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9 Best Simple CRM Systems for 2024

Customer relationship management (CRM) systems have robust features and can handle enormous amounts of data, but they also have a learning curve and can be overwhelming. Still, there are simple CRMs that have clean interfaces, straightforward navigation menus, and intuitive features that make your sales operation hassle-free. They also allow users to see relevant data at a glance for smarter strategy and decision-making, especially in sales.

After comprehensively reviewing and testing dozens of CRM systems, we came up with the following best simple CRM systems:

Best Simple CRM Software Compared

Freshsales: Best Overall with Easy-to-Use Built-in Phone System

Pros

  • It has a simple and intuitive interface with a built-in phone system and contact management tools for seamless collaboration and lead nurturing.
  • It has built-in lead and sales management and artificial intelligence (AI) tools for quick, automated conversions.
  • It offers scalable, low-priced paid plans, starting at $9 per user, monthly with a free plan available for three users.

Cons

  • The price, quote, invoice, and onboarding document management requires paid add-on at $19 per user, monthly.
  • The automated profile enrichment is only available in the Enterprise plan at $59 per user, monthly.
  • Two-way email sync is not included on the free plan; it is available starting at the Growth plan for $9 per user, monthly.

  • You want an easy-to-use built-in phone system and contact management tools: Freshsales is the easiest CRM for small businesses with a native telephone for cold calling activities. It also provides email templates and custom fields for easy sales operations. The Freddy AI tool lets salespeople auto-engage prospects through live chat, deduplicate CRM data records, and discover insights into deals and forecasts using AI.
  • You want a simple, easy-to-use CRM: Freshsales has a simple, intuitive interface with minimal or zero learning curve, depending on the user experience. This CRM also offers a kanban or card-based view for records across all plans to access data at a glance. The Growth or basic plan offers record tags or unique record identifiers for instant access at only $9 per user monthly.

  • You need low-cost features for auto-updating contact data: Freshsales has an automated profile enrichment feature to enhance contact profiles using publicly available information. However, it is not available until the Enterprise plan, which costs $59 per user, monthly.
    • Alternative: Pipedrive offers automated contact data enrichment on its Advanced plan for just $29 per user, monthly. With this CRM’s Smart Contact Data, sales teams can obtain valuable information about their contacts from websites and social media channels, like LinkedIn.
  • You need project management tools in your CRM: Though great for lead and deal management activities and engaging with customers through various channels, Freshsales does not have any built-in project management tools to handle side sales projects or client service projects.
    • Alternative: Capsule CRM has robust attributes for project management. You can access these tools even from its free plan. Users can also create kanban-style project management boards for complete visibility.

Freshsales Pricing Plan & Overview*

Cost:

  • $0 for three users

Key Features:

  • Contact, deal, and account management
  • Kanban view A card-based view that shows the data in an organized way for better comprehension.
  • Tasks, appointments, and notes For each contact record
  • Customization (rename CRM modules and unique fields)
  • Data import, export, and migration
  • Built-in phone with inbound caller ID
  • Live chat widgets
  • AI chatbot builder To auto-engage website visitors and book meetings from chat widget
  • Website activity tracking for contacts
  • Mobile app For Android and iOS devices
  • 24/5 support via phone, live chat, and email

Cost:

  • $9 per user

Key Features:

  • Everything in Free
  • Custom data fields with record tagging
  • 20 automated CRM workflows
  • Visual pipeline management with the rotten deal indicator
  • File storage (2GB per user)
  • Two-way email sync
  • Sales emails Sales sequences, personalized bulk emails, and team inbox
  • Call queue transfer, call recording, and voicemails
  • Bot sessions Unique interactions between an end-user and a bot
  • Contact scoring

Cost:

  • $39 per user

Key Features:

  • Everything in Growth, with higher limits
  • Automated workflows This allows time-based triggers and sales sequences.
  • Advanced custom data fields With formulas and lookup field options
  • Automated record assignment For contacts, accounts, and deals
  • Up to 10 unique sales pipelines
  • Sales quota tracking
  • Freddy AI For deal insights, automated data deduplication, and next-best action recommendations
  • Territory management
  • Advanced dashboard with customer satisfaction (CSAT) survey

Cost:

  • $59 per user

Key Features:

  • Everything in Pro, with higher limits
  • Automated profile enrichment
  • Deal teams (create ad-hoc teams to work on specific deals)
  • Holiday call routing, call recording opt-in and opt-out, and virtual hold
  • Custom CRM modules
  • Sales forecasting insights
  • Dedicated account manager

Freshsales Add-ons:

  • Workflows: $5 for 10 workflows
  • Phone Credits: Starts at $5
  • Fresh Bots Buy additional Freshbots session packs to engage with customers across channels seamlessly. Chatbots are available on all plans. All interactions between an end-user and a chatbot within 24 hours are counted as 1 bot session. The validity of the sessions purchased aligns with your payment cycle. : $100 for 1,000 Freshbots sessions
  • CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) Generate branded documents such as invoices, quotes, contracts, and onboarding documents. : $19 per user per month

*Pricing is based on annual billing. Monthly billing is available for a higher cost. It comes with a 21-day free trial. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check the current pricing here.

