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The 2026 CRM shortlist

Five platforms that cover almost every team. Who each one is for, and when to skip it.

See the full directory
1H

HubSpot CRM

4.5Editor rating

The free CRM that grows into a full marketing and sales platform.

HubSpot CRM is the free core of the HubSpot customer platform, a suite that also covers marketing, sales, service, content and operations software. Every product shares the same contact database, so a form submission, a marketing email, a sales call and a support ticket all appear on one timeline.

Free / $15 per seatFree plan12/12 key features
Best forSmall teams that want marketing, sales and support in one place
View profile See pricing
2F

Freshsales

4.4Editor rating

Phone, email and chat built into the CRM from day one.

Freshsales is the sales CRM from Freshworks, the company behind the Freshdesk help desk. It combines contact and deal management with a built-in phone, email, chat and WhatsApp, so a rep can run a full day of outreach without leaving the product.

Free / $9 per userFree plan11/12 key features
Best forStartups and inside-sales teams that call and email all day
View profile See pricing
3P

Pipedrive

4.4Editor rating

A sales pipeline first, everything else second.

Pipedrive was created by salespeople who wanted a CRM organized around the pipeline rather than around a database. The main screen is a board of deals by stage, and the whole product pushes reps toward one question: what is the next activity on each deal?

$14 per user11/12 key features
Best forSales teams that live in the pipeline view and want speed over breadth
View profile See pricing
4N

Nutshell

4.4Editor rating

A friendly all-in-one CRM with support that answers.

Nutshell is a sales CRM for small and midsize B2B companies that puts ease of use and customer support first. Contacts and storage are unlimited on every plan, and the pipeline can be viewed as a board, a list, a chart or a map of where your leads are.

$13 per user10/12 key features
Best forSmall B2B teams that want sales and email marketing without complexity
View profile See pricing
5L

Less Annoying CRM

4.3Editor rating

One plan, one price, no surprises.

Less Annoying CRM is an independent product built for small businesses that find mainstream CRMs overwhelming. There is one plan at one price, with no tiers, no contracts and no paid support upgrades.

$15 per user3/12 key features
Best forVery small businesses that want the simplest possible CRM
View profile See pricing

Discover CRM solutions

A curated set of CRM platforms, filtered by the kind of team you are and the feature you cannot live without.

Narrow down your search:
H
View profile
Key features
12/12
  • Visual sales pipeline
  • Two-way email sync
  • Workflow automation
  • Email sequences
  • Built-in calling
  • Lead scoring
  • Sales forecasting
  • Custom reports
  • Marketing campaigns
  • Quotes and invoices
  • AI assistant
  • Mobile apps
Starting priceFree / $15 per seat
F
View profile
Key features
11/12
  • Visual sales pipeline
  • Two-way email sync
  • Workflow automation
  • Email sequences
  • Built-in calling
  • Lead scoring
  • Sales forecasting
  • Custom reports
  • Marketing campaigns
  • Quotes and invoices
  • AI assistant
  • Mobile apps
Starting priceFree / $9 per user
P
View profile
Key features
11/12
  • Visual sales pipeline
  • Two-way email sync
  • Workflow automation
  • Email sequences
  • Built-in calling
  • Lead scoring
  • Sales forecasting
  • Custom reports
  • Marketing campaigns
  • Quotes and invoices
  • AI assistant
  • Mobile apps
Starting price$14 per user
Compare all 24 CRMs in the CRM directory.

Explore top types of CRM

Start from your situation instead of from a feature list.

All categories

Best CRM for inside sales and calling

Built-in dialers, call recording and SMS for teams that live on the phone.

Explore more 3 CRMs in this category

Easiest CRM to use

Short learning curves for teams that have abandoned a CRM before.

Explore more 10 CRMs in this category

Best CRM for small business

Affordable, quick to set up and broad enough to replace three other tools.

Explore more 16 CRMs in this category

Best CRM for sales teams

Pipeline discipline, activity tracking and forecasting for teams with a quota.

Explore more 10 CRMs in this category

What our editors say about these tools

The short verdict from each profile. Read the full review before you decide.

B
Bigin is the cheapest sensible way to get a real pipeline CRM. It is ideal as a first system, and when you outgrow it the data moves to Zoho CRM without a painful migration.
CRM Shortlist editorial teamEditor verdict
Ca
Capsule is for teams that value clarity. It does the fundamentals very well and resists feature bloat, which is exactly why small businesses stay with it for years.
CRM Shortlist editorial teamEditor verdict
H
If you are starting from a spreadsheet, HubSpot is the safest first CRM: free to adopt, easy to learn and hard to outgrow quickly. Budget for the jump to Professional if you will need advanced automation within a year.
CRM Shortlist editorial teamEditor verdict

Top rated CRMs compared

Rating, starting price, free plan and feature coverage side by side.

