Which should you choose, lemlist or Instantly?
lemlist began as the cold email tool known for personalized images and has grown into a multichannel platform: one sequence can mix emails, LinkedIn steps, calls and WhatsApp messages, with a lead database and its own warmup tool alongside. Instantly kept email at the center and built for volume: unlimited sending accounts, warmup and a shared inbox, then lead data and a CRM as separate products.
Below, you will find the same offer written as a lemlist sequence and as an Instantly sequence, a cost model as the team grows, the mistakes each tool makes easy, and five questions that settle the choice.
- lemlist suits small teams where each rep owns a set of accounts and works them across several channels, LinkedIn especially.
- Instantly suits founders, lean teams and agencies whose plan is email first, spread over many inboxes so that each one sends a modest daily volume.
- Either works for a founder sending a few hundred emails a week. At that scale, pick the interface you will actually open every morning.
lemlist and Instantly side by side
| lemlist | Instantly | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Multichannel sales engagement platform | Email-first cold outreach platform |
| Channels | Email, LinkedIn steps, calls, WhatsApp | Email is the core; built around sending volume |
| Lead data | Built-in lead database; lookups use credits | Separate Leads product (SuperSearch) |
| Personalization | Custom variables, conditional steps, personalized images | Custom variables, spintax and AI-written lines |
| Warmup | lemwarm, also sold as a standalone tool | Built-in warmup included with sending plans |
| Scaling inboxes | Priced per user; check how many sending inboxes each seat covers | Unlimited email accounts on outreach plans |
| Ease of use | Visual sequence builder; more to learn as channels add up | Simple campaign setup with fewer moving parts |
| Pricing model | Per user per month, with credits for data | Flat monthly plans sized by contacts and emails |
| Main watch-out | LinkedIn's rules on automated activity | Easy to add inboxes and send more than the list deserves |
| Best for | Account-based, multichannel prospecting by a few reps | High-volume email across many inboxes |
Do you need LinkedIn and calls in the same sequence?
This question settles most lemlist vs Instantly decisions. In lemlist, a step can be a profile visit, an invitation, a LinkedIn message or a call, placed between emails with delays and conditions. A rep works one task list across channels. For a seller working 200 named accounts, reaching each buyer on two or three channels is a sensible way to be noticed without sending more email.
Instantly takes a different view: send email well, at scale, and keep each inbox's volume low by spreading it. If your buyers are not active on LinkedIn, extra channels add work without adding much.
One caution if you do automate LinkedIn: its user agreement restricts bots and other automated activity, and accounts that look automated can be limited. Keep those steps slow, few and clearly human, and do them by hand when a sequence is new.
The same offer, written as two sequences
The fastest way to feel the difference is to write one offer for each tool. The scenario is an example we built: you run a small software development agency and want to reach heads of product at B2B SaaS companies of 20 to 100 people that just launched on Product Hunt. Your offer is a two-week sprint that fixes the onboarding issues launch-day users run into.
In lemlist: a ten-day multichannel sequence
Why it works: each channel does one job. LinkedIn makes the name familiar, the email carries the specific reason, and the call is saved for the best accounts. The cost is attention: someone has to complete the manual steps every day, which puts a ceiling on how many accounts one person can work.
- Day 1, LinkedIn profile visit. No message. It can put your name in their profile viewers before your email arrives.
- Day 1, email 1. Subject: 'your launch thread'. First line: 'A few people on your launch thread asked how to import their data from a spreadsheet; that is usually the first onboarding fix we make.' Then one sentence on the sprint and a small ask: 'Worth 15 minutes to walk through your import step?'
- Day 3, LinkedIn invitation, with no note or one short line that does not pitch.
- Day 5, email 2, in the same thread: a two-line before-and-after of one onboarding screen, described in words, with no attachment.
- Day 7, call task for the accounts you care most about. The opening question: 'How has activation looked since the launch?'
- Day 10, LinkedIn message if connected, otherwise email 3: a short close that offers a resource, such as a one-page onboarding checklist, rather than another meeting request.
