So you’re running a profitable small business with an established clientele. Everything seems to be going well.
But there’s one problem: your customer data is scattered across different places. Some are on spreadsheets. Some are in your phone notes. Some are even missing because you wrote them down on sticky notes.
Sounds familiar?
Most small businesses are struggling with the same issue. And they finally realize the importance of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. In fact, 91% of companies with 10 or more employees use CRM tools to manage sales pipeline and get higher-quality leads.
But with so many options, which one should you use? I’ve sacrificed my email address, signed up to more than a dozen CRM apps, and tested them all. Today, I will share 15 CRM software systems that make the final list.
How do we choose the best small business CRM software
As a small business owner, your needs differ from those of enterprises. You may not have an unlimited budget or a team full of seasoned tech specialists. Keeping that in mind, here’s how I vetted each CRM app:
- Affordability: Does the pricing make sense for small businesses? Like I said, most SMBs don’t have the spending power.
- User-friendliness: Is it easy to set up? Does it offer onboarding tutorials? I’ve never used CRM software before, so if I can use the tool, chances are, so can you.
- Features: Key features I was looking for include customer management, sales pipeline, and workflow automations. Plus, nice-to-have features like project management, lead generation, and marketing.
- App integrations: If the software doesn’t have built-in tools for some functions, it should at least integrate well with third-party apps that do.
- Reporting & analytics: The app must track sales activity reports, as well as sales performance and forecasts.
Our top picks for small business CRM
The best CRM software in 2025
1. Less Annoying CRM
Who it’s for: Solopreneurs and startup founders on a tight budget
I’m not a big fan of CRM software. Most of them are crammed with so many features, they become very complex to use. But when I tried Less Annoying CRM, that stigma I’ve held on to for so long suddenly gets thrown out the window.
The dashboard is very clean. From Your Workspace, you can take a quick glance of tasks that are due, pipeline reports (like how many new prospects and qualified leads), and activity reports from the past week.
There’s also a menu on the left sidebar to help you navigate different sections with ease. So, after checking the pipeline reports, you can jump straight to your calendar to see upcoming events, then quickly go back to your workspace, for instance.
Adding new contacts, tasks, and events is as simple as clicking the (+) Add button. You can also import bulk contacts from a spreadsheet, your Mac contacts, as well as other sources like Google, Outlook, and even LinkedIn.
Once added, all your prospects and leads will be visible within the Contacts section. Here, you can filter your contact list by their first (or last) name, company, job title, contact details, address, and even birthday.
Want to add your team members, create a form, or connect your email account? You can do all those things as well from the Settings menu. Unfortunately, Less Annoying CRM doesn’t have built-in functionality to send bulk emails – you need to integrate with Mailchimp or other email marketing tools, which can be quite annoying.
But pricing is perhaps its biggest strong point. For just $15/month/user, you can add as many contacts, pipelines, and custom fields as you want, and store up to 25 GB of files.
Pricing: $15/month/user (30-day free trial available)
Key features:
- Affordable and simple pricing: For such a low price, you can add unlimited contacts and create unlimited pipelines and custom fields.
- Easy-to-navigate dashboard: Customer relationship management no longer feels like a nightmare. You can organize tasks, monitor your team, and access customer profiles without hassle.
- Great customer support: There’s a video tutorial for each feature and a free consultation with one of Less Annoying CRM’s seasoned experts.
Drawbacks:
Lacks some of the more advanced CRM features like visual sales pipelines, workflow automations, email marketing tools, and an inventory to manage your purchase orders, invoices, receipts, and other documents.
2. Bigin by Zoho CRM
Who it’s for: Beginners looking for easy-to-use CRM software
If you’re not quite ready to use Zoho CRM (in terms of knowledge and budget), consider its Lite version, Bigin. It has a free plan with generous limits, allowing you to create one sales pipeline, store 500 records, and set up 3 workflow automations.
The user interface is pretty similar to Less Annoying CRM, with simple navigation on the left sidebar. But you’ll see a lot more visualization, which makes everything easier to digest.
I’ll show an example. In Less Annoying CRM, the contact list only shows you names. You have to click each contact to view details like the company, email address, and phone number. With Bigin, all that information is visible front and center in the Contacts tab. If you’re in a hurry and you need to quickly reach a customer, this certainly comes in handy.
