6 Best CRMs for Freelancers & Solopreneurs in 2023

In our independent editorial review of the best CRMs for freelancers and solopreneurs, learn about each software and its primary use case.

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CRMs for freelancers are sales and marketing software that help solopreneurs and independent contractors nurture leads, onboard new clients, and manage ongoing projects effectively. For this reason, the top options incorporate core sales pipeline features as well as tools like time tracking, invoicing and billing, and project milestone monitoring. To help you choose the best CRM for your freelance business, we evaluated the top six options and their use cases.

Here are the six best CRMs for freelancers and solopreneurs:

  • HubSpot CRM: Best overall CRM for features and pricing (free starting price)
  • Freshsales: Best freelancer CRM for client communication (free starting price)
  • EngageBay: Best freelancer CRM software for user support (free starting price)
  • Zoho CRM: Best freelancer software for invoicing and billing (free starting price)
  • Streak CRM: Best CRM option with native Gmail integration (free starting price)
  • monday.com: Best freelancer CRM for project management (free starting price)

While the above options are great for freelancers and solo operators, HubSpot CRM emerged as the overall best CRM for freelancers, taking the top spots for core features, integrations, and customization. Below, read our review of each software solution, including their primary use cases, pricing plans, and key features, or skip down to our evaluation explanation.

Note: All per-user prices are with a one-year commitment unless noted.

HubSpot CRM: Best Overall Freelancer CRM

Offers a fully-featured free plan with upgrade options as freelancers grow their client base.

Price Range: Free to $450 per month (Sales Hub)

Overall Rating star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Cost star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Core Features star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Ease of Use star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Customer Support star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Integrations star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Customization star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full

Pros:

  • Easy to use
  • Excellent customer support
  • Plenty of free tools

Cons:

  • Customization can be lacking
  • Paid plans can be expensive
  • Limited reporting

HubSpot CRM is a top-rated free sales software with available upgrades. The robust free plan includes a meeting scheduler that lets a lead book a time that works for both of you and syncs with your calendar. You can also use its free Facebook Messenger integration, mobile app, and customizable quotes to meet and coordinate leads and clients. Upgrade to a paid Sales Hub plan for tools like email tracking, ACH and card payments, and simple automations.

While HubSpot offers the best free CRM, its upgrades can get costly for solopreneurs. If you need a CRM offering a slightly more basic free version but more affordable premium tiers, check out Freshsales instead.

HubSpot CRM Pricing

  • Free Version: Supports unlimited users
  • Sales Hub Starter (Small Teams): $18 per month for 2 users
  • Starter CRM Suite (Small Teams, All Hubs): $30 per month for 2 users
  • Sales Hub Professional (Small Teams): $450 per month for up to 5 users
  • Additional users can be purchased for extra
  • Integration with HubSpot's free marketing, service, and other tools
  • Access to HubSpot App Marketplace

HubSpot CRM Key Features

  • Robust Freemium Model: Leverage its core CRM tools for free with ability to upgrade.
  • HubSpot Platforms: Access to Sales, Marketing, Service, CMS, and Operations Hubs.
  • Communication Tools: Use its built-in dialer, live chat, and Facebook messenger.
  • Excellent Customer Support: Top-notch user support and extensive knowledge base.

HubSpot CRM CRM for freelancers

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Freshsales: Best for Client Communication

Features built-in communication tools and task and calendar syncing tools to manage clients.

Price Range: Free to $69 per user, per month (21-day free trial)

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Pros:

  • Clean user interface
  • Free communication features
  • AI-powered sales features

Cons:

  • Lacks some marketing features
  • Forecasting requires upgrade
  • Full support costs extra

Freshsales is rated our best general CRM with robust contact management and communication tools, and it offers a free version of its Growth tier. Leverage its built-in dialer and live chat to engage with your leads and clients directly from the platform, and automatically log important information during the conversation. You can also send individual or bulk SMS messages using providers like Twilio, ClickSend, and ZipWhip, and integrate this process into your workflow.

While Freshsales' free communication tools are robust, its Growth tier doesn’t include features like sales forecasting to predict which potential projects will come to fruition. If you need a more robust free freelancer CRM option, try HubSpot CRM.

