The Best CRM Software for Sales Teams

Based on our analysis, the best CRM system for sales teams specifically is Zoho CRM.

We compared the top CRM systems on the market to identify which providers tick the most boxes for sales teams’ needs. We considered features such as contact management, pipeline tracking, lead scoring and automation to determine a top-six shortlist for sales teams.

Below you can find our breakdown with in-depth reviews on each provider. If you prefer to cut to the chase, you can answer a few short questions about your requirements and receive free, tailored quotes from your best-suited CRM provider.

What is a Sales CRM?

CRM systems offer a centralized hub for marketing, sales and customer service teams to view customer information. While all three teams use CRM software, they have distinct needs which need to be addressed. For sales teams, a dedicated CRM system allows leads to be nurtured into loyal customers.

CRM systems for sales teams collect contact information in one comprehensive visual pipeline so that sales reps can work collaboratively to identify lead conversion opportunities, close deals and ultimately establish strong customer relationships.

1. Zoho CRM – Best Overall CRM System for Sales Teams

For teams looking to streamline their sales processes, we highly recommend Zoho CRM. It offers a range of features such as remote work support, lead generation automation, sales pipeline visibility, and sales data analysis to provide forecasting on future trends.

Zoho CRM for Sales Teams: Feature Analysis

• Lead Capture: Social listening with Twitter Keywords, web visitor tracking with Zoho iQ integration, a maximum of ten website chatbots on Plus plan only and web form templates available.
• Lead Communication: Email templates are available on all plans, and live chat and social media messaging are available on the Plus plan only. Video conferencing and VoIP are not included on any plan.
• Lead Conversion: Customizable sales pipeline, lead scoring from Standard plan and up.
• Contact Database: Contact segmentation on all plans, duplicate detection on Professional plan and up and with an integration, Zoho can show a contact’s Twitter and Facebook feed.
• Data Analysis: Custom report and chart builder from Standard plans and up and capacity to view sales forecasts from the Enterprise plan and up. AI assistant, Zia helps identify sales opportunities and anomalies.
• Integrations: A large number of first-party integrations with the rest of Zoho’s software suite, social media integration from Standard plan and up plus a wide range of other third-party integrations.
• Automation: Custom builder to create automated workflows e.g. event triggers and follow-ups. A big plus is that all plans offer unlimited actions, whereas other providers (e.g. HubSpot, Pipedrive and Salesmate) impose a limit.
• Security: High-level security features including custom permissions, single sign-on (SSO) and multi-factor authentication (MFA).
• Team Organization: Unified inbox and calendar, team communication capacity, task management and both individual and team KPIs/targets.

Zoho CRM for Sales Teams: Verdict

Zoho CRM is an incredibly strong CRM product for Sales teams. Its highest pricing plan is a similar cost to the mid-tier plans of Hubspot but it provides a competitive range of features and the same level of functionality, making it one of the best value CRM systems. Furthermore, Zoho also takes the trophy for its onboarding and training support which helps you hit your fullest potential with your newfound CRM software.

2. Freshsales – Best CRM System for Communicating with Leads

We found that Freshsales supports communication with sales via the widest range of channels of all the providers we researched. You’ll be able to maintain flexibility when communicating with potential leads by reaching them with email campaigns, chat campaigns, phone, SMS, Zoom and messaging apps like WhatsApp, Apple Business Chat, Facebook Messenger, and LINE. 

Freshsales for Sales Teams: Feature Analysis

• Lead Capture: Freshsales lacks social listening features and website visitor tracking but does offer webform creation on all plans, as well as website chatbots on Pro and Enterprise plans.
• Lead Communication: Website live chat and native VoIP are available on all plans. Paid plans additionally include SMS, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and email templates.
• Lead Conversion: Custom sales pipeline provides an overview of progress while the generative AI tool, Freddy helps teams by scoring and identifying the leads most likely to convert to save time and effort.
• Contact Database: It’s not possible to view contact’s social media profile but communication history and list segmentation are included on all plans.
• Data Analysis: Create custom reports and charts on all paid plans. Sales forecasting is included on the Enterprise plan.
• Integrations: Freshsales integrates with Zoom, Facebook Messenger, VoIP systems as well as seven additional sales engagement tools.
• Automation: 20 inclusive workflows on the Growth plan, 50 on the Pro plan and 100 on the Enterprise plan. Not included on the Free plan.
• Security: Strong security features such as custom permissions included on Pro and Enterprise plans, SSO, MFA and data restriction based on role included on all plans.
• Team Organization: Task management features are included on all plans, and shared inbox and calendar are included on paid plans. Individual targets and team KPIs can be tracked on the Pro and Enterprise plans. No team communication feature.

