The short answer
Zyflow is a folk CRM alternative for small teams whose AI app does the talking.
- Who it fits: agencies, consultancies and studios of 2 to 10 people who use folk as a shared contact book, work in Claude, Cursor or ChatGPT Business,2 and bill from a separate tool.
- What’s different: one price for up to 10 people (Team, $25 a month billed yearly); deals, the API, invoices, quotes and files on every plan, Free included; every AI change labeled with its app, with an Undo.1
- Who should stay with folk CRM: teams that need email, calendar or WhatsApp sync, LinkedIn prospecting, enrichment, campaigns or sequences.
folk CRM vs Zyflow at a glance
Both are small-team CRMs that Claude can read and update. They differ in how they charge, what the entry plan includes and what lives on the customer record: folk CRM leans on sync and outreach, Zyflow on money and paperwork.
| Row | folk CRM | Zyflow (ours) |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per member | One price for the whole team: Solo up to 3 people, Team up to 10, Pro up to 30 |
| Free plan or trial | No free plan, per its help center. A 2-week trial with Premium features and no card; if you don’t upgrade, the account is blocked | Free for 1 person: 5,000 records, 1 GB of files, no card and no time limit |
| Entry price | Standard: $24 a member a month billed yearly ($30 monthly) | Free $0; Solo $10 a month billed yearly ($12 monthly) for up to 3 people |
| Deals and pipeline | Pipeline management on Standard; the Deals object, with custom objects, on Premium | Deals, pipelines and a deals board on every plan, Free included |
| API | Premium and Enterprise | REST API with named API keys on every plan, Free included |
| AI apps over MCP | MCP on all plans, all of them paid | Every plan, Free included. Guides for Claude, ChatGPT,2 Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Gemini CLI and Windsurf, plus any MCP app |
| Built-in AI | Its own AI assistants and Magic Fields, inside each plan with monthly limits, such as 2,000 messages a member on Standard and 5,000 on Premium | None. Zyflow runs no AI, and your AI’s calls are never billed |
| Email, calendar and WhatsApp sync | Yes, on Standard (1 account sync a member) | No |
| LinkedIn extension, enrichment, campaigns | Yes, on Standard: LinkedIn extension, contact enrichment (500 a month) and email campaigns. Email sequences on Premium | No |
| Invoices and quotes | Not listed on folk’s pricing page (checked Oct 3, 2026) | Invoices, quotes and letters on every plan, as numbered PDFs filed on the customer |
| Files drive | Not listed on folk’s pricing page (checked Oct 3, 2026) | A files drive with nested folders and a Files panel on each customer; 1 GB on Free |
| Mobile app | Yes: Contacts by folk | No native app. Works in your phone’s browser and can be added to your home screen |
| Export | One group at a time: “Export view as CSV” gives a zip with a contacts CSV and a notes CSV. No whole-workspace export | Every plan: 6 CSV files, or one JSON file with records, documents, history and file links4 |
Zyflow doesn’t read your inbox, calendar, calls or WhatsApp. Tell your AI, or paste the thread, and your AI files it after showing you what it found.
We check every competitor fact against the vendor’s own page and date it. Where a competitor does something better, we say so. Spot an error? Tell us, and we’ll fix it.
folk CRM pricing vs one team price: what 1 to 30 people pay
On folk CRM, every member pays. Standard is $24 a member a month billed yearly ($30 monthly), Premium is $48 ($60) and Enterprise starts at $80 ($100), per folk’s pricing page on October 3, 2026. Deals, custom objects, the API, email sequences and dashboards are on Premium. There’s no free plan, only a 2-week trial.
If you need Deals or the API, you need Premium: for 10 people, that’s $480 a month, or $5,760 a year. On Zyflow, Team covers the same 10 people for $300 a year ($25 a month), with deals and the API included.
