Close CRM vs SmartSuite
Features, use cases, pros and cons, and pricing side by side — and which one to pick.
Quick verdict: Pick Close CRM if your team sells by phone; pick SmartSuite if you're consolidating GRC, IT, projects, and operations on one platform.
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: GRC teams consolidating risk, compliance, audit, and third-party risk into one connected system, IT departments that need ITSM, asset management, and incident response together
Read the full SmartSuite reviewCommission may apply at no extra cost
Close CRM vs SmartSuite: features compared
Compare key features side by side
Feature Comparison Summary
Which should you choose?
Choose Close CRM if
- Your reps sell by phone and want dialing built in.
- You want an AI agent to call and qualify leads.
- You need an MCP server and API access on every plan.
Choose SmartSuite if
- You're consolidating GRC, IT, projects, and ops in one place.
- You need HIPAA, ISO 27001, or EU data residency.
- Process owners should change workflows without developers.
Close CRM vs SmartSuite: 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.
SmartSuite
SmartSuite pulls GRC, IT, projects, and operations onto one no-code platform with strong security credentials and built-in AI assistants. Published pricing covers the lower tiers, but enterprise plans are quote-only, usage caps add up quickly, and no independent reviews back the vendor's claims. Overall, it's a solid pick for regulated teams that value consolidation over lightweight simplicity.
Pros
- Published per-seat pricing for the lower tiers — Team costs $15 per seat/month billed annually ($20 monthly, 3-user minimum) and Professional runs $32 per seat/month billed annually ($36 monthly, 5-user minimum), with a 14-day free trial of Professional that needs no credit card.
- Enterprise-grade compliance out of the box — SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR, and HIPAA alignment, AES-256 encryption at rest, HTTPS in transit, and a choice of U.S. or EU data centers — a practical fit for banking, healthcare, and other regulated teams.
- Process owners can modify workflows, forms, dashboards, and automations without filing developer tickets, while IT retains control through role-based permissions, audit history, and centralized admin — no-code change without governance loss.
Cons
- Enterprise and Signature pricing is quote-only — no dollar amounts are published, so budgeting for SSO, SCIM, audit logs, HIPAA with a BAA, or EU data residency requires a Sales conversation before you can compare total cost.
- Per-plan usage ceilings constrain smaller teams — the Team plan caps at 5,000 records per solution and 50GB of file storage with a 30-day recycle bin, while automation runs are metered monthly across every tier — heavy workloads may force an early upgrade to Professional at more than double the seat price.
- The vendor's claim of 25–40% lower subscription costs than comparable platforms is not independently verified, and with no G2, Capterra, or Trustpilot reviews available to cite, buyer sentiment rests entirely on company-published materials rather than hands-on testing.
Close CRM and SmartSuite 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
SmartSuite
SmartSuite is an AI-native work platform, often described as a Work Operating System. It brings data, automation, AI, permissions, and reporting into one governed environment. Teams run GRC, IT service delivery, project portfolios, and business operations on the same foundation. Over 2,000 businesses across 100+ countries use it, from startups to enterprises in regulated industries like banking and healthcare.
Standout features
- Change workflows yourself, no code needed
- AI that works inside your workflows
- Live reporting, one source of truth
- Security and governance built in
- Start fast, then expand on the same platform
Use cases
- Run GRC in one connected place
- Deliver IT services without the chaos
- Track projects and OKRs in real time
- Standardize everyday operations
Pricing compared
List prices from each vendor's pricing page, before taxes and add-ons. Costs are per month.
| Pricing compared | Close CRM | SmartSuite |
|---|---|---|
| From (cheapest paid plan) | $9/mo Solo | $15/mo Team · per user |
| Free plan | No | No |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Money-back guarantee | 30 days | Not stated |
| Annual billing savings | — | — |
| Pricing model | Flat price | Per user |
| Cost for 1 user | $9/mo Solo plan, billed monthly | $15/mo Team plan, billed annually |
| Cost for 5 users | $35/mo Essentials plan, billed monthly · price per account (user limit not stated) | $75/mo Team plan, billed annually |
| Cost for 10 users | $35/mo Essentials plan, billed monthly · price per account (user limit not stated) | $150/mo Team plan, billed annually |
| Cost for 25 users | $35/mo Essentials plan, billed monthly · price per account (user limit not stated) | $375/mo Team plan, billed annually |
| Plans | 4 | 3 |
| Prices checked | Checked Oct 13, 2026 | Checked Oct 12, 2026 |
| Price history | Tracking prices since Oct 1, 2026. No price change detected yet. | Tracking prices since Sep 9, 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
Not enough published prices to compare team costs: check each vendor's pricing page.
Computed from published list prices on the dates shown. Excludes taxes, add-ons and promotions.
More comparisons
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better for compliance-heavy industries?
SmartSuite fits regulated teams: SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR, and HIPAA with a BAA on Enterprise or Signature plans. Close has SOC 2 Type 2 but no HIPAA option.