The best customer relationship management (CRM) systems that integrate with Outlook provide users with seamless access to their leads, deals, contacts, and other essential CRM functionalities from right within their inbox. In this article, we compared several options based on pricing, features, ease of use, customer support, and expert scores to arrive at the top CRM platforms for Outlook integration, including the best overall.
Our top picks, and their best uses cases, include:
- HubSpot CRM: Best overall for businesses wanting a free and simple CRM with Outlook integration
- Zoho CRM: Excellent choice for marketers who want to capture and manage social media leads from Outlook email
- Pipedrive: Great option for businesses who want to manage Outlook email within a mobile CRM app
- Salesforce Essentials: Great fit for teams wanting access to robust features while using the desktop version of Outlook
- Insightly: Ideal for account managers who want to manage both deals and their resulting projects from within Outlook inboxes
- Microsoft Dynamics 365: Best for companies using the full Microsoft ecosystem of productivity and office software
How We Evaluated CRMs With Outlook Integration
The integration of CRM with Outlook boosts your productivity by improving team collaboration, project management, and reporting capabilities. In addition, it lets you easily log all the emails sent from Outlook.
Based on our research, HubSpot is the best overall choice for businesses wanting a free and simple CRM with Outlook integration. It scored as the top CRM solution in this category because of its affordability, excellent core features, user-friendly interface, and availability of multichannel customer support. This platform also provides you with a robust contact management feature and full visibility into your pipeline.
The tabs below offer more insight into our evaluation process for selecting the best CRM software for Outlook integration:
40% of Overall Score
The costs per user and any upfront costs like CRM customizations, onboarding, and maintenance fees were considered. We also factored in the availability of a free plan and monthly billing option to determine the best value for your money.
25% of Overall Score
We evaluated the overall set of CRM features, including customizable pipelines, leads, reporting and analytics, deal management, and email management. The quality of its integration with Outlook was one of our main deciding factors. In addition, we looked at the availability of a mobile app and third-party integrations.
10% of Overall Score
The top CRM software for Outlook integration should not require technical skills to understand and use, and it should also have an intuitive interface. Each solution in this list was evaluated on how easy it is to set up and operate.
15% of Overall Score
Business users looking for CRMs that integrate well with Outlook favor solutions that come with 24/7 customer service via phone, live chat, and email. We assessed the platforms in this article to see the quality of help and support they offer to their users.
10% of Overall Score
We checked customer reviews on reputable sites to know how satisfied their customers are. We also noted common issues that the users had. Apart from reviews, we weighed the features that stood out, their value for money, and their popularity to narrow down the best CRM software for Outlook integration.
HubSpot CRM: Best Overall CRM for Outlook Integration
HubSpot CRM
What We Like
- Free plan supports 1 million contacts and companies
- Includes lead generation tools such as smart forms and chat
- Easy Outlook integration and supports email templates
What's Missing
- Free option only offers community support
- Workflow and marketing automation cost extra
- No advanced project management or 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
- Starter: Starts at $45 per month, minimum of two users
- Professional: Starts at $450 per month, minimum of five users
- Enterprise: Starts at $1,200 per month, minimum of 10 users
*Based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are also available at slightly higher rates.
HubSpot has a free scalable CRM for an unlimited number of users. Its easy Outlook integration also allows you to access CRM and email tracking functions from within your inbox. However, some of its major setbacks include the lack of advanced support, workflow, and marketing automation in the lower-tier plans. This platform is included in our list of the top CRM software for small businesses because of its robust lead and contact management capabilities.
HubSpot CRM Features
HubSpot Outlook sidebar (Source: HubSpot)
- Offers five premium products: Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, Customer Management System (CMS) Hub, and Operations Hub
- Easy to set up and operate
- Contact management, website activity tracking, deal management, tasks, and meeting scheduling
- Organize sales processes with deal pipelines, simple automation, custom properties, and quotes
- Capture, understand, and engage with your leads using landing pages, live chat, conversational bots, forms, contact website activity, list segmentation, and email marketing
- Automate and personalize marketing with optimized content, social media tools, A/B testing, website traffic analytics, and campaign reporting
- Bulk email sending, email tracking, and templates
- Track goals with period-based quotas and view performance metrics on the reporting dashboard
- 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
Read our HubSpot CRM review to know more or to find out if it is the right CRM platform for your business.
