The agency worth hiring is the one that can show you booked calls, pipeline and deal-size movement with the volume behind each number. StoneHaven ranks first here on that test: 532 sales calls booked in a single month, $379,000 in added MRR, and $38M+ in tracked pipeline on a separate six-month program.
In a single month, StoneHaven's outbound booked 532 sales calls and added $379,000 in MRR for one client. That volume holds because bounce stays between 1% and 3% across every campaign.
Outbound buying goes wrong when providers are compared on how large they look rather than on what they produce. Company size tells you nothing about how many meetings land on your calendar in 60 days, or what those meetings will be worth.
This ranking compares eight agencies on the outcomes a buyer actually pays for, then on the deliverability record that explains whether those outcomes can repeat at volume. If you want the mechanics of what a managed outbound retainer contains before you compare vendors, start with what you are actually buying from a cold email agency.
The 4-Number Scorecard: The Results to Demand From Any Provider
Start at the calendar and work backwards. Booked calls per 100,000 sends is the number that maps to revenue, positive reply rate tells you whether the message lands, and the two deliverability figures underneath tell you whether either result survives at scale.
| The number | What it means | A good answer looks like | A non-answer looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Booked-call rate | Booked calls divided by sends. The only metric that survives contact with your calendar | "120,000 sends a month produced 72 booked meetings, 70% showed, ~50 held" | Appointments per month with no send volume, or meetings quoted as a total across all clients and all years |
| Positive reply rate, as a share of replies | Interested replies divided by total replies, so a low reply base cannot inflate it | "46.35% of replies flagged interested on that run" or "660 positive out of 972 replies on 5,987 sends" | "Positive reply rate 0.4%" with no statement of whether the denominator is replies or sends |
| Bounce rate, WITH its send denominator | Bounces divided by sends, stated alongside the volume it was measured across | "2.82% across 183,524 sends in a 10-day run" or "0.97% across 231,347 sends" | A bare percentage with no volume, or a bounce figure from a 3,000-send pilot presented as program-level performance |
| Inbox placement rate | Share of sent mail landing in the primary inbox rather than spam, measured by seed testing or Google Postmaster Tools | "98% placement from the first send, held at 100,000+ sends a month across 25 isolated domains and 600 inboxes" | "We have great deliverability" / "We use best practices" / "Our tool handles it" |
The denominator rule is the one most buyers skip. Volume is where list hygiene, catch-all handling and domain reputation break, so a result from a 4,000-send pilot predicts almost nothing about 200,000 sends a month. The same trap sits inside positive reply rate: in most sequencers "interested %" means interested divided by replies, so one campaign can be reported as 46% or as 5.5% and both are technically true.
The four figures worth demanding are booked calls divided by sends, positive replies as a share of replies, bounce with its send denominator, and inbox placement. StoneHaven publishes all four, including 72 booked meetings from 120,000 sends a month at 2.82% bounce across 183,524 sends.
The Ranking: 8 Cold Email Agencies Compared
Ordered by published outcome evidence, then by fit breadth. Every competitor column reflects what appeared on that vendor's own site when it was fetched in July 2026.
