What Is Close?
Close is a sales-focused CRM with built-in calling, SMS, and email designed for inside sales teams at startups and small businesses.
Founded in 2013 by Steli Efti, Anthony Nemitz, and Thomas Steinacher, Close started as an internal tool for a sales agency before becoming one of the most respected CRMs in the startup world. The company is fully bootstrapped and has grown to over $50 million in annual recurring revenue without taking significant venture capital (Mixergy, 2025). Close operates as a fully remote team of roughly 100 employees spread across 13 countries (Close, 2025). It holds a 4.7 out of 5 rating on G2 from over 2,000 verified reviews (G2, 2026) and a matching 4.7 on Capterra. If your sales team lives on the phone and in their inbox, Close was built specifically for you.
Why Do Small Business Owners Love Close?
Small business owners love Close because it replaces their dialer, email tool, and SMS platform with one fast, focused CRM.
The biggest draw is that calling is baked directly into the CRM. No third-party dialer, no clunky integrations — just click a number and talk. Close supports outbound calling to nearly 200 countries (Close, 2025), and one customer reported a 60% increase in outbound call volume after switching to the Power Dialer (Close Customer Stories, 2025). The interface earns a 9.3 out of 10 for Ease of Use on G2 (G2, 2026), which matters when you are onboarding reps who have never used a CRM before. Setup takes hours, not weeks. There are no consultants required and no certification courses to complete. Close also syncs two-way with Gmail, Google Workspace, and Outlook, so your email history lives right next to your call logs and SMS threads — one timeline per lead, zero tab-switching.
"We believed sales at its core was about result-driven communication — and if this was true, by definition we needed to focus mainly on creating communication software for people doing inside sales." — Steli Efti, CEO and Co-Founder, Close
How Much Does Close Cost in 2026?
Close starts at $19 per user per month with no free plan, but a 14-day free trial gives you full access to test every feature.
| Plan | Price (Monthly / Annual) | Key Features | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo | $19/mo / $9/mo | 1 user, 10K leads, calling, email sync, task management | Solo sellers and freelancers |
| Essentials | $49/mo / $35/mo | Unlimited users, 25K leads, pipeline views, custom fields | Small teams centralizing outreach |
| Growth | $109/mo / $99/mo | Power Dialer, workflows, AI Email Assistant, bulk email, 250K leads | Scaling sales teams |
| Scale | $149/mo / $139/mo | Predictive Dialer, custom objects, role-based access, unlimited leads | Larger orgs needing compliance controls |
Annual billing saves up to 53% on the Solo plan and around 9% on Growth (Close, 2026). The Growth plan is the most popular tier and unlocks the features most teams actually need: automated workflows, Power Dialer, and AI tools. Close also offers a 30 to 60 percent startup discount for companies with less than $2 million in funding (Close Startups, 2025). All plans are month-to-month with no contracts. There is no money-back guarantee, but cancellation takes effect at the end of your billing cycle. A G2 promo code (G2Close20) gives 20% off your first billing cycle through December 2026.
What Are the Standout Features of Close in 2025?
Close stands out with native calling, a Predictive Dialer, AI-powered data enrichment, and automated multi-channel workflows — all without third-party tools.
Built-In Power and Predictive Dialer. The Power Dialer automatically cycles through your lead list so reps never waste time between calls. The Predictive Dialer, available on the Scale plan, dials multiple numbers simultaneously and only connects reps when a human answers — dramatically increasing talk time per hour (Close, 2025).
AI Enrich. Launched in June 2025, AI Enrich scrapes real-time web data from LinkedIn profiles, company websites, and industry sources to auto-populate CRM fields. It supports bulk enrichment, custom prompts, and workflow triggers (Close, 2025). This eliminates hours of manual research per week.
Multi-Channel Workflows. Available on Growth plans and above, workflows combine email, SMS, and call task steps in automated sequences. Recent additions include Update Lead and Update Opportunity steps shipped in late 2025 (Close Changelog, 2025).
Native SMS. Send and receive text messages in over a dozen countries directly inside the CRM, with SMS steps available inside workflows. A new SMS threading feature entered beta in 2025 for real-time docked conversations.
AI Call Assistant. This add-on at $50 per month plus $0.02 per minute joins Zoom calls, transcribes conversations in any language, and generates smart summaries with action items saved to the lead record (Close, 2025).
Close Forms. Launched in January 2026, this native drag-and-drop web form builder captures leads directly into your CRM with spam protection and Smart View filtering — available on all plans (Close Changelog, 2026).
100+ Integrations. Close connects natively with Zoom, Slack, Google Workspace, Calendly, DocuSign, Gong, and more, plus Zapier and Make for everything else. A full REST API and Python SDK are available for custom builds (Close, 2025).
What Could Be Better About Close?
Close has real gaps in reporting depth, customer support channels, and affordability for the smallest teams.
