--- title: "Close API review: calling, the event log and MCP" description: "The Close API ships on every paid plan, from $9 a month for one user, with calls and SMS as objects, a 30-day event log and an MCP server." url: https://frontal.so/gtm-apis/crm-apis/close-api-review updated: 2026-11-14 --- # Close API review Inside sales CRM with calling built in Reviewed by **Frontal** *·*Updated October 2026 ## On this page 1. The API surface 2. Pricing and plans 3. Rate limits 4. API key and access 5. Request example 6. Docs and reference 7. Video walkthrough 8. Strengths and limits 9. Verdict 10. Before you build 11. Top alternatives 12. Head to head [Visit Close](https://www.close.com/) **From** $9/seat/mo annual **Unit cost** Not sold by the unit **Billing** Per seat Subscription **Best for** Inside sales CRM with calling built in whoami.sh Basic auth ``` GET https://api.close.com/api/v1/me/ # the API key is the username; the password is empty Authorization: Basic base64($CLOSE_API_KEY:) # every response: RateLimit: limit=, remaining=, reset= # the org ceiling is 3x the per-key ceiling ``` 200 OK Per API call $0.00 The Close API is the CRM API for a team that lives on the phone. Calls, SMS, email, sequences and the activity timeline are objects you read and write, not integrations bolted onto a pipeline. Access is included on all four paid plans, from Solo at $9 a month billed annually for one user, or Essentials at $35 a seat billed annually for a team, with no gated tier and no quote. Close publishes its rate limits as a structure rather than as numbers. Limits apply per endpoint group, per organization across every key, and per key at a lower level, and the organization ceiling is three times the per-key one. The exact figures arrive in a RateLimit header on each response. Two things set the Close CRM API apart from the other CRMs in this directory. An event log keeps 30 days of every change and can be read back through the API, which makes it a replay source when a sync falls behind. And Close runs a hosted MCP server, so an agent can read and write the CRM over OAuth with no client of your own. The rest of the category is in the [CRM and sync APIs](https://frontal.so/gtm-apis/crm-apis) listing. ## What the Close API reaches Close groups its reference by job, and the groups are a fair map of the product. Every object below is reachable on every paid plan. | Group | Objects | Why it matters | | --- | --- | --- | | CRM core | Leads, contacts, opportunities, tasks, files, custom objects, comments | The core records a sync reads and writes. | | Activities | Notes, calls, emails, email threads, SMS | Call outcomes and SMS are first-class records you can query. | | Events and webhooks | The event log, webhook subscriptions | Change data, pushed or pulled, 30 days back. | | Search and reporting | Search, reporting metrics | Pipeline numbers out to a BI tool. | | Automation and bulk actions | Sequences, bulk actions such as email | Outreach run through the API rather than a separate sender. | The calling objects are the reason most teams pick Close, and they are also the reason its integrations look different. A sync that writes call outcomes back to another system reads the calls activity type; a dialer from elsewhere is unnecessary because the dialer is the product. Calling itself is charged on usage, at around $0.02 a minute, with lines from $1 a month. The event log is the cheap way to stay in sync Close keeps up to 30 days of change events and exposes them through the API, consolidating repeated updates to the same object into one event that carries the new state and the previous one. Polling the log for changes since your last run costs a handful of requests where re-reading every lead costs thousands, and webhooks can push the same changes as they happen. ## Close API pricing, plan by plan Close API pricing is seat pricing with the API included: every plan carries the same API access and event log, and what changes up the ladder is the dialer, the AI credits and the reporting. ### Solo $9 /user/mo billed annually, $19 month to month - One user only; API access and the event log - 500 AI credits a user a month - Calling, email and SMS built in ### Essentials $35 /user/mo billed annually, $49 month to month - Same API access - Shared pool of 1,000 credits a user, up to 10,000 - Pipelines and team visibility ### Growth $99 /user/mo billed annually, $109 month to month - Same API access - Shared pool of 1,500 credits a user, up to 15,000 - Close marks this the most popular plan ### Scale $139 /user/mo billed annually, $149 month to month - Same API access - Shared pool of 2,000 credits a user, up to 20,000 - Predictive dialing There is no free tier. The trial needs no card and includes $5 of calling and enrichment credits, and an account that does not upgrade