Close CRM Review 2026: The Complete Deep Dive (Features, Pricing, Issues, and Alternatives)

Close is a sales CRM built for teams that communicate with leads through email, telephone, SMS, and video. It combines sales pipelines, tasks, sequences, calling, reporting, and team activity in one workspace.

The advertised per-user subscription may not represent the complete cost. Telephone numbers, calling minutes, SMS, email infrastructure, additional users, AI features, integrations, and implementation can increase the total.

This review examines Close’s features, pricing, reliability, integrations, support, recurring complaints, migration risks, and how it compares with the SmartChat CRM platform that SmartChat AI provisions for Philippine businesses.

Quick Verdict

Close is a strong option for inside-sales teams that want calling, email, SMS, pipelines, and sales automation in one focused CRM.

Businesses that need websites, funnels, appointments, reputation management, and broader marketing automation should look at the SmartChat CRM platform — and the simplest way to get it, plus a 24/7 AI front desk, is SmartChat AI.

What Is Close CRM?

Close is a cloud-based customer relationship management platform designed for sales teams. It places communication and pipeline activity inside each lead record so representatives can work without switching constantly between applications.

A typical Close workflow includes:

1. Importing or capturing a lead
2. Assigning the lead to a representative
3. Sending email, SMS, or making a call
4. Creating follow-up tasks
5. Enrolling the lead in a sequence
6. Moving the opportunity through a pipeline
7. Recording the completed or lost sale
8. Reviewing team activity and conversion

Close CRM Complete Feature Breakdown

Close capability	Rating	What it offers	Assessment	SmartChat CRM equivalent
Sales pipelines	Excellent	Opportunities, stages, values, statuses, and activity	Close’s central CRM capability	Pipelines and opportunities provide substantial overlap
Email	Excellent	Two-way synchronization, templates, bulk email, and sequences	Strong inside-sales workflow	Email campaigns and automated workflows
Calling	Excellent	Calling, number services, recording, and activity tracking	Major Close advantage	Calling and number services
SMS	Good	Text communication from lead records	Convenient, with regional and usage conditions	Integrated SMS through Conversations and workflows
Sequences	Excellent	Automated email, call, SMS, and task follow-up	Strong sales-engagement functionality	Multichannel workflows, triggers, and actions
Power Dialer	Good; plan-dependent	Moves representatives through calling lists	Useful for outbound teams	Dialing options exist, but exact parity is not established
Predictive Dialer	Good; higher-tier feature	Calls several leads to increase connection time	Valuable for eligible high-volume teams	Equivalent native depth requires confirmation
Lead management	Excellent	Contacts, companies, fields, activities, and search	Strong for B2B and inside sales	Contacts, companies, custom fields, and smart lists
Reporting	Good	Pipeline, activity, calls, email, and team performance	Useful for sales management	CRM, attribution, call, and campaign reporting
Websites and funnels	Limited	Not a native website platform	Requires another service	Major SmartChat CRM strength
Agency management	Limited	Designed mainly for one sales organization	Not agency-first	Client subaccounts and SaaS-oriented tools

Sales Pipelines and Lead Management

Close organizes contacts and opportunities within lead records. A lead may represent a business or account containing several contacts, communication records, tasks, notes, and opportunities.

Teams can customize fields, statuses, pipelines, and opportunity values. Search and filtering help representatives identify leads requiring action.

Before importing data, define ownership, duplicate rules, required fields, status meanings, pipeline stages, and reporting standards.

Businesses needing complex territory management, product configuration, or enterprise forecasting should test those requirements carefully.

Email and Sequences

Close can connect eligible email accounts and display sent and received communication inside lead records.

Templates, bulk email, and automated sequences can help representatives follow up consistently. Sequences may combine email, telephone, SMS, and manual tasks, depending on the plan and configuration.

Before launching, test:

• Sending-domain authentication
• Mailbox synchronization
• Shared addresses
• Unsubscribes
• Bounces and complaints
• Sequence exit conditions
• Replies
• Duplicate contacts
• Time zones
• Sending limits

Email deliverability depends on domain reputation, list quality, consent, content, engagement, and provider rules. Close cannot guarantee inbox placement.

Calling and Dialers

Calling is one of Close’s strongest features. Eligible users can make and receive calls, use numbers, record activity, and connect conversations with CRM records.

Higher plans may include Power Dialer or Predictive Dialer functionality. These tools can increase representative productivity but also introduce compliance and customer-experience risks.

Confirm:

• Number availability
• Local and international rates
• Inbound and outbound charges
• Recording
• Voicemail
• Caller identification
• Emergency calling
• Dialer access
• Consent requirements
• Retention

Telephone costs are generally separate from the base subscription.

SMS

Close supports eligible SMS communication from lead records and sequences. Availability depends on country, number type, carrier registration, and current provider rules.