Visual pipeline is another advantage Bigin has over Less Annoying CRM. It makes it a lot easier to track each stage of your sales process – which leads are in the price quotation stage, which ones are in negotiation, and which deals are won (or lost).
Want to customize your sales pipeline? It’s also easy. Bigin has pre-made pipeline templates for specific teams (like CS, finance, and marketing) and industries (like real estate, software consulting, and education).
With multi-channel support, managing user interaction feels effortless. You can connect your email account, WhatsApp Business account, X profile, as well as sync leads you get from social media ads (like Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn) via the LeadChain integration.
What’s even cooler, you can automate your workflow based on a specific trigger. So for instance, every time you add a new deal, the tool will send an alert to your email (and everyone in your team), create a new task, or update relevant records automatically.
Pricing: Free to create one pipeline and store 500 records; paid plans cost between $9/month/user – $21/month/user
Key features:
- Visual sales pipeline: Easily monitor each stage of the customer journey with a Kanban board pipeline.
- Workflow automations: Leave the repetitive tasks to robots, and focus more on the exciting part of your work.
- Multi-channel support: Integrate your email and WhatsApp Business accounts, and bring leads from ads you’re running on Facebook, LinkedIn, or TikTok.
Drawbacks:
Apart from the pipeline templates, Bigin has pretty limited customization options. Also, some basic but useful features are missing, such as native text messaging and invoice-making tools.
Another thing I found quite annoying is how Bigin kept sending me promotional emails almost every day, even though I just signed up for their platform.
3. Hubspot Starter
Who it’s for: Sales and CS teams who need a customized pipeline dashboard
Hubspot has gone a little too expensive for most startups and small businesses, so they decided to launch Hubspot Starter to serve the needs of those audiences.
It costs just $20/month/seat, which is so much cheaper than its full-featured products (The Marketing Hub Professional plan, for instance, costs $800/month/seat). The best part? There’s a free version, so you can give the tool a try before committing to the paid plan.
Upon signing up, the onboarding page will appear. You’ll be asked to answer a few questions like your company’s website, industry, and size, as well as your role and why you need the tool.
You also have the options to connect with apps you already use, add your contacts manually (or sync your Google contacts), and invite your teammates to your Hubspot workspace.
Once done, you’ll see the dashboard along with pop-ups that show you all the features you need (this is based on your answers earlier on). A very nice personalization touch to help you hit the ground running.
For example, I chose the “Grow and manage your sales pipelines” option during the onboarding flow. So the tool immediately took me to the Deals section, where I could add and manage my contacts.
You can also customize the pipeline board to match your exact workflow, including renaming each sales stage and arranging the order of your pipeline, among others.
Functionality-wise, it offers so much more than most small business CRM apps. You can open tickets and assign them to your team, create one-time and recurring invoices, and manage customer conversations from different channels in a single inbox.
Pricing: Free for up to 2 users; paid plan costs $20/month/seat
Key features:
- Clear onboarding process: Answer simple questions to set up your dashboard, and follow the explanatory pop-ups to find all the features you need.
- Advanced pipeline customization: Take full control over what you want to see in your sales pipeline.
- Marketing tools: Beyond managing your customer data, you can also attract more leads by creating landing pages, adding custom forms to your site, and sending email newsletters.
Drawbacks:
Learning the platform can take a while, since it has lots of different sections and functions. Also, some of the more advanced sales and marketing features aren’t available in the Starter plan.
4. Salesmate
Who it’s for: Sales and marketing teams looking to automate their workflows
Simple yet powerful – that’s my first impression of Salesmate. The dashboard is clean with a lot of white space. But when you hover over the left menu bar, you’ll realize just how comprehensive the features really are.
Whether it’s scheduling sales calls with your prospects or sending follow-up emails, it has everything you need to engage and nurture leads. The AI assistant (called Sandy) will record call transcripts, so your sales rep can focus on the conversation without missing anything.
I also like the unified inbox. It stores all incoming messages from different channels, such as live chat, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp, so you can respond to customers fast. Although you have to spend an additional $15/month/user, it’s totally worth the money.
If there’s a customer complaint, you can open a ticket, set the priority (low, medium, high, or urgent), and assign it to your team to make sure the issue is solved quickly.
Above all, marketing automation is perhaps where Salesmate really shines. There are three types of flow you can choose:
- Trigger-based flow: runs when a new record is created, updated, or removed.
- Sub flow: runs when another flow triggers it.
- Manual flow: runs when someone manually launches it.
