Outsourced lead generation in 2026: agencies vs software, compared

Outsourced lead generation means paying a company such as CIENCE, Belkins, Callbox, Martal Group, Leadium, Sopro or SalesHive to find and contact prospects for you. It is the fastest route when you have budget but no team. Software such as Clay, Instantly or GTM Plays is cheaper when someone in-house can run it.

This guide compares both routes. Every agency was checked on its own website on 24 Oct 2026, and prices are only quoted where the company publishes them. GTM Plays is our product; it is software, and it does not book meetings by itself.

In-house vs outsourced: the honest trade-off

	Outsourced (agency)	In-house (with software)
Speed to start	Fast once the contract is signed	Depends on hiring or freeing up time
Cost	Retainer or per-SDR fees, usually the larger outlay	Software subscription plus your team's time
Control of messaging	Shared with the agency	Full
Learning	Stays partly with the agency	Stays with you
Best when	No one has time to prospect	A founder or rep has a few hours a week

Many companies start with one route and switch. A common pattern is to outsource while hiring, then bring outreach in-house once the playbook is clear.

How we picked

We kept agencies that run outbound lead generation as a core service and explain their channels and pricing approach on their own site. We added three software tools that cover the main in-house alternatives: research and enrichment, cold email, and LinkedIn.

Quick comparison

Provider	Type	Pricing as of Oct 2026
CIENCE	Agency	Campaign team $2,000/mo + platform $499/mo + SDRs from $1,750/mo
Belkins	Agency	Retainer, quoted
Callbox	Agency	Custom
Martal Group	Agency	On request
Leadium	Agency	Quote
Sopro	Agency	From around $3.8K/mo
SalesHive	Agency	Flat monthly fee, quoted
Clay	Software	Free; Launch from $167/mo
Instantly	Software	Bundles from $94/mo
GTM Plays	Software	Pro $149/mo, 7-day free trial

Outsourced lead generation agencies

CIENCE (agency)

Why it is on this list: the clearest published pricing for outsourced SDRs we found.

What it is: outsourced SDR teams for outbound, inbound and scaled programmes, with cold email, cold calling, appointment setting, research and ads services, run on its own graph8 platform (cience.com).

Pricing (as of Oct 2026, cience.com/pricing): published. A campaign team costs $2,000 a month and the graph8 platform $499 a month (75,000 credits included). SDRs start at $1,750 per SDR a month offshore, or $3,500 per SDR a month in the US and Europe. A performance bonus is paid when an SDR hits their held-meeting target, and setup is a one-time fee. CIENCE's own example, with five offshore SDRs, comes to $11,249 a month plus bonus.

Best for: teams who want transparent SDR pricing and the option to add or remove reps month to month.

Watch out for: the bonus formula adds cost when targets are hit, so model the total cost per held meeting before you sign.

Belkins (agency)

Why it is on this list: a broad, done-for-you programme across many channels.

What it is: a B2B lead generation and appointment-setting agency. Its site lists omnichannel outreach across cold email, cold and intent calling, voicemail, SMS and WhatsApp, LinkedIn and paid advertising, plus lead research, ABM, deliverability consulting and outsourced SDRs (belkins.io).

Pricing (as of Oct 2026, belkins.io/pricing): monthly retainer packages built around your goals, markets and channels. No figures are published, so you get a quote on a call.

Best for: mid-market and larger B2B teams who want a full outbound programme run for them.

Watch out for: retainers are a monthly commitment, so agree in writing what counts as a qualified appointment before you start.

Callbox (agency)

Why it is on this list: a long-running provider for multi-region campaigns.

What it is: an outsourced B2B lead generation and appointment-setting provider founded in 2004. It runs multi-channel outreach across phone, email, LinkedIn and digital channels, and says it serves clients in 60+ countries (callboxinc.com).

Pricing (as of Oct 2026, callboxinc.com): custom. Callbox says price depends on campaign scope, target market and engagement model.

Best for: companies selling into several regions, including APAC, that want phone-led campaigns.

Watch out for: without a published price, ask for the full cost per campaign and the exact definition of a qualified lead.

Martal Group (agency)

Why it is on this list: onshore reps with experience in tech and SaaS.

What it is: a B2B lead generation and sales outsourcing agency that lists 200+ onshore sales executives and 15 years in business. Services include appointment setting, cold email, LinkedIn lead generation, cold calling and inbound lead qualification (martal.ca).

Pricing (as of Oct 2026, martal.ca): on request through a "Request Pricing" form; no figures are published.

Best for: tech and SaaS companies that want experienced reps, with the option of help further down the funnel.

Watch out for: confirm which services are included in the base fee and which cost extra (its site lists trade-show appointment setting as an extra-cost item).

Leadium (agency)

Why it is on this list: it combines outreach with data sourcing and inbound qualification.

