The 5 Most Popular CRMs in Canada

Zara Chechi

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Scoring a 4.7/5 in our research, Zoho CRM is our number one pick for CRM systems in Canada.

Our independent research team compared 11 different CRM systems to find the best on the market. Each system was scored against various categories including, pricing, features, and customer support.

If you want to jumpstart your CRM search, you can use our free quote comparison tool. With just a few brief details about your business, we can match you with trusted providers that will contact you with obligation-free quotes.

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SugarCRM

4.7
4.7
3.9
3.8
3.4
Best for

Ease of use

Best for

Sales automation

Best for

Customizable customer service options

Best for

Automation and analytics

Best for

Medium-sized businesses

Price Range
Price Range

$15 –  $69 per user per month

Price Range
Price Range

$25 –  $300 per user per month

Price Range
  • Sell: $49 per user per month
  • Serve: $80 per user per month
  • Market: $1,000 per month
Free Plan
Free Plan
Free Plan
Free Plan
Free Plan
Note

Keep in mind that all the prices here will be listed in USD. While some CRM platforms do charge in Canadian dollars, some only charge in USD. For the sake of comparison, we're keeping every price here in USD.

Zoho

Best for small and new businesses

Zoho Logo
Zoho CRM
4.7
Pricing Free – $52 per user per month
Quick overview

Zoho is one of the most affordable CRM softwares on the market, but it more than holds its own against more expensive packages. Sure, the interface isn’t as jazzy, but it gets the job done. If email is your main use for CRM, Zoho will really come into its own. Free for up to three users, with paid plans starting at $14/user/month (billed monthly).

Strengths

Free for up to three users

Easy to use and to set up

Great email marketing tools, plus web forms for collecting lead info

Weaknesses

Mobile app has quite limited functionality

Reduced customer support

Pricing
TiersPrice
Free Free
Standard $14 per user per month
Professional $23 per user per month
Enterprise $40 per user per month
Ultimate $52 per user per month

Zoho’s free version contains all the basic features a small or new business needs, such as contact and lead management and customization. Its paid versions are suitable for small to medium-sized businesses in a range of industries. 

Zoho CRM is customizable and scalable, which means it can grow alongside your business. In fact, you can customize any layout on the platform to suit your business needs. But this level of customization can be tricky for those who aren’t super techie – so it can be limiting for businesses without much expertise. 

Zoho CRM offers integrations with third-party apps such as Office 365, PayPal and Slack. However, on the free plan the integrations are limited to Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Tasks. These integrations provide a seamless CRM experience and let you carry out your operations from one platform. 

Zoho reportedly has poor customer service, with users complaining that response times are slow and they’re unable to get adequate help. For some small businesses this isn’t too much of an issue, especially if the system will be used for fairly basic processes. But if you want to customize the system or carry out more complex processes, the poor customer service could be a major con. 

Zoho's Pricing:

Keep in mind that all of the following prices are in USD!

Outside of a free tier, pricing starts at the Standard package's $14/month for the Standard package, if billed annually, or $20 when billed monthly. The Professional package is $23/month (annually) or $35 (monthly) and the Enterprise package is priced at $40/month (annually) or $50 (monthly). Finally, the Ultimate package is priced at $52/month (annually) or $65 (monthly).

Pros

  • Simple, easy-to-use software
  • Free version
  • Monthly subscription
  • Mobile app
  • Extensive customization

Cons

  • Customer service can be poor
  • Can get expensive on the higher tiers
  • Some problems with lagging
  • Customer service support changes for each package

Freshsales

Best for businesses on a limited budget 

Freshsales Logo
Freshsales
4.5
Pricing Free – $69 per user per month
Who it's best for

If you’re a small business looking for an effective, affordable CRM system without all the bells and whistles, Freshsales will be right up your street.

Strengths

Great for automating tasks such as logging phone calls

A simple software that’s easy to pick up, and won’t require much training

Free trial available

Weaknesses

Offers fewer third party integrations than competitors such as Zoho and Salesforce

Pricing
PlanPricing (monthly)Pricing (annually)
Free $0 $0
Growth $15 $18
Pro $39 $47
Enterprise $69 $83

Freshworks has divided its offerings into Freshdesk, Freshsales and Freshmarketer. Each platform provides customer service, sales, and marketing tools to boost your business’s efficiency and productivity. 

The platforms are customizable to suit your business needs and boast unique features such as the ability to choose from more than 10 languages and over 100 different currencies. Freshdesk provides great collaboration tools to cut down on wasted resources and deal with customer queries quickly and efficiently. 

Using Freshworks, you can automate admin and repetitive tasks, such as following up with leads or sending welcome emails. There are also third-party integrations that provide a seamless experience – although compared to its competitors, Freshworks offers less of these.

