Best cloud CRM software solutions

What is a cloud CRM?

Customer Relationship Management, or CRM, is a specialized software designed to manage all of your customer information. A cloud CRM is hosted and maintained by the software provider on the cloud.

This type of business model is called Software as a Service, or SaaS, and it’s an increasingly popular way for companies to leverage business tools and solutions.

Top 15 cloud-based CRM software tools

There are many companies offering cloud based CRM solutions. Let’s take a look at the 15 best solutions available in the market right now.

1. Freshsales

2. Hubspot

3. Bigin by Zoho

4. Pipefy

5. Bitrix24

6. Zoho

7. Microsoft Dynamics 365

8. EngageBay

9. Less Annoying CRM

10. Insightly

11. Salesforce Sales Cloud

12. ClickUp

13. Pipedrive

14. Copper

15. Apptivo

Freshsales

Freshsales is a powerful sales CRM platform with an intuitive interface that allows your team to perform several tasks right from the CRM, including tracking leads in your sales pipeline, monitoring metrics, onboarding new users, and contacting customers.

Key features

• 360° view of contacts in Freshsales, empowers you to nurture leads and provide personalized engagement along every step of the customer journey. The intuitive interface also makes it easy to access customer data and offers vital context to drive customer experience.

• AI-powered insights provide your sales teams with the vital information they need at the right time to impress leads and close sales.

• Analytics and reporting put the power of data at your fingertips. Create custom reports unique to your industry and individual business that help make the correct decisions.

• Customizable interface allows you to make this CRM your own without an IT team. Choose what you want to show on your dashboards with the help of custom fields, modules, and forms. Leverage productivity tools like customized workflows to optimize your sales process.

• Effective security means you don’t have to worry about your data or your customer’s data. Freshsales uses robust systems and data safeguards to keep data safe.

• Android and iOS mobile apps put your CRM in your pocket wherever you go. And if you’re out of range, Freshsales allows you to work offline and sync when you’re back at the office.

• Multichannel capabilities bring all customer interactions into one unified space for seamless customer experiences. That way, you can connect with customers anywhere, from the telephone to social media to text messages.

• Personalized support on every plan via phone, email, chat, and self-service channels, means you’re never on your own.

Pros and cons of Freshsales

With many features, Freshsales CRM provides everything you need to manage your lead and client data, personalize interactions, and improve ROI. And they offer all of it at competitive rates–starting with a free forever plan.

With so many features, you may feel intimidated by the scope of what’s possible. But don’t worry. Freshworks is very user-friendly, and its customer service team will ensure you get value out of your investment.

Pricing

• Free: $0 for 3 users

• Growth: Starting at $9 per user per month

• Pro: Starting at $39 per user per month

• Enterprise: Starting at $5 per user per month

HubSpot

Features

• Robust, free, comprehensive CRM to get you started and powerful paid plans if you outgrow the free version.

• Mobile-friendly, so you can leverage the value of your CRM wherever you are.

• Omnichannel capabilities allow you to meet your leads and customers where they are.

Pros and cons of Hubspot

Hubspot has long been a leader in inbound marketing, and its CRM is the cornerstone of its solutions. Their tools are intuitive, comprehensive, and backed by quality customer service at the paid level.

However, the free plan has modest limits on users, contacts, records, and more. You may not have enough room for everything you want to include. The paid plans have much more generous limits but also come with a hefty price tag.

Pricing

• Free: $0

• Starter: Starts at $18 per month

• Professional: Starts at $450 per month

• Enterprise: Starts at $1200 per month

Bigin by Zoho

Features

• Multichannel access is available for telephony, email, Twitter, WhatsApp, and video conferencing tools.

• Workflow automation for routine tasks to streamline your processes and increase productivity.

• Customizable features allow you to design your software to suit your business.

Pros and cons of Bigin

Bigin is the basic CRM by Zoho. This cloud-based CRM solution aims to replace spreadsheets for small businesses. Customers enjoy a full range of CRM tools for sales teams and pipeline management tools for the entire customer journey.

This CRM is designed for small businesses, which makes it ideal if you plan to stay small. However, if you are on a path toward growth, you may want a CRM you can take with you on that journey. However, Bigin’s cloud-based CRM has a very low price point, making it highly attractive to budget-conscious businesses.

Pricing

• Free: $0

• Express: Starting at $7 per user per month

• Premier: Starting at $12 per user per month

Pipefy

Features

• No-code, easy-to-build workflows to streamline your business processes and work more effectively and efficiently.

• Seamless integration with your entire tech stack so you can truly leverage your existing tools.

• Centralized contact management tools to drive workflows and personalize service across channels.

Pros and cons of Pipefy

Pipefy is an AI-driven business automation platform with a cloud CRM. It excels in automating systems and workflows that are tailor-made for your company. However, if you just need a CRM, this might be more powerful than you are looking for.

If you aren’t sure if Pipefy is for you, try out their free plan for up to five users. However, if you need user roles, those are only available at the highest level, putting it out of range for many businesses.

