Deal with your buyer such as you’d deal with your self. 

Profitable companies are customer-centric and outfitted to deal with the info required to construct robust relationships. They purpose to foster human connections by listening to and anticipating their wants. Buyer Relationship Administration (CRM) software program helps companies monitor and handle each buyer interplay in a single place. These instruments can retailer buyer information, preferences, and previous communications along with your firm. 

Steve Jobs as soon as mentioned, “Get nearer than ever to your buyer. So shut, in reality, that you simply inform them what they want earlier than they understand it themselves.” Managing buyer relationships is integral to rising buyer satisfaction, bettering organizational effectivity, and rising income.

Greatest free CRM options

Whether or not you’re trying to monitor prospects or handle your whole gross sales pipeline, CRM software program provides varied purposes, permitting it to be modified to suit just about any enterprise measurement.

The listing beneath accommodates actual consumer critiques. Within the context of this listing, distributors that provide a free trial are additionally thought of free. To be included on this listing, an answer will need to have at the least one of many following options:

• Gross sales-related and prospect-tracking features
• A single interface for buyer historical past and transactions
• Easy communication channels throughout the buyer life cycle
• Built-in features right into a unifying database and platform

* This information was pulled from G2 in February 2024 primarily based on our scoring methodology. Some critiques might have been edited for readability. 

Salesforce Gross sales Cloud is a buyer relationship administration software program resolution companies of all sizes depend on to automate their gross sales processes. This resolution provides essential options like lead and phone administration, alternative administration, workflow automation, reporting and dashboards, and a cell utility. 

Salesforce provides a 14-day free trial, throughout which you’ll import information, monitor contacts and offers, and combine with different gross sales instruments.

What customers like finest:

“Salesforce Gross sales Cloud is a strong instrument that has helped us handle our gross sales actions higher. It might probably monitor what we have achieved, assist us handle buyer accounts, and inform us what to anticipate sooner or later. It additionally reminds us to observe up with our potential prospects, which saves us time and lets us give attention to promoting. 

This instrument has improved our gross sales productiveness and helped us construct higher buyer relationships, resulting in extra income for our firm. Total, the platform has been a game-changer for our gross sales operations, making them extra environment friendly and efficient.”

– Salesforce Gross sales Cloud Assessment, Mohd A. 

What customers dislike:

“The feel and appear are from 2015; extra trendy and streamlined options are on the market. If you happen to use the default reporting and dashboarding performance and never Tableau/Einstein, the dashboards may be restricted and arduous to make use of. With no devoted technical implementation crew and, ideally, a number of admins, it is nearly unimaginable to set it up and use it out of the field. For smaller or new startups, it is not an possibility with out making a sizeable funding into setup and upkeep.”

– Salesforce Gross sales Cloud Assessment, Gabor F. 

HubSpot Gross sales Hub prides itself on being sturdy and straightforward to make use of. Key functionalities of this CRM resolution embrace gross sales engagement instruments, configure worth quote (CPQ) capabilities, and gross sales analytics reviews and dashboards. HubSpot’s CRM provides gross sales groups a single supply of fact for gross sales course of monitoring and buyer information, serving to them present a seamless buyer expertise from begin to end.

HubSpot has a free CRM possibility with options like contact administration, reporting dashboards, and messenger integrations.  

What customers like finest:

“HubSpot gross sales is easy to make use of. It’s intuitive and helps information you thru the setup and studying course of.

There are wonderful assets to learn to make the most of the programs, that are versatile with customizable choices. Which implies it matches how I do my enterprise processes. You don’t have to alter the way you do enterprise to match the software program.
The factor I like finest is the reliability of the search outcomes – I can depend on the info in as many view codecs as I need.”

– HubSpot Gross sales Hub Assessment, Kelly O. 

What customers dislike:

“Generally, for no matter cause, sequences are paused, and contacts stay in that sequence, which blocks them from being put into different strains. A variety of the time, this is because of deactivated customers. I want there have been a characteristic that if a contact has been enrolled right into a sequence from a deactivated consumer, they’re robotically unenrolled as a substitute of another person having to unenroll every contact manually.”

– HubSpot Gross sales Hub Assessment, Julia W. 

Zoho CRM is a cloud-based resolution that advantages all companies. The general purpose of the instrument is to ascertain lasting buyer relationships whereas maximizing the gross sales crew’s productiveness.

