9 Free Scratchpad Alternatives for Sales Teams

9 Free Scratchpad Alternatives for Sales Teams

Updated June 16, 20263,398 words9 tools compared

Scratchpad has become a staple for sales teams looking to streamline their CRM workflows, but it's not the only solution out there—and it's definitely not free. If you're searching for a Scratchpad alternative that doesn't drain your budget, you've landed in the right place. Whether you need conversation intelligence, pipeline visibility, revenue forecasting, or simple note-taking capabilities, there are multiple tools available that can replicate Scratchpad's core functionality without the premium price tag. In this guide, we've analyzed nine alternatives across different categories: from free-tier options perfect for bootstrap teams to enterprise-grade platforms that offer compelling value propositions. We'll break down pricing, key features, pros and cons, and help you identify which tool aligns best with your sales organization's specific needs and growth stage.

Quick Comparison

ProductBest ForStarting PriceRatingKey Feature
DoolySales activity logging and CRM updatesFree tier available4.6/5Automatic activity capture
BoostUpPipeline management and forecastingFree tier available4.5/5Visual pipeline tracking
WeflowSales workflow automationFree tier available4.4/5Workflow automation
People.aiDeal intelligence and forecastingContact sales4.7/5AI-powered deal scoring
AvisoRevenue forecasting and analyticsContact sales4.6/5Predictive analytics
ClariEnterprise revenue orchestrationContact sales4.8/5Revenue context management
GongConversation intelligenceContact sales4.7/5Call recording and analysis
ChorusCall recording and insightsContact sales4.6/5Conversation intelligence
ScratchpadCRM-embedded note-takingPaid plans start at $9/user/mo4.5/5CRM-native notes and updates

Scroll horizontally to see all columns

Detailed Reviews

In-depth analysis of each platform to help you make the right choice.

#1

Dooly

Top Pick

Best For: Sales teams using Salesforce or HubSpot who need automatic CRM updates and activity logging

Dooly stands out as the top free Scratchpad alternative because it solves the exact same problem—keeping your CRM clean and current without manual data entry. The platform integrates directly into Salesforce and HubSpot, automatically logging activities, capturing deal details, and updating records in real-time. For early-stage sales teams that need reliable activity tracking without paying per user, Dooly's free tier delivers substantial value without forcing you into a paid commitment.

Pricing: Free tier includes basic activity capture; paid plans start at $35/user/month for advanced features

Key Features

  • Automatic activity logging from email and calendar
  • One-click deal updates and notes
  • Slack integration for team collaboration
  • Pipeline visibility dashboard
  • Deal room creation for collaborative selling

Pros

  • +Completely free tier that covers core Scratchpad use cases
  • +Seamless integration with Salesforce and HubSpot without developer setup
  • +Reduces time spent on CRM admin by automating activity capture
  • +Built-in collaboration features for team transparency

Cons

  • -Free tier limitations on advanced analytics and reporting
  • -Primarily focused on activity logging rather than broader sales enablement
  • -Requires integration setup that may need CRM admin involvement

Verdict

Dooly is the best free alternative for teams already invested in Salesforce or HubSpot. It directly replaces Scratchpad's core functionality—automatic activity capture and streamlined CRM updates—without the monthly per-user cost. If your primary pain point is keeping CRM data current, Dooly's free tier will solve it immediately.

#2

BoostUp

Best For: Sales managers and teams needing visual pipeline management with integrated activity tracking

BoostUp approaches the Scratchpad problem from a pipeline visibility angle, offering visual deal tracking and forecasting without the premium pricing. The platform emphasizes drag-and-drop pipeline management combined with deal-level collaboration and activity tracking. For sales teams that need both CRM organization and visual pipeline management, BoostUp provides a compelling alternative that works with your existing CRM rather than replacing it.

