If your sales team lives on the phone, Close CRM is probably the best tool on the market. The Power Dialer is genuinely impressive. The UI is clean. The call logging is automatic. Reps can make 2–3x more conversations per day compared to manual dialing. The problem is the assumption underneath all of it: that your prospects are still picking up their phones.

Side-by-Side: Dalil AI vs Close CRM

Capability	Close CRM	Dalil AI
CRM	✅ Clean, sales-focused — pipelines, Smart Views, fast onboarding	✅ Full CRM — pipeline, deals, contacts, custom entities
Email	✅ Native — 2-way sync, templates, sequences (Growth plan+)	✅ Native email integration, threading, tracking, sequences
Calling & SMS	✅ Best-in-class — Power Dialer, Predictive Dialer, call recording, SMS native	⚠️ Not a phone-first platform — calling via integrations
LinkedIn	❌ No integration — not native, not even shallow	✅ Native — messaging, connection requests, sequences, unified inbox
WhatsApp	❌ No native WhatsApp — confirmed not available	✅ Native — messaging, voice notes, unified inbox
Multi-channel outreach sequences	⚠️ Email + call + SMS only — no LinkedIn or WhatsApp steps	✅ LinkedIn + WhatsApp + email sequences, inside the CRM
Unified inbox	⚠️ Email + calls + SMS — no LinkedIn or WhatsApp conversations	✅ LinkedIn + WhatsApp + Email in one feed, tied to the deal
AI	⚠️ AI Lead Summaries, AI Email Rewrite, AI Call Assistant (add-on) — no deal health scoring	✅ Deal intelligence across all channels — health scoring, sentiment, next-best-action; CRM commands via WhatsApp — text, voice notes and pictures of business cards
Workflow automation	✅ Workflows + Smart Views — solid for phone/email sequences	✅ Full no-code workflow automation engine
Starting price	$49/seat/mo (Essentials) — Power Dialer needs $109/mo (Growth)	CRM + channels + outreach + AI — all in one platform
Full stack cost to match Dalil	$109/seat (Growth) + Lemlist ($128) + LinkedIn bridge ($59) = $296+/seat/mo	—

What Close CRM Does Genuinely Well

Close CRM has built something genuinely impressive. The philosophy is right: sales teams spend too much time on admin and not enough time talking to people. Build a tool that keeps reps in conversations and out of data entry. It works.

The Power Dialer

Load a list, hit dial, and Close automatically moves through contacts — connecting reps only when someone answers, logging every outcome, letting reps leave pre-recorded voicemails in one click. SDR teams consistently report 2–3x more conversations per day compared to manual calling.

The Predictive Dialer

Available on Scale plan ($149/seat/mo), dials multiple numbers simultaneously and routes live connections to available reps. Enterprise-grade calling infrastructure at SMB pricing.

Native calling + SMS + email

Every call is automatically logged, recorded, and attached to the contact record. Every SMS is tracked. Every email thread lives in the same unified view as the call history. Reps never switch tabs. Nothing is manually entered.

Fast onboarding

Cited as up to 50% faster to implement than competing CRMs. Clean, intuitive UI with Smart Views that dynamically filter lead lists based on activity, status, or custom criteria.

For teams whose outbound motion is genuinely phone-first — SaaS SDR teams with high call volumes, inside sales organizations making 50+ calls per day — Close is arguably the best-designed tool on the market. The limitation is that this describes a shrinking portion of B2B sales teams.

The Three Gaps That Define 2026

1. LinkedIn: Simply Not There

Close CRM has no LinkedIn integration. Not a native one, not even a shallow data-sync connector. LinkedIn conversations, connection requests, and DM history do not exist in Close. There is no LinkedIn step available in Close's sequence builder.

In practice, this means every rep using Close is running a split workflow. Cold calls and emails happen in Close. LinkedIn prospecting happens in a separate browser tab. Connection requests, DMs, and follow-up messages live in LinkedIn with no connection to the deal record.

In Dalil AI, LinkedIn is a first-class channel native to the deal. A rep launches a sequence that starts with a LinkedIn connection request, follows up with a DM after acceptance, then moves to email if there's no reply. Every step is in the same sequence builder, every response updates the same deal record, and the AI reads the full conversation history to score deal health and suggest the next move.

2. WhatsApp: Not Available

Close CRM currently doesn't connect directly with WhatsApp. For B2B teams in markets where WhatsApp is a primary communication channel — the Middle East, Southern Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia — this is a complete gap. WhatsApp isn't a nice-to-have in these markets. It's where prospects share their real timeline, where deals move fastest, and where relationships are maintained between calls.

In Dalil AI, WhatsApp is native from day one — messages, voice notes, and the ability to capture business card photos directly into the CRM. Every WhatsApp conversation is tied to the right deal, visible in the unified inbox alongside LinkedIn and email, and read by the AI for deal health scoring.

3. Sequences: Two Channels Isn't Multi-Channel

Close has email sequences. Close has call sequences. Close has SMS. Combined, these are genuinely strong — if your prospects live on email, the phone, and SMS.

