Switching between sales tools gets old fast.
If you’re juggling dialers, email trackers, and endless spreadsheets, it’s tough to keep your sales workflow moving—let alone actually talk to leads.
My research shows the main pain point here: sales reps lose hours to admin work each week instead of having real conversations with prospects.
After digging into Close, I found they tackle this head-on by rolling calling, email, and SMS right into their CRM, plus adding smart automation that genuinely saves time. Close stands out if your sales team values direct, high-volume outreach without the complexity that slows you down.
In this review, I’ll break down how Close boosts productivity and lead follow-ups in practical terms.
You’ll see a deep look at Close’s workflow integration, pricing, AI features, and how it stacks up against other sales CRMs—all through the lens of making your evaluation easier.
You’ll leave knowing the features you need to choose the right CRM with real confidence.
Let’s dive into the analysis.
Quick Summary
- Close is a sales CRM that integrates calling, email, and SMS to boost rep productivity in high-volume inside sales workflows.
- Best for SMBs and mid-market inside sales teams focused on efficient outreach and follow-up.
- You’ll appreciate its unified communication tools that minimize admin time and maximize selling activity.
- Close offers per-user pricing with a 14-day free trial and tiered plans scaling from basic CRM to advanced automation features.
Close Overview
Close has been around since 2013. From my research, they’re a remote-first company with a core mission: maximizing sales productivity for you and your team.
What stood out to me is how they target high-volume inside sales teams in the SMB space. They aren’t trying to be a complex, enterprise CRM; their focus is pure sales efficiency.
While we’re discussing business operations, understanding enterprise legal management software is equally important for mitigating risks.
For this Close review, I found their recent push into AI-powered tools significant. New features like call summarization help your reps save valuable time daily.
Unlike complex CRMs like Salesforce, Close is built for action over administration and reporting. My analysis shows it combines CRM and sales engagement into one focused tool, simplifying your tech stack.
They work with small to mid-sized businesses where sales teams must prioritize outreach volume and speed. You’ll see them used heavily by many B2B tech companies.
I was impressed to learn Close’s strategy centers on eliminating app switching for your reps. Their focus is integrating all communication tools directly into the CRM workflow.
Now let’s examine their capabilities.
Close Features
Sales communication complexity can paralyze your team.
Close features are designed as a single, powerful solution to streamline sales outreach and management, eliminating the need for disparate tools. These are the five core Close features that can significantly boost your sales team’s productivity.
1. Integrated Power Dialer & VoIP Calling
Manually dialing numbers wastes precious selling time.
Switching between a CRM and a separate phone system creates painful workflow interruptions. This can severely limit your outbound call volume.
Close’s Integrated Power Dialer automatically dials through your lead lists, which dramatically minimizes downtime between calls. From my testing, this voicemail drop feature truly saves minutes per call, keeping reps on target. You handle calls directly within the platform.
The result is your team can make more calls in less time, directly translating into a higher volume of valuable customer conversations.
2. Email Automation & Sequences
Are your follow-up emails inconsistent?
Missing timely follow-ups means leads often go cold, costing you potential deals. Remembering every next step is a huge manual burden.
Close allows you to build multi-step email Sequences that automate outreach and create associated tasks. What I love is how the system pauses automatically when a lead replies, ensuring personalized engagement. This feature ensures consistent communication without manual oversight.
This means you can ensure every lead receives a timely, relevant follow-up, preventing valuable opportunities from slipping through the cracks.
3. Smart Views & Lead Management
Struggling to prioritize your sales day?
Without clear guidance, sales reps waste time deciding who to contact next. This can lead to missed opportunities and inefficient outreach.
Smart Views act as dynamic, prioritized to-do lists, organizing leads based on real-time criteria you define. From my evaluation, this is where Close truly shines in daily guidance, updating instantly so you always see your highest-value prospects. This powerful feature eliminates guesswork.
So as a sales rep, you get a data-driven path to focus your energy on the most promising leads, right when they need attention.
4. Integrated SMS Messaging
Are your messages getting lost in crowded inboxes?
Email and calls don’t always cut through the noise, making it hard to get prospects’ attention. Many CRMs lack a direct SMS option.
You can send and receive texts directly from a lead’s profile in Close, with conversations logged instantly alongside calls and emails. Here’s what I found: this native SMS capability improves engagement significantly, providing a direct communication channel. It’s a modern communication feature.
The result is increased response rates and a more personal, direct touchpoint that can effectively cut through traditional communication channels.
5. Reporting & Activity Overview
Need clearer visibility into sales team performance?
Beyond just deal status, managers need to understand the underlying activities that drive results. Lagging indicators often don’t help coach reps.
