Quick answer
CIENCE charges in parts. Every program pays $2,000 a month for the campaign team and $499 a month for the graph8 platform. Each SDR costs from $1,750 a month offshore, $2,500 in Europe or $4,500 in the US, plus a bonus when they hit their meeting target, plus a one-time setup fee quoted on the call. It runs month to month. One European SDR comes to $4,999 a month before the bonus and $6,749 in a month at target. A bundled agency retainer is one fixed fee for the whole system. CIENCE's fixed fees weigh less as you add SDRs, and phone is included. A retainer is easier to budget and doesn't go up when meetings do. Prices from cience.com, checked on 14 October 2026.
What CIENCE charges in October 2026
I run outbound for B2B companies on a fixed monthly fee, which is the other model in this comparison, so I have a side here. Every CIENCE number below comes from its own pages.
| Line | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Campaign team | $2,000 a month | Runs and adjusts the campaigns, reviews the SDRs' work, reports held meetings |
| graph8 platform | $499 a month | The system the SDRs work in: contact data, email, calls, workflows, 75,000 credits a month |
| SDR, offshore | From $1,750 a month each | English-speaking SDRs outside the US and Europe |
| SDR, Europe | From $2,500 a month each | SDRs based in Europe |
| SDR, US | From $4,500 a month each | SDRs based in the US |
| Bonus | Per SDR, from 60% of target | Paid on top of the SDR fee, formula below |
| Setup | One time, quoted on the call | Target list, four campaigns, email, phone and LinkedIn infrastructure, AI research set up, live in 14 days |
Each SDR calls, emails and messages your buyers every working day, by CIENCE's own description, and you can add or remove SDRs month to month. The SDR rates say "starting at", so your quote can come in higher. CIENCE's own worked example, five offshore SDRs, comes to $11,249 a month, plus bonus, plus setup. Source: cience.com/pricing.
If you've seen different numbers, they're probably older. In July 2026 the same page listed a $5,000 setup fee, a "$7,499 first month, all in" and SDRs in three levels from $1,500 to $6,500 a month (archived copy). It also called the SDR line an "SDR marketplace" with SDRs "at cost". The October page drops that wording.
The owner changed too: CIENCE's About page says "graph8 acquired the assets of CIENCE". The SDRs work inside graph8's software.
How the SDR bonus changes the bill
Each SDR gets a monthly target for held meetings, and the bonus is paid on top of their fee:
- Below 60% of target: no bonus.
- 60% to 99%: base × percent of target × 0.35.
- 100% and above: base × percent of target × 0.7.
"Base" is the SDR's monthly fee. The July version of the page said "base salary", and that's how I read it here. Confirm it on the call. For one European SDR at $2,500, with the $2,499 of fixed fees included, a month looks like this:
| Share of target hit | Bonus | Month total |
|---|---|---|
| 50% | $0 | $4,999 |
| 80% | $700 | $5,699 |
| 99% | $866 | $5,865 |
| 100% | $1,750 | $6,749 |
| 120% | $2,100 | $7,099 |
Notice the step at 100%: crossing it roughly doubles the bonus. Paying more when the SDR delivers is fair. Just budget for the month where it works, because that month costs 35% more than the headline. And ask who sets the target, since a low target makes the bonus easy to reach.
Where the SDR marketplace fits now
The marketplace now lives at graph8, under Hire Talent, and it's a different deal from CIENCE's managed program:
- You browse profiles of SDRs, AEs, GTM engineers and campaign managers, then send an offer with a monthly base, a per-meeting rate and any commission. The contract starts when they accept.
- Operators are scored by AI and do a 30-day certification on graph8 before they're listed, paid only on commission during it.
- They work in your graph8 workspace, so you need a graph8 subscription. The Team plan is $99 a month on graph8's pricing page.
- You can't take the engagement off the platform. You end it from the dashboard with a final prorated invoice.
- The direction is yours: you give them the contact lists, track their meetings and approve their statements before you pay.
graph8's sample profile puts a senior SDR at an "example agency rate" of $150 an hour against $63 paid to the operator. It's an illustration, not a market rate.
Check the fee before you send an offer. graph8's hiring page says it "adds no marketplace fee and no markup". Its page for operators says a "5% platform fee, paid by the client" is added to client invoices. Both were live on 14 October 2026. Ask which one applies to you.
What a bundled agency retainer buys instead
A bundled retainer is one fixed monthly fee for the whole outbound system: the target list and data, the offer and copy, sending domains and mailboxes, the people who send and answer replies and the reporting. You pay for a scope. The agency decides how many people it takes. I break down what that usually includes in what an outbound agency delivers for the retainer.
That changes three things:
- The cost doesn't move with results. A good month costs the same as a slow one.
- Volume comes from the system, not from SDR hours. Email and LinkedIn scale with mailboxes, accounts and a good list more than with headcount.
- Phone is often not part of it. Ask. If your buyers pick up the phone, that's a real point for CIENCE.
Where I stand. I sell the bundled model. My agency, Shipyard GTM, runs done-for-you outbound for a fixed monthly fee, with tools and data included, on cold email and LinkedIn. It doesn't do phone outreach, and CIENCE does. Weigh my take with that in mind.