Software that costs more every time you add a person quietly discourages you from growing.
| People | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zyflow (ours), billed yearly | $0 Free or $10 Solo | $10 Solo | $25 Team | $25 Team | $25 Team | $75 Pro |
| folk CRM Standard, $24 a member | $24 | $72 | $96 | $120 | $240 | $720 |
| folk CRM Premium, $48 a member (Deals and the API) | $48 | $144 | $192 | $240 | $480 | $1,440 |
| Attio: Free to 3 seats; Plus $35 a seat to 10 seats; Pro $79 a seat | $0 | $0 | $140 | $175 | $350 | $2,370 (Pro) |
| HubSpot Starter, from $7 a seat yearly for new customers ($20 monthly); Free covers 2 users | $0 | $21 | $28 | $35 | $70 | $210 |
| Pipedrive Lite, $14 a seat | $14 | $42 | $56 | $70 | $140 | $420 |
| Less Annoying CRM, $15 a user | $15 | $45 | $60 | $75 | $150 | $450 |
On monthly billing, Zyflow costs $12 (Solo), $30 (Team) or $90 (Pro) for the whole team. Monthly folk CRM prices are $30 a member on Standard and $60 on Premium, so 10 people on Standard pay $300 a month.
Where another CRM costs less
- At 1 to 3 people, Attio Free costs $0 for up to 3 seats, and HubSpot Free costs $0 for up to 2 users. Zyflow Free covers 1 person, and Solo is $10 a month for up to 3.
- Against folk CRM, Zyflow costs less at every size here. From 4 to 30 people, it also costs less than every other CRM in the table.
- Zyflow isn’t the lowest price everywhere: some flat-priced CRMs we haven’t verified may cost the same or less.
Pay for your AI once
Every folk CRM plan comes with folk’s own AI assistants, within monthly limits, and its pricing page lists no AI sold on top (checked Oct 3, 2026). Zyflow runs no AI at all. The AI app you already pay for does the work, and its calls to Zyflow are never billed.
Why it costs less: Zyflow runs no AI, so it has no AI costs to pass on and nothing to meter.
No hidden costs: no onboarding fee, no seat minimum, no AI credits and no overage charges. Free has no time limit.
Prices in US$ and don’t include VAT, GST or sales tax where it applies.
When folk CRM is the better choice
Stay with folk CRM if your work runs through your inbox, your calendar and LinkedIn. It does five things Zyflow doesn’t do at all.
- You need email, calendar or WhatsApp sync. Standard syncs all three. Zyflow syncs none of them.
- You prospect on LinkedIn and enrich contacts. Standard includes a LinkedIn extension and 500 contact enrichments a month. Zyflow has neither.
- You send email campaigns or sequences. Campaigns are on Standard and sequences on Premium. Zyflow sends nothing to your customers; your AI drafts and you press send.
- You want a native mobile app. Contacts by folk is one. Zyflow works in your phone’s browser instead.
- You need per-person roles or dashboards. Premium lists workspace roles and dashboards, and Zyflow has neither. Every member, and every member’s AI, can see and edit every customer; there are no per-person permissions yet.
Want sync but ready to leave folk? HubSpot Free includes a shared inbox, email tracking and calendar-synced meeting links, and Attio Free syncs email and calendar (both checked Oct 3, 2026). Both are in the next section.
Not a fit if...
Zyflow isn’t a fit yet if you need:
- email or calendar sync, sequences, campaigns, dialers or forecasting
- dispatch, booking or texting for trades and field service
- a home for regulated data, such as patient records
- property listings and showings for real-estate work
- a WhatsApp inbox
- card payment collection or e-signature
- SSO, two-factor sign-in or per-person permissions
- certifications such as SOC 2, or EU data residency
- a native mobile app, or a language other than English
- more than 30 people
It’s also not for you if you don’t use an AI app and don’t plan to.
Other folk CRM alternatives worth a look
The best folk CRM alternative depends on what you use folk for. We checked these four on October 2–3, 2026. Prices are per seat or per user a month on annual billing, from each vendor’s own page.
Attio
Best for: startups that want a polished CRM and a generous free plan.
Free for up to 3 seats and 50,000 records. Plus is $35 a seat a month billed yearly, for up to 10 seats. MCP is on every plan, Free included, and so is email and calendar sync.
per seat once you pass 3 people, plus seat and workspace credits for Attio’s own AI.
HubSpot Free
Best for: two people who want marketing and email tools next to the CRM.