Businesses should confirm message-segment pricing, MMS support, registration fees, opt-in requirements, quiet hours, opt-outs, and whether failed messages are charged.

Consent for email does not automatically provide consent for SMS or automated calling.

Tasks and Sales Automation

Close allows teams to create calls, emails, meetings, and other tasks. Automation can assign actions and ensure each lead has a defined next step.

Sequences can reduce repetitive follow-up, but they require careful control. A lead who replies, books a meeting, requests no contact, or becomes a customer should exit inappropriate campaigns.

Test every trigger, delay, condition, and stop rule before activating automation.

Reporting

Close reports can cover pipeline movement, sales activity, call results, email, opportunity value, and employee performance.

Managers should verify:

• Pipeline definitions
• Forecasting methods
• Time zones
• Lost reasons
• Reopened opportunities
• Deleted leads
• Attribution
• Export options
• Report permissions

Activity volume does not automatically demonstrate sales quality. Reports should connect calls and messages with qualified opportunities and completed revenue.

Close CRM Pricing Deep Dive

Close has used plans such as Solo, Essentials, Growth, and Scale. Pricing is generally based on users.

Plan	Approximate annual-billing price	Typical use
Solo	About $19 per month for one user	Individual sales professionals
Essentials	About $35 per user monthly	Small teams needing core communication and CRM
Growth	About $99 per user monthly	Teams requiring stronger automation and dialer tools
Scale	About $139 per user monthly	Larger sales teams requiring advanced controls

Monthly billing is generally higher than annual-billing rates. These are reference figures rather than guaranteed 2026 prices.

Close may change plan names, prices, lead limits, workflow allowances, calling tools, support, and included features. Confirm the live checkout or written quote before relying on exact figures.

Solo

Solo is intended for an individual user with straightforward lead and communication requirements.

Confirm lead capacity, workflows, email accounts, numbers, calling features, and support before purchasing.

Essentials

Essentials provides core CRM, email, calling, SMS, pipeline, and productivity tools for a small sales team.

Advanced automation and dialer functionality may require Growth or Scale.

Growth

Growth is intended for teams needing greater automation, reporting, and outbound sales functionality.

It may be the practical starting point for organizations choosing Close specifically for sales engagement.

Scale

Scale targets larger teams requiring higher allowances, advanced customization, dialer tools, permissions, or support.

Obtain written confirmation of every user, communication allowance, service level, and renewal condition.

The Real Cost

The complete operating cost may include:

• Per-user subscriptions
• Telephone numbers
• Calling minutes
• SMS and MMS
• Carrier registration
• Email infrastructure
• AI or premium tools
• Integrations
• Migration and implementation
• Taxes and currency conversion

Calculate annual cost using realistic users, numbers, destinations, call duration, and message volume.

For comparison, SmartChat CRM is provisioned through SmartChat’s annual plans at flat peso pricing rather than sold as separate tiers. SmartChat AI runs on the same platform at flat annual peso pricing: ₱2,699 per month equivalent for the SMS + AI plan (regularly ₱5,199), with unlimited contacts and no per-contact fees.

Close CRM Reliability and Security

Close customers depend on the platform for lead records, email, calling, SMS, tasks, and sales activity. Problems can also originate from email providers, telecommunications carriers, number registration, internet access, or integrations.

Do not assume a contractual uptime guarantee unless it appears in the applicable agreement. Maintain exports of leads, opportunities, activities, and important reports.

Before purchasing, review current information covering authentication, encryption, permissions, backups, call recordings, incident response, privacy, data storage, retention, exports, and deletion.

Close CRM Known Issues and Common Complaints

Per-user costs

Close can become expensive as a sales team grows, particularly on plans providing advanced automation and dialers. Model costs using the expected number of representatives and managers.

Communication charges

Numbers, calls, SMS, and carrier requirements may create costs beyond the subscription. Request rates for every country and channel the team will use.

Limited marketing pages

Close does not provide SmartChat CRM’s complete website and funnel-building environment. Businesses may need separate forms, landing pages, advertising tools, and appointment systems.

Learning curve

Close is focused, but workflows, dialers, reporting, custom fields, and communication configuration require training.

Email and calling compliance

High-volume outreach can create deliverability, consent, reputation, and regulatory risks. The business remains responsible for lawful communication practices.

Migration effort

Contacts and opportunities may import cleanly, but historical emails, calls, recordings, tasks, sequences, custom activities, and reports may not transfer completely. Preserve essential records before switching.

Customer Support Quality

Close provides documentation, educational resources, and customer-support channels. Availability, onboarding, and response times may depend on the plan and issue.

Public marketing does not establish a contractual response or resolution time. Buyers should confirm support hours, migration help, telephone assistance, priority handling, and escalation procedures.

Use the trial to submit a real email, calling, or workflow question.

