Spreadsheets, email chains, paper records locked in a desk drawer—none of these are the best way to manage your customer relationships. To truly prioritize your customers, you need a streamlined customer relationship management (CRM) system that stores all the information and interactions you have with them, all accessible from a central location.
Whether this is your first time looking for a CRM or you wish to upgrade your current platform, adding a new tool to your tech stack can be challenging. You’ll want to know you’re investing in the very best CRM software available for your business. This guide shares 10 of the best CRM tools, including their key features, pricing differences, and an easy comparison table to kickstart your research.
Try monday sales CRMWhat is a CRM?
Customer relationship management, or CRM software, helps businesses manage relationships and interactions with customers and prospects. The best CRM software gathers information from various communication channels such as websites, social media, live chat, marketing materials, and email and stores it in a central location. Based on this data, the CRM software creates comprehensive customer profiles, giving businesses a complete overview of their customers. With all customer information stored in one place, it becomes easier to:
- Track interactions such as when a customer last purchased something or responded to a marketing campaign
- Anticipate customer needs based on their purchase history or communications with your sales team
- Personalize your communication according to their likes and dislikes
- Automate tasks such as setting up notifications reminding sales teams to follow up with a lead after X days
- View your sales pipeline with visual charts representing your activities, deals, and prospecting data.
How to choose the best CRM software
Need a quick overview of the best CRM tools in the market? Below is a summary of the key points we’ll cover in more detail.
| Software name | Best for | Best feature | Price starting from |
|---|---|---|---|
| monday sales CRM | Sales teams of any size or type | Intelligent sales forecasting | $12 per user/mo |
| Zoho CRM | Startups and small sales teams | Built-in AI assistant | $0 |
| HubSpot CRM | Small businesses looking to scale | Two-way data sync automation | $0 |
| Salesforce Sales Cloud | Enterprise-grade users | Einstein 1 platform | $25 per user/mo |
| Freshsales CRM | Lead management | Pipeline management | $9 per user/mo |
| Zendesk Sell | Businesses already using the Zendesk Suite | Activity tracking | $19 per user/mo |
| Less Annoying CRM | Small businesses and entrepreneurs | Simple interface | $15 per user/mo |
| Pipedrive CRM | Pipeline management | Detailed reporting | $14.90 per user/mo |
| Insightly | Strong customization options | A/B testing | $0 |
| Apptivo | Business management capabilities | Quote and invoice management | $20 per user/mo |
Top 10 CRM software for 2024
With so many different CRM software options available, choosing the best one for your business can be challenging. To help narrow the field, here’s a breakdown of the top 10 CRM’s key features, pros, cons, and pricing.
1. monday sales CRM
Best for: Sales teams of any size or type
monday sales CRM is a fully customizable, no-code sales platform that lets you centralize your entire sales cycle. You can organize and manage your pipeline, automate your sales processes, streamline communication, and gain valuable insights into your entire sales cycle and forecasting.
Key features of monday sales CRM
- Customization: Easily tailor your CRM software to work for you without any development help. Edit deal stages, add as many columns as you’d like, and manage multiple pipelines simultaneously.
- Automation: With 72+ integrations to communication, marketing, and social media tools and our no-code recipes, it’s a cinch to save valuable time and close more deals. For example, you might automatically assign leads to reps, set reminders for upcoming activities, or receive notifications when a lead opens an email.
- Email management: Automatically keep track of client interactions and log sent emails in one central location. Use our mass email feature to send personalized messages to leads in bulk, while our built-in AI tool allows you to craft, edit, or reply to emails in a flash.
- Sales forecasting: Gain detailed insights into your pipeline, set your deal value and close probability, score and qualify leads, and understand what you have coming up so you can deploy resources accordingly.
monday sales CRM pricing
monday sales CRM pricing is based on a minimum of 3 seats.
- From $12 per user/mo for the Basic plan
- From $17 for the Standard plan
- From $28 for the Pro plan
- Free 14-day trial period available with no credit required
More information: monday sales CRM pricing
2. Zoho CRM
Best for: Startups and small businesses
Zoho CRM helps businesses manage their sales, marketing, and customer service operations from a single platform. It’s ideal for small to mid-sized teams and offers a variety of integrated options and customizable CRM solutions for growing companies. The built-in AI-powered assistant, Zia, assists in predicting leads and deals, spotting potential customers for conversion, and guiding large sales teams in their efforts.
