Leaving Act! CRM?Your 2025 Guide to CRM Alternatives

We’ve supported Act! since 1997, and we still do today. For many businesses, Act! continues to be the right fit — especially with the new Act! Advantage line that added over ten new features into one subscription. In other cases, staying with Act! makes sense because leadership doesn’t want to disrupt core operations while other projects take priority, or because retirement and succession planning are on the horizon.
But over time, companies change. Ownership transitions, acquisitions, ERP rollouts, or simple “add-on fatigue” can push teams to reconsider their CRM. And more often than not, the final decision isn’t just about features — it’s about the feelings of changing a program they have used in some cases over for 20 years! Most clients who move on from Act! do so when they’ve reached a tipping point: they’re simply fed up.
This guide is here to help you weigh your options with clarity. We’ll cover when staying with Act! still makes sense, the most common reasons businesses decide to leave, and how alternatives like WiredContact, Zoho CRM/Zoho One, Bigin by Zoho, HubSpot, Salesforce, and Pipedrive compare. You’ll see a lite comparison chart on this page, and you can also download the full 2025 Act! Alternatives Grid and our Act! Exit Checklist to plan your next step.
Why Businesses Leave Act!
After nearly three decades of working with Act! clients, we’ve noticed that leaving isn’t always about one missing feature or unresolved defect. It’s usually a combination of business changes, addon-fees, and — most often — the emotional tipping point of having enough: You’re done.
Generational or Leadership Change
New owners or executives often bring in their preferred CRM.
Mergers & Acquistions
Parent companies typically standardize on another system, often Salesforce, Hubspot or an ERP.
Integration and Addon Fatigue
Years of add-ons for reporting, marketing, or automation leave users tired of patchwork solutions.
Act! Advantage evolves faster with bundled add-ons, while self-hosted databases prioritize control and stability.
Even in 2025, Act! for Web still has feature parity issues vs. Act! for Windows.
Integration and Addon Fatigue
Most customers leave when they’ve simply had enough — not just when features are missing.