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Mailshake Alternative: Alienmail vs Mailshake
How is Alienmail different from Mailshake?
Reviewed by Ankit Dangi, Founder & CEO · Prices checked 27 Oct 2026
The short answer
Mailshake is priced per user: Starter costs $29 a user a month ($25 billed yearly) for one sending address and 1,500 sends, with unlimited contacts and unlimited warmup. Alienmail charges per email with free seats, so 1,500 emails cost $6, and a team of three sending the same costs $11 instead of $87. Mailshake suits one person who wants a simple sequencer at a fixed price.
Pick Alienmail if you have a team, send more than 1,500 emails a month, or want the campaign written for you.
Alienmail publishes this page. Every Mailshake price and limit comes from Mailshake's own pricing page, linked under Sources.
Alienmail vs Mailshake in Four Numbers
$6
1,500 emails a month
Mailshake Starter: $29 per user
$11
3 people, 1,500 emails each
Mailshake Starter: $87
Unlimited
sending mailboxes
Mailshake Starter: 1 per user
100 free credits
to start, no card
Mailshake: no trial, payment up front
The Core Difference
Mailshake sells seats: each user pays a monthly fee for one sending address and a set number of sends. Alienmail sells emails one at a time, keeps seats free and does the writing: add your website and it drafts the whole sequence, then charges 4 credits for each email it sends. Mailshake's bill grows with headcount; Alienmail's grows only with what you send.
Alienmail vs Mailshake at a Glance
 Alienmail |  Mailshake | Key difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How you pay | Per email sent | Per user, per month | Alienmail seats are free |
| Entry price | From a $5 top-up | $29/user/mo (Starter) | Lower to start on Alienmail |
| A month you don't send | $0 | $29 per user | — |
| Sending addresses on the entry plan | Unlimited | 1 per user | One person can send from many mailboxes on Alienmail |
| Sends on the entry plan | As many as your credits cover | 1,500 a month per user | Mailshake's cap is low for outbound |
| Contacts | Unlimited | Unlimited | Same |
| Warmup | Free, every mailbox | Unlimited, all plans | Same |
| Who writes the emails | Alienmail, from your website | You, in its sequence editor | Alienmail starts with a full draft |
| Free start | 100 free credits, no card | No trial; payment up front | You can try Alienmail before paying |
Alienmail vs Mailshake Pricing
How each one charges
Mailshake
Starter $29 per user a month ($25 billed yearly), with 1 email address and 1,500 sends a month per user, unlimited contacts and unlimited warmup. Higher plans weren't checked for this page.
Alienmail
No plan and no seat fees. Each email uses 4 credits; top-ups start at $5 and the rate per credit drops at $10, $50 and $250.
| Sending in a month | Alienmail | Mailshake |
|---|---|---|
| None | $0 | $29 per user |
| 1 person, 1,500 emails | $6 | $29 (Starter) |
| 3 people, 1,500 emails each | $11 | $87 (3 × Starter) |
| 1 person, 5,000 emails | $12 | Above Starter's 1,500 sends: higher plan |
Mailshake's cost rises with every user you add; Alienmail's rises only with the emails you send. Mailboxes cost extra on both: $2.50 each a month if you buy them in Alienmail.
Cost reality: a small team's month
A founder sends to 1,000 new leads a month, 4 emails each: 4,000 emails.
Mailshake
one Starter seat covers 1,500 sends, so 4,000 emails need 3 seats ($87 for 4,500 sends) or a higher plan.
Alienmail
16,666 credits from a $10 top-up: $10. Month two costs another $10, whatever the size of your list.
Cost per 1,000 emails
- Mailshake Starter, fully used: $19.33 per 1,000 emails ($29 ÷ 1,500).
- Alienmail: $4 per 1,000 from a $5 top-up, $2.40 from $10, falling to $1.20 from $250.
So: Alienmail is cheaper per email at every top-up size.
Deliverability and Mailboxes
Warmup
Both include warmup with no limit: Mailshake on all plans, Alienmail on every mailbox you connect or buy.
List verification
Alienmail cleans bad and risky addresses before every send, free during beta. Mailshake Starter doesn't list it.
Mailboxes
Mailshake Starter gives each user one address. Alienmail connects unlimited mailboxes and sells them at $2.50 a month.
Writing and Workflow
Who writes the campaign
In Mailshake you write the sequence yourself. Alienmail reads your website and writes every email for you to edit.
Replies
Alienmail puts replies from every mailbox in one inbox and tags each one positive, neutral or negative.
Running it from an AI chat
Run Alienmail from Claude or ChatGPT via its MCP server. Mailshake's pricing page doesn't mention one.