Freshsales Pricing

  • Growth: $15 per user, per month (free for 3 users)
  • Pro: $39 per user, per month
  • Enterprise: $69 per, user per month
  • Free Trial: 21 days
  • Integration with Freshworks’ free marketing and service platform tiers
  • Access to Freshworks Marketplace

Freshsales Key Features

  • Task Management: Automate repeating tasks and assign them to relevant contacts.
  • AI-Powered Sales Tools: Leverage Freddy AI for revenue and expenses forecasting.
  • Communication Tools: Engage with clients via a free phone dialer, live chat, and more.
  • Customized Reporting: Create filtered lists to show specific activities in the dashboard.

Freshsales CRM for freelancers

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EngageBay: Best for User Support

Provides responsive support solutions for freelancers via live chat, email, and phone.

Price Range: Free to $91.99 per user, per month

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Pros:

  • User-friendly dashboard
  • Robust customer support
  • Discount for biennial subscription

Cons:

  • Free plan lacks phone support
  • Limited mobile app functions
  • Expensive higher tiers

EngageBay is a user-friendly CRM with robust support solutions and glowing reviews from real users. Freelancers who need help in setting up automations and workflows can talk to a 24/7 live representative or request a free demo by scheduling an appointment online. You can also access its email and phone support to resolve issues or browse through its knowledge base to find guides for creating landing pages, email marketing campaigns, and more.

Although EngageBay is easy to use and has excellent customer service, you have to upgrade to a paid tier to receive native call features for client communication. If you’re needing a CRM with robust built-in communication tools in a free plan, check out Freshsales.

EngageBay Pricing

  • All-in-One Free Version: Supports up to 15 users
  • All-in-One Basic: $13.79 per user, per month
  • All-in-One Growth: $45.99 per user, per month
  • All-in-One Pro: $91.99 per user, per month

EngageBay Key Features

  • Customer Support: Offers a help desk, live chat, phone support, and knowledge base.
  • Highly-Intuitive UI: Manage tasks using straightforward workflow and task automations.
  • Third-Party Apps: Integrate with Google Workspace, Trello, DocuSign, and more.
  • Project Management: Use tools like drag-and-drop, task filters, and project reports.

EngageBay CRM for freelancers

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Zoho CRM: Best for Invoicing & Billing

Helps freelancers handle customer billing cycles effectively with classic full-stack CRM features.

Price Range: Free to $52 per user, per month (15- to 30-day trial)

Overall Rating star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Cost star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Core Features star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Ease of Use star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Customer Support star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Integrations star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Customization star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full

Pros:

  • Operations management features
  • Omnichannel marketing tools
  • Comes with a free plan

Cons:

  • Interface can be hard to use
  • Integrations can be complicated
  • Forms not great for conversions

Zoho CRM is a cloud-based CRM with affordable functionality for customer invoicing and billing. It allows freelancers to automate recurring billing by setting up billing frequencies and payment reminders, and it makes creating and sending tax-compliant, professional-looking invoices easy. For this reason, Zoho CRM is great for freelancers who need help managing timesheets, invoices, and quotes for a high number of clients or ongoing projects.

While Zoho is a top-rated CRM for freelancers, its user interface can be difficult to learn or use. If you want a more intuitive CRM with powerful sales features, take a look at Freshsales.

Zoho CRM Pricing

  • Free Version: Supports up to 3 users
  • Standard: $14 per user, per month
  • Professional: $23 per user, per month
  • Enterprise: $40 per user, per month
  • Ultimate: $52 per user, per month
  • Free Trial: 15 to 30 days
  • Access to Zoho One Marketplace Apps

Zoho CRM Features

  • Manage Invoice Lifecycles: Create, send, and track invoices for ongoing projects.
  • Subscription Billing: Customize and set up proration and billing cycle frequencies.
  • Sales & Marketing Features: Access social media management and marketing tools.
  • AI-Powered Sales Features: Automate various sales and marketing strategies using AI.

Zoho CRM CRM for freelancers

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Streak CRM: Best for Gmail Integration

Offers native CRM tools for managing clients and integrates with Google Workspace seamlessly.

Price Range: Free to $129 per user, per month (14-day free trial)

Overall Rating star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Cost star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Core Features star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Ease of Use star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Customer Support star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Integrations star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Customization star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full

Pros:

  • Native Google integration
  • Reduces data entry
  • Simple to set up

Cons:

  • Interface can be clunky
  • Can't be used outside Google
  • Lacking advanced features

Streak CRM is a native Google CRM that lives directly within your Gmail inbox and integrates seamlessly with other Google Workspace products like Sheets, Chat, Drive, and more. Create basic pipelines that you can color-code, and assign deals to specific Gmail contacts and email conversations. Then integrate Google Drive to access and manage files like mockups, client proposals, or project files directly from these pipelines.

