Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software Overview

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a business strategy that stresses good ongoing relationships with customers. It holds that maintaining these relationships drives growth and profitability. There are two core elements of this customer-centric strategy:

  1. Presenting a unified face to the customer
  2. Providing a seamless customer experience

CRM software can help by synchronizing customer communications among business units. Sales, marketing and customer service can all get on the same page. It acts as a system of record for contacts and accounts throughout the customer lifecycle. With CRM tools companies can track, automate, analyze, and optimize customer interactions. At its core, a CRM is a database of contact information and interaction history for each individual contact.

Multiple departments may be using the CRM within one organization. These include sales, marketing, customer success or service, and potentially other teams too.

Top Rated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Products

TrustRadius Top Rated for 2021

These products won a Top Rated award for having excellent customer satisfaction ratings. The list is based purely on reviews; there is no paid placement, and analyst opinions do not influence the rankings. Read more about the Top Rated criteria.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software TrustMap

TrustMaps are two-dimensional charts that compare products based on trScore and research frequency by prospective buyers. Products must have 10 or more ratings to appear on this TrustMap.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Products

(1-25 of 310) Sorted by Most Reviews

The list of products below is based purely on reviews (sorted from most to least). There is no paid placement and analyst opinions do not influence their rankings. Here is our Promise to Buyers to ensure information on our site is reliable, useful, and worthy of your trust.
monday.com

monday.com Work OS is an open platform designed so that anyone can create the tools they need to run all aspects of their work. It includes ready-made templates or the ability to customize any work solution ranging from sales pipelines to marketing campaigns, CRMs, and project tracking.…

Key Features

  • Task Management (1136)
    92%
    9.2
  • Team Collaboration (1122)
    91%
    9.1
  • Resource Management (985)
    82%
    8.2
ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign integrates email marketing, marketing automation, sales automation, and CRM software into one platform designed for small businesses.

Key Features

  • Email deliverability reporting (581)
    90%
    9.0
  • List management (556)
    89%
    8.9
  • Dashboards (504)
    87%
    8.7
SharpSpring from Constant Contact

SharpSpring, a Constant Contact company, is a revenue growth marketing platform that helps small businesses generate leads, improve conversions to sales, and drive higher returns on marketing investment. The platform, open architecture and customer support, along with flexible contracts,…

Key Features

  • List management (479)
    87%
    8.7
  • Lead scoring and grading (471)
    84%
    8.4
  • Email deliverability reporting (795)
    81%
    8.1
HubSpot CRM

HubSpot CRM

Customer Verified
Top Rated

HubSpot’s CRM enables growth-minded businesses to optimize their relationships with leads and customers. Through harnessing the power of carefully crafted sales, marketing, customer service, content management, and operations tools, the software aims to make it easy to unify team…

Key Features

  • Customer data management / contact management (361)
    86%
    8.6
  • Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail) (356)
    83%
    8.3
  • Workflow management (349)
    81%
    8.1
Insightly

Insightly is an online CRM solution targeted at small and mid-sized businesses. It also provides project management, workflow automation, and reporting capabilities, along with 3rd-party integrations.

Key Features

  • Customer data management / contact management (306)
    89%
    8.9
  • Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail) (287)
    87%
    8.7
  • Task management (294)
    83%
    8.3
Salesforce.com

Salesforce

Customer Verified
Top Rated

Salesforce is a web-based CRM application that enables users to forecast revenues and track leads. It is a leading sales, service, and marketing app. Salesforce.com's Sales (CRM), Service, Platform and Marketing applications are designed to help companies connect with customers,…

Key Features

  • Customizable reports (176)
    85%
    8.5
  • Customer data management / contact management (181)
    84%
    8.4
  • Opportunity management (177)
    84%
    8.4
Oracle Cloud ERP

Oracle Cloud ERP

Customer Verified
Top Rated

Oracle Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a core suite of Oracle Cloud software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications. Oracle Expense Management and Oracle Risk Management are part of this solution. Other apps include Financials, Revenue Management, Accounting Hub, PPM, and…

Key Features

  • Accounts receivable (201)
    84%
    8.4
  • Standard reports (198)
    83%
    8.3
  • Accounts payable (210)
    83%
    8.3
Keap (formerly Infusionsoft)

Keap

Customer Verified
Top Rated

Keap is a small business-focused, comprehensive sales and marketing platform which combines basic contact management, CRM, marketing automation, and e-commerce capabilities into a single, subscription-based SaaS product.

Key Features

  • List management (113)
    89%
    8.9
  • Email deliverability reporting (162)
    84%
    8.4
  • Lead nurturing (112)
    84%
    8.4
Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM

Customer Verified
Top Rated

Zoho CRM is a simple, very low-cost CRM option for the smaller end of the SMB segment. The product has several useful integrations with other products, including QuickBooks, and Google Apps and Google Docs. The product also has an integrated project management module.

