The Valley Alternative for Small Teams in 2026
ZenMode is a Valley alternative that does the same three jobs, finding people from LinkedIn buying signals, writing the message and sending it from your LinkedIn account, on a flat plan: $49 a month for one LinkedIn account with Signals credits included, $99 for three. Valley's Starter plan is $199 a seat a month, one LinkedIn account per seat. Signals is included on every plan except Novice.
By Jonathan Lis, Founder, ZenMode Ltd · Updated November 2026 (facts checked 3 November 2026)
TL;DR
ZenMode is the Valley alternative for founders and small teams: it finds people from LinkedIn signals, writes a message that reacts to the signal and sends it from your LinkedIn account, from $49 a month with 300 credits included, or $99 for three LinkedIn accounts. Valley does the same jobs from $199 a seat a month ($149 billed quarterly), one LinkedIn account per seat, with credits on top for finding new prospects, so three accounts on its Starter plan are $597 a month. Stay with Valley if you need LinkedIn profile viewers, job changes or email sending, which ZenMode does not do (facts checked on joinvalley.co on 3 November 2026).
The verdict
If you are weighing Valley mainly on price, ZenMode is the cheaper way to get LinkedIn signals, written messages and sending in one tool: $99 a month covers three LinkedIn accounts with 600 credits, where Valley's Starter plan is $597 a month for three seats before credits. Valley is the stronger choice for a sales team that wants the widest signal list, including profile viewers and job changes, research on every lead and email on its Plus plan. Signals is included on every plan except Novice.
How we compared these tools
We compare on what you can check yourself: where a tool runs, what it costs, what it does and does not do, and what its users say in public. Prices and plan names come from each vendor's own pricing page, read most recently on 24 October 2026. Two needed care. Meet Alfred's returned HTTP 403 on every attempt in our 8 September sweep and opened normally on the later date, so its prices are from that later reading. PhantomBuster's renders euro prices to a UK reader with no currency switch, so we quote PhantomBuster in euros, as shown. Several review sites, G2 among them, refused automated access in that sweep, so the complaints quoted here come from pages that did open, and any review score carried over from an earlier check is older than the prices. We did not run these tools side by side in a lab and we publish no head-to-head acceptance or reply rates, because those depend on your list, your copy and your account rather than on the software. ZenMode is our own product, so treat this as our case for it and check the vendor links yourself.
Valley vs ZenMode: Feature Comparison
| Valley | ZenMode | |
|---|---|---|
| Finding people | Signals including hiring, job changes, funding rounds, post engagers, profile viewers and competitor post engagers | Signals: people engaging with your competitors, influencers, topics and your own posts, and companies hiring or just funded, matched to the target market you confirm |
| How you start | Paste in your website | Add your website or describe what you sell; you confirm the target market and competitors ZenMode drafts |
| Message writing | Researches the reason to reach out and drafts the first message | AI writes the connection note and follow-ups, reacting to the signal, and never says the person liked a post or names the competitor (from $49) |
| Sending | Runs the sequence on LinkedIn; email from the Plus plan | Sends from your LinkedIn account at the daily pace you set, within your business hours; LinkedIn only |
| Approval | Review before sending, or let it run | Your choice per campaign: review each message, or Autopilot |
| Price for 1 LinkedIn account | $199 a month ($149 billed quarterly) | $49 a month with 300 credits |
| Price for 3 LinkedIn accounts | $597 a month on Starter (3 seats) | $99 a month with 600 credits |
| Credits | Finding new prospects and emails, and upgraded message writing, use credits | 1 credit = 1 person found or 1 lead researched; packs from 250 credits |
| Trial | 7 days on Starter, payment method required | 14-day trial |
Why switch to ZenMode
The same three jobs for a fraction of the seat price
Valley and ZenMode both find people from LinkedIn signals, write the first message and send it. Valley charges $199 a month for each LinkedIn account (one seat connects one account). ZenMode charges $49 for one account and $99 for three, with Signals credits included in the plan.
A plain reason on every lead
Each ZenMode lead carries one dated sentence saying what the person did, such as engaging with a post from a competitor's team or working at a company that is hiring. You see why someone is on the list before you add them to a campaign.
A message that reacts to the signal without giving it away
ZenMode checks every signal message before it is sent: it never says the person liked, reacted to or commented on something, and never names the competitor or the post's author. It writes about the topic instead.
