Fern CRM is a flexible CRM tool with optional A.I. features and an affordable pay-for-what-you-use model.
We believe ethical business owners will make smart, ethical choices about A.I. We've also seen how valuable A.I. is as an accessibility tool.
That's why we've made all our A.I. features optional. Not just "don't use them if you don't want to," kind of optional... But actually "hide them from your account so you never have to see them" optional.
Every Fern CRM user can turn the A.I. features on or off as they please. (In fact, all features can be toggled on or off for any user.)
And, to keep costs low for everyone, we only charge you for what you use (at a rate that's lower than most A.I. assistants.)
So if you're an A.I. hater, you can turn off all the A.I. features and not pay for them. And we haven't baked the cost into your subscription price.
Or, if A.I. has been a sanity saver for you, use all the features to your heart's content and save money on your Claude bills. 1% of every Fern CRM A.I. bill is donated to funding carbon removal projects to help offset the pollution created by your usage.
Either way, you get to choose what's right for you, what aligns with your brand values, and what helps you human better.
Fern CRM’s Optional A.I. Features ~ what they are and what they can do
Here's the full list of A.I. features that you can toggle on or off inside Fern CRM. If you don't see what you're looking for on this list, it could be something that's achieved with regular ol' automations instead of artificial intelligence.
Conversation A.I.
Conversation AI is an A.I. chatbot that uses the business materials you assign to it (Help Docs, FAQ’s, a spreadsheet, your entire website, etc.) to respond to inquiries from your customers, site visitors, leads, or wherever you install it.
Example: an A.I. chatbot that handles customer service outside of your business hours (or 24/7). You tell it where to look for answers and what boundaries it’s not allowed to cross. Tell it the tone and voice you want it to use. And, if you’re like us, you’ll give it a name and personality and be 100% transparent that it’s an A.I. assistant, not a real human, so your audience can have fun engaging with it, without confusing it for a real person.
Another example: an A.I. chatbot that answers questions during a live event (or launch, sales page, weekly Office Hours, etc.) to help people get directions, get the event link, know if there’s a coffeeshop nearby before they get there, and more. Stay focused on your stage presence, knowing that your people are being supported.
To turn off Conversation AI in Fern CRM, go to Settings >> My Staff >> Edit User >> Roles & Permissions >> AI Agents
Voice A.I. Widget For Your Website
The Voice AI widget is a chat bot for your website, just like the Conversation AI, but for talking instead of typing. Users can click to open the conversation and then talk to the bot and the bot will respond, just like being on a phone call.
All of this happens without needing a phone number, app, or anything extra. Users just tap an icon to start the conversation and (if needed) allow microphone permissions.
Example: we love this feature for coaches because it allows you to start the coaching experience right there on the thank you page after a new client has paid. Sure, it’s nothing compared to actually being in a coaching session with you. Of course not! But you can give your new client a small taste of what they just paid for and get them thinking about whatever you need them to think about before their first session.
Plus, if they have any lingering reservations or questions, the bot can answer them right away, before buyer’s remorse kicks in and they start wording their refund request or self-sabotaging their success.
Another example: offering Voice A.I. can be an accessibility tool too! This feature is a huge benefit if anyone in your audience struggles with typing, reading, or they simply process better by talking it out. Use the Voice AI widget on your sales pages, support pages, blog pages or wherever else you think your talkative community needs it.
The Voice AI widget in Fern CRM is off by default until you create one under Sites >> Chat Widget and choose Voice AI as the type of chat widget.
Voice A.I. For Incoming Phone Calls
Voice AI is like having an A.I. receptionist to answer all calls coming into the phone number linked to your Fern CRM account.
When a call comes in, it can greet the caller, answer questions, collect information, book appointments, and transfer to a human team member when needed.
Example: you’re out in the field, on stage, or otherwise occupied when a phone call comes in. Your A.I. receptionist answers the call and takes a message OR handles the entire conversation like a real receptionist would. If the caller asks to speak with a human, the call can be transferred to a team member. As always, you decide how much it’s allowed to do, what it can access, which phone number it should answer, what hours it should operate, and who to transfer calls to.
To turn off Voice AI in Fern CRM, go to Settings >> My Staff >> Edit User >> Roles & Permissions >> AI Agents
Voice A.I. For Outgoing Phone Calls
Voice AI can also be used to make calls from your Fern CRM account, which is another powerful accessibility tool for those who need it! (Or an incredibly obnoxious feature in the wrong hands.)
