The short answer: Draftboard maps your network and your team's networks, scores every path to a target and explains why each path is strong, for any B2B team that wants warm intros. Elo is for people who sell media and advertising. It shows a seller who on the team can get them into a brand or agency, and what just changed there. Both start from the same belief: a warm intro beats a cold email.
Last checked: November 7, 2026. Every Draftboard detail on this page comes from its own public pages, linked inline and listed under Sources. Elo details come from tryelo.com. Products and prices change, so confirm on each site before you decide.
This comparison is written by Elo, so read it with that in mind. Draftboard is a focused warm intro product with a clear model and transparent pricing. This page is not an argument that one replaces the other in every case. They overlap more than most tools we compare, so the details matter.
What each tool is for
Draftboard says on its home page that it "maps your network automatically," showing who knows who and why they are worth asking for an intro. You add a list of targets, and it looks for paths to them through your first-degree network, with no need for your connections to upload or export anything. Each path gets a score with a plain rationale, such as having worked together at the same company or gone to the same school. Then it generates an intro request you can send by email or DM.
Draftboard is built for a wide set of users. Its home page speaks to sales teams, founders who want intros from their investors, and agencies, and its comparison page sets it next to other warm intro and relationship intelligence tools.
Elo is relationship intelligence for media sellers. It is a Chrome extension for Gmail and LinkedIn that maps the brands and agencies you sell to: who decides, who on your team already knows them and how recently you spoke, and what changed at the account, such as a new CMO, an agency move or a new store opening. Each change arrives dated, with a note on what it means for what you sell.
Both tools help you ask for a warm introduction instead of writing cold. Draftboard answers "who can introduce me to this person, and how strong is that path." Elo answers that for brands and agencies, and adds "why this account, this week."
Where each stands out
Draftboard
Draftboard stands out on path finding at scale for any target list. A few things its home page describes:
- Automatic mapping: it ingests your first-degree network and finds paths to your targets, with no action required from your contacts.
- Scores with reasons: every path gets a score and a short explanation of why it is strong, so you are not guessing from a bare percentage.
- Team pooling: add teammates to unlock third-degree paths through everyone's combined networks and see which teammate has the strongest connection.
- Intro requests: auto-generated, personalized intro asks you can tailor and send by email or DM.
- Copilot: about 30 minutes before a meeting, it emails you the top intro opportunities from the person you are meeting.
- API access: path data can be built into a CRM, sales tools or custom applications.
- Privacy note: it says it never posts or messages anyone in your network.
For a founder working through an investor's network, or a sales team that wants intros into any industry, that is a practical, well-defined product.
Elo
Elo stands out on one job: getting a media seller into a brand or agency they do not yet sell to, at the right moment. Elo shows that a colleague worked with a brand's new media lead at a previous job and emailed her last spring, how strong that path is, and when your team last spoke with that person.
The difference is timing. Elo's signals follow the events that change a media deal: job changes, agency changes, committee gaps, stalled threads, champion moves, budget shifts, new brands launching and earnings calls. Elo ranks brands and agencies by a dated reason to reach out, matched to what you sell, so you can combine relationship signals with timing signals instead of working a static list.
It works inside Gmail and LinkedIn. Add a recipient and a signals badge appears. Open it and the warm path and recent changes sit beside your draft. You stay the author, and nothing goes out without you. On the Team plan, managers can see coverage and signals across the book.
On privacy, Elo's site says it uses who you emailed and when, that email bodies are never stored, that teammates see a path exists without seeing your mail, and that you can turn off any inbox or contact.
Side-by-side comparison
Pricing
Elo lists its plans on tryelo.com. Free is $0 for one seller with warm paths and five account lookups a month. Pro is $59.99 per seller per month with unlimited accounts and people. Team is custom and adds paths across the whole team.
Draftboard publishes a usage model on its home page. Mapping your network is free. You pay $0.30 for each quality path, meaning a path with a real signal such as a shared employer, school or strong mutual history, and you are never charged for more than three credits, or 90 cents, per target. It includes 50 quality paths to start with no credit card. On a team, the cap applies per teammate.
The two models suit different habits. Pay-per-path pricing is easy to predict if you work a defined target list. A per-seller subscription is easy to predict if the tool sits in your inbox every day. Run the math on your own list and your own team size.
How to choose
- Who you sell to: If your targets span every industry, or you are a founder working an investor network, Draftboard is built for that breadth. If your team sells media, advertising or ad tech to brands and agencies, start with Elo.
- Path or timing: If you mainly need to find the best path to a known list, a path tool covers it. If you also need to know which accounts just changed and why that matters for what you sell, look for dated signals.
- Daily workspace: Decide whether sellers should open a separate app for paths or see them beside the email they are writing in Gmail.
- Payment model: Compare pay-per-path pricing against a monthly per-seller plan using your real target list and team size.
Can a team use both?
Some teams could. A media company might use a general path tool for corporate partnerships or fundraising work while its ad sales team uses a seller tool built around brands, agencies and the changes that move media budgets. For most media sales teams, though, two tools that both surface warm paths will feel redundant, so pick the one that matches the daily job.
Be honest about the limits on each side. Elo's site does not list per-path pricing, an API or pre-meeting intro emails, and Elo focuses on brands and agencies rather than every industry. Draftboard's home page describes path mapping, scoring, intro requests and team pooling, but it does not describe dated media-specific signals like agency moves, committee gaps or budget shifts at a brand, or ranking accounts by a reason to reach out this week. Knowing those lines before a trial saves time for everyone.
Warm intros need a reason as well as a route
A path tells you who can make the introduction. It does not tell you whether the buyer has any reason to take the meeting now. In media sales, that reason usually comes from a change: a new CMO rebuilding the partner mix, an agency review, a launch in a new market or a shift in spend on an earnings call.
The strongest ask combines both. "A colleague worked with the buyer for three years" gets you a reply. "A colleague worked with the buyer for three years, and her brand just moved its media to a new agency" gets you a meeting, because the intro arrives with something worth talking about. Whatever tool you use, train your team to bring both pieces to every ask.
A hypothetical example
The following is a hypothetical scenario for illustration. It does not describe a real customer or company.
A podcast network's sales team has a target list of forty consumer brands. A seller notices that one beverage brand just named a new head of media who came from a holding company agency. Elo shows that a colleague on the partnerships team worked with her at that agency and emailed her two months ago. The seller asks the colleague for an intro that week and opens with the new role and what the network could do for a brand rebuilding its audio plan. The path got the reply. The change gave it a reason.
Checklist
- Write down who you sell to and how many target accounts you actually work.
- Decide whether you need paths alone or paths plus dated account changes.
- Run each tool against the same ten accounts and compare what it shows you.
- Price both models on your real list: per path for Draftboard, per seller for Elo.
- Agree as a team on how intro requests are asked and thanked for.
- Before outreach, map the buying committee for your top accounts.
- After one quarter, review which intros turned into meetings and why.
Common mistakes
- Treating a high path score as a promise. Someone still has to make the intro, and they have to be willing.
- Asking for intros with no reason for the buyer to care right now.
- Running two overlapping path tools and making sellers check both.
- Skipping the privacy conversation about whose network data is used and how.
- Comparing prices without matching each model to the same list and the same team.
Sources
Checked November 7, 2026: Draftboard home page, Draftboard comparisons, Elo home page and pricing.
From one seller to another
A good path gets you a reply, but the meeting comes from a reason the buyer cares about this week. If you want to practice asking for intros that land, start with Course 01 of the Elo Media Sales Academy. It is free. Then try Elo on an account you are working now.
