Try CRM Software for Free

A CRM system should be able to do a lot of heavy lifting for your business. A free CRM software trial gives you a good idea of whether the platform can adapt to your business’s specific needs, and whether you should plan on investing in it for the long term.

In this comprehensive guide to the best free trials of customer relationship management platforms, you’ll discover what features you can expect to be included in the best free CRM apps, how they can benefit your business, and our recommendations for the top 10 free trials.

• Why does your business need a free CRM trial?
• What are the benefits of trying free CRM software?
• What are popular free CRM software features?
• Top 10 trials
• A summary of the best trials
• How to choose the right free CRM trial
• Try CRM software for free

You’re always thinking about your customers. But they’re not always necessarily thinking about you.

Customers need to be reminded, nudged, motivated, nurtured, and tracked—but with an expert touch. Without the proper customer relationship management software, it’s easy for your customer data to get jumbled and disorganized, which can result in some very annoyed customers and very stressed-out sales reps.

Sure, your agents could keep logging data in multiple spreadsheets, BCCing other teams into emails that get lost in the mix, and trying to track and record every customer interaction on their own—but why would you want to? In 2021, decentralized spreadsheets and murky pipeline practices are as out of date as rolodexes and the telegraph.

There’s no good reason to cling to systems that can cause burnout, frustration, or lost sales — especially when there are free options that can seamlessly streamline the sales process. Because when it comes to customer relationship management, free doesn’t have to mean skimpy.

You wouldn’t buy a car without giving it a test drive, and a sales CRM is no different. Testing out customer relationship management software for free lets you play with all the time- and energy-saving CRM perks, minus the financial commitment. So when the time comes to plunk down some dollars, you’ll know exactly what you’re getting.

When shopping around for free sales CRM trial, keep an eye peeled for these powerful features:

• Ticket forms: Dynamic request forms that quickly give agents the right context, so they’re prepared to offer personalized customer support without having to dig through mountains of unorganized records.
• Macros: Create and share macros in order to quickly react with a standard response and set of actions to familiar requests, so your team spends less time answering the same kinds of queries over and over again.
• Views: Customizable views allow agents to see their queue based on ticket status, assignee, group, or other conditions, ensuring that nothing gets overlooked.

Not all sales reps have the same needs, so not all free CRM tools for sales reps are created equal. Still, most will provide similar features, and then allow you to customize to suit your needs.

When a customer relationship management system provides a free version of their product, their list of features should pack a real punch. After all, a free version of anything is still just another marketing tool. Companies want to show you what they’ve got, and you deserve to be picky.

Here are some free CRM tools you’ll find in your search, and how they can give your business a leg-up over your competition.

1. CRM dashboard
   
   Gather all of your most important customer data in one centralized and customizable location. When everyone has access to the most current information, opportunities fall into laps — not through cracks.
2. Messaging
   
   A solid free CRM platform offers messaging options across web, mobile, and social media apps. Additionally, customizable message automation frees up your agents’ time, even while your customers have their queries handled over their preferred communication platforms.
3. Sales pipeline automation
   
   With a bird’s-eye view of your customer’s journey, you can easily track and identify gaps in the sales cycle with pinpoint precision, and then apply your efforts where action is needed the most.
4. Automatic dialer
   
   This useful tool lets you generate call lists with the click of a button, log and record calls so valuable information is never lost, and send follow-up texts.
5. Lead management
   
   Good lead management software will let you process, analyze, and nurture leads from multiple channels as they come in, allowing you to begin tracking the customer experience the moment they show interest.
6. Mobile app
   
   Business is happening everywhere these days, and even the best free CRM system will do you no good if you have to be tied to a desk while using it.

Some business decisions are risky, but picking the right customer relationship management software shouldn’t be one of them. Most customer relationship management software platforms offer free trial versions of their software to eliminate the guessing game and put you in the best place to make smart commitments.

But here’s where the “free” part of the equation can trip you up. Test driving free online software shouldn’t be treated like an ice cream shop, where you can (and definitely should) sample every flavor. Your team won’t thank you for forcing them to adapt to dozens of free sales CRM software trials before making a commitment.

