10 Top Affordable CRMs for Startups
Find the perfect CRM fit for your startup without breaking the bank.
For startups, managing customers effectively is as vital as their core product. This is where Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools become indispensable. These CRM tools offer a unified platform to monitor sales, nurture leads, and engage with customers.
Given the tight budgets of many startups, it’s crucial to find economical tools without compromising on functionality. The following list features some of the most cost-effective and robust CRM solutions perfect for startups. These tools, provided by industry front-runners, come packed with varied features and pricing structures. Dive in to explore each tool more thoroughly.
Read Also: Best Customer Relationship Management Tools (2023)
Overview:
| CRM Tools | Starting Price |
|---|---|
| Monday Sales CRM: Automates routine tasks and notifies users when prospects open or view emails. | $10/user/month |
| HubSpot CRM: Offers blogging, social media integration, lead management, and more. | Free Plan Available |
| Salesforce Customer 360 CRM: Features Einstein AI for smart recommendations and enhances customer experience. | $25/user/month |
| Zoho CRM: Canvas feature allows users to customize the CRM interface for branding. | Free for 3 users |
| Freshsales: Freddy AI proposes potential deals and offers real-time insights to enhance customer experience. | Free Plan Available |
| Insightly CRM: Provides a real-time view of your business via analytics dashboards. | Free for 2 users |
| Workbooks: Offers the Shared Success program with free consulting hours and workshops. | Free for 2 users |
| EngageBay: Features a kanban board-based sales funnel interface. | Free (with support for 500 contacts) |
| Keap: Allows for appointment booking and payments support. | $169/month |
| Salesflare: Automatically gathers information from emails and social profiles. | $35/user/month |
1. Monday Sales CRM
Monday.com, a renowned task management tool, offers a dedicated CRM solution called Monday Sales CRM. It boasts the same level of customization as its task manager. Users can modify columns, define deal stages, or oversee multiple pipelines.
It streamlines communication with prospects by integrating emails seamlessly. All communications are automatically logged, ensuring a comprehensive record of interactions between your team and potential clients.
This CRM also enhances sales operations by automating routine tasks. For instance, it can automatically assign leads, set reminders, and notify users when prospects open or view emails and messages.
Moreover, Monday Sales CRM provides a swift overview of your deals and heightens the visibility of ongoing deals through tailored dashboards.
Does Monday Sales CRM Offer a Free Plan?
No, it doesn’t come with a free plan. However, users can experience its premium plans for a short trial period.
Monday Sales CRM Paid Plans
- Basic CRM – $10/user/month: Features customizable contacts, pipelines, contact and lead templates, and more.
- Standard CRM and Pro CRM – Priced at $17 and $30/seat/month respectively: These plans include email integration, invoicing, quotations, CRM automation, and more.
- Enterprise CRM – Price not provided.
Learn More About Monday Sales CRM
2. HubSpot CRM
HubSpot stands out as a comprehensive CRM solution brimming with features to enhance customer relationship management. It boasts capabilities such as blogging, social media integration, lead management, website analytics, email marketing, SEO optimization, and much more.
With its user-friendly interface, HubSpot provides an array of free tools alongside its feature-rich paid plans. These premium offerings are enhanced by components from HubSpot’s Marketing, Sales, and Service Hubs. They include advanced features like ad retargeting, email campaign automation, automated deal assignments, and intelligent lead scoring.
However, a notable limitation of HubSpot is the contact cap on its plans. Even though it enables tracking up to 1 million prospects, targeted campaigns can’t cater to vast populations.
Related: Pipedrive vs HubSpot: Comparing CRMs
Is There a Free Plan Available with HubSpot?
Yes, HubSpot CRM does offer a complimentary plan.
HubSpot CRM Premium Plans
- Professional plan: Available at $1600/month for 2,000 contacts.
- Enterprise plan: Priced at $5000/month for 10,000 contacts.
3. Salesforce Customer 360 CRM
Salesforce Customer 360, an extension of Salesforce CRM, offers a comprehensive suite of features catering to sales, marketing, customer service, operations, and analytics across various channels. The solution provides enterprise-grade functionalities that effectively manage the entire sales process journey, from lead acquisition to deal closure.
A standout feature of Salesforce Customer 360 is its Einstein AI. This intelligent system not only automates mundane tasks but also proffers smart recommendations to elevate the overall customer experience.
Additionally, the platform leverages real-time analytics through Tableau to offer actionable insights. Mulesoft’s integration capabilities further enhance the system, allowing seamless data synchronization across applications, thus fostering deeper customer engagement.
