Best CRM Software in 2024

Best CRM Software in 2024

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Best CRM software solutions seamlessly intertwine with virtually every facet of your enterprise, facilitating meticulous monitoring of customer relationships, streamlining operational processes, and fostering an augmentation in sales.

A CRM tool assumes the role of a central repository for housing both customer and prospective contact details. It possesses the capability to monitor various sales pipelines, optimize the management of workflows, document customer interactions, and facilitate the analysis of sales and marketing performance.

Within this discourse, we dissect the primary features and advantages inherent in CRM software, elucidating the most exemplary solutions available across diverse business domains. If your interest lies in CRMs tailored for small enterprises, peruse our comprehensive guide on the finest CRMs designed for such businesses. Additionally, we present guides dedicated to CRMs in real estate and the preeminent insurance CRM in existence.

The best CRM software of 2024 in full:

BEST OVERALL CRM SOFTWARE 2024

SALESFORCE

  • All-encompassing functionality
  • Advanced customization capabilities
  • 30-day complimentary trial
  • Transparent pricing structure REASONS TO CONSIDER
  • Relatively higher cost compared to competitors
  • Absence of a free plan
  • Support necessitates login Salesforce stands as a global titan in the realm of CRM, boasting sophisticated and customizable features, an intuitively designed interface, and exceptional reporting tools. Their website proudly proclaims a remarkable statistic: “98% of customers meet or exceed their ROI goals,” a testament to their efficacy.

At the heart of Salesforce is the Sales Cloud, which seamlessly integrates with the Marketing Cloud for email automation and Einstein Analytics for AI-driven business intelligence, among other integrations. While the basic tiers of Sales Cloud are comparable to offerings from Zoho CRM or Apptivo, it is the features of the Enterprise Plan and the even more advanced Unlimited Plan that substantiate the higher costs.

These top-tier features encompass Workflow Approval and Automation for streamlining standard business processes, and Sales Teams with the capability to designate team members for individual deals. Beyond pipeline management, call and email logs, and customizable contact management, Enterprise plans and above offer advanced reporting and prediction, app development, a complete sandbox environment, sophisticated process automations, and external system integrations through web services APIs.

While the pricing of Salesforce can escalate on the upper tiers, billed per user, and lacks a free tier, the 30-day free trial without a credit card requirement and software download is a commendable feature. Additionally, the pricing structure is transparent, with an extensive list of features allocated by plan for easy comparison.

In practical use, Salesforce Sales Cloud is user-friendly and concentrates on ushering leads to conversion. Moreover, it allows substantial customization of the interface, from dashboards to reports and contact forms, to align with the specific needs of your team. Support necessitates a login for direct connectivity, though we noted the availability of the sales number in multiple locations, but found no direct support number or email, raising concerns regarding potential challenges in direct communication when needed. The website does provide a help section with self-help content via a searchable database.

Within large organizations, the features for app development and sandbox environments contribute to heightened productivity by tailoring permissions and workflows across territories, customer verticals, and stages in the sales funnel.

BEST CRM FOR MIDSIZE BUSINESSES

Workbooks

  • Thorough and supportive onboarding
  • Competitive price considering the array of features
  • Complimentary consulting days
  • No credit card required for the free tier
  • Complimentary 30-day trial REASONS TO CONSIDER
  • Free version restricted to two users
  • Limited to only two paid tiers
  • Absence of an extensive third-party app marketplace Workbooks emerges as an exemplary CRM choice tailored for midsize enterprises, delivering solutions for customer service, sales, marketing, and operational teams.

Its notable distinction lies in the Shared Success program, affording customers access to complimentary consulting hours and annual workshops, ensuring continuous alignment with a client’s business objectives.

Workbooks, in contrast to competitors like Salesforce and HubSpot, lacks a diverse third-party app marketplace or a thriving developer community. Consequently, it may not be the optimal choice for users seeking an extensive array of third-party customizations.

Moreover, the free version is constrained to a mere two users with fewer features, potentially rendering it less enticing for very small businesses. Registration mandates a business email and phone number, yet eschews the necessity of a credit card.

The paid tiers for this offering present a binary choice: the lower-tier CRM and the higher-tier Business. Both incurring a monthly fee per user, it’s noteworthy that there’s an absence of a volume discount for multiple users. Additionally, the inflexibility in pricing dictates an annual payment, a departure from the month-to-month pricing with annual discounts offered by other services. While the 30-day free trial is commendable, it’s crucial to acknowledge the multitude of supplementary features, each incurring an individual monthly cost. These encompass multilingual and multi-currency support, web analytics and intelligence, and audit trail, among myriad others.

