Instantly vs Mailshake: Which Cold Outreach Tool Is Superior?

I have run outbound on all three of these tools, so this Instantly vs Mailshake vs Salesforge comparison comes from someone who has paid for each, not read the marketing pages. The choice almost always lands on one question: is your outbound email-only, or do you need email and LinkedIn from the same place?

Instantly and Mailshake are both built primarily around email. Salesforge runs email and LinkedIn together and sits on a wider sales infrastructure stack. One number I keep coming back to: UniteSync ran on Salesforge with Mailforge and Warmforge to an 85.26% positive reply rate at a $2.86 CAC. That kind of result is what decides a tool.

Cold Email Tools Compared at a Glance: Instantly vs Mailshake

Instantly Overview

Instantly is a cold email platform built for high-volume sending. It became popular for one feature: you can connect unlimited email accounts on every plan. For agencies and founders running large inbox counts, that model changed how people think about scaling email.

Instantly has also split into separate products. The Outreach plans handle sending. The lead database (Instantly Credits), CRM, verification, and website visitors are each their own subscription. Recently it added an AI Sales Agent and AI Reply Agent for automated email replies.

Core features

• Unlimited email accounts: connect and send from as many inboxes as you want on any Outreach plan.
• Unlimited email warm-up: included on all plans, running on a shared pool.
• Campaign sequencing: multi-step email sequences with A/Z testing and scheduling.
• Unibox: a unified inbox that pulls campaign replies into one view.
• AI Reply Agent: automated email replies that aim to book meetings.
• Lead Finder: a separate lead database product, priced apart from sending.

Pricing

Instantly Outreach has three self-serve tiers (monthly rates shown; annual billing runs about 20% less). Instantly Growth is $47/mo monthly (around $37.60/mo annual) with 1,000 uploaded contacts and 5,000 emails. Hypergrowth is $97/mo monthly (around $77.60/mo annual) with 100,000 emails. Light Speed is $358/mo monthly (around $286.40/mo annual) with 500,000 emails. The lead database and CRM are extra.

Who it is best for

Instantly fits teams running email-only outbound at scale who want a large number of inboxes under one bill and do not need LinkedIn in the same tool. If you want to understand where this category is heading, my notes on AI in cold email cover it.

What reviewers say

Instantly carries plenty of positive reviews, but the critical ones cluster around two themes: deliverability and support. The Trustpilot review above describes emails landing in spam or getting quarantined. Others report slow chat support and billing friction when cancelling. Those are worth reading before you commit a domain portfolio to any sending tool.

Mailshake Overview

Mailshake is a sales engagement platform aimed at small teams and agencies. It started as a simple cold email tool and has grown to include a phone dialer and an AI writing assistant called SHAKESpeare. It is trusted by 100,000+ sales teams, per its homepage.

The thing to understand about Mailshake is the pricing model. It charges per user, and each user you pay for connects one mail account. So a three-inbox setup means paying for three users, even if one person runs it.

Core features

• Email sequences: automated multi-step campaigns with A/B testing.
• SHAKESpeare AI: an AI assistant that drafts email copy.
• Phone dialer: a power dialer with 5 phone numbers on the top plan.
• Unified inbox: reply management on the Email Outreach plan and up.
• CRM integrations: Salesforce, Pipedrive, HubSpot, plus 1,000+ apps via Zapier.
• Data Finder: a contact-data add-on at $19/mo ($17/mo annual).

Pricing

Mailshake has three per-user tiers. Mailshake Starter is $29/user/mo monthly ($25/user/mo annual) with 1 email address and 1,500 sends. Email Outreach, the most popular tier, is $49/user/mo monthly ($45/user/mo annual) with 2 email addresses and unlimited sends. Sales Engagement is $99/user/mo monthly ($85/user/mo annual) and adds the phone dialer. There is no free trial; you pay upfront.

Who it is best for

Mailshake suits small teams that want email sequences plus a built-in phone dialer in one tool, and that are comfortable with seat-based pricing. LinkedIn is handled as manual task reminders rather than automated sending, so it is not a fit if you want hands-off LinkedIn outreach. My guide to getting clients from LinkedIn explains why that channel matters.

What reviewers say

Mailshake users generally like the simplicity, and the product holds strong overall ratings. The critical reviews tend to mention bugs during campaign setup, support friction, and the no-refund policy that follows the upfront payment. The lack of any free trial means you cannot test before you buy.

Salesforge Overview: The Multi-Channel Outreach Platform

Salesforge is the outreach layer of the Forge Stack. It runs email and LinkedIn sequences from one dashboard, with unlimited mailboxes on every plan and unlimited LinkedIn senders on the Growth plan. Where Instantly and Mailshake stop at email (and, for Mailshake, phone), Salesforge treats multi-channel as the default.

