20 best free CRM software to try this year

Top 20 free CRM software and free trials

Some business decisions are risky, but picking the right customer relationship management software doesn’t have to be one of them. Most customer relationship management software platforms offer free trial versions to eliminate the guessing game and put you in the best place to make smart commitments.

There’s a lot to consider when choosing CRM software (not to mention many to choose from), including the price you’ll eventually pay if you decide to stick with the product. Take a look at our top 20 recommendations to get started.

1. Zendesk Sell

A successful business depends on happy customers. Just as important, however, are happy employees. You should get both out of your free CRM system, which is why Zendesk Sell offers a free trial version of its cloud-based all-inclusive sales CRM. Sell is a powerful lead management system that enables sales teams to stay on top of every lead until it converts.

Configured with the modern sales rep in mind, Sell allows your representatives to keep a sharp eye on every aspect of the sales cycle without bogging them down in scattered data.

With an intuitive dashboard, easy customization options, and a free resource library, Sell’s learning curve is guaranteed to be a bunny slope, not a black diamond.

Notable software features:

• Lead and sales tracking software
• Contact management system
• KPI sales dashboard
• Reporting and analytics
• Power dialer
• Funnel and CRM reports
• Sales pipeline management
• API access
• Mobile app
• Performance reporting
• Lead generation tools
• Integration with Zendesk Support and Suite

Customer size: Small (1–50 users) to enterprise (201+ users)
Trial length: 14 days
Pricing after trial: Starts at $19 a month
Best for: Small businesses seeking a simple, intuitive CRM

2. HubSpot CRM

HubSpot CRM offers advanced options for those who can throw down the cash for it, including its Content Management, Operations, Service, Sales, and Marketing Hubs—all of which can be integrated with its platform from one centralized site.

HubSpot offers several marketing automation capabilities, such as email campaign automation, workflows that alert your sales team for follow-ups, and the ability to integrate with other tools, applications, and software.

For example, HubSpot can integrate with both the sales and support software from Zendesk. This integration incorporates activity from Zendesk support tickets into HubSpot’s CRM timeline.

Notable software features:

• Contact management
• Email marketing
• Live chat
• Data sync
• Dashboard
• API access
• Task assignment

Learn more about HubSpot App for Sell.

Customer size: Small (1–50 users) to enterprise (201+ users)
Trial length: 14 days
Pricing after trial: Starting at $50 a month
Best for: Businesses using/planning to use inbound marketing techniques

3. Less Annoying

Less Annoying offers a free platform for small businesses, allowing them to consolidate calendars and tasks onto a single dashboard.

With an email logging feature, daily agenda email, one-click export, and 256-bit encryption, Less Annoying offers functionality and security, all while marketing itself as being…well, less annoying.

Notable software features:

• Channel management
• Customer database
• Dashboard
• Search/filter
• Project management
• Partner tracking
• Task assignment

Customer size: Small (1–50 users)
Trial length: 30 days
Pricing after trial: Starting at $15 a month per user
Best for: Small businesses that want to better manage their sales pipeline

4. Creatio

Creatio CRM is a cloud-based, low-code technology platform. Creatio CRM can be used on its own or bundled with other products to bring together marketing, sales, and service in one customizable platform.

Creatio software is for teams who need to become their own developers, whether they hail from human resources or payroll. The low-code platform allows users to create customized forms, email templates, and contracts—depending on their individual business needs.

Notable software features:

• Funnel reporting
• Integrations
• API access
• Quotation handling
• Contract management
• Sales gamification
• Database management

Customer size: Small (1–50 users) to enterprise (201+ users)
Trial length: 14 days
Pricing after trial: $25 a month per user
Best for: Companies that need to streamline client-business communications

5. Apptivo

Apptivo is one of the lesser-known CRM management options available on the market, but it does offer third-party integrations with G Suite, Outlook 365, Slack, and over 60 other programs.

If you happen to be your entire company, Apptivo offers a free CRM for small businesses with its Starter version, which includes eight apps for a single user. If you have more than one user, you’ll need to tick upward to the Lite package, which offers 18 integrated apps.

