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The best CRM for consultants: six CRMs compared on the sale you make between client hours

Yuri Kovalov, founder of Tommos
Updated Oct 25, 2026 · 9 min read

The best CRM for a consultant is the one that sells the next engagement while you bill the current one: it answers the inquiry the day it arrives, books the discovery call, writes the recap and the proposal from your estimate, carries the engagement letter to your signature in the card and raises the invoice, at one price that does not grow with a second partner or an assistant. Below, six CRMs compared from their own pages: Tommos, HubSpot Starter, Pipedrive, Capsule, folk and Attio. Tommos (tommos.ai) is one of the six, and it is built for the consultant who sells on inquiries.

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What a consultant needs from a CRM, and what gets in the way#

A consultant bills hours and sells in the hours between them. The inquiry arrives on a Monday while you are in a client’s board prep; the discovery call happens on Thursday; the proposal is written on Saturday, if the weekend is free; the engagement letter and the first invoice follow when the client asks. The next engagement waits on your evenings, and the evening is the hour you have least of.

The CRMs sold to sales teams assume a person in them all day, typing. The consultant needs the opposite: a record that fills itself from the inquiry, the call and the paper, and agents that take the next step when you are billing. The consulting sale also has its own shape: a discovery call, not a demo; a proposal that is a scope and a fee, not a price list; the client’s MSA or your own engagement letter; a retainer or a fixed fee invoiced on a schedule. The vendors below say different things about consultants on their own pages, so the table starts there.

Five things to check before you pay#

1. What it says about consultants. A page written for consultants, a page for professional-services firms, or a blog post in which the vendor ranks itself first: each tells you who the product was built for.

2. What the AI does by itself on a new inquiry. Some write an email you copy and send; some reply, offer times and book the call. The verbs on the vendor’s page, and the plan they sit on, are the product.

3. What happens after “won”. For a consultant the deal closes when the engagement letter is signed and the first invoice is paid; find out where the proposal, the signature and the invoice live, and what each costs extra.

4. Who approves. Does a person review each message, switch on an autopilot, or is nothing said? The firm’s name is yours; what leaves in it should be your choice.

5. The unit of the price. Seats grow with each partner and assistant who must see the deal, credits grow with each email an agent writes, and a company price is one number.

Six CRMs compared for a consultant#

The cells come from the vendors’ own pages, read on October 25, 2026 (three MCP pages on October 22); each number points to a source below. Pipedrive’s, Capsule’s and Attio’s pricing pages showed our reader pounds or euros, so their US prices come from the vendors’ own articles, dated in the cell. HoneyBook, which other lists name for consultants, could not be opened on that day; it is compared on its own page. Where a cell says “not stated”, the page we read is silent; the vendor may still do it. The Tommos column comes from its own plans and documentation.

