Affinity vs folk (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, folk grades higher than Affinity: 2.2 against 1.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 4, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
folk grades higher on the free plan and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Affinity
Relationship-intelligence CRM for investment and deal teams
folk
CRM that pulls contacts from LinkedIn, email and WhatsApp
Which one is for you
Pick Affinity if
- Fits if you run an investment or advisory firm and track relationships across a team
- Works for teams that want contacts logged from email automatically
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you are small: $2,000 per user a year is the floor
- Skip it if you want a free try, because none is listed
- Watch out: Notetaker, AI Chat and the MCP server start on Scale at $2,300; enrichment on Advanced
- Watch out: API calls are capped at 100,000 a month on Scale and Advanced, and extra seats and implementation are add-ons
Pick folk if
- Fits if you find your leads on LinkedIn and don't want to type them into a CRM
- Works for teams whose conversations are split between email and WhatsApp
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you need deals, sequences, dashboards or the API, which only come with Premium at $48 a member
- Skip it if you want a free plan, as the 14-day trial is followed by a paid subscription
- Tight if you do a lot of outreach: 500 enrichments, 2,000 messages and 1 synced account a member on Standard
- Watch out: folk's terms say all fees are non-refundable, and monthly billing is $30 against $24 yearly
- Not for you if you need quotes or support cases, which folk doesn't have on any plan
How we grade them
| 1.6GPAAffinityWeak | 2.2GPAfolkFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | D$2,000 per user a year is about $167 a month, well above the $99 where the dearest tenth of CRM tools starts and the $25 middle. | DStandard is $24 a member a month on yearly billing, bang on the middle for CRMs here. The problem is what's missing from it: deals, email sequences, dashboards and API access all need Premium at $48, which is double the category's middle price for things most CRMs treat as the basics. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan and no trial are listed on the pricing page, which sells every tier through sales. | CNo free plan at all. The 14-day trial gives you Premium features and doesn't ask for a card. After that it's a paid subscription, and folk's terms say fees aren't refunded. |
| Features | CAutomatic activity capture, relationship intelligence, deal pipelines, AI Chat, enrichment and an API. The listing's gap: Notetaker, AI Chat and the MCP server start on Scale, and enrichment on Advanced. | CContacts, groups, pipelines, campaigns, enrichment and four AI assistants, with a Chrome extension that pulls people in from LinkedIn. But the listing's own gaps are real ones: no deals or custom objects until Premium, no quoting or support cases at all, and enrichments, AI fields and messages are all capped monthly. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. Connecting email, calendar and data sources is part of rolling it out. | CNo App Store rating on record, and getting going means connecting accounts: Gmail or Outlook, your calendar, WhatsApp, plus the browser extension. Only 1 synced account per member on Standard, so there's a bit of deciding to do before it's useful. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb plus browser extension, with Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Zoom, Teams and Salesforce connections and an API. | AWeb, Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android and a Chrome extension, which is more places than most CRMs here run. It connects to Gmail, Outlook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Google Calendar, Zapier, Make and PandaDoc, and there's an API, though only from Premium. |
| Best for | relationship intelligence for investment teams | small teams that find leads on LinkedIn |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Affinity and folk. How we grade
Price against what you get
Affinity starts at $166.67 a month when paid by the year for each person and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. folk starts at $24 a month for each person and scores 2.7.
folk scores higher and starts $142.67 a month lower. Of the other CRM tools on the chart, 39 score higher than Affinity for less, and 5 score higher than folk for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Affinity also covers meeting notes, AI agents and reports.
- folk also covers workflow automation.
At a glance
| Affinity | folk | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free trial |
| Starts at | $2,000 per user / year, billed annually | $24 per member / month, billed annually ($30 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | 14-day free trial with Premium features, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Affinity | Folk Inc. |
| Price read from | affinity.co | folk.app |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 4, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Affinity
- Every tier is quoted through sales, and the page lists no free plan or trial.
- Notetaker, AI Chat, Ascend agents and the MCP server start on Scale; enrichment and automations start on Advanced.
- API calls, including MCP queries, are capped at 100,000 a month on Scale and Advanced; Enterprise is unlimited.
