Best Artisan Alternatives of 2026
Eight AI SDRs and outbound platforms to consider instead of Artisan's Ava, ranked on published prices, channels, terms and verified reviews.
By , research by the BestBots team ยท Updated Oct 19, 2026
Fact checked against each company's published pricing, documentation and verified user ratings. How we score
The best Artisan alternative for most teams is Reply.io's Jason: it runs the same research, writing, reply handling and booking as Ava, adds LinkedIn, and publishes its price, $800 a month for 1,000 contacts or $500 on annual billing. If you want no commitment at all, AiSDR bills $1.50 per person prospected.
Our top picks
Why teams look for an Artisan alternative
Artisan sells Ava as an AI BDR with a human team behind her: CSM onboarding, a shared Slack channel, sending infrastructure and SOC 2 Type II. Many customers are happy; it scores 4.1 on Trustpilot from 42 reviews. Buyers who leave or never sign cite four issues.
No prices on the pricing page. Plans are sized at about 2,500 or 6,000 leads contacted a month, but every plan says "talk to sales." Artisan's own Artisan vs 11x page claims plans from $250 a month, which makes the quote only pricing page harder to understand.
Credit burn. The most repeated complaint is that credits run out faster than the promised number of prospects.
Email first. Several reviewers describe Ava as mainly an email tool. Artisan confirms Ava cannot make calls; she queues them for reps on a paid dialer add on.
Results. One reviewer reports a 0.07% positive reply rate over months. Low reply rates usually trace to list and offer, but autonomous sending makes a bad fit expensive fast.
Our picks, in detail
- Starting price
- $59 per user per month
- Price per seat
- $59 per user per month (Email Volume) or $99 (Multichannel); Jason AI SDR from $800 per month, $500 on annual
- Contacts or credits
- Active contacts from 1,000 per month; 50 data credits per month included, more from $39 for 200
- $69 per account per month on Email Volume; included on Multichannel (1 per user) and AI SDR (2 to 50 accounts)
Reply.io's Jason does what Ava does (finds prospects, writes, follows up, handles replies and books meetings) and adds LinkedIn: 2 LinkedIn accounts on the $800 a month Starter, or $500 on annual billing, for 1,000 active contacts. Every limit is on the pricing page, which fixes the two biggest Artisan complaints, opaque pricing and email only campaigns.
Pros
- Jason AI SDR pricing is public, from $500 a month annual or $800 monthly, with no demo needed to see it
- AI SDR plans bundle LinkedIn accounts, unlimited mailboxes, warmups and done for you deliverability
- Two way native sync with HubSpot, Salesforce and Pipedrive on every plan
- Trustpilot score of 4.6 from 268 reviews, and a SOC 2 report on Multichannel and above
Cons
- Only 50 data credits a month on self serve plans; serious prospecting needs a paid data pack
- LinkedIn ($69) and calling ($29) are per account add ons on the Email Volume plan
- The best AI SDR price requires an annual commitment; month to month costs 60% more
- Some Trustpilot reviewers report a hard to find cancel option and LinkedIn connections that drop
Skip it if you want a CSM in your Slack from day one on a small plan; white glove onboarding starts on the $2,500 Growth tier.
- Starting price
- $1.50 per person prospected
- Price per seat
- No seats: $1.50 per person prospected, campaigns from $7.50
- Contacts or credits
- Pay per prospect; Team plan for 1,000+ contacts a month
- Connection requests, DMs and InMails
AiSDR charges $1.50 per person prospected, billed daily, with no contract, so you pay only for the leads you actually work, the opposite of a credit pool that drains faster than expected. It covers email, LinkedIn including InMail and phone through Aircall.
Pros
- No contract or seat fee: you pay $1.50 for each person the agent works, billed daily
- Runs email, LinkedIn (including InMail) and phone via Aircall from one agent
- Researches each prospect from live web search, LinkedIn posts, news and hiring data
- Optional managed service from $149 per campaign if you do not want to run it yourself
Cons
- Trustpilot profile is claimed but has zero reviews, so there is little independent evidence of results
- At scale the per prospect price adds up: 2,000 prospects a month is $3,000 before mailboxes
- Volume pricing and Salesforce sync require a sales call and the Team plan
- No SOC 2 report is listed on its homepage
Skip it if you need independent reviews before buying; its Trustpilot profile has none.
- Starting price
- $600 per month
- Price per seat
- $600 per month for 2 users on an annual term (about $300 per user)
- Contacts or credits
- 13,500 email and 600 phone credits per user per year on Startup
- Multichannel sequences; LinkedIn steps not itemized on the pricing page
Amplemarket gives reps data, 200M verified mobile numbers, multichannel sequences, a parallel dialer and Duo AI copywriting from $600 a month for 2 users, with every plan's credit and mailbox limits published. Teams that found Ava too email centric get calls and social in one place.