WhatTommosHubSpot StarterPipedriveCapsulefolkAttio
What the vendor says about consultantsBuilt for founder-led B2B service firms of 1 to 50 that sell on inquiries; consultants and fractional executives are one of its segments. One record per client, each engagement a deal on it, from the inquiry to the paid invoice; no hours, no time trackingNo consultants page; a professional-services page, “Grow your firm without growing your headcount”: referral sources and pursuits in one place, client health scoring, agents that find accounts and reach out2“CRM for consultants”: plot the pipeline, add fields, custom reports; a scheduler that shares availability and syncs calendars; automation for routine tasks; proposals and AI not mentioned on that page7“When clients rely on you, rely on Capsule CRM”: pipelines “from first contact to signed contract”; “once the deal’s signed”, task templates and project boards “from kickoff to wrap-up”12No consultants product page; its own article ranks folk first as “the ideal modern CRM platform for consulting teams of 20-50 people”, for LinkedIn capture, sequences and permissions19No consultants product page; its own article ranks Attio first, “for consultants who want a CRM built for how AI can run client and referral work, not just record it”22
What the AI does by itself on a new inquiryTommo SDR replies to the form, offers two or three times, books the call, follows up on your schedule (Book); Tommo Closer writes the recap and the proposal from your estimate (Close)The Prospecting agent “reaches out automatically” when an account shows buying signals; the Data agent answers questions about a contact; Agent Hub on Starter and up, on credits3Writes an email you “Copy into message”, summarizes a thread, suggests a reply (Premium and Ultimate); the Sales Assistant answers questions about your data on every plan; no reply, booking or follow-up by itself stated8AI Pipeline Generator on Starter; enrichment, summaries and meeting prep on Growth and Advanced; a reply or a booking by itself: not stated13Follow-up Assistant writes a follow-up suggestion in your tone; Recap and Research Assistants; the Workflow Assistant can “automatically send a personalized email” on a trigger; booking: not stated18Ask Attio, custom agents “ready for any task”, a Web Agent that researches, workflows and call intelligence, on credits; a reply to an inquiry or a booking by itself: not stated21
After the deal is won: proposal, signature, invoice, the engagementThe proposal from your estimate (Close); your engagement letter, SOW and NDA from your templates, your signature in the card, the invoice by two presses through Mercury, each proposed on its day (Sign)Invoices on all plans, paid online with HubSpot payments on Starter and up or recorded by hand; e-signatures on quotes on Revenue Hub Professional (25 a user a month) and Enterprise (50)54Smart Docs for proposals and contracts at no extra cost on Premium and Ultimate, an add-on below; invoices: not stated on the pages read7Project boards and task templates for the delivery; proposals “stay connected” to the record; invoices through QuickBooks and Xero integrations12Proposals, contracts, e-signature, invoices: not stated17Proposals, contracts, e-signature, invoices: not stated21
Who approves what the AI sendsA person presses “Send” or “Skip” on each card; after 12 clean approvals on a form, a person may switch “Let Tommo send here”; a proposal never goes aloneOutreach “automatically”; the approval named is for CRM updates and follow-up drafts after a meeting3Drafts only: you copy, customize and send8Not stated13You “can preview emails before sending”; follow-ups are suggestions18Not stated21
Price, its unit, the free plan, the trial$299 a month per company (Book), $599 (Close), $899 (Sign); no seats, the AI model included; 14 days, no cardFree for 2 users; Starter $20 a seat a month at list, $7 as a limited offer for new customers; agents run on credits1Lite $14, Growth $39, Ultimate $79 a seat a month on an annual plan, by its own article of September 22, 2026 (prices “correct as of July 2026”); its pricing page shows a UK reader £14, £39, £59, £79; 14 days, no card910Free for 2 users and 250 contacts; Starter £14, Growth £27, Advanced £42 a user a month on an annual plan as shown to a UK reader; its own article of November 2025 names $18 for Starter in the US; 14 days, no card1314Standard $24 a member a month on an annual plan, $30 monthly; Premium $48 and $60; Enterprise from $80; 14-day trial17Free for 3 seats; Plus $35 and Pro $79 a seat a month on an annual plan by its own article of July 2026; its pricing page shows a European reader €31 and €74; AI on seat and workspace credits; a 14-day trial of Pro2221
Your own AI gets inAn MCP server inside the CRM: Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor works your records as youAn MCP server with read and write access, on the new developer platform6A native MCP server, “all Pipedrive customers, on every plan”11Capsule MCP in a private beta on request, for Growth and above, for Claude and Cursor; a Claude connector marked “Coming soon”1516folk MCP: AI tools “read and write to your folk workspace just like you can”20Attio MCP at mcp.attio.com/mcp, OAuth with your own Attio account, no API key23

How a consulting engagement is sold in Tommos#

Tommos (tommos.ai) is a CRM whose AI agents, the tommos, take a B2B inquiry to a signed contract. One price covers the company, the agents and the model: the plans, and the consultant’s own page, Tommos for consultants.

The inquiry is answered the day it arrives, while you are billing. When a prospect writes through your form, Tommo SDR reads their words, your “Playbook” and the record, and answers in your voice: a question or two about their situation and two or three times from your Google Calendar; the time they pick becomes the discovery call. Silence is followed up on your schedule (the defaults: after 4 days, then every 7, three times). Every reply first lands on a card: “Send”, “Skip”, or an edit, from your phone between meetings.

The recap and the proposal are written while the call is fresh. On Close, Tommo Closer turns the meeting on the record into a recap, asks you for the estimate, and turns the estimate into the proposal as a letter: the scope and the fee. The same schedule chases the proposal, and the deal’s standing is reported to you. A proposal is never sent by a tommo alone.

The paper and the invoice do not wait for a free evening. On Sign, Tommo Legal writes your engagement letter, SOW and NDA from the templates in the “Templates” folder it shares with you; a client’s MSA is read against the positions you set once, and the clause memo says what to accept and what to push back on, with the tracked changes in a Word file. The signature is yours, in the card, through the e-signature service in the Sign price; a client’s own envelope is signed in that envelope. Once the deal is closed as won, Tommo Closer reads the signed paper and puts a payment schedule on a card, each amount with its date or milestone, yours to accept or change. Each invoice is then proposed on its day and goes out by two presses through Mercury; a reminder past the due date is written on its day and sent by one press.