Freshsales kanban board displaying contacts in a unified view (Source: Freshsales)

Our Expert Opinion

Freshsales is our best simple CRM. It has sophisticated yet easy-to-use features and a user-friendly interface for a clearer view and management of data. This CRM system offers built-in tools that automate routine tasks and keep data clean, so reps gain valuable insights on deal and forecast trends. Freshsales’s simplicity also pairs nicely with its cost-effective plans, making it the perfect CRM for startups and small businesses.

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Pipedrive: Best for Basic Sales Automation

Pros

  • It offers easy sales automation tools like Sales Assistant and Smart Contact Data for time-saving lead nurturing and sales activities.
  • It has solid third-party integrations, such as Microsoft Outlook and Slack.
  • It has 24/7 multilingual live chat and email support.

Cons

  • It has no free plan, only 14-day free trial; project management tools require the Project add-on, starting at $6.70 per user, monthly.
  • Phone support is limited to the Enterprise plan at $99 per user, monthly.
  • Lead generation and web tracking tools cost extra, starting at $32.50 per company, monthly.

  • You need robust yet easy-to-use sales automation tools: Pipedrive is one of our top recommended sales automation software for automatically assigning sales tasks, updating CRM records, and more. Its smart Sales Assistant tool analyzes CRM data for lead prioritization and performance monitoring. Its Smart Contact Data feature also crawls the web for valuable data to help supercharge lead generation efforts.
  • You use Microsoft Outlook and Slack: Pipedrive is among our best choices for CRMs that integrate with Outlook. It has a two-way integration for email, contacts, and calendar with Outlook, keeping data consistent between the two systems. It’s also one of our top picks for CRMs that integrate with Slack. The Dealbot feature notifies users via Slack whenever there are updates or changes to deals in their CRM.

  • You want a free CRM: While Pipedrive offers affordable paid plans with a 14-day free trial, it does not offer a free plan. Hence, if you’re a freelancer or a startup looking to explore a CRM system at no cost, consider looking elsewhere.
    • Alternatives: Freshsales and HubSpot CRM are free and easy to use for beginners and small businesses. Both CRM solutions have robust features in their free plans that include deal management, marketing tools, and built-in calling, as well as a kanban view for records.
  • You want a CRM with free or low-cost automation features: Pipedrive’s workflow automation tools are only available starting with its Advanced plan, which costs $29 per user, monthly.
    • Alternative: Subscribe to Zoho CRM if you need a CRM that offers basic workflow automation for free. With Zoho CRM’s comprehensive workflow automation, you can automate routine tasks, create custom workflows, and streamline communication to boost your operational efficiency.

Pipedrive Pricing Plan & Overview*

Cost:

  • $14 per user

Key Features:

  • Sales Assistant Receive suggestions based on past performance, and discover where you can improve and what to focus on next
  • API access Develop custom features for free.
  • Webhooks Push information to your endpoint of choice.
  • Lead and contact management With file attachments and activity tracking
  • Products catalog For storing products, costs, codes and ID numbers, tax rates, and notes
  • Apps marketplace For third-party app and integrations
  • Custom data fields
  • Contacts mapping To see where they are located in their record
  • Activity reporting with sales goal tracking

Cost:

  • $29 per user

Key Features:

  • Everything in Essential
  • Automations Create automations that perform actions based on time-lapse or predefined condition.
  • Delay and wait for steps The combined number of delay and wait for steps that can be added to each automation.
  • Two-way email sync To send email campaigns from the CRM
  • Built-in meeting and video call scheduler tools
  • Workflow automation To put repetitive tasks like data updates on autopilot
  • Smart contact data Auto-enriches contact data using publicly available information found online
  • Expanded sales reporting With subscription-based revenue tracking

Cost:

  • $49 per user

Key Features:

  • Everything in Advanced
  • Automatic assignment Create custom rules to automatically assign leads and deals to your sales team members.
  • AI-powered sales assistant The combined number of delay and wait for steps that can be added to each automation.
  • Email creation Create compelling sales emails with customized prompts.
  • Email summarization Read emails in seconds with instant summaries that gauge your lead’s interest and suggest next steps
  • Contacts timeline For a visual view of contact activity
  • Sales team management
  • Expanded reporting For tracking custom fields and metrics on sales reports
  • File storage integration With Google Drive and OneDrive
  • Revenue forecasting

Cost:

  • $64 per user

Key Features:

  • Everything in Professional
  • Built-in project management
  • Telephone support for CRM users

Cost:

  • $99 per user

Key Features:

  • Everything in Power
  • Unlimited reports and sales dashboards
  • Up to 100 active workflow automations
  • Unlimited team management

Pipedrive Pricing Add-ons:

  • Projects Project management tools, free with Power and Enterprise plans : Starts at $6.70 per user, monthly
  • Campaigns Customizable email campaigns : Starts at $13.33 per company, monthly
  • LeadBooster Lead generation tool set (chatbot, live chat, prospector, web forms, and appointment scheduler) : Starts at $32.50 per company, monthly
  • Smart Docs Trackable quotes, proposals, and contracts; free with Professional, Power, and Enterprise plans : Starts at $32.50 per company, monthly
  • Web Visitors Web tracking and lead ranking : Starts at $41 per company, monthly

*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-month breakdown of the plans, though monthly billing is available for a higher cost. It comes with a 14-day free trial for the paid plans. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check the current pricing here.

