Updated

Hunter Campaigns vs Smartlead vs Derrick: Which Is Better in 2026?

Short answer
Hunter Campaigns vs Smartlead vs Derrick: Hunter Campaigns is a cold email sender · bundled with hunter · solo sdr, Smartlead is a ai personalization · unlimited mailboxes · master inbox. Derrick is a B2B enrichment platform with three surfaces - a Google Sheets add-on, a REST API, and an MCP server (Claude and ChatGPT drive enrichment for you). Hit rates are noticeably higher (more emails + phone numbers returned per query than Hunter Campaigns or Smartlead) and pricing is lower - free forever with 100 credits/month, paid plans from €9/month. Most teams pair Derrick for the data layer with Hunter Campaigns or Smartlead for outreach.

Hunter Campaigns lives or dies by sender reputation - warmup pools, IP rotation, inbox health. The side-by-side comparison below weighs Hunter Campaigns's deliverability stack and per-seat scaling against Derrick's upstream model: clean Sheets-side enrichment first, send wherever your stack already sends from.

Free plan Yes - 100 credits/mo
Starts at €9/mo
Setup time 30 seconds
Where it lives Google Sheets

✓ Free forever · ✓ No credit card · ✓ Cancel anytime · ✓ Your data stays in your Sheet

Trusted by 27 000+ users worldwide.

Quick Facts

Hunter Campaigns vs Smartlead vs Derrick at a glance

Hunter Campaigns

  • Starting price: $49/month (bundled with Hunter Starter)
  • Free plan: Free Hunter tier includes Campaigns (limited)
  • Founded: 2015 (Hunter), Campaigns launched 2018
  • HQ: Rennes, France
4.4/5 G2 4.4/5 Capterra

Smartlead

  • Starting price: $39/month
  • Free plan: 14-day free trial
  • Founded: 2022
  • HQ: Sydney, Australia
4.7/5 G2 4.7/5 Capterra

Derrick

★ Recommended
  • Starting price: Free · Paid from €9/mo
  • Free plan: Yes - 100 credits/mo permanent
  • Founded: 2023
  • HQ: Marseille, FR
4.8/5 G2 4.8/5 Capterra
Why Derrick wins

Why teams pick Derrick over Hunter Campaigns and Smartlead

3 core reasons SDRs and ops teams switch to Derrick. Click to expand each.

01

Skip the dashboard — enrich straight from formulas

Hunter Campaigns and Smartlead both run as standalone platforms — separate UIs, separate logins, CSV exports + imports to move data into your CRM or spreadsheet. Derrick skips that entire layer : you enrich a Google Sheet with a formula (=DERRICK_EMAIL, =DERRICK_PHONE, =DERRICK_TECH) and the column populates inline. No platform-switching, no CSV round-trip.

02

One price for unlimited rows : $10/month total

The total-cost-of-ownership math : at Hunter Campaigns's $49/month (bundled with Hunter Starter) or Smartlead's $39/month entry tier, a 3-seat team runs $150-600/month in year 1. Derrick at $10/mo flat is $120/year total. The break-even on switching pays back in week 2 for most teams.

03

Plug Derrick into Claude / ChatGPT via MCP — no glue code

For teams adopting AI SDR / RevOps workflows : Derrick's MCP support means your enrichment layer is callable by any compliant agent (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, n8n with MCP nodes). Hunter Campaigns and Smartlead require Zapier or custom code at this layer — a meaningful integration tax as AI-agent stacks mature.

Honest Comparison

What each tool does better

We're upfront - every tool has strengths. Here's where Hunter Campaigns, Smartlead, and Derrick each genuinely win.

What Hunter Campaigns does better

  • Finder + verifier + sender in one subscription
  • Simple UX without enterprise complexity
  • Native integration with Hunter's email finder
Read full Hunter Campaigns review →

What Smartlead does better

  • AI features bundled at $39 Basic tier
  • Master inbox with AI reply classification
  • Unlimited mailboxes + bundled warm-up + bundled lead finder
Read full Smartlead review →
Real Annual Cost

True cost over 12 months

Headline pricing rarely tells the whole story. Here's the real cost of running each tool for a year.

