7 Best Free CRM Software Systems (June 2023)
This article is part of a larger series onCRM.
Free customer relationship management (CRM) software gives new businesses and freelancers a no-cost solution to managing leads, tracking deals, and engaging customers. The best providers offer a wide range of features, robust data storage, and broad user capacity on their freemium subscription plans. After comparing dozens of CRM providers with a free-forever option, here are our top-rated picks for the best free CRM for small business:
- Best free CRM for robust features:HubSpot CRM
- Great freemium plan with a built-in phone:Freshsales
- Excellent for managing all business functions:ClickUp
- Best for sales operations:Zoho CRM
- Ideal for all-in-one revenue operations:EngageBay
- Great free option with project management tools:Bitrix24
- Most tailorable free CRM:Really Simple Systems
Best Free CRMs at a Glance
Provider |
Starting Monthly Price per User* |
# Free Users Allowed |
Our CRM Rating Out of 5 |
---|---|---|---|
|
$18 (up to two users) |
Unlimited |
4.85 |
|
$15 |
Three |
4.85 |
|
$5 |
Unlimited |
4.78 |
|
$14 per user |
Three |
4.68 |
|
$13.79 |
15 |
4.66 |
|
$49 (up to five users) |
Unlimited |
4.51 |
|
$17 |
Two |
4.40 |
*Based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for slightly higher rates.
HubSpot CRM: Best for Robust Free Features
Pros
- Free plan allows unlimited users
- Advanced tools like artificial intelligence (AI), email automation, ticketing, and quote generation are available for free
- Well-known for providing an excellent user experience with easy-to-use features and an intuitive interface
Cons
- Telephonic capabilities are not included for free
- CRM后变得昂贵的升级到一个支付计划
- Products library requires the Professional plan
- You want a broad capacity on your free CRM software:One of the things that stands out the most for the HubSpot free CRM for small businesses is the user and storage capacity. It includes unlimited user access to the Sales, Marketing, Content Management, and Service Hubs. Additionally, the provider doesn’t put strong caps on data storage or processing—allowing 1,000,000 records and 500 daily email sends.
- You need advanced free capabilities:HubSpot is considered one of thebest CRMs for small businessbecause of its free-forever plan. It includes tools not commonly found in other freemium products, such as access tothird-party integrations, customer ticketing, blog management, and mass email with automation. You can even leverage artificial intelligence (AI) tools to complete tasks or generate content automatically.
- You need a free built-in telephone:While users can engage customers via email, live chat, or AI chatbot for free, the telephonic capabilities require you to be on the Starter plan, which starts at $18 per month for two users.
- Alternative:Freshsalesis a great CRM with a free plan that includes a built-in telephone system to place, receive, and track calls.
- You want a more scalable CRM:As your business grows, you’ll need to upgrade your CRM to a paid option for additional features. HubSpot isn’t ideal for this situation from a cost perspective, as the paid subscriptions get expensive after the Starter plan.
HubSpot CRM Overview of Free Plan
- Unlimited users
- Third-party integrations through theapp marketplace
- Contact and company management storage with activity tracking and list segmentation
- Deal management
- One customer ticket pipeline
- Mobile CRM
- Mass email marketing with automated deployment options and storableemail templates
- Hosting and management for up to one blog
- Built-in appointment scheduler
- Custom quote generation
- Live chat engagement through the website
- Canned snippets for auto-generating responses to prospect or customer questions
- Artificial intelligence (AI) tools for completing users command tasks, auto-generating content outlines, drafts, and ideas, and engaging web visitors as a chatbot
- Performance and activity reporting dashboard
HubSpot CRM Monthly Pricing Plans*
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-month breakdown. Monthly billing is available for a higher cost. Each plan offers a 14-day free trial. Pricing reflects pricing info available at the time of publishing. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers tocheck current pricing here.
**Pricing uses the monthly Sales Hub costs for individuals and small teams. The provider also offers Enterprise-level products for larger sales teams and the CRM Suite, which includes sales, marketing, customer service, content management system (CMS), and operations software in one product for a higher price.
