Compare CRM Pricing and Costs 2024

Most CRM software providers charge per user, per month, although advanced plans for large businesses usually come with a set price monthly for 5 to 10 users, with additional users costing extra.

In general, here’s what you can expect to pay depending on the size of your business and team:

• Small businesses/teams: $10-$30 per user, per month
• Medium businesses/teams: $60-$100 per user, per month
• Larger businesses/teams: $150 per user, per month, to $1,000+ per month

If you’re looking at these prices thinking your business can’t afford CRM, don’t worry. There are free CRM systems out there, and some are offered by the best CRM providers, such as Zoho CRM.

Scroll to find out how much you can expect to pay for CRM. And, if you’re short on time, you can use our free quotes tool to get custom prices from top CRM suppliers.

CRM Costs By Business and Team Size

The cost of CRM will vary depending on your business and team’s size, since more expensive plans come with advanced features to meet the needs of large operations, and plans are priced per user, per month.

Here are some typical CRM price ranges and who they’re suitable for:

CRM Costs by Industry

CRM pricing can vary quite a lot between industries since different teams require different levels of complexity in their processes. Software is typically split into three types: sales, marketing, and customer service.

Here’s what you can expect to pay:

CRM costs for sales

$12-$300 per user, per month

CRM for sales teams is mainly used for lead capture, communication, and conversion and tends to be priced between $12 and $300 per month. There are also many free plans for sales teams, which is fantastic for sole entrepreneurship but can be limiting once you require multiple users or higher data capacity.

If you upgrade to a mid-tier sales CRM ($50-$80 per user, per month), you have the added benefit of more advanced features such as lead scoring, and deal and quote management which helps to gain a fuller picture of the prospects in your sales pipeline.

The highest-priced plans ($100-$300 per user, per month) are intended for enterprise-level teams and instead of adding more features, will enhance the operational functionality of your system with higher data, user and contact limits.

Example providers

• SugarCRM: Sales plans range from $19-$135 per month per user, a wide range
• Zoho CRM: Compared to SugarCRM, its sales plans have a smaller range, going from $14 to $52 per month, per user.

CRM costs for customer service

$15-$300 per user, per month

CRM systems for customer service teams are mainly used for managing customer queries and complaints and for maintaining relationships with existing customers (sales and marketing CRM systems are used at an earlier stage in the sales funnel).

That being said, customer service CRM systems tend to start at a slightly higher price point than sales-focused systems, at $15-$300 per month. This is because they often have specialized integrations with VoIP phone systems, or even have built-in call and video meeting features. This makes them a feasible investment for teams of all sizes.

Example providers

• SugarCRM: Its sole customer service plans cost $80 per user, per month, while its sales plans start at $19 per user, per month
• Zendesk: customer service CRM costs between $19 and $115 per, user per month

CRM costs for marketing

$20-$15,000 per month (set user number)

CRM systems for marketing teams are where we see the biggest increase in pricing. They can range from $20-$15,000 per month, a marked price increase from sales and customer service systems. This is mainly because marketing CRM systems offer more advanced capabilities, including email marketing, multi-channel lead communication and capture.

With higher-paid plans ($1,000+ per month), you’ll typically benefit from analytics features and automation, which are particularly useful when it comes to reallocating your team’s time and resources to more valuable activities.

Example providers

• SugarCRM: Its marketing CRM plan costs $1,000 per month, much more than its other types of CRM software
• HubSpot: Its Marketing Hub plan costs $800 per month for three users, while its SalesHub plan only costs $90 per month, per user

CRM Software Pricing from Providers

Here’s what you can expect to pay for CRM software from some of the best providers on the market:

Zendesk Costs: $19 to $169 per user, per month

Prices correct as of October 2024

Zendesk specializes in affordable, effective solutions for sales and service teams.

Zendesk’s ‘Sell’ and ‘Support’ plans both start from just $19 per user, per month. However, the most expensive Sell plan – Sell Enterprise – is more expensive than its Support equivalent, Support Enterprise, at $169 per user, per month, compared to $115 per user, per month.  You can see a summary of the main features you’ll get in each pricing tier in the table above.

