If you're a SaaS startup, you might find yourself trying to piece together customer data through sources like emails, social media, or customer support interactions. 

Perhaps you’ve been inputting these snippets of information into Excel as an improvised database. 

This makeshift solution could work for a while, but it won’t take long to realize just how time-consuming and error-prone this method is. 

Not to mention that when you scale your SaaS, you’re going to end up drowning in a sea of customer data.

On the other hand, if you work at an established company, I’m sure you already know the importance of managing your customer data, but maybe you’re looking to switch your CRM software. 

Luckily, there are many CRM solutions on the market today that allow for efficient data management, streamlined customer experience, efficient sales pipelines, and easy scaling.

The problem then becomes that with so many options available, it can be difficult to choose the one that best suits your SaaS business. 

If you’re looking to compare the best options available on the market today, you’ve come to the right place. I’ll first explain why selecting the right CRM is essential, and then get into the top CRM for SaaS companies, the pros and cons of each, as well as pricing.

CRM For SaaS Explained

A Customer Relationship Management system, or CRM, is any tool or software solution that helps you organize and handle your business’s client data. Over the years, these software solutions have simplified customer information, recording, and interaction. 

CRMs are used across all kinds of industries, from retail to finance to manufacturing. 

The tech industry is no exception. 

Not only is it about acquiring users, but it’s also about retaining them. A CRM organizes all your customer info in one place, allowing you to nurture and grow your relationships. 

In the SaaS sphere, CRMs are used within different departments and for a variety of uses, such as: 

• Marketing to track campaign performance and customer behaviors
• Sales process optimization to manage leads and streamline the sales process
• User support to access customer profiles, track communication or product usage history, and address inquiries efficiently
• User onboarding to segment users in order to tailor their onboarding process, send targeted messages, or provide personalized assistance 
• User engagement to centralize customer data and interactions, enabling businesses to better understand their users' preferences, behaviors, and needs
• Analytics and reporting to gather customer feedback, track feature requests, and align product development with the needs of B2B customers

Before I go further, it’s worth mentioning that there are two types of CRMs: in-house and SaaS. 

In-house or “homegrown” CRMs are slowly becoming a thing of the past. They are a type of CRM installed directly on a business’s servers, requiring an in-house team to maintain the technology. 

Today, cloud technology has given rise to CRM software products that companies are able to access from anywhere. 

SaaS CRMs are typically subscription-based and allow better integration, scalability, and lower costs — all essential criteria for a growing SaaS company. 

To be clear, in this article, I am talking about the best SaaS (cloud-based) CRMs for SaaS companies (a little confusing, I know).

What You Should Look For In A SaaS CRM

When it comes to choosing the right CRM for your SaaS business, there are a few main factors you want to keep in mind to help you pick the right solution. 

Tailored Features For SaaS 

When evaluating CRM options, consider features tailored to finding, winning, and retaining customers. Look for lead and sales management functionalities, as well as customer retention features designed for subscription based services. 

Additionally, make sure your CRM has advanced analytics capabilities to gain insights into user behaviors and preferences.

Customization

You want a CRM that’s going to fit into your current workflow. Because of this, it’s best to look for a CRM that offers extensive customization options, allowing you to tailor the system to your specific business processes and branding needs. 

Customization not only makes sure integration into your current workflow a seamless operation, but it also will make adoption of the CRM quicker for your team. 

Cross-Team Functionality

For collaboration of different departments within your company, cross-team functionality is essential. 

Choose a CRM that integrates with sales, customer support, and marketing tools, facilitating communication and collaboration across departments. This integration streamlines processes throughout the customer lifecycle, from acquisition to retention.

Scalability To Support Growth

When picking your CRM, you need to keep the future in mind. As your SaaS company will grow, so will your customer base and data volume. 

Select a CRM that can scale alongside your business, offering flexible pricing plans, expanded feature sets, and increased capacity to accommodate growing user numbers and data demands. This will ensure that your CRM solution remains effective and efficient as your SaaS scales.

The Top 10 SaaS CRMs To Use In 2024

Now let’s take a look at the best CRMs for B2B SaaS companies on the market today.  

1. HubSpot CRM 

If you’ve done any research at all, you’ve probably come across HubSpot CRM. It’s a key player when it comes to customer relationship management and an obvious choice for many SaaS startups since HubSpot offers a free version with essential functionalities like contact management, email integration, and basic reporting. Beyond the basics, HubSpot offers upgraded versions with additional features that come in handy as businesses grow. 