In summation, Workbooks stands as a stellar CRM platform when harnessed for its intended purpose – providing CRM software solutions tailored to the requisites of midsize organizations.

BEST CRM FOR FREE FUNCTIONALITY

HUBSPOT

  • Potent free CRM core
  • Integrations for website marketing, including ad management
  • Complimentary tier
  • Annual payment discounts REASONS TO CONSIDER
  • Marketing contacts restricted to 2,000 on non-enterprise plans
  • Limited reporting functionality
  • Expensive beyond the free tier While numerous CRM providers extend free plans, none match the functionality offered by HubSpot CRM. The essentials are comprehensively covered, encompassing contact management, call and email logs, deal pipelines, and integrations with apps such as Slack and Gmail. Surprisingly, it even incorporates features like email scheduling and Facebook Messenger integration at this level.

On paid plans, the foundational CRM is enriched with features from HubSpot’s Marketing, Sales, and Service Hubs, seamlessly integrating across these diverse offerings. The marketing functionality empowers users to generate pop-up forms, deploy chatbots, implement ad retargeting on websites, and automate and monitor email campaigns. Premium sales features include deal assignment automation, customizable reports, and intelligent lead scoring to channelize your team’s efforts effectively.

The primary limitation is that the contacts available for marketing purposes, via bulk emails or ads, are capped at 2,000 on all plans except Enterprise, which extends the limit to 10,000. Nevertheless, you can store and track up to 1 million prospects.

HubSpot’s combined sales and marketing functionality, although commendable, comes at a considerable cost. Transitioning from the free tier to the Professional tier incurs a monthly expense of $450. While it supports 5 users at that price, features a product library, forecasting, and eSignature support, this price point might pose a barrier for smaller businesses. It seems like a missed opportunity that additional tiers of plans with a more accessible entry price are not available.

BEST CRM FOR SMALL BUSINESS

FRESHSALES

  • Intuitive and user-friendly interface
  • Robust sales features, inclusive of a built-in phone
  • Free tier and a 21-day free trial for paid tiers
  • Direct support options REASONS TO CONSIDER
  • Absence of a business card scanning tool
  • Lacks internet-scraping lead generation feature Freshsales excels in catering to the needs of small to medium businesses that prioritize ease of use over advanced customization.

Its desktop and mobile interfaces are highly intuitive, providing swift access to contact records and communications, along with Kanban-style boards for seamless sales pipeline management. The intelligent assistant tool, Freddy AI, is adept at suggesting deal closures with sufficient historical data input.

The primary focus revolves around enhancing sales team productivity and facilitating deal closures. Integration with email clients, including Microsoft Outlook and Gmail, allows the creation of email templates, sending bulk emails to prospects, and logging incoming and outgoing messages. Additionally, seamless integration with tools like PayPal, DocuSign, Slack, and Intuit Quickbooks ensures a streamlined workflow.

An in-built calling tool with a recording feature enhances customer communication records. Notably, the support system includes a toll-free number and a direct email option for immediate assistance.

While Freshsales CRM may lack certain lead generation tools like business card scanners, it compensates with features such as customizable web forms for capturing lead data from websites and automatic assignment of sales leads. Additional features include a specified number of Bot sessions per month, a visual sales pipeline, and Contact Lifestyle management.

The offering comprises four plans: a free tier with 24/5 support and a mobile app, and three paid tiers that progressively introduce more features. The top-tier Enterprise plan provides a dedicated account manager, audit logs, and AI-based forecasting insights.

For comprehensive insights, explore our detailed reviews on Freshsales for a thorough understanding of its sales-focused CRM capabilities, Freshdesk for customer engagement CRM, Freshmarketer for marketing CRM features, and Freshservice for IT support CRM functionalities.

BEST CRM FOR COLLABORATION

APPTIVO

  • Economical
  • Highly customizable
  • Intuitive interface REASONS TO CONSIDER
  • Challenging setup process
  • Integration improvements needed Apptivo stands out as a comprehensive platform for business management and collaboration, encompassing an integrated CRM tool. The Apptivo CRM is renowned for its simplicity and scalability, featuring a clean interface that enhances navigation. Notably, it offers extensive customization options, allowing the creation of unique views, fields, and layouts to streamline business workflows, primarily facilitated through a user-friendly drag-and-drop workflow.

The CRM’s mobile app facilitates on-the-go management of sales leads, providing flexibility for users to handle tasks conveniently, especially in situations where using a workstation is impractical, such as during commutes.

