CRM Types, Features & Top 20 CRM Software Examples

Zendesk announced in September 2025 that it is retiring Zendesk Sell. SugarCRM now trades as SugarAI. Salesforce Essentials no longer exists. Insightly belongs to Unbounce. Oracle CX Sales is called Oracle Fusion Cloud Sales.

All of them still appear on published lists of CRM software examples, sometimes on pages updated this year. Shortlist from a roundup and there’s a fair chance one name on it can’t be bought under that name anymore.

So we checked every product against the vendor’s own pricing page in August 2026. We also state the billing basis throughout, because a CRM that costs $7 a seat annually costs $20 a seat monthly, and published CRM software examples rarely mention which figure they’re quoting.

This guide covers what CRM software is and 20 top CRM software examples. We also break down primary system categories, essential features, and key differences between free, commercial, and custom enterprise solutions.

What Is CRM Software?

CRM software, short for Customer Relationship Management software, is a digital platform that stores every interaction you have with customers and prospects in one place. It tracks contacts, deals, emails, calls, and tasks, then automates the follow-up. Sales, marketing, and support teams all work from the same record instead of separate spreadsheets.

Strip away the marketing, and every one of the CRM software examples online is a shared memory. Who did we talk to, what did we say, what did we promise, and what happens next?

Custom CRM development services obviously do considerably more. They score leads, forecast revenue, trigger email sequences, and increasingly ship AI agents that draft replies and summarize recorded calls. But the fundamental job hasn’t changed since the category was named in the 1990s: keep the customer relationship inside a documented system rather than inside somebody’s head.

What are the Key Features of CRM Software?

Essential features of CRM software include centralized contact management, automated sales pipelines, email marketing integration, task scheduling, real-time analytics dashboards, customer service ticketing, and automated workflow triggers designed to increase team productivity.

While different vendors add specialized tools, most top CRM platforms rely on these foundational capabilities:

• Contact & Account Management: Organizes client profiles, purchase histories, and communication logs in one centralized location.
• Sales Pipeline Tracking: Visualizes deals across customized stages from initial inquiry to final contract signing.
• Workflow & Task Automation: Automatically triggers follow-up emails, updates deal stages, and assigns tasks to team members.
• Reporting & Analytics Dashboards: Tracks revenue forecasts, rep activity levels, and conversion rates in real-time.
• Mobile Responsiveness: Allows field representatives to update deal notes and access client records on mobile devices.

If your enterprise relies on proprietary operational tools, our custom software development services help you integrate specialized business logic directly into your operational systems.

What are the Types of CRM Software?

The four main types of CRM software are operational CRMs for sales automation, analytical CRMs for data insights, collaborative CRMs for cross-department communication, and strategic CRMs focused on long-term customer engagement and brand loyalty.

To choose the right solution for your business, it helps to understand how different CRM systems function under the hood:

What are the Best CRM Software Examples?

The most widely used CRM software examples are Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho CRM, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales, and Pipedrive. Below them sit strong niche tools like Close, Attio, Copper, Nimble, Less Annoying CRM, and the open-source option EspoCRM.

To help you compare solutions across the market, here is a detailed CRM software examples list covering 20 leading platforms categorized by operational strengths:

Enterprise & All-in-One Commercial CRM Examples

1. Salesforce Sales Cloud: The world’s largest enterprise CRM platform, offering unmatched customizability, Einstein AI analytics, and thousands of third-party app integrations.
2. HubSpot CRM: An intuitive all-in-one platform combining inbound marketing automation, visual sales pipelines, and customer support management.
3. Microsoft Dynamics 365: A robust enterprise platform that bridges CRM and ERP functionality, integrating deeply with Office 365 and Azure environments.
4. Oracle NetSuite CRM: A cloud-based CRM designed for enterprise businesses, combining order management, sales forecasting, and commission tracking.
5. SAP Sales Cloud: A heavy-duty enterprise sales tool built to handle complex B2B pricing structures, contract management, and global sales channels.
6. SugarCRM: An adaptable sales automation system offering flexible on-premise or cloud hosting for organizations with complex security needs.
7. Creatio: A process-driven CRM built on a low-code architecture, allowing enterprise teams to automate custom sales and marketing workflows without heavy coding.

Operational & SMB Sales CRM Examples

1. Pipedrive: A deal-driven CRM designed around visual pipeline columns that help sales reps track deal stages efficiently.
2. Monday Sales CRM: A highly flexible, board-based CRM built on monday.com’s work OS, ideal for project-heavy sales operations.
3. Insightly: Combines contact management with built-in post-sale project tracking, helping teams bridge sales closures with project execution.
4. Copper CRM: A native Google Workspace CRM that embeds directly inside Gmail and Google Calendar for frictionless activity logging.
5. Nimble: A social-centric CRM that aggregates client social media profiles, company insights, and contact details automatically.
6. Nutshell: An accessible B2B sales CRM featuring automated email drip campaigns, lead scoring, and collaborative team sales tools.
7. Apptivo: A modular business suite featuring CRM, invoicing, project management, and supply chain tools in a single dashboard.

Entry-Level CRM Software Examples

1. HubSpot Free CRM: Provides basic deal tracking, contact storage, live chat, and email logging for unlimited users at zero cost.
2. Zoho CRM (Free Tier): Offers essential contact management, web lead forms, and sales tasks for up to three users.
3. Freshsales (Free Version): Includes built-in phone capabilities, email tracking, and basic contact lifecycle management for lean teams.
4. Capsule CRM: A lightweight contact management CRM offering a free plan for up to two users and 250 contacts.

