Cheapest CRM Software Plans in 2025

office workers typing on laptops using best cheap crm software

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The best cheap CRM software provides US small businesses with the essential tools to engage with customers and clients, but without any unnecessary spending.

Based on Expert Market’s research, the best cheap CRM software is HubSpot’s Free plan. It comes with sales, customer service and marketing features, allowing you to manage a complex sales pipeline, resolve customer issues and run marketing campaigns for zero cost.

However, in 2025, it has a strict user limit of just two. If you’re looking to scale, we’d suggest monday CRM’s Basic plan, which has an unlimited user capacity and some of the best customization options around.

Best Cheap CRM Software Plans (2025): Key Takeaways

  • Smaller businesses looking for basic CRM functionality can find a number of free or low-cost options available. Three of the plans listed here are zero-cost, while the rest range from $12–$25 per month, with some offering free trial periods.
  • HubSpot’s Free plan is the best no-cost CRM and is ideal for solo users or small teams, with excellent email tools and an intuitive interface. It supports up to two users and 1,000 contacts, but lacks support and advanced customization.
  • Other highly-rated free packages include Freshsales’ Sprout plan for up to three users, which is less polished than HubSpot but better for real-time communication, and Zoho CRM’s Free Edition, which offers a range of features, also for three users, although setup is fiddly.
  • monday CRM’s Basic plan is the best budget CRM for larger teams, with unlimited users from $12 per month. It’s highly customizable, visually clean and ideal for project-based workflows, though marketing tools are minimal.
Best Cheap CRM Software 2025: At a glance

  1. HubSpot (from $0/month) – Most generous free plan
  2. Freshsales (from $0/month) – Best free plan for integrated connections
  3. Zoho CRM (from $0/month) – Best free plan for modest data needs
  4. monday CRM (from $12/month) – Best cheap CRM for customization
  5. Pipedrive (from $14/month) – Best cheap CRM for data protection
  6. Zendesk (from $19/month) – Best cheap CRM for easy data visualization
  7. Salesforce (from $25/month) – Best cheap CRM for email communication

Click on any of the links above to compare CRM prices with our quote-finder tool. We based our recommendations on our in-house testing and research. Read our methodology to learn more about our testing and research process.

HubSpot vector
HubSpot Free is our researchers' top cheap CRM software for value for money.

Try it from $0

New logo of monday CRM
Our researchers found monday CRM’s Pro plan to offer the best customization features.

Try its 14-day free trial

Salesforce Logo
Our researchers were impressed by Salesforce Starter Suite's email features.

Try its 30-day free trial

The 7 Best Cheap CRM Software: Reviews

The three providers listed above are the best of the bunch, and we’ll go into a bit more detail about why they performed the best shortly. However, they’re not the only CRM platforms worth considering for your business in 2025.

So, make sure you scroll on down to our in-depth reviews if you’d like to find out more. However, if you don’t have time for that, here’s a whistlestop tour of the top cheap CRM solutions we’ve researched and tested:

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Salesforce’s Starter Suite

HubSpot’s Free Plan

Freshsales’ Sprout Plan

Zoho CRM’s Free Edition

monday CRM’s Basic Plan

Pipedrive’s Essential Plan

Zendesk’s Support Team Plan

Best for

Email communication

Best for

Most generous free plan

Best for

Best free plan for integrated connections

Best for

Best free plan for modest data needs

Best for

Customization

Best for

Data protection

Best for

Easy data visualizations

Price Range
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Test Summary: Why HubSpot Came Out on Top

After testing 13 CRM platforms across 84 criteria, like features, support and usability, I think HubSpot’s free plan will be the best option for businesses on a budget, such as startups, that want a comprehensive, user-friendly platform that won’t take them ages to set up.

HubSpot’s user interface is highly intuitive and everything is set out incredibly clearly – in fact, there are loads of instructions provided during setup. This means you’ll get used to it quickly, even if you’ve never used CRM software before – initially, it’s a much easier ride than a platform like Salesforce. And in terms of features, it’s the only free CRM offering we tested with built‑in meeting scheduling and live chat.

Of course, it’s not without its downsides – there are minimal support options and storage is limited, although not all businesses need vast amounts of storage. Besides, if you already have an established client base and you want to get organized, engage more regularly with your clients or run a marketing campaign, you can get into this right away.

The real crunch point is that HubSpot’s free plan now has a limit of two users per account, previously having been five users (and unlimited before that). It has also reduced its contact allowance from 1 million to just 1,000 on the free plan in 2025, which is lower than the likes of Zoho CRM (5,000).

Ultimately, this may be an issue for businesses trying to grow their staff numbers. But besides this, there are no other downsides to doing it for free with a platform like HubSpot.

James Macey CRM Research Lead, Expert Market

1. HubSpot’s Free Plan: Most Generous Free Plan

Price: Free

HubSpot's Free Plan
Pricing Free
Strengths

Free CRM platform

Impressive email capabilities

Abundant marketing tools

Weaknesses

2 user limit

Limited customizability

No phone, chat and email support

Pricing
Free
No monthly fees

HubSpot’s key features on its free plan

HubSpot’s free CRM is one of the most generous available. Key features include:

1,000 contact allowance: Manage up to 1,000 contacts but with a two-seat user cap. This was 1 million until early 2025, which is quite a large drop-off for new HubSpot users, but existing ones shouldn’t be affected. It should be noted that these are “non-marketing contacts” too, which means they can’t be targeted with marketing emails or automation tools.
• 1 million non-contact records: For all other standard object types, namely companies, deals and tickets, you have 1 million records available to add.
Core sales tools: Contact, company, deal, task and ticket management with an easy-to‐use visual pipeline.
Email and meeting tools: Email tracking and notifications, customizable email templates, and integrated meeting scheduling (with Gmail, Outlook, etc.).
Live chat and chatbots: Built-in live chat functionality that can be set up with simple chatbot rules to engage website visitors.
Basic reporting and dashboards: A set of customizable dashboards and basic reporting tools to monitor sales performance.
Integrations: Out-of-the-box integrations with popular tools (e.g. Gmail, Outlook, and other HubSpot marketing tools).