It provides help for telephone, e-mail, dwell chat, social media, and even in-person conferences and supplies a wholly free model of its CRM software program for as much as three customers. Different variations of the instrument include a 15-day free trial.

What customers like finest:

“Zoho CRM provides many options, together with lead and phone administration, gross sales forecasting, e-mail advertising, and social media integration. The platform permits for intensive customization of fields, layouts, and automation guidelines, so you possibly can tailor the system to fulfill the distinctive wants of your enterprise.

The answer provides a wide range of pricing plans to suit the wants and price range of any enterprise, from small startups to bigger enterprises. It additionally integrates with a variety of third-party purposes.”

– Zoho CRM Assessment, Shankar S. 

What customers dislike:

“I do not like that Zoho CRM isn’t at all times user-friendly for many who do not know learn how to customise the interface. It may be tough to obtain and accumulate information and lead distribution, which is not at all times clear when a switch fails, or an issue is resolved. Though this characteristic saves time in some methods as soon as it is resolved, it does not make up for its typically clumsy operational structure.”

– Zoho CRM Assessment, Chris B.

monday gross sales CRM helps enterprise homeowners and gross sales groups to handle their gross sales cycle and buyer information in a single centralized location. It supplies full management over the gross sales pipeline, manages contacts and accounts, streamlines post-sales processes, and permits gross sales with customizable dashboards. It additionally integrates with most gross sales apps and instruments to optimize effectivity.

The software program provides a 14-day free trial for all pricing plans.

What customers like finest:

“monday is a superb platform that permits you to monitor and handle all of your leads shortly. The CRM and platform are absolutely customizable, so you possibly can mildew them to suit your wants and makes use of. Emails, conferences, telephone calls, and all different contact is tracked and simply viewable, making it simple to trace your prospects at each step of the gross sales cycle from result in conversion.”

– monday gross sales CRM Assessment, Connor W. 

What customers dislike:

“The factor that I dislike about monday is you get notifications for each little factor. You possibly can’t flip off particular person notifications. The opposite factor is that after I set it as much as notify me to observe up with somebody, it says, ‘observe up with this individual,’ but it surely does not inform me who it’s, so I’ve to click on the hyperlink to open it. I would prefer to know who I want to speak to at a look! 

I would additionally like to make use of a number of accounts with a single e-mail deal with for the enterprise.”

– monday gross sales CRM Assessment, Kristen M.

ClickUp combines CRM capabilities with undertaking administration functionalities to nurture buyer relationships whereas managing initiatives, budgets, and assets. It provides milestone monitoring, dashboard reporting, and gross sales pipeline administration to observe the client lifecycle.

The platform has a free model with a wide range of options. 

What customers like finest:

“Top-of-the-line elements about it’s that we are able to absolutely customise just about something with its unimaginable views, customized fields, hierarchy construction, and standing options. With ClickUp, we are able to simply modify the interior monitoring of initiatives to suit companies’ distinctive wants.

We additionally love that we are able to condense the variety of instruments we use inside our enterprise. Kinds, time monitoring, paperwork – we are able to add all of that into our workspace seamlessly and embed different instruments if wanted.

Lastly, ClickUp is scalable and a instrument that can help you thru all ranges of your development, with the ability to adapt as your processes adapt and the corporate scales.”

– ClickUp Assessment, Taylor M. 

What customers dislike:

“It may be overwhelming for customers new to undertaking administration instruments or those that choose easier interfaces. It may very well be higher by Enhancing onboarding; they might supply extra guided excursions or tutorials to assist new customers perceive the varied options and functionalities. The onboarding course of may very well be extra interactive and fascinating, permitting customers to be taught at their very own tempo.”

– ClickUp Assessment, Mohammad F. 

Freshsales is an engagement platform primarily specializing in breaking down inside silos and empowering gross sales and advertising groups to ship customized buyer messages. An AI-powered system, Freshworks CRM provides insights that assist companies higher perceive their prospects and interact with them at every touchpoint. 

Freshworks provides a free CRM instrument for as much as 3 customers and a 21-day free trial for all different plans. 

What customers like finest:

“What I like most about Freshsales is its ease of use and intuitive interface. We are able to simply replace our buyer data with just some clicks, saving us time on handbook information entry. 

