The 5 Best B2B CRMs for 2022
Jess served on the founding team of a successful B2B startup and has used a wide range of sales and marketing tools over the course of her 15-year career. She uses her industry knowledge to deliver the best answers to your questions about sales tools and sales management.
Jill is a writer at Fit Small Business specializing on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software.
This article is part of a larger series on CRM.
Business to business (B2B) customer relationship management (CRM) software enables users to manage their leads, accounts, and deals in a centralized system. It allows businesses to track all revenues accurately and generate sales reports that provide data-backed insights to understand their business performance. In this article, we evaluated dozens of the best B2B CRM software in the market and arrived at the top five options.
Check out each of the best CRMs for B2B companies below:
- HubSpot CRM: Best overall CRM for B2B businesses with robust sales workflow automation tools
- Zoho CRM: Ideal for users who need advanced reporting and AI capabilities
- Freshsales: Great for sales managers handling multiple territories, as well as those needing an excellent in-app phone
- Pipedrive: Most mobile-friendly choice for agents who are always on the go
- Copper: Best B2B CRM for Google Workplace users who want simple visual sales pipelines
Best B2B CRM Software Compared
Provider | Free Plan | Free Trial for Paid Plans | Starting Price for Paid Plans* | Help & Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Yes (Unlimited users) | 14 days (content management system, or CMS and Operations Hubs only) | $45 per month, includes 2 users seats, $23/ per month for each additional user | Community, knowledge base, HubSpot Academy; extended tier-based support via email, chat, and phone (7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time, M–F) |
 | Yes (Up to 3 users) | 15 days | $14 per user, per month | Self-help guides, community forum, training videos and webinars, tier-based customer support via email (24/7), phone and live chat (24/5) |
 | Yes (Unlimited users) | 21 days | $15 per user, per month | 24/5 email, live chat, and phone support; a dedicated account manager for Enterprise |
 | No free plan | 14 days | $12.50 per user, per month | 24/7 live chat support and Enterprise-tier phone support and onboarding; Pipedrive Developer Center, knowledge base, community forum |
 | No free plan | 14 days | $25 per user, per month | 24/7 live chat support through the website and Copper web app, community forum |
*Based on annual billing
While B2B and B2C (business to consumer) CRM tools are similar, the amount and types of data a user puts into the system make the difference. B2B typically entails a lesser volume of leads and longer sales cycles and generates higher revenue and profit margins. B2B companies need deeper and long-term relationship-building as clients’ investments in a business’s products and services are usually much higher.
If this list of B2B CRMs doesn’t meet your business needs, check out our guide on the best CRMs for small businesses to find a more suitable option.
HubSpot CRM: Best Overall CRM for B2B Businesses With Sales Workflow Automation Tools
HubSpot CRM
Overall Score: 4.40
OUT OF 5
What We Like
- Alerts team members when activities get updated in automated workflows
- Extensive free tools that include meeting scheduling, email marketing, and email health tracking
- Has basic and advanced reporting tools to help users gain better visibility of their business performance
What's Missing
- Sales analytics tools are only available in the two highest-priced plans
- Plan upgrades can be expensive
Pricing Summary*
- Free: Unlimited user allocation
- Starter Sales Plan: $45 per month for two paid users
- Professional Sales Plan: $450 per month for five paid users
- Enterprise Sales Plan: $1,200 per month for 10 paid users
- Free trial: 14 days
*Based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are also available at higher rates.
HubSpot CRM offers tools for lead management, opportunity tracking, and sales forecasting. One of the key features that makes it a great CRM for B2B companies is its sales workflow automation tools, which help businesses move high-value opportunities along various sales stages in a timely manner. Users have the option to create various workflows ensuring no activity goes idle, such as lead qualification, deal management, and email marketing workflows.
While HubSpot CRM offers excellent sales automation tools, the main drawbacks of using this software include the lack of analytics tools in more affordable plans, as well as expensive plan upgrades. Users who need access to affordable analytics tools can subscribe to Zoho CRM, while those who want a more affordable range of pricing options can consider Freshsales.
HubSpot CRM Features
HubSpot CRM offers a handful of free sales and marketing tools to help users manage their leads and deals better. Below are the features we like best from this provider:
- Sales workflow automation: Provides users with easy-to-create workflows to automate lead rotation and task creation, as well as streamline prospect follow-up with automated sequences.