Why do we recommend HubSpot’s Free plan?

What’s so good about HubSpot? Here’s a glance at why its free plan could be an option for your team:

  • Value for money: At zero cost, you could save big compared with the likes of Salesforce’s cheapest plan, which would cost at least $300 per year (albeit, for more features and functionality). In return for nothing, you get 1 million contacts to play with, great for the rapid growth of your business, whereas fellow cost-free option Zoho CRM has a limit of 5,000 records.
  • Ease of use: When we tested HubSpot, we found the email scheduling and tracking tool both straightforward and efficient. It didn’t take long to create professional-looking emails and schedule them to be sent to those in our contact base. You can even generate auto responses, which saves a lot of time. Organizational features, such as reminders and meeting scheduling, also help you manage your appointments.
image of hubspot crm's email template tool
We found HubSpot's email editor really easy to use, thanks to the templates. Source: Expert Market
  • All-in-one functionality: Offers a central place for contact management, such as static and dynamic contact lists, sales pipelines (with detailed activity logs) and basic support ticketing via a queuing system (inside HubSpot’s “service” section of its software) without financial commitment.

Any drawbacks to HubSpot’s Free plan?

As we’ve updated this page, we’ve noticed that HubSpot has gradually tapered back the features on its free plan. Here are some key reasons why HubSpot’s free plan may not be for you:

  • User limitation: Restricted to two users. Previously, this was five users (and unlimited before that), making it a major challenge for teams larger than two to work effectively. Freshsales and Zoho’s free plans both allow up to three users, although we’d argue they are less advanced in terms of features and one extra user isn’t much of a difference.
  • File storage: Limited to five documents per person. If you don’t have any external storage, such as Google Workspace, this is another hurdle to manage.
  • No direct support: Lacks phone, chat and email support, which is far from ideal should you need to troubleshoot any issues with the CRM.
  • Customization limits: Only 10 custom fields and no custom task types or objects. To get full customization of columns and rows on your boards, the best option we recommend is monday CRM (although, it doesn’t offer a free plan and instead starts from $12 per user, per month).
  • Basic marketing suite: Advanced social media marketing features and automation tools are largely restricted to HubSpot’s paid plans.
hubspot navigation bar with subtools
Hovering over each section in the left-hand navigation bar reveals sub-tools to swiftly dive in to. Source: Matt Reed/Expert Market

What businesses is HubSpot’s Free Plan best suited to?

Our research suggests HubSpot’s Free Plan is an affordable option for small businesses, startups, and freelancers seeking a comprehensive CRM solution for small user numbers and without any financial commitment. It offers tools to contact clients, schedule email marketing campaigns and generally maintain a streamlined sales pipeline.

Therefore, this free plan can help these growing operations manage customer relationships effectively, so long as you can live with a maximum of two user accounts. And given its user-friendly interface and extensive resources, HubSpot should be accessible for those new to CRM systems.

If you’re interested in more CRM recommendations, explore our guide to the best CRM software for small businesses.

How much do HubSpot’s other plans cost?

Beyond its generous free CRM, HubSpot offers several paid tiers that add advanced sales, marketing and customer service functionality.

It’s worth mentioning that the marketing suites that HubSpot offers are considerably more expensive than the sales and customer service equivalents, starting at $890 per month for its Professional plan and $3,600 per month for its Enterprise plan. But for the other two, they have the same prices, which we’ve listed below

Plan tierMonthly cost (per seat)*Key features
Free CRM$01,000 non-marketing contacts; basic sales tools; forms; landing pages; live chat (with HubSpot branding)
Starter$15 (annual) / $20 (monthly)Starter versions of sales, marketing, and service tools; removal of branding; basic automation and reporting
Professional~$100*2,000 contacts; advanced automation; custom reporting; predictive analytics; deeper integrations
Enterprise~$150*Extensive customization; advanced team management; priority support; enterprise‑grade scalability

*Prices vary based on number of users and selected add‑ons. Starter pricing applies to HubSpot’s Customer Platform bundle for startups/small businesses.

2.  Freshsales’ Sprout Plan: Best for Integrated Connections

Price: Free

Freshsales Logo
Freshsales' Sprout Plan
Pricing Free
Strengths

A variety of marketing tools

Highest in our usability rating

Efficient contact management features

Weaknesses

Zero customer service features

Tricky to customize

Could be more intuitive and user-friendly

Pricing
Free
No monthly fees

Freshsales’ key features on its cheapest plan

Freshsales (by Freshworks CRM) offers a “Forever Free” (Sprout) plan designed for smaller teams. The free plan includes:

Lead, contact and deal management: Manage your leads, contacts, accounts and deals with an intuitive visual sales pipeline. There is a 1,000 marketing contact limit for the Sprout plan (but you can purchase more contact space separately).
Two-way email sync: Integrate your email (Gmail/Outlook) to track emails and conversations directly within the CRM.
Built-in phone and live chat: Access basic phone capabilities and live chat features for real-time customer engagement.
Mobile app: Stay connected on the go with iOS and Android apps.
Essential integrations & 24×5 support: Benefit from a modest selection of integrations, plus standard support via email and chat.

