Top 6 CRM Softwares To Boost Your Business

Without solid relationships with customers, no business can succeed. Customer relationship management (CRM), software that does this for you, is the best. After spending hours researching the top CRM options, we found Monday to be the best. It offers the most important features for companies, a mobile app that works well and affordable pricing for a product category notoriously expensive.

The Best CRM Software For Most

Monday Sales CRM

Best for the Most

Monday Sales CRM offers a wide range of customization options to create campaigns, pipelines, and funnels as you wish. Automating workflows with no code allows your team to streamline their processes and provide faster customer service. This tool is also great for mobile sales.

You will love Monday Sales CRM. Get a 14-day trial. No credit card is required.

Many of our top picks let you test the CRM for free, or at least a limited version. Customers expect instant quotes and flawless service. They also don’t want to be asked for repeat information. Your teams should have the tools to create lasting relationships with customers.

CRM Software: When it makes sense to invest

A CRM is an essential part of any business. CRMs can store all the important information about customers in one place. They also make it possible to improve your sales performance and organize your operations almost instantly.

CRM software is the right investment if you struggle to track your contacts and manage all of your customers’ information.

A good CRM will allow you to spend more time working on your business with helpful automation. It also allows team members to collaborate more easily.

To generate analytics about your business’s performance and to see what is working, you can use CRM software. Many businesses don’t understand how all this affects customers. This software allows you to zoom in on every step of your sales process from lead generation to client retention.

It’s easy to see the faults and fix them. You don’t have the information you need to grow quickly or automate tedious sales pipeline management tasks. It’s time to get rid of your current workflow and implement a CRM platform.

You won’t be able to establish the right relationships or use the data and information most effectively. Or, create a business that will allow you to live the lifestyle you desire.

#1 – Monday Sales CRM — The Best For Most

Monday Sales CRM

Best for the Most

Overall: 4.5/5

Monday Sales CRM provides the perfect solution for most people-a simple, yet powerful CRM. It can handle the basics of creating pipelines, tracking leads, and closing deals. The Monday.com platform is capable of managing a project, app development, and marketing automation.

Monday makes it easy to automate workflows and save time. Importing data is easy and Monday integrates well with many popular tools that companies already use. No credit card is needed. Monday is yours for 14 days.

Let’s get into the details.

Getting started: 4.5/5
Automation: 4.5/5
Visibility: 4/5
Pricing: 4.5/5
Mobile app: 5/5

How to get started: 4/5 – After you sign up, you will go through a brief configuration wizard that includes how you plan on using Monday Sales CRM as well as your main focuses.

This is what you will see in the getting started tutorials. There are many CRM templates available, including those for contact management, client projects, and real estate CRM. These templates can also be used to approve project requests and approvals.

This allows you to organize your dashboard and user interface in the most efficient way possible. Monday Sales CRM does the initial legwork, based on the information you provide, to give you a platform that is close to what you want it to do.

Once you have selected a template, a short guided tour will show you how to use the CRM features.

Monday Sales CRM’s educational webinars can be accessed in five languages. Live webinars in English, Spanish, and French are all available.

You can then choose to view the tutorials and videos in the left-hand sidebar. Depending on your interests, you can choose which videos you wish to watch.

Even though it may feel like you aren’t getting your hands held during the setup process there is always help available.

There are also three demo contacts, five sample accounts, three sample deals, three sample accounts, and two demo leads. You can also play with two sample activities.

It’s easy to also break things, as we discovered. You can easily make connections that are not intended by the board. It is possible that you won’t realize it was done until the problem becomes worse.

This is not a big deal at this point. It’s a testament to the level of customization that Monday Sales CRM allows you to make. Many parts can be connected, so there is a lot of power.

It’s best to face this issue early on and be aware of what could go wrong if you don’t make changes.

There is nothing better than learning early and making mistakes that are risk-free to find out more about this software.

Monday.com does not offer an onboarding call for free. This feature is available in other tools, so it’s a shame that Monday.com doesn’t offer it.

Software is available in 13 languages including Spanish, French, and German.

Automation: 4.5/5. Monday Sales CRM automation are virtually non-existent on their basic plan (which was tested). Higher tiers have more CRM-related automation.

If automation are important to your team or workflow, you will likely need to begin with a plan at least one level above the one we tested.

Let’s now get to the time-saving features available on the Basic plan.

It is possible to create forms and add users to your CRM automatically. It’s not fancy but it’s an option that allows you to build a list of contacts or leads automatically.

The entry-level plan also includes document management and 5GB storage.

It has a document-creation tool similar to Google Docs that allows you to collaborate with anyone in real-time. You can drag and drop text boxes and @mentions.

You can also embed widgets or entire boards into docs that automatically update with the latest data.

A widget that pulls in daily revenue can be embedded into a widget to display monthly sales revenue, for example. You can then simply pull up one document to view the numbers.

Everything else can be done manually using Monday Sales CRM for the Basic plan unless upgraded.

The Standard plan, which is the next level up from Basic, grants 250 automation runs per month and 250 integration uses. This increases to 25,000 per month for the next-higher plan, and 250,000 monthly runs for the highest-tier package.

This is a huge advantage for busy sales departments. You can automate Monday Sales CRM’s automation. This includes sent emails, interactions and leads with customers, sales rep assignments and notifications (for new leads), reminders, and many other functions.

With Monday’s commitment to PM and CRM, automation can make a huge difference in the information that you can view and analyze in Monday’s Sales CRM. Let’s dive into this more.

Visibility: 4/5 – Monday Sales CRM can help you see a lot. It allows you to create many views and allow everyone to get the information they require. The Basic plan won’t allow you to access all the dashboards and analytics, but you can upgrade and do a lot.

There are no restrictions on the number of boards or contacts you can have, so you can build as many pipelines and as many people as you want. This is a huge advantage for keeping everyone focused on the campaigns and relevant information.

These charts are highly customizable and can be used to visually track your entire process, from onboarding new employees to sales, marketing, customer service, and development.

You can also add as many columns as you want, and there are over 20 preset options in the software. This can make your funnel stages more organized and help you qualify leads.

You can also connect deal stages to customer information through Monday Sales CRM. This allows you to access a whole world of information in one click.

Two-way email sync doesn’t work until you upgrade to a higher tier above Basic. This means that you cannot pull in email communications to the platform on the Basic plan. It also reduces your ability to create custom reports using the platform’s data.

Visual dashboards can include more than a dozen formats such as forecasted revenues, the average value of won sales, actual revenue, and percentages of leads in each phase of the pipeline. They also have monthly goals and forecasted income broken down by accounts.

These can be used to pull the most relevant data from your business. You can also resize, delete or add widgets.

There are many widgets available, including calendars, to-do lists, tasks, and YouTube videos. You can also use Google Maps, PDFs, and other Google services.

Pricing: 4.5/5 – Monday Sales CRM Basic Plan is $8 per user per year and $10 per month billed monthly.

It is $24 per user per month or $30 per user per month, depending on how many users you have. It’s $8 per user (annually) or $10 per month (monthly) if you need to add users.

You can upgrade to three additional plans, starting at $10-$24 per month. Keep in mind that the entry-level plans for CRMs can easily run to $20-$100 per user per month.

It’s still cheaper than buying project management software and CRM separately, considering all of this. With Monday Sales CRM, you don’t need to worry about managing two subscriptions or integrating the tools.

Zoho CRM costs $14 per user per month. Asana would cost you $10.99 per user per month, making it $74.97 per month. This is three times more than choosing Monday Sales CRM.

Mobile app: 5/5 Monday Sales CRM’s app is great for project management as well as CRM functionality. Keep in mind the Basic plan limitations, such as a lack of automation and two-way sync.

This mobile app sings on any plan higher than that.

Text contacts, add contacts, and responsively view dashboards and reports. There is no horizontal scrolling or outdated designs.

This is how adding a contact looks.

You can switch from dark to light mode and view your boards in a responsive mobile-friendly way. You can also make changes to almost anything.

You can also create new boards and workspaces, add dashboards and view sales dashboards in beautiful layouts.

You can search your records, view upcoming tasks, create pipelines, manage deals, and look at or create documents.

You will be amazed at how simple it is to manage your deals from your mobile device.

It offers almost the same functionality as the Monday Sales CRM desktop but is smaller in size.

Monday Sales CRM is somewhat hampered by key features being locked away in plans that are higher than the Basic package. There are many CRM and PM features available that allow you to manage prospects and customers, as well as pipelines. You’ll be able to get a lot for your money.

Monday Sales CRM simplifies the process of communicating with prospects and managing documents.

Start today if you are looking for the best combination of project management and CRM, especially if your sales team is mobile-based.

#2 – Salesforce — The Best CRM to Help Fast-Growth Organizations

Salesforce

Best for Fast-Growth Organizations

Salesforce CRM is a powerful and feature-rich CRM platform that can be used for sales, marketing, and service. Salesforce Customer360 allows you to manage all your customer relationships in one platform.

Overall: 4.2

Salesforce lives by the hype. This brand is getting a lot of attention.

Salesforce has been the preferred CRM for companies that want to invest in marketing and sales. Salesforce has been the benchmark for CRMs over the years. Salesforce has proven to deliver incredible ROI for companies using it for service, sales, marketing automation, field support, and many other purposes.

Salesforce has been reviewed many times. What we find most remarkable is their desire to make their CRM platform available to small businesses.

