Twenty
Twenty's sprint through v2.39-v2.40 stabilizes yarn pull and relicenses UI components as MIT.
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Clari and Close CRM — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Clari's owner puts Salesloft data inside ChatGPT, and prices it as an add-on
This feed is Salesloft's combined monthly release notes post-merger, so Clari updates arrive bundled with Salesloft, Groove, and Copilot changes. The August notes are dominated by CRM plumbing, including automatic Salesforce account linking, self-service custom object controls, and a required migration to a new External Client Application before 2 September, plus the first ChatGPT-facing MCP connector. Clari's own recent additions are narrower: Copilot call scoring in June and an in-app support chatbot in July.
Close is systematically expanding Chloe from Q&A into an operational CRM layer
Close is building Chloe — its AI assistant — outward from a simple knowledge base into a functional operations interface. In recent months, Chloe gained billing query support, Microsoft Calendar integration for meeting booking, and can now retrieve Notetaker transcripts via MCP. Alongside this, Close hardened its security posture with mandatory email verification and added a full audit event log for compliance-focused teams.
This feed is Salesloft's combined monthly release notes post-merger, so Clari updates arrive bundled with Salesloft, Groove, and Copilot changes. The August notes are dominated by CRM plumbing, including automatic Salesforce account linking, self-service custom object controls, and a required migration to a new External Client Application before 2 September, plus the first ChatGPT-facing MCP connector. Clari's own recent additions are narrower: Copilot call scoring in June and an in-app support chatbot in July.
The agentic layer is where the investment goes, and it is sold as a tier rather than included, with the ChatGPT MCP connector requiring both the Agentic add-on and an enterprise ChatGPT subscription. At the same time the Claude MCP server lost its transcript tool to a protocol limitation, so the surface is being shaped by what each host can carry. Underneath, considerable engineering is going into CRM fidelity across merges, deletions, and custom objects, which is the unglamorous prerequisite for agents that read revenue data.
The MCP surface looks set to expand by host rather than by capability, and the External Client Application migration will dominate admin communication through the 2 September deadline.
Close is building Chloe — its AI assistant — outward from a simple knowledge base into a functional operations interface. In recent months, Chloe gained billing query support, Microsoft Calendar integration for meeting booking, and can now retrieve Notetaker transcripts via MCP. Alongside this, Close hardened its security posture with mandatory email verification and added a full audit event log for compliance-focused teams.
The pattern across the last 10 entries is unmistakable: Close is positioning itself as an AI-agent-compatible sales stack rather than a click-through SaaS UI. The MCP transcript tool, the updated ChatGPT plugin with voice agents, and Microsoft Calendar support are all building toward a world where Chloe handles CRM operations conversationally. The traditional UI is still there, but every new capability routes through Chloe first.
Chloe's next expansion is likely into write operations — lead creation, task scheduling, pipeline stage updates — completing the agentic loop it's been building toward. The billing query launch suggests Close is comfortable giving Chloe access to sensitive data with appropriate permissions gates.
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 Clari or Close CRM.
Twenty's sprint through v2.39-v2.40 stabilizes yarn pull and relicenses UI components as MIT.
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 1.6 lands video conferencing, GDPR tools, and a serious security overhaul across its CalDAV and booking stack.
Streak wires automations to email and call activity, turning Gmail CRM into an event-driven workflow engine.
Snov.io adds ChatGPT and Claude AI, then ships AI-powered web enrichment in consecutive monthly drops
Membrain's recent changelog is editorial content only — no product releases visible
See all Clari 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 3.8), 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 3.8), 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 Clari alternatives in CRM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Clari alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/clari 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.