Pros
- Data, mobile numbers, sequences, dialer and deliverability in one contract
- Duo AI writes personalized emails, watches buying signals and drafts replies
- Deliverability tools (domain health, warmup, mailbox recommendation) on every plan
- Free trial on all plans
- SOC 2 Type II, with encryption keys managed in Google Cloud KMS
Cons
- Entry plan requires an annual term at $600 a month, or $7,200 a year
- Growth and Elite are quote only
- Its Trustpilot profile is unclaimed with zero reviews, so there is little independent signal
- Duo Inbox draft replies and Duo Voice are not on the Startup plan
Skip it if you need monthly terms; Startup is annual, which is $7,200 a year.
- Starting price
- Quote only
- Price per seat
- Quote only
- Contacts or credits
- Not published
- Social agents listed; specifics not published
11x adds what Ava cannot do: Julian, an AI agent that answers and places calls and qualifies inbound leads, alongside Alice for email and social. Its channel list (voice, chat, SMS, WhatsApp) is the widest of any AI SDR.
Pros
- Widest channel list here: email, social, voice, chat, SMS and WhatsApp
- Inbound use cases (speed to lead, AI phone agent, routing) alongside outbound
- Multilingual outreach listed
- Trustpilot score of 4.3 from 38 reviews, with support praised
Cons
- No public pricing; reported annual commitments
- TechCrunch reported 11x listed ZoomInfo and Airtable as customers without permission; 11x said the logos were removed after human error
- Former employees told TechCrunch early churn ran 70 to 80%; 11x says current retention is 79%
- A Trustpilot reviewer reports $9,000 spent and zero meetings from 9,000 messages
Skip it if you are leaving Artisan over price or terms; Vendr reports a median 11x contract of $65,100 a year on annual terms.
- Starting price
- $69 per month
- Price per seat
- Email plan $69 per month flat for unlimited users; Multichannel $109 per user per month
- Contacts or credits
- Unlimited contacts; data add on $20 per month for 2,000 credits (400 emails or 100 phones)
- Visits, invites, messages, voice notes and InMail on Multichannel
lemlist's Multichannel plan puts LinkedIn visits, invites, messages, voice notes and InMail, SMS and a dialer into one sequence for $109 per user a month, and it scores 4.7 on Trustpilot from 251 reviews. lemAgent AI handles research and drafting while you keep control.
Pros
- Email plan covers unlimited users for one $69 price
- Multichannel adds LinkedIn, SMS, WhatsApp and a dialer in one sequence
- Trustpilot score of 4.7 from 251 reviews, with support singled out for praise
- Warmup and a deliverability hub are included on every plan
Cons
- Lead data is not bundled: 2,000 credits buy only 400 emails or 100 phone numbers for $20
- Multichannel is billed per user, which some reviewers say they did not expect
- A few reviewers report features being moved to higher plans without warning
- No autonomous AI SDR tier with booked meeting handling like Reply.io's Jason or AiSDR
Skip it if you want an agent to run outbound end to end with no human building sequences.
- Starting price
- $65 per seat per month
- Price per seat
- $65 per month (Basic, monthly) or $49 billed annually; Professional $99 or $79
- Contacts or credits
- Free 900 credits per year; Basic 2,500 per month; Professional 4,000 per month. Email 1 credit, phone 8 credits
- Chrome extension for prospecting on LinkedIn; no listed LinkedIn message automation
Apollo gives one seat a 240M+ contact database, unlimited sequences, a dialer and AI research for $49 a month on annual billing, with a free plan to start. A person still builds the campaigns, but the cost is a small fraction of a managed AI BDR.
Pros
- A real free plan with 900 credits a year and 2 sequences, plus a 14 day trial of paid plans
- Database, sequences, dialer, meeting scheduler and AI research under one per seat price
- Every plan, credit cost and limit is published on one page
- Professional removes the daily send cap and allows unlimited Google and Microsoft mailboxes
Cons
- Trustpilot reviewers repeatedly report inaccurate or outdated contact data that has to be cross checked
- Basic is capped at 250 emails a day and 1 mailbox per user, so volume senders must jump to Professional
- Credits expire every cycle, add on credits renew automatically, and downgrades are not refunded
- Annual plans cannot be switched to monthly until the term ends; billing and cancellation complaints are common
Skip it if nobody on your team has time to build and manage sequences.
- Starting price
- $47 per month
- Price per seat
- No per seat fee: from $47 per month flat (Growth), $97 for 125,000 emails
- Contacts or credits
- 1,000 to 100,000 uploaded contacts by plan; lead credits from $47 per month or bundled from $94
- Not listed on the pricing page
Instantly's Starter bundle at $94 a month includes the AI Sales Agent, which reads your website, finds buyers in a 450M+ database, writes and sends emails and books replies, plus unlimited mailboxes and warmup.
Pros
- Unlimited sending accounts and warmup on every outreach plan, so adding mailboxes does not add seats
- $97 for 125,000 emails a month is the lowest published cost per email among the tools here
- AI Sales Agent on bundles finds leads, writes, sends and books from your website URL
- Outreach and lead data are sold separately, so you only pay for data if you need it
Cons
- Trustpilot has suspended Instantly's rating for a guideline breach; 26% of its 1,178 reviews are one star
- Reviewers report a strict no refund policy, hard cancellation and surprise subscriptions
- Several reviews describe campaigns stalling or landing in spam despite warmup, with slow support
- No LinkedIn automation listed; email only
Skip it if trust signals matter; Trustpilot has suspended its score after removing fake reviews.
