Getting started
Getting started with EmailPal
The shortest path from signup to sending: pick a plan, add a domain, create or claim mailboxes, warm them, find and verify a list (Prospects gives you unlimited intent leads), then run campaigns in EmailPal's own sequencer, or export SMTP into any other tool.
The order that works
EmailPal is the infrastructure under cold email (domains, mailboxes, DNS, warming, verification), a lead source (Prospects, with unlimited intent leads on every paid plan), and the sending side on top of it: campaigns in Engage, replies in Unibox, and a CRM. You can also point another sequencer such as Instantly, Smartlead or Plusvibe, or a script, at your mailboxes over SMTP and IMAP. Getting started is wiring those halves in the right order so you do not send from an unknown mailbox to an unverified list.
- Create an account and add a card (or AppSumo licence) under Billing. Provisioning spends real registrar and mail-server work; onboarding will not mint unpaid infrastructure. How billing works and How onboarding works.
- Add a domain — register from $10, bring your own, or claim aged inventory. Wait until DNS is green on public resolvers. Domains and mailboxes.
- Create mailboxes, or skip the wait and claim pre-warmed inboxes.
- Turn on warming unless the mailbox is already a pre-warmed lease (included). $0.60/mo on everything else. Email warming by EmailPal.
- Get a list and verify it. Build an intent audience in Prospects of United States contacts researching your topic (unlimited intent leads, no credits), or import your own, then verify the list you intend to mail. Build an intent audience, How to verify an email list before sending.
- Send. Build a campaign in Engage, Create a campaign. Or export SMTP/IMAP into another sender, or send single messages through EmailPal's inbox API. SMTP and IMAP credentials.
Onboarding in the product follows the same sequence. You can leave and come back; unfinished steps stay on /onboarding until they are done.
Two paths to first send
| Fresh domain | Pre-warmed lease | |
|---|---|---|
| What you do | Register or BYO, create mailboxes, warm | Claim a listed domain |
| Price after plan | Domain $10–$18 once, mailboxes in plan or $1 overage, warming $0.60 | $3/inbox/mo, month to month, warming included |
| Time to cold email | Your choice; campaign-ready is flagged at 14 days | Minutes after claim |
| Cold sends per day | 15 recommended, up to 100 | 15/day from day one |
| You pick the name? | Yes | No |
Most people who need to send this week take the pre-warmed path. Most people who need a brandable domain take the fresh path. Both still need a clean list.
Plans: Starter $69 / 50 mailboxes, Growth $189 / 200, Scale $499 / 600. Pricing, plans and mailbox overages.
What not to do first
- Do not import 50,000 unverified leads onto a mailbox that finished provisioning five minutes ago. DNS can be green while reputation is still empty.
- Do not send from your company
.com. Use a secondary sending domain. - Do not raise the per-mailbox cap because another sequencer defaulted to 50 or 100. EmailPal recommends 15 a day per inbox with warming on, the hard cap is 100, and Engage works within it. Plan on 5 inboxes per domain.
- Do not skip SPF/DKIM/DMARC because "the domain just registered." How to set up DNS records.
- Do not connect EmailPal SMTP and also add Google on the same domain. One sending stack per name.
The checklist version of this advice is the cold email deliverability guide.
After the first mailbox exists
- Prospects is under Outreach in the sidebar. A free account gets its first 100 leads once, through Pal; a paid plan builds intent audiences and lets you save lists and add people to a campaign. Unlimited intent leads: what is included
- API and MCP are available immediately. Create an API key, Connect the MCP server.
- Replies land in Unibox. Warming traffic is filtered out by default.
- Campaign-ready is a flag that a mailbox has finished 14 days of warming. It sits next to the measured inbox rate, and both are signals rather than a lock: you can send before it shows. When is a mailbox ready to send?.
- Support is a ticket, not a Slack guess. Open a support ticket.
FAQs
Do I need a campaign tool?
No. EmailPal includes a sequencer, Engage: multi-step campaigns, A/B variants, schedules, a CRM and a shared inbox. Create a campaign. If you already use another tool, connect it to your mailboxes over SMTP and IMAP instead.
Where do I get leads?
From Prospects, which is included on every paid plan as unlimited intent leads: build audiences of up to 50,000 people in the United States who researched your topic in the last 1 to 10 days, with no credits. The data is third-party and can be out of date, so verify before you send. You can also import your own CSV. Lead data accuracy and verifying before you send, Import leads and verify emails
How long until I can send cold email?
Pre-warmed: the same day, 15/day. Fresh domain: campaign-ready is flagged after 14 days of warming. Aged unwarmed domain: the accelerated ramp reaches the ceiling in about a week, and campaign-ready is still flagged at 14 days.
Can I skip domain registration and only lease pre-warmed inboxes?
Yes, once billing is active. Pre-warmed inboxes do not use a plan domain slot.
Can I use Instantly or Smartlead instead of Engage?
Yes, as SMTP and IMAP accounts. They are not Google or Outlook seats. SMTP vs Google vs Outlook for cold email.
I am stuck on DNS.
DNS verification failed. BYO domains fail most often because nameservers were not pointed yet.
Need More Help?
The full walkthrough: How to send cold email in 2026. Domains and mailboxes, Pre-warmed Mailboxes by EmailPal, or open a ticket.