Smartlead vs PromptLab: which should you use for cold email in 2026?

Smartlead is a cold email tool with unlimited mailboxes, priced by send volume; PromptLab is a CRM with email campaigns built in. Costs, mailboxes and warm-up.

Published 20 October 2026. Prices and features from each vendor's own pages.

The short answer

SmartleadPaid from $32.50/account

Choose it if you send cold email at volume, up to 500,000 sends a month.

PromptLabIn the CRM from $11.99/seat

Choose it if you want campaigns, contacts and deals in one CRM.

Smartlead is a dedicated cold email platform with unlimited mailboxes and warm-up, priced by send volume rather than by seat or mailbox. PromptLab is a CRM for B2B teams that sell products, with cold email built in as campaigns. You are choosing between a sending tool that sits beside your CRM and campaigns that are part of it.

Below, the two are compared on price, mailboxes and sending, warm-up, lead data and CRM links. We make PromptLab, so every figure comes from Smartlead's own pricing and product pages and PromptLab's pricing page, and we say where Smartlead is stronger. Prices are a month, Smartlead per account billed annually and PromptLab per user billed monthly, unless we say otherwise.

Smartlead vs PromptLab at a glance

Smartlead vs PromptLab, with PromptLab: prices and features
Checked on 20 October 2026	Smartlead	PromptLab
Pricing
Free plan
Paid plans, a month	$32.50 – $314.60per account	$11.99 – $99per seat
Free trial		14 days
Billing	Billed annually	Billed monthly
Cold email
Multi-step sequences
Sending mailboxes	Unlimited	Up to 20 per campaign
Email warm-up		Volume ramp-up
LinkedIn steps	Via integrations
Built-in lead database	Add-on
A/B testing
CRM integrations	From$78.30/month	Built in

Pricing: $32.50 to $314.60 against $11.99 to $99

Smartlead has four plans, sized by contacts and sends. Base is $32.50 for 6,000 sends a month, Pro $78.30 for 90,000, Unlimited Smart $144.50 for 150,000 and Unlimited Prime $314.60 for 500,000. Annual billing saves 17%, and every plan has a free trial with no card needed.

PromptLab Basic is $11.99 a user a month, Professional $23.99 and Business $99, with a 14-day trial on Basic and Professional. On monthly billing for both, Smartlead Base is $39 for the account, so three PromptLab Basic users ($35.97) cost less and four ($47.96) cost more. Smartlead's plan buys the sending tool; PromptLab's buys the CRM, with campaigns on every plan.

Mailboxes and sending

Smartlead includes unlimited email accounts on every plan and rotates sending across the mailboxes in a campaign. You can also buy Google mailboxes inside the tool from $4.50 a month each, plus $13 a year per domain.

PromptLab rotates up to 20 of your own mailboxes per campaign. Emails are spaced out within the hours and days you choose, and a sequence stops on a reply or a bounce. You can test subject and body variants, and Smartlead has A/B testing too.

Warm-up, lead data and LinkedIn

Smartlead includes warm-up on every plan, with a pool that rises by plan from Foundation on Base to Premium on the Unlimited plans. Verified prospect emails from SmartProspect are a $59 a month add-on on Base and Pro, and are included on the two Unlimited plans.

PromptLab has no warm-up network and no lead database. A new mailbox ramps up its daily volume over three weeks, and you bring your own list. PromptLab has no LinkedIn steps; Smartlead runs LinkedIn outreach through SmartAgents, which integrates with LinkedIn tools such as HeyReach and AimFox.

Where Smartlead is stronger

For outbound at volume Smartlead does much more: unlimited mailboxes, up to 500,000 sends a month, a warm-up pool and a prospect database. If you run outreach for clients, client workspaces are $29 a month each from Pro, and Unlimited Prime includes 3.

It also connects to other CRMs, with native integrations for HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive and Zoho CRM. CRM access starts on Pro at $78.30 a month.

Campaigns inside the CRM

In PromptLab the campaign is part of the CRM: the contact, the deal and the quote are already there, and a reply stops the sequence without a sync.

That suits a team emailing accounts it knows. A team sending to large cold lists from many mailboxes will find Smartlead's unlimited mailboxes a better fit than PromptLab's 20 per campaign.

Which should you choose?

Choose Smartlead if…

You send cold email at volume, up to 500,000 sends a month.
You want unlimited mailboxes and a warm-up pool on every plan.
You run outreach for clients and want separate workspaces.

Choose PromptLab if…

You want campaigns, contacts and deals in one CRM.
You want a reply to stop the sequence without a sync.
Your team is small and you want per-user pricing from $11.99 with the CRM included.

Frequently asked questions

Is PromptLab a Smartlead alternative?

For sequences to a list you already have, yes. For a warm-up pool, a prospect database and very high send volumes, no: Smartlead covers those and PromptLab does not.

Is Smartlead cheaper than PromptLab?

It depends on team size. On monthly billing, Smartlead Base is $39 for the account and PromptLab Basic $11.99 a user, so PromptLab costs less for up to three users and more from four. Smartlead Base allows 6,000 sends a month; PromptLab's price includes the CRM.

Can PromptLab replace Smartlead?

If you email your own contacts and want replies on the deal, it can. If you depend on unlimited mailboxes or warm-up, it cannot.

Does Smartlead work with a CRM?

Yes. It lists native integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive and Zoho CRM, and CRM access starts on the Pro plan.

Is there a CRM with email sequences built in?

Yes. PromptLab's campaigns send multi-step sequences from up to 20 of your own mailboxes, stop on replies and bounces and test A/B variants, on every plan from $11.99 a user a month with a 14-day free trial.