Software Advice offers objective, independent research and verified user reviews. When our advisors match you to a software provider, we may earn a referral fee.
Software Advice lists all providers across its website—not just those that pay us—so that users can make informed purchase decisions. Users can talk to our advisors for free to receive software recommendations matching their needs. Software providers pay us for sponsored profiles to reach users interested in their products.
Software Advice carefully verified over 2 million reviews to bring you authentic software experiences from real users. Our human moderators verify that reviewers are real people and that reviews are authentic. They use leading tech to analyze text quality and to detect plagiarism and generative AI.
Researchers at Software Advice use a mix of verified reviews, independent research, and objective methodologies to bring you selection and ranking information you can trust. While we may earn a referral fee when you visit a provider through our links or talk to an advisor, this has no influence on our research or methodology.
Showing 1 - 25 of 607 products
Sort by
Supercharge your sales process with Sales Hub, a powerful and easy-to-use sales CRM that includes sales engagement tools, configure-price-quote (CPQ) functionality, and robust sales analytics and reporting for growing teams. Optimize your sales process wit...Read more about HubSpot Sales Hub
recommendations
Claritysoft is a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) solution designed for midsize and large enterprise businesses. It offers sales automation, customer service and support, marketing automation and social CRM within a single solution. Key f...Read more about Claritysoft CRM
recommendations
Sales Cloud is equipped with customer relationship management (CRM) functionality that encompasses lead management, marketing automation and contact management solutions. It assists businesses in overseeing customer accounts, monitoring sales leads, execut...Read more about Salesforce Sales Cloud
recommendations
Shape's cloud-based solution offers tools designed to manage online marketing and promotions, capture leads from online sources, organize sales pipelines, connect with customers and automate everyday tasks. Shape is suitable for businesses in industries su...Read more about Shape
recommendations
Insightly is the modern, affordable CRM that teams love. It’s easy to use, simple to customize, and scales with companies as they grow, solving common pain points that legacy CRMs can't. Insightly helps teams build and convert sales pipeline, increase prod...Read more about Insightly
recommendations
Top Producer is an all-in-one business management platform designed specifically for real estate agents and teams. Grow your database and convert more leads with cutting-edge lead generation and marketing automation. Smart follow-up technology helps to gen...Read more about TOP PRODUCER
recommendations
SalesNOW by Interchange Solutions Inc. is a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) and sales force automation solution that allows sales teams, management and executives to manage aspects of sales cycle including contact, deal, case and lead ma...Read more about SalesNOW
recommendations
LeadSquared is a cloud-based marketing automation and customer relationship management (CRM) solution for businesses of all sizes. It serves clients in industries such as finance, e-commerce, education, health and wellness, marketing, real estate, software...Read more about LeadSquared
recommendations
Boomtown provides marketing and sales automation solutions for the REAL ESTATE industry. Through Boomtown, brokers can select and customize a lead generation website, track and nurture leads, and monitor team success and sales. The application is SaaS base...Read more about BoomTown
recommendations
BNTouch Mortgage CRM is a fully integrated digital mortgage system, CRM, marketing, and POS tool offering a comprehensive mortgage business growth platform for loan officers and mortgage companies. BNTouch Mortgage CRM includes an extensive suite of f...Read more about BNTouch Mortgage CRM
recommendations
FunnelMaker is a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) solution designed for businesses of all sizes. The solution offers a user dashboard and helps in automatic sales tracking, email tracking and opportunity management. FunnelMaker offer...Read more about FunnelMaker
recommendations
Workbooks offers growing companies a SaaS platform to run their business and engage with their customers – at an affordable price. Workbooks designs, develops and implements its own software, which is targeted specifically at mid-market organizations. ...Read more about Workbooks
recommendations
Creatio CRM is an all-in-one platform that helps businesses manage the customer and revenue processes. It serves a variety of industries such as banking, credit unions, insurance, and telecommunications. The platform provides a unified CRM experience, enab...Read more about Creatio CRM
recommendations
With Clio, legal professionals can simplify every aspect of their law firm operations, from billing to communication, document management, client intake, and beyond. The software aims to provide everything a law firm needs in one centralized platform, ensu...Read more about Clio
