What does done-for-you outbound cost? Price ranges and what to ask before you sign
Monthly cost ranges for outsourced SDRs, cold-email agencies, AI SDRs, tools and an in-house SDR in the UK, plus hidden costs and questions to ask first.
By Mussie HailePublished
The short answer: done-for-you outbound for a small B2B firm usually costs between a few hundred and several thousand pounds a month. An outsourced SDR or appointment-setting agency sits at the top, at roughly £1,900 to £9,000. An in-house SDR in the UK costs about £2,300 to £4,800 a month before tools. The cheapest route, a self-serve tool plus data, costs under £250 a month but takes most of your week.
Outbound cost at a glance
We read the pricing pages of 26 providers on 2 November 2026. Many publish no price at all, so the ranges below come from those that do. Dollar and euro prices use the European Central Bank's reference rates for 30 October 2026: about £0.75 per dollar and £0.83 per euro.
| Approach | Typical monthly cost | Setup fee | Minimum term | Who writes and approves emails | Your time per week (our estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In-house SDR (UK) | £2,300–£4,800, plus tools | Hiring time, plus any recruiter fee | Employment contract and notice | The SDR writes; you approve only if you set that up | 2–4 hours managing |
| Outsourced SDR or appointment-setting agency | £1,900–£9,000 | Often unpublished; one charges a one-time fee, one charges none | Month to month up to a 3–4 month pilot | The agency writes; per-email approval is rarely promised | 1–2 hours |
| Done-for-you cold-email agency | £450–£3,400, sometimes plus mailboxes and domains | None to about £750 | None to 3 months | The agency writes; per-email approval is rarely promised | 1–2 hours |
| AI SDR subscription | £370–£3,700; managed help costs extra | Usually none listed | Often billed quarterly | Software drafts; review modes vary | 1–3 hours |
| Self-serve sending tool plus data tool | £45–£210, plus about £6 per mailbox | None | Monthly; annual is cheaper | You write and approve everything | 5–10 hours |
| Freelancer | £650–£2,600 at an assumed 10 hours a week | Usually none | Whatever you agree | The freelancer drafts; you agree the process | 2–3 hours |
| ClearIntro (us, for comparison) | £390 | £790 | Cancel any month | Drafts in your voice; you approve every email | About 50 minutes |
Published figures are starting prices. Quotes rise with volume, channels and headcount. Freelancer rates come from one freelance marketplace's October 2026 rate guide: about £15 to £60 an hour for junior to mid-level lead-generation specialists. The time column is our own estimate, not measured data.
Key takeaways
- Staffed outbound services start around £1,900 a month and can pass £9,000.
- An in-house SDR costs more than salary: add 15% employer National Insurance above £5,000 and at least 3% pension.
- Mailboxes, domains, warm-up, data and verification often sit outside the headline fee.
- Compare cost per conversation, with your own time included.
- Before signing, ask who approves each email and who owns the domains.
What an in-house SDR really costs in the UK
An SDR (sales development representative) finds prospects and books first calls. In the UK, one recruiter's 2026 salary guide puts base pay at £24,000 to £38,000, with a median of about £30,000. It says commission adds 30–60%, and London adds 10–20% to base.
Salary is only part of the cost. For 2026 to 2027, employer National Insurance is 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year. Auto-enrolment requires an employer pension contribution of at least 3% on earnings between £6,240 and £50,270.
Here is the arithmetic for a mid-range hire. The commission figure is our assumption, at the low end of the guide's range.
| Item | Calculation | Annual cost |
|---|---|---|
| Base salary | Guide median | £30,000 |
| Commission (assumed) | Paid in full | £10,000 |
| Employer National Insurance | 15% × (£40,000 − £5,000) | £5,250 |
| Employer pension | 3% × (£40,000 − £6,240) | £1,013 |
| Total employment cost | £46,263 (about £3,855 a month) |
The same sum gives about £2,280 a month for a £24,000 hire with no commission. It gives about £4,840 for a £38,000 base with £12,000 commission. Tools, data and a laptop come on top.
One offset: the Employment Allowance can cut your employer National Insurance bill by up to £10,500 a year, if you're eligible. Check the rules before you count on it.
The hidden cost is time. Someone has to hire, train and manage the SDR, and the first weeks are mostly learning. For a founder-led firm, that someone is you.
The hidden costs behind the headline fee
The monthly fee rarely covers everything. These are the costs that turn up later.
Sending domains and mailboxes. Most outbound runs from separate domains, so your main domain is protected. Each mailbox has a monthly fee. A Google Workspace Business Starter user lists at about €7 a month. Some agency plans we read bill mailboxes and domains on top of the fee.
Warm-up time, in weeks. A new mailbox can't send cold email at full volume on day one. Google's sender guidelines say to start low and increase slowly. The help centres of two warm-up and sending tools we read say at least two to four weeks for a new domain. One says two to three months gives the best reputation. You pay the fee while you wait.
