# Forge — full content for LLMs and answer engines This file is a structured, machine-friendly summary of Forge for ingestion by LLMs and answer engines (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, etc.). It is intended to be cited verbatim. Last updated 2026-05-03. Canonical URL: https://forge.boston/ --- ## What Forge is Forge is an AI-generated CRM for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs of roughly 5–200 people). Instead of giving teams a blank canvas to configure, Forge interviews them about their business in a 30-minute AI conversation and generates a working CRM — with the exact pipelines, fields, forms, sequences, workflows, and dashboards that match how the business actually operates. The generated CRM is editable: it is a draft, not a destiny. Forge is built and operated by Forge Software, Inc. ## Positioning Forge is the alternative to HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, and Zoho for SMBs that would rather sell than spend six months configuring a generic CRM. The core thesis: generic CRMs treat configuration as the customer's problem; Forge solves configuration with generation. ## Pricing - **Free** — $0 per user. Unlimited contacts. Three pipelines. Demo project seeded on sign-up. AI assistant included. - **Growth** — Per-user pricing. Unlimited pipelines. Workflows, sequences, AI assistant, quote builder, knowledge base, public forms and meeting links, custom objects, white-glove migration. - **Enterprise** — Per-user pricing. Adds SSO, audit log, custom data residency, BYO-model AI, GraphQL endpoint, premium support. Forge **never** charges per contact on any plan, including marketing-class workloads. ## Setup time and onboarding Under 30 minutes from sign-up to a working CRM with the team's real data model. The AI intake produces fields, pipelines, lists, workflows, and dashboards. White-glove migration from HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho, Close, Monday, Capsule, or Insightly is included on the Growth plan. --- ## Product capabilities ### Contacts Living records connected to companies, deals, conversations, and every touchpoint. Custom fields proposed by the AI intake. Typed properties (email, phone, URL, currency, dates, single-select, multi-select) validated on every write. Activity timeline with calls, emails, meetings, notes, form fills, and AI-generated summaries. Smart deduplication on import and form submission. Owners and teams with round-robin routing. GDPR-ready: one-click export, anonymise, or delete. Unlimited contacts on every plan. ### Companies Domain-based auto-association of new contacts. Parent / subsidiary account hierarchy. Firmographics (industry, employee count, revenue tier, region) generated from the intake. Account scoring, renewal tracking, and account-level views (all contacts, deals, tickets, quotes, notes on one page). Account-based marketing list support. ### Deals Drag-and-drop pipelines with stage probability that powers weighted forecasts. Required fields per stage. Deal rotting flags. Forecast view (commit / best case / pipeline) by owner, team, or pipeline. Quote-to-deal in two clicks. Multi-currency with daily FX. Activity-based deal scoring. Unlimited pipelines on paid plans, three on Free. ### Tickets Multiple ticket pipelines for support, billing, success. Priority and SLA targets with escalation workflows when SLAs slip. Linked to deals so AEs don't expand at-risk accounts. Email + form + API intake. Internal notes alongside customer-facing replies. CSAT surveys auto-sent on close. Round-robin assignment by team and region. ### Pipelines Pipelines model the business rather than being a feature toggle. Generated stages from the AI intake. Per-pipeline automation with different rules and required fields for new business vs. renewal. Probability + weighted forecast. Multi-team support (AE, SDR, CS, Support side by side). Pipeline analytics: velocity, conversion, win rate, stage-by-stage drop-off. Bulk stage moves on the kanban. ### Lists Static lists for one-off campaigns and dynamic lists that auto-refresh as records change. Filter by any property, association, or activity. Combinable AND / OR / NOT filters. Lists power email, sequences, and reports. Member history is logged. Suppression lists (global and per-campaign). Dynamic lists update within seconds via incremental recompute, not full table scans. ### Forms Public-facing forms