Hiring an SDR vs a done-for-you LinkedIn service
Published August 2026. Cost figures carry their check dates and are rechecked quarterly.
A full-time US SDR averages $55,018 a year in salary alone (ZipRecruiter, July 2026), before tools, management, and ramp. LinkyBot runs $2,000 a month plus $200 per booked appointment, capped at $4,000, with results tracked in Outcome OS. The right choice depends on volume, control, and your time.
What does a full-time SDR actually cost?
The average US SDR salary is $55,018 a year, or $4,584 a month (ZipRecruiter, data as of July 2026). That’s salary alone. Tools, management time, and the ramp months before the first booked meeting all add cost on top, and none of them shows up in the job listing.
What does a done-for-you service cost?
LinkyBot’s standard plan runs $2,000 per month plus $200 per booked appointment, capped at $4,000 total, on a 6-month term. A limited five-seat pilot starts at $500 per month, capped at $2,000, on a 3-month minimum. The performance fee only accrues when a meeting lands. Full breakdown on the pricing page.
How do the two compare side by side?
| Category | In-house SDR | LinkyBot |
|---|---|---|
| Annual cost | $55,018 average salary, before tools, management, and ramp (ZipRecruiter, July 2026) | $24,000 to $48,000 a year at published rates, performance fee included in the cap |
| First sends | After the hire, plus ramp months | Week one |
| Reply coverage | Business hours | AI works the inbox around the clock, humans on judgment calls |
| Measurement | Depends on your CRM and process | Outcome OS, booked meetings, quarterly published benchmarks |
| Commitment | Employment | 6-month term, or 3-month pilot |
SDR salary data last checked 2026-08-02 against ziprecruiter.com. LinkyBot figures are published pricing; the annual range is that pricing times twelve months.
What do 100 connections actually produce?
Across twelve months of tracked LinkyBot client campaigns, every 100 LinkedIn connections made produced 34.8 replies and 2.5 booked sales meetings. A campaign making 400 connections a month books roughly 10 meetings a month. Full methodology, and the numbers we don’t publish yet, are on the benchmarks page.
When is hiring an SDR the right call?
When outbound spans channels beyond LinkedIn, when the seat is the first hire of a sales team you’re building, or when you want the skill in-house and have a manager to develop it. An SDR is a capability investment. A service is an outcome purchase.
When is a service the right call?
When you need pipeline now without adding headcount, when nobody on the team has weekly hours to run outreach, or when you want the work measured on booked meetings from day one. That’s the buyer LinkyBot is built for: B2B founders past $1 million in revenue who need pipeline to scale without giving it their own hours.
Questions founders ask about this choice
1. Is there a contract?
Standard plans run 6-month terms. The pilot runs a 3-month minimum. An SDR is an employment relationship, with everything that implies.
2. What does the $200 per appointment fee cover?
It's the performance leg of the pricing. It only accrues when a meeting lands, and the cap keeps a great month from becoming a surprise invoice.
3. Do SDR costs stop at salary?
No. Tools, management time, and ramp all add real cost on top. We cite salary alone because it's the figure with a clean, dated source; the rest varies too much to publish a number for.
4. What should you compare either option against?
Published benchmarks: 34.8 replies and 2.5 booked meetings per 100 connections made, from twelve months of tracked campaigns. Hold any option, including us, to that yardstick.
Run the math on your own pipeline
Book a fit call
20 minutes. You’ll leave with a straight answer on whether LinkyBot fits your offer, either way.