Freshsales for Sales Teams: Verdict

Freshsales is our top recommendation for sales teams looking for a CRM system that gives flexibility with communication channels. It’s a great option for smaller teams to increase their engagement with potential leads online, with a helping hand from the AI tool, Freddy, which identifies the most fruitful lead opportunities. It does offer fewer more developed features such as individual workload management, which is seen with more advanced providers such as Zoho.

3. HubSpot Sales Hub – Best CRM Provider for Scalability

Our top choice for scalability, HubSpot does not lock its more advanced features behind a paywall as seen with some of the other providers. Even its free plan provides website chatbots, quote proposal management and a large number of integrations so you can benefit from a full CRM system for little or no extra investment.

HubSpot Sales Hub for Sales Teams: Feature Analysis

• Lead Capture: All plans include website visitor tracking, webforms and website chatbots. No social listening is available.
• Lead Communication: Email templates, website live chat and native VoIP are included on all plans. Higher-paid plans have incrementally more capacity for communication. No video conferencing or instant messaging app.
• Lead Conversion: Customizable sales pipeline standard across all plans, while the Enterprise plan includes a predictive lead scoring feature based on the likelihood of conversion.
• Contact Database: Contact segmentation, duplicate detection and communication history are included on all paid plans but no social media profile visibility on any plan.
• Data Analysis: Custom reports, chart builder, data by sales rep and pipeline stage as well as sales revenue and sales forecasts included on the Professional and Enterprise plans only.
• Integrations: HubSpot Sales Hub is a great collaborative option as it has six separate ‘hubs’ for different areas of business: Commerce, Marketing, Service, CMS, Operations and Sales. In terms of third-party integrations, there are a number of compatible apps including social media, VoIP and web conferencing options.
• Automation: Only the Professional and Enterprise plans offer custom automation. The former is limited to 300 automations and the latter stretches to 1000.
• Security: All plans offer custom permissions, MFA and role-dependent data restrictions whereas SSO is only included with the Enterprise plan.
• Team Organization: Features such as team communication, a shared inbox, synced calendars and task management will allow better collaboration across sales reps. Except for the Free plan, reps can also benefit from shared KPIs (revenue goals, calls logged, meetings booked and deals created).

HubSpot Sales Hub for Sales Teams: Verdict

What’s special about HubSpot is its range of plans. It has an incredibly generous Free plan which packs most of the same features as its higher plan, including advanced lead capture options, which are a paid extra with competitor systems such as Pipedrive.. Due to its accessible price points, it’s a great option for smaller sales teams looking for a professional CRM solution. While it’s suitable for small teams, it also leaves room to grow due to the range of opportunities to upgrade if or when you hit capacity on the entry-level plans.

4. Pipedrive – Best CRM Provider for Deals

Pipedrive is our top recommendation for teams wanting an easy overview of their sales pipeline as it offers a clear breakdown of active deals and provides sales forecasts at each point in the funnel. We also found that the retrospective data analytics and AI prompts helped identify sales opportunities and close deals.

