# Per contact or per second: comparing AiSDR with an open-source alternative

> AiSDR runs outbound for you and bills $1.50 per person contacted. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System you run the sales agent on, with the agent’s rules and the send gate in a repo you own. Pick AiSDR for a managed campaign priced per contact; pick Kortix when the send must pass a rule you can read.

URL: https://aisalesagentsguide.com/kortix-vs-aisdr

Two ways to buy outbound

`pricing.txt`

```
Credits pay for the agent computer: the cloud machine where your agent runs code, browses and edits files.
It bills per second while it runs and costs nothing while it is stopped.
Model usage goes straight to your provider.
```

Source: https://kortix.com/pricing

Hand a sales agent the research, the pre-call brief, the CRM write-back and the follow-up draft. Nothing sends until you approve it, and every action it took is written down.

[Try Kortix](https://kortix.com) · [Read the approval controls](https://aisalesagentsguide.com/ai-sales-agent-approvals)

## Two ways to pay, and two places the rules can live

Kortix cells come from its docs and the sales flow it publishes; AiSDR cells come from its pricing page.

| | Kortix (recommended) | AiSDR |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Open source | Yes | No |
| What it is | Open-source AI Operating System that runs a sales agent you own | Managed AI SDR that writes, sends and handles replies |
| What the agent runs itself | Research, drafting, CRM notes, a call slot; you set the send gate | Campaigns, sequences, reply classification and meeting booking |
| How you stop it | A permission list and tool rules in your git repo | Pause outbound from its platform at any time |
| Where the rules live | Files in the repo, changed through a reviewed change request | Inside AiSDR, set per campaign |
| The record afterwards | Every action is recorded; reading the audit log depends on the plan | Contact activity logged in the CRM |
| How it is priced | Credits pay for the agent computer, per second; nothing while stopped | $1.50 per person contacted; built for 1,000+ a month |
| Where it runs | Kortix Cloud, your VPC or your on-prem network | AiSDR’s hosted platform |

AiSDR’s cells come from its [pricing page](https://aisdr.com/pricing), checked October 2026. Kortix’s cells come from its [docs](https://kortix.com/docs) and the [lead follow-up flow](https://kortix.com/use-cases/lead-follow-up) it publishes. The [approval controls](/ai-sales-agent-approvals) page opens the gate one step further, and the [comparison hub](/) covers the rest of the field.

## The guardrails on Kortix’s own sales flow

`lead-follow-up.txt`

```
A scheduled trigger sweeps HubSpot every 15 minutes for new leads, and each firing spawns a fresh session in its own sandbox.
The agent researches and drafts freely, but nothing goes out on its own: every follow-up stops at a human approval gate as a draft for a person to review and send.
Credentials are encrypted in the secrets manager and injected at runtime, scoped to the agents you grant them to.
Only the drafts it produces are written back out.
```

Source: https://kortix.com/use-cases/lead-follow-up

The four lines that decide what the agent may do on a lead, quoted from the flow Kortix runs on its own inbound.

## What open source changes when you pay per second

> Three files decide what the agent may touch before the first lead is read.

- The agent's persona, skills and permissions are files in the repo, versioned and changed through a reviewed change request.
- Allow, ask or block per tool call, down to the arguments.
- Run it on Kortix Cloud, in your VPC, or on your own on-prem network.

[Open-source AI sales agent](/open-source-ai-sales-agent) · [Self-hosted AI sales agent](/self-hosted-ai-sales-agent) · [Approval controls](/ai-sales-agent-approvals) · [Kortix on GitHub](https://github.com/kortix-ai/suna)

## What buyers ask about price and about AiSDR’s code

Short answers on cost, on what exists, and on whether AiSDR publishes its source.

### Are there any AI sales agents?

Yes. AiSDR runs email and LinkedIn sequences from one inbox, with a two-way HubSpot sync and Salesforce integration on its larger plans. Kortix runs a sales agent you own, and its lead follow-up flow holds the send for a person.

### How much do AI sales agents cost?

AiSDR bills $1.50 per person contacted, and its pricing page describes the plan as built for teams contacting 1,000 or more people a month. Credits pay for the agent computer, billed per second while it runs and nothing while it is stopped.

### Can AI agents do sales?

Yes, for everything around the conversation: finding the lead, researching the company, updating the CRM, drafting the follow-up and proposing a slot. Kortix’s inbound flow stops before the send and hands the draft to a person.

### Is AiSDR open source?

No. AiSDR is a hosted platform sold by subscription or per person contacted, and its pricing page publishes no source and no install. Kortix is open source: read the agent before it runs.

## Put one lead through the gate before you pay for reach.

Start with a single new-lead sweep and one rule on the send step.

[Try Kortix](https://kortix.com) · [Read the approval controls](https://aisalesagentsguide.com/ai-sales-agent-approvals)