The purpose of this doc is to have comprehensive Market research of CRM systems for the following reasons:
- To know what
elseis available and why people/teams would want to use the product/service. - To understand what features are considered essential vs. "nice to have".
- Test UX of the widest possible range of products/services to determine which is most intuitive/user-friendly.
| Product/Service Name | Open/Closed Source | Cost | Pricing Model | API | UX | Keyboard Shortcuts | Automation | Kanban / Drag+Drop | Custom Fields/Data | Custom Workflow | Telephony Integration | | ------------- |:-------------:| ----- | --- |:--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Active Campaign | Closed | Flat $99/month for 2.5k contacts (25 users) | 4 Tiers: Lite: 39/mo (3 users), Plus: $99/mo (25 u), Professional: $129/mo (50 u) & "Enterprise": $229/mo (ultd. users) | REST https://www.activecampaign.com/api | Kanban | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | | Agile CRM | Closed | $14.99/user/month ($8.99/u/m paid annually) | 3 Tiers: Starter: $14.99/u/m, "Regular": $49.99/u/m & "Enterprise": $79.99/u/m | REST https://www.agilecrm.com/api | Kanban | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Close.io | Closed | $65/user/month | 3 Tiers: Basic: $65/u/m, "Professional": $110/u/m & Business: $165/u/m | REST https://close.io/api | "Inbox" | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | | Base CRM | Closed | $45/user/month | 3 Tiers: Starter: $45/u/m, "Professional": $95/u/m & "Enterprise": $145/u/m | REST https://developers.getbase.com | "Traditional" | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | | Freshsales CRM | Closed | $18/user/month| 4 Tiers: Blossom: $9/u/m, Garden: $18/u/m, "Estate": $36/u/m & "Forrest": $57/u/m | REST https://www.freshsales.io/api | "Kanban" | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | | Hubspot.com | Closed | $42/user/month for the first user | 3 Tiers: "Free", Starter: $42 for 1 user & "Professional": $330 for 5 users = $66/u/m | REST https://developers.hubspot.com/ | Kanban | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes $$! | | insightly.com | Closed | $49/user/month | 3 Tiers: "Plus": $29/u/m, Professional: $49/user/month & "Enterprise": $99/u/m | REST https://api.insight.ly/v2.2/Help | Kanban/Outlook Inbox | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | | Nimble CRM | Closed | $19/u/m | 2 Tiers: "Contact": $9/mo & "Business": $19/u/m | REST https://nimble.readthedocs.io | Kanban/Timeline | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | | Pipedrive.com | Closed | $29/user/month | 3 Tiers: Silver: 15/u/m, Gold: $29/u/m & "Platinum": $75/u/m | REST + Webhooks https://developers.pipedrive.com/docs/api/v1/ | Kanban Board | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | | Salesforce.com | Closed | $25/user/month | Variable/Opaque from $25 to $300/u/m! | REST + Stream https://developer.salesforce.com/page/Salesforce_APIs | "Classic" ("Clunky") or "Lightning" (Drag-and-drop) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Streak.com | Closed | $49/user/month | 3 Tiers: Free, Professional ($49/user/month) & "Enterprise" ($99/user/month) | REST https://streak.readme.io/ | Gmail Inbox | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | | SugarCRM.com | Closed | $40/user/month | 3 Tiers: Professional ($40/u/m), "Enterprise" ($65/u/m) & "Ultimate" ($150/u/m) | REST http://support.sugarcrm.com/Documentation/?docVersion=8.0&docEdition=Pro | "Traditional CRM" (no kanban) | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Meta: should this list be Alphabetical or in order of Popularity? (I get the feeling that Alphabetical will make locating an entry easier and thus aid maintenance ...)