Salesforce is a great CRM platform for companies and enterprises that are faced with complex problems that make it difficult to use lighter tools. Salesforce also offers an easy-to-use platform that allows smaller businesses to build relationships with customers.

Let’s take an in-depth look at the platform.

Getting started: 4.5/5
Automation: 4.5/5
Visibility: 4/5
Pricing: 4/5
Mobile app: 4/5

Getting started: 4.5/5 Salesforce is a great platform for welcoming new users. CRM novices will find it easy to get started and CRM veterans can do more.

Salesforce’s free trial will not allow you to try every feature, but it will give you a feel for how customizable the platform can be.

We recommend reaching out to Salesforce first if you’re already heavily invested in CRM software and are thinking of switching to Salesforce.

You’ll quickly see how Salesforce handles CRM basics. It is easy to manage contacts, leads, and accounts. Salesforce is remarkably intuitive despite all its power.

It is a simple platform and you will not have any problems uploading your data. CSVs can be imported easily and the Data Import Wizard can handle many custom objects.

The interactive tour of the platform was very useful. It was as useful as the other options in this category. Salesforce is not as cute or flashy as other CRMs that we reviewed. There was no confetti or fireworks to help you complete a task. We were fine with that.

Salesforce will make sense if you have experience in CRM. Salesforce has a place to store every detail. Customer information is always just a click away.

There is plenty of information available to assist you if you have any problems. The platform includes videos, tutorials, and quizzes as well as entire learning paths. Your team can view your tables in any way that makes sense.

This information can be very helpful for someone new to CRM. Remember, even the least-experienced team members must be able to use the CRM.

It was amazing how easy it was to get started with the onboarding process. Trailhead’s learning program provides extensive and up-to-date guidance that will help you and your team get the most from the platform.

Salesforce CRM is one of the best on the market. The company has done everything to ensure that people get off to the right start.

Automations 4.5/5 Salesforce offers no-code automation tools that can help you improve your business workflows.

Salesforce Flow is included with all plans. You can create workflows by simply pointing and clicking.

Although it will take time to set up your CRM and get things working correctly, someone with no development experience can do it. They’ll also be able to adjust the flows as they go.

Salesforce Flow is available for free.

Salesforce offers a greater range of capabilities than other CRMs in terms of both how customizable you can make flows and what automation you can do. Salesforce integrates with a wide range of apps and services.

There is much you can do in Salesforce automation. However, it is wise to expect some learning curves. Although it won’t be as simple as other options, you won’t have to struggle as much with automation in Salesforce.

Visibility 4/5

Salesforce does an excellent job of collecting all details about customer interactions and helping you to make sense of them.

The UI is user-friendly and provides employees with clear dashboards. You can create filters and perform simple text searches.

There was nothing fancy from a visualization perspective with the built-in reporting, but the range of data you can pull into Salesforce is very appealing-spreadsheets, databases, inboxes, chats, and ERP software-whatever it takes to get the full picture of every customer relationship.

Salesforce also offers Tableau, which is a popular data visualization tool that it acquired in 2019. Tableau can handle any dataset, no matter how large or complex. This tool will help your teams discover rich insights from mountainous data.

Managers without any technical knowledge will be able to manipulate data once dashboards have been set up.

Pricing: 3/5 — Salesforce offers a lightweight Essentials Plan that can be used by up to 10 people for small businesses. The premium small business plans are focused on service and marketing.

Essentials start at $25/month per User
Starting at $75/month for Sales Professionals
Service Professional: starting at $75/month per user
Marketing and cloud engagement: Starting at $1,250/month

Salesforce CRM software is available in many additional options, including dozens of add-ons and paid apps. Although it is a reasonable offering for small businesses, we are pleased with its affordability. However, it is not at the top of CRM software.

Customer 360, a Salesforce custom product, unites all aspects of your business within a single CRM. Integrate ecommerce and internal messaging to create a single source for all customer relations.

Contact a rep to discuss Customer 360 for your company. This will allow you to get a precise estimate of how Salesforce will cost this year and in the future.

Mobile App: 5/5 — Salesforce offers a mobile app that allows you to view dashboards, add records and stay in touch.

It is better than the many apps that you can find in CRMs that have been around for a while. It allows you to manage the fundamentals of customer relationships on the go, but we didn’t find anything particularly special.

Although you won’t have access to all of your data via your mobile app, most core objects, records, and page layouts will be accessible. Some activities will require full functionality on the desktop version.

This was not surprising to us. Salesforce is much more customizable than other CRMs so it was not surprising that not all of the data translated well into the mobile app.

Salesforce is different from other CRMs in that you can create custom apps for customers, partners, employees, and customers. Salesforce offers everything you need to create, launch, improve, and test apps.

Learn more about Salesforce’s ability to help companies provide a better customer experience every single day. Get a free 30-day trial of Salesforce. No credit card is needed.

#3 – HubSpot – The Free CRM Software

HubSpot

Best CRM Software Free

HubSpot’s CRM software is free and superior to paid options. It also includes many features that other CRM providers charge for. It is easy to use the software, and you can maximize its potential without spending a penny.

Overall: 4.1

HubSpot, the best free CRM software available, is our number one pick overall.

The platform is easy to set up and use, and the interface makes it easy to navigate through each section.

It’s not enough to hear about fancy features and then pay to use them. You get high-performing benefits right from the beginning with no additional cost.

Its superior performance and ties with many paid options are what made it the best CRM for most people.

Let’s look at what you get for free and how HubSpot performs in our testing.

Getting started: 5/5
Automation: 3/5
Visibility: 3/5
Pricing: 5/5
Mobile app: 4/5

How to Get Started on HubSpot: 5/5 – It is easy to get started with HubSpot. We found it to be the most user-friendly platform we have ever seen.

HubSpot’s language is very simple and includes helpful tips, guides, and videos to help you understand the process. They will show you how to use CRM software over time.

You can receive a free onboarding phone call if you need help getting started. A representative will help you with any questions you might have.

One and a quarter hours after we signed up, we received an email. We were invited by a representative to book a time on their calendar to discuss what we would like to do with the software.

HubSpot wants you to be a better user experience.

When you first start using HubSpot software, you can also choose from different languages.

This is a unique feature that’s not offered by other paid options.

You have the option to choose English, French, or German.

As you can see, there are many hubs that you can navigate to in the above image. Each hub has its setup process, and a detailed guide to help you get started. They can be done in any order that you like.

Below is a screenshot that shows features for chats, email, forms, and Facebook messaging. This allows you to bring conversations from other places into your HubSpot Inbox.

These configurations are required to enable you to use the software in its entirety.

Clear messaging is also provided once you have completed the checklist. This is especially helpful if you are a beginner or don’t feel comfortable installing any software.

Importing contacts is easy if you have the contacts. 12 different importing templates vary in complexity.

This simply means that you can fill in a template with your contact information. After you have agreed on the design, all of your contacts will be imported into that template.

Complexity depends on the data you have about your contacts – what you want to add and what you want to be removed.

Below is a basic contract template.

Import a CSV file, XLSX, or XLSX. Import contacts, products, tickets, deals, and companies.

We had no problems importing our contacts from Google Sheets.

One of the first tasks you will be asked to complete when you start is to add your contacts. As we mentioned earlier, you don’t need to follow all the steps in a particular order. However, HubSpot will remind and guide you through the process so that you can make use of the CRM’s other features.

It’s okay if you don’t know anyone who can import.

HubSpot already has two contacts loaded into its system. Why? You can observe how things work and not have to create your content.

It is possible to test attaching attachments to your contact files, setting up automated deals, and so forth.

HubSpot makes it easy to discover and test its many capabilities. There’s no need to worry about accidentally sending out messages or causing any damage. Before you go live, you have a sandbox to play in.

Once you are satisfied with your setup, delete demo contacts and import them.

Everything works when you get started with HubSpot CRM.

You often try to make things work and waste time with poor interfaces when using free software. The HubSpot dashboard is beautiful, and the UI is easy to use for both new and experienced CRM users.

Automation: HubSpot is at the middle of the pack in automation. Three providers scored higher than others, while three other providers scored lower.

It’s still a great deal for a free tool when you compare it to paid CRMs.

HubSpot is missing an automation workflow builder.

The free plan includes basic automation, but you cannot set up custom workflows. This limits the effectiveness of automating business processes.

They do however have six of the 10 features that we tested.

Segmenting your email lists allows you to target specific audiences. There can be up to 5 active and 20 static email lists.

This allows you to activate any list that you wish, whenever you need it. Segment by purchase, contact fields, and other criteria.

You can, for example, send an email to anyone who hasn’t signed their contract yet or has not responded to a quote that you sent. This can be extremely specific.

You can also automate follow-up emails to visitors who have filled out forms. You can automate form follow-up emails by sending a welcome email or a questionnaire to visitors as soon as they fill out a form.

You can also redirect the user to a thank you page with additional instructions.

Document management can also be used to automate daily tasks and increase sales. Up to five documents can be stored and managed. Although this isn’t a lot, it’s still a lot more than the entry-level paid products.

This allows you to monitor the interactions of contacts with your documents. Is it opened by them?

It is easier to add documents and other communications to your automation by being able to store and manage them in your CRM. Send a contract to potential clients or onboarding paperwork for new employees automatically.

Chat automation is also available. HubSpot allows you to answer visitors’ questions and respond to them with a chatbot. With very little effort, this can transform every visitor into potential customer.

