Published February 25, 2026 · 17 min read
Customer Relationship Management software is one of the most important investments a small business can make. It is also one of the most expensive. Salesforce starts at $25 per user per month. Pipedrive costs $14 per user per month. Monday Sales CRM is $12 per user per month. For a five-person sales team, you are looking at $720 to $1,500 per year before you have closed a single deal through the platform.
But here is what the CRM industry does not want you to know: the free tiers available in 2026 are remarkably capable. HubSpot gives you a million contacts for free. Zoho CRM offers a full-featured free plan for up to three users. Bitrix24 supports unlimited users on its free tier. These are not stripped-down demos or 14-day trials. They are permanent free plans that cover everything a small business needs to manage customer relationships professionally.
This guide covers the 10 best free CRM tools for small businesses in 2026. We evaluate each tool on its contact management, pipeline tracking, email integration, automation capabilities, and ease of use. By the end, you will know exactly which free CRM fits your business and how to set it up for maximum impact.
These platforms offer comprehensive CRM functionality on their free tiers. Contact management, deal tracking, email integration, and reporting are all included. For most small businesses, these free plans are all you will ever need.
What it does: A complete CRM platform with contact management, deal pipeline, email tracking, meeting scheduling, live chat, form building, and reporting dashboards. Integrates with Gmail, Outlook, and hundreds of other tools. The free tier supports unlimited users and up to 1,000,000 contacts.
Free tier includes: Contact management (1M contacts), deal tracking (1 pipeline), email tracking and notifications, meeting scheduling link, live chat widget, forms and popups, reporting dashboard (5 reports), and 200 email tracking notifications per month.
Why small businesses love it: HubSpot's free CRM is the industry benchmark because it offers features that other vendors charge $50+/month for. The email tracking alone is transformative: you see exactly when a prospect opens your email, which links they click, and how many times they revisit it. This intelligence helps you time your follow-ups perfectly. The meeting scheduling link eliminates the back-and-forth of finding available times. And the pipeline gives you a visual overview of every deal in progress.
Best for: Businesses that want the most complete free CRM with room to grow into paid features later.
Try HubSpot CRM FreeWhat it does: A full CRM with contact management, lead tracking, deal management, workflow automation, email integration, and analytics. Part of the Zoho ecosystem (40+ business apps), so it integrates seamlessly with Zoho Mail, Zoho Invoice, Zoho Desk, and more.
Free tier includes: Up to 3 users, lead and contact management, deal tracking, tasks and events, email integration, standard reports, document library (1GB), and web forms for lead capture.
Why small businesses love it: Zoho CRM packs enterprise features into its free tier that many paid CRMs struggle to match. The workflow automation lets you create rules like "when a deal moves to Proposal stage, automatically create a task to send the proposal within 24 hours." The lead scoring helps you prioritize which prospects to contact first based on their engagement. And the Zoho ecosystem means you can add invoicing, email marketing, and support ticketing later without switching platforms.
Best for: Small teams (1-3 people) who want workflow automation and the option to add integrated business apps over time.
Try Zoho CRM FreeWhat it does: An all-in-one business platform combining CRM, project management, communication tools, and website building. The CRM includes contact management, deal tracking, quotes, invoices, and a kanban-style pipeline. Also includes team chat, video calls, and a document drive.
Free tier includes: Unlimited users, contact management (unlimited), deal tracking, kanban pipeline, quotes and invoices, team chat, video conferencing (up to 48 participants), 5GB cloud storage, website builder, and basic automation.
Why small businesses love it: Bitrix24's unlimited user count on the free tier makes it unique among CRM platforms. If you have a 10-person team, every single person can access the CRM at no cost. The built-in communication tools (chat, video calls, task management) mean your team can collaborate inside the same platform where customer data lives. This reduces context switching and ensures everyone has access to the same customer information.
Best for: Larger small businesses and teams that need CRM plus internal communication in one platform.
Try Bitrix24 FreeWhat it does: A fully open-source CRM that you self-host on your own server. Includes contact management, opportunity tracking, email campaigns, workflow automation, reporting, and a customer portal. No user limits, no contact limits, no feature restrictions.
Free tier includes: Everything. SuiteCRM is 100% free and open source. All features, unlimited users, unlimited contacts. The only cost is hosting (which can be as low as $5/month on a VPS, or free if you have existing server infrastructure).
Why small businesses love it: SuiteCRM gives you complete control over your data. Nothing is stored on someone else's servers. For businesses in regulated industries (healthcare, finance, legal) or those with strict data privacy requirements, self-hosting is not just a preference — it is a requirement. The open-source community actively develops modules and extensions, and the customization options are limitless if you have technical resources.
Best for: Tech-savvy businesses that want full data control and unlimited customization.
Try SuiteCRMSpunkArt has 300+ free tools for business management including lead trackers, client portals, proposal builders, and customer persona generators. No signup required.
Explore All Free Tools Get Exclusive AccessNot every business needs a full-featured CRM platform. Sometimes you just need a clean way to track contacts, deals, and follow-ups without the complexity of enterprise software. These lightweight options get you organized quickly.
What it does: A modern, minimalist CRM designed for relationship-first businesses. Think of it as a smart address book that tracks your interactions with every contact. Import contacts from email, LinkedIn, and other sources. Tag, group, and segment contacts. Set reminders for follow-ups. Send personalized email sequences.