Apptivo boasts integrations with various tools to enhance workflow efficiency. For instance, integration with Google’s G Suite and Microsoft’s Office 365 simplifies sending invitations to customers or potential clients outside the organization. However, customer feedback suggests challenges in implementing and working with Apptivo’s integrations.

Beyond CRM functionality, Apptivo offers additional business tools, including an email marketing tool, invoicing and billing tool, and procurement management tool. It’s crucial to note that these supplementary tools are not free; additional charges apply on top of the CRM subscription.

With Apptivo’s CRM, managing and creating leads for your business is straightforward. The activity tracking tool aids in overseeing routine tasks, preventing any lapses in essential responsibilities. The contact management feature consolidates all contacts into a centralized dashboard, facilitating easy outreach to both contacts and customers when needed.

While Apptivo presents itself as more than just a CRM tool, its array of useful business products comes with an additional cost. Despite the advantages, some users find the setup process challenging, and there’s room for improvement in the integration experience.

BEST CRM FOR FEATURES

MONDAY.COM

  • Appealing interface
  • Valuable project visualization tools
  • Supports integrations with other platforms
  • Encourages transparency and accountability REASONS TO CONSIDER
  • Costly for larger teams
  • Absence of advanced task tracking features Monday.com emerges as a project management system designed to provide a versatile and transparent approach to organizing work. Boasting a highly visual scheduling interface and customizable workflows, Monday.com seamlessly adapts to the unique preferences of team members in approaching their projects.

The membership options for Monday.com include Basic, Standard, Pro, and Enterprise, each varying in price based on the number of user accounts required. The entry-level memberships permit the addition of only two users, while the top-tier options support over 200 accounts.

For those seeking an accessible system that their team will readily engage with, Monday.com proves to be an ideal project management tool. However, it’s noteworthy that certain crucial features, such as calendar views, are exclusively available with the more expensive subscriptions. Nonetheless, Monday.com distinguishes itself through its sleek design and adaptable third-party integrations.

BEST CRM TOOLKIT

ZOHO CRM

  • Seamless integration with the Zoho suite
  • Social media lead generation capabilities
  • Workflow automation and customization options
  • Free trial REASONS TO CONSIDER
  • Steep learning curve
  • Limited customer support
  • Absence of a free tier Zoho CRM emerges as a top-tier choice for individuals seeking a comprehensive sales management solution. It excels in performing fundamental tasks such as contact and pipeline management, communication tracking, workflow automation, and reporting. The product’s credibility is further solidified by its adoption by approximately 250,000 businesses globally, including notable names like Suzuki, Bose, and Purolite.

The true value of Zoho CRM lies in its seamless integration with other apps within the Zoho sales, marketing, and project management suite, including Zoho Invoice and Zoho Campaigns. This integration facilitates the input of valuable prospect data into your pipeline. Additionally, Zoho CRM stands out with its ability to extract contact details from social networks and scan business cards, making it a robust lead-generation system.

In terms of usability, the product is highly customizable, allowing the addition of fields to contact records, creation of lead assignment rules, and personalization of the CRM interface to enhance internal usability. The reporting and analytics features are robust, offering customizable performance reports and visualization tools.

Regrettably, Zoho CRM lacks a free tier, but it compensates with a 15-day free trial that doesn’t require a credit card, only a work email and phone number. The entry-level Standard plan features advanced functionality with support for multiple currencies, advanced filters, sales forecasting, and multiple pipelines. Moving up to the higher-tier Enterprise and Ultimate plans introduces the Zia AI feature, which provides recommendations on leads, emails, and workflow assignments. The payment options are flexible, allowing users to choose between monthly payments or an annual payment with a discount.

BEST CRM FOR EMAIL MARKETING

KEAP

  • Unlimited email marketing capabilities
  • Workflow automation
  • Highly user-friendly
  • Flexibility in payment options: monthly or annually REASONS TO CONSIDER
  • Limited contact storage
  • Restricted reporting features
  • Relatively short free trial period Keap stands out as unconventional CRM software, blurring the lines between sales and marketing by offering native payments, appointment booking, and email marketing features integrated into its core contact and pipeline management system.

Equipping users with tools to convert leads through advanced marketing campaigns and streamline processes with workflow automations and payment integration, Keap goes beyond conventional CRM functionalities. Its feature set encompasses lead and client management, sales pipeline analysis, text marketing, and email marketing. The platform’s user-friendly interface and comprehensive support options make it accessible even for novice CRM users.