Note: Advanced reporting and some automation features are not available in the free edition.

Why do we recommend Freshsales’ Sprout plan?

  • No-cost, essential CRM: Completely free, the Freshsales Sprout plan has a robust foundation of CRM functionalities designed specifically for small teams of up to three users.
  • Integrated communication tools: Notably, you’ll have basic two-way email sync and built‑in phone capabilities so that you can handle customer communications directly within the CRM, too. That’s not something possible on the free plans by HubSpot or Zoho.
  • Core sales: This includes a Kanban sales pipeline to manage leads, plus separate pipelines for contacts, accounts and deals that provide clear insights into your sales process. As well as that, there are lead and deal management functionality to track and update deal statuses, set reminders and capture essential customer interactions for any ongoing sales.
  • Basic reporting and activity tracking: Offers preset dashboards and basic reporting tools to monitor sales activities, track deal progress and evaluate overall performance. Calls, meetings and tasks are also logged automatically to maintain a comprehensive view of customer interactions, sufficient for small teams.
freshsales crm's kanban view for its project management
We found the deals pipeline easy to manage with Freshsales' Kanban view. Source: Expert Market
Looking to switch providers?

We recommend the Freshsales Growth plan to teams looking to upscale quickly, due to its unlimited user capacity.

Any drawbacks to Freshsales’ Sprout plan?

  • Limited scalability: Restricted to three users, the Sprout plan might not suffice as your business grows or if you need to handle larger volumes of customer records.
  • Basic automation and customization: Similarly, while it offers the essential tools, you’ll find that advanced workflow automation, deeper customization and more comprehensive analytics are available only in Freshsales’ paid plans.
  • Less stylish platform: As you can see from the image above, the interface isn’t particularly user-friendly either, and we found it much easier to get to grips with other options like HubSpot.
freshsales crm plan pricing
Freshsales has a number of affordable plans, including the free option, if you wanted to test the software before committing long-term. Source: Freshsales

What businesses is Freshsales’ Sprout Plan best suited to?

Freshsales’ Sprout plan caters to growing businesses that require CRM functionalities for no cost whatsoever. Organizations that manage a moderate volume of customer data can benefit from its simplistic pipeline and useful, built‑in communication tools for phone and live chat.

How much do Freshsales other plans cost?

Freshsales offers a range of paid plans that scale in functionality as your business grows. In addition to its free “Sprout” plan, paid tiers include:

Plan tierPrice (monthly, billed annually)Key features
Sprout (Free)$0 (for up to 3 users)Basic lead, contact and deal management; 2‑way email sync; built‑in phone and live chat; mobile app; essential integrations and support
Growth$9/user/monthKanban views for contacts/accounts/deals; contact lifecycle stages; built‑in chat/email/phone; email templates; basic workflows; 24×5 support
Pro$39/user/monthFreddy AI–powered contact scoring and deal insights; advanced custom fields; auto-assignment rules; territory management; multiple pipelines; advanced workflows; custom reports
Enterprise$59/user/monthAdds field‑level permissions; custom modules; forecasting insights; workflows for custom modules; sandbox; audit logs for compliance
Need more general CRM recommendations?

Read our picks for the best overall CRM software systems.

3. Zoho CRM’s Free Edition: Best for Small Businesses with Modest Data Needs

Price: Free

Zoho logo
Zoho CRM's Free Edition
Pricing Free
Strengths

Most comprehensive feature list

Perfect customer service score

Outstanding sales and contact management tools

Weaknesses

Limited file storage

Initial setup is tedious

Pricing
Free
No monthly fees

Zoho CRM’s key features on its cheapest plan

Zoho CRM offers a Free Edition plan that is ideal for small businesses or teams with basic needs. The Free Edition includes:

User and record limits: Free for up to three users with a limit on the number of records per module of 5,000 records (10MB).
Core CRM functionalities: Manage leads, contacts, accounts, deals, tasks, events, call logs and notes.
Basic email integration: Connect your email accounts to send/receive messages and schedule follow-ups.
Limited customization and reporting: Create basic custom fields, lists and reports, along with access to standard dashboards.
Mobile access: Manage your CRM on the go via the Zoho mobile app.

While it covers the essentials, advanced automation, analytics and extensive customization are available only in paid editions.

Why do we recommend Zoho CRM’s Free Edition plan?

Zoho CRM’s Free Edition offers a solid foundation for managing your customer relationships at no cost. Here’s why it could be an excellent option for small teams and startups:

  • Value for money: Completely free for up to three users, making it a cost‑effective entry point compared with the Standard, Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate plans, which start at a monthly fee per user.
  • Core CRM capabilities: Includes essential modules, leads, accounts, contacts and deals, to build and manage your sales pipeline, similar to the paid plans but without advanced extras like integrated configure, price, quote (CPQ) or inventory management.
  • Basic sales force automation: Supports core activities such as logging tasks, meetings and calls (with basic reminders), and offers fundamental lead scoring (up to 10 criteria per module), while more sophisticated automation and macros are reserved for higher tiers.
  • Usability and customization: We rated Zoho highly for its ease of use in our testing of the platform, especially with the “Deals” module that allows you to tailor your sales pipeline to your business processes. You can add custom fields during the data import process, providing a degree of customization that ensures your CRM reflects your unique project needs. The data import process is customizable too, offering a higher level of precision to the overall CRM setup.
zoho crm contact import page, showing a list table of names and their contact details
We found Zoho's data importation process to be customizable, which gave a higher level of precision to the entire CRM. Source: Expert Market
  • Standard reporting and analytics: Provides access to standard reports and preset dashboards, plus the ability to create up to 100 custom reports and schedule up to 100 report schedules, with up to 10 custom dashboards – sufficient for small teams, though advanced analytics and unlimited reporting come with the paid editions.
  • Essential marketing automation: Offers mass emailing capability (limited to 250 emails per day per organization), 10 custom email templates, and three autoresponders per module, which covers basic marketing needs compared with the higher limits in paid plans.
  • Basic Zia functionality: It also includes minimal AI features (for example, a prediction builder set at two per organization) while advanced Zia capabilities like detailed scoring, sentiment analysis and recommendation builders require higher-tier licenses.

