A 55-person real estate firm in Atlanta just fired Salesforce. Not because the software stopped working, but because a custom app built with AI tools does the same job for roughly $300 a month instead of six figures a year.
The numbers that make legacy vendors nervous
Greenleaf Management replaced its contracts with Entrata and Yardi by building a bespoke CRM using Replit and Anthropic’s Claude Code. The result: roughly $100,000 in annual savings, according to a July 2026 report from The Information.
They are not alone. Atonom, a 45-person startup based in Utah, swapped a $40,000-per-year Salesforce contract for a CRM built with Lovable, a competing AI development tool. Their expected annual cost going forward is $1,200.
The Seattle Seawolves, a 70-person professional rugby team, used Claude Code to replace both their Salesforce CRM and AXS ticketing system inside four months, cutting roughly $100,000 in software spending. Their revenue is up 25% since March 2026.