Active campaign is primarily focussed Email Marketing Automation,
however their CRM offers all the "standard" features you would expect
from a contact/sales system with a "Kanban" UI.
https://www.activecampaign.com/crm
Active Campaign has competitive pricing considering that they charge a "flat"
fee for 25 users
however their pricing increases based on how many contacts you have.
https://www.activecampaign.com/pricing
### API
https://www.activecampaign.com/api
It is possible to add custom fields, but it appears that they are not named rather a custom field is a numeric index! https://community.activecampaign.com/t/where-i-can-find-the-id-of-a-custom-field-for-use-with-the-api/2515/2 https://community.activecampaign.com/t/how-to-update-a-custom-field-in-contact-with-api-v3/3603
We can work with this, but I feel that there are better options. They don't have a Telephony integration; so if we need that this not an option. But if we are only using email and SMS, the UI looks good.
Agile CRM is an "all-in-one" CRM system that has good (Kanban) UI, REST API and integrations with 3rd party services such as Twilio for making/receiving/recording sales calls and sending/receiving SMS.
Kanban ("drag-and-drop") User Interface:
### Pricing
https://www.agilecrm.com/pricing
$14.99/u/m (monthly) or $8.99/u/m payed 2-years up-front. We suggest doing the "trial" and see how you get on with the UX before a commitment.
The AgileCRM API https://www.agilecrm.com/api is well documented and has examples on GitHub (including custom fields): https://github.com/agilecrm/rest-api#contact-json-example
Twilio is a widly used telepone & SMS service provider with great international coverage, an excellent API and competitive pricing model. https://www.twilio.com/products
https://www.twilio.com/voice/pricing/gb
Read more: https://customers.twilio.com
see: https://www.agilecrm.com/blog/4-keys-getting-inbox-control-automation
### Verdict
We like the look of Agile CRM, our only reservation(s) on recommending it are:
- their underlying technology is not great; https://builtwith.com/www.agilecrm.com
- Their website has many JavaScript errors, see: nelsonic/nelsonic.github.io#475 which is indicative of "broken" UX.
- Their node.js API has no tests: https://github.com/agilecrm/nodejs/blob/master/agilecrm/package.json#L7 so it could "break" without warning which will "break" our app/site.
- No indication of how data is stored (encryption?)
Base CRM is a general purpose CRM system with many advanced features. https://getbase.com
The UI/UX is a "traditional" CRM and does not yet have a "Kanban" UX,
therefore we have excluded it from further research/discussion.
Review of the pricing: https://getbase.com/pricing indicates that all of the
"advanced" features like "task automation" are
only available in the "Professional" tier and "Role-based Permissions"
are only in the "Enterprise"!
The API is good: https://developers.getbase.com
including a "firehose" which gives a "near real-time stream" of changes.
Overall Base CRM is not a contender because the UI is "dated" and the pricing is comparatively high.
Close.io is an "up-and-coming" CRM system that is "hot" in Silicon Valley: https://close.io/product/ Having been through the "Y Combinator" startup accelerator in 2012, Close.io has not wasted time building an impressive feature-set and customer base.
### UI/UX
The UI is not "Kanban", rather it's an "inbox" and "timeline" paradigm and their focus is speed of interaction.
This pricing can seem "steep" on the surface, but thier workflow automation and "single view" UI is worth considering. Watch their "overview" video: https://close.io
https://developer.close.io http://blog.close.io/the-tech-stack-behind-close-io-sales-communication
General purpose CRM system with all the features you would expect.
Includes built-in phone, email and activity capture.
https://www.freshworks.com/freshsales-crm
Full-list of features: https://www.freshworks.com/freshsales-crm/features/
Has a "Kanban" style drag-and-drop UI:
Pricing: https://www.freshworks.com/freshsales-crm/pricing/
API: https://www.freshsales.io/api
No "real-time" API, but if that is not a "must have" then this could be a good option.
Hubspot is a modern CRM system with good UI.
On the surface the cost appears to be
["Free"](https://www.hubspot.com/pricing/crm ...