Key features of Zoho CRM
- Lead management: Capture leads from various sources and nurture them through the sales pipeline. Prioritize sales teams’ efforts with lead scoring and lead assignment.
- Integration: Connect third-party applications such as Google Workspace, Office 365, MailChimp, and Zendesk to provide a seamless user experience.
- Communication: Converse in real-time with customers and prospects from one platform via emails, live chat messages, phone conversations, and social media interactions
Zoho CRM pricing
- $14/user/mo billed annually.
- Forever free plan available.
- 15-day free trial.
Related: Zoho CRM pricing
3. HubSpot CRM
Best for: Small businesses looking to scale
HubSpot CRM is designed to improve all aspects of a business by incorporating sales, marketing, and customer service processes into one comprehensive platform. It empowers businesses to manage customer relationships, streamline sales processes, and integrate marketing efforts effectively.
Key features of HubSpot CRM
- Marketing automation: Two-way data sync enables businesses to align their sales and marketing campaigns for a complete view of each prospect and client.
- Email tracking: Allows users to seamlessly integrate email communication with their CRM and track interactions with contacts.
- Reporting and analytics: Offers insights into sales performance, customer interactions, and marketing campaigns.
HubSpot CRM pricing
- From $20/seat/mo billed annually
- Free plan available
- 14-day free trial
Related: HubSpot pricing
4. Salesforce Sales Cloud
Best for: Both small businesses and large enterprises
Salesforce Sales Cloud is a comprehensive CRM platform designed to support sales, marketing, and customer service in both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customer (B2C) contexts. It combines all customer information in an integrated platform incorporating marketing, lead generation, sales, customer service, and business analytics.
Key features of Salesforce Sales Cloud
- AI features: Available within the Einstein 1 platform
- Customization: Access thousands of applications via the AppExchange to tailor the platform to your specific needs.
- Sales process management: Keeps all prospects, customers, contacts, leads, opportunities, and purchase history organized and easily accessible.
Salesforce Sales Cloud pricing
- $25/user/month billed annually
- No free plan
- 14-day free trial
More information: Salesforce pricing
5. Freshsales CRM
Best for: Lead management
Freshsales CRM is an affordable way for businesses to manage leads, customer engagement, and sales automation. It offers sales pipeline management, AI-powered insights (via Freddy), automation, and a unified CRM for sales, marketing, and support teams.
Key features of FreshSales CRM
- Sales pipeline management: Includes tools to build and manage sales pipelines, helping you score leads, track deals, and close sales more efficiently.
- AI-powered insights: Freddy (the AI Assistant) provides deal insights, smart recommendations, and predictions by analyzing historical sales data, activities, and engagement.
- Automation: Allows users to automate tasks such as lead assignment, sending emails, task creation, and field updates, enabling more efficient and scalable outreach.
FreshSales CRM pricing
- $9/user/month billed annually
- 21-day free trial
More information: FreshSales pricing
6. Zendesk Sell
Best for: Businesses already using the Zendesk Suite
Zendesk Sell is a sales CRM software tool that enhances productivity, streamlines processes, and provides pipeline visibility for sales teams. Its unified platform, real-time pipeline management, and mobile accessibility make it a valuable tool for businesses looking to optimize their sales processes and improve sales performance.
Key features of Zendesk Sell
- Pipeline management: Provides real-time visibility into the sales pipeline, enabling accurate forecasting and control.
- Unified platform: Offers an all-in-one sales platform, including contact and deal management, activity tracking, lead generation, and automation to keep sales representatives on target.
- Integration: Customize Zendesk to fit business requirements and integrate it with other applications and platforms to enhance its capabilities.
Zendesk Sell pricing
- From $19/user/month billed annually
- No free plan
- 14-day free trial
7. Less Annoying CRM
Best for: Small businesses and entrepreneurs.
Less Annoying CRM is a simple, affordable, and user-friendly solution designed specifically for small businesses. In fact, the average account has 2.5 users.
Key features of Less Annoying CRM
- Simplicity: Its ease of use makes it an ideal choice for small businesses looking for an uncomplicated CRM solution.
- Automated email tracking: BCC your CRM in any customer communications to manage all your conversations without any extra work.
