The Best CRM Software for Accountants

Accountant using a CRM system to manage clients

Our site is reader-supported – by clicking our links, we can match you with a potential supplier, and we may earn a small commission for this referral.

Our team of customer relationship management (CRM) software experts ranked the leading CRMs on the market, and Zoho CRM comes out as the best CRM for accountants. It's the best for features because it offers users a comprehensive software suite that is equipped with essential tools needed across different industries, including accounting.

Accountants need a CRM system that can integrate with any pre-existing accounting software, helping manage business processes, track customer communications, onboard new clients, and build long-term customer relationships. We’ll explain how the CRMs  on this list can do this and discuss why they are the best CRM tools for accounting firms.

There are several CRMs you can choose from, and, as CRM experts, we can help you choose the right one for your business. Click on our free quote comparison tool, answer a few questions about your business, and our top providers will reach out to you with obligation-free quotes.

The best CRMs for accountants

  1. Zoho CRM is our top pick for features because it offers comprehensive integration tools, such as custom reports and chart builder, that enable accounting firms to customise business processes for a smoother workflow.

  2. Freshsales is best for tracking communication with clients because it offers lead engagement features that can help manage lead referrals and prioritise prospects.

  3. HubSpot is best for customisation because it provides a wide range of customisation options that enable you to analyse client data to better understand their needs and preferences.

  4. Pipedrive is best for data protection because it’s the cheapest platform to offer extensive security settings, which is great because, as accountants, you’ll gather confidential information that should be kept secure at all times.

  5. FibreCRM is the best CRM for small accounting firms because it’s an affordable mobile-friendly CRM that empowers accountants to build stronger customer relationships through the technology’s built-on client engagement features that help increase client-base value.

Swipe right to see more
0 out of 0

Zoho CRM

Freshsales

HubSpot

Pipedrive

FibreCRM

Best For

Features

Best For

Tracking communication with clients

Best For

Customisation

Best For

Data protection

Best For

Small accounting firms

Price Range

£0 – £52 per user, per month

Price Range

£0 – £66 per user, per month

Price Range

£0 – £4,289 per month

Price Range

£14.90 – £99.90 per user, per month

Price Range

£34 per user, per month – £750 per firm, per month

Key Features

Predefined reports

Predefined dashboards

Custom reports and dashboards (limited)

Basic dashboard components

Analytics mobile app

Key Features

Contact, account, & deal management

Built-in chat, email, & phone

AI-powered contact scoring

Up to 2,000 bot sessions/month

Sales sequences

Key Features

Email tracking & notifications

Canned snippets

Gmail, Outlook, and Microsoft Exchange integrations

List segmentation

Key Features

Lead, deal, calendar and pipeline management

Simple data, import and easy customization

24/7 support and 300+ integrations

Key Features

Database of clients, prospects, leads, referrers

Referral management (referrals in/out/across the firm)

Marketing lists & events manager

Free Trial/Plan
Free Trial/Plan
Free Trial/Plan
Free Trial/Plan

14-day free trial

Free Trial/Plan
Try Zoho CRM Try Freshsales Try Hubspot Try Pipedrive

1. Zoho CRM: best for features

Zoho logo
Zoho CRM
Pricing £0 - £52 per user, per month
Quick overview

Our research shows that Zoho CRM is best for features, offering lots of lead capture and lead conversion features, including social listening and lead scoring. Its software is designed to integrate with existing accounting software, such as QuickBooks, giving you an easy way to figure out where your profits are coming from.

It can be integrated with its own accounting add-on, Zoho Books, which is a free, one-stop platform built for managing and organising anything accounting-related. This add-on also offers a 14-day free trial, making it a great CRM for small firms.

What's more, Zoho CRM offers onboarding features, which allow you to set up new customer profiles and customise the system to match your business processes with data migration and setup support features. However, setup support is an add-on and requires an additional charge.

Connecting with your clients is crucial in the accounting world, it’s unfortunate that Zoho CRM offers very few lead communication features, which means less opportunities to engage with customers. It only has email templates available on all of its plans. Freshsales, on the other hand, offers more options for communicating with leads with website live chat and native VoIP features, which give you more chances to track client communication histories that can help you improve customer interactions and deliver enhanced customer service. However, it doesn’t offer social listening, while Zoho offers that on all of its paid plans.

