If you’re deciding between in house vs outsourced SDR teams, this guide gives you real 2025 numbers on costs, ramp time, tool stacks, and cost-per-meeting so you can pick the best ROI model.
TL;DR
- In‑house SDR typically costs $9,800–$14,200 per month per productive rep once you include compensation, employer burden, tool stack, data, management, and enablement.
- Fully‑loaded time to first pipeline is usually 3–4 months after hire due to recruiting, onboarding, and ramp.
- Outsourced SDR provides immediate capacity with predictable pricing (usually $3,000–$8,000/mo per dedicated SDR equivalent or pay‑per‑meeting models) and skips internal hiring/enablement overhead.
- In steady state, internal teams can win on control and institutional knowledge; outsourced teams win on speed‑to‑pipeline, predictability, and lower variance.
In House vs Outsourced SDR Costs: What’s Included
- A realistic budget must include:
- Cash compensation (base + variable/OTE)
- Employer burden (payroll taxes, benefits, insurance)
- Hiring & onboarding (recruiting time/fees, training content, certifications)
- Management (SDR Manager, enablement time, QA/coaching)
- Tooling & data (sales engagement, CRM, Sales Navigator, data/intent, conversation intelligence, dialer)
- Sales ops & marketing support (list building, segmentation, landing pages, tracking, reporting)
- Ramp & attrition drag (months of sub‑productivity + backfill time)
Benchmark assumptions for 2025 (used in the model below)
These are conservative, mid‑market SaaS/tech assumptions for North America. Adjust up/down for geography and ACV.
- SDR base: $30,000–$65,000
- OTE (base + variable): $75,000–$90,000
- Employer burden (payroll taxes + healthcare/benefits): 25%–35% of base (we’ll model 30%)
- Ramp to full productivity: 3–4 months
- Manager span of control: 8 SDRs per manager
- Hiring cost (ads, recruiter fees, interview time): $4,000–$8,000 per hire
- Enablement (playbooks, certifications, LMS, QA tooling): $100–$200 per rep per month (amortized)
- Sales engagement platform: $110–$165 per user/month
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator: $100–$180 per user/month
- CRM seat (Sales Hub/Salesforce tier): $100–$150 per user/month
- Data provider (ZoomInfo/Apollo tier blended): $80–$300 per user/month (heavily varies by contract; we’ll model $200)
- Conversation intelligence: $115–$135 per user/month + a small platform fee (amortized)
- Dialer/meetings/other: $50–$120 per user/month (parallel dialer, booking, enrichment add‑ons)
In House vs Outsourced SDR: Monthly TCO per Productive Rep
This in house vs outsourced SDR analysis shows the fully loaded monthly TCO per productive rep.
| Cost bucket | Low | Typical | High |
| Cash compensation (monthly, OTE/12) | $6,250 | $7,500 | $8,750 |
| Employer burden (≈30% of base prorated) | $1,375 | $1,650 | $1,900 |
| Tooling & data (SEE stack below) | $475 | $700 | $1,000 |
| Enablement/QA (amortized) | $100 | $150 | $200 |
| Management allocation (1 mgr/8 SDRs @ $150k OTE) | $1,250 | $1,560 | $1,875 |
| Sales Ops/Marketing support allocation | $300 | $450 | $650 |
| Estimated monthly TCO per productive SDR | $9,750 | $12,010 | $14,425 |
Note: TCO per productive SDR excludes ramp. In the first 3–4 months, assume 50–70% productivity and add $2–$4k per month of efficiency loss per seat in your pipeline model.
Typical SDR Tool Stack for In House vs Outsourced Teams
- Sales engagement: $110–$165
- Sales Navigator: $100–$180
- CRM seat (Sales Hub Pro/Ent or SFDC Enterprise slice): $100–$150
- Data/intent (blended): $80–$300
- Conversation intelligence: $115–$135 (+ small platform fee amortized)
- Dialer + meeting + enrichment add‑ons: $50–$120
Blended tool stack: ~$475–$1,000 per SDR/month depending on contracts and seat counts.
Hidden Costs Most In House vs Outsourced SDR Comparisons Miss
- Backfill tax: SDR annual attrition can blow a 2–3 month hole in coverage. Even a 60‑day vacancy across an 8‑rep pod is a full‑time seat lost each year.
- Manager bandwidth: Real coaching (call reviews, 1:1s, certification) is 6–8 hrs/SDR/month. Without it, quality (and brand) suffers.
- Marketing dependency: Outbound isn’t purely outbound. SDRs need clean ICP targeting, domains/warmup, assets, UTM rigor, and landing pages.
- Data decay: 2–3%/month. Stale data inflates cost/meeting quickly if not refreshed.
- Meeting quality control: Poor qualification can double AE no‑shows and waste pipeline.
Outsourced SDR Economics (In House vs Outsourced Cost Gap)
Common models:
- Dedicated SDR (retainer): $3,000–$6,500/month per SDR‑equivalent with strategy, ops, tooling, data, QA included.
