Email is the cornerstone of contemporary sales communication; it's where deals progress, follow-ups are made, and relationships are nurtured.

As teams increasingly depend on automated outreach, multi-channel engagement, and detailed tracking, CRMs are vying for attention based on the effectiveness of their native email integrations.

While both Streak and Freshsales offer built-in email workflows, their functionality, ease of use, and influence on daily sales tasks vary significantly. For teams prioritizing simplicity and seeking fast, dependable email execution, folk provides one of the most seamless and robust email integrations found in any CRM—facilitating effortless sending, tracking, and automating outreach directly from your workspace.

Why is Email Integration Important?

Effective email integration elevates a CRM from a mere database to a cohesive communication hub. Instead of toggling between tabs or relying on disparate tools, sales representatives can send messages, automate follow-ups, and monitor engagement all in one location.

• Centralized communication. All emails—whether sent or received—automatically sync to the appropriate contact or deal.
• Smarter follow-ups. Automated reminders and sequences enable reps to follow up at optimal times without manual intervention.
• Real-time tracking. Insights on open rates, clicks, and replies feed directly into the CRM, informing subsequent actions.
• Cleaner data. Emails instantly enhance contact profiles with relevant context and conversation history.
• Email templates. Reusable, personalized templates ensure consistency and save time for teams.
• Outreach automation. Send bulk emails, sequences, or triggered messages based on deal stages or contact interactions.

When a CRM manages email seamlessly, representatives can stop juggling various tools and concentrate on the conversations that drive revenue. This distinction sets a good CRM apart from one that genuinely accelerates sales!

What is Streak?

Streak is a lightweight CRM integrated directly within Gmail, transforming your inbox into a collaborative pipeline for sales, support, and account management. Users can manage deals, track stages, and collaborate on email threads without the hassle of switching tabs, all from the familiar Gmail interface. With real-time tracking and pipeline views, email remains central to the experience, enhancing existing Gmail conversations.

What is Freshsales?

Freshsales is Freshworks' sales CRM, tailored for small and mid-sized teams that seek an intuitive interface combined with robust automation. Users can connect either Gmail or Microsoft 365 and select between one-way or two-way sync to ensure threads remain consistent across both the mailbox and the CRM. With features like templates, bulk emails, and activity timelines, email becomes integral to how representatives manage their leads and opportunities.

Feature comparison of Streak and Freshsales

Integration Capabilities

Streak seamlessly integrates with Gmail, transforming your inbox into a comprehensive CRM without the need for additional windows or applications. Every email sent or received is automatically recorded in the appropriate pipeline and accessible across your team’s workspace, ensuring you have a real-time timeline for each deal without the hassle of manual bcc’ing.

Freshsales provides native plugins for Gmail and Outlook that display email threads, scheduling tools, and relevant contact information directly within your inbox. After connecting, Freshsales automatically scans incoming emails for recognized contact addresses and logs conversations, minimizing clutter by allowing you to select which folders to sync.

Sync Frequency and Reliability

Streak provides real-time email synchronization as it operates within Gmail's own framework. Once you send or receive a message, Streak instantly logs it to the correct pipeline, allowing your team to view the latest activity without any delay. There is virtually no lag or queuing—messages and thread updates show up immediately in both your inbox and Streak’s interface. By integrating directly with Gmail, you also enjoy Google’s exceptional uptime and reliability.

Freshsales connects through native plugins that maintain a continuous link to your Gmail or Outlook account, syncing emails and calendar events in real time. Incoming messages from recognized leads appear within seconds, while outgoing emails logged in the CRM are reflected instantly in your email thread. Calendar events update immediately as well, ensuring that meetings scheduled in Freshsales appear in your personal calendar without any delay.

Two-Way Email and Calendar Sync

Streak’s Mail Merge tool is integrated directly within Gmail, allowing you to send personalized mass emails to hundreds of recipients in less than two minutes—no need for CSV imports or third-party applications. You can easily insert custom variables (such as first name, company, and deal data) straight from your pipelines, schedule automated follow-up sequences within the same thread, and even A/B test subject lines to enhance reply rates. Every email and follow-up is automatically logged in your Streak timeline, ensuring you always know who has opened, clicked, or replied. However, it’s worth noting that Streak’s campaign features do not include advanced analytics dashboards, meaning you won't receive detailed reports on unsubscribes or bounce handling unless you incorporate an additional tool.

Freshsales provides native plugins for both Gmail and Outlook, allowing you to choose between two-way or one-way email sync during setup, with two-way as the default. This ensures that both incoming and outgoing emails are seamlessly integrated into your CRM timeline in real-time. For calendar integration, Freshsales offers bi-directional sync with Google Calendar and Office 365: any appointments scheduled in your inbox or the CRM will be mirrored, allowing your meeting history to coexist alongside your email conversations in a unified timeline.

