Key takeaways
- Decide first whether an agent may send on its own; that choice shapes every other one.
- Autonomous sending puts your startup's name on messages nobody reviewed, so trial it on a small segment.
- Ask each vendor where its contacts come from, what it sends and how you pause or edit it.
- Pebbles Ai's assistants never send on LinkedIn, there are no automated sequences, and template sends to a segment always ask.
Autonomous AI SDR or assistant with a human sender
The core choice for a startup is between an AI SDR that sends on its own and an assistant that prepares work for a person to send.
Autonomous agents aim to cover the top of the funnel without a hire, while assistants aim to make one founder or seller faster with a person still in charge of what goes out. Which suits you depends on how your market treats automated outreach and how proven your message is.
- What does it send without a person reading it?
- Which channels does it use: email, social, voice or chat?
- Where do its contacts come from, and on what basis?
- How do you pause it, edit its copy or exclude accounts?
- What happens to replies: does it answer them or pass them to you?
What each AI sales development rep sends on its own
Going by their own sites, the six options differ mainly in how far they act without a person. They are listed alphabetically, not ranked.
- 11x: AI sales agents, with Alice for outbound email and social and Julian for inbound voice and chat; sold through sales.
- Apollo.io: sequences, a dialler and deliverability tools inside a sales intelligence platform, with a free plan to start on.
- Artisan: Ava finds leads and writes and sends outreach, on credit-based pricing.
- Instantly: cold email sending across many email accounts with warm-up, a B2B lead database and AI agents, on flat monthly plans.
- lemlist: multichannel cold outreach with a lead database, LinkedIn automation, lemwarm warm-up and the lemAgent AI.
- Lindy: an AI agent that drafts, schedules and replies to email, with integrations through MCP and a free plan.
Is an AI BDR worth it at the early stage
At the early stage an AI BDR is worth testing only once you know which message works, because automation repeats whatever you give it.
Before your positioning settles, an assistant that helps a founder research and write tends to teach you more about the market. Once a segment responds to a message, an autonomous tool can be trialled against that same segment with clear guardrails and someone reading its output.
Where Pebbles Ai fits as an assisted SDR
Pebbles Ai fits startups that want SDR work prepared by assistants and approved by a person. The assistants find leads at up to ten named companies a run, research accounts with citations and write email and LinkedIn outreach of up to seven touches.
Emails are saved as drafts in your connected Gmail or Outlook mailbox. A template send to a segment of the CRM (in Beta) always asks for approval, other writes follow the execution mode from Manual to Auto, and there are no multi-step sequences running on a schedule.
When a startup should choose an autonomous agent
Choose an autonomous agent when you have a proven message, a large target market and someone to watch what it sends.
Pebbles Ai also has no dialler, voice agent or warm-up. If those sit at the centre of your plan, one of the dedicated platforms above is built for them.
AI SDR tools at a glance
Each tool's category, whether its site lists a free plan, and what its own site says it sends.
| Category | Free plan | Sends on its own, per its site | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11x | AI sales agents | No | Alice for outbound email and social |
| Apollo.io | Sales intelligence and engagement platform | Yes | Sequences |
| Artisan | AI SDR for outbound email | See their site | Ava writes and sends outreach |
| Instantly | Cold email sending and lead platform | See their site | Cold email across many accounts, with AI agents |
| lemlist | Multichannel cold outreach platform | No | Email and LinkedIn campaigns, with lemAgent AI |
| Lindy | AI agent for work tasks | Yes | Drafts, schedules and replies to email |
| Pebbles Ai | Assisted AI workspace with lead finding and drafting | No | Email sends follow the execution mode; you send every LinkedIn message |
Listed alphabetically, not ranked. Rows paraphrase each vendor's site when checked; ask for a demo of what the agent sends before you switch it on. Pebbles Ai has no free plan; Pro and Team start with a 1-month free trial.
The products compared
11x
AI sales agents
A company building AI sales agents: Alice for outbound across email and social, and Julian for inbound voice and chat, sold through a demo.
Best for: Teams that want to hand outbound or inbound handling to autonomous AI agents.
Pricing model: Sales-led; book a demo. Source: 11x pricing
Apollo.io
Sales intelligence and engagement platform
A go-to-market platform built around a B2B contact and company database it sizes at 240M+ contacts, with prospecting, enrichment, sequences, a dialler, meetings and deal tracking in one product, plus a free plan.
Best for: Sales teams that want a self-serve contact database and a full outbound engine (sequences, calling, deliverability tools) in one subscription, starting free.
Pricing model: Free, Basic, Professional and Custom plans; credits shared across the team and reset monthly; monthly or annual billing with an annual discount. Basic adds email sequencing, Professional adds AI features and call recording, Custom adds SSO and API. Source: Apollo.io pricing
Artisan
AI SDR for outbound email
An AI SDR product whose agent, Ava, finds and enriches B2B leads from a contact database Artisan sizes at 250M+ and writes and sends personalised outreach, priced by credits.
Best for: Teams that want an AI agent to prospect and send outbound email on their behalf.
Pricing model: Credit-based, scoped to lead volume, mailboxes and dialler seats. Source: Artisan pricing
Instantly
Cold email sending and lead platform
A cold email platform built for sending at volume across unlimited email accounts with warm-up, plus a B2B lead database, waterfall enrichment and AI agents, on flat monthly plans.
Best for: Agencies and outbound teams sending cold email at scale across many inboxes.
Pricing model: Separate Outreach, Leads (credits) and bundle plans, flat monthly or annual, plus VIP and Enterprise. Source: Instantly pricing
lemlist
Multichannel cold outreach platform
A cold outreach tool for email and multichannel campaigns, with a built-in lead database, email and phone finder, LinkedIn automation, warm-up and an AI agent, priced per user.
Best for: Founders and outbound teams running personalised cold email and LinkedIn campaigns who want warm-up and a lead database in the same tool.
Pricing model: Email, Multichannel and Enterprise, priced per user, monthly or annual. Source: lemlist pricing
Lindy
AI agent for work tasks
An AI agent product that Lindy calls an AI employee: it plugs into your tools, manages inbox and calendar, takes meeting notes and runs lead generation and outreach tasks on credits.
Best for: Individuals and teams who want an AI agent to handle email, scheduling, meeting notes and repetitive tasks across many connected apps.
Pricing model: Free, Team and Enterprise, priced in credits that measure the work done; Free is $50 of credits that last 7 days; Team credits are pooled across the team each month; Enterprise has custom credits and billing. Source: Lindy pricing
We make Pebbles Ai. Facts about other products come from their own public pages, checked on .
Where Pebbles Ai fits
- CapabilityAI workspaceChoose Auto, Plan or Manual execution mode; the web app starts in Manual, and template sends and calendar deletes always ask.
- CapabilityProspecting & customer recordsFind fresh leads at named companies by role and location, landing them in a Beta CRM segment ready for outreach.
- CapabilityOutreach contentWrite email and LinkedIn touches with a personality per piece; LinkedIn messages are drafted for you to send.
Common questions
How is an AI SDR different from an AI sales assistant?
An AI SDR is built to prospect and often send on its own. An AI sales assistant prepares research and drafts for a person to review and send.
Can an AI SDR harm a startup's reputation?
It can if it sends poor or mistargeted messages under your name. Start small, read what it sends and keep a way to stop it.
Does Pebbles Ai send LinkedIn messages?
No. The assistants draft LinkedIn messages for you to send yourself; in Socialbox you write and send every message.
About this page. Written by the Pebbles Ai team for people who run sales, marketing and growth. Last updated .