Close provides a straightforward dashboard focused on actionable activity metrics like calls made and talk time. From my testing, the activity comparison report is highly insightful, allowing you to identify successful rep behaviors. This feature empowers data-driven coaching.
This means you can provide targeted coaching, improving individual rep productivity and overall team effectiveness based on tangible performance data.
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Pros & Cons
- ✅ All-in-one platform significantly boosts sales team efficiency and workflow.
- ✅ Deeply integrated communication tools (call, email, SMS) within the CRM.
- ✅ Intuitive interface makes the platform quick to learn and use daily.
- ⚠️ Reporting capabilities are solid but can be less robust for deep custom analysis.
- ⚠️ Native app marketplace is smaller compared to larger CRM competitors.
What I love about these Close features is how they are deeply interconnected, creating a complete sales communication ecosystem. This cohesion ensures your team works efficiently without switching apps.
Close Pricing
Worried about unexpected CRM costs?
Close pricing offers clear, tiered plans designed for predictable budgeting, allowing you to easily understand your monthly software expenditure upfront. What I found is that their transparent pricing avoids hidden fees, ensuring you can budget confidently.
Plan | Price & Features |
---|---|
Starter | $59/user/month (monthly) or $49/user/month (annually) • Core CRM features • 2,500 leads & 4,000 contacts • 1 sales pipeline • Email sync & basic reporting |
Professional | $119/user/month (monthly) or $99/user/month (annually) • Includes Starter features • Power Dialer & Email Sequences • 10,000 leads & 15,000 contacts • 5 sales pipelines & Call recording • Group calling |
Business | $169/user/month (monthly) or $149/user/month (annually) • Includes Professional features • Unlimited leads & contacts • Voicemail Drop & Predictive Dialer • Call Coaching (listen, whisper, barge) • Workflow Automations |
1. Value Assessment
Real value for your spend.
From my cost analysis, what impressed me is how the Professional plan unlocks Close’s core communication and automation power, providing significant efficiency gains. Their per-user pricing scales naturally with your team size, making it a cost-effective solution for growing sales teams needing essential tools.
This means your monthly costs stay predictable, ensuring your budget aligns with actual usage and avoids overspending.
2. Trial/Demo Options
Test drive before you commit.
Close offers a generous 14-day free trial on all plans, requiring no credit card upfront to get started. What I found valuable is how this trial gives you full feature access, letting you truly evaluate its power with your own team and workflows without any financial commitment.
This lets you validate the fit and ROI, ensuring you make an informed decision before committing to their full pricing structure.
3. Plan Comparison
Choosing your perfect plan.
For most serious sales teams, the Professional plan is your true starting point, unlocking Close’s core communication and automation features like the Power Dialer. What stands out is how each tier unlocks powerful efficiency tools, helping you scale your outreach capabilities as your business grows.
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This tiered approach helps you match Close pricing to your actual sales volume and desired automation level, ensuring optimal budget allocation.
My Take: Close’s pricing is structured to support scaling SMBs, offering excellent value as you move from basic contact management to advanced, high-volume sales outreach with powerful communication tools.
Overall, Close pricing offers predictable costs for efficient sales growth.
Close Reviews
Real user experiences reveal the truth.
My analysis of actual Close reviews dives into what customers truly think. I’ve compiled insights from platforms like G2 and Capterra to give you a balanced view of real-world usage and sentiment.
1. Overall User Satisfaction
Users are largely very happy.
What I found in user feedback is a strong positive trend, especially among small to mid-sized businesses, Close reviews consistently highlighting its effectiveness. This platform genuinely simplifies sales workflows, reducing reliance on multiple tools. Most customers express deep satisfaction with its integrated nature and ease of use, leading to high average ratings.
This suggests you can expect a highly efficient solution for your sales team, especially if you fit the SMB profile.
2. Common Praise Points
Efficiency is a consistent theme.
From the reviews I analyzed, the all-in-one functionality consistently receives top marks. Users love how calling, email, and SMS are natively integrated, eliminating the need for complex setups. Its unified communication feed saves tremendous time, boosting rep productivity. Review-wise, this simplicity is a huge competitive advantage for daily operations and engagement.
For your team, this translates to less app switching and more direct selling, streamlining daily tasks considerably.
3. Frequent Complaints
Some areas could improve.
Frequent complaints often stem from the platform’s focused nature. Users from larger organizations note reporting is less robust than enterprise-grade tools like Salesforce. What stands out in customer feedback is how deep, custom analysis sometimes requires data export. Reviewers also occasionally mention a smaller native app marketplace compared to competitors.
These aren’t typically deal-breakers for its target SMB audience, but crucial considerations if your needs are highly complex.
What Customers Say
- Positive: “The best part of Close is the workflow. Having a CRM where all communication is integrated (emails, calls, texts) in one simple feed is a huge time saver. The power dialer and email sequences make our sales team incredibly efficient.”