Zoho CRM: Best Outlook Integration for Social Media Lead Generation
Zoho CRM
What We Like
- Customer support is available across multiple channels
- Customizable product catalog
- Extensive team collaboration through feeds, chat, groups, and product management features
What's Missing
- Does not offer team and individual goal tracking options
- Free plan is limited to three users
- Prediction and artificial intelligence (AI) tools are only available in top-tier plans
Zoho CRM Pricing at a Glance*
- 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
*Based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are also available at slightly higher rates.
Zoho CRM is a powerful software solution that offers team collaboration tools, custom billing and payment options, and tools to generate products, catalogs, and quotes. It features a contact management tool with an Outlook plugin that allows users to access CRM features, as well as add, edit, or delete data all from within their inbox. This platform uses phone call logging and social media monitoring to help you track and manage leads generated from your social interactions.
Zoho CRM Features
Zoho CRM Outlook sidebar (Source: Zoho CRM)
- Easy to set up and operate
- Salesforce automation feature allows you to manage leads, accounts, deals, tasks, events, call logs, notes, reminders, and pipelines
- SalesSignals gives you real-life notifications about your customer and contact activities
- Customizable pages, tabs, fields, links, modules, buttons, lists, and validation rules
- Automated workflows and personalized customer journeys
- Higher tiers offer Zia AI, a conversational artificial intelligence (AI) assistant that provides predictions, suggestions, and recommendations
- Analytics include charts, funnels, key performance indicators (KPIs), a target meter, an anomaly detector, customizable dashboards, and workflow reports
- Data enrichment with Twitter and Facebook, automated lead generation from social media, and social interaction tracking with leads and contacts
- Marketing automation features include email templates, mass email, marketing campaigns, customer segmentation, and auto-responders
- Web forms and team collaboration tools
- Inventory management tools for products, price books, sales quotes, sales orders, invoices, vendors, and purchase orders
- Lower-tier plans offer email, live chat, and phone support during office hours, while higher-tier plans offer 24/7 support
Read our Zoho CRM review to discover how this software can benefit your growing business.
Pipedrive: Best for Managing Outlook Email Within a Mobile CRM
Pipedrive
What We Like
- Robust contact management, visual pipelines, and configurable reporting features
- Allows you to manage Outlook email from the browser-based interface or mobile app
- Automate repetitive tasks with its AI sales assistant
What's Missing
- No free service plan and Outlook desktop plugin
- Phone support limited to top tier plan
- Lead generation tools are an additional cost
Pipedrive Pricing at a Glance*
- 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 of paid plans: 14 days
*Based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are also available at slightly higher rates.
Pipedrive is a CRM that offers a visual sales pipeline for tracking leads and deals. It also features a built-in email inbox that lets you manage your Outlook email from within your browser or the mobile app. Its two-way sync transfers all your contacts, companies, deals, activities, and emails between Pipedrive and Outlook and synchronizes data periodically. This platform also offers workflow automation, product catalogs, a meeting scheduler, and customizable reporting.
Pipedrive Features
Pipedrive email inbox interface (Source: Pipedrive)
- Easy to set up and operate
- Lead and deal management, customizable pipelines, unlimited custom fields, data import and export, and product catalog
- Contact management, email inbox, customizable email templates, email tracking, built-in phone system, meeting scheduler, and e-signatures
- Document management functionalities include auto-filled templates, offline documents, and document open tracking
- Workflow automation, AI-powered sales assistant, and activity reminders
- Customizable reports on leads, deals, activities, recurring revenue, and revenue forecast
- Individual and team goal tracking
- Android and iOS apps
- 24/7 support via chat and email
Not sure if this is the right CRM for you? Check out our Pipedrive review to know how it can help grow your business.
Salesforce Essentials: Best for Robust Desktop Outlook Integration
Salesforce Essentials
What We Like
- Gives users access to all contact records and sales opportunities
- Features the most robust integration with Outlook’s desktop client
- Provides extensive tutorials and setup guides
What's Missing
- Does not offer a free plan
- Missing the ability to add more than 10 users to your account
- No workflow automation tools
Salesforce Essentials Pricing at a Glance
- Annual billing: $25 per user, per month
- Monthly billing: $35 per user, per month
- Free trial: 14 days
Salesforce Essentials is a cloud-based Salesforce CRM edition designed specifically for small businesses with up to 10 users. It offers a powerful integration with both the desktop and browser-based versions of Outlook. This functionality allows you to access essential CRM features without switching between the app and the email client. Salesforce Essentials also features sales activity tracking, customer support tools, and contact data import capabilities.
Salesforce Essentials Features
Salesforce Outlook plugin (Source: Salesforce)
- Manage contacts and accounts
- Automatically sync customer data from email
- Track customer relationships and deals using sales funnels and pipelines
- Respond to customer queries and provide support via email, phone, chat, social channels, and help center
- Measure your business health using prebuilt, customizable reports and dashboards
- Android and iOS apps
- Each license includes email, community, and webinar support, with an option to upgrade to 24/7 support from expert coaches
Find out how this CRM can help produce better results by checking out our Salesforce Essentials review.
Insightly: Best CRM Outlook Integration for Project Management
Insightly
What We Like
- Browser-based plugin for Outlook allows users to create contacts, link emails, and view contact history from within the inbox
- Allows you to create custom project pipelines
- Professional plan features strong project management tools and a wide variety of third-party integrations
What's Missing
- Does not offer a free plan
- Email tracking is not available in lower-tier plans
- No native social media tools or web activity tracking
Insightly Pricing at a Glance*
- 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
*Based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are also available at slightly higher rates.
Insightly offers a variety of project management tools you can use to manage customer relationships after a sale. With just a few clicks, you can integrate your email account with it by adding the Insightly Sidebar for Outlook from the Microsoft Office Store. This browser-based plugin allows you to access Insightly’s CRM intelligence and email engagement tools right within your inbox. You can use this integration to schedule emails, create contacts, and manage communications with your clients.
Insightly Features
Insightly Outlook sidebar (Source: Insightly)
- Easy to set up and operate
- Lead tracking and management tools include targeted mass emails, templated emails, scheduling, Kanban lists, web-to-lead capture, and automatic social profile enrichment
- Build strong customer relationships with its contact, organization, task, and event management features
- Increase productivity using opportunity management tools and custom sales processes
- Integrated project management, milestone tracking, and calendar synchronization
- Built-in business intelligence dashboards and configurable reports
- Automate business processes with tools for workflow automation, product catalogs, bills and invoices, roles and permissions, as well as custom profiles
- Option to add Insightly Voice, which features an integrated phone dialer, call logging, and automatic call analysis
- Work from any device with native Android and iOS apps
- Help center with in-depth tutorials and community with like-minded professionals
- Subscription-based email and phone support from 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. Pacific Time
If you want more information on how this software works, read our comprehensive Insightly review.
Microsoft Dynamics 365: Best for Businesses Using Microsoft’s Full Productivity Suite
Microsoft Dynamics 365
What We Like
- Seamless integration with the desktop and browser-based versions of Outlook
- Users can create contacts and leads from emails, send tracked emails, schedule emails, and view contact history from within Outlook
- Sales Enterprise plan adds territory management as well as social connections and automatic email logging
What's Missing
- Does not offer a free plan; paid plans are the most expensive overall option
- Lacks simple setup features; can be overwhelming to implement
- No mobile-specific features, like calling and call recording
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Pricing at a Glance*
- Customer Data Platform: Starts at $200 per tenant, per month
- Sales: Starts at $65 per user, per month
- Service: Starts at $50 per user, per month
- Marketing: Starts at $1,500 per tenant, per month
- Commerce: Starts at $180 per user, per month
- Supply Chain: Starts at $65 per user, per month
- HR: $120 per user, per month
- Finance: $180 per user, per month
- Project Management: $120 per user, per month
- Small and Medium Business: Starts at $50 per user, per month
- Free trial: 30 days
*Based on monthly billing
Microsoft Dynamics 365 is an enterprise resource platform (ERP) that offers a variety of business applications for mid-sized to large teams. It seamlessly integrates all Microsoft products to help you track and manage your contacts. Its business management solutions include a CRM that features sales and general operations management functionalities.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Features
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Outlook plugin (Source: Microsoft Dynamics 365)
- Find and manage accounts, contacts, leads, deals, and opportunities using a comprehensive timeline
- Multichannel communications include a softphone dialer and email templates
- Manage pipelines from a single workspace and collaborate with your team using a built-in chat function
- Automate recurring tasks, including sales and marketing processes
- AI-powered forecasts and real-time visibility into sales performance
- Customer data platform features AI-powered audience and customer insights, as well as a scalable feedback management solution
- Service platform includes self-service portals, knowledge base, AI-driven agent productivity tools, field service management solutions, and remote assist solutions
- Marketing platform uses AI-driven recommendations to help you personalize customer journeys and deliver content via the right channels
- Commerce platform has fraud protection and unified customer engagement features
- License-based support options via Power Platform admin center