Our Expert Opinion
HubSpot is powerful CRM software with a great free plan that offers an excellent user experience. Its advanced sales, marketing, service, and content management tools give teams a no-cost option to handle many parts of their revenue operation. We also like the robust capabilities offered for free that are missing in other freemium options, like artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots and task tools, email automation, ticketing, and blog management.
Freshsales: Best Free Option With a Built-in Phone System
Pros
- Free omnichannel communication options through a built-in phone, email, live chat, chatbot, and text
- Users can create automated workflows and sales sequences for free
- CRM includes a no-cost product catalog with quote and invoice generation tools
Cons
- Free plan limited to three users
- Most of the artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities require paid plans
- CRM is limited mostly to sales features; lacks ticketing tools or marketing features outside of mass emails
- You need a free phone system:Freshsales is known for its multi-channel communication tools for deploying campaigns, conducting sales outreach, and nurturing leads. These include free email, live chat, text, and chatbot tools, plus access to third-party messenger integrations. Additionally, Freshsales has a built-in phone system on its free plan with a dialer and logging system to place, receive, record, and track calls.
- You want a free end-to-end sales tool:The free Growth plan for Freshsales offers end-to-end capabilities that let you oversee the entiresales process. Users can store records, track activity and deal status, schedule appointments, and generate quotes or invoices. The communication tools also let yougenerate and nurture leadsthroughout their journey, and the CRM has a dedicated post-sale account management module.
- You need more free capacity:While Freshsales offers excellent CRM software for free, small businesses may not be happy with its total capacity. For example, you only get your first three users on the Growth plan for free and are limited to 1,000 stored contacts.
- Alternative:HubSpot CRMhas broad capacity on the Free plan that supports unlimited users and up to 1,000,000 stored contact records.Bitrix24is another good option with unlimited users, contacts, and deal storage.
- You want a broader range of business use cases:Freshworks, the creator of Freshsales, does include native products to manage other business areas such as marketing,customer service, and IT support. Unfortunately, these require additional subscriptions for an added cost.
Freshsales Overview of Free (Growth) Plan*
- Allows up to three free users on Growth plan
- Third-partyCRM integrations
- Contact andaccount management softwarewith activity timelines, lifecycle stages, record tagging, and notes
- Deal management
- Built-in telephone system plus text communication
- Live chat and artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot engagement on website
- Email sync with automated sequences and personalized bulk emails
- Product catalog plus quote and invoice generation
- AutomatedCRM workflows
- Contact scoring
- Task management
- 约会安排
Freshsales Monthly Pricing Plans**
*All free features are included in the Growth plan, which costs $15 per user, per month after the first three users.
**Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-user monthly breakdown. Monthly billing is available for a higher cost. Freshsales offers a 21-day free trial and optional paid add-ons for additional workflow automations and phone credits starting at $5. Pricing reflects pricing info available at the time of publishing. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers tocheck current pricing here.
Our Expert Opinion
Freshsales outperforms other free online CRMs because of its complete communication arsenal and end-to-end pipeline management capabilities. Though you only get three users on the no-cost plan, small teams and startups still find the platform easy to use and valuable forcold callingand email outreach, lead nurturing, proposal generation, and other key stages of the sales process.
ClickUp: Best for Comprehensive Business Management
Pros
- Highly customizable workspaces to meet any business need
- Robust no-cost viewing options of data records and tasks including list, board, calendar, Gantt, timeline, and table views
- Free plan includes workflow automation for assigning, editing, or creating data records and tasks based on triggers
Cons
- Not a traditional CRM; users must design their boards from scratch
- Third-party phone integrations are limited to data sync; users can’t actually place or receive calls from the CRM
- Most third-party integrations require paid plans
- You want free software to manage all business functions:ClickUp is a work management solution that lets teams create workspaces to oversee any aspect of their business. That said, you can tailor boards, data fields, and processes on workspaces to track workflows for sales, marketing, special projects, customer service, finance, HR, and any other function you wish to manage.
