If you are searching for a Surfe alternative, you have probably already decided that a LinkedIn to CRM extension belongs in your workflow. That part is settled. The real question is which extension fits the way your team actually works, because they diverge on the details you touch every single day: how a record gets created, what you can change before it saves, whether you can tell at a glance who is already in the CRM, and what happens after the contact lands.
We use Ln2CRM every day, so we are not a neutral party. To keep this fair, we spent real time inside Surfe on live prospects rather than reading its marketing page. Where Surfe does something better, we say so. Where the two differ, we describe the behavior we saw and let you decide which side you want.
What Surfe is, in one paragraph
Surfe (founded in 2020 in Paris, originally as Leadjet) is a Chrome extension that overlays a LinkedIn profile and pushes it into your CRM in one click. It supports HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, and Copper, enriches contacts with email and phone data from credits bundled into the plan, logs LinkedIn messages back to the record, and integrates natively with outreach tools such as Salesloft, Outreach, and Lemlist. It also keeps its own lead list on the platform, ships message templates, and surfaces a "similar companies" insight. For an SDR who lives inside LinkedIn and wants enrichment and outreach in the same place, that is a strong package.
What Ln2CRM is, in one paragraph
Ln2CRM is a Chrome extension that does the LinkedIn to CRM job for HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, and Zoho from one install. It is match-first: before it offers a create button, it checks your CRM for an existing match, so you update the real record instead of spawning a duplicate. It shows a badge on the profile when the person is already in the CRM, pulls recent activity, deal stage, and open tasks into the sidebar, lets you review the fields and add a note and a task before saving, and includes an AI Copilot that drafts follow-ups from the page and the matched record. Enrichment is bring-your-own-key with no markup, and there is a free tier.
Ln2CRM vs Surfe, side by side
The honest comparison. Where each tool has something the other does not, we mark it plainly. Several rows go to Surfe.
| Capability | Surfe | Ln2CRM |
|---|---|---|
| Chrome sidebar on LinkedIn profiles and company pages | Yes | Yes |
| Works on regular LinkedIn and in Sales Navigator | Yes | Yes |
| CRMs supported | HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Copper | HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho |
| Connect by API token | Yes | Yes |
| Switch the connected CRM | A documented process, not a quick toggle | Switch in the settings and go |
| One-click create, match, and update | Yes | Yes, match-first |
| Custom fields on create | Yes | Yes |
| Email and phone enrichment | Yes, credits bundled in the plan | Bring your own key (FullEnrich for now), no markup |
| Send emails and place calls from LinkedIn | Yes | No |
| Google Sheets integration | Yes | Coming soon |
| Message templates | Yes | Yes |
| Insert templates and AI replies right in the LinkedIn message box | No | Yes, one click from the composer |
| AI drafts the next message from the conversation and CRM history | No | Yes |
| Voice notes with AI cleanup | No | Yes, dictate a note and let AI tidy it up |
| On-page badge for contacts already in the CRM | No, keep the sidebar open to check | Yes, a green check or red cross on the profile |
| Communication history in the sidebar | Not shown | Yes: recent activity, deal stage, open tasks |
| Sync LinkedIn messages to the CRM | Yes, logs messages to the record | Yes, first sync writes one note with the whole thread, later syncs add new notes |
| Edit the fields before they sync | No | Yes, review and adjust before saving |
| Add a note and a task at creation | No | Yes, in the same step |
| Create notes in the CRM | Coming soon | Yes |
| View and complete CRM tasks | Yes, on the platform | Yes, from the sidebar |
| Record owner assignment | Yes | Yes, at creation |
| Prospecting insights (similar companies, likely decision makers) | Yes, results vary | Not offered |
| Color scheme customization | No | Yes |
| Create a deal from a profile | Yes, tied to a company | Yes, with a person or a company |
| Company name when the company is new | From the website domain (if not in the internal base) | From the LinkedIn company name |
| Job title field | Company appended into the title (for example, Head of Sales at Acme) | Title taken from the experience field |
| Company About and industry | Manual entry | Captured from the page |
| Built-in lead list on the platform | Yes | No |
| Native outreach-tool integrations | Yes (Salesloft, Outreach, Lemlist, and more) | No |
| Free tier | Yes, credit-limited | Yes, Test free (credit-limited, 5 per category) |
The pattern: Surfe is enrichment-first and outreach-connected; Ln2CRM is match-first and control-first. Surfe wins on bundled enrichment, sending emails and placing calls from LinkedIn, a Google Sheets integration, a platform lead list, native outreach integrations, and its insight and task views. Ln2CRM wins on on-page badges, edit-before-sync, notes and tasks at save, CRM history in the sidebar, in-composer templates and AI replies, voice notes with AI cleanup, color theming, cleaner company and title mapping, Zoho, and the AI drafting. Both ship message templates and custom fields.