One inbox, and a flat price as you add accounts
Every reply lands in one inbox. Adding a fourth and fifth LinkedIn account means moving to Dojo at $149, not buying two more seats.
What Valley does well
A wider signal list
Valley lists LinkedIn profile viewers, job change alerts and funding rounds among its signals. ZenMode has no profile-viewer or job-change signal open to customers.
Research on every lead
Valley researches each buyer and the reason to reach out before drafting, and scores leads against your ICP.
Email on higher plans
Plus adds 1,000 email messages a month and email enrichment. ZenMode is LinkedIn only.
Published prices
Valley shows every plan's price on its page, which makes it easy to compare.
Switch to ZenMode if…
- You run more than one LinkedIn account and per-seat pricing is adding up
- You want signals, messages and sending in one tool at a flat price
- You want every message checked so it never reveals how you found the person
Stay with Valley if…
- You need LinkedIn profile viewers or job changes as signals
- You need email sending alongside LinkedIn
- You want a done-for-you service (Valley sells one at $1,499 a month)
How to switch from Valley to ZenMode
- 1Export your leads from Valley as CSV before you cancel anything, and include campaign history and notes.
- 2Pick your ZenMode tier: Novice ($15/mo, no AI) or Practitioner ($49/mo, +AI & voice) for one account, Master ($99) for three, Dojo ($149) for five, or a Custom plan for more accounts. Every plan starts with a 14-day trial.
- 3Download ZenMode for Mac or Windows.
- 4Sign in to LinkedIn in the window the ZenMode app opens.
- 5Import your leads and rebuild any active sequences. Take the chance to try AI message writing and voice notes.
- 6Run a small test campaign first, then let your Valley subscription lapse once you're confident ZenMode is running smoothly.
Already using Valley? Bring your contacts over in minutes.
Export your Valley leads and import them straight into ZenMode, campaign history and notes included, no data left behind.
ZenMode pricing
One flat monthly subscription that covers multiple LinkedIn accounts, from $15/mo (no-AI Novice) up, with a 14-day trial on every plan and about 17% off on annual billing. Checked on joinvalley.co/pricing on 3 November 2026: Starter $199 a seat a month, or $149 a month billed quarterly, LinkedIn only, with a 7-day trial that requires a payment method; Plus $299 a seat a month with 1,000 email messages; Growth $499 a seat a month with $300 of extra credits; Done-For-You $1,499 a month; Valley Scale for five seats or more on request. One seat connects one LinkedIn account. Finding new prospects, finding and verifying emails and upgraded message generation use credits. ZenMode: $49 Practitioner (1 account, 300 credits a month), $99 Master (3 accounts, 600), $149 Dojo (5 accounts, 900), a Custom plan for more, and $15 Novice without AI or Signals; 14-day trial.
Novice
$15
/mo · 1 account · no AI
Practitioner
$49
/mo · 1 account
Master
$99
/mo · 3 accounts
Dojo
$149
/mo · 5 accounts
Custom
Let's talk
Choose how many LinkedIn accounts
FAQ
How much does Valley cost?
Starter is $199 a seat a month, or $149 billed quarterly, and one seat connects one LinkedIn account. Plus is $299 a seat, Growth $499 a seat and Done-For-You $1,499 a month; Valley Scale for five seats or more is priced on request. Checked on joinvalley.co on 3 November 2026.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Valley?
ZenMode finds people from LinkedIn signals, writes the message and sends it from $49 a month for one LinkedIn account with 300 credits, or $99 for three. Signals is included on every plan except Novice.
Which signals does ZenMode have that Valley lists too?
Both find people engaging with competitors' posts, companies that are hiring and companies that just raised money. Valley also lists profile viewers and job changes; ZenMode also follows the influencers your buyers read and popular posts on your topics.
Does ZenMode send email like Valley's Plus plan?
No. ZenMode is LinkedIn only. If email in the same sequence matters, Valley Plus or an email-first tool fits better.
Will the message say how I found the person?
No. ZenMode's message check refuses a signal message that says the person liked, reacted to or commented on something, or names the competitor or the post's author.
Compare ZenMode to other tools
Try the Valley alternative on a flat plan
Find people from LinkedIn signals, let AI write the message, review it or let Autopilot send, and answer every reply from one inbox. 14-day trial.
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