Pricing: Free tier available with limited reports; paid plans start at $29/user/month

Key Features

  • Visual pipeline board with drag-and-drop deal management
  • Deal-level activity tracking and notes
  • Forecast accuracy monitoring
  • Team collaboration and deal ownership
  • Mobile app for on-the-go updates

Pros

  • +Free tier includes essential pipeline visibility without CRM licensing fees
  • +Visual interface makes pipeline management intuitive for non-technical users
  • +Activity tracking integrated at the deal level for context-rich collaboration
  • +Mobile accessibility for field sales teams
  • +Affordable paid tier compared to enterprise alternatives

Cons

  • -Requires dual-system thinking if your CRM already has pipeline views
  • -Free tier has limited historical data and reporting
  • -Integration capabilities more limited than enterprise platforms

Verdict

BoostUp works well for sales teams that find traditional CRM pipeline views insufficient. The free tier gives you visual deal management and basic activity tracking, making it a solid Scratchpad alternative if your team values visual workflow over native CRM integration.

#3

Weflow

Best For: Sales operations teams and process-driven organizations looking to automate repetitive workflows

Weflow takes a workflow automation approach to replacing Scratchpad, focusing on eliminating manual sales processes rather than just improving note-taking. The platform automates repetitive tasks like follow-up scheduling, task creation, and deal progression, which indirectly reduces the need for extensive manual Scratchpad-style documentation. For teams spending significant time on process work, Weflow's automation capabilities can dramatically improve efficiency.

Pricing: Free tier with limited automations; paid plans start at $50/month for teams

Key Features

  • Workflow automation builder with no-code interface
  • Automatic task and follow-up creation
  • Lead routing and distribution automation
  • Deal progression automation
  • Integration with multiple CRMs and communication tools

Pros

  • +Free tier includes multiple useful automations without per-user costs
  • +No-code automation builder means non-technical users can set up workflows
  • +Reduces manual data entry by automating common sales tasks
  • +Works across multiple CRM platforms
  • +Particularly valuable for scaling teams with repetitive processes

Cons

  • -Automation-first approach may be overly complex for simple note-taking needs
  • -Learning curve to set up workflows properly
  • -Best value emerges only after investing time in configuration

Verdict

Weflow is the best Scratchpad alternative if your pain point is manual process work rather than just note-taking. By automating task creation, follow-ups, and deal progression, Weflow reduces the amount of administrative work that might otherwise require Scratchpad-style documentation. Choose this if your team spends more time managing process than managing notes.

#4

People.ai

Best For: Mid-market to enterprise sales organizations needing predictive deal intelligence and risk identification

People.ai shifts from note-taking to AI-powered deal intelligence, providing automated deal scoring, opportunity health assessments, and predictive analytics. While it's a paid-only platform, it offers substantially different value than Scratchpad—moving from manual documentation to intelligent deal insights. For teams ready to invest in AI-driven sales intelligence, People.ai provides exceptional accuracy in predicting deal outcomes and identifying at-risk opportunities before manual notes could ever surface issues.

Pricing: Contact sales; typically $500-2,000+/month depending on organization size and deal volume

Key Features

  • Automated deal scoring using AI and multimodal signals
  • Opportunity health intelligence and risk alerts
  • Engagement tracking across all communication channels
  • Predictive pipeline forecasting
  • Intelligent deal coaching based on engagement gaps

Pros

  • +AI-powered insights substantially exceed manual note-taking capabilities
  • +Detects engagement gaps and deal risks automatically
  • +Reduces reliance on subjective sales manager assessments
  • +Provides data-driven deal progression coaching
  • +Integrates with all major CRMs and communication platforms

Cons

  • -Paid-only platform with significant monthly investment required
  • -Overkill for simple note-taking needs; better suited for complex sales cycles
  • -Implementation requires organizational adoption to extract full value

Verdict

People.ai represents a different category—not a cheaper Scratchpad alternative, but a smarter one. If your organization is ready to move beyond manual note-taking to AI-powered deal intelligence, People.ai's predictive capabilities are worth the investment. This is the choice when you want to predict deal outcomes rather than just document them.

