Compare · Checked October 2026
Ballast vs 
Instantly
Instantly pricing runs $47 to $358 a month on monthly billing. At 20,000 emails a month, Ballast costs $19 and Instantly Hypergrowth $97: 80% less, with warmup, the Unibox, the API and MCP on every plan.
Instantly is the biggest name in cold email tools, with plans priced by emails a month and uploaded contacts, and bundles that add lead credits.
Ballast is cold email software with every feature on every plan. Connect unlimited mailboxes, send sequences at a pace your domains survive, and handle replies in one inbox, priced by the emails you send.
Last updated
Instantly pricing
What it costs a month, at every volume.
Instantly's cheapest public plan that sends at least this many emails a month, next to Ballast's. Contacts can push you a plan higher on Instantly; the next section shows when.
| Emails a month | Instantly | Ballast | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5,000 | $47 Growth | $19 Starter | 60% |
| 20,000 | $97 Hypergrowth | $19 Starter | 80% |
| 50,000 | $97 Hypergrowth | $39 Growth | 60% |
| 100,000 | $97 Hypergrowth | $39 Growth | 60% |
| 125,000 | $97 Hypergrowth | $39 Growth | 60% |
| 150,000 | $358 Light Speed | $79 Pro | 78% |
| 300,000 | $358 Light Speed | $79 Pro | 78% |
| 500,000 | $358 Light Speed | $149 Scale | 58% |
Plan for plan
Every Instantly plan, and what it costs on Ballast.
Each row pairs their plan with the cheapest Ballast plan that sends at least as many emails and holds at least as many contacts.
| Instantly plan | Price | Emails a month | Contacts | Same on Ballast | You save |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Growth | $47$9.40 per 1,000 | 5,000 | 1,000 | $19 Starter20,000 emails, $0.95 per 1,000 | 60% |
| Hypergrowth | $97$0.78 per 1,000 | 100,000 to 125,000 | 25,000 | $39 Growth125,000 emails, $0.31 per 1,000 | 60% |
| Light Speed | $358$0.72 per 1,000 | 500,000 | 100,000 | $149 Scale750,000 emails, $0.20 per 1,000 | 58% |
Monthly prices from Instantly's pricing page, checked October 2026. Unlimited email accounts. Unibox listed on the Scale bundle and above. Bundles with lead credits: $94, $194, $555.
Feature for feature
What Instantly's pricing page lists, next to Ballast.
"Not on their pricing page" means exactly that: the feature may exist, but the pricing page doesn't say which plan has it.
| Feature | Ballast | Instantly |
|---|---|---|
| What you pay for | Emails sent a month, nothing else | Emails a month plus uploaded contacts |
| Email accounts | Unlimited, every plan | Unlimited |
| Team seats | Unlimited, every plan | Not on their pricing page |
| Client workspaces | As many as you need, each on its own plan | Not on their pricing page |
| Warmup | Included, every plan | Included (“Unlimited Email Warmup”) |
| Unified inbox | Unibox with AI labels, every plan | Unibox row in the plan table; “Unibox replies” listed with the Scale bundle |
| API, webhooks, MCP | Every plan | Listed in the plan table, tier shown by icon |
| Contacts that count | Only leads waiting for an email or mid-sequence | Every uploaded contact, finished and duplicate ones too, until deletedsource |
| Placement tests | Not offered. Warmup shows inbox rate per provider | Not on their pricing page |
Contacts
How Instantly counts contacts.
Every contact uploaded to a campaign counts, in active, paused, completed and draft campaigns. The same address in two campaigns counts twice, the total doesn't reset each month, and only deleting leads or campaigns frees room (deleting from Lists doesn't). Their help center.
Ballast counts only active contacts: leads waiting for their first email or still mid-sequence. Leads that finished, replied, bounced or unsubscribed stay in your workspace with their history and stop counting, so nobody deletes leads to make room.
An example
You send 50,000 emails a month and have loaded 30,000 leads over three months; 20,000 have finished their sequence.
- Instantly counts 30,000
- Light Speed $358
- Ballast counts 10,000
- Growth $39
On top of the plan
What Instantly sells separately.
Priced as their pricing page shows it, October 2026.
- Bundles that add lead credits to the outreach plan$94, $194 or $555 a month
Yearly billing
Paying for the year.
Their yearly price for 12 months (the per-month yearly price their page shows, times 12), against Ballast's yearly plan, which charges 10 months for 12.
