11x Alternatives in 2026: Options with Published Prices, by What You Want to Own
In short
The best 11x alternatives depend on what you want to own. Apollo, Instantly and Smartlead give you the data and sending layer from $39 to $119 a month with your own mailboxes; Artisan sells a rival agent and publishes no price; Paramount builds outbound in your own accounts and runs it from $2,500 a month. 11x Alice is $3,750 a month billed annually with 11x-managed mailboxes.
The best 11x alternatives depend on what you want to own. If the appeal of Alice was never having to build a list or a sequence, Artisan sells the same autonomous-agent idea and publishes no price, and a managed service does the work with people in the loop. If the appeal was the output and the price gave you pause, Apollo, Instantly and Smartlead give you the data and the sending layer from $39 to $119 a month, with the mailboxes in your name. I run Paramount Exposure, which has just added managed outbound built in the client's own accounts from $2,500 a month, so one of the options below is mine; I have published a direct 11x comparison as well, and I rank nobody here.
Every price was read from the vendor's own page on 2026-10-14 and linked in the row. That matters on this query in particular: MyNewStaff's 11x alternative page prints 11x at "~$5,000/mo entry" with "Implementation often $3,000+", figures it labels as "aggregated from third-party 2026 reviews" (fetched 2026-10-14), and 11x's own page says neither.
What 11x AI actually sells, at its published price
11x sells two agents. Alice is the outbound one: it builds prospect lists, writes and sends email and social sequences, and runs on Gmail mailboxes that 11x sets up, warms and rotates. The Growth tier is "starting at $3,750 / mo", billed annually, for up to five users and 2,000 new prospects a month, with bi-directional CRM sync and onboarding, and the FAQ says there is no setup fee; Pro (5,000 prospects, 105-plus languages) and Enterprise (10,000-plus prospects, custom integrations, SSO) are custom-quoted (11x Alice pricing, 2026-10-14). The same FAQ says Growth "starts at $36,000 per year", which does not reconcile with $3,750 times twelve; ask which figure is on the contract.
Julian is the inbound one: an AI voice and chat agent that answers calls and chats, from $5,333 a month for Voice Growth (2,000 calls a month) and $2,417 for Chat Growth (3,000 chats), billed annually and metered in calls rather than minutes; Pro and Enterprise are quoted (11x Julian pricing, 2026-10-14).
What 11x is good at, read from its own page: removing the operator. A team with no one to run outbound gets a list, a sequence and a sending infrastructure without hiring, and the price is a fraction of a salaried hire. If that is the whole requirement and the mailbox arrangement suits you, Alice is a reasonable buy, and the rest of this article will say so where it is true.
When to look elsewhere
Four situations, none a complaint about the product.
- You want to own the sending infrastructure. Alice runs on 11x-managed mailboxes. Domain reputation built over months belongs to the arrangement, not to you, and warm-up starts again if you leave.
- Annual billing on an unproven motion. $45,000 committed before the first reply is a large bet for a firm that has never run outbound.
- You have an operator. If someone on staff will build lists and read replies every morning, the self-serve stack does the same activity for under $200 a month.
- Your leads are inbound and unanswered. Julian Chat at $2,417 a month billed annually answers website chats; a firm whose leak is the website form at 9 p.m. can fix it for $497, once, with the responder below, which sends people to the booking link and never books.
The alternatives, by lane
Self-serve data and sending: Apollo, Instantly, Smartlead, Clay
The like-for-like replacement for the activity, minus the autonomy. Apollo holds the contact data and sequences at $49, $79 or $119 per seat per month billed annually ($65 and $99 monthly; Organization needs three seats, annual only), with a dialer add-on at $119 per team per month. Instantly sends from unlimited accounts at $47, $97 or $358 a month, sells data credits from $47, and bundles the two with an AI sales agent at $94, $194 or $555 a month. Smartlead starts at $39 a month with unlimited mailboxes, sells mailboxes from $3.99 a month, and offers white-label workspaces from its $94 Pro tier. Clay is the enrichment layer from $60 a month on Launch, though its card headline, "starts at" line and FAQ disagree on the figure. All per their pricing pages, 2026-10-14.