For example, you can set up a trigger-based flow to automatically send a welcome email every time a new lead is added. Or schedule email newsletters to all of your contacts who have subscribed to your mail list.
Not exactly a designer? No worries, as there are plenty of ready-to-use email templates. Simply choose the right template for your use case, add your personal touch with the drag-and-drop editor, and you’re good to go.
Pricing: $29/month/user – $79/month/user (15-day free trial available)
Key features:
- Marketing automation: Create your own workflow or choose from a suite of flow templates based on your team or industry.
- Sandy AI: Get accurate transcriptions of your sales calls, summarize customer conversations, and send AI responses for frequently asked questions.
- Unified chat inbox: Manage all customer conversations in one place, so you can send quick responses and improve their satisfaction.
Drawbacks:
Email tracking reports show inaccurate data from time to time. Also, the mobile version is quite laggy, which can be quite annoying if you’re constantly on the go.
5. Pipedrive
Who it’s for: Sales teams who frequently report deals and revenue forecasts
Pipedrive does a great job of explaining itself. Every page has its own tutorials (in both text and video) to help you figure out the tool rather quickly.
When it comes to the user interface, the only thing I didn’t like is how the left menu bar can’t be expanded. So, if you want to jump to a particular section, you’ll have to rely on your memorization skills to remember what each icon stands for.
But I absolutely love the way Pipedrive presents the sales pipeline. Everything perfectly fits your screen, so there’s no need to scroll left and right to find the data you want. At the top, you’ll see an option to switch the Kanban board to a list, or vice versa.
The Forecast tab lets you track all potential deals in the upcoming months. So, if your boss asks you what the sales target is for May, you’ll have the answer.
There’s also a really nice data cleanup to filter deals that need your attention the most. Those include deals that are past due date, assigned to inactive users, and those without updates in the last 3 or 12 months.
If you want to get more leads, LeadBooster might come in handy. Beyond the usual stuff like adding a chatbot and web forms to your site, it lets you access a database of 400 million profiles so you can find your next business opportunities.
Pipedrive also offers integrations with JustCall and CloudTalk, in case you want to add texting and calling capabilities to the platform. You’ll be able to make and receive calls from customers, as well as send automated SMS campaigns and track their performance.
Pricing: $24/month/user – $129/month/user (14-day free trial available)
Key features:
- LeadBooster: Turn website traffic into leads with a chatbot and custom forms, and find the contact details of your potential clients.
- Pipeline forecast: Predict how many deals you’ll win or lose, and how much revenue you’ll generate in the upcoming month(s).
- Rich integrations: Connect with other project management and collaboration tools in your tech stack, including Asana, monday.com, Slack, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams.
Drawbacks:
Pipedrive charges you extra for just about anything. Some features are available as add-ons, so the total cost can be considerably higher than it initially seems.
6. Freshsales
Who it’s for: CS teams interacting with customers via different channels
Most CRM tools support email, but you need additional apps to enable phone call and texting capabilities. Freshsales isn’t one of those apps. It offers built-in support for email, phone, and chat, so you don't have to install anything.
That being said, if you want to send SMS blasts, you have to integrate with automated texting services like Twilio or ClickSend.
All of these channels are accessible through the Conversations page. Here, you can send email broadcasts and track their performance (opens, clicks, and bounces), make phone calls and view past conversations, and access your live chat inbox.
There are also sales sequence templates – a series of emails, tasks, and reminders that help you attract more leads, book more meetings, and close more deals. To give you an example, the most basic template includes five steps, which are executed across 10 days:
- Day 1 – send an introductory email
- Day 4 – send a follow-up email
- Day 6 – a reminder to make a phone call
- Day 8 – a reminder to connect on LinkedIn
- Day 10 – a reminder to send the last email
In terms of user experience, it does a great job at keeping the interface clean without sacrificing functionality. I could find the stuff I needed pretty easily, and the Kanban view for deals certainly helped me identify qualified prospects and track sales progress.
You can also customize the deal cards to show information that’s important to you. Say you have clients from all around the world, you can simply add the currency field to ensure accurate invoicing and payment processing.
When you log in everyday, the dashboard shows you a detailed overview of key business elements, like deals won (and lost), top revenue sources, forecasted revenue based on deal stage, and even your best performing salesperson. And if that’s not enough, you can create your own reports using its drag-and-drop builder.
