Our rating: 2/5 for this setup

n8n cold email outreach: lead scoring, AI emails and auto follow-up

Three importable n8n workflows. The first finds local businesses on Google Places and scores them out of 100 into HOT and NURTURE tabs in Google Sheets. The second writes a personalized cold email for each lead with an AI model and sends it from Gmail. The third checks Gmail every day at 9AM and sends an AI follow-up after three days without a reply.

New Added Nov 2, 2026 · ✓ Last checked Nov 2, 2026

It broke for meBroke?

Diagram drawn by AppToBot from this recipe's source. It shows the flow, not a screenshot of the product.

Setup steps

Install with npm install -g outreach-os, or download the workflow JSON files
Import the three workflows into n8n in order: lead search, email, reply tracker
Add credentials for Google Places, Google Sheets, Gmail, Z.ai and optionally OpenAI
Create the Sheet with the README's columns and set its ID in each workflow
Activate all three workflows

Steps summarized from the original GitHub source ↗. Use “Copy” to grab them with the tools and source link, or copy an AI prompt.

How it went

The builder says manual outreach for a restaurant marketing project took 3–4 hours a day, and the workflows now do in about five minutes what used to take half a day.

Worth knowing

No reply rates are published, and the README's example users aren't named or linked. Emails and follow-ups go out with no review step, so read what the model writes before you activate it.

Only what the original source ↗ says, re-read Nov 2, 2026. How we write these

Try it with AI

Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude or your own agent for step-by-step help. Prompt written by AppToBot from this recipe's data, not by the original author. It keeps drafts for your review and asks before anything is sent or paid.

Help me set up this automation using outreach-os (n8n workflows, MIT) + Google Places + Gmail + GLM-4 or GPT-4o-mini: "n8n cold email outreach: lead scoring, AI emails and auto follow-up".
Goal: replace Apollo.io / Instantly / Lemlist.

How it should work:
- Trigger: Every morning (schedule)
- Then: Finds and scores leads from Google Places
- Then: AI writes and sends a cold email from Gmail
- Then: Checks replies at 9AM; AI follow-up after 3 days of silence
- Result: A lead sheet with Emailed, Replied and FollowedUp status

Setup steps (summarized from the original source):
1. Install with npm install -g outreach-os, or download the workflow JSON files
2. Import the three workflows into n8n in order: lead search, email, reply tracker
3. Add credentials for Google Places, Google Sheets, Gmail, Z.ai and optionally OpenAI
4. Create the Sheet with the README's columns and set its ID in each workflow
5. Activate all three workflows

Guide me one step at a time. Ask me for anything you need (accounts, sheet or channel names) before you start.

Safety rules:
- Build and test with sample data first, and show me a sample result before anything goes live.
- Keep anything that goes to other people (emails, posts, replies, record updates) as drafts for my review until I say otherwise.
- Never send, post, buy, pay, delete or change records without my approval.
- Tell me about any cost (paid plans, API usage) before I'd incur it, and help me set a spending limit.
- Keep API keys and passwords out of shared docs and chats.
- Privacy: Lead data sits in your Google Sheet; email text is written by Z.ai's or OpenAI's model.

Based on: https://github.com/hitb1099/outreach-os

Apollo.io / Instantly / Lemlistoutreach-os (n8n workflows, MIT) + Google Places + Gmail + GLM-4 or GPT-4o-mini

Tool names link to each official site (opens in a new tab).

Cost afterFree tiers for Google Places, Gmail, Z.ai GLM-4 and Pollinations; OpenAI pay-as-you-go (per README)

SetupMedium · Not reported

Time savedNot reported

SkillIntermediate

Running cost: API pennies Most services run on free tiers; OpenAI is pay-as-you-go, per the README. Self-hosted No-code How we sort costs
Stack: n8n · Google Sheets · Gmail · OpenAI
Replace an app: AI bots that replace Instantly and Lemlist

App vs bot, side by side

Old app vs bot
	Old app / habit	Bot
Tool	Apollo.io, Instantly, Lemlist	Three n8n workflows with Google Sheets as the lead tracker
Monthly cost	$50–300/mo for those tools (per builder)	Free tiers for Google Places, Gmail, Z.ai GLM-4 and Pollinations; OpenAI pay-as-you-go (per README)
Setup	None (already in use)	Not reported · Intermediate
Your time	Baseline	Not reported
Maintenance	Handled by vendor/you as before	You maintain the workflows and API credentials; Google Places' free tier is limited.
Privacy	Data stays with the app vendor	Lead data sits in your Google Sheet; email text is written by Z.ai's or OpenAI's model.

Full comparison

Replaces	Apollo.io, Instantly, Lemlist
Bot / agent stack	Three n8n workflows with Google Sheets as the lead tracker
Monthly cost before	$50–300/mo for those tools (per builder)
Monthly cost after	Free tiers for Google Places, Gmail, Z.ai GLM-4 and Pollinations; OpenAI pay-as-you-go (per README)
Setup time	Not reported
Time saved	Not reported
Skill level	Intermediate
Reliability	2/5: a single builder's project with no reply or deliverability figures, and emails go out with no human review step.
Maintenance	You maintain the workflows and API credentials; Google Places' free tier is limited.
Privacy & data	Lead data sits in your Google Sheet; email text is written by Z.ai's or OpenAI's model.
Best for	Freelancers doing local-business outreach on a budget
Not for	Teams sending at volume who need deliverability tools

Pros and cons

Pros

Free and MIT-licensed
Lead scoring, sending and follow-up in one place
Status tracking in a Sheet

Cons

Sends AI-written emails with no approval step
No warmup or deliverability guidance in the README

Source and evidence

Open-source GitHub project (Jul 2026). The builder says outreach used to take them 3–4 hours a day. The README's example users aren't named or linked, and there are no reply-rate figures.

Read the original GitHub source ↗

“Not reported” means the source doesn't say. We never fill gaps with guesses. Numbers marked “per author” or “vendor claim” are the source's own and weren't independently tested. Source last checked Nov 2, 2026.

Our rating is an editorial opinion based on the public source above, not lab testing. Spot an error? Request a correction.

Plain-text summary (for search and AI assistants)

n8n cold email outreach: lead scoring, AI emails and auto follow-up. Replaces Apollo.io, Instantly, Lemlist with Three n8n workflows with Google Sheets as the lead tracker. Cost before: $50–300/mo for those tools (per builder). Cost after: Free tiers for Google Places, Gmail, Z.ai GLM-4 and Pollinations; OpenAI pay-as-you-go (per README). Setup: Not reported, Intermediate. Time saved: Not reported. Reliability 2/5: 2/5: a single builder's project with no reply or deliverability figures, and emails go out with no human review step. Best for: Freelancers doing local-business outreach on a budget. Not for: Teams sending at volume who need deliverability tools. How it went (per source): The builder says manual outreach for a restaurant marketing project took 3–4 hours a day, and the workflows now do in about five minutes what used to take half a day. Worth knowing: No reply rates are published, and the README's example users aren't named or linked. Emails and follow-ups go out with no review step, so read what the model writes before you activate it. Source: https://github.com/hitb1099/outreach-os

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