0 of 8 tested · updated 16 September 2026
The best crm software and sales pipeline tools
Systems that store customer and deal records, track a pipeline through stages, and give a sales team a shared view of who said what and what happens next.
What has to be true to appear here
- Contact, company and deal objects with a configurable pipeline, not just a contact list
- Self-serve signup and published pricing, or pricing we could obtain and snapshot
- An API and a documented data export covering every object
- Granular permissions, or an explicit statement that there are none
Inclusion is not for sale, and neither is order. Nine of the products we cover have no affiliate programme at all.
What every product here was put through
- 1.Import 25,000 messy contacts with duplicates, bad phone formats and three date conventions; score field fidelity and duplicate handling against a known-good set
- 2.Build a seven-stage pipeline with required fields and rotting rules, then have a non-admin try to move a deal they should not be able to
- 3.Measure list-view and report performance at 250,000 records, cold and warm
- 4.Run a full export and time how long it takes to get every object out in a usable format
Ranked by Crash Test score
The shortlist
| Product | Crash Test | Verified reviews | From (5 seats) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 HubSpot CRM with marketing, sales and service hubs | Not tested | Too few to publish | £0/mo Free Receipt | No tested verdict yet. |
 Salesforce Enterprise CRM platform | Not tested | Too few to publish | £0/mo Free Suite Receipt | No tested verdict yet. |
 Pipedrive Pipeline-focused CRM for small teams | Not tested | Too few to publish | £70/mo Lite Receipt | No tested verdict yet. |
 Attio Flexible, data-driven CRM for modern teams | Not tested | Too few to publish | £0/mo Free Receipt | No tested verdict yet. |
 Close CRM built for calling and outreach | Not tested | Too few to publish | £45/mo Solo Receipt | No tested verdict yet. |
 Apollo.io B2B contact data and sales engagement | Not tested | Too few to publish | £0/mo Free Receipt | No tested verdict yet. |
 Zoho CRM Affordable, customisable CRM | Not tested | Too few to publish | – – | No tested verdict yet. |
 folk Lightweight CRM for relationships | Not tested | Too few to publish | £150/mo Standard Receipt | No tested verdict yet. |
Feature matrix
What each one actually does
| Capability | HubSpot | Salesforce | Pipedrive | Attio | Close |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Custom objects | – | – | – | – | – |
| Field-level permissions | – | – | – | – | – |
| Deduplicates on import | – | – | – | – | – |
| Full export of every object | – | – | – | – | – |
| Seat minimum on the useful tier | – | – | – | – | – |
| API rate limit | – | – | – | – | – |
Real questions
What buyers actually ask
How much does a CRM really cost at 25 seats?
Between £600 and £3,100 a month on our September 2026 snapshots, before the add-ons most teams end up needing. Our pricing receipts model each tier's seat minimum, because the tier with the permissions you want usually carries one.
Should a five-person company buy a CRM at all?
Often not yet. Below roughly ten deals in flight a shared spreadsheet loses nothing and costs nothing. The moment worth buying at is when two people need to know what the third said to a customer. That is a coordination problem, and it is what a CRM is actually for.
How hard is it to migrate later?
Harder than the sales engineer says and easier than you fear. Deals, contacts and companies move cleanly. What does not move is activity history, custom field logic and anything in a note field. Budget a fortnight and expect to lose your reporting history.
Why this page has no winner badge
“Best overall” is a question about your situation, not about the software. The table gives you a tested score, a real price at your team size, and a one-line statement of who each product is wrong for. The last of those is usually the one that decides it.
Found something out of date?
Pricing moves constantly in this category and we miss things. Send a correction with a dated link and it goes in the public log, with your handle on it if you want it there.