Are you looking out for database management software for your small business? If yes, then you are in the right place. We provide you with up-to-date information on various database management software that can be used by the Small Business owners.
The main objective of this blog is to help the Small Business owners to find out the best possible solutions to their problems. Whether it is streamlining product inventory, tracking employee attendance or monitoring fleet management, you will find all the options right here.
Freshsales: Best Overall Customer Database Software “THE BOSS”
What We Like
- Easy import and export of data
- Multichannel communication via phone, email, and chat
- Automatic profile enrichment
What’s Missing
- Does not support unlimited contacts
- Has limited third-party integrations
- Offers limited dashboard customization options
Freshsales Pricing at a Glance*
- Free: Unlimited users (limited features)
- Growth: $15 per user, per month
- Pro: $39 per user, per month
- Enterprise: $69 per user, per month
*Based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are also available at slightly higher rates.
Freshsales streamlines your customer data management needs by organizing all your customer information and interactions in a single access point. Its event tracking feature keeps you informed about your customers’ activities to help you decide on your next step and ensure that no deal falls through the cracks. This platform also allows you to collaborate with your teams on tasks using its appointment scheduling, calendar sync, and notes.
Some of Freshsales’ weak points are its limited email integration options and cap on per-user file storage. It does not offer a free tier, unlike HubSpot CRM, Airtable, and monday.com. Still, Freshsales is the best overall customer database software on this list because of its affordability, scalability, ease of use, excellent support, and data management features. It also offers rich built-in phone features like call masking, recording, voicemail, and conferencing.
Freshsales Features
Freshsales contact list (Source: Freshsales CRM)
- Has a user-friendly interface
- Contact and account management features include customizable lifecycle stages, marketing lists, basic segmentation, and auto-profile enrichment
- Customized workflows, fields, and product catalog
- Email marketing campaign and tracking tools
- Create desktop and mobile responsive landing pages with a drag-and-drop builder
- Sales pipeline management and sales forecasting capabilities
- Built-in phone has inbound caller ID, call masking, call recording, conference calling, holiday routing, and voicemail features
- Freddy, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered assistant, provides insights, predictive contact scoring, and sales forecasts
- Engage with website visitors in real time using embedded chat widget
- Mobile apps for Android and iOS
- 24/5 customer support via phone, chat, and email, plus a dedicated account manager for Enterprise users
Learn more about how Freshsales helps sales teams’ organize contacts, and customers to ensure no deals fall through the cracks in our Freshsales review.
Improvado
Improvado plays a vital role in aggregating data for small and large corporations. Contemporarily, the tool is available with hundreds (200+) integrations, such as BigQuery, Google Ads, Tableau, Excel, and more. It also has a robust reporting mechanism and an intuitive dashboard. In fact, Improvado’s data visualization and import compatibility can bring all your marketing efforts into a single place.
Apart from its timesaving structural design, this tool cuts down the added cost of hiring developers. You don’t necessarily have to be an SQL expert to understand the rudimentary functionality of Improvado. Furthermore, this DBMS allows users to get instant APIs connection and access automated data pipelines.
Learn about Best Dashboard Software
Pros
- Flexibility to duplicate and migrate data instantaneously
- Side-by-side metrics comparison to make quick business decisions
- Integration of data amidst live connection on a dedicated database server
- Continuous support from informative and mature engineering staff
- Well thought-out and clear database documentation
- Access to regular updates and statuses on multiple projects
- Clean navigational control
- Accurate and insightful analytical data
- Allowance of backup and recovery option to users
Cons
- The data often reverses the newest entries amidst analytical comparison.
Cost Structure
If you want to get the most out of Improvado’s DBMS perks, the Business package at $100 / month is perfect for you. However, small businesses with a limited budget can get a custom price with Enterprise edition. If you are, on the other hand, just starting out as an independent entrepreneur, feel free to schedule a demo version to get the hang of the software.
HubSpot: Best Free Customer Database Software
What We Like
- Free plan supports 1 million contacts and companies
- Has an intuitive and easy-to-use interface
- Includes lead generation tools, such as smart forms and chat
What’s Missing
- Limited support options with the free tier
- Plan upgrades can add up quickly
- No advanced project management and operational CRM features
HubSpot Pricing at a Glance*
- Free: Supports an unlimited number of users
- HubSpot for Startups: Ranges from $40 to $89 per month
- Marketing Hub: Starts at $45 per month
- Sales Hub: Starts at $45 per month
- Service Hub: Starts at $45 per month
- CMS Hub: Ranges from $23 to $1,200 per month
- Operations Hub: Free for syncing HubSpot with third-party apps. Paid plans start at $45
- CRM Suite: Starts at $45 per month
- Free trial: 14 days
*Based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are also available at slightly higher rates.
