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Best CRM For Small Business Of 2024

Staff Reviewer,  Deputy Editor
Small Business Expert

Expert Reviewed

Updated: Jul 18, 2024, 2:08pm

Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on Forbes Advisor. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.

Customer relationship management (CRM) software helps businesses increase sales, drive growth and provide exceptional customer experiences. There are many CRM platforms on the market, each with its own set of features and benefits. To help make your research easy, we’ve created a guide to the best CRM for small businesses available today. Take a closer look at our top picks so you can find your ideal CRM software.

Read more

The Best CRM Software for Small Businesses

Why You Can Trust Forbes Advisor Small Business

The Forbes Advisor Small Business team is committed to bringing you unbiased rankings and information with full editorial independence. We use product data, strategic methodologies and expert insights to inform all of our content to guide you in making the best decisions for your business journey.

To find the best CRM services for small businesses, we considered over 25 of the leading CRM providers in the space and narrowed it down to 15, which we then evaluated across five key categories and 35 different metrics. Our ratings consider factors such as transparent pricing, pipeline and dashboard customization options, compatibility with third-party integrations, access to customer support and user experience. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Read More: How We Test CRMs

  • 23 companies evaluated
  • 5 weighted categories applied to each company
  • 35 metrics used to score each company
  • 805 data points collected


Best for Ease of Use

Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM
4.9
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting price

Free; $14 per month (billed annually)

Free Trial

15 days

Standout features

Free plan, workflow automations, highly customizable

Zoho CRM
Learn More Arrow

On Zoho's Website

Free; $14 per month (billed annually)

15 days

Free plan, workflow automations, highly customizable

Editor's Take

Zoho CRM is a low-cost but high-value CRM that offers everything you need to manage your sales pipeline and grow your business. Its free plan allows businesses of all sizes to customize their process, create sales workflows and leverage powerful reporting. It also provides a full suite of apps that integrate with the platform for marketing, customer support, accounting, human resources and inventory management, provided you have a paid plan starting at $14 per month with annual billing.

Teajai Kimsey, a digital marketing expert and our advisory board member, shared her thoughts on the platform: “Zoho is a well-rounded CRM with features that can adapt to any company’s focus and needs. They have grown substantially over the last five years and are an excellent choice for companies that are growing and want to scale upwards.”

Features

Zoho CRM has all of the features you would expect from a CRM—and many more. For example, it has basic features such as pipelines and task management, but it also has sophisticated sales and workflow automations, lead scoring, inventory management, multi-currency conversions for businesses that operate internationally, advanced analytics, data enrichment using artificial intelligence and more. On top of that, it has a large catalog of integrations—both directly available from Zoho, such as Zoho Invoices for service providers, and third parties, such as Facebook Ads, Google Workspace, Shopify and DocuSign.

Ease of Use

For the most part, I find Zoho CRM to be very intuitive and beginner-friendly. The user dashboard is clean, clutter-free and well-organized, making it easy to locate different features and set up various pipelines and workflows. However, it is worth mentioning that it can be a bit of a challenge to use if you are making several customizations or building out very sophisticated workflows. In short, I find that it is an easy CRM platform for those looking to use something more or less out of the box.

Pricing

Zoho CRM has one of the best free plans in the market, which, unlike other free plans, even includes workflows. However, it is still fairly limited in terms of storage, features and its three-user limit. Granted, its paid plans start at $14 per user per month with annual billing. This Standard plan includes multiple pipelines, task management, lead scoring, multiple currencies, workflow rules, email notifications, custom fields, email marketing tools and more.

Paid plans also include features such as custom dashboards, inventory management, advanced customization and scoring rules. You can also create a mobile app for your business in minutes using Zoho Creator. It allows you to access your business data from anywhere, directly from your Android and iOS devices.

Reputation

Zoho has a solid reputation for offering high-quality software for businesses at very competitive prices. It has an above average rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot from nearly 5,000 users—of which, over 75% gave it a perfect 5-star rating. While the majority find it to be easy to use and feature-rich, offering everything they need out of a CRM, there are a handful of users that give it low marks for poor customer service experiences.

Who Should Use It

Zoho CRM is a good all-around choice for the average small business seeking a versatile yet user-friendly CRM with affordable pricing.

Read more: Read our full Zoho CRM review.

Pros & Cons
  • Free and low-cost premium plans
  • User-friendly
  • Lead scoring
  • Sales automations
  • Highly customizable
  • Inventory management
  • Invoicing with Zoho Invoices
  • Month-to-month plans available
  • Free plan doesn’t include third-party integrations, just Zoho apps
  • Free plan as a three-user limit
  • Must pay for Premium and Enterprise support
Editor’s Scores
Decision Factor Score Scoring Weight Expert Take
Pricing
4 stars
20%
Zoho CRM stands out for its value for price—particularly for its feature-rich free forever plan for up to three users. However, its paid plans are pretty averaged priced.
Key Features
4 stars
25%
Zoho CRM is comprehensive yet user-friendly, with a wide range of features, such as sales and workflow automations, lead scoring, robust analytics and more.
Unique Features
4 stars
20%
When it comes to unique features, Zoho CRM is highly customizable, and it offers invoicing and inventory management for service-based businesses, making it a versatile CRM for small businesses.
Third-Party Ratings
4 stars
5%
Support is known for being quick to assist and resolve issues, though support has been hit or miss recently.
Expert Score
4 stars
30%
It offers a solid value for price, is well-designed and easy to use, and has a long list of features, making it a good choice for small businesses.
Overall Score
5 stars
Zoho CRM is a user-friendly yet surprisingly robust CRM that is very flexible. This enables it to meet the needs of a variety of business types and industries.

Best for Teams

monday sales CRM

monday sales CRM
4.8
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

$12 per user per month for basic features (three-user minimum)

Free trial

14 days

Standout features

Unlimited customizable pipelines, sales forecasting, bulk email

monday sales CRM
Learn More Arrow

On monday.com's Website

$12 per user per month for basic features (three-user minimum)

14 days

Unlimited customizable pipelines, sales forecasting, bulk email

Editor’s Take

More widely known as a project management solution, monday.com also has a high-quality CRM that is best for collaborative teams. It offers a Kanban-style board view of your tasks that helps you visualize your work and collaborate with team members by tracking the progress of projects, managing due dates, adding comments and attaching files. It also offers a long list of features, such as unlimited customizable pipelines, deal management, quotes and invoicing, sales forecasting and more, making it a versatile and feature-rich CRM.

Features

Monday sales CRM is designed to help teams more effectively manage clients and collaborate on projects and deals. All plans include unlimited customizable pipelines, contacts and boards; helpful pre-built templates for lead, contact and deal management; access to the mobile app so you can take your CRM with you on the go and the ability to create a dashboard based on one board. Its mid and top-tier plans include extra features such as activity management, quote and invoices, sales forecasting, email marketing with built-in tracking, sales automations, lead scoring, account management and more.

