Free Cold Email Software: What's Actually Free (And What's Not)

Let's be honest: truly free cold email software that lets you run real campaigns barely exists. Most tools slap "free" on their landing page, then hit you with a trial that expires in 14 days or a freemium plan that doesn't let you actually send emails.

I've tested the major players to find out which ones offer genuine free functionality and which are just bait-and-switch marketing. Here's what you need to know before you commit time to any platform.

The Reality of "Free" Cold Email Tools

Cold email software isn't cheap to run. These platforms need to maintain email infrastructure, warm-up systems, deliverability tools, and lead databases. That costs real money. So when you see "free," expect one of these catches:

With that context, let's look at what's genuinely available without paying.

Hunter Sequences - The Best Truly Free Option

Hunter.io's Sequences tool is genuinely free to use for cold email outreach. It's not a trial - it's an actual free tier that lets you send campaigns indefinitely.

What you get for free:

The limitations:

Hunter defaults to 15 emails per day to protect your deliverability - which is actually smart. Advanced users can push higher volumes on Gmail accounts with proper configuration. The free plan gives you 50 credits per month for their email finder and verifier tools, so you'll need your own lead list or pay for credits to find new contacts.

One credit finds one email address via their Domain Search or Email Finder. Email verification costs 0.5 credits per address. If you're verifying your own list before sending, those 50 credits won't go far - you can verify 100 emails per month on the free tier.

Best for: Small-scale outreach, testing cold email before investing in paid tools, freelancers running occasional campaigns, anyone who already has a verified lead list and just needs sending infrastructure.

Upgrade path: If you outgrow the free plan, Hunter's paid tiers start at $49/month (Starter plan) which includes 2,000 monthly credits, 3 connected email accounts, and up to 2,500 recipients per campaign. The Growth plan at $149/month offers 10,000 credits and 10 connected accounts.

Apollo.io - Generous Free Plan With Real Features

Apollo offers a forever-free plan that's surprisingly robust. You get substantial email credits per month, plus access to their B2B contact database - making it one of the few truly all-in-one free options.

Free plan includes:

The catch:

You're limited to one inbox on the free plan and can only send up to 250 emails per day. That's a problem for serious cold emailers who need sender rotation across multiple accounts to maintain deliverability. The free plan also caps you at 2 sequences, which limits your ability to run multiple campaigns simultaneously.

Here's an important detail most people miss: if you're using a personal Gmail account (not a corporate domain), your credit limit drops dramatically to just 100 credits per month. The 10,000 credit limit only applies to verified corporate email addresses.

Export credits are consumed when you export verified emails outside Apollo - to your CRM, CSV files, or other tools. At 120 export credits per year, that's only 10 exports per month, which can feel restrictive if you're building lists for outreach in other platforms.

Best for: People who need both lead data AND sending capability in one tool. If you're scrappy and want to test outbound without paying anything, Apollo's free tier is hard to beat. It's particularly valuable for SDRs who do most of their prospecting through the platform and send directly from Apollo.

Paid upgrades: The Basic plan costs $49/month per user (or $59 monthly) and includes unlimited sequences, advanced filters like technographic data and job postings, meeting scheduler, and more API calls. Professional at $79/month per user adds A/B testing, call recording, and unlimited AI lead scoring.

GMass - Gmail Power Users

GMass is a Chrome extension that turns your Gmail into a cold email platform. While it used to have a free plan, they transitioned to a trial-only model in early 2024.

What the free trial includes:

After the trial:

Paid plans start at $25/month for the Standard plan (or $18.75/month billed annually). The Premium plan costs $35/month and adds auto follow-ups and more advanced features. The Professional plan at $55/month includes team collaboration features.

Why GMass works: It's dead simple if you already live in Gmail. No new interface to learn. The plain-text focus actually helps deliverability for cold outreach - fancy HTML templates often trigger spam filters. GMass can break Gmail's sending limits by distributing emails over multiple days automatically, though this isn't recommended for maintaining good sender reputation.

