AI CRM suite
Cold-email outreach platform
Instantly Alternative: HelloGrowthCRM vs Instantly for Outreach
Last verified against Instantly's own pricing and product pages.
Quick verdict
Should you switch from Instantly to HelloGrowthCRM?
Decide on evidence.
- Step 1
List must-haves
Pipeline, WhatsApp, calling, reports
- Step 2
Price your team
Cost per user at your real team size
- Step 3
Trial with real leads
A week of genuine follow-up
- Step 4
Check the extras
AI, automation and integrations you need
- Step 5
Plan the move
Export, import and go live
HelloGrowthCRM's free plan lets you run step 3 on real leads before paying.
Who should choose which
Founders and small sales teams who send outreach and then have to sell: a reply needs a call, a meeting, a quote and a follow-up. HelloGrowthCRM puts email sequences, a browser dialer, AI voice agents, a shared inbox, booking pages, a pipeline and quotes on one record, for $12 per user per month, with prospecting search included in Growth.
Agencies and outbound teams who send cold email at scale: many connected mailboxes on any provider, warm-up, deliverability checks, A/Z testing, a large lead database with waterfall enrichment, and an AI reply agent. HelloGrowthCRM ramps a new sender up with daily sending caps, but it is not a cold-email sending network.
What Instantly is, and how it differs from a CRM
Instantly is a cold-email outreach platform. Teams connect many sending accounts, warm them up, write sequences with AI, test variants and manage replies in a unified inbox. Instantly also sells a lead database with enrichment on credits and a CRM as a separate plan (checked 2026-10-29).
HelloGrowthCRM is an AI CRM suite. Email sequences run from the lead record, and replies, texts and chat land in a shared inbox. Reps call from the browser or work a power dialer, AI voice agents place and answer calls, and deals move to quotes on the same record.
The tables on this page show both columns as of 2026-10-29. "Not listed" means Instantly's own pages do not list the capability, and a plan name in its column means the capability starts on that plan or product.
To decide, count how many emails you send and how many replies become deals. If volume is the job, Instantly is built for it. If most of the work happens after the reply, the CRM is where that work lives.
The 10 differences that decide it
What buyers comparing Instantly ask about most. Each Instantly cell links to Instantly's own page.
| What you need | Why it matters | HelloGrowthCRM | Instantly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deal pipeline board | Every open deal, its stage and its value on one screen. | Included (Growth plan) | Separate productSource, checked 2026-10-29 |
| Call leads from the CRM | Reps dial in one click and every call lands on the lead's timeline. | Included (Growth plan) | Separate productSource, checked 2026-10-29 |
| One shared inbox | The whole team sees every conversation, so nothing waits on one person. | Included (Growth plan) | IncludedSource, checked 2026-10-29 |
| Automatic follow-up emails | Leads get chased on schedule and the sequence stops when they reply. | Included (Growth plan) | IncludedSource, checked 2026-10-29 |
| Quotes from the deal | Pricing goes out in minutes, without copying data into another tool. | Included (Growth plan) | Not availableSource, checked 2026-10-29 |
| Website live chat | Visitors ask before they leave, and the chat becomes a lead. | Included (Growth plan) | Not availableSource, checked 2026-10-29 |
| AI makes outbound calls | Reminder and qualification calls run without a rep on the line. | Included (Growth plan) | Not availableSource, checked 2026-10-29 |
| Find new prospects | Reps add companies and contacts to the pipeline from a search. | Included (Growth plan) | IncludedSource, checked 2026-10-29 |
| Contact and company enrichment | Missing phone numbers, titles and company details are filled in. | Via integration | IncludedSource, checked 2026-10-29 |
| Any mailbox by IMAP and SMTP | Send from mailboxes on any email provider. | Via integration | IncludedSource, checked 2026-10-29 |
What HelloGrowthCRM includes for teams comparing Instantly
Included in Growth. Each card says what the feature does not do yet.
Email sequences
Multi-step follow-up that stops when the lead replies, triggered by stage changes.
Power dialer
Dialing sessions that call down a list, with recording and the call outcome logged on the lead.
