Streak vs Instantly

When it comes to managing customer relationships and outreach, Streak and Instantly offer two distinct solutions tailored to different business needs. Streak is a Gmail-based CRM that allows users to manage contacts, pipelines, and tasks directly from their inbox, making it ideal for businesses that rely heavily on email communication. Instantly, on the other hand, focuses on automating cold email outreach and lead generation, helping businesses scale their outreach efforts efficiently. In this blog, we’ll compare Streak and Instantly, highlighting their key features to help you choose the best platform for your business goals. Additionally, we'll introduce folk as popular alternative to consider.

What is Streak?

Streak is a customer relationship management (CRM) tool that integrates directly with Gmail, allowing users to manage their sales pipeline and customer interactions from within their email inbox. Designed to simplify CRM tasks, Streak offers features such as email tracking, mail merge, task management, and pipeline visualization, all seamlessly embedded in Gmail’s interface.

Key features of Streak

• Gmail interface: Streak operates entirely within Gmail, making it easy to manage your CRM without leaving your inbox.
• Shared pipelines: Collaborate with your team by sharing pipelines, allowing everyone to track and manage deals, projects, or tasks in real-time.
• Email tracking and snippets: Get notifications when your emails are opened and use pre-written snippets to streamline communication and save time.
• Contacts: Streak helps organize and manage contact information directly within Gmail, making it easy to stay connected with clients.
• Google Workspace integrations: Seamlessly integrates with Google Workspace tools like Calendar and Drive for enhanced productivity and collaboration.
  

What is Instantly?

Instantly is a newer player in the market that focuses on automation and email outreach, helping teams send high-volume personalized emails and track responses. Instantly CRM is geared more toward businesses looking to maximize lead generation and email outreach campaigns, often used by outbound sales teams and marketers.

Key features of Instantly

• Email outreach automation: One of Instantly’s standout features is the ability to automate and send thousands of personalized cold emails at scale.
• Advanced email warm-up: Instantly ensures that your emails land in inboxes rather than spam by providing email warming and reputation management tools.
• AI-based insights: Use AI-powered analytics to gain insights into the success of your outreach and optimize future campaigns.
• Multi-account management: Run multiple email accounts and campaigns seamlessly from one dashboard.
• Performance tracking: Track open rates, click rates, and other key metrics to measure campaign performance in real time.
• Integrations: Instantly CRM integrates with tools like Zapier, Google Sheets, and other productivity apps to help streamline workflows.

Streak vs. Instantly: Feature Comparison

Let's break down the key features of two CRM software solutions and take a closer look at their sales automation, email marketing tools, and contact management.

1. Sales pipeline management

Streak CRM's pipeline management feature is deeply integrated with Gmail, allowing users to track, organize, and manage sales processes directly from their inbox. The system uses a visual layout, similar to a spreadsheet, with automation features. Instantly, on the other hand, doesn't have a clear kanban view of all your deals. You can view your leads' status with the email campaigns, but there isn't a clear pipeline management view.

2. Ease of use

Streak CRM is integrated directly into Gmail, making it intuitive for users familiar with Google's ecosystem. Instantly, on the other hand, offers a straightforward interface focused on cold outreach, allowing users to quickly set up and manage email campaigns without a steep learning curve.

3. Contact enrichment

Streak CRM's contact enrichment feature automatically enhances contact records by extracting relevant information from email interactions. The system can populate fields with details like company logos, profile pictures, and social media links. Instantly's Leads Finder has an enrichment feature that allows you to upload a list of contacts and enrich their information.

4. Outreach

Streak CRM's outreach solution is designed around email communication directly within Gmail, allowing users to send personalized mass emails and track interactions. Instantly provides a robust cold outreach solution, enabling users to connect unlimited email addresses, rotate them for deliverability, and manage large-scale campaigns with detailed statistics.

5. Automation

Streak CRM automates tasks like email tracking and follow-ups within Gmail, enhancing workflow efficiency. Instantly focuses on automating email outreach, allowing personalized bulk emails and automatic follow-ups based on recipient behavior, optimizing engagement through performance tracking.

6. Integration

Streak CRM integrates deeply with Google Workspace and other tools via Zapier, enhancing its functionality. Instantly CRM offers integrations through Zapier, connecting with applications like Google Workspace and Salesforce, although this feature is available only from their Hypergrowth plan.

7. Artificial Intelligence

Streak CRM has limited native AI capabilities, focusing on core features within Gmail. Instantly CRM uses AI to optimize email outreach, automating personalization and follow-ups based on engagement patterns, and adjusting campaigns dynamically for improved targeting and results.

Price and plans comparison

Let's take a closer look at the price and plans of both Streak and Instantly.

Streak prices

Streak's annual subscription plan is as follows.

• Pro: Starts from $49 per user, per month.
• Pro +: Starts from $69 per user, per month.
• Enterprise: Starts from $129 per user, per month.

Instantly prices

Instantly offers a few types of plans depending on whether or not you're after its CRM product, leads generator, or outreach campaign product. Their CRM price plan comes as either a monthly or annual subscription. Their yearly subscription plan is as follows.

• Growth CRM: Starts from $37.90 per user, per month.
• Hyper CRM: Starts from $77.60 per user, per month.

Introducing folk CRM: the best alternative to Streak and Instantly

Looking for an affordable alternative? We recommend folk. There is a reason why folk is a multiple award-winning CRM platform loved for its easy-to-use, plug-and-play CRM system.

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Key features

• Ease of use and customization: Easily customize the pipelines, dashboards, automation, email sequences, so that you can use it across your sales cycle and pipeline management – and other business functions such as recruitment, marketing, and more.
• Social media integration: Import people and companies from LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, Instagram, and X within a click thanks to folk’s Google Chrome extension.
• Contact sync from Gmail and Outlook: Full email sync enabling users to manage all communications directly from the CRM.
• Find email addresses in a click: Contact enrichment powered by Apollo, and Dropcontact so you can fill in missing data points with 1-click.
• Email sequences: Send email sequences with reminders if your leads don’t reply to your first emails. It includes an AI integration allowing you to personalize email at scale.

Price and plans

folk has a 14-day free trial. After that, there are affordable monthly or annual subscription plans. The annual subscription plan is as follows.

• Standard: $20 per user, per month.
• Premium: $40 per user, per month.
• Custom: Starts from $80 per user, per month.

Streak vs. Instantly: What's the verdict?

When comparing Streak and Instantly, it’s clear that both have their strengths. Streak is ideal for those who want to manage CRM directly within Gmail, offering seamless integration and a range of features for email tracking and pipeline management. Instantly shines with its automation capabilities and focus on email outreach, making it a great choice for businesses prioritizing lead generation. However, for companies seeking a more personalized approach to relationship management, folk provides a flexible alternative, blending ease of use with customization. Try folk today, free