HubSpot is an all-in-one CRM that offers modules for sales, marketing, customer service, content management, and operations for an unlimited number of users. It is an excellent choice for teams looking for a cost-free customer database solution because it has a free CRM that comes with robust contact management, website activity tracking, deal management, and task management capabilities.
While HubSpot offers a free plan, its main drawback lies in its costly pricing model. Plan upgrades like adding sales automation and multiple deal pipelines could get even more expensive. Freshsales offers more features in one plan for a lower price. Nevertheless, HubSpot’s freemium plan propels it to the top spot among free customer database solutions.
HubSpot Features
HubSpot Contacts tab (Source: HubSpot)
- Easy to set up and operate
- Contact management, website activity tracking, deal management, tasks, and meeting scheduling
- Deal pipelines, simple automation, custom properties, and quotes
- Landing pages, live chat, conversational bots, forms, contact website activity, list segmentation, and email marketing
- Marketing features include optimized content, social media tools, A/B testing, website traffic analytics, and campaign reporting
- Bulk email sending, email tracking, and templates
- Track and improve customer experience using ticketing, canned responses, surveys, and insights
- Help center includes community support, a knowledge base, and video training; paid tiers offer email, chat, and phone support
Check out our HubSpot review to know more or to find out if it is the right fit for your business.
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft’s SQL Server is one of the most effective DBMS in existence. The free tag of the tool certainly attracts a large user base. Its custom-built graphical integration of best database designs has saved users’ valuable time for years. Similarly, the diagrams that you can make with the help of this tool can be easily added to a new or existing project library.
Object Explorer feature helps end-users to view the creation of the tables. Template Explorer, on the other hand, is a bundle of script objects that can be used to identify numerous names in the database system. In addition, the SQL Server creates specific containers that allow users to combine views and scripts of a linked object or group.
Pros
- Easy to set up a new database server from scratch
- Creates various designs, tables, and view data without syntax
- Can handle complicated queries and integrate with other programs
- Creates advanced queries through Developer Network feature
Cons
- The lightweight package lacks user-friendliness in its user-interface.
- The execution of long queries often takes longer than the calculated time.
- Data maintenance becomes an issue with a selective schema.
- Desperately needs a new firewall protection system.
Cost Structure
The Express and Developer versions are free and ideal for personal use. 2016, however, is the most popular version priced at $931 for a Standard License. The 2017 and 2019 versions have the same price tag.
My SQL
My SQL is a high-speed data processing and data productivity tool with comprehensive features. The tool is designed to increase the security and scalability of your databases. A reliably cost-effective tool offers technical support and counteracts potential risks. Furthermore, high-volume business sites can deploy business-oriented complex MySQL applications.
Pros
- The newest 8.0 version has better data recovery options
- Easy to learn the foundational features without a programming background
- The open-source nature grant users complete freedom to customize data
- Well-suited for small businesses and entrepreneurs because of the low-cost structure
- Compatible with up-to-date industry’s DBMS practices
- Instant integration with Apache web engines
- The data development process is adjustable for small and heavy applications.
Cons
- Queries get stuck even after a refresh or restart
- There is overdependence on third-party add-ons
- Data operations in Linux OS can get complicated.
Cost Structure
MySQL Standard, Enterprise, and Cluster Carrier Grade editions are set at $2,000, $5,000, and $10,000 respectively.
Amazon RDS
Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service) is one of the best DBMS tools. It has a dedicated secured connection, and it automatically backs up your data through an inbuilt feature. Furthermore, it can resize your entire database activities.
Pros
- Users can process the heavy workloads in a single database.
- You have to pay for the used resources.
- It can get you access to MySQL, Oracle, or Microsoft SQL databases.
- Point-in-recovery attracts programmers who want flexibility and scalable storage options.
Cons
- It has limited auto-scale options.
- Unavailability of access to physical server to check server logs.
Cost Structure
Users are free to try out Amazon RDS. In fact, there’s no minimum criterion to use the tool. You can pay for the availed resources via On-Demand method. It may sound complicated, but you can instantly calculate your monthly bill with the AWS Simple Monthly Calculator.
Conclusion
You already have the first step. You already have installed that first database management software. You should also concerned yourself with the security issues of using the database software. Of course you are wonder what kinds of consequences will come to your computer system, especially if you are using the free database software for small business. Security should be your main concern because there are still many hackers who will penetrate your computer system, even if it is for free.