Customer relationship management (CRM) software is the best way for small businesses to manage relationships with customers and prospects. It improves customer service, helps develop sales strategies based on data it accumulates, and centralizes customer information so all sales agents are on the same page. We reviewed dozens of CRMs to learn which are the top performers and which is the best overall.
Top 6 CRMs for Small Business
Small Business CRM | Recommended Use Case | Starting Price per User, per Month |
|---|---|---|
Best overall CRM for small businesses | Free or $19 | |
Best CRM for social media integration | Free or $12 | |
Best CRM with a built-in phone for in-app calling | Free or $19 (minimum of two users) | |
Best scalable, free CRM for unlimited user | Free or $45 | |
Best CRM with project management features | Free or $29 | |
Best small business CRM with advanced features | $25 |
How We Evaluated the Best CRMs for Small Business
The CRM landscape is vast, so to narrow down this list to the six best, we assessed a range of solutions on high-level attributes like reasonably priced service plans and easy-to-use software. We then narrowed it down to around a dozen CRMs for a thorough evaluation to learn which are the top six and which is best overall.
Based on extensive research, we recommend Freshworks CRM as the best overall solution for small businesses—specifically, those in need of an affordable platform that’s easy to use and includes enough core features to meet the needs of most small companies and solo entrepreneurs.
Click through the tabs below to learn more about our CRM evaluation criteria.
25% of Overall Score
Small businesses need a CRM solution that’s easy on the budget and offers plan upgrades that won’t break the bank.
50% of Overall Score
A CRM’s feature set can make or break the success of a sales team. Efficient, intuitive contact and customer management tools are critical. On the other hand, tools like mobile apps and email integration can help make sure nothing falls through the cracks no matter where sales professionals are working.
25% of Overall Score
Each CRM was evaluated for its reputation among users, earned popularity, and overall value for the money.
Freshworks CRM
PROS
- Customer support included with free plan
- Pay only for what you need
- Mobile app offline mode
CONS
- Pricing is overly complex
- Sales forecasting only available with Enterprise tier
- Cloud storage on the basic plan is only 2GB
| RATING CRITERIA | Pricing | 4.00 | OUT OF | 5 |
| General Features | 4.50 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Pricing | 5.00 | OUT OF | 5 |
Freshworks CRM nabbed the top spot on our list as the best overall CRM for small businesses for its free plan that supports unlimited users and its affordable paid plans, as well as the amount and usefulness of features available with each service plan. It also offers customer service and support with all plans, including its free tier, which is rare in the CRM market.
Freshworks CRM Pricing*
- Free: Supports unlimited users
- Customer for Life Cloud: $29 to $125 per user, per month
- Sales Cloud: $29 to $99 per user, per month
- Marketing Cloud: $19 to $99 per month for unlimited users
- Free trial of paid plans: 21 days
*Paid plans are billed annually.
Freshworks CRM Features
Freshworks CRM’s sales sequence dashboard (Source: Freshworks CRM)
- Custom web forms
- Lead assignment
- Sales forecasting
- Artificial intelligence tools integrated with pipelines
- Supports multiple currencies and languages
Zoho CRM
PROS
- Multichannel customer outreach, including social media
- Send leads to CRM from social media
- Keyword tracking in listening streams
CONS
- Pricing is overly complex
- Artificial intelligence tools only available with top-tier plans
- Social media integration not available on free plan
| RATING CRITERIA | Pricing | 3.00 | OUT OF | 5 |
| General Features | 4.25 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Expert Score | 5.00 | OUT OF | 5 |
Zoho CRM is a full-featured solution that stands out for its omnichannel customer engagement, including native social media integration. Although social media tools aren’t available with Zoho CRM’s free service plan, its paid plans are affordable and include social data enrichment, listening streams, and support for multiple social profiles.
