Top 07 Cleverly Alternatives for LinkedIn outreach and automation

You’re probably here because you’ve been researching LinkedIn outreach agencies. Or you have some experience Cleverly and you’re now searching for Cleverly alternatives doing your due diligence and weighing your options.  

Let’s guess:

• You’re not assured about the monthly retainer model where you’re paying $400-$1,000+ every month without guaranteed results.

• They promised results and didn’t deliver.  

• You feel you’re handing over your LinkedIn profile or LinkedIn account to someone else, so you’re worried they could get it restricted or banned

• Or, you feel that with AI and all the many LinkedIn automation platforms available today, you need a different approach that builds you an asset that generates qualified prospects on autopilot in your sales funnel while your AE and reps focus on closing deals.  

We get it, especially the last point. Most businesses now realize that they need more than just LinkedIn. They need a complete multi-channel approach that actually works together, not bolted-on services that they don’t own or control.

The problem for you is that most lead generation agencies like Cleverly are focused on running campaigns and getting paid. They do not think about building systems that possess automation features and generate predictable revenue for you.

Granted, it’s not their primary expertise. But things are changing fast. Especially with AI and all the new ways to capture and act-on sales and lead gen opportunities.

Agencies like us can build you systems that take care of the top of the funnel prospecting work and initial outreach so your team can focus on winning deals.

With us, you’ll get meetings and leads, but you will also get an outbound sales machine that runs on autopilot. One that finds the right prospects at the right time with the right message.

Nebor is more than a LinkedIn outreach or lead generation service. We’re a sales automation agency that builds complete outbound and inbound systems for B2B companies.

Instead of just sending connection requests and follow-ups on LinkedIn, we create fully automated sales pipelines using real-time intent data, advanced tools like Clay, PhantomBuster, and n8n, and multi-channel outreach that actually converts.

In this post, we’re going to walk you through 7 great Cleverly alternatives. We’ll first discuss us, Nebor, why we’re different and how we’re the best for your needs.

You’ll also learn about other agencies that take the traditional approaches to LinkedIn outreach and B2B lead generation.

By the end, you’ll have a clear picture of what’s out there and which solution actually fits your specific needs.

Let’s get started.

TL,DR

We provided your team with an automated version of the services you get from Cleverly and all their alternatives. The idea is to take the entire top of the funnel prospecting and lead generation work off your team’s plate.

This also includes inbound lead management and we take it a step further by laying intent data and buying signals to run trigger based outbound and even ABM campaigns. We also do the RevOps work that keeps your CRM clean and your entire organization aligned.

You also don’t need to outsource it, it can simply be a system you own internally. Here is a quick view of it:

Why Nebor.ai is the best Cleverly alternative you should consider for B2B lead generation and pipeline acquisition  

We’re not going to waste your time pretending we’re unbiased here. We believe Nebor is your best option if you’re looking for a Cleverly alternative, and we’re going to show you exactly why that’s true.

But this isn’t about tearing down Cleverly. They’ve built a solid business helping companies with LinkedIn outreach. The real question is: what are you actually getting for your money, and is it what you really need in 2025?

Let’s discuss what you’ll get from us as the best outbound sales agency, without boring you too much with the details.

You get a system you own instead of a service you hire

The biggest difference between us and Cleverly is that they run campaigns for you and Nebor builds systems for you. Even better, as the relationship evolves, you get sales motion workflows that tie all your business together and make you efficient.

When you work with Cleverly, you’re paying $397-$997 every single month for them to send messages on your behalf. The moment you stop paying, everything stops. The lead flow dries up. The meetings disappear. You’re back to square one.

With Nebor, we build you a complete sales automation system that you own.

We use Clay as the central intelligence hub and connect it with tools like Instantly, Lemlist, PhantomBuster, n8n.io, Apify, and dozens of others to create a 24/7 lead generation machine that runs on autopilot.

The system is yours. The workflows are yours. So are the intent monitoring systems. You’re not renting someone else’s campaign infrastructure, you’re building your own revenue engine.

