TL;DR
- lemlist suits teams combining email with LinkedIn and calls. Its Email plan is billed by monthly email volume; Multichannel is priced per user and includes five senders per user.
- Reply.io combines sequences, an inbox and multichannel activity. Its monthly selector lists Multichannel from $99 per user/month with five mailboxes per user; annual billing lists $89 equivalent and ten. Additional monthly mailboxes cost extra.
- Woodpecker is strongest when an agency needs client workspaces and transparent contacted-prospect accounting. Follow-ups do not consume the contact allowance, while reusing a prospect in another campaign does.
- For five clients, three operators and 10,000 new prospects per client monthly, compare 50,000 contacted prospects and channel needs, not just seats or email sends.
What agencies need to compare
An agency buys two things: a sending workflow and a way to keep each client's data, identity, reporting and billing apart. A tool can offer unlimited mailboxes yet still charge by seats, prospect volume, active clients or channel accounts. Those units are not interchangeable.
This comparison covers the advertised product and public plan terms, not a deliverability ranking. Before signing, confirm client separation, data export, permission roles, global suppression behaviour and whether each client can connect its own mailboxes without sharing passwords.
Quick comparison
| Platform | Billing unit | Channel mix | Agency fit | Main cost trap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| lemlist | Email plan by team email-volume tier; Multichannel per user | Email; LinkedIn and calls on Multichannel | Strong multichannel workflow; verify workspace/client permissions | Extra seats and data credits are distinct from email volume |
| Reply.io | Email volume or per-user Multichannel | Email, LinkedIn, calls/SMS, inbox | Agency offering has multi-workspace, client and role controls | Monthly five-mailbox/user versus annual ten-mailbox/user; term and allocation matter |
| Woodpecker | Contacted prospects; agency active-client add-on | Email plus LinkedIn and manual tasks | Client panel, central billing, global blacklist and client view | Same prospect in separate campaigns counts again; client add-on stacks |
The three platforms
1. lemlist: multichannel execution for a small operator team
lemlist's Email plan is a team-volume product. The current public annual price card lists 50,000 emails per month at $55/month equivalent, with unlimited users and senders. Its Multichannel plan is $87 per user/month on the annual selector and includes five sender slots per user, LinkedIn automation and calling features. These are different products and billing units: don't multiply the $55 volume price by operator count or assume that it includes LinkedIn automation.
For three operators, Multichannel's listed base is $261/month equivalent on annual billing, or $327/month on the current $109/user monthly selector, before tax and optional data products. That calculation assumes three separately billed human users and does not establish that sender slots can be pooled across clients. The five-sender allowance is per user on the public card; confirm how shared senders and client workspaces are assigned before using 15 as pooled agency capacity. Email volume, sender identities and data credits should be budgeted separately.
The unified inbox brings email and LinkedIn conversations together. This reduces channel switching, but agencies should check whether a teammate can view or answer another client's conversations and how permissions follow a lead. lemlist makes more sense when reps actually need channel choice and manual tasks; an email-only agency may be paying for unnecessary features on Multichannel.
2. Reply.io: broader engagement with a visible mailbox boundary
Reply separates Email Volume from Multichannel. The product should be evaluated as an engagement workspace as well as a sender: confirm whether client sequences, suppression lists, reply categories and performance reports can be restricted or exported independently. Its current US pricing page lists Multichannel starting at $99/user/month and five mailboxes per user. Extra mailboxes are listed at $29/account/month; LinkedIn is $69 per account/month, and calls/SMS $29 per account/month. Confirm the billed term and regional quote at checkout: the page’s headline is a starting price, not a final agency quote.
At three seats on the monthly selector, the listed Multichannel starting arithmetic is $297/month, before add-ons. Each of the three users has five listed mailboxes, giving 15 nominal slots, not the required 20. Five additional monthly accounts would add $145 at the displayed $29 price if the add-on applies, for a conditional $442/month. The annual selector separately shows $89/user/month equivalent and ten mailboxes per user; three seats are $267/month equivalent and 30 nominal slots, with a full-year commitment. Confirm allocation and client boundaries before calling either configuration eligible.
The agency tier describes multi-workspace structure, unlimited clients and users, consolidated email and LinkedIn inbox, and role-based access. Its published page presents an entry price and custom options, so get a quote covering the intended number of clients, operators, mailbox connections and LinkedIn accounts. Reply is appealing when one team wants a central inbox and several channels; evaluate actual account isolation and assignment in a trial.
3. Woodpecker: prospect accounting and client operations
Woodpecker prices around contacted prospects. Its billing guide says a prospect is counted when processed in a campaign; follow-up messages do not count, but the same prospect added to two campaigns counts twice. The pricing page lists the lowest paid plan at $35 for up to 500 contacted prospects and shows the Agency Panel at $27 per active client monthly. Annual payment is advertised with a discount; verify the selected volume tier, payment term and regional total in the live calculator.
At five active clients, the panel component alone is $135/month. A workload of 10,000 unique new prospects for each client is 50,000 contacts at the agency level if each enters one campaign. A three-step sequence does not triple this count; placing the same prospect in a second campaign does. The base contacted-prospect subscription is additional, and client-specific pools may be represented separately in the panel. The final price needs the exact tier and configuration.
