lemlist is built for reaching the same person on email, LinkedIn and the phone. That is a lot of tool. If you only send email, or only send a few emails a week, something simpler may fit better and cost less.
First, check what you pay for
As of October 2026, lemlist's pricing page lists two main plans on monthly billing:
- Email: $69 a month. 50,000 emails a month, unlimited users and unlimited email senders.
- Multichannel: $109 a month, with the price based on the number of users. It adds LinkedIn and SMS automation, a call dialer and five senders per user.
Contact data is an add-on, and warm-up through lemwarm is included in all plans.
Now look at your last month. Did you use LinkedIn steps? Calls? More than one user? Your answers point to the right alternative.
If you only send email
These tools focus on sending from many mailboxes, with warm-up built in. Prices are as of October 2026, on monthly billing.
- Smartlead. Base plan at $39 a month, with 6,000 emails and 2,000 contacts. All plans include unlimited email accounts. It also offers client workspaces for agencies.
- Instantly. Growth outreach plan at $47 a month, with 5,000 emails and 1,000 uploaded contacts. It lists unlimited email accounts and warm-up.
Note that lemlist's Email plan includes 50,000 emails a month. If you send a lot, compare the plan that covers your real volume, not the cheapest one. See Instantly vs lemlist and Instantly vs Smartlead.
If you want email plus LinkedIn
Woodpecker prices its plans on how many prospects you contact each month. As of October 2026, LinkedIn outreach is an add-on at $29 a month per connected LinkedIn account. Its free trial runs for 14 days or 100 cold emails, whichever comes first, with no credit card.
Before you automate anything on LinkedIn, read its user agreement. It says members must not use bots or other unauthorised automated methods to add contacts or send messages.
If you also need contact data
Some tools pair a contact database with sending.
- Apollo lists a free plan and per-seat paid plans, with credits for contact details. It includes email sequences and a dialer. See lemlist vs Apollo.
- Hunter has a free plan with 50 credits a month and one connected email account, as of October 2026. Its Starter plan is $49 a month on monthly billing, with 2,000 credits.
- Snov.io has a free trial that renews every 30 days, and a Starter plan at $39 a month with 1,000 credits and 5,000 recipients, as of October 2026.
If you send a few emails a week
You may not need a cold email tool. Some Google Workspace plans include mail merge in Gmail. It sends each person their own copy and adds an unsubscribe link at the bottom.
There are also Gmail add-ons for mail merge. GMass, for example, lists follow-up sequences on its Premium plan, at $39.95 a month on monthly billing as of October 2026.
For ten careful emails a week, a spreadsheet and your own inbox can be enough.
How to choose
- List the channels you really use. Pay only for those.
- Count users. Per-user pricing grows fast once a second person joins.
- Count emails a month, first emails plus follow-ups.
- Decide where contacts come from: your own list, or a database.
- Run the same small campaign on a trial before you pay.
Before you switch
Export your leads, sequences and results from lemlist. Keep a list of everyone who asked not to be contacted, and load it into the new tool first. In the US, the FTC's CAN-SPAM guide says opt-outs must be honoured within 10 business days, and changing tools does not change that.
A new tool will send whatever you give it, so the list and the words still need the most care. Keep the first email short and specific, and cut the lines that make it sound like a robot.