Fit: a team with one person who will own the motion. You get the mailboxes, the domains and the data in your name, and the total runs under $200 a month before credits. What you give up is the autonomy, and the thing you keep is the judgment.
Another autonomous agent: Artisan
Artisan's Ava is the direct rival: an AI BDR with a 250-million-contact database, Salesforce and HubSpot sync, and tiers at about 2,500 (Team) and 6,000 (Scale) leads contacted a month. Every tier says "pricing scoped on your plan" and the page prints no dollar figure (artisan.co/pricing, 2026-10-14). Fit: a team that wants a CRM-native agent and will take a sales call to learn the price. Do not trust any third-party dollar figure for Artisan; none is on its site.
Managed outbound: MyNewStaff, Instantly VIP, Smartlead SmartServices, Paramount
The lane that puts people back in the loop. MyNewStaff's Growth Engine is $8,500 a month for content, 10,000 scraped leads, outreach sequences, CRM and ad management, "cancel anytime", with a "100 qualified leads or we work free" claim the page does not define (their pricing page, 2026-10-14); the comparison is on MyNewStaff vs Paramount. Instantly's VIP tier and Smartlead's SmartServices run outbound on their own platforms and both quote rather than publish.
Paramount's version is described below. The difference from every other row in this lane is written into the offer: the domains, inboxes, numbers, lists, consent records, sequences and CRM data are in your name from day one.
For Julian: voice and chat you build, or a responder you own
If the 11x product you were pricing was Julian, the alternatives are the voice platforms, Retell at $0.07 to $0.31 a minute, Bland at $0.12 to $0.14, Synthflow from $30,000 a year, Autocalls from $34 a month, each with a builder on your side, and for the chat half the $497 AI Lead Responder: one payment, live within 48 hours of your onboarding form, answering website inquiries in under 60 seconds in your voice and sending qualified people to your booking link. It never books and it does not take calls.
The comparison at a glance
Prices checked 2026-10-14 on each vendor's own page. "Quoted" means no figure is printed. The fuller write-ups are in MyNewStaff alternatives, best AI SDR software and done-for-you AI lead generation; for Julian's lane, Retell AI, Bland AI, Synthflow and Autocalls each have their own alternatives post, and every head-to-head is on the comparisons hub.
| Option | Published price (2026-10-14) | Who owns the mailboxes | Best for | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11x Alice (staying put) | From $3,750/mo billed annually; Pro and Enterprise quoted | 11x | Teams with no operator that want an agent | 11x.ai |
| 11x Julian | Voice $5,333/mo, Chat $2,417/mo billed annually | n/a | Inbound calls and chats answered without building | 11x.ai |
| Apollo | $49 to $119 per seat per month annually | You | Data and sequences in one seat | apollo.io |
| Instantly | $47 to $358/mo; bundles $94 to $555/mo | You | High-volume sending with unlimited accounts | instantly.ai |
| Smartlead | $39 to $379/mo; mailboxes from $3.99 | You | Agencies and teams wanting unlimited mailboxes | smartlead.ai |
| Clay | From $60/mo (Launch); from $205 (Growth) | n/a | Enrichment and research logic | clay.com |
| Artisan Ava | Not published; all tiers quoted | Artisan | Teams that want a rival agent and will take a call | artisan.co |
| MyNewStaff Growth Engine | $8,500/mo | Not stated | One retainer for content, scraped leads, outreach and ads | their site |
| Paramount Outbound Install + Engine | $2,500 once; $2,500 or $5,000/mo | You | Outbound run for you, consent-first, every asset yours | paramountexposure.com/services/ai-sdr |
| Paramount AI Lead Responder | $497 once | You | Website inquiries answered in under 60 seconds and sent to your booking link | paramountexposure.com/pricing |
The law an 11x alternative has to obey
Not legal advice; counsel reviews before launch. Whichever lane you choose, the rules are the same and the FTC says they cannot be contracted away to a vendor.