- Sales forecasting: Get visibility on potential incoming sales and revenues with forecasting tools that analyze historical sales trends based on factors like seasonality, lead quality, and the number of active opportunities.
- Deal and company scoring: Evaluates the quality of a lead and its likelihood to convert based on a number of factors such as interaction with email marketing campaigns, job title of the main lead contact, and business industry.
- Meeting scheduling: Allows reps to send meeting links to prospects, so that they can choose their availability in your calendar based on their schedule preference.
- Conversation intelligence: Provides real-time insights to calls with recording, transcription, and call analysis to help managers coach their teams better when talking to customers.
HubSpot CRM’s sales workflow automation tools alert agents if an action is needed to move deals along pipeline stages. (Source: HubSpot CRM)
HubSpot CRM offers free tools that include lead, project, and task management. Its intuitive interface makes it an easy-to-use CRM for any user, no matter what their level of experience is with using CRM software. To learn more about this provider, check out our HubSpot CRM review.
Zoho CRM: Best B2B CRM With Excellent Reporting & AI Capabilities
Zoho CRM
Overall Score: 4.34
OUT OF 5
What We Like
- AI assistant, Zia, increases agent productivity with intelligent suggestions and predictions
- Has robust analytics and reporting functionalities
- Straightforward, sleek user interface
What's Missing
- Free plan is limited to three users
- Premium customer support requires a separate purchase
Pricing Summary*
- Free plan: Up to three users
- Standard: $14 per user, per month
- Professional: $23 per user, per month
- Enterprise: $40 per user, per month
- Ultimate: $52 per user, per month
- Free trial: 15 days
*Based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are also available at higher rates.
Zoho CRM is intuitive, all-in-one CRM software with sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) and sales analytics tools. Its conversational AI sales assistant, called Zia (works like Apple’s Siri), can easily fetch CRM data and information upon request, predict the probability of winning a deal through lead scoring, and even forecast a drop in sales so users are prepared and can make recovery plans.
Its AI features make it ideal for businesses that operate on a B2B model as it can predict sales trends that may have significant effects on a company’s bottom line—especially since these companies have fewer clients with expected higher profit margins. Additionally, it has advanced reporting tools that provide users with data-backed reports to help them process raw data and extract actionable insights to improve overall sales performance.
However, Zoho CRM’s plan is limited to three users and its premium support requires a separate purchase. Those who want access to unlimited users in their free plan should consider Freshsales, while those who need 24/7 live chat support can check out Pipedrive.
Zoho CRM’s Features
Apart from its AI and reporting tools, Zoho CRM provides access to other helpful CRM features like omnichannel customer communications and a mobile app. Below are some of its standout features:
- Sales anomaly detection: Through Zia, you can spot dips or spikes in sales performance in real time, so you act on them quickly—whether to look for replacements or request additional human resources.
- Competitor alert: Another feature of Zia—you are alerted when your leads or clients mention competitor names so corresponding actions may be taken such as monitoring competitor activities or being alerted about their new products or services.
- Reporting and analytics: Insights-driven reports are generated based on a variety of metrics such as sales performance, trends, marketing campaigns, and activity reports.
- Task management and reminders: Shows all the upcoming tasks including following up a lead, sending out an email, moving a deal in the pipeline, or setting up a meeting with clients.
Based on historical data, Zia suggests the best time to follow up with a lead, improving agents’ productivity. (Source: Zoho CRM)
Zoho CRM is an easy-to-use CRM system that lets users manage sales activities and processes, create CRM reports, and generate leads. To explore if this provider addresses your business needs, read our in-depth Zoho CRM review.
Freshsales: Best B2B CRM With Robust Territory Management Functionality & In-app Phone
Freshsales
Overall Score: 4.31
OUT OF 5
What We Like
- Sales forecasting and revenue opportunity prediction based on territories
- Omnichannel customer communication tools, including mobile and social messaging
- Excellent in-app phone
What's Missing
- Automatic customer profile enrichment feature is limited to the most expensive plan
- Free plan doesn’t have storage allocation
Pricing Summary*
- Free Plan: Supports unlimited users
- Growth: $15 per user, per month
- Pro: $39 per user, per month
- Enterprise: $69 per user, per month
- Free trial: 21 days
*Based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are also available at higher rates.