Free tier includes: Up to 250 contacts, email integration, contact import, tagging and groups, basic email sequences, and Chrome extension for capturing contacts from LinkedIn and websites.
Why small businesses love it: Folk strips away the complexity that makes traditional CRMs intimidating. There are no confusing modules, no overwhelming dashboards, and no feature bloat. It focuses on the core of CRM: knowing your contacts, tracking your interactions, and remembering to follow up. If traditional CRMs feel like flying a 747 when you just need a bicycle, Folk is that bicycle.
Best for: Consultants, freelancers, and relationship-driven businesses with fewer than 250 active contacts.
Try Folk CRMWhat it does: A browser-based lead management tool that helps you organize prospects, track outreach status, set follow-up dates, and manage your sales pipeline visually. Data stays in your browser's local storage for maximum privacy.
Free tier: Completely free, unlimited leads, no account required.
Why small businesses love it: For businesses that are not ready to commit to a CRM platform but need something better than a spreadsheet, this tool bridges the gap. It takes 30 seconds to start using, requires no training, and keeps your prospect data organized without the overhead of setting up and learning a full CRM system.
Try It Free on SpunkArtWhat it does: A clean, intuitive CRM for managing contacts, sales opportunities, and tasks. Integrates with Gmail, Outlook, Mailchimp, Xero, and QuickBooks. The visual sales pipeline makes it easy to see where every deal stands at a glance.
Free tier includes: Up to 2 users, 250 contacts, 1 sales pipeline, 1 project board, 10MB storage per contact, and email integration.
Why small businesses love it: Capsule is the Goldilocks CRM — not too simple, not too complex, just right for small businesses. The interface is clean and modern without being oversimplified. You get enough features to run a proper sales process without the learning curve of HubSpot or Zoho. The integrations with accounting software (Xero, QuickBooks) are particularly valuable for businesses that want their CRM to connect with their financial data.
Best for: Small businesses with 1-2 salespeople who want a clean, simple CRM with accounting integrations.
Try Capsule CRMThese tools solve specific CRM problems exceptionally well. Use them alongside a primary CRM or as standalone solutions for specific workflows.
What it does: Creates detailed customer personas based on your input about demographics, goals, pain points, buying behavior, and communication preferences. Generates a visual persona card you can share with your team and reference when creating marketing content or sales pitches.
Why it matters for CRM: A CRM is only as good as the data you put into it and how you use it. Customer personas help you segment your contacts effectively, personalize your outreach, and prioritize the leads most likely to convert. Building personas before setting up your CRM ensures you structure your data around your actual customer types.
Try It Free on SpunkArtWhat it does: A CRM that lives inside Gmail. Track deals, manage contacts, and run sales pipelines without ever leaving your inbox. Every email thread is automatically linked to the relevant contact and deal. See when emails are opened, schedule follow-ups, and share pipelines with your team.
Free tier includes: Up to 500 contacts, basic pipeline (1 pipeline), email tracking (200/month), mail merge (50/day), and mobile access.
Why small businesses love it: Most small business sales happen through email. Streak meets you where you already work instead of asking you to log into a separate application. The pipeline view appears as a tab in Gmail, and clicking any deal shows the full email history. This eliminates the biggest CRM adoption problem: people forgetting to log their activities. With Streak, activities are logged automatically because they happen inside the CRM.
Best for: Gmail-centric businesses where most sales communication happens through email.
Try Streak FreeWhat it does: Plans and drafts email follow-up sequences for sales outreach. Define your sequence steps (initial outreach, follow-up 1, follow-up 2, break-up email), set timing intervals, and generate email templates for each step. Exports as a document you can implement in any email tool.
Why it matters for CRM: The follow-up is where deals are won. Research shows that 80% of sales require 5+ follow-ups, but 44% of salespeople give up after one. This tool helps you plan a complete follow-up sequence in advance so you never have to decide "what should I say next?" in the moment. Use the generated sequences as templates in your CRM's email automation.
Try It Free on SpunkArt| CRM | Free Users | Contacts | Pipeline | Email Integration | Automation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HubSpot CRM | Unlimited | 1,000,000 | Yes | Yes | Basic |
| Zoho CRM | 3 | Unlimited | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Bitrix24 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Yes | Yes | Basic |
| SuiteCRM | Unlimited | Unlimited | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Folk CRM | 1 | 250 | Basic | Yes | Sequences |
| Capsule CRM | 2 | 250 | Yes | Yes | No |
| Streak | 1 | 500 | Yes | Gmail native | Basic |
Setting up a CRM correctly from the start saves hours of cleanup later. Follow these steps in order:
If it is not in the CRM, it did not happen. This is the single most important rule for CRM adoption. Every phone call, every email, every meeting, every note — it goes in the CRM. When a team member leaves, all their client relationships and deal knowledge stay in the system instead of walking out the door with them. When you need to review a client's history before a call, everything is in one place. Enforce this rule from day one and your CRM becomes an invaluable business asset.
The sales pipeline is the visual backbone of your CRM. It shows every active deal organized by stage, giving you a bird's-eye view of your entire sales operation. Here is how to build an effective pipeline:
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