Cold Email

5 Instantly Alternatives for Maximum Outreach Impact

Check out 5 top Instantly alternatives for reaching your audience effectively. Elevate your outreach strategy today.
Arslan Nasir
11 minutes

Instantly AI is a popular solution for cold email outreach due to its user-friendly interface, unlimited inboxes, email campaign automation and advanced analytics.

Despite its benefits, users have reported issues with missing data, limited CRM features, challenging email setup, a steep learning curve, and high pricing, causing them to seek Instantly alternatives. 

In this article, we've compiled a list of the five best Instantly alternatives that are feature-rich, user-friendly, affordable, and can help you achieve maximum results in no time.

So, let's get started.

The best Instantly alternatives for cold email outreach

Let's share the list of the top Instantly alternatives you can start using today.

1. Skua

Skua.ai cold email outreach platform

Skua is a cold email outreach tool powered by artificial intelligence (AI). 

It improves your cold email outreach efforts with automated account warmup and intelligent sending capabilities. Skua protects your sender’s reputation and ensures your emails reach your intended audience.

This Instantly alternative uses machine learning algorithms to improve your campaigns. It helps you optimize subject lines, follow-ups and delivery times to increase open rates and prospect engagement.

Additionally, Skua has built-in mail merge tools for personalized emails at scale, helping you maintain human-like conversations with potential leads.

Start a free trial to enhance your revenue-generating conversations.

User rating

Skua.ai user review

Since Skua is a relatively new Instantly alternative, there are no user reviews on prominent platforms. Nevertheless, current Skua users have praised its unlimited account warmup, customizable templates, analytics, ease of use, affordability, and customer support.

Features list

Skua.ai features

Here is the list of Skua’s prominent features:

  • Email deliverability – Ensure your cold emails reach intended recipients effectively, avoiding the spam folder
  • Email warmup – Safely increase email volume over time for better deliverability and sender reputation
  • Cold email campaigns – Tailor messages for each recipient, boosting lead generation and relationship building
  • Email scheduling – Reach potential clients at optimal times for improved engagement
  • A/Z testing – Experiment with subject lines, content, and CTAs to enhance campaign performance
  • Inbox rotation – Consolidate all your accounts into one campaign and rotate between them for better inbox placement
  • Unified inbox – Manage conversations from one place, label your leads and search messages by their names to streamline communication and track engagement 
  • Simplified CRM – Track interested leads, scheduled meetings, new opportunities and closed deals effortlessly
  • Spintax – Create variations of words, sentences, or phrases within a single email template to generate unique content for each recipient
  • Analytics and reporting – Monitor opens, clicks, and responses for informed decisions about your cold email campaign

Experience how our advanced features can elevate your campaigns, boost engagement, and drive results. 

Start a free trial now.

Integrations

Skua.ai integrations

With Skua, you can use Webhooks or integrate with apps like HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zapier and Calendly. It also works with Gmail, Google Workplace, and Microsoft accounts. You can find more details on the Integrations page.

Customer support

Our responsive and helpful customer support team is available via chat and email. You can also access our help center or work with a dedicated implementation manager to set up your account.

Pricing

Skua.ai pricing

Skua offers a free trial that gives you access to all features. After testing the software, you can subscribe to a monthly or annual plan with a 30% discount.

  • Starter plan – $34/month or $28/month billed annually
  • Growth plan – $99/month or $84/month billed annually

There is also a custom plan if you have specific needs. You can find all details on the Pricing page.

Pros

  • AI-powered tool 
  • Unlimited number of email-sending accounts and warmups
  • Built-in duplicate email checker to decrease the bounce rate
  • Mail merge tool for personalized emails at scale
  • Inbox rotation
  • Spintax

Cons

  • Lack of user reviews 
  • No free plan

Take the first step with Skua – start your free trial now!

2. Super Send

Super Send cold email outreach automation

Image source: G2

Super Send is an outbound email automation tool. It automates cold outreach across email, LinkedIn and Twitter, unlike Instantly, which only focuses on emails.

This Instantly alternative provides a sequence builder to send automated follow-ups. You can trigger any action based on your prospect’s behavior. 

For instance, if they visit your LinkedIn profile, Super Send can send emails to them automatically.

User rating

G2 rated Super Send 5 out of 5 based on 7 reviews. Users appreciate its user-friendly interface and responsive customer support.

