Gako vs Instantly, lemlist and Smartlead
The three big cold email tools give you what you need to run it yourself. Gako runs it for you. Price, who each is for, and where each wins.
Instantly, lemlist and Smartlead are the three names most people meet first when they look at cold email. All three are good tools. They give you what you need to run cold email yourself: mailboxes, warm-up, sequences, and in two cases a lead database and AI writing.
Gako is different in one way that matters for a small firm on a small budget: it runs the whole thing for you. I built it for my own studio, because I wanted new clients without taking on a second job managing campaigns. It is tuned on agencies and studios, and it works for any small firm that sells to other firms. Here is how the four compare.
Side by side
| Gako | Instantly | lemlist | Smartlead | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Small firms that want it done for them | Teams sending at volume | Sales teams on several channels | Lead gen agencies |
| Price | 4 cents an email | From US$47 a month | From US$69 a month | From US$39 a month |
| 500 emails a month | US$20, all in | US$94 | US$89 to US$109 | About US$55, plus data |
| Who to target | From your website | 450M+ database | 650M+ database | Your own lists |
| Contacts and addresses | Included | Credits | Credits | Not included |
| Writing | Done for you, per firm | AI drafts, you check | Templates and AI | You write |
| Channels | Email, LinkedIn, calls | |||
| Mailboxes | Yours plus warmed ones | Bring your own | Bring or buy | Bring or buy |
| Follow-ups | Two, automatic | You build them | You build them | You build them |
| Replies | Sorted, simple ones answered | Inbox; AI from US$194 | AI suggestions | Inbox |
| Set-up | Your website | Mailboxes, lists, sequences | Mailboxes, lists, sequences | Domains, mailboxes, lists, copy |
| Volume | A few thousand a month | Up to 500,000 | Up to 50,000 | Up to 500,000 |
| Status | Early access | Live | Live | Live |
Other tools' prices are from their own pricing pages, monthly billing.
What each costs
Gako charges 4 cents for each email sent. 500 emails is US$20, and that covers finding the firms, finding the person who decides and their address, writing each email and sending it. Replies cost nothing. If you send more, monthly plans cost less: 1,000 emails for US$38, 2,500 emails for US$90, 5,000 emails for US$170, 10,000 emails for US$300. You don't buy mailboxes.
Instantly is US$94 a month on its Starter bundle, which comes with 5,000 emails, 1,500 data credits, its lead database and an AI agent that drafts emails. Sending on its own is US$47 a month, with the data bought elsewhere.
lemlist is US$69 a month for email, with its database and AI included. 500 found emails takes more credits than the plan gives, so expect to add US$20 for 2,000 more credits. Its multichannel plan is US$109 a user.
Smartlead is US$39 a month to send, plus your mailboxes, which it sells from US$4.50 a month and US$13 a year for each domain. Three mailboxes takes it to about US$55. Lists and writing are yours to do or buy.
Who each one is for
Instantly is for someone whose job includes cold email: building lists, testing copy, looking after mailboxes, at volume.
lemlist is for sales teams who want email and LinkedIn in one place and enjoy building campaigns step by step.
Smartlead is for lead generation agencies running outbound for many clients, and for anyone who already has good lists and good copy and needs to send a lot of it cheaply.
Gako is for the founder of any small firm selling to other firms (a studio, a consultancy, a SaaS company, a supplier) who wants new clients from email on a small budget, and doesn't want to become a cold email operator to get them. It was tuned on agencies and studios, so they get the most out of it today.
Where they beat Gako
I'd rather you hear it from me:
- Volume. All three go much further. Gako is built for one firm finding its own clients, not for half a million emails a month.
- Control. You build every sequence, step and condition yourself. If you like tuning campaigns, you'll like that.
- A database to browse. Instantly and lemlist let you search and filter millions of contacts by hand. Gako finds the firms for you and doesn't give you a database to dig through.
- More channels. lemlist reaches people on LinkedIn, by phone and on WhatsApp. Gako is email only.
- Many clients at once. Smartlead has client workspaces and white label for agencies that sell outbound.
- They are live. Gako is in early access.
Why Gako
It does the work. The other three give you tools. Gako reads your website, works out the kinds of firms your work fits, finds the person who decides at each one, writes the email and sends it. You read the replies and take the calls.
Every email is about them. Each one opens on something true the firm says about itself, from its own site. It never comments on their website. Anything risky, like a promise of a price or a meeting time, waits for you to read it first.
Nothing to set up. No domains to buy and no weeks of warm-up. Your own address sends up to 10 a day, so it stays clean and replies land in your inbox, and the rest go from mailboxes Gako already keeps warm.
You pay for what goes out. No monthly plan to keep paying in a quiet month, no seats. 500 emails is US$20, everything included.
It follows the law for you. Gako checks each firm's country and applies its cold email rules before it writes, and nobody who says no is written to again.
Made by someone who uses it. I built Gako to find clients for my own studio, and it still does. My first run of cold email was 1,910 emails for about US$52. It got 14 interested replies and one S$4,000 website project.
Which to pick
If you have someone who will own cold email and you need volume or LinkedIn, pick one of the three. Instantly for volume with data built in, lemlist for multichannel, Smartlead for sending cheaply at scale.
If you run a small firm and want it to find your next clients for you, start to finish, for cents an email, pick Gako. The trial is US$15 of sending for US$1. See what it would write for your firm.