⚡ Quick Verdict:
- Pricing: Folk starts at $17.5/member/month. Salesmate starts at $23/user/month.
- Best for: Folk suits contact management and partnerships. Salesmate suits a structured sales process with sales reps.
- Key difference: Folk works like a smart spreadsheet. Salesmate is a full customer relationship management platform with calling and marketing automation.
- Our pick: Folk, rated 4.0 against 2.5 for Salesmate, because most small teams want simple contact management over heavy crm features.
Most people pick a CRM before they know what they actually need.
Folk and Salesmate both promise to help you close winning deals.
But one is built to build genuine connections with people you already know.
The other is built to push leads through a sales pipeline.
That single difference decides which tool fits your business.
Overview
This Folk vs Salesmate comparison covers pricing, crm features, and ease of use.
We also look at who each tool serves best.
Our sources include published specs, product documentation, and G2 and Trustpilot reviews.
Our writers also spent hands-on time with both apps.
Those notes appear in the “What Our Team Noticed” sections below.
What is Folk?
Folk is a lightweight CRM for people who hate CRMs.
It looks and feels like a collaborative spreadsheet.
You add contacts, sort them into groups, and set reminders to follow up.
Folk CRM is built for multiple use cases beyond sales.
Fundraising, hiring, events, and partnerships all fit inside the same app.
That makes it popular with founders, agency owners, and small teams.
Watch this walkthrough to see how the interface is laid out.
🏆 Winner: Folk
Folk keeps contact management simple. Import from Gmail, group your people, and track outreach without heavy setup.
Folk Pricing
Here is what Folk costs per member. Every plan is billed per seat.
| Plan | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | $17.5/member/month | Solo founders who organize contacts |
| Premium | $35/member/month | Small teams running outreach together |
| Custom | $70/member/month | Agency and partnership teams needing more control |
Pricing verified August 2026.
Free trial: Yes. Folk offers a 14-day free trial before you purchase a plan.
Money-back guarantee: None published. Test the trial first, then pick a monthly plan.
📌 Note: Folk uses a self-serve model. You can explore the app and compare plans without booking a sales call.
⚠️ Pricing conflict: Some third-party sources list Folk at $20 and $40 per user per month. Our CSV pricing data shows $17.5, $35, and $70 per member. Check the pricing page for your region before you buy.
Key Benefits of Folk
Here is what makes Folk worth a look:
- Magic Fields: A custom field type that uses AI to clean and enrich contact data. It fills in missing details for you.
- Chrome extension: Add contacts from LinkedIn or any website in one click. The extension also pulls company details.
- Gmail and Outlook sync: Connect your inbox to import contacts and email history. No manual data import needed.
- Groups for every purpose: Organize contacts by project, event, or deal stage. This keeps outreach lists small and useful.
- Collaborative mail merge: Send personalized bulk email to a group. Your whole team can share templates.
- Kanban pipeline: A visual board for deals and partnerships. You drag a card as the relationship moves forward.
- Reminders: Set reminders on any contact so nobody goes cold. This is the core of building real relationships.
What Our Team Noticed
Our writer signed up for Folk and spent several days moving a contact list into it. Here is what stood out:
The clip below shows that same workflow in the app.
Folk Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- One of the easiest CRMs on the market to learn
- Magic Fields clean and enrich contact data automatically
- Chrome extension adds contacts from LinkedIn in one click
- Works for fundraising, events, hiring, and partnerships
- Self-serve signup with a 14-day free trial
❌ Cons
- No automatic tracking of meetings or phone calls
- Reporting views are basic compared with a full sales CRM
- Outreach is mostly email, with little support for other channels
- Some users report trouble importing emails and messy contact data
What is Salesmate?
Salesmate is an all-in-one cloud CRM for sales, marketing, and support.
It is built mainly for small and medium businesses.
Salesmate CRM covers the whole sales process from lead capture to closed deal.
Sales reps get calling, email tracking, and a visual pipeline in one place.
Managers get sales forecasting, dashboards, and reports on sales performance.
The goal is to generate more leads, close more deals, and build lasting customer relationships.
This video walks through the main screens.
Runner Up: Salesmate
Salesmate adds calling, automation, and reporting. It fits teams that already run a defined sales process.