Freshsales' Pricing:

Freshsales' pricing starts at $15/user/month for the Growth plan, $39/user/month for Pro, and $69/user/month for Enterprise. Freshdesk starts at $15/user/month for Growth, $49/user/month for Pro, and $79/user/month for Enterprise.

There’s a discount on the Omnichannel packages, which bring several Freshworks tools and solutions together. They start at $29/user/month for Growth, $59/user/month for Pro, and $99/user/month for Enterprise.

Pros

  • Simple, easy-to-use software
  • Free version
  • Great ticketing features
  • Mobile app

Cons

  • Customer service can be poor
  • Less third-party apps than other CRM systems
  • Not as comprehensive as some competitors

Salesforce

Best for large and multi-layered businesses

Salesforce Logo
Salesforce
3.8
Pricing $25 – $300 per user per month
Who it's best for

Growing businesses that need in-depth campaign revenue figures. We recommend smaller businesses steer clear of Salesforce as it's a powerful tool with a premium price tag.

Strengths

Good range of features

Huge number of integrations

Free trial available

Weaknesses

Customer support costs extra

Tricky to use

No monthly pricing option

Pricing
PlanPrice
Starter Lead management, email integration, schedule meetings $25 per user, per month
Professional Forecast management, offline app $75 per user, per month
Enterprise Process automation, advanced pipeline insights $150 per user, per month
Unlimited AI lead scoring and deal health, premium support $300 per user, per month

Salesforce is the most comprehensive and popular CRM system in Canada. Salesforce can be used by businesses of any size, although it’s better suited to larger businesses as you’ll need to invest time and money to make the most of the software. 

At first glance the pricing seems fairly affordable. However, the initial pricing only covers basic features. Extra features such as the Einstein AI tool will cost you $50 per user, per month. Choosing to pay only for the features you actually want is great, as you don’t need to pay for features you won’t use, but it does mean that extra costs can quickly add up. The annual billing can also be limiting for some. 

We love Salesforce because of how customizable it is – and after all, it is the most popular CRM on the market for a reason. It boasts tons of great features needed for any business to run smoothly. In fact, its extensive customization might even be unnecessary for your business, in which case you should take a look at other CRM systems that are less comprehensive than Salesforce.

Salesforce's Pricing:

Salesforce starts at $25/user/month for its Essentials tier, $75/user/month for its Professional tier, $150/user/month for Enterprise, and $300/user/month for its Unlimited tier.

Pros

  • Most comprehensive and advanced CRM
  • Customizable
  • Workflow automation
  • Mobile app
  • Tons of third-party integrations

Cons

  • Can be expensive to purchase more features
  • Steep learning curve
  • 24/7 support only available for the highest-paying users
  • No free version

SugarCRM 

Best for medium-sized businesses

sugarcrm logo
SugarCRM
3.7
Pricing $49 per user, per month - $1,000 per month
Quick overview

Predictably by now, SugarCRM splits its pricing out into three packages, based on the type of team they’re designed to support. There’s Sugar Sell (for sales teams, from $49 per user, per month), Sugar Market (for marketing teams, from $1,000 per month), and Sugar Serve (for customer service teams, starting at $80 per month). All are cloud-based, billed annually, and ideal for the needs of fast-growth businesses.

SugarCRM is split into various platforms including Sugar Serve, Sugar Sell, and Sugar Market. You can opt for the platform best suited to your business needs. Sugar Serve provides great customer service solutions, including a streamlined omnichannel service to help communicate with customers efficiently. It also boasts features such as Service Console, a tool that allows your customer support team to find information quickly and resolve cases efficiently. 

Other features include AI technology, which helps provide accurate insights and forecasts based on historical customer journeys to make accurate predictions for the future. Predictive analytics is another feature that can save you time and resources and help you to make better business decisions. 

Sugar Market helps you to build automated marketing campaigns. You can easily create campaigns using drag-and-drop tools or, if you’re tech-savvy, you can even code your own. You can plan campaigns in advance and set up communications to be released based on triggers you choose.

SugarCRM’s software can be difficult to integrate without an in-house tech team. If you have some tech-savvy individuals, you’ll be able to integrate it more easily, but this is something to keep in mind when comparing CRM systems.

SugarCRM's Pricing:

Sugar Serve and Sugar Sell both start at $49/user/month, while Sugar Market starts at $1,000 per 10,000 contacts. Annual billing means this software can be a little out of reach for small businesses or those with a limited budget.

