If you're hunting for a Martal Group alternative, you're probably bumping into a familiar problem: the leads look qualified on paper but don't convert, the reporting is opaque, or the model rewards volume over pipeline quality. The good news is there are several strong B2B lead generation agencies built specifically for SaaS outbound that approach this differently. This article compares the five best Martal Group alternatives in 2026 — what each one actually does well, where each one falls short, and how to pick the right fit for your team and ICP.
Why SaaS Teams Are Looking for a Martal Group Alternative
Martal Group has been around since 2009 and built a real reputation. With a database of 220M+ verified contacts, intent data, AI-enhanced sequencing across email, LinkedIn, and phone, and more than 2,000 clients served, they check a lot of boxes on paper. On Clutch, they hold a 4.8/5 rating across 104+ reviews, and they've earned recognition as a top lead generation company. That's not nothing.
But scroll deeper into those reviews and a pattern shows up: complaints about poor lead quality, limited visibility into campaign metrics, and a ramp-up period that some clients found longer than expected. Several reviewers on G2 flagged "expensive for the output" and "limited control" as real concerns. The core issue? Martal's model is built for volume and consistency — which works well for broad ICPs, but starts to break down when you're targeting a specific niche persona in a competitive vertical.
If you're a SaaS company with a tight ICP — say, VP of Engineering at Series B fintech companies with fewer than 200 employees — you need an agency that builds with precision, not one that runs high-volume sequences and hopes some stick. That's the gap most Martal Group alternatives are filling.
What to Look for in a B2B Lead Gen Agency
Before comparing specific agencies, get clear on what actually matters for your situation. Most SaaS teams make the mistake of evaluating agencies on brand recognition alone — then spend three months wondering why the pipeline isn't moving. Here's what to actually benchmark on:
- Channel fit: Cold email, LinkedIn, cold calling, and paid ads all reach different buyers in different ways. Make sure the agency has genuine depth in the channel where your ICP actually engages. For help deciding, check out our breakdown of cold email vs LinkedIn outreach — it's a real comparison, not a sales pitch.
- ICP targeting depth: Does the agency build custom lead lists from scratch, or pull from a generic database with basic filters? The difference in reply rate is significant. Building a precise B2B lead list is its own skill — ask specifically how they do it.
- Buying signal integration: The best agencies factor in intent data — companies actively researching relevant topics, using competing tools, or hiring for relevant roles. Understanding buying signals in B2B helps you know what to ask for.
- Deliverability management: This gets ignored until your domain is tanked. Agencies that manage domain warm-up, DNS records, and inbox rotation protect your sender reputation. Our cold email deliverability guide covers what to ask any prospective agency.
- Contract flexibility: Long contracts give agencies runway but lock you in if results are slow. Month-to-month keeps you agile.
- Reporting transparency: You should see open rates, reply rates, meeting show rates, and what's being tested — on demand, not on request.
According to Snov.io's 2026 cold email statistics report, well-targeted cold emails can achieve 40–60% open rates — but software/SaaS companies consistently see some of the lowest reply rates across verticals. That gap between opens and replies is a targeting and relevance problem, not a volume problem. The agency you pick needs a system to close that gap.
Quick Comparison: 5 Martal Group Alternatives at a Glance
Here's a side-by-side look at how the top Martal Group alternatives stack up for SaaS lead generation in 2026:
| Agency | Best For | Channels | Contract | Pricing Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belkins | Multi-channel appointment setting | Email, LinkedIn, Phone | 6-month minimum | Custom (premium tier) |
| CIENCE Technologies | Enterprise outbound volume | Email, LinkedIn, Phone, Ads | Flexible / per-appointment | Per qualified appointment |
| SalesHive | Cold email with AI personalization | Cold email (primary) | Month-to-month | Monthly retainer |
| Cleverly | LinkedIn-first outreach | LinkedIn (primary), Cold email | Month-to-month | Starts at $397/mo (LinkedIn) |
| Arvani Media | AI-powered cold email + LinkedIn for SaaS | Cold email + LinkedIn | Contact for details | Contact for pricing |
1. Belkins — Best for Multi-Channel Appointment Setting
Belkins is one of the most established B2B appointment setting agencies in the market. Founded in 2017, they've grown to serve 1,000+ clients across 50+ industries and run omnichannel outbound campaigns across cold email, LinkedIn, and phone — all under one managed service. They also offer HubSpot CRM consultancy and deliverability consulting as add-ons, which makes them a genuine end-to-end partner rather than just a sequencing shop.
