This page is about Woodpecker the cold email tool at woodpecker.co, and the tools people move to when they outgrow it or want a different pricing model. Whichever tool you land on, start from one test: whether your mail lands in the inbox is part of the campaign, not a separate chore. Warmup, SPF/DKIM/DMARC checks, bounce monitoring and placement tests belong next to the send button, because the alternative is launching to a full list and learning about the spam folder from the silence that follows. Every tool below gets judged on that first, then on price, send caps, LinkedIn, and where your mailboxes come from.
Who this comparison is for
This is written for a founder or a two-to-five person sales team that runs its own outbound. You have a Woodpecker account or a trial, you send cold email, and you may want LinkedIn steps in the same campaign. You are deciding between flat monthly plans priced on email volume and Woodpecker's model, which prices on the number of people you contact. Agencies sending for several clients at once will find the volume tiers useful too, but the per-tool notes are aimed at the smaller team.
What a Woodpecker replacement has to cover
Woodpecker's pricing page lists its own baseline, so use it as the checklist. Woodpecker includes unlimited email verification, free warm-ups (two on the entry tier, more on larger ones), unlimited team members and unlimited connected email accounts, a centralized inbox, domain audit, inbox rotation and condition-based campaigns. LinkedIn is an add-on at $29 a month per connected LinkedIn account. A replacement that drops any of those is a step back unless the price makes up for it.
On top of that baseline, five things decide whether the switch is worth it:
- Sequences. Multi-step email with conditional branches, and ideally LinkedIn steps in the same sequence rather than a separate tool.
- Warmup. How many mailboxes warm for free, and what each extra one costs.
- Placement testing. Whether the tool can send a test campaign to seed inboxes and tell you where it landed before you send to real prospects. This is the piece most often missing or sold separately.
- One inbox. All replies from every sending mailbox in one place, with some way of sorting interested replies from out-of-office notes.
- Mailbox ownership. Whether you connect Google or Outlook inboxes you already own, buy domains and mailboxes inside the tool, or both.
The table reads each tool's pricing page on these points. Where a site is silent, the cell says so.
Pricing and limits side by side
All prices are monthly billing in USD as listed on each tool's pricing page. Yearly discounts are noted where the page states them.
| Tool | Plans (monthly billing) | What the entry plan caps | Free trial |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woodpecker | $7.00 per 100 contacted prospects at the lowest tier on a slider, with the per-prospect rate falling at higher tiers; the page says annual billing saves 33% | Entry tier: 500 contacted prospects for $35/mo, up to 8,000 emails, 2 free warm-ups; extra warm-ups $5/mo per mailbox; LinkedIn $29/mo per connected account; Google or Microsoft mailboxes $6/mo each | 14 days or 100 cold emails, whichever comes first; no card |
| Instantly | Growth $47, Hypergrowth $97, Light Speed $358; Enterprise custom; yearly $37.60 / $77.60 / $286.30 | Growth: 5,000 emails/mo, 1,000 uploaded contacts, unlimited email accounts and warmup | Homepage buttons say "Start for free"; the pricing page does not state trial length |
| Smartlead | Base $39, Pro $94, Smart $174, Prime $379; yearly $32.50 / $78.30 / $144.50 / $314.60 | Base: 6,000 sends/mo, 2,000 contacts, 2,000 verified emails | Free trial, "pick a plan later"; 50% off first month offer on the pricing page |
| lemlist | Email $69, Multichannel $109, Enterprise custom; yearly $55 / $87 | Email: 50,000 emails/mo, unlimited users and email senders, no LinkedIn | 14-day free trial on Multichannel features |
| Mailshake | Starter $29, Email Outreach $49, Sales Engagement $99, Agency by sales; yearly $25 / $45 / $85 | Starter: 1 email address, 1,500 sends/mo, unlimited contacts and warmup | None. Pricing FAQ says payment is collected up front |
| Saleshandy | Starter $41, Pro $99, Scale $189, Enterprise custom; yearly $34 / $76 / $149 | Starter: 6,000 emails/mo, 2,000 active prospects, unlimited email accounts, 1 user | 7-day free trial, no card |
| SuperSend | Starter $59, Growth $99, Scale $319; yearly about 15% off | Starter: 15,000 emails/mo, 1 LinkedIn sender, unlimited contacts; extra LinkedIn senders $29/mo | Free signup with no card; 7-day trial with card on file starts when you launch a campaign or turn on warmup |
Capabilities side by side