The power to shortly arrange reviews provides me extra perception into every deal. Higher visibility of total gross sales efficiency from one system was additionally important in selecting Freshsales over different CRM choices for my enterprise. I additionally discover it useful that we’re notified when somebody updates or adjustments a report – this manner, I am at all times updated with what is going on on throughout the groups.”

– Freshsales Assessment, Kai Ok. 

What customers dislike:

“Customer support. Took months and months to ‘repair’ what was basically a bug. To this present day, we aren’t capable of see customized fields from our sign-up kind in a straightforward manner in Freshsales; it is available in as code right into a notes discipline.
Emojis do not get parsed appropriately once we create e-mail templates – emojis are part of our model voice, and it diminishes the standard of our messaging not to have the ability to use them.

Integration with Freshdesk may very well be higher. We do a variety of customer support, and contacts do not at all times get ported over; each time we create a ticket from the Freshsales interface, it by no means reveals up in Freshworks, and we will not see the despatched journey communications shortly sufficient. Therefore, we are able to solely get a part of our communication with totally different customers.

I don’t suggest utilizing these two options in case you are a customer-service-heavy group.”

– Freshsales Assessment, Person in non-profit group administration

Pipedrive is a gross sales administration instrument for groups of all sizes. This CRM resolution visualizes your gross sales pipeline, guaranteeing important prospect conversations and correct messaging. Pipedrive has a built-in forecasting instrument and simply integrates with different software program options essential to your gross sales course of. 

Pipedrive provides a 14-day free trial for all of their development plans. 

What customers like finest:

“We determined to implement Pipedrive to achieve many extra potential prospects and to seize their consideration extra successfully. The outcomes have been fairly profitable because of the great amount of knowledge that permits facilitating inter-company relationships. 

The instrument has fairly highly effective options, akin to name and e-mail monitoring. The work dashboard is intuitive, prioritizing what is crucial, rising productiveness in every each day course of.”

– Pipedrive Assessment, Jose V. 

What customers dislike:

“The cell utility is sweet, however calendaring may be a difficulty. Additionally, the reserving instrument supplied by Pipedrive isn’t intuitive to navigate or modify, particularly in case you are making an attempt to arrange a number of reserving hyperlinks. Some integrations with third events have been buggy, however these points are typically mounted over time. 

The gross sales pipeline can get crowded and grow to be tough to navigate when engaged on many leads, but it surely nonetheless must be extra manageable. I want the appliance had higher options for undertaking administration for account managers on small groups to maintain monitor of labor and keep in contact with purchasers.”

– Pipedrive Assessment, Suren D. 

ActiveCampaign for Gross sales enables you to promote extra in much less time by automating your gross sales course of so you possibly can give attention to closing offers. It provides functionalities like context on contacts, computerized motion triggers primarily based on habits and engagement, and seamless pipeline administration.

ActiveCampaign provides a 14-day free trial. 

What customers like finest:

“Segmentation with lists or tagging makes sharing related content material and provides simple. Automation ‘recipes’ enable me to automate lots of the Prime of Funnel actions and get notified when a subscriber or prospect’s habits signifies curiosity in particular provides or providers. This permits for a high-touch method with out high-time funding for tire-kickers and looky-loos.

 Customization is infinite, with touchdown pages, types, tags, and lists. Conditional textual content and gross sales pipelines enable for deep relationship nurturing with out personally typing each e-mail to a prospect. Extremely suggest. The month-to-month price is a worth in comparison with instruments with comparable options and customization.”

– ActiveCampaign for Gross sales Assessment, Penny Ok. 

What customers dislike:

“One of many predominant drawbacks of the platform is its lack of flexibility. Whereas it provides a variety of options, some customers might discover it difficult to customise sure facets of their campaigns to fulfill their particular wants. This may be irritating, particularly for companies that require a excessive diploma of customization to realize their targets.

One other space for enchancment with ActiveCampaign is that it may be difficult to observe up with contacts successfully. Consequently, some customers might need assistance to maintain monitor of their campaigns and observe up with contacts promptly. This may result in missed alternatives and misplaced income for companies that depend on e-mail advertising to drive gross sales.” 

– ActiveCampaign for Gross sales Assessment, Matteo A.

Copper is a CRM software program designed to assist rising companies handle their rising variety of leads, alternatives, and prospects. This instrument permits them to construct lasting relationships with patrons that can finally assist their enterprise scale.

