Best Free CRM Software 2026

Free CRMs have gotten genuinely good. Five years ago, “free” usually meant a glorified spreadsheet with a login screen. Now several vendors offer free tiers that can run a small sales operation for months or even years before you hit a wall. But every free plan is designed to get you onto a paid plan eventually — understanding exactly where those walls are is what separates a smart choice from a frustrating one.

What Makes a Good Free CRM

The best free CRMs give you enough functionality to actually close deals, not just store contacts. That means you need real pipeline management, basic reporting, and the ability to log interactions automatically. A free CRM that only lets you create contact records is a database, not a CRM.

You also want to pay close attention to user limits. Some free plans cap you at 2-3 users, which works fine for a solo founder or tiny team but becomes a problem fast. Others, like HubSpot, allow unlimited users on the free tier but restrict features per user. That’s a fundamentally different model, and which one fits depends on whether you’re more constrained by headcount or by feature needs.

Data limits matter too. A free CRM that caps you at 1,000 contacts sounds fine until you realize you burned through that in three months of collecting business cards and inbound leads. Look for plans that give you at least 5,000 contact records — or better yet, no contact limit at all.

Key Features to Look For

Contact and company management — This is table stakes, but quality varies. You want automatic company-to-contact association, duplicate detection, and the ability to add custom fields. If you can’t customize your contact records, you’ll be working around the CRM instead of with it.

Pipeline visualization — A visual deal pipeline (Kanban-style board) isn’t just nice to have. It’s how your team spots stuck deals. Free plans that only give you a list view of deals are forcing you into a paid tier for something that should be basic.

Email integration — At minimum, you need Gmail or Outlook sync so emails get logged against contacts automatically. Manually copying email content into a CRM is a productivity killer and nobody keeps it up for more than two weeks.

Basic reporting — You don’t need 50 dashboard widgets. You need to answer three questions: How many deals are in my pipeline? What’s my close rate? Where are deals getting stuck? If the free tier can’t answer those, it’s not a real CRM.

Mobile access — A free plan that doesn’t include a mobile app is a red flag. Sales happens outside the office. If your team can’t update a deal from their phone after a meeting, data quality drops immediately.

Import/export capability — This seems small, but some free CRMs restrict data export. That’s a lock-in play. Make sure you can always get your data out in CSV format at minimum. You never want to feel trapped.

Third-party integrations — Even basic ones matter. Can you connect your email marketing tool? Your calendar? Free plans typically limit integrations to 2-5, which is fine as long as they’re the right ones.

Who Needs a Free CRM

Solo founders and freelancers managing 50-500 contacts and a handful of active deals. If you’re tracking opportunities in a spreadsheet or your email inbox, a free CRM is an immediate upgrade.

Startups pre-revenue or pre-funding that need to build sales discipline without adding software costs. Getting your sales process into a CRM early — even a free one — creates habits and data you’ll be grateful for later.

Small teams of 2-5 people who are doing some outbound sales but don’t yet have the volume or complexity to justify $50-100/month per user. Most free plans cover this size well.

Nonprofits and community organizations that need to track donors, volunteers, or members but operate on minimal budgets. Bitrix24 is especially popular here because of its generous free user limits.

If you’ve got a team of 10+ salespeople, a complex sales process with multiple stages and approvals, or you need advanced automation — you’ve likely outgrown free tiers already. Check our best CRM for small business guide for affordable paid options.

How to Choose

Start with your team size. If you’re a solo operator or a team of two, almost any free CRM will work. HubSpot and Zoho CRM are both strong here, and the choice often comes down to interface preference.

If you’ve got 3-10 people who all need access, user caps become the deciding factor. HubSpot’s unlimited free users make it the obvious pick for larger teams that want to stay on a free plan. Bitrix24 also offers a generous free tier for bigger teams, though the interface has a steeper learning curve.

Think about where you’ll be in 12 months. If you expect to grow past the free tier quickly, choose a CRM whose paid plans you can actually afford. HubSpot’s jump from free to paid is steep — the Starter plan is reasonable, but professional-tier pricing surprised plenty of startups. Freshsales and Zoho CRM have more gradual pricing curves, which can make the eventual upgrade less painful.

If email marketing is central to your sales process, compare the email limits carefully. HubSpot’s free plan includes limited marketing email sends. Zoho’s free plan gives you email templates but caps sends tightly. This is one of the most common upgrade triggers.

Our Top Picks

HubSpot CRM remains the strongest overall free CRM. Unlimited users, 1,000,000 contact records, deal tracking, and a surprisingly capable mobile app — all at $0. The catch is that many of the features that make HubSpot truly powerful (sequences, custom reporting, automation) sit behind paid tiers that start adding up fast. For a deeper look, see our HubSpot alternatives page.

Zoho CRM offers a free plan for up to 3 users with solid customization options that most free tiers lack. If you’re already in the Zoho ecosystem (Zoho Books, Zoho Desk), the native integrations on the free tier are a genuine advantage. Compare them directly on our HubSpot vs Zoho CRM page.

Freshsales gives you a clean, fast interface with built-in phone and email on the free plan for up to 3 users. It’s particularly good if you want a CRM that feels lightweight and doesn’t overwhelm first-time users. The AI features that Freshworks promotes are paid-only, but the core free CRM is well-built.

Bitrix24 is the wildcard pick. Its free plan supports unlimited users with 5GB of storage, and it bundles project management and team communication tools alongside the CRM. The tradeoff is complexity — Bitrix24 tries to do everything, and the interface reflects that. But for teams that want an all-in-one free tool, it’s hard to beat on paper.

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