Clay CRM (not to be confused with outreach tool, Clay) and Close CRM are two platforms designed to support sales teams and customer relationship management, each with a unique focus.

Clay CRM emphasizes data enrichment and outreach automation, making it ideal for teams focused on prospecting and lead generation.

Close CRM, on the other hand, is tailored for fast-paced sales workflows, offering tools like call tracking, email automation, and pipeline management to streamline the sales process.

In this blog post, we'll explore their key features to help you decide which CRM suits your needs.

However, if you're a sales team of 20-50 people, folk might provide the perfect balance of flexibility and power with its user-friendly contact management and extensive customization options designed specifically for growing sales organizations.

Clay vs. Close vs. folk: Quick summary

• Clay: Data enrichment and outreach automation; ideal for prospecting and lead generation.
• Close: Visual pipelines with built-in calling, email, and SMS for fast-paced sales teams.
• folk: Flexible CRM for teams of 20–50 with a customizable pipeline and email sequences.

What is Clay CRM?

Clay CRM is a customer relationship management tool designed to help users organize and manage contact information and interactions, with a focus on automation and contact enrichment.

Key features of Clay CRM

• Contact management: The platform allows users to organize and manage contacts by consolidating information in one place. Users can add custom fields, notes, and tags to categorize and track interactions with each contact, making it easier to manage customer relationships.
• Automation: Clay CRM includes automation tools that handle repetitive tasks like contact updates and reminders, helping users streamline their communication and workflow processes.
• Search and filtering: The platform provides advanced search and filtering functionality, allowing users to segment their contact database based on various criteria such as engagement history, tags, or custom fields.
• Real-time updates: The platform provides real-time updates for contact records and tasks, ensuring that users have the latest information on their contacts and projects at all times.
  

What is Close CRM?

Close CRM is a sales-focused platform designed to eliminate the complexity of traditional CRMs, offering a streamlined and user-friendly experience tailored for small businesses with ambitious growth goals. Known for its intuitive design, Close provides robust features like automation to reduce manual work, built-in communication tools for faster follow-ups, and powerful integrations to fit seamlessly into any tech stack. Whether you're managing leads, collaborating with a team, or scaling sales efforts, Close is built to save time and help small businesses succeed.

Key features of Close CRM

• Fast setup: Simple and quick to implement, allowing teams to start using the platform without delay.
• Intuitive interface: Easy-to-navigate dashboard tailored for speed and productivity.
• Built-in communication: Integrated calling, email, and SMS tools for seamless interaction with leads and clients.
• Automation tools: Includes workflows, smart views, and task automation to streamline repetitive tasks.
• Powerful reporting: Customizable sales and activity reporting for actionable insights into team performance and revenue trends.
• Team collaboration: Features like shared inboxes and task assignments to keep teams aligned and efficient.
• Secure and scalable: Designed with robust security and scalability for growing businesses.
• Integrations: Offers over 100 native integrations and Zapier compatibility to sync seamlessly with existing tools.

Clay CRM vs. Close CRM: Feature Comparison

Let's break down the key features of Clay CRM and Close CRM and take a closer look at their sales automation, email marketing tools, user experience and more.

1. Sales pipeline management

When it comes to sales pipeline management, Clay CRM falls short as it lacks a dedicated feature for tracking deals or leads through various stages. While users can organize contacts and tasks, the absence of specific pipeline tools limits its effectiveness for sales-focused teams.
Close CRM excels with its streamlined, visual approach to managing sales processes. Its Powerful Pipeline View offers a clear snapshot of all active opportunities, enabling teams to focus on what matters most. Features like drag-and-drop deal management allow users to effortlessly update the status of leads, providing a more intuitive and efficient way to track deals from start to finish.

👉🏼 Try folk now to track deals in a customizable pipeline that perfectly scales with sales teams of 20-50 people

2. Ease of use

Clay CRM offers a user-friendly interface that is straightforward and intuitive, making it accessible for users of all skill levels. In terms of user experience, you may be inclined to compare it to a super advanced address book. Somewhere all your contacts are stored so you can group them – but you'll be unable to organise them into a sales dashboard. Close CRM also prioritizes ease of use with a more traditional CRM feel through its clean, organized layout, but it provides more advanced features that might require a learning curve for new users.

3. Contact enrichment

Clay CRM's contact enrichment feature automatically gathers additional data from sources like social media and public databases to build more comprehensive contact profiles. Close CRM does not have a similar dedicated contact enrichment feature, focusing more on communication and outreach capabilities.

4. Outreach

Clay CRM does not have a dedicated outreach feature specifically designed for managing customer communication, such as email marketing or mass outreach. Close CRM's outreach features integrate built-in calling, email, and SMS tools, enabling seamless multi-channel outreach without the need for external apps.

