Deciding which customer
relationship management (CRM) system is right for your business takes time and
can be complicated, especially if it’s the first time your business is choosing
software to manage customers. You may not be sure how much you need to spend or
how to choose the one that fits your business’s needs best.
Breathe.
We’re here to save you time by
going over some of the most popular free and open source CRM solutions and when
you should consider paid systems (find out how we chose the featured
products here).
Here’s what we’ll cover:
·
SuiteCRM
Free CRM software companies earn
revenue primarily by enticing businesses to purchase premium expansions which
unlock better features
or support structures.
As such, the following free
systems, while coming without any restrictions, should be considered “freemium”
systems, in that they come with a limited set of features and offer more with
more expensive plans.
Freshsales CRM
4.5/5
400+ Reviews
Freshsales is a cloud-based CRM
solution that helps businesses across a variety of segments and verticals
manage contacts, leads, and develop customer success strategies.
The software was the third most
popular free CRM according to our methodology and functions with macOS, Windows
10, and any web browser (OS agnostic).
Its free version comes with
several features, but it has three separate upgrade paths based on any other
needs your business might have as you grow.
Some features include:
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✔ 360-degree view of leads
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✔ Email
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✔ Contacts
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✔ Built-in phone
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✔ Lead scoring
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✔ Integrations
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✔ Accounts
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✔ Mobile apps
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✔ Support
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HubSpot is a cloud-based CRM
system that helps companies of all sizes track and nurture leads and analyze
business metrics. It’s the most popular free CRM based on our methodology and
works with Solaris, most web browsers (OS agnostic), Windows 8, Windows 10.
HubSpot is suitable for any B2B
or B2C business in a variety of segments, including accounting, construction,
retail, real estate, and more.
HubSpot’s base CRM has all the
core functionality a starting business might need and is 100% free with
unlimited users and up to 1,000,000 contacts.
It also has some free versions of
its marketing and sales software, if you find you need some extra features.
When you need to upgrade from the
free version, HubSpot has a variety of different plans for your business’s
unique needs starting at $50 per month per user.
Some features include:
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✔ Contact management
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✔ Email tracking and
notifications
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✔ Contact website activity
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✔ Meeting scheduling
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✔ Gmail and Outlook integration
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✔ Company insights
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✔ Ticketing
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Really Simple Systems CRM is a
cloud-based CRM system designed for small and midsize organizations that deal
with customers in any capacity.
Really Simple Systems CRM is
suitable for a variety of segments: accounting, construction, retail, real
estate, and more.
The software was the second most
popular free CRM according to our methodology and is compatible with Windows 7,
Windows Vista, Windows XP, macOS, most web browsers (OS agnostic), Windows
2000, Windows 8, and Windows 10.
Its free version comes with a
variety of features for up to two users. If you require more features, it has
several paid versions that unlock more functionality.
Some features include:
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✔ Unlimited contacts
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✔ Custom reports
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✔ 100MB document storage
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✔ API integration
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✔ Contact management
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✔ Sales automation
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Open source CRMs are like
blueprints that let you build your own fully customized system for your
business’s needs. Businesses can download the software source code and edit it
to their exact specifications.
Unlike freemium CRMs, you’re
likely going to need a person or team familiar enough with the source code to
configure the CRM, so, while open source systems are extremely customizable,
they might not be the best fit for your business.
That said, if you have someone on
your team who is capable, open-source CRMs are a great option to consider.
Odoo Software 4.24/5 310+ Reviews
Odoo CRM is designed to meet the
needs of any company, regardless of size or budget. Along with its CRM, Odoo
offers a variety of other business applications ranging from sales to
manufacturing, all of which integrate with each other.
If you have a need for deep
integration and also have the technical expertise required to implement
integrations, Odoo is a great option to consider because of just how
interconnected each module is to the others.
Odoo is the most popular open
source CRM according to our methodology. It is compatible with Windows 7,
Windows Vista, Windows XP, macOS, Linux, HP-UX, AIX, Solaris, Unix, IBM OS/400,
most web browsers (OS agnostic), Windows 2000, Windows 8, and Windows 10.
Its upgraded paid CRM application
starts at $24 per user per month but comes with its complete suite of features.
Some features include:
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✔ Forecasting
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✔ Detailed reporting
|
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✔ Contact management
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✔ Email templates
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✔ Interaction tracking
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✔ Pipeline management
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✔ Scheduling automation
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✔ Lead scoring
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✔ Pipeline management
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✔ Live chat
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✔ Contact management
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✔ Integrations with every other
Odoo app
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SuiteCRM is suitable for
businesses of all sizes and can be installed locally or operated via the cloud.
Like any open source system, it’s incredibly customizable to fit the needs of
your specific business whether you’re in sales, marketing, services, or IT.
This software was the second most
popular open source CRM according to our methodology. It works with Windows 7,
Windows Vista, Windows XP, macOS, Linux, HP-UX, AIX, Solaris, Unix, IBM OS/400,
most web browsers (OS agnostic), Windows 2000, Windows 8, and Windows 10.
As long as you have someone on
your team to set it up, SuiteCRM’s features are all available from the get-go.
Some features include:
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✔ Lead management, generation,
and scoring
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✔ Pipeline management
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✔ Contact management
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✔ Pricing strategy control
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✔ Self-service portals
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✔ Detailed reporting
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✔ Sales automation
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✔ Integrations
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Before fully committing to a free
or open source CRM, you should pause to consider if it’s actually the right
choice for your business.
You might encounter these two
main issues when using free or open source systems: lack of functionality
and/or usability problems.
If you’re a very small business
without expecting to grow much, a free CRM may work fine for you, but many
businesses find the benefits of paid software are worth every penny, and you’d
be closing the door on hundreds of
great vendors if you disregarded paid solutions right off the bat.
Get all the
functionality you need
With these freemium systems,
you’re losing out on a lot of functionality that you might need to scale and
grow your business.
Things like customization,
storage and management, and support are lacking in the free plans from a lot of
free CRM systems. You may also run into a cap on the number of users able to
use the free system.
Usability
matters. A lot.
Free systems might not be the most usable
either, with more functions and features unlocked behind a paywall.
On the other hand, the technical
know-how required to set up and maintain open-source systems can be
intimidating for the average business.
When it comes to usability, you
generally get what you pay for or have to unlock the more usable versions of
software at a higher tier.
To help ensure your software
search is sufficiently thorough, download this list of top-rated paid software
systems and their offerings:
How we chose
featured products
Our approach was to include the most
popular products that both:
1. Offered a free,
stand-alone version of the software (not a trial version of the software that requires
you to purchase the product after a limited amount of time), and
2. Met our CRM
market definition:
CRM software helps automate and manage the customer life cycle for sales and marketing departments. CRM software consolidates customer information into one repository so that users can better organize and manage relationships, automates common processes, and provides tools for monitoring performance and productivity.
CRM software helps automate and manage the customer life cycle for sales and marketing departments. CRM software consolidates customer information into one repository so that users can better organize and manage relationships, automates common processes, and provides tools for monitoring performance and productivity.
We determined the most popular
products to feature by choosing those highest ranked in Google search results
during the week of July 29, 2019.
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