All businesses can benefit from having CRM software to help them manage their customer relationships, support sales and marketing to improve communications and gain insight into their customers. The advantages to startups are that they can help businesses in building their brand, improve communications with customers and consistency between departments/individuals, assist in tracking all interactions, and provide insights in the form of sales reports and forecasting.
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Featured CRMs
There are a few things that you should look out for when choosing which CRM software is best for your fledgling business:
- The number of users as this can be restricted on some lower or free plans and you may need to increase your plan as your business grows so know when this happens a price increase would occur so you need to bear this in mind.
- The price as there are many free plans available which you could take advantage of initially but you may wish to select one that can grow with your business and not be too expensive when you need to progress on to a paid plan, either due to the number of users or the need for more functionality.
- The number of contacts allowed as this can differ between plans and providers and may result in you needing to increase your plan level which will increase the costs in the future.
- The key functionality included in the plan and whether it meets your needs now and in the future. Things to look at that may differ are communications channels included, pipelines, automations, integrations, email campaigns (and allowances), reporting functionality, collaboration tools and storage.
- Can you trial the software for free? And do they offer a free plan?
Companies are ranked in no particular order.
1. Zoho CRM
- Offers a free plan ideal for startups
- Suitable for up to three users
- Contact and lead management
- Manage tasks, events, call logs and notes
- Offers advanced filters
- Five custom list views
- Workflow rules
- Allowance of 50 emails per day and 10 email templates
- Includes standard reporting
- Customer support during business hours
Website Zoho CRM software
2. Copper CRM
- Offers a basic plan for small businesses and startups
- Suitable for up to three seats
- Manage up to 2,500 contacts
- Includes Google Workspace integration
- Provides project management and team collaboration tools
- Manage multiple pipelines
- User provisioning and single sign-on
- Legacy reports
- 10 custom fields
- Offers a 14-day trial
Website Copper CRM software
3. Freshsales
- Offers a free plan suitable for business startups
- Manage contacts
- Built-in chat, email and phone
- Allows you to customise lifecycle stages
- Supports sales teams
- Provides customer insight
- User-friendly software
- Easy to implement software
- Mobile app to access software from any device
- Provides support 24×5
Website Freshsales CRM software
4. HubSpot CRM
- Offers a range of free tools suitable for startups
- Also provides a selection of Starter plans including Marketing, Sales, Service, CMS, Operations and CRM Suite
- Manage your contacts
- Monitor website activity
- Manage tasks and activities
- Sales quotes
- Create email schedules
- Includes live chat and forms
- Reporting dashboard
- Integrations including Outlook, Gmail, Facebook Messenger and App Marketplace
Website HubSpot CRM software
5. Insightly CRM
- Offers a free plan and basic plan that are suitable for business startups
- Can assist in managing contacts
- Supports your sales teams
- Provides project delivery support
- Easy to use and set up
- Offers collaboration tools
- Allows reporting to gain insights into customers
- Mobile app to allow access from any device
- Integrates with Microsoft Office 365, Calendar and OneDrive
- Offers Support and Service plans that provide help and training
Website Insightly CRM software
6. Zendesk
- Offers qualifying startups six months of free software access
- Manage customer interactions quickly
- Supports messaging, live chat, social, email and phone
- Unlimited training during the free period
- AI-powered chatbots
- Automate processes
- Integrate apps such as Slack, Jira, Segment, Mailchimp
- Real-time analytics
- Choice of plans when the free period ends
- Access to a community of founders and users
Website Zendesk CRM software
7. Pipedrive CRM
- Offers an Essential plan suitable for startups and small businesses
- Low price per user
- Limit of up to 3,000 deals per company
- Customisable pipelines
- Track communications
- Activity reports and dashboards
- Mobile app available on iOS and Android
- Integrates with 250+ apps
- 24/7 live chat support
- Offers a 14-day trial, no credit card required
Website Pipedrive CRM software
8. SugarCRM
- Offers a choice of CRM applications with basic levels suitable for startups and smaller businesses
- Plans for three to five users
- Basic support
- Easily upgraded
- Contact, opportunity and account management
- Manage activities and pipelines
- Quotes management
- Forecasting, reporting and analytics
- Omni-channel communications
- A free demo of their software is available
Website SugarCRM software
9. Capsule CRM
- Offers a free plan for up to two users and 250 contacts
- A scalable solution that can grow with your business
- Provides 50MB storage
- Manage tasks
- Includes customisable sales milestones
- Send emails
- A visual pipeline through Kanban
- Sales dashboard view
- Integrates with a range of apps and email
- Offers a 30-day free trial on their paid plans
Website Capsule CRM software
10. Agile CRM
- Offers a Free plan and Starter plan that are suitable for startups and smaller businesses
- Provides 1,000 or 10,000 contacts/companies
- Unlimited tasks, deals and documents
- Schedule appointments
- Customise milestones
- Run email campaigns and use templates
- Web engagement
- Run basic reports
- Provides email-based support
- The free plan is available with no credit card required
Website Agile CRM software