Belkins vs Upcall: Which Should You Use for B2B Lead Generation? (2026)
- Cormac Repman
- 38 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Belkins vs Upcall: The Quick Answer
Belkins makes sense if you want a generalist agency that handles lead generation, research, and appointment setting across multiple industries. Upcall is built for companies that want dedicated US-based callers doing outbound phone work specifically. Both charge retainers, which means you're paying for activity rather than outcomes. If you're only willing to pay for booked meetings, neither is the right fit.
What Does Belkins Do?
Belkins is a B2B lead generation and appointment-setting agency that operates as a full-service outbound shop. They handle the entire pipeline: prospecting lists, research, email outreach, cold calling, and meeting booking. Belkins positions itself as a flexible solution for companies across industries and use cases, whether you're looking to fill your sales pipeline or validate a new market segment. They employ a combination of automated prospecting tools and human SDRs to execute campaigns, and they offer some degree of customization around your target audience.
The appeal of Belkins is the "done-for-you" model. You don't have to think about list building, sequencing, call scripts, or follow-up workflows. You define the target, they execute. This works well if you want to outsource the entire function without managing individual campaigns.
What Does Upcall Do?
Upcall is a dedicated cold-calling service built around US-based phone callers. Their model is simpler and more focused: you provide leads or lists, Upcall's team calls them, and they log call outcomes and schedule meetings when they land. They emphasize the quality and reliability of their calling team and provide transparency through call recordings and reporting.
Upcall does not include email outreach, LinkedIn messaging, or multi-touch sequencing. It is telephone-first and telephone-focused. If your model is "success comes from volume and caller quality," Upcall aligns with that assumption. If you believe outbound works better with email sequences, social touch, and layered campaigns, Upcall will feel limiting.
Pricing Compared
How much does Belkins cost?
Belkins uses a retainer-based pricing model. Your cost is typically structured around the volume and complexity of your target market and the level of customization in your campaign. Like most agencies, they bundle research, calling, email, and booking into a monthly fee. You're paying for activity and capacity, not for meetings booked or outcomes delivered. Exact pricing depends on the scope of your campaign and the size of your target account list, so get a custom quote from their sales team.
How much does Upcall cost?
Upcall also operates on a retainer model. You pay a monthly fee that covers a certain number of call minutes or a dedicated caller allocation. The more hours of calling or calling minutes you need, the higher your retainer. Like Belkins, you're paying for activity capacity, not per result. The advantage is price predictability. The disadvantage is you're paying whether the calls produce meetings or not.
Feature and Capability Comparison
| Feature | Belkins | Upcall |
|---------|---------|--------|
| Prospecting and list building | Yes | No (you supply lists) |
| Email outreach | Yes | No |
| Cold calling | Yes | Yes |
| LinkedIn outreach | Yes | No |
| Multi-touch sequencing | Yes | No |
| Booking meetings | Yes | Yes |
| Call recordings | Limited | Yes |
| Industry specialization | Generalist | Generalist |
| Customizable campaigns | Yes | Limited |
| Pricing model | Retainer | Retainer |
| Performance-based option | No | No |
| Transparent reporting | Variable | Yes |
Belkins strengths: Full-stack outbound execution, multi-channel campaigns, list sourcing and research, customizable for different industries and buyer personas.
Belkins gaps: Retainer locks in cost regardless of performance, generalist approach means no deep expertise in your specific market, campaign results depend on their SDR quality and attention to your account.
Upcall strengths: Dedicated US-based callers, transparent call recordings, specialized in the phone-calling function, straightforward reporting on call activity and outcomes.
Upcall gaps: Phone-only limits your reach and credibility (many B2B buyers don't answer cold calls), no list sourcing or research, no email or social sequencing to increase hit rates, retainer model means you pay even if calls don't convert.
Which Should You Choose?
Choose Belkins if...
You want a single vendor handling your entire outbound process from research through meeting booking. You have an undefined or broad ICP and need flexibility to test different segments. You believe multi-touch campaigns (email, phone, LinkedIn) convert better than phone-only. You have a larger budget and prefer to outsource campaign management completely.
Choose Upcall if...
You already have clean, qualified lead lists and only need the calling function. You believe your market responds primarily to phone outreach. You want transparency through call recordings and call logging. You want to keep costs lower by only paying for calling minutes rather than full-service agency fees.
Choose neither if...
You only want to pay for actual results (meetings booked), not for activity, effort, or retainer capacity. You operate in a specialized vertical like fintech or insurtech where generic outsourced calling underperforms. You need a strategic partner who understands your business, not just a vendor executing campaigns. You want fractional access to a CRO or sales operations leader, not just execution.
The Third Option Nobody Mentions
Here's what Belkins and Upcall have in common: they both charge retainers. You pay monthly regardless of whether you book five meetings or fifty. This aligns their incentives with activity, not outcomes. They win by staying busy. You win by closing deals.
The traditional agency model made sense when outbound had no other option. Now it doesn't. Nurturance operates on a different model: you only pay for qualified meetings booked. No retainer. No seats. No monthly commitment.
Nurturance focuses on fintech, insurtech, and B2B SaaS buyers where complex solutions and skeptical prospects mean generic cold calling fails. We use real SDRs (not dialers), transparent call recordings (like Upcall), multi-touch campaigns (like Belkins), and fractional CRO management (neither option offers this) to drive outcomes. You get access to a managed outbound program with zero upfront cost and zero risk if the program underperforms.
We're built for founders, VPs of Sales, and revenue leaders who are tired of retainer waste and want to pay for performance. Meetings cost a fixed rate, and you scale up or down based on what works.
The Bottom Line
Belkins is the stronger all-around tool for full-service outbound when you need research, multiple channels, and campaign management. Upcall is better if you want to keep costs down and focus purely on calling with proven SDRs.
But if you're a fintech or insurtech company running a go-to-market motion where outcomes matter more than activity, neither is built for your reality. A retainer model assumes you'll stay patient for months while an agency finds your best-fit leads and learns your market. Pay-per-meeting eliminates that assumption.
For specialization, outcomes, and alignment, Nurturance is the third option. The one that actually wins when you win.
