Top 10+ (really) free and simple CRM software

This is not the nth article full of affiliate links with deceptively free CRM solutions, or with hidden costs that arrive after the second week of use.

We ourselves are confronted with this problem quite regularly on various side-projects: we need some sort of CRM to manage activities (especially remotely).

However, "real" CRM solutions are not only too expensive, but also far too comprehensive for a project that is just starting.

In this article, we recommend 12 *really* free CRMs. We have classified them by simplicity of configuration, from about thirty minutes for the first one, to a few hours for the last one.

So why talk about the last one?

Solutions that are more complex to set up will also survive your evolution longer, and the time invested at the beginning is worth it quite quickly, especially if you expect longer sales cycles.

Also consider solutions that will integrate well with the tools you are planning for the future, and if there are any, that you already know or use.

Free CRM software: comparison table

#1 Google Spreadsheets: the free basic CRM template

The most advanced relational CRM software has a set of tables:

• Contacts
• Organisations (accounts)
• Opportunities

Google Spreadsheet is very light, very efficient and has a reporting dashboard (see picture above). You can format and analyse data with standard spreadsheet tools, extract data from the web and automatically run complex workflows.

#2 Folk App - The DIY CRM with free version

If you're looking for a CRM that puts user experience and customisation first, Folk App is a great option.

The software offers a contact-first approach, with very deep integration with G-suite. Each team member imports all their contacts from their mailbox, and you get a very rich interface to organise them across the organisation. The history of all exchanges is available to everyone and you can customise the prospect file as you wish.

But Folk's brilliance is that it adds the complexity needed for small agile teams, without adding unnecessary complexity:

• You can categorise your contacts as investors, friends, suppliers, employees, journalists, competitors, etc. and create groups for each of these categories.
• You can manage who has access to which group of contacts in a very simple and precise way. Something traditionally reserved for "Enterprise" plans, which are prohibitively expensive for small organisations.
• The tool also offers to distinguish between companies and contacts with the appropriate links between the two. This may sound basic, but in reality few free CRMs really allow this.

In short, it's software that lets you go super far, but is designed to be simple, without ever imposing a complicated configuration.

The main limitation is that it is really a contact management tool, and not really a pipeline. But the notion of a pipeline only makes sense for sales organisations that are already fairly advanced, and it is above all very limited to sales activity alone.

The approach is really different, and it's refreshing!

The free plan is a real free plan: it allows up to 200 contacts, and 200 messages with access to all the features. Beyond that, the Premium plan is priced at $8/month per user. This is not far from Notion ($5) or Trello (also $5).

#3 Free CRM - Pipeline by Trello

If you are used to using Trello, you know that the power of the tool lies in automation. You can assign, pre-fill and move cards automatically, set up deadlines, etc. Here are the main features you can use for free:

• Create an inbound lead or prospect management pipeline that can be tailored to your team's needs for any type of contact or customer relationship management.
• Organise contact information and notes on each prospect's record.
• Keep assets in a centralized location by attaching all relevant documents, such as emails and follow-up requests.
• Keep business development on track by assigning team members and due dates to tasks, then watch the map move through the process from "In" to "Done".

#4 The most advanced free Trello CRM by Crmble

If you're looking for a simple CRM tool that's powerful enough to manage your sales pipeline, try Crmble. It's easy to get started and it will only take a few minutes to set up in your Trello board. Here are the different features you can find:

• Get instant access to your customers' contact information with "Crmble fields". A key feature that helps you stay organised and offers consistent data collection and great integration possibilities with third party services.
• A popular Trello feature is the ability to import a CSV file into Trello and turn your rows into cards on your Trello boards. Easily migrate your contact list to your board with Crmble!
• Whether you are using Google Forms, Typeform, Facebook Lead Ads etc., you can sync your leads directly into your table with Crmble.
• Start syncing your Trello card data with your Google account. Create a Google contact from any Trello card on demand or save your card attachments to your Google Drive

The Salesdorado bonus

Our complete CRM software benchmark is available for download in excel format free of charge. You will also find a comparison of each tool on about thirty different functionalities.

#5 Free CRM (light version) by Notion

Notion provides you with the building blocks to create your own layouts and toolkit to work with. Many people refer to Notion as an "internal wiki" allowing teams and individuals to plan their projects and track their work and goals throughout the process. This workspace allows you to :

• Create your own wiki (with infinite layers of content),
• Planning using a Kanban view, calendar or simple list view
• Capture your workflows and record everything that creates spreadsheets and databases.

