21 general and open-source CRMs, ranked by the same public formula: what a small team really pays, what the plan you need includes, and how honestly it is sold. Every fact is dated and linked to the vendor's own page.
Disclosure: We may earn a commission when you sign up through links marked as affiliate links. That never affects scores or order: rankings are computed from documented facts and cannot read affiliate data. What each vendor pays us →
Provisional fact scores. Usability and support are not scored until our hands-on tests run.
Low-cost, deep CRM with a free plan for three users that already includes workflow automation; Standard adds email integration, built-in calling and custom modules.
Free CRM for two users plus a broad paid suite; Sales Hub Starter adds workflows and calling, while Professional jumps to $90+ per seat and a required $1,500 onboarding.
Low-cost sales CRM with built-in email, phone and basic workflows from the entry plan; Freddy AI scoring starts on Pro.
Open-core suite whose CRM app is free for unlimited users on Odoo Online if it is your only app; adding other apps moves you to paid per-user plans.
Zoho's pipeline-first CRM for very small teams: from $7 per user, built-in telephony on every plan and a free plan for one user.
Modern open-source CRM: self-host the AGPL core for free, or use the cloud from $9 per user per month with unlimited custom objects and workflows.
Highly customizable board-based CRM with automations and AI credits from Standard; sold in seat buckets with a three-seat minimum.
Email-marketing and automation platform first; the sales pipeline is a paid CRM add-on that needs at least the Plus plan.
Flexible, data-model-first CRM with a free plan for up to three seats; workflows and AI run on every plan, metered by credits.
Lightweight relationship CRM with email campaigns, enrichment and AI assistants; dashboards, deals, custom objects and the API start on Premium.
| # | CRM | Score | Free option | Core plan | 5 users, year 1 | Monthly billing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zoho CRM | 9.9 | free plan | Standard · $14 | $840 | yes |
| 2 | HubSpot | 9.7 | free plan | Starter · $20 | $1,200 | yes |
| 3 | Freshsales | 9.4 | 21-day trial | Growth · $9 | $540 | yes |
| 4 | Odoo CRM | 9.3 | free plan | One App Free · free | $0 | yes |
| 5 | Bigin by Zoho CRM | 9.1 | free plan | Express · $7 | $420 | yes |
| 6 | Twenty | 9.1 | self-host | Pro (cloud) · $9 | $540 | yes |
| 7 | monday CRM | 8.9 | 14-day trial | Standard · $17 | $1,020 | yes |
| 8 | ActiveCampaign | 8.8 | 14-day trial | Plus + Pipelines · $88 | $1,632 | yes |
| 9 | Attio | 8.8 | free plan | Plus · $35 | $2,100 | yes |
| 10 | folk | 8.5 | 14-day trial | Premium · $48 | $2,880 | yes |
| 11 | Capsule CRM | 8.3 | free plan | Growth · $36 | $2,160 | yes |
| 12 | Nutshell | 8.0 | 14-day trial | Pro · $42 | $2,520 | yes |
| 13 | Pipedrive | 7.9 | 14-day trial | Growth · $39 | $2,340 | yes |
| 14 | Close | 7.8 | 14-day trial | Growth · $99 | $5,940 | yes |
| 15 | Copper | 7.6 | 14-day trial | Professional · $59 | $3,540 | yes |
| 16 | Less Annoying CRM | 7.5 | 30-day trial | Single plan · $15 | $900 | yes |
| 17 | EspoCRM | 7.4 | free plan | Self-hosted · free | $0 + hosting | — |
| 18 | Insightly | 7.4 | 14-day trial | Professional · $49 | $2,940 | no |
| 19 | Salesforce Sales Cloud | 7.3 | free plan | Pro Suite · $100 | $6,000 | no |
| 20 | SuiteCRM | 6.7 | free plan | Self-hosted · free | $0 + hosting | yes |
| 21 | Keap | 6.5 | demo | Keap · $249 | $4,640 | yes |
Every CRM is scored by the same function from documented facts: cost for 5 users on the plan a small team needs (30%), features on that plan (30%), pricing transparency (20%), a risk-free start (10%) and room to grow (10%). Affiliate commissions are stripped from the data before scoring, and a build check fails if they could change any position. Full methodology →
Looking for a specific industry? Real estate, insurance, financial advice, mortgage, nonprofit, construction and recruiting tools are ranked on their own lists, where documented industry fit counts for 30%. All lists →
It depends on what "#1" measures. Salesforce markets itself as the world's #1 CRM based on analyst market-share rankings. We do not rank by market size; on our fact score for small US teams, Zoho CRM ranks first (9.9/10), followed by HubSpot and Freshsales.
On our fact score: 1. Zoho CRM (9.9), 2. HubSpot (9.7), 3. Freshsales (9.4), 4. Odoo CRM (9.3), 5. Bigin by Zoho CRM (9.1). The score covers price, features on the plan you need, pricing transparency, how you can start, and room to grow. Ease of use is not scored until we finish hands-on tests.
For 5 users on each vendor's core plan with annual billing, year-one costs in our data range from $420 to $6,000. Several vendors have free plans for 1-3 users. Run your own numbers in the cost calculator.
We have not tested usability hands-on yet, so we do not rank it. A practical approach: start on a free plan or a no-card trial with your real contacts for two weeks. The free CRM list shows each free plan’s limits.