Best CRM Software Tools & Systems 2023 (Top 15 Comparison)

If your startup, business or enterprise isn’t using CRM tools, you’re losing sales and slipping behind the competition. 

Choosing the best CRM software is no easy task. There are loads of great options out there. Not to mention plenty of reviews too. That’s why we’ve done the work for you. 

We’ve carefully chosen the best customer relationship management tools & systems. This roundup of the 15 best CRM Software will surely have the right software solutions for any size and type of company, whatever your specific business needs. We compare pricing and point out the best free crm options too.

Whether you need to customize your process, sales cycle, capture all touchpoints, look at your metrics, or gain potential customers, there is a CRM for every org.

CRM software comparison chart (top 10 highest rated)

What is the best CRM software? Here’s our top 15 list of the best tools & systems on the market

When shopping for best crm, you need to keep in mind a few things: 

• How big is your budget? 

• How many people will use it? 

• Does every department need it? 

• Do you want a robust platform with many features, or a simple platform with just the basics?

In the end, there might not be one single best crm software for all users and companies alike. We’re sure this great list of 15 CRM software vendors will have the right Customer Relationship Management solution for you.

HubSpot CRM (Best CRM software overall)

HubSpot made its name in inbound marketing. This helps companies attract new users through content. HubSpot also offers general crm tools, and they are among the best overall.

Everything in HubSpot is very intuitive. HubSpot’s products are divided between marketing, sales, service and CMS. Marketing helps you with lead generation to grow your network and save time. There is marketing automation to stay front-of-mind with your customers. For marketers you also get marketing analytics. The sales module of HubSpot is where you get advanced CRM and other software like a meetings scheduler. Service does help desks, tickets, knowledge bases and customer feedback. CMS is for managing your content. HubSpot CRM really helps you provide a great customer experience. You can also have a HubSpot add-on for Gmail or Office 365.

There are many different pricings for HubSpot CRM. A starter CRM and sales package has a cost per user of $40.

HubSpot CRM is best for:

• Individual users

• Small teams

• Startups

• Small business

• Marketing

• Sales

• Service 

• CMS

• Ecommerce

Learn more

Salesforce (Best customer relationship management software for sales teams)

Salesforce is one of the oldest names in CRM solutions. Today it has many products and modules. These include customer relationship management software for the big three: marketing, sales and customer support. Overall, Salesforce is a solid and popular CRM software for medium-to-large operations.

Salesforce covers all your business processes. For marketing, Salesforce offers software to build email marketing campaigns. You can also set up marketing automation. There are social media listening and posting features. Sales teams using Salesforce get good customer relationship management. You also get CRM software to streamline the sales lifecycle with Sales Cloud. For customer service, Salesforce has crm tools for creating a self-service resource. Customer support reps can also use Salesforce CRM contact data to help customers in less time. Salesforce is very effective for both lead generation and customer retention. The only thing is, there’s some learning curve with Salesforce.

Salesforce has many pricing plans. There is an essential CRM software plan for $25. A professional CRM plan is $75.

Salesforce is best for:

• Startups 

• Small Business

• Large business

• Marketing

• Sales

• Support

Website: Salesforce

Pipedrive (Best customer relationship management tool for pipeline management)

Pipedrive is a CRM platform that focuses on boosting sales and revenue. The name is meant to invoke the sales pipeline and drive up sales stats.

Like any good customer relationship management for sales, Pipedrive lets you track all your communication with each customer. There are software tools to make sure you maintain high levels of customer satisfaction along the customer journey. It has a suite of features to manage all your leads and ongoing deals. There are many features to help you automate repetitive tasks. Pipedrive is a very visual platform. This goes for monitoring the sales process and sales activities as well as for analytics. It’s also got mobile software for iOS iPhones and Androids. Overall Pipedrive scores points for ease of use. 

There are 4 pricing plans for Pipedrive. The cost per user of the essential plan is $14.90.

Pipedrive is best for:

• Startups

• Small Business

• Workflow automation

• Pipeline management

• Mobile software

• Ecommerce

Learn more

Freshsales (Top CRM Software with AI lead scoring)

Freshsales is one of the best CRM Software by Freshworks. Freshworks is an all-in-one platform with separate SaaS for marketing teams and customer service.

Freshsales makes use of AI to help you understand your customers and leads. It does lead scoring to show you your best opportunities. Freshsales offers salespeople built-in email and phone software tools. You get clear customer data and actionable tips on how to manage customer interactions, like when and how to reach out. You can also get email notifications about new engagements or follow-ups. This set of software works great with other Freshworks products, like Freshmarketer, which has a chatbot feature.

Freshsales has 3 pricing plans. The cheapest one is $15 (Free up to 3 users). 