We’ve written more about this shift in why you no longer need to outsource lead generation.

You get your entire TAM mapped and monitored so that you can dominate your industry

Cleverly will target 500 prospects per month for you. But how do you know those are the right 500? How do you know you’re not missing huge chunks of your addressable market?

We start every client engagement by mapping your entire Total Addressable Market.

And no, this is not about just building a list or keeping names on a spreadsheet.

We mean building a living, breathing system that continuously identifies every company that could potentially buy from you and adds them to your CRM, Clay table, or spreadsheet.

Again, this isn’t a one-time spreadsheet. We’ve written a longer piece on how to build your TAM if you want to see what this looks like end to end.

This happening means we know your ICP and buyer persona inside out. We know the best value your product or solution offers and who needs it most. The why and the when as well.  With this information, it gets pretty much easy for us to find the best platform to find them.

The next step is to create the workflows that bring them from those platforms to Clay or your CRM if you prefer.

Moving forward, we also combine tools like Discolike and Ocean.io to find companies that look like your best customers, Apollo and Clay to enrich the data, and custom scrapers to monitor industry-specific sources.

That means you’re not just reaching out to 500 random prospects every month. You’re systematically working through your entire market, prioritizing based on real-time buying signals, and never missing an opportunity because someone “forgot to check that source”.

Let’s explain more about the real-time buying signals.

You get real intent data and buyer signals monitoring workflows to make your outreach even more effective

Agencies like Cleverly’s approach to lead gen is pretty straightforward: they target people by job title, company size, and industry, then send personalized connection requests and follow-ups.

It’s better than nothing, but it’s still fundamentally a spray-and-pray approach dressed up with some personalization tokens.

We take a completely different approach to finding prospects. We don’t just look for people who match your ICP on paper.

Together with your team, we do the grunt work for that. But more importantly, we want to go after people who are showing real buying signals right now.

Here’s what that actually means.

Let’s say you sell sales automation software. Most agencies would target VPs of Sales at 50-500 person companies in SaaS. That’s fine, but those people get dozens of messages every week from your competitors.

We build systems that monitor when companies post job openings for SDR roles, when they announce new funding, when they expand to new markets, when their current sales tech vendors get acquired, when they attend industry events, when they engage with content about sales automation on LinkedIn.

These are real signals that they might actually need your solution right now. We’ve broken this idea down further in our piece on what intent data actually is.

Because we’ve set up your entire TAM, we can set up tools like PhantomBuster and Apify workflows to watch and scrape these signals automatically.

We then push them into Clay, which enriches the data in real-time by finding the right decision maker, verifying their contact info, and pulling in their recent activity.

Then we automatically generate personalized messages that reference the specific trigger that made us reach out. That means you get precision targeting based on real-time intelligence.

Traditional intent data tools like ZoomInfo, Bombora, and Cognism that most agencies reference only track basic stuff like article views and website visits. For us, that’s just noise.

A marketing manager reading an article about sales automation doesn’t mean their company is buying.

We care more about business dynamics and actions that suggest buying intent. Our systems will see it and act up on it before your competitors even know it’s happening.

For a client selling event software, we’re scraping event announcement sites. For a client in real estate tech, we’re monitoring property acquisition announcements. For a client in HR tech, we’re tracking hiring sprees.

The best part is that even your internal sales or marketing team won’t know or have to worry about it either. They’ll only know it’s there when leads are coming into your CRM or Slack with full context on autopilot.

You get a complete tech stack that works together and makes your entire organization more efficient

Cleverly gives you LinkedIn lead generation with cold email tacked on. That is roughly the extent of the integration.

You're still on the hook to figure out how that connects to your CRM, how to track which channel is doing the work, and how to make sure your reps actually follow up on the leads that come in.

We build a fully integrated sales tech stack where every tool talks to every other tool. There are no manual data transfers, no leads falling through the cracks, and no wondering where a prospect sits in the funnel anymore.

In practice, the architecture looks something like this for most engagements.