Pipedrive sales automation board (Source: Pipedrive)

Our Expert Opinion

Pipedrive provides powerful yet easy-to-use automation tools like an automation builder and Smart Contact Data for data management, profile enrichment, and even sales proposal generation. Additionally, Pipedrive makes it easier to understand CRM data through its visualization tools. This platform also offers in-app calling and seamless integration with more than 300 services and tools from its App Marketplace, including Microsoft Outlook and Slack.

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HubSpot CRM: Best Free All-in-One CRM

Pros

  • The Free plan for five users has many all-in-one CRM features with sales, marketing, service, content, and operations tools.
  • Many email automation features are free without coding required.
  • The interface design has a simple layout with quick navigation for a great user experience.

Cons

  • Paid plans get expensive, ranging from $15 per user to $1,080 for five users, monthly.
  • Social media tools are not available until the Professional plan at $1,080 for five users, monthly.
  • Payment processing is not available for free; it is only available from the Starter plan at $15 per user, monthly.

  • You’re a startup or small team looking for a free all-in-one CRM: HubSpot is free for five users. Users can bundle products with HubSpot CRM, including sales, marketing, content, operations, and service features. The features include email campaigns, ads, list segmentation, deal and contact management, and live chat. This CRM also has easy-to-use prospecting tools, which help identify leads visiting your website.
  • You want to put marketing campaigns on autopilot: One of the top easy CRM software tools for HubSpot CRM is the email automation features. Many of the email features are free, and the automation uses a no-code format. This lets users at all skill levels deploy mass emails that automatically send or resend depending on contact segments or engagement activity like opens and clicks.

  • You need scalable paid plans: Though it has excellent free tools, the Professional plan can be expensive, priced at $1,080 for five users, monthly. This is not cost-effective for startups and tight-budget small businesses.
  • You are a small business selling multiple product lines: HubSpot CRM’s free plan allows you to manage only one pipeline, while its Starter plan limits you to two. The Professional plan costs $1,080 per month for 15 unique pipelines per account.
    • Alternatives: Zoho CRM allows five pipelines on the Standard plan for $14 per user, monthly, and then 10, 20, and 50 pipelines, respectively, on the Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate plans. EngageBay’s paid plans also allow you to manage multiple deal pipelines, starting at $13.79 per user, monthly.

HubSpot CRM Pricing Plan & Overview*

Cost:

  • $15 per user

Key Features:

  • Everything in the Free
  • Two deal pipelines per account
  • 500 calling minutes
  • Up to one million products
  • 10 deal tags per account For creating rules for specific pipelines
  • Live chat engagement
  • Built-in payment processing Via automated clearing house (ACH) and Stripe integration
  • Sales automation For task creation, data management, and notifications based on deal changes
  • Conversation routing to other sales reps
  • Sales content analytics For templates, sales documents, and automated sequences

Cost:

  • $1,080 for five users

Key Features:

  • Everything in the Starter
  • Up to 15 sales pipelines per account
  • Up to 15 million products
  • 3,000 calling minutes
  • Sequences For automating outreach, follow-up, and time-consuming tasks
  • Prospecting workspace For managing leads in one place
  • Account-based management (ABM) tools Examples include lead scoring, properties, and templates
  • Playbooks For automatically building a library of resources for sales
  • Forecasting For creating detailed and customized forecasts based on contacts database
  • Coaching playlists For saving exemplary call recordings into playlists for rep upskilling

*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-month breakdown of the plans for individuals and small teams for its Customer Platform plans, though monthly billing is available for a higher cost. Customer Platform consists of sales, marketing, and service features bundled together. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check the current pricing here.

HubSpot’s Sales CRM dashboard on web and mobile views (Source: HubSpot)

Our Expert Opinion

HubSpot CRM is the best CRM with free all-in-one features and an easy-to-access customer database. It is equipped with robust tools for marketing, sales, service, commerce, and operations. The free plan includes easy CRM software features like activity and pipeline tracking and prospect tools for monitoring leads. You can also choose other products and add-ons and bundle them to create a powerful yet easy-to-use CRM.

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Zoho CRM: Best for Basic CRM Customization Tools

Pros

  • It offers a free plan for three users and a range of affordable pricing options, starting at $14 per user, monthly with customization features.
  • It easily integrates with social media profiles and Zoho’s ecosystem of business tools.
  • It has AI capabilities for data enrichment, sales forecasting, etc. at Enterprise plan for $40 per user, monthly.

Cons

  • Phone features are not available in the free plan; must subscribe to the Standard plan at $14 per user, monthly.
  • It has limited file storage allocation in most plans; only the Ultimate plan offers a 5GB storage allocation.
  • It has limited customer support; premium support requires a separate purchase at 20% of the license fee.

  • You need a CRM solution with thorough database customization: Zoho CRM is one of the best customizable CRMs. It offers homepage customization, custom list views, a rename tabs feature, custom fields, and a canvas for no-code designing of a personalized CRM—all included in its free plan. Users can alter data fields, create custom record views, change search layouts, and even build custom modules.
  • You’re looking for a solid social CRM: Zoho CRM integrates with Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkedIn. Users can monitor and interact with their followers, generate leads via social media campaigns, and engage directly with customers via comments and messages. This CRM also integrates with Zoho’s ecosystem of business tools, like Zoho Desk and Zoho Campaigns, for efficient business operations.