Pricing

• Starter: $0

• Business: Starting at $26 per user per month

• Enterprise: Custom pricing

• Unlimited: Custom pricing

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Bitrix24

Features

• Robust fully mobile version leverages the cloud to put your CRM in your pocket.

• Lead management tools allow you to create campaigns, build web forms, capture contact information via phone, email, and other channels, and score leads.

• Pipeline management tools that use analytics, rules, and triggers to help you track potential clients through their buyer journey.

Pros and cons of Bitrix24

Bitrix24’s solution is a suite of business tools designed to replace all of your software, including a cloud CRM application. The CRM includes a fully mobile version, omnichannel capability, and more. The CRM itself is fully integrated with its 30+ other tools. 

However, there are only limited integrations available in the free plan. Bitrix24 also offers flat-fee rather than per-user pricing. While some businesses prefer this, if you want the full suite of tools and have a small team, this might not be a great fit.

Pricing

• Free: $0

• Basic: Starting at $49.99 per month

• Standard: Starting at $99 per month

• Enterprise: Starting at $199 per month

Microsoft Dynamics 365

Features

• Automated processes perform basic menial tasks so your sales reps can focus on connecting with leads.

• CRM keeps all lead and customer information in one place to give your sales team a full picture of each contact so they can prioritize and personalize interactions.

• Microsoft-level security to ensure your data is always safe, wherever you are.

Pros and cons of Microsoft Dynamics 365

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is an AI-powered sales solution that leverages automation to make your sales team more streamlined and efficient. They offer a wide variety of tools to manage and empower sales.

However, the platform can be difficult to learn, resulting in a longer onboarding period and more human error. In addition, pricing is higher than that of many competitors.

Pricing

• Sales Professional: First user starting at $65 per month, subsequent qualified users at $20 per user per month

• Sales Enterprise: First user starting at $95 per month, subsequent qualified users at $20 per user per month

• Sales Premium: Starting at $135 per user per month

• Microsoft Relationship Sales: Starting at $162 per user per month

EngageBay

Features

• Live chat capabilities are available to provide on-the-spot answers to leads even on the free plan.

• Sales automation, such as lead scoring, keeps your sales team functioning at a high level.

• Real-time data means you and your teams always have the most up-to-date lead and customer data. 

Pros and cons of EngageBay

EngageBay markets itself as an all-in-one sales, marketing, and service suite that includes a CRM. As a suite, you get a wide variety of tools, and everything integrates to give you a full picture of each lead and client.

You can get their CRM for free, which is great for companies on a budget. However, the free plan only allows for 250 contacts and has limited capabilities. You may find yourself needing a paid plan for key features like email syncing.

Pricing

• Free: $0

• Basic: Starting at $12.74 per user per month

• Growth: Starting at $42.49 per user per month

• Pro: Starting at $84.89 per user per month

Less Annoying CRM

Features

• Everything-on-one-screen contact information so you can easily access what you need to know.

• Task management tools such as task lists to both connect your team and make you more productive.

• Truly easy customization that doesn’t require an IT team.

Pros and cons of Less Annoying CRM

Less Annoying CRM was created for small businesses to give them an easy, straightforward way to manage and customer engagement Their goals are simplicity and affordability, which means almost no learning curve at a predictable price.

LACRM is itself small and family-owned, so they understand the small businesses they serve. However, their solution does lack some of the more advanced features that bigger companies offer, such as AI-driven automation and a mobile app. And although they do offer a generous free trial period, they don’t have a free forever plan.

Pricing

• 30-day free trial period

• $15 per user per month

Insightly

Features

• Lead and contact management tools are available at every plan.

• Workflow and process automation at the higher plans so your sales team can reach peak efficiency.

• Mobile tools are available for all plans so that you can leverage the advantage of their cloud CRM.

Pros and cons of Insightly

Insightly’s CRM is feature-rich and does pretty much anything you would need. It’s also built to grow with you so you can plan for the long haul. However, you will need to be on the paid plans to accommodate the number of records you’ll need!

Although they do offer a free plan, its offerings are limited. Their lowest-priced paid plan is more expensive than many competitors. In addition, none of the plans offer telephony.

Pricing

• Free: $0

• Plus: Starting at $29 per user per month

• Professional: Starting at $49 per user per month

• Enterprise: Starting at $99 per user per month

Salesforce Sales Cloud

Features

• Very advanced reporting and analytics, including the ability to create custom reports to drill down into the information you need.

• A high level of customization is possible so you can adapt the software to very specific needs and unusual pipelines.

• AI-driven features and insights help you leverage the power of the information stored in your CRM.

Pros and cons of Salesforce Sales Cloud

As its name implies, Sales Cloud is the cloud sales CRM solution by Salesforce, the pioneer in Software as a Service. It integrates well with all of Salesforce’s solutions and offers a host of third-party integrations.

This is a very feature-rich, powerful platform, and it does have a much steeper learning curve than its competitors. It can be difficult for businesses without an IT team to get it set up to suit your business. It’s also very pricey for its advanced features.

Pricing

• Starter: Starting at $25 per user per month

• Professional: Starting at $80 per user per month

• Enterprise: Starting at $165 per user per month

• Unlimited: Starting at $330 per user per month

• Unlimited+: Starting at $500 per user per month

ClickUp

Features

• Information management tools with more than ten views keep all of your information in one place and present it in a way that suits your business.

