Happy Valley

AXL vs Close

AXL and Close are both CRM tools. AXL is aimed at small businesses and creators, while Close is aimed at small businesses. Close costs less, from $19/mo versus $49/mo for AXL. Only AXL has a free plan.

AXL

Sales and marketing all-in-one you can run from Claude or ChatGPT

Close

CRM with built-in calling and email sequences

PricingFreemium · $49Paid · $19
Starting price$49/mo$19/mo
Free planYesNo
Free trial—14 days
Built forSmall businesses, Creators, FreelancersSmall businesses
Platformswebweb, macos, windows
Country—US · 2013
Rating——

Choose AXL if

Founders, coaches and course sellers who want funnels, CRM, webinars and checkout in one place and like working through an AI assistant.

  • Replaces several funnel, CRM, webinar and course tools with one bill
  • Free plan never bills overage; extra contacts are saved but skipped by campaigns
  • AXL takes 0% of your sales

Look elsewhere if: Teams that need a deep integration marketplace or enterprise CRM controls (Keap, HubSpot).

Choose Close if

Inside sales teams of 3–50 whose process centers on calls and email.

  • Everything an inside sales rep needs in one screen
  • Telephony included, no third-party dialer
  • Fast, keyboard-friendly UI

Look elsewhere if: Marketing-led companies or teams needing a full customer platform.

AXL vs Close pricing

AXL

  • Free$0500 contacts, 5,000 emails, 1 admin; capped usage, no overage
  • Starter$49/mo5,000 contacts, 15,000 emails, 25,000 messages, 1 admin
  • Growth$149/mo20,000 contacts, 50,000 emails, 2 admins, 1,000 AI credits
  • Scale$349/mo50,000 contacts, 120,000 emails, 3 admins, 1,500 AI credits
  • Pro$699/mo150,000 contacts, 300,000 emails, 5 admins, 3,000 AI credits

Close

  • Solo$19/user/mo$9 billed annually; 1 user only, 10k leads
  • Essentials$49/user/mo$35 billed annually; 3 email accounts, 1,000 AI credits
  • Growth$109/user/mo$99 billed annually; 10 email accounts, 90-day recordings
  • Scale$149/user/mo$139 billed annually; predictive dialer

AXL · Key features

  • MCP server exposing 1,200+ actions to ChatGPT, Claude, Codex and Cursor
  • Landing page and funnel builder with forms, quizzes and A/B tests
  • CRM with deal pipelines, contact history and lead scoring
  • Email and messaging automation for follow-up campaigns
  • Live and evergreen webinars plus protected video hosting
  • Courses with AI-assisted homework review and certificates

Cons

  • No free trial of paid plans; you start on the capped Free tier
  • Few named integrations beyond payments, Meta and AI assistants
  • Payment processing fees from Stripe or PayPal come on top

Close · Key features

  • Built-in calling, SMS and email with sync
  • Power and predictive dialers
  • Workflows combining email, call and task steps
  • Call coaching, recording and AI summaries
  • Multiple pipelines and custom activities
  • Reporting on activity and funnel

Cons

  • Higher entry price per seat
  • No marketing or support modules
  • Reporting less flexible than HubSpot

AXL vs Close: FAQ

Which is cheaper, AXL or Close?

Close starts at $19/mo and AXL at $49/mo. Both prices are checked on the vendors' own pricing pages.

Do AXL and Close have a free plan?

AXL has a free plan. Close has no free plan, a 14-day free trial.

Not sure yet?