Compare/Head to head

Honeylead vs Vela

Same facts, side by side: starting price, free tier, MCP, API and what each one is actually built for.

Starting price

Honeylead

$99/mo Free tier 3 day free trial

Business development for recruiting firms built on four daily hiring signals: open senior roles, funding, executive departures and promotions, each delivered with the decision-maker's verified email and LinkedIn profile and a pitch written about that trigger. A free plan gives 25 credits; Starter is $99/mo for 1,750 credits and Pro $199/mo for 3,600, with unlimited users.

Where Honeylead fits

  • Agency recruiters and staffing owners doing their own business development
  • Niche desks that want to reach a hiring manager the week funding lands or a leader leaves
  • Recruiters who sell on LinkedIn and want signal, contact and sequence in one place
  • Firms that want a talent map to open conversations with new clients

Vela

£299/mo

Vela is a young UK company selling AI agents to staffing and recruitment firms that work inside their existing CRM. It cleans contact data first, then runs client business development, long-term nurture and candidate screening from the database you already own. Core starts at £299/month (£239 billed annually) and Sift candidate screening at £1,500/month, in GBP only.

Where Vela fits

  • UK staffing agencies with a large, stale CRM
  • Agencies that want client BD and nurture running without consultant time
  • Firms on JobAdder, Salesforce, Firefish or Bullhorn
  • Agencies that want candidate shortlists built from their own database

At a glance

DetailHoneyleadVela
Starting price$99/mo£299/mo
Free tier✓Yes–No
Free trial3 day free trialNot on record
MCP server✓Yes–No
Public API✓Yes–No
Listed underLead generation, LinkedIn, OutreachAI outreach, Email finders, CRM, AI screening

Where they pull apart

Honeylead

Stands out: The talent map. For any open role it builds a branded live page of the real candidate market for that search, so the first message offers something specific rather than asking for 15 minutes, and the vendor says every name on it is backed by a real profile. Signals, contact, signal-specific copy and the LinkedIn sequence sit in one screen, and the hiring signals can also be queried from Claude through a hosted MCP server.

Watch out: Outreach runs on LinkedIn only; the verified emails are yours to use, but the product does not describe email sequencing. The current pricing page lists credits, searches and users per plan but no longer names LinkedIn sequencing or talent maps, so confirm which plan includes them. Sending through your own LinkedIn profile carries the usual automation risk despite the daily caps and warmup. The changelog only starts in June 2026, and there are no independent reviews yet.

Not the right fit for

  • Teams that run outbound by email and need email sequences
  • In-house talent teams sourcing candidates rather than clients
  • Buyers who want reviews and a long track record before committing

Vela

Stands out: It insists on fixing CRM data before any outreach runs, and its agents share that data so Scout and Pulse skip records Core flags as stale. Sift builds UK Right to Work checks into the AI qualification interview and writes the outcome to the candidate record.

Watch out: Vela launched in May 2026 and says itself it is a young company; the performance figures on its pages are labelled as illustrative, not customer results. Pricing is GBP only, Sift is built for UK agencies, and live integrations are limited to a few CRMs such as JobAdder, Salesforce and Firefish.

Not the right fit for

  • US agencies that need USD billing and US Right to Work checks
  • Firms on a CRM Vela does not yet integrate with

Pros and cons

Honeylead

  • Four hiring signals arrive with a verified decision-maker and signal-specific copy attached
  • Talent maps give the first message something concrete to offer
  • Approval queue, daily caps and reply-stop protect your LinkedIn reputation
  • LinkedIn is the only outreach channel described
  • Paid plans start at $99/mo after a small free allowance
  • New product with no independent reviews

Vela

  • Published GBP prices on rolling monthly terms
  • Data enrichment, client BD and candidate screening built for staffing
  • Consultant approval, suppression and cadence controls on outreach
  • GBP only and focused on UK agencies
  • Launched in 2026 with no published customer results
  • Few live CRM integrations so far

What each one costs

Honeylead

$99/mo

Honeylead has a free plan with 25 one-time credits and 10 searches a month, no card required. Starter is $99/mo with 1,750 credits and 50 searches a month, and Pro is $199/mo with 3,600 credits, 125 searches a month and priority support. Paid plans include unlimited users on one shared credit balance and bill monthly, cancel whenever. A verified work email costs 1 credit and a mobile number 5, charged only when one is found; searching and finding the decision-maker are free. Top-ups are 250 credits for $18 or 1,000 for $62. Confirm current terms on the vendor site.

Checked 4 Nov 2026

Vela

£299/mo

Vela prices each agent separately in GBP on rolling monthly terms, with 20% off for annual billing; no USD price is published. Core (CRM enrichment): Growth £299/month (£239 annually) for 1,000 contacts enriched a month, Scale £799/month (£639 annually) for 3,000, Enterprise custom. Sift (candidate sourcing and screening): Starter £1,500/month (£1,200 annually) for 50 jobs a month, Growth £3,000/month (£2,400 annually) for 150 jobs, Scale £4,000/month (£3,200 annually) for 400 jobs, Enterprise custom. Bundles: Scout plus Pulse from £399/month, Pulse plus Core from £499/month, and the Full BD Suite (Scout, Pulse, Core) from £699/month (£559 annually), with Scale versions at £899, £1,199 and £1,499. Scout and Pulse on their own and the full four-agent platform are quoted. Most firms start with a CRM data assessment and an optional paid 30-day pilot. No free trial is listed. Confirm current terms on the vendor site.

Checked 15 Oct 2026

Common questions

Can you try Honeylead or Vela for free?
Honeylead carries a free tier on our listing. Honeylead offers a 3 day free trial.
Does Honeylead or Vela have an MCP server?
Honeylead ships a first party MCP server, so an AI assistant can work the product directly.

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Editorial listings, never paid rankings. Prices checked 4 Nov 2026. Confirm current terms on the vendor site. Spot an error?