Example: Replace text/email appointment reminders with audio-based phone call reminders instead. Perfect for businesses with a customer base that prefers audio/phone calls over text/emails, whether it’s personal preference, age, or impairment.
To turn off Voice AI in Fern CRM, go to Settings >> My Staff >> Edit User >> Roles & Permissions >> AI Agents
All Voice AI Features
In addition to what’s mentioned above in each feature description, all Voice A.I. features come with a Flow-Based Builder and the ability to clone your own voice from a single audio input that you can do right inside your Fern CRM dashboard.
To train your Voice A.I. bot, you can create settings (where you fill in your criteria, add links, give it boundaries, etc.) or use the Flow-Based Builder that lets you design intelligent voice agents visually. Map out every conversation path, decision, and action on a drag-and-drop canvas, and deploy a fully automated voice experience that talks to your customers in real time.
To turn off Voice AI in Fern CRM, go to Settings >> My Staff >> Edit User >> Roles & Permissions >> AI Agents
Agent Studio
Agent Studio a visual builder used to create advanced AI-powered agents that can respond to events, interact with users, and automate tasks. Agent Studio gives you the tools to design complex multi-step workflows on a canvas: connecting AI decision-making with knowledge base lookups, API calls, web search, and conditional routing. Agents can be triggered by CRM events (form submissions, tags, chat messages) and connected to Ask AI for on-demand execution.
Agent Studio is currently off for everyone while it gets a UX overhaul
Ask AI
An A.I. assistant you can chat with (type or talk!) from anywhere inside your Fern CRM account that can help you build anything you need inside your account. Beyond answering questions and brainstorming ideas, it can generate content in your brand voice, help set up features step-by-step (like setting up a booking calendar), and execute actions in the platform directly: updating contacts, rescheduling appointments, or pulling CRM data.
Example: wondering if there’s a way for Fern CRM to do this crazy idea you just had at 3am? Ask A.I. and find out! Our team will be back online at 10am if you want any help with it. Or, wishing you knew how to use Pipelines to track where your students drop off (so you can optimize that spot and/or re-engage them.) Ask A.I. and it will either build it for you or guide you through the process.
To turn off Ask AI in Fern CRM, go to Settings >> My Staff >> Edit User >> Roles & Permissions >> Ask AI
AI Studio
The Fern CRM vibe coder. Design, build, and launch fully functional experiences through natural conversation, no coding required. It builds in html code & javascript, which means you lose the benefits of the visual, drag-and-drop page builder. But if you ever need to update any of the info or pages, just tell it what needs changed and it will make the changes for you.
Example: You can Ask AI to build an entire website for you and embed the forms, calendars, etc. that you’ve built in Fern CRM so that every contact is seamlessly added to your CRM. Great if you suddenly have an opportunity you need to act on quickly and can’t afford to hire help or all the best hires are fully booked. (Or it’s like Christmas Day and you don’t dare ask anyone for a 2-day turnaround!)
To turn off AI Studio in Fern CRM, go to Settings >> My Staff >> Edit User >> Roles & Permissions >> AI Studio
Reviews AI
Reviews A.I. can read incoming reviews for your business and draft a response. And, like most of our A.I. features, you can dial in how much you want it to do. It can draft a response for you to review & edit before posting or it can publish its response right away. You set the boundaries before letting it loose.
Example: you’re going on a long, much-deserved vacation where you will most-certainly unplug from anything work related that isn’t on fire. Normally, you’d LOVE to respond to each review personally, within the first hours of being rated. (Because Google loves that and rewards your business for things like that.) But you don’t want to think about it when you’re finally starting to relax in another time zone.
Let Reviews AI take over for a few weeks and enjoy yourself! Even if your evergreen product suddenly goes viral and has multiple 5-star reviews coming in every hour, your darling review bot will handle it with grace and you can bask in the notifications when you return.
To turn off Reviews AI in Fern CRM, go to Settings >> My Staff >> Edit User >> Roles & Permissions >> Reputations
Content AI
As of the time I’m writing this in May 2026, not one Fern CRM user has used the Content A.I. yet. It’s there if anyone ever wants help crafting a blog post, social media post, email, sales page, or lead magnet. And yet, all these humans are either crafting their content out of their own mysterious brains or asking another A.I. tool to do it. And, unless they’re on a free A.I. plan elsewhere, I can almost guarantee they’re paying more for it than if they used the one built into Fern CRM.
