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Amy Nichol Smith spent more than 20 years working as a journalist for TV and newspapers before transitioning to software and hardware product reviews for consumers and small businesses. She has been featured in publications such as L.A. Times, Tom's...
Amy Nichol Smith spent more than 20 years working as a journalist for TV and newspapers before transitioning to software and hardware product reviews for consumers and small businesses. She has been featured in publications such as L.A. Times, Tom's...
Amy Nichol Smith spent more than 20 years working as a journalist for TV and newspapers before transitioning to software and hardware product reviews for consumers and small businesses. She has been featured in publications such as L.A. Times, Tom's...
Amy Nichol Smith spent more than 20 years working as a journalist for TV and newspapers before transitioning to software and hardware product reviews for consumers and small businesses. She has been featured in publications such as L.A. Times, Tom's...
Cassie is a deputy editor collaborating with teams around the world while living in the beautiful hills of Kentucky. Focusing on bringing growth to small businesses, she is passionate about economic development and has held positions on the boards of...
Cassie is a deputy editor collaborating with teams around the world while living in the beautiful hills of Kentucky. Focusing on bringing growth to small businesses, she is passionate about economic development and has held positions on the boards of...
Cassie is a deputy editor collaborating with teams around the world while living in the beautiful hills of Kentucky. Focusing on bringing growth to small businesses, she is passionate about economic development and has held positions on the boards of...
Cassie is a deputy editor collaborating with teams around the world while living in the beautiful hills of Kentucky. Focusing on bringing growth to small businesses, she is passionate about economic development and has held positions on the boards of...
Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on Forbes Advisor. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.
Sales teams from the smallest of businesses to the largest of organizations use customer relationship management (CRM) software. CRMs can help to automate workflows, reduce manual tasks and, most importantly, help you improve customer relationships. But some programs can be bloated with features you don’t need or use. There are simple CRMs available, however, that give you just the core tools you need, the automation you want, and reports to help guide your decisions and integrations.
Here are the best simple CRM solution available today. If you’re looking for a streamlined, intuitive app, at least one of these seven options should be a good fit for you.
The Forbes Advisor Small Business team is committed to bringing you unbiased rankings and information with full editorial independence. We use product data, strategic methodologies and expert insights to inform all of our content and guide you in making the best decisions for your business journey.
We analyzed 10 CRM software providers following a detailed scoring methodology to help you choose from the seven best simple CRMs for small businesses. Our ratings reviewed key factors that included customer reviews, pricing, the quality and depth of features available and a final review by our experts. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
Best Overall for Small Businesses
Zoho CRM
4.9
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
Starting price
$14
per user, per month (billed annually) (free version available)
per user, per month (billed annually) (free version available)
Yes
15 days
Automation on all plans
Editor's Take
Zoho CRM combines ease of use and functionality to make it one of the best simple CRMs in the industry. The interface is immediately intuitive to almost any user, though setup may come with a slight learning curve. And once you have workflows automated, it’s like Zoho CRM just works in the background, so you hardly have to touch it (which is kind of the point of CRM with automation).
There are several plans, so Zoho CRM grows with your business. A solo operation or a very small business could get started with the free plan and not need to upgrade for a while. The free plan lets you manage leads, contacts, accounts and deals with no limits. You’ll miss out on many helpful features, but for a slim CRM solution, it works well. And you’ll be able to automate some workflows and customize pages and tabs. File storage is limited to 1GB, so that could be an issue, but we still named it the best free CRM.
If you choose to upgrade, the paid plans range from $14 per user, per month to $52 per user, per month, if paid annually, and you’ll unlock integrations, custom fields and custom reports for all plans. Professional plans and above benefit from macros, reminders and an increase in email notifications allowed per day. The high-tier plans get exclusive features, such as Zoho’s artificial intelligence (AI) tools (known as Zia). With these AI tools, you’ll get better predictions on conversion rates and suggestions for better workflows and assignments based on what you’re already doing in Zoho.
Zoho CRM is known for being an easy-to-use CRM, but it’s also a powerful and scalable solution for any size business. It’s a great choice for small businesses because of its integrations with popular apps and relative affordability.
Pros & Cons
Offers free plan (three users)
Affordable plans
Automation on all plans
Highly customizable
Lots of integrations
AI tools on high-tier plans only
Limits to inspire upgrades
Best for Sales Teams
Freshsales
4.8
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
Starting price
$15
per user, per month ( billed annually) (free version available)
per user, per month ( billed annually) (free version available)
Yes
21 days
Built-in dials for all plans
Editor's Take
Although CRM can be used by any department or team, Freshsales was built with sales teams in mind. This simple CRM starts with a clean interface that’s easy to read with columns you can easily show or hide. If you stick to the free plan, you’ll have a lot of work ahead of you because there’s no automated workflows at this level. It’s easy to figure it all out, but a CRM should remove a lot of tedious work.
