Artisan made its name with a billboard campaign telling companies to stop hiring humans. Its product, Ava 2.0, is more careful than the slogan: autonomy you switch on stage by stage.
Key Takeaways
- Rebuilt for enterprise in May 2026. — Ava 2.0 runs outbound end to end, with approval gates at every stage and escalation rules for when a human steps in.
- Data included. — 250M+ B2B contacts, 130M local businesses, waterfall enrichment across 22+ sources, intent signals and website visitor identification.
- Credit-based, custom pricing. — Artisan moved to pay-for-use credits with prices set per team, motion and volume.
What does Artisan do?
Ava runs outbound from prospect research to booked meetings. Ava 2.0, launched on May 26, 2026 as a ground-up rebuild, adds approval gates at every stage and escalation rules that decide when a human is pulled in; Artisan suggests starting with approvals on and widening autonomy as results come in (Artisan).
It brings its own data, 250M+ verified B2B contacts and 130M local businesses with waterfall enrichment across 22+ sources and intent signals such as funding rounds and leadership changes, plus email sequences, a built-in dialer, rep tasks, Slack notifications, US person-level website visitor identification and Salesforce and HubSpot integration. Artisan names SumUp, CookUnity, Quora and Informa as customers and says its largest deployment runs Ava across more than 1,000 reps.
How does Artisan score?
Editorial scores from published documentation, pricing pages and announcements through October 31, 2026, not results from running the product. Total: 14/20, on the same criteria as the Best AI SDR Tools guide.
| Criterion | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Autonomy | 4/5 | Research through booked meetings, with autonomy expanded as results come in. |
| Control | 4/5 | Approval gates at every stage and escalation rules; start with approvals on. |
| Reach | 4/5 | 250M+ contacts, 22+ enrichment sources, email, dialer, visitor ID, Salesforce and HubSpot. |
| Access | 2/5 | Custom credit pricing; no published prices. |
How is Artisan priced?
Ava 2.0 introduced credit-based pricing: teams pay for what they use, with prices set per team, motion and volume. No price list is published, so get a quote that states the credit cost per contact and per call. Artisan raised a $25 million Series A in April 2025 (TechCrunch).
Who is Artisan for?
- Fits: mid-market and enterprise revenue teams that want an autonomous BDR but need to approve its work before trusting it.
- Look elsewhere: if you want published prices (AiSDR, Regie.ai) or agents inside your CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce).
What are the Artisan alternatives?
- 11x: more channels and languages, annual contracts.
- AiSDR: pay per person prospected.
- Amplemarket: sales platform with agents and published starter price.
- Compare: 11x vs Artisan vs AiSDR.
Related questions
- Which AI SDR tools are worth a pilot in 2026?
- 11x, Artisan or AiSDR: which autonomous AI SDR fits?
- What are the consent and data risks of agentic marketing? (partner site CTAIO)
- What does 11x charge for Alice?
Sources
- Artisan, Ava 2.0: Artisan's autonomous AI BDR (May 26, 2026).
- TechCrunch, Artisan raises $25M (Apr 9, 2025).
What is Artisan Ava?
Ava is Artisan's AI BDR (business development representative). It researches prospects, writes and sends outbound sequences, calls through a built-in dialer and books meetings. Ava 2.0, launched in May 2026, rebuilt the product for enterprise teams with approval gates and escalation rules.
How much does Artisan cost?
Artisan uses credit-based pricing where teams pay for what they use, and it sets prices per team, motion and volume. It does not publish a price list.
How much has Artisan raised?
Artisan raised a $25 million Series A led by Glade Brook Capital in April 2025, after a $12 million round in September 2024. Its May 2026 Ava 2.0 announcement cites $36M in venture funding.
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