Freshsales also sends a daily reminder of your upcoming tasks straight to your email inbox, so you won’t miss a beat.
Pricing: $11/month/user – $71/month/user (21-day free trial available)
Key features:
- Kanban board view: Visualize your deal pipeline to identify bottlenecks and improve the sales process.
- Sales sequence templates: Automate your whole sales journey from start to finish. Start quickly and effortlessly with ready-to-use templates.
- Multi-channel support: Talk to customers via channels they prefer the most, including email, phone, and chat.
Drawbacks:
Some features can be incredibly slow to load. During my testing, I tried to create a custom report with its drag-and-drop builder. But when I added a chart, it kept showing a loading animation over and over again until I finally gave up.
7. Salesforce Starter
Who it’s for: eCommerce business owners
Salesforce is one of the industry-leading CRM apps known for its advanced customization and high scalability. The Starter Suite gives you a taste of what Salesforce is capable of, while keeping both the interface and price friendly enough for SMBs.
After signing up, I was immediately greeted with mini tutorials for each feature. It shows what steps you need to take – and where you can locate the buttons – to perform something, like adding a contact, visualizing data with AI, and launching your online store.
One noticeable trait of its dashboard is how the left menu bar doesn’t just show you icons, but also their names (like Contacts, Sales, and Commerce), making navigation a lot easier. This simple yet useful feature is lacking in most CRM apps I’ve tested. You can even hide certain menus, replace them with other menus you want to see, and rearrange their positions.
The sales management feature works a bit differently than any other CRM software. Every time you add a new lead, you’ll see the recommended next steps, helping you and your team track the progress of each prospect and gradually move deals along the sales journey.
If you run an online store, you’ll love the eCommerce tools. You can connect your domain name (or buy a new one) and set up payment options to get started. Then, customize your storefront using its built-in CMS, which looks and feels a lot like WordPress.
Oh, did I mention the Generative Canvas? It’s a really cool feature that transforms raw data into visually appealing charts and graphs with the help of AI.
Pricing: $25/month/user – $100/month/user (30-day free trial available)
Key features:
- Generative Canvas: Prepare for sales meetings? Quickly turn raw data into interactive charts, tables, and graphs with AI.
- eCommerce tools: Customize your storefront, add payment options, connect your domain, and start selling products.
- Case management: Make it easy for customers to submit complaints via email or web forms, and manage all cases in one place.
Drawbacks:
Limited marketing features and integrations with other popular apps. Automation is also not a strong point.
8. Zendesk
Who it’s for: Customer service teams who want to ease their workload
Many CRM apps try so hard to cater to different teams – sales, marketing, customer service, and even content. Then there’s a tool like Zendesk that focuses solely on helping CS agents ease their workload.
Most of the features are built around customer interactions. It’s pretty evident in the dashboard, which shows you all unsolved tickets. You can filter the view by status (open, in progress, or pending) or channel (web, email, messaging, and talk).
Tired of typing the same messages over and over again? You can create templated responses to save time. Or go ahead and set up an AI agent with its own unique name and tone of voice to handle incoming user queries.
When shifts end, AI will give a summary of what the client wants to the new agents, so they can have full context of what’s happening before continuing the conversation.
Zendesk also allows you to automate other tasks, like closing tickets at a specific time, sending automated first-replies, and assigning chats to free agents to balance your team’s workload, among others.
All in all, Zendesk offers powerful automation features for small businesses. So you can handle more customers without hiring more CS agents (I know that sounds bad, but it’s the reality of running a business).
Pricing: $25/month/agent – $149/month/agent (14-day free trial available)
Key features:
- AI agent: Let AI talk to your customers to understand their needs and problems, before a human agent can jump in.
- Templated responses: Set up auto replies for common user queries, problems, and questions.
- Advanced automations: Break free from repetitive tasks, and shift your focus on delivering great services.
Drawbacks:
As a customer service-focused platform, you won’t find any marketing and lead generation features.
9. Nimble CRM
Who it’s for: Companies with multiple departments
Nimble CRM is the exact opposite of Zendesk – it’s designed for your entire team. Not just sales. Not just customer service. All of them.
It offers workflow templates for any department in your organization, including accounting, business development, human resources, marketing, and much more. Prefer to create one from scratch? You can do that as well.
Once you add your workflow, head over to the contacts section. Here, you can import contacts from your LinkedIn, Outlook, and Google accounts. And even CRM apps like Pipedrive and Salesforce. There’s also an option to sync your contacts once or weekly.