5. Automation

Clay CRM includes automation features to streamline repetitive tasks like updating contact information and sending follow-up reminders. Close CRM's automation features allow users to create custom workflows for tasks such as updating deal statuses and assigning leads, ensuring efficient sales operations.

6. Integration

Clay CRM supports integrations with various third-party tools, allowing users to connect external applications for enhanced functionality. Close CRM also offers robust integration options, facilitating seamless connections with popular sales and productivity tools.

7. Artificial Intelligence

Neither Clay CRM nor Close CRM currently offers dedicated AI integration, focusing instead on enhancing user experience through other advanced features and functionalities.

Price and plans comparison

Let's take a closer look at the price and plans of both Clay CRM and Close CRM.

Clay CRM prices

Clay has a free plan for personal use, for up to 1,000 contacts. After that premium plans are as follows on an annual subscription.

• Pro: $10 per user, per month.
• Team: $40 per user, per month.
• Enterprise: Undisclosed.

Close CRM prices

Close CRM offers a monthly and annual payment option. The annual subscription plan is as follows.

• Startup: $49/user/month.
• Professional: $99/user/month.
• Enterprise: $139/user/month.

Introducing folk CRM: the best alternative to Clay CRM and Close CRM

Looking for an affordable alternative that's perfect for growing sales teams of 20-50 people? We recommend folk. A multiple award-winning CRM platform specifically designed for medium-sized sales organizations seeking the ideal balance of simplicity and power. folk can support multiple business functions including sales, marketing, recruitment, and more. Unlike other CRMs that either lack features or overwhelm with complexity, folk provides exactly what sales teams of 20-50 people need: comprehensive functionality without the enterprise-level complexity.

Key features

• Contact management: Bring all your contacts into one place seamlessly, from social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram and X to multiple inboxes including Gmail and Outlook.
• Notes and reminders: Attach notes directly to a contact's profile in folk, and access them on the go. And assign reminders so you know exactly when to follow-up.
• Sales pipeline dashboard: Manage your entire sales cycle and leads with a highly customizable sales pipeline dashboard that can be used in Kanban-board view or listicle.
• Ease of use and customization: Easily customize the pipelines, dashboards, automation, email sequences, so that you can use it across your sales cycle and pipeline management – and other business functions such as recruitment, marketing, and more.
• Social media integration: Import people and companies from LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, Instagram, and X within a click thanks to folk's Google Chrome extension.
• Contact sync from Gmail and Outlook: Full email sync enabling users to manage all communications directly from the CRM.
• Find email addresses in a click: Contact enrichment powered by Apollo, and Dropcontact so you can fill in missing data points with 1-click.
• Email sequences: Send email sequences with reminders if your leads don't reply to your first emails. It includes an AI integration allowing you to personalize email at scale.

Price and plans

folk has a 14-day free trial. After that, there are affordable monthly or annual subscription plans. The annual subscription plan is as follows.

• Standard: $20 per user, per month.
• Premium: $40 per user, per month.
• Custom: Starts from $80 per user, per month.

Clay CRM vs. Close CRM: What's the Verdict?

When it comes to Clay CRM and Close CRM, one thing's certain. Both platforms offer something unique for different business needs. Clay CRM excels in contact automation and management, while Close CRM is renowned for its sales-focused features. However, for sales teams of 20-50 people seeking a more comprehensive and cost-effective approach to relationship management, folk CRM emerges as the clear winner, providing the perfect balance of advanced sales pipeline management, contact enrichment, and team collaboration features at a fraction of the cost of enterprise solutions.

👉🏼 Try folk now to combine contact enrichment, email sequences, and a visual pipeline in one CRM

FAQ

Is Clay a good CRM?

Yes—for organizing contacts, enrichment, and simple automations. It lacks a stage-based sales pipeline, mass outreach, and advanced reporting, so it suits personal CRM, prospecting, or small teams more than full-cycle sales.

What is the difference between Clay CRM and Close CRM?

Clay centers on contact management and enrichment with light automation but no pipeline. Close is a sales CRM with visual pipelines, built-in calling, email and SMS, workflow automation, and reporting for full sales cycles.

Does Clay CRM have a sales pipeline?

No. Clay CRM does not include stage-based deal tracking or a visual pipeline board. Teams needing pipeline management should use Close or a flexible option like folk.

What is a good alternative to Clay CRM and Close CRM?

folk combines customizable pipelines, contact enrichment, email sequences, and automation. Annual plans: Standard $20/user/mo, Premium $40, Custom from $80, plus a 14-day free trial.