Close CRM Integration Ecosystem

Close connects with forms, calendars, productivity tools, communication services, automation platforms, and other business applications.

An advertised integration does not guarantee complete two-way synchronization. Test:

• Leads and contacts
• Custom fields
• Opportunities and stages
• Tasks and meetings
• Email status
• Calls and recordings
• SMS consent
• Duplicate handling
• Failed synchronization
• Reauthorization

Businesses requiring custom integrations should verify current API, webhook, authentication, rate-limit, and plan-access terms.

Who Is Close CRM Best For?

Close is best suited to:

• Inside-sales teams
• Business-to-business sales organizations
• Outbound sales teams
• Remote sales representatives
• Startups with direct sales processes
• Teams using calls and email heavily

It is less suitable for field-service companies, ecommerce marketers, project-heavy operations, or agencies requiring extensive client subaccounts.

Close CRM vs SmartChat CRM

Close and SmartChat CRM overlap in pipelines, email, SMS, calling, automation, and customer records. Their primary purposes differ.

Feature	Close CRM	SmartChat CRM
Primary purpose	Inside-sales CRM	CRM, marketing automation, and agency management
Sales pipelines	Major platform strength	Major platform strength
Email synchronization	Strong representative-level workflow	Campaign and Conversations email
Calling	Deeply integrated sales calling	Integrated calling
Power and predictive dialers	Available on eligible plans	Equivalent native depth requires confirmation
SMS	Connected to lead records and sequences	Conversations and workflow SMS
Sales sequences	Major platform strength	Multichannel visual workflows
Websites and funnels	Limited	Native builders
Appointments	Calendar and integration based	Native booking calendars
Reputation management	Limited	Review and reputation tools
Agency subaccounts	Limited	Major platform strength
Pricing structure	Per user	Primarily account and feature based
Reference starting price	About $19 for Solo	Included with SmartChat plans

What SmartChat CRM has that Close does not

SmartChat CRM provides websites, landing pages, funnels, native appointment calendars, reputation management, courses, communities, and agency subaccounts. Equivalent marketing breadth is not established in Close.

What Close has that SmartChat CRM does not

Close provides a more focused inside-sales workspace with tightly connected email, calls, SMS, sequences, and eligible power or predictive dialers. SmartChat CRM offers overlapping communication tools, but equivalent sales-dialer depth is not established.

Which should you choose?

Choose Close when a dedicated sales team spends most of its time emailing, calling, and texting leads.

Choose SmartChat AI when you want the SmartChat CRM platform — pipelines, funnels, calendars, reputation tools — provisioned for you, with a 24/7 AI front desk answering SMS, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and website chat from your own knowledge base. SMS goes out from your real Philippine business number through a postpaid SIM in a dedicated Android relay phone.

Migrating Away from Close

1. Inventory the account

List leads, contacts, opportunities, custom fields, pipelines, numbers, email accounts, sequences, tasks, calls, and integrations.

2. Export available data

Export leads, contacts, opportunities, activities, and other accessible records. Preserve unchanged backups.

3. Prepare the destination

Create fields, tags, pipelines, users, calendars, numbers, email services, and workflows. On SmartChat, the SmartChat CRM sub-account is provisioned for you, so this step starts from a working setup rather than a blank account.

4. Import and verify

Map every column carefully. Compare totals and inspect sample records after import.

5. Rebuild sequences

Close sequences will not transfer directly. Recreate emails, calls, SMS, tasks, delays, and exit conditions.

6. Move communication carefully

Port or replace numbers only after checking coverage and timing. Authenticate email domains and test consent, calling, recording, SMS, and opt-outs.

Migration timeline

A basic contact migration may take several hours. Rebuilding pipelines, communication, dialers, and automation may require several days or weeks. Run both systems until data and communication workflows have been verified.

Close CRM: Real User Sentiment

Close commonly receives praise for its focused interface, email synchronization, calling, SMS, sequences, search, and suitability for inside-sales teams.

Recurring criticisms often concern per-user pricing, telephone costs, limited marketing pages, reporting needs, workflow complexity, and the absence of broader project-management features.

Review scores and totals change continuously. Individual reviews describe particular experiences rather than universal results.

Final Verdict

Close remains a strong inside-sales CRM in 2026. Its pipelines, email, calling, SMS, sequences, dialers, and lead records create a focused environment for sales representatives. Its main trade-offs are per-user pricing, communication costs, limited website and funnel functionality, and migration effort.

Choose Close if representative productivity and inside-sales communication are central to how your team sells.

Choose SmartChat AI if what you actually need is leads answered and booked around the clock — the same SmartChat CRM platform provisioned for you, SMS from your own Philippine number, and an AI front desk that qualifies leads and books appointments while your team is offline. Test the AI yourself by texting 0917 315 4230, or see plans at /annual#plans.