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Customer relationship management (CRM) software helps salespeople manage interactions with leads, prospects, and customers. The best CRMs allow you to store customer information, map sales processes, analyze data, collaborate with teammates, and help with things like reminders and task automation. To determine the top option for you, we reviewed dozens of products and scored each out of five to arrive at our overall list, including primary use cases for each.
Here are the top six CRM options for salespeople and teams:
Overall, we found that Freshsales is the best CRM for salespeople and teams, scoring the highest for core features and customer support, as well as tying for cost, ease of use, and customization. Continue reading to learn more about each CRM’s pricing plans, key features, and primary use case. Otherwise, jump down to see our scoring logic.
Note: All per-user prices are with a one-year commitment unless otherwise noted.
Helps you manage sales processes with advanced yet intuitive features at an affordable price.
Freshworks' Freshsales is a robust yet easy-to-use CRM offering core and advanced sales features for a competitive price. Its free tier offers native communication tools, kanban views for deals, and a sales dashboard. Upgrade for a well-designed pipeline interface and advanced features like custom reporting, workflow automation, sales forecasting, and AI insights — these tools even earned Freshsales our titles of best operational CRM and best analytical CRM.
While Freshsales is powerful and affordable, it lacks some marketing features and its free tier doesn't offer a visual pipeline. If these features are important to you, check out Zoho CRM, which is our top marketing software.
If you'd like to learn more, take a deep dive by reading our editorially-independent Freshsales review. Otherwise, visit the Freshsales website to take advantage of their free tier and free trial:
Provides sales pipeline features and marketing tools like social media lead management.
Zoho CRM is leading sales pipeline software known for its AI-powered sales tools and robust marketing features for lead management. While its free plan is basic, you can leverage tools for contacts, deals, and campaigns. Upgrade to its affordable paid tiers for forecasting and predictive lead scoring via Zia AI plus nurturing tools such as social media management and email marketing, or sync with the free version of other Zoho products to extend its functionality.
Although Zoho provides a balance of strong sales and marketing features, its user interface might be too complicated for beginners. For a more user-friendly CRM, try Freshsales, which won in the ease of use category and offers some marketing features.
To learn more about Zoho CRM and whether it's right for you, check out our in-depth Zoho CRM review. Otherwise, head over to their site below:
Offers a great set of free sales and marketing features with the ability to upgrade into paid tiers.
HubSpot CRM is a top-rated free CRM option, offering up to 2,500 users robust tools for sales processes and marketing operations. Manage your pipelines with its free contact management, quotes, and calling tools, and reach out to your leads with live chat and email. Sync with other free HubSpot platforms for help desk and digital marketing tools, or subscribe to paid tiers for advanced features such as custom reporting, sales forecasting, and workflow automation.
HubSpot's free tier is the best available, but its paid levels can be pricey for single users or those seeking a mix of marketing and sales tools. If you’re looking for inexpensive yet robust upgrade options, see Freshsales or Zoho CRM, which are both tied in the pricing category.
For a closer look at HubSpot, check out our HubSpot CRM review, which includes an independent analysis and user roundup. Or, visit their site directly below:
Highlights a visual drag-and-drop interface with add-on features for sales and marketing.
Pipedrive is an intuitive CRM that’s easy to use, providing a kanban-style drag-and-drop pipeline to manage leads and prospects. It offers a basic set of solid sales tools, but you can choose to pay for advanced add-ons, including LeadBooster (lead generation), Campaigns (email marketing), Web Visitors (visitor tracking), Smart Docs (esignatures), and Projects (project management). This lets you pay for the top-tier tools you need without upgrading your plan.
Although Pipedrive’s add-ons are robust, they can get pricey with monthly fees ranging from $6.70 to $41. If you're someone who needs a pre-built suite of tools, check out Zoho CRM for its sales and marketing mix.
For a complete breakdown of Pipedrive, including whether it's right for you and alternative options, check out our Pipedrive review. Otherwise, visit their website directly:
Provides robust tools for sales teams working on long or more complex sales processes.
Salesforce Sales Cloud is a highly customizable CRM offering detailed contact records and separate pipelines to manage leads and opportunities. The platform also includes key communication features like a built-in phone as well as live chat, plus collaboration tools for internal communication within teams. Its fully-customizable reports and dashboards give insights for sales activity, performance, and forecasting via graphs, charts, trends, and more.
