Three models dominate outbound pipeline in 2026, and they price risk completely differently. Here's the honest comparison so you can pick by your actual situation, not by whoever's pitching loudest.
Human SDR
Loaded cost ~$70k–$110k/year (salary, tools, data, management) for one rep producing, at decent productivity, a few hundred qualified conversations a year. Ramp: 1–3 months. You carry all the risk and the management overhead, but you get a human who can think, handle objections, and improve. Best when you have the volume and the RevOps to run it well.
AI SDR platform
$1,000–$3,000+/month in platform + per-seat fees, often annual. Sends at scale 24/7. Ramp: days to set up sequences. But the bill is fixed whether or not meetings happen — the outcome risk stays with you, and deliverability mistakes at scale can damage your domain. Best when you have a tuned motion and want to scale sending cheaply.
Pay-per-result
$0 baseline; you pay a fixed price per verified outcome ($10/lead, $250/held meeting at Forward), and a result that fails your acceptance criteria is never billed. Ramp: minutes once your ICP is written. The vendor carries the outcome and quality risk. Best when you know who you sell to and want bounded downside and speed without hiring — founders, small teams, or anyone burned by a retainer.
The one-number test
Take each option's all-in monthly cost and divide by ICP-matched meetings actually held. That cost-per-held-meeting is the only apples-to-apples number — and it's where pay-per-result tends to win for teams without a tuned, high-volume motion, because you're not paying for the misses. Run the math on your own funnel; the lead cost calculator does the lead side instantly. Deeper dive on the meetings side: what a booked meeting should cost.