#5

Aviso

Best For: Sales leaders and revenue operations teams prioritizing forecast accuracy and pipeline intelligence

Aviso focuses specifically on revenue forecasting accuracy and pipeline analytics, offering prescriptive intelligence to help sales leaders make better decisions. Unlike Scratchpad's documentation approach, Aviso uses AI to surface insights about what's working, what isn't, and where deals are actually headed. For revenue operations teams and sales leaders responsible for forecast accuracy, Aviso provides more sophisticated analysis than Scratchpad could ever deliver.

Pricing: Contact sales; enterprise pricing typically $1,000+/month

Key Features

  • AI-powered revenue forecasting with accuracy tracking
  • Pipeline health scoring and trend analysis
  • Deal guidance and progression recommendations
  • Sales performance analytics and coaching insights
  • Custom reporting and dashboard creation

Pros

  • +Substantially improves forecast accuracy through predictive modeling
  • +Identifies pipeline gaps before they impact revenue
  • +Provides specific coaching guidance based on deal data
  • +Reduces reliance on gut-feel forecasting
  • +Works across multiple CRM platforms

Cons

  • -Enterprise pricing not suitable for early-stage teams
  • -Implementation and data setup require significant investment
  • -Advanced features require strong data quality to function effectively

Verdict

Aviso is a premium Scratchpad alternative best suited for organizations with complex sales cycles and strict forecast requirements. While not free, it delivers substantially more value than Scratchpad in the forecasting and intelligence domain. Choose Aviso if forecast accuracy is your primary pain point.

#6

Clari

Best For: Enterprise sales organizations managing complex revenue processes and requiring organization-wide revenue visibility

Clari positions itself as a revenue orchestration platform for enterprise organizations, offering comprehensive visibility into the entire revenue process. Beyond Scratchpad's note-taking, Clari provides contextual intelligence about deal health, buyer engagement, and revenue risk across the entire organization. For enterprise teams managing complex, multi-stakeholder deals, Clari's contextual approach provides substantially more value than Scratchpad's documentation model.

Pricing: Contact sales; enterprise pricing starting at $5,000+/month for comprehensive deployments

Key Features

  • Revenue context platform unifying CRM, call, email, and collaboration data
  • Deal health scoring and engagement intelligence
  • Forecast accuracy and pipeline intelligence
  • Revenue risk identification and mitigation recommendations
  • Organization-wide revenue dashboards and reporting

Pros

  • +Provides contextual intelligence far exceeding traditional note-taking
  • +Unifies data across all revenue-related systems and communications
  • +Enables data-driven coaching and deal guidance
  • +Supports complex, multi-stakeholder deal processes
  • +Scales across enterprise organizations with multiple sales teams

Cons

  • -Substantial investment required; not suitable for bootstrapped teams
  • -Implementation timeline typically 3-6 months for enterprises
  • -Requires organizational adoption and change management

Verdict

Clari is the enterprise answer to Scratchpad, but for organizations that have moved beyond documentation to intelligence. If you're managing millions in pipeline and need to prevent surprise deal slippages, Clari's revenue context capabilities justify the investment. This is for mature sales organizations, not early-stage teams.

#7

Gong

Best For: Sales organizations prioritizing conversation intelligence, coaching, and objective deal assessment

Gong specializes in conversation intelligence, automatically recording and analyzing sales calls to identify coaching opportunities and deal risks. Rather than relying on subjective call notes captured in Scratchpad, Gong creates an objective record of every conversation, identifying specific moments where deals progress or stall. For organizations that believe the truth is in the call, Gong provides Scratchpad-replacement value through systematic conversation analysis.

Pricing: Contact sales; typically $10,000-50,000+/year depending on team size and call volume

Key Features

  • Automatic call recording with AI transcription
  • Conversation intelligence and pattern analysis
  • Coaching moment identification and recommendations
  • Deal stage prediction based on conversation content
  • Sales execution coaching and playbook alignment tracking

Pros

  • +Creates objective record of customer conversations
  • +Identifies coaching opportunities that manual notes might miss
  • +Provides data-driven basis for deal assessment
  • +Enables systematic skill development across sales teams
  • +Integrates with all major communication and CRM platforms

Cons

  • -Paid-only platform with significant investment required
  • -Requires organizational adoption of call recording and review processes
  • -Some organizations face cultural resistance to recorded calls

Verdict

Gong replaces Scratchpad with something better—systematic conversation analysis instead of subjective notes. If your team spends significant time on calls and you value coaching and development, Gong's intelligence capabilities justify the cost. This is ideal for teams that believe conversation data should drive deal assessment.