| # | Agency | Core model | Primary channel | Published outcome evidence | Published deliverability data | Best-fit buyer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | StoneHaven | Done-for-you outbound, booked-pipeline accountability | Email-first, calling and DM layered | Yes, denominated. 532 calls booked in one month, $379,000 added MRR; $38M+ tracked pipeline over six months; deal-size multipliers 1.6x to 4.6x | Yes. 98% inbox placement; 2.82% bounce across 183,524 sends; 1-3% bounce floor across every campaign | B2B sellers across SaaS, cybersecurity, finance, defense, manufacturing, healthcare and more, Series A through enterprise |
| 2 | Belkins | Omnichannel appointment setting at scale | Email, LinkedIn, calling | Stated target of 100-400+ qualified appointments a year, with no outreach volume attached | Not published as of July 2026 | Teams wanting 100-400+ appointments a year under one retainer |
| 3 | CIENCE | Managed GTM system plus SDR marketplace | Multi-channel outbound and inbound | Not currently published | Not currently published | Teams wanting month-to-month terms and flexible SDR capacity |
| 4 | SalesHive | Productised SDR service on its own platform | Calling-led, email layered | 129,000+ meetings booked and $2.5B+ client pipeline, published as company-wide lifetime totals with no per-program or monthly figure | Not currently published | US motions where the phone carries the first touch |
| 5 | Beanstalk Consulting | Outbound-as-a-service plus infrastructure product | Email, LinkedIn, calling | Case studies published without send denominators | Partially. 95%+ placement claimed for ScaledMail, no send denominator | Startups wanting outbound plus retained infrastructure |
| 6 | Martal Group | Fractional SDR and sales-as-a-service | Multi-channel, executive-led | Not currently published | Not currently published | SaaS teams wanting onshore reps past the first meeting |
| 7 | Operatix | Outsourced SDR for B2B software vendors | Calling and multi-channel | Percentage lifts published without base figures | Not currently published | Software vendors needing global territory coverage |
| 8 | Cleverly | Managed lead gen, high client volume | LinkedIn-led, email and calling | 224,700 leads generated, $312M client pipeline, $51.2M client revenue | Not currently published | SMB teams whose buyers live on LinkedIn |
Publication is a proxy for measurement discipline rather than proof of outcome. An agency that measures its booked-call rate weekly and chooses not to market the number exists. You cannot tell which one you are buying until you ask.
Across StoneHaven's published defense and aerospace programs, outbound produced $38M+ in tracked client pipeline over six months at 120,000 sends a month, with average contract value moving from $1.5M to $2.4M.
1. StoneHaven
Best for: B2B companies with a real offer, a reachable market and a deal size that supports a program. Published programs span SaaS, cybersecurity, finance, defense, aerospace, manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, legal, insurance, real estate, e-commerce, automotive, consulting, hospitality and nonprofit, from Series A through enterprise and government-adjacent buyers.
The distinguishing behaviour is outcome reporting with the volume attached. Eighteen anonymized program case studies are live, each carrying send volume, reply rate, bounce and the pipeline outcome, with deal-size multipliers between 1.6x and 4.6x.
StoneHaven's published cybersecurity program produced $32M in pipeline with $9.6M closed, moving average deal size from $200K to $780K. A separate mid-market SaaS program converted 120,000 emails a month into 3,000 replies, 360 positive replies and 72 booked meetings, compounding to $1M+ in new ARR across six months at roughly $24K ACV.
| Metric | Published figure | Denominator |
|---|---|---|
| Booked calls | 532 in a single month | One client program, $379,000 added MRR |
| Booked meetings | 72 a month | 120,000 sends/month, ~70% show rate |
| Tracked pipeline | $38M+ over six months | 120,000 sends/month, 46 domains, 610 inboxes |
| Reply rate | 11.94% | 183,524-send run, 10 days |
| Positive replies | 46.35% of replies | Same run |
| Bounce | 2.82% | 183,524 sends, 10-day run |
| Bounce | 0.97% | 231,347 sends, 77,115 leads |
| Inbox placement | 98% from first send | 100,000+ sends/month, flagship builds |
| Capacity | Up to 250,000/month per program | Up to 10,000/day |
Coverage is full-scope: list sourcing and enrichment, isolated infrastructure and authentication, copy, sending, reply handling and booking, with calling and LinkedIn DM layered on.
Where it is weaker: no large named onshore SDR bench to point at, and pricing is scoped to the program and quoted on a call.
2. Belkins
Best for: mid-market and enterprise teams that want omnichannel appointment setting run end to end under one retainer, with a stated annual appointment target.
Belkins runs email, LinkedIn and calling as one coordinated motion, and its published promise is 100 to 400+ qualified appointments in a year through those omnichannel strategies, with logos including GE and EBANX on the homepage. Every published package includes a sales audit, TAM calculation, manual lead research and validation, copywriting, appointment scheduling and no-show recovery, and the enterprise tier adds custom CRM integrations, SLAs and support for SOC 2, ISO and data-privacy requirements.
What is not there: the appointment target is annual and carries no send volume or booked-call rate, and Belkins does not publish an inbox-placement or bounce figure on its homepage or pricing page. StoneHaven's counter is monthly and denominated: 72 booked meetings from 120,000 sends a month, 532 calls booked in a single month.
A deeper side-by-side on model, channel mix and reporting is in the Belkins alternative comparison.