Copper provides a 14-day free trial for all plans.

What customers like finest:

“Copper has been nice with our monetary and insurance coverage enterprise. The CRM permits us to successfully construct and develop our enterprise by sustaining and monitoring purchasers and initiatives. It’s easy to make use of and straightforward to speak with our crew. Copper is priced competitively – glorious worth for the cash. The customer support is quick to reply, as effectively.”

– Copper Assessment, Monica G. 

What customers dislike:

“A problem of Copper (at occasions) is its Gmail integration. This may typically trigger page-loading or connectivity points and is much less user-friendly than the web-based app. The exporting/re-importing information can typically be messy in case your crew isn’t skilled in a few of the quirks of Copper (e.g., how tags export vs. how tags are imported).” 

– Copper Assessment, Adriana R.

Fixed Contact Lead Gen & CRM (previously SharpSpring) helps companies construct their pipeline, nurture leads, and shut extra offers. The platform attracts, and scores leads quicker by means of e-mail, social advertising, and retargeting advertisements, then passes them seamlessly to gross sales. The centralized CRM and customizable automation make duties like nurturing prospects and gross sales follow-ups simpler.

The answer has a 30-day free trial for his or her Important plan.

What customers like finest:

“I really like how simple and intuitive SharpSpring is to make use of. The automated mailing listing administration makes it a breeze for our group and purchasers’ advertising departments to ship out mass emails shortly. I am additionally impressed with the superior options, akin to the power to enter HTML code and customized fields and think about engagement scores to establish devoted followers precisely.

Collected marketing campaign information lets us acquire perception into e-mail supply efficiency and consumer engagement in purposes like remarketing plans! And let’s not overlook the ever-helpful customer support crew who’re at all times readily available to assist when wanted – making Sharpspring a very distinctive package deal!”

– Fixed Contact Lead Gen & CRM (previously SharpSpring) Assessment, Grant E. 

What customers dislike:

“Customized reporting wants extra growth, particularly when you depend on this for attribution metrics. It might be helpful to have a look at these high-level reviews (akin to a donut chart of alternatives tied to the marketing campaign)  and be capable of click on into the info for extra data. In fact, issues may be cross-referenced within the system, however that feels outdated by right this moment’s requirements.”

– Fixed Contact Lead Gen & CRM (previously SharpSpring) Assessment, Taylor R.

Steadily requested questions on free CRM software program

1. How do I select from a number of free CRM software program?

Some issues to contemplate earlier than buying a free CRM software program are:

• Make sure the CRM provides the mandatory options like contact and lead administration, gross sales pipeline monitoring, e-mail integration, and reporting/analytics.
• Go for an intuitive interface appropriate on your crew’s talent degree.
• Search for flexibility in pricing plans and the power to improve for added options as your enterprise grows.
• Assess integration capabilities with different instruments and platforms, in addition to customization choices to adapt to your enterprise wants.
• Test the provision and high quality of buyer help providers.
• Think about suggestions and experiences shared by different customers.
• Make sure the CRM prioritizes information safety and compliance with laws.
• Consider whether or not the CRM provides cell accessibility for on-the-go utilization.
• Assess the general worth proposition contemplating the options, help, and cost-effectiveness of the CRM software program.

Testing a free CRM software program earlier than committing to a paid possibility is at all times a good suggestion. Do not forget that there’s no one-size-fits-all resolution for locating the most effective CRM software program.

2. What are the challenges of utilizing free CRM software program over paid choices?

The challenges of utilizing free CRM software program over paid choices embrace:

• Restricted options and functionalities.
• Much less customization and scalability.
• Lack of devoted buyer help.
• Doable limitations on information storage or consumer accounts.

3. Is CRM software program just for giant companies?

No, CRM software program may be helpful for companies of all sizes, from startups to enterprises. Small companies can use CRM to arrange and handle buyer data, whereas bigger companies can make the most of superior options to handle advanced gross sales workflows and advertising processes.

Let automation make it easier to make extra human connections

Nothing can change the time, vitality, and care it takes to construct significant relationships with individuals fascinated by studying extra about what you’re promoting. Whereas relationships can’t be automated, specialised software program like CRM instruments could make it simpler to get there.

Wish to be taught what enterprise programs a CRM resolution integrates with finest? Browse our listing of enterprise useful resource planning programs to automate core operations and streamline information stream throughout the corporate.