Clay sits in the middle as the command center for the whole system. Every piece of data flows through it, and every workflow runs through it as well. It is your single source of truth, and it stays clean because the workflows keep it clean automatically.

Data enrichment happens automatically with the tools we wire into Clay based on your business. The usual suspects are LeadsFactory.io, LeadMagic, FullEnrich, Hunter, and verification platforms like BounceBan and ZeroBounce.

We do not lean on a single data provider for any reason. We waterfall through several of them so the highest possible match rate wins for every record. If one tool can't find an email, the next one tries.

The result is 70 to 80 percent more valid contacts than a single source would give you.

Intent monitoring runs around the clock through PhantomBuster, Apify, and RSS feeds connected via n8n webhooks.

The moment a buying signal lands, Clay enriches and scores the record, then triggers the right outreach sequence in the right channel. We’ve documented a sister workflow on RSS feed monitoring for teams that want to start small before going wide.

Outreach execution happens across multiple channels in parallel for every campaign. Instantly handles cold email from properly warmed domains across the stack, and Lemlist runs LinkedIn outreach inside the same connected system.

We coordinate the cadences so prospects do not see your team coming from five directions at once.

CRM integration runs automatically with no manual handoffs. When a prospect responds positively, they push into your CRM with a full dossier attached.

The dossier includes company details, every previous touchpoint, the specific intent signal that triggered outreach, talking points for the rep, and competitive intel from the same workflow. Your sales team walks into every call already prepared for the conversation.

Performance tracking runs in real time across every workflow. You see exactly which sources are generating the best leads, which messages are getting replies, which industries are converting fastest, and which company sizes have the shortest sales cycles.

We use that data to keep tightening the system every week.

You get inbound and outbound working together

Most agencies in this category will not do this work. They focus on outbound and treat inbound as somebody else's problem to solve.

Cleverly sits firmly inside the outbound-only camp by design. If a prospect from let’s say their outbound campaigns fills out a form on your website, that is on you. If somebody engages with your content, no one is watching for the signal.

We integrate the two through one connected system. When a visitor hits your pricing page, that signal flows into Clay. When they download your whitepaper, Clay enriches the profile, checks it against your ICP, and decides whether they're a fit.

When they engage with your LinkedIn post, PhantomBuster folds that activity into the outreach strategy automatically.

We’ve laid out the broader workflow in our inbound meeting workflow piece for teams that want to see exactly how it gets wired up.

The idea is that we fast-track high-intent inbound leads to your sales team with full context attached. Lower-intent leads land in automated nurture sequences that warm them up over time.

We flag any leads that match your ICP but have not converted yet for proactive outreach, including cold calling if you have the team for it. Everything connects back to the same Clay-driven system.

This matters because most companies have a real gap between marketing and sales. Marketing generates leads that sales does not chase, and sales runs outbound that ignores warm inbound signals. We close that gap by wiring inbound and outbound through one connected engine.

You get transparent pricing that reflects the value you’ll get

Let’s talk about Cleverly’s pricing for a minute. $397-$997/month sounds cheap compared to hiring an SDR at $5,000-$7,000/month. And it is. But cheap and valuable are not the same thing.

At that price point, we believe you’re getting a commoditized service. You’re getting templates. You’re getting junior account managers who are handling 50 other accounts. You’re getting surface-level personalization. You’re surely getting no system.

We’ve broken down the math in our piece on the actual cost of sales automation in case you’d like to try to model this against headcount.

Our pricing is higher because we’re delivering fundamentally more value. We’re not just running campaigns, you’re getting an infrastructure. We’re creating intelligence systems that monitor your market and act on buying signals in real-time.

A typical engagement with us involves building out a complete Clay-powered sales automation system.

That includes TAM mapping and continuous monitoring, real-time intent data scraping from multiple sources, multi-waterfall data enrichment for maximum coverage, AI-powered personalization at scale, multi-channel campaign orchestration, CRM integration, and automated lead routing, and continuous optimization based on performance data.

This isn’t something you can deliver at $397/month and actually do well. The tools alone cost more than that. The expertise required to architect these systems is specialized. The ongoing optimization and management require serious attention.