Freshsales’ territory management feature makes it ideal for businesses servicing B2B clients because it can segment their leads’ companies according to their business industry. It also enables sales agents to specialize in specific segments to deliver more targeted and personalized services. This entails serving customers in specific segments such as business industries or geographical locations, making the agents experts in their assigned territories.
In addition, Freshsales’ in-app phone is one of the key features agents servicing B2B businesses find highly beneficial. Since B2B businesses require long-term relationship building, conversations through phone calls are essential. Freshsales’ in-app phone offers advanced features like call recording and conference calling. You can also connect your voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) phone to your account for easier management of phone calls.
Users planning to subscribe to Freshsales must take note that its customer profile enrichment feature is only available on the most expensive plan. Its free plan also doesn’t include document storage allocation. Users who want access to both should consider Zoho CRM. Zoho’s social profile enrichment is included in its most affordable paid plan, while storage allocation is available even in all plans—including the free plan.
Freshsales’ Features
Not only does Freshsales offer excellent territory management features; but it also provides fundamental CRM tools such as sales forecasting, analytics, and reports. Check out some of its notable features below:
- Territory segmentation: Apart from business industries, you can also segment leads based on the business industry, geography, size, and ZIP codes.
- Freddy AI tool: AI sales assistant tool that provides insights, predictions, and recommendations based on historical customer data.
- Sales reports: Monitor key metrics including leads’ website behavior, marketing campaign results, deal insights, and sales activities to grow sales.
- Customizable sales pipelines: Create sales pipelines with unique stages based on your internal business process.
Freshsales’ territory management lets businesses segment their leads based on identified territories such as geography and industry. (Source: Freshsales)
Freshsales is a feature-packed, scalable CRM that’s easy to use and offers features for contact, account, sales pipeline, and deal management. Learn more about what this software can do for your business in our comprehensive Freshsales review.
Pipedrive: Best B2B CRM With an Excellent Mobile App
Pipedrive
Overall Score: 4.11
OUT OF 5
What We Like
- Mobile app reflects the settings and format of the desktop app, making it easy to toggle between devices
- Offers visual pipelines for improved deal and lead management
- Sleek, simple, and intuitive interface
What's Missing
- Does not offer a free plan
- In-app phone is only available in the more expensive plans
Pricing Summary*
- Essential: $12.50 per user, per month
- Advanced: $24.90 per user, per month
- Professional: $49.90 per user, per month
- Enterprise: $99 per user, per month
- Free trial: 14 days full access
*Based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are also available at slightly higher rates.
Pipedrive’s mobile app reflects the layout and settings of its desktop app, making it one of the easiest CRMs to use. Like the desktop version, you can update leads, deals, and tasks straight from your phone, access sales reports, and move deals through various pipeline stages. As the B2B business model requires constant nurturing of relationships with clients, accessing their data and communicating with them whenever needed contributes to building trust.
While Pipedrive is one of the easiest CRM systems to use, it has its share of drawbacks, including the lack of a free plan and an in-app phone in its lower-priced plans. You can access both by subscribing to Freshsales.
Pipedrive’s Features
Pipedrive offers customizable sales pipelines and automation features to help users move their opportunities along various sales stages more efficiently. Below are some of the features we like most from the platform:
- Email campaigns: Nurture your B2B clients through sustained content marketing campaigns that offer valuable content related to their business industry.
- Email tracking: Shows real-time activity such as emails being opened and links clicked to provide insights on the interests of leads and contacts.
- Insights and reporting: Has pre-built or customizable sales reporting templates that show sales trends, revenue, and active leads and opportunities
- Extensive CRM integrations: Can be connected to 300+ third-party apps that include project management, email marketing, ecommerce, and invoicing and accounting
Users can view all their active deals and important CRM data on their mobile app—whether it is Android or iOS. (Source: Pipedrive)
Pipedrive boasts a clean and sleek interface, as well as essential tools like an automated sales assistant, workflow automation, and deal reports. To learn more about its features, read our Pipedrive review.
