Free crm software for small business. In situations when your only alternative to paid solutions is a free solution, you can be in a huge trouble.
In fact, experience shows that most of free tools have a limited set of features, and the rest of the key processes have to be done manually. That’s why we have gathered a list of top 10 Free CRM Software for Small Business.
Freshsales
Benefits:
Freshsales is a full-fledged sales force automation solution for sales teams. It provides everything a salesperson needs to— attract quality leads, engage in contextual conversations, drive deals with AI-powered insights, and nurture customer relationships.
With built-in email, phone, chat, and telephony, Freshsales empowers sales teams with more time for selling by automating the sales process and increases efficiency and productivity in their daily activities. With Freddy AI, salespeople can get insights into the best deals to go after and what actions to take and predict revenue with sales forecasting. Businesses can take the next step forward towards powerful pipeline management with Freshsales. Also, the option to use native CPQ makes generating and sharing quotes and other vital sales assets hassle-free.
Drawbacks:
Like many vendors, some of the better features are reserved for premium packages. Among these for Freshworks CRM are time-based workflows, some chatbot tools and advanced metric reporting. But overall, the free and basic plans are a decent place to start, and you can always upgrade.
Pricing:
- There is a Free Forever Startup plan
- Growth plan is $15 per user/month billed annually
- Pro plan is $39 per user/month billed annually
- Enterprise plan is $69 per user/month billed annually
Less Annoying CRM
Benefits:
Less Annoying CRM (aka LACRM) is designed as an all-inclusive CRM solution for small businesses. They offer a long 30-day free trial. After that, they have a single, low-cost paid plan.
LACRM handles task management, lead-to-sale, contact management, and follow-ups. Manage all your customer data, track your leads through sales pipelines. Stay on top of events and to-dos (in easy-to-use calendar and agenda formats). Makes a great real estate crm.
Emails written and received outside a CRM platform can be logged inside LACRM. The app provides every user with a unique email logging address. You can create a contact with whatever email provider you use.
Drawbacks:
There are minimal app integrations, which might be a significant limitation, depending on your needs. The app sends out notifications by SMS or email, but not in-app, which feels a bit retro.
Pricing:
- $15 per user/per month, billed monthly.
LACRM offers a risk-free, 30-day free trial for its only pricing plan.
Agile CRM: Best for Integrating Sales, Marketing & Service
Overall Score: 3.61 OUT OF 5 i
What We Like
- Extensive free sales, marketing, and customer service features
- Unlimited deals, tasks, and documents
- Offers free contact-level analytics
What’s Missing
- Free plan is limited to one third-party software integration only
- Two-way email synchronization is not available in the free plan
- Stores only up to 1,000 contacts
Agile CRM Plans at a Glance*
- Free: Supports up to 10 users
- Starter: $9.99 per user, per month
- Regular: $39.99 per user, per month
- Enterprise: $64.99 per user, per month
*Based on annual pricing. Monthly pricing is also available at slightly higher rates.
Agile CRM integrates sales, marketing, and customer service in a single platform, making it easier for different teams to collaborate on deals and customer information. In addition, it is capable of managing unlimited tasks and deals. It also comes with a wide range of features, including lead scoring, email tracking, web engagement, landing page builder, and help desk tools.
Among the setbacks of Agile CRM’s free plan are its 10-user limit and 1,000-cap on saved contacts and companies. It also allows only one third-party integration, limiting your options to extend its capabilities. HubSpot CRM, on the other hand, allows you to integrate it with other apps from its Marketplace, supports an unlimited number of users, and can store up to a million contacts and companies. Bitrix24 also does the same and includes unlimited contacts.
Agile CRM Free Plan Features
Agile CRM’s sales dashboard (Source: Agile CRM)
- Sales automation features include custom data fields, lead scoring, appointment scheduling, custom deal milestones, and email tracking
- Unlimited deals, tasks, and documents
- Marketing features include email campaigns, website visitor tracking, contact level analytics, form builder, email templates, landing pages, and web-to-lead forms
- One campaign workflow and one automation rule
- Service tools include help desk, ticket labels, canned responses, and next recommended activities
- Basic reports on activities and performance
- One plugin or integration
- Access to email support
Why You Might Want to Upgrade
Agile CRM’s paid plans include more extensive sales, marketing, and customer service tools like in-app calling, marketing automation, social monitoring, and a knowledge base. Aside from that, they have higher limits on campaign workflows, automation rules, and third-party integrations. Upgrading also gives you access to 24/5 phone support, a dedicated account manager, and onboarding services.
