Let me start by being fair to Dex: it’s a good product. The LinkedIn browser extension is well executed, the keep-in-touch reminders work as advertised, and plenty of people run their whole networking practice on it.
So why are you searching for alternatives? If you’re like most people I’ve spoken to, it’s one of three reasons:
- You stopped opening it. The reminders piled up, the guilt piled up with them, and eventually you archived the emails.
- You need a pipeline. Dex tracks people, not deals. If relationships are how you win work, you end up running opportunities in a spreadsheet on the side.
- The upkeep didn’t pay for itself. Logging calls and tagging contacts is fine in week one. By week six it’s a chore that loses to actual client work every time.
None of these are about Dex. They’re about the model: a personal CRM is a destination, and destinations depend on you showing up. Here are the alternatives, grouped by how they solve (or don’t solve) that problem.
Clay: less upkeep, same destination
Clay (the personal CRM, not the sales-data tool) is the strongest like-for-like alternative. It removes most of the data entry by syncing your email, calendar, and social accounts automatically, and it prompts you with “moments”: job changes, birthdays, news mentions.
Choose Clay over Dex if manual logging was your main complaint. It’s the most automatic personal CRM available.
Don’t expect it to fix the destination problem. Clay is still an app you have to open, and like Dex it has no concept of a deal, so your pipeline still lives elsewhere. I’ve compared the two in more depth in my personal CRM roundup for consultants.
folk: for when the real issue is deals, not contacts
If reason two resonated (you need pipelines, not a contact list), folk is worth a look. It’s a lightweight CRM with proper pipeline views, email sequences, and a capture extension, aimed at small teams.
Choose folk over Dex if you’re running structured outreach and want deals and contacts in one place without going full HubSpot.
Don’t expect it to fix the upkeep problem. folk knows what you type into it, nothing more. And as a solo operator you’re buying team software.
A spreadsheet: the alternative nobody admits to
Honestly? A well-kept spreadsheet beats a neglected CRM. Zero cost, total flexibility, and you already know how to use it.
Choose a spreadsheet if your network is under a hundred people and you have the discipline to update it weekly.
Don’t expect it to remind you of anything, ever. A spreadsheet is memory without timing, and timing is where relationships are won. It’s usually where the follow-ups start falling through the cracks.
Aldous: the alternative that comes to you
I’ll declare my interest: I built Aldous, so read this section knowing that. But I built it precisely because I was the person in the title of this article. I had the CRM. I didn’t open it. And when I was honest with myself, a better database was never what I wanted anyway. What I wanted was a colleague: someone on my team whose whole job was the relationships, who’d brief me before I walked in and catch what I’d forgotten.
That’s what Aldous is built to be. The admin runs chat first: you talk (a WhatsApp message, a voice note between meetings), and Aldous keeps a rich picture of the people in your world. Then Aldous shows up the way a colleague would:
- A plan for the day, each morning. Today’s meetings, open follow-ups, the people who’ve gone quiet, and where to spend your attention. Built from your calendar, inbox, and pipeline, not from what you remembered to log.
- A check-in after each meeting. “How did it go with Sarah?” Reply in a sentence, or a voice note, and the details are saved against the contact, no forms involved.
- A pipeline that keeps itself current. Deals move because you mentioned they moved, in plain English, not because you remembered to drag a card.
- Memory that compounds. Mention once that James is moving house and rebuilding his kitchen, and Aldous will remind you to ask about it before your next call.
- A growth partner, not a filing system. Aldous helps you set 7, 30, and 90-day goals, then keeps you pointed at them: a weekly review of what moved and what stalled, and daily focus on the relationships that get you there.
The upkeep, the part that kills every personal CRM, is the part Aldous does for you: they read your inbox, calendar, and meeting notes for context, so the picture stays current even when you’re heads-down on client work. But the point isn’t less admin. It’s that you’re more present with people. You arrive remembering the little things, and the little things are a big part of why people want to work with you.
Which alternative is right for you?
| Your situation | Best pick |
|---|---|
| You’ll do the upkeep, you want less of it | Clay |
| You need pipelines and run structured outreach | folk |
| Small network, strong discipline, no budget | Spreadsheet |
| You want a colleague in your corner, not a database | Aldous |
Dex deserves its reputation, and if cadence-based reminders fit how you work, staying put is a fine choice. But if you’ve proven to yourself that you won’t open a CRM (and no shame in that, most of us won’t), pick a tool that doesn’t need you to.
Aldous is in invite-only alpha. Tell us about your practice and we’ll be in touch.