Chatbots are extremely customizable. It can ask visitors questions, send out requests, or submit tickets. You can also set which static lists it will add contacts, book meetings automatically, and assign the conversation to one or more of your team members.

After the visitor has set up their meeting or been added to the email address list, an automated email will be sent to confirm the subscription and meeting time.

There are not many options available for automated emails. However, you can choose how often you would like a reminder or follow-up message sent. You can also create follow-up tasks.

Visibility: 5/5 – Your CRM will allow you to easily see the state of your business. HubSpot’s visual dashboard makes it easy to see reports and key performance indicators in one place.

A Chrome extension brings HubSpot to your inbox and allows you to pull conversations into Gmail. You can track and log emails directly in your inbox. You can also set up custom tracking and logging rules to ensure that you don’t pull personal or unrelated emails into HubSpot.

Logs give context and provide unprecedented visibility into what has happened and what should happen. Managers can see the status of conversations and make changes to avoid future problems.

The following image shows how we imported a HubSpot template and opened the log settings to this email. This screenshot shows you how to insert sequences and files.

The CRM allows you to choose the location where the email should be recorded. Based on the email address, it automatically determines who the contact is. It also knows what items they are associated with.

However, multiple pipelines are missing element. No matter how many sales processes you have, one funnel will suffice. Many providers allow you to have multiple funnels.

You can modify the stages and add or remove any existing ones.

Drag-and-drop makes it easy to move deals from one stage of the pipeline to another. However, it’s limited to one pipeline so you need to make it work for all (unless you purchase one of HubSpot’s Sales Hub plans).

It is visually appealing. The dashboard can hold up to 30 reports. You can also add standalone images, text, and videos that are not tied to HubSpot reports to the dashboard.

It is simple to see reports. Click on the reports to open them. To see the information you want, filter the entire dashboard or select reports.

You can create multiple dashboards, up to 300. You can organize your information and get every detail. For example, you can have one dashboard that contains information about contacts and another that includes information about closed deals. Another dashboard may contain information about open deals.

You can organize your HubSpot CRM in any way that you like. You can make even the most difficult tasks manageable with the visibility you get from HubSpot CRM.

Pricing: 5/5 – Free, free, free! This is the price. Because of all the features that you get, it’s hard to believe.

This is the best free plan available. This free plan scored higher than many paid plans we reviewed.

You can have unlimited free users with the free plan, regardless of what. It is possible to have one or several users on a paid plan while keeping everyone else on the free version. This is a nice touch. You don’t need to upgrade everyone; only those who use the paid features are eligible.

The final pricing for an upgrade depends on how many users you have, your marketing contacts, and any add-ons.

We haven’t tested the free version, so we won’t go into the details. However, you can find the pricing information for each level in HubSpot’s sales hub below.

Starter: Starting at $45 per Month if you pay annually (50 per month).
For professionals, the monthly payment for a year is $1,600 ($1,780 per month)
Enterprise: Starts at $4,000 per Month when you pay annually (no monthly plans).

HubSpot recommends that you talk to HubSpot to discuss your requirements and determine if it is worth the cost.

This is a great place to start. However, pricing and determining your needs can be confusing.

Mobile App: 4/5. The HubSpot mobile app is far superior to the average. Although it does most of the things you need, it isn’t as comprehensive as the desktop app.

The app allows you to create and manage deals. You can also scan business cards to turn them into contacts. You can also view the activity feed of contacts and respond to live chat queries. These are all great features to have while on the move.

Sometimes you need to get in touch quickly. The app lets you text your contacts right from the app. Just one tap and the app opens your phone’s messaging application.

The HubSpot app automatically records the call once you have made it from the mobile app.

You have the option of adding a note to the call or creating a task. Then, you can choose a call outcome that reflects what happened.

You don’t need to save contacts on your phone. Caller ID pulls information directly from the CRM to identify who is calling. You don’t even have to look at your call log later.

You can also make changes to your computer and your app automatically, without having to restart.

HubSpot CRM offers a free, high-quality customer relationship management system. Get started with HubSpot today to test a powerful CRM without any risk.

#2 – Zoho CRM — The Best to Get Deeper Visibility into What Matters Most

Zoho CRM

Reporting provides the best visibility

Zoho CRM provides unprecedented insight into your sales efforts, client relationships, and overall business performance. Zoho offers the best reporting we tested at a fair price.

Overall: 4/5

Zoho CRM offers the best reporting to provide visibility into your business. You can also view your dashboard and reports on the move with the mobile app.

CRM software allows you to focus on what is most important for your business and gives you greater insight into the details you care about. You can set up custom navigation links for each team so that you can decide who sees what, based on importance.

This is something that we’ve never seen in any CRM.

Zoho CRM is the right tool for you if you are a big believer in reporting.

Let’s take a closer view.

Getting started: 3/5
Automation: 3.25/5
Visibility: 5/5
Pricing: 4/5
Mobile app: 5/5

Getting started: 3/5 The Zoho CRM getting started process is simple, but not the most straightforward option on our list.

The interface is not the best. The tool’s simplicity makes it easy for users to get used to. The tool doesn’t offer the same level of assistance as other options.

Demo content is included in the beginning and is ready for use.

Five pre-loaded demo contacts are included in the software so that you can get a feel for how things work. Demo tasks, leads and accounts can also be connected so that you can see how the different parts of the software interact.

This will make your life much easier and allow you to try out new features. You can quickly learn what you are doing and avoid making mistakes. Fake deals can be created, tasks attached to them and basic automation built.

Demo content is marked as samples so you can easily delete the wrong ones once your real contacts list is created.

You can schedule an onboarding call for free if you need additional help getting started.

Two phone calls were made the day after we signed up, and two emails two days later inviting us to set up a free onboarding call for discussing our needs.

For any questions, you can email or call an agent 24/7/365. Even though there are no step-by-step guides, someone is always available to assist you.

You will receive a basic, high-level product tour when you log in for the first time. This tour shows you how to navigate between different areas but not much more.

The software does not include any helpful checklists or tutorials to assist you in getting started.

Here are the results of your login:

Zoho is the best choice if you need your CRM in your native language. Your CRM can be managed in 28 languages. You can set a standard language for your entire organization and allow users to choose their preferred language. has a complete list of languages.

Automation: 3.25/5 Zoho CRM is the only option on this list that offers a workflow builder for automating repetitive administrative tasks.

This will save you time and money. Imagine creating any workflow you want, eliminating errors and manual mistakes from your processes.

Zoho also offers many other automation features that will help you accomplish more in a shorter time. We are disappointed that Zoho does not offer any marketing or sales automation.

The workflow builder can be used for administrative tasks, such as moving contacts to the next step in your sales pipeline.

You will need to create multiple workflows to have the same thing happen for multiple items.

Automation rules can be created for leads. This allows you to control what happens depending on what a leader does.

You can, for example, create automation to onboard new colleagues or change the status of contacts as they move through your pipeline.

You can also score leads in Zoho if you wish to do so as they arrive. As people interact with your website, emails, or social media channels, you can create up to 10 custom rules.

Let’s assume your target audience is a digital agency with more than $500k annually in revenue.

These criteria will automatically give Zoho leads a higher score than those that don’t. It is easy to see and track lead quality at a glance.

Once you have established rules, you can sort leads according to the score with the most important leads at the top.

Zoho allows you to create “listening streams” for different keyword monitoring on Twitter. You can monitor hashtags, accounts, and posts that contain specific terms.

This is a great way to see trends and increase your knowledge about prospects and customers. It will allow you to get to know them better than your competitors.

Zoho CRM software integrates reputation management into the system, so you can track brand mentions and interactions from one place. This is a great bonus!

It’s easy for anyone on your team to do this.

Zoho’s automation are precise down to the keyword. Automated tasks can be simplified while building a customer feedback database that will allow you to fully immerse yourself in your audience’s mind. All this is in one platform.

Visibility: 5/5 – Zoho CRM is the best in its ability to provide insight into your business’s operations.

It is the best that you will find. Zoho CRM is the best choice for those who want structured workflow and reporting.

Why are they so great?

To simplify and streamline your business’s use of Zoho CRM, you can first customize the navigation. You can then create completely new pages with Canvas–Zoho’s drag-and-drop builder.

You can create different “tab groups”, which change the links in your navigation menu. This gives you control over how you organize the features and menus of CRM.

If it is logical for sales reps to have a navigation menu different from their managers, you can simplify the interface to meet individual team needs.

This removes all noise from sales reps and shows them only the relevant links. Managers will also have their links to view who is doing what, and how well.

Each tab group can contain up to 10 links. You can navigate from one tab group into another as you do with tabs on your desktop.

Zoho lets you create multiple pipelines to give you different perspectives on your sales cycles. This gives you complete visibility into your prospect and customer relationships.

There are many ways to filter and view information so that you can concentrate on the deals and opportunities that are most important.

The screenshot below shows that the bar to the left contains dozens of pre-built filter options you can use. You can switch between pipelines, see deals from all pipelines simultaneously, and toggle between Kanban and list views.

You can continue to customize Zoho’s dashboards. To display any information you desire, you can create up to 10 customer dashboards.

Five dashboards are included in the platform. They include dashboards for organization overview and lead analytics, deal insight, activity stats, and marketing metrics.

All of these dashboards can be edited to your liking. You can only delete components from pre-built dashboards that you haven’t added, however.

We found a workaround: Create your dashboards using pre-built components.

A dashboard can contain up to 20 components. There are no reports, views, or visualizations you can’t make.

