Close CRM Reviews: The Complete Breakdown for Sales Teams
Close CRM has carved out a solid reputation in the sales CRM space, particularly among outbound-focused teams. With a 4.7/5 rating on both G2 and Capterra from over 1,000 reviews, it's clearly doing something right. But is it right for your team?
I've dug through hundreds of user reviews, tested the platform, and compared it against alternatives to give you the real story—including what Close excels at and where it falls short.
What Is Close CRM?
Close is a sales engagement CRM built specifically for small to medium-sized businesses that rely heavily on outbound sales. Unlike bloated enterprise CRMs, Close focuses on one thing: helping sales reps close more deals faster.
The platform was founded by Steli Efti and Phil Freo out of frustration with manual data entry and overly complex CRM systems. That focus on simplicity and speed still defines the product today.
What makes Close different from most CRMs is its built-in communication tools. Email, calling, SMS, and video are all native to the platform—you don't need to bolt on separate tools or pay for integrations. For teams doing high-volume cold calling, this is a game-changer.
Close CRM Pricing: What You'll Actually Pay
Close uses a tiered pricing structure with four main plans. Here's the breakdown:
| Plan | Monthly Price | Annual Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo | $19/user | $9/user | Individual users, basic CRM needs |
| Essentials | $49/user | $35/user | Small teams needing core features |
| Growth | $109/user | $99/user | Teams needing automation & power dialer |
| Scale | $149/user | $139/user | Larger teams with advanced needs |
All plans come with a 14-day free trial—no credit card required. Annual billing saves you around 35% compared to monthly.
What Each Plan Gets You
The Solo plan ($9/month annually) is designed for solopreneurs. You get basic CRM functionality but you're capped at 10,000 leads and miss out on follow-up reminders and workflow automation. It's essentially a starter tier to get you hooked.
The Essentials plan ($35/month annually) removes lead limits, adds follow-up reminders, and includes text scheduling. But here's the catch: neither Solo nor Essentials includes workflow automation, bulk email, or advanced calling features.
The Growth plan ($99/month annually) is where Close starts to shine. You get workflow automation, Power Dialer, AI Email Rewrite, and AI Lead Summaries. The jump from Essentials to Growth is significant—both in price (183% increase) and capability.
The Scale plan ($139/month annually) adds role-based permissions, predictive dialing, call coaching, and advanced security features like SSO. This is built for teams that need structure and compliance.
For detailed pricing information, check out our Close CRM pricing breakdown.
What Close CRM Does Well
Built-In Calling Is Exceptional
If your team does high-volume cold calling, Close is hard to beat. The Power Dialer automatically moves you to the next number if no one picks up, while the Predictive Dialer routes answered calls to available reps. Managers can silently listen in or join calls, and every call is automatically transcribed by AI.
The calling features are genuinely best-in-class. Most CRMs require you to integrate with third-party dialers, adding complexity and cost. Close bakes it all in.
Fast, Clean Interface
Close feels much faster than legacy CRMs. The three-column layout puts most information you need on one screen. Most users can pick up the system in a day—that's rare for CRM software.
Multiple reviewers mention that Close "avoids unnecessary complexity and bloat" while still offering powerful features. It's designed for salespeople, not administrators.
Unified Communication Hub
Email, calls, SMS, and voicemail are all accessible in one unified inbox. No switching between apps. Every interaction is logged automatically, giving you complete context for every lead.
You can link your Zoom account to sync contacts and recordings. Close notifies you 5 minutes before meetings. The calendar sync with Google and Outlook keeps everything organized.
Smart Lead Management
AI-powered search and granular filters help teams surface the right contacts quickly. Smart Views let you save targeted lists that are always one click away for outreach or analysis. There's no limit on the number of Smart Views you can create.
Solid Customer Support
Close is known for excellent customer support with email and phone options, plus a comprehensive knowledge base. Multiple G2 reviewers specifically call out the responsive support team.
Where Close CRM Falls Short
No Free Plan
Unlike HubSpot or even monday CRM (which offers free access for nonprofits/students), Close has no free tier. For very small teams or startups testing the waters, this creates a barrier to entry.
Limited Marketing Automation
Close falls short on marketing functionality. There's no drag-and-drop email builder, no pre-built templates, and limited engagement tracking. If you need proper marketing automation, you'll need another tool.
The workflow automation is also surprisingly limited. Beyond sales sequences, you're mostly restricted to assigning owners, updating lead status, or creating tasks.
Email Tracking Gaps
Close's email tracking only tracks opens—no click tracking, bounce data, or detailed reply tracking. For sales teams trying to measure and improve outreach effectiveness, this is a real limitation.
No Lead Scoring
Close completely lacks native lead scoring capabilities. For teams managing high volumes of leads, the inability to automatically prioritize prospects based on engagement and characteristics is a significant miss.
Integration Limitations
While Close integrates with over 100 applications, it lacks pre-built integrations with major tools like Zendesk, Intercom, and Mailchimp. You may end up routing through Zapier more than you'd like.
Pipeline Limits
You're limited to 1-3 pipelines unless you subscribe to the Business Plan, and even then, you get ten pipelines max. Companies managing multiple sales cycles may find this restrictive.
What Real Users Say
Here's the consensus from G2, Capterra, and other review platforms:
Positive themes:
- "User-friendly" and "easy navigation" appear constantly in reviews
- Calling features and power dialer get the most praise
- "Fast and uncluttered" despite the rich feature set
- Good for managing outbound pipelines—one reviewer gave it a "perfect 10 out of 10" for cold calling
Negative themes:
- Pricing can be steep, especially for larger teams needing advanced features
- Limited customization compared to more complex platforms
- Some users find billing and invoicing confusing (not itemized for phone/text usage)
- A few complaints about customer support being email-only with scheduled callbacks
Who Should Use Close CRM?
Close is ideal for:
- High-volume outbound sales teams doing 100+ calls/messages per day
- SMBs that want built-in calling without separate integrations
- Teams that need to automate personalized multi-channel sequences at scale
- Sales-focused organizations that prioritize speed over marketing features
Close is NOT ideal for:
- Teams needing robust marketing automation
- Businesses with complex, multi-pipeline sales cycles
- Companies that want a free CRM to start
- Organizations requiring advanced lead scoring
Close CRM vs. Alternatives
If Close doesn't fit your needs, consider these options:
HubSpot CRM: Offers a forever-free tier and integrates with 1,500+ tools. Better for teams that need marketing and sales in one platform. More scalable but more complex. Check our best CRM software roundup for more details.
Pipedrive: Similar sales focus with better reporting dashboards and more advanced marketing tools. More intuitive visual pipelines but less robust calling features.
monday CRM: More flexible and customizable with advanced project management functionality. Free version available (for nonprofits/students). Less built-in communication features than Close. See our monday.com review.
Less Annoying CRM: Higher ratings on G2 (4.9/5) with dead-simple pricing at $15/user/month. Better for teams that want simplicity over power features.
For a broader comparison, read our CRM software comparison guide.
The Bottom Line
Close CRM delivers exactly what it promises: a fast, communication-focused CRM for sales teams that live on the phone. If your business runs on cold calling and outbound sequences, Close is genuinely one of the best options out there.
But if you need marketing automation, advanced lead scoring, or a free tier to get started, look elsewhere. Close knows its lane and stays in it—which is both its greatest strength and its limitation.
The pricing is fair for what you get, but the jump from Essentials to Growth (where the real power features live) is steep. Budget accordingly.
Try Close CRM free for 14 days and see if it fits your workflow. No credit card required.