pauses rather than disappearing at once. Close also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee after purchase. The add-ons are where a phone-heavy month grows. Call recording and transcription is $50 an organization a month plus $0.02 a minute, and calling and SMS are passed through at cost. The seat price is the floor of a calling team's bill, not its shape. The cheapest seat carries the whole API Solo at $9 billed annually reads and writes the same objects, the same event log and the same webhooks as Scale at $139, but it is limited to one user. For an integration that only needs somewhere to land call data, a one-person account is enough; a team starts at Essentials, $35 a seat billed annually. Built in Clay ### Building this yourself? *Start in Clay.* Clay runs a waterfall across 150+ data providers from one table, without a separate contract with each. A lookup that finds nothing costs no data credit. **150+** data providers **500** free actions a month **$0** for a miss [Try Clay](https://go.frontal.so/clay) Frontal is a Clay Elite Studio Partner. A Clay waterfall **Clay** ## Per endpoint group, per key, per organization Close API rate limits are published as rules rather than numbers, and the rules are useful. Each endpoint group has its own window, so a heavy read loop on leads does not starve writes to activities. Every request counts against both your key and your organization. ### How the limits stack Three layers, all enforced at once. - Endpoint groups combine paths and methods, so GET /api/v1/lead/ and writes to activities can count separately. - The organization limit covers every user's keys together. - Each key has a lower limit, so one heavy integration cannot starve the others. - The organization ceiling is currently three times the per-key one. ### Reading the response The numbers live in the header. - Most responses carry RateLimit: limit=100, remaining=50, reset=5 for the limit nearest to binding. - A 429 always carries RateLimit and a Retry-After header. - Close recommends waiting the rate\_reset value, which is more exact than Retry-After. - Some endpoints have stricter, unpredictable limits and can return 429 inside the window. A fourth key buys nothing Because the organization limit is three times the per-key limit, three keys running flat out reach the organization ceiling together. Splitting a backfill across more keys does not make it faster; it only makes the three keys that were already there start returning 429. The Close API rate limits cannot be sized on paper, because the figures are not published, but they can be coded against correctly from the first line. Read the header, honor the reset, and keep one key per integration so the per-key limit protects the others. ## How to create a Close API key A Close API key is created in the app, under Settings, Developer, API Keys, and it is scoped to one user in one organization. Close recommends keys for scripts and internal integrations and OAuth for anything other organizations install. ### API key For your own organization. - Generated and deleted from the Settings page. - Sent with HTTP Basic auth: the key as the username and an empty password. - In curl that is -u yourapikey:, with the trailing colon. - The base URL is api.close.com/api/v1. ### OAuth 2.0 For an integration other teams install. - Register an OAuth app in Close's developer platform. - The route to a listing in Close's integrations directory. - The MCP server also accepts OAuth, with dynamic client registration. The key belongs to a person A key is scoped to a user and organization pair, so it acts as that user. Create the integration's key on a dedicated user rather than on whoever set the sync up, and the integration stops depending on one person's account. For one company's own pipeline, a key on a dedicated user is the whole setup. The moment a second company's Close account is involved, it is OAuth, and retrofitting that later means reissuing every credential already handed out. ## A first Close API call The call below is Close's own example: confirm the key works by asking who you are, then read leads from the same base URL. Watch the RateLimit header on both responses, because it is the only place the numbers appear. first-call.sh REST v1 ``` # who does this key belong to? curl https://api.close.com/api/v1/me/ -u $CLOSE_API_KEY: # then the leads endpoint group GET https://api.close.com/api/v1/lead/ # on 429: sleep for rate_reset seconds, then retry ``` ## Where the Close API documentation lives The Close CRM API documentation lives at developer.close.com, which carries the REST reference, the guides, the MCP setup and a public changelog in one place. | Surface | Where | What it answers | | --- | --- | --- | | API reference | developer.close.com/api | Every object, with schemas and an