What it is: a B2B lead generation agency offering appointment setting, data sourcing and inbound lead qualification across outbound email, cold calling, LinkedIn prospecting, gifting and events (leadium.com).

Pricing (as of Oct 2026, leadium.com): quoted after a consultation. Its contact form asks for a budget range rather than publishing a price.

Best for: growing B2B companies that want multi-channel appointment setting with a data-sourcing option.

Watch out for: compare the quote against a written definition of what counts as a qualified appointment.

Sopro (agency)

Why it is on this list: a published starting price and no minimum contract.

What it is: a B2B prospecting service that runs expert-led outreach on its own platform and data, with cold email, multi-channel and account-based engagement (sopro.io).

Pricing (as of Oct 2026, sopro.io/pricing): Sopro says pricing starts at around $3.8K a month, tailored to your business, with no minimum contract.

Best for: small and mid-sized B2B companies that want email-led prospecting without a long contract.

Watch out for: email-led programmes depend on deliverability and data, so ask how both are managed.

SalesHive (agency)

Why it is on this list: one fee covers people, strategy and tools.

What it is: a B2B sales development agency with US-based SDRs, a strategist and an AI platform, counting client meetings and accounts since 2016 (saleshive.com).

Pricing (as of Oct 2026, saleshive.com): one flat monthly fee covering your SDR team, strategist, AI platform, data and tools. The figure is quoted after a call.

Best for: mid-market teams who want US-based SDRs on a single monthly fee.

Watch out for: ask how many SDR hours your fee buys and how meetings are counted.

Software for keeping it in-house

Clay

Why it is on this list: it lets an in-house team build the research and enrichment an agency would otherwise do.

What it is: a data orchestration platform that combines many data and AI vendors, with Claygent research agents, signals and an email sequencer, according to clay.com.

Pricing (as of Oct 2026, clay.com/pricing): a Free plan includes 500 actions and 100 data credits a month. Launch starts at $167 a month and Growth at $446 a month, with prices rising by action and data-credit volume. Enterprise is custom. There is a 14-day trial.

Best for: GTM engineers who build custom enrichment and routing workflows.

Limits: it is a builder; someone has to design and maintain the tables.

Instantly (software)

Why it is on this list: it covers high-volume cold email for teams that write their own campaigns.

What it is: a cold email platform with unlimited email accounts and warmup, a B2B lead database and AI features (instantly.ai).

Pricing (as of Oct 2026, instantly.ai/pricing): bundles of outreach plus credits start at $94 a month (Starter: 5,000 emails and 1,500 credits a month), $194 a month (Scale) and $555 a month (Agency). Outreach-only plans start at $47 a month.

Best for: teams that will run their own cold email at volume.

Watch out for: you still need someone to write, test and manage replies.

GTM Plays

Why it is on this list: it handles signal finding and LinkedIn outreach, the most time-consuming parts of prospecting.

What it is: an AI agent for LinkedIn. It finds people showing intent signals, scores each one for fit against your ICP, writes a message for each person and sends it from your own LinkedIn account. Replies come into one inbox, where you take over. It does not book meetings by itself.

Pricing: Pro is $149 a month after a 7-day free trial, and each extra agent is $59 a month. Live Leads, a one-off extraction of a LinkedIn company page's followers or a post's engagers, is paid per lead with credits and is separate from Pro.

Best for: founders and small teams who want signal-led LinkedIn outreach without building workflows.

Integrations and exports: HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, Attio, folk, Breakcold, Instantly, Smartlead, SmartReach, HeyReach, Slack, Clay and Zapier, plus webhooks, a REST API and an MCP server. CSV export, and credits for email and phone enrichment. Live Leads exports in Clay, Instantly and Smartlead formats.

Limits: it is not a contact database to browse, and it has no built-in email sequencer or dialer; for email it connects to tools such as Instantly, Smartlead and SmartReach.

Questions to ask before you outsource

1. What exactly is delivered: names, qualified leads or held meetings?
2. How is "qualified" defined, and is it in the contract?
3. Which domains, mailboxes and LinkedIn profiles will be used, and who owns them afterwards?
4. What is the minimum term and notice period?
5. Who writes the messaging, and can we approve it?
6. What reporting will we get, and how often?

Before you sign, write down your ideal customer profile. It is the single most useful thing you can give an agency, and the same document drives software.

Where GTM Plays fits

GTM Plays is for teams who would rather keep lead generation in-house without hiring an SDR. It finds people showing intent signals on LinkedIn, scores fit against your ICP, and writes and sends messages from your own LinkedIn account. Replies arrive in one inbox, where your team takes over. It does not book meetings by itself. It connects to HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, Attio, folk, Breakcold, Instantly, Smartlead, SmartReach, HeyReach, Slack, Clay and Zapier, plus webhooks, a REST API and an MCP server.

For more agencies, see the best lead generation agencies and our guide to appointment setting services. For the wider services-vs-software question, read lead generation services. To try GTM Plays, start a 7-day free trial.