Best AI SDR Tools in 2026: 11 Compared
Every tool on this list calls itself an AI SDR. They split on which parts of the job they actually take off your plate: finding prospects, writing and sending, answering replies, booking the meeting, or logging the deal.
Most buyers compare them on the first two. Pipeline is won or lost on the last three.
The quick answer: The best AI SDR tool for most sales teams in 2026 is Carly. It runs sequences from each rep’s own Gmail or Outlook mailbox, drafts every reply in one shared team inbox, reaches new inbound leads within minutes by email, text or an AI voice call, and books the meeting on the right rep’s calendar. Bring your list from Apollo, a CSV or your forms. If you want one agent that also builds the list and sends from new domains it sets up, AiSDR, Artisan and 11x are the fully autonomous picks.
AI SDR tools compared
Entry prices from each vendor’s US pricing page on October 4, 2026, with the billing period noted.
| Tool | What it automates | Sends from | Entry price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carly | Sequencing, replies, speed-to-lead calls and texts, booking, CRM | Each rep’s own Gmail and Outlook, plus the team’s business number | AI agents from $35/mo; teams set up on a call | Turning replies and inbound leads into booked meetings |
| AiSDR (Ami) | Prospecting, email and LinkedIn sequencing, replies | Domains and mailboxes it sets up and warms | Solo $250/mo month to month; Explore $900/mo on a quarterly contract | A hands-off outbound agent for a small team |
| 11x (Alice, Julian) | Prospecting, multichannel sequencing, replies, calls, booking | Email, phone, chat, social, SMS and WhatsApp | Not published; quote after a demo | Enterprise outbound plus an AI phone agent |
| Artisan (Ava) | Prospecting, sequencing, replies, booking | Your reps’ names on sending domains sized to your volume | Free; Intern $280/mo monthly ($250 yearly) | Startups that want an AI BDR with a database |
| Reply.io (Jason AI SDR) | Prospecting, sequencing, replies, booking | Connected mailboxes, plus LinkedIn, calls and SMS add-ons | Jason from $500/mo billed annually ($800 monthly) | An AI SDR inside a multichannel sequencer |
| Qualified (Piper) | Inbound website and email conversations, booking | Your website (text, voice, video) and email | Not published; sold by demo | Inbound pipeline for Salesforce shops |
| Instantly | Prospecting, high-volume email, replies on the Scale bundle | Any number of connected mailboxes, warmed and rotated | Outreach $47/mo monthly; bundles from $94/mo | Cold email volume |
| Apollo.io | Prospecting, sequencing, calls | Your connected mailboxes, plus a dialer | Free; Basic $49/seat/mo billed annually | The contact list |
| Amplemarket (Duo) | Prospecting, multichannel sequencing, reply drafts | Email, social and phone sequences | Startup $600/mo on an annual term, 2 users | Data and sequencing in one contract |
| Regie.ai (RegieGO) | Prospecting, research, dialing, follow-ups | Your own Gmail or Outlook, plus a power dialer | Free; Pro $49/mo monthly ($41 yearly) | Reps who prospect for themselves |
| Clay | Prospecting, enrichment, research | Clay’s sequencer or one you connect | Free; Launch from $167/mo billed annually | Building and enriching the list |
Want the Carly row scoped against your current outbound setup? Book a call with the Carly team.
What an AI SDR tool should cover
An SDR does five jobs: find the right people, research them, write and send, answer the replies, and book and log the meeting (what an AI SDR is covers each). Nearly every vendor below demos the first three well. In a trial, ask how fast a positive reply gets answered, by whom, and whether the meeting lands on the right rep’s calendar with the CRM updated.
1. Carly: best AI SDR tool for replies, speed to lead and booking
Carly is an AI assistant for sales teams that works from the mailboxes, calendars and CRM your reps already use. It runs outbound and inbound in one place, built around the moment pipeline is won or lost: the reply.
At 6:12 pm Claire, a finance director at a regional logistics company, fills in your demo form. Routing assigns her to Josh, she gets an email and a text from the team’s own address and number within minutes, and the AI voice agent calls with her form answers in hand. She takes Thursday at 10 on Josh’s calendar.
Overnight, Michael, an operations VP at a 30-store retailer, replies to step three of Josh’s sequence asking for a time next week. Carly stops the sequence, labels the reply Interested, researches the company through Apollo, and drafts an answer with three open slots from Josh’s real calendar. At 8 am Josh approves the drafts in one team inbox, or lets the agent send. After Thursday’s call, Carly acts on the Gong notes to send Claire the follow-up and update the deal.
- Sequences from your reps’ real mailboxes. Multi-step sequences send from each rep’s Gmail and Outlook accounts, with follow-ups as replies in the same thread. A sequence stops on its own when the person replies (in any thread) or books. Per-mailbox daily caps, sending windows and unsubscribe headers are built in.
