16 of the Best CRM Solutions for Small Businesses and Startups

The editors at Solutions Review have compiled a list to spotlight some of the best CRM solutions for small businesses and startups based on functionalities, market share, pricing, and ability to add value to a small business operation. Solutions Review participates in affiliate programs. We may make a small commission from products purchased through this resource.

Companies of all sizes and industries can benefit from a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software solution. These marketing platforms centralize business functions and make it easier for teams to coordinate sales, marketing, and service strategies for maximum lead generation, conversion, and retention rates. A CRM solution can be especially valuable for small businesses and startups since they are likely working with smaller budgets and need software to meet their present and future business needs.

However, finding the right CRM solutions for small businesses and startups is easier said than done. With so many companies offering different CRM products, identifying the best solution for your company’s unique needs can be challenging. To help, the editors at Solutions Review have compiled a list spotlighting some of the best CRM solutions for small businesses and summarized the capabilities each one offers. The list below isn’t static, and the companies listed may change as the market evolves.

The Best CRM Solutions for Small Businesses and Startups

ActiveCampaign

Description: ActiveCampaign provides companies of all sizes with a customer experience automation platform (CXA) designed to help automate and customize marketing efforts. Alongside its industry-specific capabilities, ActiveCampaign provides SMBs, individual entrepreneurs, and startups with features designed to help users develop, manage, and automate meaningful customer experiences. Features include advanced segmentation tools, machine learning technology, free migration services, multiple training options, a drag-and-drop automation builder, email marketing automation, an extensive collection of integrations, and more.

Monday.com

Description: Monday is a cloud-based, scalable, and flexible project management software for companies of all sizes. With Monday’s CRM solution, companies can create a custom platform using ready-made templates and tailor sales pipelines, workflows, and processes to meet business needs and drive growth. The integrated sales and marketing CRM includes sales pipeline visualizations, centralized data management, mobile access, workflow automation, customer tracking, custom automations, pipeline management, custom dashboards, and a collection of integrations.

Zendesk

Description: Zendesk provides its customers with a customer experience platform built around the needs of sales and customer service teams. The company’s product suite includes sales automation software, pipeline visualization, management tools, mobile access, lead management, and reporting tools. Zendesk also offers solutions tailored to the specific needs of SMBs and startups. These solutions include AI automations, unified user dashboards, chatbots, real-time analytics, and more.

Keap

Description: Keap provides CRM and marketing automation solutions for small businesses. The company’s customizable CRM capabilities are powered by sales and marketing automation and help SMBs improve their customer experiences and boost conversions. Features include automated lead capture, custom lead forms, landing pages, automated follow-up messages, data management, mobile functionalities, contact segmentation, and more.

ClickUp

Description: ClickUp is a task and project management application designed to help teams of all sizes plan, organize, and collaborate from a single, customizable app. The software has hundreds of project management and CRM features to help companies plan, organize, and collaborate on strategies. For startups, ClickUp offers features to help businesses develop long-term success strategies and manage their ideas, workflows, and teamwork in a shared place. Capabilities include goal tracking, team management, product roadmaps, task automation, project management, and more.

Freshsales

Description: Freshworks provides business software solutions designed to be ready to go right “out of the box.” For example, the company’s AI-powered sales CRM platform, Freshsales, can help businesses identify loyal customers, improve engagement, personalize the shopping experience, and unify customer data. Specific features include sales sequences, custom pipelines, Configure Price Quote (CPQ), contact scoring, sales forecasting, visual data dashboards, role-based access, and more.

HubSpot

Description: HubSpot is frequently brought up in discussions on CRM integration, as most of the providers in the marketing world offer integrations with the company’s software. HubSpot is perhaps the most popular small business CRM since its core capabilities are free. Additional features, like enterprise licensing, can be purchased as an add-on to the commercially free options. HubSpot also has platforms and solutions for sales, service, content management, and operations. HubSpot’s CRM is affordable for small businesses and organizations, especially with its negligible contact and data space limits.