Ease of Use

When it comes to ease of use, I have mixed feelings about the monday.com CRM. On one hand, its modern and streamlined, but on the other, it can feel complicated to set up as not all features and functionalities are obvious. I find that those who have used monday.com or any of its competitors that employ Kanban-style boards to manage projects consider it fairly easy with only a small learning curve. But if you don’t have experience using it and plan to build out a complex CRM system, expect a fairly steep learning curve.

Teajai Kimsey, a digital marketing expert and our advisory board member, agrees: “Monday.com is primarily a project management tool. Users who want to integrate its CRM capabilities for sales may find the process to be more cumbersome compared to other options.”

Pricing

Monday does not offer a free plan for its CRM software, but it does offer a free 14-day trial to help new users decide if it’s right for them. It also offers competitively priced plans starting at $12 per seat (or user) per month for the Basic plan. Granted, unlike most CRM solutions, monday has a three-user minimum, so you must sign up for at least three accounts to get started. For me, this is disappointing as many small businesses do not need multiple users managing their CRM, so it feels prohibitive to smaller teams.

Paid plans include features such as unlimited customizable pipelines, unlimited contacts and viewers, sales forecasting, sales analytics, automations and integrations. Its mid-tier Standard CRM plan for $17 per seat per month also includes quotes and invoices, activity management and custom automations. Its Pro CRM plan for $28 per seat per month also includes mass email to help businesses streamline their marketing communications, sales analytics for an in-depth look at sales performance data and the ability to create a dashboard that comprises up to 10 boards.

Reputation

While monday.com generally has a good reputation for its project management software, it has an average rating on Trustpilot of 3.1 out of 5 stars from 3,000-plus reviewers. Granted, 75% of reviewers gave it a perfect 5-star rating and 18% gave it a 4-star rating, illustrating that despite its fairly low average rating, the vast majority of users give it top marks. While many users say monday.com is easy to use and that it offers what they need, others find that there are too many hidden fees and its features are too limited.

Who Should Use It

The flexible monday.com CRM is best for collaborative teams, especially those that need to work together on projects and tasks. The platform visualizes your work in Kanban-style boards and lets you track task progress and add due dates, comments and attachments.

Read more: Read our full monday.com review.

Pros & Cons
  • Low-cost paid plans starting at $12 per user per month
  • Very flexible CRM
  • Deal and activity management
  • Forecast sales with Pro CRM plan
  • Quotes and invoicing
  • Built-in email marketing
  • iOS and Android apps
  • No free plan
  • Paid plans have a three-user minimum
  • Involves a learning curve
  • Can only score leads with Enterprise CRM
Editor’s Scores
Decision Factor Score Scoring Weight Expert Take
Pricing
20%
Unfortunately, monday sales CRM does not have a free plan, but its paid plans are competitively priced at $12 per user per month. However, it does have a three-user minimum.
Key Features
5 stars
25%
If you’re familiar with monday.com’s other products you will find it very easy to use—particularly for keeping organized and managing multiple projects.
Unique Features
5 stars
20%
In addition to its core features, it offers quotes and invoicing, email marketing, deals and activity management and more.
Third-Party Ratings
3.5 Star preview
5%
Monday.com has a middle-of-the-road user rating of 3.1 out of 5 stars from over 3,000 reviewers.
Expert Score
30%
While it stands out for its versatility, monday sales CRM is not the most user-friendly and its three-user minimum makes it prohibitive for businesses that only need one or two users.
Overall Score
5 stars
Monday sales CRM is a good option for teams seeking to better organize and manage contacts as well as collaborate on projects.

Best for Lead Management

Freshsales

Freshsales
4.8
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

Free; $9 per user per month (billed annually)

Free trial

21 days

Standout features

Revenue forecasting, quotes and invoices, advanced lead management

Freshsales
Learn More Arrow

Via partner site

Free; $9 per user per month (billed annually)

21 days

Revenue forecasting, quotes and invoices, advanced lead management

Editor's Take

Freshsales is a top-rated CRM that stands out for its built-in lead capture forms. These forms allow you to easily gather information from potential customers on the web, track leads through your sales pipeline and convert them into opportunities and customers. Unlike many CRMs, Freshsales offers a free forever plan for up to three users and low-cost plans starting at $9 per user per month with annual billing.

Teajai Kimsey, a digital marketing expert and our advisory board member, adds that ”Freshsales is incredibly user-friendly and quick to set up. The AI integration through ‘Freddy’ provides valuable contact insights and lead-scoring capabilities. This CRM is an excellent choice for small businesses prioritizing lead generation.”

Features

Freshsales is a feature-rich CRM that gives businesses a 360-degree view of their customers with a visual table or Kanban-style dashboards, the ability to reach customers where they are—whether that be via email, chat phone or messenger—and the ability to save time while increasing productivity through numerous automations, workflows and sequences. It helps businesses close deals with multiple sales pipelines and revenue forecasting to determine priorities, create quotes and invoices, maintain product inventory and make more informed decisions with rich data and artificial intelligence.

Ease of Use

Not only is Freshsales feature-rich, especially in terms of sales and marketing and automations, but one of the things I like about it most is that it’s very easy to use. While some CRMs involve a steep learning curve, I find Freshsales to be well-designed and intuitive so it is pretty easy to grasp and use.

Pricing

What is nice about Freshsales is that it offers a free forever plan for up to three users, as well as industry-low prices with plans starting at $9 per user per month—with no minimum user requirement like monday.com. The free plan includes Kanban views, email complete with email templates, built-in phone and live chat. For more features, users can update to the Growth plan for $9 per user per month for custom fields, basic workflows, a product catalog, reporting and more. However, while its entry-level plan is very competitively priced, its plans quickly jump in price to well over double the average CRM.

For example, upgrading to its mid-tier plan costs $39 per user per month with annual billing. While I don’t personally like that it draws users in with low entry-level pricing, what’s worse is that you will need to choose its mid-tier plan for the basic inclusion of multiple sales pipelines. In other words, Freshsales is only very affordable if you are looking for very basic CRM functionality and if your business only needs one sales pipeline.

Reputation

Freshsales has one of the lowest ratings on Trustpilot out of any of our top CRMs for small business, with a poor 2.0 out of 5 stars. To make it even worse, just 32% of users gave it a 5-star rating, while 44% gave it a 1-star rating. It’s worth mentioning that while many reviewers note that its support is helpful, a large majority of its bad reviews say the opposite, which shows that either its support quality has tanked more recently or that it does not offer a consistent support quality.

