Instantly vs Smartlead vs Derrick: Which Is Better in 2026?
Short answer
Instantly vs Smartlead vs Derrick: Instantly is a unlimited warm-up · 160m b2b database · agency-friendly, 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 Instantly 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 Instantly or Smartlead 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 Smartlead
3 core reasons SDRs and ops teams switch to Derrick. Click to expand each.
01
Skip the dashboard - enrich straight from formulas
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If your B2B data ends up in Google Sheets anyway (most teams' do), running it through Instantly or Smartlead 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
Transparent pricing : free plan, then €9/month
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Instantly ($37/month) and Smartlead ($39/month) follow the SaaS-standard model : tier the features, cap the credits, upsell when you outgrow it. Derrick works the other way round : one credit balance, five plans from 0 to 175 EUR a month, and unused credits roll over on the paid ones. Predictable spend for teams that hate budgeting around credit-pool refills.
03
MCP-ready for AI workflows in 2026
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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 Smartlead 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, Smartlead, 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.
Instantly starts at $37/month. Cold email outreach, with positioning around agencies + cold-email-at-scale. Full tier-by-tier breakdown including credit caps, seat economics, and hidden line items lives on the dedicated Instantly pricing page.
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 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
"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
"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
"This app is fantastic. Brilliantly created to help small and mid sized businesses."
Dan Hughes
Founder/CEO, AlmanacIO
"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
"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
"Have tested over 10+ LI scraper apps, Derrick beats them all. Simple to use, accurate data, and affordable price."
AJ Alexander
Opportunity Prospector
Frequently Asked Questions
Instantly vs Smartlead: when does each fit best?
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Instantly is positioned as cold email outreach for agencies + cold-email-at-scale. 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 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 Smartlead pricing actually compare in 2026?
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Instantly entry-paid tier : Light Speed at $37/month. Next tier up is Growth ($47/month). Instantly's free tier : Free 14-day trial. 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. As a cross-reference : Derrick App's paid plans open at 9 EUR a month for 4,000 credits, and whatever you do not spend rolls over, which helps teams that hate budgeting around refills.
What's the biggest reason to pick Instantly over Smartlead?
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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 Smartlead over Instantly?
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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. That is the difference to test against your own workflow before it decides anything.
Can Derrick replace both Instantly and Smartlead?
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Both Instantly 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 Instantly or Smartlead. 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 Smartlead, what other tools should I evaluate?
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Four other tools in the same competitive set worth evaluating : Saleshandy, Lemlist, Apollo, Mailshake. Each has its own positioning trade-off versus Instantly and Smartlead - Saleshandy sits closest to them on the same use case, with Lemlist, Apollo, 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.
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 