Pros

  • No hidden fees or costs
  • AI tech
  • Tools to create marketing campaigns easily
  • Automation to reduce repetitive or admin tasks
  • Mobile app

Cons

  • Complex integration process
  • No free version
  • Sugar Market is extremely pricey
  • Annual billing can be inflexible

Zendesk 

Best for businesses looking to provide great customer service

Zendesk logo
Zendesk
3.8
Pricing $19 - $149 per user, per month
Who it's best for

Sales managers and client success leaders who are looking for an easy way to track deal progression will benefit from Zendesk Sell. Email and calendar integrations at every price plan provide an easy way to marry your schedule with time-critical client relationship tasks.

Pricing
PlanPricing (annually)Pricing (monthly)
Support Team $19 $25
Support Professional $55 $69
Support Enterprise $115 $149
Suite Team $55 $69
Suite Growth $89 $115
Suite Professional $115 $149
Suite Enterprise Tailored Tailored

Zendesk is a feature-rich and flexible CRM system that provides simple, straightforward solutions for customer service and sales. Zendesk offers great features such as customizable answer bots that lift a lot of the burden off your customer service teams, and enable your business to offer 24/7 support to your customers

A unique feature of this software is the ability to create a knowledge base for your customers to empower them to help themselves. You can also use it to troubleshoot common problems or answer popular questions. 

Zendesk Sell, Zendesk’s dedicated sales platform, has been developed to provide a no-fluff system for your sales team. The mobile app for this platform gives your sales agents the ability to log closed deals and other information on the app – even when offline. 

Zendesk’s pricing is clear and transparent, and its prices are typical for what you get, with the lower-priced tiers being well suited for small or new businesses. This system’s simple and customizable features make it a great choice for small and medium-sized businesses who need customer service tools. 

Many small businesses may not have the resources at this point to have a consistent customer service team, and Zendesk’s features can be used to provide adequate customer support instead. 

Zendesk's Pricing:

Zendesk starts at $19/user/month for Sell Team, its lowest-priced Zendesk Sell Package. Sell Professional is priced at $49/user/month and Sell Enterprise at $99/user/month. Its top plan, the Elite plan, costs $150/user/month.

Zendesk’s customer service platform is offered as a suite that makes up several Zendesk products. Pricing starts at $49/user/month for Suite Team and ends with Suite Enterprise at $150/user/month.

Pros

  • User-friendly interface
  • Simple features
  • Features are easy to customize
  • Automated answer bots to increase customer support
  • Available in 40+ languages

Cons

  • Customer service can be poor
  • Advanced features only available for highest-paying users
  • Some problems with lagging
  • No free version
  • Annual billing can be quite limiting

How Did We Find the Best CRM Software?

Our team of independent researchers looked at a selection of the best and most popular CRM software. After finding all the information we need, the researchers then compare each software against its competitors, allowing us to find the cream of the crop. The criteria we look at include:

  • Price: Simple enough – the platform with the lowest price tag scores the best
  • Customization: What does the platform allow you to toy with in order to make it suit your business?
  • Features: Again, fairly easy to assess. Whichever platforms offer the best variety of features are given a better placement than those that have a more skint collection of tools.
  • Team Infrastructure: How does the platform allow you to manage large sales teams?
  • Customer Support: Again, easy enough – look at the options available and see what each platform offers its customers when it comes to their support resources
  • Scalability: How much does each software allow your business to grow over time?

After factoring in all this information, alongside the scores they received, we were able to calculate a final overall score for each CRM platform.

Expert Verdict

We love Salesforce for its comprehensive platform. But because it's so customizable, you can certainly run into issues getting the customizations up and running, which is why it is best for large and multi-layered organizations who have the necessary tech resources. Price-wise, it’s more suited to larger businesses. 

For medium-sized businesses we recommend SugarCRM. Its marketing automation, AI tech, and integration with third-party apps make it a great system, but its pricing makes it a little out of reach for new or small businesses with a limited budget. 

For small businesses, we recommend Zoho for its free version, which is packed with all the basic features a small business needs. As your business grows, you can then scale up to a paid version. The flexible, monthly subscription means that you don’t need to make a risky financial commitment. 

If you’re still not convinced, you can use our free quote tool to get matched up with trusted suppliers. All you need to do is give us some brief details such as the size of your business and your current CRM provider and you’ll receive no-obligation quotes.

Written by:
Zara Chechi
Zara Chechi Business Services Expert

Zara is a Payments Expert, specialising in writing about Point of Sale systems. With a Law Degree from City University of London, she has used her legally-honed research and analytical skills to develop expertise in the Business Services world. Featured in FinTech Magazine, she quickly became an expert in payroll, POS systems, and merchant accounts.

Reviewed by:
James Macey Senior Business Software Researcher

James thinks all businesses can improve if they use the right technology. At Expert Market, he utilises his 4+ years experience as a researcher to offer specialised advice on a wide range of categories from CRM to Fleet Management.