  • You’re looking for a sales-focused CRM: Zoho CRM is an all-in-one platform with plans that include comprehensive tools for sales, marketing, and customer service. It’s less ideal if you only need tools for sales processes.
    • Alternatives: Freshsales and Pipedrive both offer specialized tools for sales. These include time-saving workflows, visual sales pipelines, and deal management. Alternatively, you can check out our guide to the best sales enablement tools.
  • You want a CRM with free telephone and email features: Zoho CRM’s free-forever plan does not include communication tools for lead engagement, such as native telephone and email management tools. These tools start in the Standard plan at $14 per user, monthly.
    • Alternatives: Freshsales and HubSpot CRM offer free plans that allow access to lead engagement tools. These features include a built-in phone system, email integrations, and meeting scheduling, which help with prospect engagement and overall customer service.

Zoho CRM Pricing Plan & Overview*

Cost:

  • $0 for three users

Key Features:

  • 10 custom email templates
  • Customized home page components ncluding tabs, list views, and search layout
  • Automation For workflow rules, tasks, and email notifications
  • Marketing automation For campaigns and email opt-out
  • 1GB file storage per organization
  • 10MB data storage (5,000 records)
  • Lead, account, contact, and deal management
  • Document library
  • Tasks, meetings, and calls
  • Standard reports

Cost:

  • $14 per user

Key Features:

  • Everything in Free
  • 100 custom reports and 10 custom dashboards
  • 100 custom email templates
  • 250 daily mass emails per organization
  • Customizable group tabs Including customizable email address duplication check, unique fields, and user layout
  • Additional automation Scheduled actions and reminders for workflow tasks
  • 1GB file storage per organization Plus 512MB per user license
  • 200MB data storage (100,000 records)
  • Sales forecasting
  • Calendar booking

Cost:

  • $23 per user

Key Features:

  • Everything in Standard
  • Automations For creating records, assigning record owner, and webhooks
  • Unlimited custom reports and CRM dashboards
  • Unlimited custom email templates
  • 10GB data storage Approximately five million contact records
  • SalesSignals For real-time activity notifications on lead and customer interactions
  • Motivator (sales gamification)
  • 500 daily mass emails per organization
  • Inventory management
  • Case management

Cost:

  • $40 per user

Key Features:

  • Everything in Professional
  • 1GB file storage per organization plus 1GB per user license
  • Zia, AI-powered conversational sales assistant
  • Territory-based sales forecasting
  • Anomaly detector and cohort analysis
  • 1,000 daily bulk emails per organization with email scheduling
  • Three autoresponders
  • Automations For custom schedules, marketing attribution, segmentation, and workflow usage reports
  • Webform analytics and A/B testing

Cost:

  • $52 per user

Key Features:

  • Everything in Enterprise
  • 1GB file storage per organization Plus 5GB per user license
  • 2,000 daily bulk emails per organization
  • Five autoresponders
  • Custom modules

Zoho CRM Add-ons:

  • Additional File Storage: $4 per month for 5GB (paid plans only)
  • Additional Data Storage (up to 200 users): $4 for 100MB per month (for Professional and up)
  • Additional Data Storage (>200 users): $2 for 100MB per month (for Professional and up)
  • Data Backup: $12 per request

*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-user monthly breakdown. Monthly billing is available for a higher cost. Zoho CRM comes with a 15-day free trial for the paid plans. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check the current pricing here.

Zoho CRM lets you customize data with the fields you need. (Source: Zoho CRM)

Our Expert Opinion

Zoho CRM is the best CRM for small businesses when it comes to offering complete customization and automation tools with its free and lower-priced plans. This makes it an excellent solution for teams who want to tailor their CRM to their unique operations. That said, it has a slight learning curve because of its rich feature set, but its highly intuitive interface makes it easy to use once you become familiar with the system.

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Capsule CRM: Best for Writing AI Sales Emails

Pros

  • Free plan includes an AI content assistant that helps craft and optimize sales emails.
  • It has built-in project and task management tools like kanban-style project boards and task tracking.
  • It offers an email marketing campaign designer with templates, drip automation, dynamic content, and campaign analytics.

Cons

  • The Free plan is limited to 250 contacts, basic dashboards, and email tools.
  • Customer support is limited to email ticketing.
  • It lacks ecommerce features, like inventory management, a website designer, and purchase order processing.

  • You want to use AI assistance to write sales emails: The best feature of Capsule CRM is its AI content assistant tool, which helps you generate quality email drafts from within contact records. It also gives you recommendations on the content, length, and tone of your email message and is available in free and paid plans.
  • You run a project-based business: Capsule CRM offers tools like kanban-style project management boards and ‘Tracks’ for project management across all its plans, standardizing the sales process. By centralizing your project data, you can easily track project timelines, conduct onboarding processes, and monitor customer activities, support requests, and client deliverables.

  • You want a CRM that offers email tracking tools: Capsule CRM offers basic email marketing features with templates, but it has no advanced features like tools for email tracking.
    • Alternatives: HubSpot CRM tops our list of the best CRM for email marketing because it offers advanced tools like mass email and performance tracking at no cost. Freshsales offers email marketing capabilities that include automated sales email sequences that complement its lead nurturing features. Also, EngageBay offers free email tracking tools and templates for 15 users.
  • You need a CRM for managing your ecommerce business: You need ecommerce features, such as for inventory and order management, an online store builder, etc. But Capsule CRM doesn’t offer these capabilities.