Salesmate Pricing
Salesmate prices every plan per user. Here is the current lineup.
| Plan | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $23/user/month | Small teams tracking deals and contacts |
| Pro | $39/user/month | Sales teams that need automation and reports |
| Business | $63/user/month | Companies running marketing automation and campaigns |
Pricing verified August 2026.
Free trial: Yes. Salesmate offers a 15-day free trial with no credit card required.
Money-back guarantee: None published. Annual plans have also carried a 10% Black Friday discount.
📌 Note: Higher tiers unlock marketing automation and deeper reporting. An Enterprise tier is quoted directly by the sales team.
⚠️ Warning: Some reviewers report that leads can be deleted if a payment is missed. Export a backup of your accounts and contacts on a regular date.
Key Benefits of Salesmate
Here is where Salesmate earns its price:
- Contact and deal intelligence: One view of all customer interactions. Emails, calls, and notes sit on the same record.
- Sandy AI: Drafts emails, summarizes calls, and qualifies leads. It removes a lot of repetitive tasks from the day.
- Built-in phone system: Call recording and voicemail drops are included. No separate dialer purchase needed.
- 700+ integrations: Connect Zapier, Slack, Google Apps, and Microsoft apps to your workflow.
- Automation journeys: Multi-channel drip campaigns and follow ups run without manual work.
- Meeting scheduler: Prospects book meetings from a link. That saves your sales reps a round of emails.
- Mobile CRM: Full access to data and activities from your phone. Useful for field sales and a real estate company.
What Our Team Noticed
Our writer set up a test pipeline in Salesmate and ran a short outreach sequence. Here is what stood out:
Salesmate Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- Covers sales, marketing, and support on one platform
- Built-in calling, email tracking, and meeting scheduler
- Customer service is often praised as quick and helpful
- Fully customizable for unique business processes
❌ Cons
- Reviewers report bugs in the email template editor and automation journeys
- Leads can reportedly be deleted after a missed payment
- Marketing automation lags behind dedicated marketing software
- More setup and training than a simple contact tool
Feature Comparison
Now let’s compare Folk and Salesmate feature by feature.
We cover ten areas that decide most CRM purchase calls.
| Feature | Folk | Salesmate |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $17.5/member/month | $23/user/month |
| Free Plan | ❌ (14-day trial) | ❌ (15-day trial) |
| Contact Management | ✅ | ✅ |
| Visual Sales Pipeline | ✅ | ✅ |
| Built-in Calling | ❌ | ✅ |
| Marketing Automation | ❌ | ✅ |
| Chrome Extension | ✅ | ❌ |
| Sales Forecasting | ❌ | ✅ |
| Meeting Scheduler | ❌ | ✅ |
| Mobile App | ✅ | ✅ |
| Best For | Contact management and partnerships | Structured sales teams |
1. Contact Management
Folk: Folk treats your contact list like a shared spreadsheet with superpowers. You organize contacts into groups, and Magic Fields fill in missing details using AI. Duplicates for the same person get merged instead of piling up.
Salesmate: Salesmate builds a full record for every contact and account. Emails, calls, and notes attach to the record, so customer interactions stay in one thread. It also links contacts to the companies they work for.
2. Sales Pipeline and Deals
Folk: Folk gives you a Kanban board for pipeline management. Drag a card forward as the conversation moves toward winning deals. It is simple, visual, and easy to explain to a new teammate.
Salesmate: Salesmate lets you track deals across multiple pipelines with custom stages. Each stage can trigger a task or an alert. That structure suits a defined sales process with several sales reps.
3. Lead Capture and Tracking
Folk: Leads land in Folk through the browser, your inbox, or a CSV import. There is no web form builder, so generating inbound leads happens in other tools first.
Salesmate: Salesmate includes personalized web forms you can embed or share by link. New leads flow straight into the pipeline. That cuts data entry for the whole team.
4. Email Automation and Outreach
Folk: Folk runs collaborative mail merge for personalized bulk email. Email automation here is light by design. Outreach is mostly email, so calls and SMS stay outside the app.
Salesmate: Salesmate ships email templates, email tracking, and automation journeys. Drip campaigns and follow ups run across email, text, and calls. Sandy AI can draft the first version for you.
⚠️ Warning: Reviewers have flagged bugs in the Salesmate email template editor. Test a small campaign before you move your whole list over.
