Bitrix24
Bitrix24's blog explains MCP for small teams; still no product releases.
A side-by-side editorial comparison of CRM-service and Close CRM — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
A steady, unflashy CRM grinding out monthly quality-of-life features across campaigns and billing.
This CRM ships disciplined monthly release notes, each a bundle of incremental feature and workflow improvements rather than headline launches. Recent work centers on campaign logic (AND/OR condition groups, relative date conditions), record management (inline related-entity editing, duplicate merging), and billing automation (invoice payment status).
Close turns caller ID into an automatic choice with Local Presence.
Close is shipping on three tracks: the Chloe assistant, calling, and admin controls. In November the calling side moved most, with Local Presence picking a recognized or local-looking number for each call and text, and outbound calls now playing a tone while they connect. Chloe Chat is generally available and draws charts on request, and October brought object renaming and a central Security page with OIDC SSO.
This CRM ships disciplined monthly release notes, each a bundle of incremental feature and workflow improvements rather than headline launches. Recent work centers on campaign logic (AND/OR condition groups, relative date conditions), record management (inline related-entity editing, duplicate merging), and billing automation (invoice payment status).
The product is maturing along predictable CRM lines: richer segmentation and campaign conditions, less context-switching in the record view, and automation of routine back-office tasks like invoicing and deduplication. There is no directional pivot here — it is consistent breadth-filling that closes gaps against larger CRMs one month at a time.
Expect continued campaign-logic depth and record-management convenience features, with more billing and data-hygiene automation following the invoice-status and duplicate-merge work.
Close is shipping on three tracks: the Chloe assistant, calling, and admin controls. In November the calling side moved most, with Local Presence picking a recognized or local-looking number for each call and text, and outbound calls now playing a tone while they connect. Chloe Chat is generally available and draws charts on request, and October brought object renaming and a central Security page with OIDC SSO.
Calling and texting are getting the kind of automation Chloe brought to search and reporting, with Close making choices reps used to make by hand. The admin work points at larger teams that need renamed objects and central access control.
Expect more calling features that remove manual steps, such as number management or call outcome handling, alongside further Chloe chart and action types.
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 CRM-service or Close CRM.
Bitrix24's blog explains MCP for small teams; still no product releases.
Twenty 2.58.1 stops existing accounts from joining a workspace through SSO alone.
Twenty 2.58 rebuilds CRM permissions down to the row and adds MCP workflow steps.
GroupOffice patches its 25.0 and 6.8 lines again, still with no notes.
folk adds a command panel and quick-add tasks after its agent-era repositioning.
folk now pitches itself as the CRM for the agent era.
See all CRM-service alternatives → · See all Close CRM alternatives →
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Close CRM is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Close CRM is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other CRM products to evaluate alongside.
Top CRM-service alternatives in CRM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "CRM-service alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/crm-service for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
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.