recommendations
Pipeliner has revolutionized CRM with our unique visual interface, no-code workflow automation engine, and instant, dynamic insights and reporting. This CRM provides both salespeople and sales management with many ways of displaying and analyzing sales ...Read more about Pipeliner CRM
recommendations
Designed and developed exclusively for student-specialist marketers and recruiters, Akero, built by Net Natives, helps you improve marketing performance and increase student enrollments. It’s an easy-to-use platform that sits as an end-to-end solution or...Read more about Akero
recommendations
MortgageHalo from Halo Programs is a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) solution designed for the residential mortgage industry. It includes automated marketing on behalf of loan officers to their prospects, referral partners and borrowers....Read more about MortgageHalo
recommendations
Zendesk is a cloud-based help desk management solution offering customizable tools to build customer service portal, knowledge base and online communities. The solution offers a customizable front-end portal, live chat features and integration with applica...Read more about Zendesk Suite
recommendations
LeadMaster is a SaaS-based all-in-one lead management solution that offers capabilities to capture, track and follow up with leads. The solution comprises of integrated modules for sales force automation, customer relationship management, marketing automat...Read more about LeadMaster
recommendations
DealerCenter is a cloud-based dealer management system designed to help small to large businesses manage processes related to accounting, customer relationships, auctions, inventory, digital marketing and more. The centralized platform allows users to inte...Read more about DealerCenter
Automotive CRM is a comprehensive solution for independent car dealers. It is built to help dealerships manage existing and prospective customers, track sales team activities, monitor appointments, see customer status, plus more. Automotive CRM uses a lead...Read more about AutoManager
Less Annoying CRM is a contact management solution designed for small businesses. It helps them manage contacts, track leads, and stay on top of follow-ups. The platform offers several key features to help small businesses stay organized and productive. It...Read more about Less Annoying CRM
Flowlu is a cloud-based, all-in-one business management solution designed for teams of all sizes and industries. Whether you're managing projects, tracking sales, or handling finances, Flowlu brings everything together in a single, intuitive platform. Pow...Read more about Flowlu
LiveAgent is an online Help Desk solution for eCommerce businesses at the small and midsize levels. The platform offers live chat application, ticket management, online self-service portals and change and license management, all as either in-suite or stand...Read more about LiveAgent
Bigin by Zoho CRM is a pipeline-centric CRM that is built and priced for small businesses. Minimal by design and focused on greater ease-of-use, Bigin brings spreadsheet-like simplicity to CRM and allows anyone to get started in under 30 minutes without an...Read more about Bigin by Zoho CRM
Software Advice uses reviews from real software users to highlight the top-rated CRM for Startups products in North America.
Learn how products are chosen“Usability” includes user ratings for Functionality and Ease of Use.
“Customer Satisfaction” includes user ratings for Customer Support, Likelihood to Recommend and Value for Money.
Reviews analysis period: The reviews analysis period spans two years and ends the 15th of the month prior to publication.
This detailed guide will help you find and buy the right crm for startups software for you and your business.
Last Updated on January 27, 2025Startups—they're not just the youngest members of the business world. Their new ideas and limitless potential draw a lot of attention. And while it's easy to poke fun at their button-down cultures, the truth is: startups regularly face some of the business world's toughest and most high-stakes decisions. Fortune 500 companies rarely encounter make-or-break decisions. For a startup, every decision can be make or break.
The selection of a CRM system is one of the most important decisions a startup can make. It's also one of the most challenging. This Buyer's Guide helps startups meet these challenges by answering and explaining the following:
A Comparison of Top CRM for Startups Solutions
Common Features of CRM for Startups
Deployment and Purchasing Options for CRM for Startups
CRM software comes in more shapes and sizes than probably any other genre of enterprise software. Aside from all-purpose CRM, there's CRM for small businesses, CRM specifically for retail establishments, for banks, insurance agencies and even casinos. That's a lot to consider!
But what about startups? That's where things get complicated. It's easy to see how banks, insurance agencies and casinos would have different requirements for CRM. After all, their Cs (customers) are different, and their Rs (relationship with their customers) are different, so it's no surprise that they'd be managed differently as well.