Their SaaS-specific service is purpose-built for booking qualified meetings. According to their website, campaigns launch within 14 days and clients typically see the first appointments within 30 days of kickoff. If you're comparing this to building an in-house SDR team versus outsourcing, Belkins is firmly in the outsourced SDR camp — and at scale.
Belkins Pros
- Proven track record across SaaS, tech, and B2B software verticals
- True multi-channel coverage — email, LinkedIn, and phone in one managed program
- HubSpot integration and CRM setup support included
- Fast launch timeline — campaigns live within 14 days
- Strong reporting infrastructure with regular client communication
Belkins Cons
- 6-month minimum contract — limited flexibility if early results are slow
- Premium pricing makes it harder to justify at early SaaS stages
- Less suited for ultra-niche ICPs that require deep manual research
Bottom line: Belkins is a strong Martal Group alternative if you want an established agency with proven multi-channel execution and you're ready for a longer-term commitment. It's not the cheapest option, but the infrastructure is there.
2. CIENCE Technologies — Best for Enterprise Outbound Volume
CIENCE is a Denver-based B2B lead generation platform that pairs AI-powered prospecting with human SDRs. They've served 2,500+ clients across 250+ industries per their website, and their proprietary platform (graph8) handles data enrichment, multi-channel sequencing, and lead scoring. The standout data point: they process over one billion data points daily, pulling demographic, firmographic, and technographic signals to build targeted prospect lists.
Their pricing model is per qualified appointment — which structurally aligns their incentives with yours. They don't get paid for volume; they get paid when a qualified prospect actually shows up. That's a meaningful difference from flat-retainer models where an agency earns the same whether or not the pipeline moves. If you're thinking through how to build a full B2B outbound system, CIENCE's data infrastructure is one of the more mature options in the market.
CIENCE Pros
- Per-appointment pricing keeps incentives aligned with your outcomes
- Massive data infrastructure — 1B+ data points processed daily
- Full omnichannel: email, LinkedIn, phone, and advertising
- Human SDR + AI hybrid — not fully automated, real oversight on outreach quality
- Flexible contract structure with month-to-month options available
CIENCE Cons
- Best at scale — less ideal for small TAM or micro-niche lists
- Platform complexity means longer onboarding for new clients
- Per-appointment model can get expensive if your ICP is small or conversion rates are low
Bottom line: CIENCE is the right Martal Group alternative if you need enterprise-scale outbound with real performance accountability. If volume and pipeline breadth are the priority and your TAM can support it, they're worth a serious look.
3. SalesHive — Best for Cold Email with Month-to-Month Flexibility
SalesHive is a US-based B2B lead generation agency that specializes in cold email with an AI personalization layer they call the eMod engine. The eMod system researches each prospect using public signals — LinkedIn activity, company news, job postings, firmographic data — and rewrites email templates with context-specific personalization at scale. It's not perfect, but it's meaningfully better than a first-name token in a generic sequence.
What separates SalesHive from most cold email agencies is the deliverability infrastructure they manage from day one: SPF, DKIM, DMARC, domain warm-up, and secondary "lookalike" domains that redirect to your main site but keep outreach separate. If you've ever had your main domain flagged from a bad campaign, you understand exactly why this matters. Our cold email spam fix guide walks through what a tanked sender reputation actually costs you and how to prevent it. SalesHive's approach to this is one of their strongest differentiators.