Limit: Parallel (multi-line) dialing is not offered.
AI voice agents
AI agents that place and answer calls and run scheduled call campaigns, with results on the lead.
Limit: Voice and language coverage varies; test your accent and language on a call first.
AI lead scoring
Ranks every lead from engagement, source and past conversions so reps call the likeliest buyers first.
Prospecting and lead finder
Search a business database, approve the prospects you want and add them to the pipeline.
Limit: Searches count against plan caps.
Quotes, proposals and invoices
Quotes built from the deal, turned into invoices, plus recurring invoices and AI-drafted proposals.
Limit: Card payments run through a payment provider you connect.
Scheduler and booking pages
Branded booking pages with one-to-one, round-robin and collective meeting types, routing forms and reminders.
Limit: Two-way free/busy sync with outside calendars is not confirmed yet.
Report builder
About 24 lead and pipeline reports by stage, source, rep, team and channel, saved and exported.
Limit: Scheduled, emailed reports are coming soon.
What it costs for 5, 10 and 25 users
Instantly prices products by volume, not by user: Outreach from Growth at $47 a month (Hypergrowth $97), Instantly Credits for leads and enrichment from $47 a month, and the Instantly CRM from $47 a month, billed monthly, with domains and pre-warmed mailboxes extra (instantly.ai/pricing, checked 2026-10-29). HelloGrowthCRM is per user, so price the outreach volume and the number of sellers separately.
Price it yourself
- Ask Instantly for a written quote for your team size, including any usage, AI or channel charges.
- Add the one-time fees: onboarding, migration and number setup.
- Multiply HelloGrowthCRM's $12 per user per month by your users and by 12: 5 users is $720, 10 users $1,440 and 25 users $3,600 a year.
- Compare the two totals for the features you will actually use.
Why teams look past Instantly
Teams look past Instantly for three reasons.
The first is the CRM. Instantly sells its CRM as a separate plan, and the pipeline and calling sit there rather than in the outreach plans (Instantly pricing, checked 2026-10-29). HelloGrowthCRM is the CRM, with sequences included.
The second is replies. Replying from Instantly's Unibox starts on the Hypergrowth plan (Instantly help, checked 2026-10-29). In HelloGrowthCRM, email, texts and chat land in a shared inbox in Growth.
The third is what comes after a yes. Instantly's pricing and product pages list no quotes, website chat or AI voice agents (checked 2026-10-29). HelloGrowthCRM includes all three.
Where Instantly is stronger
- Cold email at volume: many connected mailboxes on any provider, warm-up and sender health checks.
- Waterfall contact enrichment on credits; in HelloGrowthCRM enrichment needs a connected third-party account.
- Sending through any IMAP and SMTP mailbox; HelloGrowthCRM connects SMTP through admin setup.
- A/Z testing and an AI reply agent built for outbound campaigns.
Full capability comparison
48 capabilities in 10 groups. Open a group to see every row.
