Close vs Customer.io
Side-by-side plans, pricing, and feature gates for Close and Customer.io, verified . Close is primarily crm; Customer.io is primarily marketing automation.
Plans side by side
Every published plan from each vendor, with the headline monthly anchor price. Some prices scale with subscriber count or seats; full detail lives on each tool's page.
Close
- Solo
Single user, 10,000 lead cap
$9/mo - Essentials
Core CRM with unlimited contacts and leads
$35/mo - Growth
Adds Chloe AI agent, workflows, and Power Dialer
$99/mo - Scale
Adds Predictive Dialer, role-based access, unlimited call recording
$139/mo - Enterprise
Custom pricing for 10+ users or complex needs
Custom
Customer.io
- Essentials
Entry tier with the visual workflow builder
$100/mo - Premium
Custom volume, HIPAA available, daily routines
$1,000/mo - Enterprise
Best volume pricing with dedicated infrastructure
Custom
Limits at the entry paid tier
Compares Solo (Close) against Essentials (Customer.io). Both are the lowest-priced non-free, non-custom plan on each side.
| Limit | Close | Customer.io |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts | · | 5,000 profiles (people plus objects) |
| Emails / month | · | 1,000,000 |
| Team seats | 1 user (Solo plan limit) | 1 |
When Close wins
- Outbound-heavy SDR teams that live in the dialer all day
- B2B sales teams of 1 to 20 reps that want one tool for calls, email, and CRM
- Founders running their own outbound and wanting calling, email, and CRM in one place
Where Close is the wrong fit
- Marketing-heavy teams that need a broader hub (use HubSpot CRM)
- Service-business CRMs needing ticketing (use Pipedrive or Zoho)
- Enterprise sales orgs with complex territory structures (use Salesforce)
When Customer.io wins
- B2C and B2B teams with custom objects in their data model (accounts, subscriptions, devices) who need messaging tied to those entities
- Product-led businesses sending behavior-triggered lifecycle messaging across email, SMS, and push
- Teams needing HIPAA compliance for healthcare or digital-health workflows
Where Customer.io is the wrong fit
- Solo creators and newsletter operators (Kit or beehiiv are the right shape)
- Small businesses that need a $0/month or $20/month entry point (MailerLite or Mailchimp Free fit better)
- Teams that want a one-click WYSIWYG email tool with no data modeling required
Common questions
- Is Close cheaper than Customer.io?
- At the entry tier, Close starts at $9/mo versus Customer.io at $100/mo. Close is cheaper at the entry. Pricing scales differently above that, so check the full plan grid.
- Does Close or Customer.io have a free plan?
- Neither has a permanent free plan. Both offer free trials.
- Are Close and Customer.io in the same category?
- No. Close is primarily a crm tool; Customer.io is primarily a marketing automation tool. They overlap on use case but sit in different primary categories, so the comparison is between adjacent tools rather than direct competitors.
- Which has more plans, Close or Customer.io?
- Close ships 5 plans; Customer.io ships 3. Close's longer ladder gives more granular upgrade steps, which can mean smoother price escalation as your team scales.
- Where can I see alternatives to Close or Customer.io?
- Each tool has a dedicated alternatives page on TierGauge with ranked options and verified pricing: /alternatives/close for Close and /alternatives/customer-io for Customer.io. Alternatives are derived from each tool's editor-flagged competitors plus same-category tools we track.
Close: https://www.close.com/pricing · Customer.io: https://customer.io/pricing/
Last verified . Pricing changes between refreshes; confirm at the vendor before purchasing.