What AI SDRs actually cost
Sticker prices, the hidden infrastructure nobody quotes, and the only number that matters.
Every vendor quotes a subscription and none of them quote the stack underneath it. Here is the whole bill, including the line item most comparisons leave out: your own time.
Sticker prices by category
| Category | Typical monthly | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Sending infrastructure | $30 to $100 | Smartlead, Instantly |
| Data and enrichment | $49 to $150+ | Apollo from about $49, Clay from about $149 plus credits |
| Autonomous AI SDR | $900 to $3,000+ | AiSDR from about $900, 11x sales-led at roughly $3k+ |
| Enterprise GTM platform | Sales-led, often five figures | Copy.ai and similar |
| Done-for-you, human-in-the-loop | Scoped per engagement | Agent GTM |
The costs nobody quotes
- Sending domains: $10 to $15 each per year. You need several.
- Inboxes: Google Workspace seats run about $6 to $7 each per month. Dedicated cold-email inboxes cost a fraction of that, which is what usually unblocks a volume constraint.
- Email verification: a few dollars per thousand addresses, and non-negotiable.
- Warmup: often bundled, sometimes $20 to $50 per month.
- Enrichment credits: the line that surprises people, because credit burn scales with experimentation, not with sends.
- Your hours: 6 to 10 per week to run a DIY stack properly. At any sensible valuation of founder time this is the largest number on the page.
Total cost of ownership, honestly
| Path | Cash per month | Your time | Real bottleneck |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY founder stack | $150 to $400 | 6 to 10 hrs/week | Consistency. Most stacks quietly stop being run. |
| Autonomous AI SDR | $900 to $3,000+ | 2 to 4 hrs/week oversight | Domain and brand risk |
| Done-for-you human-in-the-loop | Scoped | About 1 hr/week approving | Trusting someone else's judgment |
| One SDR hire | Salary plus tools plus management | Ongoing management | 3 to 6 months of ramp before consistency |
The only number that matters
Cost per booked meeting, not cost per month. A $150 stack that books two meetings costs $75 a meeting. A $3,000 tool that books forty costs $75 a meeting. They are identical, and the sticker price told you nothing.
Two adjustments make the comparison honest. Count your hours at a real rate, because 8 hours a week is most of a working day. And count only qualified meetings, since "meetings booked" is the easiest metric in outbound to inflate.
On our own pricing: Agent GTM is scoped per engagement rather than a fixed seat price, and we start with a free GTM teardown so you can judge the research and copy quality before paying anything. Prices above are approximate as of mid-2026; check each vendor for current numbers.
- Sticker prices range from about $30 a month for sending infrastructure to $3,000+ for autonomous AI SDRs.
- Hidden costs include domains, inboxes, verification, warmup and enrichment credits.
- A DIY stack costs 6 to 10 founder-hours a week, usually the largest real cost.
- Compare on cost per qualified meeting, never cost per month.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an AI SDR cost per month?
Autonomous AI SDR tools generally run $900 to $3,000 or more per month. DIY stacks cost $150 to $400 in tools plus 6 to 10 hours a week of your time. Done-for-you services are usually scoped per engagement rather than sold by seat.
Is an AI SDR cheaper than hiring an SDR?
In cash terms almost always, since a fully loaded SDR costs far more than any tool. The fairer comparison is cost per qualified meeting, and it also matters that a tool has no ramp time while a new hire takes three to six months.
What are the hidden costs of cold email?
Sending domains, inboxes, verification, warmup, and enrichment credits. Credit burn is the one that surprises people, because it scales with how much you experiment rather than how much you send.
Why do AI SDR vendors hide their pricing?
Mostly because deals are sold rather than self-served, and prices vary by seat count and volume. It is worth asking directly for the all-in monthly figure including data and sending, since the quoted number often excludes both.