Closely Alternative — Build Your Own LinkedIn Outreach Tool
Closely is a polished outreach tool with team features. If you're a solo operator or small team that wants a custom outreach extension you fully control, with AI personalization tuned to your voice, building your own with PlugThis works.
About Closely
Closely is a LinkedIn automation and outreach tool that helps users send connection requests, follow up with prospects, and manage outreach campaigns at scale through a Chrome extension and web dashboard.
Pricing: Closely was offered at $79 lifetime on AppSumo. Standard pricing includes monthly subscriptions for ongoing campaigns.
Audience: B2B sales reps, founders doing outbound, and recruiters managing high-volume LinkedIn outreach.
PlugThis vs Closely
| Feature | PlugThis | Closely |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $89 one-time | $79 lifetime (AppSumo) or subscription |
| LinkedIn-specific safety | You build the rate limits | Closely-tuned safety |
| Source code | Full source | Closed |
| Custom outreach templates | Unlimited | Built-in templates |
| AI personalization | Bring your own keys (GPT-4) | Built-in |
| CRM integration | Build it via Supabase or webhooks | Direct integrations |
| Team management | Single-user (extend if needed) | Multi-user with roles |
| LinkedIn account risk | Same risk — automation always carries some risk | Same risk |
What Closely does well
- Battle-tested LinkedIn-specific automation flows
- Built-in safety features to avoid LinkedIn restrictions
- Team collaboration features for sales orgs
- Active product with regular feature updates
Build it yourself with PlugThis
Build time: About 15 minutes
What you get:
- AI personalization tuned to your voice (not generic templates)
- Custom rate limits you control (not vendor defaults)
- Source code: tweak any behavior for your specific outbound playbook
- Bring your own AI keys — pay only for actual usage
- No data leaves your stack except to LinkedIn and your AI provider
- Open architecture — integrate with whatever CRM you use
Build a Chrome extension called "Outreach Helper" for LinkedIn outreach. The extension should: (1) detect when the user is on a LinkedIn profile page, (2) show a sidebar with: "Connect with personalized note" button, "Send follow-up message" button, and a saved-templates dropdown, (3) when "Connect with personalized note" is clicked, the extension reads the profile (name, role, company, recent activity if visible), sends to OpenAI GPT-4 with a prompt to generate a personalized 250-character connection note matching the user's voice (defined in options), and pastes the note into LinkedIn's connection dialog, (4) provide an options page where the user enters their OpenAI API key, defines their voice/tone, and creates message templates, (5) implement rate limiting (max 20 connection requests per day, max 3 follow-ups per day) to reduce LinkedIn restriction risk, (6) save sent messages to chrome.storage for tracking. Permissions: storage, activeTab. Host permissions: https://www.linkedin.com/*, https://api.openai.com/*. Manifest V3.
Pricing comparison
Closely
$79 lifetime (AppSumo) or subscription on closely.com
PlugThis
$89 one-time + your OpenAI usage (~$10/month for active outreach)
Closely's lifetime deal is actually cheaper. PlugThis wins on customization and ownership, not price for this comparison.
Other alternatives to explore
Wordtune alternative
Wordtune alternative — build your own AI rewriting Chrome extension with PlugThis. $89 lifetime, no subscription, your own API keys.
WriteSeed alternative
WriteSeed alternative — build your own AI writing extension with PlugThis for $89 lifetime. Full source code, no subscription, in 5 minutes.
Remio alternative
Remio alternative — build your own AI research and knowledge management Chrome extension with PlugThis. $89 lifetime, full ownership.
Liner alternative
Liner alternative — build your own AI-powered web highlighter and search assistant with PlugThis. $89 lifetime, your own AI keys.
Build your own Closely alternative now.
Paste the prompt above into PlugThis and ship your custom version in minutes.
Disclosure: PlugThis is a competing product to Closely. This comparison is intended for users actively evaluating both options. We last verified the Closely information on this page on 2026-05-14. Pricing and features may have changed since — please check the Closely website for current details.
Closely alternative — FAQ
Will my custom outreach extension trigger LinkedIn restrictions?
Any LinkedIn automation carries restriction risk — Closely included. Building your own doesn't make it safer or riskier; it just gives you control over rate limits and behavior. Stay well below LinkedIn's daily limits and use realistic timing patterns.
Can I integrate with my CRM?
Yes — describe in PlugThis: "send each contact and message to my Hubspot/Salesforce via webhook." PlugThis sets up the API integration.
Why would I do this if Closely's lifetime deal is cheaper?
You wouldn't, on price alone. The reasons to build your own: you want AI in your voice (not generic), you want custom workflows Closely doesn't support, you want code ownership, or you want a single tool that does outreach AND something else specific to your business.