Close CRM vs Freshsales

Close CRM and Freshsales are two platforms designed to support sales teams in managing customer relationships, each offering unique tools to streamline workflows. Close CRM focuses on optimizing sales processes with features like call tracking, email automation, and visual pipeline management, catering to fast-paced sales environments. Freshsales, on the other hand, integrates AI-driven insights, sales automation, and communication tools, providing a data-focused approach to sales management. In this blog post, we’ll compare their key features to help you determine which CRM best suits your needs—or if Folk might provide a more flexible alternative with user-friendly contact management and customization options.

What is Close CRM?

Close CRM is a sales-focused platform designed to eliminate the complexity of traditional CRMs, offering a streamlined and user-friendly experience tailored for small businesses with ambitious growth goals. Known for its intuitive design, Close provides robust features like automation to reduce manual work, built-in communication tools for faster follow-ups, and powerful integrations to fit seamlessly into any tech stack. Whether you’re managing leads, collaborating with a team, or scaling sales efforts, Close is built to save time and help small businesses succeed.

Key features of Close CRM

• Fast setup: Simple and quick to implement, allowing teams to start using the platform without delay.
• Intuitive interface: Easy-to-navigate dashboard tailored for speed and productivity.
• Built-in communication: Integrated calling, email, and SMS tools for seamless interaction with leads and clients.
• Automation tools: Includes workflows, smart views, and task automation to streamline repetitive tasks.
• Powerful reporting: Customizable sales and activity reporting for actionable insights into team performance and revenue trends.
• Team collaboration: Features like shared inboxes and task assignments to keep teams aligned and efficient.
• Secure and scalable: Designed with robust security and scalability for growing businesses.
• Integrations: Offers over 100 native integrations and Zapier compatibility to sync seamlessly with existing tools.
  

What is Freshsales?

Freshsales is a CRM platform by Freshworks designed to help businesses streamline their sales processes with AI-powered tools and automation. It provides features like lead scoring, deal tracking, email and call management, and workflow automation to enhance efficiency and drive conversions. Freshsales also integrates communication and sales in one place, offering tools for personalized outreach and detailed insights to improve sales strategies.

Key features of Freshsales

• AI-powered insights: Freshsales leverages AI to provide recommendations, predict deal outcomes, and offer actionable insights to improve sales strategies.
• Lead scoring: Automatically prioritizes leads based on their engagement and likelihood to convert, helping sales teams focus on high-value opportunities.
• Deal tracking: Provides a visual sales pipeline to track deals through various stages and monitor progress in real time.
• Email and call management: Integrates email and phone communication, allowing users to manage interactions directly from the platform.
• Workflow automation: Automates repetitive tasks like sending follow-up emails or updating deal statuses, reducing manual work and improving efficiency.

Close CRM vs. Freshsales: Feature Comparison

Let's break down the key features of two CRM software solutions and take a closer look at their sales automation, email marketing tools, and contact management.

1. Sales pipeline management

Close CRM's pipeline offers a streamlined, visual approach to managing sales processes, making it easy to track deals from start to finish. The Powerful Pipeline View provides a clear snapshot of all active opportunities, enabling teams to focus on what matters most. With features like drag-and-drop deal management, users can effortlessly update the status of leads.
Freshsales’ pipeline feature offers a visual sales pipeline that helps you track deals through various stages in real time. The drag-and-drop functionality allows you to easily move deals between stages, providing a clear overview of your progress. Integrated tools like lead scoring and AI insights further enhance your deal management by identifying priorities and predicting outcomes. While the pipeline is designed for simplicity, it’s heavily focused on sales workflows, which may limit its flexibility for teams requiring broader project or task tracking capabilities.

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2. Ease of use

Close CRM offers a user-friendly interface designed for quick adoption, ensuring sales teams can focus on selling rather than learning complex systems. Freshsales also emphasizes ease of use, with intuitive navigation and customizable dashboards, making it accessible for both new and experienced users, though setup might take time.

