If you’ve found your way here, you’re probably knee-deep in spreadsheets, CRM tabs, and half a dozen SaaS demos. You know your sales team needs a better system to find, track, and close B2B deals—but all the “go-to-market” (GTM) tools sound the same. Affinity, Outreach, Salesforce, HubSpot, Apollo, and the list keeps growing. If you’re trying to figure out how Affinity stacks up against the competition—and what actually matters when picking a B2B GTM platform—this guide is for you.
1. Get Clear on What You Actually Need
Before you compare features or pricing, slow down and ask: What’s the real problem you’re solving? Most B2B sales teams are either:
- Drowning in manual CRM updates
- Missing out on warm intros and network-based selling
- Struggling to keep data clean and up to date
- Looking to scale outbound without burning reps out
You don’t need a Ferrari if you’re just driving to the grocery store. Write down your top 3 headaches. Keep them visible as you compare tools—they’ll keep you honest.
Pro tip: If you can’t explain your top need in one sentence, you’re probably not ready to pick a tool yet.
2. Know What Affinity Is (and Isn’t)
Let’s cut through the fog. Affinity is first and foremost a relationship intelligence CRM. That means it’s built to:
- Map out your team’s collective network (think: who knows who, and how well)
- Surface warm paths to prospects and investors
- Automate data entry by syncing with email and calendar
- Track deal flow, pipelines, and activity
Where Affinity shines: - Network-driven sales: If your business depends on warm intros or referrals (think VC, PE, partnerships), Affinity’s network mapping is a real differentiator. - Automation: Affinity saves reps hours by auto-logging emails, meetings, and contact details. No more “I forgot to log that call.” - Clean data: Because it syncs with your inbox, data decay is less of a nightmare.
Where it falls short: - Outbound-heavy teams: If your sales motion is mostly cold outbound (high-velocity, high-volume), platforms like Outreach or Apollo are more dialed-in for sequences and multichannel outreach. - Customization: Affinity does a lot out of the box, but it’s not as endlessly customizable as Salesforce. Power users might hit walls. - Integration ecosystem: It covers the basics, but if you need plug-ins for every SaaS under the sun, some legacy CRMs have more options.
Ignore the “AI-powered” pitch unless you’ve seen the actual workflow improvements. Most of it is glorified autocomplete.
3. Shortlist the Real Alternatives
Don’t waste time on a dozen demos. Once you know your needs, your shortlist should only include tools that match your sales motion. Here’s how Affinity stacks up against common B2B GTM solutions:
- Salesforce: The default for enterprise. Highly customizable, but heavy, expensive, and needs dedicated admins. Great if you need complex workflows or have a big ops team.
- HubSpot: Easier to use, friendly for SMBs, solid marketing automation. Not as strong on relationship intelligence or network mapping.
- Outreach / Apollo / Salesloft: Outbound powerhouses. Amazing for high-volume email/phone campaigns, but weak on relationship mapping and network insights.
- Pipedrive, Close, Copper: Lighter CRMs focused on pipeline tracking. Simple, but unlikely to wow you if you need relationship intelligence.
Pro tip: Ignore tools that promise to “do it all.” They rarely do.
4. Focus on the Features That Actually Matter
Feature lists are mostly sales fluff. Here’s what to actually check:
a. Relationship Intelligence
- Does it map who knows who within your team and across your network?
- Can it surface warm paths to prospects (not just cold contacts)?
- Is the data accurate, or is it just scraping LinkedIn?
b. Data Entry and Hygiene
- Will it automatically log emails, meetings, and notes?
- How much manual entry is still required?
- Does it dedupe contacts and keep info clean?
c. Integration and Workflow
- Does it play nicely with your email/calendar (Google or Outlook)?
- Can it sync with other tools you already use (Slack, marketing automation, analytics)?
- Is the mobile app useful, or just a checkbox?
d. Reporting and Visibility
- Can you actually get the reports your execs want, without exporting to Excel every time?
- How easy is it to build custom dashboards or pipelines?
e. User Experience
- Do reps actually like using it, or will they find ways to avoid it?
- Is support responsive, or do you get stuck in ticket hell?
Ignore: “AI-powered insights” unless you see a real demo. “Smart suggestions” that just restate obvious data aren’t worth paying for.
5. Test With Real Data (Not Just a Demo Video)
Most vendors have slick demos with perfect data. That’s not your reality. Here’s how to pressure-test any GTM tool:
- Ask for a free trial or pilot with your own team and real data.
- Import a sample pipeline and see what breaks.
- Have a rep try to log a meeting, update a deal, and pull a report—without a vendor hand-holding.
- Try to find a warm intro to an actual target account. Does the tool surface anything useful?
The goal: Surface pain points and “gotchas” before you sign a contract. If it takes more than a week to get meaningful results, that’s a red flag.
6. Dig Into Pricing—And Hidden Costs
Sticker prices are rarely the whole story. Ask:
- Is pricing per user, per contact, or “custom” (read: expensive)?
- What’s included vs. what’s an upsell? (Many CRMs charge extra for basic features.)
- Are integrations and API access included?
- What’s onboarding and support like—do you have to pay extra for a human?
Affinity tends to price per user, with some tiers for features and support. It’s not the cheapest, but you’re paying for automation and network features. Just be honest about what you’ll actually use. If most of your deals come from cold outreach, those features might not be worth it.
7. Talk to Real Users—Not Just Sales Reps
Sales reps will tell you what you want to hear. LinkedIn reviews are hit or miss. Instead:
- Ask your network who’s using Affinity (or the alternatives) and get real talk.
- Ask what they don’t like, and what they wish they’d known before switching.
- Find out how long onboarding actually took, and how much time it saves (or costs) reps.
Pro tip: If a vendor can’t give you a customer reference in your industry, walk away.
8. Keep It Simple and Be Ready to Iterate
Don’t overthink it. No tool will be perfect out of the box. Pick the one that solves your top pain, get your team using it, and watch what breaks. You can always add complexity later.
If Affinity’s network mapping and automation line up with your sales motion, it’s worth serious consideration. If you need heavy customization, or your workflow is 99% outbound, look elsewhere. The best GTM tool is the one your team will actually use—and that makes tracking and closing deals easier, not harder.
At the end of the day, keep your evaluation simple, grounded, and focused on what your team really needs. Skip the shiny features and focus on workflows. Test in the real world, learn fast, and don’t be afraid to switch it up if you need to. Sales is hard enough—your software shouldn’t make it harder.