- One team inbox, every reply drafted. All of the team’s Gmail and Outlook mailboxes, plus calls and texts, in one inbox with assignments, notes, reminders and an “Awaiting reply” view. Carly drafts each answer and labels replies as interested, not interested or out of office, so reps start with the hot ones.
- Speed to lead by email, text or call. Rules route each new lead from email, a form, a call or a text to an owner or a team, and the AI voice agent in Carly Phone can call them (see AI outbound calling).
- Meetings on the right calendar. Carly checks all of your Google and Microsoft calendars at once and books the rep who owns the lead, or sends a booking page.
- A CRM nobody has to update by hand. Use the built-in CRM for lead statuses, weighted pipeline and reports by owner, or keep HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Close or Attio and Carly logs there. It acts on call notes from Gong, Fathom or Fireflies.
- Research before it writes. Carly connects to thousands of apps, including Apollo, Hunter, Lusha and People Data Labs for enrichment, plus Instantly, Slack and Gong. Leads come from Apollo, a CSV, your forms or your CRM.
It runs next to what you already pay for. Keep Apollo for data or Instantly for volume and let Carly take over at the reply. Steps that don’t need AI, like moving a deal stage, run as free Zapier-style workflows.
Best for: Sales teams losing deals to slow replies, missed follow-ups and inbound leads that wait hours. Pricing: Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month. Carly for teams is set up with you on a short call. Running a high-volume cold program across many domains? Book a call and the Carly team scopes it with you.
2. AiSDR (Ami)
AiSDR’s agent, Ami, is sold as an “AI GTM agent” trained on 17,000+ real campaigns. It researches contacts, writes and sends email and LinkedIn touches from domains and mailboxes AiSDR sets up and warms, and answers replies in 5 to 10 minutes or drafts them for approval in co-pilot mode. See our AiSDR review and AiSDR alternatives.
Pick it if: you want one agent to run outbound end to end and can live with a monthly contact cap. Pricing: Solo $250/month (month to month, 200 contacts a month, one user); Explore $900/month and Scale $2,500/month, both on quarterly contracts. Annual billing takes 20% off.
3. 11x (Alice and Julian)
11x sells “digital workers.” Alice handles outbound: she researches accounts, tracks signals, runs sequences across email, phone, chat, social networks, SMS and WhatsApp, and handles the replies. Julian is an AI phone agent for inbound speed to lead, qualification and meeting scheduling.
Pick it if: you’re an enterprise team that wants outbound and an inbound voice agent from one vendor. Pricing: Not published; you get a quote after a live demo.
4. Artisan (Ava)
Artisan’s AI BDR, Ava, finds leads in a 250M+ contact database, researches them, sends in your reps’ names from your own sending domains, handles replies and books meetings. You can approve messages first or let Ava run, and reps get a dialer with a brief before each call.
Pick it if: you’re a startup that wants an autonomous BDR with its own data, billed monthly. Pricing: Free plan with 300 credits a month; Intern $280/month billed monthly ($250 billed annually) for about 500 leads contacted. Team plans for larger companies are scoped on a sales call.
5. Reply.io (Jason AI SDR)
Reply.io is a multichannel sequencer (email, LinkedIn, calls and SMS) with an AI SDR called Jason that searches contacts, personalizes outreach, writes responses and books meetings. LinkedIn automation is a $69-per-account add-on, and calls and SMS are $29.
Pick it if: you want an AI SDR and a classic sequencer under one login. Pricing: Email Volume from $49/month billed annually ($59 monthly); Jason AI SDR Starter from $500/month billed annually ($800 monthly) for 1,000 active contacts.
6. Qualified (Piper)
Piper is an inbound AI SDR: it talks to visitors on your website by text, voice or video, runs email conversations with inbound contacts, and books meetings. Salesforce bought Qualified in April 2026, and Piper ties tightly into Salesforce data and reporting.
Pick it if: your pipeline comes from website traffic and your team lives in Salesforce. Pricing: Not published; Premier, Enterprise and Ultimate plans are quoted after a demo.
7. Instantly
Instantly is cold email infrastructure first: connect any number of mailboxes, warm them, rotate sends, and pull leads from a 450M+ contact database. Its AI Sales Agent comes in the bundles, and the AI Reply Agent with Unibox replies arrives on the Scale bundle. See our Instantly review and Instantly alternatives.
Pick it if: your copy works and your problem is sending volume and deliverability. Pricing: Outreach Growth $47/month billed monthly; Starter bundle $94/month and Scale bundle $194/month billed monthly (10% less yearly).
8. Apollo.io
Apollo is where most teams get their list: a large B2B contact database with intent topics, sequences, an AI assistant for research, a dialer and CRM enrichment. Seats plus credits set the bill, so read our Apollo.io pricing breakdown before you add seats.
Pick it if: bad data is why outreach underperforms. Apollo for the list and Carly for the replies is a common pairing. Pricing: Free plan; Basic $49 a seat a month billed annually, Professional $79.