- You need free CRM automation tools:One of the impressive aspects of ClickUp is that it includesworkflow automationon the Free plan—allowing up to 100 automations per month. This lets users automatically assign tasks or records like leads, contacts, deals, or account-based preset triggers. They can also generate and manage records or tasks automatically.
- You prefer a traditional, no-cost CRM:Because ClickUp is considered a work and project management tool, it’s technically aCRM alternativethat can be used for sales activity by designing the workspaces accordingly. Users may not like this concept as it requires a great deal of system tailoring prior to using the CRM.
- Alternative:FreshsalesandZoho CRMare better free CRM options for those who prefer to have their modules prebuilt and ready to go.
- You need many free third-party integrations:ClickUp的一个缺点是除了连接ing to native integrations, you’ll need to be on a paid plan. In other words, most of the third-party integration options like Google, Outlook, and their email tools aren’t accessible until the Unlimited plan.
- Alternative:HubSpot CRMprovides access to all third-party tools on the free-forever plan.
ClickUp Overview of Free Plan
- Access to unlimited users
- Five custom workspaces to manage workflows, store data, track statuses, and collaborate on tasks for any business area
- Prebuilt templates to create new workspaces
- Custom data fields within workspaces and in stored data records
- List, board, table, and calendar views on workspaces, plus up to 100 Gantt, timeline, workload, and map view sessions
- Built-in whiteboard collaboration
- Workflow automation on boards
- Task management with checklists and task assignment to users
- Relationship linking, tags, and priority-setting within data records
ClickUp Monthly Pricing Plans*
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-user monthly breakdown. Monthly billing is available for a higher cost. ClickUp comes with a 14-day free trial. Pricing reflects pricing info available at the time of publishing. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers tocheck current pricing here.
Our Expert Opinion
ClickUp is an interesting product that lets teams expand use cases to an infinite number of business areas. We like how the free plan includes most of the customization capabilities and allows for workflow automation and complex functions on its data records, like tagging and relationship linking. ClickUp is also a highly scalable solution for when you’re ready to upgrade for broader access to third-party tools, higher data capacity, and more viewing options.
Zoho CRM: Best for Sales Operations Management
Pros
- Lead and account management modules are included for free
- Great free plan for storing data and staying up to date on tasks and activity
- Tons of native integrations included on the Free plan, like Zoho Projects, Desk, Survey, Campaigns, Analytics, and Forms products
Cons
- Poor product usability ratings for navigating the interface
- Only three free users allowed
- Email, telephone, and calendar booking require paid plans
- You need a solid free sales operations CRM:Many of the free tools included in Zoho CRM make it a reliableoperational CRMoption. Features like lead, contact, deal, and account record management with activity tracking, task management with reminders, automated email notifications, and document storage are included for free. This enables teams to boost productivity, stay up to date, and ensure no task slips through the cracks.
- You want to expand use cases through native integrations:While Zoho requires paid plans for nearly all third-party integrations, the Free plan allows native connections with Zoho’s many business applications. Users, for instance, can connect theirCRM systemto Zoho’s products for project management, website visitor tracking, surveying, support desk management, and data analytics.
- You need a more intuitive CRM:Despite Zoho’s free and affordable CRM plans, our evaluation, which is substantiated byuser reviews, concludes the usability ratings are relatively poor. More specifically, navigating the interface and operating the tools can be tricky due to the clunkiness of the system and the many modules offered.
- Alternative:HubSpot CRMandReally Simple Systemsare the best user-friendly CRMs for small businesses that offer a free plan tier.
- You want more free lead engagement tools:One of the unfortunate attributes of Zoho is that many features designed to directly engage leads, such as email and phone integrations and the built-in calendar booking tool, require paid plans.
- Alternative:Freshsalesis our pick for the best free CRM for small businesses in terms of outreach and engagement tools—allowing access to a built-in phone system, email integrations, meeting scheduling, and other communication channels on the Growth plan.