Limitations: Gmail-only (though it does work with Google Workspace accounts). No lead database. No multichannel features. If you need LinkedIn outreach or phone integration, look elsewhere. The pricing increased 25% in early 2024, making it one of the more expensive mail merge solutions.

Best for: Individuals and small teams who work exclusively in Gmail and want to add cold email capabilities without leaving their inbox. Particularly good for straightforward campaigns without complex automation needs.

Lemlist - Freemium That Can't Actually Send

Lemlist has a "free" plan, but here's the dirty secret: freemium users cannot launch email campaigns. The free tier only lets you use their Chrome extension to export up to 100 emails or 25 phone numbers per month.

If you want to actually send cold emails through Lemlist, paid plans start at $69/month for Email Pro. That gets you unlimited campaigns, email warm-up via Lemwarm, and access to their 450M+ lead database.

They do offer a 14-day free trial on paid plans where you can send campaigns and test all features. But once it expires, you're either paying or stuck on the useless freemium tier.

What makes Lemlist different:

Lemlist excels at multichannel outreach. Beyond email, you can add LinkedIn steps (connection requests, messages, profile views) and phone call reminders to your sequences. The platform also has strong personalization features including dynamic images, videos, and landing pages.

Their email warm-up feature (Lemwarm) is included with paid plans and uses a network of real users to boost your sender reputation. The deliverability focus is one of Lemlist's strongest selling points.

Pricing breakdown:

Best for: Teams ready to invest in a serious multichannel outreach tool. Not for bootstrappers looking for free solutions. The pricing justifies itself if you're running sophisticated campaigns across email and LinkedIn.

If you do end up trying Lemlist, you can start a free trial here.

Instantly - 14-Day Trial, No Free Plan

Instantly is a popular choice for high-volume cold email, but they don't offer a permanent free tier. You get a 14-day free trial with full feature access, then you're locked out until you subscribe.

During the trial, you can connect unlimited email accounts, use their warm-up tools, and send campaigns. The trial includes full access to deliverability features like inbox placement testing and bounce detection.

Paid plan structure:

The appeal: Instantly's one subscription covers unlimited email accounts, which is huge for agencies or teams scaling sender volume. Most competitors charge per seat or per account. The unlimited warmup across all accounts at every tier is another major advantage.

The platform also offers separate pricing for their leads database and CRM features if you want an all-in-one solution. Growth Leads starts at $47/month for 1,000 verified leads with 1,000-5,000 credits monthly.

Best for: People who know cold email works for them and want to scale with multiple sending accounts. Agencies managing client campaigns particularly benefit from the unlimited account structure and flat-fee pricing.

Ready to try it? Start your Instantly free trial here.

Smartlead - Another 14-Day Trial Play

Smartlead offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. Unlike some competitors, you get genuine access to test all features during the trial period.

Pricing plans:

What makes Smartlead different:

The downsides:

No permanent free tier. The basic plan lacks integrations and API access - you need the Pro plan for those. Adding clients for agency use costs $29/month per client on Pro and above. Some users report the UI feels dated compared to competitors, and there have been complaints about email accounts disconnecting and requiring frequent reconnection.

The "active leads" limit is a hard cap - you can't have more than 2,000 unique email addresses in your account on the Basic plan. If you want to add more, you need to delete existing ones, which also deletes all email history with those contacts.

Best for: Agencies and teams who need serious deliverability infrastructure and multiple email accounts without per-account pricing. The unlimited mailbox feature makes it cost-effective at scale, but the high base price and client fees add up quickly.

Try Smartlead's 14-day free trial to see if it fits your workflow.

Woodpecker - Free Verification, Paid Sending

Woodpecker's cold email plans start at $29/month, which includes free email verification through their built-in Bouncer integration. That's a nice perk since email verification usually costs extra.

What you get:

LinkedIn steps are available but run through a third-party tool called Dux-Soup, which requires a separate subscription.

Pricing tiers:

No free tier for sending - you'll need to pay to run campaigns. But the built-in verification saves you from buying a separate tool. Woodpecker positions itself as a more traditional, reliable option without the complexity of all-in-one platforms.