CIENCE, a marketplace hire and a retainer side by side
| CIENCE managed program | graph8 marketplace hire | Bundled agency retainer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you pay for | Team, platform, each SDR, bonus, setup | The operator's rates plus a graph8 subscription | One fixed monthly fee |
| Who runs the campaigns | CIENCE's campaign team | You | The agency |
| Channels | Phone, email, LinkedIn | What you set up in graph8 | Varies, ask about phone |
| A good month costs | More: 70% of the SDR fee or more at target | More, if you agreed a per-meeting rate | The same |
| Contract | Month to month | Month to month, prorated exit | Varies by agency, ask |
| Software | graph8, $499 a month | graph8, subscription required | Usually included |
| When you leave | Ask who keeps domains and data | The work stays on graph8 | Ask who keeps domains and data |
A three-month cost model, with every assumption stated
Compare the total for the first three months, not one monthly figure. My assumptions, so you can swap in your own:
- SDRs in Europe at CIENCE's entry rate of $2,500.
- Month one is ramp, below 60% of target, so no bonus. Months two and three hit exactly 100%.
- Setup: CIENCE quotes it on the call. I use $5,000, the last figure it published, as a placeholder.
- Bundled retainer: an assumed quote of $7,000 a month, all in, setup included. It's a round number for the comparison, not a market average.
| Option | Month 1 | Month 2 | Month 3 | Setup | 3-month total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CIENCE, 1 Europe SDR | $4,999 | $6,749 | $6,749 | $5,000 | $23,497 |
| CIENCE, 2 Europe SDRs | $7,499 | $10,999 | $10,999 | $5,000 | $34,497 |
| CIENCE, 5 offshore SDRs | $11,249 | $17,374 | $17,374 | $5,000 | $50,997 |
| Bundled retainer (assumed) | $7,000 | $7,000 | $7,000 | Included | $21,000 |
What the model shows:
- One SDR carries a lot of overhead. Half of the $4,999 base month is the fixed $2,499. With five offshore SDRs, the fixed lines are about 22% of the base month.
- The bonus is the swing. A month at target costs $1,750 more per European SDR than a slow month.
- The two prices buy different things. CIENCE's number buys SDR days, calls included. The retainer buys a defined scope. Ask both sides the same question: how many accounts get contacted each month, on which channels? Then compare cost per account reached.
- A marketplace hire costs you time. Someone on your team writes the targeting, feeds the lists and reviews the work, so put an hourly value on that. Same logic as an in-house hire, which I cover in done-for-you outbound vs hiring an SDR.
Pick CIENCE, a marketplace hire or a retainer
Pick CIENCE's managed program if your buyers answer the phone, you want two or more SDRs and you want to add or drop seats month to month while someone else runs the campaigns.
Pick a graph8 marketplace hire if you already have a working target list, offer and message, someone in-house can manage a rep every day and you're happy to run your outbound on graph8.
Pick a bundled retainer if you want one fixed number to budget, the targeting and copy still need building, email and LinkedIn are enough for your market and you want to keep the domains and data if you stop.
What to ask CIENCE before you sign
- What is the setup fee for my scope, in writing?
- Who sets each SDR's meeting target, and what counts as a held meeting?
- Is my SDR on the "starting at" rate or higher? How does that fee split between the SDR and CIENCE?
- Who owns the domains, mailboxes and lists built during setup if I stop? Here's why that question matters.
- What happens when we use more than the 75,000 platform credits in a month?
- Since graph8 acquired CIENCE, who runs my account day to day, and is it the same process older reviews describe?
For the agency's background, channels and who it suits, see my full CIENCE review.
Key takeaways
- CIENCE in October 2026: $2,000 campaign team and $499 platform a month, SDRs from $1,750 offshore, $2,500 in Europe and $4,500 in the US, plus a setup fee quoted on the call.
- The bonus adds 70% of an SDR's fee at exactly 100% of target, so budget for the month where it works.
- With one SDR, half the base month is fixed overhead. The model gets better value from two SDRs up.
- graph8's talent marketplace is a different deal: you hire and manage the operator yourself, inside a graph8 subscription. Check which fee applies.
- A bundled retainer is one fixed fee for a scope. Compare three-month totals and cost per account reached, not monthly headlines.
FAQ
How much does CIENCE cost?
$2,000 a month for the campaign team and $499 a month for the graph8 platform, plus each SDR from $1,750 (offshore), $2,500 (Europe) or $4,500 (US) a month. A bonus applies when SDRs hit target, and setup is a one-time fee quoted on the call. CIENCE's own example, five offshore SDRs, is $11,249 a month before bonus and setup.
Does CIENCE require a long contract?
No. Its pricing page says month to month with no long contract, and you can add or remove SDRs month to month. It doesn't publish a notice period, so ask for it.
What is the CIENCE SDR marketplace?
CIENCE's pricing page used to sell SDRs "at cost" through an SDR marketplace. Today the marketplace is graph8's Hire Talent: you send offers to vetted SDRs, set their monthly base and per-meeting rates and manage them inside your own graph8 workspace.
Is CIENCE cheaper than an agency retainer?
It depends on the quote and on what each covers. One European SDR costs $4,999 in a month with no bonus and $6,749 in a month at exactly 100% of target, plus setup. Compare the three-month total and the number of accounts each option reaches per month.
Who owns CIENCE now?
graph8. CIENCE's About page says "graph8 acquired the assets of CIENCE", and it presents CIENCE, graph8 and Tenbound as one group.