Features list

Super Send offers a mixture of features:

  • Inbox rotation – Add multiple email-sending accounts to rotate between them and increase sending volumes
  • Email warmup – Set up a warmup by specifying the number of emails you’ll send daily
  • Personalized images – Create dynamic images within Super Send based on customer’s information
  • Analytics and reporting – Evaluate detailed reports on your campaigns. Assess how many leads have opened your emails and clicked on links
  • Replies inbox – Unify replies from multiple accounts in a single location
  • Sequence Marketplace – Use sequence templates to craft the perfect message whenever you feel stuck
  • Liquid syntax support – Send dynamic messages by defining variables like first name, job title and company name

Integrations

Super Send integrates with Zapier to help you connect with software like:

  • HubSpot
  • Slack
  • Gmail
  • Google Sheets
  • Pipedrive
  • Mailchimp

Customer support

You can contact the customer support team via chat or email. You can also visit the help desk with articles that answer frequently asked questions.

Pricing

Super Send has three pricing plans:

  • Bootstrapper – $20 per month for up to 2 campaigns
  • Startup – $40 per month for up to 10 campaigns
  • Scale – $75 per month for up to 25 campaigns

Pros

  • User-friendly interface
  • Excellent customer support
  • Unlimited social accounts with the Scale plan

Cons

  • The shared inbox feature has bugs sometimes
  • Minor UI issues, e.g. the campaign name isn’t visible

3. QuickMail.io

QuickMail email outreach software

Image source: G2

QuickMail is a platform that provides email outreach and automation tools and is compatible with Outlook and Gmail. It helps your sales team to connect with potential customers anytime.

With QuickMail, you can create follow-up sequences until you receive a response. You can customize these sequences with details such as the customer's location or first name, allowing personalized messages.

You can add as many team members as you need without any extra charges. You only pay for the additional inboxes you use to send emails. 

Every new inbox comes with the same templates, saving you time by eliminating the need to copy and paste saved messages.

User rating

G2 rated QuickMail 4.6 out of 6 based on 78 reviews. Most users praise its ease of use and simplicity. Others note that its export capabilities need improvement.

Features list

  • Email personalization – Customize your cold outreach to include recipient-specific information
  • A/B testing – Test different email variations to determine which one generates higher click-through, open and reply rates
  • Inbox rotation – Add multiple senders within QuickMail. That way, ESPs won’t flag your emails and send them to the spam box
  • Email scheduling – Reach prospects across different time zones at the right time. With QuickMail, you can set up a predictable sales pipeline
  • Analytics – Get insights into a campaign’s performance. You can use this data to optimize your cold outreach strategy

Integrations

QuickMail integrates with a range of software:

  • Email service providers like Gmail and Outlook
  • Email verification tools like Hunter and ZeroBounce
  • CRM platforms such as HubSpot and Pipedrive

Customer support

The customer support team is available via chat. There’s also an extensive knowledge base for clients.

Pricing

QuickMail has three pricing plans:

  • Basic – $49 a month for up to 5 email addresses
  • Pro - $89 a month for up to 30 email addresses
  • Expert – $129 a month for up to 80 email addresses

This email marketing software also offers a free trial to test its capabilities.

Pros

  • Responsive customer support
  • Detailed reporting
  • Option to set up workflows with apps like Twilio so that sales reps can send texts to prospects
  • User-friendly interface

Cons

  • UI needs polishing
  • Email formatting needs improvement
  • Steep learning curve

4. Woodpecker

Woodpecker cold email software

Image source: G2

Woodpecker assists you with cold emailing and automated follow-ups. It's a suitable tool for sales and marketing teams looking to streamline their cold outreach efforts.

Woodpecker ensures your sender's reputation remains safe. It offers features like email list verification to remove invalid email addresses. The warm-up and recovery features also ensure your emails don't end up in spam.

Woodpecker has developed a unique algorithm that reacts to your commands. For instance, it analyzes your recipient list to determine if you'll send an email to a prospect who has already replied to your messages. Learn more about Woodpecker alternatives.

This Instantly alternative also detects email deliverability issues immediately and works to eliminate them.

User rating

Woodpecker has 4.3 out of 5 stars on G2 due to its ease of use and cold email tools.

Features list

  • Templates – Create and edit cold outreach templates to work faster. All users can view the templates within the tool
  • A/B testing – Test different elements to determine which works best for your audience
  • Condition-based campaigns – Create custom follow-up sequences and trigger each one with specific prospect actions
  • Bounce shield – Detect an email provider’s limit automatically and refrain from sending cold emails to prevent being blocked
  • Analytics – Track open emails, clicks and responses to evaluate your campaigns

Integrations

You can connect Woodpecker with

  • CRMs like Pipedrive, HubSpot and Salesforce
  • Prospecting tools like UpLead and Hunter
  • Social media platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn
  • Mailboxes like Gmail and Outlook
  • Email verification tools such as Bouncer

Customer support

You can contact the support team via chat and email. Woodpecker also allows you to schedule a call with their sales team straight from the website.

Pricing

Woodpecker has three pricing plans. All of them come with a 7-day free trial.

