Warmy Alternative: Free Warm-Up vs Warmy From $49/month

If you want a Warmy alternative mainly for price, the visible difference is $49/month versus $0: Warmy starts from $49/month, while BobWork Email Warm-up is free for up to 20 mailboxes. If you ignore pool type and Outlook support, you may switch to the wrong tool. This guide compares cost, network model, limits, and fit.

Warmy and BobWork handle warm-up in different ways. Warmy uses a large shared network. BobWork also runs a shared network by default, and lets you switch an account to a private pool made only from your own connected mailboxes.

That difference matters more than the price line. Shared networks suit teams that want outside mailbox diversity. Private pools suit teams that do not want their addresses exchanged with strangers’ inboxes.

No warm-up tool guarantees inbox placement. Deliverability still depends on authentication, sender reputation, complaint rate, content, list quality, and real sending behaviour.

Prices were read on 3 October 2026 from the vendor’s pricing page. Check the current vendor page before you buy.

How do Warmy and BobWork compare?

Warmy’s pricing page shows plans “from $49/month”. It also shows a 7-day trial with no card, a shared network of “1M+ real mailboxes”, and support for “any ESP” with 35+ listed providers.

The tier prices were not readable on the pricing page. Daily warm-up volume is not stated on their pricing page. Mailbox limit is also not stated on their pricing page.

BobWork is simpler. It is free, has no credit card, has no time limit, and allows up to 20 mailboxes per account. The trade-off is that Outlook and Microsoft 365 are not supported yet.

The table hides one practical detail. If you switch a BobWork account to Private pool, you need at least two mailboxes, because they warm each other and nobody else’s inbox receives your addresses.

Warmy’s shared network is the opposite model. Your mailbox exchanges warm-up with the vendor’s network. That can be useful if you want a large pool without bringing extra mailboxes.

If you are still choosing the model, read this guide to an email warm-up network. It explains what pools do, where they help, and where they cannot fix poor sending.

When is Warmy the better fit?

Warmy has clear advantages for some teams. The biggest one is Outlook.

Warmy lists Outlook support. BobWork does not support Outlook or Microsoft 365 yet. If your sending stack is mostly Microsoft 365, Warmy is the better fit today.

Warmy also lists a much larger network. Its pricing page says “1M+ real mailboxes”. BobWork does not use a shared network. It uses only the mailboxes inside your own account.

That shared model may suit teams that want warm-up diversity without adding their own secondary mailboxes. Private pools, by contrast, need at least two mailboxes.

Warmy lists broad provider coverage. Its pricing page says “any ESP” and 35+ listed providers, including Gmail, Outlook, Zoho, SES, Mailgun, and SendGrid.

BobWork covers many common setups, but not Outlook. It supports Gmail and Google Workspace, Zoho Mail, Lark Mail, Yahoo Mail, iCloud Mail, Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, and any IMAP+SMTP mailbox.

The trial is also useful. Warmy lists a 7-day trial with no card. If you want to evaluate its shared network before paying, that is a low-friction test.

Stay with Warmy if Outlook support, a shared network, or its listed provider breadth is more important than a permanent free plan.

When does the free option fit?

BobWork fits best when your main requirements are cost, privacy, and visible warm-up behaviour.

The price is simple. It is free, with no credit card and no time limit. One account can connect up to 20 mailboxes.

The pool can be private. Switch the account to Private pool and only mailboxes in your account send warm-up mail to each other; by default they warm in the shared network.

The private option works best when you control several mailboxes. With one mailbox, stay on the shared network.

BobWork also shows the warm-up rules rather than hiding them. The ramp starts at 3 emails per day. It adds 2 per day. It caps at 30 per day by default.

You can edit the cap per mailbox, up to 100. During campaigns, the recommended practice is to keep warm-up at 10–15 per day and keep real outreach at 30–50 per day per mailbox.

Sends are spread across 09:00–18:00 in the mailbox’s own time zone. The engine decides every 15 minutes with randomness. A pair never writes to each other twice within 3 hours.

Peers on a different domain or provider are picked twice as often. About 40% of received warm-up mail gets a reply. Threads end after 3 messages.

The content is plain office talk. It uses 40 openers, 16 replies, and 6 closers. Messages are plain text, with no links, no images, and first-name greetings.

The rescue behaviour is narrow. Warm-up mail found in Spam is moved to Inbox, marked read, labelled “Warm-up”, and archived after 24 hours.

Only mail carrying the engine’s own hidden header is touched. For Zoho API senders, the engine can also recognise a known subject. Real mail is never read, moved, or answered.

The metrics are direct. BobWork measures spam landings inside the receiving mailbox. It does not use third-party seed lists.

A mailbox becomes ready for outbound after 14+ days warming, a 7-day spam rate of 3% or lower, and at least 30 warm-up emails received.

For exact ramp details, see the engine behaviour. If this is your first setup, the first-time warm-up guide explains what should change during the first two weeks.