- Pay‑per‑meeting: $175–$350 per qualified meeting (higher for strict ICP/MQA definitions).
- Hybrid: Modest retainer + outcome pricing to align incentives.
Advantages
- Speed‑to‑pipeline: Live in 2–4 weeks with tested playbooks and infrastructure.
- Predictable unit economics: Contracted CPM (cost per meeting) and hold‑rate SLAs.
- Operational leverage: Data, tooling, and ops included (no vendor wrangling or long procurement cycles).
Trade‑offs
- Less internal knowledge capture unless you run a structured playbook handoff.
- You’ll want quarterly alignment on ICP, messaging, and conversion definitions.
In House vs Outsourced SDR: Cost-Per-Meeting Math
Scenario | Inputs | Result |
Internal SDR at steady state | $12,010/mo TCO; 12 held meetings/month | $1,000/held meeting |
Internal SDR (ramp months 1–3) | $12,010/mo TCO; 6–8 held meetings/month | $1,500–$2,000/held |
Outsourced retainer | $6,000/mo; 12–16 held/month | $375–$500/held |
Pay‑per‑meeting | $250 per held meeting | $250/held |
Your mileage will vary by ACV, TAM depth, and brand. The key is to model held meetings (not just booked) and to track pipeline converted from those meetings.
When to Build In-House vs Outsourced SDR Teams
Choose in‑house when:
- You have a seasoned enablement/ops function and a manager ready to coach.
- You’re optimizing for long‑term institutional knowledge, vertical expertise, and tight handoffs to AEs/CS.
- You’ve locked ICP, messaging, and targeting and can feed reps consistent lists and warm signals.
Choose outsourced when:
- You need pipeline now (new segment, new region, post‑funding quarterly targets).
- You lack internal enablement/ops bandwidth and don’t want to procure/manage 6–8 vendors.
- You want a cap‑on‑cost with flexible scale up/down.
Decision Framework: In House vs Outsourced SDR
For most teams, the in house vs outsourced SDR choice hinges on speed-to-pipeline vs. control and knowledge capture.
Score each dimension 1–5 and pick the higher total.
Dimension | In‑House | Outsourced |
Speed‑to‑pipeline needed in next 90 days | 1 | 5 |
Enablement + ops maturity | 5 | 2 |
Budget flexibility (vendor vs. headcount) | 2 | 5 |
Manager bandwidth for coaching | 3 | 5 |
Need for domain expertise capture | 5 | 3 |
Data/tooling procurement appetite | 2 | 5 |
Implementation Checklist for In House vs Outsourced SDR Teams
Targets & data
- Define ICP (industry, size, tech, triggers). Build a 90‑day target map.
- Contract for data refresh cadence; enforce enrichment on upload.
Messaging & channels
- 3–5 talk tracks; 2 CTAs (low friction + high intent).
- Omni‑channel: phone + email + LinkedIn. Parallel dialing for speed; reply‑time SLAs.
Measurement
- Booked→Held conversion, pipeline per held, win rate, CAC payback.
- Incentives aligned to held meetings and pipeline created, not just dials or replies.
Governance
- Weekly QA on calls/emails.
- Bi‑weekly TAM/ICP refresh.
- Quarterly playbook update and rep certification.
The Bottom Line on In House vs Outsourced SDR
If you already have a mature revenue engine, in‑house SDRs compound value over time. If you’re earlier‑stage, capacity‑constrained, or entering a new market, outsourced SDRs deliver pipeline faster and at a lower and more predictable cost per held meeting.
If you want a no‑fluff view tailored to your numbers (ACV, win rate, sales cycle), drop your metrics and we’ll plug them into this model to tell you—exactly—where the break‑even sits.
Appendix: Swap‑in numbers for your org
Use these placeholders to customize the model.
- Base: ______ OTE: ______ Employer burden: ____%
- Ramp months: ______ Target held meetings/month: ______
- Tool contracts (per seat/month): Engagement ___ CRM ___ Sales Nav ___ Data ___ CI ___ Dialer ___
- Manager OTE: ______ Span: ______ Ops/Marketing allocation per SDR: ______
- Outsourced options from vendors: Retainer ___ CPM (held) ___ SLA (hold‑rate) ___
**Sources**
1. Glassdoor – SDR Salary Data 2025. https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/sdr-salary-SRCH_KO0,3.htm
2. The Bridge Group – SDR Ramp Time Benchmarks. https://www.bridgegroupinc.com/blog/sdr-ramp-time
3. LinkedIn Sales Navigator Pricing. https://business.linkedin.com/sales-solutions/sales-navigator/pricing
4. Salesloft Pricing. https://salesloft.com/pricing/
5. Outreach Pricing. https://www.outreach.io/pricing
6. ZoomInfo Pricing. https://www.zoominfo.com/business/pricing
7. Apollo Pricing. https://www.apollo.io/pricing
8. Gong Pricing. https://www.gong.io/pricing/
Bottom line: your in house vs outsourced SDR decision should be driven by cost-per-meeting, hold rate, and how fast you need pipeline.
