Top 5 CRM platform in 2024

In business, keeping track of relationships gets more challenging as your contact list grows. While Excel sheets work initially, they fall short as your business expands. That's where CRM (customer relationship management) software comes in – a must-have tool for almost any business, helping to manage relationships and communications with customers and potential clients.

CRM software does more than just handle contacts. It enhances customer understanding by creating individual profiles and tracking interactions. It analyzes customer data, generates reports, and builds a strong link between your organization and its customers. It also improves the customer experience, helps capture leads, and smoothly integrates with marketing tools for efficient communication. In marketing, CRMs are handy for one-to-many communications, like sharing product updates or event invitations. 

Choosing the right CRM depends on the business needs. It is necessary to consider factors like cost, features, setup, and integrations. To make your choice easier, we've done some research. Here is our choice of the best CRMs based on factors like cost, ease of use, and integrations: 

• Salesforce Sales Cloud - Best Overall

• HubSpot CRM - Best free plan

• Zoho CRM – Best value for money

• Freshsales – Best for user-friendliness

• Pipedrive - Best for visual sales pipelines

Salesforce Sales Cloud

Salesforce continues to be a powerhouse in the CRM domain, offering a comprehensive suite of tools to address various aspects of CRM and business needs for sales, marketing, customer service, workflow automation analytics, and more. Despite facing competition from newer players, Salesforce has retained its leadership position. The platform's flexibility is one of its strengths. It allows businesses to tailor their CRM solutions to specific industry requirements and organizational needs. Salesforce is also known for its scalability, and it is considered one of the few products that can effectively scale up to meet the needs of the largest enterprises with complex requirements.

Salesforce boasts one of the industry's most extensive third-party app marketplaces, Salesforce AppExchange. It allows integration capabilities spanning 3,000 third-party applications, helping users streamline various tasks to achieve sales and service goals. With features like AI-powered analytics and automation available for high-tier plans, Salesforce remains a top choice for organizations seeking a robust CRM solution. While Salesforce is powerful, its steep learning curve and quirky user interface can be challenging. Due to its intricacies, larger teams often designate a dedicated person to manage Salesforce. 

The pricing structure includes different plans and add-ons. All Salesforce CRM plans, except for the Starter one, require an annual commitment. The Starter plan, priced at $25/user per month, is highlighted as optimal for many small businesses. There is a 30-day free trial available. Opting for Salesforce requires consideration of budget, personnel, and specific business needs to ensure optimal value from the platform.

HubSpot CRM

HubSpot CRM stands out as a user-friendly and cost-effective solution that initially began as a marketing tool but has progressively expanded to offer a comprehensive suite of features, including contact management, lead tracking, and workflow automation. The seamless integration with various marketing and sales tools, like ads and SEO optimization, fosters a holistic customer engagement approach. This approach benefits businesses seeking a unified solution, even though the CRM features might not be as extensive as some standalone offerings. HubSpot is particularly suitable for those starting with CRM and looking for a solution that combines marketing and service tools without switching between multiple platforms.

HubSpot CRM boasts an extensive library of integrations featuring 1,000+ popular software applications. It provides user-friendly starter templates, though customization limitations may sometimes be present. Recently, Hubspot introduced two AI-powered tools—Content Assistant and ChatSpot.ai. HubSpot's Content Assistant expedites content creation by suggesting topics and keywords, while ChatSpot enhances customer service in HubSpot CRM through natural language chat interactions. 

Regarding pricing, it offers a forever-free, really generous plan that effectively competes with paid alternatives from competitors, making it particularly appealing to startups and budget-conscious businesses. This plan allows up to one million contacts with limitations such as a cap on saving email templates, chatbots with restricted capabilities, and 2,000 email sends per calendar month, with HubSpot branding. Paid plans start at $30/user per month and provide essential marketing, sales, service, CMS, and operations features. Discounts for annual subscribers are available. However, considerations arise for long-term scalability, with further paid plans presenting a significant cost for businesses requiring advanced functionalities. 