| Tool | LinkedIn steps in the same sequence | Placement testing | Buy mailboxes inside the tool | Unified inbox |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodpecker | Yes, as a $29/mo per-account add-on (invites, messages, profile visits) | Domain audit is listed; the pricing page does not list seed-inbox placement tests | Yes, $6/mo per Google or Microsoft address with DNS preconfigured | Centralized inbox |
| Instantly | Yes, the Outreach page lists "email, LinkedIn, and webhook sequences" | Inbox Placement product: 2 free tests, then unlimited on a paid plan | Yes, Email Accounts and AirMail are listed | Unibox with AI reply labels |
| Smartlead | Smartlead's site does not mention LinkedIn steps; it lists calls via SmartDialer | SmartDelivery add-on: $49/mo for 120 campaign sequence tests, $174 and $599 tiers above | Yes, SmartSenders from $4.50/mailbox/mo and $13/domain/yr | Unified Master Inbox |
| lemlist | Yes, on the Multichannel plan (LinkedIn, SMS, calls, WhatsApp add-on) | Deliverability testing and deliverability alerts are in the feature table | Yes, in-app domain and email purchase are listed | Unified inbox with AI reply intent detection |
| Mailshake | Homepage mentions "social automation"; the site does not name LinkedIn | Not mentioned on the pricing page | Ready to Use Mailboxes add-on, $12/mo | Unified inbox from Email Outreach plan up |
| Saleshandy | Pricing page describes sequences across email, calls, LinkedIn and WhatsApp plus manual tasks; the channel list shows Email, Call, WhatsApp, Tasks | Inbox Placement is listed under add-ons | Yes, from $2.99/mailbox/mo billed annually, with SPF, DKIM and DMARC preconfigured | Not stated on the pricing page |
| SuperSend | Yes, email and LinkedIn steps in one sequence; a reply on either channel stops both | Placement tests against seed inboxes, with warmup, SPF/DKIM/DMARC checks and bounce monitoring alongside campaigns | Yes, or connect your own Google or Outlook inboxes | AI-labeled inbox with interested replies on top |
Woodpecker, the baseline
Woodpecker prices on contacted prospects, not emails sent. Its pricing page explains that contacting the same person several times in one campaign counts once toward the limit, and a campaign can run up to 16 steps, so the monthly email allowance is 16 times the prospect count. The slider starts at 500 contacted prospects for $35 a month ($7.00 per 100), and the rate per prospect drops as you move up. Everything else comes free with the plan: unlimited email verification through Bouncer, two warm-ups at the entry tier, 100 Lead Finder credits, unlimited team members and unlimited connected mailboxes.
Where the cost grows is in add-ons. Each warmed mailbox beyond those is $5 a month, each LinkedIn account connected is $29 a month, and each Google or Microsoft address bought through Woodpecker is $6 a month. A team that wants three LinkedIn senders and twelve warmed inboxes pays for both on top of the prospect tier. If your sending is steady and your list is small, the prospect model can be cheap. If you send many steps to a large list across many mailboxes, flat volume plans elsewhere are easier to predict, and that is usually why people start reading pages like this one.
Instantly
Instantly's pricing page splits into Outreach plans, Credits plans for its lead database, and bundles of the two. For a Woodpecker switcher the Outreach plans are the comparable product: Growth at $47 a month gives unlimited email accounts, unlimited warmup, 1,000 uploaded contacts and 5,000 emails a month. Hypergrowth at $97 lifts that to 25,000 uploaded contacts and at least 100,000 emails a month (the plan card says 125,000; the comparison table says 100,000), and Light Speed at $358 adds 500,000 emails, 100,000 contacts and what the page calls the SISR system, which rotates dedicated server and IP blocks for you. Yearly billing lists $37.60, $77.60 and $286.30.
The 1,000-contact cap on Growth is the number to watch. Woodpecker's model counts contacted prospects too, but at the Woodpecker entry tier you can still hold a larger list and simply not contact all of it, while Instantly caps what you upload. Instantly's Outreach page says campaigns can run email, LinkedIn and webhook steps, and replies land in Unibox with AI reply labels. Its Inbox Placement page offers two free tests, then unlimited tests on a paid plan. The homepage says "Start for free" but neither page spells out the trial's length or terms.
Smartlead
Smartlead's pricing page lists four plans. Base at $39 a month covers 2,000 contacts, 6,000 email sends and 2,000 verified prospect emails. Pro at $94 moves to 30,000 contacts and 90,000 sends. Smart at $174 and Prime at $379 remove the contact cap and allow 150,000 and 500,000 sends respectively, and Prime includes three SmartServers, Smartlead's dedicated sending servers. Yearly billing lists $32.50, $78.30, $144.50 and $314.60. The pricing page offers a free trial where you pick a plan later and advertises 50% off the first month.