(a more accurate description would be "freemium")
The HubSpot CRM system is deliberately disabled
(is missing key features like email tracking):
a bit of digging in the "legal" section of the website, shows the "Free" CRM
is actually a “lite” version with "select features":
https://legal.hubspot.com/hubspot-product-and-services-catalog
so that they can "up-sell" to the "Sales Hub" service ...
No support on the free plan, for CRM users or API users (the whole point of the "Free CRM" is to up-sell people)
Full features here: https://www.hubspot.com/products/crm and https://knowledge.hubspot.com/getting-started-with-the-hubspot-crm-free/
- Provides a kanban board style deal pipeline
- Customisable pipeline stages and fields
- No native Mailchimp integration, but looks like there are
a few alternatives you would need to try out to see if they
meet the details of your needs:
https://zapier.com/apps/hubspot-crm/integrations/mailchimp
or https://automate.io/integration/hubspot/mailchimp
- Note: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuftV4sp99M shows this kind of integration in action
- Does not support multiple currencies
The API in general looks to support the majority of the requirements but we didn't dig into the detail level here as the lack of support for multiple currencies is likely a deal breaker.
Found by Chris, custom kanban sales pipeline.
Cost: Mid-range: https://www.insightly.com/pricing/
(note that custom dashboards - different from kanban board -
and workflow automation are on the middle pricing tier)
Full features here:
- Provides customisable kanban pipeline
- 50 custom fields included with the lightest plan
- Probably the tightest integration with Mailchimp (aside from using Pipechimp with Pipedrive), though appears that you might have to export your contacts manually when you use mailchimp (https://www.insightly.com/product/connect-to-apps/mailchimp-crm/) - this will need to be tested
- API is a bit more complex than the others and the documentation is understandable but not great https://api.insight.ly/v2.2/Help
- There are multiple types of deals - i.e. starts as a
leadand moves on to become anopportunityso we would need to agree the business process here in detail so that the site knew where to pick up updated status, etc. Contactscan only be found via ID (not email) which means slightly more complex (not insurmountable) operations to ensure we're storing data correctly on the application- Retrieving the opportunities and their statuses looks to be straightforward 👍 https://api.insight.ly/v2.2/Help#!/Opportunities/GetOpportunitiesBySearch
- Adding/updating custom fields is possible both in the app and in the API
- There are multiple types of deals - i.e. starts as a
- No developer community
## Nimble
Nimble is a "social CRM" that sources data from several other platforms
(social networks, business communication apps & email) to
create a profile of the target customer allowing
sales people to have far more insight into prospects
without needing to waste time googling before calling. https://www.nimble.com
Good overview from the CEO: https://vimeo.com/252438241
The value proposition for Nimble CRM is strong for a business where knowing about the prospect is essential to making the sale or building the relationship. However all of our "leads" are "inbound", i.e. people fill in our "inquiry form" and give us most of the details we need to make our assessment on their needs. We always end up Googling the person/company to see what comes up.
Their pricing is competitive https://www.nimble.com/pricing
If our objective is to be "social focussed", this is easily the best choice. But if we aren't reliant on "social" data, there are better options.
The API looks "OK": https://nimble.readthedocs.io Not amazingly documented, but adequate.
While Nimble does not explicitly have telephony support (so there is no "dialer" built-in to the system) there is a basic integartion with call2CRM https://www.nimble.com/marketplace/call2crm which allows you to install an app on your phone. However this appears to only be available in the USA.
Highly regarded, Kanban-based tool with a simple UI and well documented API.
