Best AI SDR tools for small teams
An AI SDR (sales development rep) finds leads, writes outreach and follows up for you. For a small team, Artisan is the best all-round pick: it finds leads, sends from your own domains, handles replies and books meetings, with a monthly price and a 30-day trial that needs no card. Pick bravabase if you want to approve every message and start from people showing a buying signal, and AiSDR if you want no monthly fee.
Quick picks
Ranked by fit for a team without a sales department. Jump to any tool for the detail.
| Tool | Best for | Starting price |
|---|---|---|
| Artisan (Ava) | Handing outbound email to an AI SDR that runs it end to end | Intern $280/month ($250 billed yearly) |
| bravabase | Approving every message to people showing a buying signal | $99/user/month, leads and contact details included |
| AiSDR | Trying an AI SDR with no monthly fee | $1.50 per person prospected |
| Instantly | Cheap, high-volume cold email with an AI agent on top | $94/month with the AI sales agent ($85 billed yearly) |
| Reply.io (Jason AI) | An AI SDR with an approval queue or full autopilot | Jason AI from $500/month |
| Amplemarket (Duo) | Signal-based outbound for a team with a bigger budget | $600/month, yearly term |
| lemlist | Running your own multichannel sequences with AI help | $69/month ($55 billed yearly) |
| Apollo.io | Contact data and email sequences in one low-cost tool | Free plan; Basic $49/seat/month, billed yearly |
| 11x | Funded teams that want research-led outreach at scale | From $36,000/year, billed yearly |
How we picked
A small team needs an AI SDR that does real work, at a price it can start on this month, without risking its name. What matters most to this buyer:
- Does the SDR’s work: Finds and researches leads, writes outreach and follows up. We note which steps each tool leaves to you.
- You choose how much it sends alone: Approve each message, review a sample before launch, or let it run. We say which each tool offers.
- Contact details included: Work emails and phone numbers in the price, or an extra cost.
- A price a small team can start on: A published price, monthly billing or pay as you go, and a trial. We say when pricing comes from sales or needs a yearly contract.
- No ops person needed: Set up without building lists or workflows yourself.
We read each tool’s own pricing page and product docs on 13 November 2026, then ranked the tools by fit for a small B2B team without a sales department choosing its first AI SDR. Where a vendor publishes no price or limit, we say so.
We make bravabase. It is second on this list because it combines buying signals, work emails and phone numbers, and outreach you approve before it sends, for $99 a month with no yearly term. Amplemarket does something similar from $600 a month on a yearly term. It ranks below Artisan because it doesn’t send bulk cold email or book meetings for you. Prices change often: check each tool’s site before you buy.
The 9 best AI SDR tools, ranked
Prices are the lowest published plan, checked on each tool’s own site on 13 November 2026.
1. Artisan (Ava)
Best for handing outbound email to an AI SDR that runs it end to end.
- What it does best: Ava finds and enriches leads from a database of 250M+ B2B contacts, writes and sends emails from your own domains, handles replies and books meetings. It runs on its own by default, and you can switch on approval before sending.
- Pricing: Intern is $280 a month, or $250 billed yearly, with 10,000 credits a month, which Artisan puts at about 500 leads contacted. Employee is $660, or $600 billed yearly, with 25,000 credits (about 1,250 leads). A free plan gives 300 credits a month for finding leads but runs no campaigns. New accounts get a 30-day trial with 10,000 credits, no card. The dialer is $75 per seat a month ($67 yearly), and plans for larger businesses are quoted by sales.
- Who it suits: Small teams ready to hand outbound email to an AI SDR.
- Drawback: Credits go fast. A full campaign uses about 20 credits per person, so Intern’s 10,000 credits reach roughly 500 people a month: about 56 cents each on monthly billing, or 50 cents billed yearly.
Visit Artisan (Ava) ↗ · Artisan pricing, checked November 2026 ↗ · Artisan review →
2. bravabase
Best for approving every message to people showing a buying signal.
