The 12 best CRM for SaaS companies

Software-as-a-service companies need access to reliable digital tools just as much as any other business. The right customer relationship management platform enables SaaS organizations to attract more leads and nurture their interest before they convert into paying customers.

While some SaaS organizations will launch their own customer relationship management platform, others rely on a third-party tool to manage all their customer data and interactions. But which is up to standard?

This guide explores the benefits of using a dedicated CRM for SaaS along with 12 of the best options in the market, including monday CRM.

What is a SaaS CRM?

A SaaS CRM is a customer relationship management platform for Software-as-a-Service companies. It enables SaaS businesses of all shapes and sizes to stay on top of their customer communication, lead management, and future growth, all from a central workspace.

What makes SaaS CRMs particularly unique is that CRMs are a SaaS product—they’re a digital tool hooked up to the cloud, enabling businesses in any industry to manage their customer relationships. But when we talk specifically about SaaS CRMs, we’re referring to the way these SaaS-produced tools are used by SaaS companies themselves. It’s a full circle concept.

Best CRM for SaaS at a glance

Before getting into the weeds, here’s a high-level overview of each of the 12 best CRMs for SaaS we explore in this guide:

Benefits of using a CRM for SaaS

It’s no surprise that SaaS companies are already sold on the benefits of using software to manage every aspect of their operations. Here are the specific wins they can expect:

Single source of truth

SaaS pros (hopefully) can’t dive into their colleague’s email messages or tap their voice notes to gain the information they need about a specific customer journey or upcoming project. But companies that keep their information siloed across teams or different tools struggle to stay aligned. That’s where a CRM for SaaS allows each person to log in and gain the visibility they need at a glance. It’s current, transparent, and allows each SaaS team member to be proactive in winning business and achieving results.

Fantastic team collaboration

The right CRM software doesn’t just spit out data for team members, it also enables them to interact with the information in real time. For example, your marketing teams might leave comments attached to essential tasks that require sales team scrutiny. Or they could sync the platform with communication tools like email or direct messaging software to pull crucial conversations in from elsewhere to aid sales processes.

Easy data analysis

SaaS CRMs are excellent at storing data. But an advanced model will do so much more than babysit the information. Those built with reports and analytics capabilities use your historic data to make accurate predictions about future opportunities and revenue. This will help you identify any gaps in the customer experience, so you can quickly adjust your focus or introduce new features.

Better productivity

Without a CRM for SaaS, your team will likely be bogged down in a heap of repetitive, manual workflows. These can slow down growth by crowding out time and resources from more important activities. With a CRM, you can automate repetitive tasks like data entry or lead distribution. This slick task management will free up your team to focus on high-impact work.

The 12 best CRM for SaaS

So, which are the best SaaS CRMs in the market? Of course, it depends. Your budget, existing tech stack, software company growth stage, and team size will all influence your decision into this investment. To narrow down the sea of options, here’s a closer look at some of the top 12 SaaS CRMs available, including what sets them apart from the rest.

1. monday CRM

Best for: SaaS teams of all sizes requiring flexible, scalable CRM solutions

monday CRM is a comprehensive platform that provides SaaS teams with everything they need to handle lead, deal, and account management. By centralizing data and automating workflows, monday CRM streamlines every aspect of the sales cycle, from lead generation to sales forecasting and post-sales account management. With customizable dashboards and integrated AI, monday CRM equips SaaS companies with real-time insights and flexible workflow automation, allowing for efficient collaboration across departments and more informed decision-making.

monday CRM features

• Capture leads from multiple sources like website forms and social campaigns, auto-enrich data using Crunchbase, and assign leads to team members effortlessly.
• Send individual or mass emails with customizable templates, track opens and clicks, and automate follow-ups to improve engagement.
• Access a 360-degree view of all accounts, contacts, deals, and activities, logged in a clear timeline to keep interactions organized.
• Track deal progress with a customizable, drag-and-drop pipeline, and automate actions based on specific conditions to streamline deal flow.
• Generate projections and track them against actual sales with drill-down options by month or sales rep for better planning.
• Access customizable dashboards with widgets like leaderboards and funnels to monitor pipeline health, team performance, and activity status.
• Manage post-sales activities like client onboarding, renewals, and collection status in a central hub to support long-term customer relationships. Plan headcount and access essential legal and sales collateral documents, all in one secure workspace.

monday CRM pricing

From $12 per user per month based on annual pricing. Free trial available.