Pipedrive: Feature Analysis

• Lead Capture: If you want to track website visitors, you’ll need to pay $41+ extra per month to do so with the Web Visitor add-on. The LeadBooster add-on includes web forms and chatbots, costing between $32.50 and $39 per month.
• Lead Communication: Live chat is also only included with the LeadBooster add-on while email templates and native VoIP are included on the Professional and Enterprise plans.
• Lead Conversion: You’ll be able to track leads with a customizable, kanban-board sales pipeline, included in all plans. You can also create custom fields to tailor the system to your requirements.
• Contact Database: Pipedrive allows you to view communication history with contacts, segment based on specific criteria and also detects duplication.
• Data Analysis: You can build custom reports, view revenue data and make sales forecasts on Professional and Enterprise plans only. All plans can create charts based on the sales rep and pipeline stage.
• Integrations: Pipedrive includes various third-party integrations, such as Zapier, Quickbooks and Slack but it does not offer its own suite of first-party apps, like HubSpot or monday.com.
• Automation: You’ll be able to create automations with Pipedrive, but the action capacity is rather limited. The Essential plan does not include automations at all, the Advanced offers 30 and the Professional and Enterprise plans include 60 and 100 automations, respectively.
• Security: Pipedrive’s security features are very strong, with all plans benefitting from custom permissions, SSO, MFA, IP address restriction and data restrictions based on role.
• Team Organization: Pipedrive allows sales reps to mention each other on emails, tasks and deals as well as share a calendar and email inbox. It also inspires a healthy sense of competition with both individual and shared KPIs and targets.

Pipedrive for Sales Teams: Verdict

Pipedrive was made by salespeople for salespeople and it’s characterized as a more straight-to-the-point software for lead management. To maintain its simplicity, it’s not as customizable as Zoho and HubSpot. It has fewer third-party integrations, for example, it doesn’t link with WordPress, Instagram or Twitter. With that being said, it’s still one of the more expensive options and you may be paying for the convenience of using an easier software, rather than for advanced features. Its main focus is on deals and tracking the stages of the sales pipeline. Pipedrive’s 24/7 support is also a big plus which solidifies it as a user-friendly, no-nonsense platform.

5. Salesmate – Best Low-Cost CRM Provider

Salesmate offers features such as in-built calling as well as automated lead capture via website chatbots, live chat and webforms, so you can enjoy a boost in your leads. It’s also great for keeping up with your customers on the go as it has handy apps on iOS, Android and Chrome.

Salesmate: Feature Analysis

• Lead Capture: Salesmate offers webforms, live chat and chatbots but does not offer social listening.
• Lead Communication: To communicate with leads, Salesmate supports email, native VoIP and SMS. There is a Messenger add-on available for $12-15 per user, per month.
• Lead Conversion: Salesmate can benefit your sales efforts with its customizable sales pipeline and lead scoring, included in all 4 plans.
• Contact Database: If you integrate Salesmate with Clearbit, you’ll be able to benefit from seeing your contact’s social media profiles. All plans include segmentation options to split contacts into groups according to set criteria.
• Data Analysis: Salesmate also has strong data analysis capabilities. From the Growth plan and up, users can create custom reports and charts. All plans can view data by sales rep and pipeline stage, as well as make sales forecasts and view revenue data.
• Integrations: If you already have Quickbooks or Xero, you’ll be able to connect this with Salesmate to manage quote proposals. Salesmate also integrated with VoIP systems, web conferencing and other third-party sales engagement tools like Clearbit and Wufoo.
• Automation: Automated workflows are included in all plans, with a higher capacity for actions on the higher-cost plans.
• Security: Salesmate provides MFA and data restrictions based on roles as part of its security package on all plans. It does lack SSO and IP restriction is only available to Boost or Enterprise customers.
• Team Organization: Sales reps can stay tuned in with each other by mentioning relevant colleagues on emails, tasks and deals. They can also share an email inbox (except on the Starter plan) and also benefit from task management features to increase productivity. From the Growth plan and up, the whole team can share KPIs and targets in a dashboard.

Salesmate for Sales Teams: Verdict

As one of the lowest-cost options, Salesmate offers a great CRM system for smaller businesses. It’s certainly less expensive at a maximum of $50 per user, per month than more heavy-duty options such as HubSpot and Pipedrive, which can be upwards of $100 per user, per month.

With cheaper plans, you should expect to compromise on certain features. One core shortcoming of Salesmate is the limited customer service options, which is typical of lower-priced CRM systems. However, it manages to rival more expensive competitors in team collaboration features, digital engagement features, and analytics. Providing these key features at lower cost makes it a worthy alternative for sales teams working with tighter budgets.

