ROCKETSHIP(405) 873-9151

Alternative comparison · updated August 2026

Before you post the job:
what an SDR actually costs.

Median base pay for a sales development rep is around $60,000 with median on-target earnings near $85,000. Loaded with benefits, payroll taxes, tools, data and a share of management time, industry research puts the real annual figure between $110,000 and $160,000 — and about 5.5 months passes before they reach full quota productivity. Rocketship runs the first-touch and reply-handling half of that job from $24.99 a month, starting the day you sign up. The half it does not do is the half you should hire for.

Disclosure: Rocketship publishes this page. SDR compensation and ramp figures come from published 2026 research by RepVue, Visdum, SalesHive, Martal and Trellus. Ranges vary widely by market and seniority — treat them as benchmarks, not a quote.

Year-one costROCKETSHIP — $299/yr on Launch ($24.99/mo)an SDR — $110,000-$160,000 fully loaded (SalesHive, Martal)
Time to first outputROCKETSHIP — Same dayan SDR — ~3.2 months to first qualified meeting (Trellus)
Time to full productivityROCKETSHIP — Same dayan SDR — ~5.5 months (Trellus)
Hours workedROCKETSHIP — 24/7, including the 11pm Sunday replyan SDR — Business hours, one timezone
Writes and sends outreachROCKETSHIP — Yes, personalised per lead from your own Gmailan SDR — Yes
Reads and answers repliesROCKETSHIP — Yes, unsupervisedan SDR — Yes, and better on the hard ones
Books meetingsROCKETSHIP — Yes, into your real calendaran SDR — Yes
Answers the callbackROCKETSHIP — Yes, 24/7 AI voice on your existing numberan SDR — Only while at their desk
Judgment in a live conversationROCKETSHIP — Noan SDR — Yes — this is what you are buying
Reads the market back to youROCKETSHIP — Reports activity, not insightan SDR — Yes, and it compounds
Turnover riskROCKETSHIP — Nonean SDR — ~40%/yr, $15,500-$43,000 to replace
Scales byROCKETSHIP — Changing a planan SDR — Hiring again, and ramping again

The cost math

The salary is the smallest line. Median base sits near $60,000 and median OTE near $85,000 per RepVue and Visdum, but the number that leaves your account adds benefits and payroll taxes at roughly 25 to 30 percent, $3,000 to $9,000 a year in tools and data, a slice of the manager time it takes to run a rep, and the recruiting bill. SalesHive and Martal both land between $110,000 and $160,000.

Then there is the part no spreadsheet models: you pay all of it during ramp. Trellus benchmarks put first qualified meeting at about 3.2 months and full quota productivity at about 5.5 months, with reported quota attainment between 60 and 80 percent. With annual turnover around 40 percent, a meaningful share of teams restart that clock before it ever finishes.

Against that, $24.99 a month is not really a price comparison, it is a different category of decision. The honest framing is not that software replaces the rep. It is that first touches and reply handling are volume work with a right answer, and paying six figures for volume work before you have proven the message is the most common way a seed-stage sales budget disappears.

When an SDR is the right choice

  • — You already have more conversations than you can handle, and you are losing them. That is a judgment problem, and judgment is what a person is for.
  • — Your buying process is complex or political and needs someone who can change tack mid-sentence.
  • — You want a first sales hire who will later build and run the team. Do not compare that to software.
  • — You need someone reading the market back to the company, not just working the list.

When Rocketship is the right choice

  • — Nobody knows you exist yet. That is a volume problem, and volume is what software is for.
  • — You have not proven which message works, and you would rather learn that for $25 a month than $130,000 a year.
  • — Replies arrive at nights and weekends, and right now they wait until Monday.
  • — Prospects call the number in your signature and nobody picks up.
  • — You want to hand your first sales hire a working playbook instead of asking them to invent one while they ramp.

The comparison that settles it: a phone call.

Sophie is on the line right now. Ask her the hardest question your front desk got this week.

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