Best CRM for Small Business: Top 10 Platforms (May 2023)
This article is part of a larger series onCRM.
Customer relationship management (CRM) software lets businesses store contact data, manage leads, collaborate on sales activity, and run marketing campaigns in one system. The best CRMs for small business offer free and cost-effective subscriptions, a solid user experience through platform simplicity, and robust sales, marketing, and customer service features. We evaluated dozens of CRMs to identify the best CRM for small business teams.
- Best overall:Freshsales
- Best free small business CRM:HubSpot CRM
- Great for proposal management:Pipedrive
- Solid CRM for freelancers and individuals:Bigin by Zoho
- Best all-in-one sales, marketing, and service platform:EngageBay
- Excellent simple contact database:很简单的系统
- Best Gmail CRM system:Streak CRM
- Great value for lead management tools:Agile CRM
- Solid for managing the entire small business:Apptivo
- Best for email marketing:Mailchimp CRM
Best Small Business CRM Compared
Provider |
Starting Monthly Price per User* |
Free Plan? |
Our CRM Rating Out of 5 |
---|---|---|---|
|
$15 (free for 3 users) |
✓ |
4.68 |
|
$45 (for two users) |
✓ |
4.68 |
|
$14.90 |
✕ |
4.61 |
|
$7 |
✓ |
4.57 |
|
$13.79 |
✓ |
4.56 |
|
$17 |
✓ |
4.54 |
|
$15 |
✓ |
4.43 |
|
$14 |
✓ |
4.40 |
|
$8 |
✕ |
4.38 |
|
$13 |
✓ |
4.09 |
*Based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for slightly higher rates.
Pro tip:Some CRMs focus on features for automatingsales and marketingprocesses while others are more collaborative in nature. Learn about thetypes of CRM systemsto understand which products best suit your operation. Then, check out our other expert guides on CRMs for specific use cases:
Take our quiz to find out which CRM for small business works best for you.
这对中小企业CRM对你最合适?
Freshsales: Best CRM Software for Small Business Overall
Pros
- Growth plan includes three free users, a built-in phone, quote and proposal generation, deal and account management, and workflow automation
- Easy setup process with plenty of customization and intuitive CRM tools
- Great omnichannel communication tools through email, phone, text, chatbot, live chat, and messaging app integrations
Cons
- Expensive sales forecasting, deal teams, and auto-profile enrichment features
- Customer service tools and advanced marketing features require native integrations
- Ability to manage multiple sales pipelines requires the Pro plan and above
- You sellbusiness-to-business (B2B):Freshsales is one of our favoriteB2B CRM systemsbecause it includes features specifically useful when selling to other organizations. It offers an account management module, a built-in cloud phone system, and deal tracking with insights and rotting indicators. There’s also contact scoring, appointment scheduling, and document generation for quotes, proposals, and invoices.
- You need free calling features in your CRM:The Growth plan for Freshsales is one of the best free-forever subscriptions available on the CRM market. Although only three users are allowed free access, this plan includes a built-in phone system. This capability is a major value add as users canplace cold callsand follow-ups, receive incoming calls, and record, mask, and transfer calls to the queue, all from the CRM platform.
- You use an omnichannel selling approach:Freshsales is one of our favorite CRMs for teams that want to market their brand and sell using a multichannel strategy—in other words, conducting outreach via all channels. The Freshsales CRM allows users to engage prospects through direct and mass email, short message service (SMS) text, telephone, live chat, messaging app, and anartificial intelligence (AI) chatbot.
- You want to run more elaborate marketing campaigns from your CRM:Though it has omnichannel capabilities, Freshsales doesn’t let you create and deploy non-email campaigns, such as online ads, social media posts, or content marketing campaigns, unless you subscribe to its native Freshmarketer tool.
- Alternative:HubSpot is the best alternative for complete marketing and content management capabilities, including blog and video hosting, ads management, and the ability to publish posts on social media.
- You need a built-in case and ticketing management tools:Freshworks, the developer of Freshsales, offers excellentcustomer service software for small businessthrough its native Freshdesk tool. Unfortunately, that’s a separate product and users cannot manage service tickets in the Freshsales CRM system.
- Alternative:Agile CRM, HubSpot CRM Suite, and EngageBay can handle customer support operations in the CRM system.