Your name stays in your hands. Until you say otherwise, an outward email waits for your press. When 12 replies of one kind on a form have gone out clean (an admin can set the number from 1 to 100), Tommo offers “Let Tommo send here”; the switch is yours, on a paid plan.

Your own Claude works beside the tommos. Point it at app.tommos.ai/api/mcp and ask which proposals are waiting on a client. What an agent can do in Tommos.

Set up a consulting practice in Tommos#

An hour you are not billing sets this up once; from then on the tommos run it on every inquiry.

  1. 1

    Open the workspace and connect your calendar

    At tommos.ai/signup, sign in with your Google work account; the workspace opens at once, 14 days of everything, no card. On the start path press “Connect mail and calendar”: one Google consent covers both, and the start creates the “Intro call” meeting, 30 minutes with a Meet link.

  2. 2

    Put the inquiry form on your site

    Create the inquiry form on the “Forms” page, switch on “Tommo SDR works the leads from this form”, and embed it where your “Work with me” or “Contact” page takes inquiries today. Under “After submit” choose “Show the booking calendar”, so a prospect who is ready books the discovery call at once.

  3. 3

    Correct the Playbook Tommo wrote from your site

    At the start Tommo reads your site into the “Playbook”: who you are, who you work with, what you offer, how you describe your work. Add the engagements you want more of and the ones you decline; replies and proposals take their voice and their limits from these pages.

  4. 4

    Approve the first replies between meetings

    Each new inquiry puts a card in front of you with the reply and the times; recaps and proposals arrive as cards too: “Send”, “Skip”, or edit first. After 12 clean replies of one kind on the form, Tommo offers “Let Tommo send here”; switch it on when the voice is yours.

  5. 5

    Add your engagement letter and your bank, on Sign

    On Tommo Legal’s page, under “Documents”, press “Copy the folder’s address” and drop your engagement letter, SOW and NDA into the “Templates” folder in Drive; answer “Your contract positions” once on the start path: the positions Tommo Legal reads a client’s MSA against. For the money, in Mercury allow the address shown under “First, in Mercury, allow this address on the token”, paste the token and press “Connect Mercury”; an invoice is then “Make the invoice” and “Send”.

Which CRM to pick#

  • You want a free place for your clients and a pipeline, and you will write every email yourself. HubSpot’s free tools for two users, Capsule’s free plan for two users and 250 contacts, or Attio’s for three seats, by their pricing pages.1 13 21
  • You sell structured, recurring engagements and want a pipeline with a scheduler and documents on the higher plans. Pipedrive, $14 to $79 a seat a month on an annual plan by its own article.7 9
  • You want the deal to become the project the day it is signed, on one record. Capsule, with its project boards and task templates after the signature.12
  • You sell through relationships and want assistants that research the contact and draft the follow-up, per seat. folk or Attio, $24 and $35 a seat a month on an annual plan by their own articles; folk’s assistants within monthly limits per plan, Attio’s agents on credits.17 22
  • You sell on inquiries and want each one answered, booked, proposed, signed and invoiced on one record while you bill, with each email on a card until you let Tommo send it. That is Tommos, priced per company with the agents inside, and your own Claude welcome beside them.

