Instantly DFY Accounts vs Your Own Mailboxes: Cost and Terms

Instantly sells three kinds of done-for-you (DFY) sending accounts: Google accounts at $5 a month, pre-warmed Google accounts at $10 and AirMail SMTP accounts at $4, with domains at $15 a year. They only work inside Instantly, Instantly keeps the domains, and the accounts need an Instantly Outreach plan to send. Mailboxes on your own domains from an outside vendor cost $2.50 to $3.50 a month, connect to Instantly with an API key or SMTP/IMAP logins, and move with you if you change tools. At 100 mailboxes the Instantly DFY setup costs $597 a month; the same Instantly plan with Outreach2day mailboxes costs $347, and Outreach2day on its own, with its sequencer, costs $250.

All Instantly facts below come from Instantly's pricing.md, help center and terms, checked October 9, 2026. Other vendors' prices come from their own pricing pages on the same day.

The Three Ways to Fill Instantly With Mailboxes

The last row is a different setup: Outreach2day is a mailbox vendor and a sequencer in one product. If you keep Instantly for sending, it is a mailbox vendor in the fourth row.

What Instantly's DFY Terms Say

Ownership

The DFY help article says: "We currently retain domain ownership and administrator access for any purchases and are unable to transfer them over." Since the terms update of September 22, 2026, this is also in the contract. Section 4.6 calls DFY "a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right" to use Instantly's infrastructure, says Instantly "owns, controls, and operates all such domains, mailboxes", and gives the customer no right to "transfer, port, migrate" them, even when Instantly's own wording calls it a purchase.

Where the accounts work

The DFY help article says the accounts are "exclusively configured for use within the Instantly platform." Owners and admins can download the Gmail passwords of DFY and pre-warmed accounts, but Instantly advises against changing them. AirMail has no login or inbox outside Instantly (AirMail setup).

The plan requirement

The plans overview says DFY, pre-warmed and AirMail accounts are paused automatically after the trial when there is no active Outreach plan. The accounts are billed separately from the plan and must be cancelled separately.

Cancellation and refunds

• Cancelling DFY Google accounts takes effect immediately: Gmail access ends shortly after, Unibox replies are deleted after a 24-hour grace period, and campaigns and warm-up stop

• When every account on a domain is cancelled, the domain expires

• Accounts renew on the 15th of each month; domains are registered for a year and renew while at least one account is active

• When the subscription ends, the terms say Instantly "may disable, reclaim, repurpose, or retire" the infrastructure

• Section 5.3 of the terms makes all fees non-refundable and names the Done-For-You service and the Warmup Service

Limits

• Up to 5 accounts per DFY domain, .com and .org only

• Pre-warmed accounts come on pre-existing domains that can't be customised; Instantly recommends starting them at 5 emails a day and staying at 20 to 25 a day (pre-warmed help)

• AirMail has a hard cap of 50 campaign emails per mailbox a day, a recommended 3-week warm-up, drops mail to gmail.com, outlook.com and yahoo.com, and is limited to 5,000 accounts a week across Instantly

Warm-up

DFY, pre-warmed and AirMail accounts join Instantly's premium warm-up pool at no extra cost. For accounts you bring, the premium pool starts at $500 a month per workspace (warm-up pools); Instantly's standard warm-up is included in every Outreach plan. Instantly does not publish a setup time for DFY accounts: they show "Setup Pending" and warm-up switches on when setup completes.

Mailboxes on Your Own Domains: Vendor Prices

Monthly list prices, checked October 9, 2026. Each of these vendors connects its mailboxes to Instantly.

Smartlead sells the same kind of in-tool accounts as Instantly: SmartSenders cost $4.50 a month for Google or Outlook through Zapmail and "can't be transferred and used outside of Smartlead" (Smartlead pricing, SmartSenders FAQ).

Total Cost at 25, 100 and 400 Mailboxes

Monthly list prices, monthly billing. Every mailbox sends 25 cold emails a working day, 550 a month. The Instantly plan is the cheapest one that covers that volume: Hypergrowth ($97, 125,000 emails) for 25 and 100 mailboxes; for 400 mailboxes (220,000 emails), Hypergrowth plus one Outbound add-on, $87 for another 125,000 emails (add-on pricing), so $184. Domains are shown separately below.

How the vendor lines add up: Zapmail at 25 is Starter $39 + 15 × $3.50 = $91.50; at 100 it is Pro $299; at 400, Pro + 300 × $3.00 = $1,199. Premium Inboxes is 25 × $3.50, 100 × $3.50 and 400 × $3.00. InboxKit is $3.00 a mailbox on monthly billing, warmed by Instantly's included warm-up. Outreach2day is $2.50 a mailbox with warm-up included at every size.

Domains, a year, at 5 mailboxes per domain (5, 20 and 80 domains):

From 1,000 mailboxes Outreach2day quotes a volume price below every vendor list price in our comparisons, warm-up and a sequencer included. Book a call and we quote your volume. To size your own setup, the cold email capacity calculator turns a daily volume into mailboxes, domains and a monthly price.

