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Best CRM software in 2026

A CRM (customer relationship management) system keeps contacts, companies, deals and emails in one place so your team knows where every opportunity stands. Small teams want something simple and quick to set up; larger sales teams need pipelines, forecasting, automation and reporting.

12 tools compared. Top picks first, then alphabetical. No paid placements.

HubSpot CRM

FreemiumTop pick

Free CRM that grows into a full marketing, sales and service platform.

Best for: Small and mid-size businesses that want to start free and add marketing and sales tools later.

  • Contacts and companies
  • Deal pipelines
  • Email tracking and templates
  • Meeting scheduler

Salesforce Sales Cloud

Free trialTop pick

The most widely used enterprise CRM, customisable for almost any sales process.

Best for: Mid-size and enterprise sales teams with complex processes and admin resources.

  • Leads, opportunities and forecasting
  • Custom objects and workflows
  • AppExchange marketplace
  • Reports and dashboards

Attio

Freemium

Modern, data-driven CRM you can shape around your business.

Best for: Startups and modern teams that want a flexible, fast CRM.

  • Custom objects and attributes
  • Automatic contact enrichment
  • Email and calendar sync
  • Workflows

Close

Free trial

CRM with built-in calling, SMS and email for inside sales teams.

Best for: High-volume inside sales and startup sales teams.

  • Built-in calling and SMS
  • Email sequences
  • Power dialer
  • Pipeline views

Copper

Free trial

CRM designed to work inside Google Workspace.

Best for: Teams that run their business in Gmail and Google Workspace.

  • Gmail sidebar
  • Google Calendar and Drive sync
  • Pipelines
  • Automation

Freshsales

Free trial

CRM from Freshworks with built-in phone, email and AI lead scoring.

Best for: Growing sales teams that want calling and email built into the CRM.

  • Built-in phone and email
  • AI lead scoring
  • Sales sequences
  • Pipeline management

Simple, low-cost CRM for small businesses.

Best for: Small businesses and solo professionals who want simplicity.

  • Contacts and pipelines
  • Tasks and calendar
  • Notes and files
  • Simple reports

Enterprise CRM tightly integrated with Microsoft 365.

Best for: Larger organisations standardised on Microsoft tools.

  • Sales pipeline and forecasting
  • Outlook and Teams integration
  • Copilot AI
  • Power Platform customisation

monday CRM

Free trial

Flexible CRM built on the monday.com work platform.

Best for: Teams that want a customisable CRM that also handles projects and post-sale work.

  • Customisable pipelines
  • Email sync
  • Automations
  • Dashboards

Pipedrive

Free trial

Visual, pipeline-first CRM built for salespeople.

Best for: Small sales teams that live in their deal pipeline.

  • Drag-and-drop pipeline
  • Activity reminders
  • Email sync
  • Sales automation

Zoho CRM

Freemium

Affordable, feature-rich CRM that connects to the wider Zoho suite.

Best for: Budget-conscious businesses that want lots of features or already use Zoho apps.

  • Lead and deal management
  • Workflow automation
  • Omnichannel communication
  • Analytics

ActiveCampaign

Free trial

Email marketing with some of the strongest automation available.

Best for: Businesses that want advanced automation and a built-in CRM.

  • Automation builder
  • Email campaigns
  • CRM
  • Lead scoring