CIENCE Review 2026: Outsourced SDR and Data Pricing and Results

CIENCE sells outsourced SDR teams that run email, phone, and LinkedIn outreach for B2B companies. One SDR. Three channels. Monthly reporting on held meetings, not dials. And unlike most outsourced SDR vendors, CIENCE offers month-to-month contracts with no annual lock-in.

If you are evaluating whether to outsource your SDR function or hire in-house, the math usually comes down to three questions: What does it actually cost? How long before the first meeting? And how do you know if the meetings are any good?

This CIENCE review breaks down the real pricing (including the components they do not advertise clearly), the onboarding process, what their 121+ published case studies actually show about meeting quality, and which B2B teams are most likely to see results.

For comparison, we have also reviewed 11x.ai (AI SDR) and AiSDR (AI-written email sequences) if you are comparing human vs. AI-led outreach.

What Is CIENCE?

CIENCE is a B2B appointment setting company founded in 2015. It provides outsourced SDR teams that run three-channel outreach (email, phone, LinkedIn) on behalf of B2B sales teams. The company claims 2,500+ clients across SaaS, technology, healthcare, financial services, and enterprise verticals.

CIENCE is not an AI SDR platform. The SDRs are human, supported by AI research tools (via their graph8 platform) to personalize outreach. The model is closer to hiring an external sales team than deploying a software tool.

How CIENCE Works

CIENCE runs a four-step process from initial call to live outreach. Here is exactly how a typical engagement unfolds:

1. Discovery call (30 minutes). CIENCE defines your ICP, target verticals, channels, and meeting goals. This call sets the targeting parameters the SDR team will use.
2. List and messaging built. CIENCE builds the prospect list from their in-house database (human-verified contacts) and writes four campaign sequences: buyer intent signals, best-fit accounts, website visitors, and competitor customers. Email sending infrastructure and phone lines are configured with protected domains to protect deliverability.
3. Campaign live in under 14 days. LinkedIn profiles, email accounts, and call scripts are all set up. SDRs are assigned and briefed on the product and ICP.
4. Daily three-channel outreach. SDRs run cold calls, cold emails, and LinkedIn outreach every working day. The graph8 AI platform assists with prospect research and personalization. CIENCE tracks all activity internally.
5. Monthly reporting on held meetings. You receive reporting on meetings held, not on dials made or emails sent. This keeps the incentive structure aligned with pipeline outcomes, not activity metrics.

The held-meetings reporting model is worth noting. Many outsourced inside sales services report on activity (dials, sends, connects) rather than outcomes. CIENCE reports on meetings held — a more honest measure, and harder to game with low-quality outreach volume.

CIENCE Key Features

Three-channel outreach from one SDR

Each CIENCE SDR runs all three channels: cold email, cold calling, and LinkedIn. This is different from vendors that specialize in one channel. For B2B buyers who do not respond to email, the phone follow-up creates a second touch point. LinkedIn adds a third layer, especially useful for senior enterprise buyers.

graph8 platform (included)

The graph8 platform is CIENCE's proprietary outreach infrastructure. It powers email sequencing, call recording, LinkedIn workflows, and AI-assisted prospect research. Each engagement includes 75,000 graph8 credits per month (worth $499 separately). Credits are consumed by prospecting, enrichment, and personalization tasks.

In-house contact database

CIENCE maintains its own B2B contact database, verified by the internal team. This removes reliance on a single third-party data provider, which matters for industries with high contact churn (SaaS, fintech, healthcare). Compared with relying on a single static list, CIENCE's data is refreshed continuously.

For teams that want to augment their contact data independently, see our breakdown of the best B2B data providers for sales teams.

Multiple service lines

CIENCE offers more than outbound appointment setting. The service catalog includes Outbound SDR, Inbound SDR, Local SDR (territory- specific), Scaled Outbound, Telemarketing, cold calling, cold email, and GTM setup. This makes CIENCE usable at different stages of a go-to-market build, not just for early pipeline generation.

SOC 2 Type II compliance

CIENCE holds SOC 2 Type II certification. For enterprise buyers in regulated industries (healthcare, financial services, government), this simplifies vendor security reviews. It is one of the few outsourced SDR vendors that discloses this publicly.

CIENCE Pricing: Plans and What You Actually Pay

CIENCE publishes pricing on their website, but the structure takes some unpacking. There are three mandatory recurring components before you count performance bonuses or the setup fee.

What you actually pay at different scales

CIENCE's published example: five offshore SDRs = $2,000 + $499 + $8,750 = $11,249/month plus bonuses.

A single offshore SDR engagement: $2,000 + $499 + $1,750 = $4,249/month before setup fee and bonuses. For context, a junior in-house SDR in the US costs $50,000–$70,000 per year fully loaded ($4,200–$5,800/month), making CIENCE roughly comparable on cost for offshore, and cheaper than a US SDR hire for a US/Europe SDR engagement.

Performance bonus structure

CIENCE ties SDR bonuses to held-meeting targets. The formula varies by whether the SDR hits 60%, 99%, or 100%+ of their target:

• Below 60% of target: No bonus paid.
• 60%–99% of target: base × % of target × 0.35
• 100%+ of target: base × % of target × 0.7

The variable “base” in the formula is not defined on the pricing page. Get this number in writing before signing — it determines how much you pay if SDRs hit their targets.