Copper: Best B2B CRM for Google Workplace Users With Visual Sales Pipelines
Copper
Overall Score: 3.83
OUT OF 5
What We Like
- Interface is similar to Google, which makes navigation intuitive for Google workspace users
- Generates insights-driven agent performance reports
- Kanban-style visual sales pipelines for easy visibility on active leads
What's Missing
- Doesn't have a free plan
- Integrations with non-Google Workspace apps are only available in expensive plans
Pricing Summary*
- Basic: $25 per user, per month
- Professional: $59 per user, per month
- Business: $119 per user, per month
- Free trial: 14 days
*Based on annual billing. Monthly subscription is also available at a slightly higher rate.
Copper’s main selling point is its seamless integration with Google Workspace, as well as its similarity to the app, which makes it easy to use and navigate among Google users. However, the feature that makes it ideal for companies handling B2B businesses is its simple, visual sales pipeline, which allows users to see the stage in the sales funnel where each of their leads is—especially for B2B businesses with fewer, but higher-value leads.
Its Kanban-style sales pipelines can be customized to adapt to a company’s internal business processes. Sales pipelines are laid out simply and can be easily updated through their drag-and-drop functionality.
Copper doesn’t offer a free plan and its integrations with most third-party apps are only accessible to the more expensive plans. Those who want access to free plans can consider either Freshsales or Zoho CRM. Meanwhile, those who use other business tools to manage leads and need extensive third-party integrations can consider Pipedrive.
Copper’s Features
Apart from its integration with Google Workspace, Copper offers an extensive range of CRM features that allow users to monitor their sales progress, nurture leads, and forecast revenue. Below are some tools that help users grow their business and improve their relationships with their B2B customers:
- Custom fields: Add and delete custom fields in opportunities based on your client’s industry.
- Deal length monitor: Provides visibility of a deal’s length of time spent on a pipeline stage, so agents can determine if they need to make a follow-up.
- Sales forecasting: Generate forecast reports that reflect incoming revenue, including expected close dates.
- Activity feed: Real-time feed that shows all updates and movements to active deals.
Copper’s visual sales pipelines dashboard has a straightforward interface, which allows users to move opportunity cards in various sales stages easily. (Source: Copper)
Copper’s seamless integration with Google makes it one of the best CRM providers for Google Workspace users. Its sleek and simple interface is easy to navigate for both beginners and experienced users. To learn more about the software, read our in-depth Copper review.
How We Evaluated the Best B2B CRM Apps
To determine the best B2B CRMs, we evaluated various aspects of dozens of CRM providers, including general features, pricing, and level of customer support. Users working on deals with companies that service other businesses require the utmost attention to their leads and deals—especially since these are mostly high-value opportunities. For this reason, we considered features such as sales forecasting, analytics, and lead management tools.
We chose HubSpot CRM as the best CRM for B2B users as it has excellent sales workflow automation tools, which means no critical action points are missed and no activity is left inactive in certain pipeline stages. It also has helpful free tools critical for managing customers and sales activities, including meeting scheduling, sales, and revenue forecasting, as well as email marketing.
The tabs below offer more insight into our evaluation process for selecting the best B2B CRM:
40%
Pricing
20%
General Features
15%
Ease of Use
15%
Support
10%
Expert Score
40% of Overall Score
Cost is always an important factor, so CRM pricing was the most heavily weighted when reviewing our top picks. We also considered the availability of a free plan, pricing of entry tiers, savings for annual prepayment, and whether or not monthly billing options are available.
20% of Overall Score
We evaluated the overall set of CRM features, especially sales automation tools, including workflows, forecasting, reporting, and analytics. In addition, we looked at the availability of third-party integrations to expand the functionality of the software.
15% of Overall Score
It’s important that B2B CRMs are easy to use. We evaluated whether the software can be used out of the box or requires technical experience that may include a steep learning curve.
15% of Overall Score
Support is a critical part of running any CRM system, especially for small businesses that don’t have in-house technical support. We analyzed the types and availability of support offered by these providers through live chat, email, and phone.
10% of Overall Score
We looked through existing customer reviews on credible sites to measure the level of satisfaction current users have and any problems they typically encounter. We also added our thoughts and expert opinion on key features, value for money, and popularity.
*Percentages of overall score
