8 best CRM for freelancers in 2021 [comparison]

Are you a freelancer looking for CRM software? What is the best CRM for freelancers?

Staying organized and managing all the client’s information are always the hardest parts of freelancing. This is where CRM software can take out and be a Customer Relationship Management solution for freelancers.

CRM solution helps freelancers to manage their projects while keeping track of all their information and notes at the same time. In addition, the price of the CRM system must suit the tight budget of freelancers.

Luckily, in this article, we will compare the 8 best CRM software, based on efficiency and budget criteria, to help freelancers make their choice, and in addition, some tips in choosing the right tool.

1CRM is one of the best Cloud CRM specialists for freelancers, startups, or small businesses. It combines both sales and marketing features all in one single system and its platform is easy to use. It helps freelancers save time and create long-term relationships with their clients.

Features

Here are some CRM features of 1CRM:

• Daily task and project management
• Marketing automation: automated lead capture, automated follow-up,
• Opportunities generation
• Project and order management
• Client support
• Personalization and customization
• Email, schedule, tasks
• Mobile app on both Android and iOS

If we compare 1CRM and HubSpot, which is a huge CRM specialist in the industry, we can see that 1CRM focuses on the integration of order management, efficient client support service, and project management, all in one solution. Otherwise, HubSpot provides lots of CRM features but lacks service management and can’t offer an overall view of your project. Furthermore, if the budget is a thing that freelancers or small businesses care about, there is a huge difference between the price of 1CRM and HubSpot.

• Update problems
• Speed and UX need to be fixed

There is a free version for freelancers and small businesses. The paid plan starts from $13 per user per month, billed annually. The price can go up to $34 per user per month which is a good price tag for freelancers. Freelancers can register directly on their website.

Agile CRM is considered as the most flexible CRM tool, just like its name “Agile”. The reason is that its design is so minimal and easy to use, compared to some more robust CRM software like HubSpot or Salesforce CRM. This CRM tool is specifically designed for freelancers or small businesses who want to launch an eCommerce business.

It has a timeline board showing all the interactions you have with the application. If freelancers want more marketing features, there are even some marketing features such as marketing automation, emailing, newsletter, tracking, …

Features

Here are some CRM features of Agile CRM:

Sales:

• 360°overall project view
• Client experience management
• Schedule, notes, tasks
• Sales enablement: lead scoring, lead prospector, reporting
• Telephony

Marketing:

• Marketing automation
• Web engagement
• Social Media Marketing
• Mobile, text, call
• Integrations

Service:

• Help desk
• Client service
• Integration
• Livechat

• Lack of time tracker and cloud storage
• Sales pipelines and reporting features limited

The good news is that Agile CRM offers a free plan for 10 users and 1000 contacts but it doesn’t include the marketing features. The paid plan starts from $8.99 per month and can go up to $47.99. Freelancers can register easily right on their website.

Bitrix24 is a cloud-based CRM software, founded in April, 2012. Bitrix24 offers basic CRM tools specially designed for freelancers and small businesses. It is available in Cloud or on-premise and in 18 different languages. This platform gives freelancers and small businesses a CRM suite of communication and management to help them be more organized.

Features

Here are some CRM features of Bitrix24:

• Planning: kanban board, custom workflow, dashboard
• Workload management
• Lead acquisition
• Sales automation
• Marketing analysis
• Client support
• CRM store
• Quotes and invoices

Bitrix24 is able to organize both communication and organizational tasks for freelancers and small businesses.

• Some functions can be overwhelming
• UX needs to be improved: complex user interface
• Limited social network

Bitrix24 offers a freemium for freelancers and small businesses. The paid plan starts from $39 for 5 users per month and can go up to $159 (unlimited clients).

The greatest thing about Betterlance is that this tool helps freelancers and small businesses generate new leads every month and always be clients’ top-of-mind. To do that, they use lots of prospecting tools and match your offer to the client who needs it. Freelancers always work on their own. Luckily, Betterlance does automatically all its work so freelancers don’t need to spend hours or hire a team.

Features

Here are some CRM features of Betterlance:

• Lead generation
• Refresh the relationship with old clients
• Customer loyalty
• Follow-up automation
• Emails with different templates
• Reminders, schedule, tasks synchronization
• Contact, sales and project management

• Basic capabilities
• Lack of integration, email tracking, merge fields

The CRM basic plan is totally free and it has a free trial for 14 days. The paid plan:

• Start growing: $19 per user per month (guaranteed +5 news leads every month)
• Grow faster: $39 per user per month (guaranteed +10 news leads every month)
• Next level: $69 per user per month (guaranteed +20 news leads every month)

Capsule CRM is a simple online CRM tool that will help freelancers nurture the relationship with their clients, win more sales and give you the most insightful report. What makes Capsule CRM distinct from others is the visual overview of the whole project. Life is much easier when you can track your sales to see if you are in progress.

