5 tools compared
Best CRM software
Pipeline, contact history, forecasting and whatever your reps will actually keep up to date.
The field
Every CRM worth considering
Cheapest first. Ranked properly once you tell us about your team.
Pipedrive
Pipeline-first CRM that small sales teams keep up to date because it is quick.
$24
Attio
A data-model-first CRM you shape around how your business actually works.
$34 · free tier
Close
CRM with calling, SMS and sequences built in, aimed at outbound teams.
$49
HubSpot
CRM with marketing, support and CMS attached, strong on the free tier.
$90 · free tier
Salesforce
The enterprise CRM standard: infinitely configurable, and priced accordingly.
$165
Prices are unverified estimates — useful for comparing orders of magnitude, not for budgeting. Confirm the current figure with the vendor before you commit to anything.
Feature matrix
What each CRM can do
Generated from the dimensions this category is compared on, so it stays true as the catalogue changes. Blank means we have not established it either way.
| Capability | Attio | Close | HubSpot | Pipedrive | Salesforce |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | Inbound, Account management | Outbound | Inbound, Account management | Outbound, Account management | Inbound, Outbound, Account management |
| Forecasting | Basic | Basic | Basic | Basic | Board-grade |
| Dialler and SMS included | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Marketing tools included | No | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Custom data model | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| SAML single sign-onAvailable on some tier — check which, it is usually the expensive one. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SOC 2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| EU data residency | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | No | No | No | No | No |
| Open source | No | No | No | No | No |
| Public API | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Native mobile apps | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
How to choose
The questions that actually decide a CRM
Everyone asks about price and seat count. These are the ones specific to this category — and the ones our questionnaire asks you.
- 01
How do you sell?
Inbound — leads come to us · Outbound — calls and sequences · Account management and renewals · A mix of all three
- 02
How many people are in sales?
1 to 5 · 6 to 20 · 21 to 100 · More than 100
- 03
What matters most?
Reps will actually keep it updated · Forecasting we can defend to the board · It fits our unusual process · Sales and marketing in one place
The trade-offs
What each one asks you to accept
No tool here is strictly better than the others. These are the prices of admission.
Reporting and forecasting are basic once you pass roughly twenty reps.
Younger product — the third-party ecosystem is still thin.
Specialised for outbound sales; a poor fit for account or partner management.
Contact-tier pricing on the marketing side escalates sharply.
Total cost is licence plus admin plus consultants — rarely under triple the sticker.
10 comparisons
Head to head
If you have narrowed it to two.
Questions
Choosing a CRM
What is the best CRM?
There is no single best one, and any page that names one without asking about your team is guessing. The credible options are Attio, Close, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce. Which fits depends on the answers to the 3 questions this category turns on, plus your team size and budget — our questionnaire scores all 5 against them in about three minutes.
Is there a free CRM?
Attio, HubSpot all have a free tier. The limits differ sharply though — usually on history, seat count, or exactly the features that pass a security review. Check what the free tier withholds before you plan around it.
How much should we expect to pay for a CRM?
Median list price across the tools we cover is about $30 per seat per month, which is roughly $18,000 a year for 50 people. Real bills land above that once you add the tier that includes single sign-on, and again once add-ons appear.
When is it worth switching CRM?
When the problem is a capability the current tool does not have — a price that scales the wrong way, a compliance control it cannot enforce, an integration that does not exist. When the problem is how your team uses the tool, a new one reproduces the same mess in a fresh interface within six months, and you will have paid for the privilege.
What should we compare CRMs on?
The dimensions that actually separate them: built for, forecasting, dialler and sms included, marketing tools included, custom data model. Price matters, but it is rarely the thing that decides whether a tool survives contact with your team.