Pricing analysis Smartlead ships 4 plans in USD from Base ($39/mo, $32.50 billed annually, 2,000 contacts) to Unlimited Prime ($379/mo, $314.60 annual, unlimited contacts, 500,000 emails/mo). All plans include unlimited mailboxes and the SmartAssistant AI. Verified prospect emails are a $59/mo add-on on Base and Pro, included on Unlimited Smart (50,000/mo) and Unlimited Prime (170,000/mo). Below : plan-by-plan breakdown + the hidden cost triggers.
Plans
Smartlead ships 4 tiers. Per-seat pricing combined with a credit system for data lookups - the listed price is rarely the real cost.
Smartlead pricing tiers - verified October 2026 on the vendor's pricing page (USD) :
| Plan | Price | Best for | Limits / Inclusions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base | $39/mo ($32.50/mo billed annually) | Solo senders, first campaigns | 2,000 contacts · 6,000 email sends/month · Unlimited mailboxes · No API or webhooks |
| Pro | $94/mo ($78.30/mo billed annually) | Active SDR teams and small agencies | 30,000 contacts · 90,000 email sends/month · API and webhooks · Verified prospect emails add-on $59/mo |
| Unlimited Smart | $174/mo ($144.50/mo billed annually) | Multi-client agencies | Unlimited contacts · 150,000 email sends/month · 50,000 verified prospect emails/mo included |
| Unlimited Prime | $379/mo ($314.60/mo billed annually) | High-volume agencies | Unlimited contacts · 500,000 email sends/month · 170,000 verified prospect emails/mo · 3 SmartServers included |
Credits
Smartlead bills actions in credits with non-equal costs. A 5,000-credit plan does NOT mean 5,000 lookups.
Smartlead doesn't use a traditional credit system for sending or mailboxes - instead, it caps by contacts stored + monthly email send volume. Three pricing-model details most buyers underestimate :
Compare
How Smartlead stacks against Derrick, Hunter, and the other tools we benchmarked.
Cost per 1,000 email sends at the sending cap of each Smartlead plan (annual billing, USD) :
| Plan (annual) | Monthly cost | Contacts | Email sends / month | Cost / 1K sends | Verified prospect emails / month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base | $32.50 | 2,000 | 6,000 | $5.42 | Add-on $59/mo (2,000) |
| Pro | $78.30 | 30,000 | 90,000 | $0.87 | Add-on $59/mo (30,000) |
| Unlimited Smart | $144.50 | Unlimited | 150,000 | $0.96 | 50,000 included |
| Unlimited Prime | $314.60 | Unlimited | 500,000 | $0.63 | 170,000 included |
| Derrick STANDARD | 20 EUR | N/A | N/A - pair with any sender | N/A | 10,000 credits (Email Finder = 5 credits) |
Note : Derrick is the data layer (enrichment, not sender) - typically paired with Smartlead Base ($39/mo). Smartlead alone for active outbound at scale ; Smartlead + Derrick if your data also needs to live in a web app or in Sheets.
What's included
Across all paid plans (Base and up), Smartlead includes :
The verdict
Smartlead is the right tool for AI-curious cold-emailers who want AI personalization bundled in every plan. The $39 Base plan with unlimited mailboxes and the SmartAssistant included is a clear value entry in the category.
The master inbox with AI reply classification is a meeting-recovery feature agencies cite as a real differentiator - aggregating replies from 10-20 mailboxes into one classified view saves hours per week and surfaces missed positive replies that would otherwise be buried.
Smartlead fails versus Instantly on the deepest deliverability needs (Instantly's private warm-up network is 5-15% better on inbox placement at the same volume) and versus LinkedIn-first tools for multichannel stacks (Smartlead is email-only). For data-layer needs, pair Smartlead Base ($39) with Derrick (20 EUR/mo) to handle enrichment (web app and Google Sheets add-on ; MCP and API from PLUS) + cold email at SMB scale.
derrick •
Install the add-on and enrich your lists without leaving your spreadsheet.
Install in Google Sheets →
https://app1.derrick-app.com/mcp Call the same enrichment endpoints straight from your own stack or workflow.