Best for: Small to mid-sized teams who want a straightforward cold email tool with solid deliverability and CRM integration. The per-account pricing can get expensive if you're scaling multiple inboxes.

Saleshandy - Budget-Friendly Alternative

Saleshandy is worth mentioning as a more affordable paid option that competes directly with the tools above. While they don't have a free tier, their pricing is more accessible than many competitors.

Pricing:

They also offer a Lead Finder add-on starting at $39/month for 1,000 verified leads.

What sets it apart: No hard limits on prospects (unlike Smartlead), native lead finder option, multichannel capabilities, and significantly lower pricing than tools like Lemlist or Instantly for similar features. The unlimited leads capability is particularly valuable - you're not forced to delete contacts to add new ones.

Understanding Email Credits and Pricing Models

As you evaluate these tools, understanding how pricing actually works is crucial. Most platforms use one of three models:

1. Flat-Fee Unlimited

Tools like Instantly and Smartlead charge a flat monthly fee for unlimited email accounts and warmup. This model is best for agencies or teams scaling multiple sender identities. The predictability helps with budgeting, but you still need to watch for add-on costs.

2. Credit-Based Systems

Apollo and Hunter use credits that deplete as you access data. Finding an email costs 1-2 credits, verification costs 0.25-0.5 credits, and enrichment (company data, tech stack, etc.) costs additional credits per field. This can get expensive fast if you're doing heavy prospecting.

The advantage: you only pay for what you use. The disadvantage: costs become unpredictable and can balloon during active campaigns.

3. Per-Seat or Per-Account

Traditional tools like Woodpecker charge per sending account or per user. This model is straightforward but becomes expensive when scaling. A 5-person team with 10 email accounts could pay $290-$390/month on Woodpecker versus $37-$97/month on Instantly for the same setup.

Hidden Costs to Watch For

The "Free Cold Email" Workarounds

If you're absolutely determined to send cold emails without paying for software, here are some creative approaches:

DIY with Gmail and Google Sheets

You can manually send personalized emails using Gmail and Google Sheets for mail merge. This is painfully slow and doesn't scale, but it's technically free. Tools like Yet Another Mail Merge (YAMM) offer a free tier for up to 50 emails per day.

Pros: Actually free, full control, high deliverability if done carefully

Cons: No automation, no follow-ups, extremely time-consuming, no analytics

Rotate Free Trials

Some people create new accounts with different email addresses to string together free trials across multiple platforms. This is generally against terms of service and not recommended - plus it's a huge hassle to migrate campaigns and lists every two weeks.

Use CRM Email Features

Many CRMs like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Pipedrive include basic email sending capabilities. HubSpot's free tier lets you send up to 2,000 emails per month. This isn't purpose-built for cold email, but it works for small-scale outreach.

Limitations: No specialized deliverability features, no warm-up, limited personalization, not optimized for cold outreach

What About Reply.io?

Reply.io is another solid option in the cold email space worth evaluating alongside the tools above. They offer multichannel sequences, AI-powered features, and CRM integrations similar to Lemlist and Apollo.

What Reply.io offers:

Pricing: Reply doesn't publish transparent pricing on their website, which is a common complaint. Based on user reports, plans typically start around $60-70/month per user. They offer a free trial but no permanent free tier.

Best for: Mid-market and enterprise teams who need robust multichannel capabilities and are willing to invest in a comprehensive sales engagement platform.

See Reply.io's pricing and features.

How to Choose: Decision Framework

With so many options, here's a simple framework to guide your decision:

If you need genuinely free (no credit card):

  1. Best overall free option: Apollo.io - Get lead data + sending + 10K emails/month
  2. Best for existing lead lists: Hunter Sequences - Forever free, 500 recipients per campaign
  3. Best for Gmail users: GMass 7-day trial, then evaluate if $25/month justifies convenience

If you can pay but want best value:

  1. Under $50/month: Apollo Basic ($49) or Saleshandy Starter ($25)
  2. $50-100/month: Instantly Growth ($37) for unlimited accounts, or Lemlist Email Pro ($55) for multichannel
  3. Over $100/month: Instantly Hypergrowth ($97) or Smartlead Pro ($94) for scale