Strengths

Comes with an accounting add-on plan

Offers lots of integration options

Weaknesses

Limited lead communication features

No internal knowledge base

Pricing
PlanStarting price per user, per month (billed annually)Starting price per user, per month (billed monthly)
Free £0 £0
Standard £12 £16
Professional £18 £28
Enterprise £35 £40
Ultimate £42 £52

2. Freshsales: best for tracking communication with clients

freshsales logo
Freshsales
Pricing £0 - £66 per user, per month
Quick overview

Our research shows that Freshsales is the best for tracking communications with clients. All of its plans come with website live chat and native VoIP, enabling you to connect with potential customers right away. Aside from this, its system can be integrated with other accounting apps, such as Xero, but it doesn’t come with its own accounting add-on. Meanwhile, Zoho CRM comes with its own accounting add-on, Zoho Books. It’s a complete accounting CRM software which also offers a free trial period and a free plan.

However, Freshsales offers onboarding features on all of its plans, such as data migration, which will make it easy for short-staffed CPA firms to tackle tedious tasks because this feature enables you to move massive amounts of data to another system without complications.

Strengths

Affordable plans

Integrates with other accounting apps

Weaknesses

No built-in accounting add-on

Lower plans don’t come with data migration

Pricing
PlanStarting price per user, per month (billed annually)Starting price per user, per month (billed monthly)
Growth (for three or fewer users) £0 £0
Growth £12 £15
Pro £29 £35
Enterprise £55 £66

3. HubSpot: best for customisation

hubspot crm logo
HubSpot
Pricing £0 – £4,289 per month
Quick overview

HubSpot is best for customisation in our research. Its comprehensive sales CRM platform can be customised to fit your accounting needs. The software can be integrated with accounting applications from A to Z, by that, we mean, from Akaunting to Zoho Books.

In addition, its highly scalable platform offers custom automated workflows that can easily be set up with the features it has, including email templates, calendar, and fully editable forms. This way, your admin-heavy tasks can be automated and, at the same time, your business goals can easily be accomplished. To make digital engagement easier, it offers lead communication features, such as website live chat, email template, and native VoIP.

However, its plans don’t come with instant messaging apps and auto response. Meanwhile, Salesmate’s plans come with more lead communication features, including everything that HubSpot has as well as instant messaging apps and auto response.

But, HubSpot gives you the option to build a customised onboarding plan, which Salesmate doesn’t offer. Its experts will help you customise it according to your priorities, the size and complexity of your organisation, and check if the technology you use integrates with the system. However, this requires a one-time fee, and you must call its customer service for quotation.

Strengths

Highly scalable

Extensive reporting options

Built-in telephony and live chat for client communication

Weaknesses

IP restriction security feature not offered

Plans don’t come with custom task types

Pricing
PlanStarting price per month
Free £0
Starter £27 (annual commitment), £45 (monthly commitment)
Professional £1,404 (pay annually), £1,562 (pay monthly)
Enterprise £4,289 (pay annually)

Try our top three CRMs for accountants:

Zoho CRM logo
Our researchers found Zoho CRM offers the most generous range of features

Try it for free

freshsales logo
Our researchers were impressed by Freshsales' lead communication features

Try it for free

HubSpot vector
Our researchers found HubSpot to be the most customisable CRM

Try it for free

4. Pipedrive: best for data protection

Pipedrive logo
Pipedrive
Pricing £14.90 - £99.90 per user, per month
Quick overview

Pipedrive is best for data protection because it’s one of the cheapest CRM systems to offer extensive security settings, which is great for accounting firms working with tons of confidential data.

However, when it comes to  integration options, it doesn’t have its own accounting add-on, but it can be integrated with a number of accounting apps, such as Stripe or Pipedrive. Its plans come with a custom automation builder feature that can help you automate tedious manual tasks. Aside from that, tracking leads is easy because the website live chat feature is available on every plan, which enables agents to track customer chat history, such as the number of times the same visitor accessed the website or which operators assisted the customer in real-time which allows operators to take personalised support to a higher level. However, this lead communication feature comes as a paid-for add-on.

Its onboarding service is practically non-existent. It only offers setup support on its most expensive Enterprise plan. Meanwhile, Zoho CRM’s plans offer free onboarding support, such as data migration on all of its plans.

Strengths

Great security features

Effective reporting functionality

Integrated accounting system

Weaknesses

Not as scalable when compared with other platforms

Not very customisable

Pricing
PlanStarting price per user, per month (billed annually)Starting price per user, per month (billed monthly)
Essential £14.90 £19.90
Advanced £24.90 £29.90
Professional £49.90 £59.90
Enterprise £79.90 £99.90

5. FibreCRM: best CRM for small accounting firms

FibreCRM logo
FibreCRM
Pricing £34 per user, per month - £750 per firm
Quick overview

You get value for money with FibreCRM because it offers a service that’s a combination of quality and sustainability, making it the best CRM for small accounting firms. FibreCRM’s system can be integrated with commonly-used accounting applications, such as Xero, and it offers a custom fields feature, allowing you to input unlimited data about your leads into your system.