Freshsales Pricing Plan & Overview*
Freshsales允许三个用户免费s Growth plan and comes with a 21-day free trial for the paid plans. Users can also purchase add-ons with their CRM plans, such as additional automated workflows that let users put tedious tasks, like email follow-ups or data record updates, on auto-pilot for $5 per every 10 additional workflows. Users can also purchase additional phone credits for $5 to place and receive more calls from the CRM.
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-user monthly breakdown. Monthly billing is also available for a higher cost.
Our Expert Opinion
Freshsales is a favorite choice for the best CRM software for small business. Its free and low-cost subscriptions give those on a tight budget an excellent solution for managing leads and client accounts. It’s also unique in that the system not only offers a built-in telephone system, but does so on the free-forever plan. Finally, we can’t overlook the platform usability that lets new CRM users easily set up and operate the features.
We love everything Freshsales offers to small business sales teams. See if it’s the right CRM for you by reading our fullFreshsales review.
HubSpot CRM: Best Free CRM Plan
Pros
- Free plan for unlimited users that offers the CRM Suite for sales, marketing, service, and content management features
- Advanced marketing capabilities including A/B testing, online and social media ads management, and content creation tools
- Simple CRM to operate and navigate through its modern design
Cons
- Expensive to upgrade from Free plans to paid subscriptions
- Deal scoring, data duplicate tracking, sales forecasting, and product library management get expensive
- Payment processing not available on the Free plan
- You want free sales, marketing, and service modules:The most notable attribute of HubSpot is that it’s by far the bestfree CRM softwareavailable on the CRM market. It allows unlimited users to access sales, marketing, service, and content management features. HubSpot also has unique and valuable capabilities on free plans like mass email, third-party integrations, ads management, and support ticketing.
- You need robust marketing features:HubSpot is a marketing automation platform andCRM systemhybrid. This makes it a great option for marketing agency businesses and teams that need high-level marketing features. The platform includes mass email, ads management, landing page builder tools, social media management, A/B testing, and the ability to host a blog and on-demand video library.
- You need an intuitive CRM system:Like top contender Freshsales, HubSpot is a highly ratedsimple CRM systemas users, even those new to the CRM world, can figure out quickly how to use the features. It uses a modern color scheme and intuitive navigation system, making it easy to go module-to-module and operate the tools.
- You need scalable, cost-friendly paid plans:While it has an excellent free plan, users ready to upgrade to the paid plans will need to look elsewhere for affordable options as the CRM Suite is quite expensive.
- Alternative:Freshsales, EngageBay, and Bigin by Zoho are the best free CRM options with affordable paid plans.
- You want a free telephone system in your CRM:HubSpot does offer third-party telephone integrations and a built-in option. Those capabilities, however, require subscribing to a paid plan.
- Alternative:Freshsales is the best CRM for small businesses for offering a free, built-in telephone system.
HubSpot CRM Pricing Plan & Overview*
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-month breakdown. Monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Each plan offers a 14-day free trial.
**CRM Suite includes sales, marketing, customer service, content management system (CMS), and operations software. Individual modules can be purchased for lower monthly costs.
Our Expert Opinion
Based on our scoring criteria, HubSpot CRM technically ties Freshsales for best overall. Where HubSpot separates itself, however, is the comprehensive free plan option that has sales, marketing, andcustomer service tools, as well as advanced marketing capabilities. This product also exhibits excellent platform usability ratings—something crucial for small business owners to maximize value from their features.
HubSpot’s marketing focus and free-plan availability make it a great CRM solution for small businesses. Use our in-depthHubSpot CRM reviewfor more details to see if it’s the best option for your organization.
Pipedrive: Best Proposal & Deal Management Tools
Pros
- Low-cost artificial intelligence (AI) tools for analytics and performance recommendations
- Greatoperations CRMfor boosting productivity and facilitating team and deal collaboration
- Offers end-to-endlead generation, deal management, and proposal creation capabilities
Cons
- No free plan
- Requires a slight learning curve, particularly for the more advanced sales features
- Expensive workflow automation and email tools
- You use a traditional sales strategy:Pipedrive is a sales CRM in that its value comes from thelead management software, deal tracking capabilities, sales collaboration features, and data management tools. Teams prioritizing direct outreach for growth benefit from features likebusiness proposalmanagement, deal rotting, auto-contact enrichment, team comments and mentions, and a built-in meeting scheduler.