Zoho CRM Overview of Free Plan
- Access for up to three users
- 铅、帐户和contact management with activity tracking and document storage
- One sales pipeline for deal tracking
- Mobile CRM apps
- Campaign performance tracking with custom email templates
- Task reminders
- StandardCRM reporting
- CRM layout editing with custom list views for CRM records and Kanban view of deals and activities
- Basic rule-based workflow automation for email notifications based on CRM activity and creating sales tasks
Zoho CRM Monthly Pricing Plans*
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-user monthly breakdown. Monthly billing is available for a higher cost. Zoho CRM comes with a 15-day free trial for the paid plans. Pricing reflects pricing info available at the time of publishing. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers tocheck current pricing here.
Our Expert Opinion
Zoho CRM’s free tools stand out for operational use. It’s an excellent CRM for hosting sales data, tracking activity, and ensuring your reps don’t miss opportunities or forget tasks. We also like the product scalability in terms of offering multiple subscriptions, all of which are at an affordable price. Regardless of how high your team upgrades after the Free plan, you ensure smooth growth that doesn’t break the bank.
EngageBay: Best All-in-One Free CRM
Pros
- Free plan includes all-in-one sales, marketing, and service modules
- Widespread marketing tools on the Free plan for mass email, list segmentation, landing page design, and video marketing
- Users can integrate with email platforms to use Gmail and Outlook for free
Cons
- Only allows 250 contact and company records on Free plan
- No free telephone capabilities
- Expensive workflow automation
- You need an all-in-one revenue ops solution:EngageBay is an ideal CRM for small businesses with free tools to managerevenue operations. This stems from its all-in-one sales, marketing, and service modules that allow teams to createbrand awareness,generate leads, close deals, and support customers in one platform.
- You want to manage service tickets in your CRM:Not all CRMs on this list include customer ticketing in the main product, much less for free. EngageBay includes its Service Bay module in the complete CRM product on the Free plan. It allows teams to store their customer data and track activity, as well as efficiently generate, track, and resolve service tickets.
- You want more data capacity:The most notable issue with the freemium EngageBay product is storage capacity. You can only store up to 250 contact and company records and send 1,000 emails before you must upgrade.
- Alternative:HubSpot CRMhas the best capacity on its Free plan, allowing up to 1,000,000 stored records and 500 daily email sends.
- You need to automate workflows:One of the key problems with EngageBay is automation for both task workflows and campaigns. These capabilities are not free and get relatively expensive—starting at $45.99 per user, monthly.
- Alternative:Freshsalesallows workflow automation and automated email campaigns on the Growth plan, which is free for three users.
EngageBay Overview of Free Plan
- Up to 15 users
- 250 stored contacts and companies with list segmentation
- Tagging and 360-degree views on CRM records
- Social suite for monitoring feeds on social media
- Lead scoring
- Deal tracking
- 1,000 branded emails through Gmail and Outlook integration with stored templates, engagement tracking, and automated email sequences
- Built-in appointment scheduler
- Custom webforms, live chat engagement, and pop-ups on website
- Landing pagebuilder and management
- Up to two views and pipelines for ticket management
EngageBay Monthly Pricing Plans*
*Pricing based on annual billing on a per-user monthly breakdown. Monthly billing is available for a higher cost and biennial billing is available for a lower cost. Pricing reflects pricing info available at the time of publishing. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers tocheck current pricing here.
Our Expert Opinion
EngageBay isn’t necessarily the best free CRM to use forever because of its data capacity restrictions, but it’s definitely a great place to start. Software or IT startups can get behind this product as it nicely suits revenue operation teams. The Free plan offers plenty of marketing outreach and branding capabilities in addition to customer support ticketing and lead and deal management features.
