How much does an outsourced SDR cost in 2026?
The short answer
Most outsourced SDR services charge $2,500 to $18,000 a month on a retainer, or $150 to $600 per booked appointment on a pay-per-meeting deal. An in-house SDR costs about $105,000 in year one once you add benefits, payroll tax and tools to an $80,000 on-target salary, and they take about three months to ramp. At ShazRise the price is published: $997 for a caller on your list, $2,997 for a 30 day pilot with 2,000 dials and 100 live connects guaranteed, and $4,997 with two callers.
I don't want to pitch you in the first paragraph, so here is the honest version first. Nobody in this industry likes publishing a price, because the right number really does depend on your list, your offer and your deal size. But "it depends" is useless when you are trying to set a budget. So below is the actual math, with the sources, and my own numbers from the phones, including the month that went badly.
What an in-house SDR actually costs
Start here, because this is the number every outsourced price gets compared against. The Bridge Group's 2025 SDR report puts the median SDR base salary at $55,000 and on-target earnings at $80,000, unchanged since 2022. RepVue's US data comes in a little higher, around $60,000 base and $85,000 OTE.
Salary is not the cost. Here is what one SDR costs you in year one:
| Line item | Year one | Where the number comes from |
|---|---|---|
| On-target earnings (base + commission) | $80,000 | Bridge Group 2025 median |
| Benefits and payroll tax | $20,000 | 25% load. BLS says benefits are 30% of total pay for private-sector workers, so this is on the low side |
| Dialer, data and CRM seat | $3,600 to $7,200 | $300 to $600 a month. My rough estimate, your stack will vary |
| Recruiting and manager time | Not counted | Real, but different for every company |
| Total | About $105,000 | Roughly $8,750 a month |
Then two more numbers that nobody puts on the invoice:
- Ramp: about 3 months. That is the Bridge Group average, and it is the lowest it has been since 2010. At $8,750 a month, you spend around $26,000 before the rep is running at full speed.
- Tenure: about 1.9 years. So you are not hiring once. You are hiring, ramping and replacing roughly every two years, and each time the pipeline goes quiet while the seat is empty.
What outsourced SDR services charge
Here is the market in 2026, from Revnew's published pricing guide:
| Pricing model | Typical 2026 range | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly retainer | $4,000 to $18,000 a month | What is guaranteed? Often nothing measurable |
| Entry-level programs | $2,500 to $5,000 a month | Who is actually dialing, and on whose list |
| Pay per appointment | $150 to $600 per meeting | How "meeting" is defined. Loose definitions mean junk on your calendar |
| Retainer plus per-meeting | $3,000 to $8,000 base, plus $100 to $300 per meeting | You pay twice for the same outcome |
| Dedicated team (2 to 3 SDRs) | $8,000 to $25,000 a month | Minimum contract length and setup fees |
Before you sign any of these, ask two things: how many months is the minimum, and what exactly is guaranteed in writing. A multi-month retainer with no measurable guarantee means you can spend a quarter's budget before you find out whether your market even picks up the phone.
The number that matters: cost per conversation
Monthly price tells you almost nothing. What you are buying is conversations with the people who can buy from you. So divide.
In-house: the Bridge Group measures 4.1 quality conversations a day for the median SDR. Over about 21 working days that is roughly 86 a month. At $8,750 a month, that is around $100 per conversation, and that is after the rep has ramped.
Our pilot: $2,997 for 100 guaranteed live connects is at most $30 per connect. If we come up short, we keep dialing at no extra cost until you have them.
To be straight with you, these two are not the same unit. A "connect" in my guarantee means a live person picked up. Voicemail, phone menus and AI gatekeepers don't count, but a gatekeeper or the wrong person does. A Bridge Group "quality conversation" is stricter. So don't read this as "three times cheaper". Read it as: the gap is big enough that it survives a fair discount for the different definitions.
What actually moves your cost per meeting: the list
Here are two real months from my own campaigns.
- A list the client supplied: 1,522 dials, 59 connects, zero meetings. That is a 3.9% connect rate. 92 of the records were dead numbers, most of the rest were switchboards, and the companies on it had already decided to hire internally.
- A list I built and scored myself, same script: 1,360 dials, 149 conversations. That is about 11%, almost three times better.
Same caller. Same script. The list was the whole difference. So when you compare quotes, the cheapest firm working a bad list is the most expensive option on the table, because every dial is paying for a dead number.
My best campaign booked 15 meetings in 28 days for an enterprise IT integration firm. I don't promise that number to anyone, because meetings depend on your offer and your price as much as on the calls. Anyone quoting you a guaranteed meeting count before they have seen your list is guessing.
When hiring in-house is the better deal
Outsourcing is not always the right call. Hire your own SDR when:
- You have already proven that outbound works for your offer, with real numbers.
- You need full-time calling volume for years, not months.
- You have a sales manager who will actually coach the rep every week.
Outsource when you don't know yet whether your market answers the phone, when your closers are building their own lists, or when you need pipeline this quarter and a hire is three to four months away from a first meeting. A good pilot also leaves you with the list, the script and the objection library, so you can hand them to your own rep later.
Pricing models I'd walk away from
- Commission only. The caller works a cold list for two weeks, gets no traction, quits, and you have lost a month.
- Per meeting with no written definition. You will pay for meetings with people who can't buy.
- Long contracts with no measurable guarantee. If nothing is promised in writing, nothing is owed.
Quick answers
How much does an outsourced SDR cost per month?
Usually $2,500 to $18,000 a month on a retainer, depending on seniority, team size and how much strategy is included. ShazRise starts at $997 for a caller on your list and $2,997 for a full 30 day pilot.
How much does an in-house SDR cost per year?
About $105,000 in year one: $80,000 on-target earnings, around $20,000 in benefits and payroll tax, plus a dialer, data and CRM seat. Add about three months of ramp and a likely replacement within two years.
Is pay per appointment cheaper?
It looks cheaper at $150 to $600 a meeting, but only if the meeting is defined in writing: the right title, a real reason to meet, confirmed on the calendar. Without that, you pay for no-shows and people who can't buy.
How long until an outsourced SDR books meetings?
The first one to two weeks go into the list, the script and testing the opener. A ramped in-house SDR takes about three months. If an outsourced firm can't tell you within 30 days whether your market answers the phone, that is a red flag.
Sources: The Bridge Group, 2025 SDR Metrics & Compensation Report; RepVue SDR salaries, US; BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026; Revnew, SDR outsourcing cost 2026. ShazRise campaign numbers are from our own call logs.
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