Who Should Use It

Freshsales is best for businesses with savvy sales and marketing teams that will take advantage of a CRM with comprehensive lead management.

Read more: Read our full Freshsales review.

Pros & Cons
  • Free forever plan for up to three users
  • Low-cost paid plans starting at $9 per user per month
  • No minimum user requirement like monday.com
  • Deal management
  • Contact management
  • Contact lifecycle stages
  • Free 21-day trial
  • File storage limits
  • Call masking not available on Free plan
  • Warm transfers not available on Free or Growth plans
  • Support needs improvement
Editor’s Scores
Decision Factor Score Scoring Weight Expert Take
Pricing
5 stars
20%
Freshsales is one of the most competitively priced CRMs on our list, with a free forever plan and low-cost paid plans starting at $9 per user per month.
Key Features
5 stars
25%
It offers both the essential CRM offerings and advanced functionalities through upgrades, making it a good option for growing businesses.
Unique Features
5 stars
20%
Additionally, it offers revenue forecasting, quotes and invoices, product inventory, rich data through artificial intelligence and more.
Third-Party Ratings
2.5 Star preview
5%
To my surprise, users tend to love or hate Freshsales, with negative reviews revolving around poor support quality.
Expert Score
30%
It stands out for its ease of use and not just a low price, but a high value for price.
Overall Score
5 stars
Freshsales is a versatile CRM that offers strong lead management, low prices and quick setup.

Best for High-Growth Businesses

Salesforce

Salesforce
4.6
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting price

$25 per user per month (billed annually)

Free Trial

30 days

Standout features

Advanced sales management tools, extensive integrations library, highly customizable

Salesforce
Learn More Arrow

On Salesforce's Website

$25 per user per month (billed annually)

30 days

Advanced sales management tools, extensive integrations library, highly customizable

Editor's Take

Salesforce is an ideal choice for businesses seeking a comprehensive, all-in-one CRM solution that can scale seamlessly as they continue to grow. It allows you to manage your leads, contacts, opportunities and customers with a bird’s-eye view of your business. Plans start at $25 per user per month, making it one of the more expensive CRMs on our list, yet it’s also one of the most versatile, with plans and features to meet growing businesses of all sizes.

Features

While Salesforce offers a robust CRM, it’s worth highlighting that many of its advanced features are not available with its entry-level and mid-tier plans. In fact, many of the basic features you would expect with top CRMs are only available with its top-tier plans, such as sales forecasting and advanced pipeline management. On top of that, many features are available as add-ons for a hefty price. For example, the ability to create and send quotes will cost an additional $75 per user per month—a feature that is often included in CRMs at no extra cost.

Ease of Use

Despite its comprehensive offerings, I have found the Salesforce CRM to be surprisingly easy to use. Granted, it still involves a learning curve—especially if you plan to make customizations and build out advanced automations and workflows. Also, new users should expect the setup process to not happen as quickly as other CRMs such as Zoho CRM, Pipedrive or Nimble CRM.

Teajai Kimsey, a digital marketing expert and our advisory board member, has found it to more difficult to use: “Salesforce is renowned for its robust features that help sales teams excel, but I’ve found some aspects of the platform to be less intuitive and not as user-friendly as certain lesser-known CRMs.”

Pricing

To test drive plan features, take advantage of the free 14-day trial. Pricing starts at $25 per month when paid annually and goes up to $300 per month for the Unlimited plan. There are add-ons to extend the functionality of your Salesforce solution as you grow, which makes it a great option for companies that want to stick with the same CRM provider at all stages of growth.

Reputation

Salesforce has a bad rating on Trustpilot of just 1.2 out of 5 stars from over 400 users. I certainly find it odd that such a large company with an arsenal of software products only has 400 reviews. Interestingly, 84% of reviewers gave it a 1-star rating, with many commenting that it is slow and cumbersome to use and that its customer service needs improvement.

Who Should Use It

Businesses that need a comprehensive CRM in an all-in-one tool will appreciate Salesforce. As your company grows, you can add on additional products to support that growth.

Read more: Read our list of Salesforce competitors.

Pros & Cons
  • The cloud-based platform is accessible anywhere
  • Its base plan, Essentials, is good for up to 10 users
  • Offers add-ons for extended functionality of the CRM
  • Steep learning curve
  • Monthly pricing is only available on its Essentials plan
  • Setup takes a while
  • Poor user ratings on Trustpilot
Editor’s Scores
Decision Factor Score Scoring Weight Expert Take
Pricing
20%
Salesforce is on the expensive side at $25 per user per month, but it does provide a solid value for users who take advantage of all that it has to offer.
Key Features
5 stars
25%
Salesforce offers a great range of options, add-ons and integrations, making it a highly flexible CRM.
Unique Features
20%
As a leader in sales and marketing software, Salesforce offers a depth of industry-leading features to help businesses generate, nurture and convert leads.
Third-Party Ratings
2.5 Star preview
5%
Salesforce has a very poor rating online; however, it’s worth mentioning that reviews are not specific to its CRM but its sales and marketing suites.
Expert Score
30%
While it loses marks for its lack of competitive pricing—never mind its free plan—it makes up for it in its product quality with smart features that are well-designed.
Overall Score
It is a good choice for high-growth businesses that want a CRM with advanced sales and marketing capabilities.

Best for Budget-Strapped Businesses

Agile CRM

Agile CRM
4.5
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

Free; $8.99 per user per month (billed annually)

Free Trial

N/A

Standout features

Built-in marketing tools, appointment scheduling, lead scoring

Agile CRM
Learn More Arrow

Via partner site

Free; $8.99 per user per month (billed annually)

N/A

Built-in marketing tools, appointment scheduling, lead scoring

Editor's Take

Agile CRM ranks among our top CRMs for small businesses due to its advanced marketing tools that help companies nurture leads, stay top of mind and increase revenue. The essence of the platform is to ensure that limitations in personnel don’t translate into restricted marketing capabilities. The Drag-and-Drop Designer empowers even those with limited technical skills to create intricate marketing workflows. With just a few clicks, small businesses can construct multi-step campaigns, ‌nullifying the steep learning curve often associated with CRM platforms. Even better, it offers a free forever plan for up to 10 users and affordable plans starting at $8.99 per user per month (billed annually).

Features

Agile CRM offers a large number of features despite its low price. All plans, including its free version, offer unlimited deals, tasks and documents; appointment scheduling; custom-deal milestones to help you better manage your pipelines; email tracking and two-way telephony.

Agile CRM’s entry-level paid plan is where its suite of marketing tools comes in. It offers marketing automations, email marketing and lead generation tools such as a form and landing page builder.

Agile CRM uniquely offers behavior-based segmentation and it automatically tags and scores leads based on distinct activities, such as email interactions and website visits. This feature allows small businesses to strategically pinpoint the right audience segments, thus reducing the waste of resources on poorly targeted marketing campaigns. The real-time alerts about high-potential leads further help to streamline effort and focus.

