Track customers and deals with a lightweight setup. 6 tools in this list, 4 with a free plan.
How this list is ranked. Tools are ordered by how strongly they are built for this job (as tagged in VERILO’s catalogue), then by editorial score and editor rating. Affiliate relationships and featured status are never inputs.
For a small business the best CRM is the one the team keeps up to date, so weigh adoption before features. In VERILO's assessment folk, HubSpot and Pipedrive are the quickest to get running; Zoho CRM offers more customisation in exchange for more setup; Salesforce Sales Cloud is built for organisations with complex processes and an administrator.
Then decide whether you want a pipeline or a platform. Pipedrive is built around the sales pipeline. HubSpot shares one contact record across sales, marketing and support. Brevo is on this list because a basic CRM sits alongside its email marketing, which suits businesses whose selling starts with a mailing list.
Price the seats and the next tier, not only the first plan. The dedicated CRMs here charge per user on their paid plans, and the features growing teams add first — automation and reporting — often sit a tier or two above the entry plan.
Common questions
Which CRM tools have a free plan?
HubSpot and Salesforce Sales Cloud have a free plan, with limits on usage, users or features. Pipedrive (14 days) and folk (14 days) offer a free trial instead. Pricing for Zoho CRM has not been checked against the vendor in the last 90 days, so it is not included.
How much does CRM software cost?
The entry paid plans as each vendor lists them, checked against its pricing page: HubSpot Sales Hub Starter at $20 per user a month, Pipedrive Lite at $24 per user a month, Salesforce Sales Cloud Starter Suite at $25 per user a month and folk Standard at $30 per user a month. Some vendors quote the annual-billing rate, and seat minimums, higher tiers and add-ons all change the real cost, so price the plan you actually need. Pricing for Zoho CRM has not been checked against the vendor in the last 90 days, so it is not included.
What should a small business look for in a CRM?
A pipeline you can read at a glance, email that syncs both ways with Gmail or Outlook, a few follow-up automations, and enough reporting to see what closed and what is stuck. Anything beyond that is worth paying for only when a specific limit gets in the way.
HubSpot or Pipedrive for a small team?
HubSpot, if you want a free starting point and one system for sales, marketing and support. Pipedrive, if selling is the whole job and you want a pipeline your team will actually keep updated; it has no free plan, only a trial.
Choosing between the top two?
See HubSpot and Pipedrive side by side on pricing, free plans, ease of use and features.