Price at the same monthly volume, from 6,000 to 1,000,000 emails
Cold email only. Smartlead and lemlist charge for the tier that covers your volume; Emelia charges for the mailboxes you need to send it (30 to 50 emails per mailbox per day over 30 days). Smartlead bills in dollars only; lemlist and Emelia show the same figure in euros and dollars: the advantage is marked for visitors who pay in dollars.
Billed monthly
6,000 emails a month
50,000 emails a month
90,000 emails a month
200,000 emails a month
330,000 emails a month
500,000 emails a month
750,000 emails a month
1,000,000 emails a month
Paid annually (cost per month)
6,000 emails a month
50,000 emails a month
90,000 emails a month
200,000 emails a month
330,000 emails a month
500,000 emails a month
750,000 emails a month
1,000,000 emails a month
The cheaper of the two changes several times with the volume. Smartlead costs less up to 6,000, from 200,001 to 420,000 and from 500,001 to 870,000 emails a month; lemlist from 6,001 to 200,000, from 420,001 to 500,000 and from 870,001 to 1,000,000, in monthly and yearly billing alike. At the bottom, lemlist’s Email plan starts at 50,000 emails, so Smartlead Base has no lemlist equivalent. Each row above sits at the top of a Smartlead or lemlist tier. Emelia is the cheapest of the three up to 2,700 and from 330,001 to 900,000 emails a month, while the mailboxes needed at 30 a day stay within its fair use. lemlist also sells a quarterly price. Excluding tax, checked on October 6, 2026 (Smartlead) and October 6, 2026 (lemlist).
Deliverability: warm-up pools against lemwarm
Both include warm-up. Smartlead warms mailboxes in a pool that depends on the plan (Foundation on Base, Growth on Pro, Premium on Unlimited Smart), with an "Ultra Premium" pool currently free for mailboxes that qualify, and sells inbox placement tests (SmartDelivery, from $49 a month) and dedicated servers ($39 each).
lemlist includes lemwarm Essential with every subscription; lemwarm on its own costs €29 per mailbox per month. Emelia includes warm-up on every plan too.
LinkedIn: lemlist automates it per user, Smartlead hands it to HeyReach or Aimfox
lemlist runs LinkedIn steps (visits, invitations, messages, voice notes) on its Multichannel plan: €109 per user per month, €87 billed yearly, with 5 email senders and 400 credits per user. The Email plan has no LinkedIn.
Smartlead has no LinkedIn automation: it connects to HeyReach and Aimfox through its SmartAgents, and to Expandi, GetSales.io, Waalaxy through integrations. Each is a separate subscription, so there is no single Smartlead price for "email plus LinkedIn".
Emelia includes LinkedIn accounts in every plan: 1 on Start (€37), 3 on Grow (€97), 10 on Scale (€297), then €29 per extra account.
Lead data: SmartProspect quotas or lemlist credits
Same need on every row: a number of verified emails a month, with the sending volume that goes with it (Smartlead gives one verified email for every 3 emails sent). Smartlead and lemlist search their own database; Emelia has none and finds the email of leads you bring, for example from LinkedIn searches.
Billed monthly
2,000 verified emails, 6,000 sends
20,000 verified emails, 60,000 sends
lemlist charges 5 credits per email found and verified, paid with monthly credit packs. Smartlead includes 50,000 verified emails a month from Unlimited Smart ($174). Smartlead’s own comparison with lemlist says verified emails are included at $39; its pricing page sells them at $59 on Base and Pro: we follow the pricing page.
Agencies: client workspaces, seats and calls
Smartlead
- Client workspaces in white label: $29 per client per month from Pro on the pricing page, 3 included in Unlimited Prime. On Pro, the first client costs nothing according to Smartlead’s FAQ and its own lemlist comparison, yet the pricing page still bills each workspace.
- Unlimited team members from Pro.
- Calls through SmartDialer, an add-on on the pricing page even though Smartlead’s comparison with lemlist presents it as included: from $9 a month in credits, without saying how many minutes that buys.
lemlist
- Users and senders unlimited on the Email plan; on Multichannel, every user is a paid seat.
- Up to 5 guest seats (read only, no sending) on Email and Multichannel.
- Calls included on Multichannel: 400 minutes per user per month.
Smartlead, lemlist and Emelia in one table
Billing
Billed by
Mailboxes
Currency
Free trial
Refunds
Channels and data
LinkedIn automation
Calls
Lead database
API
White label for agencies
Company and reviews
Publisher
Trustpilot
Of the three, only Smartlead bills in US dollars alone; lemlist and Emelia keep the same figure from one currency to the next, which is why the price rows on this page mark their winners for dollar payers, without converting anything. Smartlead’s comparison with lemlist calls SmartDialer included and mentions one free client on Pro; the pricing page sells both.
Smartlead or lemlist: which one should you choose for your volume?
Smartlead
- You send up to 6,000 emails a month: Base at $39 has no lemlist equivalent.
- Or your volume falls in one of its cheaper ranges: from 200,001 to 420,000 and from 500,001 to 870,000 emails a month.
- You need lots of verified emails every month, from a database.
- You are an agency that resells sending under its own brand.
lemlist
- You send from 6,001 to 200,000, from 420,001 to 500,000 and from 870,001 to 1,000,000 emails a month: its tiers cost less there.
- You want LinkedIn and calls from the same tool, per user (SMS too, with a phone number at €15 a month).
- A higher review score matters: 4.7 against 2.9 on Trustpilot.
Emelia
- You want LinkedIn and email in the same sequence without paying per user.
- You store many contacts but do not send at a huge volume.
- You send from 330,001 to 900,000 emails a month: Scale covers the mailboxes for €297.
Smartlead vs lemlist: frequently asked questions
It depends on your volume, and the answer changes several times. Smartlead costs less up to 6,000, from 200,001 to 420,000 and from 500,001 to 870,000 emails a month (at the bottom, Base costs $39 and lemlist has no plan under €69); lemlist’s Email plan costs less from 6,001 to 200,000, from 420,001 to 500,000 and from 870,001 to 1,000,000.
No. lemlist automates LinkedIn itself on its Multichannel plan; Smartlead passes LinkedIn steps to HeyReach or Aimfox, which are separate subscriptions.
By their own figures, lemlist’s: "650M+" contacts against "300M+" profiles for SmartProspect. Smartlead includes more verified emails per month in its higher plans; lemlist charges credits for each one.
Emelia is a Smartlead competitor. We have tried to stay fair: every figure about Smartlead comes from its own website or public review sites.
