The best Octopus CRM alternative in 2024

If you’re using LinkedIn for lead generation and prospecting, you know that quality automation software is a must. You’ve probably heard of various automation tools and are unsure what the difference is.

In this article, we’ll explain how to choose the right LinkedIn automation software for you and what is the best Octopus CRM alternative.

What to Consider When Choosing a LinkedIn Automation Tool?

There are two main aspects to consider when trying to find the best tool to automate LinkedIn lead generation. Does it meet all your sales and marketing teams’ needs? Does it meet your safety standards? Does it serve your cold outreach goals? 

Needs

Firstly, you must consider what you want from the LinkedIn automation tool. Some questions worth thinking about are:

1. What are your goals and needs?
2. Are you looking to generate qualified leads, boost sales conversations, grow your network, or create more content?
3. How important is the personalization of your messaging to you? 
4. Do you want to track your progress and impact?

Knowing your needs and writing them down makes the selection process for the best LinkedIn automation tool easier when you start to compare the features.

Safety

Safety is especially important for LinkedIn automation tools due to the strict LinkedIn policy on using any third-party software. There are numerous cases of the accounts being banned and suspended—therefore the recommendations listed below are crucial.

1. Use only Cloud-based tools because:

• Cloud-based tools are much safer than browser-based tools. They don’t work on the front end, so it’s almost impossible for LinkedIn to detect or block them.
• Cloud-based tools are time-effective. They run 24/7 in the background, even when your system is turned off, which saves time and gets results faster.

2. Dedicated IP address

• It allows you to have complete control over what is your address being used for. A dedicated IP address might be more expensive than a shared IP address, but it’s worth it.
• A dedicated IP address drastically lowers your chances of being considered spam or even being blacklisted.
• And the final reason why you need a dedicated IP address is that using different IP addresses seems suspicious and can increase your chances of getting blocked by LinkedIn.

Outreach goals

Depends on the cold outreach goals you have there might be a number of features to consider when choosing the most suitable LinkedIn automation tool. Read further to find out what exactly to pay attention to.

The main features for LinkedIn prospecting in 2024

Here are the features that every LinkedIn prospecting tool should have:

• Linkedin account warm-up mode – this function helps avoid restrictions for new (or previously inactive) accounts. The key to generating more leads and successful automated outreach is mimicking natural, human behavior. It’s all about the randomized delays between actions and “warming up” your profile before it can set sail. LinkedIn will quickly notice and deactivate your account if you send more than 100 requests (whether automatically or manually) from an account that didn’t have such activity before.
• Omnichannel marketing campaigns – focusing solely on one channel can close doors to many opportunities. Combining LinkedIn account with just your email alone can get you up to three times the response rates. Now just imagine what combining multiple social media management and other platforms can do for both large and small businesses.
• Image & GIF hyper-personalization integration – it’s pretty easy to create personalized messages that are just text. The very best AI solutions can even incorporate images and GIFs. Easily humanize your brand and improve response engagement up to 2-3 times!
• Pricing – you may be tempted to choose the most convenient option, but the safety of your data is not something you should take lightly. LinkedIn discourages the use of automated outreach campaigns and you’re risking getting blocked and losing all of your contacts if you use cheap, untested software. That’s why you need a cloud-based automation tool that stays off the radar – such as Expandi.

What is Octopus CRM LinkedIn outreach tool?

Octopus CRM is a chrome extension, which means it only works in Chrome browsers and it’s not cloud-based like some other tools.

According to one Octopus CRM review, you can use it to:

• Automatically view hundreds of LinkedIn profiles a day
• Send bulk connection requests on LinkedIn
• Send automated LinkedIn messages to 1st level connections

It integrates with some other tools, like Asana and Google Sheets, but it lacks integrations with more modern apps. Moreover, it does not offer full automation, meaning you have to keep your PC switched or the tool stops running.

Bottom line, Octopus CRM Linkedin was a decent tool a few years ago, but it’s lacking innovative features according to 2024 Linkedin automation standards.

Octopus CRM – why are customers looking for Octopus CRM alternatives?