In addition, Notion offers features for real-time collaboration and allows teams to share, comment and assign tasks and reminders.

Notion is an "all-in-one workspace". It is a SaaS designed to concentrate all the information and documents you need for your work. It works very simply as a pyramid system of pages that are all connected and can take a wide variety of formats.

#6 The £5 CRM (fuller version) on Notion by Alex Sherwood

Obviously, this version is not free, but paying £5 to have access to a much more complete (and multi-table) version is well worth it.

#7 Streak CRM: The well-designed mini CRM on gmail

Streak CRM is an add-on to the Gmail suite that allows you to go very far.

In the free version, you get unlimited pipelines, which you can adapt to all your processes: customer support, sales, pre-sales, etc. The tool also has a lot of cold mailing functionality.

The (big) limitation is that you can't share anything as a team until the pro plan, which starts at $49 / month. Basically, if you're going to manage CRM on your own, it's a great tool, and the free version will get you pretty far.

However, if you're looking to recruit in the short to medium term, it's rather more expensive & not as good as market leaders like Pipedrive or Hubspot.

#8 Hubspot CRM: free CRM, but beware

Hubspot is now very well established in the CRM world. Marketing automation, social media campaign, reporting, very strong support etc. Hubspot has all the necessary features of any good CRM. Hubspot CRM has a free version. If you want to take it to the next level, the Starter version for 46€ per month has all the features you need. Here are some of them:

• Transaction pipeline,
• Simple automation,
• Live chat,
• Scheduling appointments,
• Reporting Dashboard ...

Note that, with the Starter plan, Hubspot CRM can be used by 2 users.

#9 Agile CRM: an all-in-one CRM software, with a very big free plan

Agile CRM is SaaS software, and it is not open source. But it is probably the CRM software that offers the most generous free plan.

In addition to a large number of features on the commercial CRM side, the software also offers a number of features that are more akin to those of amarketing automation software package. However, these marketing features are only available from the first paid plan. The software even goes as far as to offer customer support functionalities, and it is also a real live chat software.

But back to the free plan: you can use the free plan with 10 users, up to 50,000 contacts & businesses created. You will be able to enjoy quite advanced features like lead scoring, appointment setting, tracking of your prospecting emails, and solid integrations for telephony (both ways) and emails (read & write).l

In our opinion, it is the most complete free solution on the market, but it is still significantly more complex to set up than Hubspot.

#10 Bitrix24: a (really) free CRM, but not really simple

Bitrix24 is a software that is not much talked about, but that actually allows you to go very far. The big disadvantage of the tool is that all the functionalities (which are very, very numerous) are rather badly arranged.

It's hard to know where to start and, in most cases, you end up with a very partial use, on a much less clear and easy interface than much lighter solutions. On the other hand, if managing your customer data is at the heart of your business, and you are fairly familiar with the subject, Bitrix24 will please you a lot.

#11 Dolibarr: a stronger, open source CRM

We hesitated for a long time to include Dolibarr in this list, but since everybody does it, we thought it was better to address the subject & explain why it is not a very good choice.

It's all in the title of their homepage: ERP & CRM.

In real life, a solution like Dolibarr may be free in terms of licensing costs, but it will quickly cost you a lot of money in installation, maintenance, training, and other costs related to the installation of a CRM software.

The trade-off is therefore far from being a trade-off between free or not, and you really need to look at the full cost of the installation over the first two years to make the right decision. The price of CRM licences for such complete solutions is generally marginal compared to the rest.

#12 VTiger: The open source software

Opinions on the evolution of vTiger are somewhat mixed. We'll explain.

Version 7 of the software is available for free download, like all open source software. So far so good.

It is a very complete software, with a real "all-in-one" ambition: Marketing, Sales, and customer relations (helpdesk, etc.).

Where it gets complicated is that they have released a version 9 that is just as complete, and with a free plan, somewhat along the same lines as Agile CRM: 10 users, but only 3000 "records". So there is a very serious programmed obsolescence of the free plan...

A bit of a pity, because version 9 is very promising, see for yourself, it's a real all-in-one software

In summary, in the open-source version, vTiger is a solid & robust piece of software, but it is unclear to what extent the company's efforts will be directed towards this deprecated version...

And in the new version, it is clearly ambitious, but you can hardly call it freeware. A bit of an unclassifiable in this comparison, but the software is clearly worth a look!

The Salesdorado bonus

Our complete CRM software benchmark is available for download in excel format free of charge. You will also find a comparison of each tool on about thirty different functionalities.

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