Expert Guide

The Best Free CRM Software in 2026

Nine free CRM plans compared on seats, contacts, records, email and pipelines, with the next paid step costed for three people wherever a dollar price is published.

Louis CorneloupFounder, Dupple · 920,000+ readers · Updated Oct 2026

Product links may be affiliate links. How we rate 9 tools compared

TL;DR

Vtiger has the most generous free plan for a team that also needs records and email: 10 users, 3,000 records and 1,000 emails a month for $0. For a team of exactly three, Zoho CRM (3 users) and Attio (3 seats, 50,000 records) fit the seat cap with no upgrade. HubSpot stops at 2 free users, so the third seat is the moment you start paying.

Every limit and price here was read on the vendor's own pricing page on 10 October 2026. Where the vendor gives a dollar price, the paid step is costed for three users billed yearly, except Bitrix24, which is priced per organization.

Key facts9 tools compared: Vtiger, Attio, Zoho CRM, HubSpot CRM, EngageBay, Bitrix24, Capsule CRM…

Updated: October 10, 2026
Top pick: Vtiger (best for: Teams of up to 10 that need records, email and sales stages on a free plan)
Top pick price as of October 10, 2026: Vtiger: Free for 10 users, 3,000 records and 1,000 emails a month; Growth is $12 per user a month, billed yearly.

9 tools compared: Vtiger, Attio, Zoho CRM, HubSpot CRM, EngageBay, Bitrix24, Capsule CRM, Streak, Twenty
Attio (best for: Three-person startup teams that track people, companies and deals as records): Free for 3 seats, 50,000 records and 200 emails a month; paid plans are priced per seat.
Zoho CRM (best for: A team of exactly three that may later move to the wider Zoho suite): Forever free for 3 users; paid Standard is per user, and no USD list price is quoted here.
HubSpot CRM (best for: Solo founders and two-person teams that may grow into HubSpot's marketing tools): Free for 2 users and 1,000 total contacts; Starter is $7 per seat a month billed yearly.

The free CRM worth using is the one whose cap you will not hit in the first quarter. Most free plans charge nothing and limit you instead, by seats, contacts, records, emails or pipelines, then show an upgrade prompt the day you cross a line.

This page compares nine free CRM plans on those caps and prices the next step for a team of three billed yearly wherever the vendor publishes a dollar figure.

Toolradar data: Toolradar tracks 503 CRM tools as of 10 October 2026, and 27% of them are free, freemium or open source.

A free label alone tells a buyer little, so each row below names the cap that ends the plan.

How we ranked: nine CRMs with a free plan or a free self-hosted version, each read on seats, records or contacts, email and pipelines for a team of three.

The order is editorial judgment, not a score. We read each limit on the vendor's pricing page and linked the sources in the pricing notes. For a wider view of paid options, start with best CRM software, or pick the best CRM for Gmail if your deals live in the inbox.

Top Picks

Based on features, real-world fit, and value for money.

Best Free CRM Software in 2026: 9 Plans Compared: 9 tools compared, updated Oct 2026
Tool	Pricing	Best for
Vtiger	Free for 10 users, 3,000 records and 1,000 emails a month; Growth is $12 per user a month, billed yearly.	Teams of up to 10 that need records, email and sales stages on a free plan.
Attio	Free for 3 seats, 50,000 records and 200 emails a month; paid plans are priced per seat.	Three-person startup teams that track people, companies and deals as records.
Zoho CRM	Forever free for 3 users; paid Standard is per user, and no USD list price is quoted here.	A team of exactly three that may later move to the wider Zoho suite.
HubSpot CRM	Free for 2 users and 1,000 total contacts; Starter is $7 per seat a month billed yearly.	Solo founders and two-person teams that may grow into HubSpot's marketing tools.
EngageBay	Free for 15 members, 250 contacts and 1,000 branded emails; Basic is $13.79 per user a month billed yearly.	Small teams that need more than two seats and send branded email campaigns.
Bitrix24	Free for 1 to 2 users with 5 GB storage; Basic is $49 a month for the organization, billed yearly, with 5 users.	Two-person teams that want a CRM inside a wider work platform.
Capsule CRM	Free for 2 users, 250 contacts and one sales pipeline; paid plans are per user, billed yearly.	A solo seller or a two-person team with a short contact list.
Streak	Free inside Gmail with 50 mail merge sends a day and no CRM pipelines; Pro is $49 per user a month, billed yearly.	Teams that run contacts and email tracking inside Gmail and do not need a pipeline on the free tier.
Twenty	Open-source core is free to self-host; cloud Pro is $9 per user a month, billed yearly.	Engineering-led teams that will host their own CRM and accept the admin work.

