Close CRM Review 2025: All-in-One Sales CRM for Growing Teams

Close is an all-in-one customer relationship management (CRM) platform specifically built for growing sales teams, emphasizing speed, automation, and a strong focus on customer relationships.

Designed to be easy to use, it helps small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) streamline their sales processes by integrating core CRM functionalities with built-in communication tools. This allows sales professionals to manage leads, make calls, send emails and SMS messages, and track deals all from a single, centralized platform, eliminating the need to juggle multiple applications.

The platform is engineered to boost sales productivity by automating repetitive tasks, enabling sales reps to dedicate more time to building relationships and nurturing opportunities. Close offers unique sales tools such as a Power Dialer for automated call lists, AI-powered email assistance, and comprehensive reporting features.

Its intuitive interface and customizable dashboards ensure that teams can quickly adapt the CRM to their specific sales workflows, making it a powerful solution for businesses aiming to accelerate their sales cycles and close more deals efficiently.

What’s New in Close?

Close continuously enhances its CRM platform with new features focused on boosting sales productivity and leveraging AI for smarter selling.

AI-Powered Call Assistant & Meeting Notetaker

Close now offers an AI Call Assistant that automatically transcribes and summarizes every phone call and meeting, providing accurate, searchable summaries with action items, allowing reps to focus on the conversation rather than note-taking. This is available as an add-on.

AI Email Assistant & Lead Summaries

AI capabilities have been integrated into email composition for rewriting, and the platform provides AI-generated lead summaries to quickly grasp key information about prospects.

Enhanced Lead Enrichment (AI Enrich)

Close's AI Enrich feature can now auto-fill LinkedIn URLs, industries, company size, and custom fields by pulling live, real-time data from across the web, with custom prompts for tailored enrichment.

Predictive Dialer & Call Coaching

For advanced sales teams, the Scale plan now includes a Predictive Dialer to handle multiple calls simultaneously, and Call Coaching features (Listen, Whisper, Barge) to provide real-time support to sales reps during calls.

Close offers a tiered pricing structure designed to scale with businesses, ranging from individual users to larger teams, with discounts for annual billing. A 14-day free trial is available for all plans.

Essentials - $35/seat/month (billed annually)

• Unlimited contacts & leads

• Multiple pipelines

• Advanced lead & activity filters

• Built-in email, calling & SMS

• Centralized inbox & task list

Growth - $99/seat/month (billed annually)

Everything in Essentials plus:

• Automated workflows

• Power Dialer

• AI Email Assistant

• Custom Activities

Scale - $139/seat/month (billed annually)

Everything in Growth plus:

• Role-based access & permissions

• Lead visibility rules

• Predictive Dialer

• Unlimited call recording

Custom - By quote

• Personalized CRM features

Solo - $9/month (billed annually)

Everything in Essential, but:

• Limited to 1 user

• Limited to 10k leads

What Sets Close Apart?

Close distinguishes itself as a CRM by being purpose-built for sales teams, prioritizing speed, ease of use, and integrated communication. Unlike many CRMs that require multiple integrations for calling, email, and SMS, Close provides these functionalities natively within a single platform, significantly reducing app-switching and boosting productivity.

Its strong focus on automation, including Power and Predictive Dialers, AI-powered email assistance, and automated workflows, directly addresses the need for sales velocity.

Furthermore, its emphasis on intuitive pipeline management, customizable reporting, and AI-driven insights for lead enrichment and call analysis sets it apart as a highly efficient, all-in-one solution for scaling sales operations.

Close offers several compelling advantages that make it a strong choice for sales teams.

All-in-One Sales Platform

Integrates CRM, built-in calling (VoIP), SMS, and email functionalities, eliminating the need for multiple tools and streamlining workflows.

High Productivity Tools

Features like Power Dialer, Predictive Dialer, automated workflows, and bulk email significantly increase sales outreach volume and efficiency.

AI-Powered Assistance

Includes AI Email Assistant, AI Lead Summaries, and AI Enrich for automated data enrichment, and an optional AI Call Assistant for transcription and summarization, enhancing sales intelligence.

User-Friendly Interface & Fast Implementation

Designed for speed and ease of use, allowing sales reps to quickly adopt the system and managers to implement it rapidly (reportedly up to 50% faster than competitors).

Robust Reporting & Analytics

Provides clear visibility into sales performance with built-in dashboards, customizable reports, opportunity funnel analysis, and team leaderboards, enabling data-driven decision-making.

While Close offers many benefits, there are a few areas where users might identify limitations or require specific considerations.

Pricing for Advanced Features

While a free trial is available, many advanced automation, AI, and comprehensive reporting features are locked behind higher-tier paid plans, which can become costly for larger teams.