Not only is it easy to add contacts, it’s also easy to manage them using tags and filters. This helps you quickly search for specific user groups, like qualified leads, existing customers, investors, business partners, and so on.
The lead generation and sales management features are all there. You can create beautiful emails with pre-made templates, send email broadcasts, and automate email sequences. There’s also a Chrome extension called Nimble Prospector that lets you build prospect lists as you explore the web.
Each time you get a new lead, just create a new deal and assign it to one of your team members. The visual pipeline dashboard makes it easy to stay on top of your sales process from start to finish.
Pricing: $29.90/month/seat (14-day free trial available)
Key features:
- Multi-team workflow templates: Build a custom workflow for every team in your company, including HR, sales, CS, accounting, and marketing.
- Advanced user segmentation: Use tags and filters to group and sort through your contact list.
- Nimble Prospector extension: Found an exciting prospect on LinkedIn? Add them to your contact list instantly. No need to jump between tabs.
Drawbacks:
It’s a bit complex to set up initially. Also, the automation features are pretty new, so they aren’t as robust as those found in more-developed apps.
10. NetHunt
Who it’s for: Google Workspace users
If you use Google Workspace for your day-to-day tasks, check out NetHunt. It offers a browser extension so you can access the CRM app right in your Gmail account. You can also sync your Google Contacts to keep your records updated without manual work. Or, if you prefer, add contacts manually or import data from a CSV file.
Once added, you can segment your contacts by source (like email, website, event, and LinkedIn) and outreach progress (like new, contacting, and interested). Unlike most CRM apps, the Deals page shows two dashboard versions: the usual Kanban board pipeline and a Won / Lost section to quickly track successful and failed deals.
But one thing about NetHunt that I wasn’t expecting is how easy it is to automate stuff. You can set up your workflow in just a few simple steps.
Start by creating a starting trigger, like a new record added, web form submitted, or deal stage changes. After that, add an action (or multiple actions), such as sending an email or a Slack message, updating a record, or creating a task, then save your workflow. I’ve tested plenty of CRM software and I promise you, it doesn’t get much easier than that.
Another unique feature is the ability to connect your personal LinkedIn, Telegram, and WhatsApp accounts. This is super helpful for one-man business owners who do everything by themselves, including replying to customer chats.
Pricing: $30/month/user – $84/month/user (14-day free trial available)
Key features:
- Easy automation setup: Very simple configurations to automate workflows and send email broadcasts.
- Google Workspace integration: Open NetHunt directly in your Gmail dashboard, sync Google Contacts, and more.
- Social media support: Connect your Instagram Business or Creator, or personal Telegram, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn accounts.
Drawbacks:
Starting price is a bit higher than most CRM apps in this list. There’s also a lack of invoicing and financial features.
11. Flowlu
Who it’s for: A team of eight people
Flowlu offers the best value for your money, as long as you have at least eight people in your team (including yourself). If you wonder why, that’s because Flowlu charges per team, not per user, and the basic plan gives you eight user seats.
If there’s just the two of you (like most cases with startups), you can even use the free version and be just fine. It allows you to store unlimited contacts, add unlimited projects and tasks, and access features like invoicing, online payments, and expense tracking. How cool is that?
Granted, if you need advanced reporting like the number of email opens and clicks, as well as unlimited automations, you need to buy the $99 plan. Not exactly cheap for small businesses.
After signing up, Flowlu immediately takes you on a product tour. There’s a quick video intro and an onboarding tutorial that explains each feature very clearly.
The project management functionality is a game changer. It’s like having a productivity tool and CRM app in a single platform. For starters, you can monitor tasks in four different views: to-do list, Kanban board, list, and timeline. It’s also possible to manage your project using both the waterfall and Agile methodologies.
Collaborating with different teams in your organization is effortless. Business leaders can post internal announcements to keep everyone on the same page, finance teams can upload invoices and create cash flow reports for anyone to see, and HR teams can approve time off requests. All in one place.
Pricing: Free for 2 users; paid plans cost $49/month/team – $329/month/team (there’s also a 14-day free trial)
Key features:
- Great pricing for teams: Unlike other CRM apps, Flowlu charges per team and not per user. The free plan also allows up to 2 users.
- Advanced project management: Assign tasks, manage projects, and keep everything on track.
- Collaboration tools: Post internal news, request time off, monitor your company’s financial health, and more.