Core features

• Multi-channel sequences: email and LinkedIn touches in a single conditional workflow.
• Unlimited mailboxes: on every plan, with smart rotation across inboxes.
• Unlimited LinkedIn senders: on the Growth plan, with no per-seat charge.
• Free Warmforge warm-up: unlimited premium warm-up included with every plan.
• Primebox: a free unified inbox for email and LinkedIn replies, with sentiment analysis.
• Overdrive Mode: AI personalization that pulls from a prospect's site, blog, and LinkedIn posts.
• Agent Frank: an optional autonomous AI SDR that prospects, writes, and books meetings.
• Leadsforge access: a 500M+ contact lead engine that feeds sequences directly.
• SOC 2 compliant with HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, and Clay native integrations.

The Forge Stack context

Salesforge is one product in a connected stack. Lead search runs through Leadsforge, warm-up through Warmforge, and email infrastructure through three options: Mailforge for shared IPs, Infraforge for dedicated IPs, and Primeforge for real Google and Microsoft mailboxes. You can see the full picture on the Forge Stack overview. Neither Instantly nor Mailshake sells dedicated infrastructure like this.

Pricing

Salesforge keeps two simple, flat plans. The Pro plan is $48/mo monthly ($40/mo annual) with 1,000 active contacts, 5,000 emails, 1 LinkedIn sender, and 1 user. The Growth plan is $96/mo monthly ($80/mo annual) with 10,000 active contacts, 50,000 emails, unlimited LinkedIn senders, and unlimited users. Both include unlimited mailboxes and free Warmforge warm-up.

Agent Frank is a separate subscription at $499/mo billed quarterly (or $416/mo billed annually) for 1,000 active contacts. He is never bundled into the Pro or Growth price. You can verify the live price on the Salesforge pricing page.

Who it is best for

Salesforge fits B2B teams selling at ACVs between $5K and $100K to startups, SMBs, and mid-market companies, targeting 3,000 businesses or more. Salesforge itself says it is a poor fit if you primarily target Fortune 500 companies, rely on long RFP cycles, or close a handful of six- to seven-figure bespoke deals.

Honest limitations

• Email infrastructure is not included in the base price; you connect your own or add a Forge infrastructure product.
• The API, A/B testing, ESP matching, and multi-language sequences sit behind the Growth plan.
• Agent Frank requires a sales-led demo and a 2-week warm-up before he starts sending.

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Head-to-Head Feature Comparison: Instantly vs Mailshake

Multi-channel outreach

This is the clearest split. Salesforge runs email and LinkedIn in one sequence, with unlimited LinkedIn senders on the Growth plan and phone outreach on the roadmap. Instantly is email only; there is no LinkedIn product in its lineup. Mailshake adds a phone dialer at its $99/user Sales Engagement tier, but LinkedIn is handled as manual task reminders, not automated sending. If your buyers live on LinkedIn as much as email, only one of these three actually sends there for you. Running multiple inboxes and profiles safely is its own skill, which I cover in my notes on managing multiple LinkedIn accounts.

Email deliverability and warm-up

All three include warm-up. The difference is the pool. Salesforge gives every mailbox free, unlimited Warmforge warm-up in a premium-by-default pool of real Google and Microsoft mailboxes, with a Heat Score that flags any inbox below 97. Instantly includes unlimited warm-up too, but it runs on a shared pool that Salesforge's own comparison pages document as containing low-quality domains; that is not a premium pool by any reasonable definition, and the deliverability complaints in Instantly's reviews echo it. Mailshake includes unlimited warm-up on every tier. Salesforge also layers in three infrastructure choices for risk diversification, which neither competitor matches.

AI and personalization

Salesforge ships Overdrive Mode, which personalizes from a prospect's website, blog posts, and LinkedIn activity, plus Agent Frank, an autonomous AI SDR that prospects, writes, sends, and books meetings on Auto-Pilot or Co-Pilot. Instantly has an AI Reply Agent that automates email replies, a narrower job than a full SDR. Mailshake's SHAKESpeare AI drafts email copy but does not prospect or run outreach on its own. For a wider view of this category, I keep a running list of AI sales prospecting tools.

Inbox management and reply handling

Salesforge's Primebox is a free unified inbox that captures email and LinkedIn replies in one place, tags them by sentiment, and drafts AI replies on the Growth plan. It even catches replies from a different address than the one you contacted. Instantly's Unibox unifies email campaign replies. Mailshake includes a unified inbox starting on the Email Outreach plan. All three consolidate replies, but only Primebox pulls LinkedIn and email into the same view, because only Salesforge sends on both channels.

Pricing and scalability

This is where the models diverge hardest. Mailshake charges per user, so a five-person team on Sales Engagement runs $495/mo monthly ($425/mo annual) before add-ons, and the bill climbs with every new seat. Instantly is volume-based with unlimited inboxes, but the lead database and CRM are separate products, so the real stack often lands at $124/mo or more. Salesforge is flat: the Growth plan at $80/mo annual covers unlimited users and unlimited LinkedIn senders, so adding people does not raise the price. Growth teams that experiment with many senders feel this difference fast.

