Key Takeaways
Let us guess. You’ve done your research for all the best business tools. Or wait, you haven’t quite found the right customer relationship management (CRM) system for your team? No, it’s probably that you just simply don’t like your current tools. Wherever you are, finding the best (and low-cost) CRM solution is a big decision. But, it may not have to be — with the right information.
For budget-conscious startups, a free plan is the perfect on-ramp to a CRM. It allows you to implement a professional system without a large investment, and learn the features to see how a CRM, not a spreadsheet, is your best bet. So let’s jump into the list of the best free CRMs for scaling teams (because that’s exactly what you’ll do).
Choosing a free (quality) CRM for your startup
The best free CRM is the one that meets your needs today, and scales with your vision for tomorrow, even if it sounds like a cliche. Here is a good foundational list of things to consider when choosing a free or low-cost CRM for your team.
Team size and users: How many people need access now, and how many do you anticipate needing access within the next 12 to 18 months? Even adding one more seat can change the equation for your startup.
Features needed: What is your core focus? A startup’s needs can vary depending on its stage, industry, and business model. By pinpointing your primary objective for implementing a CRM, you can prioritize the features that will deliver the highest return on investment (ROI) in terms of efficiency and growth.
Scalability and ecosystem: When evaluating a platform, the critical question is: Where do you envision your business in three years, and can this CRM get you there? Because a CRM that forces a disruptive migration within a year or two because it hits a functional or capacity wall isn’t a partner for long-term success. The best free CRM for a startup is one that is a foundational step, not a temporary stop-gap, ensuring a smooth, predictable, and non-disruptive path to scale.
Start with SMB Basics
10 best free CRMs for startups
We’ve assessed the worldwide market to bring you the best-of-breed free CRM solutions, focusing on the features that matter most to a startup team scaling fast.
1. Salesforce Free Suite
Salesforce now offers Free Suite, a free CRM that includes the basics of what you need to get started with managing deals and building a clear view of your customers. It provides sales, service, and email marketing functions for up to two users, so small teams can manage leads, support customers, and stay connected in one place, plus a free Slack workspace for real-time collaboration.
Free Suite is a great starting point for small teams looking to track initial customer interactions, move beyond spreadsheets, and manage a basic pipeline with more structure and visibility — without an upfront investment.
Key features:
- Sales, service, and email marketing functionalities together in one platform
- A free Slack workspace for collaborating with external partners
- Ready-made reports and dashboards let you customize views and share insights that keep your business on track.
Best for: Small businesses and startups who need basic sales and service tracking and want to scale with the same CRM platform.
Get Salesforce. FREE for small businesses.
Connect sales, service, and analytics on one platform. Save time, stay organized, and fuel growth with the CRM that scales for small teams.
2. Freshsales
Freshworks CRM is an AI-powered, free customer engagement suite designed to maximize sales efficiency with a strong focus on communication and customer interaction.
Key features:
- AI-based lead scoring and predictive deal insights to prioritize high-potential prospects.
- Integrated phone, chat, and email for true omni-channel sales engagement.
- Customizable Kanban-style pipelines for a clear deal overview.
Best for: Small to midsize sales teams in dynamic environments that need omni-channel communication tools.
3. Zoho CRM
Zoho offers a free version of a customizable and affordable CRM, often used as part of the broader Zoho One suite, providing a complete platform for managing sales, marketing, and customer support.
Key features:
- Tools like Canvas Design Studio to tailor the interface to specific business needs.
- AI assistant for tasks like updating records and mobile sales pipeline management (available in higher tiers).
- Lead scoring, process blueprints, and assignment and escalation rules.
Best For: Small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), especially those already using or considering the broader ecosystem.
4. Pipedrive
Pipedrive offers a free version of a sales-focused CRM designed by salespeople, built entirely around its visual pipeline management to help users organize activities, track deals, and close sales efficiently.
Key features:
- An intuitive, Kanban-style interface that allows drag-and-drop deal management.
- Prompts and reminders for necessary actions (calls, emails) to keep deals moving.
- Includes chatbot, live chat, web forms, and AI-powered Prospector, part of the LeadBooster add-on.
Best for: Sales and midsize teams and companies that prioritize activity management and visualizing their pipeline over marketing features.
Kickstart your SMB with Starter Suite
See results from day one with a CRM designed for SMBs — the all-in-one suite for productivity. It all starts with Starter Suite.
5. Insightly
Insightly is a free CRM platform that combines CRM capabilities with native project management, aiming to manage the entire customer journey from sales inception to post-sale delivery.
