Streak is a CRM that lives entirely inside Gmail: pipelines, boxes, and mail merge right in your inbox. Orbit is a simple standalone all-in-one CRM, free for up to 250 contacts, with a built-in email inbox and one AI assistant (Hiro) that drafts follow-ups, proposals, and invoices. If your whole business is Gmail, Streak feels native. If it also runs on tasks, meetings, proposals, and invoices, Orbit covers the rest in one place.
Streak solved the most common CRM failure: nobody opens the CRM. It puts the pipeline inside Gmail itself, so deals are columns above your inbox and every email thread files into a box for its deal. There is no second tab to forget, which is exactly why busy one-person businesses stick with it.
The email tooling is the other half. Mail merge from your own address, snippets, and tracking turn Gmail into a light outreach machine. A free personal plan is well known and genuinely usable for an individual, and teams can share pipelines on paid per-user tiers. Check their site for current limits and pricing.
One lives inside Gmail. The other is one standalone app for the whole business.
| Orbit | Streak | |
|---|---|---|
| AI assistant that drafts and does the busywork | Hiro drafts follow-ups, proposals, invoices, and replies | No built-in AI assistant |
| All-in-one: invoices, proposals, and booking pages | Included, even on free | No, email-focused |
| Human approval gates on AI output | Approve, edit, or dismiss every draft | Not applicable |
| Built for one person | Yes, simple and solo-first | Yes, individuals and small teams in Gmail |
| Built-in email inbox (no Gmail connection needed) | 100 sends/mo free, tracking on Pro | Lives inside Gmail itself |
| On-device meeting transcription | Pro, audio stays on your machine | |
| Built-in MCP server to connect Claude | Pro, revocable per-workspace keys | Check their site |
| Free plan | Free plan, no credit card | Free personal plan, check their site |
| Pricing model | Free, then Pro at $14/mo or Team at $20/seat | Per-user paid tiers, check their site |
Honesty first: if inbox-native is the whole point for you, Streak wins that today. Orbit is a standalone app, not a Gmail plugin. What it gives you instead is a built-in email inbox with no Gmail connection needed. You send and receive from your own Orbit email address, and every message shows on the contact timeline. Open and click tracking, sequences, and a custom sending domain are part of Pro.
Then Orbit goes where a Gmail plugin does not. Contacts, tasks, notes, proposals, invoices, and booking pages all live in one app. Hiro drafts the bumps for threads that have gone quiet, writes proposals and invoice reminders, manages your tasks and calendar, and builds pages and forms, all waiting for your approval. On Pro, the meeting recorder transcribes on your device, with audio that never leaves your machine, and Hiro can summarize it. See what Orbit AI can do for the full list.
The money side is built in too: proposals and invoices, a booking page, and a simple ledger, on the free plan. Nothing Hiro produces sends on its own, so the help never turns into noise you did not sign off on. The CRM is free with no credit card, and AI credits are included free every month with no API key to paste.
Streak keeps the CRM inside your inbox. Orbit puts your whole business in one simple app.
It depends on where your business happens. If everything is email, Streak inside Gmail is hard to beat. If you also run tasks, proposals, invoices, and booking, Orbit is stronger: it is a simple all-in-one CRM, free for 250 contacts, with a built-in email inbox and one AI assistant that drafts the follow-up for your approval.
No. Orbit is a standalone CRM app with a built-in email inbox, so no Gmail connection is needed. You send and receive from your own Orbit address, and every message shows on the contact timeline. The Chrome extension (Pro) can save anyone from LinkedIn or the web as a contact in one click.
Streak is known for a free personal plan that works for individuals, with paid per-user tiers for teams and heavier use. Check their site for current limits. Orbit's free plan needs no credit card and includes 250 contacts, unlimited tasks, a built-in email inbox, a booking page, 10 invoices, and 10 proposals.
You can ask Hiro to draft bumps for threads that have gone quiet, plus replies you still owe. Drafts land for you to approve, edit, or dismiss, and nothing is sent automatically. The built-in inbox includes 100 sends a month on free, and open and click tracking come with Pro.
The meeting recorder is a Pro feature and transcribes on your device, so the audio stays on your machine. Once a call is transcribed, you can ask Hiro to draft a recap and action items based only on what the transcript says, waiting for your approval.
Free plan, no credit card. A built-in inbox, proposals, and invoices, with Hiro drafting the follow-up for your yes.
Free forever plan. No credit card. No spam.