Instantly vs Exarich: Which Tool Do You Actually Need?
If you're in B2B sales, you've probably heard of Instantly. Maybe you're already using it. And if you are, you've probably experienced this frustrating cycle:
Upload 10,000 leads → Send thousands of emails → Get terrible response rates → Wonder what went wrong.
Here's the thing: Instantly isn't the problem. Your lead list is.
What is Instantly?
Instantly is a cold email automation platform. It helps you:
- Send emails at scale across multiple inboxes
- A/B test subject lines and copy
- Track opens, clicks, and replies
- Manage email deliverability and sender reputation
And it does these things really well. Instantly is built for one purpose: getting your message in front of as many people as possible, as efficiently as possible.
What is Exarich?
Exarich is a lead enrichment and filtering platform. It helps you:
- Parse company websites to understand what they actually do
- Generate AI summaries of each lead's business
- Filter leads based on intelligent criteria (not just basic fields)
- Bulk process thousands of leads with context that competitors like Instantly simply can't provide
Exarich is built for one purpose: making sure you're reaching out to the right people in the first place.
The Critical Difference
Here's where most sales teams get it wrong: They treat Instantly like a lead qualification tool.
You upload a massive list, hit send, and hope for the best. But Instantly doesn't know:
- Whether a company actually needs your product
- If they're in your target market
- What technologies they're using
- If they're the right size for your offering
- What their business model actually is
Instantly just sends emails. It's a delivery system, not a qualification system.
That's where Exarich comes in.
How They Work Together
The smart workflow looks like this:
Step 1: Get your raw lead list
Export from Apollo, LinkedIn, or wherever you source leads.
Step 2: Run it through Exarich
- Upload your CSV to Exarich
- We scrape each company's website
- Our AI analyzes their business, tech stack, and fit
- You set up smart filters based on what actually matters
- Export only the qualified leads
Step 3: Import to Instantly
- Take your filtered, enriched lead list
- Upload to Instantly
- Send personalized campaigns with actual context
- Get better response rates because you're emailing the right people
Why This Matters for Your Bottom Line
Let's do the math:
Without Exarich:
- 10,000 leads uploaded to Instantly
- 2% actually fit your ICP (you just don't know which ones)
- 200 qualified leads buried in 9,800 bad ones
- Wasted email credits, damaged sender reputation, terrible response rates
With Exarich:
- 10,000 leads uploaded to Exarich
- Automatically filtered to 500 qualified prospects
- Upload those 500 to Instantly
- 10x better response rates because you're actually targeting the right people
You're not just saving money on wasted Instantly sends. You're protecting your deliverability, improving your conversion rates, and focusing your sales team's time on leads that actually matter.
The "Garbage In, Garbage Out" Problem
This is the harsh truth about email automation: Instantly can't fix a bad lead list.
You can A/B test subject lines all day. You can write the most compelling copy. You can optimize send times, rotate sender domains, and warm up inboxes.
But if you're emailing people who were never going to buy from you, none of that matters.
Instantly makes email automation easy. Exarich makes sure you're automating the right outreach.
Do You Need Both?
Here's a simple framework:
Use Instantly if:
- You need to send cold emails at scale
- You want email automation and deliverability management
- You have a qualified lead list ready to go
Use Exarich if:
- You need to filter and qualify thousands of leads
- You want website context and AI-powered insights
- You're tired of wasting money on bad leads
Use both if:
- You want a complete cold outbound system
- You need smart prospecting AND smart sending
- You want to maximize ROI on every email sent
For most B2B sales teams, the answer is both. But Exarich should come first.
The Bottom Line
Instantly and Exarich aren't competitors. They solve different problems in your sales pipeline.
Instantly asks: "How do I send this email efficiently?"
Exarich asks: "Should I even send this email?"
The teams getting the best results are using Exarich to build smart, filtered lead lists, then using Instantly to reach those leads at scale.
Stop burning money on bad leads. Start with Exarich, finish with Instantly.
Ready to build a lead list worth emailing? Try Exarich free and see the difference smart filtering makes.