In addition to being extremely user-friendly, HubSpot is interesting because it is part of the larger HubSpot Ecosystem and offers seamless integration with other HubSpot products as well as third-party apps.  

✅ Pros of HubSpot

• User-friendly interface 
• Scalability through upgraded versions
• Free version
• Robust training and support

❌ Cons of Hubspot

• Can take time to set up and master features
• Upgraded versions can be too costly for small businesses

💲 Pricing

HubSpot offers a 100% free basic version, and upgraded versions range from $50 to $3,600 per month. 

📝 Reviews

Capterra: 4.5/5

G2: 4.4/5

2. Pipedrive

Pipedrive stands out as a CRM, especially when it comes to sales management. Popular with small businesses, Pipedrive is all about simplicity and cost-effectiveness. This CRM sets itself apart from others mainly through its intuitive interface, adaptable pipeline management, and laser-focus on optimizing sales processes.

✅ Pros of Pipedrive

• Simple interface
• Provides a visual representation of sales process
• Mobile app
• Robust customer support
• Competitive pricing
• Free trial

❌ Cons of Pipedrive

• Limited reporting
• Limited advanced features
• Some difficulty integrating with other tools

💲 Pricing

Pipedrive is affordable, offering four subscription levels ranging from $14.90 to $64.90 per month. Users can test out any level with a free trial. 

📝 Reviews

Capterra: 4.6/5

G2: 4.2/5

3. Salesforce Sales Cloud

Salesforce is a CRM industry leader for a reason. This top cloud CRM software is definitely a solid choice for complex businesses thanks to its huge range of features and extensive customization and scalability. 

Salesforce offers seemingly unlimited growth potential for businesses and is much more robust than simpler solutions like HubSpot CRM, for example. However, you should know that Salesforce is complex. If you are looking for a CRM that can be used straight out of the box, this one's not for you. Businesses will need to be prepared to extensively configure Salesforce in order to reap its benefits. 

✅ Pros of Salesforce Sales Cloud

• Comprehensive features
• Scalability
• Extensive customization
• Vast third-party integration capabilities
• Free trial

❌ Cons of Salesforce Sales Cloud

• Steep learning curve
• Complex due to all the features and customization options
• Advanced features lead to high costs

💲 Pricing

Salesforce Sales Cloud pricing starts from $25 per month to $330 per month per user. Prices obviously add up quickly with multiple users and add-on features that companies often find themselves needing.

📝 Reviews

Capterra: 4.4/5

G2: 4.3/5

4. Zendesk Sell 

Zendesk is another simple CRM software with an intuitive user interface. This cloud-based sales CRM features contact management, lead tracking, email integration, sales forecasting, reporting tools, and robust mobile accessibility. 

Compared to CRMs with similar capabilities, Zendesk is fairly expensive, making it less adapted to smaller businesses. A big perk of Zendesk, however, is its ability to link to Zendesk’s help desk platform, which makes for a cohesive and efficient customer service experience where sales and support teams can easily collaborate to address customers’ needs. 

✅ Pros of Zendesk Sell 

• Intuitive interface
• Efficient lead management
• Help platform integration
• Mobile app
• Free trial

❌ Cons of Zendesk Sell 

• Limited Customization
• Can be complicated to integrate tools
• Pricey

💲 Pricing

Zendesk offers four subscription levels depending on the number of features. Prices start at $19 per month per user and go up to $169 per month per user. The free trial allows users to test the full functionalities of the Enterprise version. 

📝 Reviews

Capterra: 4.3/5

G2: 4.2/5

5. SugarCRM

SugarCRM is a comprehensive sales CRM software that allows businesses to manage their sales processes efficiently. With features like contact management, lead tracking, opportunity management, email integration, sales forecasting, and reporting tools, SugarCRM is a top contender for companies wanting to streamline their sales workflows and drive revenue growth.

✅ Pros of SugarCRM

• Flexible and customizable
• Intuitive user interface
• Advanced reporting and analytics
• Scalability
• Demo available

❌ Cons of SugarCRM

• High pricing
• Complexity of customization
• Mixed experience with customer support

💲 Pricing

SugarCRM offers four levels of functionality, with pricing ranging from $49 per month to $135 per month per user with a minimum of 3 users (minimum 10 users for the top tier). They also offer an on-premise CRM for businesses maximum control and customization over their CRM for a price of $85 per month per user. 

📝 Reviews

Capterra: 4.5/5

G2: 3.8/5

6. Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM stands out as a solid option for smaller businesses. With features like lead management, contact management, sales pipeline tracking, email integration, and reporting tools, Zoho CRM empowers sales teams to effectively manage their leads and opportunities while enhancing customer relationships.