Again, we’re building you an asset, not renting you a service. After the initial build phase, your system runs largely on autopilot.

The monthly cost of maintaining it is primarily just the software subscriptions (Clay, Instantly, PhantomBuster, etc.), which typically run $800-$2,000/month depending on scale.

Top 07 Cleverly alternatives for LinkedIn outreach and lead generation

Here is the full list, with our own agency at the top. We’re including ourselves there because we genuinely believe Nebor is the best option for teams serious about building automated sales systems they own end to end.

The other seven names on the list are all real alternatives worth considering. Some of them are agencies built in the Cleverly mold, and a few take noticeably different approaches you might prefer.

1. Nebor

What we do: Nebor builds complete sales automation systems with Clay as the central intelligence hub, connected to Instantly, PhantomBuster, n8n, and Apify to create a 24/7 lead generation engine that runs on autopilot.

Best value proposition: You get a system you own, not a service you rent month after month. We build custom workflows that watch real-time buying signals like job postings, funding announcements, and tech stack changes across your TAM.

We map your entire addressable market into one living system, and we orchestrate multi-channel outreach automatically across the same connected stack.

How we compare to Cleverly: Cleverly runs LinkedIn campaigns for you on a monthly retainer. Nebor builds the infrastructure that runs the campaigns for you on autopilot and keeps running after the engagement ends.

We also create custom intent data workflows that reach prospects when they're actually ready to buy something.

Best for: Teams serious about building predictable, scalable pipeline who want to own their sales automation system rather than rent it indefinitely.

2. SalesBread

What they do: SalesBread is a done-for-you LinkedIn and cold email lead generation agency. They guarantee one qualified lead per day through ultra-personalized outreach messages.

Best value proposition: They obsess over personalization at the prospect level. Their team manually researches prospects through Google searches, podcast interviews, TED talks, and company bios so the messages clear the modern template filter most buyers run.

How they compare to Cleverly: SalesBread bets on quality over quantity with manual research on every prospect. They guarantee specific lead numbers (twenty plus per month) with a money-back guarantee.

Cleverly tracks activity metrics rather than qualified outcomes. SalesBread runs about $3k a month, while Cleverly starts at $397 a month with less personalization depth.

Best for: Teams that want truly personalized LinkedIn outreach with prospect research and guaranteed lead numbers, not volume-based campaigns.

3. Nerdy Joe

What they do: Nerdy Joe is a results-based lead generation agency specializing in cold email and LinkedIn outreach. They charge only for qualified leads delivered, not for activity performed.

We’ve also written a longer comparison in our Nerdy Joe alternatives piece if you want a side-by-side breakdown.

Best value proposition: Performance-based pricing model with no monthly retainer attached. You pay for results (SQLs or meetings booked), not for the work done behind the scenes.

Plans run from $499 for two SQLs to $1,999 for fifteen SQLs a month. They focus exclusively on cold email and LinkedIn rather than trying to do everything at once.

How they compare to Cleverly: Nerdy Joe charges per qualified lead delivered, not by monthly retainer. Cleverly charges for the service whether or not the campaign lands.

Nerdy Joe builds lists manually with deep research on every account. Cleverly leans on Sales Navigator filters and template personalization.

Best for: Teams that want accountability through performance pricing and would rather pay only for actual qualified leads or booked meetings.

4. ColdIQ

What they do: ColdIQ is an AI-powered B2B lead generation agency specializing in cold email and LinkedIn outreach, with full technical infrastructure setup. A bit like us, but with more emphasis on CRM automation, data cleaning, enrichment, and workflows.

We've covered the comparison in our ColdIQ alternatives piece in more detail.

Best value proposition: They handle the technical complexity of outbound that most teams cannot staff internally, including email infrastructure, domain warming, SPF/DKIM/DMARC configuration, deliverability optimization, and multi-channel campaigns running in parallel.

How they compare to Cleverly: ColdIQ targets buying signals and contextual lead lists, like hiring surges and expansion activity. Cleverly targets general demographics and job titles instead.

