How this page was made. Every figure was read from each vendor's own pages on 19 September 2026 and is linked at the bottom. emailcampaign.ai is the third column and the publisher of this page; where Instantly or lemlist is the better choice, the page says so. Prices change; check the linked pages before buying.
Instantly and lemlist sit at two ends of the same market. Instantly prices by emails and contacts, includes unlimited email accounts and warm-up, and sells pre-warmed Google accounts as an add-on; it is the most-reviewed tool in the category. lemlist prices by seat, includes lemwarm on every plan, adds LinkedIn steps and a 650-million-contact database, and expects you to bring your own mailboxes. Which one is right depends on whether your cost should grow with people or with mailboxes.
Side by side
| Instantly | lemlist | emailcampaign.ai | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $37.60 a month annual ($47 monthly) for 5,000 emails and 1,000 contacts | $55 a month billed annually for Email (one account); Multichannel $87 a user a month annual, five senders a user; monthly billing higher | Free 14-day trial; Basic $39 a month; Pro $94 a month |
| Pricing model | Plan by emails and contacts; unlimited email accounts and warm-up; pre-warmed Google accounts $10 each a month in batches of five, domains $15 a year | Per user or account; lemwarm included on every plan; lemwarm standalone $24 to $40 per email address a month | Plan by emails per month; unlimited mailboxes and warm-up on every plan; infrastructure at cost plus $5 setup per mailbox |
| Provisions mailboxes and domains | Yes, Google only: pre-warmed accounts with DNS pre-configured; Instantly retains domain ownership and administrator access | No mailbox or domain provisioning found on its pages; you connect what you have | Yes: domains (about $12 a year), Google Workspace seats ($8.40 a month), Microsoft 365 seats at Microsoft's rate, or self-hosted servers from $39 a month; you own the domains and accounts |
| DNS | Pre-configured on provisioned accounts | Guides only | SPF, DKIM (selectors read from the provider), DMARC and postmaster records written through the registrar and shown before they go live |
| Warm-up | Included, unlimited | Included through lemwarm; standalone lemwarm sold separately | Included, unlimited, with a maintenance level after the ramp; never reaches your inbox |
| Placement test | Yes, a separate Inbox Placement product with 25 free credits | lemwarm deliverability score; no seed-list placement product found | Yes, per mailbox at Gmail and Outlook |
| White-label | Hypergrowth ($77.60) and Light Speed plans: custom domain and logo for a client portal; clients with campaign access see every campaign in the workspace | None at any tier; the agency page leads to a partner waitlist | Yes: a complete webmail and admin console on the client's own domain, plus dashboard branding |
| Reviews | G2 4.8 from 4,134; Trustpilot score withheld, 1,165 reviews with 25 percent one-star | G2 4.4 from 271; Capterra 4.6 from 391; Trustpilot 3.4 from 148 | New listing; reviews being gathered |
| Best for | Teams that already own their mailboxes and want the largest community and template library | Small teams that want polished multichannel sequences with LinkedIn steps and warm-up in one subscription | Teams that want the mailboxes, domains, DNS and warm-up done for them behind one approval, and agencies that need a client-branded door |
| Watch out for | Provisioned domains stay owned by Instantly; reviews report features behind paywalls that only appear after purchase and pre-warmed domains arriving with poor reputation | Per-seat cost grows with the team; Trustpilot reviewers report features removed without warning and credits charged when data is not found | The recommended 8 to 10 sends a day per mailbox means volume comes from fleet size; if you want 100 a day from one mailbox, nothing here will let you |
Where Instantly is stronger
Cost shape for fleets. One plan at $37.60 a month billed annually covers unlimited email accounts and warm-up, so a team running forty mailboxes pays the same software fee as a team running four. lemlist's Email plan is $55 a month for a single account, and Multichannel is $87 a user with five senders per user.
Community and tooling. Instantly has 4,134 G2 reviews at 4.8, the largest template library in the category, and a separate Inbox Placement product with 25 free credits. It also provisions pre-warmed Google accounts at $10 each, in batches of five, with DNS pre-configured; lemlist provisions nothing.
An agency portal. The Hypergrowth and Light Speed plans put a client portal on your domain with your logo; lemlist has no white-label at any tier.
Where lemlist is stronger
Multichannel sequences. LinkedIn visits, invitations and messages sit in the same sequence as email, with calls on the upper plan; Instantly is email-first.
Data in the box. The 650-million-contact database means a small team can find, verify and write to prospects without a second subscription.
A steadier picture on the review sites. lemlist holds 3.4 on Trustpilot from 148 reviews and 4.6 on Capterra from 391. Trustpilot withholds Instantly's score, and a quarter of its 1,165 reviews there are one-star, with paywalled features and charges after cancellation the recurring themes.
Where emailcampaign.ai fits
emailcampaign.ai starts one step earlier than either. It buys the domains, creates Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 mailboxes under your ownership, writes and confirms SPF, DKIM and DMARC before they go live, warms the mailboxes, and then sends. Instantly's provisioning is Google only and Instantly keeps the domains; lemlist has none. Plans start at $39 a month with unlimited mailboxes and warm-up, and agencies get a full webmail and admin console on each client's own domain rather than a portal. It is new, with few reviews, and it caps each mailbox at 8 to 10 cold emails a day, so volume comes from fleet size.
Decide by the question you are asking
- “We are three people sending from a handful of mailboxes and want LinkedIn steps.” lemlist.
- “We run dozens of mailboxes and want the biggest community behind the tool.” Instantly.
- “We want the mailboxes, domains and DNS done for us, and to own them.” emailcampaign.ai.
- “We need Microsoft 365 mailboxes provisioned.” emailcampaign.ai; Instantly's add-on is Google only and lemlist has none.
- “We are an agency and clients need to log in somewhere.” Instantly's portal on the upper plans, or emailcampaign.ai if the clients' staff will work in the inbox.
Sources: Instantly: Pricing · Instantly: Pre-warmed accounts · Instantly: White-label · lemlist: Pricing · lemlist: Trustpilot · emailcampaign.ai: Pricing · emailcampaign.ai: Infrastructure ·
Questions, answered straight
- Is lemlist cheaper than Instantly?
- Not at the entry point. lemlist's Email plan is $55 a month billed annually for one account; Instantly's is $37.60 for 5,000 emails and 1,000 contacts with unlimited accounts. lemlist's cost grows with users, Instantly's with volume. For one person on one mailbox the gap is about $17 a month; for a five-person team on Multichannel it is $435 against $37.60 plus whatever volume tier you need.
- Which has the better warm-up?
- Both include it. lemlist's lemwarm is also sold on its own at $24 to $40 per address a month, which tells you what lemlist thinks it is worth; Instantly's is unlimited within the plan. Neither publishes a placement guarantee. If you want a number rather than a feature list, run a placement test on the same mailbox through each and compare.
- Which one provisions mailboxes?
- Instantly, and only Google: pre-warmed accounts at $10 each a month in batches of five, with Instantly retaining domain ownership and administrator access. lemlist connects what you already have. emailcampaign.ai provisions Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or self-hosted servers under your own ownership.
Published 19 September 2026. Updated 19 September 2026. Written by the team that runs the infrastructure; numbers come from the platform's own provisioning and sending, and from the providers' published documentation at the time of writing.