The CRM and PSA market splits into three kinds of platform. This page is a straight guide to which kind fits which kind of firm — written by someone selling you one of them, so weigh it accordingly. We recommend Avaro where it fits, and recommend something else where it doesn’t.
Built around the sales pipeline. Fast to set up, typically priced from £10–30 per seat. Strong fit for pure-sales teams with no project-delivery, time-tracking or professional-services workflow. Deliberately focused, which is both the strength and the limit.
Sales, marketing, service and (sometimes) delivery on a single vendor — but typically sold as separate “hubs” or “clouds”, each priced individually. Most capable at scale and most extensible via large app ecosystems. Also the most expensive per seat and the longest to implement. Enterprise-first in pricing and complexity.
CRM + PSA + marketing + contracts on a single platform with a single database. No separate hubs, no per-module pricing. Designed for professional-services firms — consulting, IT services, legal, recruitment, engineering. This is the category Avaro One sits in.
If yes, you need PSA — timesheets, billable/non-billable classification, invoice generation from tracked time. Pure CRMs don’t cover this. Enterprise suites typically cover it via separately-priced add-ons. Services all-in-ones cover it natively.
If yes, same answer: PSA matters. Pure CRMs are not designed for this. Enterprise suites handle it through project-automation add-ons. Services all-in-ones include Gantt, dependencies, resource allocation and utilisation natively.
If yes, contract-lifecycle management (CLM) matters — templates, approvals, signing order, renewals. Pure CRMs typically rely on third-party e-signature add-ons. Enterprise suites offer CLM as a separately-priced module. Services all-in-ones usually include both e-signatures and CLM.
Sales-primarily teams (the whole point of the team is to close deals) fit a pure CRM very well. Services-primarily teams (the whole point is delivering client work) fit an all-in-one. Mixed teams typically resolve to an all-in-one because the delivery half has requirements a pure CRM cannot meet.
Heavy customisation plus 50+ third-party integrations points firmly to an enterprise suite — the ecosystem is the product. Lighter integration needs and a preference for included-by-default fit an all-in-one. Minimal customisation plus a single sales process fits a pure CRM.
Small teams (under 10) that are very cost-sensitive: pure CRM. Mid-market firms (20–200) wanting enterprise capability without enterprise pricing: all-in-one. 200+ staff with a dedicated CRM admin team and a six-figure annual software budget: enterprise suite.
Sales, project delivery, marketing automation, e-signatures, contract lifecycle, people development and finance run on the same database. No separate hubs, no sync layer, no "which system is right?" debates at month-end.
£35–65 per seat per month, across 250+ features. No per-envelope e-signature fees, no marketing-contact tiering, no add-on modules. The per-seat price is the entire cost.
T&M, Fixed Price, Retainer, Managed Services, Staff Aug, Assessment, Training, Outcome-Based. The delivery half of the product was built from the workflows of firms whose product is their people.
UK and EU data residency, GDPR-ready DSAR / breach / consent workflows, eIDAS-compliant e-signatures, full audit trail. Compliance is included, not a premium tier.
Migration cost — people time, data cleanup, re-training, integration rebuilds — typically exceeds the annual saving. If your current platform works, keep it and invest in optimising what you have. Avaro is the wrong ROI call for you.
A focused sales CRM will serve you better and cost less. Avaro’s PSA, e-signature and contract capabilities are paid-for whether you use them or not. Pay for what you need.
We don’t have an app marketplace. We’re all-inclusive by design, not integration-first. If a big third-party ecosystem is core to how your firm works, an enterprise suite will fit your need better.
We’re a CRM + PSA platform. If you need full finance general-ledger, manufacturing planning, supply-chain management or multi-entity consolidation, you’re looking at a different category of product entirely.
Talk to someone who will tell you honestly whether Avaro fits — or doesn’t. We’re more interested in the right fit than the next signup.