Import guide
Switch from 
Instantly to Ballast.
Most of an Instantly setup moves as it is: your leads and their personalization, your mailboxes and your sequence text. What stays behind is Instantly's history: stats, the Unibox and lead statuses.
Six steps: export, create a workspace, connect mailboxes, import with the Instantly preset, suppress past unsubscribes, relaunch.
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.
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Step by step
Moving from Instantly.
- 1
Export your leads from Instantly
From each campaign or lead list you want to keep, export the leads as a CSV. The importer leaves out Instantly's own status columns (lead_status, interest_status, email_replied), so leads who already replied, bounced or unsubscribed would come in as active: export those separately too, for your suppression list in step 5.
- 2
Create a workspace and check your domains
Sign up, name the workspace and add your sending domain. Ballast checks SPF, DKIM, DMARC, MX and 9 blacklists for it every night; you can run the same check now with the free domain checker.
- 3
Connect your mailboxes
Google Workspace and Gmail connect with an app password, Microsoft 365 and Outlook.com with Microsoft sign-in, anything else over SMTP and IMAP. Don't send from the same mailbox in both tools at once: each tool keeps its own daily limit, so together they can double what the mailbox sends. A new workspace can add 5 mailboxes and send 1,000 emails a day for its first 7 days. Connect a mailbox
- 4
Import the CSV with the Instantly preset
Drop the file into Leads, Import. Ballast recognises a Instantly export and maps the columns. Instantly's “personalization” column and any other column Ballast doesn't know become custom fields, usable as variables in your emails. Columns that describe Instantly rather than the lead are left out:
lead_status,status,campaign,campaign_name,list,list_name,interest_status,email_opened,email_clicked,email_replied,upload_method,verification_status,esp,uploaded_at,last_contacted. Before anything is imported you see how many rows are new, duplicates, suppressed or invalid. - 5
Suppress past unsubscribes and bounces
Paste the addresses from step 1 into Leads, Suppressions, or upload them as a CSV. Whole domains work too, written as @acme.com. Suppressed addresses are skipped in every campaign, in every list.
- 6
Rebuild the sequence and launch
Paste your steps into a new campaign and switch the variables to Ballast's names, such as {{first_name}}, {{last_name}}, {{full_name}}, {{company}}, {{title}}; custom fields from the import work the same way. The preview shows each email for real leads and flags any variable without a value. Pick the mailboxes, set the schedule and launch. New mailboxes ramp up a little each day, and you can turn on warmup for each one.
Coming from Instantly
What changes when you leave Instantly.
Your whole list can come with you
On Instantly every uploaded contact counts against the plan until you delete it, finished ones too. On Ballast only leads waiting for their first email or mid-sequence count, so you can import your history without paying for it.
Personalization becomes a variable
Instantly's personalization column and any other column Ballast doesn't recognise become custom fields. Use them in your emails like any built-in variable.
Warm each mailbox in one place
Instantly includes warmup and so does Ballast, on every plan. Turn Instantly's warmup off for a mailbox before you turn Ballast's on, so the mailbox isn't warming up in two pools at once.
One workspace or one per client
If you run several clients in one Instantly account, keep them in one Ballast workspace on one plan, or give each client its own workspace and plan to keep their leads, mailboxes and replies apart.
Your plan on Ballast
Which Ballast plan replaces your Instantly plan.
The cheapest Ballast plan that sends at least as many emails and holds at least as many contacts, from both pricing pages. Full comparison
| 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% |
The honest part
Don't switch in the middle of a campaign that's working.
If a Instantly campaign is mid-sequence and replying well, let it finish there. Start new campaigns in Ballast, move each mailbox once its last Instantly campaign ends, and you never send the same lead twice from two tools.
Questions
Will leads who already replied on Instantly get emailed again?
Only if you import them as active leads. The Instantly preset leaves out lead_status, interest_status and email_replied, because they describe Instantly, not the lead. Before you export, remove the leads who replied, bounced or unsubscribed, or paste their addresses into Suppressions after the import.
Does my Instantly warmup history carry over?
A mailbox's reputation lives with the mailbox and its domain, not with the tool, so it comes with you. The warmup pool itself is Instantly's; Ballast's own warmup starts on the day you turn it on.
Can I keep Instantly running while I switch?
Yes, as long as each mailbox sends from one tool at a time. Finish or pause the Instantly campaigns that use a mailbox before Ballast sends from it, and keep the suppression list in step 5 up to date in both.
What doesn't come across?
Your Instantly campaign stats, sent history, reply threads and lead statuses stay in Instantly. Ballast starts its own history from the first email it sends, and reads replies to those emails from your mailboxes.
Do my mailboxes lose their warmup?
No. A mailbox's reputation lives with the mailbox and its domain, not with the tool. Ballast's warmup is included on every plan if you want to keep a warmup running.
How much cheaper is Ballast than Instantly?
It depends on your volume. The comparison page pairs every Instantly plan with the Ballast plan that sends the same, from both pricing pages.
Ballast vs Instantly
Bring your Instantly list. Keep the difference.
Import from Instantly, Smartlead, Lemlist, Apollo or Clay. Every feature on every plan, from $19 a month.