Leaving Act! CRM?Your 2025 Guide to CRM Alternatives
Our Backstory
Our team has supported Act! since 1997, and it built MondoCRM. 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. If you wish to remain on Act!, we’ll help. If not, this guide explores the best Act! CRM alternatives and what you need to migrate your data or integrate with your ERP.
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 just being fed up: 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.
Your Options
When you’re evaluating next steps, there are really two paths: staying with Act! or switching to another CRM or ERP. Both are valid depending on your business goals, resources, tolerances for change and timeline.
Our most popular option for Act! users, and it includes a built in Act! migration utility.
45+ integrated apps under one subscription, including CRM, help desk and accounting.
We can prep the data so you can take it other tools like GoHighLevel, Monday and more.
When CRM features become secondary to ERP platforms like NetSuite, we'll prep the data.
Act! CRM Alternatives at a Glance
Choosing a new CRM isn’t just about features — it’s about fit. Here’s a quick comparison to help frame your decision. For the full checklist and detailed chart, download our Act! CRM Exit Checklist.
- Strengths:
- Easy to use.
- Self-hosted option
- Limitations:
- Can require third party applications for reporting and workflow
- Uneven web vs. desktop experience
- Strengths:
- Adds 10+ features no longer requiring 3rd party fees.
- Easiest upgrade for existing Act! users.
- Limitations:
- Desktop vs. web feature gap
- Self-hosting unavailable.
- Strengths:
- Extensive customization
- Self-hosted options
- Easy transition from Act!
- Limitations:
- Not ideal if you prefer DIY customization (screens, workflow coding, or building your own dashboards)
- Strengths:
- Strong automation and workflow without hiring a programmer
- Global app and developer ecosystem.
- Limitations:
- Steeper learning curve
- Requires more admin and training coming from Act!
- Strengths:
- 45+ integrated apps under one subscription
- Limitations:
- Pricing if all users don't adopt several apps
- Strengths:
- Offers CRM and marketing automation
- Pricing based on features and contacts managed, not by user count
- Limitations:
- CRM features fit for smaller sales teams
- Strengths:
- Easy to customize for DIY users
- Easy to learn
- Easy to customize pipelines for any business process
- Limitations:
- Limited feature set relative to Zoho CRM
- Strengths:
- Tight sales & marketing alignment
- Easy to learn
- Free CRM option
- Limitations:
- Costs rise quickly as you scale
- Strengths:
- Enterprise-grade application features
- Extensive 3rd party ecosystem
- Limitations:
- Overkill for the SMB market
- High Total Cost of Ownership
- Strengths:
- Already built for home services market
- Limitations:
- Only built for the home services market
Disclosure: MondoCRM is a certified partner for Act!, Zoho and WiredContact. We also maintain an affiliate relationship with Benchmark One. For Hubspot, Salesforce and Housecall Pro, we have no formal partnership.
Common Migration Pitfalls
Switching CRMs isn’t just about moving contacts. Act! data has quirks that make migrations harder than many businesses expect. These are the pitfalls we see most often:
Partial Exports
Act! doesn’t make it easy to export notes or histories. Formatting often comes out as raw RTF/HTML code, and without preserving unique record IDs, notes can’t be linked back to the right contacts. Many calls come after DIY attempts fail.
Contacts, accounts, notes and opportunities rely on internal IDs. If these aren’t mapped carefully, you end up with orphaned notes or disconnected opportunities. Act!’s custom tables and spillover contact tables make this trickier than most SQL freelancers realize.
Integration and Add-on Fatigue
Moving forward to a new CRM isn’t a one-to-one feature translation. For example, Act! calendar entries don’t import into Bigin, even though tasks do. Recurring activities rarely transfer between CRMs because each system manages them differently. Dynamic Groups in Act! need to be rebuilt as Views in Zoho. Knowing these gaps avoids surprises.
Training & Adoption
Even a flawless migration fails if your team isn’t trained. People need to know why you’re moving and how to work in the new system.
Rushing the Process
A “lift and shift” may sound fast, but skipping cleanup means you carry over duplicates, stale contacts, and old habits.
Choose Your Path
At the end of the day, leaving Act! remains a pivotal decision. For some businesses, the right move is to stay put for now — especially if other projects take priority or you’re preparing for retirement or a sale. For others, Act! has reached a tipping point and it’s time to move on.
Either way, the choice isn’t just technical — it’s what you feel when you start up your CRM.
Our approach is to understand your situation, and guide you toward the option that fits best — whether that’s maximizing your current Act! system, or mapping a migration to a new platform
Download the CRM Exit Checklist
A step-by-step list to help you plan your move away from Act!, avoid common pitfalls, and set your new CRM up for success.
What to backup before leaving Act!
Which features won't translate 1:1
How to prep your team for adoption
Top migration pitfalls to avoid
Leaving Act! isn’t just about switching software — it’s about moving past frustration and finding relief in a system that supports your business. We’ve helped companies carry their history forward without losing what matters. Download the checklist or schedule a call and take your first step toward a CRM that finally works for you.
FAQ
Not easily. Act! doesn’t provide a simple export for notes or histories. Even if you get them out, the formatting often shows as raw RTF/HTML, and without record IDs, you can’t re-link them to contacts. We provide services to export notes, histories, activities, and opportunities properly.
Popular alternatives include WiredContact, Zoho CRM, Zoho One, Bigin, HubSpot, Salesforce, and BenchmarkONE. Each has different strengths and limitations depending on your size, budget, and customization needs.
Yes. We’ve supported Act! since 1997 and can migrate your data into WiredContact, Zoho CRM, Zoho One, Bigin, HubSpot, Salesforce (data export only), Housecall Pro (data export only), or even ERP systems (data export only) — without losing notes, histories, or key relationships.