Smartlead vs Instantly vs Lemlist vs Apollo: BEST Cold Email Tool?

Summary

In this video, the speaker compares popular cold email tools, focusing on Instantly, SmartLead, Lemlist, and Apollo. Instantly is praised for its ease of use, stability, and customer service but criticized for its limited API and higher pricing for scaling. SmartLead stands out for its scalability, affordable pricing, and excellent API, although it's sometimes buggy. Lemlist is criticized for being overpriced and unnecessary for cold emailing, while Apollo's cold email tool is deemed ineffective. The speaker recommends Instantly for small campaigns and SmartLead for larger scale operations, urging viewers to avoid other platforms.

Takeaways

• 😀 Instantly is a user-friendly cold email tool that's ideal for beginners, offering an easy-to-use interface and stable performance.
• 😀 Instantly provides unlimited warm-up, which is a useful feature but might not always be necessary for cold emailing.
• 😀 The mobile app from Instantly is highly praised, with its stability and ease of managing replies on the go.
• 😀 Instantly excels in customer service, providing quick and efficient support whenever needed.
• 😞 Instantly's API is a major limitation, lacking crucial endpoints required for effective automation and scaling.
• 😞 Instantly can become expensive as your email volume scales, making it less ideal for large-scale cold email campaigns.
• 😀 Smartlead is more cost-effective than Instantly, particularly for small-scale email campaigns and offers better scalability.
• 😀 Smartlead's API is highly regarded for its flexibility, allowing easier automation and better inbox management.
• 😞 Smartlead can be buggy at times, with slow load times and occasional issues with uploading leads, which can be frustrating.
• 😞 Smartlead's customer support, while generally good, isn't as fast as Instantly's, sometimes taking hours to resolve issues.
• 😞 The mobile app for Smartlead is not as good as Instantly's, making it a less reliable tool for managing cold emails on the go.
• 😞 Lemlist is not recommended for cold emailing due to its high costs, unnecessary features, and being more of an all-in-one prospecting tool.
• 😞 Apollo is the worst option for cold emailing, with poor deliverability and a lack of optimization for email campaigns.
• 😀 When choosing between Instantly and Smartlead, consider your specific needs: Instantly is ideal for small campaigns, while Smartlead excels at scaling and automation.
• 😀 For businesses looking for a done-for-you solution in cold emailing, the speaker’s agency offers a service to handle the full lead generation process.

Q & A

What is the most important factor when choosing a cold email sending tool for a B2B business?

The most important factor is choosing a tool that ensures good deliverability. A wrong decision could result in poor results, high costs, and wasted effort.

Why is Instantly considered one of the best tools for beginners in cold emailing?

Instantly is beginner-friendly due to its simple and user-friendly interface, ease of use, and stability, which makes it a great option for those new to cold emailing.

What feature of Instantly makes it stand out in the market?

Instantly offers unlimited warm-up, customizable warm-up settings, and a mobile app for managing replies, making it a strong contender in the cold email tool market.

What is the primary con of using Instantly in an agency setting?

The primary con is Instantly's lack of robust API endpoints, making it difficult to integrate with external systems for automations, inbox management, and scaling.

How does Instantly's pricing compare when scaling for an agency?

While Instantly is affordable for small-scale email campaigns, it becomes more expensive when scaling, especially for agencies handling larger volumes of emails.

What makes Smartlead a better choice for scaling cold email campaigns?

Smartlead excels in scalability, offering flexible plans that accommodate small to very large campaigns. It also has one of the best APIs in the market, which supports automations and integrations, making it ideal for large-scale operations.

What is a major downside of using Smartlead?

Smartlead is known for being buggy and slow, with issues like slow loading times and difficulties uploading leads, which can be frustrating for users.

Why is Smartlead’s customer support considered less reliable than Instantly’s?

While Smartlead’s customer support is good, it is slower and less responsive compared to Instantly’s support, with some issues taking several hours to resolve.

How does Lemlist differ from Instantly and Smartlead in terms of cold email sending?

Lemlist is more of a cold outreach tool rather than a dedicated cold email sending tool, making it less specialized. It's also much more expensive and offers many features, such as AI-powered voice notes, that may not be necessary for cold emailing.

Why is Apollo not recommended as a cold email tool?

Apollo is not optimized for cold email sending and is known for poor deliverability. It was designed more as a CRM and lead database tool, which makes it less suitable for cold email campaigns.