They also include US-based responders who handle replies, manage objections, and book the meetings — so you're not managing a full inbox of cold responses on top of everything else you're doing.
SalesHive Pros
- Month-to-month contracts — no long-term lock-in if performance doesn't match expectations
- Deliverability-first approach with full DNS management and domain warm-up
- AI-powered personalization through eMod engine
- US-based reply management and meeting booking included
- Weekly strategy reviews with real campaign data
SalesHive Cons
- Primarily a cold email agency — LinkedIn and phone require separate providers
- Template-based personalization has limits at very high ICP specificity
- Less suited for enterprise or highly technical buying committees
Bottom line: SalesHive is a solid Martal Group alternative for SaaS companies that want reliable cold email for SaaS with the flexibility to exit if things aren't working. The month-to-month model and deliverability infrastructure make it a lower-risk starting point.
4. Cleverly — Best for LinkedIn-First Outreach
Cleverly is built around LinkedIn. Their core service is done-for-you LinkedIn lead generation — ICP targeting, connection requests, multi-touch messaging sequences, and reply management, all handled for you. They also offer a performance-based cold email model where you pay per meeting-ready lead rather than a flat retainer. According to their website, they've helped 10,000+ clients, hold 1,000+ five-star reviews, and have generated 224.7K+ B2B leads to date.
Their LinkedIn plans start at $397/month, which makes Cleverly one of the most accessible Martal Group alternatives for earlier-stage SaaS companies. The trade-off is reach: LinkedIn's platform restrictions limit how many connection requests you can send per week, and acceptance rates vary significantly by persona and industry. If your buyers aren't active LinkedIn users, the entire model loses its foundation.
Worth noting — Cleverly's cold email product is performance-based with no contracts, which is genuinely differentiated from most agencies. You only pay when they deliver a meeting-ready lead. For SaaS companies deciding where to invest outbound budget, our comparison of cold email vs LinkedIn outreach breaks down which channel fits which buyer profile.
Cleverly Pros
- The most LinkedIn-native agency on this list — deepest expertise in the channel
- Performance-based cold email: pay only for meeting-ready leads
- Low entry price for LinkedIn campaigns ($397/mo publicly listed)
- Month-to-month flexibility across all plans
- Strong review volume and public social proof
Cleverly Cons
- Platform dependency — LinkedIn policy changes can disrupt campaigns overnight
- Monthly reach limits on LinkedIn constrain total addressable volume
- Cold email product is newer than their LinkedIn offering
- Not a strong fit if your ICP isn't active on LinkedIn
Bottom line: If your buyers are director-level or above and regularly visible on LinkedIn, Cleverly is the most purpose-built option for that specific channel. For true multi-channel coverage, you'd need to pair it with another provider or build the second channel in-house.
5. Arvani Media — Best for AI-Powered Cold Email + LinkedIn for SaaS
Arvani Media is a done-for-you B2B outbound agency specializing in cold email, LinkedIn outreach, and AI-powered automation — built for SaaS and B2B tech companies specifically. The key difference from most agencies on this list: cold email and LinkedIn aren't separate products. They run as a coordinated email and LinkedIn multi-channel outbound system, which means touches are sequenced and personalized across both channels rather than siloed.
The service covers every layer of outbound: lead list building based on your actual ICP (not just database filters), full email infrastructure setup with domain warming and DNS management, AI-powered personalization, and AI reply classification that automatically sorts positive replies, objections, and out-of-office responses. That last piece matters more than it sounds — when you're running multi-channel campaigns at scale, manually triaging an inbox full of cold responses kills the efficiency that made automation worth it in the first place.
Founded by Anthony Volz, Arvani Media's approach is methodology-first: the goal is a clean, repeatable outbound system — not just a campaign. If you want to understand the structure before booking a call, the guide to building a B2B outbound system and the breakdown of how to write a cold email offer that converts are both worth reading first.
