Best AI cold calling software: 11 apps compared

Manual cold calling is inefficient. SDRs often waste entire days researching leads, building lists, and dialing without booking a single meeting. 

This is why teams are now increasingly turning to AI tools to automate call list preparation, dialing, note-taking, and even simple conversations with the help of voice agents. 

Two types of AI cold calling tools

AI cold calling software can be divided into two categories: autonomous voice agents and AI sales enablement tools for human-led calls, such as AI note-taking apps and power dialers. 

Autonomous AI voice agents

Autonomous AI voice agents handle full outbound calls. This includes dialing, qualifying, objection handling, and booking meetings, with no human sales rep on the line. 

These AI agents are best for high-volume appointment setting in scenarios that don’t require complex sales conversations. They’re most popular among founders trying to scale outbound without increasing SDR headcount. 

While still in their infancy, AI voice agents are becoming increasingly convincing and human-like. Even then, most B2B customers still tend to prefer human-led cold calls. And keep in mind that there are often strict legal limitations depending on which jurisdiction you’re in. 

AI-powered sales enablement tools

AI-powered sales enablement software equips sales reps with AI tools to automate certain parts of the cold calling process, but not the actual conversation. 

These platforms require humans to be on every call and add parallel dialing, real-time coaching, transcription, and post-call analytics to boost performance and productivity. 

In other words, they automate the busywork and provide data-driven insights so reps can focus on holding productive conversations. 

AI cold-calling software: Reviews of the top 11 apps

Each AI tool on this list was evaluated across five key dimensions: core features, CRM integration depth, pricing, compliance, and fit for specific use cases. No single platform is right for every team. 

An enterprise SDR team running complex B2B sales calls, for example, has fundamentally different needs than a solopreneur trying to automate appointment-setting calls to inbound leads. 

1. Artisan

Artisan is an AI-first outbound sales platform built around AI BDR Ava, who can automate multiple aspects of the cold outreach process, from enriching call lists to dialing cold leads. 

Artisan offers a power dialer that automatically calls the next number on a list as soon as the previous call ends. Other features include AI-powered talking points during calls (such as for objection handling), automated post-call summaries, and phone number verification. 

Features

• Power dialer that automatically queues calls

• Live talking points from AI copilot Ava

• Prospecting from a database of over 250M B2B, local, and ecommerce leads

• Ongoing number verification and lead data hygiene monitoring

• Lead profile and CRM enrichment

• Intent signal monitoring and automated lead scoring

• Fully autonomous outreach automation across email and social media

• Hyper-personalized messaging based on lead data and AI web research

• CRM integrations

Pricing

Artisan has several usage-based plans for different user needs and outreach requirements. A free plan is available for exploring the platform. You can see a full breakdown on the pricing page. 

2. Nextiva 

Nextiva is a broad communication platform with AI-powered calling features for sales and support teams. 

Its AI receptionist, Exbert AI, is designed for inbound call handling, question-answering, and appointment setting, rather than outbound cold calling. 

Key features

• AI-powered call routing

• Intelligent virtual agent for automated inbound call handling

• Real-time transcription, call summaries, and sentiment analysis

• CRM integration with Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, and others

• Unified communications combining voice, video, and messaging in one platform

Pricing

• Xbert AI plans (AI receptionist) start at $99 per month

• Contact vendor for current pricing; enterprise plans available

3. Synthflow

Synthflow is a no-code autonomous AI voice agent platform for inbound and outbound calling. 

While they won’t be smooth-talking any ice-cold leads into taking a meeting, the natural-sounding AI voice agent can handle simple outbound tasks, like appointment reminders and scheduling a demo with a lead who already filled out a form on your site. 

Key features

• No-code drag-and-drop agent builder 

• Sub-500ms latency with human-like voices powered by ElevenLabs

• Support for over 30 languages for  global outreach

• Real-time call logging, CRM updates, voicemail detection, and appointment booking

• SOC 2 and GDPR compliant

Pricing

• Pay-as-you-go pricing: Approximately $0.09 to $0.14 per minute all-in (voice engine and LLM and telephony)

• Enterprise plan: Call for a custom quote for usage above 10K minutes per month

4. Bland AI

Bland AI is an API-first AI voice agent platform built for teams that want to create and deploy realistic AI voice agents for inbound and outbound calls. 

The tool gives users a lot of opportunities to customize their AI agent’s voice. You can clone real human voices from an audioclip, control emotion and conversational style, and even use multi-voice blending to create a new voice. 

