HeyLead and the alternatives, side by side

Last updated 25 September 2026

Looking at HeyLead (heylead.dev) next to Expandi, HeyReach, Dripify, Waalaxy or Sales Navigator? The first four automate LinkedIn outreach you set up as campaigns or sequences, priced per seat or per sender[1][2][4][6]. Sales Navigator is LinkedIn's own search tool[9]. HeyLead is an AI agent you brief in a sentence. Four more joined on 28 September 2026: lemlist, La Growth Machine, Linked Helper and PhantomBuster, checked that day. Each page below puts HeyLead next to one of them, with prices checked on 25 September 2026 for the first five and the cases where the other tool is the better pick.

HeyLead is an AI agent for LinkedIn outreach: it finds the right people, writes to them in the voice of your own LinkedIn posts, follows up, and handles replies. It runs from Claude Code, Cursor, any MCP client or a web dashboard.

Side by side

	What it is	Price	Runs	Trial
HeyLead	An AI agent you brief in a sentence, from your chat or the dashboard.	Free: $0. Pro: $29 per connected account per month.	In the cloud. Not a browser extension.	A free plan with no card. It reaches new people until your 2nd hot lead. A hot lead is a person whose reply HeyLead reads as interested.
Expandi	Outreach with connection requests, messages and email follow-ups in one sequence[1].	$99 a month per seat, or $79 billed annually[1].	Cloud-based[1].	7 days[1].
HeyReach	LinkedIn outreach priced per sender, with plans for many senders[2].	Growth $79 a month per sender; Agency $999 a month with 25 senders[2].	In the cloud[3].	14 days on Growth, no card[2].
Dripify	LinkedIn and email drip campaigns[4].	$59 to $99 per user a month, or $39 to $79 billed annually[4].	100% cloud-based[5].	7 days, no card[4].
Waalaxy	LinkedIn prospecting, with cold email on the Business plan[6].	€19 to €69 per user a month, as the pricing page shows them[6].	100% cloud since July 2026, by its help centre[7].	14 days[6]; the help centre says a card is needed[8].
Sales Navigator	LinkedIn's search tool: filters, lists, alerts, InMail[9].	Core US$119.99 a month, Advanced US$159.99 a month[10].	Inside LinkedIn[9].	One month, then paid[11].
lemlist	Multichannel outbound: email, LinkedIn, calls, SMS and WhatsApp, with a lead database[12].	Email $55 a month billed yearly or $69 monthly; Multichannel $87 or $109, per user[12].	In the cloud, with a Chrome extension and a live browser session for LinkedIn[12].	14 days, no card[12].
La Growth Machine	Multichannel sequences across LinkedIn, email, calls and X[13].	Basic €60 and Pro €120 per identity a month; Agency on request[13].	In the cloud, no extension[13].	14 days, no card[13].
Linked Helper	LinkedIn automation as a desktop app with a CRM inside[14].	Standard from $15 and Pro from $45 per licence a month; less on longer terms[14].	On your own computer or a VPS; the computer stays on[14].	14 days of Pro, no card[14].
PhantomBuster	No-code automations on LinkedIn and other sites, billed by execution time[15].	Free plan; Start $69, Grow $159, Scale $439 a month per workspace, less billed annually[15].	On its servers; an optional extension captures the session[15].	14 days, no card, then a free plan[15].

Checked on 25 September 2026 on each company's own pages. Each [n] links to the page the fact comes from; the list is under Sources. Prices and plans change, so check the linked page before you decide. HeyLead wrote this page. If a fact here is wrong, write to [email protected] and we correct it.

The five comparisons

HeyLead vs Expandi: you build the sequence, with email follow-ups in it, and white-label on the Agency plan[1].
HeyLead vs HeyReach: priced per sender, with an Agency plan of 25 senders, one inbox for every sender and white-label[2].
HeyLead vs Dripify: LinkedIn and email in one sequence, team management on Advanced, and 24/7 live support[4].
HeyLead vs Waalaxy: a low entry price per user, and cold email sequences on the Business plan[6].
HeyLead vs Sales Navigator: LinkedIn's own search tool[9]; HeyLead does the outreach and can send from a Sales Navigator seat.

What HeyLead does differently

You brief it in a sentence, from Claude Code, Cursor, any MCP client or the web dashboard. It saves a draft campaign and sends nothing until you press Launch.
Each message is written for the person, in the voice of your own LinkedIn posts. The agents plan each person's next step as accepts and replies land; every decision is readable with inspect or on the campaign page.
Replies are read, classified and answered from the campaign's facts. A reply that could mean two things gets one short question back. A question your facts can't answer is held for you. "Not now" gets a check-in in 30 days.
Free is $0 with one connected account and cloud sending, no card.

A campaign has one of six goals, and the ICP, the fit check and the messages follow it: Sell a product or service, Find a job, Hire people, Find partners or investors, Find a vendor and Research interviews. Hire people, Find partners or investors and Research interviews run on a custom brief until their message sets exist.

HeyLead sends from your own LinkedIn account at a human pace: at most 20 invitations a day and 100 a week on a free LinkedIn account (more on Premium or Sales Navigator: a newly connected paid account starts at 20 a day and doubles each week up to its limit), Monday to Friday 08:00 to 22:00 in your time zone, minutes apart. It backs off when LinkedIn pushes back and resumes on its own. You can pause any campaign at any time.

When HeyLead is the wrong choice

You want to design each step of a sequence yourself. HeyLead has no visual sequence editor.
You need white-label, voice messages, or a CRM other than HubSpot.
You run many sender accounts and want one price for a bundle of them. HeyLead bills each connected account.
You want email as a planned step in every sequence. HeyLead emails only as a fallback, to people whose record carries an address.
You want only LinkedIn's own tools on your LinkedIn account.

Questions people ask

How is HeyLead different from Expandi, HeyReach, Dripify and Waalaxy?

Those four automate LinkedIn outreach that you set up as campaigns or sequences, priced per seat or per sender. HeyLead is an AI agent: you describe the campaign in a sentence, from Claude Code, Cursor, any MCP client or the dashboard, and it finds the people, writes each message in the voice of your own LinkedIn posts, follows up and answers replies. HeyLead Free is $0; Pro is $29 per connected account per month.

Is HeyLead an alternative to Sales Navigator?

Not for search. Sales Navigator is LinkedIn's search tool, with filters, lead and account lists, alerts and InMail credits. HeyLead runs the outreach from your own LinkedIn account and can send from a Sales Navigator seat, so the two can work together.

How were these comparisons checked?

Every fact about another product was read on that company's own pages on 25 September 2026, and each one links to the page it came from. Where a company's pages disagree, the page says which one it used. HeyLead wrote these pages; if a fact is wrong, write to [email protected] and we correct it.

Sources

Checked on 25 September 2026.

HeyLead is not affiliated with LinkedIn. It reaches LinkedIn through Unipile, which is also not affiliated. LinkedIn's own rules are in the Terms. HeyLead is not affiliated with Expandi, HeyReach, Dripify or Waalaxy; their names belong to their owners.

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