Bitrix24: Best for Project Management
Pros
- 高容量the free plan includes unlimited users plus unlimited storage for deals and contacts
- Built-in project management tool available on Free plan
- Ecommerce businesses can use the free CRM to create and manage an online store, process orders, track inventory, and collect payments
Cons
- Email access in the CRM is not available for free and mass emailing gets expensive
- Built-in telephone requires the Basic plan
- Some poor ratings for product ease of use
- You are a project-based business:Bitrix24 is the only free CRM with a dedicated project management module. This allows businesses that deliver project-based services to oversee their operations in the same system they manage leads and customers. These features are best for verticals like content producers, software developers, marketing agencies, and trade contractors.
- You sell products online:Another unique feature set that’s included in Bitix24’s Free plan are theecommerce CRMtools. Online retailers can use the CRM to create an ecommerce website, customize landing pages, process orders and payments, and track inventory. They can also engage leads through live chat to assist on the website or through Facebook and Instagram, all at no cost.
- You need more robust communication tools included for free:One issue with the free Bitrix24 subscription is that while it is an excellent database that allows unlimited contacts, it does not include no-cost engagement features like email or phone systems until the Basic plan. Additionally, mass email and text require the Standard plan.
- Alternative:Freshsalesis the best overall free customer database software that comes with no-cost phone, text, and email tools while letting you track lead and deal activity.
- You prioritize product usability:Bitrix24 receives poor product usability reviews as a steep learning curve is required for users to comfortably set up the system, navigate the modules, and utilize the built-in tools.
- Alternative:HubSpot CRMandReally Simple Systemsare thebest simple CRM productsthat also include a freemium plan.
Bitrix24 Overview of Free Plan
- Supports unlimited users
- Unlimited contacts and deals with activity tracking and one sales pipeline
- Custom data fields
- Bitrix24.Sign tool to create and send trackable documents as well as obtain signatures proposals
- Automated duplicate detection
- Inventory management
- Live chat engagement with website visitors
- Built-in project management module
- Products catalog
- Third-party channel messaging on Facebook and Instagram
- Website builder with free hosting, webforms, and ability to manage an online ecommerce store from the CRM
Bitrix24 Monthly Pricing Plans*
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-month breakdown. Monthly billing is available for a higher cost. Bitrix24 offers a 30-day free trial on paid plans. Pricing reflects pricing info available at the time of publishing. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers tocheck current pricing here.
Our Expert Opinion
Bitrix24高度专业化的用例,puts it on the map as the best CRM for small business with free plan options. The most notable are the built-in project management and ecommerce capabilities that allow project-based companies or online retailers to oversee their sales, marketing, and operations. We also can’t overlook the capacity offered by Bitrix24—allowing unlimited users, contacts, and deals at no cost.
很简单的系统:最好的免费系统定制ization
Pros
- Unlimited contacts on the Free plan
- Robust system customization options, most of which are allowed for free
- Simple database to store and track leads without a steep learning curve
Cons
- Free plan only allows two users
- Service and marketing tools required paid add-ons that are not accessible until a paid subscription
- Only 100 company records can be stored for free
- You need plenty of free customization:Really Simple Systems is a greatcustomizable CRM免费提供的定制选项compared to other providers. You can design your CRM to meet any operational need through custom data fields, tables, lists, dashboards, and pages. Additionally, users can create their own custom reports for free, which is a feature that typically requires high-tiered plans.
- You want simple, free client management software:As the name suggests, Really Simple Systems is easy to design and operate. It’s especially useful as a client andcontact management softwarefor organizing data, tracking activity, and storing documents. Another notable attribute is users get unlimited stored contact records for free.
- You have more than two users:Compared to other providers on this list, Really Simple Systems has the lowest number of users allowed on the Free plan—limiting you to two seats.
- Alternative:BothBitrix24andHubSpot CRMallow unlimited user access and nearly infinite contact record storage on each platform.
- You want service and marketing tools included in your sales CRM:One of the unfortunate issues with Really Simple Systems is that it requires paid add-ons for marketing features to deploy campaigns and segment customer lists. Similarly, service features for ticket management and service automation also require a separate add-on.
- Alternative:EngageBay includes an excellent range of marketing and service capabilities on its main CRM product—giving it all-in-one functionality with the sales tools.
