Have you wondered what the best CRM is for your small business? Or do you already have one but are looking for ways to make it better? This article is prepared specifically to help people like yourself find the best CRM for your small business. We’ve done the research and reading so that you don’t have to, then put all our findings into easy to understand listicles that will save you both time and money.
There are multiple tools to manage your business, but it is very hard for start-ups to find the best free crm software for their business. So, I would like to share with you information about top free crm software that I have gathered through my research on the internet.
HubSpot CRM
HubSpot is the free software stalwart for CRM and marketing software. The free HubSpot option is a combination of HubSpot’s CRM, marketing, sales, and services tools.
It’s as well suited for sales teams in need of CRM, as it is suited for marketers to automate communications. Key features include contact management, deal tracking, form builder, email and ad management, live chat with site visitors, ticketing support for customer service, and more.
Build workflows that automate communications based on lead behavior. (via the Blueprint)
If you decide to graduate from HubSpot’s free CRM to one of their hubs, you’re looking at a baseline price of $50 per month for two users. The marketing hub goes up from there to $800 per month then $3,200 per month.
The sales hub is similar at $500 per month and $1,200 per month. There is an option to bundle paid plans, similar to the free CRM bundle. But you can see that it’s a huge commitment to go from the free option to a middle or top tier for one of the paid hub plans.
There’s no doubt these are powerful tools, but it will likely be some time before you need to graduate to all the features, users, and more that are offered with those expensive options.
Capsule CRM
Capsule CRM is a fit for individual business owners as well as SMBs. Users focused on B2B sales are best served by the platform. It’s a cloud-based option with a reliable mobile app as well.
Features include lead management, contact organization, customer segmentation, and call support. The free version offers all the features, but it’s limited to only two users, 10MB of contact data, or 250 contacts, whichever comes first.
This does severely limit the scalability of Capsule’s free option, even relative to other free CRMs.
Manage contacts and leads with Capsule CRM. (via the Blueprint)
Capsule CRM is a relatively low cost if and when you’re ready to upgrade. The Professional tier is $18/month per user for 50,000 contacts, 10GB of storage, a ton of useful integrations, and more.
There’s also a Team tier that is $36/month per user for 100,000 contacts, 20GB of storage, advanced sales reporting, role definitions and team task assignments, and more. It’s unique to see limits on the storage, so be sure to keep that in mind when making your decision.
Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM is part of a vast ecosystem of business tools. It’s meant to be the single platform from which to operate all components of your business. It offers pricing tiers and capabilities that suit businesses of all sizes, from sole proprietors to enterprises.
Zoho CRM offers a streamlined, user-friendly interface for both browsers and mobile. Key features include lead management, sales pipeline management, and in-depth reporting and analytics.
Zoho has three pricing tiers to go along with its free option. The free option includes social media management, sales task management, event tracking, call logging, and up to 10 pre-built email templates.
Automate follow-ups to boost your deal wins. (via the Blueprint)
Paid options for Zoho start at $12/month per user for the standard option, which includes workflows, forms, and custom reporting dashboards in addition to everything in the free version.
The Professional option is $20/month per user and adds real-time customer tracking and other features to the standard plan. Zoho Enterprise is next at $35/month per user and comes with AI tools, advanced reporting customization, and prioritized lead tracking.
The final Zoho CRM tier is $45/month per user and includes advanced AI and predictive analytics and maximum feature counts. The solution packs a punch at a great price, assuming you don’t have too many users.
Bitrix24
Bitrix24 is a unique solution that stands out in the CRM space. It’s a fit for SMBs that need help communicating and operating efficiency across silos.
It offers everything you’d expect for some typical CRM features, including pipeline management, lead scoring, deal tracking, landing page and form creation, email marketing, and pre-built workflows to automate outreach.
Unusual features provided by Bitrix24 include task manager tools, project management, basic e-commerce capabilities, and more. The free option is capped at 5GB and 1,000 emails per month, as well as a few other restrictions.
Jump into Bitrix24’s many features through their robust dashboard. (via the Blueprint)
A large majority of Bitrix24’s features are included in its free option. If you get to a point where you need to graduate to a larger plan, prices start at $24/month for two users and 10GB. It climbs up to $69/month for six users and 50GB.
There’s also a Business plan for $99/month for 50 users, 100GB, and an unlimited number of users per month for $199 and unlimited data.