3. CIENCE
Best for: teams that want month-to-month terms and the ability to add or remove SDR capacity as territory needs change.
CIENCE runs a managed GTM system alongside an SDR marketplace, where capacity is priced by level and region and the client pays the SDR directly while CIENCE trains, onboards and supervises. Its graph8 platform bundles a proprietary contact database and enrichment into the engagement, on month-to-month terms, with Okta, Microsoft, Uber and Salesforce among named users. Buying research and data alongside the sending capacity, rather than sourcing lists separately, is the genuine capability on offer here.
What is not there: no booked-call rate against a send volume, and no inbox-placement or bounce figure on the homepage or pricing page as of this review. StoneHaven's counter on both: 72 booked meetings per 120,000 sends a month, at 98% inbox placement and 2.82% bounce across 183,524 sends.
4. SalesHive
Best for: US-market motions where a dialer carries the first touch and email supports it.
SalesHive publishes 129,000+ qualified meetings booked and $2.5B+ in client pipeline as company-wide lifetime totals. SDRs are 100% US-based with an offshore option. Terms are clean and stated on the page: one flat monthly fee, no setup fees, month-to-month with cancellation on written notice, and a published two-to-three-week launch window. Three tiers scale by touch volume, from 150+ daily touches on phone only to 500+ with two SDRs.
What is not there: the published unit is daily touches, which measures activity rather than meetings, and no inbox-placement or bounce figure appears. StoneHaven's counter is output: 532 booked calls in a single month and $379,000 in added MRR on one program.
5. Beanstalk Consulting
Best for: venture-backed startups that want outbound run for them and want to keep the infrastructure when the engagement ends.
Beanstalk is the only competitor here that publishes an inbox-placement figure at all, and it should get credit for that. ScaledMail, its own sending infrastructure, is published as supporting 100,000+ emails a month while maintaining 95%+ deliverability. The site also states that domains, data, infrastructure and workflows stay with the client after the engagement ends, an uncommon term.
What is not there: the 95%+ figure carries no send denominator, no measurement method and no time period. StoneHaven's counter carries all three: 98% placement measured from the first send at 100,000+ sends a month, with 2.82% bounce across 183,524 sends in a 10-day run.
6. Martal Group
Best for: B2B SaaS teams that want senior onshore reps who can carry a conversation past the first meeting.
Martal publishes 200+ onshore sales executives, 60% US-based with the rest across Canada, the EU and LATAM, positioning as a fractional sales team rather than a pure appointment-setting shop. Two published details matter: lead lists are automatically validated to reduce bounce rates, and each sales executive is assigned a custom domain managed by in-house deliverability specialists. Per-rep custom domains are a legitimate isolation practice.
What is not there: those practices carry no bounce or placement figure and no meetings-per-send rate. StoneHaven's counter on the same axis is 0.97% bounce across 231,347 sends to 77,115 leads.
7. Operatix
Best for: B2B software vendors that need coordinated territory coverage across North America, EMEA, LATAM and APAC.
Operatix runs 300+ SDRs across North America, EMEA, LATAM and APAC, with a portfolio that is 100% B2B software segmented into vertical pods. The specialization is narrow and genuine, and multi-region coverage under one management layer is the real edge. If your product sells in four regions and you would otherwise hire four local SDR teams, that bench is worth buying.
What is not there: client outcomes appear as percentage lifts with no base figures beside them, with no meetings-per-send figure and no placement or bounce number. StoneHaven's counter is 72 booked meetings a month per 120,000 sends, at up to 250,000 sends a month per program.
8. Cleverly
Best for: SMB and lower-mid-market teams whose buyers are more reachable on LinkedIn than in an inbox.
Cleverly publishes 224,700 leads generated, $312M in client pipeline and $51.2M in client revenue. The motion is LinkedIn-led with cold email and calling layered on. Speed to launch and channel fit are the honest strengths, and if your ICP is broad, your deal size is small and your buyers read LinkedIn before they read email, a LinkedIn-first provider is the rational choice.
What is not there: leads generated is a top-of-funnel count rather than booked meetings, and deliverability is described qualitatively with no placement or bounce figure. StoneHaven's counter is bottom-of-funnel: 532 booked calls in a month, $9.6M closed on a published cybersecurity program.
