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Where the budget sits

Hiring an agency:a retainer or one meeting at a time

Most agencies ask for a monthly minimum before the first appointment. Outlevo starts with one meeting. Are you an agency yourself? See Outlevo for agencies.

Check if we fitPay per meeting →

No retainer · No minimum · No credits

What the published figures say

Read Nov 11, 2026. Published estimates vary by source and most come from vendors, so treat them as ranges.

  • 01One published guide (March 13, 2026) puts monthly retainers for an outsourced SDR or appointment-setting agency at $4,000 to $18,0001
  • 02The same guide puts pay-per-appointment pricing at $150 to $600 per appointment, and a hybrid at a $3,000 to $8,000 base retainer plus $100 to $300 per qualified appointment1
  • 03One 2026 guide puts pay-per-appointment at $150-$400 for standard meetings and $400-$750 for BANT-verified ones2
  • 04One October 2026 guide, quoting Clutch, puts the average cost per qualified B2B appointment in 2025 at $550-$1,7003

Side by side

OutlevoAn agency
MinimumNo retainer, no minimum, no credits.Often a monthly retainer, by the published ranges above
What is billedHeld meetings only. No-shows and reschedules are never billed, and Outlevo chases a reschedule twice. A rescheduled meeting that is held is billed once, at the tier it was booked under.Depends on the contract: booked or qualified appointments, with its own definition
The definition of qualifiedPublished before you buy: six checksAsk for it in writing
EvidenceThe thread and a receipt for every email, attached to any disputeAsk what you get to see

When an agency is the better choice

An agency may suit you better if

You want a human team that works the phones, writes by hand, manages your calendar or sells in a market where Outlevo's email and LinkedIn approach does not reach. Some agencies do all three.

Run outbound for clients yourself? That is a different page: Outlevo for agencies, one workspace per client at a discount.

Questions

What should I ask an agency before I sign?
What counts as an appointment, whether no-shows are billed, what the minimum is and how long it runs, and what evidence you get when you dispute one. Ours are published: what counts as a meeting.
Where do the agency figures come from?
From one published 2026 guide, linked under the figures with the day we read it. Other sources give other ranges.

Sources

Checked Nov 11, 2026. Each fact about an agency above links to the page it was read on.

  1. RevNew, SDR outsourcing cost (2026) · revnew.com/blog/sdr-outsourcing-cost · Checked Nov 11, 2026
  2. Prospeo, appointment setting pricing (2026) · prospeo.io/s/appointment-setting-pricing · Checked Nov 11, 2026
  3. Salesar, appointment setting costs (October 2026), citing Clutch · salesar.io/blog/b2b-appointment-setting-costs-in-2025-pricing-models-explained · Checked Nov 11, 2026

Price your own case

The Fit Check gives your tier and a suggested cap.

Check if we fitWhat counts as a meeting →