Key features

• API-first architecture with full programmatic control over call flows

• Scalable concurrent call capacity (up to 5,000 calls/day on Scale plan)

• Voice cloning (up to 15) and custom voice support

• Custom webhook creation via API

Pricing

• Start: $0.14/min

• Build: $0.12/min ($299/mo)

• Scale: $0.11/min ($499/mo)

There are additional charges for specialized features like multilingual transcription. It costs $0.03–$0.05/min for transferred calls (calls passed from the AI voice agent to a live human rep) (calls that…) on Bland numbers. You can bring your own Twilio to reduce transfer cost

5. Dialpad

Dialpad is an AI-powered communication platform. Its Dialpad Sell solution provides real-time sales coaching for human-led calls. 

In addition to live coaching, Dialpad Sell offers other AI features to automate the busywork around cold calling, such as AI-powered note-taking and lead routing. 

Key features

• Live Coach feature suggests talk tracks, objection responses, and battlecards during active calls

• Real-time transcription and automated post-call summaries

• Voice intelligence that captures sentiment, competitor mentions, and engagement signals

• Native CRM sync with Salesforce and HubSpot 

Pricing

• Dialpad Sell Essentials: $39/user/month

• Dialpad Sell Advanced: $95/user/month

• Dialpad Sell Premium: $150/user/month

6. Nooks

Nooks is an AI-powered parallel dialer and “virtual sales floor” for SDR teams. 

In addition to its high-volume parallel dialing feature, Nooks also enriches your prospecting list with mobile numbers, prioritizes calls based on a lead’s likelihood to answer, and provides call analytics.

Key features

• Parallel dialing for significantly higher connect rates

• Virtual sales floor where reps can listen to each other's calls in real time

• AI-driven coaching and real-time analytics during calls

• Bi-directional CRM sync with HubSpot, Salesforce, and other CRMs

Pricing

• Contact Nooks for a custom quote 

7. Gong

Gong is a conversation intelligence platform that analyzes calls to improve rep performance and deal visibility. 

The AI algorithm identifies hidden patterns across thousands of your company’s cold calls and reveals the tactics, talk tracks, and language that lead to booked meetings. For example, it might discover that cold calls where the rep asks between five and seven questions perform best. 

Key features

• Conversation intelligence that analyzes sentiment, buyer signals, and objection patterns

• Competitor mention detection across all recorded calls

• AI coaching recommendations based on call pattern analysis

• CRM workflow automation and pipeline risk flagging

Pricing

• Contact Gong for a custom quote

Licenses are priced per user, and they offer a free integration with your existing tech stack.

8. Goodcall

Goodcall is an AI voice assistant for automating inbound and outbound customer service calls. The agent can answer FAQs, capture leads, and set appointments, speaking with customers in a human-like, empathetic tone. 

Starting at $66 per month, Goodcall is an affordable, easy-to-use option for solopreneurs and small business owners looking to set up 24/7 customer service with rich analytics. 

Key features

• 24/7 automated call handling for inbound 

• Appointment booking and lead capture automation

• Script-based conversation flows with basic routing logic

• Per-caller pricing model (not per-minute)

• Unlimited minutes and AI tokens (used to access AI features) on all plans

Pricing

• Starter: $66 month/agent (100 customers/month; $0.5/additional customer)

• Growth: $108 month/agent (250 customers/month; $0.5/additional customer)

• Scale: $208 month/agent (500 customers/month; $0.5/additional customer)

9. JustCall

JustCall is a cloud phone system with AI-powered sales features at a budget-friendly price point, starting at $29 per user per month. 

The platform’s outbound AI voice agent can automatically call warm leads who have filled out a form on your website, primarily to schedule appointments. 

But JustCall is not just an AI agent. It also offers AI sales enablement features like automated call summaries and team performance analytics.  

Key features

• AI voice agent

• AI call scoring, transcription, and automated summaries

• Power dialer 

• CRM integration with Salesforce, HubSpot, and others

• Multilingual support

Pricing

• Team: $29/user/month 

• Pro: $49/user/month 

• Pro Plus: $89/user/month

• AI Voice Agent pricing: Pay as you go ($0.99/minute) or $99–$249/month. 

10. Salesken

Salesken is a real-time sales coaching and conversation intelligence platform for human-led calls. 

