B2B sales teams used to build prospect lists by hand. Reps copied LinkedIn profiles, checked emails in different tabs, and pasted everything into spreadsheets. AI agents now do much of this work. They research accounts, spot buying signals, write custom messages and book meetings.
To compare the 10 tools in this guide, we use one example company: PulseMetric, a B2B SaaS startup that sells analytics software to heads of sales at mid-market companies. Its sales team has three people: one sales lead and two account executives.
Two types of AI sales agents
An AI sales agent is software that completes sales tasks with several steps and little supervision. Instead of sending the same template on a timer, it reads current information from the web, writes messages based on what it finds, and responds to replies.
Most tools fall into one of two groups:
• Autonomous AI SDRs work on their own. Artisan (Ava), 11x (Alice) and AiSDR find leads, send personal emails, answer objections and book calls on your reps' calendars.
• AI workflow tools help human sellers do more. Clay, Apollo.io and Salesloft gather data from many sources and help reps decide what to do next, while people stay in control.
If you sell through social channels, our guide on warm outreach on X explains how in-browser assistants differ from background bots.
The 10 tools
1. Artisan (Ava)
Artisan offers Ava, an AI BDR that finds leads, warms up email accounts and sends personal outreach from one place. For PulseMetric, Ava watches target accounts for hiring signals, checks direct emails, writes messages that mention company news, and books calls on reps' calendars.
• Best for: growing B2B teams that want one tool to run outbound from start to finish.
• Pricing: free plan with 300 credits. Intern plan $280/mo ($250/mo billed annually). Employee plan $660/mo ($600/mo billed annually). Enterprise pricing on request.
• Watch out for: credits run out fast with heavy data enrichment, and phone dialing costs extra per seat.
2. 11x (Alice)
11x builds AI workers for sales teams. Its main agent, Alice, is an outbound AI SDR for mid-market and enterprise companies. Alice researches prospects, warms up mailboxes, runs multi-step sequences and updates your CRM, in more than 105 languages. PulseMetric uses Alice to reach accounts in several regions and log replies in HubSpot.
• Best for: well-funded startups and enterprise sales teams that want prospecting fully handled for them.
• Pricing: Growth plan from $3,750/mo billed annually, for up to 2,000 new prospects a month and 5 seats. Pro and Enterprise need a custom quote.
• Watch out for: the minimum contract is $45,000 a year, which is too much for small teams trying outbound for the first time.
3. Clay
Clay is a data enrichment tool with a spreadsheet layout. It checks more than 75 data providers one after another until it finds the data you need, which is called waterfall enrichment. When PulseMetric uploads a list of target accounts, Clay's AI agent, Claygent, visits each website, finds which analytics tools the company uses, checks if it is hiring, and drafts outreach. Clay also syncs with your CRM, supports webhooks and includes unlimited seats.
• Best for: technical sales teams and growth engineers who want full control over their data.
• Pricing: free plan with 100 credits and 500 actions. Launch $185/mo ($167 billed annually). Growth $495/mo ($446 billed annually). Enterprise pricing on request.
• Watch out for: it is harder to learn than ready-made agents, since you need to set up table logic and API connections.
4. Apollo.io
Apollo.io combines a database of more than 275 million B2B contacts with an email and call sequencer and an AI writing assistant. PulseMetric searches Apollo for sales operations directors at mid-sized companies. Apollo's AI writes different email versions based on each buyer's seniority and schedules email and phone follow-ups. It also scores buyer intent and includes a dialer and a Chrome extension.
• Best for: early-stage and mid-market teams that want contact data and sequences in one low-cost tool.
• Pricing: free plan with 75 credits. Basic $59/seat/mo ($49 billed annually). Professional $99/seat/mo ($79 billed annually). Organization $119/seat/mo, billed annually, minimum 3 seats.
• Watch out for: mobile number lookups and data exports use up credits quickly, so you may need to buy more.
5. AiSDR
AiSDR is an autonomous sales tool that focuses on reaching the right leads and handling follow-up conversations. Its agent, Ami, works across email and LinkedIn. When a prospect asks PulseMetric about compatibility or pricing, Ami reads the message, answers using the product docs you uploaded, and asks the prospect to pick a meeting time.
• Best for: small outbound teams that want an AI agent to handle conversations without a long-term commitment.
• Pricing: pay as you go at $1.50 per contact with no monthly fee. Subscription plans start around $900/mo.
• Watch out for: replies can sound generic when prospects ask unusual questions that your uploaded material does not cover.
6. Regie.ai
Regie.ai turns account signals into pipeline through its RegieGO workspace. PulseMetric uses it to watch for leadership changes. When a target account hires a new marketing director, Regie.ai spots it, writes an email that fits the situation, and alerts an account executive. It also has a phone dialer and syncs with HubSpot and Salesforce.
