Index › Sales › AI SDR › Small business › September 2026 Edition

AI SDR agents for small business buyers

Asked as “AI SDR agent”, and as “AI sales development tool that prospects and books meetings”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 45 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.

Standing

Apollo.io

Contested

24% of first choices, contested.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.

Small business

Apollo.io24%ContestedThis page Mid-market

Apollo.io20%ContestedStanding →Enterprise

Outreach15%ContestedStanding →

01The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a small B2B company. Ordered by share.

ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant

Apollo.io6%32accepted challenger

AiSDR8%40accepted challenger

Agent Frank6%18accepted challenger

Clay12%16accepted challenger

Instantly5%21accepted challenger

Show the three products at 0%, ordered by negative rate

11x64%22criticized challenger

Artisan32%28criticized challenger

Reply.io8%12accepted challenger

Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.

Head to head

Apollo.io vs Artisan Apollo.io vs Amplemarket Artisan vs Amplemarket

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default

Negative label rate →

Accepted challengerEndorsed leader

0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%

Key

Apollo.io24%

AiSDR22%

Agent Frank9%

Clay4%

Instantly2%

Reply.io0%

Artisan0%

11x0%

02What they warned about

One of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. 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 and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.

11x

64%

14 of 22 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 9 hard negative

“too expensive and complex** for small teams, and some carry credibility risks... TechCrunch (Mar 2025) exposed inflated ARR and fake customer logos” DeepSeek V4 Flash, comparative prompt

Artisan

32%

9 of 28 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 6 hard negative

“**Artisan AI:** Frequently criticized by users for sending thousands of emails with **zero replies**.” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt

AiSDR

3 of 40 labels negative · 2 of 12 models · 2 hard negative

“**AiSDR:** While popular, it faces backlash for being a "black box."” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt

Artisan Ava

67%

2 of 3 labels negative · 2 of 12 models · 1 hard negative

“Artisan's Ava, which starts from $1,500/month and is expensive for small teams” Claude Haiku 4.5, budget prompt

03What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: four of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

22 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 4 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 6 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 201 links across 112 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. The other 8 models searched through a gateway that returned no source list on this edition.

salesforge.ai

vendor site · Salesforge7 answers · 8 citations · 2 models

amplemarket.com

vendor site · Amplemarket7 answers · 7 citations · 2 models

artisan.co

vendor site · Artisan6 answers · 6 citations · 2 models

11x.ai

vendor site · 11x5 answers · 10 citations · 3 models

g2.com

5 answers · 7 citations · 3 models

monday.com

vendor site · Monday.com5 answers · 6 citations · 2 models

getvoip.com

5 answers · 5 citations · 2 models

devcommx.com

4 answers · 5 citations · 2 models

salesmotion.io

vendor site · Salesmotion4 answers · 5 citations · 1 model

fundraiseinsider.com

4 answers · 4 citations · 2 models

snov.io

vendor site · Snov.io4 answers · 4 citations · 2 models

aisdr.com

vendor site · AiSDR3 answers · 4 citations · 2 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

amplemarket.com/blog/best-ai-sales-agents

7 answers · 2 models

salesforge.ai/blog/ai-sales-agents

6 answers · 2 models

getvoip.com/ai-sdr-agents

5 answers · 2 models

fundraiseinsider.com/blog/ai-sdr-tools

4 answers · 2 models

snov.io/blog/best-ai-sdr-tools

4 answers · 2 models

11x.ai/guides/ai-sdr-agents-b2b-sales-teams

3 answers · 2 models

artisan.co/blog/the-best-ai-sdrs

3 answers · 1 model

devcommx.com/blogs/best-ai-sdr-agencies

3 answers · 2 models

eesier.com/best-ai-sdr-small-business

3 answers · 2 models

ventureharbour.com/best-ai-sales-tools

3 answers · 1 model

04How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.

ModelDirect“What is the best AI SDR agent for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which AI sales development tool that prospects and books meetings would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top AI SDR agents for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best AI SDR agent for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating an AI SDR agent. What should we look at?”Negative“Which AI SDR agents should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”

