Comparison

Cheapest CRM for small business in 2026: an honest roundup

Several good CRMs are free, and most paid ones are priced per user. Here is what the cheapest options include, checked on each vendor's own pricing page, and what you give up at each price.

Published November 2, 2026 · 9 min read

The cheapest CRM is free, and for a lot of small businesses a free plan is enough. The real question is what you give up at each price: users, contacts, or the channels your customers actually use to reach you. This roundup lists the cheapest CRMs a small business (a shop, a salon, a studio, a consultant) is likely to look at, with prices checked on each vendor's own pricing page in November 2026. We make one of these products, Ringvance Inbox, and we say where the others are the better choice.

Prices checked November 2026 on each vendor's own pricing page (links at the end). We list the regular price and say so when a vendor shows a limited-time offer. "Not listed" means we did not find it on the pricing page, not that the product can never do it. Plans change, so check before you buy.

The list, cheapest first

Tool	Price	Limits	Customer messages
HubSpot free CRM	$0	Up to 2 users, 1,000 contacts, no time limit	Email (Gmail, Outlook) and a Facebook Messenger integration. No texting or Instagram listed.
Zoho CRM free	$0	Up to 3 users	No texting, Facebook or Instagram messaging listed on the pricing page.
Capsule free	$0	Up to 2 users, 250 contacts, 1 pipeline	Gmail or Outlook email. No texting, Facebook or Instagram listed.
Bigin by Zoho free	$0	1 user, 500 records, 1 pipeline	Built-in phone for calls. No texting listed; WhatsApp and email start on Express.
Bigin Express	$7 per user/mo billed yearly, $9 monthly	50,000 records, 3 pipelines	Email and WhatsApp Business. Facebook and Instagram appear as lead-ad integrations, not a message inbox. No texting listed.
HubSpot Starter	$20 per seat/mo list price. New-customer offer: $7 billed yearly, $10 monthly	Removes HubSpot branding, raises limits	Adds a dedicated phone number. No texting or Instagram listed.
Ringvance Inbox	$9/mo, plus usage	Unlimited contacts	One inbox for texts, email, Facebook and Instagram. Texting needs a business number and carrier registration.
Zoho CRM Standard	$14 per user/mo billed yearly, $20 monthly	Paid step up from Zoho CRM free	No texting, Facebook or Instagram messaging listed on the pricing page.
Pipedrive Lite	$14 per seat/mo billed yearly, $24 monthly	No free plan. 14-day free trial	No texting, Facebook or Instagram messaging listed on the pricing page.
Less Annoying CRM	$15 per user/mo, one plan	No free plan. 30-day free trial	Email logging. No texting, Facebook or Instagram listed.
Capsule Starter	$18 per user/mo billed yearly	30,000 contacts, shared email mailbox	No texting, Facebook or Instagram listed.

Free: HubSpot, Zoho CRM, Capsule and Bigin

Four of the CRMs we checked have a free plan, and the differences are mostly in the limits.

HubSpot free CRM

Free for up to 2 users, no credit card, up to 1,000 contacts, with no time limit. It connects to Gmail and Outlook, includes a Facebook Messenger integration and live chat for your website (the free tools carry HubSpot branding). The most generous free plan here for a two-person business that mostly works by email.

Zoho CRM free

Zoho lists its free edition as "forever free, for 3 users", with contact management, follow-up reminders and mobile apps. The most users of any free plan we checked.

Capsule free

Up to 2 users, 250 contacts, 5 custom fields and one sales pipeline, with Gmail or Outlook connected for email. Fine for a small client list; the 250-contact cap is the tightest here.

Bigin by Zoho free

One user, 500 records (Bigin counts every pipeline entry, contact, activity and note as a record), one pipeline, a built-in phone for calls, a booking page and apps for iOS and Android. A solid single-user tool if you live in your pipeline.

What none of the free plans list: a shared inbox where business texts and Instagram messages land next to email. If your customers mostly email you, that does not matter and a free plan is the right call.

Under $10: Bigin Express, HubSpot Starter, Ringvance Inbox

Bigin Express

$7 per user per month billed yearly, or $9 month to month. Adds team pipelines, 50,000 records, email integration and WhatsApp Business, plus lead-ad integrations for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok (leads from ads, not a message inbox). Priced per user, so a three-person team pays three times the rate.

HubSpot Starter

HubSpot lists Starter at $20 per seat per month. New customers can get a limited-time price of $7 per seat billed yearly or $10 per seat month to month. Starter removes HubSpot branding and adds automation, payments, meeting scheduling and a dedicated phone number. Budget for the list price when the offer ends.

Ringvance Inbox

$9 a month, or $90/year (2 months free). Contacts, notes and a pipeline with unlimited contacts, plus one inbox where texts, email, Facebook and Instagram conversations land together, and the free LeadConnector mobile app. Among the tools we checked, it is the only one that lists texts and Instagram in the same inbox as email and Facebook.

The honest total is more than $9. Email, Facebook and Instagram work as soon as you connect them. Texting needs a local business number ($2.50 per month) and carrier registration first: a one-time $22.50 for most small businesses, plus a carrier campaign fee of $1.50 to $10.50 per month, and approval usually takes a few days. Texts are $0.015 per segment, sent or received, calls $0.025 a minute inbound and $0.035 outbound, and email $1.50 per 1,000 emails. With a number and texting, an example month (100 minutes of incoming calls, 50 minutes outgoing, 300 text segments and 200 emails) comes to $22.05 to $31.05, plus the one-time registration. Full rates are on the pricing page.

What you give up: no free plan and no trial on Inbox (cancel anytime), and no booking calendar, web forms, automations or WhatsApp. Booking, web forms and automatic follow-ups are in Ringvance Core ($97 a month, 14-day free trial).

$14 to $18 per user: Zoho CRM, Pipedrive, Less Annoying CRM, Capsule

These are full sales CRMs, all priced per user. Zoho CRM Standard is $14 per user per month billed yearly, $20 monthly. Pipedrive Lite is $14 per seat billed yearly, $24 monthly, with a 14-day free trial and no free plan. Less Annoying CRM is one plan at $15 per user per month with a 30-day free trial, unlimited contacts (it suggests staying under 50,000) and free phone and email support. Capsule Starter is $18 per user per month billed yearly and adds a shared email mailbox. For a team that sells mostly by email and phone, any of these is a stronger sales tool than a basic inbox. None of their pricing pages list texting or Instagram messages.

How to pick the cheapest one that actually fits

You need a contact list and customers mostly email you: start free. HubSpot for two people, Zoho CRM for up to three, Bigin if it is just you.
Your customers text you and message you on Instagram and Facebook: Ringvance Inbox at $9 puts those in one place with a pipeline. Plan for the texting costs above.
You run a sales team with a long pipeline: Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, Less Annoying CRM or Capsule are built for that, and worth the per-user price.
Your customers use WhatsApp: Bigin Express lists WhatsApp Business. Ringvance Inbox does not include WhatsApp.

Sources (prices checked November 2026)

Ringvance Inbox is $9 a month, no annual contract, cancel anytime, usage billed separately. It is the cheapest way we found to get texts, email, Facebook and Instagram into one inbox with a pipeline. It is not free; if you only need a contact list, a free CRM will do.