Are you able to create robust reporting with the same ease as you can edit dashboards? What do 64 pre-built reports sound like?

Each provides a detailed look at your business and the relationships that you have built.

We won’t bore you with the long list of useful ones.

You can view which email templates perform best or run reports to show salespeople, leads, and who closes the most deals.

There are more than four dozen others beyond these examples. It’s amazing.

After we had mastered all pre-built reports, it was time to move on to custom reporting. It’s amazing how many reports you can create!

You can bring in data from multiple sources such as leads, contacts, or deals. If you wish, you can combine them all in one report. You can select which data you want to be displayed in columns and how you want them sorted.

Although it may sound daunting, once you understand the basics you will be able to create powerful reports in just a few clicks.

You can also view the preview of your report before you run it if you feel you have made a mistake.

You can easily convert any report into a visual like a graph or chart. You can include it with your regular reports, or send it to colleagues who prefer that format.

Zoho CRM gives you great visibility into your conversations. It shows what has already occurred and what is next. This allows team members to pick up where the previous rep left off.

This software consolidates all information about each contact and allows you to interact with them in one place.

Call details will be saved for all calls received and made. You can add notes to the call and create transcripts. Once the meeting is set up, emails and meetings will be automatically pulled in.

It is possible to see which email was opened, what number of times it was opened, and what clicked on the email. This information can be used to help you follow up.

All this information can be accessed directly from your Outlook, Yahoo!, or Gmail inbox. In one click, convert any email into a lead or contact.

All the visibility features Zoho CRM offers will increase conversions.

Pricing: 4/5 – Zoho is the third cheapest provider on this list. This is remarkable when you consider all the features that you get.

Standard plans cost $14 per user per month and $20 per user per calendar month, respectively $168 or $240 per user per year.

Zoho is cheaper than the average when you pay upfront for one year.

As you grow, there are three options for you to choose from if you desire a higher rank:

Professional: $23 per month for a paid annual ($35 per month)
Enterprise: $40 per user per month when you pay annually (50 for monthly billing).
Ultimate: $52 per user per month when you pay annually ($65 per month).

A limited free plan is available that will allow you to have up to three users. However, we have not tested it. We can’t speak for its reliability.

The standard plan is the best option. You get all the benefits that we mentioned earlier, as well as a mobile app with tons of features. We will be discussing this right now.

Mobile app: 5/5. The Zoho app is our most functional mobile app. It was the most popular among all.

Your phone can do just about anything.

You can choose from four different color options and an optional dark mode.

The app allows you to send messages to contacts. After you have sent your message, the app will bring you back to the CRM app.

You can’t view SMS messages on your desktop, nor can you let others reply or join the conversation. If you have a need, you can send a message to someone directly from the app.

You can also add contacts and leads, log calls and add notes to calls. Additionally, you can view your analytics dashboard for a quick overview of your performance.

Another useful feature is the ability to pull contacts from your CRM into your phone during a call. Caller ID makes it easy to identify who is calling you. It works with your contacts to see your name when you call them.

This personal touch adds to the customer and prospect experience.

The app allows you to manage all upcoming meetings, emails, and deals that you have created for contacts. They also sync seamlessly between mobile and desktop.

Zoho CRM can give you the visibility that makes a real difference in your business. You have all the tools and resources you need to personalize your business and automate every aspect.

Zoho CRM software is easy to use and powerful. Get it now to organize your business and build relationships in the best way possible.

#3 – Sales Suite – The Best Automation for Marketing & Sales

Freshsales Suite

Best CRM Automation

Freshsales Suite is a CRM designed to align marketing and sales departments. It includes powerful workflow automation tools, solid reporting, and contact management. Freshsales allows you to boost two departments simultaneously at a much lower cost than you might expect.

Overall: 3.6/5

Are you ready to automate your sales process? This review is for you if you answered yes.

Freshsales Suite focuses on aligning sales with marketing for your company, supported by powerful automation. They do everything possible to increase your sales.

Freshsales Suite is a combination of their CRM for sales and their marketing tool Freshmarketer. Two tools, one for sales and one for marketing, are a sign that a provider has what it takes to flood accounts with customers.

Getting started: 4/5
Automation: 4.5/5
Visibility: 3/5
Pricing: 3/5
Mobile app: 3/5

Starting Freshsales: 4/5 – This tool is easy to use and learn. It is easy to use and inviting.

They simplify relationship management and make it simple for anyone to use, even those who have never used CRM software before. You also get a step-by-step guide to the software.

It is easy to move around the dashboard and you immediately feel how simple it is to understand.

Vertical navigation is easier than other CRM platforms.

The software will teach you new features as you use them. Quick tips are available to hover over and tooltips are provided throughout. The dashboard contains links to videos and guides.

You can take action as you go along, and you will be reminded of important things regularly by frequent pop-ups.

You can also preload demo content, such as contacts and deals, and one marketing automation.

It’s also nice to be able to see how contact will look. This gives you an idea of what you can expect when you begin building your client list.

You can use the software right away because everything is connected. It’s not necessary to add things to understand how the software works together.

Freshsales Suite makes it easy to start, but you may also be eligible for a complimentary onboarding call. Within an hour of signing up, you will receive a personalized email with instructions on how to start your call.

You can also change the language in your CRM. Freshsales Suite can be used in 34 languages. You can also use the mobile app in up to nine languages.

You can have your team use the global language that you create or use your native language to communicate with the software.

Freshsales Suite offers so many tools that you can make your user experience easy.

Automation: 4.5/5 Freshsales can automate most sales and marketing activities. From email templates and follow-up emails to workflow builders and segmentation, as well as email templates, Freshsales can help. They’re all there and more.

Freshsales Suite has everything you need to grow your business and make sure you don’t burn out.

It’s easy to create multiple lists of sales contacts. You can create dynamic segments for your marketing contacts based on contact form fields, page views, and marketing journeys they are in or completed pipelines.

You want to be able to quickly score leads so you can identify who requires immediate attention. That’s possible. You only need to set the CRM’s AI-driven Marketing Journey feature with scores for your existing contacts. The program will then take it from there.

Let’s see what we mean.

You might set the lead score at 25 for contacts added to a basic segment. If they are added to a segment that is close to your target market, the lead score will be set to 50. This provides a baseline for the AI to learn from, and it will begin scoring new leads based on this input.

Freshsales will notify you immediately if a new contact meets your main selling criteria.

Freshsales Suite’s automation workflow creator can create administrative workflows, sales sequences, or marketing journeys.

You can create triggers for welcome emails and abandoned cart nudges to help you build a marketing campaign. You can choose from 12 templates and build up to five sequences using the entry-level plan.

Below is an example of the initial email that is sent after someone is added. It has dependencies to remove contacts who unsubscribe or bounce, add a deal to any contact that replies, and send a follow-up email two days later if they click a link in it.

Sales sequences allow you to control who leaves your list, add contacts, and accounts, receive email reminders and SMS messages, as well as how they are contacted.

A maximum of five sales sequences can be added at once.

Another major feature is the possibility to create a chatbot. You can customize it to respond to your needs, increasing conversions of visitors to your website.

You can create response threads for various topics such as pricing, product demos, and customer support. This will direct them to the appropriate members of your team. You can also create FAQ articles in the chat widget. FAQs can be arranged by category to show all relevant questions at once.

There are so many options.

We could spend hours showing you the incredible opportunities Freshsales Suite automation have to offer. They scored almost perfectly in this category.

Visibility: 3/5 Freshsales Suite allows you to get very granular in your analytics. It’s missing some reporting and organizational elements that could make it truly amazing.

It is not possible to view multiple sales funnel stages, for example. Freshsales Suite’s Entry-Level Plan gives you one pipeline to manage.

However, you can rename key elements in your pipeline in Freshsales Suite or its navigation menu to correspond with the terminology used in your business.

You can then customize your funnel by adding new stages or removing existing ones. Drag-and-drop is all you need to move deals from one stage of your funnel to the next.

You can view pipelines sorted according to deal stages, a monthly, quarterly, or standard list. Filter by a salesperson.

Even though you only have one pipe, you can make it work for all your needs.

There is no way to add the Freshsales Suite to your email inbox. Depending on which provider, other CRMs allow you to quickly convert emails into leads or perform CRM-specific actions within your email.

Nine pre-made dashboard views are available that can’t be modified. You can customize your reporting. You can add your reports and arrange them as you wish. It is easy to use, 100% drag-and-drop and offers some cool customizations like conditional formatting that changes colors based on values.

Freshsales can also show you all information about a contact. Freshsales can bring all the information you need into one screen. You can see all your chats and emails at once.

Click on the conversation to view the whole thread and open the email. Anybody can jump in to take control or view the status at any moment.

You will find information about each message, including whether the recipient opened it and when, as well as how many times it was opened, and what they clicked on.

Freshsales Suite’s CRM keeps your team connected. It also improves sales and marketing efforts by keeping everyone who needs to know in the loop.

Pricing: 3/5 – Freshsales Suite offers average pricing and above-average features and benefits. To increase sales and marketing performance, you don’t need to spend a lot.

The Growth plan costs $15 per user per month and is billed annually. If you are billed monthly, it will be $18 per user per month.

The annual cost for an individual user is $180, or $216.

What is the price of this service compared to other providers? The average cost of all providers is $187.35 per annum if you pay annually. Freshsales Suite costs $7.35 less than the average.