- You submit many business proposals and bids:Another tremendous use case for Pipedrive involves its robust proposal features. It comes with auto-fillable templates that pullCRM data为快速代销售文档给你n process. There’s also a Smart Docs tool that allows users to auto-fill, send, and track sales quotes and proposals, which pairs nicely with the built-in e-signature capabilities.
- You need a free-forever plan:While it’s not necessarily an expensive system, Pipedrive does not offer a free plan for users to experience a risk-free test drive of the platform.
- Alternative:HubSpot CRM is our pick for the best free small business CRM while other products, like Freshsales, Bigin, EngageBay, and Really Simple Systems, also offer free-forever plans.
- You want low-cost email features:Pipedrive’s email sync tools for sending, receiving, and tracking emails from the CRM are not available until the Advanced plan for $49.90 per user, monthly.
- Alternative:Mailchimp, Freshsales, and HubSpot offer solid email tools for free.
Pipedrive Pricing Plan & Overview*
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-user monthly breakdown. Monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Paid plans include a 14-day free trial.
Our Expert Opinion
There are many solid use cases for Pipedrive, especially in the business-to-business (B2B) and government contracting space. Its proposal management tools are some of the best on the market for automating tasks involved in generating a proposal, sending it out for review, tracking its progress, and obtaining signatures. All-in-all, Pipedrive is a great sales CRM system with advanced lead and deal management capabilities and outreach tools.
Check out ourPipedrive reviewto see if it’s right for your business. We cover everything from features and integrations to use cases and usability.
Bigin by Zoho CRM: Best for Freelancers
Pros
- Free and low-cost subscription options and includes a built-in telephone system
- Offers a basic system for freelancers for managing contacts and pipelines, emailing, and integrating with popular third-party apps
- Solid product customization for pipeline stages, data fields, automations, tabs, reports, and views
Cons
- Poor product usability ratings
- Mostly offers the basics and lacks advanced marketing, customer support, and sales tools
- Mass email not available for free
- You are a freelancer needing the basics:Bigin is Zoho’s product built for small businesses to get all the basics like contact data storage, pipeline management, direct and mass email, performance tracking, and workflow automation. Its simple feature arsenal pairs well with the free and affordable paid options. Its free plan for one user makes it stand out as a solidCRM for freelancersand solopreneurs.
- You need a free built-in telephone system:In addition to being a solidpersonal CRMfor offering basic features, Bigin stands out for being one of a few products with a built-in phone system. Better yet, the telephone capabilities are available on the Free plan for a user to place, receive, and track phone calls from the CRM system.
- You want more sophisticated sales features:Because of the bare-bones focus, Bigin lacks advanced sales features like artificial intelligence (AI) analytics, proposal and invoice generation, and automated contact enrichment.
- Alternative:Freshsales and Pipedrive are powerhouse CRMs with more robust direct sales capabilities.
- You need omnichannel capabilities:Bigin is limited to communication outreach through telephone, email, and customer engagement on Twitter. Therefore, it’s not ideal for mass marketing or using a more general approach to outreach campaigns.
- Alternative:Freshsales and EngageBay are better alternatives with more communication options, including live chat, text, email, phone, and messaging app integrations.
Bigin by Zoho Pricing Plan & Overview*
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-user monthly breakdown. Monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Zoho Bigin offers a 15-day free trial for paid plans.
Our Expert Opinion
Based on our evaluation, Bigin by Zoho is a clear front-runner for smaller and solo-operated businesses. While it would be nice for the product to have more advanced features than contact storage, pipeline management, and communication tools, that’s not the developers’ intention. When the business is ready, teams can easily upgrade to the native Zoho CRM for broader, more advanced capabilities.
Planning to upgrade from Bigin to Zoho CRM? Don’t forget to check out our guide onhow to use Zoho CRMfor tips on setting up an account, tailoring your system, importing data, and managing users.