ColdIQ builds email and LinkedIn working as one system. Cleverly leads with LinkedIn and treats email as an add-on.

ColdIQ also handles the technical deliverability work that Cleverly does not touch at all. For more on that side, see our email deliverability guide.

Best for: Teams that want sophisticated cold email and LinkedIn working together, with strong technical infrastructure and intent targeting baked into the engagement.

5. KlientBoost

What they do: KlientBoost is a full-service performance marketing agency built around paid acquisition.

They run paid advertising on Google and Facebook, SEO, email marketing, conversion rate optimization, and lead generation for SaaS, ecommerce, and B2B companies.

Best value proposition: They are a comprehensive digital marketing agency with 200-plus case studies and a track record of lifting client ROI by 63 percent in the first three months.

They work with 250-plus active clients and pool performance data across them to reduce guesswork. Budgets run from $5k to $1M-plus a month depending on the goal.

How they compare to Cleverly: KlientBoost is a full-service marketing agency covering paid ads, SEO, CRO, and content. They are not LinkedIn-focused at all in their core offering.

KlientBoost wants much larger budgets ($5k a month and up). Cleverly starts at $397 a month with a tightly focused service.

Best for: Teams that want a comprehensive digital marketing strategy beyond LinkedIn, with budget for paid acquisition and conversion optimization.

6. Social Bloom

What they do:Social Bloom is a lead generation agency that delivers guaranteed sales-qualified leads through email and LinkedIn campaigns, with a pay-for-performance model that includes free replacements for unqualified leads.

Best value proposition: Guaranteed SQL delivery with free replacements when leads do not qualify on review. They build and manage your full lead generation engine, from ICP refinement through offer optimization.

Every partnership includes lifetime access to High-Ticket Sales Mastery resources, including scripts, frameworks, and live coaching sessions.

How they compare to Cleverly: Social Bloom guarantees specific SQL numbers with free replacements when quality drops below the bar. Cleverly tracks activity metrics without a qualification guarantee.

Social Bloom bundles in sales training and coaching as part of the package. Cleverly stays inside the lead generation service without adding enablement.

Best for: Teams that want guaranteed qualified leads bundled with sales enablement and coaching to lift close rates.

7. Belkins

What they do:Belkins is an established B2B lead generation agency known for human-led research and personalized multi-channel outreach across email, LinkedIn, and phone. We've also written a full comparison post about Belkins alternatives.

Best value proposition: They guarantee 100 to 400 yearly meetings and work across more than 50 industries with meticulous account-based marketing.

How they compare to Cleverly: Belkins coordinates real omnichannel campaigns across email, LinkedIn, and calls without seams between them. Cleverly leans on LinkedIn with basic multi-channel layered on top.

Belkins is premium-priced and aims at higher-quality appointments.

Best for: Mid-market and enterprise teams that need a premium, full-service approach where appointment quality matters more than raw volume.

Picking the right Cleverly alternative for what you're actually building

So here is what it comes down to in the end.

Cleverly sells you a service that runs LinkedIn campaigns on your behalf every month. That is their primary focus, and they do it competently for the price.

It works for some teams, especially the ones that just need warm bodies sending connection requests and do not have the budget for anything more sophisticated.

Nebor sells you something different from the ground up.

We’re building the modern revenue engine that uses AI, automation, and real-time data to find your best prospects when they're actually ready to buy and hand your sales team qualified conversations ready to close.

We've covered why we built the agency this way in why we set out to be the best growth agency.

If you just need basic LinkedIn outreach on a tight budget, Cleverly and a few of the others on this list will do the job for you. If you're building a scalable, predictable lead engine that actually compounds, we should talk.

We'll run a fully done-for-you outbound campaign, automate your entire sales prospecting process, and put a pipeline of ready-to-engage prospects in front of your sales team on autopilot.

And unlike with Cleverly, you will own the whole thing the day we hand it over to your team.

If you want to dig into what your version of this would look like in practice book a call with the team. We'll walk through the whole thing with you.