Limited Customization in Lower Tiers

Users on Essentials and Solo plans have fewer options for custom fields and activities compared to Growth and Scale plans, potentially limiting adaptability for unique sales processes.

Pipeline Limitations

Unless on the Business plan, the number of sales pipelines is limited (1-3, max 10), which might be a significant constraint for companies managing multiple distinct sales cycles.

Manual Data Input

Some users have noted that certain areas still require manual data input, which could lead to inconsistencies if not diligently maintained.

Close's core features are designed to empower sales teams with efficiency, automation, and deep insights.

Unified Inbox

Centralizes all sales communications (emails, calls, SMS, tasks) in one view, allowing reps to manage their most pressing activities without switching applications.

Built-in Communication Tools

Native VoIP calling, SMS messaging, and email capabilities with features like Power Dialer, Predictive Dialer, bulk email, email tracking, and scheduling.

Lead & Opportunity Management

Comprehensive tools for managing leads, contacts, and sales opportunities, with customizable pipeline stages and visual pipeline views.

Automated Workflows

Allows for the creation of multi-channel sales sequences (email, call, SMS, task) that can be automatically or manually triggered, with templating and sharing options.

AI Sales Assistant & Enrichment

Includes AI Email Assistant for rewriting, AI Lead Summaries for quick overviews, and AI Enrich for automated data population (e.g., LinkedIn URLs, company info).

Reporting & Analytics

Provides robust dashboards and reports for sales funnel analysis, activity tracking, email template performance, and team leaderboards to monitor performance and identify trends.

Customization

Offers custom fields, custom activities, and (in higher tiers) custom objects to tailor the CRM to specific sales workflows and data capture needs.

Mobile App

Provides access to CRM functionalities on iOS and Android devices for on-the-go sales management.

Utilizing Close offers several significant benefits for sales organizations, particularly those focused on growth and efficiency.

Accelerated Sales Cycle

By integrating communication, automation, and lead management, Close helps sales teams move prospects through the pipeline faster, leading to quicker deal closures.

Increased Sales Productivity

Automation of repetitive tasks (dialing, follow-ups, data entry) frees up reps to focus on high-value selling activities, significantly boosting individual and team output.

Improved Sales Performance & Coaching

Comprehensive reporting and AI-driven insights provide managers with a clear view of team performance, identify bottlenecks, and enable targeted coaching for skill development.

Enhanced Customer Engagement

Built-in communication tools and personalized outreach capabilities allow reps to build stronger relationships with prospects and customers.

Data-Driven Decision Making

Real-time data capture and robust analytics provide actionable insights into sales processes, enabling continuous optimization and more accurate revenue forecasting.

Close is primarily designed for and widely adopted by sales-driven organizations, particularly those in the small to medium-sized business (SMB) segment, as well as startups.

SaaS Companies

Technology startups and growing SaaS businesses that rely heavily on outbound sales, lead generation, and efficient customer communication.

Sales Agencies

Organizations that manage sales processes for multiple clients and need a streamlined, high-volume outreach platform.

Real Estate Agencies

Teams that manage a large volume of leads and require integrated calling and follow-up capabilities.

Recruitment Firms

For managing candidate pipelines, tracking communication, and automating outreach to potential hires.

Consulting Services

Businesses that need to manage client relationships, track proposals, and streamline their sales engagement.

Any Business with an Active Sales Team

Companies that prioritize direct sales outreach via phone and email and seek to maximize sales efficiency.

What Are the Top Alternatives to Close?

For businesses exploring alternatives to Close for sales CRM and engagement, several direct competitors offer comprehensive solutions with varying strengths.

1. Salesforce Sales Cloud

A comprehensive CRM platform, Salesforce Sales Cloud offers extensive sales automation, lead management, forecasting, and a vast ecosystem of integrations, suitable for businesses of all sizes, but particularly large enterprises.

2. HubSpot Sales Hub

HubSpot Sales Hub is a sales CRM that integrates sales engagement tools, pipeline management, and automation, powered by HubSpot's Smart CRM, ideal for inbound sales strategies and growing teams.

3. Pipedrive

A web-based sales CRM software, Pipedrive is known for its intuitive visual sales pipelines, helping sales teams track leads, manage deals, and automate their sales process, particularly strong for pipeline visualization.

4. Freshsales

Freshsales by Freshworks is a sales CRM built to help businesses stop juggling multiple tools, combining sales engagement software with a full-fledged CRM, suitable for small businesses and refreshing for enterprises.

5. Zoho CRM

A user-friendly CRM system, Zoho CRM offers a wide range of built-in features for sales, marketing, and customer support, known for its affordability and extensive integrations within the Zoho ecosystem.