Which CRM should a small business use, and which are free?
Zoho CRM or HubSpot, and both have a free plan a small team can live on. HubSpot's free tools cover up to 2 users with no card, and its Starter seats start at Rs 585 a month. Zoho CRM is free forever for 3 users, then Rs 800 a user a month on Standard, and Bigin, Zoho's simpler pipeline CRM for teams leaving spreadsheets, is free for one user and Rs 400 a user a month billed yearly. Freshsales starts at $9 a user a month billed annually, and Pipedrive at US$14 a seat billed annually with a 14-day free trial. In India, Zoho and Bigin bill in rupees and Bigin connects to Razorpay and Paytm. The rule: HubSpot if inbound marketing is how you get leads, Zoho or Bigin if you want rupee pricing and a plain sales pipeline, and in every case the one your team will update every day.
HubSpot's own pricing page in rupees. The free tools cover up to 2 users with no card; the Starter plan starts at Rs 585 a seat a month, rising with the hubs you add.
Zoho's own pricing page, in rupees from India. The free edition is free forever for 3 users; Standard is Rs 800 a user a month, Professional Rs 1,400 and Enterprise Rs 2,400.
Zoho's simpler pipeline CRM for small teams moving off spreadsheets. Free for a single user; Express is Rs 400 a user a month and Premier Rs 720, both billed yearly.
Zapier's hands-on roundup of CRM apps, tested by its writers and grouped by the kind of team each suits. Useful for seeing how the main CRMs differ in daily use.