Data and enrichment. Someone has to find names and email addresses. Plans for the data tools we looked at start at about £15 a month and reach £125 for mid tiers. Agencies usually include data, but rarely say where it comes from.
Email verification. Checking addresses before sending keeps bounces down. Published prices we read work out at about 1p to 1.5p per address.
Tools. Sending tools start at about £30 to £80 a month on entry plans. CRM and calendar tools add more.
Your review time. Every email you read before it goes out costs minutes. If nobody reviews, the cost moves to your reputation instead.
Deliverability damage from volume. Gmail requires a spam complaint rate below 0.3% and recommends below 0.1% (Google). High volume to loosely matched lists drives complaints up. Repairing a damaged domain is slow, and the agency won't own that problem after you leave. See how many cold emails per day is safe.
How to compare: cost per conversation, not per email
Cost per email rewards volume, which is the thing that hurts deliverability. Cost per meeting depends on who counts as "qualified". Cost per conversation is a fairer middle measure.
Define a conversation as a reply from the right person that leads to a real exchange. Out-of-office replies and "remove me" don't count.
Then add up everything for one month:
- The monthly fee.
- The setup fee, spread over the minimum term.
- Tools, mailboxes and data not in the fee.
- Your own hours, at what an hour of your time is worth.
Divide by the number of conversations. Here is a worked example. Every number below is an assumption chosen to show the arithmetic. None is a result from ClearIntro or any provider.
| Assumption | Agency (higher volume) | Self-serve (you do it) | In-house SDR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee, pay or tools | £2,500 | £150 in tools | £4,005 (pay plus £150 tools) |
| Setup spread over term | £250 (£750 over 3 months) | £0 | £0 |
| Your hours per month | 4 | 26 | 9 |
| Your time at £100 an hour | £400 | £2,600 | £900 |
| New people contacted | 3,000 | 200 | 1,000 |
| Conversation rate (assumed) | 1% | 4% | 2% |
| Conversations | 30 | 8 | 20 |
| Cost per conversation | £105 | £344 | £245 |
Two things stand out. Your own time can be the largest cost. And a higher conversation rate can't rescue a route that eats your week.
Swap in your own numbers. Ask each provider for their typical reply rates in writing, then check them during a short first term.
What to ask before you sign
Ask these questions on the sales call, and get the answers into the contract.
- Who approves each email? Ask whether you see every message or only templates. Ask whether follow-ups are approved too.
- Which data sources do you use? Ask for the names. Then ask whether those sources' terms allow lead generation. Many job sites and aggregators forbid it, even on paid plans.
- Do you automate LinkedIn? LinkedIn does not allow third-party automation. It says accounts that use it risk being restricted or shut down. If it's your account, it's your risk.
- How many emails per day, and per mailbox? Ask for both numbers. Ask how many domains they will register and in whose name.
- What is the contract length, and how do I leave? Check the minimum term, the notice period and any setup fee you lose.
- Who owns the domains, mailboxes and data? If the agency owns them, you may leave with nothing. Ask for domains in your name.
- How do you handle opt-outs? Ask how quickly a "stop" is honoured, and whether it carries across every campaign.
- Which country's law applies to my recipients? UK B2B email to corporate addresses is generally allowed with identification and an opt-out under PECR regulation 22. Sole traders and some partnerships need consent. Germany's § 7 UWG requires prior consent, businesses included. The US relies on CAN-SPAM and an opt-out. Read our guide to UK cold email law. This is not legal advice.
- What do you report each week? Ask for sends, bounces, replies and opt-outs, not only meetings booked.
Where ClearIntro sits
ClearIntro is a small, low-volume option. It is not an appointment-setting agency, and it won't book calls for you.
Every weekday morning you get one email with a link to a short list. Each person has a dated public reason to write now and a draft in your voice. You tick who to contact, edit anything and press send. It takes about 10 minutes a day.
The rules are simple:
- At most 10 new people a day. Nobody is written to twice.
- You approve every email, including up to three follow-ups.
- No LinkedIn, directly or through scrapers.
- We send from your own Google Workspace mailbox, or you send it yourself.
- Opt-outs are honoured in code.
The price is £390 a month plus £790 setup. A larger plan is £790 a month plus £1,290 setup. You can cancel any month. You pay for the sending mailbox yourself, about €7 a month.
To be clear about where we are: ClearIntro is an early product. We have no paying clients yet and no reply-rate data. If you need hundreds of contacts a day or phone calls, an agency fits better.
How ClearIntro does this
You get a short list each morning, a reason to write to each person and a draft to approve. Nothing goes out without you. That keeps volume low, the domain yours and your time to about 10 minutes a day.
See ClearIntro pricing, read how it works for agencies, or check how many cold emails per day you can safely send.
Prices change often. Figures here were checked on 2 November 2026 and are not financial advice.