Close CRM vs Keap
Features, use cases, pros and cons, and pricing side by side — and which one to pick.
Best for: Inside sales teams that live on the phone and want dialing built in, Small to mid-size teams replacing a CRM, dialer, and SMS tool with one platform
Read the full Close CRM reviewBest for: Service businesses — coaches, consultants, agencies — that convert through multi-touch nurture rather than one-off transactions., Appointment-driven operations such as salons, clinics, tutors, and home services, where automated reminders and rebooking directly protect revenue.
Read the full Keap reviewCommission may apply at no extra cost
Close CRM vs Keap: features compared
Compare key features side by side
Feature Comparison Summary
Which should you choose?
Choose Close CRM if
- You want calling, SMS, and email inside one CRM
- You want AI agent Chloe automating follow-ups and lead qualification
- You want a free trial plus a 30-day money-back guarantee
Choose Keap if
- You want a free trial before paying anything
- You need usage-based or one-time payment options
Close CRM vs Keap: pros and cons
Close CRM
Close CRM puts calling, email, SMS, and pipelines in one place, with Chloe, an AI agent that answers new leads in minutes and books meetings. Costs climb with usage, though, and automation only starts at $99 per user. Overall, it's a strong pick for outbound-heavy teams that can live with metered billing.
Pros
- Chloe, the built-in AI sales agent, calls new leads within minutes, qualifies them through real conversations, books meetings, and logs transcripts and notes automatically — reducing the need for extra reps.
- Calling is native, not an add-on — the power dialer (and predictive dialer on Scale) logs every call automatically, with phone, email, and SMS sharing one inbox so outbound teams work from a single window.
- The CRM updates itself — AI-generated call summaries, drafted follow-ups, and contact enrichment from LinkedIn and the web reduce manual data entry after every conversation.
Cons
- AI credits are metered and don't roll over — 500 to 2,000 per user monthly depending on plan — and calling, SMS, phone lines (from $1/month), and the Call Assistant ($50/month plus $0.02 per minute) all add usage-based costs on top of seat prices.
- The AI agent calling and messaging leads on your behalf won't suit every audience or brand; Close's own materials suggest testing Chloe's tone before committing, and vendors' outcome claims (like 50% more booked appointments) come from self-published customer quotes rather than independent verification.
- Automation is locked behind the $99 Growth plan — Solo and Essentials tiers exclude workflows — so small teams get manual follow-ups unless they pay for the higher tiers.
Keap
Keap bundles CRM, email and SMS automation, scheduling, and payments into one system built for follow-up-heavy service businesses. Campaign Builder handles genuinely multi-step workflows, though mastering it takes weeks and costs climb as your contact list grows. Overall, it's a strong pick for owner-led teams that will actually invest in automation.
Pros
- Campaign Builder supports genuinely multi-step, behavior-triggered automation — SMS, internal tasks, tagging, and staff notifications inside one workflow, not just autoresponders.
- CRM, email, SMS, scheduling, invoicing, and payments share a single contact database, eliminating the sync tools and data gaps of a multi-vendor stack.
- Appointment reminders and pipeline task automation directly reduce no-shows and stalled deals, which is where small businesses measurably lose money.
Cons
- Campaign Builder is powerful but has a real learning curve — expect days to launch a first campaign and weeks before branching logic feels comfortable.
- Pricing scales with contact count and users, so costs climb meaningfully as your database grows — a real consideration for list-heavy businesses.
- There is no permanent free tier, so evaluation happens inside the trial window or after committing to a paid plan.
Close CRM and Keap in detail
Close CRM
Close is a sales CRM built for teams that actively sell. It combines phone calling, email, SMS, pipeline management, and reporting in one platform. Its standout element is Chloe, an AI sales agent that calls leads, qualifies them through real conversations, books meetings, and updates records automatically. The vendor targets founders, sales leaders, and reps, with dedicated pages for coaching, B2B SaaS, financial services, and insurance teams.
Standout features
- Chloe answers leads before they go cold
- Calling that's built in, not bolted on
- The CRM that updates itself
- See every deal, then act on it
- Connects to your stack, and to your workflow
Use cases
- Answer New Leads in Minutes
- Re-Engage Cold Leads
- Never Miss a Follow-Up
- Run Outbound From One Workspace
Keap
Keap is a customer relationship management and marketing automation platform aimed at small businesses, typically teams without dedicated IT or marketing staff. Its core is the Campaign Builder, a visual editor where you assemble multi-step, trigger-based workflows that send emails and texts, create tasks, move contacts through pipelines, and collect payments. Around that sit contact management with tagging, lead capture forms and landing pages, appointment booking with automated reminders, invoicing, and reporting dashboards. The design assumption is follow-up-heavy selling: leads get nurtured over days or weeks until they book, buy, or opt out.
Standout features
- Campaign Builder and lifecycle automation
- CRM and sales pipeline management
- Email and SMS marketing
- Appointments, payments, and invoicing
- Lead capture, reporting, and mobile access
Use cases
- Automated lead nurture for service businesses
- No-show reduction for appointment-based businesses
- Pipeline discipline for small sales teams
- Recurring billing and payment follow-up
Pricing compared
List prices from each vendor's pricing page, before taxes and add-ons. Costs are per month.
| Pricing compared | Close CRM | Keap |
|---|---|---|
| From (cheapest paid plan) | $9/mo Solo | $24/mo Text Marketing Tier 2 |
| Free plan | No | No |
| Free trial | Yes | Not stated |
| Money-back guarantee | 30 days | Not stated |
| Annual billing savings | — | — |
| Pricing model | Flat price | Flat price |
| Cost for 1 user | $9/moCheaper Solo plan, billed monthly | $24/mo Text Marketing Tier 2 plan, billed monthly |
| Cost for 5 users | $35/mo Essentials plan, billed monthly · price per account (user limit not stated) | $24/mo Text Marketing Tier 2 plan, billed monthly · price per account (user limit not stated) |
| Cost for 10 users | $35/mo Essentials plan, billed monthly · price per account (user limit not stated) | $24/mo Text Marketing Tier 2 plan, billed monthly · price per account (user limit not stated) |
| Cost for 25 users | $35/mo Essentials plan, billed monthly · price per account (user limit not stated) | $24/mo Text Marketing Tier 2 plan, billed monthly · price per account (user limit not stated) |
| Plans | 4 | 8 |
| Prices checked | Checked Oct 13, 2026 | Checked Oct 13, 2026 |
| Price history | Tracking prices since Oct 1, 2026. No price change detected yet. | Tracking prices since Oct 1, 2026. No price change detected yet. |
- Cheapest plan that fits each team size. Per-user plans are multiplied by the number of users (respecting stated minimums and seat packs). Plans that include some users cost their base price plus the extra-user price for each user beyond those included. Flat-priced plans with no stated user limit are counted as one licence per user.
Cheaper for your team size
For 1 user (billed monthly), Close CRM costs $9/mo vs Keap at $24/mo.
Computed from published list prices on the dates shown. Excludes taxes, add-ons and promotions.
More comparisons
Frequently Asked Questions
Which tool is better for sales teams in 2026?
Close is purpose-built for sales, with a built-in dialer, SMS, email, and AI agent Chloe. Keap's sales features weren't detailed here, so verify directly before deciding.