Hidden costs to watch

• Setup fee: Amount not disclosed publicly — request it in writing before agreeing to start
• Bonus formula: 'Base' variable is undefined on the pricing page — confirm the number before launch
• Credit overages: 75,000 graph8 credits included; confirm what happens when you exceed the monthly allowance

CIENCE Results: What the Case Studies Show

CIENCE publishes 121+ case studies on their website with specific meeting counts and response rates. This is unusually transparent for the outsourced SDR market, where most vendors share only testimonial quotes without numbers. Here are the most representative results:

The pattern across the published case studies: SaaS and technology companies tend to see 20–60 appointments per month at scale, while companies in niche industries (biotech, industrial) see lower volume but often cite higher meeting quality. Response rates range from 10% to 50%, depending on the industry, offer, and how tightly the ICP was defined.

What the case studies do not tell you

All figures are self-reported by CIENCE and presented as marketing material. Appointment count alone does not measure meeting quality — a held meeting with a wrong-fit prospect is not a pipeline opportunity. Before signing, ask CIENCE for case studies in your specific vertical and deal size range, and ask for the conversion rate from held meeting to qualified opportunity.

Integrations, Data Quality, and Support

CRM and tech stack integrations

CIENCE uses the graph8 platform as its technical backbone. Meetings booked by the SDR team land directly on your team's calendar. CIENCE's website references CRM connectivity but does not publish a specific integration list. Ask your sales rep about Salesforce, HubSpot, and your specific stack before signing.

Contact data quality

CIENCE uses an in-house B2B contact database, human-verified and refreshed regularly. The Okta case study (1M+ contacts enriched at 99.9% accuracy) reflects data work done at enterprise scale. For standard SMB and mid-market engagements, the contact data is built from CIENCE's own database combined with the four campaign types (buyer intent, best-fit, website visitors, competitor customers).

If your team wants to run parallel enrichment independently, our guide to the best SDR tools for prospecting covers the data layer options separately from outreach execution.

Support model

The $2,000/month campaign team fee covers a dedicated campaign manager who runs and adjusts campaigns, reviews SDR work, and delivers monthly held-meeting reports. This is not a self-serve platform — CIENCE is a managed service, so the support layer is built into the engagement structure rather than a separate add-on.

What users say

CIENCE holds a 4.4 average rating across seven review platforms (G2: 4.0, Clutch: 4.4, TrustRadius: 4.3, UpCity: 4.8). Common praise across platforms includes responsive campaign managers, reliable meeting volume, and the flexibility of month-to-month terms. Common criticisms include variability in meeting quality across industries, the undisclosed setup fee, and the complexity of the bonus formula.

Who Should Use CIENCE — and Who Shouldn't

Best fit

• B2B teams that need pipeline within 30 days without hiring and onboarding in-house SDRs
• Companies in SaaS, tech, fintech, or healthcare with deal sizes above $10K ACV
• Teams that want month-to-month flexibility to test outsourced SDR before committing
• Enterprises in regulated industries (SOC 2 Type II compliance simplifies vendor review)
• Companies that want one SDR running email, phone, and LinkedIn rather than managing three tools

Not a good fit

• Budgets under $4K/month — the minimum viable engagement (1 offshore SDR + team + platform) runs $4,249/month before setup
• Teams that need AI-only, fully automated outreach without human SDRs in the loop
• Companies with very narrow ICPs (10–50 target accounts) where volume-based outreach models underperform
• Teams that need a self-serve trial before committing — CIENCE is sales-led, no free trial or self-serve access

CIENCE Alternatives

If CIENCE is not the right fit, here are the vendors most commonly compared against it in the outsourced SDR space:

See our full breakdown of B2B sales outsourcing companies for a broader comparison including pipeline output data.

CIENCE Pros and Cons

Pros

• Month-to-month contract — no annual lock-in (rare in the outsourced SDR market)
• 121+ public case studies with specific meeting counts and response rates
• Three-channel outreach from one SDR (email, phone, LinkedIn)
• In-house contact database, human-verified
• Fast onboarding — campaigns live in under 14 days
• SOC 2 Type II compliance for enterprise and regulated industries

Cons

• Setup fee not published — must request the amount through sales before signing
• Performance bonus formula uses an undefined 'base' variable — confirm this number explicitly
• Minimum viable engagement starts at ~$4,249/month (before setup fee)
• Meeting quality varies by ICP — niche industries and complex sales cycles can see inconsistent results
• No self-serve trial or transparent access before committing

Final Verdict

CIENCE is a strong choice for B2B teams that need pipeline quickly without in-house SDR hiring. The month-to-month contract is a genuine differentiator — most outsourced SDR vendors require 6–12 month commitments before you can assess results. The 14-day onboarding, three-channel coverage from one SDR, and 121+ published case studies with real numbers put CIENCE among the more transparent vendors in the market.

The caveats matter. The setup fee is not published and must be negotiated. The performance bonus formula has an undefined variable. Meeting quality varies considerably by industry and ICP quality — the case studies show strong results in SaaS, tech, and financial services, but teams with narrow verticals or complex buying committees may see lower volume. The minimum spend of ~$4,249/month before setup means this is not a tool for bootstrapped teams with sub-$5K outbound budgets.

For teams choosing between CIENCE and an AI SDR platform like 11x.ai: CIENCE offers human judgment in the outreach loop, faster onboarding, published pricing, and flexible contracts. 11x.ai offers full automation and scales without headcount, but requires enterprise commitment and has no trial access. For most early mid-market teams, CIENCE's transparency and flexibility make it the lower-risk starting point.

Compare more options in our guide to the top AI sales rep tools for B2B.