9. Amplemarket (Duo)
Amplemarket bundles a contact database, intent signals and job-change alerts with multichannel sequences and Duo, its AI copilot. Duo Copywriter writes personalized first touches, Duo Inbox drafts replies, and Duo Voice adds voice messages.
Pick it if: you want data, signals and sequencing on one contract for a small team. Pricing: Startup $600/month on an annual term, with two users and 27,000 contacts.
10. Regie.ai (RegieGO)
RegieGO is an agentic workspace for reps who prospect for themselves. Its agents research accounts, draft messages, enrich contacts and run a parallel power dialer, and email goes out from your own Gmail or Outlook. Team plans add a shared CRM and prospect list.
Pick it if: you’re a founder or a full-cycle rep who wants AI help without an agency-size contract. Pricing: Free (250 one-time credits); Pro $49/month billed monthly ($41 yearly); Team $150 a seat a month ($125 yearly), two-seat minimum.
11. Clay
Clay is the data layer much of this category builds on: waterfall enrichment across 150+ providers, Claygent (its AI web-research agent) and signals, with its own email sequencer or the one you connect.
Pick it if: your list is the problem and you have someone who enjoys building workflows. Pair it with Carly for the replies and booking. Pricing: Free plan (500 actions a month); Launch from $167/month and Growth from $446/month, both billed annually.
How to choose an AI SDR tool
- Where does your pipeline leak? If you need more first touches, look at volume tools (Instantly, AiSDR, Artisan). If inbound leads wait hours, you need speed to lead (Carly, 11x’s Julian, Qualified). If prospects reply and nobody answers until tomorrow, you need reply handling and booking, so test that part hardest in any trial.
- Your own mailboxes, or new domains? AiSDR, Artisan and Instantly send from domains and mailboxes set up for volume, which protects your main domain but usually means a few weeks of warm-up first. Carly and Regie send from the mailboxes your reps already use, so replies land in threads your team can see.
- How long is the contract? AiSDR’s popular plans need a quarter, Amplemarket a year, and 11x and Qualified are quoted after a demo. Monthly-billed options include AiSDR Solo (cancel anytime), Artisan Intern, Regie Pro and Reply.io.
- Where does the data come from? Artisan, Instantly, Apollo and Amplemarket bring a database. Clay enriches from many. If you already pay for one, you don’t need a second.
If your list is fine and the problem is everything after the first touch, go with Carly. Every reply drafted in one inbox, inbound leads reached in minutes, meetings on the right calendar and the CRM updated. Get started with Carly, or book a call to set it up for the team.
FAQ
What is the best AI SDR tool?
For most sales teams, Carly: sequences from your reps’ own Gmail and Outlook, every reply drafted in one shared inbox, inbound leads reached within minutes, and the right rep booked. For an autonomous outbound agent with its own data, Artisan or AiSDR; for enterprise outbound plus voice, 11x; for inbound website conversations in Salesforce, Qualified. Book a call with the Carly team to see it on your pipeline.
How much do AI SDR tools cost?
From free to custom quotes. Apollo, Clay, Regie and Artisan have free plans. Autonomous agents start around $250 to $500 a month: AiSDR Solo is $250 month to month, Artisan Intern $280 monthly, and Reply.io’s Jason from $500 billed annually. 11x and Qualified quote after a demo. Carly has free Zapier-style workflows and AI agents from $35/month.
Do AI SDRs actually book meetings?
Yes, though results depend on how fast a positive reply gets answered with real times attached. In a trial, measure meetings booked per positive reply, not emails sent. Carly drafts each answer with open slots from the rep’s real calendar, or sends a booking page, and the meeting lands on that rep’s calendar.
Can an AI SDR work from my own Gmail or Outlook?
Yes. Carly’s sequences send from each rep’s real Gmail and Outlook accounts and work across all of your team’s Google and Microsoft accounts at once, so replies stay in the threads reps already read. Regie also sends from your own mailbox. AiSDR, Artisan and Instantly are built around sending domains set up for volume. See what Carly connects to.
What’s the difference between an AI SDR and a sales engagement platform?
A sales engagement platform (Outreach, Salesloft, Apollo’s sequences) gives human reps sequences, a dialer and reporting; the rep still writes, answers and books. An AI SDR does those steps itself, with or without a person approving. For the classic platforms, see Outreach alternatives. Carly sits on the AI side: the agent answers, books and logs, and reps step in where they want to.
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See what people say
"Before Carly, I relied on a Calendly link, but the whole process felt impersonal and not very professional. Carly changed that by handling all the back-and-forth, so I'm no longer stuck in endless email threads trying to line up schedules.
Now Carly reaches out to candidates, shares my real-time availability, lets them pick a slot, then sends a Zoom link and drops it straight into my calendar. She sends reminders to both of us before each call, which has significantly reduced no-shows and last-minute confusion.
On top of scheduling, Carly acts like a full executive assistant, sending me my schedule the night before so I can prepare for each call. It reminds me of the old x.ai assistant, but Carly is noticeably smarter, faster, and better suited to my healthcare recruitment business."
