8 Best Outreach.io Alternatives for Lead Gen Agencies

Outreach.io describes itself as the #1 platform for sales execution.

In reality, it’s nowhere near the best — at least, not as far as lead gen agencies are concerned.

Outreach.io lacks many of the most essential features that agencies rely on to deliver client results at scale. That’s why we’ve rounded up the eight best Outreach.io alternatives for lead gen agencies, including comparisons of:

• Key features

• Agency pricing

• Common challenges

Let’s get into it…

QuickMail: The #1 Outreach.io Alternative

QuickMail is the clear #1 Outreach.io alternative for lead gen agencies. Here’s why:

Outreach.io vs QuickMail: At-a-Glance Comparison Table

* Free AutoWarmer with MailFlow included with all QuickMail plans

What Makes QuickMail the Best Outreach.io Alternative?

Deliverability Solutions

With Outreach.io

Outreach.io’s lack of tools to boost deliverability should be a major red flag for lead gen agencies.  

For instance, it doesn’t do inbox rotation, so you have to manually swap out underperforming inboxes.

No wonder, then, that we’ve seen plenty of complaints about bounce rates and low deliverability from Outreach.io users.

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With QuickMail

QuickMail, on the other hand, offers a whole suite of deliverability-enhancing tools.

All QuickMail plans include free access to MailFlow, one of the best email warmup tools.

We also offer Deliverability AI, our proprietary inbox rotation tool. Deliverability AI monitors deliverability across all your email accounts. If one of those accounts sees a drop in deliverability, we’ll automatically swap it out for a higher performer.

So you can focus on higher-value strategic tasks and leave the inbox rotation to us.

Learn more: 10 Best Email Deliverability Tools

Advanced Analytics and Client Reporting Dashboards

With Outreach.io

Outreach.io’s reporting and analytics features are another problem, with many users finding them confusing to read, hard to use, and frustratingly restrictive.

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They also don’t offer client reporting portals, making it a challenge to share results with your customers.

And with no agency dashboard, it’s hard to see what’s going on across your various client accounts.

With QuickMail

With QuickMail’s reporting and analytics tools, it’s easy to track all the most essential lead gen metrics (including opens, clicks, replies, bookings, and bounces). You can even segment the results by email service provider — either the lead’s or yours.

Beyond the basics, QuickMail is the only cold outreach platform to offer time-based data that tracks results back to the day an email was sent. Not only does this help you figure out which specific emails are generating the most leads, but it also makes it easy to identify any downturns in deliverability.

And, because we’re built for agencies, we offer client reporting portals and an agency dashboard so you can get a quick view of performance across multiple accounts.

Learn more: How To Choose the Best Sales Analytics Tools for Your Agency 

Client Outreach Organization and Workflows

With Outreach.io

As we’ve already discussed, Outreach.io doesn’t offer an agency dashboard, so there’s no quick way to see which accounts require immediate attention.

That’s a real challenge for agencies with dozens of clients.

Just as concerningly, there’s no unified inbox in Outreach.io, which makes it way more likely that responses from leads will get answered late (or missed altogether).

With QuickMail

Client management couldn’t be simpler with QuickMail, even if you’re handling dozens of clients and reps.

For starters, our agency dashboard helps you choose the best clients to prioritize at any given moment.

Then there’s our unified inbox. Use it to: 

• Read, label, and triage replies without marking them as “read”

• See how long each response has been waiting for a follow-up

• Assign follow-ups to the most appropriate team member

• Respond from any inbox

And with our changelog, you can see which of your reps have edited what — and when they did it:

Agency-Friendly Pricing

With Outreach.io

Outreach.io pricing is the worst of both worlds as far as agencies are concerned.

For starters, they charge per user, which makes the platform super expensive for larger sales teams.

Plus they offer zero transparency because their prices are only available on request.

With QuickMail

Whichever QuickMail plan you choose, you’ll get access to all our performance-enhancing features — like Deliverability AI, A/B testing, and the ability to build automated, personalized multichannel campaigns.

Not only that, but all agency customers can add unlimited users and inboxes at no extra cost.

In fact, we only charge more when you add new clients to QuickMail — because that’s when you can afford it!

Want to learn more? Speak to us to find out about our agency plans.

7 Other Top Outreach.io Alternatives

Instantly

Key Benefits for Agencies

• Build automated campaigns including email, LinkedIn, SMS, and cold calling steps.

• Add unlimited email accounts on any plan.

• Validate prospect data without leaving the platform.

Agency Pricing

Instantly doesn’t do agency pricing.

Its standard plans range in price, from $37 per month for 1,000 uploaded contacts and 5,000 monthly emails, to $358 per month for 100,000 uploaded contacts and 500,000 emails.

If you need higher usage limits, you’ll have to get a custom quote and sign a 12-month contract.

Common Challenges

• No deliverability data or monitoring.

• No agency dashboard.

• Unified inbox not available on Instantly’s entry-level plan.

• Lots of users complain about email warmup through Instantly (perhaps because its email pool is mostly made up of custom SMTP inboxes).
  

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Learn more: Instantly vs QuickMail: Features, Pricing, and Performance 

Woodpecker

Key Benefits for Agencies

• Manage all clients through the dedicated agency dashboard.

• Create a reporting app featuring your own branding and domain name.

• Get 24/7 email deliverability reports (and share the results via pdf).

Agency Pricing

Woodpecker is one of the few Outreach.io alternatives to offer dedicated agency plans.

Prices start at $29 per month for 8,000 monthly emails, 500 contacted prospects, and 2,000 stored prospects.

Or, at the other end of the spectrum, you can get 400,000 monthly emails, 100,000 stored prospects, and 25,000 contacted prospects for $395 per month.

