Here's the uncomfortable truth: after a decade of competition, Outreach and Salesloft have converged on features. The real differences now are implementation complexity, company stage fit, and a major 2025 acquisition that changes everything. Clari just bought Salesloft. That matters.
Clari acquired Salesloft from Vista Equity Partners in August 2025. The merger completed in December 2025 with Steve Cox as CEO. This creates a "predictive revenue system" combining Salesloft's engagement with Clari's forecasting. Good for integration potential. Unknown territory for product roadmap and support continuity.
Feature parity is real. Both tools do sequences, calls, emails, and analytics. Here's where they actually differ.
| Factor | Outreach | Salesloft |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | ~$100-160/user/month Annual only | ~$75-175/user/month Annual typical |
| Enterprise (100 users) | ~$150K-250K/year (negotiated) | ~$130K-180K/year (negotiated) |
| Ease of Setup (G2) | 7.6/10 Steeper curve | 8.6/10 Faster onboarding |
| Email Automation (G2) | 9.1/10 | 9.2/10 |
| Call Recording (G2) | 8.3/10 | 9.0/10 Better |
| CRM Integration (G2) | 8.5/10 | 8.8/10 Smoother |
| G2 Rating | 4.3/5 (3,300+ reviews) | 4.5/5 (3,900+ reviews) |
| Trustpilot Rating | 1.8/5 Rough | 3.4/5 Less rough |
| Best For | Enterprise, complex workflows | Mid-market, fast time-to-value |
| Owner | Independent (VC-backed) | Clari (acquired Aug 2025) |
Outreach is built for complexity. Multi-org support, advanced role permissions, territory management, and integrations that can trigger automated actions across your entire stack. If you have a RevOps team and complex workflows, Outreach can handle it.
Outreach positions itself as a "Sales Execution Platform"—not just sequences, but prospecting, deal management, forecasting, and coaching in one connected workspace. It's ambitious. For large teams with dedicated ops resources, it can genuinely unify workflows that otherwise span 4-5 tools.
Their AI assistant Kaia can pull data, provide real-time insights during calls, and automate follow-ups. The integrations are deep—CRM sync can trigger conditional actions based on lead scoring, email behavior, and LinkedIn activity.
Based on Vendr data and Spendflo analysis:
| Component | Cost Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Base License | $100-160/user/month | Varies by seat count and tier |
| Priority Support | +$15-20/seat/month | Optional but recommended |
| Calling Add-on | +$20/user/month | Unlimited calling requires upgrade |
| Implementation | $1,000-8,000 | Depends on complexity |
| Enterprise (200 users, 3yr) | $386K-787K total | List: $864K. Discounts: 9-55% |
Negotiation leverage: Vendr data shows existing customers achieve 15-35% better discounts at renewal. Best deals require 3+ year terms and upfront payment.
The complexity that makes Outreach powerful also makes it overwhelming. Users consistently report a steep learning curve and mandatory onboarding fees that add to first-year costs.
Clari acquired Salesloft in August 2025 and completed the merger in December. This combines Salesloft's engagement with Clari's forecasting. Potential upside: better revenue intelligence integration. Risk: merger integration disruption, product roadmap uncertainty, and potential price increases.
Salesloft focuses on user experience and time-to-value. They're less feature-dense than Outreach but easier to use. The platform handles sequences, calls, email tracking, and coaching—with an interface that reps actually like using.
With the Drift acquisition (2024) and now Clari merger (2025), Salesloft is becoming an "AI-powered revenue orchestration platform." Buzzwords aside, this means conversational marketing + engagement + forecasting in one stack.
Based on Vendr data and industry reports:
| Plan | Cost Range | What You Get |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced | $75-125/user/month | Engagement, deal tracking, AI insights |
| Premier | $125-175/user/month | Adds revenue forecasting (now Clari-powered) |
| Dialer Add-on | +$200/user/year | Required for calling features |
| Advanced (100 users) | $133K-147K/year | List: $216K. Discounts: 38-46% |
| Premier (100 users) | $161K-177K/year | List: $264K. Discounts: 39-47% |
Sweet spots: Volume discounts begin at 50 users (35-45% off) and improve at 100+ (38-52% off). Three-year deals unlock an additional 8-12% discount.
Salesloft is easier to use but less flexible. When you need complex conditional logic across multiple tools, Outreach wins. Also, dialing is an add-on cost, and users report stability issues.
After a decade of competition, the honest answer is: it depends on your ops complexity and company stage.
Faster onboarding, better UX, competitive pricing. You don't need Outreach's enterprise complexity yet. Get your team productive in weeks, not months.
Caveat: The Clari merger adds uncertainty. If that concerns you, consider alternatives like Apollo or Reply.io for now.
Choose Outreach if: You have dedicated RevOps, need complex conditional automation, run multi-org or territory structures, and have 2+ months for implementation.
Choose Salesloft if: Time-to-value matters, your team prioritizes UX, you want forecasting integration (via Clari), or you already use Drift.
At this scale, both platforms can handle your needs. The decision comes down to existing stack (what integrates better?), rep preference (who wins the pilot?), and negotiation (who gives you better terms?).
Pro tip: Run a pilot with both. Let reps vote. The productivity difference from rep buy-in outweighs feature differences.
After a decade of competition, here's the honest take:
If neither Outreach nor Salesloft feels right—or the pricing is too rich—here's what else is out there.
| Tool | Starting Price | Best For | Key Tradeoff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apollo.io | $49/user/month | SMB/mid-market, data + engagement | Less enterprise features |
| Reply.io | $60/user/month | Budget-conscious multichannel | Smaller ecosystem |
| Instantly | $37/month | High-volume cold email | Email only, no phone |
| Mixmax | $65/user/month | Gmail-native workflows | Gmail only |
| Groove | ~$75/user/month | Salesforce-native teams | SFDC required |
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