Choosing between Lemlist and Mailshake may feel tricky at first because both offer outreach sequences targeting prospects. But if you spend a moment doing more research, you’ll learn that the tools are different in focus and strength.
Lemlist emphasizes multichannel personalization with email, LinkedIn, and calls. Mailshake is focused on email outreach with strong automation and follow-ups. The result is two distinct user experiences.
In this article, we look at which tool performs better for cold email outreach, their cost, pros and cons, and other important considerations to help you choose the better option for your team.
Mailshake vs Lemlist: quick overview comparison
Lemlist positions itself as a platform for highly personalized campaigns. You can combine email with LinkedIn tasks and calls, create custom, personalized landing pages and build full-funnel outreach. Mailshake focuses more narrowly on email sequences, automated follow-ups, warm-up features and ease of use.
If you know you’ll be doing complex sequences, multiple touch-points, and want creative outreach, Lemlist is the more logical choice. If you want to focus on email only, get started fast and keep things simple, Mailshake fits.
Mailshake appeals for teams that want to launch email sequences quickly and rely on email as the main channel. Lemlist suits teams that want deeper personalisation, multiple channels, and more automation.
The pricing also reflects that split: Lemlist sits at a higher tier overall; Mailshake starts at a lower entry point and remains relatively predictable for email-first users.
Lemlist vs Mailshake: pricing plans
The biggest difference between the two tools lies in pricing and pricing structure. Lemlist carries a higher starting cost and fewer tiers at the lowest end. Mailshake offers a more incremental pricing ladder for email-only use.
Lemlist pricing
We’ve covered Lemlist pricing plans in another article in full detail. Here are the basics you need to know.
Lemlist offers a 14-day free trial for its paid plans and there is no free plan available.
- Typical entry plan for email-only outreach (Email Pro) is quoted at $55 per user per month when billed annually. This basic plan gives you everything for email outreach only.
- The next tier (Multichannel Expert) starts at $79 per user per month when billed annually. On top of email, this unlocks LinkedIn automation, WhatsApp, and many other features that reflect the multi-channel approach in Lemlist.
- The Custom plan has custom pricing, as the name suggests, and you’ll have to reach out to Lemlist to get more info.
Important note: Even with the stated rate, scaling (seats, credits, sending accounts) can significantly increase actual cost. If you have a strong focus on lead generation and need to tap into Lemlist’s database, you’ll quickly pile up large bills when using up email credits.
Mailshake pricing
Mailshake is one of the rare email outreach tools that doesn’t offer a free trial or a plan. The only options you have are to watch a demo or sign up and pay for your plan.
When it comes to plans, these are your options:
- Starter: starts at $25 per user per month
- Email outreach: starts at $45 per user per month
- Sales engagement: starts at $85 per user per month
- Agency plan: you’ll have to talk to sales to learn more details
You can pay for all plans monthly or annually. Typically, annual payments save quite a bit of money, but this is not the case with Mailshake. For example, if you were to purchase the Email outreach plan for 10 users, you’d pay $450 per month when paying for a year upfront. If you want to pay on a monthly basis, the total would be $490 per month.
You can also learn more about Mailshake pricing in our full breakdown.
Pricing summed up
Lemlist is the more expensive option, but its pricing makes more sense. There’s a free trial, you get a bigger discount for annual payments, and if you just want to send personalized email campaigns, you don’t have to pay through the roof.
Contact data and sourcing
Lemlist includes a built-in contact database and email/phone enrichment credits. You can find leads, verify emails, and phone numbers inside the platform. If you want the ammunition for your cold outreach campaigns without switching tools, Lemlist offers just that.
Mailshake does provide integrations with data-finder features, but the emphasis is less on built-in lead sourcing and more on executing sequences. In other words, you’re probably going to have to get your own data or purchase it from a third-party platform, which will cost extra. However, Lemlist also charges extra for email credits.
If having internal lead-data sourcing is important, Lemlist has the upper hand. If you already have your own lead list or prefer to source externally, Mailshake works fine. If you want affordable leads and outreach capabilities, you might just have to look into other email outreach tools.
Outreach and automation
Lemlist supports true multichannel campaigns: email, LinkedIn outreach, call steps and custom landing pages. You’ll find sequence builders that support conditional logic, multi-step workflows and rich personalization (dynamic images and variables), which isn’t Lemlist’s unique feature, but it works really well.
Your reps can communicate with customers through a unified inbox that stores all messages. You get detailed analytics on all outreach efforts, too.
Mailshake is more straightforward: you build email sequences, set follow-ups, test templates and focus on deliverability. Some multichannel features exist (LinkedIn, dialer) in higher tiers, but email remains the core offer.
