What does an outsourced SDR cost?
Between about $25,000 and $384,000 a year for one SDR's worth of output, depending on what you buy. At the low end is offshore staffing at about $13 an hour, labour only. In the middle are US-based fractional SDRs at $4,500 a month plus commission, and managed programmes such as CIENCE at about $90,000 in year one. At the top are full-service programmes: SalesRoads at $11,950 every four weeks, and Callbox, whose own estimate is $16,000 to $32,000 a month.
For comparison, this site puts a fully loaded in-house US SDR at $134,000 to $154,000 a year, with $142,500 in the middle, in what an SDR costs. So some outsourced options cost a third of a hire and some cost more than one. Pay-per-meeting pricing, at $100 to $300 a meeting, sits well below both.
What does an outsourced SDR do?
An outsourced SDR does the same job as an in-house one: researches prospects, sends cold emails, makes calls and LinkedIn touches, and books meetings for your salespeople. The difference is who employs, trains and manages them. The provider does, and usually supplies the data, tools and a manager too.
Providers sell it in four shapes, and they are not interchangeable:
- A dedicated programme: one or more SDRs working only on your account, with a strategist and data team. SalesRoads, Callbox, CIENCE.
- A fractional SDR: a vetted rep for a monthly fee plus commission, managed by you. Activated Scale.
- Pay per meeting: you pay for each qualified meeting booked. ConnectLead.
- Staffing: an offshore rep billed by the hour, with no playbook, data or management. Virtustant.
What an SDR does day to day, in-house, is covered in what is an SDR; the benchmark is about 14.6 meetings booked a month, of which roughly 80% are held.
Every provider that publishes a price
| Provider | Model | Published price | Billing period | Minimum term | Includes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SalesRoads | Dedicated programme | $11,950 for 1 SDR; $8,375 a rep at 2; $7,833 at 3 | Per 4-week engagement | "No long-term commitment. Cancel anytime." | Strategist, coach, data team; SDRs "never shared across accounts" |
| CIENCE | Managed programme | SDR $1,500 to $6,500 a month by level and region, plus $2,000 team, $499 platform | Monthly; $5,000 setup, $1,000 per SDR onboarding | Month to month | Strategic team, platform credits; commission and a per-meeting fee on top |
| Callbox | Campaign pod | "Estimated Monthly Investment $16,000 to $32,000" per pod | Monthly, estimated | Not stated | 1 dedicated SDR, campaign manager, data, weekly reporting |
| Activated Scale | Fractional SDR | $4,500 a month + commission | Monthly | Not stated | US-based rep; 18% of first-year base if you hire them |
| ConnectLead | Pay per meeting | $100 to $300 a qualified meeting + $200 a month | Per meeting | Month to month | Infrastructure; a retainer option is quoted on a call |
| Virtustant | Offshore staffing | SDR median $13.00 an hour (n=41) | Hourly | Not stated | Pay, payroll, compliance; no data or management |
| RevBoss | Outbound programme | From $3,500 a month | Monthly | Month to month | Campaigns and content, not a dedicated SDR seat |
| SalesHive | Dedicated programme | Quoted on a call | Monthly or annual | Month to month, written notice | US SDRs, strategist, data, dialer; $0 setup |
| Martal Group | Dedicated programme | Quoted ("flat fee per month") | Monthly | 3-month pilot, then monthly | Onshore team; 20 to 30 qualified leads a month stated |
| Leadium | Dedicated programme | Quoted | Monthly | Month to month | Guarantees activity, not appointments |
What each option costs in a year
| Option | Working | One year |
|---|---|---|
| SalesRoads, 1 SDR | $11,950 × 13 four-week periods | $155,350 |
| SalesRoads, per rep at 3 SDRs | $7,833 × 13 | $101,829 |
| Callbox, 1 pod | $16,000 to $32,000 × 12 | $192,000 to $384,000 |
| CIENCE, 1 US Level 1 SDR, year one | $54,000 SDR + $1,000 onboarding + $5,000 setup + $24,000 team + $5,988 platform | $89,988, before commission and meeting fees |
| CIENCE, 1 offshore Level 1 SDR, year one | $18,000 + $1,000 + $5,000 + $24,000 + $5,988 | $53,988, before commission |
| Activated Scale | $4,500 × 12 | $54,000 + commission |
| ConnectLead at 140 meetings | 140 × $100 to $300 + $2,400 | $16,400 to $44,400 |
| Virtustant SDR | $13.00 × 160 hours × 12 | $24,960, labour only |
| In-house SDR (this site) | Salary, benefits, tools, management, ramp, turnover | $134,000 to $154,000 |
The line most buyers get wrong is SalesRoads. Its $11,950 is per four weeks, not per month, so a year is 13 invoices. The page's own savings figure confirms it: two SDRs "save" $92,950 a year against two single-SDR engagements, which is exactly (2 × $11,950 − $16,750) × 13. Multiplying by 12 would understate the year by $11,950. At $155,350, one SalesRoads SDR costs slightly more than this site's highest in-house estimate.
Callbox's range is the provider's own estimate for one pod with one SDR, "Exact pricing provided after consultation". Even its low end is 1.35 times the middle of the in-house range.