Additionally, Agile CRM extends its automation into the sales process. The platform can qualify a lead and route it automatically to the appropriate sales representative. This creates a harmonious alignment between sales and marketing teams, ensuring that leads don’t fall through the cracks and that customer engagement remains consistent and timely. By automating these various elements, Agile CRM provides small businesses with a tool that caters to their specific needs: managing intricate marketing campaigns and customer interactions without requiring a steep investment of either time or money.

Teajai Kimsey, a digital marketing expert and our advisory board member, shared her thoughts on the platform: “Agile CRM effectively integrates sales and marketing functions. Those acquainted with HubSpot will find the layout and inner workings familiar. However, it’s worth noting that the program doesn’t store email activity; instead, it directly references emails from a user’s inbox. This approach could potentially pose a problem if a crucial email is inadvertently deleted or if a team member’s mailbox is disabled upon their departure.”

Ease of Use

I don’t find Agile CRM to be the most user-friendly. While its dashboard appears streamlined, I find that many of its features are very outdated. For example, its workflow builder is reminiscent of Microsoft Paint. Granted, some users find this easy to use, so it may depend on your familiarity with particular software.

Pricing

What Agile CRM lacks in ease of use, it makes up for in price. Not only does it have a free forever plan, but it has one of the highest user limits with a 10-user maximum. Its free plan includes up to 50,000 contacts; unlimited tasks, deals and documents; custom data fields; lead scoring; appointment scheduling; email tracking and two-way telephony. For access to its suite of marketing tools and features, such as email campaigns, form and landing page builders, users will need to opt for its entry-level Starter plan for $8.99 per user per month with an annual subscription.

Reputation

With one of the highest average user ratings on our list, Agile CRM has a near-perfect 4.8 out of 5-star rating from over 1,700 reviewers on Trustpilot—of which, over 90% gave it a perfect 5-star rating. While the vast majority of reviews are centered around high-quality, quick and helpful support, it’s important to choose a CRM that offers top-notch customer service, as it can make a big difference when troubleshooting any issues or resolving any problems.

Who Should Use It

Agile CRM is a good choice for small businesses looking to supercharge their sales and marketing efforts with advanced automations that can help nurture customer relationships and drive sales.

Learn more: Read our full Agile CRM review.

Pros & Cons
  • Free plan includes up to 10 users and 50,000 contacts
  • Unlimited deals, tasks and documents
  • Behavior-based lead scoring for smarter resource allocation
  • Built-in appointment scheduling
  • Automated sales process ensures marketing and sales alignment
  • Email tracking
  • Two-way telephony
  • Top-notch support
  • Limited customization
  • Its interface is dated
  • Lacks advanced analytics
Editor’s Scores
Decision Factor Score Scoring Weight Expert Take
Pricing
5 stars
20%
Agile CRM is one of the most affordable options in the market, with a free forever plan and low-cost paid plans starting at $8.99 per user per month.
Key Features
25%
Despite its low price, it offers a high value with unlimited deals, tasks and documents for every plan—including the free plan.
Unique Features
20%
On top of the core CRM features, it also offers unique features such as appointment setting, lead scoring and numerous marketing tools.
Third-Party Ratings
4 stars
5%
Agile CRM has one of the highest Trustpilot ratings on our list, with a near-perfect 4.8 out of 5-star rating from 1,700 reviewers.
Expert Score
4 stars
30%
While I don’t find Agile CRM to be the most user-friendly, I do find it to be a good value for price, thanks to its industry-low price point.
Overall Score
Agile CRM is a good option for businesses looking for an affordable option with marketing-heavy features.

Best for Sales Funnels

Apptivo

Apptivo
4.5
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

$15 per user per month (billed annually)

Free Trial

30 days

Standout features

Advanced invoicing features, highly customizable, product catalog

Apptivo
Learn More Arrow

Via partner site

$15 per user per month (billed annually)

30 days

Advanced invoicing features, highly customizable, product catalog

Editor's Take

Apptivo offers a level of flexibility and customization that’s invaluable for small businesses, striving to adapt the tool to their specific workflow rather than the other way around. Custom views, layouts and fields can be easily adjusted, making the CRM mold to your business’s unique requirements. This feature alone sets it apart from competitors that often prescribe a one-size-fits-all solution. Unfortunately, it does not offer a free plan like many of its competitors, and plans start at $15 per user per month, making it on the more expensive side. But I find that its features are well worth the price.

Features

Apptivo is a CRM that includes all of the main features you would expect from a top-rated CRM, such as contact, lead, opportunity and task management; workflow automations; lead scoring and more. But it also offers more unique features, such as its sales funnel builder, which allows businesses to get an intricate understanding of their sales process, from lead generation to deal closure. Automated sales tools like email sequencing help sales teams by reducing repetitive tasks and ensuring consistent follow-up, making it easier to turn potential clients into long-term partners.

Additionally, Apptivo’s mobile CRM ensures that your sales team isn’t desk-bound; data-driven decisions can be made from anywhere. While some CRM platforms may have sophisticated analytical tools, Apptivo demystifies this by breaking down win-loss analyses, sales projections and performance metrics into digestible visuals. This means actionable insights are more readily available, even for those who aren’t data scientists.

Ease of Use

Like Agile CRM, Apptivo is not the most user-friendly CRM on the market, largely because its interface is dated. I find it to be generally clunky, not only involving a learning curve to use but also making it difficult to locate certain features and tools. Granted, it is a great solution for those with development experience looking to build out a highly custom CRM, as it is among the more flexible CRMs in the market.

Teajai Kimsey, a digital marketing expert and our advisory board member, noted that the apps offered can make things more difficult: “As the name suggests, Apptivo is a CRM that offers a wide array of native apps that can be combined to create a truly customized business CRM. The program also seamlessly integrates with external applications. However, the sheer number of these apps can be overwhelming, making the CRM challenging to set up and manage.”

Pricing

Plans start at $15 per user per month with annual billing. This entry-level plan includes contact management, project management, up to 25 automated workflows, inventory management, multiple sales pipelines, referral tracking, a performance dashboard and more. However, its storage is limited to 1GB per user. Its mid-tier Premium plan costs $25 per user per month with an annual subscription and increases your storage limit to 3GB and includes additional features, such as ecommerce tracking, marketing automations and more integrations.

Reputation

Apptivo has mixed reviews. On one hand, it’s a quality solution for those who have the time and experience to set it up properly and take advantage of all that it has to offer. On the other hand, however, it’s not intuitive for new users, giving it a fairly steep learning curve. Users do agree that its support is poor, and with that, it has a low 2.6 out of 5-star rating on Trustpilot.

