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Comparison · CRM
Phorest vs Salesmate
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Phorest and Salesmate — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Phorest vs Salesmate: at a glance
What is Phorest?
Phorest lets salons price the stylist, not just the service
Two back-of-house releases landed the same day. Staff pricing can now be set per individual staff member per service, replacing a model where variation came only from branch price or staff category, and it carries through to booking, checkout and online. Alongside it, everything a staff member is qualified for — service, service time, development time, finish time — collapses into one table instead of several screens. Brand creation also stops requiring a support ticket.
What is Salesmate?
Salesmate ships at a slow drumbeat with Sandy AI as its most directional move.
Salesmate's release cadence is sparse — roughly one update every couple of months — and most entries are small UX or workflow tweaks rather than platform changes. The most directionally significant move in the last year was Sandy AI, which folded an assistant for scheduling and summarization into the CRM. Recent work has tightened the existing surface: knowledge base consolidation, surveys, mobile navigation, name-field customization.
Phorest vs Salesmate: editorial side-by-side
Phorest
5.0CRM
Phorest lets salons price the stylist, not just the service
◆ Current state
Two back-of-house releases landed the same day. Staff pricing can now be set per individual staff member per service, replacing a model where variation came only from branch price or staff category, and it carries through to booking, checkout and online. Alongside it, everything a staff member is qualified for — service, service time, development time, finish time — collapses into one table instead of several screens. Brand creation also stops requiring a support ticket.
◆ Where it's heading
The recent run is consistently about removing steps from daily front-desk and manager work: clock-in by geofence, client lookup on the diary, transactions on the client card, voice notes, and now self-serve brands and consolidated staff setup. The direction is deepening the operational core rather than expanding into new surfaces like marketing or payments.
◆ Prediction
With pricing now granular to the individual staff member, the pressure moves to reporting — expect the analytics side to gain per-staff revenue views that make the new pricing dimension readable.
Salesmate
0.0CRM
Salesmate ships at a slow drumbeat with Sandy AI as its most directional move.
◆ Current state
Salesmate's release cadence is sparse — roughly one update every couple of months — and most entries are small UX or workflow tweaks rather than platform changes. The most directionally significant move in the last year was Sandy AI, which folded an assistant for scheduling and summarization into the CRM. Recent work has tightened the existing surface: knowledge base consolidation, surveys, mobile navigation, name-field customization.
◆ Where it's heading
Salesmate is positioning as a quietly maturing all-in-one CRM rather than chasing a dominant trend. AI is being added narrowly (scheduling, summarization) rather than as a full agentic layer. Mobile and data-quality work suggest the priority is making the current product stickier for existing teams, not breaking into new categories.
◆ Prediction
Expect Sandy AI to expand further into deal-stage automation or pipeline summaries within the next two quarters, since that is the obvious next step from chat/email summarization. The slow cadence likely continues unless competitive pressure forces a step change.
Alternatives to Phorest and Salesmate
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 Phorest or Salesmate.
Twenty
Twenty's ORM v2 migration is down to permission and repository edge cases
Woodpecker
Woodpecker's public feed is an SEO content engine, not a changelog.
Vendasta
A daily SEO blog pitching AI service lines to agencies, with no product releases in it.
Thryv
Two weeks after the platform relaunch, Thryv's feed is all demand generation for it.
NetHunt CRM
NetHunt's feed is evaluation-stage SEO content, with no product releases visible in it.
See all Phorest alternatives → · See all Salesmate alternatives →
Recent activity from Phorest and Salesmate
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1d agoPhorestAdd New Brands
- 1d agoPhorestPricing just got personal
- 14d agoPhorestGeofencing Clock In/Out on Phorest Go
- 19d agoPhorestSales Transactions in the client card on Phorest Go
- 20d agoPhorestFind a client on the diary
- 26d agoPhorestVoice Note to Client/Appointment Note
- 7mo agoSalesmateThe Knowledge Base is now consolidated into a single, streamlined view.
- 1y agoSalesmateIntegrated Surveys for in-CRM feedback collection
- 1y agoSalesmateMobile navigation reworked to cut clicks
- 1y agoSalesmateRequired first/last name fields configurable
- 1y agoSalesmateDuplicate management now on mobile
- 1y agoSalesmateWith Sandy AI, scheduling meetings has never been simpler. You can also quickly summarize chats, tickets, or email threads.Read More ⚡
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Phorest and Salesmate?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Phorest is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), 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.
Is Phorest better than Salesmate?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Phorest is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), 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.
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.
What are the best alternatives to Salesmate?
Top Salesmate alternatives in CRM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Salesmate alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/salesmate for the full list with editorial commentary on each.