Woodpecker lists unlimited users and mailboxes without a per-seat charge. Those “unlimited” items do not remove the contacted-prospect meter or the cost of the client panel. Its agency features include client panels, central billing, a global blacklist and a client view. API/integrations and white-label are separate add-ons. LinkedIn actions and tasks may also count as a contacted prospect, so an agency mixing channels should model all first campaign actions, not only emails.
Worked agency model
Assume five clients, three human operators, 10,000 new prospects per client each month, one campaign per prospect and up to three total touches. The workload is 50,000 unique campaign entries. If every prospect receives one first touch plus two follow-ups, sends may reach 150,000, but the billing unit differs:
- Woodpecker: model 50,000 contacted prospects, not 150,000 messages, provided each person is entered once. Add the five-client Agency Panel at $135/month and the selected prospect tier. Re-entry to another campaign raises the billed count.
- lemlist Email: compare the total email-send requirement against the selected volume tier; the $55 annual-equivalent tier shown for 50,000 emails is below a 150,000-send workload. A larger tier is needed, and that volume plan alone is not the Multichannel feature set.
- lemlist Multichannel: three users imply $261/month equivalent on annual billing or $327/month on monthly billing, with 15 listed sender slots. Both base configurations are five slots short of the 20-mailbox requirement. Confirm client segregation and the workload's plan eligibility; no monthly email ceiling is displayed in the cited card.
- Reply Multichannel: monthly billing gives $297 for three users and 15 included mailbox slots, five short. Its annual selector is $267/month equivalent with ten slots per user, or 30 nominal slots; annual commitment and client allocation require confirmation. Confirm whether client mailbox assignment and the agency tier affect this quote.
These figures are not a like-for-like total-cost ranking. For Woodpecker, the entry price is only the 500-prospect floor; a 50,000-prospect requirement needs the live volume selector and could materially exceed the $135 client-panel component. For lemlist Email, a 150,000-send plan must be quoted or selected separately; the public 50,000-email tier cannot satisfy it. Reply’s three monthly seats provide 15 included mailbox slots, five short of the required 20. At the listed $29 extra-account monthly price, five additional slots add $145 if this add-on is eligible and the client assignment works; $297 + $145 = $442/month before other costs. Its annual selector instead lists ten mailboxes per user at $89/user/month equivalent, giving 30 nominal slots across three paid users and $267/month equivalent, subject to the annual commitment and allocation rules. Do not use the monthly add-on price to modify the annual illustration without a matching quote. These calculations expose the different meters. Add domains, mailbox subscriptions, LinkedIn identities, data credits, verification, client support and taxes to the software quote. For a client whose contract requires separate ownership, price one isolated workspace per client rather than pooling all activity.
Which should you choose?
Choose lemlist when channel mix and a shared email/LinkedIn inbox help the same operator work an account. Choose Reply when you need a broader engagement suite and can validate mailbox assignment, agency workspace roles and its per-account add-ons. Choose Woodpecker when prospect-volume accounting and client operations matter more than a per-seat multichannel suite.
Before purchase, run one client through import, suppression, sequence, reply assignment, pause, export and offboarding. Record whether an operator can accidentally switch client context while composing, whether the shared blacklist blocks across tenants, and what the client can see while connecting a mailbox. These details determine whether lower per-seat pricing creates a manageable service or a costly permission risk. Ask each vendor for a quote showing five clients, three operators, exact monthly new prospects, maximum touches, connected mailboxes and channels. No product trial was conducted for this comparison.
Use the signal-based outbound playbook to specify client-level campaign ownership before comparing software quotes.
FAQ
Does Woodpecker charge for every follow-up?
No. Its billing guide says follow-ups do not count toward contacted-prospect usage. A prospect reused in another campaign counts again, so campaign architecture still affects the bill.
Is lemlist Email the same as Multichannel?
No. Email is priced by team email volume. Multichannel adds LinkedIn and other steps and is priced per user. Compare the volume tier and channel workflow separately.
Can three Reply seats support 20 mailboxes?
On the monthly selector, three users × five included mailboxes = 15, five short of 20. Five $29 monthly extra mailboxes would bring the arithmetic to $442/month including three $99 seats, only if eligible and assignable. The annual selector lists ten per user at $89/user/month equivalent; three seats offer 30 nominal slots at $267/month equivalent, with annual cash commitment and allocation still to confirm.
Which plan includes agency separation?
Reply advertises multi-workspace agency controls; Woodpecker has an Agency Panel add-on. lemlist provides team and workspace controls, but confirm the exact client boundary and permissions on the selected plan. Ask for a written demonstration against your offboarding requirements.
Should an agency pool client leads in one workspace?
Only if the contract, consent basis, retention rules and access model permit it. Separate workspaces make client export and access easier to audit, while shared suppression can still be maintained deliberately.
How do I compare mailbox limits with send volume?
Count connected mailbox accounts separately from email events and unique contacts. Five mailboxes do not mean five times the permitted campaign volume, and a three-touch sequence does not necessarily count as three contacted prospects. Check both the sequencer allowance and mailbox-provider policy.
What should I include in a vendor quote request?
List monthly unique prospects by client, campaign re-entry, total email touches, operators, mailbox accounts, LinkedIn identities, data credits, term, annual prepayment, taxes, API and white-label needs. This lets each vendor price the same actual workload.
