Four ways to run outbound, four very different price tags, and four very different results. Here is the honest comparison, with real numbers.
Outbound sits on a spectrum from cheap-and-you-do-everything to expensive-and-someone-does-it-for-you. The right choice depends less on the sticker price and more on who ends up owning the result. Here is what each option really costs and what you get for it.
| Option | Typical cost | What you actually get |
|---|---|---|
| In-house SDR | $140k+/yr | One person's capacity after a 3–4 month ramp, plus tools and management. High fixed cost and single point of failure. |
| Lead-gen agency | $4–10k/mo | A human team and volume, but quality varies and many are deliverability-blind. You often still chase and qualify. |
| AI SDR tools | $200–500/mo | Cheap and fast, but you do the work, your domain carries the risk, and nobody owns the outcome. |
| Done-for-you (Warmlane) | From $2k/mo | The whole function run for you, tested to land before it sends, with a named person owning the result. |
A sales development rep looks straightforward until you add it up: salary, payroll taxes, tooling, a manager's time, and a three to four month ramp before they are productive. Fully loaded, that is $140,000 or more a year for one person's capacity, and if they leave, that capacity leaves with them. It makes sense at scale, with a sales team to absorb the management, but it is a heavy first move for a founder-led business.
Agencies bring a human team and can move volume, typically for $4,000 to $10,000 a month. The catch is that many are volume-led and deliverability-blind, optimizing for emails sent rather than emails that land, and quality of meetings varies widely. You are also often still doing the qualifying and booking yourself.
The newest and cheapest option, at $200 to $500 a month, hands you software and lets you run it. That is genuine leverage if you have the time and expertise, but two things are on you: the work of running it well, and the risk to your domain reputation when it goes wrong. Nobody but you owns the result.
Because agents rather than a room of people do the work, a done-for-you service can sit below the agency price band and still deliver the whole function: sourcing, signals, copy, deliverability-tested sending, replies and reporting, with a named person accountable for the outcome. Warmlane starts from $2,000 a month, and a fixed-price 60-day pilot lets you prove it before you commit. See the full breakdown on our pricing page, or read how it works.
On sticker price, AI tools win. On cost per actual meeting booked, it is rarely close, because the tool only works if you pour time into it. The honest answer is that the cheapest option is the one that reliably books meetings for the least total cost, including your own time and your domain's reputation. For most founder-led and small B2B teams, that is a done-for-you service on a short, fixed-price pilot, not the lowest monthly fee.
Start with a 60-day pilot at a fixed price, with an agreed success metric. No headcount, no long lock-in.
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