Quick answer: Pick Instantly if your outbound is mostly cold email at high volume: its Outreach plans start at $47 a month, or $37.60 billed yearly, with unlimited sending accounts and warm-up. Pick Buzz if you want LinkedIn, email and calls in one seat for $79 a month, billed monthly, or an AI Employee that runs outbound and books meetings for you. Instantly prices below were checked on Instantly's pricing page on October 28, 2026.
Buzz and Instantly both help B2B teams book meetings with outbound, but they start from different places. Instantly is a cold email platform built around sending at scale. Buzz gives you a self-serve seat across three channels, or an AI Employee that does the prospecting, writing, replies and booking. This guide compares them on channels, AI, data and price, using each company's own public pricing.
Buzz vs Instantly at a glance
Every Instantly figure comes from instantly.ai/pricing, checked on October 28, 2026. Buzz figures come from the Buzz pricing page. Where a price is not on a public page, we say "Not published".
| Buzz | Instantly | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Teams that want an AI Employee to run outbound and book meetings, or one self-serve seat with LinkedIn, email and calls | Teams sending high-volume cold email across many inboxes |
| Channels | Email, LinkedIn and calls (voicemail drops included) | Email. LinkedIn and calling are not listed on the pricing page |
| Done-for-you AI | AI Employee finds prospects, writes messages, handles replies and objections, follows up and books meetings in Calendly | AI Sales Agent, AI Reply Agent (Scale bundle and up), AI email writer and web researcher agents; VIP setup service is custom |
| Contact data | 250M+ contact database with enrichment | 450M+ B2B leads database, used with Instantly credits (separate credits plan or bundle) |
| Sending accounts | Buy sending domains and warmed mailboxes inside Buzz | Unlimited email accounts and unlimited warm-up on every Outreach plan |
| Entry price | Core: $79 per seat per month, billed monthly | Outreach Growth: $47/mo monthly, or $37.60/mo billed yearly (5,000 emails, 1,000 uploaded contacts) |
| Sending plus data | Included in Core at $79 per seat per month | Starter bundle: $94/mo monthly, or $85/mo billed yearly; Scale $194 ($175); Agency $555 ($500) |
| Done-for-you AI price | AI Employee: custom (talk to sales) | VIP: custom (book a call) |
| Enterprise | Custom (talk to sales) | Custom (book a call) |
| White label | $1,000 per month for 20 seats, billed annually | Not published |
| Free start | Start free | Get started with no credit card required |
Pricing: what you actually pay
Instantly sells sending and lead data as separate plans, or together as a bundle:
- Outreach (sending): Growth $47 a month (5,000 emails, 1,000 uploaded contacts), Hypergrowth $97 a month (25,000 uploaded contacts) and Light Speed $358 a month (500,000 emails, 100,000 uploaded contacts, private server and IP rotation). Yearly billing brings these to $37.60, $77.60 and $286.30 a month. Enterprise is custom.
- Credits (lead data): Growth $47 a month for 1,500 to 2,000 credits, Supersonic $97 a month for 5,000 to 7,500 credits, and Hyper Credits from $197 a month. Enterprise is custom.
- Bundles: Starter $94 a month, Scale $194 a month (adds the AI Reply Agent) and Agency $555 a month, or $85, $175 and $500 a month billed yearly.
- VIP: a custom-priced setup service with a dedicated account manager and GTM engineer.
Buzz keeps it to three options:
- Core: $79 per seat per month, billed monthly. Includes LinkedIn and email outreach, phone calling, voicemail drops, CRM integrations and AI message drafting.
- AI Employee: custom priced, so you talk to sales.
- White Label: $1,000 a month for 20 seats, billed annually. See Buzz white label.
Bottom line on price: for email-only sending, Instantly's Outreach Growth plan is cheaper than a Buzz seat. Once you add lead data, Instantly's Starter bundle ($94 a month, or $85 yearly) costs more than Buzz Core at $79 a month, and Buzz Core also covers LinkedIn and calls. For a full cost breakdown of AI outbound, read how much an AI SDR costs.