But, based on what I know about our CRM customers, I’m pretty confident all but a few are writing their own content and that’s why this feature is so underused. Honestly, I love that for us!
But it’s there if you ever need it.
To turn off Content AI in Fern CRM, go to Settings >> My Staff >> Edit User >> Roles & Permissions >> Account Tools
Funnel & Website AI
A.I. powered website and funnel builder that designs according to your criteria and builds in the drag-and-drop page builder so it’s super easy for users to edit, modify, and update.
Example: let the Funnel A.I. build a sales funnel, based on your criteria, for a new offer you haven’t tested yet. Once you can prove market fit and profitability, hire a designer and copywriter with the money you made, to craft an even-more compelling funnel.
Another example: You suddenly have an opportunity you need to act on quickly and can’t afford to hire help or all the best hires are fully booked. (Or it’s like Christmas Day and you don’t dare ask anyone for a 2-day turnaround!) Use the Website A.I. to build the pages you need to leverage the opportunity and buy time to hire someone to make it better.
Funnel & Website AI is off by default in Fern CRM, unless you choose "Build With AI" when you create a new funnel or website
Workflow Assistant AI
This A.I. is built into the workflows (automations) drag-and-drop editor to help you build workflows, no experience required. You can use Workflow A.I. to make suggestions for improvements on existing workflows or chat with it about what it is you’re trying to do and let it build the automation for you.
To turn off Workflow Assistant AI in Fern CRM, send us a quick message and we'll toggle it off for you. (This is the only AI feature that can't be turned off within your settings. But we hope to change that soon!)
Third-Party Integrations
In addition to all the AI features that come with your Fern CRM account, you can also add external AI tools using the Third-Party Integrations feature. Fern CRM plays well with others, including MCP's!
Example: integrate Claude Code and give it permission to access incoming messages, calendars, and pipelines so you can give you a clear list each morning of the day's appointments, urgent messages, and people who need a follow-up.
It can also tell you which customers have gone too long without passing the next stage of their customer journey or who has waited the longest for a customer support issue to be resolved.
Third-Party Integrations in Fern CRM are off by default until you add the necessary connections to integrate another tool.
Why Does An “Eco-Conscious CRM” Have A.I. Features?
Short answer: because A.I. can be used ethically and use less resources than alternatives. But not everyone needs it, so we made our A.I. features optional.
Every user controls which features they want to see in their Fern CRM dashboard and which ones they don’t.
We trust our users to make smart decisions about when and where A.I. is more helpful than harmful. (And, we pay for carbon removal to help offset the environmental costs.)
While other tools are shoving A.I. into everything and raising the price for everyone, Fern CRM lets users pick and choose which A.I. features they want (including turning them all off) and only pay for what they use.
All of our A.I. features have a competitive, affordable pay-for-what-you-use model so that the people who turn it off completely don't have to help pay for the cost of those who use it everyday.
That way we can keep costs low for everyone and no one pays more for features they didn’t want in the first place.
And, with the advent of metered AI, we believe this will also help with cost-savings for our customers down the line, since our rates are usually lower than the big name A.I. tools.
Is A.I. In Your CRM Good Or Bad?
More importantly ~ how much AI do you want in your CRM tool, and what if you could turn a dial to add more or less of it?
Fern CRM is a flexible CRM too with optional AI integration.
Pick and choose where you want AI assistance and hide the rest.
Hate A.I.? No problem, keep all A.I. permissions switched off and keep your CRM 100% human-driven. Use regular automations to handle data entry and tedious tasks.
Love A.I.? Easy, keep all A.I. permissions turned on and let A.I. help you with everything from data entry and content creation to answering phone calls.
Somewhere in between? Pick and choose which features you want to turn on and hide the rest. With the permissions dashboard, you can easily turn any feature on or off and come back later to change your choices as needed. (You can also pick and choose which features each of your logged-in team members can access, whether A.I. or not.)
Nothing you do inside Fern CRM will be "read" by A.I. or LLM’s, unless you connect other AI tools using MCP integration.
If you want something like Claude Code to look at everything happening inside your CRM and give you a priority-based to-do list each morning, that's an option. (Fern CRM plays nicely with others, including MCP integration!)
If you're a tech-curious solopreneur who loves the idea of having a literal robot army to help with sales, customer support, answering phones, booking appointments, and managing your entire tech stack like an OBM bot, that's possible with Fern CRM.