Capsule CRM is very easy to use with a clean and friendly interface. It allows you to:

• Share information with the customer
• Categorize information
• Manage sales pipelines
• Track all your activities
• Organize your tasks, planning
• Connect to third-party services like Mailchimp or Google Workspace or other CRM systems like Zendesk Sell

Here are some CRM features that make Capsule different from other CRM tools:

• Sales tool: sales pipelines, dashboard, visual support, opportunities filtering;
• Task management: reminders, calendars;
• Reporting: analytics, reports, data tracking;
• Contact management;
• Security and permissions: RGPD, deleted records storage, access to records;
• Connectivity: integrations with Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, a mobile application;
• Project customization.

• Basic tools and lack of some important CRM features such as conversation tracking and emailing.

There is a free plan and a 30-days free trial. The free plan has some limits such as only for 2 users, storing up to 250 contacts, 50MB of storage limits.

The paid plan:

• Professional: $18 per customer per month with 50 000 contacts and 10GB of storage per customer
• Team: $36 per customer per month with 100 000 contacts and 20GB of storage per customer
• Enterprise: $54 per customer per month with 200 000 contacts and 40GB of storage per customer

Close CRM is specially designed for freelancers and small businesses that focus on email marketing campaigns because this tool will help them generate automatically the email campaign. Close CRM also provides advanced email tracking.

The most significant advantage that Close CRM offers to their clients is the capability to manage and generate leads freely. It’s easy to use, all you need to do is choose the plan that suits you the best and use the migration tool to import your client’s sheet. Once you finish this process, you have to save a boatload of time and you are ready to go.

Features

Features of Close CRM:

• Lead management using the handy dashboard
• Built-in calling
• Performance measurement: performance rank, the number of calls and emails sent
• Customization
• Synchronization: calendar, email
• Sales, tasks, data management
• Integrations with other CRM tool

• The SMS feature is only available in the USA, Canada, Great Britain, and Australia
• Expensive price.

There isn’t a free plan. The paid plan:

• Starter: $29 per user per month
• Basic: $69 per user per month
• Professional: $99 per user per month
• Business: $149 per user per month

All plans include must-have tools.

Less Annoying CRM is a CRM specialist tool specifically designed for freelancers and small businesses. This CRM platform is recommended by thousands of businesses for its ease of use and customer support quality. All the information is stored in one place.

With Less Annoying CRM, you can:

• Organize your project in one simple platform;
• Manage contact and data;
• Sync calendar and tasks;
• Generate leads and pipelines
• Work easily with the team and clients;
• Customize;
• Integrate it with other platforms such as Mailchimp, Google Calendar;
• Have access to information on the go by using the mobile app.

• Basic reporting features
• Lack of marketing management tool

Less Annoying CRM has the most affordable price tag for freelancers and small businesses with lots of CRM features. It has a cost unique for all businesses $15 per user per month without contracts and limitations. With the price of your lunch but you can organize your work for a month. It’s a very good cost for freelancers or small businesses on a tight budget with lots of powerful CRM features in one simple platform. They also offer free client service to answer all client’s problems.

Streak is a platform that was created by a former Google product manager in 2011 with the idea of helping salespeople connect easily their work to their email box. Streak has everything you need for a CRM tool. It is deeply integrated totally in the Gmail box and works alongside other G suite applications. The goal is to create a platform where salespeople can both communicate with their leads and manage their work in one simple interface. It’s very easy to use the user interface.

It has all the important CRM features such as:

• Data, task, and project management
• View tracking
• Sales management
• Project management
• Business development
• Fundraising
• Client support

The special thing is that Streak lives inside Gmail so freelancers can easily export and import information or customize their workflow. You can easily track information when an email is opened.

• Slow
• Unable to see the location of the person who viewed the mail
• Lack of lots important CRM tools compared to other applications like Zendesk Sell or Salesforce such as segmentation, territory management, lead qualification, quotes/ estimates.

Streak provides a free version which is ideal for startups with few contacts. With its basic pack, you can still enjoy most of its important CRM features such as reports, data management, … The paid plan starts from $15 per user per month, billed annually.

There is no better CRM tool than the one that will truly satisfy your needs and suit your budget. Before choosing a CRM system, it is important for freelancers to determine their objective by answering these 3 questions:

• What are your goals?
• Who are your clients and what do they need?
• What is your budget?

After answering these questions, you will know what CRM features you need to use. Moreover, you have to pay attention to these criteria such as:

• Contact, data, and tasks management
• Lead management
• Customer experience, ease of use
• Personalization
• Information security

Furthermore, we have to take into account that freelancers must find a balance between:

• a solution powerful enough to help them work efficiently;
• and a price adapted to freelancers who don’t have the same budget as a large business.

With a powerful CRM solution, you can significantly increase your sales, efficiency and productivity. It is important to research carefully your business needs and the client before you choose a CRM tool. Find your needs and a CRM that meets those needs by considering the key factors that we have mentioned.

With this article, we hope that you can surely find the right CRM for your business. The key is knowing what you need and finding out the CRM platform that satisfies those needs when you see them.