The on-call AI sales assistant provides reps with prompts that help them hold productive conversations with prospects. And the AI note-taker automatically transcribes and summarizes calls, capturing key moments and suggesting next steps for follow-up. 

Key features

• Real-time coaching prompts surfaced during live calls

• Objection detection and suggested responses during conversations

• Post-call conversation analytics and QA automation

• Revenue intelligence and deal outcome predictions

Pricing

Contact sales for a quote

11. Squaretalk

Squaretalk is an AI-enhanced cloud “contact center” that can handle inbound and outbound sales calls and also offers SMS and WhatsApp communication management. 

Its global connectivity, AI predictive dialer, and advanced customizability make it ideal for small and medium-sized businesses that handle high call volumes to different regions and want a tailored cloud Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solution. 

Key features

• AI predictive dialer for high-volume outbound campaigns

• Digital messaging hub (Whatsapp and SMS)

• Mobile number validation

• Conversational analytics and CRM integration

• Global connectivity across multiple regions

Pricing

Contact vendor for pricing.

Where to source your cold calling data

If you source phone numbers and prospect enrichment data from a high-quality provider, you’ll see fewer failed connections and will be able to personalize calls more accurately. Modern tools automatically fill lead profiles with phone numbers, firmographics, and other intel to help you (or the AI agent) book meetings. 

Why your dialer is only as good as your list

Connect rates, answer rates, and conversion outcomes all trace back to data quality. If your prospecting list is full of incorrect phone numbers, your connect rates will plummet. 

Moreover, if you don’t have access to mobile and direct-dial numbers, you’ll have to try the company’s main business line. And that means charming your way past gatekeepers guarding the decision-makers’ time. 

Finally, if you lack B2B data like firmographics and behavioral intel, you won’t be able to tailor your cold call hooks, questions, and offerings. 

What verified B2B contact data actually includes

Quality data goes beyond a phone number. It includes information that gives you context about the business so you can personalize your calls. 

A fully enriched prospecting list will have the following B2B data points: 

• Verified direct dials and mobile numbers

• Persona-level data like age, job title, and location 

• Firmographics like company size, industry, and revenue 

• Tech stack information

• Intent signals like recent funding rounds and leadership hires 

How to build and enrich your call list automatically

The fastest way to build and enrich a call list is to use an AI outbound platform that comes with built-in, ongoing CRM enrichment. This prevents you from having to spend hours doing manual research and ensures that your list is always up to date. 

Artisan, for example, gives reps access to over 250M verified B2B, local, and e-commerce contacts; enriches new prospects usingover 22 data sources; and monitors intent signals so the highest-priority leads get called first, all without any manual list-building

Checklist: How to choose AI cold calling software:

To find the right AI cold calling software, start by identifying the major pain points you’re trying to solve, whether that’s fielding inbound requests or helping reps get feedback. 

Then, make a shortlist of tools that solve these specific problems and compare them in terms of compliance, CRM integration depth, call volume support, and conversation intelligence features. 

Keep in mind that in a 2024 ruling, the FCC confirmed that AI-generated voices fall under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA), meaning that prior express consent is required.

Compliance and legal

• Checks numbers against against main Do-Not-Call (DNC) lists

• Discloses AI use at the start of the call (required under TCPA)

• Documents consent and provides an opt-out mechanism

• Accounts for B2B vs B2C and regional regulatory differences

CRM integration

• Offers bi-directional CRM sync (reads and writes full fields, not just call logs)

• Native integration rather than third-party connectors like Zapier

Call volume and scalability

• Autonomous agents for high-volume 24/7 dialing

• Parallel dialers for human rep teams

• Coaching tools for improving rep performance

• No hidden costs (failed call fees, transfer charges, telephony add-ons, bring your own AI requirements)

Conversation intelligence

• Tracks sentiment, buyer intent, objection patterns, competitor mentions, and messaging-to-outcome correlation

• Real-time guidance for junior reps in complex conversations

• Post-call analysis for coaching at scale

AI cold calling works when the setup is right

When your AI cold calling setup fits your needs, uses quality data, and integrates with your tech stack, it can dramatically boost cold call efficiency and generate more leads for your business.  

However, setup can get tricky when you have a large outbound tech stack of tools you need to string together.

That’s where an end-to-end solution like Artisan comes in. It lets you consolidate your tech stack in one AI outbound platform, powered by an AI BDR who can verify lead data, queue calls, provide on-call pointers, and automatically log outcomes and create transcripts. 

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