AI CRM suite
Payments and revenue infrastructure
Keep Stripe, Add a Sales CRM: HelloGrowthCRM vs Stripe
Last verified against Stripe's own pricing and product pages.
Quick verdict
Should you switch from Stripe to HelloGrowthCRM?
Decide on evidence.
- Step 1
List must-haves
Pipeline, WhatsApp, calling, reports
- Step 2
Price your team
Cost per user at your real team size
- Step 3
Trial with real leads
A week of genuine follow-up
- Step 4
Check the extras
AI, automation and integrations you need
- Step 5
Plan the move
Export, import and go live
HelloGrowthCRM's free plan lets you run step 3 on real leads before paying.
Who should choose which
Service businesses, agencies and B2B teams that already take payments with Stripe and need somewhere to run the sale itself. If your team quotes, chases and closes deals by phone and email, HelloGrowthCRM gives each seller a pipeline, dialer, shared inbox, quotes and proposals for $12 per user per month, and hands the payment to Stripe.
Online businesses and developers whose customers buy without talking to anyone: checkout, payment links, subscriptions and billing logic built on Stripe's API. Stripe is built to collect money at scale across payment methods and currencies. If no one on your team manages leads or deals, you do not need a CRM next to it.
What Stripe is, and where a CRM fits
Stripe is payments and revenue infrastructure. Businesses use it to accept cards and wallets online, share payment links, send invoices, run subscriptions and calculate tax, priced per transaction rather than per user, with no monthly fee for core payments (checked 2026-10-28). It is built for developers and finance teams to collect money, not to manage leads or a sales pipeline.
HelloGrowthCRM is an AI CRM suite for the sale that comes before the payment. Leads arrive from forms and booking pages, get an owner and a follow-up, and are worked by phone, email and text from one shared inbox. Deals move across a pipeline board, and quotes and proposals go out from the deal for the customer to accept online.
At the end of the sale, HelloGrowthCRM hands the payment to Stripe: invoices are paid through Stripe Checkout, with refunds and payment updates recorded back on the customer. The tables on this page show both columns as of 2026-10-28. "Not listed" means Stripe's own pages do not list the capability; it is not a statement from Stripe.
To decide, ask whether anyone on your team talks to a customer before they pay. If not, Stripe may be all you need. If they do, those conversations, calls and quotes belong in a CRM, and Stripe stays where it is.
The 10 differences that decide it
What buyers comparing Stripe ask about most. Each Stripe cell links to Stripe's own page.
| What you need | Why it matters | HelloGrowthCRM | Stripe |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deal pipeline board | Every open deal, its stage and its value on one screen. | Included (Growth plan) | Not availableSource, checked 2026-10-28 |
| Call leads from the CRM | Reps dial in one click and every call lands on the lead's timeline. | Included (Growth plan) | Not availableSource, checked 2026-10-28 |
| Automatic follow-up emails | Leads get chased on schedule and the sequence stops when they reply. | Included (Growth plan) | Not availableSource, checked 2026-10-28 |
| One shared inbox | The whole team sees every conversation, so nothing waits on one person. | Included (Growth plan) | Not availableSource, checked 2026-10-28 |
| Quotes from the deal | Pricing goes out in minutes, without copying data into another tool. | Included (Growth plan) | Invoicing Plus and aboveSource, checked 2026-10-28 |
| Proposals | Longer proposals are built from the deal instead of a blank document. | Included (Growth plan) | Not availableSource, checked 2026-10-28 |
| Support tickets | Customer issues get an owner, a status and a history. | Included (Growth plan) | Not availableSource, checked 2026-10-28 |
| Custom reports | Managers answer their own questions about the pipeline. | Included (Growth plan) | Separate productSource, checked 2026-10-28 |
| Payment links | Customers pay from a link instead of waiting on a bank transfer. | Via integration | IncludedSource, checked 2026-10-28 |
| Card payments online | Customers pay invoices by card instead of mailing a check. | Via integration | IncludedSource, checked 2026-10-28 |
What HelloGrowthCRM includes for teams comparing Stripe
Included in Growth. Each card says what the feature does not do yet.