Smartlead is the most explicit of these tools about placement testing, and it charges for it separately. SmartDelivery starts at $49 a month for 120 campaign sequence tests with up to 50 sender accounts per test, with $174 and $599 tiers above. Mailboxes are sold through SmartSenders from $4.50 per mailbox per month and $13 per domain per year, and SmartServers are $39 per server per month. Smartlead's site does not mention LinkedIn steps in a sequence; its multichannel offer is calls through SmartDialer. If you leave Woodpecker to drop LinkedIn and push raw email volume through many mailboxes, Smartlead fits that shape. If LinkedIn was the reason you paid Woodpecker's $29 add-on, Smartlead does not replace it.
lemlist
lemlist's pricing page lists an Email plan at $69 a month ($55 yearly) with unlimited users and email senders and 50,000 emails a month, and a Multichannel plan at $109 a month ($87 yearly) with unlimited emails and messages, LinkedIn automation, SMS, a WhatsApp add-on and a built-in dialer. Enterprise is custom. The 14-day free trial runs on Multichannel features, minus in-app calls, with 200 lead-finding credits. Lead data enrichment and buying intent signals are paid add-ons at $20 and $29 a month.
Of the tools here, lemlist is the closest match to Woodpecker plus its LinkedIn add-on, since LinkedIn visits, follows, invites, messages, voice messages and InMail all appear in the Multichannel feature list. The deliverability column of the feature table lists warm-up, a DNS setup test, deliverability testing, sending limit management, inbox rotation, deliverability alerts and in-app domain and email purchase. AI reply intent detection and out-of-office detection sort the unified inbox. The price per user is higher than Woodpecker's flat team pricing, so a five-person team should compare the Multichannel per-user cost against Woodpecker's unlimited members plus five LinkedIn accounts at $29 each.
Mailshake
Mailshake's pricing page lists Starter at $29 a month ($25 yearly) with one email address, 1,500 sends a month, unlimited uploaded contacts, unlimited warmup and unlimited email verification. Email Outreach at $49 ($45 yearly) raises that to two email addresses and unlimited sends, and adds email rotation, a unified inbox and Salesforce, Pipedrive and HubSpot integrations. Sales Engagement at $99 ($85 yearly) allows ten email addresses, adds five phone numbers and a power dialer, and includes a one-on-one onboarding call. An Agency plan with unlimited email addresses is sold through sales. Data Finder is $19 a month and Ready to Use Mailboxes are $12 a month.
Two things set Mailshake apart from everything else on this page. It has no free trial: the pricing FAQ says payment is collected up front, with concierge onboarding and deliverability training offered instead. And its multichannel story is calls, not LinkedIn; the homepage mentions "social automation" for multi-channel social selling without naming the network. Mailshake's pricing page does not mention placement testing. Mailshake fits a solo founder who wants the lowest flat monthly price for email only and is comfortable paying before trying.
Saleshandy
Saleshandy's pricing page lists Starter at $41 a month ($34 yearly) for one user, 2,000 active prospects, 6,000 emails a month, unlimited connected email accounts and 1,500 lead finder credits. Pro at $99 ($76 yearly) covers ten users, 30,000 active prospects, 100,000 emails and 4,000 credits. Scale at $189 ($149 yearly) removes the user and active-prospect caps and allows 200,000 emails. Enterprise is custom and adds SSO and agency whitelabel. The trial is seven days with no card.
Saleshandy's distinction is "active prospects": you can store as many prospects as you like, and the cap applies only to those sitting in live sequences. That is a gentler version of Woodpecker's contacted-prospect count. The pricing page describes sequences spanning email, calls, LinkedIn and WhatsApp plus manual tasks, though the channel icons it lists are Email, Call, WhatsApp and Tasks, so check in the trial how LinkedIn steps actually execute. Inbox Placement is listed as an add-on, and its own mailboxes start at $2.99 per mailbox per month on an annual commitment, with SPF, DKIM and DMARC preconfigured. The pricing page does not describe a unified inbox.
SuperSend
SuperSend prices on emails sent, with unlimited contacts on every plan. Starter is $59 a month for 15,000 emails and one LinkedIn sender, Growth is $99 for 50,000 emails and two LinkedIn senders, and Scale is $319 for 200,000 emails and five LinkedIn senders. Yearly billing is about 15% off, and extra LinkedIn senders are $29 a month, the same per-account figure Woodpecker charges for its LinkedIn add-on. Signup is free with no card; a seven-day trial with a card on file starts when you launch a campaign or turn on warmup.