If you're an agency:

  1. Instantly - Flat fee, unlimited accounts, no per-client charges
  2. Smartlead - Strong deliverability but $29/client add-on
  3. Lemlist - Best multichannel capabilities

If you're a solopreneur/freelancer:

  1. Apollo free plan - Test viability with zero investment
  2. Hunter Sequences free - Simple, effective, no gimmicks
  3. Saleshandy Starter - Cheap paid option with full features

Deliverability: The Make-or-Break Factor

Here's something most articles don't emphasize enough: the cheapest tool is worthless if your emails land in spam. Free tools often skip the deliverability features that actually matter.

What Actually Affects Deliverability

1. Email warm-up: New email accounts need 2-4 weeks of gradual sending increases before campaign volume. Services like Instantly, Smartlead, and Lemlist include automated warm-up. Apollo and Hunter don't have built-in warm-up on free plans.

2. Sender rotation: Sending from multiple email accounts (rotating domains) protects individual sender reputations and increases overall volume capacity. This is why unlimited accounts matter more than unlimited sends from one address.

3. Email verification: Bounce rates above 2-3% damage sender reputation. Always verify emails before adding to campaigns. Apollo includes verification in their credit system. Hunter charges 0.5 credits per verification. Standalone verification services cost $0.001-0.005 per email.

4. Domain setup: Proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are mandatory. A dedicated sending domain (separate from your main company domain) protects your primary email if cold outreach damages reputation.

5. Content quality: Spam trigger words, excessive links, images, and poor formatting all hurt deliverability. Most tools offer spam checkers, but they vary in quality.

Free Tools and Deliverability Trade-offs

Apollo free tier: No warm-up, limited to one inbox, but excellent domain reputation since you're sending through Gmail/Outlook directly.

Hunter free tier: No warm-up, but encourages conservative sending limits (15/day default) which naturally protects reputation.

Paid tools advantage: Built-in warm-up, inbox rotation, spam testing, dedicated IPs (on higher tiers), and deliverability monitoring justify the cost if you're serious about cold email.

Cold Email Best Practices (That Tools Can't Fix)

The best cold email software in the world won't help if your targeting is off or your copy sucks. Before you obsess over which tool to use, make sure you have:

1. A Clear Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

"Decision makers" isn't specific enough. Define:

The better your targeting, the higher your response rate. Apollo and other all-in-one tools excel here because you can filter databases by these exact criteria.

2. Verified, High-Quality Emails

High bounce rates destroy your sender reputation. Always verify before sending:

3. Compelling, Personalized Messaging

Generic templates get ignored. Effective cold emails:

Tools like Instantly and Apollo offer AI writing assistants, but they produce mediocre copy. Use them for ideas and structure, then personalize manually for best results.

4. Proper Warm-Up Before Campaigns

New email accounts need 2+ weeks of warm-up before campaign volume. Steps:

Automated warm-up services (included with Instantly, Smartlead, Lemlist) handle this by sending emails within a network of users who engage with each other's emails, building positive reputation signals.

5. Follow-Up Sequences

Most responses come from follow-ups, not initial emails. Effective sequences:

Average response rates improve 40-50% with 3-4 follow-up touches. Every tool on this list supports automated follow-ups, even the free tiers.

Legal and Compliance Considerations

Before you start blasting cold emails, understand the legal landscape. Regulations vary by country and violation penalties are steep.

CAN-SPAM Act (United States)

Requirements:

Penalties: Up to $46,517 per violation. All major cold email tools include unsubscribe management to help with compliance.

GDPR (European Union)

More stringent than CAN-SPAM. Key points:

B2B cold email is generally permissible under "legitimate interest" but must still include opt-out mechanisms and respect data rights.

CASL (Canada)

Canada's Anti-Spam Law is one of the strictest. Generally requires explicit consent before sending commercial emails, though there are limited exceptions for business relationships.

Best Practices for Compliance

Most cold email tools include basic compliance features (unsubscribe management), but legal responsibility ultimately falls on you, not the software.

