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Less Annoying CRM vs Phorest

A side-by-side editorial comparison of Less Annoying CRM and Phorest — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Less Annoying CRM vs Phorest: at a glance

FeatureLess Annoying CRMPhorest
SectorCRMCRM
Velocity score5.05.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themessmall-business-crm, customer-requests, contact-records, searchsalon-software, booking, staff-management, pricing
Last editorial update4d ago2mo ago
Website—Visit →

What is Less Annoying CRM?

Less Annoying CRM lets users pin notes to the top of a contact

LACRM ships slowly and from user requests. Two weeks after October's bundle of six features (scratchpad widget, custom contact labels, event and task search, history filters), it added pinned notes that stay at the top of a contact or company record. Earlier in the year came configurable task views, rich text fields, undo merge and relative date filters.

Read the full Less Annoying CRM trajectory →

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.

Read the full Phorest trajectory →

Less Annoying CRM vs Phorest: editorial side-by-side

L5.0

Less Annoying CRM lets users pin notes to the top of a contact

◆ Current state

LACRM ships slowly and from user requests. Two weeks after October's bundle of six features (scratchpad widget, custom contact labels, event and task search, history filters), it added pinned notes that stay at the top of a contact or company record. Earlier in the year came configurable task views, rich text fields, undo merge and relative date filters.

◆ Where it's heading

The work stays on the daily record view: making the current state of a client easier to see as history grows. No AI, pricing or integration moves appear in the entries.

◆ Prediction

More small record-view and search features, either one at a time or as another bundle, are the likely next step.

P5.0

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 Less Annoying CRM 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 Less Annoying CRM or Phorest.

See all Less Annoying CRM alternatives → · See all Phorest alternatives →

Recent activity from Less Annoying CRM and Phorest

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 5d agoLess Annoying CRMPinned Notes
  2. 20d agoLess Annoying CRM6 New CRM Features
  3. 2mo agoPhorestBooking multiple services with multiple staff? Now way easier to mix up who's doing what 💇
  4. 2mo agoPhorestChoose which team members show up for online bookings — service by service
  5. 2mo agoPhorestPermissions to change service / retail prices
  6. 2mo agoPhorestAdd New Brands
  7. 2mo agoPhorestPricing just got personal
  8. 3mo agoPhorestGeofencing Clock In/Out on Phorest Go
  9. 7mo agoLess Annoying CRMWorkspace task customization: see future tasks and other users' tasks on the workspace
  10. 7mo agoLess Annoying CRMRich Text for Text Area Fields
  11. 8mo agoLess Annoying CRMUndo Merge Button
  12. 8mo agoLess Annoying CRMTwelve user-requested CRM features shipped in one release

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Less Annoying CRM and Phorest?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Less Annoying CRM 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 Less Annoying CRM better than Phorest?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Less Annoying CRM 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 Less Annoying CRM?

Top Less Annoying CRM alternatives in CRM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Less Annoying CRM alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/less-annoying-crm 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.