Before jumping into a test run of free CRM for sales reps, you’ll have to do some introspection about which features your business actually requires; then, glance over our Top 10 recommendations. Figure out which one best suits your needs. There’s a lot to consider, not least of which is the price you’ll eventually pay if you decide to stick with your chosen service.

Keep reading below for our top 10 best free trials on the market in 2021.

1. Zendesk Sell

A successful business depends on happy customers. Just as important, however, are happy team members. You should get both out of your free CRM system, which is why Zendesk Sell offers a 2-week free trial version of their cloud-based all-inclusive customer service platform, and priced packages starting at $19/month per agent.

Configured with customer support agents in mind, Zendesk Sell allows your representatives to keep a sharp eye on every aspect of the sales cycle without bogging them down in scattered data. With an intuitive dashboard, easy customization options, and a free resource library compiled from 50,000 other businesses' prior experiences, Zendesk Sell’s learning curve is guaranteed to be a bunny slope, not a black diamond.

Key features of Zendesk Sell’s free CRM for small business include its powerful ticketing system software, which lets you organize, consolidate, and process customer tickets from anywhere, as well as Zendesk Sell’s intuitive analytics software. This valuable tool offers your sales team deep insights into customer behavior — no advanced statistics degree required.

Zendesk Sell Customer Size: Small (1-50 users) to Enterprise (201 + users)

Notable features of Zendesk Sell

• Lead and sales tracking software
• Contact management system
• KPI sales dashboard
• Reporting and analytics
• Automatic dialer
• Funnel and CRM reports
• Sales pipeline management
• API access
• Mobile app
• Performance reporting
• Lead generation tools
• Helpdesk ticketing software integration

2. HubSpot CRM

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Offering a 14-day free trial and with pricing tiers beginning at $50 per month, Hubspot is built for businesses using (or planning to use) inbound marketing techniques.

Hubspot offers advanced options for those who can throw down the cash for it, including its Content Management, Operations, Service, Sales, and Marketing Hubs, all of which can be integrated with its platform from one centralized site.

Hubspot CRM Customer Size: Small (1-50 users) to Enterprise (201+ users)

Notable software features

• Contact management
• Email marketing
• Live chat
• Data sync
• Dashboard
• API access
• Task assignment

Learn more about HubSpot App for Zendesk Sell.

3. Less Annoying

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Less Annoying offers free platform for small businesses, allowing them to consolidate calendars and tasks onto a single dashboard. With an email logging feature, daily agenda mail, one-click export, and 256-bit encryption, the team at Less Annoying offers functionality and security, all while marketing themselves as being… well, less annoying.

Less Annoying offers a 30-day free trial, and a pricing model starting at $15/month per user.

Less Annoying Customer Size: Small (1-50 users)

Notable software features

• Channel management
• Customer database
• Dashboard
• Search/filter
• Project management
• Partner tracking
• Task assignment

4. Creatio

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Creatio CRM is a cloud-based, low-code technology platform offering a 14-day free online trial, and priced packages starting at $25/month per user. Creatio CRM can be used on its own, or bundled to bring together marketing, sales, and service onto one customizable platform.

Creatio software is aimed at teams looking to become their own developers, whether they hail from Human Resources or Payroll. Their low-code platform allows for the creation of customized forms, email templates, and contracts, depending on their individual business needs.

Creatio CRM Customer Size: Small (1-50 users) to Enterprise (201 +)

Notable software features

• Funnel reporting
• Integrations
• API access
• Quotation handling
• Contract management
• Sales gamification
• Database management

5. Apptivo

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Apptivo is one of the lesser-known CRM software options available on the market, but does offer third-party integrations with G Suite, Outlook 365, Slack, and over sixty other programs. They also offer a 30-day free trial.

If you happen to be your entire company, Apptivo offers a free CRM for small businesses with its Starter version, which includes eight apps for a single user. With more than one user, plans tick upwards to its Lite package, which offers 18 integrated apps at $10/month per user.