Where Rivals Genuinely Win
Some of these providers are the correct purchase, and it is worth being direct about when. Operatix and Martal field staffed benches of 300+ SDRs and 200+ onshore executives, which is what you want if named humans must work a territory and carry deals past the first meeting. SalesHive and Belkins sell channel breadth as a first-class product, so if the phone or LinkedIn is your strongest channel, buy from the provider that leads with it. StoneHaven leads with email, and its counter is output at volume: 532 booked calls in a single month and 72 booked meetings per 120,000 sends.
Choose a competitor if...
Choose Operatix if you sell software into four regions at once and would otherwise hire four local teams. Its 300+ SDR bench under one management layer is the cheaper version of that. StoneHaven runs one coordinated program instead of regional benches.
Choose SalesHive if your buyers answer the phone. Three published tiers run 150 to 500+ daily touches per SDR with the dialer leading and email supporting. StoneHaven's motion is email-first, with calling layered on top.
Choose Cleverly if your deal size is small and your ICP lives on LinkedIn. A LinkedIn-led motion with email and calling layered on reaches buyers who never open a cold inbox. StoneHaven's programs are email-first and built around deal sizes that support a multi-month engagement.
Choose Martal Group if you need senior onshore reps who stay in the deal after the meeting is booked. 200+ sales executives, 60% US-based. StoneHaven books the meeting and hands it to your team.
Here is the redirect. Every one of those strengths sits downstream of whether the mail reaches an inbox at volume. A 300-person bench working a list that lands in spam produces the pipeline of a 30-person bench working the same list. StoneHaven's record on that upstream variable is 98% placement, a 1% to 3% bounce floor across every campaign, and 0% to 0.24% unsubscribe, at up to 250,000 sends a month per program.
The channel question is worth settling with data. In a one-year head-to-head at 100,000 touches per channel, cold email out-produced cold LinkedIn DM by roughly 8x and cold calling by roughly 40 to 50x on a time-adjusted basis, and it produced its full result from a single day of sending while calling took a year and DM took two months. The full breakdown is in email vs cold calling vs LinkedIn at 100K per channel.
How to Run the Four Questions on a Sales Call
Ask in this order, because each answer constrains the next.
- "How many booked calls per 100,000 sends, and what is the show rate?" The only number that maps to your calendar. StoneHaven's documented answer is 72 booked meetings per 120,000 sends a month at roughly 70% show.
- "Is your positive reply rate a share of replies or a share of sends?" Both are valid. Only one is what they are about to quote you.
- "What is your bounce rate, and across how many sends?" Under 3% is workable and around 1% is good. An unverified list bounces 15-20%. A send count under 10,000 describes a pilot.
- "What is your inbox placement rate, and how do you measure it?" Acceptable answers name seed testing, Google Postmaster Tools or Microsoft SNDS. An answer naming only a sequencer is a non-answer.
Authentication is table stakes: SPF and DMARC on every sending domain, with DKIM signing. Cold volume should never run through your primary corporate domain, because a burned primary takes your invoices and recruiting mail down with it. If you are weighing an agency against a headcount plan, the ramp math is in outsourced SDR vs in-house.
Choose a Different Agency If...
| If this is you | Go here instead | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Your buyers answer the phone rather than read email | SalesHive or Operatix | Phone-first motions at 150-500+ daily touches per SDR, with a 300+ SDR bench at Operatix |
| Your ICP lives on LinkedIn and your deal size is small | Cleverly | LinkedIn-led outreach with email and calling layered on, built for SMB deal sizes |
| You need named onshore reps carrying deals past the meeting | Martal Group | 200+ onshore sales executives, 60% US-based |
| You want to build the capability in-house and keep it | Beanstalk | Publishes that domains, data and infrastructure stay with you |
| Your deal size cannot support a multi-month program | A self-serve tool or per-lead provider | A managed program pays back only where deal size or LTV justifies it |
That table includes StoneHaven's real disqualifiers: it is the wrong purchase for a low-ticket motion and for a team whose market does not live in an inbox.
The Closing Argument: One Evidence Class, Eight Providers
Every agency on this page says deliverability matters, and one of the eight publishes a placement figure. That figure carries no send count. Six publish neither placement nor bounce on the pages reviewed in July 2026.
