Twenty
Twenty 2.52 lets apps run their own account-connection flows and adds inbox sharing.
Comparison · CRM
Close CRM vs Planhat
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Close CRM and Planhat — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:workflow automation
Close CRM vs Planhat: at a glance
What is Close CRM?
Close takes Chloe Chat out of beta for every customer, a month after OIDC SSO.
Close is shipping on three tracks. Its assistant Chloe is now generally available as Chloe Chat, answering pipeline questions, preparing a rep's day, analyzing data and taking actions from any page. Voice agents run on the rebuilt telephony layer with skills like Schedule Meeting, and the October 13 release added a central Security page with OIDC single sign-on alongside update-only Workflow triggers.
What is Planhat?
Planhat doubles down on automation — Portals, Task dependencies, AI steps, OAuth — for scaled CS ops.
Planhat's recent stream skews heavily toward automation infrastructure for customer-success teams. New advanced Task dependencies, automated end-to-end Portal setup, full execution logs for Automation Runs, and live company-field merge tags in Dashboards and Presentations all reduce the manual per-account work that defines mid-tier CSM tooling. OAuth connections enter Labs, replacing API-key plumbing for integrations.
Close CRM vs Planhat: editorial side-by-side
Close CRM
5.0CRM
Close takes Chloe Chat out of beta for every customer, a month after OIDC SSO.
◆ Current state
Close is shipping on three tracks. Its assistant Chloe is now generally available as Chloe Chat, answering pipeline questions, preparing a rep's day, analyzing data and taking actions from any page. Voice agents run on the rebuilt telephony layer with skills like Schedule Meeting, and the October 13 release added a central Security page with OIDC single sign-on alongside update-only Workflow triggers.
◆ Where it's heading
Chloe has moved from a beta chat to the default way into the app: a command-palette fallback in September, notification threads, and now GA for all accounts. Paired with voice agents that act on phone numbers and Workflows that react to record updates, Close is building a CRM where assistants and automation do more of the work, with SSO and a security page arriving as the governance layer that buyers ask for.
◆ Prediction
Expect Chloe to gain more write actions and to connect with Workflows or voice-agent skills now that it is GA; the truncated entry doesn't list which actions it can take today.
Planhat
5.0CRM
Planhat doubles down on automation — Portals, Task dependencies, AI steps, OAuth — for scaled CS ops.
◆ Current state
Planhat's recent stream skews heavily toward automation infrastructure for customer-success teams. New advanced Task dependencies, automated end-to-end Portal setup, full execution logs for Automation Runs, and live company-field merge tags in Dashboards and Presentations all reduce the manual per-account work that defines mid-tier CSM tooling. OAuth connections enter Labs, replacing API-key plumbing for integrations.
◆ Where it's heading
The product is moving from a health-score-and-playbook CS platform toward a low-code automation backbone for customer-success orgs. Recent additions of frontier LLMs (Claude Sonnet/Opus 4.6, GPT 5.4) into AI Automation steps, combined with portal-creation building blocks, position Planhat as a CS workflow engine that runs without per-account human babysitting.
◆ Prediction
Expect more native AI step types (action-taking, deeper retrieval), OAuth graduating out of Labs into the standard integrations surface, and continued investment in automation observability — failure analytics, retry policies, version history.
Alternatives to Close CRM and Planhat
Other CRM products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Close CRM or Planhat.
Twenty
Twenty 2.53 lets apps lock field permission actions, a day after role-aware relation pickers.
IntegCRM
IntegCRM keeps building out invoicing, bookings, forms and email for service businesses.
Folk
folk ships a French interface weeks after moving its data storage to Europe.
GroupOffice
GroupOffice patches its current 26.0 line and the older 25.0 line on the same afternoon.
Corteza
Corteza 2026.9.0 goes final after a week of single-fix candidates.
See all Close CRM alternatives → · See all Planhat alternatives →
Recent activity from Close CRM and Planhat
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 9d agoClose CRMChloe Chat is out of beta for all Close customers
- 16d agoClose CRMClose adds a central Security page and OIDC single sign-on
- 17d agoClose CRMTrigger Workflows on updated events
- 23d agoClose CRMVoice agents get a single Schedule Meeting skill
- 23d agoClose CRMTemplate Creation from Email/SMS
- 1mo agoClose CRMAsk Chloe a question from the command palette
- 6mo agoPlanhatSet up advanced Task dependencies in Workflows
- 6mo agoPlanhatOAuth connections now available in Labs
- 6mo agoPlanhatOAuth connections now available in Labs (duplicate)
- 6mo agoPlanhatInsert live company fields into Dashboards and Presentations
- 6mo agoPlanhatAutomate Portal setup end-to-end for every customer
- 6mo agoPlanhatSync email attachments and subfolders from Outlook into Planhat
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Close CRM and Planhat?
Both compete on the same themes — workflow automation — within CRM. Close CRM and Planhat are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Close CRM better than Planhat?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Close CRM and Planhat are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other CRM products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Close CRM?
Top Close CRM alternatives in CRM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Close CRM alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/close-crm for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Planhat?
Top Planhat alternatives in CRM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Planhat alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/planhat for the full list with editorial commentary on each.