As you grow, there are two higher tiers that you can upgrade to the Pro and Enterprise plans. These plans gradually loosen some limitations and provide powerful additional features.

You can also get a forever free version, but it only supports three users. Although we haven’t tested it, it seems like a good way to get used to Freshsales without any risk.

Mobile app: 3/5 The Freshsales mobile application isn’t the best, but it’s not the worst.

It is boring. Although it doesn’t grab your attention as much as others on the list, it does have all the details you need.

You can add contacts or leads directly from the app. Log calls and use the caller identification feature to pull information out of the CRM.

The highly customizable reminder and notification features are another standout feature.

You can control which notifications are displayed on your phone’s lock screen and home screen, and you can also configure push notifications according to your preferences.

There are many missing features in the mobile app. It is not possible to text your contacts or view your Freshsale Suite dashboards and reports.

It doesn’t have a lot of functionality. It was not a complete disappointment, however.

You can still manage tasks, view upcoming meetings, email, and phone contacts, and track, create and manage deals.

Everything you do automatically updates the app with any desktop-version changes without it needing to be restarted.

Freshsales enables your sales and marketing to thrive through powerful automation. It also offers a lot of what a CRM is famous for. We found them to be average in all things that we tested, which is impressive considering their price.

Freshsales Suite is the best way to automate sales and increase conversions.

#4 – Salesflare The Best CRM to Focus on Sales

Salesflare

Best to Focus on Sales

Salesflare, a sales-first CRM designed for sales-first businesses, is extremely easy to use. Salesflare offers the best CRM reporting and visibility, complemented by an excellent mobile app.

Overall: 2.9/5

Nothing else is important if sales are not coming in. Salesflare is the best CRM for you if you aren’t concerned about other features and want to convert.

It is often called a “simple, no-frills” sales CRM by many users. You can decide for yourself.

Let’s get started.

Getting started: 4/5
Automation: 2.75/5
Visibility: 3/5
Pricing: 1/5
Mobile app: 3/5

Getting started: 4/5 This is one of our most basic tools that you can use to get started and learn.

Salesflare provides tons of useful information during the onboarding process. The software also walks you through all navigation links to ensure that you are familiar with where everything is.

A seven-day trial is also included. However, you can extend your trial up to 30 days by simply following the getting started steps. Each step you complete adds days to your trial.

Once you’re done, you will have all your settings set up, an understanding of most features, and an account ready for you to use.

Because it isn’t cluttered with service or marketing features, the interface is extremely simple. It was specifically designed to be easy to use.

It’s easy to navigate the platform using the vertical navigation menu. All information is written in plain English and includes links to many tutorials and videos. You will also find quick tips at each step.

It is also easier to get started with demo content. When you add contacts and other data, you can see exactly how it should look.

Three demo contacts are pre-loaded into your system. There are also demo tasks, emails and meetings, calls, and one deal. They are all connected in the same way as they are in your live account so that you can see how the various pieces of software interact.

If you are having trouble figuring it out, a Salesflare representative can assist you in customizing the CRM to meet your needs. After signing up, you will receive an email that explains what you need to schedule an appointment.

Automation: 2.75/5 Salesflare did not do well with automations but it does have enough to help sales teams get started. You can also upgrade to higher tiers for more automation functionality as your business grows.

Zapier is the only method to integrate Salesflare with other software. There are no native integrations.

Salesflare allows you to quickly greet new leads and warm up existing leads with pre-written email templates. You can also use automated follow-up emails from Salesflare. Salesflare will allow you to be flexible on the email front.

The automated lead qualification will also be available. You can also set up rules and when a lead meets them, Salesflare will notify you to quickly strike.

However, it is not possible to give leads a score. You will know that the leads you received were from your ideal segment.

A rule can be set up to send follow-up emails depending on how long it takes for a lead to be added to your email list, or whether they are inactive for a certain time.

Online success is also influenced by social media. Using this data to your advantage can help you increase sales.

Salesflare allows you to use your recent tweets to gain context, insight, and insight into the needs of your customers without leaving the platform. This is possible with just Twitter handles. For later access, you can also save all social media links to the CRM.

Although the software won’t pull updates from social media, you will have a link that allows you to view their profiles at any moment.

Salesflare lacks key features for document management. Although you can attach documents to contacts and accounts, Salesflare doesn’t allow for any other actions such as monitoring what the recipient did with it once they have received it.

While many CRMs provide a chatbot widget, Salesflare does not. This will require you to use a higher level of Salesflare, or another tool entirely.

Visibility: 3.5/5 Salesflare was second in visibility, just behind Zoho CRM. This is because custom reports can’t be created on the entry-level plan.

Multiple pipelines are available to help you manage different sales campaigns and lead sources. This is a great advantage.

Each pipeline can have its stages and reminder settings. Salesflare comes standard with a pipeline. You can update the stages to suit your flow, or delete it entirely and start over.

Drag and drop your pipeline to suit your needs. It is easy to move deals between stages.

Salesflare has two dashboards: revenue and team. It is not possible to add custom dashboards to the pre-built dashboards in Salesflare’s entry-level plan.

The reports you already have are still available, but prebuilt dashboards provide insight into the most important areas of your business.

Salesflare’s score in this category is affected by the absence of customization.

How about managing conversations?

Salesflare will pull emails from accounts and contacts automatically if you follow the getting started checklist.

Anyone with access can see the flow of the sale journey, the things that have been said, and the next steps.

You can navigate to multiple accounts and contacts easily with the triple-pane layout. You can view timelines, tasks, files, and social feeds.

You’ll find the most recent activity in the left pane directly below the account name. This will allow you to see what has happened with each contact instantly.

You can see social feeds in the center pane. In the right pane, you will find contact information, contacts, and opportunities.

Salesflare is a great tool for closing sales and increasing conversions if you use email a lot. Salesflare can be integrated into Outlook or Gmail via an extension.

Everything can be done in your inbox, so it works wherever you are. This extension adds a sidebar to your inbox, allowing you to interact as if in your CRM.

Salesflare will automatically pull the information from any email sent to you and add them as contacts.

Salesflare will automatically pull in the contact information when you send an email to or from a contact. This allows you to see all details as you reply to their emails.

Everything you need from Salesflare CRM is available in your email. This makes you extremely efficient and allows you to be a sales machine.

Pricing: Salesflare is at the top of this list. It’s a serious solution that specializes in sales and is therefore priced high.

We tested the Growth plan. It costs $29 per user per month and is billed annually at $348 per year.

Monthly plans cost $35 per user, which works out to $420 per year.

Salesflare’s annual average of $187.35 per user is significantly higher than our list-wide average.

As you grow, there are two higher tiers that you can upgrade to the Pro ($49 per month per user) and Enterprise ($99/user per month per user) plans.

Specialists charge more in the end, right? This is evident in medicine and dentistry as well as in the automotive industry. It should not be surprising that there is a higher price tag. It’s worthwhile, just like in all other situations where you may need a specialist.

Mobile app: 3/5

This is what we mean. This app is average compared to other apps on our list.

It is one of the few that has all the functionality of the desktop version.

It is possible to create pipelines. This feature is not available in many CRM mobile apps. You can instantly adjust the sales flow of your business and get immediate productivity. All this from your smartphone.

You can also add contacts, view reports, and view your dashboard. The views can be adjusted so that they are easily visible on your smartphone.

It’s easy to use on your mobile device. You can also filter to see the most important things.

You can also log calls directly from the app. Salesflare’s app logs call automatically, so you don’t have to ask.

To add notes to a call, you’ll need to go back to the call. This only applies to calls made through the iPhone app. Android users can log calls that match a Contact in Salesflare even if they were initiated from outside the app.

What’s the answer? What is the point of the low score when this app performs so well?

It is because the app doesn’t have caller ID or texting. We tested two key features that could add an extra wow factor to agility and personalization.

The Salesflare mobile application is outstanding.

Salesflare is a CRM that focuses on sales and doesn’t care about anything else. If your business shares the same priority, then Salesflare is perfect for you.

Visibility into your sales and business performance is the second-best feature. Salesflare offers the unique benefit of being able to transfer your CRM directly to your email inbox.

Get a free trial of Salesflare, a sales-focused CRM that is easy to use and has tons of resources that will help you increase your sales conversions.

#5 – EngagementBay – The Best All-In-One CRM Software for Small Businesses

EngageBay

Best CRM Software for Small Businesses

EngageBay’s CRM offers powerful sales, marketing, and service features. It’s an excellent choice for small businesses, especially if you are a busy owner who wants to automate tasks that take up much of your day.

Overall: 2.6/5

What does it have in common that real estate agents, freelance developers, and digital marketing analysts all share?

All of them need simplicity and Swiss Army knife tools to make managing their small business more efficient, affordable, and easier.

Small businesses know that time is money. It is important to solve problems quickly. EngageBay has become a favorite tool for small-business owners.

EngageBay CRM is a popular choice because of its many great benefits.

Getting started: 0/5
Automation: 3.25/5
Visibility: 3/5
Pricing: 5/5
Mobile app: 2/5

How to get started: 0/5. EngageBay allows you to start completely on your own. It feels outdated and difficult to use.

It’s not simple. You might have issues if you aren’t software-savvy. For those who have never used a CRM before, it is not very user-friendly.

You’ll be presented with a basic checklist and links to various areas when you log in for the first time. EngageBay does not offer a guided walkthrough or explain how things work.

Each module (sales and marketing) has its checklist. They are all quite basic.

The best thing about the tasks is that they will be checked off once you are done.

