The 10 best CRM platforms of 2025

Customer relationship management (CRM) software has long been the most efficient, versatile way to manage sales processes. Our research has revealed that investing in a powerful CRM platform can increase sales revenue by 30%, win rate by 30%, and customer satisfaction by 32%.

There's a good reason to invest in CRM software. However, before you make a decision, it’s important to consider what each CRM solution offers to ensure you get the best CRM platform for your needs. One thing to consider is price. Plans vary widely, with some costing as little as $9 and others as much as $3,600. So, what’s the best choice for your company?

In this article, we’ll be comparing the various pricing plans of the 10 leading CRM providers currently available. We’ll examine the strengths and limitations of each provider, as well as share the notable features of their available plan options. We’ll also provide a little more detail on other considerations, such as hidden costs and free trials.

• CRM pricing at a glance
• What is a CRM?
• The 10 best CRMs: What they cost and what you get
• Which plan is right for you?
• The hidden costs – what to watch out for
• CRM free trials: What you should know
• Value vs. price: Why Salesforce is different
• Ready to choose your CRM?

As mentioned, pricing for CRM solutions varies widely, with the average entry-level paid plans coming in at around $40 per month AUD. The features available for each plan are often the biggest drivers of cost. Some of the more notable names do charge a premium, but even on their lower-tier plans, they offer substantial features that would be enough for most SMEs and businesses just finding their way.

Here’s a quick breakdown of all the providers (and their pricing plans) that we’ll be examining.

Note: All prices are in AUD unless otherwise specified. Pricing is accurate at the time of publication, but may have changed. Some prices are approximate.

*Pipedrive/Freshsales/Apptivo/monday.com offer an additional plan between entry-level and mid-tier pricing.

Customer relationship management (CRM) is both a software and a strategy designed to monitor and maintain positive relationships between a business and its customers. At its core, it acts as a single source of truth where businesses can easily access historical customer data and interactions.

With the advancement of AI technologies, many CRM platforms now offer automation for processes like analysing customer behaviour and buying intent, lead scoring and sending marketing emails. These advanced features are usually reserved for upper-tier pricing packages; simple plans are primarily designed for storing and accessing data when needed.

For more information on what a CRM is, check out the video below.

Now that you know what a CRM is and what it does, let’s get into the details of the 10 CRM software companies we mentioned earlier. There’s a set of core features that are synonymous with a good CRM investment; we’ve highlighted them in the table below.

As you can see, there isn’t a lot to separate each platform if we’re basing things on core functions and features, so let’s delve a little deeper to see which platform offers the best value for the money.

Best for: Complex enterprise solutions

Salesforce CRM contains dozens of solutions, from data unification to marketing personalisation and AI-driven insights, giving it a huge advantage when it comes to carrying out complete business operations. It’s up there with the very best enterprise solutions, thanks to its powerful reporting and forecast features, exceptional AI functionality (via Einstein) and extensive marketplace for additional third-party integrations.

While Salesforce is a bit pricier than some of the other names on this list, pricing is flexible. The CRM is designed to scale with the business, so you only pay for the features you need. And you can add or take away features as and when you need to.

The 30-day free trial is also generous, giving you plenty of time to fully test out features and decide whether it’s the right platform for you.

Best for: Particular emphasis on marketing automation

HubSpot CRM is another excellent option from a company that offers a wide range of business tools and applications, each designed to work together as one. Their CRM is well set up to assist with solid customer outreach and sales efforts, with strong generative-AI options to complement the marketing team. And with its Breeze Assistant software, it’s geared towards achieving robust AI-driven performance across the board.

HubSpot offers a small discount for new users on its Starter plan, with the option to pay either monthly or annually. And while the free plan is a bit limited in terms of what it can offer, it is available forever once purchased, which might make it a good choice for smaller businesses.

Best for: SMEs looking for something simple but powerful

Freshsales is well-regarded for its smart UI features and simple but effective functionality. It comes with everything you’d need in a CRM, particularly if you have a small- to medium-sized business or a company just getting started. Its AI engine, Freddy AI, is great for automating many processes, including workflows and sales processes; other notable CRM features include deal recommendations and AI lead tracking.