But a modern B2B sequence in 2026 looks different. It starts with a LinkedIn connection request. It follows up with a DM. It moves to email. It checks in on WhatsApp. It may involve a call.

The practical consequence: teams on Close who want to run true multi-channel outbound stack Lemlist on top for LinkedIn and WhatsApp sequences. They're now at $109/seat (Close Growth) + $128/seat (Lemlist Multichannel) = $237/seat/month for a two-tool stack that still requires manual sync between outreach and the CRM. Add a LinkedIn bridge tool like Surfe, and you're at $296+/seat/month.

The Real Cost: From "$49/Month" to $296+

Plan	Monthly Cost	What's Still Missing
Essentials	$49/seat/mo	No sequences, no Power Dialer
Growth	$109/seat/mo	No LinkedIn, no WhatsApp
Scale	$149/seat/mo	Still no LinkedIn, still no WhatsApp

Hidden costs: AI Call Assistant costs $50/month + $0.02/minute. Call and SMS usage charged separately. Premium phone numbers run $19/month per line. A fully equipped Close setup costs 40–75% more than the base plan.

Component	Tool	Monthly Cost
CRM + calling + email sequences	Close Growth	$109/seat/mo
LinkedIn bridge + data	Surfe Pro	$59/seat/mo
Multi-channel outreach (LinkedIn + WhatsApp)	Lemlist Multichannel Expert	$128/seat/mo
Total	3 tools, 3 logins, 3 invoices	$296+/seat/mo

And that stack still doesn't give you a unified inbox where LinkedIn, WhatsApp, email, and calls all live together on the same deal record.

Who Close CRM Is Actually Built For

Close fits if:

Your sales motion is phone-first — SDRs making 50+ calls per day is your primary outbound motion
You're in a market where cold calling still opens deals at meaningful rates
Your team needs the fastest onboarding and simplest CRM to manage alongside calling
Your deals close via phone and email, with limited need for LinkedIn or WhatsApp
You're a 3–15 person team and need something operational immediately

Close falls short if:

LinkedIn is your primary prospecting channel — it has zero presence in the platform
Your market is WhatsApp-heavy (MENA, Southern Europe, LATAM, SEA)
You want to run true multi-channel sequences that coordinate LinkedIn + WhatsApp + email + calls from one canvas
Your AI needs to read the full conversation — not just call summaries and email history
Your team needs deal intelligence that spans all the channels where deals actually develop

The Question Close CRM Can't Answer

Close CRM can tell you how many calls your rep made yesterday, what the call outcomes were, and which email templates are converting. What it can't tell you is what your prospect said on LinkedIn last week, or what they replied to your WhatsApp message this morning.

That's not a gap in Close's reporting. It's a gap in Close's reality. Those conversations don't exist in the platform — because the channels don't exist in the platform.

Here's what the same deal looks like in Dalil AI. The rep sent a LinkedIn connection request on Monday. The prospect accepted on Tuesday and replied with a question. The rep followed up on WhatsApp Thursday morning — a voice note, because that's how this prospect prefers to communicate. The prospect called back Friday. The AI has read all four touchpoints. It's scored the deal at 81% health, noted that the prospect responds twice as fast on WhatsApp as email, and suggested the next step. The rep sees all of this on the deal record — calls, WhatsApp messages, LinkedIn thread, email history — in one unified feed.

The difference isn't just more channels. It's that the AI can only be as smart as the data it has access to. If the data is siloed across three tools, the intelligence is siloed too.

From first outreach to closed deal — no context lost.

FAQ

Does Close CRM have LinkedIn integration?

No. Close CRM has no LinkedIn integration — not native, not via a first-party connector. LinkedIn conversations, connection requests, and message history are not captured in Close. Teams running LinkedIn outreach operate outside Close entirely, with no automatic sync to deal records.

Does Close CRM have WhatsApp?

No. Close CRM does not support WhatsApp messaging natively. It focuses on calling, email, and SMS. Teams needing WhatsApp must use third-party tools that aren't integrated with Close's CRM data or deal records.

What is Close CRM's Power Dialer?

The Power Dialer (available on the Growth plan at $109/seat/month) automatically dials through a list of contacts, connects reps only when someone answers, and logs all outcomes automatically. It's widely considered the best built-in power dialer in the SMB CRM market. SDR teams consistently report 2–3x more conversations per day compared to manual dialing.

What does Close CRM actually cost with add-ons?

The Growth plan starts at $109/seat/month. Add-ons include AI Call Assistant ($50/month + $0.02/minute), premium phone lines ($19/month/line), and call/SMS usage fees. Adding LinkedIn (Surfe: $59) and multi-channel outreach (Lemlist: $128) totals $296+/seat/month.

What is Dalil AI?

Dalil AI is an AI Sales OS — a single platform combining a full CRM with native LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and email channels, integrated multi-channel outreach automation, flexible workflow automation, and AI deal intelligence that reads conversations across all channels. Built for B2B sales teams that need to run coordinated outreach across LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and email — not just phone and email.

Dalil AI vs Close CRM: the best phone dialer that never learned LinkedIn