You won’t feel comfortable or familiar with the platform if you go through every task. There’s no guide on how to do them.

The link will take you to the area where you can begin the setup process. Although there isn’t much guidance, you can get an idea of how the features work once you have set them up.

You don’t have any demo content to try things out first. When you log in for the first time, the entire tool is empty. We were not contacted to schedule an onboarding call. These are only for users who have a higher tier.

Many users agree that customer service is responsive and helpful when they are needed.

Based on our experience, overall, we feel that the interface, navigation, as well as help available, are lacking. We believe this can be greatly improved.

Automated: 3.25/5 – Despite the difficulty of getting started and learning the tool, EngageBay truly delivers once you understand the inner workings. The entry-level plan includes many basic automation.

It has a higher level of automation at a lower price than other options on this list.

You can create long-term sales and marketing sequences using the workflow builder. These can include multi-email messages that go out over some time, drip emails, or other options.

One of the 75 available email templates can be used. You can also create your template.

You can use templates to create marketing sequences, email marketing workflows, or one-off emails to clients and customers.

You can also use a marketing sequence creator to help you set up your marketing campaign.

You can segment your lists to automate their organization as you go along with your campaign.

Static lists can be created that pull in all the people who meet your criteria, but they won’t update or pull any future contacts. You can also use Smartlist to pull in new contacts as they are added.

There can be up to 10 total lists.

EngageBay’s entry-level plan includes the ability to score leads as they enter your CRM. You can create rules to simplify the look of your ideal lead so that when they appear in your CRM, they will be segmented as top sales opportunities.

It’s easy to manage documents. Attach documents to email templates and individual contacts. The entry-level plan includes 1 GB of file storage

However, EngageBay does not have chatbots and social media monitoring.

EngageBay can take many of the more difficult tasks off your hands. EngageBay is a huge benefit to small business owners because it allows you to use your time for more fun things.

Visibility: 3/5

It’s enough if your business is just beginning, but it will require you to upgrade if the metrics you are most interested in are not being met.

It is possible to create as many pipelines as you like. EngageBay refers to them as tracks. You can drag and drop your tracks to suit your needs, just like other providers on this list.

EngageBay allows you to visually examine data and provides specific dashboards that show how your sales and business are doing.

Multiple dashboards can be added for marketing, sales, service, and other purposes. The interface is easy to use and allows you to drag and drop them.

Each module comes with a pre-built standard dashboard.

EngageBay’s unique feature is that you can edit pre-built dashboards. You can delete reports, add new reports, move them around, change their sizes, and modify the settings for each report.

Many providers won’t allow you to do this. EngageBay allows you to create your report from scratch, but it saves time and can cause frustration.

You are busy as an SMB owner. It’s a time-saver to not have to create another report or learn how it works.

You can add different types of reports to dashboards depending on which module you are looking at.

There are 25 pre-built reports for sales. These include deal forecast, deal count, and won vs. lost deals. User performance is also included.

There are also 10 other ready-made marketing materials.

You can also integrate with Outlook and Gmail. This allows you to track emails sent from your inbox, and also allows you to add contacts to your CRM from any email you receive.

It is important to note that while your contacts’ emails are pulled into the CRM, the responses they send are not. EngageBay cannot respond to their messages.

This is a major setback for the entry-level platform version, as this functionality is not allowed on higher tiers.

Pricing: 5/5 – This is where small business owners have a significant advantage. You get all the benefits of a professional-grade tool for a small price.

We tested the Basic plan. It costs $12.29 per user per month and totals $147.48 per user annually.

You can pay per month at $14.99 per user This will cost you $179.88 per user annually.

EngageBay’s monthly cost is less than the $187.35 average per user on our list.

EngageBay offers two-year plans which reduce the monthly cost to $10.79 per user or $258.96 for every two years. They are the only ones on our list that offer a 2-year option.

The Growth plan ($39.99/user/month on a 2-year plan) or the Pro plan ($63.99/user/month for two years up front) provide more functionality.

Mobile app: 5/5 – EngageBay’s mobile app is one of our worst. It was slow and frozen a few times. We had to close the app and restart it. It also froze when we tried to make calls.

The iOS app has not been updated for over a year. This can lead to security issues that can make your information more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Imagine making that phone call to your clients.

This is what you need to keep in mind if your small business needs mobile functionality. Security breaches, unexpected updates to the app, or the removal of important contacts or banking information are not things you can afford.

Apps that aren’t properly managed can lead to all sorts of problems. Because so much of business today is done via mobile devices, you want a provider who takes this seriously.

If you do not want to work on your phone, it’s probably not the right app.

It still can add contacts, review reports and create dashboards. It can be used to manage tasks, view upcoming meetings, and email contacts. You can also track, create and manage deals.

There is no caller ID, call logging, or texting. It is a very basic application.

It has the essential features, but it isn’t much more and poses serious security risks.

EngageBay is a great tool for small businesses that want to improve customer relationships and manage sales and marketing from one platform. You won’t have to break the bank for it.

#6 – Streak — The Best CRM to Work 100% From Within Gmail

Streak

Gmail CRM: Best CRM to Use

All of your efforts can be brought into Gmail while it bolsters it with powerful CRM features. Streak Chrome extension will boost your Gmail abilities. Streak allows you to keep your existing customer relationship platform and Streak will allow you to avoid creating a new one.

Overall: 2.3/5

The biggest problem with CRMs is the inability to allow you to spend your time in the places you need. It’s like you are constantly bouncing from one place to another.

But Streak means that you can spend all of your time and effort in Gmail.

This CRM cannot be used as a standalone tool. If you use Gmail for most of your communication, Streak software will not be useful. Its main purpose is to streamline your inbox and add powerful tools to it.

We found some issues in the software, but Streak can be used to manage your client relations.

Getting started: 1.5/5
Automation: 2/5
Visibility: 3/5
Pricing: 3/5
Mobile app: 2/5

1.5/5 – It’s difficult to get started because the interface is so different from other CRMs. It takes some time to get used to it.

This tool requires significant configuration upfront, while other tools are easier to use.

Streak is a Chrome Extension. It is easy to download and install into your Chrome browser. The site has a detailed onboarding checklist that includes videos, interactive tutorials, and written instructions.

We love the detail and how it simplifies everything.

These videos provide an overview of creating pipelines, adding emails to Streak, recording interactions, adding contacts, and setting up follow-up reminders.

We found the interactive steps to be much more useful than the videos.

A free onboarding call is also available, but it was only three days later, which we found inefficient, given the complexity of the configurations. It is still available at no cost.

Although the interface is not very user-friendly, if you are familiar with Gmail’s navigation you will be able to use it without too much difficulty.

Automation: 2/5 — Streak was in the second-to-last spot here.

It’s also important to note that the plan we tested did not include any integrations. You must be on the Pro plan and higher.

Only four of the 10 features that we tested were available with Streak.

A workflow builder is available to help you improve your daily efficiency. You can also set up automated email sequences.

Mail merge allows you to set up multiple email sequences. Instead of individually personalizing each email, send documents to multiple recipients and they will be personalized. Each day, you can receive up to 800 mail merge emails.

To make it easier to quickly send customized emails to clients, you can also create snippets.

You can use your contacts to send follow-up emails and reminders about new coupons and offers.

Document management is also available. You can view all attachments that have been sent to contacts and their contact records. This allows you to see who they were sent to, when they were sent, and what they did with them.

Visibility: 3/5 — Streak’s visibility is average when compared to other CRMs.

It’s done all from your Gmail Inbox, which is the best feature.

Streak’s greatest claim to fame is the ability to create multiple pipelines. All your pipelines can allow you to set up to 5,000 contacts or deals. The next higher tier is unlimited. You can create as many of your pipelines and stages as you like with the next higher level.

You can customize everything. You can add as many stages and reorder them as you like. You can also set custom colors and decide what information to show or hide. Additionally, you can create unlimited saved views so you have quick access to the information you need.

This is a custom view that orders everything based on the date of the last email.

You are now pulling communications into your CRM because Streak functionality is already in your Gmail Inbox.

You can do even more with the rules you create. For example, you can pull emails from certain contacts to make it easier to find relevant messages.

To give a complete overview of all communications between contacts, emails are added to contact records. This is done automatically for every email that you send to Streak.

You can view previous communications, notes, and tasks of the entire team by opening an email sent from a contact. This will ensure that you have the context you need before you respond.

Email marketing becomes even more powerful with Streak. Converting leads is the norm. With the contact data you have, you can examine each email and find all the opportunities that your competitors are missing.

Pricing: Streak pricing is 3/5. It’s not bad, but it’s not the best. It is in the middle of this pack.

The Solo plan costs $15 per user per calendar month or $180 per user annually.

You can pay monthly. It’s $19 per user per month. You will be charged $228 annually for each user who subscribes to the monthly plan.

However, the Solo plan does not allow you to invite a team. To be eligible, you must be on either the Enterprise or Pro plans. If you are single and have very basic needs, there’s a decent free plan.

This plan includes everything except customer support. It limits you to only 500 leads per day and 50 mail merge emails. These strict limitations are the reason we decided not to score or test the free plan.

Mobile app: 5/5 – While the Streak app does many things, it doesn’t do all that we consider important for CRM users.

This software replaces your email application and pulls all of your Gmail inboxes into Streak.

The app allows you to text and call your contacts, as well as automatically log calls.

It also allows for basic task management. You can view your pipelines and see previous interactions between contacts and contacts.