- Instantly Growth $451 a yearBallast Starter $190
- Instantly Hypergrowth $931 a yearBallast Growth $390
- Instantly Light Speed $3,436 a yearBallast Scale $1,490
Instantly vs Smartlead
Instantly vs Smartlead, and where Ballast fits.
The two most compared cold email tools, at three common volumes. Both include unlimited email accounts; they differ in how they count contacts and what costs extra.
| Monthly | Instantly | Smartlead | Ballast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo, 5k emails, 2k contacts | $97 Hypergrowth | $39 Base | $19 Starter 51% less |
| Team, 50k emails, 20k contacts | $97 Hypergrowth | $94 Pro | $39 Growth 59% less |
| Agency, 150k emails, 5 clients | $358 Light Speed | $319 Unlimited Smart + 5 workspaces | $79 Pro 75% less |
* Growth ($47) caps contacts at 1,000. Smartlead's agency figure adds 5 client workspaces at $29 each; on Ballast the agency runs its clients' campaigns from one Pro workspace. Monthly prices checked October 2026.
| Feature | Ballast | Instantly |  Smartlead |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you pay for | Emails sent a month, nothing else | Emails a month plus uploaded contacts | Emails a month plus active leads |
| Email accounts | Unlimited, every plan | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Team seats | Unlimited, every plan | Not on their pricing page | Not on their pricing page |
| Client workspaces | As many as you need, each on its own plan | Not on their pricing page | $29 a month each, from Pro (Unlimited Prime includes 3) |
| Warmup | Included, every plan | Included (“Unlimited Email Warmup”) | Listed (“Warmup Pool”) |
| Unified inbox | Unibox with AI labels, every plan | Unibox row in the plan table; “Unibox replies” listed with the Scale bundle | Master Inbox, plan not named |
| API, webhooks, MCP | Every plan | Listed in the plan table, tier shown by icon | Listed in the plan table, tier shown by icon |
| Contacts that count | Only leads waiting for an email or mid-sequence | Every uploaded contact, finished and duplicate ones too, until deletedsource | Unique active leads, a fixed total per plansource |
| Placement tests | Not offered. Warmup shows inbox rate per provider | Not on their pricing page | SmartDelivery add-on, $49 to $599 a month |
The honest part
When Instantly is the better pick.
You want leads from the same tool
Instantly sells bundles that add lead credits to the outreach plan. Ballast doesn't sell contact data: you bring your list from Apollo, Clay or anywhere else.
You want an AI that answers replies for you
Instantly's Scale bundle lists an AI Reply Agent. Ballast labels replies and leaves the answer to you.
If you send cold email from your own mailboxes and want every feature without the next tier, Ballast is the cheaper home for it. How to switch from Instantly
How we checked
Sources and dates.
- Instantly plans and features: instantly.ai/pricing, read on 2026-10-19, monthly billing, US dollars.
- How Instantly counts contacts: their help center.
- Ballast plans: ballast.to/pricing. Where a page shows two figures for one plan, we use the one that favours Instantly.
- Other comparisons: Ballast vs Smartlead, Ballast vs Lemlist.
Questions
How much does Instantly cost?
On monthly billing, Instantly's plans are Growth at $47 a month (5,000 emails, 1,000 contacts); Hypergrowth at $97 a month (100,000 to 125,000 emails, 25,000 contacts); Light Speed at $358 a month (500,000 emails, 100,000 contacts), as listed on their pricing page in October 2026.
Is Ballast cheaper than Instantly?
Yes, at every volume Instantly publishes a capped plan for: 58% to 60% less on monthly billing, for the Ballast plan that sends at least as many emails and holds at least as many contacts. Ballast plans run from $19 to $349 a month with every feature included.
What counts as a contact on Instantly?
Every uploaded contact, finished and duplicate ones too, until deleted, per Instantly. On Ballast only leads waiting for their first email or still mid-sequence count; finished, replied, bounced and unsubscribed leads don't.
Can I move from Instantly to Ballast?
Yes. Export your leads as a CSV and drop it in: Ballast recognises Instantly's export, keeps your custom fields and counts duplicates, suppressed and invalid rows before importing. Your mailboxes connect with an app password, Microsoft sign-in or SMTP.
Switch from Instantly
Leave Instantly. Keep your domains.
Import from Instantly, Smartlead, Lemlist, Apollo or Clay. Every feature on every plan, from $19 a month.