Capsule CRM Pricing Plan & Overview*

Cost:

  • $0 for two users

Key Features:

  • 250 contacts
  • 50MB storage per user
  • 10 AI content assists
  • Contact, activity, and task management
  • Unlimited customization of contact data
  • Customizable sales pipeline
  • Customized workflows For opportunities or projects
  • Data segmentation tools Like lists, filters, and tags
  • Basic project management tools Like projects, tasks, and calendar features
  • Gmail and Mailchimp integration

Cost:

  • $18 per user

Key Features:

  • Everything in Free
  • 30,000 contacts
  • 10GB storage per user
  • 50 custom fields
  • Five email templates
  • Email sending
  • Activity reporting
  • Key integrations (Microsoft 365, Google, and Xero)

Cost:

  • $36 per user

Key Features:

  • Everything in Starter
  • 60,000 contacts
  • 20GB storage per user
  • 50 email templates
  • 150 custom fields
  • 1,000 AI content assists
  • Advanced sales reporting
  • User roles and permissions
  • Team or individual record assignment
  • Workflow automation
  • Custom activity types
  • Priority fields
  • Multiple sales pipelines
  • Multiple project boards

Cost:

  • $54 per user

Key Features:

  • Everything in Growth
  • 120,000 contacts
  • 30GB storage per user
  • 500 email templates
  • 300 custom fields
  • Up to 50 team assignments

Cost:

  • $72 per user

Key Features:

  • Everything in Advanced
  • 240,000 contacts
  • 50GB storage per user
  • 1,000 email templates
  • Unlimited custom fields
  • Implementation support
  • Import assistance
  • Custom CRM training
  • Dedicated customer access manager
  • Ongoing priority support

Capsule CRM Pricing Add-on:

  • Transpond (marketing automation tools): Starts at $11 per user, monthly

*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-user, monthly breakdown. Monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Capsule CRM offers a 14-day free trial for paid plans. We update pricing information regularly, but we encourage readers to check the current pricing here.

Capsule CRM content assists for email creation, powered by AI. (Source: Capsule CRM)

Our Expert Opinion

Capsule CRM has a free AI content assistant, which helps reps reduce manual work by auto-generating sales emails based on contact data. This simple CRM’s integrated project management features are one of its strongest selling points. These intuitive tools allow sales reps to focus on selling while delivering on their promises, as well as streamlining sales and service operations in a single system.

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monday sales CRM: Best for Intuitive CRM Interface

Pros

  • It is intuitive for setting up automations to create or edit records based on preset triggers.
  • It has multiple viewing options with spreadsheet-style format for storing data and customizing boards for data fields.
  • It offers unlimited contacts, documents, and boards.

Cons

  • Lead scoring requires the Enterprise plan at a customized cost.
  • Pricing is misleading; all plans require three minimum users.
  • Users can’t use the integration to manage ad campaigns from the CRM.

  • You need a simple and intuitive customer database: monday sales CRM makes it easy to organize and manage customer data with its neatly arranged folders for each aspect of your sales process. You can also use its CRM templates to manage contacts, leads, and workflows. Its highly intuitive interface makes it very easy to learn, navigate, use, and customize.
  • You want multiple viewing options for your data: Another great aspect of monday sales CRM is the various board viewing options to evaluate your database. Depending on your objective, such as checking sales pipeline progress, tracking task due dates, or identifying customers’ locations, users can look at their data in different ways. These include kanban, timeline, calendar, map, chart, and workload viewing options.

  • You need more affordable lead scoring: While monday sales CRM offers lead scoring to help you qualify leads and prioritize sales opportunities, you need to avail of the Enterprise plan, which requires a custom quote.
    • Alternative: Freshsales is a great option that not only offers affordable lead scoring, but also provides that tool on its free-forever plan. Small businesses can take advantage of this feature and other helpful tools, like Smart Matches to quickly identify contact duplicates, for only $39 per user, monthly in this CRM’s Pro plan.
  • You need a CRM with more transparent pricing and no minimum user requirement: monday sales CRM plans require a three-user minimum requirement.
    • Alternative: Freshsales and HubSpot are excellent alternatives to monday sales CRM, which come with free plans and no minimum user requirement. Pipedrive is also an affordable and easy-to-use CRM that charges on a per-user basis.

monday sales CRM Pricing Plan & Overview*

Cost:

  • $12 per user (priced for a three-user minimum)

Key Features:

  • Unlimited customizable pipelines
  • Unlimited contacts
  • Unlimited boards
  • Kanban view Manage work using a kanban view to assign and prioritize tasks.
  • Templates For lead, contact and deal management
  • iOS and Android apps
  • Unlimited free viewers
  • Create a dashboard based on one board

Cost:

  • $17 per user (priced for a three-user minimum)

Key Features:

  • Advanced account, contact, and deal management
  • 2-way email integratioN With Gmail and Outlook
  • AI email generator For writing and editing emails
  • Activity management For logging calls, meetings, and more
  • Merge duplicate data For leads or contacts
  • Custom CRM automations (250 actions per month)
  • Create a dashboard that combines five boards
  • Timeline view Plan and track time-sensitive tasks and projects with your team.
  • Calendar view Manage all your upcoming work with a visual calendar.
  • Map view View any geographic locations on an interactive map.