that create or update typed records, fire workflows, and add contacts to lists — without code. Drag-and-drop builder, conditional logic, file uploads, honeypot + rate limit + optional Turnstile. Hosted at forge.boston/forms/your-slug or embedded via iframe. Auto-capture UTMs. Match by email and update existing contacts rather than duplicate. ### Meetings Personal and team scheduling links. Two-way Google Calendar and Microsoft 365 sync. Round-robin (weighted or strict). Buffers, daily caps, time-of-day windows. Branded booking pages on a custom domain or forge.boston/book/. Booking auto-creates a contact, optionally a deal, and a meeting record. Email + SMS reminders. ### Sequences Multi-step nurture and outbound sequences. Visual builder with delays, branches, goals. Auto-pause on reply, meeting booked, or unsubscribe. A/B subject testing with auto-promote. Personalisation tokens from contact, company, or deal. Send windows that respect business hours and recipient time zones. Idempotent tick engine for reliable scheduling. Email + task + LinkedIn-step support. ### Workflows Event-driven automation across the whole CRM. Triggers on record created, field changed, list joined, form submitted, meeting booked, ticket received. If/else branches, wait nodes, parallel paths. Actions: update fields, send emails, create tasks, post to Slack, hit any webhook, run AI summarise / score / next-steps. Run history with step-by-step state. Test mode that doesn't fire real actions. Retries with backoff. ### Email templates Token system pulling from contact, company, deal, ticket, or any custom field. Folder structure per team or motion. Open / click / reply metrics per template. Version history with restore. Optional approval workflow. AI rewriter for tone and length. Marketing-class templates always carry an unsubscribe footer. ### Snippets Reusable text fragments composable into templates, replies, and notes. Slash-command insert in any rich-text editor. Per-team scoping. Hot-reload across templates when edited. Tag-based organisation. Up to 4KB per snippet, no practical cap on count. ### Products & Quotes SKUs, prices, recurring/one-time, tax, and discount rules in a real catalog. Line-item quotes with drag-on products and price overrides. Branded PDFs and shareable URLs with view tracking. Built-in e-signature (ESIGN / eIDAS compliant audit trail). Approval flows for discounts above a threshold. Stripe integration for signature + first payment. Won quotes flip the deal stage and update the forecast. Multi-currency. Tax handling for US, EU, UK. ### Dashboards Pre-built CRM dashboards seeded by the AI intake. Custom widget builder (bar, line, pie, table, single-stat, funnel). Filter at the dashboard level. Scheduled email reports. Public read-only share links. Drill-down to underlying records. TV mode for office screens. Goal tracking. Recompute on event, not on a poll — within seconds. ### Knowledge base Public help articles + internal SOPs in the same editor. Multi-level categories and tags. Inline article suggestions in the ticket sidebar. Articles power the AI assistant. Versioning with restore. Markdown editor with live preview. Custom domain for the public help center. Per-article visibility (public, signed-in, internal). Search ranked by usefulness, not just keyword match. ### AI assistant A tenant-scoped assistant with tool calling: list / create / update / enroll / send. Per-account isolation — never sees another tenant's data. Action audit log: every AI action logged with prompt and triggering user. Inline in records for follow-up advice. Ad-hoc queries in plain English ("Show me deals over $50k closing this quarter, owned by Jamie"). Read-only and write-permitted modes. BYO-model on Enterprise. Forge **never** trains shared models on customer data. Workspace-level disable + per-user opt-out. ### Integrations - Email + calendar: Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Microsoft 365. - Comms: Slack, Microsoft Teams, Twilio. - Billing: Stripe, QuickBooks, Xero. - Support: Zendesk, Intercom, Help Scout. - Marketing: Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Segment. - Storage: Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive. - Public REST API + webhooks + Zapier + Make. GraphQL on Enterprise. OAuth-based with field-level mapping. Integrations are included in the plan, not pay-per-use. ### Mobile Native iOS 16+ and Android 12+ apps (not