What each one costs
Prices move as each company repackages, so treat these as a framework and check the live pricing pages before you buy.
| Plan | Surfe | Ln2CRM |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Credit-limited trial | Test free (credit-limited): 5 Create, 5 Manage, 2 Copilot per month, no card |
| Entry paid | Around $39 per seat per month, enrichment credits bundled | Base, $16 per user per month |
| Higher tier | More per seat on upper plans | Pro, $23 per user per month, includes the crm2crm CRM |
The short version: Surfe bundles enrichment into a higher per-seat price, while Ln2CRM starts free and lands lower per seat, with enrichment on your own FullEnrich key so you pay the data vendor directly. If bundled data is the point, Surfe's price buys it. If you already have a data source, or want to start free, Ln2CRM is the cheaper way in. See the live Ln2CRM pricing.
What Surfe does well
These are real strengths, and for some teams they decide the choice:
- Enrichment is bundled. Email and phone credits come inside the plan, so you do not wire up a separate data provider to start. For a team that wants enrichment out of the box, that is genuinely convenient.
- Native outreach integrations. Surfe connects to Salesloft, Outreach, Lemlist, and other tools, so a captured contact can flow into a sequence without a middle layer. If your motion is enrich then sequence, that path is short.
- Send emails and place calls from LinkedIn. Surfe can send an email or start a call straight from the profile, so light outreach happens without leaving LinkedIn. Ln2CRM does not do email or calling.
- Google Sheets integration. Surfe can push data to Google Sheets, handy for quick lists and reporting. On the Ln2CRM side this is on the roadmap, not shipped yet.
- Insights on likely decision makers. Surfe surfaces suggested decision makers and similar companies. A useful starting point, though in our testing the results varied.
- A built-in lead list. Surfe keeps its own lead list on the platform that you can build up over time, separate from the CRM.
- Owner assignment and task views. You can set a record owner on save and see CRM tasks by filter on the platform, which helps a manager keep a team tidy.
- Broad CRM coverage, including Copper. HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, and Copper are all first-class, so Copper teams in particular are well served.
If those map to how your team runs, Surfe is a reasonable pick and this comparison is close.
Where Ln2CRM works differently
These are the moves we missed in Surfe and built into Ln2CRM:
- On-page badges. Ln2CRM marks a profile with a green check or red cross when the person is already in the CRM, so you triage a feed or a search page at a glance. In Surfe you keep the sidebar open to know the same thing.
- Edit before it syncs, with a note and a task. Ln2CRM lets you review and adjust the key fields before the record saves, and log a note and a task in the same action. In our testing, Surfe pushed the mapped fields as they were, and the note and task were a separate step.
- Communication history in the sidebar. Ln2CRM pulls recent activity, deal stage, and open tasks onto the profile, so a sales person messages with context. Surfe did not surface the CRM communication history in the sidebar.
- An AI follow-up Copilot. Ln2CRM drafts a follow-up message or a comment from the conversation and the matched record. Surfe does not suggest a follow-up from the record history.
- Templates and AI replies inside the message box. Both tools have message templates, but Ln2CRM injects a button into the LinkedIn composer so you drop a saved template, or an AI-drafted reply, into the open chat in one click. In Surfe the templates live in the extension, not as a one-click insert on the page.
- Voice notes with AI cleanup. Dictate a note by voice on any Note field, and AI tidies the wording and can translate it. Surfe has no voice input.
