An AI SDR is software that does the top-of-funnel work of a sales development rep: it finds prospects, researches them, sends outreach, follows up, and books meetings.

This guide compares six tools for teams that rely on outbound reps: Rox, 11x, Artisan, Regie.ai, Unify, and Apollo.

What is an AI SDR?

An AI SDR is an AI agent that performs sales development tasks with limited human input. The central entity is the SDR workflow: prospect selection, research, multi-channel outreach, follow-up, qualification, and meeting booking.

Tools differ in how much of that workflow they run on their own, which channels they cover, and how much a person reviews.

Read the AI SDR and autonomous outbound agent guides for background.

How do the six tools compare at a glance?

1. Rox: best for one agent across the revenue cycle

Best for: Teams that want outbound, follow-up, and account management in one agent platform connected to their CRM.

Rox is a revenue agent platform. Its pricing page says "Start free. Only pay for agent work." Its platform page describes one agent working every account across prospecting, qualifying, engaging, closing, renewing, and expanding, and an Outbound Agent that finds and engages with prospects.

Key features:

• Account and contact enrichment, multi-channel sequences, and automatic follow-ups with scheduling.

• Outbound Autopilot, a click-to-call dialer, and inbox management, listed in the plan comparison.

• CRM sync and writeback on the Teams plan, and SOC 2 and GDPR badges on the platform page.

Pros:

1. Outbound, follow-up, and account management sit in one product, so there is no separate tool for each step.

2. Published entry prices of $100 and $255 per month make a pilot easy to scope.

3. CRM sync and writeback targets manual data entry. See data hygiene for what to clean first.

Cons:

1. The Individual plan allows one user and 1,000 contacts per sequence, so it suits a single rep.

2. The pages read do not describe an AI voice agent that makes calls on its own, only a click-to-call dialer.

3. Enterprise pricing is not published, and the page does not explain how "pay for agent work" is metered or whether prices assume annual billing.

Price:

Individual starts at $100 per month. Teams starts at $255 per month for the whole team. Enterprise: Not published, contact vendor.

2. 11x: best for voice and multi-channel agents

Best for: Teams that want agents across phone, chat, email, social, and SMS for outbound and inbound.

11x describes agents that drive revenue across every channel: convert inbound demand, run outbound playbooks, and expand accounts. Its page lists voice, chat, email, social, and SMS.

Key features:

• Voice AI that a visitor can try from the page.

• Inbound response in under 60 seconds with chat or phone callback, per the page.

• Qualification that captures fit, needs, timeline, and buying context for handoff.

Pros:

1. Voice and chat coverage reaches buyers on more channels than email-only tools.

2. The page describes qualification with context passed to a person.

3. Customer stories on the page cite pipeline and call volumes. These are vendor-published claims, so test them in a pilot.

Cons:

1. No price appears on the page read, and calls to action request a demo.

2. Published figures, such as a 9.7% reply rate and $4M pipeline, come from customer quotes without a stated method.

3. Wide channel coverage means more setup and more compliance review. See cold outreach compliance.

Price:

Not published, contact vendor.

3. Artisan: best for an AI BDR that books meetings

Best for: Teams that want one named AI BDR to find leads, message them, and book meetings.

Artisan's page describes Ava, an AI BDR that runs in your stack alongside your team. Ava finds leads, enriches them, sends personalized messages, and books meetings on behalf of reps.

Key features:

• Lead finding and enrichment, personalized messaging, and meeting booking.

• Activity feed showing messages sent, records synced to Salesforce, and escalations to a rep.

• SOC 2 Type II and GDPR listed on the page.

Pros:

1. A clear single-agent model is easy to explain to a sales team.

2. Escalation to a rep and Salesforce sync appear in the sample activity feed.

3. SOC 2 Type II is listed, which helps security review. Ask for the report.

Cons:

1. No price appears on the page read.

2. Customer results on the page, including 20x ROI and a 4.4% positive response rate, are vendor-published claims without a stated method.

3. The page read describes the BDR role, so confirm phone calling and other channels with the vendor.

Price:

Not published, contact vendor.

4. Regie.ai: best for signal-based prospecting plays

Best for: Teams that want prospecting plays triggered by account signals, with email, LinkedIn, and phone steps.

Regie.ai describes RegieGO as an agentic sales workspace with built-in enrichment, emailing, dialing, and workflows that takes a team from ideal customer profile to pipeline from a single chat.

Key features:

• Why-now signals, such as funding, new executives, and hiring, turned into daily plays.

• Multi-channel outreach plays across email, LinkedIn, and phone.

• Connectors shown for HubSpot, Gmail, LinkedIn, dialer, and enrichment.

Pros:

1. A start-free option lowers the cost of trying it.

2. Signal-based plays tie messages to a reason to reach out.

3. Enrichment, email, and dialing sit in one workspace.

Cons:

1. Paid plan prices were not captured on the page read.

2. The page shows a HubSpot connector but I did not confirm Salesforce support.

3. Signal accuracy and message quality depend on your data, so measure reply quality in a pilot.

Price:

Start free. Paid plans: Not captured on the page read, contact vendor.

5. Unify: best for self-serve AI outbound with clear credit pricing

Best for: Reps and small teams that want AI outbound with published per-seat prices.

Unify describes itself as a way for sellers to run outbound with AI. Its pricing page lists a Free plan, two paid self-serve plans, and a custom Business plan, with credits per seat.

Key features:

• AI outbound, multi-channel sequencing, and a click-to-call dialer on the Free plan.

• A database listed as 1.1B+ people and 65M+ companies from 40+ data sources.