Freshsales is best for:

• Startups

• Small Business

• Sales teams

• Phone calls

• AI lead scoring

• Opportunity management

Website: Freshsales

Microsoft Dynamics 365 (Best CRM Software for business intelligence)

Microsoft doesn’t kid around when it comes to business SaaS. Dynamics 365 is an all-in-one CRM software and ERP set of tools.

Using AI, Microsoft Dynamics 365 helps companies find the right customers and demographic for their products. As a CRM platform, you get full views of all your customers. There are software tools to automate the sales process. You even get features to help coach your sales reps and improve their performance. Marketing tools find new leads. It also gives you sales forecasting and trend watching. Dynamics 365 has a full customer service suite as well as an API for customization. You also get extras like project management and accounting.

Being Microsoft, there are many different pricing plans. Basic sales CRM starts at $20. You can also choose between cloud-based or on-premise installation.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is best for:

• Large business

• Enterprise

• Contact management software

• Lead management

• Business intelligence

• Project management

Website: Microsoft Dynamics 365

Mailchimp (Best CRM tool for marketing campaigns)

Mailchimp started out as an email subscription SaaS, managing newsletters. Now it’s a complete customer relationship management solution for marketing teams for small business.

When it comes to marketing efforts, Mailchimp lets you build email campaigns, social media ads, and landing pages for your brand. There are audience segmentation tools to find new customers. A simple visual editor lets you create automated marketing campaigns. You also get tools like A/B testing and customer surveys. Mailchimp can give you stats like purchase likelihood for each lead. As well they have many third-party integrations and a developer API to supercharge your software. Overall this is a great SaaS for marketing insights.

There are 3 paid plans for Mailchimp. The essentials cost $9.99.

Mailchimp is best for:

• Individual users

• Small teams

• Startups

• Small business

• Marketing campaigns

• Social listening

Website: Mailchimp

Zoho CRM (Good customer relationship management software for managing customers)

Zoho is a cloud-based set of business SaaS. There are loads of individual Zoho software. You can get a suite of them in packages like the CRM platform.

Zoho CRM is mainly used for sales purposes. It helps with lead capture to grow your network. Opportunity management tools see your leads move through the sales lifecycle. You get a 360 view of your customers information as well as various channels of communication. Real-time notifications happen when customers engage with your business. You get analytics on the best ways and times to reach out to leads. There’s also an AI-powered sales assistant, which also powers a chatbot tool. Aside from sales, you can use it as a help desk software for customers.  

Zoho CRM software offers 4 different pricing options. The standard option has a cost per user of $12.

Zoho CRM is best for:

• Individual users

• Startups

• Small Business

• Customer information

• Ecommerce

• Sales force automation

Learn more

Apptivo CRM (Best CRM Software for workflow automation)

Apptivo is a cloud-based SaaS with many features. It includes a customer relationship management solution that is versatile for businesses of all sizes.

The CRM software from Apptivo are all customizable. There are automation tools to take over rote data entry and other repetitive tasks. It starts with customers relationship management and goes on to lead conversion and sales planning. You get analytics on your sales pipeline and other opportunity management data. Apptivo has email integration with software like Google’s Gmail. You can use Apptivo email templates for marketing or keeping in touch with regular customers. You even get stats on how competitors are doing.

The cost per user for Apptivo premium begins at $8. There’s also a free version from Apptivo.

Apptivo CRM is best for:

• Individual users

• Small teams

• Startups

• Small Business

• Lead capture

• Opportunity management

• Sales process tracking

• Workflow automation

Website: Apptivo

Insightly (Top CRM software for analytics and reports)

Insightly is an all-in-one CRM solution and project management software. This is a professional platform for medium to large businesses.

Insightly gives you a total picture of your customers. It allows easy sharing of customer data across sales, marketing and project management. You can create automated marketing funnels that target audience segments. There’s email tracking, which shows you when sales leads open emails and other link click rates. Lead routing connects a customers with the right sales agent. Insightly also has great dashboards which have customization options.  

For prices, contact Insightly.

Insightly is best for:

• Medium to Large business

• Enterprise

• Project management

• Task management

• Sales

• Analytics and reports

Website: Insightly

Keap Infusionsoft (Good CRM tool for marketing and sales automation)

Keap and Infusionsoft are two business SaaS that work together nicely. Keap grows your business. Infusionsoft is the all-in-one marketing and sales software.

Infusionsoft begins with a customer relationship management Software. It logs all activity and reminds you of follow-ups. You can link your Gmail or Outlook to it. There are good email marketing templates. You can also automate personalized email campaigns. The lead management dashboard is customizable and very intuitive. You can set up trigger emails to make sure a sales team stays on top of the customer experience. 

Keap Infusionsoft costs $129. But check with the vendor for updated prices.  

Keap Infusionsoft is best for:

• Startups

• Small Businesses

• Large business

• Sales management

• Email marketing

Website: Keap

SugarCRM

SugarCRM is an all-in-one marketing, sales and service platform. This is a CRM system that’s hosted on-premise.

