Instantly vs Mailshake vs Derrick: Which Is Better in 2026?
Short answer
Instantly vs Mailshake vs Derrick: Instantly is a unlimited warm-up · 160m b2b database · agency-friendly, Mailshake is a cold email · dialer · multichannel cadences. 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 Mailshake) 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 Mailshake 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 lookup enrichment.
Trusted byHands Down best extension for sheets till date. It eased up my linkedin lead collection journey by 10x. Thank you!!Rahul Nairfrom Google Workspace MarketplaceThis tool makes enriching LinkedIn URLs incredibly easy. You can enrich both personal and company profiles with a single click, and the Google Sheets integration is a game-changer.Pankaj Rohillafrom Google Workspace MarketplaceGreat extension. There's bigger companies that do 1000x less. Go with Derrick.Ben Leinenfrom Google Workspace MarketplaceIt makes my life a lot easier… no more copy and paste and time wasted. Thank you!Cris Forlanifrom Google Workspace MarketplaceDerrick is your one stop solution to data collection and up to date leads data automated collection. 100/100 value for money.Manu Nairfrom Google Workspace MarketplaceThis is one hell of a magical tool, it has blown my mind already, it's so handy, just love it. I am exploring how much more I can do with itJagdip Gohilfrom Google Workspace MarketplaceLoving the smoothness of the experience especially on Chrome. Great value for the price as well.GB Alaofrom Google Workspace MarketplaceI was looking for a tool to enrich LinkedIn data. Very easy to use.Keith Hildebrandfrom Google Workspace MarketplaceCURSOREasy to enhance contacts by running bulk lists. Try itJames Finlaysonfrom Google Workspace Marketplace +31,000 others
Why teams pick Derrick over Instantly and Mailshake
3 core reasons SDRs and ops teams switch to Derrick. Click to expand each.
01
Native Google Sheets enrichment, no CSV exports
＋
Instantly and Mailshake 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
From €9/month : unused credits roll over
＋
Pricing comparison : Instantly from $37/month, Mailshake from $29/user/month, Derrick from €9/month. Note the unit - both Instantly and Mailshake either cap your credits or charge per seat, so a real team's monthly bill is typically 2-5× the headline. Derrick's paid plans open at 9 EUR a month, and every row you enrich draws credits from that balance.
03
Plug Derrick into Claude / ChatGPT via MCP - no glue code
＋
In 2026, AI agents need data tools they can call natively. Derrick speaks MCP out of the box - point Claude at your sheet, ask "enrich these 200 LinkedIn URLs with mobile numbers", done. Instantly and Mailshake need either a custom integration or a Zapier middleman for the same workflow.
Honest Comparison
What each tool does better
We're upfront - every tool has strengths. Here's where Instantly, Mailshake, 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
💡 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.
Cold email outreach category : Instantly entry tier is $37/month. Typical use : agencies + cold-email-at-scale. See the complete Instantly pricing page for tier comparison, credit cap behaviour, and annual-vs-monthly delta.
Sales engagement category : Mailshake entry tier is $29/user/month. Typical use : traditional sdr teams on salesforce. See the complete Mailshake pricing page for tier comparison, credit cap behaviour, and annual-vs-monthly delta.
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.
What teams say after switching from Instantly vs Mailshake
See what our customers say about Derrick.
323 reviews
"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
"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
"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
"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
"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
"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
"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
"This app is fantastic. Brilliantly created to help small and mid sized businesses."
Dan Hughes
Founder/CEO, AlmanacIO
"Have tested over 10+ LI scraper apps, Derrick beats them all. Simple to use, accurate data, and affordable price."
Instantly is positioned as cold email outreach for agencies + cold-email-at-scale. Mailshake is positioned as sales engagement for traditional sdr teams on salesforce. Both compete in the cold email + sales engagement category, so the choice comes down to which usage profile your team matches most closely. Both are established products with real user bases, so the deciding factor is workflow fit, not product quality.
How do Instantly and Mailshake 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. Mailshake entry-paid tier : Starter at $29/user/month (annual). Next tier up is Email Outreach ($59/user/month (annual)). Mailshake's free tier : 30-day money-back guarantee. If tier-based pricing is what you are weighing, Derrick App starts free with 100 credits a month and moves to 9 EUR for 4,000, every credit spent inside Google Sheets.
What's the biggest reason to pick Instantly over Mailshake?
+
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. That is the capability to test against your own list before it decides anything.
What's the biggest reason to pick Mailshake over Instantly?
+
Salesforce integration that actually works under load. Mailshake's Salesforce sync is bidirectional, real-time, and doesn't break under high-volume scenarios. Newer competitors' integrations are mostly write-only or batch-synced, which causes data inconsistency in CRM-led sales motions. That is the difference to test against your own workflow before it decides anything.
Can Derrick replace both Instantly and Mailshake?
+
Both Instantly and Mailshake 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 Mailshake. For teams whose primary need is enrichment + list-building in Sheets, Derrick replaces 60-80% of typical cold email + sales engagement stack workflows, with credits that roll over on every paid plan (from 9 EUR a month). For teams running heavy cold email + sales engagement feature surface (sequencer, dialer, AI agents), Derrick complements rather than replaces.
Beyond Instantly and Mailshake, what other tools should I evaluate?
+
Four other tools in the same competitive set worth evaluating : Smartlead, Saleshandy, Lemlist, Apollo. Each has its own positioning trade-off versus Instantly and Mailshake - Smartlead sits closest to them on the same use case, with Saleshandy, Lemlist, Apollo 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.
Hands Down best extension for sheets till date. It eased up my linkedin lead collection journey by 10x. Thank you!! Rahul Nair from Google Workspace Marketplace 
This tool makes enriching LinkedIn URLs incredibly easy. You can enrich both personal and company profiles with a single click, and the Google Sheets integration is a game-changer. Pankaj Rohilla from Google Workspace Marketplace 
Great extension. There's bigger companies that do 1000x less. Go with Derrick. Ben Leinen from Google Workspace Marketplace 
It makes my life a lot easier… no more copy and paste and time wasted. Thank you! Cris Forlani from Google Workspace Marketplace 
Derrick is your one stop solution to data collection and up to date leads data automated collection. 100/100 value for money. Manu Nair from Google Workspace Marketplace 
This is one hell of a magical tool, it has blown my mind already, it's so handy, just love it. I am exploring how much more I can do with it Jagdip Gohil from Google Workspace Marketplace 
Loving the smoothness of the experience especially on Chrome. Great value for the price as well. GB Alao from Google Workspace Marketplace 
I was looking for a tool to enrich LinkedIn data. Very easy to use. Keith Hildebrand from Google Workspace Marketplace CURSOR Easy to enhance contacts by running bulk lists. Try it James Finlayson from Google Workspace Marketplace +31,000 others 