To further understand how this CRM provider can help improve your business, visit our Agile CRM review page.
HubSpot CRM: Best Free CRM for Sales, Marketing & Service
Overall Score: 3.35 OUT OF 5 i
What We Like
- Unlimited users and data allocation
- Includes webforms and landing pages
- Offers chatbots
What’s Missing
- Free customer support is limited to community support
- Charges for most third-party integrations
- No workflow automation in the free plan
HubSpot CRM Plans 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: Starts at $23 per month
- Operations Hub: Free plan for data-syncing HubSpot with third-party apps; plans start at $45 per month
- CRM Suite: Starts at $45 per month
- Free trial for paid plans: 14 days
*Based on annual pricing. Monthly pricing is also available at slightly higher rates.
HubSpot CRM offers a robust set of sales, marketing, and service features not usually found in similar free CRM solutions. These include unlimited users, one million saved contacts, chatbots, landing pages, ad managers, and customizable dashboards. You can also call prospects directly from the app via voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP), send bulk emails, see productivity reports, and build a library of sales documents.
Unlike Zoho CRM, HubSpot CRM doesn’t have workflow automation in its free plan. Its customer service is also limited to community support and self-help resources. Freshsales also has in-app calling and it supports unlimited users. However, Freshsales is superior in terms of quality of customer service because it offers 24/5 support via phone, chat, and email.
HubSpot CRM Free Plan Features
HubSpot CRM’s sales pipeline dashboard (Source: HubSpot)
- CRM tools: contact management, contact website activity, companies, deals, tasks, activities, and company insights
- Marketing tools: forms, email marketing, ad management, landing pages, shared inbox, and list segmentation
- Service tools: ticketing, email scheduling, and ticket closed reports
- Integrations include Gmail, Outlook, Messenger, and App Marketplace
- Reporting dashboard for activity and performance metrics
- Email tools include shared inbox, email tracking, email templates, and canned snippets
- Sales documents
- In-app calling via VoIP
- Access to community support, knowledge base, and HubSpot Academy
Why You Might Want to Upgrade
HubSpot CRM offers a robust set of sales, marketing, and service tools. However, it puts a cap on several features like quotes, calling hours, documents, reporting dashboards, and pipelines. Its limited capabilities might not be enough once your business starts scaling up. The HubSpot umbrella company offers paid solutions that give you access to additional features like workflow automation, sales forecasting, customized reports, and advanced support.
To learn more about how HubSpot CRM can streamline your business processes, visit our HubSpot CRM review page.
Zoho CRM: Best Overall Free CRM With Sales Workflow Automation
Overall Score: 3.29 OUT OF 5 i
What We Like
- Provides email marketing tools
- Extensive team collaboration and file-sharing tool
- Customizable CRM interface
What’s Missing
- Free plan is limited to three users
- Analytics tools are not for free
- Limited free third-party software integrations
Zoho CRM Plans at a Glance*
- Free: Supports up to 3 users
- Bigin: $7 per user, per month
- Standard: $14 per user, per month
- Professional: $23 per user, per month
- Enterprise: $40 per user, per month
- Ultimate: $52 per user, per month
- Plus: Starts at $57 per user, per month
- Free trial of paid plans: 15 days
*Based on annual pricing. Monthly pricing is also available at slightly higher rates.
Zoho CRM offers sales force and marketing automation features, basic customization options, and standard reporting tools. This solution enables you to set workflow automation triggers and includes collaboration tools like team messaging, follow-up rules, status updates, and file sharing. You also get access to customer support via email during business hours.
While Zoho CRM is a good starting point for small businesses because it supports up to three users, other providers allow more users. Aside from that, you can only integrate it with other apps in the Zoho ecosystem. Try HubSpot CRM or Bitrix24 if you want a free CRM that supports an unlimited number of users and third-party app integrations.