What will 1, 5, or 20 mailboxes cost?

Warmy is volume-based, and the readable pricing starts from $49/month. Because tier prices were not readable on the page, do not treat the table below as a full quote for larger sending teams.

Use it as a minimum visible cost comparison. The actual Warmy cost for 5 or 20 mailboxes depends on the current plan limits and volume tier.

The biggest cost difference appears when you have several mailboxes. BobWork stays free up to 20 mailboxes per account. Warmy’s visible starting price matters only if that tier covers your required volume.

Cost is not the only factor. If you need Outlook, Warmy wins today. If you need a shared network with 1M+ real mailboxes, Warmy also wins.

If you want free warm-up for Gmail, Zoho, Yahoo, iCloud, Lark, SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, or IMAP+SMTP, BobWork is usually the cheaper test.

You can also use the warm-up schedule generator before switching. It helps you plan ramp speed against your real outbound volume.

Who should not switch?

Do not switch from Warmy to BobWork if Outlook support is required now. BobWork does not support Outlook or Microsoft 365 yet.

Do not switch if you specifically want a shared network. Warmy’s pricing page lists 1M+ real mailboxes. BobWork does not publish a size claim; the live count is on the dashboard.

Do not switch if your team wants one vendor for “any ESP” coverage. Warmy’s pricing page lists 35+ providers. BobWork covers many common providers, but not every buying case.

One mailbox is enough on BobWork’s shared network; only its private-pool mode needs two.

Do not switch only because a tool is free. Switch when the free model matches your setup: supported mailboxes and no Outlook requirement.

How do you switch safely?

Do not stop one tool and start another at full speed on the same day. Warm-up works best when changes are gradual.

1. List your mailboxes

Confirm that your accounts are supported. If you want a private pool, you need at least two.

2. Check DNS first

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC should exist before you judge warm-up results. You can use the free SPF checker, DKIM checker, and DMARC checker.

For general sender requirements, use primary provider guidance. Google asks bulk senders to keep spam complaints low, with a reported spam rate below 0.1% and never at or above 0.3% in Postmaster Tools. See Google’s email sender guidelines.

Yahoo also publishes sender requirements for authentication and complaint control. Use Yahoo’s sender requirements when you send to Yahoo or AOL inboxes.

3. Connect each mailbox

BobWork uses sign-in with an email code, so there is no account password.

For Gmail and Google Workspace, you can use Google sign-in with the gmail.modify scope. Google shows an unverified-app notice because BobWork has not done the CASA audit. You can also connect by IMAP with an app password. Google documents Gmail API scopes in its Gmail API authorization guide.

For Zoho Mail, you can use the Zoho Mail API through a Self Client code. This works on the free plan. Zoho documents the Self Client flow in its OAuth Self Client guide. You can also use IMAP on Mail Lite and above.

For Lark Mail, use IMAP plus a mail-client password. For Yahoo Mail and iCloud Mail, use IMAP plus an app password.

For Amazon SES, SendGrid, and Mailgun, use the platform’s SMTP credentials for sending and a receiving inbox over IMAP. If you use SendGrid, this SendGrid warm-up guide gives the practical setup path.

4. Let the ramp start low

BobWork starts at 3 emails per day and adds 2 per day. The default cap is 30 per day. Weekends run at 30%.

Do not increase real outreach because the warm-up graph looks active. Use 14 days for an existing domain. Use 3–4 weeks for a new domain.

During live campaigns, keep warm-up at 10–15 per day. Keep real outreach at 30–50 per day per mailbox. Add mailboxes rather than forcing more volume through one inbox.

5. Watch spam rate

BobWork defines spam rate as the share of a sender’s warm-up mail that receiving mailboxes found in Spam over 7 days.

A health score of 85 or higher is Healthy. A score from 60 to 84 is Watch. Below 60 is At risk. Blocked means login or permission failed.

Pause a mailbox for a few days if its spam rate goes above 5%. Fix authentication, content, list quality, and sending pattern before increasing volume again.

The free pool does this step automatically: it sends, replies, rescues its own warm-up mail from Spam, labels it, and archives it after 24 hours. You still need to control real outbound volume.

If your emails already land in spam, read why emails go to spam before blaming the warm-up tool. Warm-up cannot fix bad lists, misleading content, or missing authentication.

What should you do now?

Use this checklist before you cancel, pause, or replace anything. It prevents two common mistakes: switching without enough mailboxes and judging results before the domain has enough data.

A fair switch is not “Warmy bad, free good”. It is a fit decision.

Use Warmy if you need Outlook, a large shared network, or the provider coverage shown on its pricing page. Use BobWork if you want free warm-up, with a shared network or a private pool, for Gmail, Zoho, Yahoo, iCloud, Lark, SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, or IMAP+SMTP.

If that second case is yours, connect two mailboxes in the free warm-up tool, let the ramp run, and wait for the ready signal before increasing real outreach.

Frequently asked questions