Cost: Mid-range https://www.pipedrive.com/en-gb/plans
Full features here: https://www.pipedrive.com/en-gb/features/
- Built around the kanban board concept
- Customisable pipeline stages and fields
- Mailchimp integration, see article and importantly comments for details: https://blog.pipedrive.com/2015/05/introducing-an-easier-pipedrive-and-mailchimp-integration/
- It's possible that Pipedrive may not entirely satisfy requirements without adding in the use of Pipechimp; see https://blog.pipedrive.com/2018/04/mailchimp-pipedrive-pipechimp/
- Mid-level pricing plan does include email integration and tracking of its own
- Decently documented API and relatively simple: https://developers.pipedrive.com/docs/api/v1/#/
- Deals well with multiple currencies
- Each contact would be a
Personwith each enquiry being aDeal- Can find people by email address and therefore check whether they already exist in the DB before sending through the enquiry
- Limited status of deals from initial investigation (needs further investigation): https://developers.pipedrive.com/docs/api/v1/#!/Deals/post_deals
- Adding/updating custom fields is possible both in the app and in the API
- Some activity in the community, not a whole lot https://devcommunity.pipedrive.com/ (telephone support available on higher plans)
Video Walkthrough (official): https://youtu.be/tjN0BxyrqOk (Jan 11, 2017) Customer "getting started": https://youtu.be/pzs5hTa3Uxs (Mar 27, 2017)
API: https://www.pipedrive.com/en/features/api Custom Fields: https://pipedrive.readme.io/docs/core-api-concepts-custom-fields
At present Pipedrive does not have an integration with any telephony providers see: https://www.pipedrive.com/en-gb/features/integrations
If the plan is to make/receive telephone calls separately from the CRM, this is not an issue, however we strongly recommend having the two systems tightly integrated to avoid wasting time/effort especially with "high value" clients.
Goliath. By far the biggest CRM provider.
Pricing: https://www.salesforce.com/editions-pricing/platform/
https://www.salesforce.com/form/conf/overview-demo
Salesforce Lightning Demo: https://youtu.be/s_sHeac3gfo
API:
-
List of APIs: https://developer.salesforce.com/page/Salesforce_APIs
-
Streaming: https://developer.salesforce.com/page/Streaming_API
-
"Hidden costs": https://www.contactmonkey.com/blog/salesforce-pricing-hidden-costs
(note "contact monkey" is a basic CRM, i.e. they compete with Salesforce!)
GMail based CRM: https://www.streak.com
Streak is a great product for a very specific use case. It makes the assumption that people already use Email for managing their sales, and gives those people the tools to "manage" their inbox collaboratively.
On the basis that the Streak UI is email-based (not "Kanban") we are not researching it further. However, we feel that for email-based business the immediately familiar UX is good! And the limited feature set could actually be a benefit.
https://streak.readme.io/v1/reference#create-a-field
The pricing feels "steep" for what the product does,
but sometimes "less is more" is worth paying for!
https://www.streak.com/pricing
Also worth checking out are the "Zapier" integrations: https://zapier.com/apps/streak/integrations
Slow, "clunky" and grosely over-priced!
The latest SugarCRM UI looks "dated" when compared to virtually any other provider. watch any of their videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/DiscoverSugarCRM/videos e.g: the "Sugar Spring '18 version 8": https://youtu.be/aMjAzFZJD0g
Their cheapest "plan" is the "Sugar Professional" which is $40/month
however the minimum is 10 "user licenses" and a 1 year contract!
https://www.sugarcrm.com/product/pricing-editions
This might be "fine" for businesses who have 10 employees that will use
the product from "day 1" but that immediately excludes 96% potential clients
according to the most recent data from both OECD and Gov.uk.
https://data.oecd.org/entrepreneur/enterprises-by-business-size.htm
http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06152/SN06152.pdf
Read: https://community.sugarcrm.com/thread/20471
- Basic intro: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management
- Comparison of CRM Systmes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_CRM_systems (incomplete but has the most popular...)
- Sales force management system (general info): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_force_management_system
- Automation Is the New CRM: https://hbr.org/2016/10/customer-relationship-automation-is-the-new-crm (open it in "incognito" window to avoid using up HBR article "allowance")
- 10 Best CRM Services for Small Businesses: https://everhour.com/blog/best-crm-software
- List of 10 Best CRM Software Tools: https://financesonline.com/list-10-best-crm-software-tools/
- "Long List" of available CRM systems: https://www.capterra.com/customer-relationship-management-software/