Free CRM software: compare the model before the feature list

Free CRM software: what is actually free?

Free CRM software usually means one of three things: a permanent but limited cloud plan, source code you operate yourself, or a temporary trial of a paid product. The right choice depends less on the word “free” than on users, records, workflow limits, data movement, support, and who operates the system.

The short answer

Permanent free cloud plan

Best when a small team wants a hosted CRM quickly and can work within the provider’s current user, record, automation, and support limits.

Open-source self-hosting

Best when you can operate the application, database, upgrades, backups, and security yourself. The software license can be free while operations are not.

Free trial

Best for testing a paid product with a representative workflow. A trial is not a long-term free plan.

What to verify

Check official pricing and limit pages on the day you decide. Vendor plans, AI allowances, and included integrations change.

People

Users and permissions

Data

Records, files, import, and export

Workflow

Pipelines, tasks, and automation

Operations

Hosting, backups, upgrades, and support

Exit

Export path and migration effort

Three free CRM models

A free plan can be the sensible answer. It can also be the expensive answer if a team discovers too late that the missing capability is data export, permissions, automation, or the channel where customer conversations happen.

Current shortlist from official provider sources

The following is a starting point, not a universal ranking. The links go to the provider’s own current page so you can verify the plan before signup.

HubSpot Free CRM

HubSpot’s official free CRM page currently describes a no-expiration free account. Its pricing page publishes the current user, contact, and feature limits. It is a strong candidate when you want a hosted CRM and expect to add HubSpot products later.

Check the exact limits, which tools are “lite” versions, what carries HubSpot branding, and the cost of the first paid tier your workflow would require.

Zoho CRM Free Edition

Zoho’s official free CRM page positions the free edition for a small sales team and publishes its current user, record, workflow, storage, and integration limits. It is worth evaluating when your team already uses the Zoho ecosystem.

Check whether the free edition supports the precise automation, email, reporting, and integration path you need rather than assuming every Zoho capability is included.

Bitrix24 Free

Bitrix24’s pricing page lists a permanent free tier beside flat-price paid plans. It combines CRM with broader collaboration and work-management features.

Check the current free-plan user policy, storage, pipeline, email, telephony, automation, and app limits. The breadth can be useful, but it also makes a representative workflow test important.

Brevo Free

Brevo’s current plan guide describes a free plan with sales tools alongside marketing and messaging limits. It is relevant when email campaigns and a lightweight sales pipeline belong in one platform.

Check seats, open-deal and pipeline limits, connected mailbox and calendar allowances, automation, and whether you need a paid sales package.

CentralStationCRM Starter

CentralStationCRM’s plan page publishes a permanent Starter tier and its current users, contacts, and storage allowances. It is especially relevant for German-language teams seeking a deliberately simple hosted CRM.

Check whether the limits and optional extensions fit the next twelve months, not only today’s contact count.

SuiteCRM and other open-source options

SuiteCRM publishes an open-source CRM that you can operate yourself. Open-source access changes the cost model; it does not remove hosting, security, upgrade, backup, integration, or support work.

The same evaluation rule applies to every self-hosted option: inspect the license, release cadence, deployment documentation, upgrade path, security process, and the exact edition you plan to run.

A free trial is not a free tier

Some products offer a trial rather than a permanent free CRM. For example, Freshsales’ current pricing page presents paid plans with a trial. That can still be useful for evaluation, but it belongs in a different row of the decision.

How to evaluate a free CRM in one afternoon

1. Define one representative workflow

   Use a real but non-sensitive example: create an organization and contact, open a deal, assign a task, move the deal, and find the full history again.

2. Write down the hard limits

   Record users, records, fields, pipelines, permissions, automation, files, email, API access, support, import, and export from the official plan page.

3. Test the exit before the entry

   Confirm how you would export records and attachments. A free start is less valuable when leaving later requires manual reconstruction.

4. Price the first realistic upgrade

   Model the plan you would need after adding the next teammate, pipeline, automation, or channel. Do not compare only the zero-price row.

5. Assign operational ownership

   For self-hosting, name who owns deployment, upgrades, backups, monitoring, security response, and recovery. If nobody owns them, they are not free.

Where Customermates fits

Customermates has an AGPL-licensed community core that can be self-hosted, and a separate managed cloud product starting at €12 per user per month. Those are different operating models.

• The self-hosted edition gives you the community core under its license; you operate the stack and receive the Starter feature set.
• The managed cloud product operates the application and database service. Supported unified-inbox channels are cloud-plan capabilities from Pro.
• MCP exposes supported CRM tools to compatible external AI clients. The client and model provider remain separate.
• Hosted Mate is a cloud capability with plan allowances and environment-dependent availability; it is not a self-hosted feature.
• n8n is a separate product you run or subscribe to. Customermates publishes open interfaces and a community node rather than bundling n8n.
• Records move in and out as Excel workbooks (.xlsx): import and export run one record type at a time, within your permissions and the current view, with row caps. There is no CSV, no whole-account export, and no attachment transfer, so include migration effort in your evaluation.

Live preview

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Decision checklist

Choose a permanent free cloud plan when all of the following are true:

• the current published limits cover your next twelve months;
• the required workflow works without a paid add-on;
• permissions and support match your risk;
• export and migration are acceptable.

Choose open-source self-hosting when:

• control of deployment and source matters;
• someone owns operations and security;
• infrastructure and maintenance cost are budgeted;
• the edition provides the exact CRM workflow you need.

Choose a paid plan or trial when the missing capability—permissions, automation, support, data movement, or a customer channel—costs more to work around than the subscription.

Frequently asked questions

Next step

Shortlist two models, copy their current limits into a decision sheet, and test the same workflow in each. If operating the system yourself is important, continue with the open-source CRM guide and the self-hosting feature boundary. If a managed service is the better fit, compare cloud CRM and pricing.