Who Should Use It

Small to medium-sized businesses looking for a highly customizable and mobile CRM solution that offers deep sales analytics and customization capabilities.

Pros & Cons
  • Highly customizable
  • Automatic lead routing
  • Built-in estimates and invoicing
  • Mobile capabilities for on-the-go sales and client management
  • In-depth analytics facilitate actionable business insights
  • No free plan
  • Limited third-party integrations compared to other leading CRMs
  • Must have an Ultimate plan or higher for SMS
Editor’s Scores
Decision Factor Score Scoring Weight Expert Take
Pricing
4 stars
20%
Apptivo stands out for its month-long free trial. However, it does not have a free plan and its paid plans are average-priced at $15 per user per month.
Key Features
4 stars
25%
It has contact, lead, opportunity and task management and more, such as workflow automations and lead scoring.
Unique Features
4 stars
20%
It offers custom views, layouts and fields, making it a very versatile CRM.
Third-Party Ratings
4 stars
5%
There are two main camps with Apptivo where users either love it or hate it.
Expert Score
4 stars
30%
I find Apptivo to be a bit clunky and it doesn’t offer the best value for price, but it does have some quality features for savvy sales teams.
Overall Score
It’s a scalable CRM solution with advanced sales funnels and workflow automations.

Best for Scaling Startups

HubSpot

HubSpot
4.4
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

Free; $15 per user per month (billed annually)

Free Trial

14 days

Standout features

Advanced sales and marketing features, document tracking

HubSpot
Learn More Arrow

On HubSpot's Website

Free; $15 per user per month (billed annually)

14 days

Advanced sales and marketing features, document tracking

Editor's Take

HubSpot earns its reputation as a go-to CRM for businesses of all sizes. One of the key advantages is its ability to scale with a business, thanks to its long list of high-quality features. This makes it ideal for startups and SMBs alike. What’s more, it offers a free CRM plan so small businesses can test the waters without a financial commitment.

Features

The HubSpot CRM includes the core features of a CRM such as pipelines, contacts, deals and task management. It also provides a unified dashboard for marketing, sales and customer service functionalities, which avoids the cost and complexity of integrating multiple standalone tools. HubSpot’s detailed list segmentation enables granular targeting, allowing businesses to create personalized marketing strategies.

Ease of Use

Despite being a very comprehensive software, I find that HubSpot does a great job of making it user-friendly with its modern and intuitive interface. It does this by making its core features and advanced features easy to use. This is not necessarily common across the board with CRM solutions as many have easy-to-use basic features, but the more advanced features are a challenge to employ.

Pricing

What’s nice is that there is a free version of the HubSpot CRM. While it’s fairly limited with just one deal pipeline, it does give new users a good way of getting to know the software. Paid plans start at $15 per user per month with annual billing or $20 per user per month with a monthly subscription. This includes two deal pipelines and additional features such as conversation routing, basic automations, multiple currencies, goals, the ability to create repeat tasks and more.

If you need more than two pipelines, its mid-tier plan includes up to 15 pipelines for a hefty $90 per user per month with an annual subscription. That said, HubSpot is not the best value for those that need multiple pipelines, as it quickly becomes far more expensive than its leading competitors.

Teajai Kimsey, a digital marketing expert and our advisory board member, likes HubSpot’s recent pricing changes: “As a HubSpot user for nearly a decade, I’ve witnessed numerous positive changes and expansions to the platform. Most recently, HubSpot revised its pricing structure, allowing all users to access features that were previously available only in higher-tier plans without incurring additional costs.”

Reputation

HubSpot is widely known for its sales and marketing software that can help businesses automate many time-consuming tasks, improve processes and drive more sales. While I find its CRM to be a quality solution, HubSpot has a subpar Trustpilot rating of 2.6 out of 5 stars, all without knowing which solution those customers used. However, in my experience, HubSpot has come a long way. Years ago, I found it to be a cumbersome and arduous software, but it has since become very well-designed and easy to use.

Who Should Use It

Small businesses looking to grow their customer base without managing multiple apps or platforms.

Read more: Read our full HubSpot review.

Pros & Cons
  • Free forever plan
  • User-friendly
  • Advanced sales and marketing features
  • Document tracking
  • Ticketing system
  • Unified dashboard simplifies cross-functional activities
  • Granular list segmentation for personalized marketing
  • Email send limits can bottleneck high-volume campaigns
  • Limited customization capabilities compared to specialized platforms
Editor’s Scores
Decision Factor Score Scoring Weight Expert Take
Pricing
4 stars
20%
HubSpot offers great value for money between its free CRM and high-quality software.
Key Features
4 stars
25%
It includes all the key CRM features such as pipelines, contacts, deals and task management, plus many more.
Unique Features
4 stars
20%
While most CRMs offer sales and marketing tools, HubSpot offers one of the largest selections of solutions on the market.
Third-Party Ratings
4 stars
5%
It has a subpar user rating. However, these are not solely CRM users, but those who have used its other software.
Expert Score
4 stars
30%
HubSpot is reliable and flexible, and it has features that both small and large businesses need.
Overall Score
4 stars
HubSpot is a good choice for businesses looking for a CRM with powerful built-in marketing tools.

Best for Sales Tracking

Salesmate

Salesmate
4.4
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

$23 per user per month (billed annually)

Free Trial

15 days

Standout features

Advanced automations, power dialer, sales tracking

Salesmate
Learn More Arrow

Via partner site

$23 per user per month (billed annually)

15 days

Advanced automations, power dialer, sales tracking

Editor's Take

Salesmate is one of the best CRM solutions that zeroes in on what small to medium-sized businesses need: tracking, organizing and automating sales activities without overcomplicating the process or overstretching the budget. Plans start at $23 per user per month with an annual subscription and offer flexibility in feature sets, allowing businesses to seamlessly integrate more advanced functionalities, such as goal management and power dialer, as they grow.

Teajai Kimsey, a digital marketing expert and our advisory board member, shared her thoughts on the platform: “Salesmate is a no-frills, straightforward CRM. While it lacks a dedicated marketing component, it does provide some basic email marketing and automation capabilities. This CRM is well-suited for small teams or solo businesses seeking a simple, uncomplicated solution.”

Features

Salesmate goes beyond mere contact management to offer features such as multiple pipeline management and workflow customization. These functionalities bring discipline to your sales operations, enabling a company to monitor deals in various stages and to automate repetitive tasks. The Team Inbox feature in its higher plans consolidates all customer correspondence in one place, making team collaboration more organized and effective. Email sync and tracking can amplify your outreach strategy by offering real-time updates on how recipients interact with your emails.