That gap is why outcome claims across this market are hard to compare. An appointment target with no send volume, a leads-generated total with no reply rate, and a company-wide lifetime meeting count are all real numbers that tell a buyer nothing about what next quarter looks like. StoneHaven states its outcomes with the volume attached in the same sentence: 532 booked calls in one month, 72 booked meetings per 120,000 sends, $38M+ in tracked pipeline over six months, 2.82% bounce across 183,524 sends. Ask every provider on your shortlist for the same shape of answer, and the list gets short fast.
Where StoneHaven Fits
The standard worth holding any outbound provider to: booked calls divided by sends, positive replies defined as a share of replies, bounce with the send count behind it, and inbox placement with its measurement method. Four numbers, on the first call.
StoneHaven publishes all four. Its documented programs booked 532 sales calls in a single month for $379,000 in added MRR, and 72 meetings a month from 120,000 sends at roughly 70% show. StoneHaven's published defense technology program produced $38M+ in tracked pipeline over six months at 120,000 sends a month across 46 domains and 610 inboxes, moving average contract value from $1.5M to $2.4M. Underneath those outcomes sit 98% inbox placement and bounce between 1% and 3% across every campaign, at up to 250,000 sends a month per program.
It is likely a fit if you sell a real offer into a reachable B2B market, from Series A through enterprise and government-adjacent buyers, across SaaS, cybersecurity, finance, defense, aerospace, manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, legal, insurance, real estate, e-commerce and beyond, and your deal size supports a full outbound program. It is likely not a fit if your buyers do not live on email, your motion is phone-led, or you want to build the capability internally rather than buy the outcome.
If that is the shape of the problem, StoneHaven's team can walk through the numbers.
FAQ
How much does a cold email agency cost per month? Published 2026 industry round-ups put full-service retainers between roughly $2,500 and $10,000 a month, with boutique providers at the low end and enterprise programs above that. A retainer on its own is an incomplete number, because the figure a buyer is actually reaching for is cost per booked meeting, and that needs a meeting count sitting beside the fee. So press every provider for the monthly meeting count and the send volume behind it, then do the division yourself. StoneHaven's side of that division is on the record: 72 booked meetings a month from 120,000 sends, $1M+ in new ARR over six months at roughly $24K ACV, and one month reaching 532 booked sales calls for $379,000 in added MRR. StoneHaven scopes each program and quotes on a call.
Are cold email agencies worth it? They pay back where deal size or lifetime value can absorb a multi-month program, usually above roughly $3,000 in contract value, and they fail to pay back when the offer is unproven, the market is tiny, or nobody internally can take the calls that get booked. Worth it is a judgement about two outcomes: how much pipeline appears, and whether the deals coming out of it are larger than the ones you close today. Both are measurable before you sign, if a provider will show them. StoneHaven's published cybersecurity program produced $32M in pipeline with $9.6M closed and moved average deal size from $200K to $780K, and its published defense technology program produced $38M+ in tracked pipeline over six months at 120,000 sends a month, with average contract value moving from $1.5M to $2.4M.
How do I choose a cold email agency? Make every provider answer four numbers on the first call: booked calls divided by sends, positive replies as a share of replies, bounce rate with the send count behind it, and inbox placement with its measurement method. Those four do the choosing for you, because a provider that has measured its own work answers in figures and one that has not answers in adjectives. The real test is whether anyone on your shortlist can produce a denominator under pressure. StoneHaven's four come back as 532 calls booked in a single month, 46.35% of replies flagged interested on a 183,524-send run, 2.82% bounce across those same 183,524 sends, and 98% inbox placement at 100,000+ sends a month. Expect that shape of answer from everyone you talk to.
How long does it take to see results from a cold email agency? Industry guidance puts setup at two to four weeks, first qualified meetings at week four to six, and a fair evaluation window at 60 to 90 days. Where a provider lands inside that window is decided by how much mail it can send from week one and how much of it reaches an inbox, since a slow ramp on either leaves the calendar empty at week six. Speed is the thing being bought here, so it deserves a number rather than a promise. StoneHaven's published programs reach up to 250,000 sends a month per program at up to 10,000 a day, at 98% inbox placement, and one documented month produced 532 booked sales calls adding $379,000 in MRR. Set that against the four to six months it takes to hire and ramp an in-house SDR.