  • Cold email – $54 per email slot a month (for 1500 prospects)
  • Sales assistant – $64 per email slot a month (for 1500 prospects)
  • Agency – $59 per email slot a month (for 1500 prospects)

You can increase the number of prospects you want to reach for each pricing plan. In that case, the price will be higher.

Pros

  • Custom follow-ups
  • Bounce shield that ensures ESPs don’t block you
  • Intuitive dashboard
  • A lot of integration options

Cons

  • Higher pricing compared to other Instantly alternatives
  • Steep learning curve

5. Lemlist

Lemlist cold email software

Image source: G2

Lemlist is an outreach platform for sales teams, startups and lead generation agencies. It allows you to create customized cold email campaigns, set up automated sequences, use custom domain tracking and cold calling and integrate with other platforms easily. 

Read our Instantly vs Lemlist comparison to discover the critical distinctions between these solutions or Lemlist alternatives to see how it compares to other products on the market.

User rating

Lemlist has 4.1 out of 5 stars on G2 based on 132 reviews. Users are satisfied with automated sequences, personalization, simplicity and customer support.

Features list

  • Multichannel prospecting – Reach out to prospects on channels other than email to increase engagement and generate more responses
  • Automated follow-ups – Contacts your prospects automatically based on the predefined series of steps 
  • Email warmup – Get real-time data on your deliverability score to determine how to boost it and send more emails

Integrations

Lemlist integrates with

  • CRMs, including HubSpot and Salesforce
  • Enrichment tools, including Uplead and Leadcamp
  • Email verification platforms, including Zerobounce and Bouncer
  • Workflow software, including Zapier and Google Sheets

Customer support

You can reach customer support via email or chat. Alternatively, you can go over its extensive knowledge base.

Pricing

Lemlist offers a free trial and two paid plans:

  1. Email outreach for $59/seat/mo with 250 AI tokens and access to the AI add-on and lemwarm essential plan. However, this plan doesn't include LinkedIn outreach, cold calling, custom landing pages or videos, and the Lemlist Chrome extension. 
  2. Sales engagement for $99/seat/mo with 500 AI tokens and access to the AI add-on. This plan includes all features.

If you need more AI tokens, you can buy them according to your requirements using the pay-as-you-go system. A special plan is available for agencies, but additional details are only available by joining the waitlist.

Pros

  • Advanced personalization
  • Many integration options
  • Detailed analytics and reporting

Cons

  • Slow loading speed
  • Complex campaign management
  • Adjusting email templates takes time
  • Higher price

Instantly alternatives: A short overview 

Let's briefly overview all products we evaluated in this article.

Tool name User rating Best for Key features Pricing
Skua N/A Small and medium-sized enterprises, lead generation and appointment-setting agencies AI-driven approach toward cold emailing campaigns, email warmup, inbox rotation, robust analytics From $34 per month
Super Send 5 Small businesses Inbox rotation, email warmup, personalized images, sequence marketplace, liquid syntax support From $20 per month
QuickMail 4.6 Sales reps and demand generation agencies Email personalization, A/B testing, inbox rotation, email scheduling From $49 per month
Woodpecker 4.3 Large enterprises Email templates, condition-based campaigns, bounce shield, analytics From $54 per month
Lemlist 4.1 Small to large businesses Multichannel prospecting, automated follow-ups, email warmup From $59 per month

Our criteria for choosing the best Instantly alternatives

Let’s go over the main criteria we considered when evaluating these cold emailing platforms.

Features and functionality

When looking for an alternative to Instantly.ai, it's important to find a platform that offers lead generation, personalization, cold emailing, A/B testing, and automation features to create effective campaigns.

User-friendliness

You shouldn’t be a rocket scientist to leverage an email outreach tool. An intuitive and user-friendly interface helps you master a platform without technical expertise.

Cost-effectiveness

The right solution should offer good value for money. It should have transparent pricing options without any hidden fees.

Customer support

You may face issues while using the tool. Reports may not load, or features may not work. In that case, you need access to a reliable and responsive customer support team.

Pricing

Your go-to solution should have numerous pricing plans to cater to your needs. You should have the option to upgrade your plan as your business grows.

Integration with third-party tools

You should easily connect your chosen app with other platforms to streamline your workflow and be more productive.

Current user reviews

User reviews tell you everything you need to know about the tool. You should always consider them when choosing the best of all Instantly alternatives.

So, which platform best fits our criteria?

Conclusion about Instantly alternatives

Skua.ai cold email outreach platform

Instantly alternatives can help you generate leads, connect with potential customers and start valuable conversations. However, choosing the best one will depend on your specific objectives and requirements.

Skua is the best alternative to Instantly.ai if you want to use AI to boost your results. Its unlimited email accounts, warmups, personalized cold outreach, email scheduling, inbox rotation, and A/Z testing facilitate a seamless and comprehensive outreach strategy. 

Want to see Skua in action? Sign up for a 14-day free trial to test all features.