Ownership and Portability Side by Side

The practical consequence: with DFY accounts, leaving Instantly means new domains and a new warm-up, which costs about three weeks before full volume. With mailboxes on your own domains, a move to another sequencer is an export. Mailboxes for Instantly and Smartlead walks through each way to connect them.

When Instantly DFY Accounts Make Sense

• You want Google mailboxes and everything in one Instantly bill, and you expect to stay on Instantly

• You run a small test (Growth covers 5,000 emails a month) and the time saved matters more than portability

• You want pre-warmed accounts to start sending before your own mailboxes finish warm-up; Instantly still recommends 20 to 25 emails a day on them

• You need the premium warm-up pool without paying $500 a month for it on outside accounts

When Your Own Mailboxes Make Sense

• You run 25 or more mailboxes and the mailbox line is most of the bill: at 100 mailboxes, $250 instead of $500

• You may change sequencers, or run Instantly and Smartlead side by side

• You want the domains, their DNS and their reputation to stay with your company

• You want to cancel a mailbox without losing the domain it sits on

Outreach2day All In: Mailboxes, Warm-Up and Sequencer

Outreach2day is also a sequencer, so the Instantly plan line can go too. One account at $2.50 a mailbox covers the mailboxes on your domains, warm-up that keeps running after day 14, and campaigns: multi-step sequences with delays, variables and spintax, sending schedules by time zone, stop on reply, an unsubscribe link, a unified inbox where you read and answer replies, reply intent labels, campaign stats for sent, replies and bounces, and webhooks.

What it does not have, so you can judge the fit: no lead database or email verification (contacts come from your CSV), no LinkedIn or call steps, no CRM integrations, no click tracking or open stats, no inbox placement testing tool and no free trial. Instantly sells lead data credits, a CRM ($47 or $97 a month), inbox placement tests ($47 or $97 a month) and has a free trial with 1,000 emails (plans overview). If you need those, keep Instantly and connect Outreach2day mailboxes to it; you can switch to sending from Outreach2day later without moving the mailboxes. The full plan breakdown is in Instantly pricing, and a side-by-side of the two products is at Outreach2day vs Instantly.

How to Move From DFY Accounts to Your Own Mailboxes

1. Buy new domains (DFY domains stay with Instantly) and create mailboxes on them, 5 per domain at most

2. Start warm-up the same day; keep the DFY accounts sending meanwhile

3. From day 14 start the new mailboxes at a low daily volume, and reach 25 a day around day 21 (warm-up timing)

4. Connect them to Instantly with an API key (export steps), or run the campaigns in Outreach2day

5. Cancel the DFY accounts once the new mailboxes carry full volume, and export anything you need from Unibox first: replies are deleted 24 hours after cancellation

FAQ

How much do Instantly DFY accounts cost?

$5 a month per done-for-you Google account, $10 per pre-warmed Google account and $4 per AirMail account, plus $15 a year per domain. They also need an Instantly Outreach plan, from $47 a month (Growth) or $97 (Hypergrowth).

Can I take Instantly DFY accounts to another sequencer?

No. Instantly says DFY accounts are configured exclusively for use within the Instantly platform, and its terms give you no right to transfer, port or migrate the domains or mailboxes.

Who owns the domains of Instantly DFY accounts?

Instantly. Its help center says it retains domain ownership and administrator access, and its terms say it owns, controls and operates the domains and mailboxes.

Are Instantly pre-warmed accounts worth $10 a month?

They let you send sooner, on domains you can't choose. Instantly recommends starting them at 5 emails a day and keeping them at 20 to 25, the same daily volume a mailbox you warm yourself reaches after about three weeks, at $2.50 to $3.50 a month.

Can I use my own mailboxes in Instantly?

Yes. Every Outreach plan allows unlimited email accounts and includes warm-up. Outreach2day mailboxes connect with an Instantly API key; other vendors connect with SMTP/IMAP logins or their own integrations.

What is the cheapest way to get 100 mailboxes sending with Instantly?

Among the list prices above, Instantly Hypergrowth with Outreach2day mailboxes costs $347 a month, against $597 with DFY Google accounts. Without Instantly, Outreach2day alone costs $250 a month for 100 mailboxes with warm-up and the sequencer.

What happens to Instantly DFY accounts when I cancel?

Cancellation is immediate: Gmail access ends, Unibox replies are deleted after 24 hours, campaigns and warm-up stop, and a domain expires when all its accounts are cancelled. No refund applies.

Sources

Checked October 9, 2026:

• Instantly pricing.md: DFY, pre-warmed and AirMail prices, domains, Outreach plans

• Instantly DFY help: ownership, use only inside Instantly, cancellation, renewals, accounts per domain

• Instantly pre-warmed accounts: batches of 5, sending volume

• Instantly AirMail setup: SMTP, 50-a-day cap, warm-up

• Instantly plans overview: plan requirement

• Instantly add-on pricing: Outbound add-on

• Instantly warm-up pools: premium pool

• Instantly terms: sections 4.6 and 5.3, updated September 22, 2026

• Zapmail and its refund policy

• Premium Inboxes pricing

• InboxKit pricing and refund policy

• Mailforge pricing

• Smartlead pricing and SmartSenders FAQ