A handful of vendors representing the tip of the CRM iceberg
But "startup" is a stage of growth, not an industry vertical. So unlike with banking and insurance, there's no way to generalize about the typical startup customer or a startup's typical relationship with a customer. Those things don't exist.
Instead, CRM for startups is software that caters to the particular needs of companies in the early stages of growth. Those particular needs can be generalized, so let's do that! Startups generally do best with CRM software that:
Prioritizes usability with intuitive UIs and workflows, allowing staff to get up to speed with minimal training or interruption
Is highly scalable, working equally well with a dozen or a thousand customers
Is flexible enough (through customizations, modules or add-ons) to pivot when the startup pivots and support changes in company strategy and policy (rather than hinder them)
With those priorities in mind, let's look now at some specific functionality.
Top Infusionsoft Comparisons | Top Marketo Comparisons | Top Pipedrive Comparisons |
Infusionsoft vs. Ontraport Infusionsoft vs. HubSpot Infusionsoft vs. Salesforce | Marketo vs. Eloqua | Pipedrive vs. Zoho Pipedrive vs. Base Pipedrive vs. Salesforce |
Despite the great variation among CRM products, most will include some or all of the following core applications:
Customer database | Central repository that stores customer information, such as contact details and any records (e.g., purchase orders, RFPs) associated with that customer's account. |
Interaction tracking | Tracks customer interactions (usually across multiple channels) providing records of past interactions and reminders (scheduled or triggered) for following up. |
Workflow automation | Reduces the number of steps required for specific and commonly repeated processes, saving employees time and reducing errors and omissions. |
Reporting and analytics | CRM platforms typically provide many basic data visualization tools, such as graphic reports (for example, of sales activity) and real-time dashboards to monitor KPIs and metrics. |
Generally speaking, CRM software is used by any and all of a company's customer-facing departments, mainly sales, marketing and customer service. So, in addition to the core functions listed above, here are some other applications that can be included with CRM, organized by department:
Marketing: Including email marketing, event marketing, campaign management. Can also include tools for lead management, such as lead scoring and lead nurturing.
Sales: Including contact and opportunity management, workflow automation, territory management, sales forecasting, pipeline analysis and reporting.
Customer service: Including tools for trouble ticketing, knowledge management and knowledge base systems, self-service solutions, customer experience, live chat and opinion and feedback surveys.
Startups rely on CRM software to provide the customer experiences that improve metrics such as customer acquisition and churn rates. If those metrics don't turn heads, then the startup risks losing financial backing. A startup's success with a CRM implementation comes down to how well it can select and use the tools listed above to improve their key metrics.
Software as a Service, or SaaS, is cloud-based software, meaning the software is hosted remotely. Compared to the traditional model of on-premise deployment—in which the software is installed on the business's own servers—SaaS is the more popular choice for most startups. It offers several benefits, including:
Much lower initial cost. SaaS CRM is typically priced on a per user basis. So if your startup is young and small and will only have two employees using the CRM, then the company only pays for two licenses, and more can be added as the company grows.
Simpler IT infrastructure. On-premise CRM installations can require a company to purchase additional hardware (servers, networking equipment). With SaaS, the software can be used from any computer with internet access.
Easier maintenance and security. On-premise software needs to be manually updated, while SaaS gets updated by the vendor behind the scenes. SaaS CRM platforms usually have cutting-edge IT security protocols built into the platform, but the IT security for on-premise software is the responsibility of the business itself.
Aside from those deployment options, CRM for startups usually offers several different purchasing choices. As mentioned above, SaaS is usually priced on a per user basis. There are also various freemium, free and open source and free trial options:
A CRM purchase is one of the most important decisions a company can make—it affects many of the most important moving pieces of business in the modern world. It not only helps determine how customers perceive a particular company (i.e., the customer experience), it also determines how efficiently and effectively customer-facing employees carry out their roles.
With all this in mind, startups are encouraged to choose their CRM carefully. Take advantage of the online demonstrations vendors offer, talk to the employees who will use it and consider trying the free trials offered by the vendors on your shortlist.
Of course if you need any help starting your search, completing your shortlist or setting up demonstrations or free trials, give our advisors a call at: (844) 852-3639.