What you do get on all the plans are basic CRM (contact and account management, tasks, appointments and notes), custom fields and a built-in dialer. You’ll even get a live chat widget for your website. These features make Freshsales an easy pick for small sales teams even for just the free plan. Upgrade to get the automation you need, the all-important sales dashboard and visual sales pipelines. Messaging integrations, such as SMS, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp are only available on paid plans. It might be worth upgrading to a paid plan just for the AI-powered chatbot, though. You’re limited to 2,000 to 5,000 sessions, depending on the plan you choose.
Regardless of which Freshsales plan you choose, each one is made for sales teams with features that make it easier to reach out, follow up and close deals.
Pros & Cons
Free plan available
Built-in dialer and live chat widget for all plans
Intuitive dashboard
Auto profile enrichment on highest tier
No automation on free plan
Requires phone credits to make or receive calls
No reports for free plan
Best for (Almost) No Setup
noCRM.io
4.8
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
As with many CRMs, noCRM.io is built for sales teams. The features in this app are meant to streamline the prospecting and sales processes. One of the best things about noCRM is that you can start using it right away—there’s almost no setup to do. It’s one of the most user-friendly CRMs you’ll find that sales teams are sure to adopt quickly. If you do need onboarding, it’s a bit expensive, starting at $1,200.
You’ll find a lot of reviewers tout noCRM as one of the best lead management tools on the market, which is likely because it makes it so easy for you to know at a glance where each prospect or lead is in a pipeline. The Kanban-style view of opportunities and drag-and-drop method helps with its ease of use. You can easily import contacts, sync with your calendars and get notifications in the app or on your mobile phone.
There is no free plan for noCRM, but there is a 15-day free trial that lets you try all the features. To get the most out of noCRM, you may want to opt for its highest-tier plan at $32 per user, per month (if paid annually). It’s at this level you’ll get advanced email management tools, such as email tracking and custom email templates. Besides, the low paid plan only allows you to have up to three users, so most small businesses will outgrow that quickly.
Who should use it:
If you’re looking for an easy-to-use CRM that sales teams will adopt quickly because little to no training is needed, noCRM may fit your needs.
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
You know when a CRM doesn’t offer high-priced onboarding that it’s going to be easy to use. Less Annoying CRM lives up to its name in many ways. To start, there are no pricing tiers—you pay $15 per user, per month. There is no long-term contract and you don’t have to upgrade to get more features. You also don’t have to dodge calls or emails trying to upsell you.
As far as the app itself goes, it offers a simple dashboard with everything you need in one place: contacts, calendar, tasks and pipelines. You can customize fields and pipelines however you want. Plus, Less Annoying CRM lets you integrate the essentials: Google and Outlook calendars, Mailchimp and Google Contacts. There are a handful of third-party apps you can connect to but it’s a short list.
Less Annoying CRM offers free customer and tech support during business hours on weekdays (Central time zone) and it doesn’t charge you for that support. The company is betting its software is so simple that you’ll hardly need support, so it doesn’t even offer onboarding (but the team will still help if you need it).
Who should use it:
Less Annoying CRM may not meet the complex needs of large sales teams, so it’s best suited for small businesses that don’t want a complicated system full of unnecessary features.
Pros & Cons
Easy-to-use system
Clean interface
Single affordable plan
Custom fields
Easy-to-read reports
Fewer integrations than most CRMs
No mobile app
Not appropriate for enterprises
Best for Feature-Packed Simple CRM
OnePageCRM
4.7
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
A great CRM includes all the features you need to manage contacts, track deals, set up sales pipelines and automate tedious tasks. OnePageCRM does all of that and much more, but all in the name of making it easier for sales team members to manage all their processes. There are two plans from which you can choose: Professional or Business, which cost $9.95 per user, per month (paid annually) and $19.95 per user, per month (paid annually), respectively.
The Professional plan is packed with helpful features, including unlimited contacts and deals, visual deal management, email sync and a business card scanner, to name a few. Go with the Business plan if you need advanced features, such as email tracking, multiple pipelines or user permissions for groups (or to restrict access for single users).
One of the best features of OnePageCRM is that it includes an AI-assisted route planner, so team members meeting with clients face to face can add those they plan to visit and the route planner will choose the best route based on time of day, traffic and how long your meetings average. That feature is available for both plans. OnePageCRM is easy to set up, but some teams may not make use of all the functionality, so it could be too much CRM for smaller teams.
