by mkdirKriyo and Smartlead, on the things you can check.
Smartlead competes on scale: mailboxes, warm-up pool, infrastructure. This page compares the behaviours we differ on — approval, timers, unknown numbers and isolation — against what Smartlead publishes about its own product. On reply approval the two products are close today, and the page says so.
How to read this page. The left column is what Kriyo does. The right column is what Smartlead’s own site or documentation stated when we read it on 2026-09-23, with the page it was read on. Where their site does not state something, the cell says so. Their product changes; if a row is out of date, tell us and it will be corrected or removed.
AI replies without approval
Every reply is drafted, then waits in a queue until a person approves, edits, schedules or skips it. There is no mode in which a reply goes out unapproved.
Their help centre describes AI-generated replies in a manual mode that requires review and sending by a person, and lists automatic sending as a future update.
“Auto-send (coming soon): Future updates will include automatic reply options” — helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/431, checked 2026-09-23Approval mode
Approval is the only mode. It cannot be switched off.
Described as the current mode: replies are generated, then reviewed and sent manually.
“Manual mode: Replies are generated automatically but require manual review and sending” — helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/431, checked 2026-09-23Reply categorisation
Interested, question, objection, out of office, wrong person, unsubscribe, or left unclassified. Automated replies are their own count and never counted as a person replying.
Their homepage describes auto-categorising replies by intent in a master inbox, with an AI reply manager.
smartlead.ai, checked 2026-09-23Deliverability infrastructure
Per-mailbox MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC checks; warm-up age refreshed on a schedule and shown as stale when it is; placement tests on demand; a send-health line that reports an observation, never a diagnosis.
Their homepage describes a dedicated infrastructure offering with automated SPF, DKIM and DMARC and bounce and reputation tracking.
smartlead.ai, checked 2026-09-23What runs on a timer
Scheduled jobs are read-only syncs. One may pause a losing variant. The only automated send is the delivery of a reply a person already approved. A test fails the build if a scheduled job gains a send path.
Not stated on their site when checked.
Unknown numbers
A number that has not been measured renders as a dash and says why. Open rate is absent when tracking is off. A reply is one distinct person with a genuine inbound; automated replies are counted separately.
Not stated on their site when checked.
Data isolation
Each client workspace is a separate database, not a client column in a shared one.
Not stated on their site when checked.
Getting started
Invite-only for now. Prices are not yet published; a plan is agreed in writing before a workspace is charged.
Their pricing page states no card is required to start. Plans and prices are published there.
smartlead.ai/pricing, checked 2026-09-23Left out on purpose: mailbox counts, warm-up pool size, add-on pricing and plan prices. Smartlead publishes these and they change; read them on their site.
Ask for the one with a person on every send.
Invite-only for now. Tell us about your outbound and we’ll set you up.