Zoho CRM Pricing*
- Free: Supports three users
- Bigin for Small Business: $7 per user, per month
- Standard: $12 per user, per month
- Professional: $20 per user, per month
- Enterprise: $35 per user, per month
- Ultimate: $45 per user, per month
- Zoho CRM Plus: $50 per user, per month
- Free trial of paid plans: 15 days
*Prices above are based on an annual subscription. A monthly billing option is available as well.
Zoho CRM Features
Zoho CRM’s social listening stream (Source: Zoho CRM)
- Profile enrichment via Facebook and Twitter
- Automated lead generation from social media
- Real-time notifications of customer and brand interaction
- Dedicated social media tab on the dashboard
- Supports multiple social profiles
Bitrix24
PROS
- High-definition (HD) video calls
- Automatic call transcription
- Local numbers in over 50 countries
CONS
- Pricing is overly complex
- 12-person limit on free plan calls
- Free plan supports unlimited users; paid plans do not
| RATING CRITERIA | Pricing | 3.25 | OUT OF | 5 |
| General Features | 4.50 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Expert Score | 4.15 | OUT OF | 5 |
Bitrix24 is the best CRM for small businesses that need a built-in phone for inbound and outbound calls. In-app calling works with existing phone lines, and new local or international phone numbers are available for rent if needed. Bitrix24 offers all the tools a company needs to run a call center of nearly any size.
Bitrix24 Pricing*
- Free: Supports unlimited users
- Start+: Supports two users for $19 per month
- CRM+: Supports six users for $55 per month
- Project+: Supports 24 users for $55 per month
- Standard: Supports 50 users for $79 per month
- Professional: Supports unlimited users for $159 per month
- Free trial of paid plans: 30 days
*Based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are also available at slightly higher rates.
Bitrix24 Features
Bitrix24’s customer communication dashboard (Source: Bitrix24)
- Video calling supports teams and callers outside the organization
- Screen sharing during video calls
- Multilevel interactive voice response (IVR) system
- Integrates with existing private branch exchange (PBX) phone system
HubSpot CRM
PROS
- Free plan supports 1 million contacts and companies
- Live chat supports conversational bots
- Paid plan upgrades support existing free users
CONS
- Community support only with the free plan
- Limited data import options
- No social media tools on the free plan
| RATING CRITERIA | Pricing | 3.50 | OUT OF | 5 |
| General Features | 3.90 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Expert Score | 5.00 | OUT OF | 5 |
HubSpot CRM is a free CRM for an unlimited number of users that scales as a business grows. Although it’s not the only free solution on our list, HubSpot CRM offers features for the sales team, marketing department, and service desk in an all-in-one solution that’s easy to set up and use.
HubSpot CRM Pricing*
- Free: For unlimited users
- Starter: $45 per month, minimum of two users
- Professional: $450 per month, minimum of five users
*Based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are also available at slightly higher rates.
HubSpot CRM Features
HubSpot CRM’s email analytics (Source: HubSpot CRM)
- List segmentation
- Create and share quotes
- The free plan includes sales, marketing, and service tools
- Reporting dashboards, including rep productivity insights
- Email integration with Gmail, Google Workspace, and Outlook
Insightly
PROS
- Highly customizable platform
- Update projects from mobile app
- Robust business app integration
CONS
- In-app calling costs extra
- Basic plan lacks automation tools
- Lead assignment and routing on upper-tier plans only
| RATING CRITERIA | Pricing | 3.00 | OUT OF | 5 |
| General Features | 4.25 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Expert Score | 4.15 | OUT OF | 5 |
Insightly is a comprehensive CRM that also includes a full complement of project management tools. Convert opportunities to projects in a few clicks, integrate the platform with existing calendar apps, and track milestones without leaving the platform.
Insightly Pricing*
- Free: Supports up to two users
- Plus: $29 per user, per month
- Professional: $49 per user, per month
- Enterprise: $99 per user, per month
- Free trial of paid plans: 14 days
*All paid plans are billed annually.