interactive explorer. | | Rate limits | developer.close.com/api/overview/rate-limits | The endpoint group rules and the 429 format. | | Event log | developer.close.com/api/resources/events | 30 days of changes, readable through the API. | | Webhooks | developer.close.com/api, under Resources | Webhook subscriptions, which push the same changes as they happen. | | MCP server | mcp.close.com/mcp | The hosted server, with setup for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor. | | API clients | developer.close.com/api/overview/api-clients | Community libraries for Python, Ruby, PHP, Node.js, C#, Elixir and Go. | The client libraries are community-built rather than official, which matters when one falls behind the API. Close publishes a changelog and pages can be read as Markdown, which makes the reference easy to hand to an agent. The MCP server takes the scope as part of the connection: mcp.read for read-only, mcp.write\_safe to read and write, and mcp.write\_destructive to delete as well. It speaks Streamable HTTP and accepts OAuth with dynamic client registration, or an API key in a header for a custom setup. The [MCP page](https://frontal.so/gtm-apis/mcp-servers) lists Close's MCP access alongside the others in this directory. ## Close's own product demo Close publishes this on its own channel, so it is Close's account of Close, not ours. It is here because a rate card cannot show you the thing moving, and a few minutes of the product is faster than any paragraph on this page at telling you whether the shape of it fits yours. [YouTube · Close Close CRM Demo 10:26 · Published October 2022](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuP_BJu3hqI) Close's ten minute product demo from 2022, covering the inbox, data import, the lead view, search, automation and reporting. It shows the calling-first shape the API mirrors, but it predates the MCP server and talks about pricing that has since moved, so the plan figures on this page come from Close's current pricing page rather than from the video. Published 4 October 2022 on [Close](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC7ZkCK3FxZiqMXqI3yvWHw), the channel Close's own pages link to, and read on 23 October 2026. Nothing in it is a source for a price or a limit on this page: every figure in the tables above comes from a Close page. ## Strengths and limits Close is narrow on purpose, and the API is strongest exactly where the product is. ### What it does well - API access and the event log on every paid plan, from $9 billed annually on the one-user Solo plan and $35 a seat for a team. - Calls, SMS, email and sequences are objects you read and write directly. - A 30-day event log that doubles as a replay source for a sync. - A hosted MCP server with three scopes, from read-only up to delete. - Limits per endpoint group, so heavy reads do not starve writes. - Per-key limits below the organization limit protect one integration from another. ### Where it falls short - No published rate numbers, so a job cannot be sized in advance. - No free tier, only a trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. - Client libraries are community-built rather than official. - No marketing suite, forms or landing pages: it is a sales CRM only. - Calling, recording and SMS are billed on usage on top of the seat. - A key is tied to one user and organization. The two columns describe the same choice. Close gives a calling team an API that already models its day, and it asks you to accept that the limits are discovered in the header rather than read off a page. ## Who should actually buy this Buy Close when the team sells on the phone and the integration needs to read or write what happens on calls. Calls, SMS and sequences are objects in the API on every plan; recording is a $50 add-on and predictive dialing starts at Scale. Build against the header rather than the docs. Close will not tell you the number in advance, but it tells you on every response how close you are, and its rules keep integrations from starving one another. Use one key per integration and poll the event log rather than re-reading leads. Against Pipedrive, the trade is calling against computability. Pipedrive publishes a token cost per endpoint and a daily budget you can model before you buy; Close publishes neither and gives you a dialer, an event log and an MCP server with scopes. A phone team wants Close and a team that integrates more than it dials wants Pipedrive. ## Before you build against it Four things to settle first, each one read off Close's own pages. The ticks are remembered in this browser, so you can come back to a half-finished integration. ## If Close is not the answer Four providers in the [CRM and sync APIs](https://frontal.so/gtm-apis/crm-apis) listing that solve the same problem differently. Each one is