Zoho CRM Free Plan Features
Zoho CRM’s lead management tab (Source: Zoho CRM)
- Lead, contact, account, and deal management
- CRM views, advanced filters, tasks, events, logs, and notes
- Page customization and tab renaming options
- Workflow rules automation
- Standard reports
- Marketing automation features include 10 email templates, email opt-out, and email authentication
- Web-to-lead and web-to-contact forms
- Collaboration tools include calendars, status updates, direct messaging, file attachments to feeds, and follow-up rules
- Website visitor tracking
- Mobile apps for iOS and Android
- Access to knowledge base, community forum, 24/5 support via email and phone (for critical requests only)
Why You Might Want to Upgrade
Zoho CRM’s paid plans offer a wider range of features that include sales forecasting, multiple pipelines, custom reports, social data enrichment, marketing campaigns, and inventory management. Higher pricing tiers provide you with access to its AI-powered sales assistant. It also offers you access to paid priority support, starting at $114 per month.
To know more about Zoho CRM and its capabilities, check out our Zoho CRM review page.
Bitrix24: Best Free CRM With Multichannel Contact Management
Overall Score: 2.89 OUT OF 5 i
What We Like
- Unlimited users, leads, and contacts
- Has invoicing and quotation management tools
- Offers ecommerce solutions
What’s Missing
- Free plan has no reporting tools
- Limited customer support for free plan holders
- No document creator
Bitrix24 Plans at a Glance
- Free: Basic features for unlimited users
- Basic: $35 per month for up to 5 users
- Standard: $70 per month for up to 50 users
- Professional: $140 per month for unlimited users
*Based on annual pricing. Monthly pricing is also available at slightly higher rates.
Bitrix24 is a free CRM that provides you with an unlimited customer database, making it a great option for teams that manage a high volume of contacts. It also lets you create and manage an unlimited number of tasks, projects, web pages, orders, and team calls. Its contact center consolidates communication channels, such as live chat, email, and social media messaging, into a single platform.
Despite its unlimited capacity for contacts and tasks, Bitrix24 lacks lead management features, an in-app caller, and reporting tools. It also doesn’t allow you to create sales documents, such as invoices and contracts. If you need lead management and reporting features, try Zoho CRM. For a free CRM with telephony and document management capabilities, we recommend HubSpot CRM.
Bitrix24 Free Plan Features
Bitrix24’s Kanban view of workgroup tasks (Source: Bitrix24)
- Unlimited deals, contacts, companies, tasks, projects, and web pages
- Kanban view of CRM records, custom stages, activity timeline, sales, and marketing automated rules
- Data import, data migration, and contacts import
- Contact center features include a live chat widget, website widget, and 100 contact forms
- Calendar and email integration
- Contact center integration with Facebook and Instagram
- Automated replies, sales intelligence, and automated ad management
- Ecommerce store features include products, revenue, orders, discount templates, coupons, payment processing, shipping costs calculator, and inventory management
- Communication tools include video announcements, chat, video and voice calls, videoconferencing, and screen sharing
- Access to a knowledge base, webinars, how-to videos, and Bitrix24 partner assistance
Why You Might Want to Upgrade
When you upgrade to a paid Bitrix24 subscription, you get access to a vast set of tools for invoicing, quotes, lead generation, document creation, telephony, and team collaboration. Higher tiers also include advanced analytics, workflows, marketing automation, order management, payment processing, and live chat support. Moreover, you get more allowances for online storage, custom sales pipelines, and emails sent per month.
Read our Bitrix24 review for more details about this CRM and to see if this is the right solution for your business.
Apptivo: Best Free CRM With Supplier & Distributor Tracking
Overall Score: 2.81 OUT OF 5 i
What We Like
- Offers supply chain and distributor tracking features
- Supports product and inventory management
- Includes human resource (HR) management solutions
What’s Missing
- Free plan does not allow third-party integrations
- No mobile app for the free tier
- No workflow automation and deal management features in the free tier
Apptivo Plans at a Glance*
- Starter: $0; supports one user
- Lite: $8 per user, per month
- Premium: $12 per user, per month
- Ultimate: $20 per user, per month
- Enterprise: Contact sales for pricing
- Free trial of paid plans: 30 days
Add-ons:
- E-signature: Starts at $10 per month
- Training & onboarding: Starts at $125 per session
- Email campaigns: Starts at $10
- Professional implementation and data migration: Contact sales for pricing
*Based on annual pricing. Monthly pricing is also available at slightly higher rates.
