Best Free CRMs In Canada For May 2024

• Zoho CRM: Best overall
• monday.com: Best for customizations
• EngageBay: Best for live chat
• Insightly: Best for opportunity management
• Freshsales: Best for robust features
• HubSpot: Best for sales automation
• Bitrix24: Best for unlimited free users

The Forbes Advisor Small Business team is committed to bringing you unbiased rankings and information with full editorial independence. We use product data, strategic methodologies and expert insights to inform all of our content to guide you in making the best decisions for your business journey.

To select the best free CRMs, we analyzed more than a dozen of the leading options across 17 different metrics such as available features, integrations, support, value for money, popularity, ease of use, user reviews and more. We then compiled a list of the seven best free CRMs so you can make the best choice for your unique needs.

A CRM is a customer relationship management system, which is used to help businesses organize and maintain all their customer data in one place. It’s typically a software-based platform that helps companies effectively manage relationships with both current and potential customers.

CRMs usually house important customer information, such as contact data, customer preferences and purchasing history. This helps businesses build better customer relationships by giving them service that fits their needs and preferences. For example, if a customer has recently bought a car, the CRM should be able to track that purchase and provide tailored marketing materials or upsell suggestions, such as oil changes and other routine services.

CRMs also allow businesses to automate tasks, such as email campaigns or automated notifications. This helps streamline communication with customers, making it easier to keep them updated on your business’s offerings and changes. Additionally, they can help identify customer trends and behaviours, which can inform future marketing or product decisions.

The best free CRMs are designed to help businesses keep track of customer information in an organized and secure way. They provide users with tools for managing leads, tracking sales and staying on top of important tasks.

There are many benefits to using a CRM for your business on both a macro level and at scale. It can help save time, money and can improve the customer experience.

Here are other benefits of implementing a CRM into your business processes:

• Centralized customer data: With a CRM system, businesses can store and manage all customer data in a central location, allowing for better collaboration and communication between different departments.
• Improved lead management: A CRM system enables businesses to capture and track all interactions with prospects and customers, helping to optimize lead generation and personalize marketing campaigns to convert more leads.
• Increased customer retention: Using a CRM solution, businesses can anticipate and solve problems faster, prevent customer churn and automate customer outreach, resulting in increased customer retention rates.
• Data-driven insights: CRM systems provide valuable data analytics tools that help businesses make more informed decisions, improve sales forecasting and identify areas for improvement.
• Automation of tasks: A CRM solution can automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, freeing up sales, marketing and customer service teams to focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences.
• Improved revenue and cost savings: A CRM can help businesses improve lead conversion rates, customer retention rates and revenue per sale while saving on sales and marketing costs, ultimately leading to increased profitability.

Choosing a free CRM can be a great option for small businesses and startups looking to manage their customer relationships without breaking the bank. However, it’s important to understand that with most free CRMs, you’re getting a watered-down version of its offerings—what you can do with it will probably be very limited compared to a paid version. Switching CRMs can be a pain, so try to look for a CRM that can grow with you.

Here are some basic steps to follow when choosing a free CRM:

• Know what you need: Before getting a free CRM, know what features and capabilities you need. Think of the data you need to monitor, the manner in which you will communicate with customers and what metrics you need to monitor.
• Research available options: Look for free CRM software that offers the features you need. Make sure to check for any limitations or restrictions on the free version.
• Read reviews and comparisons: After narrowing down your options, compare different CRM systems to see how they stack up against each other. Look for user reviews, industry reports and comparisons of features, usability and pricing.
• Test the software: Most CRMs offer a free trial. Use that time to test out each of its features, its UI and how it might work for your business. What’s missing? What’s working well?
• Consider scalability: As your business grows, you may need to upgrade to a paid version of the CRM or switch to a different platform. Look for a CRM system that can scale with your business and offers the features you need as you grow.
• Check for integration capabilities: Make sure the CRM integrates with other tools and software you use, such as marketing automation platforms or email marketing software. This will help ensure smooth data flow and avoid data silos.
• Evaluate support and training: Consider the level of support and training offered by the CRM vendor. Look for resources such as online help centres, video tutorials and customer support options to ensure that you can get the help you need if issues arise.

Key Features

When choosing a CRM, look for features important to your business. Most include the following:

• Contact management: Store and manage customer contact information, including names, email addresses, phone numbers and social media profiles.
• Sales tracking and forecasting: Track sales opportunities and deals, including their progress through the sales pipeline, and provide data for forecasting future sales.
• Task and activity management: Create tasks and activities for team members, such as following up with leads, sending emails and scheduling appointments.
• Marketing automation: Automate marketing tasks, such as email campaigns, social media posts and targeted ads.
• Lead management: Track leads and their interactions with the company, including website visits, form submissions and email opens.
• Reporting and analytics: Provide insights into sales and marketing performance, allowing businesses to track metrics, such as revenue, conversion rates and customer acquisition cost.
• Integration with other tools: Integrate the CRM with other tools and software, such as marketing automation platforms, customer service software and email marketing software.
• Mobile access: Access the CRM on mobile devices, enabling team members to manage customer relationships on the go.
• Customization: Customize the CRM to specific needs, such as creating custom fields, workflows and reports.
• Collaboration: Allow team members to share customer info, communicate with each other and collaborate on tasks and projects.