• Integrated with robust project management tools that your entire company can access and benefit from.

• Reporting capabilities and more than 50 dashboard widgets to help you visualize your data and stay on track.

Pros and cons of ClickUp

ClickUp is a project management platform that can be used as a CRM using its customizable CRM template option. As a project management platform, it provides tools for more than just your sales team and allows you to visualize where you are on key initiatives.

However, the CRM isn’t the focus for Clickup, so you may find it to be lighter on features. But if you also need wide-ranging product management support, this can be a great option. It offers a free option along with other very reasonably priced paid plans.

Pricing

• Free: $0

• Unlimited: $7 per user per month

• Business: $12 per user per month

• Enterprise: Custom pricing

Pipedrive

Features

• Lead generation tools including a chatbot for quick and automatic interaction with potential leads on your website.

• Automation to reduce menial and time-consuming tasks from those as basic as administrative tasks to more complex tasks like lead assignment.

• A mobile app so you can access your cloud CRM data from your devices on the go.

Pros and cons of Pipedrive

Pipedrive focuses on sales pipelines and deals, making it a great tool for sales teams. With its variety of automation and integrations, you can truly take your team to the next level. In addition, machine learning is available for all pricing tiers.

Pipedrive offers five different plans so it can appeal to a wide variety of businesses and budgets. However, they don’t offer a free plan, so if you want to try it out, you’re limited to their 14-day free trial. And phone support is limited to the top tiers, so you may find it difficult to access the help you need.

Pricing

• Essential: Starting at $14.90 per user per month

• Advanced: Starting at $27.90 per user per month

• Professional: Starting at $49.90 per user per month

• Power: Starting at $64.90 per user per month

• Enterprise: Starting at $99 per user per month

Copper

Features

• Fully integrated with Google Workspace for seamless functionality and ease of use.

• Powerful contact management tools, including auto-enrich that tracks down missing client information from the internet so you don’t have to.

• Robust email tools allow you to capture data, work from templates, and run campaigns and drip sequences.

Pros and cons of Copper

The strength of Copper is its deep integration with Google Workspace. It allows you to organize contacts, track deals, and more all in your existing workspace. If you’re already using that platform, your learning curve with Copper will be practically non-existent.

However, if you're not on Google Workspace, this may not be the CRM for you. There are plenty of other options, many of which are easy to use and offer the same features without also investing in Google Workspace.

Pricing

• Basic: Starting at $25 per user per month

• Professional: Starting at $59 per user per month

• Business: Starting at $119 per user per month

Apptivo

Features

• Capture and assign leads with Apptivo’s lead management tools built right into the CRM.

• No-code customization allows you to make this CRM exactly what you want without an IT team.

• Seamless integration with other apps so you can build a tech stack that suits your needs.

Pros and cons of Apptivo

Apptivo offers a CRM solution that handles the entire buyer’s journey and integrates with its other products. Their pricing is very reasonable for the value you get, and 24/7 customer support is included with every plan.

However, with robust offerings comes a steeper learning curve and features you may not need. Competitors offer free plans for businesses that don’t need the full spectrum of offerings.

Pricing

• Lite: Starting at $10 per user per month

• Premium: Starting at $15 per user per month

• Ultimate: Starting at $25 per user per month

• Enterprise: Custom pricing

Cloud-based CRM systems offer a wide variety of benefits

• No server maintenance is required. Cloud CRMs

• Access from anywhere

• Low up-front costs This keeps start-up costs low for you and allows you to get started fast.

Cloud CRM vs. On-premise CRM

Where there are advantages to both cloud-based and on-premise CRMs, there are some key differences between the two approaches.

Cloud CRM

With cloud CRM, the servers are owned and maintained by the software provider. In general, you do not need a dedicated IT person. All you need to use their software is an internet connection and an appropriate device. That means you can access what you need from anywhere. 

Updates and fixes happen automatically and security is handled by the software provider. So you don’t need to spend time and resources ensuring the safety of your data.

Cloud CRMs typically offer Integrations with other business tools and software. They also tend to be highly scalable, and most come with up-time guarantees in the SLA.

On-premise CRMs

An on-premise CRM is a CRM situated in-house. With an on-premise system, you maintain your servers and hardware and are responsible for providing security and installing the software, as well as for any upgrades and fixes along the way. This often necessitates having your IT team.

Because of the investment in hardware and personnel, on-premise CRMs typically have higher up-front costs.

You are limited by the size of your servers, so it is more difficult and more costly to scale up as your needs increase.

How to choose the best CRM for your business

There are many choices for cloud CRMs in today’s business landscape. The first step to choosing the right one for you is to identify your needs and budget.

Then, research available tools. This article was a great place to start!

If you’re unsure what you need, we recommend a feature-rich but cost-effective choice like Freshsales from Freshworks. It has everything you need to get started and room to grow without breaking the bank.

Get started with a cloud CRM today

Going into 2024, many businesses are choosing the ease, security, and lower costs of a cloud CRM.