Zoho CRM 

Zoho CRM is famous for its combination of a user-friendly interface and cost-effectiveness. Its seamless integration with other Zoho business products creates a comprehensive suite of tools. With a diverse range of features, including lead management, workflow automation, and analytics, Zoho CRM is adaptable to the unique requirements of various industries, offering versatility to businesses across sectors. 

Zoho CRM provides predefined reports and dashboards for straightforward performance tracking, while customization options allow the creation of tailored reports. The email parser tool is an added convenience that automates data extraction from incoming emails, streamlining lead generation, information updates, and customer follow-up activities. The platform caters to remote workforces through gamification features, fostering a competitive and motivating sales environment, regardless of team members' locations. 

Zoho CRM platform introduces distinctive features like Blueprint, which is accessible through the professional plan. This feature enables users to craft guides for the sales process and enhances deal closure. AI-powered tools, including the AI assistant Zia, are reserved for Enterprise subscribers. Zia helps predict leads and deals, identify potential customers, and guide large sales teams with user-friendly assistance. 

Zoho CRM offers various pricing plans. Its forever free edition is limited to 3 users. Paid plans start at $20/user per month. A 15-day free trial is available. The Enterprise plan at $50 per user per month is highlighted as the most popular choice. Discounts are accessible for annual subscribers.

Freshsales

Freshsales emerges as a robust and user-friendly CRM solution specifically tailored for small to midsize businesses. It excels in managing sales processes, offering features like lead and contact management, deal tracking, email tracking, sales automation, and robust analytics. Despite certain feature limitations compared to other CRMs, Freshsales compensates with extensive integrations, including calendars and email marketing software. Its streamlined design ensures a quick learning curve, enabling users to promptly navigate and close deals. 

A standout aspect is the integration of "Freddy AI" in all paid Freshsales plans. Leveraging CRM data, Freddy AI delivers personalized recommendations, predictions, forecasting, and insights, contributing to impactful, data-driven decision-making and setting Freshsales apart from its competitors. For instance, AI-based lead scoring allows prioritizing leads based on their likelihood to convert into sales. Moreover, Freshsales extends its offerings with an all-in-one suite, Freshsales Suites, going beyond CRM to encompass marketing tools such as marketing automation and customer support. 

For users seeking cost-effective options, Freshsales offers a forever free plan for up to three users, albeit with limited features like restricted access to the activity dashboard and no reporting capabilities. Paid plans start at $20/user per month, with a 21-day free trial and discounts for annual subscribers.

Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a robust CRM solution designed to enhance the efficiency of sales teams in managing pipelines, deals, and contacts. Renowned for its user-friendly and visually intuitive interface, the platform focuses on providing at-a-glance insights and data visualizations for effective tracking and managing deals at different stages of the sales process. The platform's flexibility allows users to customize it according to specific sales processes, making it adaptable for various industries and business sizes. 

Key features of Pipedrive include centralized deal and contact tracking, offering a tailored hub for users to access comprehensive information. Automation features streamline repetitive tasks, freeing up time for strategic activities. Pipedrive also integrates with third-party applications, although it may offer fewer customization options compared to some competitors. Pipedrive provides reporting and analytics tools, enabling users to gain insights into their sales performance and identify areas for improvement. All plans include a machine learning-powered assistant, providing personalized recommendations and analytics to boost performance. Noteworthy security features make Pipedrive a top choice for those prioritizing data security. 

Pipedrive provides four paid plans, with prices starting at $21.90/user per month. The entry-level plan lacks features like workflow automation, email sync, and email tracking.  The Professional plan, named by Pipedrive the most popular, is priced at $59/user per month monthly, is designed for larger businesses seeking advanced features like team permission, goal-setting, and detailed forecasting reports. Pipedrive offers a 14-day free trial, and discounts are accessible for annual subscribers.

Reading time: 5 min 17 sec