Full comparison
CRMEditor ratingStarting priceFree planKey featuresBest for
HHubSpot CRM
4.5Free / $15 per seatYes
12/12
Small teams that want marketing, sales and support in one placeProfile
FFreshsales
4.4Free / $9 per userYes
11/12
Startups and inside-sales teams that call and email all dayProfile
PPipedrive
4.4$14 per userNo
11/12
Sales teams that live in the pipeline view and want speed over breadthProfile
NNutshell
4.4$13 per userNo
10/12
Small B2B teams that want sales and email marketing without complexityProfile
LLess Annoying CRM
4.3$15 per userNo
3/12
Very small businesses that want the simplest possible CRMProfile
ZZoho CRM
4.3Free / $14 per userYes
11/12
Budget-conscious teams that need customization and the wider Zoho suiteProfile
SfSalesflare
4.3$29 per userNo
8/12
Small B2B sales teams that hate data entryProfile
AtAttio
4.3Free / $29 per userYes
7/12
Startups that want to model their own data and workflowsProfile

Free tools for CRM buyers

Estimate the real yearly bill and plan the switch before you talk to a vendor.

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CRM cost calculator

Estimated yearly cost for the whole team, based on the entry paid plan.

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Migration checklist

The steps that separate a clean switch from a messy one.

  1. Export everything from the old system: contacts, companies, deals, notes, activities and files, not just the contact list.
  2. Clean the data before importing: merge duplicates, standardize country and phone formats, drop contacts with no activity in three years.
  3. Map every field to its new home and decide which custom fields you really need. Fewer is better.
  4. Rebuild the pipeline stages to match how you sell today, not how the old CRM forced you to.
  5. Import a small sample first, check it with a rep, then import the rest.

See all eight steps

How we rate CRM software

The same four areas and the same twelve features for every platform.

Our method

Read the fine print

We go through pricing pages, plan limits and documentation to find what each tier really includes and where the upsell starts.

Map the features

Each CRM is checked against the same twelve key features, from pipeline and email sync to forecasting and AI.

Score four areas

Ease of use, features, value for money and support each get a score. The editor rating is their average.

Tips to choose the right CRM for your business

Shortlist notes: guides and insights to simplify your selection process.

More articles

Frequently asked questions

Why only five?

Because the decision gets harder, not easier, with more options. Five is enough to cover different budgets and team sizes.

How often does the shortlist change?

We review it every quarter. A platform drops off when it stops being the best answer for someone.

Can I suggest a CRM?

Yes, use the contact address in the footer. We test every suggestion before it can enter a shortlist.

Which CRM is the cheapest?

Among paid plans, Bigin starts at $7 per user and Freshsales at $9, while Copper, Nutshell, Pipedrive and Zoho CRM sit between $12 and $14. Several platforms also have free plans with real limits; see the Best free CRM category.

What is the difference between a CRM and a spreadsheet?

A spreadsheet stores a list. A CRM stores the list plus every email, call, meeting and deal attached to each person, reminds you of the next step and shows the whole team the same picture.

Can I switch CRMs later?

Yes. Every platform in the directory imports and exports CSV files, and most offer migration tools. The migration checklist on the Tools page covers the order to do it in.

Where do the official links go?

Each profile ends with a link to the vendor website. We send you there only after you have read what the product does, what it costs and who should skip it.

Keep exploring

Every category and the comparisons people look up most.

Categories
Best CRM for small businessBest CRM for sales teamsBest free CRMBest CRM for startupsBest enterprise CRMBest CRM with marketing automationBest CRM for Gmail and Google WorkspaceBest CRM for inside sales and callingEasiest CRM to use
Comparisons
HubSpot CRM vs Salesforce Sales CloudHubSpot CRM vs PipedrivePipedrive vs Zoho CRMZoho CRM vs HubSpot CRMSalesforce Sales Cloud vs Microsoft Dynamics 365 SalesPipedrive vs CloseCopper vs StreakHubSpot CRM vs ActiveCampaignFreshsales vs Zoho CRMCapsule CRM vs Less Annoying CRMAttio vs HubSpot CRMmonday CRM vs Pipedrive