Any drawbacks to Zoho CRM’s Free Edition plan?

Zoho CRM’s Free Edition plan isn’t the most advanced option around. Limitations include:

  • User limitation: The Free Edition is restricted to three users, which may not suffice as your team grows, albeit that’s one more seat than HubSpot’s free plan.
  • Limited advanced features: However, we’d argue Zoho CRM’s Free Edition has fewer advanced features than HubSpot’s free plan. It lacks functionalities like multiple pipelines, inventory management and comprehensive analytics that are available only in its paid plans.
  • Basic support channels: Support is primarily limited to online resources and community forums, so you won’t have access to dedicated email or phone support if issues arise.
  • Small storage allowance: While Zoho’s free plan allows up to 5,000 records per module (approximately 10MB per module), it has a max of 1GB of file storage for the organization. That might be suitable for small-scale operations but is less robust than the data capacities available in paid editions.
  • Customization constraints: While you can add custom fields during data import, overall workflow automation and advanced customization options are more limited compared with higher-tier editions.

What businesses is Zoho CRM’s Free Edition best suited to?

Given it has a limited number of users (up to three) per account, we’d argue Zoho CRM’s Free Edition is only appropriate for small businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs that require essential CRM functions and sales pipelines without significant financial commitment.

If you need more users, advanced automation, extensive customizations or data limits, you’ll either need to upgrade to a paid plan (we’ll detail those shortly) or opt for a different free plan on this page.

zoho crm pricing and plans
Zoho has four paid plans on offer, with its Standard plan being the cheapest available. Source: Zoho CRM

How much do Zoho CRM’s other plans cost?

Zoho CRM’s Free Edition (for up to three users) covers the basics, but its paid plans expand the feature set significantly, should you ever need to upgrade. Their tiered pricing (typically billed annually) is approximately:

Plan tierPrice (monthly, billed annually)Key features
Free Edition$0 (for up to 3 users)Basic CRM functions: leads; contacts; accounts; deals; tasks; events; call logs, limited email integration; basic customizations
Standard$14/user/monthAdds workflow rules; additional customization (more custom fields and email templates);  standard reporting
Professional$23/user/monthEnhanced automation; advanced reporting and analytics; expanded integration options; further customization options
Enterprise$40 per user/monthExtensive customization, advanced analytics, modules for territory management, and enhanced security and collaboration features
Ultimate$52/user/monthFull suite of advanced CRM features including advanced business intelligence tools and complete CRM customization

4. monday CRM’s Basic Plan: Best for Customization

Price: $12 per user, per month (billed annually), or $15 per user, per month (billed monthly) for a minimum of three users ($36 or $45/month)

monday crm logo square
monday CRM Basic Plan
Pricing $12 - $15/user/month
Strengths

Best customization features

Outstanding email tools

Top-notch contact management features

Weaknesses

Subpar marketing features

Pricing
$12/user/month (when billed annually)$15/user/month (when billed monthly)
Minimum of 3 users, and then ascend in multiples of 5 (though unlimited free viewers) Minimum of 3 users, and then ascend in multiples of 5 (though unlimited free viewers)
Works out to minimum $432/year, paid up front for 3 users For 3 users and paying monthly, it costs $540/year
Cancel any time before it is next billed by switching off auto-renewal in account settings Cancel any time before it is next billed by switching off auto-renewal in account settings

monday CRM’s key features on its cheapest plan

monday CRM does not offer a permanently free CRM plan, although it does offer users a 14-day free trial to test its service. The next cheapest option is the Basic CRM plan, starting at $12 per user, per month (billed annually). Key features include:

  • Lead and contact management: Organize leads, contacts and deals with customizable pipelines and boards.
  • Integrated communication tools: Benefit from email integration and activity tracking to monitor customer interactions.
  • Customizable dashboards and reporting: Build visual dashboards by combining data from individual CRM boards.
  • Workflow automation and integrations: Test basic workflow automations and integrate with other productivity tools during the trial period.

Why do we recommend monday CRM’s Basic plan?