5. Extensions and Integrations
Folk: The Folk Chrome extension lets you add contacts from LinkedIn while you browse. Folk also syncs with Gmail and Outlook to pull email history. The integration list is shorter than Salesmate’s.
Salesmate: Salesmate connects to more than 700 other apps. Google Apps, Microsoft apps, Slack, and Zapier integrations are all supported. You can also work inside Gmail through the browser add-on.
6. Reporting and Analytics
Folk: Folk shows basic views of your sales pipeline and groups. It lacks advanced reporting, so deep analytics are not its job. Teams that need forecasts usually export the data.
Salesmate: Salesmate turns activity into dashboards and insights. Sales forecasting and sales performance reports come standard on the higher plans. Managers can see which prospects are stalling.
7. Use Cases Beyond Sales
Folk: Folk handles partnerships, fundraising, hiring, and events in one app. Those multiple use cases are why non-sales teams pick it. An agency can track clients and partners side by side.
Salesmate: Salesmate stays focused on revenue work across SaaS, healthcare, and property teams. Its meeting scheduler lets prospects book meetings without email ping-pong. Task management keeps each rep on schedule.
8. Team Collaboration
Folk: Every group in Folk is shared, so your team sees the same company records. Notes and reminders sit next to the contact. It works well for teams of two to twenty.
Salesmate: Salesmate lets you tag teammates, share notes, and keep a full communication history. Role-based security controls who sees which accounts. That matters once headcount grows.
9. Communication Channels
Folk: Folk supports social selling through LinkedIn and email. It does not log meetings or phone calls automatically. You add those details by hand.
Salesmate: Salesmate adds a built-in phone system with recording and voicemail drops. Website chatbots capture visitors after hours. Everything writes back to the contact record automatically.
10. Pricing & Cost
Here are both price lists side by side.
| Tier | Folk | Salesmate |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | Standard: $17.5/member/month | Basic: $23/user/month |
| Mid plan | Premium: $35/member/month | Pro: $39/user/month |
| Top plan | Custom: $70/member/month | Business: $63/user/month |
| Free trial | 14 days | 15 days, no credit card |
Folk: Folk is $5.50 per seat cheaper at entry. For a team of five that is $330 saved per year. The Custom plan is the most expensive line item in this comparison.
Salesmate: Salesmate costs more per user, but calling, forms, and scheduling are bundled. If you would otherwise pay for those separately, the higher price can work out cheaper.
💡 Pro Tip: Run both free trials on the same contact list. Two weeks of real use tells you more than any feature table.
Different Scenarios
| If You Need… | Choose | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Tight budget | Folk | $5.50 cheaper per seat |
| Simple contact management | Folk | Spreadsheet-style interface |
| Built-in calling | Salesmate | Recording and voicemail drops |
| Sales forecasting | Salesmate | Dashboards and reports |
| Partnerships and events | Folk | Works past sales use cases |
| Beginner-friendly setup | Folk | Almost no training needed |
💰 Your Budget
Folk’s entry plan costs less per seat than Salesmate’s. Salesmate closes the gap only if you drop a separate dialer or scheduler.
🔌 Your Tech Stack
Salesmate can integrate with more than 700 apps, including Zapier and Slack. Folk covers the basics through Gmail, Outlook, and its browser extension.
📈 Your Sales Process
A team with stages, quotas, and forecasts needs Salesmate’s structure. A founder chasing warm intros will find that structure heavy.
🎓 Your Experience Level
Folk is the better first CRM if nobody on the team has used one. Salesmate rewards teams that already know how CRM software works.
🆓 Free Trials and Demos
Folk gives you 14 days and Salesmate gives you 15 with no card. Load real contacts into both so the test means something.
🛟 Support Options
Salesmate’s support team is often praised for fast, helpful replies. Folk leans on documentation and a self-serve model instead.
Switching Guide
Already on one of these? Here is what changes if you move.
🔄 Switching from Folk to Salesmate?
✅ What you’ll gain:
- Built-in calling, recording, and voicemail drops
- Sales forecasting and dashboards for sales performance
- Web forms, chatbots, and a meeting scheduler
❌ What you’ll lose:
- Magic Fields and AI contact enrichment
- The Chrome extension for LinkedIn prospecting
- The spreadsheet-style simplicity that needs no training
📋 How to switch:
- Export your Folk groups and contacts to CSV
- Start the 15-day Salesmate trial and create your pipeline stages
- Import the CSV, then connect email and calling
🔄 Switching from Salesmate to Folk?