Ease of Use

Generally, I find Salesmate very intuitive and well-designed, making it easy to get set up and started. However, users who are hoping to deploy its advanced automations quickly might be disappointed. This is because it is highly robust and has advanced automations, which lends to a learning curve.

Pricing

Salesmate is not the lowest-priced CRM on the market, and unlike many of the top CRMs, it does not offer a free plan. Instead, plans start at $23 per user per month, making it one of the more expensive CRMs to get started with. However, it’s worth pointing out that its entry-level plan is far more comprehensive than the average CRM’s paid plan in this tier. For example, it includes many features that are generally only available with mid- and top-tier plans, such as automations, built-in calling and texting, web forms for generating leads and more.

Reputation

In terms of reputation, Salesmate is regarded as a solid CRM solution that offers advanced features and a modern interface. It has a good—but not great—-3.8 out of 5-star rating on Trustpilot from just a handful of users, indicating that its rating does not reflect a comprehensive review of its quality as there are too few users to really speak to it. What I find interesting is that from the few reviews that it does have, users tend to either love it or hate it. Those who love it appreciate its ease of use and abundance of features, while those who don’t say that it can be glitchy and that late payment can result in losing your leads.

Who Should Use It

Small to medium-sized businesses seeking an affordable, scalable solution to organize and automate their sales operations.

Learn more: Read our full Salesmate review.

Pros & Cons
  • Advanced workflow customizations
  • Modern and intuitive design
  • Built-in calling and texting
  • Drip email campaign builder
  • Product management
  • Field-based permissions for teams
  • Free 15-day trial
  • No free plan
  • Paid plans are not competitively priced
  • Some features come at an added cost
  • Lacks built-in quotes and invoicing
  • No 24/7 customer support, which could be a drawback for businesses operating in multiple time zones or weekend hours
Editor’s Scores
Decision Factor Score Scoring Weight Expert Take
Pricing
20%
Salesmate is not the most affordable CRM, but many of its features are available as add-ons to your total cost.
Key Features
25%
It offers a solid range of features, including multiple pipeline management, workflow customization and product management.
Unique Features
20%
It has a strong list of features geared towards teams, such as a team inbox and field-based permissions.
Third-Party Ratings
4 stars
5%
While it doesn’t score the highest amongst users, it garnered an above-average 3.8 out 5 stars on Trustpilot.
Expert Score
30%
I appreciate that Salesmate is easy to set up and has high-quality features, but its pricing is steep, and advanced features involve a steep learning curve.
Overall Score
With its advanced sales features, including sales tracking, Salesmate is a good option for savvy sales teams.

Best for Sales Teams

Pipedrive

Pipedrive
4.3
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting price

$14 per user per month (billed annually)

Free trial

14 days

Standout features

Lead scoring, customizable workflows, notifications

Pipedrive
Learn More Arrow

On Pipedrive's Website

$14 per user per month (billed annually)

14 days

Lead scoring, customizable workflows, notifications

Editor's Take

Pipedrive has earned its spot as one the best CRMs for small businesses thanks to its advanced—and plentiful—features designed for sales teams. For example, it has lead scoring to help your team better prioritize leads and close more deals, lead routing so that team members are automatically assigned leads, workflow automations to eliminate repetitive tasks, a scheduler to streamline the scheduling process and more. Plans start at $14 per user per month with an annual subscription, and while Pipedrive involves a learning curve, it is pretty easy to set up.

Features

Pipedrive is a CRM with a laundry list of bells and whistles designed to help sales teams nurture leads and close deals more effectively. It has all of the core CRM features, such as contact, task and deals management; workflow automations; and customizable pipelines. It also has a number of less common features, such as lead scoring and rotting, automatic lead routing, a contacts map for a visual illustration of the location of your leads, e-signature, quotes and invoices, products catalog, goals, revenue forecasting and more.

Teajai Kimsey, a digital marketing expert and our advisory board member, noted what she likes about Pipedrive: “Pipedrive boasts an array of impressive features. I was particularly struck by the ease with which I could upload over 500 products via spreadsheet, making it an excellent choice for e-commerce businesses. The incorporation of AI within this CRM is also noteworthy and adds to its overall functionality.”

Ease of Use

Personally, I have found Pipedrive to be very well-designed and intuitive. It stands out for how easy it is to get started with a simple setup. However, I’d be remiss not to mention that while its core features are straightforward and easy to learn, many of its more advanced features involve a learning curve, so it requires some time to learn how to fully use all that it has to offer.

Pricing

Unlike some of the top CRMs for small businesses, such as Zoho CRM or HubSpot, Pipedrive does not offer a free plan. Instead, it offers a free 14-day trial to give new users a way of test driving the platform without any upfront cost. Its plans start at $14 per user per month with an annual subscription. This includes contact, lead, calendar and pipeline management; seamless data import and 400-plus integrations; analytics and more. Those needing more workflows or who want automations or email tracking will need to opt for the mid-tier Advanced plan for $29 per user per month with annual billing.

Reputation

Pipedrive has a solid 4.4 out of 5-star rating on Trustpilot from nearly 2,000 users. What’s more, over 75% of users gave it a perfect 5-star rating. Users frequently comment that the software offers the features they need, but many note that support needs improvement.

Who Should Use It

As a CRM solution designed for sales teams, Pipedrive is the ideal platform for knowledgeable sales teams that need highly custom workflows and helpful tools to stay organized and save time.

Learn More: Read our full Pipedrive review.

Pros & Cons
  • Intuitive and easy to set up
  • Highly customizable
  • Unlimited sales pipelines
  • Lead scoring and routing
  • Numerous workflow automations
  • Create, send and track quotes and invoices
  • Product catalog
  • Built-in telephony
  • No free plan
  • Phone support is not available with all plans
Editor’s Scores
Decision Factor Score Scoring Weight Expert Take
Pricing
4 stars
20%
With plans starting at $14 per user per month, it offers industry-average pricing.
Key Features
4 stars
25%
Pipedrive’s unlimited, customizable pipelines, workflow automations and contact management give businesses the tools to streamline their sales process.
Unique Features
4 stars
20%
Its à la carte add-ons provide flexibility for users with varied needs and CRM requirements.
Third-Party Ratings
4 stars
5%
Pipedrive has a good 4.4 out of 5-star rating from almost 2,000 users.
Expert Score
4.5 Star preview
30%
With its long list of features, Pipedrive offers a good value for price, and I appreciate that it is well-designed and intuitive.
Overall Score
4.5 Star preview
Pipedrive stands out for its customization capabilities, which makes it ideal for complex sales activities.