  • Affordable entry-level solution: While not free, monday CRM’s Basic plan is priced from just $12 per user, per month, which isn’t much compared with the cheapest paid plans of other providers; Salesforce ($25) is more than double that cost. Better yet, there are no hidden fees, meaning you have unlimited contacts, pipelines and boards to organize your data without worrying about extra costs. Plus, you have unlimited viewer access and user numbers, meaning you can add as many team members to view data in read-only or full member mode as you want.
Monday CRM deals tab board
On monday CRM, you can view items in multiple different ways to write notes and move things along the pipeline as and when required. Source: Matt Reed / Expert Market
  • Intuitive and streamlined design: We found monday CRM to have one of the best interfaces we’ve tested for CRM software. It uses a clean, drag‑and‑drop design that makes it simple to manage leads, contacts and deals – ideal for teams with minimal training needs. It also has 200+ pre-built templates for lead, contact and deal management, to help you quickly set up your CRM with over 20 column types.
  • Clean data: Relatedly, its data import/export process is very smooth too, and there are features like list segmentation that help you organize the information you’re storing.
contacts board for monday CRM
monday CRM walks you through the creation of your different boards but the interface is pretty self-explanatory and aesthetically pleasing. Source: Matt Reed / Expert Market
  • Core features on a customizable CRM: With monday CRM, you can build and modify unlimited, customizable pipelines to fit your sales cycle without needing developer support. All the essential modules are there to manage key data – leads, contacts, accounts and deals – in one unified system, and you’ll have access to reporting tools through preset dashboards (based on a single board) to track your performance.
Monday.com CRM showing different column options you can create within the web-app
monday.com shines when it comes to customization. Here's a glimpse at its Column Center. Source: Expert Market
  • Always connected and collaborative: monday CRM has outstanding organization tools, such as reminders and a meeting scheduling feature to help you keep track of your commitments. You’ve got item and board activity logs to make sure everyone is in the know about what is going on in real time too, with the ability to create and/or reply to comments on individual items. That functionality extends to dedicated iOS and Android apps to keep your team connected on the go.

Any drawbacks to monday CRM’s Basic plan?

Besides being a paid option, unlike the free plans discussed above, there are a few drawbacks to monday CRM’s Basic plan compared with its higher cost tiers:

  • Restricted dashboard flexibility: When using a dashboard, you’ll be limited to combining data from only one board. That may hinder comprehensive data visualization when compared with plans that support multi-board dashboards.
  • Limited advanced automation and integration: While you get basic CRM functions, features like advanced workflow automation and deeper third-party integrations are only available in the Standard and higher plans.
  • Basic customization scope: You can add custom fields and modify pipelines to a greater extent than most of the free plans on this page. However, the overall customization options (for reports, dashboards and automation rules) are more limited than what you can get at higher cost monday CRM plans.
monday crm pricing and plans
monday CRM's pricing varies depending on the number of seats you require, so it's worth using its pricing tool to work out the cost for your team. Source: monday.com

What businesses is monday CRM’s Basic plan best suited to?

monday CRM’s Basic plan is ideal for businesses that require high customization in their CRM system. Users’ ability to tailor fields, dashboards and workflows to fit specific business processes makes it suitable for teams that need adaptability in managing different projects and customer relationship needs. Plus, as your team grows, you’ve got scope to improve this customization.

This may lead it to be best suited to creative agencies or firms that are primarily project-driven, and will therefore need to adapt their CRM to specific and unique client needs.

How much do monday CRM’s other plans cost?

monday CRM is offered on a tiered subscription model. Beyond the Basic CRM plan, the higher plans are priced as follows:

Plan tierPrice (monthly, billed annually)Key features
Basic CRM$12/user/monthBasic lead and contact management via customizable boards; essential dashboards; limited integrations and automation actions
Standard CRM$17/user/monthAdds enhanced collaboration features; additional integrations; increased automation actions; guest access
Pro CRM$28/user/monthAdvanced reporting; expanded storage; integration of more board views (private boards, chart views) time tracking; advanced customizations
Enterprise CRMCustom pricingTailored for large organizations with complex workflows, offering advanced security; premium support; full customization

5.  Pipedrive’s Essential Plan: Best for Data Protection

Price: $14 per user, per month (billed annually), or $24 per user, per month (billed monthly)

Pipedrive's Essential Plan
Pricing $14 -$24/month
Strengths

Strong security features

User-friendly features

Productive organization and contact management tools

Weaknesses

No file storage

Marketing tools are an add-on

Lacks customer service features

Pricing
$14/month (when billed annually)$24/month (when billed monthly)
$168 paid annually at the start of the year $288/year at a rate of $24/month
Price is for unlimited users (with no minimum required) Price is for unlimited users (with no minimum required)
Cancel any time before renewal date Cancel any time before renewal date

Pipedrive’s key features on its cheapest plan

Pipedrive does not offer a free, forever plan, either (although it does, similarly to other providers, have a 14-day free trial for users). Instead, you can start with the Essential plan – the lowest-cost option – priced at around $14 per user, per month (billed annually). The Essential plan includes:

  • Customizable sales pipeline: Organize deals with a visual pipeline and tailor fields to match your sales process.
  • Contact and deal management: Efficiently manage leads, contacts, and deals within an intuitive interface. There are no contact limits to speak of, too.
  • Email integration and activity tracking: Sync your email to log calls, emails, and follow-ups directly within Pipedrive.
  • Basic reporting and dashboard views: Access fundamental reporting tools to monitor sales performance and forecast revenue.

Why do we recommend Pipedrive’s Essentials plan?

If your business deals with sensitive information, and doesn’t mind paying the second-highest figure on this page (albeit still cheap compared with the best CRMs around), we recommend Pipedrive’s Essentials plan.