Mail Merge and Campaigns

Streak’s Mail Merge tool is integrated directly within Gmail, allowing you to send personalized mass emails to hundreds of recipients in less than two minutes—no need for CSV imports or third-party applications. You can seamlessly insert custom variables (such as first name, company, and deal data) from your pipelines, schedule automatic follow-up sequences in the same thread, and even A/B test subject lines to enhance reply rates. Each sent message and follow-up is automatically logged in your Streak timeline, so you maintain visibility on who has opened, clicked, or replied. However, it's worth noting that Streak’s campaign features lack advanced analytics dashboards, meaning you won't receive detailed reports on unsubscribes or bounce handling unless you add another tool.

Freshsales offers a comprehensive Marketing Campaigns module—simply navigate to Campaigns > Email to create blasts or automated Journeys based on user behavior. With drag-and-drop templates, dynamic segments, and analytics dashboards, you'll have access to data on delivery rates, opens, clicks, and unsubscribes. Additionally, built-in retry logic and ISP throttling enhance deliverability. Keep in mind that more advanced features, such as heat-map click analysis or AI-driven send-time optimization, necessitate an upgrade to Freshmarketer.

Open and Click Tracking

Streak integrates a small tracking pixel and link tracker directly into Gmail, providing real-time “eye” icons that indicate each time an email is opened or a link is clicked within a specific thread. By hovering over the green eye, you can access timestamps, locations, and per-link click data—all without leaving your inbox. Since it operates solely on Gmail’s API, setup is minimal and feedback is instantaneous; however, aggregated campaign dashboards or multi-link heat-mapping are not available beyond individual message views.

Freshsales allows you to enable “Track opens and clicks” in Settings > Email Settings, ensuring that every email sent through the native plugin logs open events and link clicks in the contact timeline. Delivery, open, and click metrics are displayed in both the Deal dashboard and Campaigns module. Keep in mind that open rates depend on image-based pixels—if a recipient blocks images or views links in preview panes, statistics may be underreported.

In-Inbox CRM Experience

Streak operates entirely within Gmail, providing comprehensive CRM features—such as pipelines, contact details, and email logging—without ever leaving your inbox. The sidebar displays deal stages, custom fields, and shared notes alongside each email thread, ensuring you always have context at your fingertips. You can easily drag and drop emails into different pipelines or update statuses on the go, creating a seamless integration of your inbox and CRM. However, since Streak is exclusive to Gmail, you won’t enjoy this in-inbox experience if you decide to switch to Outlook or another email client.

Freshsales offers native plugins for both Gmail and Outlook that embed your CRM sidebar directly into your inbox. This feature reveals lead profiles, deal values, and previous email threads as you compose or read messages. You can log emails, schedule meetings, and initiate sequences right there, with a simple one-click sync back to Freshsales. Additionally, the plugin integrates calendar events into the same view, providing a smooth combination of messages and appointments. Keep in mind that if you choose a different email client, you’ll have to resort to IMAP sync instead of enjoying the full plugin experience.

folk CRM: The Ultimate Email CRM

folk provides teams with the seamless, connected email workflow they've been lacking. It centralizes communication, automates follow-ups, and simplifies sequencing within a clean and intuitive CRM interface. With a remarkable 4.5/5 rating on G2, folk is recognized as one of the top lightweight CRMs for modern sales and partnership teams.

Designed specifically for startups, agencies, and growing sales teams of 20-50, folk streamlines email operations without overwhelming users.

Extract Insights from Emails

One of folk's standout features is its ability to centralize communication and convert every email and call into actionable data through native email synchronization with Gmail and Outlook, along with AI-driven analysis. Teams can:

• Quickly recap past conversations with a click using folk's Recap assistant, which gathers intel from emails and notes to create a summary, providing context in seconds.
• Follow up at optimal times as AI scans conversations to alert you when to reach out to a contact and even drafts replies.

Email Sequencing & Automation

folk’s built-in sequencing engine enables you to create automated outreach flows directly within the CRM. Build multi-step email sequences, personalize messages using CRM fields, and automatically log every interaction. Whether nurturing leads, executing outbound campaigns, or re-engaging dormant deals, folk delivers a powerful yet straightforward sequencing workflow that eliminates the need for separate tools.

Set conditions based on your CRM variables to automatically send emails, such as when a deal is closed or when a new lead is acquired.

AI-Powered Follow-Up Reminders

With folk’s AI Follow-Up feature, no conversation goes unnoticed. By analyzing your email history, folk notifies you when a contact hasn't replied, highlights cold conversations, and identifies the ideal moments to re-engage. It acts as an integrated assistant, keeping your inbox organized and your pipeline active—without the hassle of manual tracking.

folk starts at just $20 per user per month, includes native email integration and sequences, and offers a 14-day free trial—no credit card needed.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Streak excels in transforming Gmail into a comprehensive CRM, providing real-time tracking and seamless integration, ideal for teams entrenched in the Google ecosystem. Freshsales offers an intuitive interface with strong automation features, catering well to small and mid-sized teams. However, for teams reliant on email integration, automation, and sequencing, folk stands out as the best alternative. Its robust email workflows, AI-driven follow-ups, and easy-to-use CRM interface make it the ultimate choice for maximizing email efficiency in sales.

Start your 14-day free trial or book a demo today.