- Constructive: “Reporting is good for 90% of what we need, but for really deep, custom analysis, it can be a bit limiting. We sometimes have to export data to a spreadsheet to get the exact views we want.”
- Bottom Line: “Close is the perfect balance of features and simplicity. It does everything a small business sales team needs without the bloat and complexity of Salesforce. We were up and running in a day.”
Overall, Close reviews paint a picture of a powerful, efficient CRM for SMBs, with minor limitations for larger, more complex operations. My analysis confirms the positive user experiences are credible.
Best Close Alternatives
Considering your CRM options?
Deciding on the right CRM can be tough. From my competitive analysis, the best Close alternatives offer unique strengths for different sales teams and budgets, making your choice highly dependent on specific business needs.
1. HubSpot Sales Hub
Need an all-in-one marketing and sales platform?
HubSpot excels if you require a unified platform encompassing marketing, sales, and customer service. What I found comparing options is that HubSpot offers deep marketing automation integration, a key advantage over Close’s sales-specific focus. This alternative helps align your entire GTM team.
Choose HubSpot when a comprehensive, integrated suite for multiple departments is your priority, even with higher costs.
2. Pipedrive
Visual sales pipeline is your top priority?
Pipedrive shines for its intuitive, visual pipeline management, perfect if tracking deals through stages is paramount. Alternative-wise, it’s generally more affordable than Close and simpler for pure deal progression. What I found is Pipedrive streamlines visual deal tracking exceptionally well, although it lacks Close’s integrated calling power.
Opt for Pipedrive if you need a budget-friendly, highly visual pipeline CRM over extensive communication tools.
3. Salesforce Sales Cloud
Large enterprise with complex, custom needs?
Salesforce Sales Cloud is the enterprise gold standard, offering unmatched customization, a vast app ecosystem, and complex automation for large organizations. From my analysis, Salesforce provides limitless scalability and deep customization for global teams, unlike Close’s focused SMB design. This alternative requires substantial investment.
Choose Salesforce when your large enterprise demands maximum flexibility and customizability for intricate sales processes.
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Quick Decision Guide
- Choose Close: High-volume inside sales with powerful integrated communication.
- Choose HubSpot: Unified platform for marketing, sales, and service teams.
- Choose Pipedrive: Simple, visual pipeline management for deal-focused sales.
- Choose Salesforce: Large enterprise needing ultimate customization and scalability.
Ultimately, the best Close alternatives depend on your specific team size and sales approach, as each offers distinct advantages. Consider your budget, desired integrations, and communication needs to find your perfect fit.
Setup & Implementation
Close implementation: Simpler than you think.
For your Close review, understanding deployment is crucial. What I found about implementation is that Close offers a remarkably straightforward approach, letting your sales team get productive quickly.
1. Setup Complexity & Timeline
Quick setup is a major win.
The initial Close implementation is designed for speed. You can connect your email and import leads via CSV to start immediately. What I found about deployment is that most users are operational within days, not weeks or months, a stark contrast to many CRMs. This ease significantly reduces your time to value.
You’ll want to prepare your lead data in a clean CSV and ensure email access. This upfront organization ensures your transition is as smooth and fast as possible.
2. Technical Requirements & Integration
Minimal tech hurdles, maximum integration.
From my implementation analysis, Close avoids heavy IT demands. It’s cloud-based, so you don’t need server hardware. Data migration is simplified with free, self-service tools for major CRMs like Salesforce. Your existing tech stack integrates easily via built-in options or Zapier for broader connectivity.
Plan for basic API key management for integrations, but don’t expect complex networking or database setup. Your IT team’s involvement will be minimal.
3. Training & Change Management
User adoption feels natural.
User adoption is a key strength of Close. Its intuitive design and all-in-one workflow mean a low learning curve for sales reps. From my analysis, the self-service onboarding resources are excellent, including detailed articles and video tutorials for independent learning. This simplifies your team’s transition.
For larger teams, consider budgeting for Close’s paid custom onboarding. You should also appoint internal champions to assist with peer-to-peer support and process reinforcement.
4. Support & Success Factors
Exceptional support makes a difference.
What I found about deployment is that Close’s support team is highly praised. They are responsive and knowledgeable, primarily via email, ensuring smooth progress during your initial setup. This high-quality support reduces implementation roadblocks and ensures quick issue resolution, even for lower-tier plans.
For your implementation to succeed, leverage their support early. Define clear sales processes and KPIs before deployment to maximize the efficiency gains Close offers your team.