Pricing read from each vendor's own published pricing page, checked Oct 2026. Every vendor here publishes a price.

Vtiger

Top Pick

Best for: Teams of up to 10 that need records, email and sales stages on a free plan.

PricingFree for 10 users, 3,000 records and 1,000 emails a month; Growth is $12 per user a month, billed yearly.

+Ten free seats, more than HubSpot's 2, Zoho's 3, Attio's 3 or Capsule's 2 allow on their free plans

+1,000 emails a month is five times Attio's 200, enough for a small outbound run

+Sales stages can be customized on the free plan, while multiple pipelines start on Growth

−Multiple pipelines are reserved for the paid Growth tier, so two sales processes mean an early upgrade

−3,000 records is the maximum, so a list above that size needs a clean-up before import

Visit Vtiger →

Attio

Best for: Three-person startup teams that track people, companies and deals as records.

PricingFree for 3 seats, 50,000 records and 200 emails a month; paid plans are priced per seat.

+50,000 records on the free plan, the largest stated allowance in this list

+Three objects on the free plan, enough to model people, companies and deals

+Three free seats cover a founding team of three with no upgrade

−200 emails a month is the lowest monthly email cap stated in this list

−The paid price is per seat, and no clear dollar figure is published, so confirm the total at checkout

Visit Attio →

Zoho CRM

Best for: A team of exactly three that may later move to the wider Zoho suite.

PricingForever free for 3 users; paid Standard is per user, and no USD list price is quoted here.

+Three free users, the same headcount as a founding team of three

+Up to 10 custom email templates on the free plan

+5,000 API calls a day on the free plan, for connecting other apps

−Multiple sales pipelines are listed under the paid Standard edition

−Data exports are limited to 10 on the free plan, so plan your data moves ahead of time

Visit Zoho CRM →

HubSpot CRM

Best for: Solo founders and two-person teams that may grow into HubSpot's marketing tools.

PricingFree for 2 users and 1,000 total contacts; Starter is $7 per seat a month billed yearly.

+1,000 total contacts on the free plan, with a clear path up to Starter

+Starter is priced per seat, so the paid step scales with the team rather than a flat fee

−Two free users is the same seat cap as Capsule and Bitrix24's one to two

−HubSpot shows $7 a seat billed yearly next to a $20 list price, so check which rate applies at checkout

Visit HubSpot CRM →

EngageBay

Best for: Small teams that need more than two seats and send branded email campaigns.

PricingFree for 15 members, 250 contacts and 1,000 branded emails; Basic is $13.79 per user a month billed yearly.

+Up to 15 members on the free plan, more than any other free plan here

+1,000 branded emails are included free, so a small campaign needs no upgrade

+Yearly billing takes Basic below its monthly rate on EngageBay's own pricing page

−250 contacts is among the tightest caps here, matched only by Capsule

−EngageBay publishes no pipeline count for its free plan, so check the stages before you commit

Visit EngageBay →

Bitrix24

Best for: Two-person teams that want a CRM inside a wider work platform.

PricingFree for 1 to 2 users with 5 GB storage; Basic is $49 a month for the organization, billed yearly, with 5 users.

+Basic is priced for the organization, so a five-person team pays one monthly figure

+The free plan includes Basic CRM with deals and contacts

+The free plan includes 5 GB of storage next to the CRM

−The free plan stops at two people, the same cap as HubSpot and Capsule

−Monthly billing sits above the yearly rate, so the billing term changes the bill

Visit Bitrix24 →

Capsule CRM

Best for: A solo seller or a two-person team with a short contact list.

PricingFree for 2 users, 250 contacts and one sales pipeline; paid plans are per user, billed yearly.

+One sales pipeline and five custom fields are on the free plan

+The vendor's FAQ says the free plan includes a single project board as well as the pipeline

−Two users and 250 contacts suit a solo seller better than a growing team

−Capsule publishes no email send limit for its free plan, so check your mail needs before importing

Visit Capsule CRM →

Streak

Best for: Teams that run contacts and email tracking inside Gmail and do not need a pipeline on the free tier.

PricingFree inside Gmail with 50 mail merge sends a day and no CRM pipelines; Pro is $49 per user a month, billed yearly.

