Gold Vision CRM
Gold Vision CRM ships monthly releases on a consistent cadence — changelog details aren't surfaced in the feed.
Comparison · CRM
Keap vs Phorest
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Keap and Phorest — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Keap vs Phorest: at a glance
What is Keap?
Keap is folding deeper into the Thryv platform; the v2 REST API just hit parity.
Keap publishes a regular monthly product roundup covering automations, email, branding, and reporting. The biggest single move in the last cycle is the Thryv v2 REST API reaching full feature parity with the legacy XMLRPC API, with new SDKs alongside it. Branding and copy across recent updates increasingly leads with Thryv rather than Keap, suggesting the post-acquisition merge is now visible in product surfaces.
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.
Keap vs Phorest: editorial side-by-side
Keap
0.0CRM
Keap is folding deeper into the Thryv platform; the v2 REST API just hit parity.
◆ Current state
Keap publishes a regular monthly product roundup covering automations, email, branding, and reporting. The biggest single move in the last cycle is the Thryv v2 REST API reaching full feature parity with the legacy XMLRPC API, with new SDKs alongside it. Branding and copy across recent updates increasingly leads with Thryv rather than Keap, suggesting the post-acquisition merge is now visible in product surfaces.
◆ Where it's heading
Keap is on a steady CRM-feature cadence — scheduling, segmentation, email deliverability, automation triggers — while the underlying platform shifts under the Thryv brand and API. Developer ecosystem work (v2 REST + SDKs) signals an attempt to revive third-party integration momentum that XMLRPC was bottlenecking. Expect Keap-branded surfaces to keep narrowing as Thryv consolidates the small-business suite.
◆ Prediction
The XMLRPC API has a deprecation window coming — likely a public timeline within a quarter or two. Cross-product features (booking, reputation, marketing) will increasingly land as Thryv-branded rather than Keap-branded, accelerating the brand transition.
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 Keap 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 Keap or Phorest.
Twenty
Twenty's sprint through v2.39-v2.40 stabilizes yarn pull and relicenses UI components as MIT.
Close CRM
Close is systematically expanding Chloe from Q&A into an operational CRM layer
Lime Connect
Lime Connect adds time-based workflow triggers and interactive UI elements for its AI Agent, deepening its bet on AI-augmented customer communication.
Easy!Appointments
Easy!Appointments 1.6 lands video conferencing, GDPR tools, and a serious security overhaul across its CalDAV and booking stack.
Streak
Streak wires automations to email and call activity, turning Gmail CRM into an event-driven workflow engine.
See all Keap alternatives → · See all Phorest alternatives →
Recent activity from Keap and Phorest
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 15d agoPhorestBooking multiple services with multiple staff? Now way easier to mix up who's doing what 💇
- 21d agoPhorestChoose which team members show up for online bookings — service by service
- 26d agoPhorestPermissions to change service / retail prices
- 29d agoPhorestAdd New Brands
- 29d agoPhorestPricing just got personal
- 1mo agoPhorestGeofencing Clock In/Out on Phorest Go
- 7mo agoKeapLegal/privacy footer (scraper noise)
- 8mo agoKeapDecember Product Update: Smarter Scheduling, Clearer Reporting, and Better API Visibility
- 9mo agoKeapNovember Product Update: Smarter Emails, Cleaner Branding & Enhanced Automation Tools
- 10mo agoKeapOctober Product Update: Work Faster and Stay Organized with New Automation Tools
- 10mo agoKeapThryv API Update: Full Feature Parity and New SDKs Now Available ⚡
- 10mo agoKeapGrow 2025 Product Recap: Innovations You Need to Know
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Keap and Phorest?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Phorest 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.
Is Keap better than Phorest?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Phorest 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.
What are the best alternatives to Keap?
Top Keap alternatives in CRM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Keap alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/keap 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.