Octopus CRM lacks some key features necessary for successful Linkedin automation. It doesn’t support multi-channel campaigns, it doesn’t offer a dedicated IP address, and it lacks the latest features such as hyper-personalization of content and lead management.

Moreover, it doesn’t integrate with the LinkedIn sales navigator and it’s not suitable for large sales teams.

That’s why many marketing teams switch to Octopus CRM competitors, such as Expandi, We-Connect, MeetAlfred, LinkedHelper, Dux-Soup or Zopto.

Here’s why many users consider Expandi as the best Octopus CRM alternative, among other benefits:

• Cloud-based – While Octopus CRM comes only as a Chrome extension, Expandi is a modern, cloud-based automation tool which means it’s much safer and can work in the background even when your devices are turned off.
• Your own dedicated country-based IP address – Octopus CRM for LinkedIn offers only shared IP addresses that can put you at risk of being blocked by LinkedIn. With Expandi, you get your own dedicated IP address so you are in control of domain authority.
• Smart limits – Thanks to smart limits, Expandi mimics genuine user behavior on LinkedIn, which prevents the algorithm to detect that you’re using LinkedIn automation software. Expandi limits the number of messages and requests you can send to new leads at once, with the aim to keep you off the LinkedIn radar.
• Delay between actions – With Expandi, your prospects will never feel like they’re being approached by a chatbot. Thanks to randomized delay between outreach messages, Expandi mimics natural human behavior, which increases your response rates. It’s the most effective way to turn cold prospects into warm leads.
• Auto-warm-up feature – This advanced feature gradually increases your Linkedin use day after day, so that the LinkedIn algorithm can’t detect anything suspicious.

Expandi vs Octopus CRM review

Here’s what users say:

Expandi vs Octopus CRM Feature-by-feature comparisons

Let’s do a quick recap:

• Email automation
  While Octopus CRM can be used only for LinkedIn outreach, Expandi is ideal for multi-channel campaign management and it allows you to integrate advanced email marketing automation.
• Smart sequences
  Octopus CRM allows you to create simple sales funnels, but Expandi goes beyond that with a message sequence that makes sure you send the right message to relevant prospects. The smart sequence feature is all about sending different automated messages based on prospects behavior.
• InMail Messages
  Octopus CRM allows you to send bulk messages only to your Linkedin connections of 1st degree. Expandi enables you to send inMail messages to anyone on LinkedIn, no matter your degree of connection.
• Hyper-personalization
  With Octopus CRM you can send personalized messages to your prospects containing their name, but Expandi is all about next-level hyper-personalization. It’s one of the rare prospecting tools that can create relevant images and GIFs based on prospects data.
• Sales Navigator
  While Octopus CRM can be used only for simple outreach, Expandi is a much better solution for sales teams who want to run the whole sales process through LinkedIn sales navigator.
• API & Integrations
  Both tools support integrations with tools such as HubSpot and Zapier.
• Customer support
  Both tools provide customer support, at Octopus CRM you can get support through email, Expandi support team is present on more platforms. Our team is open to your suggestions and we’re always working on adding new features.
• Price
  Octopus CRM pricing starts at $6.9 and you can choose from four monthly plans with limited features: Starter ($6.99), Pro ($9.99), Advanced ($14.99) and Unlimited ($24.99). Expandi costs $99 per month, but you can try it for free for seven days.

	Expandi	Octopus CRM
Price	$99	$6.99 – $24.99
Cloud-based / Dedicated IP address	Yes	No
Smart sequences	Yes	No
Email automation	Yes	No
LinkedIn post engagement	Yes	No
LinkedIn Event capabilities	Yes	No
InMail	Yes	No
Sales Navigator / Recruiter	Yes	No
Customer success manager	Yes, for Partners	No
Customer support	Multiple channels	Email
Auto warm-up and randomization to mimic human behavior	Yes	No
API & Integrations	Yes	Yes
Hyper-personalization	Yes	No
Whitelabel	Yes	No

Conclusion

Choosing the right LinkedIn automation tool depends on your needs. If you want to automate multiple campaigns, combine LinkedIn and email outreach and highly personalize every message, we’ve got you covered.

Sign up here to access the #1 LinkedIn automation tool that will replace multiple tools you used before.