✅ What you’ll gain:
- A far shorter setup with almost no admin work
- Lower cost per seat on the entry plan
- One app for partnerships, hiring, and events
❌ What you’ll lose:
- The phone system and automatic call logging
- Marketing automation journeys and drip campaigns
- Deep reporting and forecast views
📋 How to switch:
- Export contacts, companies, and deals from Salesmate
- Open a Folk trial and connect Gmail or Outlook to sync history
- Import the file, then split people into groups
What Our Review Didn’t Cover
This comparison focused on solo users and small teams. We did not test enterprise rollouts, custom API builds, or bulk seat discounts. Call quality on the Salesmate phone system will vary by country, and we only checked a handful of routes. If you manage fifty or more users, your priorities will look different from what we describe here.
Final Verdict
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| 💰 Pricing | Folk |
| 👥 Contact Management | Folk |
| 📊 Reporting and Analytics | Salesmate |
| 📞 Calling and Channels | Salesmate |
| 👶 Ease of Use | Folk |
| 🔌 Integrations | Salesmate |
| 🎯 Use Cases Beyond Sales | Folk |
| 🏆 Overall Winner | Folk |
🏆 WINNER: FOLK
Folk wins 4 of 7 categories and holds a 4.0 rating against 2.5.
Best for: Contact management, partnerships and fundraising, small teams buying their first CRM
Folk and Salesmate are aimed at different buyers. Folk is a relationship tool that keeps people organized and reminders on schedule.
Salesmate is a sales engine. It automates repetitive work, tracks every call, and reports on the numbers your manager asks about.
Salesmate is the stronger pick for teams with quotas and a defined process. Reviewers say it exceeds expectations once it is configured.
For most small teams, though, Folk delivers more value for less money and far less setup. That is why it takes the win here.
More of Folk Compared
Here is how Folk measures up against other CRM tools:
Folk vs Pipedrive
Folk wins on: Faster onboarding, Magic Fields enrichment, use cases past sales
Pipedrive wins on: Deal reporting depth, activity goals, a bigger app marketplace
Folk wins on: Predictable per-seat cost, no forced onboarding fees, quicker daily use
HubSpot wins on: A free starting tier, marketing and service hubs, huge integration library
Folk vs Monday CRM
Folk wins on: Contact enrichment, LinkedIn capture, less board configuration
Monday CRM wins on: Project views, workload planning, cross-department dashboards
Folk vs Capsule CRM
Folk wins on: Modern interface, AI fields, collaborative mail merge
Capsule CRM wins on: A free tier for two users, case tracking, cheaper mid plans
More of Salesmate Compared
Here is how Salesmate stacks up against other CRM options:
Salesmate wins on: Included calling minutes, lower cost at the top tier, simpler admin
HubSpot wins on: Content and marketing depth, free entry tier, partner network size
Salesmate wins on: Automation journeys, custom pipelines, meeting scheduler included
Freshsales CRM wins on: A free plan, lead scoring maturity, tighter helpdesk ties
Salesmate vs Keap
Salesmate wins on: Lower entry price, cleaner pipeline views, faster setup
Keap wins on: Invoicing and payments, landing pages, long-running automation recipes
Salesmate vs ActiveCampaign
Salesmate wins on: Native phone system, deal-centric layout, sales reporting
ActiveCampaign wins on: Email deliverability tooling, segmentation depth, campaign templates
Frequently Asked Questions
What is folk CRM?
Folk is a lightweight customer relationship management app. It works like a shared spreadsheet where you organize contacts, add notes, and set reminders for outreach.
Is folk a good CRM?
Yes, for small teams that want simple contact management. It is a weaker fit for large sales teams because reporting and call logging are limited.
How much is folk?
Plans run $17.5, $35, and $70 per member each month. A 14-day trial lets you test the app before paying.
What is Salesmate used for?
Teams use it to manage the sales process end to end. It handles leads, deals, calls, automation, and reports on one platform.
What is a CRM in sales?
It is a system that stores every customer detail and interaction. Sales teams use it to track deals, plan follow ups, and forecast revenue.
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