6 Best rated free CRM platforms for 2023
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The limitations of free CRMs
The features we’ve covered are the starting points for any CRM tool. But it doesn’t mean that’s all you need. If you’re a “solopreneur” handling a couple of prospects per month, you might be able to meet your basic needs with a free solution. But if you’re looking to truly optimize your marketing, sales, and customer service processes at scale, you need something a bit more complete.
Put another way, “free” always comes with the price of sacrificing features and functionality. Here are a few options for free trials of these solutions:
- Hubspot CRM
- Zoho CRM
- monday.com Work OS—more on that soon!
Below, are some of the main pitfalls of free CRM systems:
1. It’s harder to scale
Restrictions on the number of leads or even losing the ability to have unlimited users might stunt your growth path. If your software can’t handle that growth, whether it’s the number of users in your organization or the potential customers you want to reach, then it is not serving its full purpose.
It is important to note that, depending on your team’s size and growth trajectory, the “free” in your free CRM may not last long. Companies might offer a free plan, but as soon as you start adding teammates or exceed your contact quota, expect to pay. It’s often better to budget for a CRM tool that meets all of your needs off the bat, instead of getting stuck with a surprise bill.
2. You can expect limited integrations
Few teams run their operations using a single tool. Most free CRM systems won’t offer integrations with the tools and apps you already use, which can lead to siloed information and a lack of transparency.
To access their full integration options, you’ll probably have to upgrade to a paid plan. Paid CRM solutions, on the other hand, give you more flexibility from the beginning. For instance, monday.com gives team members access to native integration with more than 40 other platforms across different functions, including marketing, sales, customer support, accounting, and more.
This helps you centralize your information in a single place and work more efficiently.
To learn more about how our integrations work, watch the short video below:
3. Sales automations aren’t as robust
Automations are critical for any team’s success because they do the heavy lifting while you focus on strategic work— not to mention they reduce the risk of human error and increase profit margins. Free CRMs offer a few options for sales automation, but no free solution will help you streamline and automate your entire sales process.
For instance, you might be able to automate notifications or status changes, but face limitations beyond that. Compare that with the 250,000 actions you can automate with monday.com and you’ll understand why a paid solution can empower teams to make a big impact and really scale their sales efforts without unforeseen barriers and restrictions.
4. You’ll have to sacrifice on customization
With businesses rapidly changing, no process stays the same for very long. That’s why a flexible CRM platform can help determine your organization’s success.
Unfortunately, free CRM software lacks the agility and flexibility of most paid options, which can make it difficult to keep up with today’s fast-changing market. Consider the value of a platform that adapts to your needs and is flexible enough that you can constantly optimize your processes.
monday.com gives you access to multiple customization options from the start, including drag-and-drop functionalities. This helps you design workflows with ease and build a completely customized platform.
5. Reporting is incomplete
A downside of free CRM systems is that you likely won’t have full access to all your data. Without transparency into the health of your sales pipeline, your hands are tied when it comes to smart decision-making. Sure, you might be able to track leads or overall revenue, but if you want to dig deeper into your numbers, then you’ll need something a bit more sophisticated.
Softwares like monday.com grant teams full access to their data as well as the tools to analyze that data. From the start, you get access to more than 20 dashboard widgets you can move around at will to design dashboards that look like this.
Try monday sales CRM
6. You likely won’t receive as much training or customer support
Free CRM solutions don’t usually offer the type of training and support teams need. Imagine your sales team is about to close a crucial deal and for some reason, you can’t find the proposal you uploaded a few weeks ago. You contact support, but they take weeks to respond. And when they finally do, it’s too late — you lost the deal.
When you’ve got a massive deal on the line, you want to know customer support is there to help work through any questions or kinks in your workflow.