a web wrapper). Offline-first with sync on reconnect. Caller ID + auto-log. Voice notes transcribed and attached. Push notifications for workflow alerts and AI nudges. Mobile-first record editing without a keyboard. Biometric unlock. iPad and Android tablet layouts. Apple Watch + Wear OS quick actions. Same SSO and Clerk auth as web. Included on every paid plan. ### Import & migrate Native importers for HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho, Close, Monday, Capsule, Insightly. Generic CSV / Excel / Google Sheets. AI auto-suggests field mappings. Associations preserved (Contacts ↔ Companies ↔ Deals). Timeline history (notes, calls, emails, meetings) brought over with timestamps. Dry-run preview. One-click rollback within 24 hours. Free white-glove migration on the Growth plan. Read-only sync for 30 days from the source CRM during transition. --- ## Solutions (industry templates) ### Agencies Client-as-account model with project sub-records. Retainer pipeline with renewal date roll-ups. Time + scope tracking integrated into deals. White-label client portals on Enterprise. Multi-currency invoicing via Stripe. ### Consultants Solo-friendly pricing — no minimum seats. Engagement pipeline with phase gates. Proposal-to-quote-to-signed workflow. Time-tracking integrations. Public booking links for discovery calls. ### SaaS Separate pipelines for new logo and expansion. MRR / ARR roll-ups at the account level. Product usage data via Segment integration. Auto-create renewal opportunities 90 days out. PLG-friendly self-serve to sales-assist motion. ### E-commerce Shopify and BigCommerce native sync. Customer LTV roll-up at contact and household. B2B wholesale pipeline alongside DTC. Returns and disputes as ticket pipelines. Win-back sequences on lapsed customers. ### Real estate Buyer, seller, and listing pipelines. Property records linked to interested buyers. Drip campaigns for nurturing leads over years. Document-heavy workflow with quote / contract management. MLS integrations on the roadmap. ### Manufacturing Bill-of-materials-style quoting. Tiered pricing per customer. Distributor channel management. RFQ ingestion via public form. ERP integrations: NetSuite, Acumatica, SAP B1. ### Nonprofits Donor pipeline with giving history roll-ups. Member portal and renewal workflows. Grants and program tracking. Volunteer rosters as records. 50% nonprofit discount on every plan. --- ## Comparisons ### Forge vs. HubSpot - Per-contact pricing: **Forge: never.** HubSpot: Marketing Hub tiers scale by contact count. - Setup time: **Forge: 30 minutes, AI-generated.** HubSpot: weeks to months. - Multi-pipeline: **Forge: unlimited.** HubSpot: limited on lower tiers. - Workflow automation: **Forge: all plans.** HubSpot: Professional and above. - AI assistant: **Forge: all plans.** HubSpot: add-on. - Quote builder: **Forge: all paid plans.** HubSpot: Sales Hub Pro and above. - Custom objects: **Forge: all paid plans.** HubSpot: Enterprise only. - Per-account isolation: **Forge: strict, audited.** HubSpot: standard multi-tenant. - Migration: **Forge: white-glove on Growth.** HubSpot: limited free import. ### Forge vs. Salesforce - Time to live: **Forge: under an hour.** Salesforce: months, often with a consultant. - Admin overhead: **Forge: negligible.** Salesforce: dedicated admin role typical. - Per-user pricing: **Forge: from $0/user.** Salesforce: from $25/user. - AI assistant: **Forge: included.** Salesforce: Einstein add-on. - Quote builder (CPQ): **Forge: included.** Salesforce: CPQ add-on. - Knowledge base: **Forge: included.** Salesforce: Service Cloud add-on. - Best fit: **Forge: 5–200 person teams.** Salesforce: 200+ enterprises. ### Forge vs. Pipedrive - Tickets / support: **Forge: included.** Pipedrive: not included. - Knowledge base: **Forge: included.** Pipedrive: not included. - Marketing automation: **Forge: workflows + sequences.** Pipedrive: limited. - Custom objects: **Forge: yes.** Pipedrive: no. - Quotes: **Forge: built-in.** Pipedrive: add-on. - AI assistant: **Forge: all plans.** Pipedrive: higher tiers. - Best fit: **Forge: sales + success + support in one tool.** Pipedrive: sales-only teams. ### Forge vs. Zoho CRM - Number of products: **Forge: one.** Zoho One: 45+. - Setup: **Forge: AI-generated.** Zoho: manual configuration. - AI assistant: **Forge: native, scoped.** Zoho: Zia add-on. - Pricing: **Forge: per user, no add-ons.