Compare · Checked October 2026
Ballast vs 
Smartlead
Smartlead pricing runs $39 to $379 a month on monthly billing. At 20,000 emails a month, Ballast costs $19 and Smartlead Pro $94: 80% less, with warmup, the Unibox, the API and MCP on every plan.
Smartlead prices by emails a month and active leads, and sells client workspaces, placement testing and pre-warmed mailboxes as add-ons.
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
Smartlead pricing
What it costs a month, at every volume.
Smartlead'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 Smartlead; the next section shows when.
| Emails a month | Smartlead | Ballast | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5,000 | $39 Base | $19 Starter | 51% |
| 20,000 | $94 Pro | $19 Starter | 80% |
| 50,000 | $94 Pro | $39 Growth | 59% |
| 100,000 | $174 Unlimited Smart | $39 Growth | 78% |
| 125,000 | $174 Unlimited Smart | $39 Growth | 78% |
| 150,000 | $174 Unlimited Smart | $79 Pro | 55% |
| 300,000 | $379 Unlimited Prime | $79 Pro | 79% |
| 500,000 | $379 Unlimited Prime | $149 Scale | 61% |
Plan for plan
Every Smartlead 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.
| Smartlead plan | Price | Emails a month | Contacts | Same on Ballast | You save |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base | $39$6.50 per 1,000 | 6,000 | 2,000 | $19 Starter20,000 emails, $0.95 per 1,000 | 51% |
| Pro | $94$1.04 per 1,000 | 90,000 | 30,000 | $39 Growth125,000 emails, $0.31 per 1,000 | 59% |
| Unlimited Smart | $174$1.16 per 1,000 | 150,000 | Not listed | $79 Pro300,000 emails, $0.26 per 1,000 | 55% |
| Unlimited Prime | $379$0.76 per 1,000 | 500,000 | Not listed | $149 Scale750,000 emails, $0.20 per 1,000 | 61% |
Monthly prices from Smartlead's pricing page, checked October 2026. Unlimited email accounts. Client workspace $29/mo each (Unlimited Prime includes 3). SmartDelivery placement testing $49 to $599/mo.
Feature for feature
What Smartlead'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 | Smartlead |
|---|---|---|
| What you pay for | Emails sent a month, nothing else | Emails a month plus active leads |
| 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 | $29 a month each, from Pro (Unlimited Prime includes 3) |
| Warmup | Included, every plan | Listed (“Warmup Pool”) |
| Unified inbox | Unibox with AI labels, every plan | Master Inbox, plan not named |
| 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 | Unique active leads, a fixed total per plansource |
| Placement tests | Not offered. Warmup shows inbox rate per provider | SmartDelivery add-on, $49 to $599 a month |
Contacts
How Smartlead counts contacts.
Unique active leads count: one lead in three campaigns counts once. The total is fixed by the plan and doesn't reset monthly (email credits do). Leads free room when deleted, or, on the newer All Leads view, when marked inactive or archived. 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.
- Smartlead counts 30,000
- Pro $94
- Ballast counts 10,000
- Growth $39
On top of the plan
What Smartlead sells separately.
Priced as their pricing page shows it, October 2026.
- Client workspace (white-label), from Pro$29 a month each
- SmartDelivery placement testing$49 to $599 a month
- Pre-warmed mailboxes (SmartSenders)priced per mailbox
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.
- Smartlead Base $384 a yearBallast Starter $190
- Smartlead Pro $936 a yearBallast Growth $390
- Smartlead Unlimited Smart $1,728 a yearBallast Pro $790
- Smartlead Unlimited Prime $3,780 a yearBallast Scale $1,490
The honest part
When Smartlead is the better pick.
You need inbox placement tests
Smartlead's SmartDelivery add-on runs placement tests. Ballast doesn't; its warmup shows the share of warmup emails that reached the inbox, by provider.
You want a white-label client portal
Smartlead's client workspaces come with white-labeling. Ballast workspaces keep clients apart, without your own branding on them.
You want to buy mailboxes in the app
Smartlead sells pre-warmed mailboxes. Ballast connects the Google, Microsoft or SMTP mailboxes you already have.
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 Smartlead
How we checked
Sources and dates.
- Smartlead plans and features: www.smartlead.ai/pricing, read on 2026-10-19, monthly billing, US dollars.
- How Smartlead 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 Smartlead.
- Other comparisons: Ballast vs Instantly, Ballast vs Lemlist.
Questions
How much does Smartlead cost?
On monthly billing, Smartlead's plans are Base at $39 a month (6,000 emails, 2,000 contacts); Pro at $94 a month (90,000 emails, 30,000 contacts); Unlimited Smart at $174 a month (150,000 emails); Unlimited Prime at $379 a month (500,000 emails), as listed on their pricing page in October 2026.
Is Ballast cheaper than Smartlead?
Yes, at every volume Smartlead publishes a capped plan for: 51% to 61% 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 Smartlead?
Unique active leads, a fixed total per plan, per Smartlead. 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 Smartlead to Ballast?
Yes. Export your leads as a CSV and drop it in: Ballast recognises Smartlead'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 Smartlead
Leave Smartlead. Keep your domains.
Import from Instantly, Smartlead, Lemlist, Apollo or Clay. Every feature on every plan, from $19 a month.