Best for Social Media Integrations

Nimble CRM

Nimble CRM
4.3
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

$24.90 per user per month (billed annually)

Free Trial

14 days

Standout features

Data enrichment, customizable user dashboard, email prospector tool

Nimble CRM
Learn More Arrow

Via partner site

$24.90 per user per month (billed annually)

14 days

Data enrichment, customizable user dashboard, email prospector tool

Editor's Take

Nimble CRM elevates the practice of customer relationship management by embedding social media into its core functionality. While most CRMs offer social media as an afterthought or add-on, Nimble centralizes it, offering social profile matching and enrichment right off the bat. By automatically fetching and integrating information from various social networks into your contact records, Nimble provides a 360-degree view of clients and prospects, offering businesses a richer context and more meaningful engagement points.

Features

Beyond the standard CRM features, such as contact, lead and deal management, Nimble stands out for its social media integrations that enable businesses to automatically sync data from social. Aside from social media, Nimble offers specialized features such as data enrichment and group messaging. Data enrichment allows businesses to augment their existing contacts with additional details, thereby adding layers of insights that can be pivotal for targeted marketing. Group messaging, on the other hand, is not mere mass mailing; it’s a feature designed to send personalized messages to segmented contacts, complete with open and click tracking.

Teajai Kimsey, a digital marketing expert and our advisory board member, appreciates Nimble’s social integration: “Nimble CRM offers many of the same features found in larger, more comprehensive CRM solutions. However, one standout difference is its LinkedIn integration, which is crucial for generating leads through this particular social channel.”

Ease of Use

While many of the more comprehensive CRMs become more cumbersome to learn how to use, I have found Nimble to be surprisingly easy to use. From the start, it makes the onboarding process easy with a new user walkthrough. I like that all of its features are intuitive, so it’s not only user-friendly for those using it out of the box. Keep in mind that Nimble is also a very customizable CRM, so its ease of use is impressive, given that its feature set is robust.

Pricing

Nimble is on the more expensive side, yet unlike nearly all CRMs, it only offers one plan. It costs $24.90 per user per month with an annual subscription for full access to all of its features. However, it does have a 25,000 contact limit and a 2GB limit per user, so it may not be a good choice for businesses that need document storage as part of their CRM or those that plan to grow beyond 25,000 contacts.

Reputation

While Nimble has an oddly low number of reviews on Trustpilot, it has nearly 2,000 reviews on Capterra with an overall score of 4.4 out of 5 stars. Reviewers frequently comment on its quality features, intuitive design and time-saving tools for salespeople. On the other hand, some users say it’s too expensive, which is something that I would agree with—especially given its low storage limit and lack of unlimited contacts.

Who Should Use It

Businesses that heavily leverage social media for customer relations and want a CRM that offers data-rich, contextual interactions.

Learn More: Read our full Nimble CRM review.

Pros & Cons
  • Centralized social media integration provides richer customer context
  • Data enrichment capabilities deepen the insights into each contact
  • Highly compatible with popular office suites such as Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace
  • 2GB storage limit per user
  • Max 25,000 contacts
  • Absence of 24/7 customer support can limit real-time issue resolution for globally operating businesses
Editor’s Scores
Decision Factor Score Scoring Weight Expert Take
Pricing
4 stars
20%
Nimble is one of the more expensive CRMs, with plans starting at $24.90 per user per month and an industry-standard 14-day free trial.
Key Features
4 stars
25%
It has all of the core CRM features, such as contact, lead and deal management.
Unique Features
4 stars
20%
It offers lead generation tools, such as its LinkedIn Prospector tool, and data enrichment for further insights into your contacts and leads.
Third-Party Ratings
4 stars
5%
Nimble has a solid 4.4 out of 5-star rating on Capterra from nearly 2,000 users.
Expert Score
30%
For me, Nimble stands out for its ease of use and helpful features, which help make up for its higher-than-average price point.
Overall Score
4 stars
Nimble is a good choice for businesses that depend heavily on social media to generate leads.

Forbes Advisor Ratings

Company Forbes Advisor Rating Starting Price Free Trial Standout features LEARN MORE
Zoho CRM 4.9 5-removebg-preview Free; $14 per month (billed annually) 15 days Free plan, workflow automations, highly customizable Learn More On Zoho's Website
monday sales CRM 4.8 5-removebg-preview $12 per user per month for basic features (three-user minimum) 14 days Unlimited customizable pipelines, sales forecasting, bulk email Learn More On monday.com's Website
Freshsales 4.8 5-removebg-preview Free; $9 per user per month (billed annually) 21 days Revenue forecasting, quotes and invoices, advanced lead management Learn More Via partner site
Salesforce 4.6 5-removebg-preview $25 per user per month (billed annually) 30 days Advanced sales management tools, extensive integrations library, highly customizable Learn More On Salesforce's Website
Agile CRM 4.5 4.5-removebg-preview Free; $8.99 per user per month (billed annually) N/A Built-in marketing tools, appointment scheduling, lead scoring Learn More Via partner site
Apptivo 4.5 4.5-removebg-preview $15 per user per month (billed annually) 30 days Advanced invoicing features, highly customizable, product catalog Learn More Via partner site
HubSpot 4.4 4.5-removebg-preview Free; $15 per user per month (billed annually) 14 days Advanced sales and marketing features, document tracking Learn More On HubSpot's Website
Salesmate 4.4 4-removebg-preview $23 per user per month (billed annually) 15 days Advanced automations, power dialer, sales tracking Learn More Via partner site
Pipedrive 4.3 4-removebg-preview $14 per user per month (billed annually) 14 days Lead scoring, customizable workflows, notifications Learn More On Pipedrive's Website
Nimble CRM 4.3 4-removebg-preview $24.90 per user per month (billed annually) 14 days Data enrichment, customizable user dashboard, email prospector tool Learn More Via partner site

Methodology

Decision Factor Scoring Weight Description
Pricing
20%
Affordability is a key decision factor for small businesses, so we considered the availability of a free forever plan, the cost of paid plans and the value for price.
Key Features
25%
There are core features every CRM should have in order to be a useful tool in managing relationships and organizing leads, such as contact, lead, opportunity and task management features, as well as custom pipelines and built-in communication tools.
Unique Features
20%
In addition to the key features, many CRMs offer unique features that are must-haves for certain businesses and industries, such as lead routing, quotes and invoicing, product catalogs, appointment setting, social media sync, two-way telephony and more.
Ratings and Reviews
5%
To help ensure that our personal experience matches that of the average user, we analyze every provider’s ratings on major review sites such as Trustpilot and Capterra.
Expert Analysis
30%
We incorporate our own firsthand experience using each of these platforms in order to add insights on value for price, ease of use, support quality and popularity.

Read More: How We Evaluate CRMs.


Benefits of Using a CRM

There are a number of benefits to using CRM, and with that comes a variety of reasons why a business decides to use one. At its core, a CRM will help businesses organize contacts and leads, enabling them to increase efficiency and, in return, nurture stronger relationships. However, CRMs do a lot more these days than just help businesses organize and manage leads. They also help businesses generate leads through tools such as web forms and prospector tools, enhance contact data through data enrichment, create quotes and invoices, communicate with contacts and so much more.

