Outreach vs Salesloft: Which Is Best & What’s the Difference?

When it comes to customer success regarding sales and ROI, a sales engagement platform is the way to go. Sales managers need it to manage their teams and opportunities, while sales teams thrive with the enablement of better organization and sales coaching.

Two sales engagement solutions stand out, and the debate rages on between them: Outreach vs Salesloft. Both understand that better selling is crucial to business development, but which is better?

What is the difference between Outreach and Salesloft?

At first glance, there’s not too much of a difference between Atlanta-based Salesloft vs Seattle-based Outreach. This article will pick apart some of the details about the overall user experience as well as some of the specific features of each, combining first-hand experience with user reviews and other resources. We’ll also pepper this piece with some sweet screenshots of each platform’s interfaces for some visual comparisons.

Outreach vs Salesloft comparison

Outreach vs Salesloft pricing

Winner: Tie

Both Outreach and SalesLoft do not publicize their pricing packages on their home pages. In both cases, you need to contact them directly. When it comes to Outreach, there is a simple web form to request pricing. Salesloft, at least, explains its various packages, though they leave out the price tag. You can request a quote instead. There are also demos you can get with both SalesLoft and Outreach.

SalesLoft vs Outreach free versions

Winner: Tie

Once again, it’s a tie between these two CRM systems since neither platform offers free versions. It’s also not clear whether there are free trials. As stated above, you can request a demo from either solution, which is likely free of charge.

SalesLoft vs Outreach ease-of-use

Winner: SalesLoft

As far as CRM solutions go with a strong emphasis on helping sales teams, both SalesLoft and Outreach are pretty basic when it comes to learning its tools and functions. However, Salesloft beats Outreach in overall ease of use. This is due to Salesloft’s slightly more elegant and intuitive user interface design, as well as its more clearly defined tools and packages. 

Outreach vs Salesloft customer support

Winner: SalesLoft

The customer support that users get with Outreach and Salesloft is in neither case the best in the biz nor are either platforms all that bad. SalesLoft edges out Outreach with customer support, however. With SalesLoft, you are encouraged to try their guides (more on that below), or you can fill out a support request form. For more premium users, there is live chat and call-back options. Outreach is similar regarding its support resources and forms, though it is less clear what it takes to get an Outreach support rep on the phone. 

Outreach vs Salesloft knowledge base & learning

Winner: Outreach

While Salesloft wins the customer support category because of the option to use chat or phone calls, Outreach’s various support resources are more robust than those of Salesloft. The Outreach support portal includes a resource library, articles, webinars, a comprehensive knowledge base, and even Outreach University. SalesLoft also has a support guide with a knowledge base, and it’s almost as good as Outreach’s resources. 

SalesLoft vs Outreach product limitations

Winner: SalesLoft

In terms of product limitations, it should be once again mentioned that these are not full CRM solutions. Instead, Outreach and SalesLoft are specifically sales engagement platforms. With this in mind, it’s natural that both platforms are limited once we step outside sales, as in for marketing or support features. Ultimately, Outreach CRM seems a bit more limited than Salesloft. This is particularly the case with pipeline management, as SalesLoft’s Deals package has a bit more flexibility and functionality than Outreach’s Success Plan package (but not by too much). 

SalesLoft vs Outreach features & functionality

In the above side-by-side comparisons, we looked at some of the broad categories. Below, we’ll pit specific features and functionalities head to head.

Outbound sales

Winner: Outreach

Both platforms understand the roles of SDRs (sales development reps) which focus on outbound sales. With Outreach, lead generation and outbound sales is the main aspect of the platform. It keeps all prospects in one dashboard, there are follow-up automations with voice calls or emails, and you can personalize sales campaigns. Similar prospecting tools are available at Salesloft, but they’re not as clear-cut. It should also be noted that for inbound sales (a la HubSpot), both apps have some decent tools too.

Phone tools

Winner: SalesLoft

SalesLoft gets you many great phone call features. These include a dialer and a messenger combined in one and synced with your CRM. Intelligent call pass-throughs can record all calls. You get local area codes for your phone number. There are pre-recorded voice message features. SalesLoft also makes it easy for call collaboration. Outreach is light here as they focus more on deals in the pipeline.

AI sales assistance

Winner: Salesloft

The Outreach tool called Kaia is their virtual sales assistant which leverages AI. It uses real-time data to offer on-the-spot advice to sales reps. Kaia analyzes past engagements with prospects to help turn that lead into a closed deal with more accuracy. Salesloft has Live Call Studio which does similar real-time sales coaching as Kaia. It also helps track the contact’s disposition and sentiment, and for this reason, Salesloft wins. To find out more about this feature, and others as well, make sure to read our Salesloft review.

Email tools

Winner: SalesLoft

SalesLoft has a lot of good tools for salespeople using emails. These include an email tracking platform that analyzes emails and tracks opens, clicks, and responses. There are also many personal and team email templates that are customizable. You get email delivery checklists and spam evasion. Outreach is a bit limited here, though it has some of these features too.

Sales forecasting

Winner: Outreach

With Outreach, you can easily turn your unified pipeline overview of all your deals into sales and revenue forecasting dashboards. It shows you clear math behind the formulas, and with this, you can apply “what if” scenarios for new insights. Pipeline management and forecasting also pinpoint potential problems or issues which you can quickly solve to avoid more lost deals. SalesLoft also has deal-intelligence tools and pipeline analysis forecasting, but we feel Outreach needs this win.

Workflow automation

Winner: SalesLoft

Common workflows in SalesLoft include automated reminders and notifications for sales reps. There are also more complex sales automation playbooks that run on multi-channel touchpoints. Outreach’s automation features cover most of the basics too, though this is done in partnership with the 3rd-party app Datanyze. With Outreach’s API devs can create sequences and their rules.

Integrations

Winner: Outreach

Both Outreach and SalesLoft offer almost every single integration you may need, though Outreach has many native integrations like Salesforce, Gmail, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and Microsoft Dynamics 365. SalesLoft offers bi-directional syncing with similar apps and ones like HubSpot too. 

Mobile versions

Winner: SalesLoft

Saleslofty launched a mobile app back in 2019. You can make and log your calls directly from the SalesLoft mobile app, and have total views on all your contacts and communication histories. It appears to only be available for iOS, though we assume an Android version is in the works. It does not seem like there is any mobile app for Outreach at this time, though again, something is likely in development.

Which is better, Salesloft or Outreach? Our key takeaways

It’s not like Salesloft and Outreach are the only sales engagement platforms out there. For example, Yesware is another good option, although we’re not giving Yesware the full review here. 

However, they are one of the best sales engagement platforms available.

Ultimately, it seems Salesloft inches past Outreach in many respects. Although, when it comes to price, the question remains undetermined, as you’ll need to contact both sales departments to find out how much you’ll need to shell out to leverage their selling powers. So, don’t be shy, and remember, you can always request a demo for more help in deciding.