Quotes, proposals and invoices
Quotes built from the deal, turned into invoices, plus recurring invoices and AI-drafted proposals.
Limit: Card payments run through a payment provider you connect.
Customer portal
A passwordless portal where customers pay invoices, accept quotes, raise tickets and see bookings.
Limit: There is no vendor or supplier portal.
Email sequences
Multi-step follow-up that stops when the lead replies, triggered by stage changes.
Power dialer
Dialing sessions that call down a list, with recording and the call outcome logged on the lead.
Limit: Parallel (multi-line) dialing is not offered.
Task boards
Table, kanban, calendar, Gantt and analytics views with subtasks, dependencies, several assignees and time tracking.
Limit: No voice notes on tasks yet.
Report builder
About 24 lead and pipeline reports by stage, source, rep, team and channel, saved and exported.
Limit: Scheduled, emailed reports are coming soon.
Commission management
Commission rules by deal value, stage and rep, with an approval step and a payout ledger.
Limit: No tiered slabs, quotas or clawbacks.
Team inbox
Email, SMS, chat, social and WhatsApp conversations in one inbox, with assignment, snooze and mentions.
Limit: AI autopilot drafts and sends on email only.
What it costs for 5, 10 and 25 users
Stripe charges per transaction, not per user: 2.9% + 30¢ per domestic card charge, with no setup or monthly fee for core payments; Invoicing and Billing add their own fees, and quotes need Invoicing Plus (stripe.com/pricing, checked 2026-10-28). Card processing fees apply whether an invoice is paid from Stripe or from HelloGrowthCRM through Stripe Checkout.
Price it yourself
- Ask Stripe for a written quote for your team size, including any usage, AI or channel charges.
- Add the one-time fees: onboarding, migration and number setup.
- Multiply HelloGrowthCRM's $12 per user per month by your users and by 12: 5 users is $720, 10 users $1,440 and 25 users $3,600 a year.
- Compare the two totals for the features you will actually use.
Why teams look past Stripe
Teams that use Stripe add a CRM for three reasons.
The first is that Stripe has no sales pipeline. Its customer records hold emails, payment methods, invoices and subscriptions, with no lead stages or sales fields, and its pages list no deal board or sales dialer (Stripe documentation and pricing, checked 2026-10-28). The sale happens somewhere else.
The second is quotes. Stripe puts quotes on its Invoicing Plus plan (Stripe quotes documentation, checked 2026-10-28). HelloGrowthCRM builds quotes and proposals from the deal in Growth, and the customer accepts online.
The third is reporting. Stripe sells custom reporting on its data as a separate product, Sigma (Stripe data documentation, checked 2026-10-28). The report builder in HelloGrowthCRM covers the pipeline: deals by stage, source and rep.
Where Stripe is stronger
- Payment processing itself: cards, wallets and local payment methods across many currencies. HelloGrowthCRM does not process payments.
- Payment Links and Checkout: no-code payment pages you can share or embed as a buy button.
- Subscription billing, revenue recovery and tax products built for finance teams.
- An API and documentation built for developers who design their own payment flows.
Full capability comparison
48 capabilities in 13 groups. Open a group to see every row.