2. HubSpot CRM

Best for: Budget-conscious SaaS startups needing essential CRM functions with room to grow.

HubSpot offers a free CRM for small businesses on a budget. Scaling SaaS businesses can progress to the premium plans for more advanced features like sales automation. The CRM integrates with the rest of the HubSpot suite for operations, content, and service functionality.

HubSpot CRM features

• Dashboard offering visibility of your sales funnel
• Lead generation and email marketing tools
• Live ticketing and chat support for customers

HubSpot CRM pricing

Free plan available for up to 5 users, and the Sales Hub Starter starts at $20 per seat/month.

3. Zoho CRM

Best for: SaaS companies with a competitive company culture.

Zoho CRM is aimed at sales productivity, including gamification elements like the Motivator to inspire healthy competition and achieve sales wins. Its dashboard displays insights about targets and performance to keep business progressing.

Zoho CRM features

• Analytics including anomaly detection
• Zia, the CRM’s AI companion
• Inventory management for products, quotes, purchase orders, etc.

Zoho CRM pricing

Free version available for up to 3 users. The Standard Plan is $14 per user/ mo for the annual plan.

4. Pipedrive

Best for: SaaS startups seeking a simple, visual sales pipeline with drag-and-drop customization options.

Pipedrive is a user-friendly platform which could be a good CRM for startups in the SaaS industry. Using drag-and-drop functionality, sales teams can set up their sales pipeline to easily understand how each lead is progressing through the funnel.

Pipedrive features

• Web visitor tracking
• Software for email marketing, project management, and lead generation
• Shareable, trackable documents and templates

Pipedrive pricing

From $14 per user/month with an annual plan. Free trial available.

5. SugarCRM

Best for: Scaling SaaS businesses looking to retain customers and predict future revenue growth.

SugarCRM nurtures relationships with customers to drive retention and upsell potential. It’s a good choice for SaaS companies that are already growing and need a CRM with scalability.

SugarCRM features

• Reporting dashboards to track customer metrics
• Quote management systems
• Sales forecasting to predict future revenue

SugarCRM pricing

From $19 per user/month with an annual plan.

6. Less Annoying CRM

Best for: Stripped-back CRM functionality in teams wanting to avoid a steep learning curve.

As the name suggests, Less Annoying CRM is user-friendly. Instead of the bells and whistles you might associate with other SaaS CRMs, Less Annoying CRM is focused on simplicity, even when it comes to pricing. The platform only has one price plan which is available on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Less Annoying CRM features

• Shared calendars, including follow-up reminders
• Custom fields for storing essential customer information
• Group categorization for tagging the customer base appropriately

Less Annoying CRM pricing

From $15 per user/month plus tax. Free trial available.

7. Insightly CRM

Best for: SaaS companies that need robust pipeline and project management in one platform.

While Insightly CRM is a sales pipeline management platform at its core, it also offers project management features to help SaaS companies oversee both sales and deliverables. These features are visible from a central dashboard, providing an end-to-end view of the customer journey.

Insightly CRM features

• Sales pipeline and lead management functionality
• Opportunity management set up in customizable pipelines
• Business process automation (for example, sales and marketing automation)

Insightly CRM pricing

The Plus plan starts from $$29 per user/mo, billed annually. Free 14-day trial available.

8. Zendesk Sell

Best for: SaaS companies seeking a customizable CRM that enhances sales productivity and provides comprehensive pipeline visibility.

Zendesk Sell is a customizable CRM you can use to tailor your dashboard to the most critical metrics for SaaS companies. It provides a central view of customer interactions, making it easier to identify areas in need of improvement.

Zendesk Sell features

• Task Player to provide context on each task or subtask
• Sales engagement tools, including customized email sequences
• Smart lists and templates for lead segmentation

Zendesk Sell pricing

From $19 per user/mo, billed annually. Free trial available.

9. Salesforce Sales Cloud

Best for: Established SaaS companies needing a comprehensive CRM with a range of app integrations.

Salesforce is a well-known name that’s been around for as long as SaaS itself. Its CRM offering enables easy integration with other applications in the Salesforce ecosystem.

Salesforce Sales Cloud features

• Einstein 1, an AI assistant
• Quoting and contract approvals
• CRM Everywhere with browser and mobile functionality

Salesforce Sales Cloud pricing

From $25 per user/month with an annual plan.