EngageBay: Best for All-in-One Sales, Marketing & Service Functions
Pros
- Free plan allows 15 users and includes advanced tools like lead scoring, social media monitoring, live chat engagement, and project and task management
- All-in-one sales, marketing, and service tool
- Super-scalable CRM solution that lets small businesses upgrade their feature and data requirements in a cost-scalable way
Cons
- Relatively limited number of contact records allowed on Free and Basic plans
- Poor user reviews for product ease of use
- Expensive proposal management, A/B testing, and trigger-based workflow automation
- You need a free, all-in-one sales, service, and marketing platform:EngageBay is an all-in-one solution for managing sales, marketing, andcustomer serviceactivity. It includes numerous data storage, task management, automation, and communication capabilities. Many of these features allow teams to oversee deals and leads in the sales pipeline, email and content marketing campaigns, and service tickets at no cost.
- You want omnichannel capabilities in your CRM:A great attribute of EngageBay is its multi-channel focus for outreach, marketing, and support. Users can engage leads and customers via email, live chat, video message, social media, and short message service (SMS) text. There are options to integrate with popularvoice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP)telephone systems like RingCentral, Twilio, JustCall, and CallHippo.
- You need a simple CRM system:While it’s cost-effective to invest in EngageBay, the platform isn’t the best-suitedCRM for startupsor teams new to operating a CRM tool. Users find the features tough to use and report difficulties in setting up a new system.
- Alternative:HubSpot and Really Simple Systems are our favorite CRMs for product ease of use.
- You send out a lot of sales proposals:While EngageBay does offer proposal generation and management capabilities, those features are not available until the Growth plan for $45.99 per user, monthly.
- Alternative:Freshsales includes quote and proposal generation tools on its Growth plan, which is $15 per user, per month and free for the first three users. Pipedrive is another good option with highly sophisticated proposal generation tools that start at $24.90 per user, monthly.
EngageBay Pricing Plan & Overview*
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-user monthly breakdown. Monthly billing is also available for a higher cost, and biennial billing for a lower cost.
Our Expert Opinion
EngageBay has high-value potential in terms of return on investment compared to other CRMs on this list. It includes a solid free-forever plan and affordable paid tiers to manage sales, marketing, and customer service in one system. Users can also track and collaborate on customizable projects. Finally, EngageBay lets you communicate with prospects and customers through its wide range of channels like phone, email, text, live chat, and social media.
很简单的系统: Best as a Standard Contact Database
Pros
- Free-forever option with affordable paid plans
- Simple interface design with highly intuitive features
- Tons ofCRM customizationoptions for data fields, system pages, interface layouts, reports, and dashboards
Cons
- Marketing and customer support modules requires an add-on for an additional cost
- No mobile application
- Expensive workflow automation, telephone integration, and quote generation capabilities
- You only need a simple contact database:很简单的系统is a great option if all you need is a digital Rolodex for contact and company data. It’s also an idealcontact management systemthat stores unlimited records for free. In addition to data and document storage, users can monitor pipeline statuses, track tasks and events, and link records to one another to indicate connections or hierarchical relationships.
- You want complete system customization:Besides affordability, usability, and great contact data management features, Really Simple Systems is an excellent customizable CRM. Teams can tailor data fields, dashboards, reports, automations, and pages to meet operational needs. The customization is easy for those who store specific information on their leads or use a uniquesales process.
- You want marketing tools included in your small business CRM:The most notable issue with Really Simple Systems is the default plan is entirely for sales functions. The provider requires users to purchase an additional add-on for marketing capabilities such as email design tools, campaign scheduling, template storage, and drip automation. These cost either $25 or $50 per month, depending on the add-on.
- Alternative:HubSpot is the best option that matches Really Simple System’s usability ratings and includes marketing capabilities in its main CRM product.
- You need a robust mobile CRM application:Currently, Really Simple Systems is limited to just offering a mobile-responsive web application and not an actual mobile application. It should be noted, however, that the provider has announced that amobile CRM app is currently in developmentfor release later this year.
- Alternative:Freshsales, HubSpot, and Pipedrive are our favorite providers that have a mobile CRM app with robust features.
很简单的系统Pricing Plan & Overview*
很简单的系统offers a 14-day free trial for the paid plans. Businesses can also purchase three optional add-ons to expand theirCRM features. First is the Simple Marketing add-on for $25 per month. Next, the Service Desk add-on is $50 per month. Finally, the Advanced Marketing add-on is also $50 per month. Additionally, the Simple Marketing and Service Desk add-ons are included if you subscribe to the Enterprise plan.