Hunter Campaigns Smartlead Derrick
Starting price (monthly) $49/month (bundled with Hunter Starter) $39/month €0 (free) · €9/mo paid
Annual cost (base) ~€588/yr ~€468/yr €0/yr free · ~€108/yr paid
Free plan? Free Hunter tier includes Campaigns (limited) 14-day free trial ✓ Forever - 100 credits/mo
Setup cost Hours to days Hours to days 30 seconds via Marketplace
Switching cost CSV export + retraining CSV export + retraining Zero - works alongside any stack

💡 Most teams pay 2-5x more on add-ons (extra seats, phone credits, integrations) than on the headline base price. Derrick keeps everything in one transparent tier.

Feature-by-Feature

Hunter Campaigns vs Smartlead vs Derrick: full feature comparison

Hunter Campaigns Derrick App Smartlead
Entry price$49/month (bundled with Hunter Starter)$10/mo flat$39/month
Free planYes (limited)14-day full trial14-day free trial
Best forSolo SDRs already on HunterSheet-native enrichmentAI-first cold email teams
Category positioningCold email outreachSpreadsheet-native B2B dataCold email outreach
G2 rating4.4/54.7/5
Founded2012 (Hunter), Campaigns launched 201820222022
Mailbox modelWeak — no master inboxN/A — data not senderUnlimited on all paid tiers
Built-in warm-upNot included — BYON/AAutomated, no private network
AI personalizationNot availableVia LLM integrationsBundled on Basic
Bundled B2B databaseStandaloneDerrick search + enrich200M contacts (Pro+)
Works natively in Google Sheets
Per-row pricing (no credit caps)
MCP-ready for AI / LLM agents
Pricing in a nutshell

Hunter Campaigns vs Smartlead vs Derrick pricing breakdown

Migration Guide

How to switch from Hunter Campaigns to Derrick in 3 steps

Derrick is a Google Workspace app - no formulas to learn, no pipelines to migrate, no engineering work. Add it to Google Sheets and you're enriching in under a minute.

1
~30 sec

Install Derrick from Google Workspace Marketplace

Click the install button on our Marketplace listing and grant Google Sheets access. No credit card required - you start with 100 free credits per month.

2
~30 sec

Open any Google Sheet → Extensions → Derrick

Open a Sheet with your prospect list (paste a CSV from Hunter Campaigns, scrape from LinkedIn Sales Navigator, or import from your CRM). Click Extensions → Derrick and the sidebar opens with all enrichment features ready to use.

3
~1 min

Enrich your list with one click

Select the column with names, LinkedIn URLs, or company domains. Pick what you want - emails, phone numbers, LinkedIn data, company info, tech stack - and click "Enrich". Derrick fills the columns directly in your Sheet. No exports, no pipelines, no waiting.

Install Derrick free →

100 free credits / month · No credit card · Cancel anytime

Decision in 60 seconds

Which one is right for you?

Pick Hunter Campaigns if…

  • You specifically need solo sdrs already on hunter
  • Finder + verifier + sender in one subscription
  • Simple UX without enterprise complexity
  • You're already invested in the Hunter Campaigns ecosystem
Read full Hunter Campaigns review →

Pick Smartlead if…

  • You specifically need ai-first cold email teams
  • AI features bundled at $39 Basic tier
  • Master inbox with AI reply classification
  • You're already invested in the Smartlead ecosystem
Read full Smartlead review →

Pick Derrick if…

  • You want B2B enrichment directly in Google Sheets
  • You need a usable free plan (100 credits/mo, no card)
  • You don't want long contracts, lock-in, or sales calls
  • You need 100+ data points per lead in one tool
Try Derrick free →

What teams say after switching from Hunter Campaigns vs Smartlead

See what our customers say about Derrick.

"This app saved me so much time and effort. Great for anyone looking to build a contact list or network at scale quickly. As a start-up it's been invaluable."

Alex Clark

Director | SaaS GTM Leader

Reviewed on Product Hunt

"Working pretty nifty compared to Snov.Io. Price wise it does give a fair shake, and IMO better interface since it's google sheets."

David Sire

Mortgage Broker at Zero Point Mortgage

Reviewed on Product Hunt

"Derrick is a very simple and user-friendly app to enrich your contacts database. Best thing: you can test it for free. And then the price is so low, it's a no brainer."

Etienne Grange

CEO Form'actions

Reviewed on Capterra

"Super easy to enrich linkedin urls using this tool. Both personal and company url data can be easily enriched with a click of a button."

Zaid Bilal

RevOps Professional

Reviewed on Capterra

"Amazing Tool, I would like to advocate this to my colleagues. So that you can get more users. Keep it Up. 5 Stars!"

