The small-team outbound stack
Last updated 1 November 2026
Everything you need to send cold email that lands, in the order you set it up. Most of it costs a few dollars a month, and most steps have a free option. Step 4 is ours, and we say so.
How this list is made. Tools are listed in this order: they work with ScoutKite, then the price for a small team. Prices were read on each tool's own pricing page on the date shown. Where a tool runs an affiliate program, a link may earn ScoutKite a commission. That never changes the order, and tools that do what ScoutKite does aren't listed here: they're in our honest comparisons.
1An outreach domain
A second domain just for cold email, like getacme.com next to acme.com. If something goes wrong with outreach, your main domain and its email stay safe. One domain is enough to start.
Simple to buy and to point at Google Workspace or Zoho. Its own Private Email is in step 2 too.
A .com is usually about $10 to $15 a year
The cheapest renewals. Your DNS has to be on Cloudflare, which is free and fast.
Sold at cost, with no markup
2A mailbox on that domain
A real mailbox you can sign in to and read. ScoutKite sends from it and watches it for replies, so follow-ups stop the moment someone answers.
The most reliable choice for cold email. Connect it to ScoutKite with an app password.
Workspace about $7 a month per mailbox (annual), Gmail free · checked October 2026
About a dollar a mailbox. Use Mail Lite or above: the free plan can't connect.
Mail Lite about $1 a month per mailbox (annual). The free plan can't connect · checked October 2026
Priced by emails a day, not by mailbox: good for several outreach addresses on one domain.
Mini $90 a year for 100 emails a day, any number of mailboxes. Micro is $19 a year but only 20 a day · checked October 2026
A good mailbox if you already use it. The Standard plan connects; Basic doesn't.
Standard about $5 a month (annual). Basic has no SMTP · checked October 2026
Cheap and simple if your domain is at Namecheap already.
From about $1 a month · checked October 2026
3SPF, DKIM and DMARC
Three DNS records that tell Gmail and Outlook your email is really from you. Without them, good emails land in spam. Your mailbox provider gives you the records; checking them takes a minute.
Checks SPF, DKIM, DMARC, MX and blocklists for your domain and gives the exact record to add when one is missing.
Free, no sign-up
Shows how Gmail sees your domain, once you send enough mail to Gmail users for it to have data.
Free
Send one email to the address it gives you and get a spam score with what to fix.
Free to try
4Who to write to, and what to say
The step most tools skip or sell you a database for. You give ScoutKite the website of a customer you have; it finds more businesses like them that publish their own email, checks each inbox exists, and drafts a first email built on one true fact from their site. You approve every one.
Finds small businesses like your customers on their own websites, checks every inbox, and writes each first email from one true fact.
Free for 50 people, then $29 a month for 500
Comparing with a lead database? Read the honest comparisons: Apollo and Hunter, including who shouldn't switch.
5Sending at volume
Optional. ScoutKite sends from your mailbox at a careful pace, about 25 a day each. If you want to run many mailboxes at once, or already use a sending tool, export your approved emails as a CSV in the columns these tools import. All three also sell lead databases; ScoutKite does the finding and writing, they do the sending.
The lowest starting price of the three.
From $39 a month, or $32 a month billed yearly. Free trial · checked November 2026
Popular for running many mailboxes from one place.
Outreach from $47 a month, or $37.60 a month billed yearly · checked November 2026
Adds LinkedIn, SMS and calls on its Multichannel plan.
Email plan from $69 a month, or $55 a month billed yearly. 14-day trial · checked November 2026
6Checking a list from somewhere else
Only for addresses ScoutKite didn't find. ScoutKite already asks each mail server whether the inbox exists before anything is sent. A list you bought or exported elsewhere needs the same check, or bounces will hurt your domain.
Checks a list you got elsewhere before you send to it.
100 free checks a month, then $39 for 2,000 · checked November 2026
7After someone replies
A place to keep track of the conversations that turn into deals, and a booking link to send once someone says yes. Keep the link out of the first email: ScoutKite's first emails carry no links, which is part of why they land in the inbox.
A free place to keep every conversation and deal once replies start coming in.
Free plan
The booking link most people already know how to use.
Free plan. Standard $10 a seat a month, billed yearly · checked November 2026
What this costs to start
A domain at about $10 to $15 a year, one mailbox at $1 to $7 a month, and the free tools for the rest. ScoutKite is free for your first 50 people. Add a sending tool and a paid CRM only when you need them.