Records and pipeline (4)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Instantly |
|---|---|---|
| Contact and lead records | Included (Growth plan) | Separate product |
| CSV and Excel import | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Lead lifecycle stages | Included (Growth plan) | Separate product |
| Customizable pipeline stages | Included (Growth plan) | Separate product |
Lead capture (5)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Instantly |
|---|---|---|
| Embeddable web lead form | Included (Growth plan) | Not available |
| Landing page builder | Included (Growth plan) | Not available |
| Website visitor tracking | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Contact and company enrichment | Via integration | Included |
| Prospecting and lead finder | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
Calling and messaging (13)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Instantly |
|---|---|---|
| Shared team inbox | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Two-way SMS | Via integration | Separate product |
| Bulk SMS | Included (Growth plan) | Not available |
| Gmail sync | Via integration | Limited |
| Outlook and Microsoft 365 mail sync | Via integration | Limited |
| IMAP and custom SMTP email | Via integration | Included |
| Email templates | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Email sequences | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Click-to-call dialer | Included (Growth plan) | Separate product |
| Website live chat | Included (Growth plan) | Not available |
| Safe-send email guards | Included (Growth plan) | Limited |
| Custom sending domains and senders | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Mailbox warm-up and inbox placement tests | Limited | Included |
AI (12)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Instantly |
|---|---|---|
| AI assistant chat over CRM data | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| AI lead scoring | Included (Growth plan) | Limited |
| AI outbound voice agent | Included (Growth plan) | Not available |
| AI inbox autopilot | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Bring your own LLM key | Via integration | Included |
| AI governance and approval mode | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Multiple prebuilt AI agents | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Knowledge-grounded AI replies | Included (Growth plan) | Limited |
| AI approval queue and audit log | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Assistant record actions | Included (Growth plan) | Limited |
| AI candidate-to-job matching | Included (Growth plan) | Limited |
| MCP server | Included (Growth plan) | Limited |
Automation (7)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Instantly |
|---|---|---|
| Visual workflow automation | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Cadences and sequences | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Zapier | Via integration | Via integration |
| Outbound webhooks | Via integration | Included |
| Public REST API | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| API keys and developer portal | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Multi-channel cadence steps | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
Sales execution (3)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Instantly |
|---|---|---|
| Kanban deal board | Included (Growth plan) | Separate product |
| Sales goals and quotas | Included (Growth plan) | Separate product |
| Calendly | Via integration | Via integration |
Quotes, invoices and payments (1)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Instantly |
|---|---|---|
| Quotes | Included (Growth plan) | Not available |
Marketing (1)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Instantly |
|---|---|---|
| A/B testing | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
Reporting (1)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Instantly |
|---|---|---|
| Standard dashboards | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
Security and admin (1)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Instantly |
|---|---|---|
| Seat and plan management | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
Sources for the Instantly column (48)
Each Instantly cell is checked against Instantly's own documentation or pricing page. A cell that has not been re-checked within 120 days is removed from the table rather than shown out of date.
- Contact and lead records: help.instantly.ai/en/articles/9064527-instantly-crm · checked 2026-10-29
- CSV and Excel import: instantly.ai/pricing · checked 2026-10-29
- Lead lifecycle stages: help.instantly.ai/en/articles/9064527-instantly-crm · checked 2026-10-29
- Customizable pipeline stages: help.instantly.ai/en/articles/10273259-instantly-plans-overview · checked 2026-10-29
- Embeddable web lead form: instantly.ai/pricing · checked 2026-10-29
- Landing page builder: instantly.ai/pricing · checked 2026-10-29
- Website visitor tracking: instantly.ai/website-visitors · checked 2026-10-29
- Contact and company enrichment: instantly.ai/pricing · checked 2026-10-29
- Prospecting and lead finder: instantly.ai/pricing · checked 2026-10-29