3. Contact enrichment

Close CRM does not provide its own contact enrichment feature. You can only access this using a third-party application, which might incur an additional cost. Freshsales, on the other hand, offers built-in contact enrichment, providing detailed insights and reducing the need for external tools.

4. Outreach

Close CRM's outreach features integrate built-in calling, email, and SMS tools, enabling seamless multi-channel outreach without external apps. Freshsales includes outreach tools for managing communication through email, phone, and chat, with personalized campaigns and engagement tracking, though it may lack the depth found in dedicated marketing platforms.

5. Automation

Close CRM's automation features streamline workflows by automating tasks like updating deal statuses and assigning leads. Freshsales offers similar automation for repetitive tasks and complex processes, enhancing efficiency, though setting up advanced automations may require familiarity with the system’s configuration options.

6. Integration

Close CRM offers integrations with various tools to enhance sales workflows and streamline data management. Freshsales also provides extensive integrations, allowing seamless connection with other business tools to enhance functionality and data flow.

7. Artificial Intelligence

Close CRM does not appear to have an AI integration. Freshsales includes AI integration through its Freddy AI, offering predictive analytics, lead scoring, and insights to prioritize opportunities and forecast sales, though maximizing its effectiveness may require familiarity with AI-driven workflows.

Price and plans comparison

Let's take a closer look at the price and plans of both Close CRM and Freshsales.

Close CRM prices

Close CRM offers a monthly and annual payment option. The annual subscription plan is as follows.

• Startup: $49/user/month.
• Professional: $99/user/month.
• Enterprise: $139/user/month.

Freshsales prices

Through Freshworks, Freshsales provides a few price plans. The following is focused on the Freshsales product.

• Growth: Starts from $9/user/month.
• Pro: Starts from $39/user/month.
• Enterprise: Starts from $59/user/month.

Introducing folk CRM: the best alternative to Close CRM and Freshsales

Looking for an affordable alternative? We recommend folk. A multiple award-winning CRM platform loved for its easy-to-use, plug-and-play CRM system. folk can support multiple business functions including sales, marketing, recruitment, and more. You can use folk as a solopreneur, small to mid-size team, or large enterprise. Allowing it to scale with you as your business grows.

Key features

• Contact management: Bring all your contacts into one place seamlessly, from social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram and X to multiple inboxes including Gmail and Outlook.
• Notes and reminders: Attach notes directly to a contact's profile in folk, and access them on the go. And assign reminders so you know exactly when to follow-up.
• Sales pipeline dashboard: Manage your entire sales cycle and leads with a highly customizable sales pipeline dashboard that can be used in Kanban-board view or listicle.
• Ease of use and customization: Easily customize the pipelines, dashboards, automation, email sequences, so that you can use it across your sales cycle and pipeline management – and other business functions such as recruitment, marketing, and more.
• Social media integration: Import people and companies from LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, Instagram, and X within a click thanks to folk’s Google Chrome extension.
• Contact sync from Gmail and Outlook: Full email sync enabling users to manage all communications directly from the CRM.
• Find email addresses in a click: Contact enrichment powered by Apollo, and Dropcontact so you can fill in missing data points with 1-click.
• Email sequences: Send email sequences with reminders if your leads don’t reply to your first emails. It includes an AI integration allowing you to personalize email at scale.

Price and plans

folk has a 14-day free trial. After that, there are affordable monthly or annual subscription plans. The annual subscription plan is as follows.

• Standard: $20 per user, per month.
• Premium: $40 per user, per month.
• Custom: Starts from $80 per user, per month.

Close CRM vs. Freshsales: What's the verdict?

When it comes to choosing between Close CRM and Freshsales, it's apparent that both platforms offer robust features tailored to different business needs. Close CRM shines with its intuitive design and sales-focused tools, making it ideal for small businesses aiming for growth. Freshsales, on the other hand, provides a comprehensive suite for managing customer relationships with advanced analytics. However, for companies seeking a more personalized and flexible CRM solution, folk stands out as a compelling alternative. With its ease of use, customization, and affordability, folk blends seamlessly into various business functions. Try folk today, free