In Instantly: three emails, spread across many inboxes
Why it works: the launch is named in the first line, the ask is small (notes, not a meeting), and the volume spreads across inboxes, so you can run it on every qualifying launch each week. The weakness: email carries the whole sequence alone, so a vague first line has nothing to rescue it. AI-written first lines help only if you feed them the launch page and its comments, not just the company name.
- Email 1, day 1. Subject: 'onboarding after the launch'. Body: 'Saw your team launched on Product Hunt this week. Launch traffic is a stress test for the first-run experience: people sign up, reach the import step and leave. We run two-week onboarding sprints for SaaS teams your size. Want three notes on what I would change in your signup flow?'
- Email 2, day 4, same thread: 'One example: moving the data import after the first small win, not before it, is a common first fix. Happy to look at yours.'
- Email 3, day 9: 'Should I close the loop? If onboarding is covered, no problem. If not, reply with the word notes and I will send them over.'
How does each tool handle personalization?
lemlist made its name on visual personalization: an image with the prospect's name, logo or website in it. Used sparingly, with an angle the buyer cares about, it can stand out. Used as a gimmick, it reads like any other template with a picture attached.
Instantly leans on text: variables, spintax to vary wording across sends, and AI to write a custom first line for each lead. The quality of those lines depends on what the AI is fed. A line built from a job title and an industry ('As a VP of Marketing in SaaS…') adds little. A line built from something the prospect did adds a lot.
That is the real lesson in either tool: the variable that matters most is your reason for writing. Compare 'Saw you are growing the team' with 'Saw your post asking how other agencies handle white-label SEO reports now that you are leaving your current tool'. Our cold email templates show how to build an email around that kind of trigger, and the buying signals guide lists the triggers worth watching.
Reach companies with a reason to buy this week
Startories finds the buying signal, verifies the decision-maker and runs the outreach until they book a call.
Per seat or flat fee: how the bill grows with your team
The two pricing models drift apart as you grow, so model your own path rather than comparing entry prices. lemlist charges per user, and contact lookups draw on credits. Instantly charges a flat fee for its outreach plan, sized by contacts and emails with no per-inbox charge, and bills lead data separately.
Take an illustrative path (assumptions, not benchmarks) from a founder alone to a team of four, with each person sending about 120 cold emails a day at about 30 per inbox, so 4 inboxes per person.
- Per-seat pricing tracks headcount. If each new rep also works LinkedIn and calls, you pay for channels you actually use, which is fair.
- Volume pricing tracks sending. One operator running many inboxes pays for contacts and emails, not for people.
- Both stacks also pay for domains and mailboxes (Google Workspace or Microsoft 365) and for the hours spent on replies.
| Stage | Sending setup | What grows the lemlist bill | What grows the Instantly bill |
|---|---|---|---|
| Founder alone | 1 person, 4 inboxes, about 120 emails a day | 1 seat, plus credits for contacts from its database | 1 outreach plan, within its contact and email limits |
| First rep hired | 2 people, 8 inboxes, about 240 a day | 2 seats; check how many sending inboxes each seat covers | Same plan or the next tier, depending on contacts and emails |
| Team of four | 4 people, 16 inboxes, about 480 a day | 4 seats, plus credits as lookups grow | A higher tier sized by contacts and emails; no per-inbox fee |
Deliverability: lemwarm or Instantly's warmup?
Both tools warm inboxes the same basic way: accounts in a network exchange emails, open them and pull them out of spam, which builds sending history before real campaigns start. lemlist's version is lemwarm, which is also sold on its own; Instantly's warmup comes with its sending plans.
Channel mix changes the inbox math. A lemlist sequence that uses LinkedIn and calls for some touches sends fewer emails per prospect, so the same list puts less load on each inbox. An email-only sequence in Instantly needs more inboxes for the same number of prospects, which is what its flat pricing is built to absorb. Size your inboxes for the emails you will actually send, not for the number of prospects.
Warmup gives a new inbox a fair start. It does not rescue a bad list. Keep bounces down with verified emails, keep daily sends per inbox modest and use domains separate from your main one. In the US, every commercial email also has to follow the CAN-SPAM Act: honest headers and subject lines, a physical postal address and an opt-out honored within 10 business days (FTC compliance guide). The cold email deliverability guide covers authentication, volume and the bounce levels to watch.
