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11 Free CRM Software for you to choose the one and truly

11 Free CRM Software for you to choose the one and truly

By Anna Benzaquen

Published: February 27, 2023

As your business is growing, you’ll notice that your communication tracking needs grow exponentially. So, what happens when you’ve passed the notes-app-on-your-phone stage and even the CRM Excel spreadsheet stage but you don’t quite have the revenue to justify buying a large CRM software product?

You choose a free CRM software product, of course! And we can help you decide which one will be the best for your needs.

What is a CRM?

Customer Relationship Management supports your marketing and sales funnels by organizing and managing all your interactions with current and future customers. Using a CRM, you will be able to easily improve your business relationships by staying connected to your customers, providing quality support, and generating new leads.

A CRM records basic and advanced customer information such as

  • phone numbers,
  • emails,
  • websites
  • social media
  • customers’ communication preferences.

You are able to more easily maintain relationships with existing customers through a CRM by contacting them on a regular basis. The contact history is recorded which means you won’t forget customers or, on the flip side, contact them too often.

A CRM also boosts your chances of acquiring new customers. When you collect and analyze data from a potential customer (or lead) you can use it to improve the customer journey and increase your conversion rate.

There are many CRM software products available on the market to manage this type of information and grow sales Customer Relationship Management products help you analyze customer and sales data so you can take your business up to the next level 📈. These products come in many forms, so it’s important to know what you’re looking for and what will be the best for your business.

When it comes to CRM products, there are four important things to keep in mind:

  1. Cost
  2. Ease of use
  3. Functionality
  4. Integrations

For the purposes of this article, we’ve got the cost issue sorted: all the products listed below are free versions. It’ll be up to you to decide how intuitive you find the interface, if it has all the features you need, and if you can integrate all your other tools.

What makes the best free CRM software?

The best free CRM software meets your needs without sacrificing too much in the way of features. We’ve taken the comparison down below and distilled each software into one great advantage so you can see at a glance which one might be right for you.

CRM Software Main Advantage
Freshsales Freshsales has a simple and intuitive interface so that you can jump into sales growth without much of a learning curve.
Zoho CRM This CRM gives you insights on sales activities, marketing campaigns, and more, rendered as colorful charts on the dashboard.
HubSpot HubSpot free gives you a way to view every interaction with leads in one tidy timeline so you never get lost in your relationships.
EngageBay EngageBay offers complete visibility into your pipeline so you can track the status of every deal and move them from one stage to the next effortlessly.
Capsule The software is fully customizable, including customizable filtered lists so that you can tailor the product to fit your team.
Bitrix24 Bitrix24 is built for collaboration. Your team of unlimited users will always be up-to-date on what needs to be done.
Streak Streak integrates with Google Workspace so that you already know how to use the software and you can easily access emails, calendars, drives, and chats.
Insightly Insightly lets you send 2500 mass emails per day so that you can generate new leads quickly.
eWay-CRM eWay-CRM was designed to function with Outlook, so they have a robust email marketing system.
Airtable Airtable lets you design your own interface so that your CRM software is tailored to your business.
Agile CRM Agile’s free software also offers web pop ups and surveys on your website to engage leads and customers with personalized deals that combat exit intent.

Free CRM software comparison

There is a plethora of free CRM products available today but not all of them are up to par. Let’s take a look at a few of the most popular free CRM products on the market right now and see how they stack up against each other.

1- Freshsales

Freshsales free software is a great introductory product to the CRM world. All the necessary features for an efficient, well-functioning CRM are included without too many extra features to complicate the process when you’re just beginning.

Freshsales does not offer limited access to certain tools in their free version – you either have access to a feature, or you don’t. Features in the free Freshsales software include:

  • Contact and account management
  • Contact lifecycle stages
  • Tasks and notes
  • Deal management
  • Data import/export
  • Paid chatbot
  • Basic dashboard
  • Mobile app

Freshsales has a simple and intuitive interface so that you can jump into sales growth without much of a learning curve.

The software offers customizable lifecycle stages so that you always remain on top of your relationships.

It also offers data import and export so that you can seamlessly transfer from your previous CRM system into this new software.

Our opinion

Freshsales free software is great for a small business or solopreneur just starting with CRM software, but it may be a bit restricting for a business with slightly larger client lists and outreach programs.

2- Zoho CRM

Zoho offers a free edition with robust features for sales and marketing, powerful integrations, and secure cloud storage. Zoho CRM's free edition can support up to 3 users and provides features like:

  • Lead, contact, and account management
  • Deal management
  • Lead activity tracking
  • Tasks and events
  • Multichannel marketing
  • Integrations to other Zoho apps.