Key features:
- Seamlessly convert closed deals into tracked projects.
- Maps the relationship between contacts, organizations, opportunities, and projects.
- Extensive, customizable dashboards for tracking sales and project performance.
Best for: Small businesses and teams that require a tight integration between sales and project fulfillment.
6. EngageBay
EngageBay offers a free to affordable CRM suite that brings together sales, marketing, and service tools into a single platform, featuring a strong free plan.
Key features:
- Unifies CRM, marketing automation, helpdesk, and live chat in one place.
- Automation workflows and segmentation available on core plans.
- All teams (sales, marketing, service) see a unified view of customer activity.
Best for: Budget-conscious SMBs, B2B services, and startups looking for a unified solution that won’t break the bank.
7. Apptivo
Apptivo is a comprehensive suite of integrated business applications, offering a customizable CRM alongside tools for quoting, invoicing, field service, and more.
Key features:
- Over 65 integrated apps covering CRM, invoicing, project management, and field service.
- Built-in tools for creating custom quotes and invoicing directly from the CRM.
- Utilize drag-and-drop to design custom fields, reports, and layouts.
Best for: Mid-sized businesses that need to integrate their CRM directly with other back-office functions like invoicing, quoting, or field service.
8. Bitrix24
Bitrix24 offers a business platform that goes beyond traditional CRM, integrating customer management with comprehensive team collaboration tools, project management, and a contact center.
Key features:
- Includes CRM, team chat, task management, project tracking, and document management.
- Build custom sales pipelines and automate tasks.
- Integrated tools for multi-channel customer support and communication.
Best for: Small and mid-sized businesses that are looking for a digital workspace to manage not just customer relationships but also internal team projects.
Boost team productivity with Slack
Bring together your team, your customers, and your tools to help take your business to the next level with Slack — it’s where business gets done.
9. Airtable
Airtable offers a cloud-based platform that functions as a flexible, relational database. It is not a traditional CRM, but can be used to build custom, powerful CRM solutions tailored to your business’s needs.
Key features:
- Stores data in linked tables, allowing for complex, custom data structures.
- Create custom visual interfaces (dashboards, forms) for different users and workflows.
- Visualize data in various formats: grid, calendar, Kanban, gallery, and timeline.
Best for: Technical users, marketing teams, and businesses with non-standard workflows that need to build a CRM solution from scratch.
Maximize Your CRM Productivity
Learn how small and growing businesses are taking productivity to new levels with Salesforce CRM in this free e-book.
Thank you for downloading the free e-book!
Here's your free e-book!Free CRM comparison table
Drumroll…The best free CRM for startups is: Salesforce Free Suite
Starting with a free CRM allows you to implement discipline, centralize your customer data, and prove your sales process. Whether you need the seamless scale of Salesforce, the marketing depth of HubSpot, or the customization of Airtable, the best choice is the one you’ll actually use.
Stop managing your business on spreadsheets and start building for the future, today.
Start your journey with the Free or Starter Suite today. Looking for more customization? Explore Pro Suite. Already a Salesforce customer? Activate Foundations to try out Agentforce 360 today.
AI supported the writers and editors who created this article.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Free CRMs are designed to help very small teams or individual users establish a foundational sales and service process. They usually include core features like contact management, basic pipeline tracking, and reporting. Paid CRMs, or upgraded suites, unlock advanced capabilities such as higher user limits, comprehensive marketing automation, greater storage, advanced security features, and deep customization options needed for scaling businesses.
A free CRM is a dynamic, relational database built specifically for managing customer relationships. Unlike a static spreadsheet, a CRM automatically logs activities (emails, calls), provides a visual sales pipeline, ensures data consistency across teams, and offers reporting. Spreadsheets are prone to errors, offer no unified view of the customer, and cannot scale past the earliest stages of a business.
You should consider upgrading when you start hitting the hard limits of the free plan, which typically happens when your team size exceeds the user limit, you need features like advanced automation or reporting that are locked behind a paywall, or your contact database or storage capacity reaches its cap. Upgrading ensures your growth isn’t constrained by your technology.
Most popular free CRMs offer basic integrations with common tools like email clients and certain marketing apps. However, some free tiers limit third-party integrations, reserving full API access and more complex connections for their paid plans.
Migrating customer data between CRMs can be time-consuming and disruptive, which is why choosing a scalable platform from the start is highly recommended. While moving basic contact and deal data is usually manageable, complex workflows and historical customer activity can be challenging to transfer smoothly. Choose a platform with a clear, non-disruptive upgrade path for long-term stability.