There used to be a $5 per user, per month Essentials Support plan, but this was retired in 2021. You may still see it mentioned – along with the Elite plan, which is also retired – but you can no longer sign up for these.

In our testing, we found that Zendesk’s all-in-one system would suit growing businesses. It’s not for nothing that Zendesk is one of the most popular CRM providers. This platform is ideal for managers, marketing teams, customer care, and sales teams looking for customizable pipelines and data tracking.

You can make use of a free Zendesk trial to help you test the waters. If you’re a startup, you can even apply for a six-month free trial.

monday CRM Costs: $12 to $28 per user, per month

Prices correct as of October 2024

At $12-$15 per user per month, the ‘Basic’ plan offers an app for iOS and Android, 5GB of storage, and whiteboard collaboration. That’s really convenient and rather rare in the scope of CRM software.

But, if your organization relies heavily on email, you’re better off going for Monday CRM’s $17-$20 per user, per month ‘Standard’ plan, because of its email integration with Gmail or Outlook.

Based on our research, we think monday CRM is the best for managers who need a lot of customization. We particularly like the separate dashboards for leads, contacts, deals, and accounts, all of which you can customize. monday CRM is better than Zendesk in this respect because you get unlimited customizable pipelines at every price point. It’s a lower-priced product that reliably tracks deal progression and client communications.

Zoho Costs: $14 to $52 per user, per month

Prices correct as of October 2024

Zoho is a powerful platform offering plenty of features across sales, email, customer support, and more. Its interface isn’t as jazzy or modern as competitors like monday CRM, but it still gets the job done.

If you want to dive in and add a pile of data to customize your database of accounts, contacts, and deals, Zoho will come into its own. For example, it has a ‘Set Up Your CRM’ checklist, and customizable layouts for accounts, leads, and contacts. These impressed us during testing.

This platform is also great value for money, with plans starting at $14 per user, per month (billed annually). It offers the strongest selection of features for the price of any CRM system we tested.

As you may already know, Zoho has as many software offerings as a millipede has legs. If you’re looking for more powerful business tools, you should take a look at our Zoho One pricing review. You may be able to score better value for money with extra functionality compared with Zoho CRM products.

Pipedrive Costs: $14 to $99 per user, per month

Prices correct as of October 2024

Pipedrive is an affordable CRM solution for businesses with several stages in their sales funnel. It’s the perfect way to guide each consumer from prospect to regular customer, especially for high-value products. Plus, it easily integrates with third-party applications to maximize efficiency. Plans start at $14 per user, per month, and go up to $99 per user, per month (billed annually).

Pipedrive has one of the easiest interfaces of any system we tested, including pre-made email campaign templates, making it a good value option.

You should be aware that you’ll only get access to phone support at the Power tier which costs $64 per user, per month (billed annually). This makes Pipedrive support more expensive than Zoho CRM, as the latter has phone support available at all price plan levels.

Can’t decide if you need Pipedrive? We’ve gone under the hood with Pipedrive vs monday CRM comparing their features, pricing, scalability, and weaknesses head-to-head.

Freshsales Costs – $0 to $59 per user, per month

Prices correct as of October 2024

If you’re a small business looking for a good, affordable CRM system without all the bells and whistles, Freshsales will be right up your street.

Get up and running in next to no time with an easy, useful dashboard, packed full of features you’ll actually use. Freshsales is popular across the board, but it’s the small businesses that sing its praises the loudest. Paid plans start at $9 per user, per month.

Freshsales is one of the best value-for-money CRM systems we tested, after Hubspot, offering a powerful platform that’s easy to use. In our testing, we found it easy to set up email campaigns, and to import contact information from a variety of sources including CSV/Excel, Google Contact, or Outlook Contact

Salesforce Costs – $25 to $500 per user, per month

Prices correct as of October 2024

Salesforce is the big name in CRM software – holding a 23% market share, which is greater than its four nearest competitors combined. If you’re part of a medium-to-large business, you’re ready to upgrade to the sharpest tools in the CRM shed.

