HighLevel Is Now the World’s Second-Largest CRM, Behind Salesforce, Says CEO Shaun Clark

If you run a small or medium-sized business and are considering HighLevel, here’s a statistic that might give you some confidence in the platform.

In a recent interview with Mike Cooch, HighLevel co-founder and CEO Shaun Clark said HighLevel is now the second-largest CRM in the world, behind only Salesforce.

He also revealed that HighLevel is currently growing at more than 50% year-on-year.

Those are Shaun Clark’s own figures rather than independently verified market-share data, but you can hear him make the claims yourself in the interview.

Watch the interview with Shaun Clark on YouTube. The relevant section starts at approximately 26:36 min, with the growth and CRM size figures discussed from around 26:55 min.

That’s quite a statement for a CRM platform that many UK business owners have still never heard of.

But perhaps the more interesting story isn’t simply how quickly HighLevel is growing.

It’s what this means for smaller businesses.

Enterprise-level CRM technology is no longer just for enterprises

Salesforce has long been one of the biggest names in enterprise CRM.

Large organisations can invest significant sums implementing CRM, marketing automation and, increasingly, AI across their businesses. Historically, that kind of technology has often come with an enterprise-sized price tag too.

One of our own clients in Ireland, for example, had previously been quoted around £150,000 for a Salesforce implementation.

Compare that with the new generation of platforms such as HighLevel.

At MarketerM8, we provide businesses with our customised version of HighLevel for £97 + VAT per month, with unlimited contacts and users.

Of course, I am not suggesting that paying £97 a month suddenly gives you the equivalent of a fully designed and implemented £150,000 Salesforce solution.

HighLevel is an extremely capable platform, but most businesses will need some level of configuration and customisation around their particular sales and marketing processes.

That may involve additional consultancy or implementation costs.

But increasingly, businesses can also do more of this themselves.

HighLevel’s AI is making it easier to configure the platform yourself

One of the most interesting ways HighLevel is evolving is through the increasing use of AI within the platform itself to help with setup and implementation.

Tasks that previously required specialist technical knowledge are increasingly being assisted by AI, and the capabilities are improving incredibly quickly.

I’ve already seen this happening with my own MarketerM8 clients.

An orthodontic dentist built three websites himself

One orthodontic dental client called me recently to tell me how pleased he was with the three websites he had built himself using HighLevel’s AI Studio.

I was genuinely surprised by what he’d been able to achieve without needing me to train him or build them for him.

Interestingly, Shaun Clark talks about exactly this type of use case in the interview, describing how HighLevel’s AI Studio can create websites and incorporate functionality such as forms and calendars.

An entertainment business built its own custom data structure

Another client in the entertainment industry needed to create a custom data object structure inside HighLevel.

Previously, you might have expected the client to ask a consultant to design and configure this for them.

Instead, with assistance from HighLevel’s Ask AI and the 24/7 support available through MarketerM8, the client organised and built the structure themselves.

No additional consultancy from me was required.

A private knee surgeon built his own integration in around 15 minutes

The third example takes this a step further.

A private knee surgeon wanted to connect HighLevel to the third-party booking system used by his practice.

Not very long ago, my response would probably have been:

“We’ll need a developer to build a custom API integration.”

That could easily have meant £1,000 or more in developer time.

This time, I pointed the client in the right direction and he built his own “vibe coded” solution in around 15 minutes.

Think about that.

Something that might previously have required a specification, a developer, custom API work and a four-figure budget was created by the business owner himself in about a quarter of an hour.

That illustrates something much bigger than HighLevel simply becoming easier to use.

AI is starting to reduce both the cost and technical barriers involved in customising and connecting business software.

A field service client ended up training me

Another client wanted to add field service software to their MarketerM8 account.

They found FieldTask, a specialist app built to work with HighLevel, and asked us to add it to their HighLevel sub-account.

We did that part.

Then the client went in and configured FieldTask themselves around the way their business operates.

On a later call, they actually walked us through how they were using FieldTask in practice and how it fitted into their day-to-day processes.

The client was training me.

That was quite a turnaround.

In the traditional software consultancy model, the consultant would often be expected to understand, configure and teach every part of the system.