Channels: email, LinkedIn and calls
Instantly is an email tool. Its pricing page covers email accounts, warm-up, sequences, a shared inbox and deliverability features. It does not list LinkedIn outreach or calling.
Buzz includes email, LinkedIn and calls from the first paid seat. That matters because email-only outreach tends to stall as inboxes get stricter. Our guide on why email-only AI SDRs stall explains why, and how to build one LinkedIn and email sequence shows how to set it up.
AI: who does the work?
Instantly has added AI across its plans: an AI Sales Agent, an AI email writer, a web researcher agent, and an AI Reply Agent on the Scale bundle and above. You can also bring your own LLM API key. For hands-on help, its VIP service sets up the AI Sales Agent, inboxes and campaigns for you, at a custom price.
Buzz's AI Employee is built to run outbound for you. It learns your business, finds prospects that match your ideal customer profile, builds campaigns across LinkedIn and email, handles replies and objections, follows up when people go quiet, and books meetings in Calendly. Learn more in what an AI Employee is.
Data and deliverability
Deliverability is where Instantly is strongest. Every Outreach plan includes unlimited email accounts and unlimited warm-up, and Light Speed adds private server and IP rotation. Its lead database lists 450M+ B2B contacts, which by its own numbers is bigger than Buzz's, but you pay for it with credits.
Buzz has a 250M+ contact database with enrichment, and an AI Email Service that lets you buy sending domains and warmed mailboxes inside Buzz. See how the AI Email Service works and our guide to deliverability at high volume.
Who should pick which
- Pick Instantly if you send large volumes of cold email across many inboxes and want warm-up and IP rotation handled for you.
- Pick Buzz Core if you want LinkedIn, email and calls in one seat on monthly billing.
- Pick Buzz AI Employee if you want outbound done for you, from finding prospects to booking meetings.
- Pick Buzz White Label if you are an agency that wants to resell AI outbound under your own brand.
Still comparing? See the 10 best cold email software tools, the best AI SDR tools of 2026 and our Buzz vs Apollo.io comparison.
Ready to try Buzz? Start free, or talk to sales about an AI Employee.
FAQ
Is Buzz or Instantly better?
It depends on your main channel. Instantly is built for high-volume cold email with unlimited sending accounts and warm-up. Buzz is a better fit if you want email, LinkedIn and calls in one seat, or an AI Employee that finds prospects, handles replies and books meetings for you.
How much does Instantly cost?
On October 28, 2026, Instantly's pricing page listed its Outreach plans at $47 a month (Growth), $97 a month (Hypergrowth) and $358 a month (Light Speed), billed monthly, with lower yearly prices of $37.60, $77.60 and $286.30 a month. Lead credits are a separate plan from $47 a month. Bundles that combine both run $94, $194 and $555 a month. Enterprise and VIP setup are custom quotes.
How much does Buzz cost?
Buzz Core is $79 per seat per month, billed monthly, with LinkedIn and email outreach, phone calling and voicemail drops. AI Employee is custom priced, so you talk to sales. White Label is $1,000 a month for 20 seats, billed annually.
Does Instantly do LinkedIn outreach?
Instantly's pricing page does not list LinkedIn outreach or calling in any plan. It focuses on email: sending accounts, warm-up, sequences, a lead database and AI agents for writing and replies. Buzz includes LinkedIn, email and calls from its Core plan.
Can I try both for free?
Instantly says you can get started with no credit card required. You can start free on Buzz and upgrade to Core when you are ready to send.
Can I use Instantly and Buzz together?
Yes. Some teams keep Instantly for bulk cold email and add Buzz for LinkedIn and calls, or let a Buzz AI Employee work warm leads and replies. If you want one tool, run Buzz on a fresh segment for two to four weeks and compare meetings booked, not emails sent.
