Best CRM Software 2019

Customer relationship management (CRM) software can help you manage and grow your small business by streamlining your sales pipelines, keeping customer data organized and searchable, and providing you with insightful analytics. Today, there are more CRM options available for SMB than ever before, so whether you're looking for a robust CRM software solution, a simple one designed for very small businesses or a free version to fit your budget, there's a CRM software choice for you. Our CRM software reviews can help you find the right product for your business.

Organizations use CRM solutions for a variety of reasons. Initially, the CRM industry was geared primarily towards sales and PR people and offered a way to store customer information and track communication with those customers. Today, CRM solutions straddle several areas of business, including customer relationship management, marketing, analytics, communication, and even lightweight project management. Some CRM systems even have built in chatbot and calling capabilities, so reps can communicate with clients directly in the system.

Today, even small businesses can afford to invest in powerful customer relationship management software, thanks in large part to the proliferation of affordable SaaS solutions, which deliver lots of functionality without the fuss of a major software implementation project. Tiered pricing structures and lots of competition means SMB have their pick of easy to use CRMs that optimize the customer relationship management process, but too much choice can be overwhelming. Luckily, we did the hard-work of comparing and testing CRM products for you.

Here is a roundup of our best picks for customer relationship management software, and how we chose them. To help you find the right CRM tools for your business, check out Choosing a CRM Software: A Buyer's Guide, which answers questions like "what is CRM software?" and outlines the best approach for quick and easy adoption.

The battle for SMB loyalty is fierce in the CRM industry and that will continue throughout 2019. As major players try to win small businesses with more integrations for broadly used apps, smaller SaaS companies will fight to compete by adding valuable functionality like click to call, live dashboards and collaboration tools. Salesforce is likely to stay at the top with the majority of market share, but as the CRM giant continues to expand and swallow up smaller companies the diverse CRM landscape may become less so.

When writing our CRM reviews we payed careful attention to pricing. Most customer relationship management software is priced out per person, per month, but companies typically opt for annual billing to simplify the payment process. With that in mind, these are the general tiers you can expect from CRM pricing.

• $10 to $15: Inexpensive CRM products are a great option for tiny businesses with modest needs, and there are many services that charge between $10 and $15 per user, per month. Affordable systems like these typically have very quick implementation times and don't usually require much in house tech support to get things up and running. If you want a fast soultion with minimal hassle this price range is a great place to start, just make sure the storage options are robust enough to meet your needs; low cost CRMs usually have caps on the number of records they can store.
• $20 to $40: For additional features and a broader range of integrations with third party systems, a CRM priced in the $20 to $40 range will likely meet your needs. The majority of CRM software we reviewed falls into this category because it's designed to meet the needs of the SMB set. As you peruse options in this price range, however, make sure you check for any limitations on the number of users supported and storage caps that could force you to upgrade to higher priced tiers in the future.
• $50 to $75: Customer relationship management software that falls in the $50 to $75 range per user is typically inteded primarily for enterprise use. Such systems often include options to integrate with legacy systems and allow for greater customization than other CRMs. As powerful as they are, systems like these are not necessary for most small businesses.
• $250 or more: The highest end CRM systems often feature packages that include extensive training, customization, and implementation services. Additionally, many of the most expensive CRMs are priced so high because they are not cloud services and can be hosted locally, which is a boon for organizations with unique security needs. 

It's important to note that most CRM services offer free trial periods for new customers, so you can test drive the system of your choice without the risk of sinking a lot of money into a product that doesn't work for you.

What are some examples of CRM Software? 

Customer relationship management (CRM) software refers to any tech solution that helps businesses manage communication with current and potential clients. Some examples of leaders in the CRM software industry include Salesforce, Zoho, HubSpot and Sugar CRM. 

What makes a CRM software "open source"? 

When a software claims to be open source, it typically means that some or all of the source code is available to users for review and modification. Developers and programmers that want the ability to highly customize their CRM software often opt for open source solutions.    

What are the differences between ERP and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software? 

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software has some overlap with customer relationship management (CRM) software, so it's understandable that there's frequent confusion regarding the difference between ERPs and CRMs. ERP software is intended to manage nearly every aspect of a business' operations, from accounting and human resources to inventory and analytics and as such CRM capabilities are often built into ERP software. CRM software focuses specifically on managing customer information, logging interactions with clients, and storing sales related lead details.