Streak works best if you are logged into your Gmail account. It makes it easier to manage your email follow-ups. It notifies you immediately if the client opens an email. This makes it ideal for organizing and planning everything.

Use Streak if you want to organize your Gmail business and make it easy. It is lightweight and seamlessly integrates with Gmail, so you can track campaigns and manage contacts from within your inbox.

Methodology for Choosing the Best CRM Software

CRM software helps you improve your sales and marketing activities and allows you to focus on what is important to your customers. You can create specialized campaigns by using the information you gather.

CRM software has many benefits but none more important than the ability to store contact information and provide visibility through dashboards and streamlined reporting. This allows you to see how your business uses customer data.

The next most important thing would be to introduce time-saving automation, and offer workflow transparency.

This is what we used to base our scoring system and as criteria for each section.

Each CRM provider offered an entry-level plan. We signed up. We then went through the onboarding process following the recommendations.

We then began to explore the possibilities of the software. This meant that we tested what automation could be done, such as email autoresponders or moving contacts through your pipeline. We also explored how workflows can be set up.

We tested visibility features such as marketing reports, sales per deal or person, and visual dashboards that show KPIs and support interactions via chats or calls.

Next was mobile application testing. Also, judging pricing for an entire year on an annual basis so that you understand all costs associated with CRM software.

We then scored each provider using the below methodology so that you can quickly see which provider scored highest and which features are the most outstanding. This allows you to choose the provider that best suits your needs and helps you achieve your goals.

Below is the weighted scale we used to determine which provider had each of these five factors.

Getting Started (25%)
Automated (20%)
Visibility (20%)
Pricing (20%)
Mobile App (15%)

This scale highlights the most important things that real users find in an easy-to-follow layout.

Focus on Peak Performance and Not Confusion (25%)

CRMs can be confusing, complex, and overwhelming. Our methodology is designed to make it simple. Even if you have never used this type of software before, we break down what and where to do them.

We want to make your experience enjoyable, easy to understand, and fun.

This is done by testing how easy it can be to get started. You don’t need to purchase the software or waste time trying to figure out how it works.

Frustration is not something you enjoy. It’s okay to want results. We get it.

It doesn’t matter what else you do if your account isn’t set up properly. Our methodology emphasizes getting started.

Signing up for each plan at the entry-level allowed us to test each provider. We then score one point each for the top five distinguishing factors.

It is important to have a step-by-step guideline so that you don’t feel lost. The best setup process guides you through the entire process with clear steps that you complete or provides an automated checklist so you know exactly what you have done and what you need to do before you move on.

A user-friendly interface is important so that you can easily understand the terminology when you first use the software. It is not pleasant to feel like you are trying to learn a second language to use CRM.

It is important to be able to explain the features clearly as you find them. These features should include built-in guides to help you understand the functionality and help you master it over time.

There are providers on our list that include tutorials in the tool. They are also easy to use so you don’t have to search the web for answers. This includes reminders and templates, as well as demo content to help you understand how the CRM works together.

An excellent way to ensure you are following all the steps correctly is to have an onboarding call. Based on your business relationship with leads and clients, you will receive personalized guidance on how to use the CRM. This service is offered by some CRM providers for no cost.

Many options were also available with multilingual support. This makes it much easier for business owners and teams who aren’t all native English speakers. It is an enormous benefit to be able to use the software in your preferred language.

You don’t have the option to give leads a score.

A rule can be set up to send follow-up emails based on the time it takes for a lead to be added to your email list or on inactivity.

Social media plays an important role in online success. Using social media data to your advantage can help you increase sales.

Salesflare allows you to use the most recent tweets to gain context, insight, and insight into your customers’ needs. The CRM can save all social media links for later access.

Although the software won’t pull updates from social media, you will have a link that allows you to view their profiles at any moment.

Salesflare lacks key document management features.

Many CRMs offer chatbot widgets, but Salesflare is the only one.

Visibility 3.5/5 – Salesflare was second in visibility, only behind Zoho CRM. This is because it doesn’t allow you to create custom reports for the entry-level plan.

Multiple pipelines are available to manage different sales campaigns and lead sources.

Each pipeline has its stages and reminder settings. You can update the stages to make them more compatible with your flow, or you can delete them.

Drag and drop your pipeline to suit your needs. Move deals easily from one stage to another.

There are 2 dashboards in Salesflare–team, and revenue. It is not possible to add custom dashboards to the prebuilt dashboards.

The reports you already have are still available, but prebuilt dashboards can provide insight into key areas in your business.

However, the absence of customization has an impact on how Salesflare scores in this category.

How about managing conversations?

Salesflare will pull in all emails associated with accounts and contacts if you follow the getting started checklist.

Anyone with access can see the flow of the sale journey, the key points, and the next steps.

With the triple-pane layout, you can easily navigate to multiple accounts or contacts using just one click. View timelines, tasks, files, and social feeds.

The left pane shows the most recent activity under each account name. This allows you to see what has happened with each contact.

View social feeds from the center pane. Also, view opportunities, contacts, and contact information in the right pane.

Salesflare is a great tool for closing sales and increasing conversions from email.

Everything can be done in your inbox, so you can work from anywhere. This extension adds an extension to your inbox that lets you interact with your contacts like you would in your CRM.

Add anyone who has emailed you as your contact with just one click. Salesflare will pull the information from the email and automatically add it.

In contrast, Salesflare will automatically pull in the contact information when you send an email to or from a contact. This allows you to see all details as you reply to their emails.

Everything you need from Salesflare CRM can be found in your inbox. This makes you a highly efficient salesperson.

Pricing: 1/5 – Salesflare is the most costly on this list. It’s a serious solution that specializes in sales and it’s a premium.

We tested the Growth plan at $29 per user per month, with a total of $348 per annum.

A monthly plan costs $35 per user, which works out to $420 for the year.

Salesflare is significantly higher than our average list-wide $187.35 per user per annum.

You can upgrade to the Pro plan ($49 per user per month) or Enterprise plan ($99 per user/month).

Specialists charge more in the end, right? This is evident in many industries, including medicine and dentistry. But, like all these situations, it’s well worth the extra cost.

Mobile App: 3/5 – This is one of those strange situations where the performance and scoring don’t coincide.

That’s what we mean. It looks like a standard mobile app when compared to other apps on our list.

It’s not the only one that has all the functionality of the desktop version.

You can configure pipelines. Adjust your sales flow and get immediate results.

View your dashboard and add contacts. Views can be adjusted to make them easily visible on your smartphone.

It’s easy to use on mobile devices. You can zoom in and filter to see the most important things.

You can log calls directly from the app.

You can add notes to a call to make it more personal. Users of Android can log calls that match a contact within Salesflare.

What’s the deal? Why is this app so good?

This is because the app doesn’t have caller ID or texting. These are two key features that we tested and can increase personalization and agility.

The Salesflare mobile app, however, is outstanding.

Salesflare focuses on sales and doesn’t care about any other aspects.

You have visibility into the performance of your sales team and business. This is a unique benefit that Salesflare doesn’t offer.

Get a quick, easy-to-use, sales-focused CRM that is simple to use and has tons of resources that will help you increase your sales conversions. Start your free trial with Salesforce.

#5 EngageBay – The Best All-In-One CRM Suite For Small Businesses

EngageBay

Best CRM Software for Small Businesses

EngageBay provides a powerful package of marketing, sales, and service features within its CRM.

Overall: 2.6/5

What have real estate agents, freelance developers of websites, and digital marketing analysts got in common?

All of them need simplicity and Swiss Army knife tools to make managing their small business more efficient, affordable, and easier.

Time and money are the most important assets for small businesses. Small business owners love EngageBay.

EngageBay CRM is a popular choice because of its many great benefits.

Getting started: 0/5
Automation: 3.25/5
Visibility: 3/5
Pricing: 5/5
Mobile app: 2/5

Getting Started: 0/5 EngageBay is your only option to get started. The interface feels outdated and difficult.

Simply put, it is not easy. Anyone who has never used a CRM before will have trouble.

After you log in, you will see a basic checklist that includes links to various areas of the platform. EngageBay does not offer any kind of guided walkthrough or explanation of how things work.

Each module has its checklist (sales, marketing, and service).

The best thing about it is that you can check your work after you’re done.

But, going through the entire process doesn’t make you feel comfortable or familiar with the platform. There’s no guideline on how to use the platform.

The link takes you to the area where you can start setting up the task. You’ll see a summary of the features and their functions after you have set them up.

You don’t have any demo content. These are available only to users who have a higher tier.

Many users agree that customer service is responsive to their needs.

The interface, navigation, and help are all poor. Our experience has shown that they could be greatly improved.

Automations 3.25/5 – EngageBay’s interface is easy to use and intuitive. The entry-level plan has a lot of automation.

This product offers more automation at a lower price than other products on this list.

With the workflow builder, you can create long-term marketing or sales sequences.

Use one of the 75 pre-designed templates or create your own.

Create templates for marketing workflows, sequences, emails to clients and leads, bulk emails, and other purposes.

You can also use a marketing sequence creator to help you set up your marketing campaign.

You can automate each list’s organization by segmenting them as you go along with your campaign.

Static lists can be used to pull any person who meets your criteria, but they won’t pull new contacts or update the database over time.

Up to 10 lists can be created.

Scoring leads when they enter your CRM is part of EngageBay’s entry-level plan. Create rules that simplify your ideal lead so that when they appear in your CRM, they are already identified as a top-selling opportunity.