- Color theming. Ln2CRM lets you customize the sidebar color scheme, including a color-blindness-friendly mode. Surfe does not offer theming.
- Cleaner company and title handling. Ln2CRM names a new company from its LinkedIn name and takes the job title from the experience field. Surfe named a new company from the website domain and appended the company into the title, so a role read like "Head of Sales at Acme."
- Zoho, natively. Ln2CRM syncs to Zoho CRM as a first-class target, alongside HubSpot, Salesforce, and Pipedrive.
- Switching CRMs is a toggle. Both tools connect by API token, but changing which CRM you sync to is a quick switch in Ln2CRM's settings. In Surfe, moving between CRMs is a documented process rather than a one-click change.
- Enrichment with no markup. Ln2CRM uses your own FullEnrich key, so you pay the data vendor directly and keep control of cost.
- A free tier. The Test plan lets you run the workflow on a handful of profiles a month before paying anything.
The small things you notice after a week
Beyond the big rows, a few behaviors add up over a week of real use:
- Company naming. When the company was new to Surfe's database, it named the company after the website domain rather than the LinkedIn company name, which meant a cleanup pass later.
- Titles carry the company. Surfe appended the employer into the job title field, so a title read like "Head of Sales at Acme" instead of just "Head of Sales." Ln2CRM takes the title from the experience field.
- About and industry. Surfe left the company About text and industry for you to fill in by hand. Ln2CRM captures them from the page.
- Linking a company to a person. Surfe auto-created and linked a person's company when that company was already in its internal database, which is handy. When you created a company first, though, linking a person to it was manual.
- The similar-companies insight. Useful in principle, but the suggestions were hit or miss in our testing, so we treated them as a starting point rather than a signal.
- No badge means the sidebar stays open. Without an on-page badge, you keep Surfe open to know whether a profile is already a record, which is a small but constant tax on a busy feed.
When Surfe is the better pick
- You want enrichment bundled. If having email and phone credits inside the plan, with no separate data vendor to set up, matters more than provider control, Surfe starts faster.
- You live in an outreach tool. Native Salesloft, Outreach, and Lemlist integrations make Surfe a clean fit if capture flows straight into sequences.
- You are on Copper. Copper is a first-class Surfe target and is not on the Ln2CRM list.
- You want templates and a platform lead list in the same tool. Both live inside Surfe today.
When Ln2CRM is the better pick
- You want to see who is already in the CRM at a glance. The on-page badge is the feature sales people ask for first once they have used it.
- You want control before a record saves. Editing the fields and attaching a note and a task in the same step keeps the CRM clean from the start.
- You want CRM context on the profile. Recent activity, deal stage, and open tasks in the sidebar stop sales people from re-asking questions the team already answered.
- You want AI follow-ups. The Copilot drafts the next message from the page and the record, so the follow-up is written before you switch tabs.
- You run Zoho, or want a free tier and no enrichment markup. Ln2CRM covers Zoho natively, starts free, and keeps enrichment on your own key with no markup.
Switching from Surfe to Ln2CRM (or running both)
Because both tools write to the CRM as the source of truth, they do not store contacts inside the extension, so switching is effectively a no-migration move. Your data already lives in HubSpot, Salesforce, or Pipedrive. Install Ln2CRM, run the OAuth flow against the same CRM, and the extension sees every contact, company, and deal that Surfe wrote. Match-first deduplication means the next capture updates the existing record instead of creating a second one. If you want to compare them directly, Chrome will run both on the same LinkedIn page for a week or two, then you disable the one you do not keep.
The honest verdict
Surfe is a strong, enrichment-first extension, and if bundled data credits and native outreach integrations are the center of your workflow, it earns its place. For teams that want to see who is already in the CRM without opening a panel, control what syncs and attach a note and task at save, read CRM history on the profile, get AI follow-ups, and sync to Zoho with a free tier to start, Ln2CRM is the more practical Surfe alternative. Both close the LinkedIn to CRM gap. They just optimize for different halves of the job. One way to frame it: Surfe asks you to adopt a new workflow, its lead list, its templates, and its own platform, while Ln2CRM embeds into the workflow you already run in your CRM and helps your team work that same process more efficiently.