Integrating Cold Email with Your Sales Stack

Cold email doesn't exist in isolation. For maximum effectiveness, integrate with your broader sales infrastructure.

CRM Integration

Connect your cold email tool to your CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive) to:

Integration quality varies dramatically. Apollo and Reply.io have native CRM integrations. Instantly, Smartlead, and others work through Zapier or API connections that may require setup.

Lead Enrichment Tools

Enhance your prospecting with data enrichment:

Apollo's all-in-one approach includes lead data, but specialized enrichment tools often have higher accuracy for specific use cases.

LinkedIn Automation

Combine email with LinkedIn for multichannel sequences:

Lemlist offers built-in LinkedIn steps. Other tools integrate through third-party services or require separate tools.

Analytics and Attribution

Measure what matters:

Most cold email tools provide basic metrics. For deeper attribution, connect to analytics platforms or use UTM parameters in links to track downstream conversions.

Common Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

Mistake #1: Not Warming Up New Email Accounts

Sending high volume from a brand new email account is the fastest way to land in spam. Always warm up for 2-4 weeks before launching campaigns.

Mistake #2: Buying Email Lists

Purchased lists have terrible deliverability, low engagement, and often violate data protection regulations. Build your own lists using tools like Apollo, Hunter, or LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

Mistake #3: Sending Too Much, Too Fast

Even warmed accounts shouldn't send more than 50-80 emails per day. Higher volumes trigger spam filters and damage sender reputation. Scale by adding more accounts, not increasing per-account volume.

Mistake #4: Ignoring Bounce Rates

Bounce rates above 5% indicate serious list quality issues. Above 10% will get your domain blocklisted. Always verify emails before sending and clean your lists regularly.

Mistake #5: Generic, Feature-Focused Copy

Nobody cares about your product features. Lead with the problem you solve and the outcome they'll get. Make it about them, not you.

Mistake #6: No A/B Testing

Your first email version won't be optimal. Test subject lines, opening lines, CTAs, and email length. Tools like Instantly and Lemlist make A/B testing easy - use it.

Mistake #7: Forgetting to Follow Up

80% of responses come from follow-ups, yet most people only send one email. Set up 3-4 follow-up sequences and watch your response rates double.

Real-World Success Metrics: What to Expect

Setting realistic expectations prevents disappointment and helps evaluate tool effectiveness.

Industry Benchmarks for Cold Email

Volume Calculations

To book 4 meetings per week (reasonable goal for one sales rep):

This is why unlimited email accounts (Instantly, Smartlead) become valuable at scale. Apollo's free plan with one inbox can't support this volume.

Cost Per Meeting Calculation

Example using Apollo free plan:

Example using Instantly Growth ($37/month):

Even at $100/month for a tool, if you book 10-20 meetings with qualified prospects, the ROI is obvious. Don't let "free" bias blind you to value.

Scaling Beyond Free Plans: When to Upgrade

Free plans are great for testing and learning, but serious cold email operations eventually outgrow them. Here's when to upgrade:

Signal #1: You're Consistently Hitting Limits

If you're maxing out your monthly email credits, daily sending limits, or contact caps, you're leaving opportunities on the table. Time to upgrade.

Signal #2: You Need Multiple Email Accounts

Proper cold email at scale requires sender rotation. If you're ready to add 3-5 email accounts, free plans won't cut it. Move to Instantly, Smartlead, or Saleshandy.

Signal #3: Deliverability Suffers

If open rates drop below 15% or you suspect spam folder placement, you need deliverability features: warm-up, inbox rotation, spam testing, dedicated IPs. These require paid plans.

Signal #4: You're Spending Too Much Time on Manual Tasks

Advanced automation (conditional logic, A/B testing, behavioral triggers) saves hours per week. If your time is worth $50+/hour, the $50-100/month tool cost pays for itself immediately.

Signal #5: You Need Team Collaboration

Multiple team members accessing campaigns, shared inboxes, client management - these are paid features. Agencies especially benefit from multi-user access and client portals.

Signal #6: You Want Multichannel Outreach

Email-only limits effectiveness. Adding LinkedIn, phone calls, or SMS requires platforms like Lemlist, Reply.io, or Apollo Professional tier.