Implementation Checklist
- Timeline: Days to weeks for basic setup
- Team Size: Sales lead plus minimal IT involvement
- Budget: Primarily software license; optional custom onboarding
- Technical: Email connection, CSV lead data ready
- Success Factor: Clean data and clear sales process
Overall, Close implementation emphasizes simplicity and rapid value. Its design ensures your team gets productive quickly, making it an excellent choice for businesses prioritizing efficient, straightforward deployment over complex, custom configurations.
Who’s Close For
Is Close the right CRM for your sales team?
This Close review helps you pinpoint if its specialized features align with your business. I’ll guide you through ideal team sizes, core use cases, and where it excels or falls short for a precise match.
1. Ideal User Profile
Perfect for high-volume inside sales teams.
From my user analysis, Close is built for Sales Development Representatives (SDRs), Business Development Representatives (BDRs), and Account Executives. You’ll find it ideal if your team primarily operates as inside sales reps relying on direct outreach. Its design tackles the core bottleneck of manual communication, helping your sales force accelerate lead engagement.
You’ll see strong success if your reps spend significant time on calls, emails, and follow-ups, aiming to triple their productive output efficiently.
2. Business Size & Scale
Optimal for startups and SMBs.
What I found about target users is that Close truly shines for businesses with 1 to 100 employees in B2B sectors like SaaS, tech services, or consulting. Your company fits if you want powerful sales tools. Smaller businesses avoid complex CRM bloat here, gaining powerful features without enterprise overhead.
You’ll know you’re the right size if your goal is maximizing rep productivity and scaling inside sales operations efficiently.
3. Use Case Scenarios
Excels in direct outreach workflows.
User-wise, Close is built for situations where your sales team requires an all-in-one communication hub. It unifies calling, email, and SMS directly within the CRM, eliminating app switching and manual tasks. This platform streamlines daily sales outreach for high-volume activities, boosting rep efficiency.
You’ll appreciate this solution if your primary objective is tripling productive output for your sales reps without adding administrative burden.
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4. Who Should Look Elsewhere
Not for complex enterprise operations.
From my user analysis, Close isn’t ideal for enterprise companies with intricate, multi-level sales hierarchies or field sales teams. If your business requires extensive process customization or a massive third-party app ecosystem, you might find Close too focused for your scale.
Consider more flexible and comprehensive platforms like Salesforce if you require advanced enterprise-level integrations and customization capabilities.
Best Fit Assessment
- Perfect For: SDRs, BDRs, AEs focused on high-volume inside sales
- Business Size: Startups and SMBs (1-100 employees) in B2B sectors
- Primary Use Case: Streamlining calls, emails, and SMS for sales productivity
- Budget Range: Competitive SMB pricing for efficiency-focused teams
- Skip If: Large enterprise with complex sales, field teams, or deep customization needs
Ultimately, your Close review shows its best fit is for sales teams prioritizing high-volume inside sales. You’ll find success if your operations align with its streamlined, action-oriented approach.
Bottom Line
Close is a strong contender for sales teams.
This Close review thoroughly analyzes the CRM’s capabilities, user experience, and value. My final verdict provides a clear recommendation to help you make an informed decision for your sales operations.
1. Overall Strengths
Efficiency is Close’s core superpower.
Close excels by integrating calling, email, and SMS directly within the CRM, eliminating app switching and complex integrations. From my comprehensive analysis, its all-in-one approach significantly boosts rep productivity, making sales workflows incredibly streamlined. Users consistently praise its speed, simplicity, and focused design for high-volume outreach teams.
These strengths translate directly into faster deal cycles, more effective outreach, and empowering your sales team to achieve unparalleled efficiency in their daily tasks.
2. Key Limitations
Consider these targeted limitations.
While highly focused, Close’s reporting capabilities are less robust than enterprise-grade tools, requiring data export for deep analysis. Based on this review, the native app marketplace is somewhat smaller compared to competitors like HubSpot, potentially limiting some niche integrations for your business.
These limitations are manageable for most SMBs but warrant careful consideration if your business requires extensive, highly custom analytics or a vast integration ecosystem.
3. Final Recommendation
Close is highly recommended.
You should choose Close if your business prioritizes sales rep efficiency, streamlined communication, and a simple, powerful CRM. From my analysis, it excels for high-volume inside sales teams and SMBs needing an all-in-one solution without enterprise bloat or complexity.
My recommendation is strong for its target audience. Consider a demo to confirm its direct fit with your specific sales workflow.
Bottom Line
- Verdict: Recommended for SMBs prioritizing sales efficiency and direct outreach
- Best For: Small to mid-sized businesses with high-volume inside sales teams
- Biggest Strength: All-in-one integrated communication (calls, email, SMS)
- Main Concern: Limited advanced reporting and smaller native app marketplace
- Next Step: Schedule a demo or start a free trial
This Close review demonstrates outstanding value for its target SMB audience, making it a compelling choice for efficient sales operations. My assessment provides high confidence for your decision.