Apptivo Customer Size: small (1-50 users) to Enterprise (201 + users)

Notable software features

• Lead generation
• Mobile access
• Email marketing
• Document storage
• Quotes/estimates
• Calendar/reminder system
• Internal chat integration

6. Insightly

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Aimed at small businesses looking to integrate sales and project management, Insightly hosts a customizable interface without a ton of frills. If you’re interested in giving it a test drive, Insightly offers free CRM for small businesses with 2 users, as well as a 14-day free trial for larger organizations.

If you like what you try, Insightly’s pricing packages start with its Plus Plan, which includes integrated project management capabilities, associated task tracking, and email templates.

Insightly Customer Size: Small (1-50 users) to Medium (51-200 users)

Notable software features

• API access
• Lead qualification
• Pipeline management
• Project management
• Social media integration
• Territory management
• Funnel reporting

7. iSalesCRM

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iSalesCRM offers a 2-week trial version, after which pricing models jump to $99/month, which comes with Voice over Internet Protocol and intensive automation software.

iSalesCRM’s complete customer relationship management features include syncing capabilities with Google calendars, calling, sales, and vendor analytics, and automated lead distribution.

Training videos and tutorials are available to aid with adoption of this hefty software.

iSalesCRM Customer size: small (1-50 users ) to Enterprise (201 + users)

Notable software features

• Two-way messaging
• Analytics/ROI tracking
• Lead distribution
• Local caller ID
• Communication management
• Drip campaigns
• Calendar management

8. Salesforce Sales Cloud

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Salesforce’s well-known cloud-based platform offers artificial intelligence capabilities, online training and web seminars, pre-configured processes, dashboards, predictive lead scoring, and analytical reports.

Salesforce Sales Cloud comes with a long list of features, including team collaboration tools, client/property matching, and even commission management. But with so many bells and whistles, a 14-day free trial may not be enough time to know if your business really needs all of those features. Depending on your business size, you may be better off with a simpler option.

Salesforce Sales Cloud Customer Size: Small (1-50 users) to Enterprise (201 + users)

Notable software features

• API access
• Database management
• Contract management
• Quotation handling
• Territory/quota management
• Performance reporting
• Sales gamification
• Cadence

Learn more about Zendesk app for Salesforce

9. Copper

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Copper is specifically designed for small businesses who use G Suite. Users have the option to import records directly from Gmail communications and synchronize meetings with contacts.

With a 14-day free trial and paid packages starting at $25/month, Copper is a good option for those looking for the most basic features of software, such as email marketing, calendar/reminder systems, and client tracking.

Though it gears itself specifically to G Suite users, Copper offers integrations with most of the basic applications, including Intuit Quickbooks, Slack, DocuSign, Zapier, and MailChimp.

Copper Customer Size: Small (1-50 users)

Notable software features

• Contact management
• Campaign management
• Desktop integration
• Task/activity management
• Dashboard
• Customer support portal
• Pipeline management

Learn more about Zendesk’s integration with Copper

10. ZohoCRM

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For home-based operations, ZohoCRM offers free software for small businesses for up to three users. Priced packages begin at $14/month per user, and go up to $52/month per user.

If you care to give ZohoCRM a whirl, you can test run its Ultimate package for 30 days, which includes use of its advanced business intelligence and analytics software.

Additionally, a one hour web-conference demo session can help you get accustomed to Zoho's offerings, which include leads, documents, and mobile app integrations.

ZohoCRM Customer Size: Small (1-50 users) to Enterprise (201 + users)

Notable software features

• Reminder/calendar system
• CRM views
• Advanced filters
• Page customization
• Workflow rules
• Standard reports
• Status updates

Learn more about integrating Zoho with Zendesk

Here’s how our top 10 picks for free customer relationship management software (or free trials) stack up against one another at a glance:

As you can see, you’re not starving for options. But now the real challenge begins.

We all love to snatch up anything that’s free—but pump the brakes. You’ll save time in the future by taking your time now to consider which free CRM platform is best for you and your team.

Every business wants happy customers, but that doesn’t mean every business has the same customer service needs. So before committing the time to learning a new platform, you’ll want to consider these questions: