Customer relationship management (CRM) systems are useful for solo users and single entrepreneurs—helping them keep track of their contacts, leads, projects, and revenues. It helps individuals organize customer communications, monitor to-do lists and appointments, and automate repetitive tasks in a single platform. To find the best personal CRM, we analyzed more than a dozen providers featuring plans designed to meet the needs of a single user.
Here are our top six picks for personal CRMs and their best use cases:
- Freshsales: Best overall personal CRM with feature-rich, in-app phone
- HubSpot CRM: Best for single users who are looking for CRM with excellent email marketing features
- Zoho CRM: Best overall personal CRM that offers extensive omnichannel communications capability
- Pipedrive: Great choice for users who need highly visual sales pipelines and reports
- Salesflare: Excellent option for users looking to automate their customer and sales data entry
- Streak: Solid choice for users who rely on Gmail to manage their leads, tasks, and opportunities
All of these options were chosen based on what a single user can do across each provider’s various subscription tiers. However, if you don’t expect to be a single user for very long, you may also want to check out our guide on the best CRM software for startups, which has a number of options for businesses looking to scale. We also offer options for individuals needing specialized solutions in our article on industry-specific CRMs.
How We Evaluated the Best Personal CRM
The best personal CRM software should have fundamental tools that help solo users manage their relationships with their contacts and clients, keep track of their communications, and monitor their tasks. It must also have a range of affordable pricing plans or a free version.
We found that Freshsales is the overall top personal CRM option. It offers essential CRM features helpful to solo users, such as deal and opportunity management, sales forecasting, and task workflows. It also has an excellent in-app phone, making it easy for solo users to reach out to their customers anytime, anywhere.
The tabs below offer more insight into our evaluation process for selecting the best personal CRM:
40% of Overall Score
Total costs and various pricing options are typically the most important criteria for solo users, so it was the most heavily weighed when reviewing the best personal CRM. We considered the availability of a free plan, the pricing of entry-level options, and whether or not there are monthly billing plans available.
20% of Overall Score
The purpose of any CRM is to provide functional solutions associated with sales, marketing, customer service, and task management. We looked at the best CRMs for small businesses overall as well as options designed for individuals and evaluated which ones offer the essential and fundamental features useful for solo users.
15% of Overall Score
User-friendliness and intuitiveness are two of our key considerations when looking into a software’s ease of use—especially for solo users. We evaluated whether the software is beginner-friendly or requires some level of experience to get users up to speed with the system.
15% of Overall Score
Support is a critical part of running a CRM system, especially for solo users who may not have a technical background. We analyzed the types of support offered by these providers through live chat, email, and phone, as well as determined the hours when these support channels are available.
10% of Overall Score
We looked through existing customer reviews on credible sites to measure the level of satisfaction current users have, as well as any problems that they typically encounter. We also added our thoughts and expert opinion on key features, value for money, and popularity.
Freshsales: Best Overall Personal CRM With Feature-rich, In-app Phone System
Freshsales
What We Like
- Provides extensive customer communication channels, including mobile and social messaging
- Feature-rich, in-app phone
- Offers users with a 360-degree view of their customers
What's Missing
- Free plan has no storage allocation
- Free plan doesn’t include helpful features, such as system customizations and custom profile enrichment
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 offers users fundamental features helpful to solo users, including contact, account, and deal management, as well as tasks, appointments, and notes. It has a feature-rich, in-app phone that lets users call and send SMS messages from their CRM account. The in-app phone also has advanced features, like call notes and call recording, beneficial for entrepreneurs to keep track of all their customer communications.
However, Freshsales’ free plan lacks some helpful features and has no storage allocation. Users who want a feature-rich free plan can consider Zoho CRM, while those who need ample data storage allocation can consider Pipedrive.
Freshsales In-app Phone System
Freshsales’ built-in telephone app allows you to make calls straight from your laptop or other smart devices. (Source: Freshsales)
Freshsales’ in-app phone system lets you easily take calls, manage voicemails, and read and send messages from your laptop or smartphone. It also offers helpful features, such as forward to phone (forwarding calls to a user’s personal phone), call masking, assigning of business hours, and an inbound caller ID.
Check out our Freshsales review to explore other features that this platform offers.
HubSpot CRM: Best Free Personal CRM With Excellent Email Marketing Features
HubSpot CRM
What We Like
- Has an intuitive and easy-to-use interface
- Free plan supports 1 million contacts and companies
- Offers robust email marketing tools
What's Missing
- Free plan lacks access to customer support and is limited to forums
- Workflow automation tools are not included in the free plan
Pricing Summary*
- Free: Supports an unlimited number of users
- 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 a wide range of features solo users need to nurture their relationships with their contacts and leads, including customizable dashboards, chatbots, and landing pages. It provides excellent email marketing tools for users who need to send professional-looking marketing emails to expand their customer base. The system also lets them manage and track the performance of their email marketing campaigns.
However, HubSpot CRM’s free plan lacks customer support and does not include CRM workflow automation tools. Users who need support even for free plans can consider Freshsales, while those who need workflow automation tools can consider Salesflare.
HubSpot CRM Email Marketing
HubSpot CRM offers solo users an extensive pool of email templates and email marketing tools. (Source: HubSpot)
HubSpot CRM lets users create and customize their marketing emails by giving them access to its extensive library of customizable email templates. It offers users helpful email marketing features, such as email reply tracking, bulk message sending, and follow-up form emails. It includes an A/B testing and analytics function that helps users evaluate which types of emails convert and engage customers most effectively.
Check out our HubSpot CRM review to explore other features that this platform offers.