Woodpecker also charges a flat $27 per month for each active client you manage.

Common Challenges

• Replies can’t be triaged or assigned to specific team members.

• Sentiment analysis only marks replies as “positive”, “negative”, or “neutral”.

• Email warmup doesn’t work for Gmail accounts.

• Lacks positive reply rate reports, unsubscribe data, and send-day attribution.

Smartlead

Key Benefits for Agencies

• Use the Smartlead API to manage leads, automations, and meeting bookings.

• Categorize leads automatically based on contextual reply sentiment.

• Build a white-labeled email platform where clients can view reports, access campaigns, and reply from the unified inbox.

Agency Pricing

Smartlead doesn’t have a dedicated agency plan, but it does describe its Custom plan as “perfect” for agencies.

Prices start at $174 per month for “up to” 12 million active lead credits and 60 million monthly email credits. But it’s hard to tell whether you can actually send 12 million emails a month for $174, or if some other charges apply.

You’ll also pay a flat $29 per month for each additional client you add to Smartlead.

Common Challenges

• Zero native integrations — so you’ll have to reply 100% on Zapier (which is expensive and glitchy at scale).

• No single view of performance across all client accounts.

• No native way to verify prospect data, manually create prospects, or add them to campaigns in bulk.

• Reports suggest Smartlead can be pretty error-prone:
  

*Quote from unaffiliated agency owner, March 2024

Learn more: Smartlead vs QuickMail: Features, Pricing, and Performance 

Saleshandy

Key Benefits for Agencies

• Create a white-labeled agency portal featuring your logo, domain, and other brand assets (Outreach Scale and Outreach Scale Plus plans only).

• Add unlimited team members and clients to your agency portal.

• Leverage sender rotation, ramp-up, and sending intervals to enhance deliverability.

Agency Pricing

Saleshandy’s four price plans range from $36 – $299+ per month, all including unlimited clients and email accounts.

However, if you want to create your own agency portal, you’ll need to choose one of the top-tier plans — Outreach Scale and Outreach Scale Plus.

Outreach Scale costs $199 per month, including 60,000 total prospects, 200,000 emails per month, and 12,000 email verification credits.

Or, at the top end of the scale, you can get 500,000 prospects, 1.5 million monthly emails, and 55,000 verification credits for $1,499 per month.

Common Challenges

• No way to assign replies or respond from different accounts using the unified inbox.

• Limited integrations (including no Google Drive integration).

• Some users report domain reputation issues.
  

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Learn more: Saleshandy vs QuickMail: Features, Pricing, and Performance

Lemlist

Key Benefits for Agencies

• Build multichannel campaigns including email, LinkedIn, and cold calling steps.

• Use text variables and dynamic landing pages to personalize outreach campaigns.

• Create personalized user journeys with smart logic based on the prospect’s previous actions (like email opens and link clicks).

Agency Pricing

Lemlist has a per-user pricing model, which makes it pretty expensive.

For example, the top-tier Outreach Scale plan offers unlimited campaigns and 15 sending emails per user for $159 per user per month. That’s over $1,500 per month for a 10-person team.

And if you need more than 10 seats, you’ll have to reach out for a custom quote.

Common Challenges

• Per-user pricing is an expensive option for agencies.

• Prospect replies aren’t categorized by campaign or client.

• Lemlist adds messy html to emails, which can limit deliverability.

• Some Lemlist users complain of regular bugs:
  

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Mailshake

Key Benefits for Agencies

• Use email validation credits to remove bad email addresses from your list.

• Automate LinkedIn messages, profile views, and connection requests using Mailshake’s Chrome extension (top-tier plan only).

• Save time with automated, trigger-based follow-up sequences.

Agency Pricing

Mailshake is another Outreach.io alternative with per-user pricing, so again, it’s not the cheapest option for agencies.

Indeed, the highest-tier plan — Sales Engagement — costs nearly $1,000 per month for a 10-person team.

Surprisingly, Mailshake actually suggests asking your clients to pay for Mailshake themselves, then add your agency as a user:

Not all clients will be happy with this. And even if they are, it’s a real struggle having separate accounts for every client you manage.

Common Challenges

• Per-user pricing is expensive for larger agencies.

• Key features like the unified inbox and LinkedIn automation only available on higher-tier plans.

• Maximum of five email addresses per seat.

Learn more: Mailshake vs QuickMail: Features, Pricing, and Performance

Reply.io

Key Benefits for Agencies

• All agency plans include unlimited mailboxes, clients, users, contacts, and email warmup.

• Reports can be segmented by client or team member.

• Set roles and permissions to control who can view/edit campaigns and reports.

Agency Pricing

Reply.io’s agency plans start at $210 per month. All include unlimited email sequences, inboxes, and email warmup.

Rather than charging to add more clients, Reply.io’s prices increase based on the number of leads you add. This can get pretty expensive if you’re handling a lot of leads.

Lots of key tools are also hidden away behind paywalls — including cold calling, SMS messaging, and LinkedIn automation. Even if you choose Reply.io’s most expensive plan, you still have to pay extra for those features.

Common Challenges

• Limited report customization.

• No centralized client dashboard.

• Lots of users complain about the steep learning curve and challenging user interface:
  

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Learn more: Reply.io vs QuickMail: Features, Pricing, and Performance

Switch To the Best Outreach.io Alternative Today

There are plenty of Outreach.io alternatives out there.

Unfortunately, most are a poor fit for agencies. They’re either too expensive at scale or lack critical features like a unified inbox, agency dashboard, and client portals.

That’s why QuickMail is the best Outreach.io for alternatives. You get all the tools you need to generate leads at scale — and you only pay us more when you add more clients.

For a full overview of how QuickMail can help your agency, speak with us.