Arvani Media Pros
- Cold email and LinkedIn run as one coordinated outbound system — not two separate products
- AI-powered personalization and reply classification built into the workflow
- Full email infrastructure management: domains, warm-up, DNS, deliverability
- Custom lead list building based on your actual ICP — not generic database filters
- SaaS-focused — not a generalist agency spread across 50 industries
Arvani Media Cons
- Smaller public track record compared to Belkins or CIENCE
- No cold calling component — phone outreach would need a separate provider
Bottom line: If you want a Martal Group alternative that runs cold email and LinkedIn as a real system — with AI automation that actually reduces manual work, not just buzzwords — Arvani Media is built for that. Best fit: SaaS companies with a defined ICP that want coordinated outbound without the overhead of a large enterprise agency.
Which Martal Group Alternative Is Right for You?
There's no single answer — it depends on your stage, ICP complexity, channels, and how much flexibility you need. Here's the quick breakdown:
- You need proven multi-channel coverage with an established agency: Belkins
- You need enterprise-scale outbound with performance-based pricing: CIENCE Technologies
- You want solid cold email with month-to-month flexibility: SalesHive
- Your buyers are active on LinkedIn and you want a low entry price: Cleverly
- You need AI-powered cold email + LinkedIn as one coordinated SaaS outbound system: Arvani Media
One thing cuts across all of them: none of these agencies fix a broken offer or an undefined ICP. Before signing a contract with anyone, make sure you've nailed down your targeting and what you're actually saying to prospects. The B2B lead list guide is a good starting point for targeting, and the cold email offer breakdown will help you pressure-test what you're leading with before paying an agency to send it to thousands of people.
And if you're trying to figure out what all of this should cost, the cold email agency pricing guide covers the factors that drive costs and what the typical ranges look like across agency tiers.
Want to See What a Real SaaS Outbound System Looks Like?
Arvani Media runs done-for-you cold email and LinkedIn outreach for B2B SaaS companies — with tight ICP targeting, real AI automation, and deliverability management that protects your domain from day one. If you're evaluating Martal Group alternatives and want to talk through what coordinated outbound actually looks like for your specific ICP, book a free strategy session below.
Book a Free Strategy Session →Frequently Asked Questions
The best Martal Group alternative depends on your channels and ICP. Belkins is the strongest option for multi-channel appointment setting, CIENCE works well for enterprise outbound volume with performance-based pricing, SalesHive is solid for flexible cold email campaigns, Cleverly is purpose-built for LinkedIn-first outreach, and Arvani Media specializes in coordinated cold email and LinkedIn outbound for SaaS companies specifically.
The most common complaints in Martal Group reviews on G2 and Clutch include inconsistent lead quality in niche or complex verticals, limited visibility into campaign metrics, and a model that prioritizes volume over qualified pipeline. SaaS teams with a specific ICP often find that high-volume outbound produces low conversion rates when targeting isn't precise enough.
Pricing varies widely by agency, channel, and deliverables. Cleverly's LinkedIn plans publicly start at $397/month, while full-service agencies like Belkins operate at a premium tier with custom pricing. For a full breakdown of what drives agency costs and what different tiers include, check out the cold email agency pricing guide.
Martal Group can work well for SMB or mid-market SaaS companies testing outbound for the first time, or for teams that need consistent pipeline volume with a broad ICP. It's a weaker fit for companies targeting a specific niche persona where generic prospecting produces low conversion rates. If quality-to-cost ratio matters, compare alternatives before committing.
Ask how they build lead lists (custom vs. database filter), which channels they specialize in, how they manage email deliverability, what reporting you'll see and how often, and whether there's a minimum contract length. Any agency that can't answer the deliverability and reporting questions clearly is worth being cautious about — those are operational details that separate agencies running real systems from agencies running sequences.