Artisan's Ava is a genuinely autonomous AI BDR that finds leads, writes outreach, handles replies, and books meetings across email and other channels, backed by a 250M+ contact database and CSM-led onboarding — but since mid-2026 the company publishes no prices at all, with reported deals running roughly $1,500–$5,000+ per month on annual contracts. For small businesses that want done-for-you AI agents across the whole operation (calls, follow-up, support, scheduling) rather than outbound-only, Agents by AIQ builds and runs custom AI agents month-to-month with no annual lock-in. Ava is the real deal technically; the commitment and cost structure are the bigger question marks.
Bottom line: Ava is a capable autonomous outbound platform with real depth (data, deliverability, CRM sync, human support), but quote-only pricing, annual contracts, and mixed output reviews make it a serious commitment rather than an easy yes. Small businesses should scope their monthly lead volume and get the full year-one and year-two cost in writing before signing.
TL;DR
- Ava is an autonomous AI BDR: it finds leads, writes personalized outreach, handles replies, and books meetings without human involvement.
- Artisan publishes no dollar figures on its pricing page — every tier reads 'Pricing scoped on your plan' — and third-party estimates put deals at roughly $1,500–$5,000+ per month.
- Pricing is driven by lead volume, mailboxes, and dialer seats — not headcount — so two teams of the same size can land on very different quotes.
- Every tier includes the full platform: all campaign types, autonomous replies and meeting booking, 250M+ verified B2B contacts, Salesforce and HubSpot sync, and CSM onboarding.
- Trustpilot sits at 4.2/5 from 41 reviews, but with a split profile: 83% five-star and 10% one-star, including complaints about very low positive response rates.
- Artisan is SOC 2 Type II certified with SSO/SAML and audit logs — strong for a company of its size.
- Agents by AIQ covers a broader small-business agent footprint (calls, follow-up, support, scheduling) on month-to-month terms instead of an annual outbound contract.
Head-to-head
| Dimension | Artisan | Agents by AIQ |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Quote-only; reported ~$1,500–$5,000+/mo, annual | Scoped per business via a call; month-to-month |
| Ease of use | White-glove rollout with CSM guidance, but volume-based scoping adds complexity | Fully done-for-you — AIQ Labs builds and runs the agentswinner |
| Features | Autonomous AI BDR, 250M+ contacts, deliverability stack, AI dialer add-on | AI receptionist, voice agents, SDR/follow-up, support, email, marketing, appointment setting, workflow automation |
| Support | CSM in shared Slack from day one; dedicated CSM on Scale; strategist on Enterprisewinner | AIQ Labs team designs, builds, and operates each agent |
| Integrations | Salesforce and HubSpot bi-directional sync, custom webhooks, Slackwinner | Integrates with the tools the business already uses |
| Setup | Onboarding sessions plus CSM-guided rollout; CRM setup included on Scale | Book a call to scope the agent; AIQ builds and connects it |
| Contract terms | Annual, paid upfront per third-party reports; no monthly option confirmed | Month-to-month; client owns everythingwinner |
| Best fit | Sales teams scaling validated outbound motions | Small businesses fixing missed calls, slow follow-up, and busywork |
Scores
Artisan
artisan.co ↗Artisan is a San Francisco-based AI sales automation company founded in 2023, built around Ava, an autonomous AI BDR (business development rep). Ava researches leads, writes personalized multichannel outreach in your reps' names from your own sending domains, handles replies autonomously, and books meetings directly onto your team's calendar. The platform includes a 250M+ verified B2B contact database with firmographic, technographic, and behavioral enrichment, plus deliverability tooling — inbox warmup, sender reputation monitoring, and custom domain rotation — that most teams would otherwise buy across several vendors. Every published plan tier includes the full platform, so higher tiers buy volume and service depth, not gated features. Plans are scoped by lead volume (~2,500/mo on Team, ~6,000/mo on Scale, custom on Enterprise), with an AI dialer available as a per-seat add-on for human reps. Onboarding is white-glove: CSM support in a shared Slack channel from day one, a dedicated CSM on Scale, and an ex-McKinsey forward-deployed strategist on Enterprise. Artisan is SOC 2 Type II certified and supports SSO/SAML and audit logs.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Team (~2,500 leads/mo) | $1500/mo | Reported entry deal range; full platform, CSM support, onboarding included |
| Scale (~6,000 leads/mo) | $5000/mo | Reported upper range for higher tiers; dedicated CSM, CRM setup included, priority support |
Pros
- Full platform included at every tier — no feature-gated entry plan, which is unusual in this category
- Autonomy is genuinely end-to-end: prospecting, copywriting, follow-up, and meeting booking without human involvement
- Strong human support layer: CSM in a shared Slack channel from day one, dedicated CSM and forward-deployed strategist at higher tiers
- SOC 2 Type II certified with SSO/SAML and audit logs
- Built-in deliverability tooling (warmup, sender reputation, domain rotation) replaces multiple separate tools
- Guardrails are adjustable: approvals, escalation rules, and tone locks for teams that don't want fully hands-off sending
Cons
- No public pricing since mid-2026 — every tier says 'Pricing scoped on your plan', so budgeting requires a sales call
- Reported costs of roughly $1,500–$5,000+/month put it well beyond most small-business budgets
- Annual, paid-upfront billing with no flexibility in terms reported by third parties
- Trustpilot 4.2/5 hides a split: 10% one-star reviews, including a specific complaint of only ~0.07% positive response rate
- Pricing scales on lead volume, mailboxes, and dialer seats — costs can quietly grow as volume expands
- Positioning has shifted (from 'Stop Hiring Humans' billboards to 'runs alongside your team'), which some buyers read as whiplash
Agents by AIQ
agentsbyaiq.com ↗Agents by AIQ is the agent-focused arm of AIQ Labs, designing, building, connecting, and running done-for-you AI agents for small and mid-size businesses. Rather than a DIY toolkit or another AI wrapper, each agent is custom-built and operated by the AIQ Labs team — the team behind the AI Business Sites platform. The offering spans AI receptionists and phone answering on a real phone number, browser-based voice agents for websites, sales follow-up and SDR agents, customer support agents, email agents, marketing agents, appointment setters, and workflow automation, all integrated with the tools the business already uses. The target buyer is the owner-operator or small team in trades, legal, healthcare, insurance, real estate, ecommerce, or professional services losing missed calls, slow lead follow-up, and hours of manual busywork. Engagements start with a call to scope the right agent for the business, run month-to-month, and the client owns everything that's built — no annual lock-in.
