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What if you could build a qualified prospect list in minutes instead of hours?
Right now, if you're building prospect lists manually (or piecing together your workflow with spreadsheets, LinkedIn searches, and separate email finders), you're probably dealing with:
More time searching for leads than actually selling
Outdated or unverified contact data that bounces
Missing job titles, company details, or contact info that makes personalization impossible
No clear way to track what's working in your outreach
Sound familiar? If so, it's time to look at tools built to handle this for you. Cold email prospecting platforms automate the entire process, from finding verified contacts to sending personalized campaigns and tracking responses. But with so many tools on the market, finding the one that fits your needs isn’t easy.
So, we did the hard work for you. Here are 5 platforms that help you find quality leads and automate outreach, giving you back hours you can spend on conversations that close deals.
Unlike most B2B lead tools, Instantly handles the entire prospecting process in one place. You search for leads right inside the platform, filter and verify them without external tools, and once they're ready, send them straight to an email campaign. From there, the platform automates your outreach with AI-powered personalization sequences, automated follow-ups, and deliverability management.
Key Features:
Lead Database with Advanced Filtering: Search through over 450 million pre-verified contacts and narrow down prospects by job title, company size, industry, revenue, and tech stack to find leads that actually fit your ICP.
In-Platform Verification: If you're uploading your own contact lists, you can verify email addresses without leaving the platform; there’s no need for third-party validation tools.
Direct Campaign Integration: Send verified leads straight into an active or new outreach campaign without exporting, cleaning, or re-uploading lists.
Automated Email Sequences: Set up multi-step campaigns with personalized follow-ups that trigger based on opens, clicks, or no response.
Unlimited Email Warmup: Gradually build sender reputation across unlimited email accounts to improve deliverability and inbox placement.
Pricing: Instantly.ai offers separate pricing for different features. For email outreach, plans start at $37/month (Growth) or $97/month (Hypergrowth). For lead generation, the Growth Leads plan starts at $47/month, while higher tiers range from $97/month to $197/month for more leads. Unused lead credits roll over to the next month.
Artisan uses an AI sales assistant called Ava to handle cold email prospecting from start to finish. You tell Ava about your ideal customer profile, and she finds leads from a 300M+ contact database, writes personalized emails, and manages follow-ups without you setting up campaigns manually.
Key Features:
AI-Powered Email Writing: Ava researches each prospect and writes personalized cold emails based on their company data, recent activity, and intent signals.
Automated Multi-Channel Sequences: Run coordinated campaigns across email and LinkedIn with automated connection requests, messages, and follow-ups.
Built-In Deliverability Management: Ava automatically warms up your email accounts, monitors sender reputation, and adjusts sending limits to keep emails out of spam.
Sentiment Analysis & Lead Qualification: Ava detects positive and negative responses, unsubscribes disinterested prospects, and flags qualified leads for your sales team.
Pricing: Artisan offers custom pricing based on your outreach volume and requirements. Pricing is not public, so you’ll need to contact their sales team for a consultation.
Close is a sales CRM with cold email prospecting tools built directly into the platform. It combines email, calling, and SMS into one workflow, letting you run multi-touch prospecting sequences without subscribing to multiple tools. The platform also includes AI Enrich, which automatically pulls real-time data from the web to populate and update lead records in seconds.
Key Features:
Multi-Channel Sequences: Automate emails, calls, and SMS in coordinated sequences with personalized content and randomized timing to feel more human.
Bulk Email Sending: Send cold emails at scale with email sequences that trigger follow-ups based on recipient actions.
Email Templates and Personalization: Use pre-built templates and personalization variables to customize cold emails at scale without writing each one manually.
Email Tracking and Analytics: Track opens, clicks, and replies in real-time to see which prospects are engaging and prioritize your follow-ups accordingly.
Pricing: Plans start at $49/month per user (Startup) and go up to $99/month (Professional) and $139/month (Enterprise). 14-day free trial available.
Mailshake automates your cold email prospecting with personalized sequences and automatic follow-ups. The platform includes Data Finder with access to more than 100 million contacts, letting you search for prospects by job title, location, or company. There’s also a built-in list cleaning that verifies emails before you send, and you can track opens, clicks, and replies to see which prospects are engaging.
Key Features:
Automated Email Sequences: Create multi-step prospecting campaigns with follow-ups that trigger based on opens, clicks, or no response.
AI Email Writer (SHAKEspeare): Generate email copy variations in under a minute using AI trained on thousands of successful cold email campaigns.
A/B Testing: Test different subject lines, email copy, and sequences to see what drives better reply rates.
Social & Call Tasks: Add LinkedIn tasks and phone call reminders within your sequences for multi-touch prospecting.
Pricing: Plans start at $58/month per user for Email Outreach (up to 5,000 recipients per campaign) or $83/month for Sales Engagement with advanced features.
Saleshandy handles cold email prospecting with unlimited email accounts and a 700M+ contact database built into the platform. You can connect as many email accounts as you need without paying per-account fees, which helps when you're scaling campaigns across multiple domains. The platform also focuses on deliverability with features like email warm-up and inbox rotation to protect your sender reputation.
Key Features:
AI Sequence Writer: Use AI to generate personalized email sequences and follow-ups based on prospect behavior and engagement.
Lead Verification: Verify email addresses in real-time to reduce bounce rates and maintain a clean sender reputation.
A/Z Testing: Test multiple email variations simultaneously to identify which subject lines and copy drive the highest reply rates.
Inbox Placement Testing: Test where your emails are landing (inbox, spam, or promotions tab) before launching full campaigns.
Pricing: Plans start at $36/month per user (Outreach Starter) with 2,000 prospects and 6,000 emails monthly, or $99/month (Outreach Pro) with higher limits. 7-day free trial available.
Manual prospecting takes up time you could spend closing deals. The tools on this list handle the repetitive work: finding verified contacts, cleaning lists, and running your campaigns on autopilot.
Choose a platform that fits your workflow and budget. If you're running high-volume campaigns, prioritize unlimited accounts and solid deliverability features. If you're trying cold email for the first time, start with something that doesn't require a steep learning curve.
Instantly works for both. It's powerful enough for teams sending thousands of emails weekly, yet simple enough if you're just getting started with cold email. It covers both prospecting and outreach in one tool, so you don’t have to worry about paying for or managing separate tools.
Start your free trial with Instantly and build your first campaign today.