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a monthly per-user breakdown. Monthly billing is also available for a higher cost.
Our Expert Opinion
很简单的系统offers many solid attributes that provide value to a small business. As the name suggests, the platform is highly intuitive and has a minimal learning curve for those requiring a simple CRM system. It also can perform more contact management functions than most CRMs on this list, such as record linking, unlimited data storage capacity, and activity tracking within contact and company records.
很简单的系统is a simple solution for storing contact data and managing sales activity. See if it’s the right CRM for your business by reading our很简单的系统review.
Streak: Best CRM Within a Gmail Interface
Pros
- Free plan available with cost-scalable paid plans
- Custom pipelines from the Gmail interface for teams to manage and collaborate on any business process
- Unlimited stored contacts and organizations for all plans
Cons
- Expensive workflow automation tools
- Only one user allowed on Free and Solo plans
- Relatively low number of outside integration options
- You prefer Google Workspace products:Streak is specifically built for teams to manage sales and outreach directly in one of their most commonly used productivity systems—Gmail. Streak also integrates with other Google products, like Sheets, Calendar, Drive, Forms, and Chat, so users can access their resources and keep data synchronized between their CRM and Google apps.
- You want to manage multiple business processes from Gmail:One of the most notable features of Streak is the pipeline customization and viewing options within the Gmail interface. Not only can you manage asales pipeline,但是其他的可重复的业务流程。For instance, users can oversee recruiting, marketing campaigns, bid proposals, and any other special projects they want to track.
- You need broad third-party integrations:Aside from the direct Google integrations, Zapier connections, and application programming interface (API) integration capabilities, Streak is limited in terms of third-party options.
- Alternative:HubSpot is the best small business CRM software for integrations with hundreds of options to choose from.
- You want low-cost workflow automation:Streak users can create automated workflows for when they want to complete data record updates, assign tasks, or send emails after a specific trigger, such as a deal stage change. Unfortunately, that capability is not available until the Pro+ plan for $69 per user, monthly.
- Alternative:Agile CRM begins offering rule-based workflow automation for free.
Streak Pricing Plan & Overview*
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-user monthly breakdown. Monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Streak comes with a 14-day free trial.
Our Expert Opinion
Streak brings a unique solution that helps businesses centralize their workflows into one interface—Gmail. We especially like the process customization that lets nearly any role at a company track tasks and projects from their email system. This CRM also offers excellent email outreach tools for mass emailing, designing templates, tracking engagement, storing prior email communications, and linking email messages to pipeline activity.
Like the idea of accessing your CRM from Gmail? Get more details in ourStreak CRM reviewto see if it’s right for your business.
Agile CRM: Best for Low-cost Lead Management
Pros
- Free plan includes lead scoring, unlimited deals and tasks, appointment scheduling, workflow automation, and the service desk module
- Offers sales, marketing, and service modules in one platform
- Simple CRM system, performs well in product usability
Cons
- Low number of integrations allowed on Free and Starter plans
- Telephone capabilities not available until Regular plan
- Unlimited contact and company storage unavailable until Enterprise plan
- You need freelead scoringtools:Much of the Agile CRM value stems from its lead management tools. Users can store data, schedule appointments, reach out via email, text, or phone, and track deal stages of each lead. The most notable feature, however, is thelead qualificationcapabilities through lead scoring, free for users to quantitatively measure sales opportunities based on contact profiles and interactions.
- You want all-in-one sales, marketing, and service solutions:Like some of the other products on this list, Agile CRM is an all-in-one system for sales, marketing, andhelp desk support. Plus, all of the modules are available for free and are easy to access and operate for users who need the complete revenue operations system.
- You have a massive contact database:One key issue with Agile CRM is that unlimited contact and company data storage requires the Enterprise plan for $47.99 per user, monthly. This isn’t ideal for ecommerce businesses that need an affordableretail CRMto track huge amounts of customer data and deploy massive promotional and ad campaigns.
- Alternative:很简单的系统is the best contact database solution that allows unlimited records for free.