- Starting price
- $185 per month
- Price per seat
- No per seat fee: unlimited seats, from $185 per month (Launch)
- Contacts or credits
- Free 100 data credits; Launch 2,500; Growth 6,000 a month, plus actions
- Job change and social signals; no LinkedIn message automation listed
Clay waterfalls 150+ data providers and runs its Claygent research agent on every row, from $185 a month with unlimited seats. Paired with a sender, it rebuilds Ava's research and personalization with full control over data and cost.
Pros
- Waterfall enrichment across 150+ providers usually finds more emails than a single database
- Claygent researches each account on the web to create custom data points
- Unlimited seats on every plan, including Free
- Unused credits roll over up to 2x the monthly amount
Cons
- Not an AI SDR by itself; you still need a sender and a strategy
- CRM auto sync requires the $495 per month Growth plan
- Trustpilot reviewers (2.8 from 26) report credits burning unexpectedly and a steep learning curve
- Top up credits cost 30% more than plan credits
Skip it if you want a finished product; Clay needs someone who builds workflows.
Price comparison
Published prices in October 2026, monthly billing unless noted.
| Tool | Type | Entry price | Contract | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Artisan | Managed AI BDR | Quote only; claims from $250 a month | Monthly claimed | Social steps listed |
| Reply.io Jason | AI SDR | $800 a month (1,000 contacts), $500 annual | Monthly or annual | 2 accounts included |
| AiSDR | AI SDR | $1.50 per person prospected | None, billed daily | Yes, including InMail |
| Amplemarket | Platform with AI | $600 a month for 2 users | Annual term | Multichannel sequences |
| 11x | Managed AI SDR | Quote only; Vendr median $65,100 a year | Annual | Social agents listed |
| lemlist | Multichannel sequencer | $109 per user (Multichannel) | Monthly, quarterly, yearly | Full automation |
| Apollo | Platform with AI | $49 per seat annual, free plan | Monthly or annual | Chrome extension only |
| Instantly | Cold email with AI agent | $94 a month (Starter bundle) | Monthly or annual | Not listed |
| Clay | Data and research layer | $185 a month | Monthly or annual | Signals only |
The 2,500 leads a month test
Artisan's Team plan is sized at about 2,500 leads contacted a month. Here is what that volume costs elsewhere on published prices:
- AiSDR: 2,500 x $1.50 = $3,750 a month before Team plan discounts
- Reply.io Jason: Starter covers 1,000 active contacts for $800; Growth covers 5,000 for $2,500 ($1,500 annual)
- Instantly Starter bundle: $94 a month covers 1,000 uploaded contacts and 5,000 emails; Scale at $194 covers 25,000 contacts
- Apollo Professional: $79 a seat a month annual with unlimited sends; one rep can work 2,500 leads with 48,000 credits a year
If your Artisan quote for Team is above about $1.50 per lead contacted, you have room to negotiate or switch. See the AI Price Index for every sales tool.
How to switch from Artisan
- Confirm your term. Find the end date and notice period in your order form.
- Export leads, sequences and replies from Artisan and make sure every booked meeting is in your CRM.
- Keep your domains and mailboxes. They should be in your company's name; move them to the new sender so warmed reputation carries over.
- Pilot on one segment for 30 days and compare positive replies and meetings held per 1,000 leads.
How we picked
We included tools that do the job buyers hire Artisan for: finding leads, writing personalized outreach, following up and booking meetings, or that let a small team do it for much less. We ranked them on published prices and terms, channels, integrations and Trustpilot scores and complaints, using the weights in how we score. Prices come from each vendor's pricing page in October 2026, except 11x, which comes from Vendr's buyer data. We did not run campaigns on these tools. See the full category in best AI SDR tools.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best alternative to Artisan?
Reply.io's Jason AI SDR for most teams. It runs the same find, write, follow up and book loop as Ava, adds LinkedIn and publishes its prices: $800 a month for 1,000 active contacts or $500 on annual billing.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Artisan?
Yes. Apollo starts free and costs $49 per seat a month on annual billing if a person runs the sequences. Instantly's Starter bundle with an AI Sales Agent costs $94 a month. AiSDR bills $1.50 per person prospected with no minimum contract.
Which Artisan alternative can make phone calls?
11x's Julian is an AI voice agent for calls and inbound qualification. Amplemarket and Apollo include dialers for reps, and AiSDR connects to Aircall.
Is 11x better than Artisan?
11x covers more channels, including AI voice, and fits large enterprises. Artisan is cheaper on the available data and easier to start. See [11x vs Artisan](/11x-vs-artisan).
Why do people leave Artisan?
The recurring reasons in Artisan's Trustpilot reviews are credits running out faster than the promised prospect volume, campaigns that are mostly email rather than multichannel, weak reply rates for some ICPs and inflexible multi month terms.
Can I keep my sending domains if I leave Artisan?
Ava sends from your own domains, so the domains should be registered to your company. Confirm ownership of domains and mailboxes before you cancel so warmed reputation moves with you.