Questions about CRMs for consultants#

What is the best CRM for a consultant?
The one that sells the next engagement while you bill the current one: it answers the inquiry the day it arrives, books the discovery call, writes the recap and the proposal from your estimate, carries the engagement letter to your signature in the card and raises the invoice, at one price that does not grow when a partner or an assistant joins. By their own pages read October 25, 2026, Pipedrive gives a consultant a pipeline, a scheduler and drafting help per seat; Capsule gives a pipeline that turns into a project board after the signature; folk gives assistants per seat within monthly limits, Attio gives agents per seat on credits; HubSpot gives a professional-services firm referral tracking and agents on credits. Tommos is built for the consultant who sells on inquiries: its agents take the inquiry to the signed paper and the paid invoice, per company.
Does a solo consultant need a CRM with AI agents?
A solo consultant needs the reply, the recap and the proposal written while they are billing, and that is the agents' work; the pipeline alone still waits for an evening. A free plan is enough for a list of clients you type into yourself: HubSpot's for two users, Capsule's for two users and 250 contacts, Attio's for three seats, by their pricing pages read October 25, 2026. Tommos has no free plan; it has 14 days of everything with no card, then $299 a month for the company, whether one person or ten use it.
Which CRM handles the proposal, the engagement letter and the invoice?
By their own pages read October 25, 2026: Pipedrive's Smart Docs carry proposals and contracts at no extra cost on Premium and Ultimate; HubSpot makes invoices on all plans and signs quotes on Revenue Hub Professional and up; Capsule connects proposals to the record and invoices through QuickBooks or Xero; folk and Attio do not state proposals, signatures or invoices. Tommos writes the proposal from your estimate on Close; on Sign, Tommo Legal drafts your engagement letter, SOW and NDA from your templates, you sign in the card, and the invoice goes by two presses through Mercury.
Does Tommos track billable hours?
No. Tommos has no time tracking and no timesheet; it sells the engagement and gets it paid. Hours stay in the tool you bill from. A retainer or a fixed fee written into the signed SOW becomes the payment schedule Tommo Closer proposes, and each invoice is proposed on its day.
Does Tommos read the client's MSA?
Yes, on the Sign plan. When a client sends their master services agreement or engagement terms, Tommo Legal reads the paper against the positions you set once and writes a clause memo: what to accept, what to push back on, and the wording; the tracked changes are in a Word file. You decide what goes back. Our guide to the review of a client's MSA has the clauses consultants meet most.
What does a two-person consultancy pay a year?
On the vendors' annual prices read October 25, 2026: HubSpot Starter $480 at list ($168 on the offer) plus credits; Pipedrive Growth $936; folk Standard $576; Attio Plus $840; Capsule Starter about $432 at its article's US price. A solo consultant pays half of each seat price, and HubSpot's and Attio's AI credits come on top of the seat. Tommos Book is $2,868 a year for the company ($239 a month) and Close $5,748, with the agents and the model inside and no credits: the seat buys a place to type, the company price buys the inquiry answered, booked, proposed and chased while you are billing.
Which CRM lets me keep using Claude or ChatGPT?
HubSpot, Pipedrive, folk and Attio run an MCP server by their own pages; Capsule's is a private beta on request for Growth and above, with a Claude connector marked coming soon, read October 25, 2026. Tommos's server is at app.tommos.ai/api/mcp, and what your agent finds inside is the engagement already moving: the inquiry, the call, the proposal and the paper on one record. Our page for agents lists what it can do.

Sources#

  1. HubSpot, “Pricing”, read Oct 25, 2026
  2. HubSpot, “Grow your firm without growing your headcount” (professional services), read Oct 25, 2026
  3. HubSpot, “Breeze AI and Agent Hub”, read Oct 25, 2026
  4. HubSpot Knowledge Base, “Use e-signatures with quotes”, read Oct 25, 2026
  5. HubSpot Knowledge Base, “Create invoices”, read Oct 25, 2026
  6. HubSpot Developers, “HubSpot MCP server”, read Oct 22, 2026
  7. Pipedrive, “CRM for consultants”, read Oct 25, 2026
  8. Pipedrive Support, “Pipedrive AI”, read Oct 25, 2026
  9. Pipedrive, “The best CRM software for your team, budget and stage” (Sep 22, 2026), read Oct 25, 2026
  10. Pipedrive, “Pricing” (shown in pounds to a UK reader), read Oct 25, 2026
  11. Pipedrive, “MCP server”, read Oct 22, 2026
  12. Capsule, “Best CRM for consultants”, read Oct 25, 2026
  13. Capsule, “Pricing” (shown in pounds to a UK reader), read Oct 25, 2026
  14. Capsule, “Best CRM for a small consulting business” (Nov 14, 2025), read Oct 25, 2026
  15. Capsule, “Introducing Capsule MCP”, read Oct 25, 2026
  16. Capsule, “Claude connector”, read Oct 25, 2026
  17. folk, “Pricing”, read Oct 25, 2026
  18. folk, “Assistants”, read Oct 25, 2026
  19. folk, “Best CRM for consultants” (updated Sep 24, 2026), read Oct 25, 2026
  20. folk Developer Portal, “MCP overview”, read Oct 22, 2026
  21. Attio, “Pricing” (shown in euros to a European reader), read Oct 25, 2026
  22. Attio, “Best CRM for consultants” (Jul 2026), read Oct 25, 2026
  23. Attio, “MCP Integration”, read Oct 25, 2026

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