Increasingly, that isn’t necessary.

The HighLevel ecosystem gives clients access to specialist apps, AI assistance and support, while the agency can focus on helping them choose the right direction and making sure the different parts of the technology stack fit together.

Am I making myself redundant?

I sometimes joke that HighLevel and AI are making me redundant.

There is an element of truth in it, but a better description is that my role is evolving into that of an AI & Automation Architect.

Clients increasingly don’t need me to physically build every website, configure every workflow or commission every integration.

My value is increasingly in understanding the business, identifying the problems and opportunities, and then architecting how the CRM, marketing automation, AI, workflows, data and third-party systems should work together.

Once that architecture is clear, HighLevel’s AI, vibe coding, 24/7 support, specialist apps and the client themselves can increasingly handle more of the implementation.

The expertise hasn’t disappeared.

It’s moving up a level.

For clients, that’s potentially very good news. Less budget needs to be spent on routine technical implementation, leaving more available for strategy, architecture and specialist work where experience really matters.

Some businesses will still want additional implementation help, and that will naturally involve additional costs.

But you’re still not looking at a Salesforce-sized price tag.

You can start with a platform costing £97 + VAT per month and invest in additional expertise where you actually need it.

What can a small business actually do with HighLevel?

A small or medium-sized business can now bring together capabilities that previously might have required several different pieces of software, significant integration work or considerably larger budgets.

Within HighLevel, businesses can potentially manage:

• CRM and contact management
• sales pipelines and opportunities
• email marketing
• SMS marketing
• marketing automation
• websites and landing pages
• forms and surveys
• online appointment booking
• events and ticketing
• ecommerce
• electronic document signing
• reputation and review management
• social media
• phone calls and call tracking
• WhatsApp marketing
• courses and communities
• conversational AI
• Voice AI and AI phone receptionists

That doesn’t mean every business should switch all of those features on.

Quite the opposite.

The value isn’t having hundreds of software features. It’s knowing which ones will solve a real business problem and how they should work together.

And that brings us to another interesting question.

“If HighLevel is that big, why have I never heard of it?”

It’s a fair question.

If HighLevel really is operating at this scale, why don’t you see HighLevel advertising everywhere?

Why hasn’t a HighLevel salesperson called you?

And why isn’t the HighLevel name as familiar to the average UK business owner as Salesforce, HubSpot or Mailchimp?

The answer lies in HighLevel’s unusual business model.

HighLevel doesn’t follow the traditional software sales model

Most large software companies build their brands by advertising heavily, employing large marketing and sales teams and acquiring customers directly.

HighLevel took a different approach.

A major part of its growth has come through agencies and consultants that can provide HighLevel technology to their own customers, including under their own white-label brands.

MarketerM8 is one of those agencies.

So you may already have encountered HighLevel technology without necessarily realising that HighLevel was sitting underneath it.

Why would HighLevel want agencies in the middle?

A CRM isn’t like buying Microsoft Word.

Every business has different leads, sales processes, customer journeys, follow-up requirements, integrations and reporting needs.

The technology needs configuring around the business.

Rather than trying to provide all of that expertise through a huge direct consulting organisation, HighLevel allows agencies to take the core platform and customise it around their customers.

And white-labelling HighLevel isn’t simply about changing the logo.

An experienced agency can add its own:

Experience and strategy

Helping determine what the business actually needs rather than simply switching on features.

Snapshots

HighLevel snapshots can package proven configurations, workflows, pipelines and other assets so every implementation doesn’t have to start from scratch.

Workflows and automation

The platform can be customised around how a particular business captures, follows up and converts leads.

Integrations

HighLevel can connect with accounting software, job-management systems and other specialist applications through native integrations, Zapier, Make, Pabbly or APIs.

And, as the knee surgeon example demonstrates, AI and vibe coding are beginning to make some of these integrations far easier to create.

Third-party applications

HighLevel also has an expanding ecosystem of applications that can add specialist functionality to the core platform, as the FieldTask example demonstrates.

So you’re not necessarily just buying a standard piece of software.

You’re potentially getting a technology platform combined with the experience, support and intellectual property of the agency providing it.