Email and LinkedIn steps run in one sequence on one contact record, so a reply on either channel stops both, which is the behavior you otherwise have to reconcile by hand when email and LinkedIn live in two tools. The deliverability pieces sit next to the campaigns: warmup on each mailbox, SPF/DKIM/DMARC checks, bounce monitoring and placement tests against seed inboxes. Replies from every sending mailbox land in one inbox, labeled by AI, with interested replies on top. You can connect Google or Outlook inboxes you already own or buy domains and inboxes inside the app. SuperSend fits a founder or small team that wants Woodpecker's email-plus-LinkedIn shape at a flat volume price with placement testing included rather than bolted on; agencies at volume would be on Scale plus inbox add-ons.
Which one to pick
- You want email volume and nothing else, at the lowest flat price: Mailshake Starter at $29 a month, if 1,500 sends and one mailbox are enough and you accept paying without a trial. Smartlead Base at $39 gives 6,000 sends with a trial.
- You run very high volume across many mailboxes and want dedicated infrastructure: Smartlead Prime with its SmartServers, or Instantly Light Speed with SISR. Both put placement testing and infrastructure on the menu; Smartlead charges for SmartDelivery separately.
- You want LinkedIn, SMS, WhatsApp and calls in one sequence and have a bigger per-seat budget: lemlist Multichannel.
- You want a gentler prospect cap than Woodpecker's and a short no-card trial: Saleshandy, whose active-prospect model only counts people in live sequences.
- You want Woodpecker's email-plus-LinkedIn shape, flat email-volume pricing, unlimited contacts and placement tests included: SuperSend, with Growth at $99 as the plan a small team would usually start on.
Run whichever you shortlist through the same first test. Connect one mailbox, turn on warmup, send a placement test, and read the result before a single prospect sees a message. A tool that makes that hard is telling you where deliverability sits in its priorities.
FAQ
What is the cheapest Woodpecker alternative for cold email? Among flat monthly plans listed on these tools' pricing pages, Mailshake Starter at $29 a month is the lowest, capped at 1,500 sends and one email address, with no free trial. Smartlead Base at $39 and Saleshandy Starter at $41 each allow 6,000 emails a month. Woodpecker itself starts at $35 a month for 500 contacted prospects, so a small list that you contact once can be cheap there too.
Which Woodpecker alternatives include LinkedIn steps? lemlist on its Multichannel plan, Instantly according to its Outreach page, and SuperSend on every plan. Saleshandy mentions LinkedIn on its pricing page, but its channel list shows only email, calls, WhatsApp and tasks, so check how LinkedIn steps run in its trial. Smartlead's site does not mention LinkedIn steps and Mailshake's site does not name LinkedIn.
Which tools include inbox placement testing? Smartlead sells it as the SmartDelivery add-on from $49 a month. lemlist lists deliverability testing in its feature table. Saleshandy lists Inbox Placement as an add-on. Instantly lists Inbox Placement as a product. SuperSend includes placement tests against seed inboxes alongside campaigns. Woodpecker's pricing page lists a domain audit but not seed-inbox tests, and Mailshake's pricing page does not mention placement testing.
Do I have to buy mailboxes from the tool, or can I use my own? Every tool here connects mailboxes you already own. Woodpecker, Instantly, Smartlead, lemlist, Mailshake, Saleshandy and SuperSend also sell mailboxes in-app, at $6 (Woodpecker, Google or Microsoft), $4.50 (Smartlead, Google or Outlook), $12 (Mailshake) and $2.99 (Saleshandy, billed annually) per mailbox per month on their pricing pages; Instantly and lemlist list the option without a price on the pages read here.
Which of these have a free trial? lemlist offers 14 days. Woodpecker offers 14 days or 100 cold emails, whichever comes first. Saleshandy offers 7 days with no card. Smartlead offers a free trial where you pick a plan afterwards. Instantly's homepage says "Start for free" without stating a length. SuperSend signup is free with no card and the 7-day trial begins when you launch a campaign or turn on warmup. Mailshake has no trial and collects payment up front.
Next step
If the shape you want is email and LinkedIn in one sequence, priced on emails sent, with warmup and placement tests beside the send button, set up SuperSend free, connect one mailbox, and run a placement test before your first campaign.