6. monday.com sales CRM – Best Sales CRM System for Customization

We found that monday.com‘s sales CRM gave great flexibility when it comes to customizing your sales pipeline. You can customize the system by editing deal stages, adding columns, and gaining visibility over contacts. By customizing the system to your individual processes, it comes more intuitive for new users to get to grips with and find exactly what they need.

monday sales CRM: Feature Analysis

• Lead Capture: The only form of lead capture offered by monday sales CRM is via web forms. It lacks social listening, website visitor tracking and chatbot features, as demonstrated by Zoho.
• Lead Communication: No lead communication functionality (live chat, auto-response, video conferencing tools or native VoIP) apart from email templates on the Pro and Enterprise plans.
• Lead Conversion: monday.com’s visual sales pipeline provides an overview of all stages of the lead journey but unfortunately lead scoring is only offered with the Enterprise plans. Scoring automatically identifies which leads and deals are most likely to close so that reps can focus their efforts. Quote proposal management is included in the Standard plan and up.
• Contact Database: All of monday.com’s tiers provide an overview of a contact’s communication history. You’ll also be able to segment contacts according to set criteria. Only Enterprise customers have the added bonus of duplicate detection, which is offered on all of HubSpot and Pipedrive’s plans.
• Data Analysis: monday.com’s data analysis features are a lot less robust than other providers, namely Freshsales and Salesmate. With monday.com’s Enterprise plan, you’ll be able to create customized reports and charts with data organized by sales rep and pipeline stage
• Integrations: monday.com integrates with Pipedrive, Formito, HubSpot, PhoneBurner, Aircall, Zoom and Teams.
• Automation: With monday.com’s custom automation builder, you can outsource repetitive actions to the software system to save sales reps time. It’s not an included feature on the Individual or Basic plans but the Standard plan offers 250 inclusive actions, the Pro plan offers 25,000 and the Enterprise plan offers a huge 250,000 actions.
• Security: Again, the Enterprise plan offers secure features such as custom permissions, SSO, IP restrictions and data restrictions based on role. However, the lower plans only have multi-factor authentication, making monday.com a good option for larger enterprises but less robust security-wise on the lower plans.
• Team Organization: monday.com helps sales reps keep on track by having unified inboxes per contact, reps can also mention each other on emails, tasks and deals for better collaboration. The calendar feature is only available from the Standard plan and up, but all plans include task management features. monday.com could improve by offering all plans the functionality for checking KPIs and targets, but this is only included on the Pro and Enterprise plans.

monday sales CRM for Sales Teams: Verdict

monday sales CRM is a top choice for on-the-go sales reps since it’s cloud-based software, which makes your sales pipeline accessible from anywhere. It does however lack a lot of the features we expect from a fully-fledged CRM system for sales teams, such as lead capture and communication capabilities. It does, however, offer a highly customizable sales pipeline, with a generous amount of custom automations, so it’s good for teams wanting to work with specific processes. We think it’s a better choice for larger, enterprise teams since a lot of monday.com’s more useful features are locked behind its Enterprise plan.

How We Test CRM Systems for Businesses

We tested 13 market-leading CRM systems to evaluate them in terms of functionality, usability, cost, scalability, and more so we can make the most useful recommendations to US businesses.

Our rigorous testing process means these products have been scored and rated in six main categories of investigation and 13 subcategories – in fact, we covered 84 areas of investigation in total. We then gave each category score a ‘relevance weighting’ to ensure the product’s final score perfectly reflects the needs and requirements of Expert Market readers – and that’s our product testing algorithm in a nutshell!

Our main testing categories for CRM systems are:

Features: the functionalities and capabilities provided by the CRM software, such as contact management, lead and opportunity tracking, and task and activity management.

Help and Support: the resources and assistance available to users when they encounter issues or require guidance while using the CRM software.

Customization: the ability to tailor the CRM software to suit the specific needs and processes of the organization, e.g. customizing fields, layouts, and workflows.

Scalability: the ability of the CRM software to accommodate the growth and changing needs of the organization, such as the capacity to handle a growing customer database.

Price: the cost associated with using the CRM software. It includes factors such as licensing fees, subscription plans, and additional charges for add-on modules or features.

Team Structure – Sales CRM: determining if a platform makes it easier to manage large sales teams, including team dashboards, team hierarchies, and team inboxes.

Usability – Small Business CRM: assessing the simplicity of the interface, the ease of navigating through menus and options, and the overall user experience.