Records and pipeline (8)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Stripe |
|---|---|---|
| Contact and lead records | Included (Growth plan) | Limited |
| Company and account records | Included (Growth plan) | Not available |
| Activity timeline | Included (Growth plan) | Not available |
| Global search | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Lead assignment and routing rules | Included (Growth plan) | Not available |
| Customizable pipeline stages | Included (Growth plan) | Not available |
| Multiple currencies | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Automatic exchange-rate conversion | Not available | Included |
Lead capture (2)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Stripe |
|---|---|---|
| Embeddable web lead form | Included (Growth plan) | Not available |
| Landing page builder | Included (Growth plan) | Not available |
Calling and messaging (4)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Stripe |
|---|---|---|
| Shared team inbox | Included (Growth plan) | Not available |
| Bulk SMS | Included (Growth plan) | Not available |
| Email sequences | Included (Growth plan) | Not available |
| Click-to-call dialer | Included (Growth plan) | Not available |
AI (2)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Stripe |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple prebuilt AI agents | Included (Growth plan) | Limited |
| MCP server | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
Automation (4)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Stripe |
|---|---|---|
| Visual workflow automation | Included (Growth plan) | Limited |
| Outbound webhooks | Via integration | Included |
| Public REST API | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| API keys and developer portal | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
Sales execution (2)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Stripe |
|---|---|---|
| Kanban deal board | Included (Growth plan) | Not available |
| Product and price catalog | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
Quotes, invoices and payments (11)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Stripe |
|---|---|---|
| Quotes | Included (Growth plan) | Invoicing Plus and above |
| Proposals | Included (Growth plan) | Not available |
| Online quote accept or decline | Included (Growth plan) | Invoicing Plus and above |
| Invoicing | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Recurring invoices | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Payment links | Via integration | Included |
| Online card payments | Via integration | Included |
| PayPal payments | Not available | Included |
| Credit notes and refunds | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Overdue payment reminders | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Sales tax and VAT handling | Limited | Separate product |
Support and customer success (3)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Stripe |
|---|---|---|
| Customer portal | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Support ticketing | Included (Growth plan) | Not available |
| Customer invoice portal with pay | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
Reporting (4)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Stripe |
|---|---|---|
| Standard dashboards | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Report builder | Included (Growth plan) | Separate product |
| BI tool connection | Via integration | Separate product |
| Data export | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
Security and admin (2)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Stripe |
|---|---|---|
| Teams and divisions | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Single sign-on (SAML/OIDC) | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
Mobile (3)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Stripe |
|---|---|---|
| Native iOS and Android apps | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Mobile dashboard | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
| Push notifications | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
Developer platform (1)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Stripe |
|---|---|---|
| Developer portal and sandbox | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
E-commerce (2)
| Capability | HelloGrowthCRM | Stripe |
|---|---|---|
| Online storefront | Included (Growth plan) | Limited |
| Abandoned cart recovery | Included (Growth plan) | Included |
Sources for the Stripe column (48)
Each Stripe cell is checked against Stripe's own documentation or pricing page. A cell that has not been re-checked within 120 days is removed from the table rather than shown out of date.
- Contact and lead records: docs.stripe.com/dashboard/search.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Company and account records: stripe.com/pricing · checked 2026-10-28
- Activity timeline: stripe.com/pricing · checked 2026-10-28
- Global search: docs.stripe.com/dashboard/search.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Lead assignment and routing rules: stripe.com/pricing · checked 2026-10-28
- Customizable pipeline stages: stripe.com/pricing · checked 2026-10-28
- Multiple currencies: stripe.com/ · checked 2026-10-28
- Automatic exchange-rate conversion: stripe.com/pricing · checked 2026-10-28
- Embeddable web lead form: stripe.com/pricing · checked 2026-10-28
- Landing page builder: stripe.com/pricing · checked 2026-10-28
- Shared team inbox: stripe.com/pricing · checked 2026-10-28
- Bulk SMS: stripe.com/pricing · checked 2026-10-28