Free for 2 users and 1,000 contacts, and a fair deal for two people. Starter is from $7 a seat a month billed yearly for new customers, or $20 billed monthly. HubSpot’s MCP server has been available on all accounts since April 13, 2026.
per seat from the third person, and HubSpot’s Breeze AI runs on HubSpot Credits.
Pipedrive
Best for: pipeline-first sales teams.
Lite is $14 a seat a month billed yearly, with Pipedrive’s Nova AI included. MCP has been on all plans since June 30, 2026.
no free plan (a 14-day trial), and per seat.
Compare Pipedrive alternatives
Less Annoying CRM
Best for: owners who want one simple plan and free phone support.
One plan at $15 a user a month, with a 30-day trial and no card. Email and phone support are free, even before you pay.
no official MCP server, so Claude can reach it only through third-party connectors.
Zyflow vs folk CRM in detail, including working with Claude
Working with Claude
Both work with Claude. With either one, you add a link and sign in, and Claude can read and write. The differences are the plan you need and how much of the customer Claude can reach.
| Row | folk CRM | Zyflow (ours) |
|---|---|---|
| How it connects | One server URL and an OAuth sign-in | Your Zyflow link, then sign in and approve one workspace. About two minutes |
| Plans | All plans, which are all paid | Every plan, Free included |
| AI apps named in the docs | Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and Perplexity | Claude, ChatGPT,2 Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Gemini CLI, Windsurf and any MCP app |
| What Claude can reach | Contacts, companies and groups; notes and custom fields; deals in your pipelines | Contacts, companies and deals, plus follow-ups, money owed, facts about each customer, files, and invoices, quotes and letters |
| Access | “The same access as your folk account, based on your role and permissions” | The role of the person who connected it, never more. It can’t reach billing, members or API keys, and anything it deletes goes to the 30-day trash |
Your AI will get things wrong sometimes, so Zyflow puts four guardrails on every AI write: Ask. Match. Label. Undo. When a name could mean two people, Zyflow has Claude ask you which one you mean. Saves land on the record you already have, and every change carries the app’s name, such as “Added by Claude via MCP.” Each thing Claude does is one change, and one click undoes it, even 40 contacts edited at once.1
If Claude is where your team works all day, see how Zyflow works as a Claude CRM, or read about its CRM MCP server for the tools and the safety model.
Deals and the API on every plan
On folk CRM, the Deals object and the API come with Premium. On Zyflow, both are on every plan, Free included. Your AI can save and move deals: tell Claude “The Kestrel deal is won,” and Zyflow moves it to Won and stamps today’s date. People get a deals board in the web app, and scripts and website forms get the same operations through the REST API and named API keys. The number of pipelines and API keys depends on the plan.
Invoices, quotes and files in the same record
Invoices, quotes and a files drive aren’t listed on folk CRM’s pricing page (checked Oct 3, 2026). In Zyflow they live on the customer record. Tell your AI “Invoice Northwind for 3 workshop days at $1,200, plus 10% tax,” and Zyflow returns a numbered PDF, filed under the customer, with a link that works for 7 days. Numbering never repeats or skips, and issued invoices can only be voided.
Unit prices come from what you or your AI enter; there’s no price list. Zyflow records payments; it doesn’t collect them, and there are no card payment links.
Money owed sits on the same record. Say “Northwind owes $4,800, will pay by the 15th,” and Zyflow records the balance, the promise date and a reminder that closes once the payment is recorded. Files go in a drive with nested folders and show in a Files panel on every customer, and your AI can file them for you.
Through Zyflow, your AI can see images up to 5 MB and text files up to 1 MB. It can’t read the text inside PDFs, Word or Excel files.
See how Zyflow works as a CRM with invoicing and as a CRM with file storage.
Price as the team grows
On folk CRM, the 4th person adds $24 a month on Standard or $48 on Premium, and so does the 10th. On Zyflow, Team is one price, $25 a month billed yearly, whether you’re 4 people or 10, and Pro covers up to 30 people for $75. AI apps and API keys never count as people, so connecting Claude for every teammate costs nothing extra.
Free plan. No card.