Types of CRMs

CRM software comes in different types, each with its own set of features and capabilities, designed to assist businesses in effectively managing customer relationships, improving customer satisfaction and driving revenue growth. Below, we’ll delve into the three primary types of CRMs: Collaborative, Operational and Analytical.

• Collaborative CRM: This type of CRM focuses on facilitating communication and cooperation between various departments and stakeholders within an organization. It provides features such as shared customer data, communication tools and workflow automation, ensuring that all teams work together towards the common goal of enhancing customer experience.
• Operational CRM: An operational CRM is designed to streamline and automate operational processes such as sales automation, marketing automation and customer service automation. It encompasses functionalities such as lead and opportunity management, campaign management and customer service management, which help businesses in delivering seamless customer experiences at every touchpoint.
• Analytical CRM: Analytical CRMs concentrate on data analytics and provide businesses with valuable insights into customer behaviour and preferences. They offer features such as data mining, customer segmentation and predictive analytics, enabling businesses to make informed decisions and deliver personalized experiences to their customers.

Free vs. Paid CRM Software

Free CRM software can be an attractive option for businesses looking to manage their customer relationships without incurring additional expenses. However, free CRMs often lack advanced features and functionalities that are available in paid software. Here are some common features that free CRMs may lack compared to paid solutions:

• Advanced customization options: Free CRMs may not offer extensive customization options, limiting businesses’ ability to tailor the CRM to their specific needs.
• Robust reporting and analytics: Free CRMs may not have as many reporting and analytics capabilities as paid software, which could limit businesses’ ability to gain valuable insights from their customer data.
• Integrations with other tools: Free CRMs may not offer as many integrations with other business tools, such as marketing automation or customer service software, which could limit businesses’ ability to automate and streamline their operations.
• Customer support: Free CRMs may not offer the same level of customer support as paid solutions, which could leave businesses without the help they need to resolve issues or troubleshoot problems.

If a business is working with limited resources and desires an uncomplicated CRM system to maintain its customer relations, choosing a free CRM may be the best choice.
On the other hand, if a business has more advanced needs, such as extensive customization, comprehensive reporting and analytics or integration with other tools, a paid CRM solution may provide the necessary features and functionalities to meet those needs.

Additionally, paid CRMs often offer more robust customer support, which can be critical for businesses that rely heavily on their CRM software to manage their operations. Ultimately, the decision to choose a free or paid CRM solution will depend on the specific needs and resources of the business.

When analyzing the best free CRM software available, Forbes Advisor considered an array of factors, including features, customer support, ease of use, user experiences and integrations. Assigning a weighted score to each value, we then narrowed the field to the seven best free CRMs on the market.

While not every CRM on this list includes each of these features, many do, or have enough value-added benefits to make up for the feature that’s missing. In addition to features, we considered how user-friendly the CRMs were and what kind of customer support they offered. We also analyzed user reviews, to get a sense of what real users thought of the CRMs.

Pricing – 10%

First, every provider had to offer a free forever plan in order to qualify for our best free CRM list. However, not all free plans are created equal, so we considered factors such as how many users are included with the free version, how much storage is included and any other limitations. We also considered the cost of premium plans as businesses often grow out of free plans and it’s important to choose a CRM that offers budget-friendly paid plans for when you need more features.

General Features – 40%

The first set of features we considered in evaluating the best free CRMs were core features such as pipeline management, analytics tools, integrations, customizable dashboards, the availability of a document library and a mobile app. We assigned a weighted score to each feature, based on its perceived importance, and then totalled the scores to arrive at a percentage of the total score that each feature represented.

Additional Features – 15%

The second set of features we considered were additional features that were not included in the general features category, such as email marketing and multi-currency support. We assigned a weighted score to each feature, based on its perceived importance, and then totalled the scores to arrive at a percentage of the total score that each feature represented.

Reviews and Ratings- 5%

The third set of features we considered were reviews and recognition. We assigned a weighted score to each feature, based on its perceived importance, and then totalled the scores to arrive at a percentage of the total score that each feature represented.

Expert Score – 30%

Lastly, we considered our own expertise from first-hand experience using these CRMs. This category includes factors such as value for price, popularity and ease of use.

To calculate the total score for each CRM, we added up the scores for each criterion and multiplied by the corresponding weight. The maximum total score for each CRM was 5.00.

We used this methodology to ensure that the best free CRMs were chosen based on a comprehensive evaluation of their features and user experiences.

Canadian specific editing (including pricing) conducted by Anna Rey.