Claude Haiku 4.5Apollo.io

Three alternatives

AiSDR, Amplemarket Duo, eesier

Apollo.ioHeld

Two alternatives

Artisan, Drift

Amplemarket

Three alternatives

AiSDR, Apollo.io, Reply.io

Apollo.io

Three alternatives

AiSDR, Instantly, Reply.io

against: 11x, Artisan Avano first choicenothing named

GPT-5.4 miniClay

One alternative

11x

B2B RocketChanged

Four alternatives

AiSDR, Apollo.io, Lemlist, Qualified

AiSDR

Five alternatives

Apollo.io, Instantly, Overloop, Regie.ai, Smartlead

against: 11x, Artisan, Lemlist, Reply.ioAiSDR

Two alternatives

SalesDeveloper.ai, Squirrels AI

against: Qualified Piperno first choicenothing named

Gemini 3.5 FlashAgent Frank, AiSDR

Two alternatives

Ava, Instantly

AiSDRChanged

Four alternatives

Agent Frank, Clay, Instantly, SalesRobot

against: 11x, ArtisanAiSDR, Artisan

Two alternatives

Persana AI, SalesRobot

against: 11x, Apollo.ioInstantly, eesier

Two alternatives

Agent Frank, AiSDR

against: 11x, Artisan.cono first choiceagainst: 11x's Alice, Artisan Ava

Perplexity SonarAiSDR

Three alternatives

Amplemarket Duo Copilot, Artisan Ava, Coldreach

Apollo.ioChanged

Three alternatives

11x, Artisan, HubSpot Sales Hub

AiSDR, Artisan

Four alternatives

Agent Frank, Apollo.io, Instantly Copilot, Reply.io

Apollo.io, Jeeva

Two alternatives

Agent Frank, AiSDR

no first choicenothing named

Grok 4.1 FastSalesforge Agent Frank

One alternative

AiSDR

against: ArtisanApollo.ioChanged

Two alternatives

HubSpot Sales Hub, Instantly

Apollo.io, Saleshandy

Two alternatives

Agent Frank, AiSDR

Babuger

Three alternatives

Apollo.io, Instantly, Jeeva

against: Agent Frank, AiSDR, ArtisanAiSDR

Five alternatives

Alta, Amplemarket Duo, Clay, Salesmotion, Unify

against: 11x, AiSDR, Artisan

Mistral SmallAgent Frank

Four alternatives

AiSDR, Luna.ai, MeetChase AI SDR, Stamina.io

Apollo.ioChanged

Three alternatives

Instantly, Regie.ai, Salesmotion

AiSDR

Three alternatives

Coldreach, Humanlinker, Saleshandy

against: 11x, AltaSalesTools.io

Four alternatives

Agent Frank, Apollo.io, Instantly, LeadLoft

Clay

Two alternatives

Lavender, Outreach AI

nothing named

DeepSeek V4 FlashAiSDR

Two alternatives

Apollo.io, Salesforge Agent Frank

against: 11xApollo.ioChanged

Three alternatives

AiSDR, Instantly, Salesforge

AiSDR, Salesforge's Agent Frank

Two alternatives

HubSpot Breeze, Jason AI

against: 11x, Amplemarket, Clay, RegieAgent Frank

Three alternatives

Apollo.io, Jeeva, OpenClaw

no first choice

Five alternatives

AiSDR, Jason AI, LeadLoft, Reply.io, SalesTools

against: 11xagainst: 11x, Artisan

Llama 4 MaverickAgent Frank, MeetChase, SalesRobotApollo.ioChanged

One alternative

Instantly

Amplemarket

Two alternatives

Agent Frank, AiSDR

Gojiberry AI

Four alternatives

AiSDR, Apollo.io, Instantly Hypergrowth, Lavender

no first choicenothing named

Qwen 3.7 FlashAmplemarket

Two alternatives

Instantly, SalesRobot

ReachInbox, SalesforgeChanged

One alternative

SalesRobot

AiSDR, Apollo.io

Two alternatives

Clay, Smartlead

AiSDR

Three alternatives

SalesTools.io, Salesforge, folk CRM

AiSDR

Six alternatives

Apollo.io, Artisan, Instantly, LeadLoft, OpenAI/ChatGPT API, Reply.io

against: AiSDR, Artisan

Kimi K2Regie.ai

Four alternatives

Agentplace, AiSDR, Artisan, Gojiberry AI

against: 11xApollo.ioChanged

Three alternatives

Agent Frank, Reply.io, Saleshandy

against: 11x, ArtisanApollo.io, Saleshandy

Three alternatives

Agent Frank, AiSDR, Reply.io

Apollo.io

Five alternatives

Agent Frank, AiSDR, Instantly, Lavender, Mailshake

no first choice

Three alternatives

Clay, Instantly, Smartlead

against: 11x, Artisan, Regie.ai

GLM 4.7 FlashXAiSDR

Four alternatives

Artisan, Breakout, Gojiberry AI, Regie.ai

Chase AIChanged

Two alternatives

11x, Artisan

against: Apollo.io, ClayAiSDR, Apollo.io with Jason AI

Two alternatives

Artisan, Clay

against: InstantlyArtra

Five alternatives

Apollo.io, Instantly, Lemlist, Reply.io, Saleshandy

no first choicenothing named

MiniMax M2.5SalesTools.io

Two alternatives

AutoRev AI, Persana AI

AiSDRChanged

Three alternatives

Ava, Reply.io, Zara

Saleshandy

Three alternatives

Agent Frank, AiSDR, Apollo.io

eesier

Three alternatives

AiSDR, LeadLoft, SalesTools.io

no first choice

Three alternatives

Clay, Lavender, Outreach AI

nothing named

Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

05The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record

Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.

