AI sales prospecting tools
Outbound runs on three jobs: find the right people, know why now, and say something worth replying to. Clay, Apollo, Unify and Common Room cover the first two, with contact data, enrichment and buying signals, and AI that does the account research a rep used to do by hand. Instantly, Smartlead and lemlist send at volume and keep you out of spam. Amplemarket puts data, signals and sequences in one seat. Lavender coaches every email before it goes. 11x goes furthest: AI agents that run the outreach and take the calls. 10 tools, in the order they appear in the directory. This is not a ranking.
Lavender
AI sales email coach for Gmail and Outlook: scores each email against what gets replies, writes first drafts and adds context on the recipient. Pro connects Outreach, Salesloft, HubSpot, Apollo and Groove. Free Basic plan with 5 email analyses a month; Starter $29 a month or $319 a year, Pro $49 or $539, Teams from $8,500. Free for job seekers and students.
Instantly
Cold email platform with an AI Email Writer agent: draft outreach with AI across five major LLMs or your own key, then send it from unlimited connected email accounts with unlimited warmup. Outreach Growth $47 a month for 5,000 emails; Credits, which include the AI Email Writer, from $47 a month; the Starter bundle of both $94, Scale $194 with the AI Reply Agent.
Clay
GTM data and workflow platform for outbound: pull contact and company data from 150+ providers in waterfalls, research any account with the Claygent AI agent, track job changes and other buying signals, then push leads to your CRM or send through Clay's own sequencer. Free plan with 100 data credits and 500 actions a month; Launch $185 a month ($167 billed annually), Growth $495 ($446) adds CRM sync and web intent. 14-day trial.
Apollo.io
AI sales platform for prospecting and outreach: a database of 240M contacts and 30M companies, waterfall enrichment, email sequences, a dialer, intent topics, an AI assistant and an MCP server, in one workspace. Free plan with 900 credits per seat a year; Basic $49 per seat a month billed annually, Professional $79, Organization $119 (3-seat minimum). 14-day trial on paid plans.
Smartlead
Cold email outbound platform with unlimited mailboxes, automatic inbox rotation and warmup, plus SmartAgents for AI-run prospecting, SmartProspect for verified leads and an AI dialer. Base $39 a month for 6,000 sends and 2,000 contacts, Pro $94, Unlimited Smart $174, Unlimited Prime $379; 17% off billed yearly. Free trial, no card.
lemlist
Outbound prospecting platform: a 650M+ lead database, AI agents (lemAgent) that source, research and personalize, and sequences across email, LinkedIn and calls, with lemwarm deliverability on every plan. Email plan from $69 a month ($55 billed yearly); Multichannel from $109 ($87) adds LinkedIn, SMS and a dialer. 14-day free trial.
Amplemarket
All-in-one AI sales platform: 200M+ B2B profiles, AI intent signals, multichannel sequences, a dialer and deliverability tools, with the Duo Copilot agent finding buyers and drafting outreach and an MCP server for Claude or ChatGPT. Startup $600 a month on an annual term with 2 users; Growth and Elite through sales. Free trial on every plan.
Unify
AI outbound for sales reps: prospect and research from a single chat across 1.1B+ people and 65M+ companies from 40+ data sources, act on job change and hiring signals, and run multichannel sequences with AI-written email. Free plan for up to 3 seats; Base $20 per seat a month with 800 credits, Pro $60 with 2,400 and CRM sync; Business custom.
Common Room
Buyer intelligence for sales prospecting, now part of Zoom: unifies CRM, product, website and social signals into person-level profiles, finds new contacts with Prospector, and runs RoomieAI agents for account research and message personalization, with an MCP server. Essential $2,500 a month billed annually, with 5 seats and 100k contacts; Advanced and Enterprise custom.
11x
AI sales agents for outbound, inbound and expansion: they research accounts, write and send personalized outreach across email and social, call and qualify inbound leads by voice in under a minute, and follow up by SMS and WhatsApp, syncing with HubSpot, Salesforce and Pipedrive. Pricing through a demo.
What it is, what it's best at, what's free, what it costs, where the AI comes in.