#8

Chorus

Best For: Sales teams focused on continuous learning and coaching through conversation analysis

Chorus provides conversation intelligence specifically focused on call recording, transcription, and team learning. Similar to Gong but with a distinct emphasis on building team knowledge through conversation reviews, Chorus helps sales teams identify what's working in conversations and systematize successful approaches. For organizations wanting to learn from customer conversations rather than just document them, Chorus offers an alternative to Scratchpad's documentation approach.

Pricing: Contact sales; enterprise pricing typically $5,000-30,000+/year

Key Features

  • Call recording and AI-powered transcription
  • Conversation search across entire team call library
  • Playbook alignment and adherence tracking
  • Deal intelligence from conversation content
  • Sales coaching and skill development insights

Pros

  • +Creates searchable library of all team conversations
  • +Identifies patterns and best practices across calls
  • +Enables systematic sales enablement through conversation analysis
  • +Focuses on team learning and development
  • +Integrates deeply with popular sales communication platforms

Cons

  • -Substantial investment required; not suitable for bootstrapped teams
  • -Requires organizational change around call transparency
  • -Best value emerges only with high call volume and active usage

Verdict

Chorus is the team-learning version of conversation intelligence, making it a Scratchpad alternative for organizations that value systematic coaching. If your sales team benefits from learning from each other's calls, Chorus's emphasis on conversation libraries and playbook alignment makes it worth the investment.

#9

Scratchpad

Best For: Growing sales teams wanting better CRM workflows without major platform changes or learning curves

Scratchpad remains a solid option for teams that prioritize seamless CRM integration and simple, fast note-taking. The platform excels at reducing CRM friction by embedding notes, deal updates, and activity logging directly into Salesforce and HubSpot. While not free, Scratchpad's pricing is significantly lower than enterprise intelligence platforms, making it accessible for growing teams that want better CRM workflows without significant platform switching.

Pricing: Paid plans start at $9/user/month; pricing varies by CRM and feature tier

Key Features

  • CRM-native note-taking and deal information capture
  • One-click activity logging from email
  • Deal update and next-step recommendations
  • Timeline view of deal progression
  • Slack integration for team collaboration

Pros

  • +Minimal learning curve; works within existing CRM workflows
  • +Fast implementation with no significant process changes required
  • +Affordable pricing compared to enterprise alternatives
  • +Proven stability and widespread adoption
  • +Seamless Salesforce and HubSpot integration

Cons

  • -No free tier; requires per-user investment even for basic functionality
  • -Limited intelligence capabilities compared to AI-powered alternatives
  • -Primarily a note-taking tool; doesn't address broader sales intelligence needs

Verdict

Scratchpad remains a practical choice for teams wanting modest CRM workflow improvements without major technology investments. However, if you're evaluating Scratchpad alternatives, consider whether a free option like Dooly might solve your actual problem, or whether you'd benefit from more sophisticated intelligence platforms if budget allows.

Frequently Asked Questions about free Scratchpad alternatives

Scratchpad is a CRM productivity tool that embeds note-taking, activity logging, and deal update capabilities directly into Salesforce and HubSpot. It helps sales teams reduce time spent on administrative CRM work by automating activity capture and streamlining deal information entry. Teams typically seek alternatives for three reasons: cost (Scratchpad charges per user monthly), missing intelligence capabilities (it's documentation-focused rather than prediction-focused), or different workflow preferences. If your team struggles with keeping CRM data current, manual activity logging, or wants intelligent deal insights rather than just better note-taking, alternatives like Dooly, Gong, or People.ai may better address your specific needs.