Even though Streak is a native Google CRM, it's too basic for some, can be hard to use, and doesn't allow for robust collaboration. If you need a more traditional CRM for your freelance business, check out HubSpot CRM instead, which integrates well with Google Workspace.

Streak Pricing

  • Free Version: Supports 1 user
  • Solo: $15 per user, per month
  • Pro: $49 per user, per month
  • Pro+: $69 per user, per month
  • Enterprise: $129 per user, per month
  • Free Trial: 14 days for Pro+

Streak Key Features

  • Google Workspace CRM: Manage emails, contacts, deals, and tasks in one place.
  • Link Tracking: Monitor link clicks and email interactions with your leads and clients.
  • Lead Management: Track your leads across different projects with multiple pipelines.
  • Collaborative Pipelines: Upgrade into premium tiers for shared pipelines for your team.

Streak CRM for freelancers

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monday.com: Best for Project Management

Enables handling multiple clients with user-friendly tools for task monitoring and time tracking.

Price Range: Free to $16+ per user, per month (14-day free trial)

Overall Rating star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Cost star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Core Features star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Ease of Use star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Customer Support star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Integrations star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Customization star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full

Pros:

  • Kanban-style dashboards
  • Comes with a time tracker
  • Robust project management tools

Cons:

  • Limited free plan features
  • User support can be improved
  • No built-in AI assistant

monday.com is a highly customizable work management software that helps freelancers visualize the progress of their projects and deliverables. It features kanban-style boards with color-coded tags so you can view deadlines and project milestones. Its time tracking column helps you monitor the time spent on tasks or access your log history to get a snapshot of the time tracked so you can update clients on your progress and bill them accurately.

While monday.com has robust project management tools, learning its features can be overwhelming for new freelancers. If ease of use and onboarding customer support are important to you, check out EngageBay, which won in both categories.

monday.com Pricing

  • Free Version: Supports up to 2 users
  • Basic: $8 per user, per month
  • Standard: $10 per user, per month
  • Pro: $16 per user, per month
  • Enterprise: Contact for quote
  • Free Trial: 14 days
  • Access to app marketplace

monday.com Key Features

  • Project Scheduling: Organize projects by type, due date, and status in one workspace.
  • Custom Boards: Track your projects using various column types, colors, and templates.
  • Time Tracker: Monitor time spent per task and view the progress using the log history.
  • Timeline & Gantt Views: View upcoming projects and deadlines in a visual timeline.

monday.com CRM for freelancers

Visit monday.com

Top 4 Freelancer CRM Features

The best CRMs for freelancers and solopreneurs include the following tools:

Account & Contact Management

Invoicing & Billing

Time Tracker

Project Management

Store, organize, and manage client information such as contact details, project history, and communication records to build stronger relationships with your client base.

Generate invoices for clients using CRM data and automate billing processes to manage transaction records, accounting, and tax documentation.

Monitor and log time spent on tasks, activities, and projects to track productivity and facilitate accurate billing.

Plan, organize, and manage projects for a growing client base using customizable dashboards, workflow automations, milestone trackers, and more.

How We Evaluated the Best CRMs for Freelancers

We took a quantitative approach to our freelancer CRM evaluation by defining six weighted categories important to freelancers and solopreneurs. Then, we assigned each category key subcriteria to score how each option performed in that category. Finally, we totaled the weighted scores to give each CRM software an overall rating out of five, including primary use cases.

Evaluation Criteria

Freelancers need an affordable but powerful CRM to manage leads, clients, and ongoing projects. For this reason, we assigned the most weight to cost, features, and ease of use. We also considered customer support, app integrations, and customizations so freelancers can tailor their CRM to fit their industry and niche and get support for any issues they come across.

Cost:
25%
Core Features:
25%
Ease of Use:
20%
Customer Support:
15%
Integrations:
10%
Customization:
5%

Bottom Line: Best CRM for Freelancers

Freelancers often only have themselves to lean on, so they need a CRM that helps them effectively and affordably handle client relationships and administrative tasks. The top six CRMs we evaluated provide industry-specific lead generation and customer management functionality to allow you to stay on top of your work and find and nurture new clients. If you’re specifically looking for a free-forever software, check out our list of the best free CRMs.

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