Drawbacks:
With so many features, you’ll experience lags and slowdowns from time to time. Customer service also isn’t the best. If you don’t log in to your account for 30 days, Flowlu will automatically delete it, which is something unheard of in the CRM industry.
12. Capsule
Who it’s for: Sales leaders and CMOs who need quick performance tracking
Capsule has a unique user interface. Instead of the usual left navigation bar, the main menu is placed on the top of your screen. It does make the dashboard appear larger, so that’s a plus point.
It doesn’t overwhelm you with too many features, either. The home page is super clean, showing you a list of pending tasks you need to complete. Every major feature is listed at the top menu bar, so you can quickly jump between different sections:
- People & Organizations – to create or import contacts
- Calendar & Tasks – to add a task or event on a particular date
- Sales Pipeline – to identify qualified leads and track deal progress
- Projects – to manage multiple projects and collaborate with your team
- Reports – to monitor sales team performance
- Workflow Automations – to run repetitive stuff automatically
For the last part, you can automate your sales pipeline or project, and it doesn’t take more than five minutes to set up. Simply select a trigger and an action that follows. For instance, if a deal reaches the negotiation process, you can automatically assign it to your sales manager or CMO, so they can help in convincing the customer.
While Capsule doesn’t have any marketing features, it has a separate app called Transpond to help you set up email marketing campaigns, add live chat functionality and web forms to capture leads, and even schedule social media posts.
Pricing: Free for up to 2 users; paid plans cost $21/month/user – $75/month/user (14-day free trial available)
Key features:
- Simple navigation: Enjoy a minimalistic design and a simple navigation menu that make it easy to find and do the stuff you need.
- Pipeline and project automations: Let the tool assign a deal or project to an owner or team, update records, and send emails automatically when specific conditions are met.
- Detailed reporting and analytics: Monitor activities completed and deals won by certain users or teams, and gain insight into sales revenue forecasts.
Drawbacks:
Capsule limits the number of contacts you can store, even in the paid plans. In comparison, Flowlu allows you to add unlimited contacts for free. The marketing features are also available in a separate app called Transpond.
13. Kommo
Who it’s for: Brands that leverage multiple chatting apps
Kommo is all about connecting with your prospects on messaging platforms they use, whether it’s WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, Skype, or WeChat. You can also integrate live chat functionality via Intercom.
Want to ease your CS team’s workload? Simply set up personalized response templates or let Salesbots do it for you. These bots send automated replies to incoming messages based on a specific workflow or keyword you’ve set.
You’ve probably seen those creators who ask you to comment “I’m interested” before sending you a link to their free eBook via Instagram DM. This feature allows you to do the same thing. So for example, if someone asks for your product catalog via WhatsApp, Salesbots will automatically send your product page link.
Beside chatting apps, Kommo also integrates nicely with other popular tools:
- eCommerce: Shopify, WooCommerce
- Lead generation: LinkedIn, Typeform, JotForm
- Phone and video calls: Zoom, RingCentral, Twilio
- Payment processors: PayPal, Stripe
- File management: Dropbox, Google Drive
Pricing: $15/month/user – $45/month/user for 6 months (14-day free trial available)
Key features:
- Support for multiple messaging platforms: Respond quickly to incoming chats from various messaging apps in one inbox.
- Message templates and Salesbots: Set up templated responses, or launch bots to send auto replies based on specific triggers or keywords.
- Rich third-party integrations: Need more functionality? Easily connect with other apps you already use.
Drawbacks:
There’s no monthly plans – you have to subscribe for 6, 9, 12, or 24 months. In other words, you’ll need to spend a large sum of money upfront.
14. Agile CRM
Who it’s for: Startups with no more than 10 employees
Agile CRM is perfect for small teams. The free plan lets you add 10 users, store 1,000 contacts and companies, as well as create unlimited deals, tasks, and documents.
You also get access to some of its nice features like custom data fields, lead scoring, appointment scheduling, email tracking, and custom deal milestones. When you’re ready to upgrade, the paid plans are fairly priced.
You’ll get powerful marketing tools to launch email campaigns, build landing pages, track how visitors interact with your site, and send automated SMS based on user actions. All for just $14.99 a month per user seat.
Social listening is another unique feature I personally like. It basically monitors your brand mentions across social media platforms, so you can quickly address any concerns and complaints regarding your products or services.