How to switch from folk CRM to Zyflow
To switch from folk CRM, export each group as a CSV, import it into Zyflow with the group’s name as a tag, and connect Claude. Each import can be undone in one step.1
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Export each folk group. Click the three dots at the top right of the group and choose “Export view as CSV.” You get a zip with a contacts CSV and a notes CSV. Repeat for each group; folk doesn’t export a whole workspace at once.
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Start free in Zyflow. No card.
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Import the contacts file: up to 50,000 rows and 10 MB, within your plan’s record limit. Tag every row with the group’s name, so your “Partners” group becomes the tag “Partners.” Check the mapping preview: Zyflow maps common headers on its own, and you match the rest.
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Let Zyflow match. A row that matches a record you already have updates it, unclear rows are skipped and listed, and the whole file is one undo. You get an email when it’s done.
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Connect Claude. Paste your Zyflow link into Claude, then sign in and approve. It takes about two minutes.
What doesn’t move:
- The folk export leaves out interactions, reminders and contact custom fields.
- Zyflow’s CSV import takes contacts and companies only, so the notes file and your deals stay behind.
- Tell your AI about open deals and follow-ups as they come up, and Zyflow files them on the right customer.
If your folk trial has ended, you can still export your views as CSV: expand the group, open the three dots and choose “Export view as CSV” (folk help center, updated Apr 14, 2026).
Questions about folk CRM and switching
What is folk and why do teams use it?
It’s a contact-centric CRM for small sales and partnership teams. Teams pick folk CRM for its clean contact views, and for email, calendar and WhatsApp sync, a LinkedIn extension, enrichment and email campaigns. It also has an MCP server for Claude and ChatGPT. Pricing is per member, from $24 a member a month billed yearly (checked Oct 3, 2026).
Does folk CRM have a free plan?
No. Its help center says it doesn’t offer a free plan (updated Jun 3, 2026). New workspaces get a 2-week trial with Premium features and no card. If you don’t upgrade, the account is blocked. Your data isn’t deleted right away, and you can ask to extend the trial by a week or export a view as CSV.
How much does folk CRM cost for a team?
Multiply the per-member price by the number of people on your team. On yearly billing, 5 people pay $120 a month on Standard or $240 on Premium, and 10 people pay $240 or $480 (checked Oct 3, 2026). Deals and the API need Premium. Zyflow Team covers up to 10 people for $25 a month billed yearly.
What’s the best folk CRM alternative for a small team that works in Claude?
It depends on what you use folk for. If you rely on email and calendar sync or LinkedIn prospecting, stay on folk CRM; for sync elsewhere, HubSpot Free and Attio Free are worth a look. If your team of 2 to 10 works in Claude and wants invoices on the same record as the customer, Zyflow charges one price for up to 10 people and includes invoices, quotes and files on every plan.
Does folk work with Claude and ChatGPT?
Yes. It has an MCP server that Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor connect to with an OAuth sign-in. Your AI can search contacts, companies and groups, create and update contacts, notes and custom fields, and move deals, with your folk account’s access. Its MCP server is on all plans, and all of them are paid. Zyflow’s MCP server is on every plan, Free included.
How do I switch from folk CRM to Zyflow?
Export each folk group with “Export view as CSV,” then import the contacts file into Zyflow and tag every row with the group’s name. Rows that match update the record you already have, unclear rows are listed, and the whole file is one undo.1 Deals, notes, interactions and reminders don’t move, so tell your AI about open deals as you go.
Does Zyflow sync email, calendar or WhatsApp like folk?
No. Zyflow doesn’t read your inbox, calendar, calls or WhatsApp. Tell your AI what happened in a sentence, or paste the thread, and your AI files it after showing you what it found. If your team depends on sync, folk CRM is the better choice, and HubSpot Free and Attio Free are worth a look.
Is Zyflow cheaper than folk?
Yes, at every team size we priced. On yearly billing, folk CRM Standard is $24 a member a month (checked Oct 3, 2026), so 3 people pay $72 and 10 pay $240. Zyflow Solo is $10 a month for up to 3 people, and Team is $25 a month for up to 10. For 1 to 3 people, though, Attio Free covers up to 3 seats and HubSpot Free up to 2 users, both at $0.
