Softwr

CRM · head to head

Cloze vs Forethought

Cloze logo

Cloze

CRM

Relationship management for professionals

From
$50/month
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Forethought logo

Forethought

Customer Support

AI resolution and ticket triage layered on top of an existing helpdesk

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Cloze four paid tiers run from $17 to $42 per user per month, and each withholds a different set of features rather than simply adding capacity; Forethought forethought needs roughly 20,000 historical tickets and around 2,000 a month to train usefully, so a support team below that volume is not simply a smaller customer, it is ineligible, and the sales process will tell you so late.
  • They diverge on capability: Cloze covers Contact management, Forethought covers Solve.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cloze and Forethought actually diverge.

Attributes where Cloze and Forethought differ
AttributeClozeForethought
Starting price$50/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsWeb, Ios, AndroidWeb
CategoryCRMCustomer Support
Founded2012Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Cloze

  • Contact management
  • Communication history
  • Relationship insights
  • Task management
  • Integration aggregation
  • Gmail
  • Outlook
  • LinkedIn

Only in Forethought

  • Solve
  • Autoflows
  • Custom Actions
  • Triage
  • Assist
  • Discover
  • AI QA and Insights
  • Solve and Analytics APIs

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Cloze

  • CRM that builds contact records automatically from email and calendarnot Forethought
  • Tracking relationships and follow ups without manual data entrynot Forethought

Forethought

  • A retailer with 40,000 tickets a year in Zendesk wants order status, returns and refunds resolved end to end without an agent, including the API calls into the order system.not Cloze
  • A support operation that already abandoned a rules-based chatbot because the decision trees rotted, and wants resolution logic that does not need rebuilding every time a policy changes.not Cloze
  • A team drowning in triage where tickets sit in a general queue for hours before a human reads them and routes them to the right specialist group.not Cloze
  • A support leader who needs to know which questions have no knowledge article behind them, ranked by the volume of tickets they generate.not Cloze

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Cloze

  • Four paid tiers run from $17 to $42 per user per month, and each withholds a different set of features rather than simply adding capacity
  • Campaign automation, marketing mail and generative AI require the Business Platinum plan at $42 per user per month
  • Lead routing, sub team hierarchies and enterprise controls are Platinum only
  • Even the Business Gold plan at $29 per user excludes the matching engine and lead capture
  • The concierge service is an add on at $20 per user per month with a $500 monthly minimum
  • Every published rate assumes annual billing

Forethought

  • Forethought needs roughly 20,000 historical tickets and around 2,000 a month to train usefully, so a support team below that volume is not simply a smaller customer, it is ineligible, and the sales process will tell you so late.
  • Billing is outcome based per resolution on top of a platform fee, so the invoice rises precisely when the product performs, and forecasting a year of spend requires forecasting your own deflection curve.
  • Channels are tier gated: email, voice and Slack agents sit above the entry tier while the Solve API, Analytics API and knowledge gap detection are Enterprise only, and buyers routinely scope a tier that turns out not to include the channel they came for.
  • Ease of setup is the lowest scored dimension in independent reviews, with 30 to 90 day rollouts, no self-serve path and continual configuration effort to keep flows accurate, which means a named internal owner rather than a set-and-forget deployment.
  • Zendesk acquired Forethought in March 2026, so anyone running a multi-helpdesk estate on Salesforce, Freshdesk or Intercom is buying their neutral AI layer from a direct competitor of their helpdesk vendor, and should get contractual commitments on non-Zendesk connector parity.

Pricing, plan by plan

Cloze

$50/month
  • Professional$50/month
    • Contact management
    • Communication history
    • Insights
  • Team$100/month
    • Everything in Professional
    • Team collaboration
    • Advanced analytics

Forethought

On request
  • Team$undefined/year
    • Solve for chat
    • Triage
    • Standard reporting
  • Professional$undefined/year
    • Adds email, voice and Slack agents
    • Assist for human agents
    • Multibrand add-on available
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Solve API and Analytics API
    • Discover knowledge gap detection
    • Multibrand up to 20 brands

Which should you pick?

Choose Cloze if

  • You need contact management.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want communication history.
Cloze review

Choose Forethought if

  • You need solve.
  • You also want autoflows.
Forethought review

Questions people ask

Is Cloze or Forethought better?
Neither clearly leads. Cloze starts at $50/month and Forethought at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cloze or Forethought?
Cloze starts at $50/month and Forethought at On request.
Does Cloze or Forethought run on more platforms?
Cloze runs on Web, Ios, Android. Forethought runs on Web.
What is Cloze best used for?
Cloze is most often used for crm that builds contact records automatically from email and calendar, tracking relationships and follow ups without manual data entry. Of those, crm that builds contact records automatically from email and calendar and tracking relationships and follow ups without manual data entry are not what Forethought is typically brought in for.
What can Cloze do that Forethought cannot?
Cloze covers Contact management, Communication history, Relationship insights, Task management. Forethought covers Solve, Autoflows, Custom Actions, Triage.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Cloze: Does Cloze offer a free trial?

Yes. Cloze offers a 14-day free trial for all plans with no credit card required. This applies to Pro, Business Silver, Business Gold, and Business Platinum tiers.

Source
Forethought: Does Forethought replace my helpdesk?

No. It installs on top of Zendesk, Salesforce Service Cloud, Freshdesk or Intercom and reads their ticket history. You keep paying for the helpdesk.

Cloze: What is the difference between monthly and annual billing at Cloze?

Cloze offers both month-to-month and annual subscription options. Annual billing provides a discount. For example, Cloze Pro is $17/month annually but $19.99/month on month-to-month billing.

Source
Forethought: Is there a free trial?

No. Forethought runs a Proof of Value programme instead, which is a scoped paid or sales-managed pilot rather than a self-serve trial.

Cloze: What does Cloze's Business Platinum plan cost?

Cloze Business Platinum (their most popular plan) costs $42/user/month on annual billing or $49.99/user/month on month-to-month billing. It includes matching engine, smart templates, lead capture, campaign automation, and enterprise controls.

Source
Forethought: Is it still sold to non-Zendesk customers after the acquisition?

Zendesk says yes. Treat that as a commitment to negotiate rather than a guarantee, and ask for connector parity terms in writing.

Cloze: Does Cloze offer team collaboration features?

Yes, starting with Business Silver ($21/user/month annual). Team features include collaborative work, responsibility assignment, privacy settings management, and team analytics. Higher tiers unlock more advanced team controls and custom fields.

Source
Forethought: How is it priced?

Platform access fee plus outcome-based charging per resolution, with usage overages. Nothing is published; every deal is quoted.

Cloze: Does Cloze offer additional services beyond standard plans?

Yes. Cloze offers a Concierge Service at $20/user/month (minimum $500/month) that includes personalized training, a dedicated customer success manager, and data import assistance.

Source
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