  • Budget-friendly, focused CRM: Pipedrive’s Essential plan is a cost‑effective solution designed to support small sales teams without the extra bells and whistles of higher tiers. It tracks up to 3,000 open deals per company and allows for 30 custom fields per company. You’ll also have support for three teams per company with custom visibility and permissions, plus native mobile apps for both Android and iOS with real‑time sync across platforms.
screenshot of pipedrive action on deal
The Pipedrive interface is another CRM tool that has a modern UI that makes it simple to tick off tasks when complete. Source: Expert Market
  • Robust sales process tools: Offering customizable pipeline fields and deal cards that you can create and modify to match your sales cycle, Pipedrive Essentials has a decent amount of sales tools for its low cost. Similarly, its leads inbox, deal rotting, data import/export and duplicate merge capabilities keep your sales data clean and organized. You also have a built-in product catalog with support for subscriptions/installments, which is helpful for businesses that sell both products and services.
pipedrive deals page and then creating an email
Within the Deals section of Pipedrive, you can easily dive into profiles to access customer information, previous call or message logs, create new emails as I do here, and much more. Source: Matt Reed / Expert Market
  • Simplified automation and reporting: The Essentials plan supports up to 30 active automations per user with basic delay/wait options (three steps per automation) to streamline repetitive tasks. There are also 15 reports per user and a visual dashboard (one per account) that provides key metrics like deal and activity reports to help monitor performance without complex setups.
Pipedrive CRM's automation setup page showing different nodes and actions that will be complete
Despite being a more complicated feature to set up, automations can make your CRM system easier to use in the long run. Source: Expert Market
  • API and integration readiness: Comes with API access and 30,000 API tokens per company (based on paid seats), allowing you to connect Pipedrive with other tools for a more integrated workflow.
  • Streamlined communication and collaboration: You’ll also get one active email sync per user along with features like email open and click tracking, customizable templates, and scheduling. That means each user can keep their communications directly in sync with any sales processes.

Any drawbacks to Pipedrive’s Essentials plan?

The catch is, Pipedrive’s Essentials plan has no file storage. Not to mention, you have to activate the lead booster add-on for $32.50 per month to access Pipedrive’s marketing tools.

With caps on open deals (3,000) and custom fields (30 per company), larger sales organizations may quickly outgrow the Essential plan’s limitations, too. Similarly, more advanced workflow rules, extensive custom dashboards and higher automation limits are available only in the Advanced, Professional, or higher tiers. The same is true of add‑ons like advanced email syncs or enhanced sales assistant tools.

What businesses is Pipedrive’s Essentials plan best suited to?

Pipedrive Essentials is a solid choice for sales teams looking to start their business operations with a cost-effective CRM solution. Companies that manage a moderate volume of deals and require only the core functionalities of pipeline, lead and deal management, without advanced marketing or inventory features, will find it a suitable choice.

How much do Pipedrive’s other plans cost?

Pipedrive has several tiers beyond the Essential plan. The additional tiers include:

Plan tierPrice (monthly, billed annually)Key features
Essential$14/user/monthEntry‑level CRM with customizable pipelines; contact and deal management; email integration; basic activity tracking
Advanced$39/user/monthEnhanced communication tools; increased automation options; additional customization features
Professional$49/user/monthAdvanced reporting; revenue forecasting; detailed analytics; expanded customization options
Power$64/user/monthFurther enhanced automation features; premium support; additional workflow options for growing teams
Enterprise$99/user/monthComprehensive solution with full customization; advanced security controls; extensive integrations; dedicated support for enterprise‑grade requirements

6.  Zendesk’s Support Team Plan: Best for Easy Data Visualization

Price: $19 per user, per month (billed annually), or $25 per user, per month (billed monthly)

Zendesk logo
Zendesk's Support Team Plan
Pricing $19-$25/user/month
Strengths

Intuitive and user-friendly interface

A variety of pre-made reports to choose from

Good value for money

Weaknesses

Missing marketing features

No customer service tools

Pricing
$19/user/month (when billed annually)$25/user/month (when billed monthly)
$228/user paid upfront at the start of the year $300/user paid in total for the year, paid monthly ($25/month)
No minimum number of users No minimum number of users
Notice of non-renewal required at least thirty (30) days prior to the end of subscription term, or renewed on same terms Notice of non-renewal required at least thirty (30) days prior to the end of subscription term, or renewed on same terms

Zendesk’s key features on its cheapest plan

Zendesk does not offer a permanently free CRM plan, although US-based businesses can take advantage of a free 14-day trial of their Support plans. Instead, the cheapest package it offers is the Zendesk Support Team plan which costs $19 per user, per month when paid annually (or $25 per user, per month, monthly). It provides essential features, including:

  • Ticketing system: Convert incoming support emails (and select social media channels) into a unified ticketing system, ensuring that every customer inquiry is tracked and addressed.
  • Multichannel support: Handle customer requests from channels such as email, Twitter and Facebook, so you can provide timely responses where your customers are most active.
  • Business rules and automation: Set up simple workflows based on business rules to streamline ticket routing and basic automation, helping to ensure that tickets are assigned efficiently.
  • Reporting and analytics dashboards: Access prebuilt dashboards and reporting tools that allow you to monitor support performance and identify trends, even at this entry-level tier.

Why do we recommend Zendesk’s Support Team plan?

Here’s a glance at why this entry-level Zendesk option might work for your support team:

  • Value for money: Although Zendesk doesn’t offer a free plan, its Support Team option is an affordable choice at roughly $19 per agent, per month (annually billed). This plan delivers essential support tools, including an extremely healthy 2 million contact limit, without many of the pricier add-ons found in higher tiers.
  • Ease of use: During our testing, we found the ticketing interface to be intuitive – agents can quickly convert incoming emails and social messages into actionable tickets. The built-in workflows and preconfigured business rules simplify the process of ticket routing and basic automation, so teams can start working right away.
  • All-in-One Support Functionality: Manage inquiries from email, Twitter and Facebook in one unified, multichannel ticketing system. Likewise, you can access customer details and support history to deliver personalized service, even if it isn’t a full-scale sales CRM.
  • Customization options: Modify fields, dashboards and task types to align with your business processes and enforce data consistency. There are both preset and customizable dashboards to track agent performance and customer satisfaction, ensuring you’re on top of key support metrics.
zendesk software demo showing agent tools
You can get a guided tour of Zendesk's software via its website – just as we did here. Source: Expert Market

Any drawbacks to Zendesk’s Support Team plan?