What you get per meeting
Only two providers put a number on output. Activated Scale says "Current customers book between 10 - 15 meetings a month", which at $4,500 a month is $300 to $450 a booked meeting before commission. ConnectLead prices the meeting directly at $100 to $300, plus $200 a month, and states an "80%+ average show rate".
The in-house benchmark, by comparison, is about $1,018 a held meeting at $142,500 a year and 140 held meetings. If SalesRoads' SDRs matched that output, which it does not claim, its cost would be about $1,110 a held meeting. Callbox at the same output would be $1,371 to $2,743.
Martal publishes the most detailed funnel, 3,000 to 5,000 prospects, 250 to 450 calls and "20 – 30" qualified leads a month, but a qualified lead is not a meeting, so it cannot be put on the same scale.
How fast each one starts
Speed is the strongest argument for outsourcing. An in-house SDR takes about 3.9 months to reach 80% of quota, after a hiring process SalesHive puts at 3 to 6 months. Providers state launch times of 7 to 10 days (Leadium), about 14 days (ConnectLead, CIENCE), 15 business days (SalesRoads), and 2 to 3 weeks (SalesHive). Activated Scale says it matches a rep in under 7 days.
Martal is the exception: its minimum is a 3-month pilot, which is roughly the same time an in-house hire needs to ramp.
| Provider | Stated time to launch | Minimum commitment | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leadium | 7 to 10 days (appointment setting) | Month to month | Pricing FAQ |
| Activated Scale | Matched in under 7 days | Not stated | Pricing page |
| ConnectLead | About 14 days to first meeting | Month to month | Pricing page |
| CIENCE | Live in 14 days | Month to month | Pricing page |
| SalesRoads | 15 business days | None, cancel anytime | Pricing page |
| SalesHive | 2 to 3 weeks | Month to month, written notice | Pricing page |
| Martal Group | Not stated | 3-month pilot | Pricing page |
| In-house hire | 3 to 6 months to hire, 3.9 months to ramp | Employment | This site; SalesHive |
How to check a provider's price
- Find the billing period. "Per 4-week engagement" is 13 invoices a year, not 12.
- List every recurring line. CIENCE's SDR fee excludes $2,000 a month of team and $499 of platform.
- Ask whether a meeting is booked or held, and what counts as qualified. No pricing page defines it.
- Ask what commission is on top and how it is calculated. Activated Scale and CIENCE both charge it and neither prices it in dollars.
- Read the guarantee. Leadium, for example, guarantees activity, not appointments.
- Convert everything to a year and compare it with the in-house range, not with a single salary.
What the contracts say
Most providers that publish terms sell month to month: SalesRoads ("No long-term commitment. Cancel anytime."), CIENCE, ConnectLead, Leadium, RevBoss and SalesHive ("Cancel anytime with written notice"). Martal requires a 3-month pilot first. Callbox and Activated Scale do not state a term on their pricing pages.
Two terms change the maths after you sign. Activated Scale charges 18% of first-year base salary if you hire the rep; CIENCE lets you hire its SDRs directly and charges $1,000 a head for onboarding. And CIENCE's commission rule pays nothing below 60% of target, then base × percent of target × 0.35 up to 99%, and × 0.7 at or above target. The page does not say what "base salary" means for a contracted SDR, so ask.
Whether the rep works only on your account also matters. SalesRoads says its SDRs are "never shared across accounts" and Callbox describes "1 dedicated SDR"; a buyer cannot check either from outside, so ask how many accounts each rep works at once.
Should you outsource your SDRs?
- You need meetings this quarter and cannot wait to hire and ramp: a month-to-month programme (SalesRoads, CIENCE, SalesHive, Leadium), accepting a price near an in-house hire.
- You want to pay only for results: pay per meeting (ConnectLead), and define "qualified" in writing first.
- You can manage a rep yourself and want a US-based person: a fractional SDR (Activated Scale) at about $54,000 a year plus commission.
- You have a playbook, data and a manager already, and want hours: offshore staffing (Virtustant) at about $25,000 a year.
- You have not sold the product yourself yet: none of these. Outsourcing scales a working message; it does not find one.
That last point has been made on Hacker News for as long as founders have tried it. One commenter in 2008: "I have met companies that did outsource sales, and the results were disastrous." In a 2022 thread, a founder quoted the advice they had been given: "How about you see if you can sell some of them yourself first before raising capital to try and outsource sales."
If the job is mainly emailing a defined list, an AI SDR is a third option, from $250 a month; see AiSDR and its alternatives and 11x pricing.
Who writes the pages that rank for this
Every "best outsourced SDR companies" list on page one is published by an outsourced SDR company, usually ranking itself among the best. That is normal for this kind of query, and it is why the lists compare features rather than prices: most of their authors publish no price. Of the providers that rank, Belkins, Uplift Sales and Beanstalk publish none.
What this page does not know
Is an outsourced SDR worth it?
It buys speed, not savings, unless you choose the cheaper models. Full-service programmes cost about what an in-house SDR does, $90,000 to $155,000 a year, and in Callbox's case more; they start producing in two or three weeks instead of six months. Pay-per-meeting and fractional options cost much less but move more of the risk and management onto you. Convert every quote to a yearly total, including four-week billing and commission, before comparing.