Or, if you're horrified by A.I.'s impact on humanity and the planet, you can turn all of it off (with a few small exceptions that are easy to ignore/never use, but we're working to make those invisible too.)
And, for everyone else, you can choose your level of A.I. comfort by turning features on and off. Explore, experiment, and find that sweet spot where A.I. is helpful without dipping into harmful.
Maybe you just want a helpful chatbot that's always available, 24/7/365 to answer questions based on your Help Docs library but you don't want to go full-on A.I. receptionist.
Or maybe you want A.I. to build a unique sales page for your latest offer idea, so you can test the market and make sure it sells, before investing in a designer.
Or maybe you dread the idea of building your own automations because you've never really wrapped you head around something so abstract so you'd rather just talk out what you need and let the bots build it for you.
All of this is possible inside Fern CRM, but it's all optional and affordable.
Frequently Asked Questions About The Optional A.I. Features
How hard is it to turn off all A.I. in Fern CRM?
It's easy! Inside each team member's profile (including your own), there's a list of "Roles & Permissions" for the different features, each with a toggle switch to turn that feature on or off for that team member. You can open it any time to change the permissions as needed.
Some features (like Third-Party Integrations) don't need to be turned off if you never open them up and use them. (But the feature remains visible because you might use it for something that isn't related to A.I.)
Is my data and my contacts' data inside Fern CRM being read by A.I. or available to LLM's?
Not unless you give it access.
If you install something like Claude Code and give it permission to read all your data, then it will be based on the boundaries and permissions you give it.
If you choose to turn off all A.I. features (or simply ignore them and don't use them), then nothing in your Fern CRM account is going to feed the data to A.I. or LLM's.
That doesn't mean the LLM's can't read the pages you publish publicly though. For example, LLM's and search engines can still read (or scrape) your website pages or any pages that aren't password protected. But everything you see in your Fern CRM account that requires a login, will be hidden from them according to the rules and permissions you set.
Can I opt-out of all A.I. being present in my Fern CRM account?
You can turn off almost all of the A.I. features in Fern CRM. (There are 2 small exceptions at this time but we're working on making those optional too.)
The A.I. features are built-in and can't be completely stripped from the tool itself, but you can hide it from your account (so others can still enjoy it in theirs.)
The same goes for any team members who have access to your account. You can pick which features they see when they're logged in, and which features they can't access. (For example, you can give your social media manager access to the Social Planner while preventing them from accessing features that aren't related to the work they do for you.)
How much does it cost to use these A.I. features in Fern CRM?
All A.I. features inside Fern CRM are on a pay-for-what-you-use model with very competitive (cheaper) prices.
To ensure we have one record of truth (that we can update as needed), all pay-as-you-go pricing is listed in detail here: https://help.ferncrm.com/articles/paid-features-and-wallet/
Our Values
We donate 4% of all revenue to social and environmental causes and another 1% to carbon removal.
We’re committed to ethical marketing practices and customer success.
We’re committed to working with businesses that aren't polluting the planet.
For The Planet 🌍
Our blog is cleaner than 90% of web pages tested by Website Carbon Calculator. It emits the amount of carbon that ONE tree absorbs in a year at only 0.1g of CO2 per visit and is running on sustainable energy.
Our CRM platform offsets 5 times the CO2 pollution for every email and text message sent PLUS 250-1000kg of CO2 per month per account to offset all the time spent in the tool by every account user.
For The People ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻✊
We believe every human being should feel safe to express their identity however they choose. We support women, BIPOC, LGTBQIA2s+, and other underrepresented people.
We are committed to anti-racism, accessibility, and creating communities that actively work towards inclusion and safety.
Our Mission 💌
Our goal is to replace the Bezos, Musks, and DT's of the world with business owners who give back, who make a difference, and who actually care about people and the planet. We’re here to show you how to outperform the greedy corporations that have been wrecking society for far too long.
We practice integrity, transparency, and sustainability in everything we do.
About
Fern CRM is an all-in-one customer relationship platform for ethical businesses that care about what their subscription fees are secretly funding.
Streamlines your sales, marketing, automation, and fulfillment tech so you don't have to open 20 tabs every day (and pay 20 different bills every month).
Woman-owned and operated, mission-driven, and filled with geeky Easter eggs for those who like to click around and find out.
Our main office is located on the beautiful, unceded traditional territories of the Ohlone, Muwekma, and Lisjan people and we are very grateful for this opportunity to raise awareness and help with stewardship of this land until it is returned. Learn more here: Indigenous Land Acknowledgement
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