However, Keap lacks a free tier, and its free trial is limited to just 14 days, shorter than some competitors. The available paid tiers are Pro and Max, each inclusive of a specific number of contacts, such as 1,500 for the lower tier. Notably, the subscription fee covers only two users, with additional contacts and users incurring extra costs, albeit at a discounted rate compared to individual subscriptions.

Keap facilitates a quick start, allowing users to harness the benefits of email campaigns and automated triggers without a steep learning curve.

BEST CRM FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Insightly

  • Integrated project management tools
  • User-friendly interface
  • Over 250 app integrations available REASONS TO CONSIDER
  • Plans lack live support options
  • Additional cost for inbuilt telephony feature
  • Absence of a free tier Insightly proves to be an excellent CRM system, especially adept at managing intricate sales pipelines. Its standout features include customizable contact data fields, sales funnel stages, and more.

The inclusion of workflow automation, allowing the scheduling of emails when sales stages change, significantly contributes to time savings and redirects team efforts toward fostering relationships. Insightly offers a three-tiered CRM system, but all tiers are subscription-based, with no provision for a free tier.

An additional strength lies in its robust integration capabilities. Contact sheets seamlessly integrate social media posts, while communication threads can be drawn from platforms like Mailchimp, Microsoft Outlook, and others. The reporting function of Insightly collaborates with Microsoft Power BI, enabling the creation of advanced custom dashboards and reports to effectively measure and plan sales productivity.

However, Insightly falls short in lead generation features, with limited capabilities. Although it features a mobile business card scanner, it lacks the ability to scrape the internet for new leads. Noteworthy are the Insightly mobile smartphone apps, integrating seamlessly with features like mobile voice notes and the aforementioned mobile business card scanner. The support options are minimal, encompassing only email and knowledge base support in the plans, with phone assistance incurring an additional cost.

BEST CRM FOR COMMUNICATION

Bitrix24

  • Supports unlimited contacts
  • Free version available
  • Multi-channel communication capabilities REASONS TO CONSIDER
  • Steep learning curve
  • UI requires improvement Bitrix24 stands out as an all-encompassing CRM platform that extends beyond lead generation and management. It provides robust tools for workflow automation and effortless monitoring of sales representatives’ activities. Additionally, users can conduct marketing campaigns and create enticing landing pages to attract leads within the platform.

The mobile CRM platform offered by Bitrix24 enables users to manage clients on the go, offering access to website features on the mobile app. This includes utilizing the sales funnel tool for a comprehensive breakdown of sales results and tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess the achievement of sales targets. Communication with clients and leads is facilitated through chat or video calls.

Bitrix24 equips users with tools to capture leads and seamlessly convert them into customers. Utilizing free website templates, users can construct landing pages and collect contact information from leads. Subsequent communication aims to persuade leads to transition into customers. The platform supports the creation of custom sales pipelines tailored to specific products, enabling centralized lead management from a dashboard.

While Bitrix24 excels in functionality, its interface lacks the smoothness and ease of navigation found in some other CRM tools. Users, whether end-users or administrators, may encounter a steep learning curve in becoming familiar with the platform.

BEST CRM FOR USER EXPERIENCE

Pipedrive

  • Exceptionally user-friendly
  • Affordable pricing
  • Customizable sales pipelines REASONS TO CONSIDER
  • Absence of a free version
  • Reporting functionality requires improvement
  • Lack of phone support Pipedrive, a cloud-based CRM tool founded in 2010, stands out as a relatively youthful entrant on this list, yet it has swiftly garnered a user base of over 100,000 businesses globally. The platform prides itself on being “designed by salespeople, for salespeople.”

Pipedrive simplifies the setup of sales pipelines for products and services, facilitating efficient tracking of different pipeline stages to close deals. Users can create custom pipeline stages or utilize existing templates for added convenience. The platform allows the addition of deals manually or through importing from spreadsheets or external CRMs.

For users dealing with numerous leads, Pipedrive offers the advantage of setting automatic alerts and reminders to stay on top of deals. The ability to update sales forecasts with each deal progression reflects organizational expectations for increased sales.

A notable feature of Pipedrive is its integration of artificial intelligence (AI). The AI-powered Sales Assistant aids in decision-making for closing deals and automating routine tasks. For instance, the assistant analyzes sales actions, suggests workflow improvements, tracks email opens and community discussions, and provides activity reminders to keep users aligned with their deals.

However, a significant drawback is the absence of a free version. Nevertheless, users can leverage the 14-day free trial to explore features before making a final purchase decision. Pipedrive stands out as one of the most cost-effective CRM tools, starting at just $10 per user per month, a noteworthy contrast to competitors like Salesforce, which begins at $25 for the same period. ENIC

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