Apptivo’s free cloud-based CRM system offers lead, contact, and task management features. It also offers customer support via email. Furthermore, it provides you access to other apps within the Apptivo ecosystem, such as supply chain and tracking and HR management.
The downsides of Apptivo’s free plan include its one-user limit and lack of workflow automation, deal management features, and third-party integrations. It is also the only provider in this list that doesn’t offer mobile app access in the free tier. However, Freshsales has no user cap and offers basic deal management features. For a free solution that allows third-party integrations and unlimited users, try HubSpot CRM.
Apptivo Free Plan Features
Apptivo’s product and inventory management tracking feature (Source: Apptivo)
- Sales automation tools for management of leads, contacts, tasks, appointments, and notes
- Data management capabilities include 500MB of file storage per account, data backup, and data export
- Standard reports on activities and performance
- Supply chain management features include distributor and supplier tracking
- Product and project management
- HR management
- Mobile app for iOS and Android
- Access to email support, knowledge base, how-to videos, and webinars
Why You Might Want to Upgrade
Apptivo’s free plan offers only the most basic contact management capabilities and does not include access to its mobile app. Upgrading to a paid plan gives you access to more features like deal management, lead generation, workflow automation, email marketing tools, and custom reporting. It also offers additional apps for billing, sales and order management, and inventory.
Really Simple Systems
Benefits:
Really Simple Systems (RSS for short) doesn’t shy away from touting their marketing automation, sales and service platform as simple—but that doesn’t mean it lacks sophistication, it’s just really easy to use. This is especially handy for companies with distributed offices and remote workforces.
While they have paid-for versions, their free option is more than just a temporary trial offer for companies up to two users, so budding businesses and solo entrepreneurial ventures can use the CRM without watching the calendar. It allows for unlimited contacts and up to 100 MBs of document storage. The free version includes many of the core features including sales automation and customer service.
Free users will be able to access distinct management tools for both contacts, which updates in real time all relevant info and related tasks for contacts, vendors and suppliers; and leads, which aims to convert contacts into eventual sales. RSS also does reporting their own way, dividing up the action in two parts.
For one, there’s ‘Listing reports’ for quick stats on simple questions like, “how many hits did we get this month?” (you can formulate more complex questions too). Then there’s ‘Forecast reports’ which focus on expected sales numbers in a variety of time frames.
For small businesses in the B2B game, RSS makes moving into the CRM zone a snap.
Drawbacks:
Generating reports is probably more complex than it needs to be. Opportunities system can be a bit clunky to use. Email marketing could be better; the email templates are fairly basic.
Also, if you’re using Outlook, you can’t link tasks to trigger active reminders in your inbox.
Pricing:
- Free plan for up to 2 users.
- Starter plan is $14 per user/per month billed annually, and $15 per user/per month billed monthly.
- Professional plan is $30 per user/per month billed annually, and $33 per user/per month billed monthly.
- Enterprise plan is $46 per user/per month billed annually, and $50 per user/per month billed monthly.
EngageBay
Benefits:
EngageBay bills itself as a HubSpot alternative, and sells three business process-orientated suites: Marketing Automation, Live Chat & Helpdesk, and CRM & Sales Bay. The last of these, CRM & Sales Bay, provides contact management tools designed for simplicity and company growth.
The platform provides multi-channel listening, aggregating contact info from across all your customer touchpoints. Track contact activity, web activity, email response, open and click rates, and more.
Integrates with Gmail, Office 365 or any other IMAP service, with two-way sync capabilities. Zapier, SendGrid, Mailgun, Xero, and Mandrill integrations allow you to connect your CRM with your other business processes and further streamline your operations.
Drawbacks:
Could use more native integrations with third-party apps. Email template options are limited in number and simplistic in style.
Pricing:
- A free plan is available, limited to 1,000 contacts and 1,000 branded emails
- Basic plan is $10.39 per user/per month billed annually, and $12.99 per user/per month billed monthly
- Growth plan is $19.99 per user/per month billed annually, and $24.99 per user/per month billed monthly
- Pro plan is $39.99 per user/per month billed annually, and $49.99 per user/per month billed monthly
Conclusion
To build a successful business, you need to be able to create mailing lists, track your customer data which small businesses do not have enough resources to manage. Crm or customer relationship management systems are the solution. This free crm tools blog is all you need to find the best solution.