Cost:

  • $28 per user (priced for a three-user minimum)

Key Features:

  • Sales forecasting
  • Email templates with custom parameters
  • Chart view Visualize your data in charts and graphs.
  • Workload See who is over capacity and allocate upcoming tasks and resources accordingly.
  • Mass emails and tracking
  • Google Calendar sync
  • Sales analytics in real-time, customizable dashboard
  • Customizable email signatures
  • Custom CRM automations (25,000 actions per month)
  • Create a dashboard that combines 10 boards

Cost:

  • Contact for pricing

Key Features:

  • Lead scoring
  • Team goals To manage team quotas
  • Advanced analytics (dashboards up to 50 boards)
  • Account management
  • Create a library of documents for sales
  • Enterprise-scale automations and integrations
  • Enterprise-grade security and governance
  • Multilevel permissions
  • Ensures Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Compliance

*Pricing is based on annual billing on a monthly per-user breakdown. Monthly billing is available for a higher cost. There is a 14-day free trial for the paid plans. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check the current pricing here.

monday sales CRM’s contact management system and intuitive interface (Source: monday sales CRM)

Our Expert Opinion

If you’re looking for an intuitive CRM for small business, monday sales CRM is our top pick because it has a minimal to no learning curve. This CRM is also intuitive when it comes to setting up record creation automations. Moreover, the spreadsheet-style format makes data storage and board customization quick and easy. Plus, its multiple data viewing options promote greater data visibility and seamless data management.

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Streak CRM: Best for Google Workspace Integration

Pros

  • It can integrate with Google Workspace and allows you to operate the CRM in Gmail.
  • The Free plan includes unlimited contact storage and mass email campaigns.
  • Scalable paid plans range from $15 to $129 per user, monthly.

Cons

  • Only one user can access the free plan.
  • Third-party integration outside of Google apps gets expensive.
  • You will need the Pro+ plan at $69 per user to access workflow automation.

  • You want an easy CRM software to use with Google Workspace: Streak CRM is one of our top Google CRMs because it integrates with Google Workspace and its major apps like Docs, Sheets, and Drive. Plus, it connects seamlessly with Gmail, allowing you to access CRM data and tools from within your inbox. That way, you can monitor pipeline stages, records, and tasks without hopping back and forth between two platforms.
  • You want unlimited contact data capacity: Even in its free plan, you can already store unlimited contacts and track associated data in the pipeline—a feature made exclusive to paid plans in other providers. On top of that, you can readily use this data to deploy mass email campaigns for prospects and leads in this basic CRM system.

  • You want affordable workflow automations: Setting sales processes and workflows on autopilot will require you to shell out $69 (Pro+ plan) when using Streak CRM. This price may appear too hefty for small businesses on a budget.
    • Alternative: Pipedrive is our top pick for an easy to use CRM for small businesses with solid yet less costly automation features under its Advanced plan for only $29 per user. Also, Zoho CRM has free workflow automation tools.
  • You need a free plan for multiple users: While Streak CRM offers a free-forever plan, it is limited to only one user. If you’re a team looking for a gateway CRM, you may want to consider looking elsewhere. Moreover, Streak CRM’s free plan only has email tracking tools like email sharing, link tracking, snippets, and mail merge.
    • Alternative: HubSpot CRM provides access to five users in its free plan. You can also go for EngageBay for teams of up to 15 members.

Streak CRM Pricing Plan & Overview*

Cost:

  • $23 per user

Key Features:

  • 2,500 contact limit
  • Up to 10 custom data fields
  • Contact enrichment
  • Google Chrome extension For CRM data access from the Gmail and Google Calendar interfaces
  • Email, contact, and file data sync to the CRM
  • Google Sheets integration For accessing spreadsheets and managing spreadsheet data from the CRM
  • Integration with Google Drive For easy file management from the CRM and file drive
  • Notes, file storage, and activity logging in contact records
  • Custom sales pipelines for deal management

Cost:

  • $59 per user

Key Features:

  • 15,000 contact limit
  • Unlimited custom data fields
  • Team permission settings For CRM data and reports
  • Integration with popular tools Like Zapier, DocuSign, Mailchimp, QuickBooks, and Slack
  • Workflow automation For tasks like record updates and entries
  • Custom reports and activity insights

Cost:

  • $99 per user

Key Features:

  • Unlimited contacts
  • LinkedIn integration
  • Webforms and ad integrations With Facebook, Wix, and WordPress sites to collect lead data and transit it to the CRM
  • Email sequences and drip campaigns
  • Lead scoring
  • Website tracking To see which contacts are visiting your website

*Pricing is based on annual billing on a monthly breakdown. Monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Streak CRM offers a 14-day free trial for its Pro+ plan. We update pricing information regularly, but we encourage readers to check the current pricing here.

Streak CRM tools accessed in Gmail inbox (Source: Streak)

Our Expert Opinion

Streak CRM redefines CRM simplicity by leveraging people’s familiarity with Google Workspace. By integrating the core CRM features into the Gmail inbox, you save yourself the extra time to master a new interface in one go. On top of that, you can centralize collaboration, tasks and pipeline monitoring, lead tracking activities, and mass emailing efforts in one space.

