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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Gist

    Score9.5 out of 10
    N/AGist is a unified marketing, sales, and support platform. It includes live chat, a help desk, knowledge base, email marketing, marketing automation, opt-in forms, and more.

    $29

    per month

    Smartlead.ai

    Score7.4 out of 10
    N/AA solution to scale cold email outreach featuring unlimited mailboxes, unlimited warmups, deliverability-focused infrastructure, and a unibox to handle the revenue cycle.

    $39

    per month

    Pricing
    GistSmartlead.ai
    Editions & Modules
    Professional
    $29.00
    per month
    Premium
    $99.00
    per month
    Basic
    $39
    per month 2000 active Leads & 6000 Emails per month
    Pro
    $94
    per month 30000 active Leads & 150000 Emails per month
    Custom
    starting at $174
    per month upto 12M Active Lead Credits
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    GistSmartlead.ai
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Discount of up to 17% available for annual billing.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    GistSmartlead.ai
    Considered Both Products
    Gist
    No answer on this topic
    Smartlead.ai
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    95%
    Would buy again
    20 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    19 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    21 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    21 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    95%
    Implementation went as expected
    20 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    GistSmartlead.ai
    Chat Analytics and Reports
    Comparison of Chat Analytics and Reports features of Gist and Smartlead.ai
    Feature
    Gist
    8.9
    2 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Smartlead.ai
    -
    Ratings
    Chat history and transcripts8.92 Ratings00 Ratings
    Chat reporting8.92 Ratings00 Ratings
    Chat and web analytics8.92 Ratings00 Ratings
    Email & Online Marketing
    Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Gist and Smartlead.ai
    Feature
    Gist
    -
    Ratings
    Smartlead.ai
    7.6
    4 Ratings
    6% below category average
    WYSIWYG email editor00 Ratings7.43 Ratings
    Dynamic content00 Ratings6.53 Ratings
    Ability to test dynamic content00 Ratings7.13 Ratings
    Landing pages00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    A/B testing00 Ratings8.04 Ratings
    Mobile optimization00 Ratings7.73 Ratings
    Email deliverability reporting00 Ratings8.03 Ratings
    List management00 Ratings7.52 Ratings
    Triggered drip sequences00 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Gist and Smartlead.ai
    Feature
    Gist
    -
    Ratings
    Smartlead.ai
    8.0
    4 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Dashboards00 Ratings7.54 Ratings
    Standard reports00 Ratings8.73 Ratings
    Custom reports00 Ratings7.73 Ratings
    Pre-Send Testing
    Comparison of Pre-Send Testing features of Gist and Smartlead.ai
    Feature
    Gist
    -
    Ratings
    Smartlead.ai
    7.2
    4 Ratings
    12% below category average
    URL Validation00 Ratings6.53 Ratings
    Link Tracking00 Ratings6.13 Ratings
    Image Validation00 Ratings5.62 Ratings
    Inbox Display00 Ratings7.34 Ratings
    Email Accessibility Tools00 Ratings7.34 Ratings
    Spelling and Grammar Check00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Spam Testing00 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Email Previews00 Ratings8.54 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    GistSmartlead.ai
    Small Businesses
    Olark
    Score10 out of 10
    Mad Mimi
    Score10 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Zoho SalesIQ
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Campaign Monitor by Marigold
    Score9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Genesys DX (discontinued)
    Score10 out of 10
    Emma by Marigold
    Score8.5 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    GistSmartlead.ai
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.5
    (112 ratings)
    7.3
    (4 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    6.7
    (4 ratings)
    8.5
    (4 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.6
    (9 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    GistSmartlead.ai
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Gist
    If your marketing model is selling products, services, or SAAS where you are doing inbound marketing and your website will do most of the lead generation and conversion, this is a great product. From live chat, support, event tracking, and automation, you could almost put your entire business on autopilot. If your marketing model is mostly outreach to cold leads and conversion, this software currently does not have any type of sales stages or task generation. I would still use Gist for website inbound but use another software for outreach and cold leads then when they become a lead put them into Gist for marketing automation.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Smartlead.ai