- Collaborator and sync-only seats, and dedicated implementation support, are add-ons.
folk
- There is no free plan; the 14-day trial is followed by a paid subscription.
- Deals, email sequences, dashboards and API access are only on Premium and Enterprise.
- Enrichments, AI magic fields and messages are capped each month on Standard and Premium.
- The terms of use state that all fees are non-refundable.
Key features
Affinity
- Automatic activity capture
- Email and calendar sync creates records and logs interactions without manual entry, with sync policies set by admins at team level.
- Relationship intelligence
- A relationship graph and strength score show the warmest path to any contact, and Scale adds inferred connections beyond direct email history.
- Deal pipeline management
- Pipelines with unlimited smart lists for people, organizations and opportunities, plus reporting and analytics.
- AI Chat, Notetaker and Ascend
- Scale and above include conversational access to the pipeline, meeting capture and follow-up, and agents built for private capital.
- Data enrichment
- Affinity's own enrichment is in every plan. Advanced adds PitchBook, Dealroom and Crunchbase data, and PitchBook needs its own subscription.
- Hosted MCP server and API
- The MCP server lets Claude, ChatGPT and other assistants use Affinity data, and API access is capped at 100,000 calls a month below Enterprise.
folk
- folkX Chrome extension
- Saves people and companies from LinkedIn, Sales Navigator and other social sites into folk from the browser, so contacts do not have to be typed in by hand.
- Email, calendar and WhatsApp sync
- Gmail or Outlook mail, calendars and WhatsApp conversations are synced to each contact. Standard allows 1 synced account per member and Premium allows 5.
- Contact enrichment
- Looks up missing email addresses and phone numbers for contacts. Standard includes 500 enrichments a month and Premium 1,000; Enterprise limits are custom.
- Pipelines and deals
- Customizable pipelines track contacts and companies through each stage on every plan. Deals, custom objects and dashboards are added on Premium.
- Campaigns and sequences
- Personalized email campaigns can be sent from folk, with 2,000 messages per member a month on Standard and 5,000 on Premium. Multi-step email sequences need Premium.
- AI assistants
- Four assistants suggest follow-ups for stalled conversations, summarize a relationship, research companies and run trigger-based outreach workflows.
Plans
Affinity
Essential$2,000
per user / year, billed annually
Automatic email and calendar capture, relationship scoring, firmwide interaction history, deal pipeline tracking and Affinity Labs early access. Sold through sales.
Scale$2,300
per user / year, billed annually
Everything in Essential, plus Notetaker, AI Chat, Ascend agents, the hosted MCP server and inferred network connections. 100,000 API calls a month.
Advanced$2,700
per user / year, billed annually
Everything in Scale, plus enrichment from PitchBook, Dealroom and Crunchbase, company growth insights, packaged integrations and workflow automations.
EnterpriseCustom
Everything in Advanced, plus fund-level permissions, enterprise SSO, custom data retention and unlimited API access.
folk
Standard$24
per member / month, billed annually ($30 billed monthly)
Pipelines, email campaigns, the LinkedIn extension, 500 enrichments and 2,000 AI magic fields a month, and 2,000 messages per member a month.
Premium$48
per member / month, billed annually ($60 billed monthly)
Adds deals and custom objects, email sequences, dashboards, workspace roles and API access, with 1,000 enrichments and 5,000 messages per member a month.
EnterpriseFrom $80
per member / month, billed annually ($100 billed monthly)
Custom limits for enrichment, messages and syncs, security controls, group-level permissions and a dedicated account manager.
Ways to pay less
Affinity
No public discounts listed.
folk
- Annual discount
Save 20% with annual billing
folk's pricing page lists Standard at $24 per member a month billed annually instead of $30 monthly, and Premium at $48 instead of $60.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Affinity or folk?
As of Nov 12, 2026, folk is cheaper to start with: $24 a month for each person, against $166.67 a month when paid by the year for each person for Affinity. Affinity starts at $2,000 per user / year, billed annually, and folk starts at $24 per member / month, billed annually ($30 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Affinity or folk?
As of Nov 12, 2026, neither Affinity nor folk has a free plan. folk has a free trial.
Which platforms do Affinity and folk run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only folk lists macOS, Windows, iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app and a browser extension. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.