Your choice depends on your sequence needs. If you need deeper personalization and multiple channels, Lemlist has you covered. If you want clean email-based sequences and fewer moving parts, Mailshake suffices.
Email deliverability tools
Lemlist gives strong focus to deliverability: built-in warm-up tool (Lemwarm), inbox rotation, tracking of sender reputation and multiple sending accounts. Your email marketing campaigns will be safe from the start because you won’t be doing sales outreach without protection.
Mailshake also has deliverability features: email warm-up, verification, scheduling/throttling, etc. Users report solid inbox performance. You can adjust the deliverability tools based on the email campaigns you plan to send out, so you can easily dodge spam filters.
If deliverability is a major concern (volume, domain health, multiple sending domains) Lemlist might offer more configurable options. If your volume is modest, Mailshake’s deliverability features may cover your needs.
However, both tools offer sales teams a solid foundation for cold outreach campaigns and help you stay out of spam folders.
Integrations for cold email campaigns
Lemlist integrates with major CRMs (HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce), and supports automation tools (Zapier, n8n, Make) and API access. They have a lengthy list of project management, sales, and marketing tools you can connect Lemlist to.
Mailshake also supports top CRMs and a broad integration ecosystem, making it straightforward for teams that already have a stack. Top tools include Salesforce, HubSpot, and Pipedrive. You can also connect your own provider, with a choice of G Suite, Outlook and SMTP.
Find out more about Mailshake integrations in our separate blog.
If you need deep custom workflows, both tools work, but Lemlist may offer slightly more flexibility in multichannel contexts where you may need advanced personalization options, e.g. for LinkedIn messages and Whatsapp on top of email.
Ease of use and onboarding
Lemlist offers many features. That means more to learn. Onboarding may take more time if you intend to use the full Lemlist package. If you just want to build creative email sequences, getting started with Lemlist and integrating it in your sales process won’t take long.
Mailshake tends to be faster to start. The UI is more streamlined for email-first workflows. Users report campaigns can be launched in short order.
So: for teams new to outreach tools, Mailshake might feel lighter initially, enabling users to get off the ground more quickly. For teams comfortable with more complexity and willing to trade learning time for power, Lemlist is a valuable asset for multichannel outreach.
Lemlist vs Mailshake: pros and cons
Both tools come with a range of useful features, but they’re simply not for the right target audience. Here are the most important pros and cons of both to help you make a balanced decision.
Lemlist
Pros
✅ Rich personalization and dynamic content (personalized images, landing pages)
✅ Multichannel support (email + LinkedIn + calls) with comprehensive analytics and a lead database to boot
✅ Strong deliverability features (warm-up, rotation, multiple sending accounts)
Cons
❌ Higher cost per user
❌ More features mean more complexity, and a steeper learning curve
❌ Scaling (seats, credits, sending accounts) can drive costs up quickly
Mailshake
Pros
✅ More affordable entry point for email-first outreach
✅ Quick to launch, simpler interface
✅ Strong user reviews on ease of use and steady deliverability
Cons
❌ Less built-in multichannel depth compared with Lemlist
❌ Lead sourcing/enrichment features are lighter or rely on external tools
❌ For complex outreach workflows, may feel less flexible
Lemlist vs Mailshake: which one should you get for cold email outreach?
Still unsure which tool fits your campaign management use case? Here’s a simplified breakdown.
Lemlist is best for:
- Teams that want strong personalization, creative campaigns and more than just email.
- Agencies or SDR teams running multi-step multichannel sequences.
- Businesses looking to integrate email + LinkedIn + call touches in one environment.
On the other hand, Mailshake is a good choice for:
- Individual reps, freelancers or smaller teams focused mainly on email outreach.
- Teams that emphasise fast setup, a user friendly interface and fewer moving parts.
- When your outreach strategy centres mainly around email, and you already handle leads externally.
Don’t choose between Mailshake and Lemlist
Managing email campaigns doesn’t have to feel like choosing an option that is less than ideal. For cold email campaigns, neither Lemlist nor Mailshake are ideal. Lemlist offers advanced email personalization, multiple channels and tons of integrations. Mailshake has an easy to use interface and basic email automation features.
But if you want robust email deliverability coupled with personalized outreach, Lemlist or Mailshake are not ideal. Lemlist is too complex and focused on different channels, while Mailshake is too simplistic.
Instead, try Woodpecker.
We give you state-of-the-art email deliverability tools, campaign and sequence builders, advanced personalization options, customizable email templates, detailed reporting and much more to keep your outreach efforts effective and affordable.
Try Woodpecker for free for 7 days to find out why businesses switch from Lemlist and Mailshake to us.