Is There a Free Plan for Salesforce Customer 360?
No, Salesforce Customer 360 does not offer a complimentary plan.
Pricing Tiers for Salesforce Customer 360
- Essentials plan: Available at $25/user/month, this package delivers integrated sales and support functionalities.
- Sales Professional and Service Professional plans: Both priced at $75/user/month (billed annually), they respectively offer all-encompassing sales solutions and dedicated customer service features.
Discover More About Salesforce Customer 360 CRM
4. Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM positions itself as an economically viable CRM solution compared to other high-priced counterparts available today. Its extensive feature set facilitates the strengthening of customer loyalty, while simultaneously allowing businesses to economize on costs and time associated with managing client relations.
A distinctive attribute of Zoho CRM is its Canvas feature, a user-friendly drag-and-drop utility, enabling users to customize the CRM interface in alignment with the organization’s branding requirements.
This CRM system encompasses an array of functionalities apt for all organizational sectors. These include lead acquisition and management, email campaigns, social media amalgamation, automated sales processes, and seamless third-party integrations.
Is There a Free Plan Offered by Zoho CRM?
Yes, Zoho CRM does present a free edition accommodating 3 users, inclusive of fundamental features such as lead management and document storage.
Pricing Tiers for Zoho CRM
- Standard and Professional packages: Priced at $20 and $35/user/month, these plans grant access to functionalities like deal management, advanced filtering, workflow orchestration, and automated marketing tools.
- Enterprise and Ultimate packages: Available at $50 and $65/user/month respectively, they encompass premium features such as an email parser, testing sandbox, and an approval workflow.
5. Freshsales
Emerging from the creators of Freshdesk, Freshsales is a CRM platform architected to fortify collaboration between sales and marketing teams, ensuring a seamless customer journey. The intuitive interface offers rapid access to leads and contacts, while kanban-oriented boards act as the cornerstone of its sales pipelines, streamlining the deal-closure process.
The platform’s standout feature is the Freddy AI, which not only proposes potential deals but also furnishes pertinent data. This empowers businesses with the capability of offering real-time insights to enhance the customer experience.
Moreover, Freshsales promotes multi-channel engagement with prospects and customers across platforms like email, chat, and WhatsApp. It also offers compatibility with prominent apps such as HubSpot, Mailchimp, and Zapier.
Is There a Free Plan Offered by Freshsales?
Indeed, Freshsales provides a complimentary plan, encompassing core features such as contact management and contact lifecycle tracking.
Pricing Tiers for Freshsales
- Growth and Pro packages: These are priced at $18 and $47/user/month respectively, bestowing features like a structured sales pipeline, predictive contact ranking, interactive bot sessions, and integrated support for WhatsApp Business.
- Enterprise package: Available at $83/user/month, it incorporates advanced features such as sales forecasting and audit trail documentation.
Discover More About Freshsales
6. Insightly CRM
Insightly CRM stands as a formidable customer relationship management arsenal, engineered to empower businesses in streamlining their data and prospects. It boasts an array of features, encompassing contact management, a streamlined sales pipeline, marketing automation, lead tracking, and project management.
One of its noteworthy attributes is the provision of real-time analytics dashboards, offering an eagle-eye view of your business landscape. This enables businesses to meticulously monitor leads, gauge the efficacy of marketing campaigns, and project future revenue streams. Given its design, Insightly CRM is ideally suited for small to mid-sized businesses, as it falls short in certain enterprise-level user management capabilities.
Does Insightly CRM Extend a Free Plan?
Absolutely. Insightly CRM extends a basic free plan catering to 2 users.
Pricing Schemes for Insightly CRM
- Plus and Professional tiers: Priced at $29 and $49/user/month respectively, they offer an enriched set of features such as advanced lead management, robust email campaigns, business intelligence dashboards, and compatibility with third-party integrations.
- Enterprise tier: At a rate of $99/user/month, this plan is endowed with capabilities to nurture deeper relationships, automate intricate business processes, and execute serverless operations.
Dive Deeper into Insightly CRM
7. Workbooks
Workbooks shines as a tailored CRM solution, principally designed for small to medium-sized enterprises. It boasts a comprehensive toolkit accommodating the needs of sales, marketing, customer services, and operational teams. Through Workbooks, businesses can architect impactful marketing drives, adeptly manage team tasks, prioritize resources, and draw meaningful insights via its in-depth dashboards and reports. Furthermore, the platform accentuates the sales journey through features designed for sales pipeline optimization and customer service automation.
