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Comparison · CRM
GroupOffice vs Phorest
A side-by-side editorial comparison of GroupOffice and Phorest — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
GroupOffice vs Phorest: at a glance
What is GroupOffice?
GroupOffice patches its 25.0 and 6.8 lines again, still with no notes.
GroupOffice ships maintenance builds across three release lines at once. On November 12 it tagged 6.8.183 and 25.0.117, and on November 13 it followed with 6.8.184 and 25.0.118 within forty minutes. Every note is the same install boilerplate, so the feed shows cadence but not what changed.
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.
GroupOffice vs Phorest: editorial side-by-side
GroupOffice
5.0CRM
GroupOffice patches its 25.0 and 6.8 lines again, still with no notes.
◆ Current state
GroupOffice ships maintenance builds across three release lines at once. On November 12 it tagged 6.8.183 and 25.0.117, and on November 13 it followed with 6.8.184 and 25.0.118 within forty minutes. Every note is the same install boilerplate, so the feed shows cadence but not what changed.
◆ Where it's heading
The 6.8 line, two majors behind current, has now had four patches in nine days, while 26.0 keeps a weekly rhythm. That points to fixes being backported to long-supported installs rather than new features, though the notes never say so.
◆ Prediction
A 26.0.60 build is the likely next tag within days, since 26.0 has shipped weekly and was left out of the November 12 pair.
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 GroupOffice 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 GroupOffice or Phorest.
Twenty
Twenty 2.58.1 stops existing accounts from joining a workspace through SSO alone.
Twenty
Twenty 2.58 rebuilds CRM permissions down to the row and adds MCP workflow steps.
Folk
folk adds a command panel and quick-add tasks after its agent-era repositioning.
Folk
folk now pitches itself as the CRM for the agent era.
IntegCRM
IntegCRM adds document folders, turning back to client records after two email releases.
See all GroupOffice alternatives → · See all Phorest alternatives →
Recent activity from GroupOffice and Phorest
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 21h agoGroupOfficeGroupOffice 25.0.118 previous-line maintenance build
- 22h agoGroupOfficeGroupOffice 6.8.184 legacy-line maintenance build
- 2d agoGroupOfficeGroupOffice 25.0.117 previous-line maintenance build
- 2d agoGroupOfficeGroupOffice 6.8.183 legacy-line maintenance build
- 4d agoGroupOfficeGroupOffice 25.0.116 previous-line maintenance build
- 4d agoGroupOfficeGroupOffice 26.0.59 maintenance build
- 2mo agoPhorestBooking multiple services with multiple staff? Now way easier to mix up who's doing what 💇
- 2mo agoPhorestChoose which team members show up for online bookings — service by service
- 2mo agoPhorestPermissions to change service / retail prices
- 2mo agoPhorestAdd New Brands
- 2mo agoPhorestPricing just got personal
- 3mo agoPhorestGeofencing Clock In/Out on Phorest Go
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between GroupOffice and Phorest?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. GroupOffice and Phorest are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is GroupOffice better than Phorest?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. GroupOffice and Phorest are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other CRM products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to GroupOffice?
Top GroupOffice alternatives in CRM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "GroupOffice alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/groupoffice 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.