What’s even better is that it can be integrated with its own onboarding service. This is an optional onboarding solution that helps you integrate a new client into your organisation. It also has features that help you comply with money laundering regulations, such as risk assessment forms, workflow management, and automation. It's a complete accounting process that provides a comprehensive yet simplified service that allows you to focus more on generating value for your clients. This plan, however, is £750 per user, per month.

While FibreCRM comes with lead management service, it doesn’t come with lead communication features such as website live chat and native VoIP, which are both available across Freshsales plans, allowing you more opportunities to track leads.

Strengths

Cloud technology runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Great value for money

Complete end-to-end onboarding solution

Weaknesses

Expensive onboarding add-on plan

Pricing
PlanStarting price (per user, per month)
End User Licence £34
Onboarding Plan £750 (+ the cost of your End User Licenses)

How did we compare the best CRM for accounting firms?

Our team of independent researchers compared and ranked the performance of the top CRM systems based on the criteria that are important to accountants:

  • Integration – investigate if the software provides users with rich integration options and if it comes ready to be integrated with existing accounting software, commonly-used accounting applications, or if it can be integrated with its own accounting add-on.

  • Features – analyse if the plans allow for automated onboarding of new clients for the firm, or if they offer onboarding services. We also check if they offer plans that have features that allow workflow automation to simplify tasks.

  • Communication – find out if the plans come with features that allow users to track and connect with potential customers and loyal customers.

Can I get a free CRM for accountants?

Yes. Most of our top CRM software suppliers offer free CRM packages for accountants. Zoho CRM and Freshsales offer free trials and free plans, but it is worth noting that these options do have limited features.  For example, neither of their free plans offer integrations.

However, the paid-for services offered by the providers come with a richer range of features and capabilities. These paid plans have more lead communication features, provide a host of integration options, and a lot of these plans are still budget-friendly, too!

Verdict

Zoho CRM is the best CRM software for accountants. All of its affordable plans come with onboarding, integration, customisation, and client communication tracking features, making it the best for features.

It offers a free plan, but it doesn’t come with integration options and setup support, which only becomes accessible when you upgrade to its paid plans. However, this will also come at an additional cost. Aside from that, Zoho comes with limited lead communication features, limiting your capabilities to track and convert leads. The good news is that Zoho Books’ accounting software can be integrated with the system and even comes with a free trial period.

Use our free quote finding tool to compare other accounting-ready CRMs. All you need to do is fill out the form and our top providers will reach out to you with obligation-free quotes.

Try our top three CRMs for accountants:

Zoho CRM logo
Our researchers found Zoho CRM offers the most generous range of features

Try it for free

freshsales logo
Our researchers were impressed by Freshsales' lead communication features

Try it for free

HubSpot vector
Our researchers found HubSpot to be the most customisable CRM

Try it for free

FAQs

Do accountants use CRM?
Based on the survey conducted by The Ackert Advisory’s State of CRM at Accounting Firms, 38% of respondents don’t use one. Among the 62% who use CRM, less than 5% regularly use it. There were two major reasons for this. First, 24% of these respondents get intimidated by the high levels of data entry, and, second, 20% of them stated that their CPAs are not expected to use CRM. CRMs enable accounting firms to automate tedious tasks, streamline accounting processes, and focus more on increasing client-base value.
How do accounting firms use CRM?
The nature of an accountant’s job requires admin-heavy tasks. So, CRMs are used to help them simplify their workflow, automate processes, organise contact details, and de-clutter their business processes. With the time saved, accountants can take on more clients and help deliver an improved customer service.
How much does CRM software cost?
The price range for CRM software will depend on the plan you sign up for. Basic plans range from £15-£34 per user, per month. The rates for a standard plan range from £17-£410. Meanwhile, a premium plan can go for as much as £990, but it will offer a robust set of features and capabilities. However, a lot of these CRM software suppliers offer a free plan, such as Zoho CRM, Freshsales, and HubSpot.
Written by:
Dudez Ignacio body shot image
Dudez Perez-Ignacio is a Content Writer for Expert Market, specialising in writing about phone systems and helping readers learn about innovative communication technology trends and insights, prioritizing value to help drive business growth. Researching and writing about this every day means Dudez is fluent in the complex vocabulary of business phone systems.
Reviewed by:
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.