Instantly vs Lemlist - Best Tool for Cold Email Campaigns

When you start cold emailing, sooner or later you’ll need to choose a tool. The market is crowded, but most conversations still come down to two tools. So today, let’s compare Lemlist vs. Instantly.

I tried a bunch of tools, spent real money on tests and I can say this plainly: big names do not always mean better results. Lemlist used to be the go-to choice for a long time, but now the rules of the game have changed. Let's figure out why more and more people are switching to Instantly and whether you should do it.

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Deliverability and Warmup Features

You can write a brilliant email, but if it lands in the spam folder, no one will see it. When comparing Lemlist and Instantly.ai, the issue of warmup is key.

Previously, Lemlist had a cool feature - Lemwarm. But then they started to tinker with pricing/plans, to make it a separate service, which confused and annoyed many.

Instantly includes warm-up in the price. And it works in a straightforward way. They have a huge warm-up network that exchanges emails to build sender reputation, raising the reputation of your domain. You just flip a toggle, and your mailboxes "warm up" automatically. This gives more consistent inbox placement, even if you send quite aggressive volumes.

Pricing and Scalability: The Real Difference

Let's be clear. Budget is the first thing I look at. And here Instantly and Lemlist follow very different pricing philosophies.

Lemlist works according to the old model: you pay for each user or for each mailbox. This is normal when you have one or two mailboxes/email accounts. But as soon as you want to scale and send thousaeasy-of-use-lemlist-instantly.webpnds of emails a day, the bill becomes astronomical. You need to buy additional slots/seats/mailboxes, and this starts to eat into your ROI.

Instantly went the other way. They offer "unlimited email accounts". That is, you pay a fixed price and connect at least 10, at least 50 mailboxes. For those who want to do volume, this is a big win. You don't think about how much it will cost you to add five more domains for mailing - you simply add them.

Visual Personalization vs Pure Performance

Here's an interesting point. Lemlist became famous for its personalized pictures (like a photo where the client's name is written on a cup of coffee). It’s impressive, no doubt.

But let's look at Instantly.ai vs Lemlist from a deliverability standpoint. Images in an email are often a trigger for spam filters. Outlook and Gmail are becoming stricter. Therefore, a simple text letter (plain text), which looks as if a real person wrote it to you personally, now works better.

Instantly is focused on this – on mass, but high-quality text communication that gets past spam/security filters. They don’t try to impress with visual effects, they focus on inbox placement.

Here’s why I consider Instantly a more practical choice for business:

• Unlimited sending accounts: No need to pay extra for expanding channels.
• AI-driven analytics: You see the real picture, not just pretty graphs.
• Unified inbox: All replies from all mailboxes land in one inbox. No need to jump between tabs.
• Cost efficiency: You pay for functionality, not for the number of connected mailboxes/accounts.

Ease of Use and Interface

The interface is a matter of taste, but speed is important. Lemlist has started to feel a bit bloated lately. A bunch of features, settings for LinkedIn, complex sequences... It’s cool for complex funnels, but it’s often overkill.

When you compare Lemlist vs Instantly, you notice that the second one is designed for speed. Instantly's interface is clean, intuitive. You log in, upload/import your list/leads, write an email, and launch it. That's it. There's nothing superfluous that distracts from the main goal - getting leads.

Lemlist vs Instantly: Quick Comparison Table

If you are too lazy to read the whole text, I made a simple table. Here you can clearly see the difference between lemlist vs instantly, and who really saves your money.

This table perfectly sums up the instantly.ai vs lemlist battle. As you can see, in one case you pay for the brand, and in the other - for opportunities.

Why Is Instantly Better in 2026?

In 2026, the biggest headache for marketers is not the text of the email, but the spam filters of Google and Outlook, which have gotten much stricter. The old tactic of "blasting from a single inbox" no longer works. The only way out is a "load balancing" strategy, when you use dozens of mailboxes and send a minimum of emails from each. This is safe, but requires a tool that won’t charge you per inbox for each connected email.

This is where Instantly wins in the comparison of Instantly vs Lemlist. Lemlist still charges money for each slot, which makes large-scale mailing unreasonably expensive. Instead, Instantly allows you to connect an unlimited number of accounts for a fixed price. So, choosing Lemlist vs Instantly.ai, you are essentially choosing between an outdated expensive model and a modern infrastructure that allows you to maintain deliverability without unnecessary costs.

Conclusion

So what to choose? If you absolutely need personalized videos or complex scenarios with pictures, and you have a small volume - maybe good old Lemlist will suit you.

But if your goal is scalability, budget savings and maximum deliverability, then in the pair Instantly vs Lemlist the winner is obvious. Instantly gives freedom of action without being tied to the number of slots. This is a tool for those who want to build a scalable lead-generation system, and instead of constantly tinkering with settings.

I made my choice in favor of efficiency and simplicity, and the numbers in the reports confirm this.

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