AI SDR agents · October 2026 Edition
Artisan Ava vs Instantly
Seven of fourteen models named Artisan Ava first on the direct prompt; zero named Instantly. Artisan Ava was named by fourteen of the fourteen models and Instantly by seven and Artisan Ava carries 53 labels and Instantly 10, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in one category this edition.
founded 2019. Named in eight categories this edition.
First-choice share24%4%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate26%20%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#2#6A position in a field of 12; printed, not drawn.
Labels5310A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Artisan Ava reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Apollo.io vs Artisan Ava · Apollo.io vs Instantly · Artisan Ava vs AiSDR
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the AI SDR agents page.
By framing
How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Artisan AvaFirst choices, of fourteen modelsInstantly
Direct70
Paraphrase401 against Artisan Ava
Comparative30
Budget-constrained023 against Artisan Ava · 1 against Instantly
Scale-constrained20
Negative1010 against Artisan Ava · 1 against Instantly
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Artisan Ava and Instantly stood in it.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | | | | |
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | ||||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | | |
| Perplexity Sonar | | | ||||
| Grok 4.1 Fast | | | | | ||
| Mistral Small | | | ||||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | | |
| Llama 4 Maverick | | |||||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | |||
| Kimi K2 | | | | | | |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | |||
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | | | ||
| GPT-6 Luna | | | | |||
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | | | | |
Artisan Ava Instantly first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Artisan Ava on the left and Instantly on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Artisan Ava and Instantly stood in it.
Artisan Ava first, Instantly not the choice
7 of 14 modelsInstantly was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Claude Haiku 4.5Artisan Ava alternatives: Jeeva, Persana AI, RocketSDR, Salesloft Rhythm
Grok 4.1 FastAiSDR, Artisan Ava alternatives: Apollo.io, Conversica, Reply.io Jason
Mistral SmallArtisan Ava, Regie.ai alternatives: Conversica
DeepSeek V4 FlashArtisan Ava alternatives: AiSDR, Clay
MiniMax M2.5AiSDR, Artisan Ava alternatives: Coldreach, Reply.io Jason, ZoomInfo Copilot
GPT-6 LunaArtisan Ava alternatives: AiSDR
Muse Glimmer 30BArtisan Ava alternatives: 11x Alice, Apollo.io
Neither was the first choice, one was named
2 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Gemini 3.5 FlashAmplemarket Duo alternatives: 11x, Artisan Ava, Clay, HubSpot Prospecting Agent, Piper, Topo.io
Kimi K2Apollo.io alternatives: AiSDR, Artisan Ava, Regie.ai, ZoomInfo Copilot
Neither was named
5 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.GPT-5.4 miniApollo.io, Qualified Piper alternatives: Salesforce Agentforce SDR
Perplexity SonarApollo.io alternatives: AiSDR, Amplemarket Duo, Regie.ai
Llama 4 Maverickno first choice
Qwen 3.7 FlashSalesforge Agent Frank alternatives: Apollo.io, Clay, ZoomInfo Copilot
GLM 4.7 FlashXLaxis AI SDR alternatives: 11x Alice, AiSDR, Amplemarket Duo, Reply.io Jason
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Artisan Ava leads by six points.
Artisan Ava6%#3 of 9Instantly0%#7 of 9Mid-marketThe figures above
Artisan Ava leads by twenty points.
Artisan Ava24%#2 of 12Instantly4%#6 of 12Enterprise
Artisan Ava leads by twenty-two points.
Artisan Ava22%#1 of 11Instantly0%#– of 11What the models said about Artisan Ava
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Artisan faced platform-level enforcement including a LinkedIn ban ... Artisan reviews and third-party reports document concerns around zero quality leads despite high outreach volume” Muse Glimmer 30B · negative prompt · hard negative
“## Specific Platforms to Avoid Artisan (Ava) — Has significant output quality concerns, with a G2 rating of 3.8/5 (lowest among reviewed platforms)” Claude Haiku 4.5 · negative prompt · hard negative
“Good for testing and experimentation, but avoid for production campaigns. The quality and governance issues are significant.” GLM 4.7 FlashX · negative prompt · hard negative
“Artisan is the strongest fit in the results because it is described as an end-to-end outbound automation platform whose AI BDR handles prospecting, outreach, replies” Perplexity Sonar · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Highly regarded for end-to-end autonomy (sourcing, personalization, sending, reply handling) with good balance of automation and control.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · first choice
“I'd put Artisan's Ava on the shortlist first if you want a more complete outbound agent connected to your CRM” GPT-6 Luna · direct prompt · first choice
What the models said about Instantly
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Four of four in this category shown.
“Avoid if you want an *agent* that thinks and responds; this is just a high-volume sender.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · hard negative
“a stack like Instantly.ai (~$30/mo) + open-source LLMs for basic personalization, but lacks full autonomy” Grok 4.1 Fast · budget prompt · soft negative
“Starts at $47/month flat... Instantly lets you connect unlimited email accounts, includes free automated warm-up, and offers modular AI agents” Gemini 3.5 Flash · budget prompt · first choice
“Apollo or Instantly as your starting point - both offer generous free tiers and affordable entry plans” MiniMax M2.5 · budget prompt · first choice
Also compared
Apollo.io vs Artisan AvaApollo.io vs InstantlyArtisan Ava vs AiSDRArtisan Ava vs Regie.aiArtisan Ava vs Amplemarket DuoArtisan Ava vs Agent FrankArtisan Ava vs Salesforge Agent FrankAiSDR vs InstantlyRegie.ai vs InstantlyAmplemarket Duo vs InstantlyInstantly vs Agent FrankInstantly vs Salesforge Agent FrankAll twenty-eight head-to-head pages and the full AI SDR standing
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.