Insightly Features
Insightly’s project customization dashboard (Source: Insightly)
- Project templates
- Social profile enrichment
- Milestone and task tracking
- Google and Microsoft calendar integration
- Convert opportunities to projects without data loss
Salesforce Essentials
PROS
- In-app setup assistance
- Marketing campaign management tools
- Customizable sales processes
CONS
- Lacks a free plan
- Limited to 10 users
- Plan upgrades are expensive, beginning at $75 per user, per month
| RATING CRITERIA | Pricing | 1.50 | OUT OF | 5 |
| General Features | 4.25 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Expert Score | 4.15 | OUT OF | 5 |
Salesforce Essentials is a scaled-back version of the company’s CRM for medium and large businesses, but is not lacking in the functionality small businesses need to manage customer relationships. Salesforce Essentials’ feature list is more robust than similar CRMs at the same price point or higher, and includes a large library of training and learning resources so users can make the most of them.
Salesforce Essentials Pricing
- $25 per user, per month (billed annually)
- Free trial: 14 days
Salesforce Essentials Features
Salesforce Essentials lead management dashboard (Source: Salesforce.com)
- Custom reports
- Opportunity management
- Lead assignment and routing
- Email integration with Outlook and Gmail
- Team collaboration tools on mobile app
ARDHI SRES
Here is why I like Freshsales.
The help to automate the processes of incorporation of new potential clients, is an incredible function of this system, which helps to promote the sales flow of any organization. This software contains several integrations with other applications, so you can interact With other things from reminder calendars and calls. How it is normally carried out, in other highlights we can emphasize that it is quite easy to configure sequences, by which the platform automatically tracks people for you, being in the same way useful, for communication with the client when working on a project that requires their participation, which is an option that I love.
On the other side of the coin
We can highlight that its technical support system is quite deficient, the percentage of a useful response is very low, that is, it does not help at all according to the support to its customers on the platform it provides, this is a big problem due to Instead of solving, they would think about these inconveniences, since they only send a script or another completely useless question, mentioning that it can be improved for sales with the proposal generator in particular.
You can also consider reading here, smallbusinessmate.com/best-crm-software-2020/
Mathew Campisi
Why didn’t you add Velocity 360 CRM. In my opinion they are truly focused on what a CRM Should be and not a sales tool. A client of mines was using it and I switched from salesforce to Velocity 360 and it has been Awesome ever since. Just saying you should really check them out if you decide to update this article!
Amanda Norman
Hi Matthew,
Thanks for suggesting Velocity360 CRM. We review our buyers guides approximately once per year and can take a look at it then.
Thanks for stopping by!
Mandy, Moderator
Jan Brychta
If you used to work in Outlook, you can try fully implemented eWay-CRM…
Nikhita Habib
Hi, Great list. very helpful.
However, I think you should add ADOHM in the list too. It’s an AI-based Digital marketing tool that makes Marketing simpler. Have a look adohm.com
Let me know if we can talk further
Amanda Norman
Hi Nikhita,
Glad you like the article, and thanks for the suggestion.
We typically review and update our buyer’s guide once per year and will take a look at it then.
Thanks for stopping by!
Mandy, Moderator
Ben Rover
Pretty interesting article I must say. Enjoyed how you detailed the shortcomings and features of all of them. We used similar articles from other website in deciding the appropriate CRM for our company. It has been a rough road as we got stuck with Salesforce (because of their annual plan not because we liked it). Then later switched to Sugar at the end of that. Then a few months later to Zoho. None met our taste. We recently switched to Tapdesk in February and we are currently sticking with it cos everyone on both our sales and marketing team absolutely love it. Must say it should be on top of the list here. I think Tapdesk CRM is one of the best business tools our company has ever invested in.
Amanda Norman
Hi Ben,
Glad you enjoyed the article, and thank you for suggesting Tapdesk CRM. We review and update our articles approximately once per yer and will take a look at it then!
Thanks for reading!
Mandy, Moderator