    Smartlead is well suited in many aspects. Thats why we are working on it from past 3-years or so. Running email campaigns can be a challenge because other bulk email providers do support sending email but the accuracy of landing in the inbox no one guarantee. I have used it and based on the experience I am using Smartlead. I have used mailshake, apollo, instantly, salesloft etc. none has given such results compared to Smartlead. When it comes to less appropriate: Smartlead is for sending bulk email, one cannot maintain records on the same. I have to delete the campaigns because it will pile up in the home screen once completed. Also Auto-tagging feature should be there based on the response received from prospect. If we use it as CRM, there are chances it can fail. Since it provides unanimous master inbox- I can not respond to my prospect from the dashboard because other colleagues might see my response. This is a security concern.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Gist
    • Customer service via a unified inbox so you dont have to separately monitor your twitter, Facebook or IG account for consumer communication there. Gist unified all into one inbox, better than anyone else I've seen in the market. They archive all communications and tie them back to a single user so you get unified customer history / data.
    • Marketing segmentation and automation: they track user history and behavior across the site and have super detailed segmenting capability, on par with ActiveCampaign's, but better I'd say. Better UI for the marketing admin person, and more unified data than in AC.
    • Live chat and chatbot. Usually it's either one or the other but with Gist you can do both seamlessly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Smartlead.ai
    • Slick API integration with both our waterfall and CRM
    • Quick email verification tool
    • Handles high volume sending with ease
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Gist
    • Plan limits can be confusing. For example, there is a monthly charge for support and a monthly charge for "growth," plus there's a separate charge depending on how many contacts and seats you have. Perhaps this is normal in the industry, but it can make it a little challenging to understand the bill every month.
    • The vast amount of features means development will never be as fast as you'd like it to be (even though they release updates all the time). This may not actually be a valid concern, and it certainly isn't unique to Gist (who doesn't have a wishlist they're waiting on their favorite SaaS to get to?), but I do believe the likelihood of being stuck without your desired feature being developed goes up a lot as the product gets bigger and bigger.
    • Email deliverability has been less than perfect in the past, but it has improved drastically in the last year.
    Read full review
    Smartlead.ai
    • Context based output.
    • Layout and image generation.
    • Multiple language support.
    • Multiple format support.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Gist
    Gist is a quite reliable service with a lot of added values. We don't need to pay for different Saas for these important features. If I had an issue the team was super responsive and helpful, that is essential for every business. The email delivery is great, so virtually no email has landed into spam folder
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Smartlead.ai
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Gist
    It’s pretty simple, but it does a lot so there are more complicated features which depend on an individuals ability for software implementation. I am not an IT expert and I’ve managed to implement everything myself, others that are more tech-minded may find everything easier.
    Read full review
    Smartlead.ai
    It's a good tool and you can figure out your way around it, but overall visibility from a bird's eye view could be better. Oftentimes you have to open up multiple tabs to see different client views
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Gist
    Fantastic support. Ask a question, get an answer within 24 hours every time. And sometimes within a few minutes. They've always come through for me, helpful and, even when it's an issue on my end, they point me in the right direction.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Smartlead.ai
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Gist
    Gist combines all our previous products into one application and adds many more features that would require more apps. Gist is excellent and a no-brainer all-in-one application when compared to having to manage multiple applications at higher cost. The support from the whole Gist team has been extremely responsive.
    Read full review
    Smartlead.ai
    I have used all above platform in my career. Instantly is the nearest one which can compete. relying on Apollo was my biggest mistake over the years in my previous org. Apollo does not give clear picture whether the email is bounced what the health score of my domain. I kept on using the same mailbox and my emails kept on landing in spam. I couldn't understand the reason behind my poor performance until I used Smartlead. All other tools gives fake health score, no AI suggestion on setting up campaigns. Here Smartlead outstand with other tools.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Gist
    • They are perfect for me as a someone who needs a lot of bang for the buck. The chat messenger device on my website alone has brought me new prospects that I did not have to spend money recruiting.
    • I am able to save hours of time with the automated emails that are GDPR compliant.
    • I don't have to pay for a designer to have excellent looking emails either.
    Read full review
    Smartlead.ai
    • Negligible return
    • Open rates and response rates run below 10%
    • Best for single channel buziness development
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Gist Screenshots

    Screenshot of Live ChatScreenshot of Email MarketingScreenshot of Marketing Automation WorkflowsScreenshot of Knowledge BaseScreenshot of Meetings