Apptivo
Since its creation in 2009, Apptivo has become a popular way for businesses to manage customer relationships. The company’s founding mission was to provide a simple, straightforward way for people to keep track of business operations. Since then, the company – which is based out of Fremont, California – has grown to include more than 150,000 users in 194 countries around the world.
While Apptivo came about more recently than some of its competitors in the CRM market, it’s still a prominent industry name. Although Apptivo originally focused on small businesses its functionality has grown to the point where Apptivo says some of its clients are businesses with thousands of users.
Apptivo CRM offers tools for businesses to manage all their leads, customers, and contacts. Beyond the expected contact management solutions, Apptivo CRM offers tools to manage numerous aspects of a business.
Apptivo is a cloud-based system that integrates all of its business solutions. Its CRM builds a bridge between your customers and contacts, which allows you to manage both in the same place. You can see all of their information at one time so it’s easy for you to understand what they’re looking for from your business. It also makes sending them offers or following up on leads much easier because Apptivo has those features too. Apptivo also offers extensive customization options through custom fields.
With five tiers of service, Apptivo has plans for a wide variety of business sizes and business needs, including a free plan for one user. Apptivo is an affordable CRM solution, with standard packages ranging from free to $25 per user per month. Paid plans also include live chat and phone support, while free plan users can access standard email support, self-service documents, and webinars to make the most of Apptivo.
Freshworks CRM
Freshworks CRM, designed for small to midsize businesses. Freshworks CRM offers CRM and marketing tracking in its Forever Free plan. Freshworks CRM’s free plan includes access for unlimited users, contact management, and lead management through lead capture forms and website tracking. Users can leverage the built-in phone system and web chatbot to extend their customer communication touchpoints. As needs grow, businesses can upgrade to a paid program starting at $35 per user per month (billed monthly).
Freshworks CRM is the right CRM for you if you’re looking for a solution that is designed to grow with your business, and you like the idea of working with one company for many of your software needs. The full Freshworks portfolio includes customer support applications and IT service management (ITSM) solutions that can work in tandem with its CRM to meet your needs as you develop and build your business. Freshworks CRM has a complete suite of features that can meet the needs of most small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) as well as mid-market enterprises, including pipeline management and automation features. Pipeline management helps businesses forecast revenue and supply needs, while additional automation and AI features help businesses automate and streamline complex processes. Some of these additional features come with additional price tags. See our section How Much Does Freshworks CRM Cost? below for more details.
These additional features and integrations do add to the complexity of Freshworks CRM; an organization with limited technical staff may find it challenging to get started, especially without the help of 24/7 customer support.
Insightly
Insightly is a CRM platform that’s designed for small- and mid-size business (SMBs) looking to improve their lead management and boost sales capabilities. Insightly offers a forever-free plan that provides everything users need to manage projects, record sales, and track contacts.
Insightly specializes in ensuring your business offers customers the best possible customer support. The platform is aesthetically appealing, with easy-to-use dashboards, cloud-based deployment, and it’s own superb customer service.
Do more with less for free with Insightly CRM for sales and marketing automation. (via the Blueprint)
If you graduate to a paid plan, you have three to choose from. The Plus plan is $35/month per user and builds on the free plan with additional features and 100 pre-designed email templates.
The Professional plan is $59/month per user and adds the ability to assign leads to individual salespeople. The Enterprise option is $129/month per user and provides unlimited components for all the main features you need.
Agile CRM
Agile CRM is built for SMBs as well as freelancers. It’s one of the CRM leaders in terms of ease of use. Agile CRM developers have optimized the usability to deliver a logical, easily navigable layout.
Most all major features are just a click away at any time. These features include streamlined customer data intake, lead tracking, appointment scheduling, email tracking, and call-tracking tools to make and record calls directly in the platform.
Agile CRM provides all your CRM needs for free. (via the Blueprint)
If you ever need to graduate from the free option, Agile CRM offers three affordable pricing options. The Starter tier is $15/month per user and adds more marketing levers.
The Regular tier is $50/month per user and builds in help desk tools and reporting capabilities. The final option is their Enterprise tier at $80/month per user and includes extensive integrations and even more reporting capabilities.
Conclusion
When you start a business there are many things to consider. One of those things is online CRM software. CRM software is very useful and should be considered by any business owner.