Keap (formerly Infusionsoft) is a CRM and marketing automation platform designed specifically for small businesses and entrepreneurs — combining contact management, email marketing automation, sales pipeline tracking, invoicing, and appointment scheduling in one subscription.
Product Overview
Keap's target user is the small business owner who wants to automate their follow-up and sales process without hiring a marketing ops team. Its automation builder triggers personalised email sequences, task reminders, and SMS messages based on contact behaviour — form submissions, link clicks, purchase events, or manual tags applied by the user. The platform's combined CRM and billing capability is distinctive: invoices, payments, and subscription billing are managed within the same contact record where email campaigns are run, giving small businesses a complete revenue operations view per client. Keap competes with HubSpot Starter and ActiveCampaign in the SMB market, differentiating on its billing and payments integration and its heritage with service-business clients (consultants, coaches, agencies).
Key Features
- CRM & Contact Management: Contact records with full interaction history, tags, and custom fields — linked to all emails, tasks, and payments.
- Marketing Automation: Visual automation builder for personalised email sequences, SMS, and task workflows triggered by contact behaviour.
- Sales Pipeline: Visual deal pipeline with stage-based automation — tracks deals from lead through close alongside marketing activity.
- Invoicing & Payments: Built-in invoicing, payment processing, and subscription billing — linked to contact CRM records.
- Appointment Scheduling: Calendar booking integration for lead consultations and sales calls — triggers automation on booking.
Best For
Small businesses, coaches, and consultants that need CRM, email automation, sales pipeline, and billing in one affordable platform — without enterprise complexity.
Pricing
Ignite from $299/month. Grow from $399/month. Scale from $599/month (includes advanced features).
Key Integrations
Gmail, Outlook, QuickBooks, Xero, Zapier, Stripe, PayPal, Shopify, WordPress, Google Calendar
Pros
- CRM + billing in one platform is rare — reduces tool sprawl for service businesses
- Automation builder is powerful relative to other SMB-focused tools
- Long track record with service business use cases — templates and playbooks are practical
- Single platform eliminates the CRM-to-invoicing handoff that many small businesses struggle with
Cons
- Pricing is high relative to HubSpot Starter or ActiveCampaign for comparable features
- UI has improved but still carries legacy design decisions from the Infusionsoft era
- Not designed to scale with teams — best for 1-10 user teams
RevOps Jobs-to-Be-Done
- SMB Marketing Automation and CRM — Automate follow-up sequences, lead scoring, and email nurture from a single platform designed for small businesses and solopreneurs. KPI: Convert 30% more leads by automating follow-up sequences that would otherwise fall through the cracks for small teams
- Pipeline and Sales Automation for SMBs — Manage sales pipeline stages with automated task creation, email triggers, and follow-up reminders without complex CRM configuration. KPI: Increase close rates by 20% through systematic follow-up automation replacing manual tracking
- E-Commerce and Payment Integration — Connect Keap's CRM with online store and payment processing to trigger nurture sequences based on purchase behavior. KPI: Increase repeat purchase rates by 25% with automated post-purchase nurture and upsell sequences
How It Fits Your Stack
Primary system of record: Keap as all-in-one SMB platform
Key integrations: Gmail, Outlook, Stripe, PayPal, WooCommerce, Zapier, Shopify
Data flows: Contacts managed in CRM; marketing sequences trigger from form fills, purchases, and manual tags; pipeline stages trigger automated follow-up; revenue tracked per contact
Security & Compliance
- SSO / SAML: Google SSO
- RBAC / permissions: Yes
- Audit logs: Yes
- Certifications: SOC 2 Type II
- Data residency: US
Implementation & Ownership
- Time to first value: 2–4 weeks for automation setup
- Implementation complexity: Medium — automation builder requires configuration investment
- Typical owners: Business Owner, Marketing Manager, Sales Director
Formerly Infusionsoft; rebranded to Keap in 2019; strongest for service businesses and coaches with high-touch sales + marketing automation needs
Proof & Buyer Signals
Ratings: G2: 4.2/5 (1,000+ reviews)
What buyers praise:
- Powerful automation for the price
- Good for service businesses
- Strong follow-up automation
Common complaints:
- Steep learning curve
- UI dated compared to modern CRMs
- Can be complex to configure correctly
Often Compared With
- Insightly — Insightly adds project management for service delivery; Keap has deeper marketing automation and e-commerce integration for SMBs
- Salesflare — Salesflare focuses on automated CRM data entry for B2B; Keap provides broader marketing automation and payment integration for SMBs
- Folk CRM — Folk CRM offers a modern UX for relationship management; Keap provides more complete marketing automation and sales pipeline automation for SMBs