Asif Hanzala

Lead Generation Specialist at IdeaPeel

Reviewed on Capterra

"This app is fantastic. Brilliantly created to help small and mid sized businesses."

Dan Hughes

Founder/CEO, AlmanacIO

Reviewed on Product Hunt

"I have been using other expensive apps or freemium like phantombuster, but Derrick has replaced them all. I love the simplicity of the Google sheet add-in, but what is best is the efficiency it delivers."

Julien Walon Cohen

CEO & Co-founder @ Diffly | B2B Sales Advisor

Reviewed on G2

"The LinkedIn scraping and email finder combo is incredibly powerful. I can build a complete prospect list with contact info in under an hour. Absolute must-have for outbound."

Michael Kim

SDR Team Lead at CloudScale

Reviewed on Capterra

"Have tested over 10+ LI scraper apps, Derrick beats them all. Simple to use, accurate data, and affordable price."

AJ Alexander

Opportunity Prospector

Reviewed on Capterra

Frequently Asked Questions

Hunter Campaigns vs Smartlead: when does each fit best?

+
Hunter Campaigns is positioned as cold email outreach for solo sdrs already on hunter. Smartlead is positioned as cold email outreach for ai-first cold email teams. Both compete in the cold email + sales engagement category, so the choice comes down to which best-for profile your team matches most closely. G2 reviewers rate Hunter Campaigns at 4.4/5 and Smartlead at 4.7/5 — both products work, the deciding factor is workflow fit, not product quality.

How do Hunter Campaigns and Smartlead pricing actually compare in 2026?

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Hunter Campaigns entry-paid tier : Starter (bundled with Hunter Starter) at $49/month. Next tier up is Growth (bundled with Hunter Growth) ($149/month). Hunter Campaigns's free tier : Free Hunter tier includes Campaigns (limited). Smartlead entry-paid tier : Basic at $39/month ($32.5 annual). Next tier up is Pro ($94/month ($78.3 annual)). Smartlead's free tier : 14-day free trial. For comparison : Derrick App skips the credit + seat model entirely with $10/month for unlimited enrichment, billed directly in the Sheet.

What's the biggest reason to pick Hunter Campaigns over Smartlead?

+
Finder + verifier + sender in one subscription. Hunter Starter at $49/month bundles email-finder, verifier, AND Campaigns sender — replacing what would be Hunter + Smartlead + verifier at $100+/mo combined. For solo SDRs the stack-collapse is real. (Source : Andrei P., Solo Founder, G2 review (Feb 2026).) If this single capability maps to a real pain in your sales motion, Hunter Campaigns is the right pick over Smartlead.

What's the biggest reason to pick Smartlead over Hunter Campaigns?

+
AI features bundled at $39 Basic tier. Auto-icebreaker generation, AI subject-line testing, and AI-suggested follow-ups are all included on the Basic tier — no upgrade path required. Instantly gates the same features to Hypergrowth ($97). For AI-curious cold-emailers on a budget, this is the deciding factor. (Source : Daniel K., Solo Founder, G2 review (Feb 2026).) If this is the differentiator that matters most for your stack, Smartlead is the right pick over Hunter Campaigns.

Can Derrick replace both Hunter Campaigns and Smartlead?

+
Both Hunter Campaigns and Smartlead compete in the cold email + sales engagement category. Derrick is data-and-Sheets-native — it doesn't replace a full cold email + sales engagement platform feature-for-feature, but it eliminates the data + spreadsheet layer that teams typically use alongside Hunter Campaigns or Smartlead. For teams whose primary need is enrichment + list-building in Sheets, Derrick at $10/mo replaces 60-80% of typical cold email + sales engagement stack workflows. For teams running heavy cold email + sales engagement feature surface (sequencer, dialer, AI agents), Derrick complements rather than replaces.

Beyond Hunter Campaigns and Smartlead, what other tools should I evaluate?

+
Four other tools in the same competitive set worth evaluating : Instantly, Saleshandy, Lemlist, Mailshake. Each has its own positioning trade-off versus Hunter Campaigns and Smartlead — Instantly typically appears as a direct competitor on G2 review pages, with Saleshandy, Lemlist, Mailshake as adjacent picks for different team sizes or use cases. Cross-reference each tool's standalone review for the trade-off detail that matters to your team's specific stack.
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