For marketing, SugarCRM has social media advertising tools which includes SEO tips. It’s easy to create campaigns from templates and a drag and drop editor. You can automate marketing campaigns to nurture contacts into leads. This feeds into SugarCRM’s sales force automation features. It helps you track emails and monitor all your leads through the funnel. Customer support software use smart routing to connect users with the best agent.

SugarCRM sells its tools separately. Both Sugar Sell and Sugar Service go for $80. Sugar Market is $1,000. 

SugarCRM is best for:

• Small Business

• Large business

• Marketing automation

• Sales automation

• Customer service

Website: SugarCRM

Nimble 

Nimble CRM scores points for ease of use. This CRM system works with Office 365 and G Suite teams.

Nimble is web-based and works inside web browsers or other software. These include Microsoft Teams and Excel. Nimble has decent contact organization. You get all your engagement across multiple channels in one unified history. You can track projects and tasks. There’s standard sales process management to see all your open opportunities. There’s also good unified team calendars. Nimble has iOS and Android software too.

The cost per user of Nimble Business is $19.

Nimble is best for:

• Individual users

• Startups

• Small Business

• Microsoft Office users

• G Suite users

• Team collaboration

Website: Nimble

NetSuite CRM

NetSuite is a series of SaaS made by software giant Oracle. It includes ERP and CRM software. This is no CRM system for small teams on tight budgets.

NetSuite’s CRM has advanced customer information. You get real-time updates when customers change their social profiles. NetSuite CRM has software for sales force automation. These include making quotes, managing orders and doing sales forecasting. There are marketing automation and campaign management features. You get web-to-lead forms and analytics on how well your marketing campaigns are doing. 

For the cost per user of NetSuite CRM, contact their sales departments.

NetSuite CRM is best for:

• Small Business

• Large business

• Enterprise

• Sales force automation

• Marketing automation

Website: NetSuite

Really Simple Systems CRM

Really Simple CRM used to be just that: simple. But the software has grown and now includes a range of sophisticated CRM software.

Really Simple Systems has a set of features for the standard three departments: marketing, sales and service. Marketing gets you lead management and campaign management. There’s also email marketing and automation. Sales software includes customer and pipeline management. It also does tasks, calendars and sales forecasting. Customer service has case management, SLAs and case reports.

Really Simple Systems has a free plan. For premium plans, the cost per user starts at $14.

Really Simple Systems CRM is best for:

• Individual users

• Small Business

• Small teams

• SMBs

• CRM tools

• Task management

Website: Really Simple Systems

Less Annoying CRM

Continuing with customer relationship management software with descriptive names: here’s Less Annoying CRM. It’s easy to use and great for startups and business owners on a budget or small business.

Less Annoying CRM gets you basic contact management. Notes, files and tasks can be added to customer profiles. You can let teams share calendars and organize tasks and to-do lists. It syncs with Google Calendar too. You get simple lead reporting to manage your pipeline. It does follow up reminders to keep your sales teams on the ball with open opportunities. There are daily agenda emails too. This is a decent tool for team collaboration. And the learning curve is short.

Less Annoying CRM is a flat $15.

Less Annoying CRM is best for:

• Individual users

• Small teams

• Startups

• Small business

• Contact management

• Task management

• Shared calendars

Website: Less Annoying CRM

Which is the best CRM on the market? Key takeaways

So what’s the best of the best CRM software for you?

Well, HubSpot takes our top spot, but SalesForce and Pipedrive are great competitors for that position. 

If you want something simple, Really Simple CRM and Less Annoying CRM are good options. For bigger businesses with more complex needs and fatter budgets, check out Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Oracle’s NetSuite. If your small business or individual business is running on a tight budget, MailChimp and Apptivo are worth a try.

In the end, each of these 15 CRM vendors has strong points, and all of them are far superior to simple but messy spreadsheets, whose lack of tools will make them more time-consuming in the long run. We hope at least one of these top CRM suggestions have jumped up at you while reading this roundup. Now go out there and manage those customer relationships like a pro!

FAQs

Is CRM difficult to learn?

The best CRM Software are generally very easy to learn. Most CRMs provide easy-to-use tools to import your customers from other software. The dashboards of crm platforms are very visual, and they can be customized with simple drag and drop functionality. Marketing automation and sales pipelines are also visual and intuitive. 

What does a good CRM look like?

A CRM should have a simple and intuitive look and feel. There shouldn’t be too much information clutter in analytics dashboards. When a CRM platform is clean and minimal, it’s much easier to learn and use. This is key for tracking leads and not missing any sales opportunities.  

What is CRM maintenance?

Customer relationship management software needs maintenance. This means cleaning up your data. Some CRMs can de-duplicate customers or tasks, and highlight where information is missing. CRM maintenance can also sort out opportunities in your pipeline. This lets you prioritize big deals or leads with high chances of conversion.