Key Features

  • Lead management (113)
    87%
    8.7
  • Custom fields (115)
    86%
    8.6
  • Customer data management / contact management (119)
    85%
    8.5
Microsoft Dynamics 365 (formerly Microsoft Dynamics CRM)

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a CRM providing sales, marketing, and service functionality. It is offered as SaaS and on-premise. Dynamics 365 is part of the larger Dynamics suite of business intelligence and ERP products.

Key Features

  • Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail) (63)
    89%
    8.9
  • Customer data management / contact management (65)
    88%
    8.8
  • Workflow management (63)
    84%
    8.4
Freshdesk

Freshdesk

Customer Verified
Top Rated

Freshdesk is a SaaS based customer support software for businesses of all sizes. The vendor's value proposition is that Freshdesk is priced affordably, and is free forever for any number of agents. There are four other plans available that come with a whole lot of features. The…

Pipedrive

Pipedrive

Customer Verified
Top Rated

Pipedrive is a customer relationship management (CRM) software built to help small teams to drive sales.

Key Features

  • Opportunity management (57)
    88%
    8.8
  • Pipeline visualization (59)
    86%
    8.6
  • Task management (55)
    83%
    8.3
Sugar Sell (SugarCRM)

Sugar Sell from SugarCRM is a collaborative CRM, allowing users to track and monitor activities, map each customer’s journey and automate as many workflows as you need to. Sugar Sell is presented by the vendor as lean, fast and integratable with anything. Sugar Sell replaces former…

Key Features

  • Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail) (29)
    89%
    8.9
  • Customer data management / contact management (32)
    89%
    8.9
  • Interaction tracking (30)
    81%
    8.1
Freshworks CRM (formerly Freshsales)

Freshworks CRM (formerly Freshsales) is an all-in-one sales CRM software with features like built-in phone and email, lead scoring, visual sales pipeline, reports and dashboards, automations, and mobile apps, ensuring that sales reps do not have to juggle between multiple tools to…

Key Features

  • Customer data management / contact management (51)
    87%
    8.7
  • Interaction tracking (50)
    84%
    8.4
  • Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail) (50)
    82%
    8.2
Flowlu

Flowlu

Customer Verified

Flowlu is an all-in-one business operating platform from the Russian company of the same name, designed to contains all essential tools for project, task, finance and customer management. Flowlu provides an overview of everything that is going on in a company, allowing users to track…

Key Features

  • Task Management (48)
    84%
    8.4
  • Team Collaboration (47)
    83%
    8.3
  • Workflow Automation (45)
    81%
    8.1
Oracle CX Sales (formerly Oracle Engagement Cloud and Oracle Sales Cloud)

Oracle CX Sales (formerly the Engagement Cloud, and before that the Oracle Sales Cloud) is a sales automation software accessible through Microsoft Outlook, iOS, and Android, along with territory and quota management and social collaboration. CX Sales includes modules such as the…

Key Features

  • Role-based user permissions (14)
    88%
    8.8
  • Customer data management / contact management (13)
    87%
    8.7
  • Single sign-on capability (14)
    77%
    7.7
Creatio

Creatio

Customer Verified
Top Rated

Creatio is a provider of ONE platform to automate industry workflows and CRM with no code and maximum degree of freedom. Creatio offering includes a no-code platform (Studio Creatio), CRM applications (Marketing, Sales and Service), industry workflows for 20 verticals and marketplace…

Key Features

  • Platform Security (22)
    95%
    9.5
  • Drag-and-drop Interfaces (22)
    92%
    9.2
  • Platform User Management (23)
    92%
    9.2
WORK[etc]

WORK[etc] is an all-in-one cloud-based business management system with integrated CRM, projects, billing, help desk, reporting, and collaboration. The system supports popular third-party apps such as Google Work for Business, Xero Accounting, Quickbooks, Outlook and Evernote.

Key Features

  • Task management (13)
    87%
    8.7
  • Customer data management / contact management (13)
    86%
    8.6
  • Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail) (13)
    79%
    7.9
LeadSquared

LeadSquared is a marketing automation and CRM platform. It includes landing pages, email marketing, lead management, analytics, connectors, and WordPress Plugins.