Visit Streak CRM

Copper CRM: Best for Contact Profile Enrichment

Pros

  • Its relatively easy-to-use and low-cost contact management and data enrichment start at its Basic plan for only $23 per user, monthly.
  • Unique Google Chrome extension lets users view and access CRM data directly in Gmail or Calendar interfaces.
  • Similar interface to Google products and seamless integration with Gmail, Sheets, and Drive for a solid user experience

Cons

  • It has no free plan, only a 14-day free trial.
  • Expensive lead scoring is available in the Business plan at $99 per user, monthly.
  • Non-Google integrations require the Professional plan at $59 per user.

  • You need an easy-to-use and low-cost way to manage contact data: Copper CRM’s Basic Plan at $23 per user, monthly, lets users enrich contact data using publicly available information. This helps in lead generation and sales follow-ups. This simple CRM for small businesses supports Google users using Gmail, Drive, and Sheets. For context, other CRM systems, like Freshsales, offer this capability in higher-tiered enterprise plans.
  • Your team uses Google apps for work collaboration: Copper CRM is considered a Google CRM system because it is built specifically for those using Google Workspace apps as reflected by its similar design. It directly integrates with other Google products to expand data management functionality. It also has a Chrome extension that you can use to access and modify CRM data records directly from within Gmail and Google Calendar.

  • You need a free client database solution: Copper CRM, unfortunately, does not offer a free option for storing contacts and customer data.
    • Alternative: Some of the best free customer and client database systems include HubSpot CRM and Freshsales.
  • You’re looking for low-priced lead scoring tools: Copper CRM’s lead scoring features for analyzing promising leads based on profiles and activity get expensive—starting at $99 per user, monthly for the Business plan.
    • Alternative: Freshsales offers far more affordable lead scoring on its Pro plan at $39 per user, monthly. Zoho CRM also offers this feature for only $14 per user, monthly.

Copper CRM Pricing Plan & Overview*

Cost:

  • $23 per user

Key Features:

  • 2,500 contact limit
  • Up to 10 custom data fields
  • Contact enrichment
  • Google Chrome extension For CRM data access from the Gmail and Google Calendar interfaces
  • Email, contact, and file data sync to the CRM
  • Google Sheets integration For accessing spreadsheets and managing spreadsheet data from the CRM
  • Integration with Google Drive For easy file management from the CRM and file drive
  • Notes, file storage, and activity logging in contact records
  • Custom sales pipelines for deal management

Cost:

  • $59 per user

Key Features:

  • 15,000 contact limit
  • Unlimited custom data fields
  • Team permission settings For CRM data and reports
  • Integration with popular tools Like Zapier, DocuSign, Mailchimp, QuickBooks, and Slack
  • Workflow automation For tasks like record updates and entries
  • Custom reports and activity insights

Cost:

  • $99 per user

Key Features:

  • Unlimited contacts
  • LinkedIn integration
  • Webforms and ad integrations With Facebook, Wix, and WordPress sites to collect lead data and transit it to the CRM
  • Email sequences and drip campaigns
  • Lead scoring
  • Website tracking To see which contacts are visiting your website

*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-user monthly breakdown. Monthly billing is available for a higher cost. Copper comes with a 14-day free trial. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check the current pricing here.

Copper CRM creating a custom field in a contact record (Source: Copper CRM)

Our Expert Opinion

Copper CRM’s basic plan already comes with contact enrichment capability. The provider searches the internet to discover and record contact details, social profiles, and other publicly available information. In addition to the deep connections to Google apps, Copper is an all-around easy CRM to use in terms of operating the features and collaborating with others.

Visit Copper CRM

EngageBay: Best for Multichannel Engagement Campaigns

Pros

  • It has multichannel engagement tools like live chat, email, short message service (SMS), video messaging, and social media.
  • The Free plan has advanced campaign tools like lead scoring, social media monitoring, and live chat.
  • Cost-scalable plans range from $13.79 to $110.39 per user, monthly.

Cons

  • It only allows a relatively limited number of contact records in the Free and Basic plans; up to 500 contacts only.
  • It has no free calling features; calling minutes start in the Basic plan at $13.79 per user, monthly.
  • Workflow automation and proposal management are not available until the Growth plan for $59.79 per user, monthly.

  • You use an omnichannel approach for customer engagement: With EngageBay, you can interact with your leads and customers through email, live chat, social media, SMS, and video messaging, all from a single platform. This basic CRM system also allows you to integrate your CRM with voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) telephone systems like RingCentral and Twilio.
  • You need free lead scoring features: EngageBay’s predictive lead scoring features are available even with its free plan. Scoring your leads improves conversion as you identify qualified leads that are closest to making a buying decision. Hence, having these features for free makes EngageBay a solid choice for lead generation on a budget.

