Twenty
Twenty 2.52 lets apps run their own account-connection flows and adds inbox sharing.
Comparison · CRM
GroupOffice vs Phorest
A side-by-side editorial comparison of GroupOffice and Phorest — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
GroupOffice vs Phorest: at a glance
What is GroupOffice?
GroupOffice patches its current 26.0 line and the older 25.0 line on the same afternoon.
GroupOffice releases 26.0.x builds about weekly and lately faster: 26.0.52 through 26.0.56 landed between October 12 and October 26. On October 26 the 25.0 line also got a patch, 25.0.114, less than half an hour before 26.0.56. Every note is the same install boilerplate, so the changelog shows cadence but not content.
What is Phorest?
Phorest keeps handing salon owners the settings they used to phone support about
Phorest is salon and clinic management software shipping small, well-scoped changes every week or two, written in the voice of the front desk. The recent run is dominated by giving owners control they previously had to request: adding product brands without contacting Phorest, per-staff-per-service pricing, per-staff online booking visibility, and finer permissions on who may edit service versus retail prices. Around that sit operational tools like geofenced clock-in on the mobile app.
GroupOffice vs Phorest: editorial side-by-side
GroupOffice
5.0CRM
GroupOffice patches its current 26.0 line and the older 25.0 line on the same afternoon.
◆ Current state
GroupOffice releases 26.0.x builds about weekly and lately faster: 26.0.52 through 26.0.56 landed between October 12 and October 26. On October 26 the 25.0 line also got a patch, 25.0.114, less than half an hour before 26.0.56. Every note is the same install boilerplate, so the changelog shows cadence but not content.
◆ Where it's heading
This is a mature groupware suite maintaining its current major line while 25.0 and 6.8 stay supported. Paired builds across branches suggest fixes are backported rather than left to the current line, but nothing in the entries points to new capability or a change in direction.
◆ Prediction
Expect more 26.0.x builds within days and occasional 25.0 or 6.8 patches alongside them. The entries give no basis for a feature forecast.
Phorest
5.0CRM
Phorest keeps handing salon owners the settings they used to phone support about
◆ Current state
Phorest is salon and clinic management software shipping small, well-scoped changes every week or two, written in the voice of the front desk. The recent run is dominated by giving owners control they previously had to request: adding product brands without contacting Phorest, per-staff-per-service pricing, per-staff online booking visibility, and finer permissions on who may edit service versus retail prices. Around that sit operational tools like geofenced clock-in on the mobile app.
◆ Where it's heading
The through-line is decentralising configuration to the salon and making the booking model match how these businesses actually run. Nearly every recent release either removes a support ticket or lets one staff member be treated differently from another — different price, different online availability, different qualifications. The multi-service booking flow extends the same thinking to the client-facing side, where a visit involving two practitioners was previously modelled as an edge case.
◆ Prediction
Per-staff settings have now landed for price, online visibility and qualifications separately; the obvious next step is a single staff-level view that shows all three together, since the release notes already admit owners are hopping between screens to check them.
Alternatives to GroupOffice and Phorest
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 GroupOffice or Phorest.
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.
Close CRM
Close takes Chloe Chat out of beta for every customer, a month after OIDC SSO.
Corteza
Corteza 2026.9.0 goes final after a week of single-fix candidates.
See all GroupOffice alternatives → · See all Phorest alternatives →
Recent activity from GroupOffice and Phorest
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 3d agoGroupOfficeGroupOffice 26.0.56 maintenance build
- 3d agoGroupOfficeGroupOffice 25.0.114 previous-line maintenance build
- 9d agoGroupOfficeGroupOffice 26.0.55 maintenance build
- 14d agoGroupOfficeGroupOffice 26.0.54 maintenance build
- 16d agoGroupOfficeGroupOffice 26.0.53 maintenance build
- 17d agoGroupOfficev26.0.52
- 1mo agoPhorestBooking multiple services with multiple staff? Now way easier to mix up who's doing what 💇
- 2mo agoPhorestChoose which team members show up for online bookings — service by service
- 2mo agoPhorestPermissions to change service / retail prices
- 2mo agoPhorestAdd New Brands
- 2mo agoPhorestPricing just got personal
- 2mo agoPhorestGeofencing Clock In/Out on Phorest Go
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between GroupOffice and Phorest?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. GroupOffice and Phorest 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 GroupOffice better than Phorest?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. GroupOffice and Phorest 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 GroupOffice?
Top GroupOffice alternatives in CRM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "GroupOffice alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/groupoffice for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Phorest?
Top Phorest alternatives in CRM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Phorest alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/phorest for the full list with editorial commentary on each.