While it offers a solid foundation, there are a few considerations:

  • Limited advanced features: It lacks marketing functionalities such as web forms, visitor tracking, and drip campaigns – which might be crucial if you’re looking for a combined sales and support solution. If they are a must, then look at Freshsales’ Growth plan, which includes web forms, website visitor tracking, and marketing drip campaigns.
  • Basic automation: The automation features are simple; more complex workflows and integrations require upgrading to higher tiers.
  • Primarily a support tool: Although it provides basic CRM-like functions (e.g. contact and deal management), it isn’t designed to replace a full-featured CRM system if your needs extend to advanced sales and marketing functions. Zendesk does offer more fully-fledged CRM plans, but they start from an expensive $55 per seat, per month.
zendesk crm pricing and plans list
Zendesk has the largest number of CRM plans on this page, though for its Support line of CRM tools, it has three. Source: Zendesk

What businesses is Zendesk’s Support Team plan best suited to?

Small to medium-sized businesses focusing on customer support and engagement should find Zendesk’s Support Team plan among the best cheap CRM options on the market.

Its intuitive data visualization tools, preset and custom dashboards, and comprehensive reporting features encourage teams like tech support companies or help desks, that rely on these features to monitor customer issues and ensure high-quality, data-driven support.

How much do Zendesk’s other plans cost?

Zendesk has several other comprehensive Suite or Sell products, with pricing and features that include:

Plan tierPrice (monthly,  billed annually)Key features
Suite Team$55/user/monthMultichannel ticketing; email; chat; unified agent workspace; basic bots; pre-built dashboards
Suite Growth$89/user/monthAdds multiple ticket forms; SLA management; light agents; multilingual support; extended customization
Suite Professional$115/user/monthAdvanced analytics; live reporting; side conversations; skills‑based routing; enhanced customization; more robust reporting
Suite EnterpriseCustom pricingComprehensive enterprise features including sandbox; advanced AI add‑ons; enhanced security; data privacy options
(Zendesk Sell Options)~$19 – ~$169/user/monthFor sales-focused use, plans range from entry‑level to enterprise with features such as group emailing; lead tracking; advanced automation

7. Salesforce’s Starter Suite: Best for Email Communication

Price: $25 per user, per month (when billed annually or billed monthly)

Salesforce's Starter Suite Plan
Pricing $25/user/month
Strengths

Best email features

Excellent scheduling system

Wealth of useful contact management tools

Weaknesses

Lacks sales features

Some things can be quite challenging to customize, such as reports

Comparatively pricey

Pricing
$25/user/month (when billed annually)$25/user/month (when billed monthly)
$300 paid upfront, same monthly price as paying monthly Same price as billed annually, paid monthly ($25)
No minimum user requirement (325 maximum) No minimum user requirement (325 maximum)
Cancel anytime before the renewal date Cancel anytime before the renewal date

Salesforce’s key features on its cheapest plan

Salesforce does not offer a free CRM plan for businesses, although it does offer a free trial for certain plans.

For full business operations, you’d need to move to a paid Salesforce plan, with the cheapest being the Salesforce Starter Suite at $25 per user, per month (with a 30‐day free trial). It combines core sales, service, marketing and commerce functions in one unified platform and, naturally, it’s a little more advanced compared with the free plans of other providers. Its key features include:

  • Guided onboarding and preconfigured settings: Enjoy a streamlined setup process with step‐by‐step guidance and pre-built defaults that let you import data and start using the CRM immediately.
  • Sales functionality: Manage leads, opportunities, and pipelines with pre-built sales paths and automated “next steps” recommendations to keep deals moving forward.
  • Service and case management: Track customer interactions with integrated case management, knowledge base tools and automated case escalation to ensure timely resolution.
  • Marketing tools: Utilize built-in campaign templates, email integration with up to 2,000 outbound emails per month and AI-powered send time optimization (via Einstein), to craft and schedule engaging messages.
  • Reporting and dashboards: Access ready-to-use reports and customizable dashboards that provide real-time insights into sales performance and overall business health.
  • Unified customer data and integrations: Consolidate customer information from sales, service and marketing in a single view, and integrate seamlessly with popular email platforms (e.g. Gmail and Outlook) and other third-party apps available via Salesforce’s AppExchange.

Why do we recommend Salesforce’s Starter Suite plan?

It might not be the cheapest option on this page, but Salesforce’s Starter Suite has the best email communication tools on the market. With capabilities like sending emails from its system, email insights and auto-responses, having correspondence with your long list of leads and customers is a breeze, although it’s not quite as easy to use as HubSpot, which is more straightforward to get to grips with initially.

Elsewhere, you’ll also get access to meeting scheduling, reminders and a calendar, helping you to keep track of your schedule. Plus, its contact management features include custom fields and list segmentation, letting you organize your contacts and their information effectively. It has a limit of 20,000 lead or contact records, but that’s still a large enough amount for most small business teams.

Screenshot of leads messaging function in Salesforce CRM
You can call and send emails to leads directly from the Salesforce platform, so all your conversations are recorded in one place. Source: Expert Market

Any drawbacks to Salesforce’s Starter Suite?

