Woodpecker
The cold email tool for small teams and agencies who value deliverability — less flashy than Instantly, more focused on keeping you out of spam
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The Verdict
“Woodpecker is the best cold email tool for deliverability-focused teams and agencies. Its free email verification and warm-up, combined with the lowest starting price in the market, make it an excellent value. The agency panel is a standout feature. Lacks AI personalization that newer competitors offer.”
Best For
Small sales teams and agencies who prioritize deliverability and want a reliable, no-frills cold email tool
Not Great For
High-volume senders who need unlimited email accounts — Instantly's pricing model is simply better for scale
Overview
Woodpecker is a cold email tool that provides email sending, free catch-all email verification (powered by Bouncer), free warm-up, deliverability monitoring, adaptive sending, LinkedIn campaign steps, a B2B lead database, and a dedicated agency panel. Known for strong deliverability focus.
SDRs, outbound agencies, sales teams, freelancers
1-100
Capabilities
Key Features
- Cold email sending with personalization
- Free catch-all email verification (Bouncer-powered)
- Free email warm-up
- Deliverability monitor
- Adaptive sending (protects sending limits)
- LinkedIn steps in campaigns
- B2B lead database (1B+ contacts)
- Agency panel for client management
- Domain and email purchasing with SPF/DKIM/DMARC pre-configured
Benefits
- Free email verification and warm-up saves cost on separate tools
- Deliverability focus means emails reach inboxes, not spam
- Lowest starting price in the cold email market ($24/month)
- Agency panel purpose-built for outbound agencies
Pros & Cons
Pros
- +Best-in-class deliverability with free verification and warm-up
- +Most affordable starting price ($24/month)
- +Dedicated agency panel is excellent
- +LinkedIn steps add multi-channel capability
- +Domain purchasing with pre-configured auth is unique
Cons
- -No AI-powered personalization features
- -LinkedIn steps are relatively new and basic
- -Scale plan gets expensive ($900+/month)
- -No phone/call channel
Outbound Use Cases
Financials & Scale
| Plan | Price | Limits | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | $0 for 7 days | 50 contacted prospects, 600 emails/month, 200 stored prospects, 0 warm-ups | All features, Live chat and email support, Onboarding assistance |
| Starter | $24/month (annual) / $35/month (monthly) | 500 contacted prospects, 6,000 emails/month, 2,000 stored prospects, 2 free warm-ups | Live chat and email support, Free catch-all email verification, Warm-up, Deliverability monitor |
| Growth | $126/month (annual) / $188/month (monthly) | 10,000 contacted prospects, 120,000 emails/month, 40,000 stored prospects, 20 free warm-ups | Everything in Starter, Higher volumes, LinkedIn steps |
| Scale | $903/month (annual) / $1,354/month (monthly) | 100,000 contacted prospects, 1,200,000 emails/month, 400,000 stored prospects | Everything in Growth, Maximum scale, Agency features |
Woodpecker starts at $29/mo for basic cold email. Instantly is $37/mo with unlimited accounts. Smartlead is $39/mo. Woodpecker's deliverability focus is genuine — they invest heavily in keeping emails out of spam. But Reddit reports of domain burnout suggest no tool is immune.
The Reddit Pulse
Community Pros
- +Mentioned as a credible cold email tool in agency discussions
- +Considered alongside Apollo as a next-step tool for serious outreach
- +Focused specifically on cold email (not bloated with unused features)
Community Cons
- -Users report switching away from Woodpecker due to deliverability issues (same problems as Lemlist)
- -Domain burnout and blacklisting still occur despite careful warmup
- -Agency users report spending 10+ hrs/month on infrastructure tasks regardless of tool
- -Seen as part of the 'tool hopping' cycle - not a definitive solution
Reddit Questions
- ? Is Woodpecker better than Lemlist or Instantly for cold email deliverability?
- ? What cold email tool should agencies stick with long-term?
- ? Does Woodpecker handle email infrastructure issues better than competitors?
Thinking of Switching?
Competitive Landscape
Technical Stack
Integrations
Data Intelligence
Head-to-Head Comparisons
Company Intel
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