Alternative Approaches: Beyond Traditional Cold Email

While this article focuses on cold email software, consider complementary or alternative approaches:

Warm Introductions

A warm intro from a mutual connection converts 10-20x better than cold email. Tools like Crossbeam help identify overlap between your network and prospects' networks.

Content-Driven Inbound

Publishing valuable content and letting prospects come to you has better long-term ROI than pure outbound. Tools like Squarespace make it easy to build content hubs.

Social Selling

Building personal brands on LinkedIn and Twitter generates inbound interest. Tools like Taplio for LinkedIn and Tweet Hunter for Twitter automate engagement.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

Coordinated campaigns targeting specific high-value accounts with personalized content across channels. Platforms like Marketing 360 offer ABM capabilities.

Intent-Based Outreach

Target prospects actively researching solutions. Tools like Dealfront identify companies visiting your website and showing buying intent.

The most effective B2B strategies combine multiple approaches: cold email for volume, warm intros for high-value accounts, content for inbound flow, and social selling for relationship building.

If You're Also Evaluating CRM Software

Cold email generates leads, but you need somewhere to manage them. If you're also shopping for a CRM:

Apollo offers built-in CRM functionality, making it a genuine all-in-one solution if you don't already have a CRM.

My Recommendation: Start With Apollo or Hunter

After testing all these platforms, here's my honest recommendation based on your situation:

If you want genuinely free cold email capability:

  1. Apollo.io is the best all-in-one free option. You get lead data AND sending in one tool. The 10,000 email credits per month (for corporate domains) is enough to test whether cold email works for your business. The main limitation is one inbox, but that's fine for testing.
  2. Hunter Sequences is legitimately free for sending if you already have a lead list. No time limit, no credit card required. The 500 recipient limit per campaign and 50 emails/day default is conservative but perfect for freelancers and small-scale outreach.

If you're ready to invest but want to test first:

  1. Instantly - Best for scaling with multiple inboxes. The Growth plan at $37/month with unlimited email accounts is unbeatable value if you need sender rotation. 14-day trial lets you test deliverability before committing.
  2. Smartlead - Strong deliverability features for agencies. Similar unlimited account structure but $39/month base price plus $29/client for agency features. Better for established agencies than solo operators. 14-day trial available.
  3. Lemlist - Best for multichannel (email + LinkedIn + calls). Higher price point at $69+/month but justified if you're running sophisticated sequences across channels. 14-day trial helps you decide.

My personal recommendation:

Start with Apollo's free plan to test cold email viability for your business. Run a 30-day test campaign:

If it works (even 1-2% reply rate), upgrade to a paid plan or switch to a specialized tool. If it doesn't work, you haven't wasted money - you've validated that cold email isn't the right channel for you (yet).

For most B2B businesses, cold email generates positive ROI within 90 days if done correctly. The difference between free and paid tools rarely determines success - targeting, messaging, and persistence matter more.

Final Thoughts: Don't Let "Free" Paralyze You

"Free" cold email software mostly means "free to look at, not free to use." Apollo and Hunter are the exceptions with legitimate free tiers that let you send actual campaigns. Everything else is a trial or a feature-limited freemium that exists to convert you to paid.

That said, cold email tools generally pay for themselves fast. If you're booking even one meeting per month from cold outreach, the $30-100/month most tools cost is trivial compared to the pipeline you're generating.

Here's what matters more than price:

Don't let the free vs. paid question paralyze you. Pick a tool (Apollo free if you need zero commitment, Instantly or Saleshandy if you can invest $25-40/month), test it for two weeks, and either commit or move on. Analysis paralysis costs more than choosing imperfectly.

The biggest mistake isn't picking the "wrong" tool - it's never starting at all. Cold email remains one of the highest-ROI growth channels for B2B companies when executed properly. The tool matters less than your commitment to testing, learning, and iterating.

Start today with one of the free options above. Send your first 100 emails this week. Learn what works. Adjust. Scale what's working. That's how you build a cold email machine - not by finding the perfect "free" software.