Looking for the best free CRM for small business? We’ve compared 18 genuinely free CRM tools — not disguised trials — to help you find the right fit. Each one offers real functionality for managing contacts, tracking leads, running sales pipelines, and in some cases running basic email campaigns, all without a credit card. Here’s what each one actually includes in 2026, and where the free plan runs out.
Join VTsoft Review to find the best SaaS products for your business. If you’re still deciding whether you need a CRM at all, our guide to what CRM tools are and how they work is a good place to start.
Free plan vs. free trial: what to check first
Not everything marketed as “free CRM” actually is. Some tools offer a genuine free-forever tier with real limits; others offer a time-limited trial that quietly expects a credit card once the clock runs out. Before you commit time to setting one up, check two things: whether the plan has an expiration date, and whether it requires payment details up front.
We removed one well-known CRM from earlier versions of this list after confirming it no longer offers (and may never have offered) a permanent free plan — only a 14-day trial. That’s exactly the kind of switch-and-bait that wastes a founder’s time, so every tool below has been checked against its current, official pricing page.
18 best free CRM tools for small business
1. HubSpot CRM
HubSpot remains the most complete free CRM on the market, covering contact management, deal tracking, and basic email tools. As of 2026, the free plan supports up to 2 users, with roughly 1,000 marketing contacts and around 2,000 marketing emails per month — tighter limits than a few years ago, but still enough for a solo founder or a two-person team to run a real sales process.
2. Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM’s free plan supports up to 3 users, which makes it one of the few free tiers built for a small team rather than a single user. It covers contact management, lead tracking, sales pipeline management, and reporting — a solid, no-frills option if your team is 2–3 people.
3. EngageBay
EngageBay bundles contact management, lead tracking, pipeline management, email marketing, and live chat into one free plan. It’s built for businesses that want marketing and sales tools in the same place rather than stitching two tools together. Contact and email sending limits apply, so check EngageBay’s current pricing page before committing to a specific volume.
4. Bitrix24
Bitrix24’s free plan is unusually generous on team size, supporting a large number of users alongside contact management, lead tracking, task management, and project management. It’s a strong fit if you want CRM and basic project management in one place without juggling two subscriptions.
5. Freshsales
Freshsales (part of Freshworks) offers a free plan built around contact management, lead tracking, pipeline management, and basic email tools. It’s a reasonable middle ground between HubSpot’s polish and Zoho’s team-friendly seat count, and it’s one of the CRMs consistently confirmed to still have a permanent free tier in 2026.
6. Vtiger CRM
Vtiger is an open-source CRM with a free plan covering contact management, lead tracking, pipeline management, and reporting. Being open-source, it also gives you the option to self-host if you ever want full control over your data — a feature few free CRMs on this list offer.
7. Insightly
Insightly is a cloud-based CRM software aimed at small businesses that need contact management, lead tracking, pipeline management, and light project management in one tool. It’s a good option if you want project tracking bundled with your CRM rather than run separately.
8. Copper CRM
Copper is built specifically for Google Workspace users, syncing directly with Gmail and Google Calendar so your CRM data updates without manual entry. The free plan is intentionally limited in contact volume, which makes it best suited to solo entrepreneurs or very small teams rather than growing sales teams.
9. Capsule CRM
Capsule CRM offers a simple, intuitive free plan covering contact management, lead tracking, pipeline management, and light project tracking. It’s designed to be usable without training, which makes it a good fit for very small teams that don’t want to spend a week onboarding onto a new tool.
10. Streak
Streak turns Gmail itself into a CRM, so there’s no separate app to learn — everything happens inside your existing inbox. It’s a strong option for solo founders and small teams that already run their sales process almost entirely through email and don’t want a second tool to check daily.
11. Airtable
Airtable isn’t a purpose-built CRM, but its flexible spreadsheet-database hybrid can be configured into one — with contact management, lead tracking, pipeline stages, and custom forms built exactly how you want them. It takes more setup time than a dedicated CRM, but the trade-off is complete control over the structure.
12. SugarCRM
SugarCRM offers an open-source, self-hostable option with contact management, lead tracking, pipeline management, and reporting. Like Vtiger, it’s worth considering if data ownership and customization matter more to you than out-of-the-box polish.
13. AWeber
AWeber is primarily an email marketing platform, but its free plan includes basic contact management and lead tracking alongside its email tools. It’s a reasonable fit if email marketing is your main channel and you want light CRM functionality bundled in rather than a separate purchase.
14. Easyleadz
Easyleadz combines lead generation with basic CRM functionality, helping you find and organize prospects in the same tool. It’s a good fit for outbound-focused small teams that need lead sourcing and tracking in one place rather than separate tools for each.
15. Monday.com
Monday.com is a work management platform that can be configured as a lightweight CRM using its contact management, lead tracking, and task management features. If your team is already using Monday.com for project work, adding a CRM board keeps everything in one workspace instead of adding a new tool.
16. Zoho Books
Zoho Books is accounting software first, but its contact management, lead tracking, and invoicing features can double as a lightweight CRM for very small businesses. It’s most useful if you want your customer relationships and your invoicing tied to the same records.
17. Google Sheets
Google Sheets isn’t a CRM by design, but a well-structured spreadsheet with columns for contact info, lead status, and follow-up dates can function as one. It offers effectively unlimited storage at zero cost, which makes it a genuine starting point if your contact list is still small enough to manage manually.
18. Notion
Notion’s free plan supports contact management, lead tracking, and task management inside a flexible, customizable workspace. It works well for teams already using Notion for documentation and project planning who want their lightweight CRM to live in the same place.
How to avoid outgrowing your free CRM too fast
The biggest regret with free CRMs isn’t picking the “wrong” one — it’s picking one you’ll have to migrate away from within a few months, which means re-entering data and retraining your team twice. Before you commit, check three things: the user limit (does it cover your team as it is today, not just you), the contact or record cap (how close are you to hitting it already), and whether exporting your data out is free and unrestricted if you ever switch.
If you’re comparing tools by industry rather than by feature list, VTsoft Review also covers specific use cases like CRM for real estate agents and free CRM options for coaching businesses, plus head-to-head comparisons such as Wise Agent vs Follow Up Boss.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best free CRM software for small business?
HubSpot CRM is generally the most complete free option for a solo founder or two-person team, while Zoho CRM and Bitrix24 support larger teams for free. The right choice depends more on your team size and workflow than on any single “best” answer.
Is HubSpot CRM really free?
Yes — HubSpot’s core CRM has no expiration date, but as of 2026 it’s limited to 2 users, with caps on marketing contacts and monthly marketing emails. It’s genuinely free, just more limited than older guides describe.
Does Pipedrive have a free plan?
No. Pipedrive offers only a 14-day free trial with no permanent free tier, which is why it isn’t included on this list of genuinely free CRM tools.
Can I use a spreadsheet as a CRM?
Yes, for a small enough contact list. Tools like Google Sheets or Airtable can function as a basic CRM, though you’ll outgrow them once your team needs shared automation, reminders, or reporting that a spreadsheet can’t easily handle.
Conclusion
These 18 free CRM tools cover different needs — from HubSpot’s all-in-one polish to Google Sheets’ zero-setup simplicity. Whichever you choose, check the user and contact limits against your actual team size before you build your process around it, since switching later costs more time than getting it right up front.
For a broader comparison across paid and free options, see VTsoft Review’s best SaaS CRM roundup, or start with our guide to what CRM tools are and how they work if you’re still deciding whether you need one.