Integrations and stack

Salesforge integrates natively with HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, and Clay, offers an API on the Growth plan, and even has an MCP server that connects it to AI assistants. It also feeds from Leadsforge, a 500M+ contact database. Instantly offers API access, webhooks, and Zapier, with its lead and CRM tools as separate products. Mailshake connects to Salesforce, Pipedrive, and HubSpot, plus 1,000+ apps through Zapier, and has a browser extension. For lead sourcing specifically, my walkthrough on turning competitor followers into prospects shows where Leadsforge pulls ahead.

Pricing Comparison: Instantly vs Mailshake vs Salesforge

Here is a concrete scenario. Say you run a five-person team and want everyone sending. On Mailshake Sales Engagement, that is $99 x 5 = $495/mo monthly, plus the Data Finder add-on for contact data. On Instantly, the inboxes are unlimited, but adding the lead database and CRM pushes the stack past $124/mo. On Salesforge Growth, the same five people cost $96/mo monthly ($80/mo annual) total, because it is not seat-based, and Warmforge warm-up is already included.

The takeaway: Salesforge's flat pricing gets cheaper relative to the others as your team grows, while Mailshake's per-seat model moves the opposite way.

Who Should Use Which Tool

Final Verdict: Which Cold Email Tool to Choose

Instantly and Mailshake are both capable email tools that stop short of full multi-channel outbound. Instantly is email-only and splits its lead and CRM tools into separate bills. Mailshake adds a phone dialer but charges per seat and offers no free trial, so you pay before you can test it. Both have reviews worth reading before you commit.

For real multi-channel B2B outbound, Salesforge is the stronger choice. At $80/mo for the Growth plan billed annually ($96/mo monthly), you get unlimited users, unlimited LinkedIn senders, unlimited mailboxes, free Warmforge warm-up, and Primebox, a combination neither alternative offers at any price.

One falsifiable benchmark: UniteSync ran on Salesforge with Mailforge and Warmforge to an 85.26% positive reply rate and a $2.86 CAC. ChannelCrawler hit 85.71% with Salesforge, Infraforge, and Warmforge. Those case studies are public, and they show outcomes a single-channel tool cannot produce.

If you want to weigh it against more tools, the Salesforge comparisons hub and the dedicated Instantly vs Salesforge breakdown go deeper.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Salesforge better than Instantly?

For multi-channel outbound, yes. Salesforge runs email and LinkedIn from one dashboard, while Instantly is email only with no LinkedIn product. Salesforge also includes free Warmforge warm-up in a premium pool and three infrastructure options. Instantly's strength is unlimited inboxes on a volume plan, but its lead database and CRM cost extra. Salesforge Pro starts at $48/mo monthly ($40/mo annual).

What is the main difference between Salesforge and Mailshake?

Pricing model and channels. Mailshake charges per user, so a five-seat team on Sales Engagement is $495/mo monthly before add-ons. Salesforge is flat: the Growth plan at $80/mo annual covers unlimited users. Mailshake pairs email with a phone dialer; Salesforge pairs email with native LinkedIn sending plus an optional AI SDR, Agent Frank.

Which is cheaper: Instantly, Mailshake, or Salesforge?

It depends on team size. Mailshake's Starter is $29/user/mo, but the per-seat cost multiplies with each user. Instantly Growth is $47/mo monthly, though the full stack with leads and CRM passes $124/mo. Salesforge Pro is $48/mo monthly ($40/mo annual) and Growth is $96/mo monthly ($80/mo annual) for unlimited users, so it scales cheaper as teams grow.

Does Instantly support LinkedIn outreach?

No. Instantly is an email-only platform, and there is no LinkedIn product in its lineup. If you need LinkedIn and email together, Salesforge runs both in one sequence with unlimited LinkedIn senders on the Growth plan. Mailshake handles LinkedIn only as manual task reminders, not automated sending.

Does Mailshake offer a free trial?

No. Mailshake collects payment upfront and does not offer a free trial on any plan, and its policy is no refunds. Salesforge offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required, and Instantly offers a 14-day trial as well. With Salesforge you can connect mailboxes and start warm-up during the trial.

Which tool has better email deliverability?

All three include warm-up, but Salesforge's Warmforge uses a premium-by-default pool of real Google and Microsoft mailboxes and a Heat Score that flags any inbox below 97. Instantly's warm-up runs on a shared pool that Salesforge documents as including low-quality domains. Salesforge also offers dedicated infrastructure through Infraforge, which agency case studies tie to 97-100% inbox placement.

Can I switch from Instantly or Mailshake to Salesforge easily?

Yes. Salesforge connects unlimited mailboxes on any plan and supports CSV upload and Google Sheets for contacts, so moving sequences over is straightforward. Salesforge also publishes a 30% migration discount for customers switching from Instantly. You keep your existing domains and inboxes and add free Warmforge warm-up on top.

Does Salesforge have an AI SDR like Instantly's AI agent?

Yes, and it goes further. Agent Frank is an autonomous AI SDR that prospects, writes, sends, manages replies, and books meetings across email and LinkedIn, on Auto-Pilot or Co-Pilot. Instantly's AI Reply Agent automates email replies only. Agent Frank is a separate subscription at $499/mo billed quarterly and requires a demo plus a 2-week warm-up.