Get advanced deal management and highly customized sales pipeline monitoring with Salesforce CRM. One of its many highlights is the huge range of integrations you can connect. With over 4,000 apps, Salesforce CRM is superior to Zoho CRM, which offers just five, 10, 15, 20, or 50 depending on the plan you opt for.

While its lower-priced tiers seem reasonable in cost (considering how big a brand it is), you’ll miss out on some key features if you pay anything beneath $330 a month, per user.

Customer service is in short supply on the Starter Suite Plan ($25 per user, per month) – you can expect a response within two days. For response within an hour, you’ll need to pay for the “Premier Success Plan”, an add-on that’s an extra 30% of your net license fee, or be on at least the Unlimited Plan at $330 per user, per month, where it’s included at no extra cost.

HubSpot Costs – $0 to $4,300 per month

Prices correct as of October 2024

HubSpot’s pricing is a little peculiar. It offers software bundles that include a range of CRM solutions (sales, marketing, customer service), which it refers to as a Customer Platform. These cost from $0-$4,300 per month, and include set numbers of users. HubSpot charges extra for additional users.

Included in the Customer Platform bundles are plans for small teams, which are much more affordable than Hubspot’s plans for large teams. There’s a Free Tools suite for individuals, which costs $0 per month, and a $15 per month, per user, Starter Customer Platform, which is a great option for small businesses and startups.

After that, prices jump to $1,170 per month (five users, and $45 per month per additional user) for the Professional Customer Platform, and $4,300 per month (seven users, and $75 per month per additional user) for the Enterprise Customer Platform. It goes without saying that these bundles are for medium to large businesses with a significant budget.

You also have the option of paying only for the type of CRM tools you need. HubSpot splits these up into “Hubs”, the three main ones being Marketing, Sales, and Service. They cost the following:

• Marketing Hub: $800/month (3 users, $45/month/additional user), or $3,600/month (5 users, $75/month/additional user)
• Sales Hub: $90 or $150 per month, per user
• Service Hub: $90 or $130 per month, per user
• Content Hub: $450/month (3 users, $45/month/additional user) or $1,500/month (5 users, $75/month/additional user)
• Operations Hub: $720/month (1 user, $45/month/additional user) or $2,000/month (1 user, $75/month/additional user)

You also have the option to “Create a bundle“. With this option, you can mix and match the software offerings listed above, as well as the pricing tiers. So, for example, you could pick the $800 marketing plan and the $90 sales plan, and nothing else.

Where HubSpot pricing is similar to other CRM software providers is that paying for the entire year with annual billing, as opposed to month-by-month, will save you 10%.

HubSpot Onboarding Fees

You will have to pay additional “onboarding” fees when you sign up to certain premium HubSpot plans, which vary from $1,000 to $3,000. This pays for a HubSpot professional to help you:

• Set goals specific to your company
• Start projects, and advise on prioritization
• Access resources to understand the software
• Integrate your existing tools with HubSpot

You can benefit from a free demo if you want to see how the premium features look in practice.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Costs – $65 to $150 per user, per month

Prices correct as of October 2024

Microsoft Sales now uses AI to leverage data from its CRM, large language models, and the Internet. It optimizes meeting creation and post-meeting actions, allowing you to create AI-assisted sales processes.

In contrast to other CRM pricing packages like HubSpot and Freshsales, the Enterprise package of Microsoft Dynamics 365 ($105 per user, per month) is not its top-priced tier. Instead, it’s a great mid-range option for business leaders looking for useful context-based sales insights. It comes with much better customization opportunities compared with the Professional package ($65 per user, per month).

The free trial is 30 days.

SugarCRM Costs – $19 per user, per month to $1,000 per month

Prices correct as of October 2024

What you’ll get from SugarCRM depends on whether you prefer cloud hosting or on-premises software. Enterprise options are available for on-premises use, which will suit businesses with a well-resourced IT infrastructure. Learn more in our guide to the best cloud-based CRMs.