- You’d like to connect many third-party integrations for free:Agile CRM’s free-forever option only allows you to connect one third-party application for data synchronization purposes and to add additional functionality to your CRM.
- Alternative:Those who need to connect many external tools to their CRM for free should look to HubSpot or Freshsales.
Agile CRM Pricing Plan & Overview*
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-user monthly breakdown. Monthly billing is also available for a higher cost.
Our Expert Opinion
小企业需要敏捷CRM就是一切operate and grow. It is simultaneously affordable, simple to operate, and acts as a comprehensive revenue operations solution that includes sales, marketing, and service tools. The most standout use case compared to other providers is lead management. Agile CRM gives sales reps all the resources needed to generate, qualify, nurture, and close the deal for potential clients.
OurAgile CRM reviewoffers an excellent guide on product features, integrations, usability, and pricing to help get the full picture.
Apptivo: Best for Complete Business Management
Pros
- Cost-friendly overall for all subscription plans
- Highly tailorable system and customizable applications to adjust for any business functions
- Includes unique features like lead referral tracking, items storage for ecommerce, and payment processing capabilities
Cons
- No free plan
- 有限的第三方集成选项
- Poor usability ratings for operating the features and navigating between apps
- You want to manage all business functions in one platform:Apptivo isn’t necessarily a CRM system. It’s a business management solution that lets you oversee any business function, such as sales, marketing, service, projects, accounting, and field service, through tailoring data fields, automations, and entire applications. TheCRM processjust happens to be the most common use case of Apptivo.
- You heavily utilizereferral marketingfor new business:Many small businesses rely exclusively on referrals for opportunities thanks to the high conversion rates and ability to putlead generationon auto-pilot. If that sounds like your business, Apptivo is great sales software for you. It has unique tools that link contact records to one another to indicate a referral connection and track referred business within a record.
- You want a built-in meeting scheduler tool:Despite being a complete business management system, Apptivo doesn’t offer a built-in meeting scheduler to easily coordinate, schedule, and track calls or events. This is problematic as meeting scheduling tools have solid use cases for all functions of a business.
- Alternative:Freshsales, HubSpot, and EngageBay all offer meeting scheduling on their free plans.
- You need a more intuitive, custom CRM system:Apptivo struggles with product usability as the system tends to appear outdated to its users, which causes issues when operating the features or navigating the interface.
- Alternative:很简单的系统is an alternative that comes with excellent customization options and a better interface design.
Apptivo Pricing Plan & Overview*
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-user monthly breakdown. Monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Paid plans include a 30-day free trial.
Our Expert Opinion
Apptivo是一个健壮的platform that gives users a complete arsenal of business applications for sales, marketing, supply chain management, human resources, and anything else they wish to manage. In addition to supplying prebuilt applications for many functions and system tailorability, we must acknowledge Apptivo’s affordability. While there is no free plan, each subscription offers cost-friendly options to new and growing businesses.
Apptivo is an affordable, comprehensive solution for managing numerous business activities. Be sure to use ourApptivo reviewto discover all use cases and see if it’s right for you.
Mailchimp CRM: Best for Email Marketing
Pros
- Affordable plans with a free option that includes mass email marketing tools, third-party integrations, and ads management
- Highly intuitive platform for designing emails and automating campaigns
- Free ecommerce website add-on that lets you build an online retail site, track products, process payments and orders, and report sales numbers
Cons
- Free plan only allows one user
- Primarily a marketing tool; cannot help with direct sales, special projects, or other business functions
- Lacks bid, deal, and invoice management features
- You want a simple and low-cost email marketing tool:Mailchimp is aCRM alternativein that it’s known mostly as an email tool. It has common CRM features like contact storage, profile tagging, segmentation, and campaign management. The highly intuitive platform has robust email capabilities, including design tools, mass deployment, retargeting, and journey automation.
- You are an ecommerce business:One of the features included in Mailchimp is the free website and ecommerce add-on. Online retailers get everything they need to sell and distribute their products, starting with website building and publishing tools. Search engine optimization (SEO) analytics, site visitor monitoring, unlimited product management, order tracking, and payment processing are also available.
- You need a robust deal and bid management tool:Mailchimp is mostly a marketing platform for email, ad, and social media campaigns. Therefore, it lacks direct sales tools such as deal management and proposal generation, which are crucial for business-to-business (B2B) sales.