No free plan. Unlike HubSpot or Zoho, Close requires a paid subscription from day one. The 14-day trial helps, but budget-conscious solopreneurs may feel the pinch at $19 per month minimum. Email-only support. Multiple G2 reviewers have flagged frustration with the lack of phone or live chat support. One reviewer noted responses come at the company's convenience, not the client's (G2, 2025). Limited reporting and dashboards. A Capterra reviewer from the construction industry wrote that Close gives them everything except dashboards (Capterra, 2025). Teams needing advanced analytics will likely need a third-party BI tool. Occasional post-update bugs. A Trustpilot reviewer reported productivity drops after a forced UI update, with bugs and missing features that felt insufficiently tested (Trustpilot, 2025). Close's rapid development pace sometimes outstrips QA polish.
How Does Close Compare to the Competition in 2026?
Close wins on built-in communication features but faces stiff competition from CRMs with lower entry prices or broader feature sets.
| Tool | Starting Price | Best Feature | Best For | Our Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | $19/user/mo | Native calling, SMS, and email | Inside sales teams doing high-volume outbound | This review |
| Pipedrive | $14/user/mo | Visual drag-and-drop pipeline | Teams wanting simple deal tracking | Pipedrive Review |
| Keap | $249/mo (2 users) | Sales + marketing automation combo | Service businesses needing invoicing and automation | Keap Review |
| Nutshell | $13/user/mo | Easy setup with built-in email marketing | Small teams wanting CRM plus newsletters | Nutshell Review |
| Salesflare | $29/user/mo | Automatic data entry from email and calendar | B2B teams who hate manual CRM updates | Salesflare Review |
The global CRM market reached approximately $79 billion in 2025 and is growing at a 14.6% compound annual rate toward $163 billion by 2030 (Fortune Business Insights, 2025). Within this landscape, Close holds a small but fiercely loyal niche. What sets it apart is the all-in-one communication stack. Pipedrive requires third-party calling integrations and lacks native SMS entirely. Nutshell and Salesflare offer simpler experiences but cannot match Close's dialer capabilities. If your sales process runs on phone calls and follow-up sequences, Close eliminates the tool sprawl that slows teams down.
Who Is Close Best For?
Close is best for inside sales teams of 3 to 50 people at startups and SMBs who rely on calls, emails, and SMS to close deals.
Startup sales teams who need to move fast without spending weeks on CRM setup will love Close's same-day onboarding and built-in communication tools. SaaS and agency sales reps doing high-volume outbound prospecting get the most value from the Power Dialer and automated workflows. Founders doing their own selling benefit from the Solo plan's affordability and the fact that calling, email, and pipeline management live in one place. However, if you need robust marketing automation, consider Keap or ActiveCampaign. If visual pipeline management matters more than calling, Pipedrive is a strong alternative. And if your team rarely picks up the phone, a simpler CRM like Nutshell or Folk may be all you need at a lower price.
The Bottom Line on Close
Close is the best CRM for small sales teams that live on the phone and want calling, SMS, and email in one fast, focused platform.
There is no CRM at this price point that matches Close's native communication stack. The built-in Power Dialer, Predictive Dialer, email sequences, SMS, and now AI-powered enrichment and call transcription make it a genuine five-tools-in-one solution for inside sales teams. The 2025 AI updates — especially AI Enrich and the AI Call Assistant — closed feature gaps that competitors had been exploiting, and the January 2026 launch of Close Forms addresses a long-standing lead capture weakness.
The tradeoffs are real: no free plan, email-only support, and reporting that will not satisfy data-hungry managers without a third-party tool. But if your sales motion is built on high-volume outbound calls and multi-channel follow-up sequences, Close earns its price by replacing your dialer, email sequencer, and SMS tool with one clean interface. It has been a bootstrapped, profitable company for over a decade — and that stability means your CRM is not going to pivot, get acquired, or jack up prices to satisfy investors. For the right team, Close is a no-brainer.
Close FAQ
Does Close offer a free plan?
No, Close does not have a free plan. However, it offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required that gives you full access to all features plus $5 in calling credits to test the dialer.
Does Close have a built-in phone dialer?
Yes, Close includes a native VoIP calling system with a Power Dialer on Growth plans and a Predictive Dialer on Scale plans. No third-party phone integration is needed — calling works directly inside the CRM.
What integrations does Close support?
Close offers over 100 integrations including Zoom, Slack, Google Workspace, Calendly, DocuSign, and Gong. It also connects with thousands of additional apps through Zapier and Make, and provides a full REST API.
Is Close easy to set up?
Yes, Close is known for fast onboarding. Most teams are fully operational within a day. G2 reviewers give it a 9.3 out of 10 for Ease of Use, and there is no need for consultants or complex configuration.
Can I send SMS from Close?
Yes, Close supports native SMS sending and receiving in over a dozen countries. SMS can also be included as automated steps inside multi-channel workflows on Growth and Scale plans.
Does Close offer discounts for startups?
Yes, Close offers a 30 to 60 percent discount for qualifying startups with less than $2 million in funding and less than $1 million in revenue through its Close for Startups program.
What kind of customer support does Close provide?
Close provides customer support via email only. There is no phone support or live chat option. Response times vary, which some users on G2 and Trustpilot have flagged as a frustration.
Can Close replace my email marketing tool?
Close handles sales email sequences, bulk email, and open and click tracking effectively. However, it is not designed for newsletter-style marketing campaigns — for that, pair it with a dedicated email marketing platform like Brevo or GetResponse.