  • You’re seeking a CRM with low-cost proposal generation features: EngageBay’s proposal generation and management features are not available until the Growth plan, which costs $59.79 per user, monthly.
    • Alternative: Freshsales’ CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) feature is an add-on that costs $19 per user, monthly plus the Growth subscription at $9 per user, monthly. The total cost is still cheaper than EngageBay’s Growth plan at $59.79 per user, monthly.
  • You need free and affordable CRM options with more data capacity: EngageBay’s free tier has a 250-limit on contact storage. Hence, it’s not ideal if you’re catering to contact data on a massive scale.
    • Alternative: If you’re looking to build relationships with more than 250 leads and customers at no cost, try HubSpot CRM. Its free option allows you to store up to 1,000,000 contacts. Moreover, Streak CRM offers unlimited contact data capacity.

EngageBay Pricing Plan & Overview*

Cost:

  • $0 for 15 users

Key Features:

  • 250 stored contacts and companies With 360-degree views and record tags
  • Email integration For 1,000 branded emails, stored email templates, and up to two automated email sequences
  • Social suite For monitoring social media feeds in Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
  • Custom website pop-ups and web forms
  • Deal tracking
  • Built-in appointment scheduling
  • Task management
  • Ticket management with up to two ticket views
  • Integration with Zapier To create automated data flows between LinkedIn and the CRM
  • Predictive lead scoring

Cost:

  • $13.79 per user

Key Features:

  • Everything in Free
  • 500 contacts and companies
  • 3,000 branded emails
  • Custom deal milestones
  • Calling minutes For placing and receiving calls in the CRM system
  • Expanded ticket management With macro one-click automations, ticket groupings, insertable canned responses, and customer 360-views

Cost:

  • $59.79 per user

Key Features:

  • Everything in Basic
  • Up to 5,000 contacts and companies
  • 25,000 branded emails
  • Marketing automation
  • Workflow automation For sales, marketing, and service modules
  • Sales leaderboard tracking and call reports
  • Proposal management

Cost:

  • $110.39 per user

Key Features:

  • Everything in Growth
  • Unlimited contacts and companies
  • 50,000 branded emails
  • Website analytics
  • Custom reporting
  • Goal management
  • Team management with hierarchy tracking

*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-month breakdown of the EngageBay All-in-One plans. Monthly billing is available for a higher cost, and a two-year contract for a lower cost. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check the current pricing here.

EngageBay CRM users make calls directly with all calls recorded. (Source: EngageBay)

Our Expert Opinion

EngageBay’s greatest strengths include its multichannel campaign management feature and its Social Suite, which allows you to engage with leads on social media. This CRM has a simple interface that is easy to navigate once you familiarize yourself with it. All in all, this all-in-one platform is a great CRM for freelancers looking to get the most value out of their subscriptions.

Visit EngageBay

How We Evaluated the Best Simple CRM Systems

When choosing the best CRM, we narrowed down our list to simple CRM systems for small businesses, those with an intuitive interface, and those that require a minimal learning curve to operate. These basic products offer a clean layout with modern color schemes and simple button placement for navigability and a solid user experience. Additionally, we looked at other essential product attributes, such as features, pricing, and customer support availability.

The tabs below offer insight into our evaluation process for choosing the best simple CRM:

30% of Overall Score

Pricing was a top criterion in our evaluation, apart from ease of use when we evaluated easy CRM systems. We considered free plan availability and various scalable pricing options businesses could afford as they grow. We also looked at any option that allows a subscriber to either pay monthly or save by paying annually.

40% of Overall Score

We looked at the overall features crucial to any basic CRM software, regardless of its primary use case or usability ratings. For instance, we wanted to see if each product had capabilities essential to any sales operation. With that, it should have customizable pipelines, reporting and analytics tools, and an extensive range of third-party and native integration options. We also considered the lead management tools and mobile app capabilities.

15% of Overall Score

Though each product is assumed to be easy to operate, extensive support and service are still necessary to help prevent poor experiences. This category was evaluated in terms of customer service hours and the availability of support via phone, live chat, and email. We also looked at self-service and help center resources users can access, like tutorials, forums, or training modules in the simple customer relationship management systems we assessed.

15% of Overall Score

In addition to first-hand experience with these intuitive CRM systems, we evaluated what actual users say about each product according to online reviews. These criteria consider how customers feel in terms of product ease of use. It also provides insights into customer feelings regarding value for the price paid and how useful they find the CRM’s features.

*Percentages of overall score

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The easiest CRM to use depends on the user’s experience and preference. For example, while we rated Freshsales as the easiest CRM to use for phone operations and account management systems, you might prioritize other usability aspects like sales automation. In this case, you should check out Pipedrive instead.


A CRM for beginners is intuitive, with a straightforward layout and navigability and minimal learning curve when operating for the first time. Your best options for beginner-friendly CRMs include all the providers mentioned above. However, you may want to lean more toward HubSpot Customer Platform for a more general experience in operating a holistic CRM, or Streak CRM if you want a CRM integrated with Google Workspace.


Using an easy CRM is highly beneficial if you’re starting a business or if you’re a small business wanting to efficiently manage your sales, customer service, and marketing operations with just one tool. A user-friendly interface with kanban-style boards and intuitive features can save you a lot of time and effort and help you focus more on your business.


Bottom Line

Simple CRM software is uniquely built, so users at any technical level can navigate the interface and operate the features with ease. These products tend to use minimal button menu options, clean layouts, and calming color schemes that don’t overwhelm the user and impact their experience with the product. While Freshsales was our pick for the best overall CRM solution, other products could be a better fit depending on feature preferences and ease of use.

Visit Freshsales

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