Prompt	Model	Version string	Time (UTC)	Searched	Sources	Latency
Direct recommendation	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-15 02:01	yes	15	14 s
Direct recommendation	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-15 01:23	yes	2	4 s
Direct recommendation	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-15 02:36	yes	18	23 s
Direct recommendation	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-15 03:46	yes	20	5 s
Direct recommendation	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-14 23:36	yes	0	10 s
Direct recommendation	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-15 04:53	yes	0	8 s
Direct recommendation	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra`	2026-09-15 00:36	yes	0	42 s
Direct recommendation	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-15 05:02	yes	0	2 s
Direct recommendation	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-15 01:14	yes	0	48 s
Direct recommendation	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-15 02:24	yes	0	33 s
Direct recommendation	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-15 01:47	yes	0	24 s
Direct recommendation	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-15 00:58	yes	0	14 s
Paraphrase	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-15 01:53	yes	10	8 s
Paraphrase	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-15 03:24	yes	5	4 s
Paraphrase	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-14 23:20	yes	25	27 s
Paraphrase	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-14 22:53	yes	19	6 s
Paraphrase	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-15 04:05	yes	0	9 s
Paraphrase	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-15 03:02	yes	0	6 s
Paraphrase	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-15 02:42	yes	0	19 s
Paraphrase	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-15 00:08	yes	0	1 s
Paraphrase	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-15 03:29	yes	0	50 s
Paraphrase	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-14 23:01	yes	0	29 s
Paraphrase	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-15 00:03	yes	0	32 s
Paraphrase	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-14 23:00	yes	0	11 s
Comparative	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-15 01:30	yes	9	9 s
Comparative	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-15 02:47	yes	5	7 s
Comparative	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-15 02:28	yes	31	35 s
Comparative	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-15 04:49	yes	20	11 s
Comparative	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-15 05:00	yes	0	8 s
Comparative	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-15 04:26	yes	0	9 s
Comparative	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-15 02:56	yes	0	23 s
Comparative	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-14 23:32	yes	0	5 s
Comparative	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-15 00:31	yes	0	25 s
Comparative	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-14 23:19	yes	0	36 s
Comparative	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-15 03:02	yes	0	76 s
Comparative	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-15 03:43	yes	0	16 s
Budget constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-15 00:03	yes	14	13 s
Budget constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-15 03:09	yes	4	9 s
Budget constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-15 00:55	yes	17	20 s
Budget constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-14 23:33	yes	20	5 s
Budget constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-15 04:19	yes	0	7 s
Budget constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-15 04:50	yes	0	5 s
Budget constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra`	2026-09-15 04:42	yes	0	37 s
Budget constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-15 03:22	yes	0	1 s
Budget constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-15 02:17	yes	0	34 s
Budget constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-15 05:00	yes	0	20 s
Budget constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-15 04:23	yes	0	41 s
Budget constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-15 04:52	yes	0	15 s
Scale constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-15 04:03	no	0	10 s
Scale constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-15 02:44	no	0	8 s
Scale constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-14 23:21	yes	12	20 s
Scale constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-15 05:01	yes	20	8 s
Scale constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-15 00:28	yes	0	10 s
Scale constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-14 23:49	yes	0	7 s
Scale constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-15 04:28	yes	0	19 s
Scale constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-15 03:01	yes	0	2 s
Scale constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-15 00:43	yes	0	62 s
Scale constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-15 05:01	yes	0	62 s
Scale constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-15 00:41	yes	0	41 s
Scale constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-15 01:46	yes	0	15 s
Negative framing	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-15 04:05	yes	14	17 s
Negative framing	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-15 02:50	yes	4	6 s
Negative framing	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-14 23:55	yes	14	23 s
Negative framing	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-15 01:15	yes	20	6 s
Negative framing	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-14 22:54	yes	0	8 s
Negative framing	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-15 02:44	yes	0	7 s
Negative framing	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-15 04:35	yes	0	22 s
Negative framing	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-15 00:11	yes	0	1 s
Negative framing	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-15 04:09	yes	0	59 s
Negative framing	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-15 04:32	yes	0	56 s
Negative framing	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-14 23:07	yes	0	32 s
Negative framing	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-14 22:58	yes	0	16 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

Category-scoped readings

None. Every name in this category resolved on its own.

Unresolved, counted raw

11x AI

11x's Alice

Apollo.io with Jason AI

Artisan.co (Ava)

AutoRev AI

B2B Rocket

Bounti.ai

FactoryJet

Instantly Hypergrowth

Luna.ai

MeetChase AI SDR

OpenAI/ChatGPT API

Outreach AI

ReachInbox

SalesDeveloper.ai

SalesTools

Salesforce

Salesforge's Agent Frank

Squirrels AI

Stamina.io

Zara (Stamina)

Discontinued, still offered

No shut-down product was recommended here.

AI SDR agents for small business buyers

By buyer segment

01The standing

Recommended versus criticized

02What they warned about

03What they cite

Sites the answers cite

Pages the answers cite

04How they answered

05The record

Normalization in this category

Also in sales