Specialized CRM Examples

1. Freshdesk / Freshservice: Industry-leading customer service CRM tools focused on multi-channel support ticketing, automated routing, and SLA management.
2. Zendesk Sell & Service: Unifies customer support ticketing with sales pipeline visibility so service reps can cross-sell and resolve client issues in real time.

If you’re in professional services rather than product sales, the shortlist narrows quickly, and we went through it separately in our roundup of CRM platforms for consulting firms.

What Are the Free CRM Software?

Genuinely free CRM software examples include HubSpot, Zoho CRM, Attio, Capsule, Bitrix24, Vtiger, and Salesforce’s Free Suite. Most cap you at two or three users. Self-hosted open-source options like EspoCRM and SuiteCRM have no user cap at all.

Free tiers are genuinely usable, but the limitation is almost always the seat count rather than the feature set. Here’s what each one actually includes.

Correction worth making: Salesforce Foundations is not a free CRM. It’s a $0 add-on for existing Salesforce orgs, with usage limits and overage charges on the AI and data features. The actual free entry point is Free Suite.

And Freshsales no longer lists a free plan. Its pricing page shows a 21-day trial and three paid tiers starting at $9 per user per month billed annually. Plenty of lists still name it as a free option.

What Are CRM Software for Customer Service?

For service-led teams, the strongest CRM software examples are Zendesk Suite, Salesforce Service Cloud, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service, Freshworks, Vtiger One, and HubSpot Service Hub. These prioritize ticket queues, SLAs, and knowledge bases over deal pipelines.

Service CRMs and sales CRMs solve fundamentally different problems. A sales CRM organizes everything around a deal progressing toward a close, whereas a service CRM organizes around a ticket resolving.

• Zendesk is the clearest example of a company that picked a side. Its pricing page now shows only Support and Suite plans. Support Team starts at $19 per agent per month and Suite Team at $55, both paid yearly.
• Salesforce and Microsoft both sell service clouds alongside their sales products, so the customer record is shared. When a support agent can see the renewal date and the sales rep can see the open complaint, you stop having the conversation where two people contradict each other.
• Vtiger and Freshworks are the practical mid-market answer, because both bundle sales and support in one product. For smaller teams, that’s usually the better trade than integrating two best-of-breed tools.

Which CRM Software Are Out of Date?

Several CRM software examples still circulating have been renamed, retired, or acquired: Zendesk Sell is being retired, SugarCRM is now SugarAI, Salesforce Essentials is discontinued, Insightly belongs to Unbounce, Keap is a Thryv brand, and Oracle CX Sales is now Oracle Fusion Cloud Sales.

This is the part no roundup includes, and it’s precisely the part that wastes your time when you’re assembling a shortlist of CRM software examples and booking demos against it.

• Zendesk Sell

Zendesk announced the retirement on 9 September 2025. Existing customers keep access until 31 August 2027, after which Zendesk’s data deletion policy applies. It’s already gone from Zendesk’s main pricing page. Don’t start an evaluation here.

• SugarCRM is SugarAI

The old domain redirects and the footer says so plainly. The product line still exists; Sell Standard runs $59 per user per month billed annually with a 15-user minimum, but the name on every list is the old one.

• Salesforce Essentials

Gone from the pricing page, replaced by Starter Suite at $25 with Pro Suite at $100 above it. If a comparison quotes Essentials pricing, it predates the change.

• Insightly

Merged with Unbounce in July 2024. Still a working product, now under different ownership, which matters if you’re betting a five-year process on it.

• Keap

Formerly Infusionsoft, now a Thryv, Inc. brand. Pricing starts at $299 a month covering two users, with additional users at $39. That’s a very different shape from the per-seat tools around it, and lists that print a single per-user figure for Keap are guessing.

• Oracle CX Sales

Now Oracle Fusion Cloud Sales, which Oracle also shortens to Oracle Sales. Same platform, current name.

Commercial Off-the-Shelf vs Custom CRM Solutions

Commercial off-the-shelf CRMs offer quick setup with monthly per-user fees. Whereas custom enterprise CRM software delivers tailored workflows, data security, seamless proprietary integrations, and zero recurring seat licensing costs as your organization expands.

To evaluate which model fits your business goals, here is a direct comparison between commercial CRMs and custom enterprise platforms:

Should You Buy a CRM or Build One?

Buy, almost always. Off-the-shelf CRMs are cheap, mature, and immediately useful. Build only when your process is genuinely non-standard, when per-seat licensing at your headcount exceeds development cost, or when data residency rules block the hosted options.

There are three situations where that math flips.

• Your process doesn’t fit the object model: Standard CRMs assume leads become opportunities become accounts. If your business runs on something else: recurring service visits, multi-party transactions, regulated case files, you’ll spend more money bending the tool than building the right one.
• Your headcount makes licensing the bigger number: At 20 seats, $50 a seat is $12,000 a year. At 400 seats, it’s $240,000 a year, every year, and a custom build starts looking rational. We broke the arithmetic down in costs to build custom CRM software.
• Compliance: Some data residency and healthcare rules rule out multi-tenant hosting outright, and the enterprise editions that satisfy them cost more than a build.

Why Choose TekRevol for CRM Software Development?

Partnering with TekRevol for custom CRM development gives you access to elite custom software engineers.

We’ve delivered more than 800 projects across web, mobile, and custom software, and CRM work has a specific failure mode we watch for: teams who specify the software they wish they had instead of the process they actually run. Sorting that out is what discovery is for. We map your actual process to design the data model around, and build the integrations to the systems you already run.

Whether you need a custom operational system, specialized database integrations, or a high-security customer portal, our team manages the whole process. We build platforms that save your team time, eliminate manual data tasks, and scale alongside your business growth.