Dooly is the closest free alternative to Scratchpad. Both focus on reducing CRM admin burden through automatic activity capture, streamlined deal updates, and note-taking. Dooly's free tier includes automatic logging of emails and calendar events, one-click deal updates, and basic pipeline visibility—all Scratchpad's core functions. The main difference is Dooly emphasizes activity automation more heavily, while Scratchpad offers more extensive note customization. For teams that need Scratchpad's exact functionality without the per-user cost, Dooly's free tier is the most direct replacement. If Dooly's automation-heavy approach doesn't match your workflow preferences, BoostUp offers a free tier focused on visual pipeline management.

Free alternatives are genuinely sufficient for specific use cases. If your primary pain point is CRM admin friction and activity logging, Dooly's free tier completely solves that problem. However, if you need predictive deal intelligence, conversation analysis, or advanced forecasting, free options won't cut it—you'll need platforms like Gong, People.ai, or Clari. The decision depends on whether you're seeking documentation improvements or intelligence capabilities. For bootstrapped teams and early-stage startups, free options provide solid value. For organizations managing seven-figure pipeline or complex enterprise deals, the $500-5,000 monthly investment in intelligence platforms typically delivers far more ROI than saving on a $9/user/month note-taking tool. Evaluate your actual problem: if it's CRM friction, go free; if it's deal prediction or coaching, the paid intelligence platforms justify their cost.

Native CRM features (Salesforce's Chatter, HubSpot's notes, etc.) require more manual work but cost nothing. The trade-off is significant: native note-taking requires you to manually create entries, logging activities requires separate actions, and activity tracking happens only if you remember to input data. Scratchpad and its alternatives automate much of this work—Dooly automatically logs emails and calendar events, Gong automatically records calls, People.ai automatically scores deals. For $9-35/user/month, you're paying for automation and reduced manual work. For very small teams (2-3 people) that don't mind manual entry, native CRM features may suffice. For teams of 5+ people managing substantial pipeline, the time saved by automation typically pays for itself within weeks. Consider whether your team's bottleneck is actual CRM limitations or just workflow friction—alternatives address the latter much more effectively.

Prioritize three factors: your actual problem (activity logging, deal intelligence, forecasting, or conversation analysis), your CRM platform (Salesforce vs. HubSpot vs. others), and your budget. Start by identifying whether you need documentation improvements (Dooly, BoostUp, Scratchpad) or intelligence improvements (Gong, People.ai, Clari). Next, verify platform compatibility—all these alternatives work with major CRMs, but integration depth varies. Finally, match budget to stage: bootstrapped teams should start with free Dooly tier; Series A teams with $1-5M ARR might justify Gong or People.ai; enterprises managing $10M+ pipeline benefit from Clari. If you're uncertain, start with a free trial of Dooly—it covers the most common Scratchpad use cases. If you need more help evaluating and implementing these tools, organizations like RevAlign.io provide specialized consulting for sales technology selection and deployment.

Conclusion

Finding the right Scratchpad alternative depends entirely on what problem you're actually trying to solve. If your goal is reducing CRM admin friction and automating activity logging, Dooly's free tier delivers that value immediately. If you need visual pipeline management, BoostUp offers an intuitive free option. If your pain point is manual process work, Weflow's automation capabilities prove valuable. However, if you're ready to move beyond documentation to intelligence—predicting deal outcomes, identifying coaching opportunities, or improving forecast accuracy—the paid alternatives like Gong, People.ai, Aviso, and Clari offer substantially more sophisticated capabilities. For early-stage teams building product-market fit, free alternatives prevent unnecessary spending while you validate your sales process. For growing organizations managing millions in pipeline, the $500-2,000 monthly investment in intelligence platforms typically delivers 3-5x ROI through improved deal prediction and reduced surprise slippages. The best choice isn't always the cheapest option—it's the one that directly solves your team's specific bottleneck. Start by identifying whether you need workflow improvement (activity logging, note-taking, process automation) or intelligence improvement (deal prediction, conversation analysis, forecast accuracy). Then match your budget to your company stage. If you're uncertain about which platform fits your organization or need help with implementation, RevAlign.io offers expert guidance on selecting and deploying sales technology for maximum impact. Whatever you choose, prioritize getting your team actually using the tool—the best platform unused is worse than a modest platform used consistently.

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