Read the API docs →No credit card · No contract
Switch to Derrick
Derrick is a web app: nothing to install, no credit card, 100 free credits every month.
Sign up on the Derrick web app. Nothing to install, no credit card required: you start with 100 free credits per month.
Upload the CSV you exported from Smartlead, paste LinkedIn URLs, or import from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The same actions also run in Google Sheets, in Claude (MCP) and via the API.
Pick the column to enrich and the data you need: emails, phone numbers, LinkedIn data, company info, tech stack. Derrick fills the columns, and the email and phone finders only charge for what they find.
Smartlead has 4 plans : Base ($39/mo monthly, $32.50 billed annually - 2,000 contacts, 6,000 sends), Pro ($94/mo, $78.30 annual - 30,000 contacts, 90,000 sends, API), Unlimited Smart ($174/mo, $144.50 annual - unlimited contacts, 150,000 sends, 50,000 verified prospect emails) and Unlimited Prime ($379/mo, $314.60 annual - unlimited contacts, 500,000 sends, 170,000 verified prospect emails, 3 SmartServers). All plans include unlimited mailboxes + the SmartAssistant AI.
Smartlead mentions a free trial in its FAQ and shows a "50% off your first month on any plan" offer on its pricing page. There's no perpetual free tier. Paid plans start at $39/month on Base monthly billing (or $32.50/month billed annually). For a genuinely free starting point, Derrick has a Free tier with 100 credits/month for enrichment workflows.
The headline gap : the SmartAssistant AI (personalization, research, writing, reply classification) is included on every Smartlead plan, from $39/mo, while some competitors gate comparable AI to higher tiers. Instantly's edge is its private warm-up network - typically 5-15% better deliverability than Smartlead's automated warm-up. For pure AI on a budget, Smartlead. For deliverability at scale, Instantly.
Smartlead doesn't charge per connected mailbox or per seat - every paid plan supports unlimited mailbox connections. Compared to per-mailbox competitors, agencies running 30+ mailboxes avoid the per-mailbox fees. A 40-mailbox agency setup fits on Smartlead Pro at $94/mo ($78.30 billed annually), subject to the 30,000 contact and 90,000 send caps.
Base : 2,000 contacts and 6,000 email sends a month. Pro : 30,000 contacts and 90,000 sends. Unlimited Smart : unlimited contacts and 150,000 sends. Unlimited Prime : unlimited contacts and 500,000 sends. Running several concurrent campaigns on Base hits the wall fast - most teams upgrade to Pro.
Yes - automated warm-up is included free on every paid plan, across all connected mailboxes, where competitors typically charge for warm-up separately. Note : Smartlead's warm-up is automated (not a private network like Instantly's) - sufficient for most teams but behind Instantly on inbox-placement rate at very high volume.
For solo SDRs and SMB teams : pair Smartlead Base ($39/mo) with Derrick (20 EUR/mo) - Derrick handles no-install enrichment (email + phone + tech ; web app and Google Sheets add-on, MCP and API from PLUS), Smartlead handles the sequencing + warm-up + AI. Smartlead's own verified prospect emails are a $59/mo add-on on Base, so Derrick is the cheaper data layer at that tier. For pure cold-email-at-scale without a data layer, Smartlead Base alone suffices.
Keep exploring
Comparing options? These are the other cold email tools we've torn down at the same depth - real per-credit cost, hidden fees, plan calculators.
Mailshake review: 3.3/5. Cold email, dialer and cadences with deep Salesforce sync, from $29/user/month (annual). For SDR teams, not multi-m
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Reply.io review: 3.6/5. Multichannel sales engagement with AI SDR agents, 14-day free trial then $59/user/month (annual). For teams adopting
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Hunter Campaigns review: 3.4/5. Simple cold email sender bundled with Hunter, free tier then $49/month. For solo SDRs on Hunter, not agencie
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Woodpecker review: 3.7/5. Deliverability-first cold email with a free base plan, then from €23/mo (annual). For SDRs and agencies, email onl
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