Notable software features:

• Lead generation
• Mobile access
• Email marketing
• Document storage
• Quotes/estimates
• Calendar/reminder system
• Internal chat integration

Customer size: Small (1–50 users) to enterprise (201+ users)
Trial length: 30 days
Pricing after trial: Starting at $10 a month per user
Best for: Solopreneurs or small businesses

6. Insightly

Insightly is aimed at small businesses looking to integrate sales and project management. It features a customizable interface without a ton of frills. If you like what you try, Insightly’s pricing packages start with its Plus Plan, which includes integrated project management capabilities, associated task tracking, and sales email templates.

Notable software features:

• API access
• Lead qualification
• Pipeline management
• Project management
• Social media integration
• Territory management
• Funnel reporting

Customer size: Small (1–50 users) to medium (51–200 users)
Trial length: Free for two users for an unlimited time; 14 days free for larger organizations
Pricing after trial: Starts at $29 a month per user
Best for: Small businesses looking to integrate sales and project management

7. Flowlu

Flowlu helps businesses in the finance space manage revenue and provide sales invoices for customers. Users can monitor expenses for a variety of projects, manage contacts, and track new sales opportunities.

While the Flowlu platform limits users to 20 contacts, users can create an unlimited number of projects and invoices.

Notable software features:

• Finance dashboard
• Expense and payment tracking
• Contact and lead management
• Invoicing

Customer size: Small (1–50 users) to enterprise (201+ users)
Trial length: Free for two users for an unlimited time
Pricing after trial: Starts at $8 a month
Best for: Small businesses in the finance industry

8. Sumac

Sumac is a CRM software designed for nonprofits. It offers an array of features specifically for nonprofits—such as donor, fundraising, and member management—as well as helpful tool integrations. Sumac also offers custom add-ons that can help your organization track unique data.

Notable software features:

• Payment processing
• Office Suite integration
• Email marketing
• Accounting software

Customer size: Small (1–50 users) to medium (51–200 users)
Trial length: Free for two users for an unlimited time
Pricing after trial: Starts at $20 a month
Best for: Small businesses in the nonprofit space

9. Copper

Copper is a good option for those seeking the most essential features of CRM software, such as email marketing, calendar/reminder systems, and client tracking. Users can import records directly from Gmail communications and synchronize meetings with contacts.

Though it gears itself specifically toward G Suite users, Copper offers integrations with most of the common applications, including Intuit Quickbooks, Slack, DocuSign, Zapier, and Mailchimp.

Notable software features:

• Contact management
• Campaign management
• Desktop integration
• Task/activity management
• Dashboard
• Customer support portal
• Pipeline management

Customer size: Small (1–50 users)
Trial length: 14 days
Pricing after trial: $25 a month
Best for: Small businesses who use G Suite in their day-to-day operations

Learn more about our integration with Copper.

10. Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM offers free software for small businesses for up to three users. If you care to give Zoho a whirl, you can test run its Ultimate package for 30 days, including using its advanced business intelligence and analytics software.

Additionally, a one-hour web conference demo session can help you get accustomed to Zoho’s offerings, which include leads, documents, and mobile app integrations.

Notable software features:

• Reminder/calendar system
• CRM views
• Advanced filters
• Page customization
• Workflow rules
• Standard reports
• Status updates

Customer size: Small (1–50 users) to enterprise (201 + users)
Trial length: 30 days
Pricing after trial: Free for three users or fewer; other packages start at $14 a month per user
Best for: Home-based operations

11. Really Simple Systems

Really Simple Systems is a CRM software known for its marketing automation and simple-to-use service and sales platform. You’ll be able to access a wide array of tools for your unlimited contacts that update in real time with relevant tasks and information.

Users can also take advantage of features like customer service and sales automation.

Notable software features:

• Lead management
• Workflow management
• Email integration
• Reports and forecasts
• Task management and calendars

Customer size: Small (1–50 users) to enterprise (201 + users)
Trial length: Free for two users for an unlimited time
Pricing after trial: Starts at $14 a month per user
Best for: Small businesses that engage in mostly B2B operations

12. Capsule

Capsule strives to build customer relationships and business relationships with a simple interface. Although the number of features is minimal, the interface helps you manage the day-to-day tasks.

With the free CRM trial, you can easily access information about your sales pipeline and quickly import contact lists from places like Outlook, Gmail, and other databases. Keep in mind that the 30-day free trial is only available for up to two users.