The agency becomes the technology partner

This was also one of the major themes of Shaun Clark’s interview.

His argument was that the growth of AI doesn’t mean business owners suddenly want to become software developers, CRM specialists or AI engineers.

The tools might become easier to use, but the business owner still has a business to run.

Businesses still need people who can understand the bigger picture and translate technology into outcomes.

After all, you probably aren’t looking at HighLevel because you desperately want another CRM.

You might want to:

• stop enquiries falling through the cracks
• respond to new leads faster
• follow up prospects automatically
• turn more enquiries into appointments
• reactivate old customers
• automate repetitive administration
• answer missed telephone calls
• improve customer communication
• generate more reviews
• understand where your leads and sales are coming from

The CRM, automation and AI are simply the technology that helps achieve those outcomes.

AI could help level the playing field even further

Historically, a large enterprise had an enormous technology and manpower advantage over a small business.

It could have separate sales, marketing, customer service, administration and IT departments.

AI is beginning to change that equation.

In the interview, Clark talks about smaller businesses gaining access to a level of sophistication previously available mainly to much larger corporations.

HighLevel’s Voice AI is a good example.

Imagine a local plumbing or heating company.

Someone calls while everybody is busy. Traditionally, that call might go to voicemail and the potential customer simply calls the next company on Google.

With Voice AI, an AI receptionist can potentially answer the call, have a conversation, collect information, answer appropriate questions and book an appointment.

Clark says HighLevel is already processing millions, even tens of millions, of these AI calls every month.

So we’re no longer talking about an interesting AI experiment.

This technology is already being used at considerable scale.

HighLevel’s growth matters because it gives businesses confidence

There are always risks in adopting a relatively unknown technology platform.

Will it still be around in a few years?

Is anyone actually using it?

Will development continue?

Is there a large enough ecosystem around it?

That’s why Shaun Clark’s comments about HighLevel’s scale are significant.

According to Clark, HighLevel is growing at more than 50% year-on-year and has reached the point where, by the measure he is referring to, it is now second only to Salesforce in size.

Again, those are Clark’s claims rather than independently verified market-share figures, which is why I’ve linked directly to the interview.

But for a business considering investing its time and money in HighLevel, that level of growth provides an important degree of confidence.

A very different CRM market

None of this means Salesforce is suddenly irrelevant.

Far from it.

Salesforce remains an enormously powerful enterprise platform and will continue to be the right choice for many large and complex organisations.

Nor am I suggesting that HighLevel at £97 per month is a like-for-like replacement for every Salesforce implementation.

It isn’t.

The significant change is the entry point for sophisticated business technology.

CRM, marketing automation, communications and increasingly AI capabilities that were once predominantly the domain of much larger organisations are now accessible to ordinary small and medium-sized businesses.

You may still need help configuring them, integrating other systems or designing your automation properly.

But increasingly, HighLevel itself, AI, 24/7 support and its growing ecosystem of specialist apps are helping businesses do more themselves.

You no longer necessarily need an enterprise-sized software and implementation budget before you can start taking advantage of enterprise-style capabilities.

Is HighLevel right for your business?

HighLevel is a huge platform.

That doesn’t automatically mean it is right for every business. And even if it is right for you, you probably don’t need every feature it contains.

That’s where I believe the agency model makes sense.

The role of a good HighLevel agency isn’t simply to give you the software and leave you to work it out. It should help you understand what you’re trying to achieve, identify the parts of the platform that can help and architect how everything should work together.

Increasingly, that doesn’t necessarily mean doing everything for you.

Sometimes it’s providing the platform, experience, support and direction that allows you to do more yourself.

That’s increasingly how I see my own role at MarketerM8.

AI & Automation Architect rather than simply the person who builds everything.

At MarketerM8, our HighLevel platform starts from £97 + VAT per month, with unlimited contacts and users.

Additional consultancy, customisation and implementation support is available where required.

If you’re currently looking at CRM, marketing automation or AI for your business and want to understand whether HighLevel could be an alternative to the traditional CRM platforms, book a 20-minute discovery call with me.

We can look at what you’re currently using, what you’re trying to achieve and whether HighLevel makes sense for your business.

Check out HighLevel agency – MarketerM8.com