- Alternative:Freshsales and Pipedrive are our favorite deal and bid management CRM systems with affordable, user-friendly tools for overseeing sales opportunities.
- You want to manage various aspects of your business in one system:While Mailchimp is advanced in marketing and ecommerce management capabilities, it’s limited to those specific functions.
- Alternative:Apptivo is our pick for the best overall small business CRM with complete business management functionality.
Mailchimp CRM Pricing Plan & Overview*
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per month breakdown. Monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Mailchimp offers a 30-day free trial for paid plans.
Our Expert Opinion
Mailchimp is a top CRM pick because of its specialty attribute set. Though it doesn’t provide traditional lead and deal management features in most CRM tools, Mailchimp offers tremendous value to those primarily utilizing email campaigns. It also has a solid arsenal of tools for creating digital ads and publishing social media posts. Finally, we love the free ecommerce add-on for business retailers to create, market, and operate an online retailer.
Need more insights on Mailchimp’s email marketing capabilities? Take a look at our guide onhow to use Mailchimp for email marketing.
How We Evaluated the Best CRM for Small Business
To determine the best CRM software for small business, we evaluated each platform in terms of overall affordability, feature capabilities, and the value an organization with a small sales, marketing, or service team can obtain from the software. We also looked at customer support options offered by the provider and how each CRM platform performs in terms of product intuitiveness and user experience.
The tabs below show our evaluation criteria for the best small business CRMs:
25% of Overall Score
General features refer to baseline capabilities we expect each CRM to provide to help a small business get value from their software. Robust system customization, for example, lets a team tailor their product to meet their unique operational needs. We also wanted the provider to offer amobile CRM appfor on-the-go sales, a widerange of integration optionsto extend the CRMs functionality, and solid reporting and analytics tools.
20% of Overall Score
Since small businesses and startups are usually on a tight budget, pricing was an important evaluation factor. This considered the availability of a free-forever plan and affordable pricing options that are cost-friendly and scalable for growing businesses. Finally, we looked at options for subscribers to pay monthly or save by paying annually.
20% of Overall Score
This criteria looked at advanced features that give a CRM provider a slight boost and stronger capabilities, but aren’t always a given in CRM software. Sophisticated marketing automation, for instance, allows you to create and deploy email, advertising, and social media campaigns to mass audiences. We also examined whether a provider offers built-in artificial intelligence (AI), revenue forecasting, and pipeline analytics features.
20% of Overall Score
Excellent customer support helps prevent poor user experiences or technical issues a small business may encounter while using any of these CRMs. This was evaluated in terms of customer service hours and the availability of support through phone, live chat, and email. We also looked at self-service resources users can access, like knowledge base articles, tutorials, user forums, or FAQ pages.
15% of Overall Score
In addition to firsthand experience with these small business CRM systems, we looked into what actual users say about each provider according to online reviews from trusted sites. This category helps us better understand how users feel about the product’s features, platform ease of use, and value customers feel the gain from each CRM.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
No CRM would have made our list without offering either free or affordable plans for small businesses. However, the CRMs that offer both affordable plans and a free-forever option include Freshsales, Bigin by Zoho, Really Simple Systems, EngageBay, and Agile CRM.
Based on our evaluation, Freshsales is the best overall small business CRM software—tied with HubSpot, which we considered the best free small business CRM. That said, however, certain CRMs may be a better fit depending on feature and product attribute requirements. Really Simple Systems, for example, is a great simple contact database, while Mailchimp CRM is an excellent email marketing solution.
Your small business CRM should include features that help your company stay organized and grow. At a minimum, it should have contact data storage, email and phone communication capabilities, pipeline tracking, and solid reporting tools. Additionally, you should be able to manage sales and marketing on the go through a mobile app and have the ability to customize your system’s data fields, pages, and modules to meet your operational needs.
Bottom Line
The best CRM for small business is affordable, easy to use, and includes solid features for storing data, managing sales opportunities, deploying marketing campaigns, and supporting customers. While Freshsales and HubSpot were our picks for the best CRM software for small business, other systems will better suit your business depending on your needs. Agile CRM, for instance, is great for lead management, while Bigin has useful tools for freelancers.