- Shared team inbox: help.instantly.ai/en/articles/7920548-email-outreach-plans-comparison · checked 2026-10-29
- Two-way SMS: instantly.ai/crm · checked 2026-10-29
- Bulk SMS: instantly.ai/pricing · checked 2026-10-29
- Gmail sync: help.instantly.ai/en/articles/10273259-instantly-plans-overview · checked 2026-10-29
- Outlook and Microsoft 365 mail sync: instantly.ai/pricing · checked 2026-10-29
- IMAP and custom SMTP email: instantly.ai/pricing · checked 2026-10-29
- Email templates: instantly.ai/pricing · checked 2026-10-29
- Email sequences: instantly.ai/pricing · checked 2026-10-29
- Click-to-call dialer: instantly.ai/crm · checked 2026-10-29
- Website live chat: instantly.ai/pricing · checked 2026-10-29
- Safe-send email guards: instantly.ai/pricing · checked 2026-10-29
- Custom sending domains and senders: help.instantly.ai/en/articles/10273259-instantly-plans-overview · checked 2026-10-29
- Mailbox warm-up and inbox placement tests: instantly.ai/pricing · checked 2026-10-29
- AI assistant chat over CRM data: instantly.ai/ · checked 2026-10-29
- AI lead scoring: instantly.ai/ai-agents/automations · checked 2026-10-29
- AI outbound voice agent: instantly.ai/pricing · checked 2026-10-29
- AI inbox autopilot: instantly.ai/ai-agents/reply-agent · checked 2026-10-29
- Bring your own LLM key: instantly.ai/pricing · checked 2026-10-29
- AI governance and approval mode: instantly.ai/ai-agents/reply-agent · checked 2026-10-29
- Multiple prebuilt AI agents: instantly.ai/pricing · checked 2026-10-29
- Knowledge-grounded AI replies: instantly.ai/ai-agents/reply-agent · checked 2026-10-29
- AI approval queue and audit log: instantly.ai/ai-agents/reply-agent · checked 2026-10-29
- Assistant record actions: instantly.ai/ai-agents/reply-agent · checked 2026-10-29
- AI candidate-to-job matching: instantly.ai/pricing · checked 2026-10-29
- MCP server: instantly.ai/ · checked 2026-10-29
- Visual workflow automation: instantly.ai/ai-agents/automations · checked 2026-10-29
- Cadences and sequences: instantly.ai/outreach · checked 2026-10-29
- Zapier: help.instantly.ai/en/articles/7920548-email-outreach-plans-comparison · checked 2026-10-29
- Outbound webhooks: help.instantly.ai/en/articles/7920548-email-outreach-plans-comparison · checked 2026-10-29
- Public REST API: help.instantly.ai/en/articles/7920548-email-outreach-plans-comparison · checked 2026-10-29
- API keys and developer portal: instantly.ai/ · checked 2026-10-29
- Multi-channel cadence steps: instantly.ai/outreach · checked 2026-10-29
- Kanban deal board: help.instantly.ai/en/articles/9064527-instantly-crm · checked 2026-10-29
- Sales goals and quotas: help.instantly.ai/en/articles/9064527-instantly-crm · checked 2026-10-29
- Calendly: instantly.ai/ai-agents/reply-agent · checked 2026-10-29
- Quotes: instantly.ai/pricing · checked 2026-10-29
- A/B testing: help.instantly.ai/en/articles/7920548-email-outreach-plans-comparison · checked 2026-10-29
- Standard dashboards: instantly.ai/ · checked 2026-10-29
- Seat and plan management: instantly.ai/crm · checked 2026-10-29
Switch from Instantly in 4 steps
- Export your leads and campaign results from Instantly to CSV.
- Import them into HelloGrowthCRM and map each column on the import screen.
- Connect Instantly by webhook so new replies create leads, and set up stages, calling and a follow-up sequence.
- Run both for a week, sending cold email from Instantly and working replies in HelloGrowthCRM, before you decide what to keep.
Your data
Export Instantly records to CSV and import them; the import screen maps each column. Custom objects and automations are rebuilt by hand.
Contract
Instantly plans are monthly or yearly, so check your renewal date before you switch. HelloGrowthCRM is $12 per user per month on the Growth plan.
Learning curve
A guided setup wizard creates the pipeline, stages and fields; you can keep your current stage names.
Get the switching checklist by email
Verdict
Instantly is a cold-email outreach platform with a lead database and an add-on CRM; HelloGrowthCRM is an AI CRM suite. Choose Instantly if your work is sending cold email at volume across many mailboxes and domains. Choose HelloGrowthCRM, on the Growth plan, if the work after the reply matters more: calls, follow-up, quotes, AI voice agents and support on the same record. Some teams keep Instantly for cold sending and pass replies to HelloGrowthCRM.
Want to see the difference?
See how HelloGrowthCRM compares to Instantly on your own pipeline.
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Everything you need to move quickly and trust the system you're switching to.
Security & governance
- SOC 2 Type II report (available under NDA)
- AES-256 at rest · TLS 1.3 in transit
- SSO and 2FA support
- Full audit log on all user actions
- Hosted on AWS (US regions)
- GDPR & DPDPA-aligned data handling
Implementation & support
- Onboarding included in Growth
- We handle data migration — not you
- Same-day demo response (business hours)
- Email + chat support on Growth
- Dedicated specialist on Growth Engine+
- 90-day post-onboarding check-in included
Take the next step
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Prefer email? Write to sales@hellogrowthcrm.com