A standout feature of Workbooks is its Shared Success program. This initiative bestows users with complimentary consulting hours coupled with annual workshops, ensuring that Workbooks’ capabilities are well-aligned with an organization’s overarching objectives. Reinforcing its commitment to its clientele, the platform also introduces a co-funded implementation model, underpinning a sustainable partnership for mutual success.
Is There a Complimentary Plan on Workbooks?
Indeed. Workbooks extend a complimentary plan, encapsulating fundamental features for a duo of users.
Tiered Pricing Structure for Workbooks
- CRM package: At a rate of $39/user/month, this suite encompasses functionalities related to sales, marketing, and customer service management.
- Business package: Priced at $78/user/month, it augments the CRM package by adding features tailored for order management.
To bolster engagement and reach, Workbooks also offers optional add-ons, including provisions for email marketing, web-driven analytics and intelligence, and advanced social media tools, each carrying an additional fee.
8. EngageBay
EngageBay emerges as an all-encompassing CRM solution, designed to foster robust customer relationships. It’s packed with features for crafting sales pipelines, orchestrating automated email campaigns, and dispatching text messages.
The platform’s distinctive kanban board-inspired sales funnel interface facilitates a comprehensive view of your sales journey, task management, and social media endeavors, all unified under a single roof. Pushing its versatility even further, EngageBay extends an array of tools tailored to enhance post-sale customer rapport. In the realm of integrations, it syncs seamlessly with popular third-party platforms like Gmail, Outlook, and Microsoft Office.
Read Also: A Deep Dive into EngageBay’s All-in-One CRM (Review)
Does EngageBay Offer a Complimentary Plan?
Indeed, it does. EngageBay’s free tier caters to up to 500 contacts, fortified with features for email marketing and designing landing pages.
Pricing Tiers for EngageBay
- Basic plan: At a monthly rate of $14.99/user, this plan caters to 1,000 contacts, introducing features for SMS marketing and enabling third-party integrations.
- Growth plan: Priced at $49.99/user/month, it supports a generous quota of 10,000 contacts, and is enhanced with marketing automation, service automation tools, and more.
9. Keap
Keap emerges as a CRM solution imbued with an impressive array of sales and marketing tools. Its offerings encompass features like appointment scheduling, integrated payment gateways, email marketing utilities, and beyond, all while maintaining its foundational capabilities in contact and pipeline management. With Keap, teams can deploy marketing automation to channel leads and leverage workflow automations to bolster productivity.
Beginners will find its intuitive dashboard user-friendly, granting straightforward access to its robust feature set. Keap excels at facilitating smooth lead acquisition, sidelining distractions via automation of routine tasks, and delivering emails and texts to meticulously segmented user lists. Furthermore, it empowers businesses to forge connections with their clientele through a diverse range of channels like calls, emails, and texts.
Is a Complimentary Plan Offered by Keap?
No, as of the current update, Keap doesn’t provide a free tier.
Keap’s Pricing Schemes
- Pro plan: Priced at $169/month, it caters to up to 1500 contacts and supports 2 users. Features encompass CRM, automated lead capture, email marketing, dedicated landing pages, sales pipelines, and a suite of automation tools.
- Max plan: At a rate of $249/month, it scales up to support 2500 contacts and 3 users. Apart from retaining the features from the Pro plan, it introduces promo codes and in-depth marketing analytics.
10. Salesflare
Designed with a focus on lead management, Salesflare streamlines the process of gathering pertinent information for leads and sales activities. It employs intelligent mechanisms to automatically extract and compile contact details and associated information from emails, social profiles, and beyond.
Given its uncomplicated interface combined with its robust features, Salesflare is an ideal fit for small to medium-sized businesses. Its capabilities extend to meticulously logging every action undertaken by your team members – be it calls, meetings, or emails. This ensures an exhaustive contact record for all potential leads and clients. In addition, it incorporates a set of automation tools designed to expedite sales activities and promote visibility into team-wide sales opportunities.
Is there a Free Plan Offered by Salesflare?
Unfortunately, Salesflare does not offer a complimentary plan.
Subscription Tiers of Salesflare
- Growth plan: At $35/user/month, it provides email and website tracking, tailored email campaigns, and more.
- Pro plan: Priced at $49/user/month, it delivers features such as multiple email workflows, granular user permissions, and specialized user dashboards.