Document management is easy. The entry-level plan includes 1 GB of file storage.

EngageBay does not have chatbots and social media monitoring.

EngageBay is capable of taking many complicated tasks off your hands. You can now use that time to do more fun things.

Visibility 3/5 – EngageBay has many analytic tools, but they can’t be customized to make it easier for you to find the information you need.

It’s enough if your business is just getting started. However, you will need to upgrade to get more insight into the metrics that are most important to you.

You can create unlimited pipelines. Just like other providers, you can also use a drag-and-drop interface to modify your tracks to suit your needs.

EngageBay allows you to visually look at data, with specific dashboards that show how your sales and business are doing.

Create multiple dashboards for marketing, sales, and service using a drag-and-drop interface.

Each module has a pre-built standard dashboard.

EngageBay’s unique feature is that you can edit pre-built dashboards. You can delete reports, add new reports, move them around, change their sizes, and modify the settings for each report.

Many providers won’t allow you to do that. With EngageBay, you can save time and frustration by creating your reports from scratch.

You are a busy SMB owner. It is a time-saver to not have to create a new report or learn how to do it.

You can add different types of reports to dashboards depending on which module you are looking at.

25 pre-built reports are available for sale. These include deal forecast, deal count and win vs. lose deals. User performance.

There are also 10 other ready-made templates for your marketing efforts.

You can also integrate with Gmail or Outlook. This allows you to track emails sent from your inbox, and add contacts to your CRM based on an email you have received.

It’s important to note that while your emails are pulled into the CRM, the responses to those emails are not. EngageBay cannot respond to these messages.

This is a major setback for the entry-level platform version. It is not allowed on higher tiers.

Pricing: 5/5- Small business owners have a great advantage. Get professional-grade tools at a smaller price.

The Basic plan is the one we tested. It costs $12.29 per user per month and $147.48 per year per user.

You can pay per month by paying $14.99 per user This will cost you $179.88 per year.

EngageBay’s monthly cost is less than $187.35/per year per user.

EngageBay offers two-year plans for savings of up to $10.79 per month, or $258.96 every two years.

For those who need more automation and reporting, the Growth plan ($39.99 per user per month on a 2-year plan) or the Pro plan ($63.99 per user per month for 2 years) unlocks a lot of functionality.

Mobile app – 2/5 – EngageBay’s mobile app is one of the worst. The app also froze when we tried to make calls.

The iOS app has not been updated for over a year. Do you think you would have to call your clients to update the iOS app?

This is a reminder to keep in mind if you are looking for mobile functionality for your business. Don’t let security problems or unexpected updates ruin your small business.

Apps that aren’t properly managed can lead to a lot of headaches. Mobile devices play a huge role in business today.

This app is not recommended if you do most of your work on your phone.

It is still able to add contacts and view reports and dashboards. You can also track, create and manage deals, as well as email and call contacts.

There is no caller ID, call logging, or texting capabilities.

It has the essential features but doesn’t do anything extra or have serious security issues.

#6 — Streak — The Best CRM to Work 100% From Within Gmail

Streak

Best CRM for Working in Gmail

Put all your effort into Gmail while strengthening it with powerful CRM features. If you prefer a customer relationship platform, Streak allows you to avoid creating a completely new one.

Overall: 2.3/5

The biggest problem with CRMs is their inability to allow you to spend your time in the places that matter most.

However, with Streak, you can spend all of your time and effort in Gmail.

This CRM can be used as a standalone tool. The Streak software does not work with Gmail. Its primary purpose is to streamline your inbox and add powerful tools.

We found some issues in the software, but Streak can be used to manage your client relations.

Getting started: 1.5/5
Automation: 2/5
Visibility: 3/5
Pricing: 3/5
Mobile app: 2/5

Getting Started: 1.5/5 – It’s difficult to get used to because the interface is so different from other CRMs

This tool requires significant configuration upfront, while other tools are easier to use.

Streak can be used as a Chrome extension. It is downloaded and installed into your Chrome browser. There are videos, interactive tutorials, and written instructions that will help you get started.

We love the detail of everything and how it helps simplify the complicated process of configuring Streak.

These videos provide an overview of creating pipelines, adding emails to Streak, recording interactions, adding contacts, and setting up follow-up reminders.

We found the interactive steps to be much more useful than the videos.

A free onboarding call is also offered. However, it was only three days later, which is not efficient for us based on the complexity of the configurations.

Although the interface is not very user-friendly, if you are familiar with Gmail navigation you will be able to navigate it easily.

Automations – 2/5 – Streak was second-to-last here.

It’s important to note that we did not test any integrations. You must be on the Pro plan.

Only four of the 10 features that we tested are available with Streak.

A workflow builder is available to help you improve your efficiency, and it can also be used to set up automated email sequences.

Create multi-email sequences with the mail merge feature. Receive up to 800 mail merge emails per day.

Create snippets that can be added to your emails to help you quickly send targeted emails to clients.

You can use your contacts to send follow-up emails and reminders about new offers and coupons.

Document management is available. All attachments that have been sent to a contact can be viewed in their contact record.

Visibility 3/5 – Streak’s visibility is average when compared to other CRMs.

The best thing about it is the fact that it can all be done from your Gmail Inbox.

Streak’s greatest claim to fame is the ability to create multiple pipelines. The next higher tier allows you to set up as many pipelines and stages as you like.

All stages are 100% customizable. You can add as many stages and reorder them as you wish. You can also change the stage names, order them, assign custom colors, choose what information to show or hide, and save unlimited views to make it easy to find what you need.

This is a custom view that orders all items based on the date of the last email.

You are already pulling communication into the CRM because Streak functionality is already in your Gmail Inbox.

You can do much more with the rules you create. For example, you could pull emails from certain contacts to make it easier to find relevant messages.

All Emails that are pulled into Streak are attached to every contact record. This gives you a complete overview of all communications between your team and each contact.

When you open an email sent by contact, you can see past communications, notes, and tasks from the entire team in the right sidebar. This will ensure that you have all the context you need before you respond.

The Streak will make email marketing even more effective for you. You’ll be able to look into every email with the contact data and see all your competitors missed opportunities.

Pricing: 3/5- The pricing for Streak isn’t terrible, but it’s not the best. It’s in the middle.

The Solo Plan is $15 per user per calendar year or $180 per user.

Do you want to pay monthly? It’s $19 per user per month. Each user on the monthly plan will be charged $228 per annum.

The Solo plan does not allow you to invite a team. If you are a single person with very basic needs, you can get a decent free plan.

This plan includes everything except customer support. These strict limitations are why we decided not to test the free plan or score it.

Mobile App: 2/5 – The Streak app is a great mobile app, but it doesn’t do all that many CRM users find important.

This software replaces your email application and pulls all of your Gmail inboxes to the Streak app.

The app allows you to text and call your contacts, as well as automatically log calls.

Plus is a basic task manager that allows you to view your pipelines and see previous interactions with contacts. It also allows you to add new contacts.

Streak works best if you can access your Gmail inbox. The email will be opened by the client immediately.

To organize your business in Gmail and make it easy to use Use Streak. You can manage contacts and track campaigns from within Gmail.

Methodology for Choosing the Best CRM Software

CRM software helps you improve your sales and marketing operations. Create specialized campaigns with the details you gather.

CRM software has many benefits but none more important than the ability to store contact information and visibility through streamlined reports and dashboards. This allows you to see how your business uses customer data.

The next most important thing would be to introduce time-saving automation, and offer workflow transparency.

This is the basis of our scoring system and what we used to determine each section.

We signed up for the entry-level plan from each CRM provider. Next, we went through all the steps of the onboarding process.

We then looked into the possibilities of the software. This involved testing how workflows can be set up and automating things like email autoresponders, moving contacts through your pipeline after actions, and moving them along.

We tested visibility functions, such as marketing reports, sales per deal or person, and visual dashboards that show KPIs and support interactions via calls or chats.

Mobile app testing was next. Also, pricing for an annual plan for one year was ruled out so that you can fully understand the cost of CRM software.

We scored each provider using the below methodology so that you can quickly see which providers offer the best chance of success in accomplishing what you want.

Here’s our weighted scale of the five factors that we tested for each provider.

Getting Started (25%)
Automation (20%)
Visibility (20%)
Pricing (20%)
Mobile App (15%)

This scale shows what real users find most important in an easily-followed layout

Get Started with Peak Performance, Not Confusion (25%)

CRMs can be confusing, complex, and overwhelming for many reasons. Our methodology makes it simple.

We want to make your experience enjoyable, easy to understand, and fun.

This is done by testing how easy it can be to get started.

You don’t like being frustrated. You just want results, right? We get it.

It doesn’t matter what else you do if your account isn’t set up properly. This is why getting started is the most important part of our method.

We compared each provider by signing up for each plan. Next, we highlight the top five distinguishing factors which we scored with one point each.

It’s important to have a step-by-step guideline so that you don’t feel lost.

A user-friendly interface is essential to ensure that you can understand the terminology used in the software.

You should understand the features you find. These guides should help you to master the terms.

We have providers on our list that include tutorials. They are simple to use and easy to find so you don’t have to search the web for answers. Demo content is included to give you a better understanding of how the various parts of the CRM work together.

An onboarding call for free is a great way to ensure you are following all the steps correctly. Your business relationship with customers, leads and clients will determine how your CRM should be used.

Many software options support multiple languages.

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