• Best for: reps who want help researching accounts and writing outreach quickly.
• Pricing: free plan with 250 credits. Pro $49/user/mo ($41 billed annually). Team $150/seat/mo ($125 billed annually, minimum 2 seats). Enterprise pricing on request.
• Watch out for: it mainly handles research and writing, so high-volume senders still need a separate email sending tool.
7. Reply.io (Jason AI)
Reply.io adds an AI SDR called Jason AI to its sales platform, which covers email, LinkedIn and calls. When a PulseMetric rep starts a campaign, Jason AI handles the first follow-ups. If a buyer asks for technical docs, Jason sends the link and invites them to book a call. It also sorts replies, handles objections and supports Model Context Protocol (MCP) tools.
• Best for: teams that want an AI agent built into an established multi-channel sequencer.
• Pricing: Jason AI SDR plans from $800/mo ($500/mo billed annually) for up to 1,000 active contacts. Core email plans from $49/user/mo.
• Watch out for: it needs a detailed knowledge base and regular prompt tuning to avoid repetitive messages.
8. Qualified (Piper)
Qualified is built for inbound leads. Its AI SDR, Piper, talks to visitors on your website. When an enterprise buyer visits PulseMetric's pricing page, Piper identifies the company by its IP address, checks Salesforce, answers questions about integrations, and books a demo in the chat.
• Best for: mid-market and enterprise B2B companies with steady website traffic that want to qualify visitors at any hour.
• Pricing: custom annual contracts, usually $35,000 to $68,000 per year depending on traffic and chat volume.
• Watch out for: it only handles website visitors, and it needs Salesforce to work fully.
9. Instantly.ai
Instantly.ai is a cold email tool built for sending at volume without landing in spam. You can connect unlimited email accounts, and it warms them up for you. PulseMetric connects 15 secondary domains to spread out its sending. Instantly's AI Copilot reviews prospects, writes email versions and checks messages against spam filters. It also includes a database of more than 450 million B2B leads and a shared inbox.
• Best for: outbound teams, agencies and founders who want to send more cold email without paying per seat or per mailbox.
• Pricing: Growth $47/mo. Hypergrowth $97/mo. Lead database credits from $47/mo. Bundles start around $94/mo.
• Watch out for: it only does email. There is no LinkedIn automation or phone dialing.
10. Salesloft (Rhythm AI)
Salesloft is a sales platform for large, established sales teams. Its Rhythm AI engine, powered by Conductor AI, looks at buyer activity across email, calls and CRM records. Each morning, PulseMetric's account executives get a ranked task list in Rhythm: follow up with a prospect who reopened a proposal, call a buyer whose contract ends next quarter, or log notes from a demo. It also records calls and forecasts deals.
• Best for: mid-market and enterprise teams with 10 or more account executives who need structure in how they manage pipeline.
• Pricing: custom annual contracts, usually $83 to $130 per user per month, with minimum seat counts.
• Watch out for: it helps human reps prioritize. It does not find leads or send emails on its own.
How to choose the right tool
Start with your biggest sales problem and pick the type of tool that solves it:
• You need contact data: use Clay for data from many sources, or Apollo.io for one large database.
• You want an agent to run outbound and book meetings: try Artisan or AiSDR.
• You have lead lists but need to send more email safely: use Instantly.ai to spread sending across many warmed-up inboxes.
• Your reps need help prioritizing deals: use Salesloft or Regie.ai.
• You want to reach buyers already on your website: add an inbound agent like Qualified alongside your outbound tool.
A few rules apply whichever tool you pick:
• Add up seat fees and credit packs to find your real monthly cost. Starting prices often rise quickly as you add data or users.
• Protect your main domain. Set up secondary domains and mailboxes before you increase sending, and use verified contacts instead of large unchecked lists.
• Let AI handle repetitive work like list building, and keep your account executives on discovery calls and closing deals.
For multi-channel setups, our guide to AI marketing platforms explains how marketing tools connect with sales data.
Final thoughts
AI agents have turned much of outbound and inbound sales from manual admin work into automated workflows. Whether you use an autonomous SDR like Artisan or build custom data flows in Clay, good data and real personalization matter more than high volume.
Buyers also now check vendors in AI search tools before they agree to a sales call. Ahrefs' analysis of brand mentions across AI engines found that brands with a consistent presence across the web get cited more often in AI answers. To see how often ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot recommend your brand, you can track it daily with Lumirank.
This article was originally published on the Lumirank website: Top 10 AI Agents to Automate B2B Outreach and Sales.
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