Cold email to US business addresses is lawful under CAN-SPAM with true headers, an honest subject, an ad identification, a postal address and an opt-out honoured within ten business days; there is "no exception for business-to-business email" and penalties run to $53,088 per message (FTC CAN-SPAM guide). Google's sender guidelines require SPF, DKIM and DMARC and a spam rate under 0.10% for bulk senders (Email sender guidelines). In the UK, email to sole traders needs consent (PECR regulation 22) and every named person may object to direct marketing (GDPR Article 21); the ICO expects a documented legitimate-interests assessment (ICO B2B guidance).
If the alternative calls or texts, the FCC's February 2024 ruling makes an AI-generated voice an "artificial or prerecorded voice" under the TCPA (FCC 24-17); marketing calls and texts with it to cell phones need prior express written consent (47 CFR 64.1200), with no B2B exception, opt-outs by any reasonable means honoured within ten business days (FCC 24-24), each seller's own Do Not Call subscription (FTC DNC Q&A), and an AI disclosure in the first sentence (Maine requires it, 10 M.R.S. 1500-DD; the FCC has proposed it, FCC 24-84).
Where Paramount fits, honestly
Paramount Exposure is an AI development and software agency. Its outbound line is on the AI SDR service page, the AI lead generation page and the AI appointment setting page.
The Outbound Install is $2,500, delivered in 14 days: a written ICP, the first 1,500 verified contacts, the compliance pack, three secondary domains and nine to ten inboxes in your name with authentication and warm-up, one phone number with branded caller ID, four-step sequences in your voice, and a reply handler that answers interested replies in under 60 seconds and sends them to your booking link. The Outbound Engine runs it at $2,500 a month (1,500 contacts, about 6,000 sends, up to 1,000 AI dials to business landlines and consented numbers) or $5,000 (5,000 contacts, about 20,000 sends, up to 4,000 dials, two presenter films). Three-month minimum, then month to month; usage above the tier at a published rate card; a 45-day exit. Against Alice: monthly rather than annual, the assets in your name, and a lower entry price; against Alice's autonomy, a human runs it and the first client will be Paramount itself. AI voice calls go only to business landlines, after a wireless and Do Not Call scrub removes every cell number, and to people who gave prior express written consent; the agent says it is an AI in its first sentence. We guarantee the inputs, contacts verified, deliverability gates met, replies answered in under 60 seconds, scrubs logged, with any missed month credited. We do not guarantee meetings and we have run this for no client yet; the weekly numbers from our own campaign will be published, misses included, at /outbound/proof.
The free Intake Index scores your inquiry handling in six questions; if the leak is inbound, the $497 responder comes first. The outbound tiers are on the AI SDR service page; the responder is on the pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
How much does 11x AI cost?
Alice Growth starts at $3,750 a month billed annually for 2,000 new prospects a month and 11x-managed mailboxes, with no setup fee; Pro and Enterprise are quoted. Julian is $5,333 a month for voice and $2,417 for chat, billed annually (per 11x's pricing pages, 2026-10-14). The FAQ's "$36,000 per year" line does not match the card; ask which applies.
What is the best alternative to 11x?
For a team with an operator, Apollo, Instantly or Smartlead from $39 to $119 a month with the mailboxes in your name. For a team that wants another agent, Artisan, which quotes. For a team that wants the result rather than the tool, a managed engine, judged on what you own at exit; Paramount's is $2,500 to $5,000 a month after a $2,500 install, with everything in your name and no track record yet.
Does 11x own the mailboxes?
Alice Growth includes 11x-managed Gmail mailboxes with domain setup, warm-up and rotation (per its pricing page, 2026-10-14). The reputation those mailboxes build sits inside the arrangement. Any alternative you evaluate should answer the same question in writing.
Is AI outbound email legal?
In the US, yes under CAN-SPAM, with a postal address, an ad identification, honest headers and an opt-out honoured within ten business days, at up to $53,088 per non-compliant email. The UK, EU and Canada are consent-first for individuals, and any calling or texting with an AI voice needs prior express written consent under the TCPA.