Ask ten Australian solar installers what CRM they run their business on and you will get answers that fall into three buckets: the CRM built into their proposal software, a generic business CRM they have bent into shape, or something patched together from spreadsheets, email and whatever their proposal tool happens to track. In 2026, with speed-to-lead pressure higher than ever and every lead source competing for the same homeowner's attention, the question worth asking is not "which CRM has the most features" - it is "which one actually gets on top of my lead flow, from first enquiry through to installed and referring."
This guide compares the three real options on the table for an Australian solar and battery business: your proposal software's built-in CRM (OpenSolar or Pylon), a generic off-the-shelf CRM, and a done-for-you, solar-specific system such as Solar AI-Q. No competitor bashing and no invented numbers - just what each option is genuinely built for, and where it stops.
What a solar business actually needs a CRM to do
Before comparing tools, it helps to be clear about the job. A solar and battery installer's sales and delivery process runs through eight stages: lead, appointment, quote, sale, install, support, review and referral, and reactivation. A genuine CRM should be able to track a customer through as much of that lifecycle as possible, without your team re-entering the same details in three different systems along the way.
Some tools cover a slice of that lifecycle brilliantly and were never built to go further. Others try to cover the whole thing but need heavy setup before they speak the language of a solar sale. Keep that lifecycle in mind as you read the comparison below - it is the yardstick each option is measured against.
Option 1: the CRM built into your proposal software
Most Australian installers already have a CRM of sorts, because their proposal software ships one. The two names that dominate solar design and proposals in Australia are OpenSolar and Pylon, and both carry a genuine workflow layer worth understanding on its own terms.
OpenSolar
OpenSolar is a Sydney-founded platform, launched in 2017, built around solar design and sales. It is free forever for installers, with no per-seat fees and unlimited users and projects, funded through its partner network rather than subscriptions. It is used by more than 25,000 solar professionals across 160-plus countries, with over 6 million system designs created on the platform. Projects move through stages and milestones - Presold, Sold, Installed - and its Project History Tracker logs when a customer opens your email, views the proposal and how long they spend looking at it.
Pylon
Pylon is Australian solar design, proposal and CRM software, founded in 2016 and used by around 3,500 solar businesses, voted the number one solar design tool of 2025 by Australian installers. It runs on pay-per-project pricing rather than a subscription, produces fast 3D-shaded proposals, and has native eSignature and deposit payment built into the proposal itself. It also imports leads directly from SolarQuotes and SolarChoice, which suits installers who buy leads from those sources.
Where the built-in CRM stops
Both platforms are genuinely good at what they were built for: design, proposals and tracking proposal activity. The gap most installers hit is what happens next. A proposal being viewed three times overnight is a strong buying signal, but neither platform's CRM will pick up the phone, send the follow-up text, or work that signal into a conversation for you. That is a manual job, and on a busy week it is the job that slips. Neither platform was built to run outbound SMS sequences or answer an after-hours enquiry in the moment it lands, and neither one reaches into your job management system, your other lead sources or your payments to give you a single view of a customer.
None of this is a knock on either tool - it is the gap between "proposal sent" and "deal signed" that no proposal platform was ever built to fill on its own. We go deeper on this specifically for OpenSolar in our OpenSolar CRM review, and if you are trying to choose between the two design platforms rather than compare CRMs, our honest OpenSolar vs Pylon comparison covers pricing model, design strengths and proposal experience side by side.
Option 2: a generic, general-purpose CRM
The second path is a generic business CRM not built for solar at all. These tools are flexible by design, which is both the appeal and the catch. You can build almost any pipeline, field or automation you want inside one - eventually. The catch is that "eventually." A generic CRM has no concept of a solar sale out of the box: no proposal-viewed trigger, no install milestone, no lead-source-specific pipeline. Every stage of the lifecycle above has to be built from scratch, then tested, then maintained as your process changes.