+Runs as a sidebar in Gmail, with email tracking and link tracking on the free plan

+50 mail merge sends a day on the free plan

−No CRM pipelines on the free plan, so deal stages need the paid tier

−Pro is the least expensive paid plan Streak lists, and the steepest per-seat price in this list

Visit Streak →

Twenty

Best for: Engineering-led teams that will host their own CRM and accept the admin work.

PricingOpen-source core is free to self-host; cloud Pro is $9 per user a month, billed yearly.

+The open-source core costs nothing to self-host, as the vendor's own page states

+Cloud Pro lists unlimited seats, custom objects and views

+Cloud Pro is below every other stated per-seat paid step in this list, except HubSpot's annual Starter rate

−Self-hosting means you run the server, updates and backups yourself

−The hosted product offers a free trial rather than a free cloud plan, and Pro includes 50 workflow credits a year

Visit Twenty →

What it is

A free CRM is a contact and deal tracker you can use without paying a subscription, kept free by a usage cap rather than a time limit. The cap is the product decision.

Vendors set it on seats, contacts or records, emails sent, pipelines or storage, and the cap shows you where the upgrade prompt will land.

Records are not contacts, and the units differ across this list. EngageBay caps contacts at 250, Vtiger caps records at 3,000, and Attio caps records at 50,000.

A 50,000 figure next to a 250 figure is not a like-for-like comparison, so read the unit before you compare two numbers. If support requests also land in the same inbox, help desk software keeps that work out of the sales pipeline.

Why it matters

The cap that ends the free plan sets your next bill. A two-seat limit turns the third hire into a paid seat on the day they start, and a 250-contact limit can end the plan before a campaign list is finished. Most of the paid steps in this list are priced per seat, so a team of three pays three times the seat price as soon as it upgrades.

Bitrix24 is the exception, because its Basic plan is priced per organization.

The second reason is that free plans drop features quietly. Streak's free plan has no CRM pipelines, and Capsule's free plan allows one, so a team that runs two or more separate sales pipelines needs to check the pipeline limit before the seat limit. Read the feature table before you import a list.

Key features to look for

Seats

How many people can sign in on the free plan. Two seats means the third hire starts a paid plan.

Contacts or records

The unit varies by vendor. Compare 250 contacts with 50,000 records only after you know what each one counts.

Email allowance

Monthly or daily sends, and whether they are branded or mail merges. A single campaign can use up a monthly cap.

Pipeline and stages

Whether the free plan includes a sales pipeline, how many, and whether stages can be changed. Several vendors keep multiple pipelines for paid tiers.

First paid step

The cheapest upgrade, its billing term, and whether it is priced per seat or per organization. Yearly billing often sits well below the monthly rate on the same page.

Pricing

Limits and prices were checked on vendor pages on 10 October 2026: Vtiger pricing, Attio pricing, Zoho CRM pricing, HubSpot Starter, Bitrix24 prices, EngageBay pricing, Capsule pricing, Streak pricing and Twenty pricing.

The trial-only examples come from Insightly pricing and Less Annoying CRM pricing.

The three-user costs assume three seats on the yearly billing term, calculated as the seat price times 3 times 12.

Vtiger Growth comes to $432 a year ($12 x 3 x 12), and EngageBay Basic to $496.44 ($13.79 x 3 x 12). Twenty Cloud Pro comes to $324 ($9 x 3 x 12). HubSpot Starter is $252 a year at the annual rate, or $720 at the $20 list price. Streak Pro comes to $1,764 a year for three users.

Bitrix24 Basic is priced per organization, so its five included users cost $588 a year.

Attio's Plus tier, Zoho CRM's Standard tier and Capsule's paid tier are priced per seat or per user, and the vendors publish no clear US-dollar figure for them.

This page quotes none of those. Check the total at checkout before you budget for those three.

