Close vs Salesforce: which is right for you?
Features, pricing and fit, compared from a cold calling point of view. Not affiliated with either tool.
Close and Salesforce are both CRMs that publish per-seat prices, but they are built for different days. Close is a CRM built around calling, email and SMS, with its own power dialer and, on its top plan, a predictive dialer. Salesforce Sales Cloud keeps leads, accounts, contacts and opportunities in one place, and the pages we read do not describe a dialer. This page sets out what each vendor says on its own site.
- From
- Per seat
- $25 per user per month
- Free plan
- Yes
- Yes
The short answer
Here is who each of Close and Salesforce suits best, from what each vendor says on its own site.
- Your reps spend most of the day on the phone and you want the dialer inside the CRM, since Close lists a power dialer on Growth and a predictive dialer on Scale.
- You want a call list that is a saved Smart View, filtered by status, time since the last call, pending tasks and local time.
- You want to try it first, since Close lists a 14-day trial with no credit card.
- You want one shared record of leads, accounts and opportunities, with forecasting and quoting starting on Pro Suite.
- You want a plan ladder with five published prices, from Starter Suite at $25 up to Max at $550 per user per month.
- You are happy to pair the CRM with a separate phone tool, since Salesforce's Sales Cloud pages do not describe a dialer or call logging.
Side by side
| FEATURE | Close | Salesforce |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | SMBs, Mid-market | Startups, SMBs, Enterprise |
| Starting price | Per seat | $25 per user per month |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Per seat | Tiered plans |
| Works with | Gmail, HubSpot, Calendly, Zoom, Zapier | Slack, MuleSoft, Tableau, Claude |
Key features
- Power dialer
- Predictive dialer
- Smart Views
- CSV lead import
- Calls, SMS and email in one place
- Lead and deal management
- Forecasting and quoting
- Agentforce AI
- Slack
- Sales Engagement
Pricing
Per user per month, as listed: Solo $9, Essentials $35, Growth $99, Scale $139. The power dialer is listed on Growth and Scale, and the predictive dialer on Scale only. Calling and SMS are usage-based and billed on top of the seat price.
See Close pricingSales Cloud plans: Starter Suite $25, Pro Suite $100, Core $195, Advanced $395 and Max $550, all per user per month. Only Starter Suite can be billed monthly.
See Salesforce pricingWhere each fits in your calling
Close and Salesforce sit at the same step of a calling day, so most teams choose one rather than both.
- STEP 1Find the numberBuild the list and fill in mobiles
- STEP 2See who will pick upCheck the list before you dial
Will This Person Answer - STEP 3DialCall the high chance contacts
- STEP 4Log the callRecord the outcome and follow upCloseSalesforce
Frequently asked questions
Close lists Solo $9, Essentials $35, Growth $99 and Scale $139 per user per month. Salesforce lists Starter Suite $25, Pro Suite $100, Core $195, Advanced $395 and Max $550. Close adds calling and SMS usage on top of the seat price, and Salesforce says its prices are for information only and may change.
Close does. Its pricing page lists the power dialer on Growth and Scale, and the predictive dialer on Scale only. The Salesforce Sales Cloud pages we read do not describe a dialer, calling or call logging, so ask Salesforce how calling would work for your team.
Salesforce bills only Starter Suite monthly or annually, and Pro Suite and above are annual. The Close pricing page we read gives per-month seat prices, but it does not say here whether any plan needs a yearly commitment, so check that with Close.
Close lists a 14-day trial with no credit card, without saying which plan it covers. Salesforce shows a free trial on Starter Suite, Pro Suite, Core and Advanced, and lists Max as contact us.
Both have low entry prices, Solo at $9 for Close and Starter Suite at $25 for Salesforce. A small team that mostly calls will notice that Close's dialers sit on its $99 and $139 plans, so the cheap seat does not dial.
In Close, a call list is a Smart View that updates itself, and the dialer works through it in order. Salesforce's pages describe lead, account and contact management with lead routing, but they do not describe a call list feature, so the list there is likely a report you export or sync.
Close lists Gmail, HubSpot, Calendly, Zoom, Zapier, Make, Clay, Claude, ChatGPT, Fivetran and WhatsApp. Salesforce names Slack, MuleSoft, Tableau and AI assistants such as Claude, plus a marketplace called AgentExchange. Neither list is complete, so check what you need.
Salesforce describes forecasting and quoting from Pro Suite up, AI agents under the Agentforce name, and Sales Cloud in Slack. Close describes AI call summaries and transcripts on the lead. Our Close record does not mention forecasting, so ask Close if you need it.
No. Neither has a native integration, so you check contacts by CSV, API or MCP and bring the results back. Only US phone numbers are checked, and the first 250 contacts are free with no card required.
With Close, name the outcome column custom.Answer outcome on import so it becomes a custom field, then filter your calling Smart View on it. With Salesforce, export a report as CSV, check it, and add the result to your own custom field when you re-import. Keep Bad data contacts out of calling lists in both.
Other comparisons
Know who’ll answer
before you call.
Ask your AI tool who on your list will pick up. Every contact comes back High chance, Low chance or Bad data, with the best way to reach them.
No card required. US phone numbers only.