Why Teams Switch From Mailshake
Alienmail$11
3 people on Alienmail
Mailshake$87
3 users on Mailshake Starter
No per-user bill.
Mailshake charges $29 for every user on Starter, so a team of three pays $87 a month. Alienmail seats are free; three people sending 1,500 emails each costs $11.
AlienmailUnlimited
sending addresses on Alienmail
Mailshake1
address per user on Mailshake Starter
Room to send more.
Starter covers one sending address and 1,500 sends a month per user. On Alienmail you send from as many mailboxes as you like and pay per email.
Free to start
100 credits
No card · 25 emails to test with
Try it before you pay.
Mailshake takes payment up front. Alienmail starts you with 100 free credits and no card, and writes your first campaign from your website.
What Alienmail Does Differently
Writes the campaign from your website
Add your URL and Alienmail writes a brief of what you sell, who buys it and how you talk, then the whole sequence from it.
Free seats for the whole team
Add every rep at no cost, each with their own mailboxes and one shared inbox for replies.
Learn more
Charges per email, not per user
4 credits an email from a $5 top-up, and $0 in a month you don't send.
You send
5,000 emails
You pay
$12
20,000 credits at $0.60 per 1,000 · 4 credits an email
Who Should Pick Mailshake
- You're one person who wants a simple sequencer at a fixed price.
- One sending address and 1,500 emails a month are enough.
- You'd rather write every email yourself.
Who Should Pick Alienmail
- You have a team and don't want to pay per user.
- You send more than 1,500 emails a month or from several mailboxes.
- You want the emails written for you, and to try it free first.
Other Mailshake Alternatives
| Tool | Best for | Starts at | Watch out for | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Smartlead | Teams that want a plan not priced per seat | $39/mo | 2,000 contacts on Base; a lot to learn | Compare |
 Saleshandy | A simple flat-price sender with unlimited warmup | $41/mo | 1 seat and 2,000 active prospects on Starter | Compare |
 Instantly | A sender with a lead database sold alongside | $47/mo | 1,000 contacts on Growth | Compare |
 lemlist | Unlimited users on one email plan | $69/mo | Multichannel is $109 per user | Compare |
How to Switch From Mailshake
- 1
Export your leads from Mailshake as a CSV.
- 2
Sign up for Alienmail with 100 free credits, no card.
- 3
Connect the same Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or SMTP mailboxes. Warmup carries on free.
- 4
Add your website. Alienmail writes your Business DNA and a new campaign.
- 5
Upload the CSV, review the emails and launch.
Work Out Your Own Numbers
Open the cold email cost calculator, preset to Mailshake with 300 new leads × 5 emails, and change it to your own volume.
Mailshake
Their cheapest plan that fits
Alienmail
Only the emails you send
or
Verdict: Alienmail or Mailshake?
For teams and anyone sending more than 1,500 emails a month, Alienmail costs less: seats are free, 1,500 emails cost $6 instead of $29, three people sending the same pay $11 instead of $87, and the campaign arrives written. Mailshake is a fair pick if you're one person sending under 1,500 emails a month from one address and you're happy to write every email yourself.
Alienmail vs Mailshake FAQ
For teams, Alienmail: seats are free, you pay per email, and the campaign is written for you. If you want a flat plan that isn't priced per seat, Smartlead starts at $39.
Key Terms
- Email warmup
- Slowly raising how much a new mailbox sends while it collects real opens and replies, so inbox providers learn to trust it.
- Per-user pricing
- A monthly fee for every person on the account. Mailshake Starter is $29 per user.
- Sends
- The number of emails a plan lets you send each month. Mailshake Starter allows 1,500 per user.
- Pay-per-email pricing
- Paying only for emails you send. On Alienmail, each email uses 4 credits.
- Credits
- Alienmail's unit of payment, bought in top-ups from $5. The price per credit drops as the top-up grows.
How we compared
We took each tool's monthly-billing prices and plan limits from its own pricing page on 27 Oct 2026 and Alienmail's rates from alienmail.io/pricing. Alienmail's cost uses the cheapest top-up that covers the emails. We don't include discounts or custom deals. Anything Mailshake's pricing page doesn't mention is marked "not stated", not "not available". We re-check prices every quarter.
Sources
- Mailshake pricing, checked 27 Oct 2026: Starter $29 per user ($25 billed yearly), 1 email address and 1,500 sends a month per user, unlimited contacts, unlimited warmup, no trial (payment up front)
- Alienmail rate card, from alienmail.io/pricing
Try Alienmail Free Next to Mailshake
100 free credits, no card. Pay only for the emails you send.