Pricing: Free for 10 users; paid plans cost $14.99/month/user – $79.99/month/user
Key features:
- Generous free plan: Add 10 users and 1,000 contacts, and create as many deals, tasks, and documents as you want.
- Landing page builder: Create your own landing pages easily with a drag-and-drop builder. No coding or design skills are required.
- Social monitoring: Monitor public perception of your brand, and quickly respond to any negative comments.
Drawbacks:
The user interface isn’t exactly user friendly with constant lags. Plus, the customization options are pretty limited.
15. folk
Who it’s for: Businesses who mostly use email for client communication
folk is a simplified CRM solution. It strips away all the sophisticated design and unnecessary stuff you find in most apps, and focuses on what CRM software was initially made for: building long-lasting customer relationships.
Straight from the get go, you’ll be asked to install folkX (its Chrome extension), which helps you add prospects from anywhere on the web to your contact list. No more copying and pasting, and jumping between different tabs.
Now, it doesn’t support live chat, SMS, and phone, but its email personalization capabilities certainly make up for it. Simply create a group (e.g new leads, hot prospects, or potential investors), select all email addresses that belong to that group, and send personalized emails to them.
When composing an email message, type a forward slash (/) to add variables like first name, last name, job title, company name, and company URL. Once done, you can save it as a template, so you don’t have to write a new email from scratch for every user group.
Pricing: $25/month/member – $100/month/member (14-day free trial available)
Key features:
- Minimalistic design: Everything is in white, black, or grey (except the icons), so the dashboard feels clean. You can find any features very easily.
- Email personalization: Add variables (like name, job title, and company) with the click of a button to personalize your email messages.
- folkX extension: Add contacts to folk from any page on the web, including LinkedIn and Gmail, without manual copying and pasting.
Drawbacks:
Unfortunately, the minimalist design also means minimalist features. Apart from sending personalized emails, segmenting user groups, and tracking deal progress, there’s not much else you can do with this app.
Which CRM software is the best?
Let me ask you a better question: what do you need exactly? If you’re running an online store, the most logical choices would be Salesforce Starter and Kommo, since those apps offer eCommerce features.
For those of you looking for a dedicated customer service solution, I’d suggest giving Zendesk a try. In contrast, Nimble CRM is the perfect option for companies with diverse teams. Play around with different platforms and compare their plans, before you come to a conclusion.
How CRM software can help your small business?
A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) app is exactly that – a tool that helps you manage data of your existing and potential customers. So you can build stronger connections, deliver better services, and in the end, make more sales.
By integrating CRM software into your day-to-day operations, you'll be able to:
- Find and attract leads: Some CRM apps let you build landing pages, create custom forms, and add live chat functionality to capture new leads.
- Turn leads into buyers: Once you grow a contact list, invite your prospects to a sales call to explain how your business can be a great investment for them.
- Retain existing customers: Engage your existing clients with email newsletters, birthday wishes, and special discounts to keep them coming back for more.
How much does small business CRM software cost?
The exact cost depends on your chosen platform and package. You can spend as low as $7/month/user, or as high as $329/month/user, but the average monthly cost of small business CRM is between $15 to $50 per user.
Limited on budget? No worries. You can even get started for free with apps like Bigin by Zoho CRM (limited to one user), Hubspot Starter (up to 2 users), and Agile CRM (up to 10 users).
Do more with CRM automation
Many CRM platforms offer workflow automation, but this feature is mostly limited within their own app. What if you use multiple apps? How can you automate them all from a single dashboard? This is exactly what Boltic was built for.
If you use Hubspot, Salesforce, Zoho CRM, or Freshsales, you can simply connect it with Boltic to automate repetitive tasks like creating, updating, and deleting records (appointments, contacts, tasks, deals), and retrieving a single or multiple sales activities. Or if you’re a Zendesk user, you can also create (or delete) tickets, users, and organizations automatically.
Boltic also makes it easy to pair your CRM software with hundreds of other apps. Those include Asana, Slack, Calendly, Gmail, Mailchimp, and more.
The best part? Boltic is completely free to use for the first 90 days! Create your trial account now.
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An agentic platform revolutionizing workflow management and automation through AI-driven solutions. It enables seamless tool integration, real-time decision-making, and enhanced productivity
Here’s what we do in the meeting:
- Experience Boltic's features firsthand.
- Learn how to automate your data workflows.
- Get answers to your specific questions.