- Email sequences: stripe.com/pricing · checked 2026-10-28
- Click-to-call dialer: stripe.com/pricing · checked 2026-10-28
- Multiple prebuilt AI agents: docs.stripe.com/agents.md · checked 2026-10-28
- MCP server: docs.stripe.com/agents.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Visual workflow automation: docs.stripe.com/billing/revenue-recovery/automations.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Outbound webhooks: docs.stripe.com/webhooks.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Public REST API: docs.stripe.com/api.md · checked 2026-10-28
- API keys and developer portal: docs.stripe.com/agents.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Kanban deal board: stripe.com/pricing · checked 2026-10-28
- Product and price catalog: docs.stripe.com/products-prices/overview.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Quotes: docs.stripe.com/quotes.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Proposals: docs.stripe.com/quotes.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Online quote accept or decline: docs.stripe.com/quotes.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Invoicing: docs.stripe.com/invoicing.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Recurring invoices: docs.stripe.com/billing/subscriptions/overview.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Payment links: docs.stripe.com/payment-links.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Online card payments: stripe.com/pricing · checked 2026-10-28
- PayPal payments: docs.stripe.com/payments/paypal.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Credit notes and refunds: docs.stripe.com/invoicing/dashboard/credit-notes.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Overdue payment reminders: docs.stripe.com/invoicing/send-email.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Sales tax and VAT handling: docs.stripe.com/tax.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Customer portal: docs.stripe.com/customer-management.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Support ticketing: stripe.com/pricing · checked 2026-10-28
- Customer invoice portal with pay: docs.stripe.com/invoicing/hosted-invoice-page.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Standard dashboards: docs.stripe.com/reports.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Report builder: docs.stripe.com/stripe-data.md · checked 2026-10-28
- BI tool connection: docs.stripe.com/stripe-data.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Data export: docs.stripe.com/reports.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Teams and divisions: docs.stripe.com/get-started/account/teams.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Single sign-on (SAML/OIDC): docs.stripe.com/get-started/account/sso.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Native iOS and Android apps: docs.stripe.com/dashboard/mobile.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Mobile dashboard: docs.stripe.com/dashboard/mobile.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Push notifications: docs.stripe.com/dashboard/mobile.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Developer portal and sandbox: docs.stripe.com/agents.md · checked 2026-10-28
- Online storefront: stripe.com/blog/everything-we-announced-at-sessions-2026 · checked 2026-10-28
- Abandoned cart recovery: docs.stripe.com/payments/checkout/abandoned-carts.md · checked 2026-10-28
Switch from Stripe in 4 steps
- Export your customers from Stripe to CSV.
- Import them into HelloGrowthCRM and map each column to a field on the import screen.
- Connect Stripe in HelloGrowthCRM's integrations settings and send yourself a test invoice.
- Move quoting and follow-up into HelloGrowthCRM, keep Stripe for payments, and run both for a week before you change your invoice flow.
Your data
Customer records export from Stripe as CSV; your payment history stays in Stripe, because you keep it.
Contract
Nothing to cancel: Stripe has no monthly fee for core payments, and HelloGrowthCRM is $12 per user per month on the Growth plan.
Learning curve
A guided setup wizard creates the pipeline, stages and fields; you can keep your current stage names.
Get the switching checklist by email
Verdict
Stripe is payments infrastructure; HelloGrowthCRM is an AI CRM suite. They are not substitutes, and they work together. Choose Stripe on its own if customers buy through checkout and payment links and no one on your team sells to them. Choose HelloGrowthCRM with Stripe if people sell for you: leads need an owner, calls, follow-up, quotes and proposals, and the invoice is paid through Stripe at the end, with each seller on the Growth plan.
Want to see the difference?
See how HelloGrowthCRM compares to Stripe on your own pipeline.
Comparison FAQ
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Security and migration, handled
Everything you need to move quickly and trust the system you're switching to.
Security & governance
- SOC 2 Type II report (available under NDA)
- AES-256 at rest · TLS 1.3 in transit
- SSO and 2FA support
- Full audit log on all user actions
- Hosted on AWS (US regions)
- GDPR & DPDPA-aligned data handling
Implementation & support
- Onboarding included in Growth
- We handle data migration — not you
- Same-day demo response (business hours)
- Email + chat support on Growth
- Dedicated specialist on Growth Engine+
- 90-day post-onboarding check-in included
Take the next step
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Prefer email? Write to sales@hellogrowthcrm.com