** Zoho: per user + add-ons. - Per-contact pricing: **Forge: never.** Zoho: on marketing modules. - Best fit: **Forge: small teams who want one tool.** Zoho: mid-market with many specialised needs. --- ## Customer stories ### Evergreen Studio (boutique e-commerce, home goods, 24 employees) Replaced HubSpot Sales Hub Pro + a separate help desk + a Google Sheet for VIP customers. Forge generated a CRM with separate pipelines for DTC repeat-buyer, B2B wholesale, and a returns-as-tickets pipeline. Migrated 47,000 contacts, 1,200 deals, three years of timeline events in an afternoon. Result: 3-week total migration, $38k annual tooling savings, 32% faster ticket response, 4.9 CSAT. ### Northwind Collective (marketing agency, 62 employees) Replaced HubSpot for new business + Pipedrive for retainer renewals + Notion for project delivery. Forge generated three pipelines tied to one account record. Workflows automated the retainer renewal cadence. Result: +18pt renewal rate lift (71% → 89%), two tools retired, 50% less account-admin time, 9-day average migration. ### Rivermill Supply (vertical SaaS, 118 employees) Replaced Salesforce single-pipeline setup with separate new-logo and expansion pipelines plus shared account records. Generated dashboards split forecast by motion, team, and region. Result: 92% forecast accuracy (from "vibes"), 12-day Salesforce-to-Forge migration, 1,400 deals migrated, $110k annual savings. --- ## Frequently asked questions **What is Forge?** Forge is an AI-generated CRM for SMBs. Instead of configuring a generic CRM for months, you have a 30-minute AI conversation and Forge generates the pipelines, fields, forms, sequences, workflows, and dashboards your business actually needs. **Who is Forge for?** SMBs of 5–200 people across agencies, consultants, SaaS, e-commerce, real estate, manufacturing, and nonprofits. If you have 200+ seats with a dedicated admin team, Salesforce remains a better fit. **Does Forge charge per contact?** No. Forge plans are per-user with unlimited contacts on every plan, including the Free plan. **How long does it take to set up?** Under 30 minutes from sign-up to a working CRM with your real data model. **Can I migrate from HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, or Zoho?** Yes. Native importers cover all four plus Close, Monday, Capsule, and Insightly. Associations and timeline history are preserved. Dry-run + 24-hour rollback. White-glove migration on the Growth plan. **Does Forge include AI?** Yes, on every plan. The AI assistant runs scoped to your tenant, has a full audit log, and never trains shared models on your data. Enterprise can BYO model. **How is Forge different from HubSpot?** No per-contact pricing, AI on all plans, 30-minute setup vs. months, custom objects + workflows + quote builder included rather than gated to enterprise tiers. **Does Forge replace Salesforce?** For 5–200 person teams, yes. Salesforce is a platform you build a CRM on; Forge is a CRM you generate. **Is there a free plan?** Yes — $0/user, unlimited contacts, three pipelines, full AI assistant, demo project seeded on sign-up. **What about data isolation and security?** Per-account isolation enforced at a central ownership middleware layer. Cross-tenant access bugs are treated as P0. Object storage is scoped per user at upload time. SOC 2 controls. GDPR + CCPA compliant. Customer data is never used to train shared AI models. **Do you have native mobile apps?** Yes — native iOS and Android with offline-first sync, voice notes, caller ID auto-log, biometric unlock, iPad / Android tablet layouts, Apple Watch / Wear OS quick actions. **How do I contact Forge?** privacy@forge.boston for privacy / DSR, plus the contact form at https://forge.boston/contact. --- ## Canonical links - Home — https://forge.boston/ - Pricing — https://forge.boston/pricing - Product overview — https://forge.boston/product - Solutions overview — https://forge.boston/solutions - vs HubSpot — https://forge.boston/vs/hubspot - vs Salesforce — https://forge.boston/vs/salesforce - vs Pipedrive — https://forge.boston/vs/pipedrive - vs Zoho — https://forge.boston/vs/zoho - Customer stories — https://forge.boston/customers - Blog — https://forge.boston/blog - Docs — https://forge.boston/docs - Security — https://forge.boston/security - About — https://forge.boston/about - Sitemap — https://forge.boston/sitemap.xml - Short LLM summary — https://forge.boston/llms.txt