Notable software features:

• Contact management
• Sales pipeline dashboard
• Sales analytics
• Calendar and task management tools
• Outlook and Gmail integration
• Two-factor authentication

Customer size: Small (1–50 users) to medium (51–200 users)
Trial length: 30 days
Pricing after trial: Starts at $18 a month per user
Best for: Small businesses that don’t need a ton of features

13. BenchmarkONE

BenchmarkONE offers in-depth reporting and analytics through its comprehensive sales and marketing CRM system. With the free trial, users can also take advantage of automated email marketing and sales features to help win conversions. However, BenchmarkONE does not offer any customer support tools, so keep this in mind when searching for the best fit.

Notable software features:

• Email marketing automation
• Sales automation
• Advanced reporting
• Analytics dashboard

Customer size: Small (1–50 users) to medium (51–200 users)
Trial length: Free for an unlimited time
Pricing after trial: Free
Best for: Small and fast-growing businesses

14. Freshsales

Freshsales is a CRM software that helps businesses personalize engagement, better manage their contacts, and streamline their sales process. Unlike many CRMs, Freshsales has AI capabilities that allow your team to communicate easily across multiple channels. The software also makes it simple to collaborate with teams through its Slack integration.

Additionally, no credit card is required when signing up for the 21-day free trial.

Notable software features:

• AI capabilities
• View of all customer interactions
• Built-in email, chat, and phone capabilities
• Dynamic forecasting

Customer size: Small (1–50 users) to enterprise (201 + users)
Trial length: 21 days
Pricing after trial: Starts at $15 a month per user
Best for: Fast-growing and high-functioning sales teams

15. Vtiger

Vtiger is known for being inexpensive—great for businesses on a budget. Its many cloud-based features help simplify the workload of the sales, marketing, and support teams within a business.

Vtiger is free for up to 10 users, but you can take advantage of the priced packages if more users want to work with the software.

Notable software features:

• Multichannel help desk
• Marketing automation
• Inventory tracker
• Sales forecasts and insights

Customer size: Small (1–50 users) to medium (51–200 users)
Trial length: 15 days
Pricing after trial: $10 a month per user
Best for: Small businesses that want to take advantage of inexpensive upgrade options

16. EngageBay

EnageBay is a whole-stack CRM that boasts modular business tools, including drag-and-drop project management, task filters, customizable project reports, and more.

It also integrates with many channels, including Office Suite and Gmail, and offers three different suites: Marketing Automation, CRM & Sales Bay, and Live Chat & Helpdesk.

Notable software features:

• Marketing automation
• Landing page builder
• Sales workflows
• Deal management
• Site messaging
• Email sequencing

Customer size: Small (1–50 users) to enterprise (201 + users)
Trial length: Free for 15 users for an unlimited time
Pricing after trial: Starts at $11.99 a month per user
Best for: Businesses of every size and industry

17. Agile CRM

Agile is an affordable all-in-one CRM software that is also cloud-based. Its capabilities include sales, marketing, service, and integrations that can help streamline the sales process. Additionally, Agile offers customer ticketing that assists a support team with a knowledge base, help desk, and feedback forms for customers.

Notable software features:

• Contact management
• Appointment scheduling
• Mobile marketing
• Email tracking
• Help desk capabilities
• Track milestones

Customer size: Small (1–50 users) to enterprise (201 + users)
Trial length: Unlimited for up to 10 users
Pricing after trial: Starting at $8.99 for 10+ users
Best for: Startups and small businesses

18. Bitrix24

Bitrix24 provides a free CRM suite for up to 20 users that offers over 30 different tools to assist with the marketing and sales process. Features include pipeline management, task automation, sales tracking, and many more.

It also offers video-channel access, chat, voice, and email, as well as mobile apps for Android and iOS.

Notable software features:

• Lead generation
• Online marketing
• Business automation
• Ideal for remote work
• Unified workspace
• Omnichannel marketing

Customer size: Small (1–50 users) to medium (51–200 users)
Trial length: Free for up to 12 users for an unlimited time; 15-day trial for priced plans
Pricing after trial: Starts at $49 a month
Best for: Small businesses in the ecommerce space

19. Pipedrive

With Pipedrive, users can create customizable sales pipeline dashboards, track progress, and automate growth thanks to built-in AI technology that helps you close more sales by identifying opportunities.

Pipedrive can also organize and track calls automatically and synchronize schedules across your devices.

