All the AI sales tools reviewed and compared

To start off 2025 I thought I’d do a deep dive on all of the AI sales tools that I could find. By “Sales tools” I mean the software trying to replace SDR or BDR roles. This is the intro piece and a call for submissions. Below is a list of what I’ve found (and met with) already, but I’m happy to meet with more.

While AI is super hot, as a reminder–I’ve been doing AI since well before it was cool. In fact, since it was called “machine learning” (ML) which is decidedly uncool. The startup I founded in Dec 2013 used ML (which has been rebranded, thank you, to AI) to forecast demand and manage pricing for companies like Audi. So I have strong opinions, and some more pointed questions.

I’m working on something new and would appreciate your input. Hopefully, it’s for you!

AI tools in general

I have two observations on AI tools in general. First, the hype is real. Second, it’s still very early.

AI tools done right can be magical. As a result their growth can be stratospheric. For example, using Cursor I wrote a program in JavaScript (a language I don’t know at all) using node.js (a framework I’d never used previously) and two Google APIs that I’d never used before either. I accomplished all of that in under 3 hours, less time than it would take me to get a legacy programming tool like Xcode configured so I could write code the old fashioned way. Here’s an example from that experiment that calculates mileage for meetings for tax purposes. As a result of the magic, I’m sure adoption of Cursor and similar tools is faster than any previous coding too.

Second, it’s very early days. This is a new category. Just like mobile back in the 2010s, new paradigms for user interfaces and new use cases are still coming up. While there have long been thousands of outbound agencies that would replace your SDRs with cheaper, less effective, offshore humans, there has never been software to do the job. Or to write your code. Or to do countless other things. Think of what Uber did to the taxi industry. That will happen even more with AI applications.

What am I looking for?

One of those things seems likely to be some of the more rote sales activities. There are now several applications focused on various aspects of sales and marketing. My focus here is on the tools trying to replace SDRs, or junior salespeople sending cold emails to (mostly) strangers.

I think it’s important to state decision criteria up front. Given that this is a new category, it’s hard to know exactly what to look for. After all, nobody’s done this before–and that includes, especially, the people using these tools.

Rather than rankings, I’m going to assess each based on who the company says it’s for. By assessing each solution for the users or ICP it says it is designed for, I can also help those specific users know what their choices are and get a jump start assessing what’s out there.

Some seem to have broad targets, while others are hyper targeted. A few tools I’ve found are very, very niche, and I’ll leave those out. For example podpitch.com writes AI-generated emails to pitch podcast guests to podcasters.

First impressions

There’s clearly something here. Most of the companies I spoke with had significant traction, whether bootstrapped or well funded. The well funded companies have built a lot in a short amount of time. For example, 11x claims to do what Salesloft, Outreach, Apollo, zoominfo, Clearbit, RB2B, Clay, Dripify, Gong and a dozen other companies all do.

That is a big claim. Those companies are not sitting still. That said, I’m not sure how important covering all that surface area is. Or whether it results in a “better” product more able to solve the end user’s problems. We’ll see.

Some companies do a lot with AI–more than even I’d be comfortable handing over. Sailes, for example, will communicate with your prospects until it’s set a meeting. Is that too much to trust to a bot, or am I’m a curmudgeon? It’s all pretty cool, but again, I remain somewhat skeptical.

Pricing

If you know me you know I can’t look at this without thinking about pricing. What does it actually cost? There is a range. On the low end, $900 per month seems to be the floor (and that company volunteered that they’re “subsidizing with their VC funding”–so I doubt they make money at that price). On the high end, you could spend $10-20k per month, easily, on some of the more comprehensive, larger plans from the bigger players.

All of them are a premium over typical software. AI “enabled” tools like Instantly or SmartLead start around $50 per month. A skilled operator can do a lot of damage with Lemlist for $99 per month. Then again, you need the skilled operator.

The terms vary. All have minimums, but some of those minimums are full year agreements. For a new technology, there are pros and cons. Committing to a $120k deal probably leads to more investment in making sure its successful, but also probably hurts conversions for those vendors.

The candidates

Below is a table of the companies I found. Yes, I used AI to find them. It’s 2025!

If you know about a company that ChatGPT and Claude didn’t find, please reply to this email! I’ll make sure to get demos from everyone.

Questions

These are the questions I’ve asked or will ask. If you want to hear about other things please let me know! Just reply to this email (I always read every email reply).

• What does it do? What problems does it solve?

• Who is responsible for setting it up?

• Who runs it? AEs or founders or marketing or?

• How much time does it take to run?

• How do you think about accuracy?

• What are the key success criteria?

• How is it priced?

• Who would make a great customer? Industries, level, company size, etc.?

Last ask

I’d really like to get your take on these tools. Have you considered using them? Have you actually tried any? If you can, please find a time to meet with me here. If you don’t have time to meet, but can answer 7 quick questions, here’s a quick survey:

What’s coming

I’ll be posting reviews of each tool, as well as a roundup of all of the tools, over the coming weeks. If you’d like any information on them, have other tools you’d like me to look at, or just want to talk about this–just reply! I’m very interested in the subject and very curious what other people’s thoughts are about it. Happy to share what I’ve learned thus far.

Correction: Last week’s newsletter incorrectly referred to Elon Musk as the founder of Tesla. The actual initial founders were Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Elon invested early but was not operationally involved until after the Roadster project. My apologies. Thanks to Rodrigo Prudencio at Propeller for pointing this out.