Updated

Instantly vs Lemlist vs Derrick: Which Is Better in 2026?

Short answer
Instantly vs Lemlist vs Derrick: Instantly is a unlimited warm-up · 160m b2b database · agency-friendly, Lemlist is a multichannel cold outreach (email + linkedin + calls). 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 Instantly or Lemlist) and pricing is lower - free forever with 100 credits/month, paid plans from €9/month. Most teams pair Derrick for the data layer with Instantly or Lemlist for outreach.

Where Instantly optimises the send + measure loop, Derrick owns the lead-list quality that determines whether Instantly's send loop ever lands in inbox. The side-by-side comparison below covers Instantly's pricing tiers, deliverability features and contact-source ecosystem against Derrick's 10-source waterfall enrichment.

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

Instantly vs Lemlist vs Derrick at a glance

Instantly

  • Starting price: $47/mo (Growth — was $37 Light Speed pre-2026 restructure ; annual $37.60)
  • Free plan: Free 14-day trial
  • Founded: 2021
  • HQ: Wyoming, USA
4.8/5 G2 4.7/5 Capterra

Lemlist

  • Starting price: $63/seat/mo (annual)
  • Free plan: No (14-day free trial)
  • Founded: 2017
  • HQ: Paris, France
4.6/5 G2 4.5/5 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 Instantly and Lemlist

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

01

Built for teams whose pipeline runs in Sheets

If your B2B data ends up in Google Sheets anyway (most teams' do), running it through Instantly or Lemlist first means two unnecessary hops : platform → CSV → Sheets. Derrick removes both hops. One add-on, one formula, results in the next column. The unit-of-work shrinks from "run the export" to "drag the formula down".

02

One price for unlimited rows : $10/month total

Instantly ($37/month) and Lemlist ($63/seat/mo (annual)) follow the SaaS-standard model : tier the features, cap the credits, upsell when you outgrow it. Derrick is the opposite — one tier, $10/month, no caps, no seats. Predictable spend for teams that hate budgeting around credit-pool refills.

03

MCP-ready for AI workflows in 2026

Derrick exposes its enrichment API via MCP (Model Context Protocol) — Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and other LLM agents can call Derrick directly from your sheet without writing integration code. Instantly and Lemlist require Zapier, Make, or custom API wiring to do the same.

Honest Comparison

What each tool does better

We're upfront - every tool has strengths. Here's where Instantly, Lemlist, and Derrick each genuinely win.

What Instantly does better

  • Private warm-up network is genuinely differentiated
  • Unified inbox handles 50+ mailboxes without losing your mind
  • Bundled 160M B2B database removes a real stack-cost line
Read full Instantly 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.

Instantly Lemlist Derrick
Starting price (monthly) $47/mo (Growth — was $37 Light Speed pre-2026 restructure ; annual $37.60) $63/seat/mo (annual) €0 (free) · €9/mo paid
Annual cost (base) ~€564/yr ~€756/yr €0/yr free · ~€108/yr paid
Free plan? Free 14-day trial No (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

Instantly vs Lemlist vs Derrick: full feature comparison

Instantly Derrick App Lemlist
Entry price$37/month$10/mo flat$63/seat/mo (annual)
Free planFree 14-day trial14-day full trial
Best forAgencies + cold-email-at-scaleSheet-native enrichmentMultichannel outbound teams
Category positioningCold email outreachSpreadsheet-native B2B dataMultichannel Outreach
G2 rating4.8/54.6/5
Founded202120222017
Mailbox modelUnlimited on all paid tiersN/A — data not senderPer-tier
Built-in warm-up1.5M+ mailbox private networkN/AAvailable
AI personalizationGates to Hypergrowth ($97)Via LLM integrationsBasic merge tags
Bundled B2B database160M contacts (Lead Finder)Derrick search + enrichStandalone
Works natively in Google Sheets
Per-row pricing (no credit caps)
MCP-ready for AI / LLM agents
Pricing in a nutshell

Instantly vs Lemlist vs Derrick pricing breakdown

Migration Guide

How to switch from Instantly 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 Instantly, 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 Instantly if…

  • You specifically need agencies + cold-email-at-scale
  • Private warm-up network is genuinely differentiated
  • Unified inbox handles 50+ mailboxes without losing your mind
  • You're already invested in the Instantly ecosystem
Read full Instantly review →

Pick Lemlist if…

  • You specifically need multichannel outbound teams
  • Best multichannel outreach UX
  • Lemwarm = built-in deliverability
  • You're already invested in the Lemlist ecosystem
Read full Lemlist 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 Instantly vs Lemlist

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

Instantly vs Lemlist: when does each fit best?

+
Instantly is positioned as cold email outreach for agencies + cold-email-at-scale. Lemlist is positioned as multichannel outreach for multichannel outbound 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 Instantly at 4.8/5 and Lemlist at 4.6/5 — both products work, the deciding factor is workflow fit, not product quality.

How do Instantly and Lemlist pricing actually compare in 2026?

+
Instantly entry-paid tier : Light Speed at $37/month. Next tier up is Growth ($47/month). Instantly's free tier : Free 14-day trial. Lemlist entry-paid tier : Free Trial at 14 days free. Next tier up is Email Pro ($63/seat/mo (annual)). Lemlist's free tier : No (14-day free trial). As a cross-reference : Derrick App's $10/month flat fee covers unlimited Sheet rows — useful for teams that hate budgeting around credit refills.

What's the biggest reason to pick Instantly over Lemlist?

+
Private warm-up network is genuinely differentiated. 1.5M+ mailboxes inboxing each other across the network create real reputation signal that Gmail and Microsoft trust. Reviewers consistently report 5-15% higher inbox-placement rates after migrating to Instantly versus Smartlead, Saleshandy, or Lemlist warm-up alone. (Source : Andrei P., Cold Email Agency Operator, G2 review (Feb 2026).) If this single capability maps to a real pain in your sales motion, Instantly is the right pick over Lemlist.

What's the biggest reason to pick Lemlist over Instantly?

+
Best multichannel outreach UX. Email + LinkedIn DMs + cold calls in one sequence builder. The visual flow is genuinely usable by SDRs without ops support - closest to 'click-to-launch' in the category. (Source : Verified G2 user, Sales Manager, G2 review (Q1 2026).) If this is the differentiator that matters most for your stack, Lemlist is the right pick over Instantly.

Can Derrick replace both Instantly and Lemlist?

+
Both Instantly and Lemlist 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 Instantly or Lemlist. 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 Instantly and Lemlist, what other tools should I evaluate?

+
Four other tools in the same competitive set worth evaluating : Smartlead, Saleshandy, Apollo, Mailshake. Each has its own positioning trade-off versus Instantly and Lemlist — Smartlead typically appears as a direct competitor on G2 review pages, with Saleshandy, Apollo, Mailshake as adjacent picks for different team sizes or use cases. Each tool's full review on this site has the deep trade-off matrix — start there before shortlisting.
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