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Closely or HeyReach for LinkedIn outreach
A straight comparison of Closely and HeyReach for running LinkedIn outreach without getting the account restricted, answered on the same seven dimensions as every other compare page here. Mamba Labs builds the Apify actors here, Prospect Engine included, and the page says where it is the wrong answer.
If you only read one part
Closely is the cheaper way for one person to run their own LinkedIn and find emails alongside it. HeyReach is what you move to when there is a pool of sender accounts and somebody reports on them.
The same questions, both tools
| Closely | HeyReach | Prospect Engine | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it actually does | Runs LinkedIn connection and message sequences, and can find the emails for the same people. | Runs connection requests, messages and follows from a pool of LinkedIn accounts on one campaign. | Takes a market definition or a domain list and returns enriched company and contact rows. |
| Coverage and hit rate | One or a few sender accounts, plus an email finder and a contact search of its own. | Many senders on one campaign, with the daily limits spread across them and tracked per account. | Public sources, read directly, with the field's origin on the row. |
| What it costs | Per month by seat, cheaper than the multi account tools because it is not built for many senders. | Per connected LinkedIn account per month, so the bill scales with senders and not with leads. | Cents per row, charged on a returned row rather than on an attempt. |
| How it fits a workflow | A cloud sender, an inbox and a CSV export. The API is thin and the CRM sync is thinner. | A real API, webhooks on every reply, and a unified inbox that a team can work together. | One API call, or an HTTP column in Clay, and finished rows come back. |
| Where the data comes from | LinkedIn for the sending, and a licensed contact database for the email side. | It sends. Lists come from Sales Navigator, from your own export, or from an API push. | The public web and public registers, named per field. |
| What it takes to set up | An hour to a running campaign once the account is connected. | Connect the accounts, set the schedule, warm them up slowly. A few days before it is safe at volume. | Point it at a market or a list of domains and run it. |
| Where it stops | Not a multi account tool. Spreading limits across a pool of senders is not what it does. | It is LinkedIn only. Email is a different product and this one does not pretend otherwise. | It is not a table. Reviewing and editing rows is something you do elsewhere. |
The same seven questions are asked on every compare page here, in this order, so two of these pages can be read against each other.
What each is actually better at
- Closely wins on what it costs, what it takes to set up. LinkedIn automation with a contact database attached, aimed at one operator.
- HeyReach wins on coverage and hit rate, how it fits a workflow. LinkedIn outreach built for running many sender accounts at once.
- Prospect Engine wins on what it actually does. One call that finds the companies, enriches them and returns finished rows.
- Nobody wins on where the data comes from, where it stops. Closely and HeyReach give the same answer on those, and we are not going to invent a difference.
Both products
The honest answer
One operator, one account, a modest budget: Closely, and the email finder included in it removes a separate purchase. The move to HeyReach is triggered by a number, not by a feature. The moment you are running more than about three sender accounts, you need limits spread across a pool and one inbox that a team can work, and neither of those is retrofittable. LinkedIn restrictions come from volume and from a cold account, not from the vendor. Warm the accounts slowly and stay under the daily limits the tool will happily let you exceed.
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