Who should use it:
Power CRM users are likely to make the most of OnePageCRM—it’s a robust program, but easy to customize and learn.
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
Starting price
$29
per user, per month (billed annually) (free version available)
per user, per month (billed annually) (free version available)
Yes
14 days
Project management
Editor's Take
Insightly is known for being more than a CRM—it’s a project and work management app, too. It’s easy to use, but it has a steeper learning curve than some other CRMs on this list. You can use Insightly as a regular CRM to manage contacts, leads, deals and create sales pipelines. It also lets you create and track tasks, projects and events.
There’s a visual deal management board, so you can see opportunities in a Kanban drag-and-drop style. Insightly also includes email templates, web-to-lead capture and an automatic profile enrichment feature (from social media) for all plans.
Insightly is a pricier option compared to most other simple CRM apps, ranging from $29 per user, per month (if paid annually) to $99 per user, per month (if paid annually). There are limits on storage and records for most plans—10GB storage and 100,000 records for the low-tier plan and 100GB storage and 250,000 records for the mid-tier plan. Automated workflows aren’t included on the low-tier plan at all.
Insightly is an easy-to-use CRM that has features helpful for many departments in a business, from sales and marketing to customer support and business development teams.
Pros & Cons
Lead and contact management
Project management
Mobile business card scanner
Calendar syncing
Custom reports
Very limited free plan
Expensive plans
Custom support costs extra
No phone support
Unlimited storage and records only on high-tier plan
Automated workflows only on mid- and high-tier plans
Best for the Basics
Pipedrive
4.5
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
The drag-and-drop interface makes Pipedrive instantly intuitive. Even automation is easy to learn. Pipedrive includes a lot of valuable features in its CRM, but you have to pay for them. The lowest-priced plan is full of basic tools you need to manage leads and deals, so it could be worth it to start on Pipedrive if you plan to upgrade as your business grows. The Essential plan costs $14.90 per user, per month (paid annually) and includes the basics you need, such as lead and deal management, custom pipelines, custom fields and calendars.
For more advanced features (or to remove or decrease limits), you have to upgrade to the Advanced, Professional or Enterprise plan—pricing tops out at $99 per user, per month (paid annually). Get fully synced email on most plans, but Pipedrive won’t give you an in-app caller until the Professional plan. Active workflows are limited on all plans (up to 100 on the Enterprise plan).
One of Pipedrive’s features that goes beyond the basics is its visual custom dashboard. Essential and Advanced subscribers get one dashboard, but you can have an unlimited number of them on the high-tier plans. These custom boards let you choose which reports or other info you prefer to see, so you can keep your eye on deals closing or deals rotting, for example.
At Forbes Advisor, we approach our best-of articles with a critical eye and with small and midsize businesses (SMBs) in mind. Given that this particular topic is focused on the best simple CRM, we whittled a long list of programs down to the 10 easiest-to-use options. From there, we looked at the various ways that a CRM makes it simple for users to learn and use. We also gave more credit to the CRMs that are affordable, functional, offer great support and let you connect the apps you already use.
Here’s a breakdown of how we scored our 15 criteria on a weighted scale.
Pricing
We gave higher scores to CRMs that offer affordable plans, free trials and free plans. Value is more about the functionality for the cost than the actual fee you pay, which we also considered. As far as affordability, we rated plans as being cheap, moderate and expensive and gave higher points for plans on the lower end of the cost scale. Pricing accounted for 20 percent of our weighted scoring.
Features
The only apps that made our list of the easiest-to-use CRMs include at least the basic tools a sales team would need in a CRM. Those that offer more functionality got more credit, but we were careful to not cross the line into too complex. Lots of features are great but only if you use them. Some of these features included pipeline management analytics tools, a document library and sales dashboards.
It’s also important that your CRM connects to your email addresses and calendar at least. We like CRMs that offer more integrations with apps that can bring in more contact info and helpful data, such as email marketing apps and accounting or project management tools. Open API is great, but if you have to configure these things yourself, you’re getting further away from simple CRM. We weighted features at 40% of our total score.
Third-party Reviews
We researched reviews from real users on third-party review sites Capterra and G2 to get honest opinions about each CRM software. This entailed ranking both the overall score from customers―focusing on those that were 3.5 out of 5 or higher on each site. These reviews accounted for 20% of the final score.
Expert Analysis
A CRM is easy to use when it offers an intuitive dashboard with features named and explained. It should be similar to software you’ve used before with prompts to adopt new features or tools. Ease of use was one of the key factors our experts looked for in a CRM as was its popularity, standout features and value for the price. Our expert analysis made up 20% of the total score.