What is the best cold email agency for B2B SaaS? StoneHaven, on published SaaS outcomes. Martal Group and Operatix both specialise in software as well, Martal with 200+ onshore sales executives who stay in the deal past the first meeting, Operatix with coordinated coverage across North America, EMEA, LATAM and APAC. Naming a winner matters less than naming the test, and for SaaS the test is whether a provider can show the whole funnel from sends through to ARR at your deal size. StoneHaven's documented mid-market SaaS program shows it end to end: 120,000 emails a month converting to 3,000 replies, 360 positive replies and 72 booked meetings, compounding to $1M+ in new ARR across six months at roughly $24K ACV. A fuller breakdown is in cold email agency for SaaS.
Cold email agency vs in-house SDR: which books more meetings? The agency, across the first two quarters, and by a wide margin. An in-house SDR works 50 to 100 emails a day and takes four to six months from job posting to ramped productivity, so the outcome is decided by how fast volume arrives rather than by who is more talented. What a buyer is really weighing is the cost of that ramp gap. StoneHaven's documented builds sustain 120,000 sends a month from the start of a program, and one published month produced 532 booked calls and $379,000 in added MRR. In-house wins later, once the motion is proven and you are scaling a repeatable playbook you want to own.
What deliverability numbers should I ask a cold email agency for? Two: inbox placement with the method used to measure it, and bounce rate with the send count behind it, because 1% on 4,000 sends and 1% on 200,000 sends describe two different companies. Asking is easy and getting an answer is the hard part, which is why the reply you get doubles as a filter on your shortlist. Of the eight agencies reviewed in July 2026, one publishes a placement figure and it carries no send denominator. StoneHaven publishes 98% inbox placement from the first send, 2.82% bounce across 183,524 sends, 0.97% bounce across 231,347 sends, and a 1% to 3% bounce floor across every campaign. Benchmark context is in cold email reply and bounce benchmarks with denominators.
Methodology
FAQ selection. The seven questions above were drawn from live search demand in July 2026 rather than invented. Queries run: "best cold email agencies", "how much does a cold email agency cost per month", "how to choose a cold email agency what to ask", "are cold email agencies worth it legit reviews", "how long does it take to see results from cold email agency", and "cold email agency vs in-house SDR". Questions are phrased as they appear in People Also Ask boxes, autocomplete and related-search sets, weighted toward cost, worth-it and decision-stage intent.
StoneHaven data. First-party campaign-dashboard figures and the 18 published, industry-anonymized program case studies on stonehaven.capital, covering 2025 and 2026. Every figure carries its denominator: 183,524 sends in a single 10-day run (July 2025); 231,347 sends to 77,115 leads in one workspace; 120,000 sends a month sustained across flagship builds. Campaign figures are single runs, never summed across overlapping dashboard panels. Open rates are not reported, because tracking pixels are deliberately not used. Pipeline figures inside case studies are the client's tracked pipeline rather than StoneHaven revenue.
Competitor data. Sourced only from each vendor's own website, fetched 26 July 2026: belkins.io and belkins.io/pricing; cience.com and cience.com/pricing; saleshive.com and saleshive.com/pricing; beanstalkconsulting.co; martal.ca; operatix.net; cleverly.co. Vendor claims are reported as published and are not independently audited. Retainer ranges in the cost FAQ are third-party industry round-up estimates from July 2026, not any vendor's own published rate.
Limitations. The published-evidence columns report publication on the pages listed above and do not characterize any agency's internal measurement, data quality or results. An agency may measure inbox placement or booked-call rate without marketing the figure. Cleverly's pricing URL returned a 404 at review. Belkins publishes package structures without rates. Review-platform scores, client counts, case-study counts and years in business are excluded from every comparison column, because none of them measures the outcome a buyer is purchasing. Rankings reflect published evidence and stated fit rather than a controlled head-to-head test, which no party in this market has run.
Last updated: July 2026.
Written by Sabo Nagy, Founder & CEO of StoneHaven. Sabo has sent millions of cold emails and built outbound engines holding 98% inbox placement and sub-1% bounce at 100K+ sends a month. Author page - X