Straight from each vendor's own pages. Plans move often, so the check date is below.
| Tool | What it is | Best at | Free to start | Paid from | AI in it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lavender | Sales email coach for Gmail and Outlook. | Scoring and fixing each cold email before you send it. | Basic: 5 email analyses a month. | Starter $29/mo or $319/yr. Pro $49/mo or $539/yr. | Scores emails, writes first drafts, adds recipient context. |
| Instantly | Cold email platform with a B2B lead database. | Sending at volume from unlimited mailboxes with unlimited warmup. | Starts without a credit card. | Outreach Growth $47/mo for 5,000 emails. Starter bundle $94. | AI Email Writer across five LLMs or your own key. AI Reply Agent on Scale ($194/mo). |
| Clay | GTM data and workflow platform. | Waterfall enrichment across 150+ providers and custom research at scale. | Free plan: 100 data credits, 500 actions a month. 14-day trial. | Launch $185/mo ($167 billed annually). Growth $495 ($446). | Claygent researches any account on the web and fills in custom data points. |
| Apollo.io | Sales platform: contact database, sequences, dialer. | One seat for finding contacts and emailing them, 240M contacts deep. | Free plan: 900 credits per seat a year. | Basic $49 per seat/mo billed annually. Professional $79. Organization $119. | AI assistant and AI research; AI lead scoring on Professional. |
| Smartlead | Cold email outbound platform. | High-volume sending with inbox rotation and unlimited mailboxes. | Free trial, no card. | Base $39/mo: 6,000 sends, 2,000 contacts. Pro $94. Unlimited Smart $174. | SmartAgents for AI-run prospecting, an AI dialer. |
| lemlist | Multichannel outbound with a 650M+ lead database. | Sequences across email, LinkedIn and calls, with warmup built in. | 14-day trial with 200 credits. | Email from $69/mo ($55 billed yearly). Multichannel from $109 ($87). | lemAgent sources, researches and personalizes. Intent signal agents. |
| Amplemarket | All-in-one AI sales platform. | Replacing a data tool plus a sequencer with one seat. | Free trial on every plan. | Startup $600/mo on an annual term, 2 users. | Duo Copilot finds buyers and drafts outreach. AI voice messages, MCP. |
| Unify | AI outbound run from a single chat. | Reps who want lists, research and sequences without ops help. | Free plan, up to 3 seats. | Base $20 per seat/mo, 800 credits. Pro $60, 2,400 credits. | AI email copywriting on Base. Signal-triggered plays on Business. |
| Common Room | Buyer intelligence platform, now part of Zoom. | Seeing who's in-market across CRM, product, web and social signals. | None listed. | Essential $2,500/mo billed annually: 5 seats, 100k contacts. | RoomieAI agents for account research, contact research and messages. |
| 11x | AI sales agents for outbound, inbound and expansion. | Teams that want agents to run outreach and answer leads by voice. | None listed. | Through a demo. | Agents across email, social, voice, chat, SMS and WhatsApp. |
Checked 2026-11-04. Sources: Lavender pricing, Instantly pricing, Clay pricing, Apollo pricing, Smartlead pricing, lemlist pricing, Amplemarket pricing, Unify pricing, Common Room pricing, 11x.
Pick it if.
- LavenderYour reps already send cold email and you want more of it to get replies.
- InstantlyYou run cold email at volume and want leads, AI copy and sending on one bill.
- ClayYou want any data point on any account, and someone on the team likes building workflows.
- Apollo.ioYou want contacts, sequences and a dialer in one tool, starting free.
- SmartleadYou send a lot of cold email, or run it for clients, and deliverability is the whole game.
- lemlistYour outbound mixes email, LinkedIn and calls in the same sequence.
- AmplemarketYou want to replace a data provider and a sequencer with one AI-first platform.
- UnifyYou're a rep who wants to type what you need and get a list and a sequence back.
- Common RoomYou sell to teams who leave signals everywhere and you want to act on them first.
- 11xYou want AI agents doing the outreach and answering inbound, not just helping a rep.
Each listing.
The directory page, alternatives in the same category, and a head-to-head where we have one.
- LavenderAlternatives
- InstantlyAlternatives
- ClayAlternatives
- Apollo.ioAlternatives
- SmartleadAlternatives
- lemlistAlternatives
- AmplemarketAlternatives
- UnifyAlternatives
- Common RoomAlternatives
- 11xAlternatives
Category pages list every tool in that category, including ones left off this page. Built one of these? Get it featured in its category.
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