Here are some of the benefits of using a CRM:

  • Improve organization: Contact management enables organizations to organize contacts and leads more effectively by having a centralized database of contacts.
  • Manage deals, tasks and projects: Most CRMs include deal, task and project management tools to help businesses and their teams easily stay on top of everything.
  • Increase efficiency: Businesses can use workflow automations to eliminate repetitive and often time-consuming tasks, saving time and increasing efficiency.
  • Easily assign leads: Lead routing is a fairly common feature that helps businesses automatically assign leads, whether that’s via a round-robin distribution or by specific parameters.
  • Improve customer communication: With built-in communication tools, such as texting, phone and email campaigns, businesses can easily communicate with customers.
  • Increase sales: CRMs are known to help businesses generate more sales, thanks to their ability to help sales teams generate and nurture leads and even prioritize their time with features such as lead scoring.

In addition to the above, some CRMs offer a number of niche features, giving businesses more benefits. For example, a service-based business might seek a CRM that enables them to create, send and track quotes and invoices easily.


How to Choose a CRM Service for Small Business

The return on investment from selecting the best CRM software can be massive. However, with so many CRM platforms on the market, the search can be overwhelming. To help combat decision fatigue, start by reviewing the key features of various CRMs, as they all offer slightly different feature sets. Consider the type of CRM that might be best for your business—whether that be a general CRM or a CRM that is designed specifically for your industry. Last but not least, affordability—and scalability—is an inherent part of the decision-making process.

Core CRM Features

At the core of nearly every CRM is a certain set of features that collectively help businesses better organize their leads and drive more sales. Additionally, there are dozens of different CRM features—including some very helpful industry-specific features—so it’s worth considering your unique needs before getting started with a new CRM.

  • Contact management: Get all of your contacts and leads in one centralized location that your team can access from anywhere.
  • Task and project management: You can better manage all tasks and projects while being transparent about your team’s progress.
  • Customizable sales pipelines: There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all sales pipeline, so it’s important that CRMs give businesses the ability to customize their pipelines to suit their unique needs.
  • Workflow automations: Stop wasting time on repetitive tasks and use workflow automations to do many of your most common—and most tedious—tasks for you.
  • Lead scoring: Help your sales team prioritize their time with lead scoring which shows the likelihood of a lead becoming a customer.
  • Lead routing: Automatically assign leads to your sales team based on your own set of parameters.
  • Email marketing: Easily stay in touch with your leads and contracts through automated email campaigns that send based on designated triggers.

Types of CRMs

There are two main types of CRMs: general or all-purpose CRMs that are designed to offer the core features with a high degree of flexibility to suit the requirements of many different businesses and industry-specific CRMs. For example, in addition to the all-purpose CRMs, there are CRMs designed to meet the unique needs of real estate professionals, financial advisors and more. Generally, I would advise businesses to start by looking for industry-specific CRMs before considering all-purpose CRMs, as they are more likely to offer the features you need and may require fewer customizations.

CRM Pricing

While every CRM will have a different price, the average price for a top CRM hovers around $15 per user per month. Many all-purpose CRMs offer a free forever plan, which typically have small user limits and contact limits. For more information, check out our guide to CRM pricing.

Ask the Expert

What should you look for in a CRM?

Kelly Main

Kelly Main

Staff Reviewer

Teajai Kimsey

Teajai Kimsey

Small Business Expert

Kiran Aditham

Kiran Aditham

Deputy Editor

 

When shopping for a CRM, be sure to look for providers that offer the must-have features for your specific industry and needs. In many instances, there may be CRMs that are designed to meet the needs of your industry, which helps you hit the ground running. In instances where industry-specific CRM solutions are not available, consider flexibility and ease of use so that you can customize the CRM to fit your exact needs—because a CRM is only useful if it has what you and your team need.

Kelly Main

Kelly Main

Staff Reviewer

 

When choosing a CRM, consider your company’s objectives and how the CRM will align with them. The ideal CRM for your organization will offer features that support your business growth. For instance, some companies may not require a sales pipeline but will benefit from features that help identify customer segments and integrate social media profiles. On the other hand, businesses that heavily depend on email marketing should ensure that the selected CRM provides robust email marketing capabilities and plans that fit their needs. It’s worth the time to use any free demo that is offered to try out the CRM before making a commitment.

Teajai Kimsey

Teajai Kimsey

Small Business Expert

 

Ease of use is key when looking for the right CRM for your business. Your CRM software should offer user-friendly, intuitive interfaces and features and allow you to build custom workflow automations that help streamline customer support and client relations for your team.

Kiran Aditham

Kiran Aditham

Deputy Editor


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are the benefits of a CRM?

CRM benefits include the ability to segment customers, personalize outreach, centralize and organize lead, customer and partner data, forecast sales trends, scale internal and external communication, automate tasks and data entry and discover actionable trends in customer data. All of these benefits come together to help companies offer better lead and customer experiences, ultimately boosting lead conversion rates and customer lifetime values.

What is the easiest CRM?

Out of the best CRM software for small businesses on our list, Zoho CRM, is the easiest to use. It offers a simple and intuitive interface as well as helpful tutorials to get you started. It’s also customizable so that you can tailor it to match your business needs.

What is an open-source CRM?

An open-source CRM offers businesses a high level of customization. Instead of being developed and controlled by one company, it consists of a source code published publicly and shared by users and developers all around the world. What makes an open-source CRM beneficial is that anyone with the know-how can “open up” the software themselves and change features, interface elements and virtually anything else as they see fit.

 

The fun (and useful application) in using public source code is that businesses can tweak and update it however is seen fit based on the design and growth of the company. Open-source software, such as a CRM, is ideal for niche businesses requiring specific features not offered by the large traditional platforms.

Can small businesses use CRM?

There are many types of CRM for different teams or needs, even though it’s traditionally used by sales teams. Look for the best marketing CRM software, which should include tools to automate marketing campaigns, or real estate CRM, which focuses on communication tools, such as click-to-call and text messaging within the app.

Is there a truly free CRM?

There are several truly free CRMs. With each one, you’ll have to compromise on features or limits to users or storage, for example. Zoho CRM, monday.com and EngageBay are Forbes Advisor’s picks for the best free CRM plans.

Does CRM require a large IT investment?

There are plenty of cloud CRM solutions that information technology (IT) novices can employ. You don’t have to make a large investment in physical IT infrastructure or hire IT staff to manage your CRM. Many CRM solutions are available as software as a service (SaaS), which means that you only pay for what you use and can stop using it at any time.


Next Up In CRM


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