10. Freshsales

Best for: SaaS businesses already leveraging Freshworks tools for an integrated AI-powered sales approach.

Freshsales is the Freshworks’ AI-powered CRM aimed at smart selling and better organization. Its modern user interface and seamless integration with other Freshworks products could make it a good option for SaaS companies looking to sync up with Freshsales, Freshchat, Freshmarketer, or Freshdesk Omni.

Freshsales features

• Contact lifecycle stages
• Territory management for managing customers in multiple regions
• Product catalog to organize multiple SaaS products

Freshsales pricing

Free plan available for 3 users, Growth Plan $9 /user/mo, billed annually.

11. Microsoft Dynamics 365

Best for: Enterprise SaaS companies needing specialized CRMs for various customer services.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 offers a number of specialist CRMs with different focus areas such as field service, sales, customer service, and project service automation.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 features

• Integrations with Microsoft Office suite
• Reporting and analytics tools
• Mobile app for on-the-go CRM access

Microsoft Dynamics 365 pricing

The Dynamic Sales 365 Professional plan is available from $65 per user/mo. Free trial available.

12. EspoCRM

Best for: SaaS companies with in-house technical expertise, offering a fully customizable open-source CRM that can be tailored to specific needs.

EspoCRM is an open-source CRM you can customize to fit the needs of any SaaS company. It offers a wide range of features and integrations, making it a versatile option for those looking for a more hands-on approach to their CRM.

EspoCRM features

• Accounts stored as individual records
• Social features such as activity streams and follow buttons
• Purchase, receipt, and sales orders

EspoCRM pricing

EspoCRM is free to download as an open source software. Cloud hosting plans are available from $15 per user/mo for 3 users.

monday CRM: A versatile, feature-packed platform for SaaS companies at any stage of growth

monday CRM empowers SaaS companies to drive efficiencies at every stage of the customer journey. But it does so much more than that. Built on top of the monday.com Work OS, it also combines seamlessly with our other products, including monday work management, monday service, and more, enabling software businesses to manage internal processes beyond sales, from a single platform.

Here’s why SaaS companies just like us know and love monday CRM.

• Engage with our interactive, user-friendly interface: monday CRM is a platform you’ll actually want to use. Sales executive Morgan G. reveals their experience using our highly visual, no-code workspace;

Very user friendly and simple to use—never had an issue using it for 12 months. Any level of employee can wrap their head around it whether brand new or 10 years experience. Every area of the system is easy to change around to meet a company’s needs.

The wider G2 community has a similar experience of monday CRM, scoring it 9 out of 10 for Ease of Use, 8.6 for Ease of Setup, and 9 for Ease of Admin.

• Hit the ground running with pre-built boards: Busy SaaS professionals can choose from our wide range of templates and boards for Leads, Deals, Accounts, and Contact Management. Of course, you can also customize these to match your specific workflows. These entity boards are synced, so if you make changes to one, the updates will be reflected across all linked boards reducing manual input.

• Speed up your workflows with built-in AI functionality: monday AI is your trusty sidekick, enabling you to whip up emails, summarize meeting notes, or create polished drafts in a couple of clicks. It’s fast, convenient, and will speed up both your workflows and your lead closing.

• Connect with the rest of your tech stack using seamless integrations: monday CRM integrates with 72+ other tools you’re already using. For example, you might sync the Crunchbase CRM Enrichment tool with your monday CRM boards, adding live company data (including industry sector, number of employees, and location) to identify qualified opportunities to introduce to your SaaS product.

• Eliminate repetitive workflows with automation: Once you’ve connected all the tools you need, set up simple automations using our no-code workflows based on triggers, conditions, and actions. For example, once the status of a lead has changed (trigger) from ‘contacted’ to ‘qualified,’ (condition) have an automation create a new task for your sales team in their monday CRM account (action.)

• Manage leads and pipelines effortlessly: Our visual drag-and-drop approach allows you to set up the specific deal stages of your SaaS sales operation and log all interactions within a single timeline. As your deals progress, you’ll find it easy to sync up with other departments such as legal and finance for a 360-degree approach to customer onboarding.

SaaS companies like Canva, Cloudinary, and Wix are already using monday.com to power their internal operations. Learn more about how monday CRM can support your customer relationships by taking a free trial today.