Head to head
Close vs PhoneBurner: a CRM with calling, or a dialer with a CRM?
Close is a CRM that dials well. PhoneBurner is a dialer with a CRM attached. The right answer depends entirely on what you are replacing.
Pick Close CRM if
You are replacing a spreadsheet or an old CRM as well as buying a dialer, and you want calls, email sequences and SMS on one timeline.
Pick PhoneBurner if
You already have a CRM you intend to keep, your reps talk for hours a day, and you want the fastest possible single-line dialing with voicemail drop.
Consider neither if
Both are expensive if what you need is a fast dialer with a light CRM behind it. A pack-priced tool at $29 a month for three seats includes a lead database, pipeline, tasks and recordings, with telephony at wholesale, which is less than a quarter of one Close Growth seat.
Close CRM vs PhoneBurner at a glance
Verified against each vendor's own pricing page on 2026-09-04.
| Close CRM | PhoneBurner | |
|---|---|---|
| Our score | 4.1/ 5 | 3.9/ 5 |
| Cheapest published price | $9/user/mo | $140/user/mo |
| Seat minimum | 1 | 1 |
| Annual contract required | No | No |
| Free plan | 14-day trial | 14-day trial |
| Dialing modes | power, predictive, click-to-call | power, preview, click-to-call |
| Minutes | Close bills calling separately. Its own pricing page says most outbound calls cost around $0.02 a minute with numbers from about $1 a month. Calling-heavy reps commonly land at $130 to $180 a seat all in. | Unlimited calling is included on every tier, which is the strongest thing about PhoneBurner's pricing. SMS is capped at 1,000 outbound messages a month on Premium. |
| Bring your own Twilio | No | No |
| CRM built in | Full CRM | Full CRM |
| AI call summaries | Yes | Higher tier |
| Two-way SMS | Yes | Limited |
| G2 | 4.7 / 5 (~2,000) | 4.7 / 5 (~285) |
The two products are not the same shape
Close is a CRM. Calling was built into it from the beginning, which is why the experience of working a list inside Close is better than in any CRM with a dialer bolted on. But the $99 Growth tier that includes the power dialer is mostly paying for the CRM, and if you already have one you like, most of that money is wasted.
PhoneBurner is a dialer. Its CRM exists so that small desks can run on it alone, and it is adequate rather than good. What PhoneBurner sells is speed between calls, voicemail drop and unlimited talk time.
Side by side
| Close | PhoneBurner | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $9 Solo, $35 Essentials | $140 Standard |
| Price with a power dialer | $99 Growth | $140 |
| Predictive dialer | $139 Scale | Not offered |
| Minutes | Metered, ~$0.02/min | Unlimited included |
| Realistic all-in for a heavy dialer | $130 to $180 | $140 to $183 |
| CRM | Excellent | Adequate |
| Email sequences | Built in | Built in |
| SMS | Yes | Premium tier, 1,000/month cap |
| AI | Chloe credits on every plan | Transcription on Premium only |
| G2 | 4.7 across 2,000+ reviews | 4.7 across ~285 reviews |
Note the row that surprises people: for a rep who talks a lot, the all-in cost of the two is nearly identical. Close's lower seat price is offset by metered minutes, which one analysis characterised as a 40 to 75 percent add-on for calling-heavy reps.
Where Close wins
The CRM, decisively. Pipeline, custom fields, reporting, filtering, and a workflow where a rep never switches context. PhoneBurner's CRM is a place to put leads; Close's is a system a company runs on.
One timeline. Calls, emails, sequences and texts against a single record. For a team doing multichannel outbound that consolidation removes an integration and a class of mistakes.
AI on every plan. Chloe credits are included at every tier rather than gated to the top one, which is the opposite of PhoneBurner's approach to transcription.
A lower entry price. Essentials at $35 is a genuinely good CRM with click-to-call, which is enough for a team that dials occasionally.
Where PhoneBurner wins
Speed between calls. This is PhoneBurner's whole product and it is better at it. The transitions are instant and the disposition-to-next-dial loop is one keystroke.
Voicemail drop. Fast and well built, which matters for any desk leaving high volumes of messages.
Unlimited minutes. Above roughly 9,000 talk minutes a rep a month, this is genuinely cheaper than metered billing, and it removes a variable from the budget entirely.
No tier games on the dialer. Every PhoneBurner tier has the power dialer. Close gates it to $99.
The tier trap in Close
This is the thing buyers get wrong most often. Close Essentials at $35 has click-to-call, not a power dialer. Click-to-call is a link. A team that buys Essentials expecting to work a list will be dialing at about 50 to 80 numbers a day rather than 150.
The power dialer needs Growth at $99. Budget for that tier or budget for a different tool.
What both cost for three reps
Three reps, 150 dials a day each, roughly 3,500 billable minutes a month for the team.
| Option | Software | Telephony | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close Growth | $297 | ~$70 metered at $0.02 | ~$367 |
| PhoneBurner Standard | $420 | included | ~$420 |
| Close Essentials + separate dialer | $105 + $29 | ~$50 wholesale | ~$184 |
| Pack-priced dialer with own CRM | $29 | ~$50 wholesale | ~$79 |
That third row is worth noticing. Keeping Close as the CRM at its $35 tier and buying a cheap dialer separately costs half of Close Growth and gets you a better dialer.
Which to buy
Close, if the CRM is part of the purchase. It is the best CRM in this category and the integration work you avoid is worth real money.
PhoneBurner, if you already have a CRM, your reps talk for hours, and voicemail drop is central to the workflow.
Close Essentials plus a cheap dialer, if you want Close's CRM and cannot justify the $99 tier. This is the option neither vendor will suggest and it is the right answer more often than either of them.
Frequently asked questions
- Does Close CRM have a power dialer?
- Yes, on the Growth tier at $99 per user per month on annual billing. The cheaper Essentials tier at $35 has click-to-call only, which is a link that dials rather than a dialer, and the predictive dialer requires the $139 Scale tier. Minutes are billed separately at roughly $0.02 a minute with numbers from about $1 a month.
- Is Close cheaper than PhoneBurner?
- On software yes, all in roughly the same. Close Growth is $99 per user per month against PhoneBurner Standard at $140, but Close meters minutes at about $0.02 while PhoneBurner includes them, so a calling-heavy rep on Close lands at $130 to $180 all in against PhoneBurner's $140 to $183. Close is meaningfully cheaper only for reps who do not talk very much.
- Which is better for a small sales team, Close or PhoneBurner?
- Close, in most cases, because a small team usually needs a CRM as well as a dialer and Close does both properly for $99 a seat. PhoneBurner is the better choice only when you already have a CRM you intend to keep and your reps genuinely talk for several hours a day, where its unlimited minutes and faster dialing earn the higher price.