a trade, and the trade is named. [HubSpot Free tier Free with the full API and published limits of 100 requests per 10 seconds. The strongest replacement unless the dialer was the point.](https://frontal.so/gtm-apis/crm-apis/hubspot-api-review) [Pipedrive $14/seat/mo A $14 pipeline with full API access, an MCP server and a budget you can compute. The cheapest paid seat among the Close alternatives at list price.](https://frontal.so/gtm-apis/crm-apis/pipedrive-api-review) [Attio $44/user/mo A data model you define through the API, a free plan with the full REST API, and one published ceiling. For teams that left Close because of the schema.](https://frontal.so/gtm-apis/crm-apis/attio-api-review) [Salesforce $125/seat/mo More than a dozen APIs and a daily org budget from 100,000 calls. For the company that outgrew a single-team CRM.](https://frontal.so/gtm-apis/crm-apis/salesforce-api-review) The full set, organized by the reason people leave, is on the [Close alternatives](https://frontal.so/gtm-apis/alternatives/close-alternatives) page. ## Close against the obvious rival Same rate cards, read side by side, with the arithmetic done on a worked volume rather than left to you: [HubSpot vs Close](https://frontal.so/gtm-apis/compare/hubspot-vs-close), [Attio vs Close](https://frontal.so/gtm-apis/compare/attio-vs-close), [Close vs Pipedrive](https://frontal.so/gtm-apis/compare/close-vs-pipedrive) and [Close vs Zoho CRM](https://frontal.so/gtm-apis/compare/close-vs-zoho-crm). Every pairing in the directory is on the [compare hub](https://frontal.so/gtm-apis/compare). [HubSpot vs Close Compare A free CRM that stores against a $19 one that dials. Both ship MCP, and only one treats a phone call as an object.](https://frontal.so/gtm-apis/compare/hubspot-vs-close) [Attio vs Close Compare Define the objects you sell to, or dial the list you already have. Both ship an API on every tier and almost nothing else overlaps.](https://frontal.so/gtm-apis/compare/attio-vs-close) [Close vs Pipedrive Compare Two CRMs a small sales team can run without an administrator. One is built around the phone, the other around the pipeline.](https://frontal.so/gtm-apis/compare/close-vs-pipedrive) ## Calling these APIs one by one? *Run them from one Clay table.* Clay runs a waterfall across 150+ data providers from one table, without a separate contract with each. A lookup that finds nothing costs no data credit, and the free plan includes 500 actions a month. [Try Clay](https://go.frontal.so/clay) [See the CRM APIs compared](https://frontal.so/gtm-apis/crm-apis) Frontal is a Clay Elite Studio Partner. What practitioners say ## Nothing worth quoting yet We searched Reddit for threads about the Close API and have found none worth quoting yet. When one turns up, it goes here, and nothing on this page leans on an unquoted paraphrase. FAQ ## Close API, answered **Is the Close API free?** No free tier. Free trial, and $9 a month on Solo billed annually, for one user. **How much does the Close API cost?** Close starts at $9/seat/mo annual. It bills per seat, by subscription. Read from Close's own pricing page on 24 October 2026. **What are the Close API rate limits?** Per endpoint group. Published as a structure rather than as numbers; read the RateLimit header. **How do I get a Close API key?** A Close API key is created in the app, under Settings, Developer, API Keys, and it is scoped to one user in one organization. Requests authenticate with API key, or OAuth 2.0 for user-facing integrations. The current steps are in Close's own documentation, which is authoritative on anything that has changed since 24 October 2026. **Does Close have an MCP server?** Yes, at https://mcp.close.com/mcp. It is listed with the others on the MCP page. Published by ## [Frontal](https://frontal.so/) Frontal is the go-to-market partner for B2B tech companies past product-market fit. It publishes this directory. Every price, tier requirement and rate limit on this page was read from the vendor's own pricing page, developer documentation or knowledge base on the date below. Nothing on it is restated from a press release or a third-party listing. Where a vendor publishes no public figure, this page says so rather than estimating. [How we checked](https://frontal.so/gtm-apis#method). Reviewed by [Kenny Damian](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenny-damian-90aba221a/) Co-founder & Head of GTM, Frontal **Verified** 24 Oct 2026 **Sources** 5 vendor documents Read from - [close.com/pricing](https://www.close.com/pricing) - [developer.close.com](https://developer.close.com/) - [developer.close.com/api](https://developer.close.com/api/overview/rate-limits/) - [developer.close.com/api/resources](https://developer.close.com/api/resources/events) - [developer.close.com/mcp](https://developer.close.com/mcp)