Plan	Price	Best for
Vtiger Free	Free	10 users, 3,000 records, 1,000 emails a month, 3 GB storage
Vtiger Growth	$12/user/mo	Multiple pipelines; three users cost $432 a year billed yearly
Attio Free	Free	3 seats, 50,000 records, 200 emails a month
Attio Plus	Per seat	Paid tier; confirm the USD total at checkout
Zoho CRM Free	Free	3 users, 10 custom email templates, 5,000 API calls a day
Zoho CRM Standard	Per user	Multiple pipelines; no USD list price quoted on this page
EngageBay Free	Free	Up to 15 members, 250 contacts, 1,000 branded emails
EngageBay Basic	$13.79/user/mo	Billed yearly; three users cost $496.44 a year
HubSpot Free	Free	2 users, 1,000 total contacts
HubSpot Starter	$7/seat/mo	Billed yearly against a $20 list price; three seats cost $252 a year
Bitrix24 Free	Free	1 to 2 users, 5 GB storage, Basic CRM with deals and contacts
Bitrix24 Basic	$49/mo	Per organization with 5 users, billed yearly; $69 billed monthly
Capsule Free	Free	2 users, 250 contacts, 1 sales pipeline, 5 custom fields
Streak Free	Free	Gmail sidebar, no CRM pipelines, 50 mail merge sends a day
Streak Pro	$49/user/mo	Billed yearly; three users cost $1,764 a year
Twenty Self-hosted	Free	Open-source core; you run the server, updates and backups
Twenty Cloud Pro	$9/user/mo	Billed yearly; three users cost $324 a year, with unlimited seats

Mistakes to avoid

×Taking a trial for a free plan. Insightly offers a 14-day trial with no free plan, and Less Annoying CRM a 30-day trial, so neither stays free after the trial.

×Hiring the third person before checking the seat cap. HubSpot's free plan covers 2 users and Capsule's covers 2, so the next hire triggers a paid plan.

×Assuming the free plan keeps the pipeline. Streak's free plan has no CRM pipelines and Capsule allows one, so a second sales process needs a paid tier sooner.

×Using monday's free plan as a sales CRM. monday's free plan covers 2 seats and 3 boards and leaves its sales CRM out.

Expert tips

→If you choose EngageBay or Capsule, load only active contacts first, since 250 is the free cap on both.

→Price a team of three on yearly billing. Streak Pro and Bitrix24 Basic both cost less on yearly billing, as their pricing pages show.

→Check the USD total at checkout for Zoho CRM, Attio and Capsule, because this page quotes no confirmed dollar list price for their paid steps.

The bottom line

Take Vtiger if you want the most room across seats, records and email, since 10 users and 3,000 records cover a small team. Take Zoho CRM or Attio if your team is exactly three, and check the USD total at checkout for the paid step.

HubSpot is the easiest name to recognize, but its free plan stops at two people, so budget for the third seat from day one.

Skip Streak as a deal tool, since its free plan drops pipelines, but keep it for Gmail email tracking.

For a self-hosted option, Twenty is free to run yourself, and the cost moves to the server and the admin hours. Tool pages: Vtiger, Attio and Zoho CRM.

Related reading: best CRM software, best CRM for Gmail, Pipedrive review, and best project management software for work that continues after the deal closes.

Pair the CRM with free cloud storage for proposal files.

Cite this: Techpresso, "Best Free CRM Software in 2026: 9 Plans Compared", October 2026.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free CRM software in 2026?

Vtiger has the most room on its free plan: 10 users, 3,000 records and 1,000 emails a month at $0, as read on its pricing page on 10 October 2026. For exactly three people, Zoho CRM's free plan (3 users) and Attio's (3 seats, 50,000 records) fit the seat cap with no upgrade.

Does HubSpot's free CRM have a user limit?

Yes. HubSpot's free CRM covers two users and 1,000 total contacts on its own pages checked on 10 October 2026. A third seat means a paid Starter plan, priced per seat against a $20 list price.

Which free CRM allows the most users?

EngageBay allows up to 15 members on its free plan, with 250 contacts and 1,000 branded emails. Vtiger allows 10 users with 3,000 records. Attio and Zoho CRM allow 3 users, and HubSpot and Capsule allow 2.

What is the catch with a free CRM?

The cap. Free plans limit seats, contacts or records, email sends, pipelines or storage, and the cap is where the upgrade prompt appears. Records are not contacts: Vtiger counts up to 3,000 records and EngageBay up to 250 contacts, so 3,000 records is not 3,000 people.

Is there a free CRM with no user limit?

No free hosted plan here lists unlimited users. Twenty's open-source core is free to run on your own server, and its cloud Pro plan lists unlimited seats at $9 per user a month, billed yearly.

Do free CRMs stop working after a trial?

Some never had a free plan. Insightly offers a 14-day trial with no free plan, and Less Annoying CRM a 30-day trial that ends in a single paid plan at $15 per user a month, billed monthly.

Sources

Prices and plan details come from each vendor's own pricing page, re-checked by the Toolradar pricing tracker.