Close vs ExpressVPN

Close (The inside sales CRM of choice for SMBs) and ExpressVPN both appear on the Smoower Developer Ecosystem Index.

Close (rank #298) holds a modest lead over ExpressVPN (rank #569) on the overall Smoower ecosystem score (45 vs 35). The gap of 10 points reflects composite signals across code, docs, community and reach.

On code quality (the state of repositories, tests, releases and polish), ExpressVPN is ahead of Close. On education (docs, guides and learning material for developers), ExpressVPN is slightly ahead of Close. On community (issue response, PR reviews and discussion health), Close is slightly ahead of ExpressVPN. On reach (how visible the ecosystem is beyond its own repos), ExpressVPN is clearly ahead of Close. On momentum (release cadence and how fast the ecosystem moves), Close is clearly ahead of ExpressVPN.

Close carries 3,871 GitHub stars across 190 public repos, with 25 repositories active in the last 90 days and 10 external contributors on record. ExpressVPN shows 1,250 stars across 12 public repos, 3 active in the last 90 days and 7 external contributors. The star gap on its own does not decide the comparison, but Close's footprint is roughly 3.1x larger, which usually shows up in downstream signals like inbound issues and third party integrations.

Close is the stronger read for anyone weighting momentum. ExpressVPN looks better where reach is the deciding factor. The table below breaks the scores down pillar by pillar; the linked profiles cover the underlying repos, docs and community signals in full.