Bigin by Zoho

Description: Zoho launched Bigin in 2020 as a pipeline-centric CRM solution built to help small and micro-businesses engage with prospects, manage their pipeline, boost growth rates, and close more deals. The solution includes email marketing, built-in telephony, customizable workflows, pipeline management, automated tasks, pre-built dashboards, real-time alerts, data management, GDPR, data security, and other functionalities to help small businesses streamline and optimize their sales processes.

Copper

Description: Copper is a marketing and CRM solution for Google Workspaces designed to help entrepreneurs, startups, and small teams grow their businesses from a single, centralized system. The small business CRM platform includes a suite of tools for automated data entry, capturing contact information, updating databases, increasing collaboration, and connecting all of a brand’s files, docs, emails, notes, contracts, and invoices in one place. Copper can also integrate with popular tools like Google, HubSpot, MailChimp, Dropbox, LinkedIn, Slack, and more. 

Salesforce

Description: Salesforce offers one of the most expansive and complete CRM products. The platform includes the company’s sales and marketing applications, most notably the Sales and Marketing Clouds, Service Cloud, Analytics Cloud, App Cloud, and IoT service. Salesforce is fully mobile, and its Complete Customer Management Solution is best-in-class. Salesforce also offers a version of its CRM tailored to smaller businesses so that up-and-comers can benefit from a customizable, scalable platform with built-in AI technology and an app ecosystem to help them get more mileage from the tools they already use.

Nutshell

Description: The Nutshell CRM platform provides a user-friendly experience tailored to the needs of small and mid-size businesses across industries. Its CRM platform includes sales automation, reporting, pipeline management, email, team collaboration, marketing, contact management, and other capabilities to help users attract, convert, and retain customers. It also provides a variety of integrations with other valuable tools like Gmail, Mailchimp, Slack, Zendesk, and more. The company’s user-friendly platform best suits small and medium-sized businesses across industries and offers an accessible monthly pricing option.

Exact

Description: Exact provides startups, small companies, accountants, manufacturing companies, wholesalers, and service providers with financial and business software solutions. The company’s products include financial, CRM, human resource management, business management, manufacturing, wholesale distribution, and project management software. The Exact CRM platform for small businesses includes sales forecasting, customer data management, dashboards, mobile functionalities, and more.

Buffer

Description: Buffer is an intuitive social media management platform designed to help businesses, agencies, brands, and individuals improve social media engagement. The platform provides users with a suite of products and features for publishing, social media analytics, engagement, landing page development, internal collaboration, and social media management tools for all the leading platforms, including Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

Capsule

Description: Capsule is a CRM solution for small, mid-size, and startup companies looking for a reliable, easy-to-use tool to help them stay organized, build customer relationships, minimize user input, and maximize sales opportunities. Alongside its ability to integrate with popular software like Mailchimp, Zendesk, Microsoft, and G-Suite, Capsule also has capabilities for contact management, sales analytics, data security, task management, customizable record-keeping, and sales pipeline management. The scalable platform is best suited for startups and SMBs but is also used for large-scale growth businesses.

Agile CRM

Description: Agile CRM offers a portfolio of CRM, sales, social media, sales enablement, web engagement, and marketing automation functionalities for real estate, SaaS, e-commerce, and other markets. Small businesses that work with Agile will have access to integrated marketing automation, built-in web pop-ups, live chat, multimedia email marketing, real-time alerts, social media marketing, contact management, personalization tools, and more. Agile CRM also integrates with Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, allowing contacts and social pages to be easily transferred to benefit your marketing and sales strategies.

Vtiger

Description: Vtiger breaks silos between marketing, sales, and support teams to view a company’s customer base. The company encourages team collaboration while keeping them organized, productive, and in sync. For example, the platform automatically assigns leads to agents based on location, deal size, availability, language, and other preferences. Vtiger’s product suite includes unified customer views, workflow automation, real-time reports, contact management, and a collection of integrations.