Which mistakes does each tool make easy?
With lemlist
- Adding every channel at once. A first sequence with eight steps across four channels is hard to read: when it works, you do not know why. Start with email plus one LinkedIn step, then add.
- Personalized images as decoration. An image with the prospect's logo does not explain why you are writing. Use one only when it shows something specific, such as their own website with your point marked on it.
- Spending credits before qualifying. Pull contacts from the database only for accounts that passed your filter, or credits go to people you will never email.
- Running LinkedIn at full speed. A restricted LinkedIn account removes a channel your whole sequence depends on. Stay well under the activity a person could do by hand.
With Instantly
- Fixing a weak list with more inboxes. Unlimited accounts make it easy to send more. When replies are low, look at the list and the reason for writing before buying domains.
- Spintax that reads like a machine. Vary greetings and transitions, not the core sentence. Read five generated versions aloud before launch.
- AI first lines built from thin data. A line generated from a job title says nothing. Give the AI the event you are writing about, or write that line yourself.
- Letting the Unibox pile up. A positive reply answered two days later has gone cold. Block time daily, or route interested replies to whoever books the calls.
Five questions that settle lemlist vs Instantly
Are your buyers active on LinkedIn?
If they post, comment and accept invitations, lemlist's LinkedIn steps add a real touch. If they are owners of small firms who rarely log in, email carries the load and Instantly is simpler.
How many accounts a month?
A few hundred named accounts worked with care points to lemlist. Thousands of contacts a month across a broad market points to Instantly.
Who will run it?
Reps who own accounts and make calls fit lemlist's task list. One operator running campaigns fits Instantly's campaign view.
Where will contacts come from?
Both now sell lead data. Test each on 50 accounts you already know before you pay for credits or a Leads plan, and verify every email either way.
How will you grow?
If growth means more reps, model seats. If growth means more volume from the same people, model contacts and emails.
A third option if you want the leads too
lemlist and Instantly are tools you operate: you bring the targeting, the list and the copy, and they execute. Startories works from the other end. It detects public buying signals, such as someone on Reddit asking for an alternative to a tool, a startup launching on Product Hunt or a company announcing a hire, then qualifies the company, verifies the decision-maker and sends a sequence written about that event. Lead data, verification, sending inboxes and reply classification come with the plan.
To be clear about the limits: Startories does not automate LinkedIn, so if multichannel sequences with LinkedIn steps are central to your playbook, lemlist is the better fit. If you want signals and email handled for you, start with signal-based outbound, compare lemlist alternatives and Instantly alternatives, weigh Instantly against its closest rival in Instantly vs Smartlead, see the wider field in our best AI SDR tools guide, or check pricing.
Frequently asked questions
Is lemlist or Instantly better for cold email?
For email-only campaigns at volume, Instantly is simpler and its flat pricing scales across many inboxes. lemlist is better when email is one channel among several and reps personalize each touch. At a few hundred emails a week, both do the job.
Does Instantly do LinkedIn outreach like lemlist?
Instantly is built around email. If you want LinkedIn steps such as profile visits, invitations and messages inside the same sequence as your emails, lemlist is designed for that. Check Instantly's current product pages if one specific channel matters to you.
Is lemwarm better than Instantly's warmup?
Both work on the same principle: inboxes in a network exchange emails to build a sending history. The difference is packaging, since lemwarm can be bought alone and Instantly includes warmup with sending. List quality and volume per inbox matter more than which one you use.
Which is cheaper for a growing team?
It depends on how the team grows. Per-seat pricing (lemlist) rises with each rep. Flat pricing by contacts and volume (Instantly) rises with sending, not headcount. Model your seats, inboxes and monthly contacts on both pricing pages before deciding.
Can I use lemlist and Instantly together?
Some teams do: lemlist for named accounts that reps work across channels, Instantly for broad email campaigns. If you run both, keep one shared suppression list so an unsubscribe in one tool is honored in the other, and never email the same contact from both.
Can Startories replace lemlist or Instantly?
For email outbound, yes: Startories includes lead discovery from buying signals, verification, writing, sending from warmed-up inboxes and reply classification. It does not run LinkedIn steps or phone calls, so teams that depend on those channels need another tool for them.