Outreach and SalesLoft have been the two dominant sales engagement platforms for nearly a decade. They've tracked each other feature-for-feature, acquired conversation intelligence companies, and expanded into deal management and forecasting. In 2026, they're more similar than ever. But meaningful differences remain.
The Convergence
Both platforms now offer:
- Multi-channel sequences (email, call, LinkedIn, SMS)
- A/B testing for email and sequence optimization
- Conversation intelligence (Outreach Kaia, SalesLoft via acquisition)
- Deal management / pipeline views
- AI-powered features (email suggestions, next-step recommendations)
- Forecasting capabilities
- CRM integration (Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics)
- Analytics and reporting dashboards
When 90% of the features are identical, the decision comes down to nuance: UX preferences, pricing, AI quality, and ecosystem fit.
Where They Differ
User Experience
Outreach has a more feature-dense interface. Power users love it — every configuration option, every analytics view, every workflow builder is accessible. But new reps take 2-4 weeks to feel comfortable, and some teams report that only 50-60% of features get used.
SalesLoft prioritizes simplicity. The interface is cleaner, onboarding is faster (1-2 weeks typically), and reps adopt it more quickly. The trade-off: some advanced workflow configurations require workarounds or aren't possible.
Winner: SalesLoft for teams that prioritize adoption. Outreach for teams that need maximum configurability.
AI Capabilities (2026)
This is where the competition has intensified:
Outreach's AI focuses on next-step recommendations, email optimization, and deal scoring. Their Smart Email Assist suggests reply content, and their AI-powered deal scoring uses engagement signals to predict outcomes. In 2026, Outreach added AI-generated sequence templates and prospect research summaries.
SalesLoft's AI emphasizes workflow optimization and cadence intelligence. Their Rhythm feature uses AI to prioritize which sequence steps to execute and which prospects need attention. SalesLoft's approach is more prescriptive — telling reps exactly what to do next based on engagement signals.
Winner: SalesLoft Rhythm is slightly more actionable for individual reps. Outreach's AI is more comprehensive for teams running complex multi-channel campaigns.
Pricing
Both are opaque about pricing, but reported ranges:
Outreach:
- Standard: $100-130/user/month
- Professional: $130-170/user/month
- Enterprise: $170-220/user/month
- Full breakdown
SalesLoft:
- Essentials: $85-125/user/month
- Advanced: $125-165/user/month
- Premier: $165-200/user/month
SalesLoft is typically 10-15% cheaper at equivalent tiers. For a 50-person team, that's $15K-30K annual savings — meaningful but not transformative.
Ecosystem and Integrations
Outreach has more third-party integrations and a more mature API. If you're building custom workflows or connecting to niche tools, Outreach has broader connector coverage.
SalesLoft has tighter Salesforce integration and recently improved HubSpot connectivity. Their partner ecosystem is smaller but focused on the most common integrations.
Who Should Choose What
Choose Outreach if:
- You're a large outbound team (50+ reps) with complex multi-channel workflows
- You need extensive customization and API access
- Your team has the bandwidth to fully adopt a feature-rich platform
- You're already in the Outreach ecosystem and switching costs are high
Choose SalesLoft if:
- Adoption speed matters — you want reps productive in week one
- You're a mid-market team (15-50 reps) that values simplicity
- SalesLoft Rhythm's prescriptive AI matches your workflow
- You want slightly lower licensing costs
Choose Neither (Maybe) if:
- Your team is under 15 people and high-volume sequences aren't your primary workflow
- You need intelligence more than engagement — knowing what to say matters more than sending at scale
- You're looking to consolidate tools: Apollo.io offers engagement + data at $49-99/user/month
For AI-powered deal intelligence that complements either platform, Pingd integrates with both Outreach and SalesLoft to add intelligence to your engagement workflows. Check our comparisons: Pingd vs Outreach | Pingd vs SalesLoft.