- What it does best: Brava, your AI agent, learns your business from your website, finds people showing they need what you sell, scores each one from 0 to 100 with the reason, gets their work email and phone number, and drafts a personal first message and the follow-ups. It also drafts replies and writes posts in your voice. LinkedIn is one channel you can connect, and nothing goes out until you approve it.
- Pricing: $99 per user a month, or $948 a year ($79 a month). Includes 500 quality leads a month, each with a real buying signal, 1,500 AI credits a month for work emails, phone numbers and posts, 2 always-on Discovery agents and free message drafts. Top up 1,000 credits for $35. 7-day free trial with 250 credits. See pricing.
- Who it suits: Founders, consultants and small teams who want an AI SDR they can trust with their name.
- Drawback: It doesn’t send bulk cold email, make calls or book meetings for you. If high-volume email is your main channel, Instantly costs less for that job.
Meet Brava → · How Brava finds leads → · Pricing →
3. AiSDR
Best for trying an AI SDR with no monthly fee.
- What it does best: Finds and researches leads, then writes and sends your sequences across email, LinkedIn and phone steps. Its team reviews your audience and sample messages before launch, campaigns can go live in under 30 minutes, and you can switch replies to approve-first.
- Pricing: Pay as you go at $1.50 per person prospected, charged daily, with no monthly fee and no card to sign up. Team plans are quoted by sales, billed monthly on quarterly contracts.
- Who it suits: Small teams testing an AI SDR before committing.
- Drawback: At $1.50 a person, 500 people a month cost $750, more than Artisan’s Intern plan for the same reach, and team plans have no published price.
Visit AiSDR ↗ · AiSDR pricing, checked November 2026 ↗
4. Instantly
Best for cheap, high-volume cold email with an AI agent on top.
- What it does best: Its AI sales agent reads your website, finds matching prospects in a database of 450M+ B2B leads, writes the outreach, runs the follow-ups and books replies onto your calendar. Outreach plans include unlimited email accounts and warm-up.
- Pricing: The Starter bundle with the AI sales agent is $94 a month, or $85 billed yearly, with 1,500 lead credits and 5,000 emails a month. Scale, which adds the AI reply agent, is $194 ($175 yearly). Outreach on its own starts at $47 a month ($37.60 billed yearly). Start free, no card.
- Who it suits: Email-first teams who want volume at a low price.
- Drawback: Email only, and the AI sales agent runs on a Credits plan, so sending plus the agent starts at $94 a month, double the outreach-only price.
Visit Instantly ↗ · Instantly pricing, checked November 2026 ↗ · Instantly review →
5. Reply.io (Jason AI)
Best for an AI SDR with an approval queue or full autopilot.
- What it does best: Jason AI searches for contacts, writes personalised outreach and drafts responses to replies, sending from your connected email and LinkedIn accounts. Choose approval mode, where nothing sends until you approve it, or automatic mode.
- Pricing: Jason AI SDR starts at $500 a month. Reply’s Multichannel plan, without the AI SDR, starts at $89 per user a month, billed yearly. 14-day free trial.
- Who it suits: Small teams who want outreach on email and LinkedIn from one place.
- Drawback: The AI SDR is priced well above the core plans, and LinkedIn automation on the email plan costs $69 a month per account on top.
Visit Reply.io (Jason AI) ↗ · Reply.io pricing, checked November 2026 ↗
6. Amplemarket (Duo)
Best for signal-based outbound for a team with a bigger budget.
- What it does best: Duo watches for buying signals, suggests who to contact and drafts sequences across email, calls and social. Your reps review, edit and send each one.
- Pricing: Startup is $600 a month on a yearly term, with 2 users, 13,500 email credits and 600 phone credits per user a year. Growth and Elite are priced by sales. Free trial on every plan.
- Who it suits: Small sales teams with budget for a full outbound platform.
- Drawback: A yearly commitment of $7,200, and Duo Voice (AI voice messages) needs the Growth plan, which has no published price.
Visit Amplemarket (Duo) ↗ · Amplemarket pricing, checked November 2026 ↗ · Amplemarket review →
7. lemlist
Best for running your own multichannel sequences with AI help.
