, 2026
- How to Cancel Your Subscription — Instantly Help Center, updated October 23, 2026, accessed October 3, 18 and 25, 2026
- Terms of Service — Foo Monk, LLC (Instantly), last updated October 23, 2026 (the preamble and sections 4.6, 5.1–5.3 and 5.5, unchanged since the September 22 version read on October 3), accessed October 3 and 25, 2026
- Smartlead - Pricing — Smartlead, monthly and yearly plan prices, add-ons (including SmartSenders and SmartDialer), product list and FAQ, accessed October 3, 18 and 25, 2026
- Smartlead Pricing (pricing.md, the plain-text pricing file linked from the pricing page) — Smartlead, generated July 28, 2026, accessed October 3 and 25, 2026
- Smartlead FAQs — Smartlead, accessed October 3, 18 and 25, 2026 (rewritten October 17; cited for the $29 client fee, Pro’s 90,000 emails and SmartProspect’s allowance, which it now states as the pricing page does)
- Smartlead vs Lemlist — Smartlead, accessed October 3, 18 and 25, 2026 (cited only for its statements that team seats are unlimited, SmartAgents are included on all plans and one client is free on Pro)
- Best LinkedIn Outreach Tools in 2026: 12 Tools Compared — Smartlead blog, dated “Published On October 8, 2026” when read on October 18 (it showed September 9 on October 3), accessed October 3, 18 and 25, 2026 (cited for how Smartlead describes and prices its LinkedIn add-on and for its “750M+ verified contacts” count)
- Smartlead Pricing Plans — Smartlead Help Center, page last updated August 21, 2026, accessed October 3 and 25, 2026
- Managing Lead Credits and Email Credits Quota in Smartlead — Smartlead Help Center, accessed October 3 and 25, 2026
- What are Active Leads? — Smartlead Help Center, accessed October 3 and 25, 2026
- What are the limitations in the free trial? — Smartlead Help Center, accessed October 3 and 25, 2026
- Do my active leads and email credits reset every month? — Smartlead Help Center, accessed October 3 and 25, 2026
- How to allocate leads/email credits to clients — Smartlead Help Center, accessed October 3 and 25, 2026
- Agency View & Client Access — Smartlead Help Center, accessed October 3 and 25, 2026
- How do I add team members? — Smartlead Help Center, undated, accessed October 3 and 25, 2026
- White Labeling: Steps and Considerations — Smartlead Help Center, accessed October 3 and 25, 2026
- How to Add a New Client in Smartlead? — Smartlead Help Center, accessed October 3 and 25, 2026
- Getting Started with SmartProspect — Smartlead Help Center, accessed October 3, 18 and 25, 2026
- Refund Policy — Smartlead Help Center, accessed October 3 and 25, 2026
- How to Cancel Smartlead Subscription? — Smartlead Help Center, accessed October 3 and 25, 2026
- SmartSenders FAQs and Troubleshooting: Everything You Need to Know — Smartlead Help Center, accessed October 3, 18 and 25, 2026 (cited for whether SmartSenders domains and mailboxes can be moved out of Smartlead, their 12-month term and billing, and the daily sending figures it gives for SmartSenders mailboxes)
- What will happen to my data if I have unsubscribed to Smartlead? — Smartlead Help Center, accessed October 3 and 25, 2026
- Smartlead SaaS Terms of Use — 521 Products Pty Ltd (Smartlead), updated May 19, 2026 (the opening paragraph and clauses 3, 7 and 10), accessed October 3 and 25, 2026
- Fair Use Policy — Smartlead, updated February 1, 2026, accessed October 3 and 25, 2026 (the per-plan mailbox numbers read on October 3 were gone on October 25)
- lemlist pricing — lemlist, Multichannel plan price and features, accessed October 3 and 25, 2026