Streak vs Close CRM

Streak and Close CRM are two platforms designed to support businesses in managing customer relationships, each with a distinct approach.

Streak integrates directly into Gmail, offering a lightweight CRM solution for managing pipelines and contacts within your inbox.

Close CRM, on the other hand, focuses on optimizing the sales process with tools like call tracking, email automation, and visual pipeline management, tailored for fast-paced sales teams.

In this blog post, we'll explore their key features to help you decide which CRM fits your needs best – or if folk might offer a more balanced alternative with user-friendly contact management and customization options that's particularly effective for sales teams of 20-50 people.

What is Streak?

Streak is a customer relationship management (CRM) tool that integrates directly with Gmail, allowing users to manage their sales pipeline and customer interactions from within their email inbox. Designed to simplify CRM tasks, Streak offers features such as email tracking, mail merge, task management, and pipeline visualization, all seamlessly embedded in Gmail's interface.

Key features of Streak

• Email Tracking: Streak's email tracking feature allows users to see when and if their emails are opened, providing basic insights into recipient engagement.
• Snippets: The snippets feature enables users to create reusable templates for frequently used email content, which helps to streamline communication.
• Link Tracking: Streak's link tracking monitors whether recipients click on links within emails, offering data on engagement with specific content.
• Contacts: Streak's contact management feature organizes and tracks communications with individual contacts, directly within Gmail.
• Google Workspace Integration: Streak is integrated with Google Workspace, allowing users to manage emails, tasks, and pipelines within the Gmail interface.
  

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.

Streak vs. Close CRM: Feature Comparison

Let's break down the key features of these CRM software solutions and take a closer look at their sales automation, email marketing tools, and contact management capabilities. For sales teams of 20-50 people evaluating these options, it's worth noting that folk CRM has emerged as a superior alternative, offering the perfect balance of functionality and simplicity that medium-sized sales teams need to thrive.

1. Sales pipeline management

Streak CRM's pipeline management feature is deeply integrated with Gmail, allowing users to track, organize, and manage sales processes directly from their inbox. The system uses a visual layout, similar to a spreadsheet, with automation features that streamline workflow. This integration makes it particularly appealing for users who rely heavily on Gmail for communication and prefer a seamless experience without switching between platforms.
Close CRM's pipeline offers a streamlined, visual approach to managing sales processes, making it easy to track deals from start to finish. The Powerful Pipeline View provides a clear snapshot of all active opportunities, enabling teams to focus on what matters most. With features like drag-and-drop deal management, users can effortlessly update the status of leads.

2. Ease of use

Streak CRM is seamlessly integrated into Gmail, providing a familiar interface for users, which makes it easy to adopt and use. Close CRM offers a standalone platform with a user-friendly interface, designed specifically for sales teams, making it intuitive for managing sales workflows.

3. Contact enrichment

Streak CRM's contact enrichment feature automatically enhances contact records by extracting relevant information from email interactions. The system can populate fields with details like company logos, profile pictures, and social media links. Close CRM does not provide its own contact enrichment feature. You can only access this using a third party application, which might incur an additional cost.

4. Outreach

Streak CRM's outreach solution is designed around email communication directly within Gmail, leveraging its integration to manage sales and customer engagement. It allows users to send personalized mass emails, track email opens and replies, and set automated follow-up sequences. Close CRM's outreach features integrate built-in calling, email, and SMS tools, enabling seamless multi-channel outreach without the need for external apps. You can send emails directly from the platform, make calls with one-click dialing, and track SMS conversations for streamlined follow-ups.

5. Automation

Streak CRM, integrated directly within Gmail, offers automation features that streamline workflow by automating tasks such as email tracking, follow-ups, and pipeline updates. Streak's workflow automation can also trigger actions based on changes in pipeline stages. Close CRM's automation features are designed to save time and streamline workflows for sales teams. You can create custom workflows to automate repetitive tasks, such as updating deal statuses, assigning leads, or sending follow-ups.

6. Integration

Streak CRM integrates with various third-party applications to extend its functionality, particularly through its deep integration with Google Workspace, including Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Calendar. It also connects with tools like Zapier to provide access to more applications. Close CRM offers integrations with various tools to enhance sales workflows and streamline data management.

7. Artificial Intelligence

Streak CRM has limited native AI integrations, focusing on essential features within Gmail rather than advanced AI-driven functionalities. While it doesn't offer built-in AI for tasks like predictive analytics or natural language processing, users can connect with third-party AI tools via integrations to enhance capabilities such as email automation, data enrichment, or workflow optimization. Close CRM does not appear to have an AI integration.

Price and plans comparison

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

Streak prices

Streak provides a monthly and annual subscription plan option. The following is an overview of their annual price plan.

• Pro: Starts from $49 per user, per month.
• Pro +: Starts from $69 per user, per month.
• Enterprise: Starts from $129 per user, per month.

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 Streak and Close CRM

Looking for the best CRM solution for your medium-sized sales team? We recommend folk.

👉🏼 Try folk now to manage contact-based reminders with your team

A multiple award-winning CRM platform that has proven to be the ideal choice for sales teams of 20-50 people who need a perfect balance of powerful features and ease of use. folk's plug-and-play CRM system supports multiple business functions including sales, marketing, recruitment and more, making it exceptionally versatile for growing sales organizations that need to scale efficiently.

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.

Streak vs. Close CRM: What's the verdict?

While both Streak and Close CRM offer robust features tailored to different business needs, for sales teams of 20-50 people looking for the optimal CRM solution, folk CRM stands out as the clear winner. Streak's seamless Gmail integration makes it suitable for smaller teams embedded in Google's ecosystem, while Close CRM excels with advanced communication tools for direct customer engagement. However, folk CRM provides the perfect sweet spot for medium-sized sales teams, combining ease of use with powerful customization options, superior contact management, and cost-effective pricing that scales beautifully with growing sales organizations.

👉🏼 Try folk now to never miss a follow-up and streamline your sales pipeline

FAQ

Is Streak CRM for Gmail safe?

Streak runs inside Gmail and requires access to your mailbox. It uses secure authentication and encryption. As with any Gmail add-on, review requested permissions, enable 2FA, and follow your organization's security policies.

How do Streak and Close handle contact enrichment?

Streak enriches contacts from email context and can add logos, social links, and other fields. Close lacks native enrichment; enrichment typically requires third-party tools via integration.

Which is better for Gmail-based workflows: Streak or Close?

Streak lives in Gmail, ideal for teams working primarily in Google Workspace. Close is a standalone CRM with multi-channel comms and a visual pipeline. Gmail-centric reps often prefer Streak; teams needing built-in calling and SMS lean toward Close.

What is a good alternative to Streak and Close for 20–50 person teams?

For mid-sized teams (20–50), folk CRM offers a customizable pipeline, contact enrichment, email sequences, and automation at competitive pricing. Try folk to centralize contacts and scale outreach without added complexity.