All price plans support third-party add-ons and code customizations except for Essentials ($19 per user, per month).

The Sales CRM plans also have user minimums and limits, which you should be aware of:

• Essentials: Minimum three users (maximum five)
• Advanced: Minimum three users
• Premier: Minimum 10 users

SugarCRM’s 7-day free trial can help you decide whether it’s the right system for you.

Is Free CRM Software Worth it?

Free CRM plans can be worth it for very small businesses, but not for larger ones.

That’s because free CRM plans typically offer limited features and functionalities with potential usage restrictions, making them only suitable for small businesses or startups with budget constraints, or for those wanting to test a particular CRM platform’s suitability.

This doesn’t mean they’re never worth it for anything other than a startup. For example, HubSpot’s free plan is a good value option for companies looking to streamline their contact management processes without the investment of paid software.

But, ultimately, paid plans are generally worth the expense, if they’re within budget. Paid plans provide comprehensive features, advanced functionalities, and dedicated support, making them ideal for businesses with complex sales processes and large customer bases, who need ongoing support and customization options.

When it comes to CRM pricing, paid plans offer a more robust and tailored CRM experience, while free plans serve as a starting point for businesses with simpler needs.

Everything to Know About CRM Free Trials

If you aren’t sure you want to commit to a lengthy paid contract for a CRM solution, it’s possible to try before you buy. Most CRM providers offer a short free trial so that you can be sure that you’ve made the right choice.

During the free trial period, CRM providers typically offer access to all features so you can evaluate whether it meets your requirements. In the table below, you’ll learn how long each CRM provider’s free trial period is and whether or not a credit card is required.

Can you extend a free trial?

Unfortunately, often it’s not possible to extend a free trial. Sometimes it may be possible on a case-by-case basis if you run into an issue that requires a longer trial period.

How to unsubscribe to a free trial

Many service providers offer free trials without requiring you to provide your credit card information. This means that you will not be automatically charged after the trial period ends unless you explicitly sign up for a paid plan.

While you may continue to receive emails from the provider after the trial period, you don’t have to worry about unexpected charges unless otherwise stated.

How to Choose the Right CRM for Your Business

CRM systems are more complex than most business software you’ll be looking to invest in because they can do so many things. To take some stress off your shoulders, we wanted to provide you with a clear structure for making your purchasing decision.

Step one: Identify your business use case

It’s best to hone in on the features you actually need from a CRM. That means you should take time to identify business inefficiencies and workflow bottlenecks that could be resolved with a CRM. You want to make sure your investment is really going to save you money by freeing up staff hours, improving customer satisfaction, and hitting targets.

This allows you to create a realistic budget; your CRM is not simply a business cost, but a money-saving investment and revenue driver.

Step two: Factor in training time

As you’re deciding what level of complexity your CRM system should have, take time to reflect on the skillset and working culture of your business. Staff will need to be trained on how to use new CRM software, so you need to factor in that downtime. If staff turnover is high, you may want to buy a simpler CRM.

Jan Chapman, Managing Director of managed IT services provider MSP Blueshift, told Expert Market: “Most people believe they can’t handle the technology, but you don’t have to be an expert in every area. Understanding your options is a crucial first step in overcoming this alleged technological barrier.”

Many CRM providers offer training and support (though this may come at an extra cost), so take comfort in the fact you can outsource some of this process. “Don’t waste any more time thinking you have to learn everything on your own,” added Chapman.

Step three: Laser focus on CRM solutions that match your needs

Now you’re ready to approach CRM providers with a clear vision of the features you’ll need. For instance, if you know you need email marketing automation, ensure the plan you’re considering comes with that included (or added on for an affordable price).

Don’t settle for a pricey solution that misses functions you’re going to have to buy another tool for. To ensure you’re getting the best deal with the right functionalities for your business needs, it’s important to shop around.