While Salesforce Sales Cloud has advanced features, it might be too expensive or complicated for some teams. If you’re looking for a CRM with affordable sales features without sacrificing robust reporting tools, check out Freshsales.
For a complete review of Salesforce and its tiers, check out our independent Salesforce review. Or, visit their website directly below:
Features a solid set of tools and integrations for internal and external project management.
Insightly is a cloud-based CRM with strong project management capabilities, specifically through its separate project pipeline and available integrations with productivity apps for customization. Monitor post-sales processes with its milestone tracking feature, visual kanban boards, and tight app integrations with collaboration software like Slack and Asana. Purchase its mid-tier Professional plan for lead routing and custom business intelligence features.
While Insightly is great for sales and ongoing project management, its free tier might be too barebones for some teams. For a more fully-featured free version, look into HubSpot CRM, which also offers free project management tools.
If you’d like to get a detailed view of Insightly CRM, read through our Insightly CRM review. Otherwise, head to the Insightly website:
If you're able to narrow down your choices to a few top options but still need help deciding on the best CRM software for you, we have in-depth articles comparing and contrasting the best choices against each other. Check out our two-product comparative CRM articles below if you'd like a side-by-side analysis:
In the above articles, you'll get a complete breakdown of how each option stacks up against the other, including determined winners for key categories like pricing, features, and ease of use.
In our editorially independent review of the best CRM software, we first identified six major categories essential for salespeople and teams looking for a cost-effective platform. We then identified a list of weighted subcriteria to assign each option a total score out of five. Finally, we determined the primary use case for each CRM that scored highly enough to make our list.
The best CRMs offer a robust set of sales and marketing core features and reasonably priced plans. Hence, we prioritized scoring core features and cost for this review, followed by ease of use. We also looked into each option’s customization capabilities and how well it syncs with third-party applications. Lastly, we considered the quality of the user support solutions available.
We explored each CRM’s must-have features, including sales pipelines lead and account management, reporting, and workflows.
We took into account the CRM’s affordability for basic and enterprise-level tiers, billing plans, add-ons, and no-cost options such as a free tier or trial period.
We considered how real users across certified sites perceive the overall design of CRM’s UI and learning curve. We also looked at how comprehensive and accessible its knowledge base is.
We looked at the customization and flexibility of each CRM to see how well it can be tailored to individual businesses.
We evaluated how well a CRM integrates with native or third-party applications like email, accounting tools, Google apps, social media, and more.
We looked into feedback from verified users on reputable sites and assessed the user support each CRM offered, such as live chat, phone, and email.
Customer relationship management software is designed to help companies manage their customer data and support ongoing sales processes and marketing efforts. Businesses need CRMs to generate and nurture leads, create optimized workflows for day-to-day operations, and monitor individual or team performance. Teams and business owners relying heavily on data also need CRMs to organize their databases and develop accurate forecasts.
When choosing the right CRM for you, start by defining your SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) goals and needs and assessing the resources you have, including finances, workforce, and technical know-how. You can also search for CRMs that might fit your needs by reading in-depth product reviews, comparison articles, and buyer’s guides, as well as consult CRM experts or join active community forums to weigh your options.
CRM software features fall into four main categories, such as core CRM features, which are standard functions that CRMs should have; advanced features designed for more complex workflows; marketing tools mainly for lead nurturing; and industry-specific functionalities. When looking for a CRM, it’s essential to have strong pipeline and contact management features, lead management tools, basic reports, as well as workflows and customization capabilities.
With so many CRMs on the market, it can be daunting to try to research every single one of them. The best CRM software doesn’t only allow you to manage your contacts, deals, and pipelines; it also lets you customize and automate your workflows so you can better manage your business. Use our list to narrow your choices, and take our quiz for a personalized answer. If you want to learn more about CRMs and the various tools available, read our guide to essential CRM features.
This article was written by Alison Barretta and updated by Kezia Jungco.
Alison is a Philadelphia-based technology writer for Selling Signals. She has 15 years of experience in the digital space, and her specialties include comparison guides and reviews across CRM, ecommerce, and various SaaS products. In her free time, Alison has received two HubSpot certifications plus a TEFL certification, as well as leads an online martial arts learning program.
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