The growth plan (starting at just $18 per month) includes several solid features, but they’re quite basic at this level. Some key AI features are only available on the upper tiers, and even with these more expensive packages, there is an argument to be made that you can find more advanced functionality elsewhere.

Best for: Additional focus on pipeline management

As the name suggests, Pipedrive sets itself apart as a superior CRM option for AI-powered pipeline management, with instant visual representation of everything that’s happening at each stage of a deal. It’s noted for having a smooth learning curve, with even advanced features being quite straightforward to configure. And its strong third-party integration ecosystem (more than 500 apps) gives its users a high level of versatility.

Unfortunately, Pipedrive doesn’t offer a free plan, and many key functions are only available as add-ons, which can be quite costly. And while the basic plan cost is reasonable ($21 per month), the price hike is considerable at the upper levels when compared to some of the other names on this list.

Best for: SMEs looking for affordable, AI-driven performance

Zoho is another versatile platform; its CRM can integrate smoothly with a number of its own products as well as additional third-party applications. Its AI system, Zia AI, is up there with the best in terms of performance and functionality, with conversational AI embedded into the platform for quick access to data and customer information. It’s also excellent for data enrichment throughout its operations.

Zoho offers a generous free plan, with many of the features from paid plans available to use (albeit at lower capacities). However, the free plan only supports three users, which can be quite limiting. Its pricing is pretty reasonable given its functionality, with its top-tier plan coming in at just over $80 per user per month, but data and storage limits can be an issue if you’re looking to scale quickly.

Best for: Businesses looking for a cost-effective, versatile platform

Apptivo is another CRM provider that favours a modular design for its infrastructure. While there are plenty of good out-of-the-box features to get excited about, its high level of customisation gives businesses the ability to set things up exactly as they need them. This platform is often particularly praised for its lead management, with excellent data capture that allows businesses to create detailed lead profiles ready for nurturing.

While no free plan is available, the 14-day trial will give users a good taste of what the platform can offer; the paid plans are reasonable, with the most expensive package coming in at around $75 per user per month.

Best for: Well-balanced, affordable functionality across all business operations

Make no mistake, monday.com CRM offers more than just a pretty face. Underneath the sleek dashboards and intuitive commands is a CRM that handles many business tasks with ease, including AI-powered automation for workflows and sales optimisation. A wide range of templates is available to get new users started, and its heavy emphasis on third-party integration gives it a high level of versatility as well.

Four plans are available, including a customisable Enterprise plan. The Pro plan is very affordable (just $30 per user per month), but the monthly limitations on things such as automations and integrations can be a headache for businesses looking to expand.

Best for: Businesses that handle highly sensitive data

Insightly was built with safety in mind. It comes with a comprehensive list of advanced safety controls and mechanisms, including permissions, user role settings and HIPAA compliance, which make it the ideal platform for businesses in industries such as healthcare and security. Its intuitive user interface makes it quite an easy platform to learn, with all of the features you’d expect to find on a CRM present and accounted for.

However, it’s on the pricier side, with entry-level CRM plans starting at around $44 per user per month (more expensive than several mid-tier plans). There are some questions about its current AI capabilities, and some core marketing functions that are standard with other platforms are optional add-ons here.

Best for: SMEs on a budget

Less Annoying CRM likes to keep things simple, making it a great choice for new businesses and sole traders who need a gateway CRM. With a name like this, it has to follow through on making things as easy as possible for its customers. As such, it favours ready-made, out-of-the-box solutions rather than deep configuration and customisation, which can be both a blessing and a curse.

Pricing-wise, it couldn’t be more straightforward. It only offers one tiered plan that comes in at around $23 per user per month, which includes unlimited contacts, companies and pipelines. Storage is capped at 25 GB per user, which might cause some issues, and the lack of advanced features might make scaling a problem.

Best for: Larger companies requiring an all-in-one solution

The final name on our list is Bitrix24, a CRM that can boast strong performance and functionality across many business operations. In terms of sales, it offers excellent omnichannel communication to secure a significant number of leads, which can then be evaluated with exceptional AI-powered lead scoring and insights. This is on top of the vast range of additional tools that businesses can gain access to.

