Softwr

Email Marketing · head to head

Instantly vs Keila

Instantly logo

Instantly

Email Marketing

Cold email outreach platform with AI, lead sourcing, and mailbox rotation

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Keila logo

Keila

Email Marketing

AGPL newsletter tool from Germany, self-hostable or hosted in the EU with no free plan

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Instantly shared mailbox rotation could expose sender reputation to other users' poor practices; domain reputation can degrade rapidly if co-users violate sending norms; Keila there is no free hosted plan at all, stated as deliberate policy, so unlike almost every competitor there is no way to run a small list at zero cost without self-hosting it yourself.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Instantly and Keila actually diverge.

Attributes where Instantly and Keila differ
AttributeInstantlyKeila
Pricing modelfreemiumPer month by emails sent
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb, Linux, Self-hosted

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Email Marketing).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Instantly

Nothing recorded that Keila does not also cover.

Only in Keila

  • Priced by emails sent
  • Bring your own sender
  • Self-hosting
  • EU hosting
  • Sign-up forms
  • Segmentation
  • Markdown and block editor
  • Multiple projects

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Instantly

  • SaaS sales teams automating cold outreach and lead qualificationnot Keila
  • Digital agencies and freelancers running campaigns for multiple clientsnot Keila
  • E-commerce and B2B businesses prospecting at scalenot Keila
  • Recruitment agencies sourcing candidates via emailnot Keila
  • Partnerships and channel sales automating partner outreachnot Keila
  • Financial services and insurance lead generationnot Keila

Keila

  • A membership organisation holding forty thousand contacts but sending only one newsletter a month, where contact-metered pricing would cost many times morenot Instantly
  • A European publisher or public body that needs subscriber data held in the EU under a GDPR-friendly arrangementnot Instantly
  • A technical team that wants to self-host its newsletter tool and route sending through its existing AWS SES accountnot Instantly
  • An agency running several separate client lists that does not want to pay per project or per additional listnot Instantly

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Instantly

  • Shared mailbox rotation could expose sender reputation to other users' poor practices; domain reputation can degrade rapidly if co-users violate sending norms
  • AI campaign generation, whilst useful, produces generic copy; personalisation still requires manual review and editing for high-quality outreach
  • Email as primary channel faces declining effectiveness; spam filtering improves and email open rates decline generally
  • Lead database quality varies; verification filters may miss invalid addresses or outdated contacts
  • Freemium model limits features significantly; advanced analytics, API access, and priority support require paid tiers

Keila

  • There is no free hosted plan at all, stated as deliberate policy, so unlike almost every competitor there is no way to run a small list at zero cost without self-hosting it yourself.
  • Marketing automation is minimal, with none of the behavioural triggers, journey builders or e-commerce revenue attribution that Klaviyo, Brevo and Mailchimp treat as table stakes.
  • The self-hosted route puts deliverability entirely on you: reputation, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, warm-up and bounce handling are your problem, and a badly configured instance will land in spam folders.
  • It is a small project from a small company, so the integration ecosystem is thin and there is no partner network, template marketplace or large body of community expertise to draw on.
  • Email volume tiers step in fixed blocks, so an organisation whose sending is uneven across the year either overbuys at the annual peak or has to change plan repeatedly.

Pricing, plan by plan

Instantly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Instantly review.

Keila

Free
  • Self-hostedFree
    • AGPL-3.0-or-later licence with no fee
    • Official Docker image and sample compose file
    • You supply hosting and a sending backend
  • Keila XS$8/month
    • Two thousand emails per month
    • Unlimited contacts and projects
    • Send with Keila or bring your own email server
  • Keila M$32/month
    • Fifteen thousand emails per month
    • Unlimited contacts and projects
    • Sign-up forms and segmentation
  • Keila XXL$256/month
    • Two hundred and fifty thousand emails per month
    • Unlimited contacts and projects
    • Intermediate tiers at 16, 64 and 128 EUR for 5,000, 50,000 and 100,000 emails

Which should you pick?

Choose Instantly if

  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, API.
Instantly review

Choose Keila if

  • You need priced by emails sent.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, Self-hosted.
  • You also want bring your own sender.
Keila review

Questions people ask

Is Instantly or Keila better?
Neither clearly leads. Instantly starts at Free and Keila at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Instantly or Keila?
Instantly starts at Free and Keila at Free.
Does Instantly or Keila run on more platforms?
Instantly runs on Web, API. Keila runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted.
Can I use Instantly for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Instantly best used for?
Instantly is most often used for saas sales teams automating cold outreach and lead qualification, digital agencies and freelancers running campaigns for multiple clients, e-commerce and b2b businesses prospecting at scale, recruitment agencies sourcing candidates via email. Of those, saas sales teams automating cold outreach and lead qualification and digital agencies and freelancers running campaigns for multiple clients are not what Keila is typically brought in for.
What can Instantly do that Keila cannot?
Keila covers Priced by emails sent, Bring your own sender, Self-hosting, EU hosting.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Instantly: Is Instantly free?

Instantly offers a freemium model. No credit card is required to start. Free tier includes basic lead finding and campaign creation; paid tiers unlock advanced features (API access, advanced analytics, priority support).

Source
Keila: Is Keila free?

The software is, under AGPL-3.0-or-later, if you self-host. The hosted service has no free plan by deliberate policy and starts at 8 EUR a month.

Instantly: How does Instantly's AI Copilot work?

AI Copilot generates email copy, subject lines, and follow-up sequences based on brief campaign descriptions. Users can customise generated templates before sending.

Source
Keila: How is the hosted service priced?

By emails sent, from 8 EUR for two thousand up to 256 EUR for two hundred and fifty thousand a month. Contacts and projects are unlimited on every tier.

Instantly: What CRMs does Instantly integrate with?

Instantly integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, and Zapier. Custom integrations via REST API are available on paid plans.

Source
Keila: Can I use my own email provider?

Yes. AWS SES, Sendgrid, Mailgun, Postmark, generic SMTP or a personal inbox are all supported as sending backends.

Keila: Are there discounts?

Pentacent offers reduced rates to nonprofits and open source projects on request.

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