Overview of Really Simple Systems Free Plan
- Supports two users
- Unlimited contacts and 100 company records with linked accounts, documents storage, and one-page record views
- Pipeline management for deals with history tracking, custom sales stages, and probability ratings of closing
- Task and event management with a calendar view
- Record search, filter, and merge options
- Custom reports and forecasts
- Google Maps integration
- Custom data fields, tables, drop-down lists, dashboards, and pages
Really Simple Systems Monthly Pricing Plans*
*Pricing based on annual billing on a monthly per-user breakdown. Monthly billing is available for a higher cost. Pricing reflects pricing info available at the time of publishing. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers tocheck current pricing here. Add-ons for Simple Marketing, Advanced Marketing, and Service Desk modules require an additional $25, $50, and $50 monthly cost, respectively. The Simple Marketing and Service Desk tools are automatically included in the Enterprise CRM plan.
Our Expert Opinion
Really Simple Systems is a great free customer database software for those needing the basics. It offers unlimited contact record storage and the ability to track activity, deals, and associated tasks. The most notable attribute, however, is the customization. There is no CRM on this list that gives more freedom for a sales team in terms of designing a CRM that meets their needs for free.
How We Evaluated the Best Free CRM Software
To determine the best free CRM software for small business teams, we filtered providers by only considering those offering a free-forever plan. We then looked at the specific features found in the freemium subscriptions that can help businesses manage leads, deals, customers, marketing campaigns, service activity, and projects. Additionally, we evaluated the capacity of the free plans in terms of the number of users, records, and email sends allowed.
The tabs below offer insight into our evaluation process of the best free CRM
30% of Overall Score
Because all the providers in the list have a free plan option, we primarily looked at the CRM features. We wanted to see that freemium subscriptions offer general capabilities relevant to all businesses regardless of size, industry, or operation. A mobile app, broad customization, a wide range of integrations, and solid reporting tools are all essential features that make the platform more appealing, particularly if they are free.
25% of Overall Score
In addition to general features, we evaluated advanced capabilities that aren’t always guaranteed in a free CRM, but certainly are nice to have. Visual dashboards, email marketing with templates, and account management, for example, can give each provider a leg up on the competition. This was also where we looked at free plan capacity in terms of users allowed, maximum data storage, the number of active automations, and email sends.
15% of Overall Score
Upon upgrading past the freemium plan, we looked at how each CRM provider performs in other pricing attributes. Affordable and scalable paid plans, for example, allow a small business to upgrade smoothly without breaking the bank. We also looked at billing flexibility for users to pay monthly or save with annual subscriptions.
15% of Overall Score
Customer service was evaluated in terms of the availability of support for free-forever subscribers. Extended hours of operation and support through phone, email, and live chat channels were crucial for this category. We also wanted to see free self-service resources available to users through a forum, knowledge base, or CRM academy.
15% of Overall Score
In addition to firsthand experience with these free CRM systems, we evaluated what actual users say about each product based on online reviews. This looked at the perceived value of the free CRM features and how users felt about the built-in tools. We also heavily evaluated the user experience for the CRMs regarding product ease of use and interface navigability.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Free CRM software is a product offered in a no-cost subscription plan that allows you to manage leads, deals, marketing campaigns, and customers. While most CRMs include a free trial on paid plans, only a handful have free-forever options that won’t limit your product accessibility after a set amount of time.
Yes, HubSpot offers a free CRM and many complementary software features. The Sales Hub provides free sales tools like contact storage, quote generation, meeting scheduling, deal tracking, and email outreach. Users can also get free access to the Marketing, Service, or Content Management Hubs for additional capabilities like mass email, blog management, customer ticketing, and ad management.
Bottom Line
Free CRM software offers a risk-free experience for users to store sales data and access automation and communication features. Many providers offer freemium plans to get users “in the door,” hoping they’ll eventually upgrade to a paid plan for more advanced features. While HubSpot CRM scored the highest in terms of offering the best free-forever option, other providers could be a better fit depending on the industry or specific features needed at no cost.