Zoho CRM's workflow automation automates up to 5 mundane tasks so you can be more productive while it handles routine tasks for you.

This CRM gives you insights on sales activities, marketing campaigns, and more, rendered as colorful charts on the dashboard.

It also offers email marketing where you can use templates, email opt-out, and more, to write personalized emails so that you can truly speak your leads’ languages.

Our opinion

Zoho is a great free CRM for fast-growing businesses, especially those that rely more heavily on email marketing tactics.

3- Hubspot

HubSpot is one of the most popular CRM software products currently on the market. They offer a huge range of features and even the free version maintains a good amount of functionality. The free version of the HubSpot software offers all of their:

  • Free Marketing tools
  • Free Sales tools
  • Free Service tools
  • Free CMS tools
  • Free Operations tools

Many of these tools are offered in complete versions and some are offered with HubSpot branding attached. Some of these tools include limited versions of the larger, paid features such as:

  • Email health reporting
  • Landing pages
  • Conversational bots
  • Reporting dashboards

HubSpot gives you a way to view every interaction with leads in one tidy timeline so you never get lost in your relationships.

The free CRM tool automatically tracks customer interactions and syncs with Gmail or Outlook to keep you up-to-date.

It also allows you to see your entire sales funnel on one, easy-to-digest dashboard where you can sort by various criteria to track performance.

Our opinion

HubSpot’s free software is a great all-around CRM product to launch businesses to the next level.

4- EngageBay

EngageBay offers a powerful CRM system with a surprisingly wide range of features considering this is the free version. It allows for 15 users, making it a great choice for small businesses with slightly larger teams. EngageBay offers features such as:

  • Contact management
  • Segmentation
  • Deal management
  • Deal milestones
  • Group calendar
  • Task reminders
  • Marketing, sales, and workflow automation
  • Analytics
  • Sales forecast
  • Call recordings

EngageBay offers complete visibility into your pipeline so you can track the status of every deal and move them from one stage to the next effortlessly.

The software shows you every interaction you have with customers in a timeline so you have a complete overview of the contact whenever you want.

It also includes leaderboards and gamification to inspire and engage your team to greatness.

Our opinion

EngageBay offers a robust product for teams that integrate Marketing and Sales.

5- Capsule

Capsule is a CRM product with a simple interface but it still packs a punch. It is built for growing businesses; it is, itself, still growing. Capsule CRM offers features like:

  • Contact management
  • Outlook and Gmail add-ins
  • Task reminders
  • Track customer milestones
  • Deal management
  • Workflow automation
  • Share team calendars
  • Mobile app

Capsule offers a visual dashboard so you can track conversion rates and forecasts in one view. It also offers the Kanban visual pipeline so you can move each opportunity to the correct stage as they progress.

The software is fully customizable, including customizable filtered lists so that you can tailor the product to fit your team.

It also has a robust security system including two-factor authentication and both Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace Single Sign-on so that you know your data is protected.

Our opinion

Capsule is a simple CRM but it is steadily growing and it has many features a small business may need.

6- Bitrix24

Bitrix24 is built to be an all-in-one ecosystem, replacing all other SaaS solutions. Bitrix24’s free CRM features include:

  • Contact management
  • Deal management
  • Product catalog
  • Custom fields
  • Team collaboration tools

Bitrix24 allows unlimited users and unlimited contacts so that, no matter the size of your team or your contact list, Bitrix24 will still be fully functional.

Bitrix24 is built for collaboration. With chats, video calls, meetings, calendar sharing, and Drive, your team will always be up-to-date on what needs to be done.

It also offers website templates and user domains so that your website connects directly to your CRM software.

Our opinion

Bitrix24 free CRM may not be the best option for businesses that want to align sales and marketing but it is an amazing tool to help the sales team collaborate better.

7- Streak

Streak was created to be as easy as a spreadsheet built into Gmail so that you already know how to use it without any further training. It’s great for solopreneurs who want to get started with their CRM journey. Streak free software includes features like:

  • Contact management
  • Bulk emails (50/day)
  • Email tracking
  • Email templates
  • Private pipelines
  • Tasks and reminders
  • Field autofill

Streak free software offers many features that support the basics of email marketing campaigns so that you can generate new leads more easily.

Streak integrates with Google Workspace so that you already know how to use the software and you can easily access emails, calendars, drives, and chats.

The software’s “Streak Upcoming” view lets you organize all your tasks so you can easily plan your day.

Our opinion

Streak is a great software for solopreneurs who focus their marketing on the email side of things.