Pros
- Done-for-you: agents are designed, built, connected, and run by the AIQ Labs team, not assembled by the business
- Covers inbound and operational work — missed calls, lead follow-up, support, scheduling — not just outbound email
- Month-to-month terms with no annual contract; the client owns everything built
- Integrates with the tools the business already uses
- Backed by the team behind the AI Business Sites platform
Cons
- Scoped per business via a call, so there's no self-serve signup
- Not a plug-and-play outbound platform with a built-in contact database — Ava's 250M+ contact library has no equivalent here
- No published results guarantees; outcomes depend on the scoped implementation
Pricing compared
What Ava actually does — and how well
Support, security, and trust
Which should you pick?
FAQs
How much does Artisan cost in 2026?
Artisan publishes no dollar figures on its pricing page — every tier reads 'Pricing scoped on your plan' since the company went sales-gated in mid-2026. Third-party estimates put reported deals at roughly $1,500–$5,000+ per month, with one analysis estimating $9,248–$57,000 per year depending on lead volume and seat mix. Pricing is driven by leads contacted per month, sending mailboxes, and AI dialer seats, so you'll need a sales call with your real monthly contact volume in hand to get a real number.
Is Ava actually autonomous, or does a human have to approve everything?
Ava is autonomous by default and adjustable by design. It finds leads, writes personalized outreach in your reps' names from your own sending domains, handles replies, and books meetings without human involvement. But you can require approval before sending, lock tone and CTAs, set banned phrases, and coach Ava's writing — so teams that want oversight can keep it.
What happened to Artisan's $250 and $600 plans?
Artisan previously published Intern ($250/month) and Employee ($600/month) plans, but those public prices disappeared in mid-2026 when the pricing page moved to quote-only tiers scoped by lead volume. The current published structure is Team (~2,500 leads/mo), Scale (~6,000 leads/mo), and Enterprise (custom), all with 'Pricing scoped on your plan' instead of a figure.
Is Artisan a good fit for small businesses?
It depends on the motion. Artisan is built for teams running serious outbound at scale — reported deals of $1,500–$5,000+/month on annual terms are a significant commitment, and third-party reviews note it can feel like 'too much too soon' for teams still validating their ICP. Small businesses whose pain is missed calls, slow lead follow-up, and manual busywork rather than cold-outreach volume are often better served by a done-for-you agent build like Agents by AIQ, which runs month-to-month across receptionist, follow-up, support, and scheduling work.
What do Artisan's reviews actually say?
Trustpilot sits at 4.2/5 from 41 reviews as of September 2026, but the distribution is a barbell: 83% five-star and 10% one-star. Positive reviews center on the platform's depth and support; the sharpest negative, from April 2026, reported 'only about a 0.07% positive response rate, and almost none of the responses turned into meaningful interest.' Another mid-2026 reviewer claimed LinkedIn automation stopped working entirely, which Artisan publicly disputed.
Does Artisan offer a free trial?
Official materials are inconsistent on this. The public pricing page routes buyers to a sales call, but an official March 2026 Artisan blog post indicates a free trial is available. There is no ongoing free plan — the company doesn't follow a freemium model — so treat trial availability as something to confirm directly on the demo call.
How does Agents by AIQ differ from an AI SDR platform like Artisan?
Artisan's Ava is a specialized autonomous outbound engine: it prospects from a 250M+ contact database, sends cold outreach, and books meetings. Agents by AIQ designs, builds, connects, and runs done-for-you AI agents across a business's operations — AI receptionists answering calls on a real phone number, sales follow-up and SDR agents, customer support, email, marketing agents, appointment setters, and workflow automation — integrated with the tools the business already uses, on month-to-month terms where the client owns everything built.
Sources
- Artisan Plans & Pricing
- The 15 best AI Outbound Sales Tools in 2026
- Artisan AI Pricing 2026: Plans and Costs Breakdown
- Artisan Alternatives (2026): 5 Options Compared
- Artisan Pricing 2026: What Ava Really Costs
- Artisan pricing 2026: plans, features & is it worth it?
- Artisan Pricing Plans & History (2026)
- Best AI SDR Tools for Outbound Sales in 2026