# AI SDR agents for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "AI SDR agent" and as "AI sales development tool that prospects and books meetings", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/sales/ai-sdr-agents/2026-11/smb

**Standing:** AiSDR leads with 38% of first choices; verdict contested. 45 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [AiSDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/aisdr/index.md) | 38% | 8% | 51 |
| 2 | [Apollo.io](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/apollo-io/index.md) | 20% | 5% | 39 |
| 3 | [CellCog](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/cellcog/index.md) | 4% | 0% | 15 |
| 4 | [Artisan Ava](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/artisan-ava/index.md) | 4% | 41% | 46 |
| 8 | [Salesforge Agent Frank](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/salesforge-agent-frank/index.md) | 2% | 10% | 20 |
| 9 | [Instantly](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/instantly/index.md) | 2% | 19% | 16 |
| 16 | [11x](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/11x/index.md) | 2% | 73% | 37 |
| 17 | [Clay](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/clay/index.md) | 0% | 12% | 17 |
| 18 | [Reply.io Jason](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/reply-io-jason/index.md) | 0% | 17% | 18 |
| 19 | [Regie.ai](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/regie-ai/index.md) | 0% | 20% | 10 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 75 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: folk CRM; alternatives AiSDR, Apollo.io, Ava
- GPT-5.4 mini: Agent Frank, AiSDR; alternatives Amplemarket Duo, Qualified Piper
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: AiSDR; alternatives Apollo.io, Artisan Ava, Clay, Unify
- Perplexity Sonar: AiSDR; alternatives Artisan Ava, Overloop, Unify
- Grok 4.20: AiSDR; alternatives Artisan Ava, CellCog, Salesforge Agent Frank
- Mistral Small: AiSDR; alternatives Apollo.io, Instantly
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: AiSDR; alternatives Apollo.io, Artisan Ava
- Llama 4 Maverick: AiSDR; alternatives Apollo.io, Overloop
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: AiSDR; alternatives Apollo.io, Chattie, Instantly, Regie.ai
- Kimi K2: AiSDR; alternatives Apollo.io, Artisan Ava
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: CellCog; alternatives AiSDR, Apollo.io
- MiniMax M2.5: CellCog; alternatives Agent Frank, AiSDR, Artisan Ava
- GPT-6 Luna: AiSDR; alternatives Qualified's Piper, Salesforge Agent Frank
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Apollo.io; alternatives AiSDR, Artisan Ava

## Sources the answers cite

78 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- cellcog.ai: 26 answers, 35 citations
- gane.ai/index: 25 answers, 26 citations
- artisan.co: 20 answers, 22 citations
- getbreakout.ai: 15 answers, 16 citations
- aisdr.com: 14 answers, 15 citations
- toolradar.com: 14 answers, 15 citations
- cirrusinsight.com: 14 answers, 14 citations
- capterra.com: 13 answers, 19 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://cellcog.ai/blog/best-ai-sdr-tools (26 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/gtm/sales/ai-sdr-agents/smb (24 answers)
- https://getvoip.com/ai-sdr-agents (13 answers)
- https://toolradar.com/guides/best-ai-sdr-agents-for-startups (13 answers)
- https://albato.com/blog/publications/best-ai-sdr-tools (12 answers)
- https://github.com/Salesably/awesome-ai-agents-for-sales (11 answers)
- https://fullenrich.com/tools/ai-sdr-tools (10 answers)
- https://omidsaffari.com/blog/best-ai-sdr-tools (10 answers)
- https://capterra.com/ai-sales-development-representatives-sdrs-software/s/small-businesses (9 answers)
- https://getbreakout.ai/blog/10-best-ai-sdr-agents-2026 (9 answers)

## Warned against

- Artisan Ava: 19 of 46 labels negative. "Artisan and 11x.ai: These agents promise to replace human reps entirely but score low in AI and automation metrics, carry significant platform and credibility risks" (Llama 4 Maverick, negative prompt)
- 11x: 27 of 37 labels negative. "11x is a replacement tool: it tries to run the entire SDR function autonomously." ... "carry significant platform and credibility risks, and cost significantly more." (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- AiSDR: 4 of 51 labels negative. "noted for its high cost, lack of a free trial, and significant upfront financial commitment, which is prohibitive for small businesses" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- Qualified Piper: 4 of 7 labels negative. "total cost of $70K–$128K/year, including required Salesforce integration, making it far too expensive for small businesses" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
New leader: Apollo.io (32%) to AiSDR (38%). Margin 18 points, beyond the floor.

- AiSDR: 23% to 38%, +15. Cleared the floor by 4 points · rank 2 → 1 of 75.
- Apollo.io: 32% to 20%, −12. Cleared the floor by 1 point · rank 1 → 2 of 75.
- Agent Frank: 6% to 2%, −4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 4 → 10 of 75.
- Regie.ai: 4% to 0%, −4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 5 → 19 of 75.
- CellCog: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 10 → 3 of 75.
- Artisan Ava: 6% to 4%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 3 → 4 of 75.
- Instantly: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 22 → 9 of 75.
- 11x: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 72 → 16 of 75.
- Reply.io Jason: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 8 → 18 of 75.
- Salesforge Agent Frank: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 6 → 8 of 75.
- Clay: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 23 → 17 of 75.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/gtm.