The Starter Suite doesn’t include sales features. If this is a deal breaker, then Zoho CRM’s Professional plan has superb tools to help you monitor and increase sales, including a visual sales pipeline and automated lead scoring.

salesforce crm pricing
Salesforce simplifies its CRM pricing by splitting it into its Starter Suite and Pro Suite, though there is a considerable difference in price between the two options. Source: Salesforce

What businesses is Salesforce’s Starter Suite best suited to?

Small teams and startups that prioritize email communication and basic CRM functionalities will find Salesforce an appealing option. This could be new consulting firms that focus on extensive email communications and scheduling with clients, and need a simple, reliable tool to keep their interactions organized.

How much do Salesforce’s other plans cost?

While Salesforce Starter Suite is available at roughly $25 per user, per month, higher-tier plans offer significantly expanded capabilities:

Plan tierPrice (monthly, billed annually)Key features
Starter Suite$25/user/monthGuided onboarding; basic sales (lead/opportunity management); service & case management; basic marketing tools; prebuilt dashboards; email integration
Pro Suite$75 $100/user/month (price increase for 2025)Enhanced customization; advanced automation; detailed reporting; forecasting; expanded integration options
Enterprise$150 $165/user/month (price increase for 2025)Extensive automation; advanced analytics; robust customization; advanced integration features
Unlimited$300 $330/user/month (price increase for 2025)Unlimited customization; comprehensive analytics; priority support; enterprise‑grade scalability

Are Cheap CRM Systems Worth It?

Cheap CRM systems can be worth it for businesses that are operating on a small budget, as long as they’re scalable.

Most cheap CRM plans have small data and user capacities since they’re designed for small teams. A provider is considered scalable if its higher-priced plans come with increased data capacity, user and contact limits to accommodate larger teams.

Upscaling can become expensive if you need to switch providers, so it’s best to choose a cheap provider that’s scalable right off the bat.

How Do Cheap CRM Providers Ensure Data Security and Privacy?

CRM systems keep your data under lock and key with features such as multi-factor authentication, email notifications of security concerns and specific user permissions.

Pipedrive is a CRM system that provides all of the above to ensure your lead management is conducted with peace of mind. Zoho and Freshsales are also worthy contenders for CRM systems that takes security seriously, but unfortunately do not provide email notifications.

Since CRM systems are home to highly sensitive customer data – contact information, purchase history and private communication – security features should not be skimped on when choosing a CRM provider. Nobody likes falling victim to a data breach and risking your customer’s personal information can hurt your business reputation and customer relationships.

Things To Consider Before Switching CRM Provider

When transitioning to a new CRM provider, it’s important to consider the associated costs. Here are some potential areas to think about:

  • Cancellation costs: Check your existing contract to determine whether you may incur extra costs for breaking the contract before its end date.
  • Data migration: You may need to pay for a service to help migrate your data from your old CRM to the new one. Costs vary widely based on the amount of data being transferred.
  • Implementation and configuration: Some CRM providers charge implementation and setup fees to get the system configured for your specific needs.
  • Training: Your team will need to be brought up to scratch on how to use the new CRM. Some plans offer complementary on-boarding assistance but for some, this may be an extra cost which will vary depending on the number of users.
  • Increased plan fees: If upscaling, the monthly fees of the new provider will likely be higher than your current fees.
  • Indirect costs: During the switching process, you may lose operational business hours to periods when your data is migrating, when your team is being trained on the new system and when the new software is integrating with your other programs. Keep this in mind as time is precious.

Ultimately, the provider you choose to switch to depends on your specific needs and what you may be lacking in your current plan. Use our free comparison tool to find your best-suited provider and receive personalized recommendations directly from them.

How Did We Compare the Best Cheap CRM Software Solutions?

To bring you our reviews, we analyzed 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 and research procedures see these products scored and rated using six core 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. 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.
Verdict

After our thorough research, we can confidently recommend HubSpot’s Free plan as the top choice for an affordable CRM system.

It boasts an impressive range of features typically only found on paid plans. Those include tools for organization (such as reminders and scheduling tools), content management (like dynamic contact lists) and extensive emailing features (including auto-generated responses).

The major downside for most growing businesses is their two-user limit, with our next-cheapest options from the top CRM providers (Freshsales and Zoho) similarly limited to just three users. It now also has a limit of 1,000 contacts, whereas this was previously 1 million just a matter of months ago.

The cheapest CMR provider plan on this page with unlimited users is monday CRM’s Basic package. You’ll also get unlimited contacts, boards and customizable pipelines in return, to scale your customer database as your business grows, all while using the most user-friendly interface we tested.

Regardless, HubSpot is free of charge and has plenty of the same features as monday CRM without investing a cent.

If you can’t work out exactly how much a CRM will cost you for your specific business needs, or which trusted CRM provider is for you, our free quote comparison tool will help. Just answer a few questions and we’ll have the best CRM providers deliver you tailored and obligation-free quotes.

Written by:
Matt Reed is a Senior Communications and Logistics Expert at Expert Market. Adept at evaluating products, he focuses mainly on assessing fleet management and business communication software. Matt began his career in technology publishing with Expert Reviews, where he spent several years putting the latest audio-related products and releases through their paces, revealing his findings in transparent, in-depth articles and guides. Holding a Master’s degree in Journalism from City, University of London, Matt is no stranger to diving into challenging topics and summarising them into practical, helpful information.
Reviewed by:
Headshot of Expert Market Senior Writer Tatiana Lebtreton
Tatiana is Expert Market's resident payments and online growth expert, specialising in (E)POS and merchant accounts, as well as website builders.