- Contact management: View all notes, files, tasks, events, and pipeline information related to a contact on one screen.
Less Annoying CRM pricing
- $15/user/month billed annually
- No free plan
- 30-day free trial
8. Pipedrive CRM
Best for: Pipeline management.
Pipedrive CRM is a pipeline-focused platform designed by salespeople to streamline the sales and relationship-building process. It’s best known for its ease of use, customization, and comprehensive customer support.
Key features of Pipedrive CRM
- Pipeline management: Track leads, spot opportunities, and measure critical activities by customizing pipelines (with stages and fields) to match your sales cycle.
- Reporting and dashboard: Get detailed reporting on sales and key activities and track progress against goals in the dashboard.
- Integrations: Extend Pipedrive’s capabilities by connecting with 350+ third-party programs, platforms, and services.
Pipedrive CRM pricing
- $14.90/user/month billed annually
- No free plan
- 14-day free trial
More information: Pipedrive pricing
9. Insightly
Best for: Strong customization
Insightly is a CRM designed for small to mid-sized businesses, offering customization options that are perfect for sales teams.
Key features of Insightly
- Opportunity management: Track pipeline data to gain insights into how to move your business forward
- Customer journey personalization: A/B and multivariate testing enable you to convert visitors to prospects
- Customizable data visualizations: Create interactive charts and dashboards to make real-time business decisions.
Insightly pricing
- From $29 per user/mo
- Free forever plan for 2 users
- Free trial also available
10. Apptivo
Best for: Business management capabilities
Apptivo is an uncluttered, scalable CRM with a mobile app that enables sales teams to manage their sales leads on the go. It integrates with various billing, productivity, and document management tools.
Key features of Apptivo
- Procurement management: Use templates to create persuasive quotes
- Contact management: Gain a 360 degree of your customers with G Suite and Office365 integrations
- Invoicing: Bill customers directly from your CRM using integrations to Quickbooks and Xero and options for recurring and subscription billing.
Apptivo pricing
- From $20/user/mo
- 30-day free trial available
Streamline your sales activities with monday sales CRM software
A CRM platform will undoubtedly help boost business growth, but choosing the right one takes careful consideration. That said, if you’re looking for a visual, intuitive, and fully customizable CRM platform to manage your leads, prospects, and customers, then monday sales CRM can help you manage your pipeline, automate your sales processes, streamline communication, and gain valuable insights into your entire sales cycle.
But don’t take our word for it. Currently, monday sales CRM scores 4.6 out of 5 from G2’s software review community. Digging deeper, our platform also achieves the following scores (out of 10) in the below categories:
- Ease of Use = 9
- Ease of Setup = 8.5
- Ease of Admin = 8.9
- Quality of Support = 8.7
Users say the platform is extremely easy to set up and effortless to navigate. And when needed, the support team responds quickly and efficiently. One small business user describes,
“monday sales CRM stands out among CRM solutions due to its exceptional ease of use, powerful automation capabilities, and vibrant visual interface. Its intuitive drag-and-drop functionality makes it simple to create customized workflows and dashboards, allowing sales teams to streamline their processes and gain valuable insights into their sales performance.”
Ready to see monday sales CRM in action? Take a free 14-day trial of the best CRM software today.
FAQs
What is the best CRM software?
The best CRM software depends on your specific business needs and goals. It's important to carefully consider each option's features and pricing before deciding. Taking a trial of the platform also helps you explore the navigation and functionality of a tool, helping you determine if it's the best fit for your business. Remember: monday sales CRM achieves a high score of 4.6 out of 5 with the G2 software community, and offers a 14-day free trial.
What is the best CRM software for a small business?
While some CRM platforms are suitable for any size or type of business, smaller organizations have different considerations than larger enterprises when shopping for their perfect tool. Budget and simplicity are likely priorities for small businesses. monday sales CRM is suitable for teams with at least three users; a free trial is available before you commit to a paid plan.
Is Salesforce a CRM?
Salesforce is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform that offers cloud-based solutions for sales, marketing, and service. Although it is a popular tool, other platforms may be a better fit. For example, Salesforce scores 4.3 out of 5 with the G2 software community, which is 0.3 lower than monday sales CRM's overall rating. Salesforce also scores lower than monday sales CRM in the following categories: Ease of Use, Ease of Setup, Ease of Admin, and Quality of Support.
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