CloseThe CRM that does the work
vs
SmartleadAI-native Outbound OS for Sales Teams and GTM Engineers
Comparison · Sales Engagement · weekly run Nov 3
Close vs Smartlead
Which one do AI engines recommend, and how do they differ on price, fit and features?
The short answer
Smartlead is the stronger AI pick in Sales Engagement: it has a visibility score of 6.2 versus 2.8 for Close.
Choose Close if…
- You want a lower entry price ($19 vs $39)
- You need SOC 2 Type II or GDPR or CCPA coverage
- You prefer a larger, established vendor (51–200 employees)
- Per seat pricing suits your budget better than flat tiers
Choose Smartlead if…
- You want the brand AI engines rank higher (6.2 vs 2.8)
- AI answers describe it more positively (58% vs 52% positive)
- Flat tiers pricing suits your budget better than per seat
- High-volume cold-email outreach
AI visibility side by side
Latest weekly run · Nov 3
| Metric | Close | Smartlead |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 2.8% | 6.2% |
| Change vs last week | down−0.6% | up+2% |
| Rank in Sales Engagement | #26 | #18 |
| Share of voice | 1% | 1.6% |
| Mentions this run | 6 | 11 |
| Positive in AI answers | 52% | 58% |
The stronger value in each row is marked with a ✓.
Visibility score trend
Weekly runs over the last 60 days
Close −0.5pp · Smartlead +1.9000000000000004pp over 1 weekly runs.
Engine by engine
Smartlead leads on 2 of 3 engines
ChatGPT
AI Mode
Perplexity
CloseSmartlead
Head to head in AI answers
0 engine answers name both brands
0Close ranked higher
0Smartlead ranked higher
Features, pricing & fit
| Dimension | Close | Smartlead |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per seat | Flat tiers |
| Entry price | $19 per seat / mo | $39 / mo |
| Free plan | No · 14-day trial | No |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS) | — |
| Integrations | 100+ | — |
| Compliance | SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, CCPA | — |
| Support | Knowledge base, Email support | 24/7 priority support on SmartServers, Dedicated one-on-one onboarding call, Dedicated manager and private Slack channel listed as plan features |
| Founded | 2013 | 2022 |
| Headquarters | Austin, Texas, United States | Sydney, Australia |
| Employees | 51–200 | 11–50 |
| Funding | Angel | Bootstrapped |
| Best for | Founders, small businesses and sales teams that sell through calls, email and SMS | Early-stage founders, sales teams and lead generation agencies running cold email outreach at scale |
Plans side by side
Close
Solo$19per user / month (billed monthly; $9 billed annually)
Essentials$49per user / month (billed monthly; $35 billed annually)
Growth$109per user / month (billed monthly; $99 billed annually)
Scale$149per user / month (billed monthly; $139 billed annually)
Pros and cons
Themes from the AI answers that mention each brand
Close
- Best for high-velocity and outbound sales teams
- Straightforward, predictable per-seat pricing
- All-in-one calling, SMS, and email cadences
- Strong customer satisfaction in recent reviews
- Frequently included in CRM shortlists
Smartlead
- High-volume cold-email outreach
- Cold-email infrastructure for managing multiple mailboxes
- Affordable, low-cost cold email
- Strong email personalization and deliverability
- Not a complete CRM or full enterprise sales engagement suite
- Lacks enterprise forecasting and governance
Data collected ·ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode·coverage 98.8%·next run
Cite as: SlateIndex, “Close vs Smartlead”, https://slateindex.ai/compare/close-vs-smartlead, data of Nov 3, 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.