Zoho CRM: Best Personal CRM With Extensive Omnichannel Communications Capability
Zoho CRM
What We Like
- Simple interface that’s great for beginners
- Offers varied customer communication platforms, such as email, phone, and live chat
- Advanced analytics and predictive tools
What's Missing
- Limited storage capacity; requires add-on for additional monthly storage
- 24/7 support is only available upon purchase of an Enterprise support plan
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 offers solo users a wide range of essential CRM features, such as sales automation, sales prediction, and marketing automation. Zoho CRM’s most prominent standout feature is its omnichannel communications management system. It enables single users to manage all emails, phone calls, social media engagements, and live chats in one platform.
However, Zoho CRM has limited storage allocation, and its round-the-clock customer support comes at an additional cost. Users who need 24/7 customer support and ample data storage can consider Pipedrive instead.
Zoho CRM Omnichannel Communications
Zoho CRM shows various customer communication touchpoints—one of which is social media. (Source: Zoho CRM)
One of the omnichannel platforms that Zoho CRM supports is social media. It enables users to engage and communicate with customers through their social media accounts—making it ideal for users who run businesses on social platforms. It allows users to read and reply to messages to their social media contacts and turn them into leads. It also lets users enrich their contact profiles by syncing information found on their Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Check out our Zoho CRM review to explore other features that this platform offers.
Pipedrive: Best Personal CRM With Simple Sales Pipeline Visualizations
Pipedrive
What We Like
- Simple visual representation of sales pipelines
- Offers revenue forecast reports
- 24/7 customer support via live chat and email
What's Missing
- No free plan
- In-app phone feature is limited to the two most 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
*Based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are also available except for the Enterprise plan.
Pipedrive offers visual and customizable pipelines, dashboards, and reports helpful for solo users who want to see the overall health of their business on one page. Its customizability simplifies data and insights, including reports on leads, tasks, activities, deals, and revenues. It also provides an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered assistant that recommends actions to help users ensure they are growing their relationships with their pool of contacts.
However, Pipedrive doesn’t offer a free plan, and its in-app phone feature is only available in higher-priced plans. Users who want a free plan can consider either HubSpot CRM or Zoho CRM. Those who want a robust in-app phone system, even for free or low-cost plans, should consider Freshsales.
Pipedrive Pipeline Visualizations
Pipedrive’s pipelines show simple and easy-to-understand sales stages. (Source: Pipedrive)
Pipedrive’s pipeline management tools provide solo users with visual representations of their pipelines that show actionable insights for their leads and deals. They can easily drag-and-drop deals between stages and connect their email and third-party apps to create a single lead data location. It is also easy and simple for users to update lead information by entering new deals and contacts on desktop or mobile.
Check out our Pipedrive review to explore other features that this platform offers.
Salesflare: Best Personal CRM With Excellent Automated Data Collection Capability
Salesflare
What We Like
- Offers robust workflow automation tools
- Has comprehensive engagement tracking tools
- Extensive third-party integrations
What's Missing
- No free plan
- No in-app phone system
Pricing Summary*
- Growth: $29 per user per month
- Pro: $49 per user, per month
- Enterprise: $99 per user, per month
- Free trial: 14 days
*Based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are also available at higher rates.
Salesflare helps solo users accurately input pertinent customer data in their CRM by automating data collection. It can gather customers’ information from their social media profiles and interactions and put them in the address book. It also automates the logging of phone calls and meetings, contact data entry, and lead follow-ups.
Salesflare, however, doesn’t offer a free plan or an in-app phone system. Those who want a free plan can consider either HubSpot CRM or Zoho CRM. Users who want a robust in-app phone system can consider Freshsales.
Salesflare Automated Data Collection
Salesflare’s automated data input capability gathers customers’ contact information and automatically adds them to their profiles. (Source: Salesflare)
Salesflare’s automated data collection feature detects important customer information, such as social profiles available from customers’ public accounts. It gathers customers’ contact information, including email signatures, phone numbers, and addresses, by culling them from their communication history (e.g., emails and phone calls). Upon collection of data, the system automatically logs all the information in the corresponding customer profile.
Check out our Salesflare review to explore other features that this platform offers.
Streak: Best Personal CRM for Gmail Users
Streak
What We Like
- Integrates well with Gmail
- Has a Google Chrome extension
What's Missing
- Most third-party software integrations are only available in higher-priced plans
- In-app phone is not available in lower-priced plans
Pricing Summary*
- Free: One-user allocation
- Solo: $15 per user, per month
- Pro: $49 per user, per month
- Enterprise: $129 per user, per month
- Free trial: 14 days
*Based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are also available at higher rates.
Streak is ideal for solo CRM users who utilize Gmail as their email. It provides a browser extension that lets them access their CRM directly within their Gmail account—eliminating the need to go back and forth between their Inbox and CRM account. It also offers robust email management tools, such as mass email, email engagement tracking, and automatic email categorization.
However, Streak’s in-app phone and third-party integrations are only available in higher-priced plans. Users who want a robust in-app phone system even for free or low-cost plans should consider Freshsales. Meanwhile, those who want extensive third-party integrations can consider either HubSpot CRM or Zoho CRM.
Streak Gmail Integration
Streak is integrated with Gmail, enabling users to manage all their CRM needs from their Inbox. (Source: Streak)
Streak’s integration with Gmail lets users automatically capture data from their contacts and emails. It lets them view details of their pipelines directly alongside emails, and automatically enrich their customers’ profiles with information such as name, contact information, and company details. It also notifies them on the progress of their pipelines through notifications and reminders.
Check out our Streak review to explore other features that this platform offers.