Key Features

  • Lead scoring and grading (38)
    100%
    10.0
  • Lead nurturing (38)
    100%
    10.0
  • Email deliverability reporting (74)
    81%
    8.1
BQE Core

BQE Core

Customer Verified

BQE Core is a business management solution built specifically for professional service firms. According to the vendor, BQE Core is a combination of a billing assistant, project management, and accounting solution. The vendor’s value proposition is that Core does the hard work for…

Key Features

  • Time tracking (22)
    89%
    8.9
  • Dashboards (19)
    78%
    7.8
  • Expense management (17)
    76%
    7.6
Kustomer

Kustomer is a CRM built on customer service intended to be a one stop shop for support across several platforms, including online chat, phone, email and social media. By using AI automation for self service options and matching customers with agents based on their needs, Kustomer…

Key Features

  • Ticket response (15)
    89%
    8.9
  • Ticket creation and submission (15)
    87%
    8.7
  • Organize and prioritize service tickets (15)
    86%
    8.6
SAP CRM

SAP is best known as an ERP vendor and their enterprise CRM product tends to be used by customers who are already using SAP's ERP other solutions. SAP CRM also includes marketing resource management (MRM) capabilities. SAP has recently combined SAP CRM with analytics, mobile,…

Key Features

  • Workflow management (31)
    91%
    9.1
  • Customer data management / contact management (31)
    90%
    9.0
  • Interaction tracking (30)
    89%
    8.9
Really Simple Systems

Really Simple Systems is a customer relationship management (CRM) software deployed via cloud with built-in features like email marketing, pipeline management, and case management.

Key Features

  • Customer data management / contact management (33)
    78%
    7.8
  • Role-based user permissions (28)
    78%
    7.8
  • Custom fields (28)
    71%
    7.1
Salesmate

Salesmate

Customer Verified
Top Rated

Salesmate is a single platform that helps create personalized experiences across marketing, sales, and service touchpoints across all channels – email, text, chat, web, calls, and eCommerce. It is designed to enable users to generate more leads, close more deals, and build lasting…

Key Features

  • Customer data management / contact management (33)
    94%
    9.4
  • Workflow management (33)
    94%
    9.4
  • Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail) (34)
    93%
    9.3
Nimble

Nimble is a social customer relationship management (CRM) system with features such as contact management and data-driven analytics.

Key Features

  • Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail) (27)
    87%
    8.7
  • Task management (27)
    85%
    8.5
  • Customer data management / contact management (27)
    85%
    8.5

Learn More About Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software

What is CRM Software?

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a business strategy that stresses good ongoing relationships with customers. It holds that maintaining these relationships drives growth and profitability. There are two core elements of this customer-centric strategy:

  1. Presenting a unified face to the customer
  2. Providing a seamless customer experience

CRM software can help by synchronizing customer communications among business units. Sales, marketing and customer service can all get on the same page. It acts as a system of record for contacts and accounts throughout the customer lifecycle. With CRM tools companies can track, automate, analyze, and optimize customer interactions. At its core, a CRM is a database of contact information and interaction history for each individual contact.

Multiple departments may be using the CRM within one organization. These include sales, marketing, customer success or service, and potentially other teams too.

Customer Relationship Management Software Features

In general, customer relationship management technology provides the following sets of capabilities:

Customer Data Management

CRM software collects and organizes customer data. This includes contact information and interactions via email, phone, web chat and social media.

Sales Acceleration and Enablement

CRM software helps streamline and automate certain sales-related duties. This helps enable sales reps to do their job better and also accelerates sales cycles through automation of repetitive tasks. These tasks may include:

  • Creation of quotes
  • Order processing
  • Updating contact information
  • Sending emails
  • Sales forecasting
  • Evaluating employee performance

As the original source of sales force automation features, CRM systems are the most established type of sales acceleration technology. They are also considered a tool for sales enablement.

Marketing Automation

Many CRM software products include some marketing automation features. Others integrate with dedicated marketing automation products. Some features to look for include:

  • Email marketing
  • Lead management
  • Lead scoring and qualification
  • Landing page creation
  • Web forms
  • Marketing analytics

Customer Service & Support

CRM software products often provide customer support-related features. Many also integrate with standalone customer support software (i.e. help desks and contact center software). Customer support features may include:

  • Knowledge bases
  • Ticketing systems
  • Live chat
  • Customer support portals

Additional Features & Considerations

Some CRM software products also offer project management and social media management capabilities.

Additional considerations when evaluating CRM software include:

  • Deployment type (on-premise vs. hosted)
  • Customization options
  • Usability/UX
  • Mobile access
  • Security and privacy
  • Ease of integration
  • Scalability

Benefits of Using a CRM System

CRM systems hold a number of benefits for both small businesses and enterprises. When implemented properly, CRM can:

  • Create a single storehouse for customer data
  • Provide greater visibility into sales, marketing and customer service processes
  • Help optimize customer communications
  • Shorten sales cycles
  • Improve customer retention
  • Help companies understand and address the needs of customers
  • Increase customer satisfaction
  • Automate tasks
  • Increase operational efficiency
  • Free up employees to focus on customer interactions

Marketing CRM Software

CRMs are usually sales-focused. But there are benefits for marketing as well. Marketers usually store their leads in a CRM system, and often help with database management.