The other gap is follow-up itself. A generic CRM gives you the infrastructure to send an email or log a task, but it does not arrive with an AI voice agent tuned to call a new solar lead in the first minutes after it lands, or a text-based agent that knows to reference what OpenSolar or Pylon just told it about a proposal being viewed. Building that layer yourself, or hiring someone to build and maintain it, is a project in its own right - one most installers do not have the spare capacity for between quoting and installing.
Option 3: a solar-specific, done-for-you system
Solar AI-Q is the third path: a done-for-you, integration-first lead-to-sale operating system built specifically for Australian solar and battery installers, and also used by electrical contractors, HVAC businesses and other trades. Rather than replacing OpenSolar or Pylon, it sits alongside them - keeping your design and proposal tool exactly as it is, and adding the layer that connects your lead sources, proposal activity, job management and payments into one pipeline. "Integration first. Automation second. AI on top."
The practical difference shows up in the AI team that comes with it. Piper engages, qualifies and books every lead around the clock. Sarah calls new leads within moments of an enquiry landing. Sol lets you ask plain-English questions of your own pipeline data. Andy watches proposal activity in OpenSolar or Pylon and follows up by text so a viewed-but-not-signed quote does not go quiet. Every call is transcribed by the AI Note Taker, so follow-up references the actual conversation rather than a generic template. It is framed deliberately as an AI team you hire, not another app you have to manage yourself - the agents are set up, tuned and managed by Pipereply, which is the difference between software with a service and plain software.
This is also a "software with a service" model rather than plain software, so the setup is a structured build rather than a self-serve signup. Pipereply publishes its full pricing on the pricing page: the Core package starts most installers at $2,500 setup and $497 a month with a 14-day free trial, and the Complete package (the most popular tier) is $4,900 setup and $695 a month with a 30-day free trial. Both include no lock-in contracts, and support is identical in either tier - a dedicated Slack channel, a video and guide library, and weekly group training.
Side by side: how the three options compare
| What matters | OpenSolar or Pylon built-in CRM | Generic CRM | Solar AI-Q |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built for a solar workflow | Yes, natively | No - built from scratch | Yes, plus the follow-up layer |
| Pricing model | OpenSolar free forever; Pylon pay-per-project | Varies by provider | Fixed setup + monthly, published on pricing page |
| Proposal activity tracking | Yes - sent, viewed, signed | Not built in | Connects to OpenSolar or Pylon's tracking |
| AI voice or SMS follow-up | Not built in | Not built in | Piper and Sarah included; Andy in Complete or as an add-on on Core |
| Job management sync | Not built in | Possible with custom build | Simpro, AroFlo or ServiceM8 (Complete) |
| Lead source connections | Limited to imports (Pylon: SolarQuotes, SolarChoice) | Possible with custom build | 3 to 5 direct connections included |
| Setup effort | Minimal - comes with the design tool | High - built and maintained by you | Done for you, structured onboarding sessions |
How to choose for your business
The right answer depends less on which tool has more features and more on where your business actually loses time and deals today.
- If you are a small crew and your main gap is speed-to-lead: keep OpenSolar or Pylon for design, and let Solar AI-Q's Core package cover the always-on response with Piper and Sarah. If the bigger leak is proposals going quiet after they're viewed, Andy is available as an add-on on Core or included as standard in Complete.
- If you are growing and juggling job management as well as sales: a system that syncs your CRM with Simpro, AroFlo or ServiceM8 as well as your proposal software removes a second layer of manual admin. That is the territory the Complete package covers.
- If you are technical, have spare development capacity and want full control: a generic CRM can be built into almost anything, but budget for the time to design the solar-specific workflow, connect your lead sources and maintain it as your process evolves.
Results vary by business, but the pattern is consistent - answer faster, follow up harder, and the same lead flow produces more installs. If you want a second opinion on where your current setup is leaking leads, a Book a Strategy Call conversation with our team is a straightforward way to map it against your own numbers.