Unsurprisingly, a feature-rich platform such as this is going to cost a premium. It’s the most expensive entry-level plan on this list by far, with prices starting at $105 per month. It does soften this slightly with a free plan that still covers a lot of general functionality. And if you choose to pay annually rather than monthly, you could save up to 20% on your total cost.

Hopefully, you can see by now that no CRM is ideal for every business out there. All businesses are different, with various needs and objectives that they’ll require their platform to facilitate.

For smaller businesses, cost and ease-of-use considerations will likely drive decision-making. For larger businesses or those that have access to technical expertise and are looking to expand, feature-rich and highly configurable platforms will likely yield better results.

To ensure you select the right solution, research each platform and its features carefully.

Many platforms will state that the pricing structure of their plans is set on a ‘per user’ basis. This can make the solution appear cheaper than others.

However, if a plan price feels too cheap, it could be because there are a number of hidden costs within the plan that aren’t automatically made clear.

Some of the most common hidden costs might include:

• Third-party applications: Platforms will have varying levels of out-of-the-box functionality. In order for businesses to achieve a full service across all of their business operations, they may have to pay for additional features. This could be either from the same company or via third parties.
• Minimum seat requirements: You might find solutions that require a minimum number of user licences to purchase their plan. These licence fees could multiply the initial stated cost considerably.
• Storage and data limits: Many plans will come with caps on storage and data limits (which can be quickly used up). In order to access extra storage or data, you’ll need to pay for it.
• Data migration: The whole point of a CRM is to bring all of a business’s scattered data sources into one centralised hub. However, some platforms will charge an additional fee to enable this.
• Setup and support: If your business doesn’t have a tech team on site, you may be required to pay CRM implementation costs for the platform to set you up and get you going. Additionally, full customer support is sometimes only available on top-tier CRM pricing plans or as an extra cost.

Most reputable solutions will offer a free trial to allow potential customers to test the platform before purchasing. They’re often a great feature, but treat them with a little caution and perspective.

You should check carefully to see which features you’ll gain access to. Some platforms will offer everything to give users the full experience; others will use the free trial as more of an enticement, with powerful features (particularly around automation and AI) blocked until full purchase.

You should also be careful if you’re asked to enter credit card details when signing up for the trial. This can result in auto-billing, meaning you may end up being stuck paying for the platform once the trial has ended.

And you’ll also want to take care of the data you use on the platform during the trial. If you choose not to purchase the full trial, you may lose access to the data if it’s not exportable.

Clearly, not all CRMs are priced the same. You may have also noticed that Salesforce, in terms of monthly costs, is more expensive than some of the other names we’ve mentioned.

It’s true that cheaper CRMs save money up front; however, with Salesforce, you’ll be saving time and effort, with a higher ROI offsetting the additional costs. Plus, Salesforce is the ideal solution for scaling and unifying data, both in the short and long term, meaning you’ll be futureproofing your business from platform changes and amendments.

It’s exactly why Farm Focus chose us as their CRM provider. By migrating to Salesforce, they were able to replace more than 40 legacy tools with a single Salesforce platform, cutting technology and operational costs by an estimated $1.1M NZD in under a year.

On top of this, Data 360, combined with Agentforce, has opened the door to AI capabilities they simply couldn’t get from any other CRM provider.

This has allowed them to connect all their customer information and provide 24/7 support to farmers. As a result, they’ve reduced manual workload, improved service speed and lifted marketing efficiency by 90%.

Our vast array of products and services ensures you get enterprise-grade capabilities rather than just a CRM. And we firmly feel it’s worth the price.

There’s no doubt that a powerful, reliable CRM is an essential part of modern-day business operations. Not only do they act as a hub for storing and managing customer data and create a single point of truth, but they also play a big part in enabling all other business operations, whether it’s sales, marketing, logistics or something else.

That’s why choosing the right CRM is so critical. Before you make your choice, have a firm idea of what you want your CRM to deliver, and conduct your own careful due diligence. By getting this important decision correct, you’ll set your business up for substantial long-term success.

The Salesforce CRM platform is the key cog that makes all of our products work together, uniting customer service, sales and marketing to form a truly unique ecosystem. And thanks to our Einstein Trust Layer, your CRM will be powered by first-class AI systems designed to automate and streamline your entire process.

Contact us today to begin your journey with Salesforce .