- What it does best: Builds and personalises sequences across email, LinkedIn, calls and more, with AI agents for intent signals and enrichment.
- Pricing: Email is $69 a month, or $55 billed yearly, with unlimited users. Multichannel, with LinkedIn and calls, is $109, or $87 billed yearly. 14-day free trial.
- Who it suits: Founders and small teams who want to run their own campaigns.
- Drawback: It is a copilot rather than a hands-off SDR, and lead data ($20 a month for 2,000 credits) and intent signals ($29 a month for 100) cost extra.
Visit lemlist ↗ · lemlist pricing, checked November 2026 ↗ · bravabase vs lemlist →
8. Apollo.io
Best for contact data and email sequences in one low-cost tool.
- What it does best: Combines a database of 240 million contacts with email sequences, a dialer and an AI assistant that builds lead lists from plain-language requests and drafts emails.
- Pricing: Free plan with 900 credits a year. Basic is $49 per seat a month, billed yearly, with a 14-day trial. Professional is $79.
- Who it suits: Small teams who want data and outbound email in one place.
- Drawback: It is more a toolkit with AI help than an SDR that works on its own, so you still build the lists and sequences yourself.
Visit Apollo.io ↗ · Apollo.io pricing, checked November 2026 ↗ · Apollo pricing explained →
9. 11x
Best for funded teams that want research-led outreach at scale.
- What it does best: 11x Outbound researches each account from a database of 400M contacts and runs sequences across email and social, with calls made by your own reps. Managed mailboxes are included.
- Pricing: Growth starts at $36,000 a year, billed yearly, for up to 5 users and 2,000 new prospects a month, with managed Gmail mailboxes included. Pro and Enterprise are priced by sales.
- Who it suits: Funded teams with a five-figure yearly budget.
- Drawback: The highest entry price on this list, on a yearly contract.
Visit 11x ↗ · 11x pricing, checked November 2026 ↗
Questions, answered
What is an AI SDR?
An AI sales development rep: software that does the early work of a human SDR. It finds and researches leads, writes outreach, follows up and books meetings. More on what an AI SDR does.
What is the best AI SDR for a small team?
Artisan if you want an AI SDR that runs outbound email end to end. bravabase if you want to approve every message and start from people showing a buying signal, with contact details included. AiSDR if you want to try one with no monthly fee. Instantly if cheap, high-volume email matters most.
Do AI SDRs actually work?
They can, when someone manages them closely and the outreach already works. SaaStr says its AI SDRs had sold 16% of the paid tickets for its 2026 conference, but it spends 15 to 20 hours a week managing them and warns they won’t rescue outbound that didn’t work with people (SaaStr, ticket sales). Early tools struggled: TechCrunch reported that most of 11x’s early customers used three-month break clauses (March 2025), and Artisan’s CEO put its sweet spot at about a 1% response rate (April 2025). Good targeting matters more than volume.
Is AI replacing SDRs?
Not wholesale. In the Bridge Group’s 2025 survey of 351 B2B companies, AI SDRs appeared as their own category for the first time, at 1% of respondents (Bridge Group). Gartner predicts AI agents will outnumber human sellers tenfold by 2028, but that fewer than 40% of sellers will say agents improved their productivity (destinationCRM, January 2026). The job is changing instead: AI takes the research and first drafts, and people handle the conversations that become deals. AI SDR or a hire: how to choose.
How much does an AI SDR cost?
From pay-as-you-go ($1.50 per prospect with AiSDR) and $99 a month (bravabase) to $36,000 a year on a yearly contract (11x). A human SDR’s median on-target earnings are $80,000 a year before tools and management, according to the Bridge Group’s 2025 SDR report; see AI SDR vs hiring an SDR.
Do AI SDRs send messages without approval?
Some do. bravabase waits for your approval, and Amplemarket’s Duo drafts sequences your reps send. Reply’s Jason AI offers an approval mode or an automatic one, and Artisan runs on its own by default with approval as an option. AiSDR and Instantly’s agent send on their own once set up.