8- Insightly

Insightly is a popular CRM software that helps you connect with your customers and increase your productivity. Insightly free CRM software includes features like:

  • Lead management
  • Automated emails
  • Email templates
  • 2500 bulk emails per day
  • Kanban view
  • Contact management
  • Opportunity management
  • Task management
  • Insight cards
  • Automated workflow

Insightly has a strong mobile app that lets you keep up with your contacts and pipeline on the go. It even has a business card scanning feature that lets you import contacts quickly.

The software includes customizable reports and dashboards that let you know exactly what’s happening with your business at a glance.

Insightly lets you send 2500 mass emails per day so that you can generate new leads quickly.

Our opinion

Insightly is a great app for a small business with a decent-sized marketing team who can profit from the email marketing features available with Insightly.

9- eWay-CRM

eWay-CRM is designed to run well with Microsoft products such as Outlook, so if your company already uses these Microsoft products, eWay-CRM should integrate seamlessly into your processes. eWay-CRM free software offers features like:

  • Contact management
  • Calendar sync
  • Email conversion to contact, deal, task, or project
  • Deal management
  • Bookkeeping
  • Email templates
  • Email click tracking
  • Spam score
  • Custom fields

eWay-CRM was designed to function with Outlook, so they have a robust email marketing system.

The software’s “convert to” capability lets you move information around quickly from emails to deals or projects so that you don’t have to manually reenter any information.

It allows you to customize fields so that you can keep track of all the data that you need, in the places you want to see it.

Our opinion

If you use Outlook and lean towards email as your preferred form of marketing, eWay-CRM is the best software on the market for you.

10- Airtable

Airtable is a platform where teams can use shared data to connect their work. It was created mainly as a way for teams to build connected apps and work together in that way and that makes it an excellent CRM software for collaborating teams. Airtable includes features like:

  • Real Time collaboration and commenting
  • Grid, calendar, form, Kanban, gallery, and li view
  • Drag-and-drop interface
  • Workflow automation

Airtable is not only a CRM software and so they provide a CRM template for users to quickly get started with customer relationship management on their platform.

Airtable lets you design your own interface so that your CRM software is tailored to your business.

Airtable has over 50 extensions that you can add to your CRM software so you can get the most out of the platform.

Our opinion

Airtable is highly customizable which makes it great for those who have strong technological skills, but other users may find it difficult to interface with.

11- Agile CRM

Agile CRM is designed for small businesses. They want to help you accelerate your growth. The Agile CRM free software includes features such as:

  • Contact management
  • Marketing automation
  • Deals and sales automation
  • Lead scoring
  • Web forms and popups
  • Reports by email
  • Custom deal milestones
  • Extensive API

Agile has a drag-and-drop workflow to streamline and simplify your process.

Agile’s free software also offers web pop ups and surveys on your website to engage leads and customers with personalized deals that combat exit intent.

It also was designed to function with social media so you can monitor Twitter streams and schedule tweets. You can even include social media in automated campaigns.

Our opinion

Agile was designed with modern small businesses in mind and is an excellent tool to help you better understand and grow your business.

CRM Software Multiple Users? Multiple Pipelines? Meeting Scheduling? Reports and Dashboards Mobile? Integrations? Email Marketing?
Freshsales ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ Reports

1 Dashboard

 ✔ Gmail

Excel

❌
Zoho CRM 3 ❌ ❌ ✔ Basic Reports

✔ Dashboards

 ❌ Zoho apps ✔
HubSpot ✔ ❌ 1 link ✔ ✔ Gmail, Outlook ✔
EngageBay 15 ❌ ✔ ✔ ❌ Email

Quickbooks

 ✔
Capsule 2 ❌ ✔ ✔ ✔ Outlook

Zapier

 ✔
Bitrix24 Unlimited ❌ ✔ ❌ ✔ Dropbox

GoogleDocs

Office365

 ❌
Streak ❌ ✔ ✔ ❌ ✔ Google Workspace ✔
Insightly 2 ❌ ✔ ✔ ✔ Google

MS 365

 ✔
eWay-CRM Unlimited ❌ ✔ ❌ ✔ Outlook

Zapier

WordPress

 ✔
Airtable 5 ❌ ✔ ❌ Reports

✔ Dashboard

 ✔ ❌ ❌
Agile CRM 10

❌

 ✔ ✔ ❌ Google ✔

A summary of free CRM software

Some form of a CRM system is necessary for even small businesses if they want to survive. You may have started with your notes app on your phone, then moved to a CRM Excel, and now here you are at a professional CRM software level.

A CRM boosts your chances of acquiring new customers but you don’t have to pay out the nose to get that benefit. There are plenty of great software products available on the market that are completely free. We’ve taken a look at twelve free versions of these products and they all have their own unique benefits – whether you want something to help you with email marketing, a software that will help you visualize your pipeline, or one that helps you collaborate better with your team – you’ll find what you need to help you grow your business.