How To Choose a Simple CRM
If you already know why you need a CRM, then it just comes down to figuring out how to pick the right one. Choosing the right CRM for your operation requires you to know your teams and what they need, what your business goals are and how you plan to use a CRM. Maybe you’re upgrading from using a spreadsheet method of lead management or you want to scale back from a full-service CRM with too many features that your team just doesn’t use.
First, consider how tech-savvy your team is or whether the users will easily adopt a new program. A complex system can be tedious to learn and, if it’s difficult, many users will go back to their old ways. Going with a simple CRM shouldn’t require onboarding or at least light onboarding.
Next, determine whether you are looking for a CRM to provide tools for various departments. Sales teams are typically fine with a basic CRM, but if you want a marketing team to use the same CRM, consider one with project management and email marketing tools. If the features you need aren’t built in, look for one that offers necessary integrations.
Cost is a big determining factor, as well. Consider how many users need to use the CRM and what the price is per user, per month, and whether you can afford an annual bill upfront. If that’s too rich for your company’s budget, there are monthly options and low-priced plans that can keep costs low, but you’ll still get a valuable CRM.
Finally, decide how much support you’ll need. A help center with detailed articles and instructions that walk you through how to perform a task could be all your team needs. Otherwise, you might want to choose a simple CRM that comes with phone or live chat support from experts of the product.
The best simple CRMs enhance and streamline your processes, rather than complicate them. They should also help you provide better support to clients, leads and prospects, so you can close deals and maintain good relationships (and therefore retention). One of the biggest benefits of a great CRM is that it should reduce the time your teams spend on doing tedious tasks by way of automation so they can focus more on providing support, selling or marketing.
Here are the benefits you should expect from using simple CRM:
Better data: A CRM can track numerous key performance indicators (KPIs) that should help you see what works, what doesn’t and how to improve your processes. Many CRMs include AI-powered suggestions to help you save time or cut out what isn’t working. This data can help inform you how to make better business decisions or predict deals (forecasting).
Customer retention: As we all know, it costs less to keep a customer than it does to acquire a new one, and a CRM can help you focus on keeping your current customers happy. Get notifications on when you should reach out to clients, and study customer behavior on your site, so you know what to talk to them about when you do contact them.
Manage leads: Never let a lead fall through the cracks with a CRM that includes push notifications or alerts to let you know if a deal is rotting. You can follow a customer journey and nurture them gently through it to conversion.
Increased and improved productivity: Most CRMs include some form of workflow automation, which will cut down on the small tasks you had to do manually before using a CRM. For example, when you add a new prospect to your list of contacts, a CRM with automatic data enrichment can fill in with social media info, job title, address and other public info you’d have to search for before.
Not every CRM is the same or meant for all teams. It’s helpful to know which type of CRM you need to get the benefits you’re seeking. Explore some specific use cases or read through some CRM software examples so you know you’re choosing the one that will benefit your business the most.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are the benefits of a CRM?
CRM benefits include the ability to segment customers, personalize outreach, centralize and organize lead, customer and partner data, forecast sales trends, scale internal and external communication, automate tasks and data entry and discover actionable trends in customer data. All of these benefits come together to help companies offer better lead and customer experiences, ultimately boosting lead conversion rates and customer lifetime values.
What is the most basic CRM?
The most basic CRM is one that offers core CRM features, such as lead and deal management. Consider Forbes Advisor’s list of the best simple CRMs, including Zoho CRM, Freshsales and noCRM.io.
Is there a truly free CRM?
There are several truly free CRMs. With each one, you’ll have to compromise on features or limits to users or storage. For example. Zoho CRM, monday.com and EngageBay are Forbes Advisor’s picks for the best free CRM plans.
Can small businesses use CRM?
Absolutely. There are many types of CRM for different teams or needs, even though it’s traditionally used by sales teams. Look for the best marketing CRM software, which should include tools to automate marketing campaigns, or real estate CRM, which focuses on communication tools, such as click-to-call and text messaging within the app.
Information provided on Forbes Advisor is for educational purposes only. Your financial situation is unique and the products and services we review may not be right for your circumstances. We do not offer financial advice, advisory or brokerage services, nor do we recommend or advise individuals or to buy or sell particular stocks or securities. Performance information may have changed since the time of publication. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
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Amy Nichol Smith spent more than 20 years working as a journalist for TV and newspapers before transitioning to software and hardware product reviews for consumers and small businesses. She has been featured in publications such as L.A. Times, Tom's Guide, Investopedia and various newspapers across the U.S.
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