• Job change and hiring signals, phone and email enrichment, and AI email copywriting on Base.

Pros:

1. Published prices of $0, $20, and $60 per seat per month make budgeting simple.

2. A 14-day Pro trial with no credit card lets a team test CRM sync.

3. The Business plan lists signal-triggered automations and a power dialer.

Cons:

1. Credits meter usage, so heavy outbound teams need to track consumption.

2. HubSpot and Salesforce sync is read-only on Pro, and read-write only on Business.

3. Business pricing is custom and billed annually.

Price:

Free $0 (limited credits, up to 3 seats). Base $20 per seat per month billed monthly (800 credits). Pro $60 per seat per month billed monthly (2,400 credits). Business: custom, billed annually.

6. Apollo: best for prospect data with built-in sequencing

Best for: Reps and small teams that want contact data, sequences, and a dialer in one platform.

Apollo describes an all-in-one platform to build pipeline, close deals, and unify a tech stack with AI. Its pricing page lists four plans with credits granted per seat.

Key features:

• AI assistant and AI research, with unlimited sequences from the Basic plan.

• Call recording of 150 minutes and a US dialer where credits apply.

• Automated CRM enrichment on paid plans.

Pros:

1. A Free plan at $0 lets a rep test the product.

2. Data, sequences, and a dialer sit in one platform.

3. Prospecting extensions for Gmail and Salesforce keep outreach inside tools reps already use.

Cons:

1. Credits meter data and dialer use, so teams must track consumption.

2. The Free plan limits sequences to two and CRM enrichment to 100 per month.

3. Apollo is a data and engagement platform with an AI assistant. The page does not describe an autonomous SDR that books meetings on its own.

Price:

Free $0 (900 credits per seat per year, granted monthly). Basic $49, Professional $79, and Organization $119 (minimum 3 seats), each per seat per month billed annually.

Which AI SDR fits which team?

For choosing between agents and fixed tools, read best AI sales agents and demand generation tools for SDR teams.

How should you evaluate an AI SDR?

Judge an AI SDR on more than meetings booked. Booked meetings can include poor-fit prospects that never become pipeline, so track what happens after the meeting.

The evaluate AI SDR beyond meetings booked guide covers this in depth.

Use five checks:

1. Meeting quality. Measure the share of meetings that become opportunities.

2. Message quality. Review a sample of sent messages for accuracy and tone.

3. Cost per qualified meeting. Include seat, credit, and review time.

4. Compliance. Confirm opt-out handling and sending limits.

5. Control. Confirm what needs approval and how actions are logged.

Compare against benchmarks from your own history, using the outbound prospecting KPIs and benchmarks guide for the metrics. For human vs agent tradeoffs, see AI SDR vs human SDR.

How do you roll out an AI SDR safely?

Start narrow and widen as results hold.

1. Choose one segment and one channel.

2. Write rules for who to contact, what to say, and what to avoid.

3. Run in review mode, where a person approves every message.

4. Watch bounce, complaint, and reply quality for four weeks.

5. Move to limited autonomy for message types with low error rates.

Outbound email carries legal duties. The FTC's CAN-SPAM compliance guide sets United States rules, and Google's sender guidelines describe requirements for bulk senders.

Add channel-by-channel sequencing with the multichannel outbound sequencing guide, staged rollout steps from how to deploy a revenue agent, and access controls from enterprise AI data governance.

Conclusion

AI SDR tools cover different parts of the same job. Apollo and Unify start from data and sequences and add AI to them. Regie.ai builds plays around account signals. 11x and Artisan present agents that run outreach and book meetings.

Rox places outbound inside a broader agent platform that also handles follow-up, account research, and CRM writeback.

Match the tool to your constraint. If budget is tight, the published seat prices of Unify and Apollo make a pilot easy. If you need voice or multi-channel reach, check 11x and confirm how calls work.

If you want one platform from prospecting through account management, compare Rox against the others on your own accounts. In every case, confirm what the agent does on its own and what needs approval.

Run a pilot before you commit. Pick one segment, review every message at first, and track meeting quality, cost per qualified meeting, and complaint rates for at least four weeks. Vendor figures on reply rates and ROI are claims, so compare them against your own history. Expand autonomy only for message types with low error rates.

Rox lists account and contact enrichment, multi-channel outbound, automatic follow-ups, a click-to-call dialer, and CRM sync and writeback across its plans, and states "Start free. Only pay for agent work."

Verify features and prices on the live pages before you compare. Results vary by team, data quality, and configuration, and Rox does not guarantee specific revenue outcomes.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best AI SDR tool?

It depends on channels, budget, and control needs. Unify and Apollo publish seat prices, 11x and Artisan publish none, and Rox publishes entry prices for an agent platform. Pilot two tools on the same segment.

Can an AI SDR make phone calls?

Some can. 11x lists voice agents. Rox and Unify list click-to-call dialers, and Regie.ai lists phone steps. Confirm whether calls are made by an AI voice agent or by a person using a dialer.

Is an AI SDR better than a human SDR?

They do different parts of the job well. Agents handle research and volume, and people handle judgment and conversations that need nuance. Many teams combine them.

How much does an AI SDR cost?

Published entry prices in this guide range from free plans to $255 per month for a Rox team plan. Several vendors publish no price, so expect a quote.

Are vendor results like reply rates reliable?

Treat them as vendor claims. None of the pages read states a method, so measure results in your own pilot.

What compliance rules apply?

Commercial email must follow rules such as honoring opt-outs. Review the FTC and Google guidance linked above and your local rules.