Notable software features:

• Visual and customizable sales pipeline
• Team collaboration
• Contact history
• Reporting dashboards

Customer size: Small (1–50 users) to enterprise (201 + users)
Trial length: 14 days
Pricing after trial: Starts at $14 a month per user
Best for: Small businesses that need help with scaling

20. Streak

Streak is a CRM platform that’s great for Gmail users or businesses that use Gmail because it’s integrated within the Gmail interface—meaning you don’t have to log into a separate app.

With the free version and trial, you can manage up to 500 contacts and customize the platform for many different verticals and industries.

Notable software features:

• Email tracking and scheduling
• Gmail integration
• Mail merging
• Email templates

Customer size: Small (1–50 users) to enterprise (201+ users)
Trial length: Free for two users for an unlimited time
Pricing after trial: Starting at $15 a month per user
Best for: Entrepreneurs who run their own business and real estate agents

Benefits of free CRM software

According to the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2022, integrating a CRM platform to help monitor customer changes and their lifetime value is essential to make the business case for quality service.

If you feel that you’re not currently getting the most out of your CRM system, it may be time to switch—especially when there are free options that are simple to use and that can seamlessly streamline the sales process. When it comes to customer relationship management, free doesn’t have to mean skimpy.

You wouldn’t buy a car without giving it a test drive, and a sales CRM is no different. Testing out customer relationship management software for free lets you play with all the time- and energy-saving CRM perks—minus the financial commitment. So when it’s time to plunk down some dollars, you’ll know exactly what you’re getting.

Popular free CRM software features to look for

When a customer relationship management system has a free version, its list of features should pack a real punch. After all, a free version of anything is still just another marketing tool. Companies want to show you what they’ve got, and you deserve to be picky.

Below are several popular features to look for when choosing the best free CRM software for your business.

How to choose the right free CRM: Considerations and questions to ask

We all love to snatch up anything that’s free—but pump the brakes. You’ll save time in the future by taking the time to consider which free CRM trial and platform is best for you and your team.

While every business wants happy customers, not every business has the same customer service needs. So before committing to learning a new platform, you’ll want to consider the following questions:

What is the time to value and total cost of ownership?

Just because something is free doesn’t mean you should suffer through a time-consuming setup. To ensure fast and efficient installation, seek out free platforms with cloud-based capabilities and 24/7 support.

The sooner your team can get acclimated to the interface, the sooner you can start streamlining your customer care services.

Will a free CRM tool integrate with other apps?

With your business already up and running, your reps are likely already accustomed to using certain sales apps. It’s important to know if your free trial software will integrate easily with your most commonly used applications or if you’ll have to pay for that privilege.

Some of the most common integrations you’ll see offered with free CRM apps are:

• G Suite
• Outlook 365
• Mailchimp
• Intuit Quickbooks

Everyone’s already using a multitude of apps to run their business, and you’re probably no different. You need to know that the apps you’re already using—like G Suite, Outlook 265, and Mailchimp—can be integrated easily with your free CRM app.

How easy is it to use the CRM?

New software can cause severe IT headaches. Even the best apps can feel jarring if you don’t receive the tools and support to use them smartly. Additionally, having a load of features at your fingertips won’t do you any good if you can’t use them.

Not every free CRM platform trial will be user-friendly, especially if your team includes anyone who falls in the “technologically challenged” category.

Introducing new business practices can be daunting, but a visually pleasing interface and intuitive usability will make your team happy to change things up.

How much will a free CRM cost down the road?

Anything you don’t pay for will only get you so far, especially if you have big entrepreneurial dreams. At some point, the cost will enter the equation—and when it does, you can’t let yourself be surprised.

Always check out complete pricing models before giving the trial a go, and make sure the package options align with your business projections.

What kind of support will I need?

If you’re new to CRM software, you will have questions. Unless your entire business operates in a single time zone, you’ll want to look for a CRM platform with a wide range of support options, including phone support and 24/7 live chat capabilities.

Additionally, because business is constantly evolving, you’ll want to find a free CRM system provider that offers clear and proactive training so you’re not caught off-guard by necessary updates.

Does free CRM software come with any strings attached?

In most cases, free really does mean free. Many free CRM apps won’t even ask for credit card information. Keep in mind, though, that just like other businesses, CRM software providers come in all shapes and sizes.

If you want to try a simple CRM free from time constraints, some providers offer packages that home-based businesses can use for as long as they want to, so long as they have only one or two users. Other providers will allow for an unlimited number of users for a limited number of days.