Integrating your CRM system with marketing automation, CMS, and eCommerce platforms can help improve marketing campaigns performance. Information in the CRM helps marketers target their messages sent through these systems to the right people. These communications can then be tracked within the CRM.

Marketers can also use CRM software to report on marketing goals, like lead engagement and leads passed to sales. Having a shared database can help align sales and marketing efforts as well.

Some marketing automation tools include a built-in CRM system (e.g. HubSpot and SharpSpring). Additionally, some CRM vendors have developed marketing automation capabilities (e.g. Salesforce and GreenRope).

All-in-one marketing tools typically include both CRM and marketing automation functionality. They often also have content management, SEO, social marketing and eCommerce capabilities. These tools are aimed at small businesses looking for basic features. Larger companies tend to favor a best-of-breed approach, integrating their CRM,marketing automation, and other systems.

CRM System Comparison

Here are two key things to consider while evaluating different CRM software products:

  1. Do you need a CRM that has been designed for either a specific industry or department? Some customer relationship management systems have been designed with a specific use case in mind, for example, Pipedrive is especially well suited for sales. There are also a range of CRM products that have been designed for the Financial Services industry. Other CRM products, like Salesforce and HubSpot CRM are ideal for use across industries and across functions.
  2. Does your business need an easy to use and budget friendly CRM solution, or a more comprehensive solution that allows for greater customization and offers advanced features? There are CRM products at both ends of this spectrum, as well as products in between. More advanced solutions may have a longer implementation timeline, have a steeper learning curve, and may need a dedicated administrator. On the other hand, lightweight CRM solutions may take less time to set up and start running, but they may not have the same breadth of features available.

Start a comparison between CRM software products.

Pricing Information

CRM software is usually priced by user on a monthly subscription model. Price per user depends on the extent of the features you are looking for. Subscriptions can start as low as $12/mo. per user for small businesses. Enterprise level tools rise to hundreds of dollars per user per month. This tier typically has more automation, reporting, integrations, and customer support features.

Free CRM Software

Free CRM software can be a great way for new users to get more familiar with using a CRM system before committing to purchasing a tool. Most free CRMs, or ‘freemium’ versions of paid platforms, will have limited functionality when compared to paid tools. But they still offer businesses the benefit of having all of their contact information centralized in one location.

Free CRM platforms are often well-suited for small businesses and startups, especially if there’s the option to upgrade to a paid version of the platform as they continue to grow. There’s also a large degree of overlap between contact management software and lighter-weight CRM software, including free tools.

A few potential pitfalls to be aware of with free CRMs: they’ll have more limited functionality and sometimes a cap on the number of contact records or platform users. They typically have fewer native integrations (if any) with other third-party systems. Many free CRMs also do not offer integrated email tracking, automatic notifications and reminders, and features like lead scoring.

Here is a list of free and freemium CRM platforms for buyers to consider:

More Resources

Frequently Asked Questions

What is customer relationship management software?

Customer relationship management (CRM) software is a centralized database that records, stores, analyzes contact and account-level information. This information can include communication with customers and potential customers over email, phone, or other digital communication channels.

What are the best customer relationship management (CRM) systems?

The Top Rated CRM software product include:


Some of these products are designed with specific use cases in mind. For example, Pipedrive is primarily a sales CRM and includes sales automation features like auto-populating contact information. Learn more about these products and other CRM solutions here.


What is CRM software used for?

Sales, marketing, and customer success/service teams use CRM software to help keep track of customer information and interactions. For sales, this may involve the creation of quotes, order processing, lead qualification, and sales forecasting.


For marketing, CRM activities may include lead management and nurture, landing page creation, and email marketing. For customer support, CRMs can serve as a knowledge base or ticketing system.

What are the benefits of using a CRM system?

Some of the key benefits of using a CRM system to track and store customer data include:

  • having a ‘single source of truth’ to track and store contact data
  • ability to automate repetitive tasks
  • increased visibility into marketing, sales, and customer service processes
  • ability to conduct lead scoring based on historical data
  • greater sales efficiency, leading to shorter sales cycles


To learn more about CRM systems and the benefits of adoption one, read TrustRadius’ Customer Relationship Management Software description.

How much does a CRM system cost?

There are a few examples of free CRM systems, like HubSpot CRM, or vendors that offer a free (but limited) version of their paid software. Most CRM products range from $10 up to hundreds of dollars per user per month. The more expensive plans usually have much more advanced features and increased access to customer support.