This affordable CRM offers a wide range of integrations with other Zoho applications as well as third-party tools and its AI-powered features such as predictive analytics and lead scoring help sales teams prioritize leads and identify high-value opportunities. 

✅ Pros of Zoho CRM

• Affordable pricing
• AI insights
• Mobile accessibility
• User-friendly
• Highly customizable

❌ Cons of Zoho CRM

• Learning curve for advanced features
• Integrations requiring technical knowledge

💲 Pricing

Zoho CRM offers a free basic CRM for entrepreneurs. Otherwise, their tiered pricing ranges from $14 to $52 per user per month. 

📝 Reviews

Capterra: 4.3/5

G2: 4.1/5

7. Freshsales

Freshsales is a CRM that offers many features for its affordable price. Its suite of features includes standard ones like lead management, contact management, email tracking, sales pipeline management, and analytics. Additionally, Freshsales provides AI insights to help optimize the sales process. 

Between its responsive customer support coupled with a user-friendly interface, Freshsales makes it easy for teams to get set up. 

✅ Pros of Freshsales

• Advanced features
• User-friendly
• Affordable pricing
• Robust customer support
• Free trial

❌ Cons of Freshsales

• Limited third-party integration
• Learning curve for some advanced features

💲 Pricing

Freshsales has three functionality levels ranging in price from $15 to $69 per month. A free trial is available for users who’d like to test out the CRM before committing. 

📝 Reviews

Capterra: 4.5/5

G2: 4.5/5

8. EspoCRM

EspoCRM is a great solution for SaaS companies on a shoe-string budget who want unlimited customization options. This CRM is open-source, meaning it’s free to download and use, but you’ll need to host and maintain the software yourself, which can require resources and technical expertise. 

With standard features such as lead management, contact management, opportunity tracking, email integration, and reporting tools, the biggest advantage of EspoCRM is really the ability to modify and customize every part of the CRM so that it best fits your needs. 

✅ Pros of EspoCRM

• Open-source flexibility
• Cost-effective 
• Highly visual and intuitive 
• Integrates well with other tools
• Extensive documentation and a support forum

❌ Cons of EspoCRM

• Self-hosting requirements
• Integrations may require technical knowledge
• Limited features out of the box

💲 Pricing

Expo CRM is open-source and therefore fre to downlaod. They do offer cloud hosting solutions if you don’t want to opt for self-hosting. The plans run from $15 to $69 per month per user. 

📝 Reviews

Capterra: 4.6/5

G2: 4.6/5

9. Monday Sales CRM

Monday Sales CRM is a recent addition to the Monday.com suite, offering a particularly attractive and intuitive interface that simplifies navigation and encourages user adoption. The platform's customizable dashboards, kanban boards, and visual representations of sales pipelines make it easy for sales professionals to track progress and prioritize tasks effectively.

This CRM also provides many customization options, allowing businesses to tailor the platform to their unique sales processes and requirements. Users have the possibility to create custom fields, automate workflows, and set up automated actions. 

✅ Pros of Monday Sales CRM

• User-friendly
• Highly customizable
• Workflow automation
• Robust reporting and analytics
• Free trial

❌ Cons of Monday Sales CRM

• Pricing
• Learning curve for advanced features
• Limited third-party integrations compared to other CRMs

💲 Pricing

Monday Sales CRM has four pricing editions, with the lowest starting at $12 per month. For their Enterprise version, contact their sales team for pricing based on your specific needs. 

📝 Reviews

Capterra: 4.8/5

G2: 4.6/5

10. Insightly

Insightly is a cloud-based CRM platform that provides a suite of essential tools including contact management, pipeline management, email integration, project management, and reporting capabilities. 

One of its standout features is its integrated project management functionality, which sets it apart for businesses looking for a comprehensive solution. With Insightly, users can seamlessly create, track, and manage projects, tasks, and milestones directly within the CRM interface. This seamless integration of CRM and project management tools not only streamlines workflows but is great for team organization and productivity.

✅ Pros of Insightly

• User-friendly
• Vast customization options
• Affordable
• Integrated project management 
• Google Workspace integration 

❌ Cons of Insightly

• Limited reporting capabilities
• Learning curve for advanced features
• Users report mixed customer support experience

💲 Pricing

Insightly offers three tiers of functionality, with prices ranging from $29 to $99 per month per user. 

📝 Reviews

Capterra: 4.1/5

G2: 4.2/5