Best AI CRM Software – Which Platform Has the Best Automation?

The best CRM with AI features is HubSpot, offering a combination of AI chatbot assistance, generative AI capabilities, and automation features that can streamline your operations across sales, marketing, and customer service business.

Over the last few years, there has been a notable injection of AI technology into popular business software, and customer relationship management (CRM) platforms are no exception. In fact, a lot of top CRM systems now have AI-powered content generation and data analysis tools, and will let you streamline your team’s day-to-day processes with automation.

In this guide, you’ll learn about some of the best CRM platforms that offer AI tools, as well as what kind of features you should look out for when trying to decide which platform is best for your business.

In this guide:

• Best AI CRM Software Reviewed
• What to Look for in AI CRM Software
• How We Evaluate AI CRM Software
• Verdict: What Is the Best AI CRM Software?

Best AI CRM Software Reviewed

There’s a lot that goes into evaluating AI CRM, which is why we’ve done some in-depth research on some of the best options to choose from. Click on the links below to get a thorough look at these particular platforms or keep scrolling to see how they all match up against each other.

• HubSpot – Best overall CRM for AI features
• Salesforce – Best for larger businesses that need AI features
• Zoho CRM – Best for smaller businesses that need AI features
• Zendesk – Best customer service CRM with AI features
• Pipedrive – The Most Secure CRM with AI features

HubSpot – Best Overall CRM for AI

• Price: $15/user/month
• Free plan: Yes

HubSpot is a powerhouse when it comes to CRM software, offering a robust tool for marketing, sales, and customer service, housed in the different Hubs available from the provider. Our research found that the platform not only provides helpful AI functionality but is also quite easy to use, even for beginners, thanks to the intuitive interface and helpful tips for setup along the way.

In fact, the detailed onboarding process is one of the biggest advantages of HubSpot, because the CRM is so robust that it can be easy to miss out on some of the more valuable functionalities. This level of training is not present with CRMs geared towards smaller businesses, like Zoho CRM and Pipedrive.

Still, these onboarding fees are pretty hefty, and if you’re a larger team with a lot of users, the cost of HubSpot can be a bit prohibitive in the long run.

Check out our HubSpot review for more information

AI features in HubSpot

HubSpot is the best CRM for AI features because, simply put, it’s got them all. Throughout the platform, you’ll find generative AI features — like social and blog post generators — and AI chatbot tools — like website builders and email content assistants.

You’ll also find workflow automation features to streamline operations, although they’re only available in the Professional and Enterprise plans, and there are limits to how many you can set up (300 and 1,000, respectively).

The most notable AI feature from HubSpot, however, is Breeze — the AI solution from the CRM that powers a wide range of helpful functionalities. Breeze Copilot, which is available across all plans, can provide you with tailored insights and recommendations about leads, customers, and engagements. It will also help you generate content and get frequent business operations efficiently.

Even better, Breeze is frequently getting updates, with an October 2024 release adding over 6,000 HubSpot Academy resources to the platform to guide users to helpful resources that can help them set up and use the platform more effectively.

HubSpot email marketing offers helpful tools to generate copy such as subject lines. Source: Tech.co testing

HubSpot pricing

One of the things that makes HubSpot so great for businesses of all sizes is the pricing. In addition to the lower-cost enterprise plan that is good for larger teams, HubSpot offers a low-cost starting plan and a free forever plan for small businesses, which makes it accessible when you’re starting out and scalable when you need to grow. Here’s how the pricing plans compare:

• Starter: $15 per user, per month
• Professional: $90 per user, per month
• Enterprise: $150 per user, per month

Even better, HubSpot makes many of its AI features — like the Breeze Copilot tool — available across all paid plans.  Some AI functionalities will cost extra, like the Breeze Prospecting Agent and Breeze Intelligence, but overall, you can get access to some AI tools at a very low cost with HubSpot.

Salesforce – Best for Larger Companies That Need AI Features

• Price: $25/user/month
• Free plan: No

Salesforce is the most popular CRM in the world, because of its robust functionality across multiple industries, including sales, marketing, and customer service, thanks to the various “Clouds” available from the platform. Most notably, Salesforce is an excellent tool for analytics, providing users with a vast selection of customizable reporting tools that can help you create comprehensive dashboards of valuable data.

Like HubSpot, though, Salesforce is a bit intimidating when it comes to price, with the highest starting price on this list and even more expensive paid plans that unlock the AI features. Admittedly, Salesforce is geared towards larger companies willing to stump up hefty fees for access to robust tools, but smaller businesses may want to look elsewhere.

Check out our Salesforce review for more information

AI features in Salesforce

Einstein has been the go-to AI feature within Salesforce for years now, but with recent advancements, the service has gotten a serious facelift.  Einstein is now equipped to perform a wide range of tasks, most notably automating the entire manual data entry process, so that email and calendar content is readily available for your entire team. Even better, this feature is available across all paid plans from Salesforce.

Beyond that, though, you’re going to have to pay extra for AI functionality. Depending on your plan, options like lead scoring, email insights, and Einstein forecasting will cost extra, only being included with the Einstein 1 Sales plan, which costs quite a bit, as you’ll see below. Suffice to say, Salesforce AI features are going to cost you, so being a larger business with a big budget goes a long way.

The Einstein AI chatbot from Salesforce can help you use the platform more effectively. Source: Salesforce

Salesforce pricing

There’s no way around it; Salesforce is expensive, particularly compared to other options on this list. The starting price is well above the industry average and every other option on this list, and it offers no free forever plan, so you’ll have to rely on the 30-day free trial to test it out before you buy. Still, you get a lot of bang for your buck, here’s how the pricing plans compare:

• Starter Suite: $25 per user, per month
• Pro Suite: $100 per user, per month
• Enterprise: $165 per user, per month
• Unlimited: $330 per user, per month
• Einstein 1 Sales: $500 per user, per month

On top of those expensive plans, Salesforce doesn’t offer a lot of AI functionality until you’re willing to pay a bit extra. Everything is included in the Einstein 1 Sales plan, but for all the others, most of the AI features — like unified data and generative AI — will need to be purchased as an add-on.

Check out our Salesforce pricing guide to learn more

Zoho CRM – Best CRM for Small Businesses That Need AI Features

• Price: $14/user/month
• Free plan: Yes

Our in-depth research found that Zoho CRM is the best CRM for small businesses, largely due to its affordable and accessible pricing options, which include a free forever plan with sales and marketing functionality built in. On top of that, it’s an easy-to-use platform with a simple, intuitive interface to help your team easily get the hang of it without much assistance.

The best part of Zoho CRM, however, is the customizability with it being less rigid than other options like Pipedrive. The whole platform offers plenty of tailored options, including custom fields for contacts in all plans to let you specifically cater Zoho CRM to your business needs. Plus, it can integrate with a wide range of other Zoho services, as well as third-party integrations in the Zoho Marketplace.

Check out our Zoho CRM vs HubSpot guide for more information

AI features in Zoho CRM

The Zoho CRM platform offers a lot of helpful AI features for small businesses to streamline operations. You’ll find sales and marketing automation features built-in for all pricing plans, even the free one, so you can manage leads, contacts, accounts, deals, and campaigns without having to deal with too much manual data entry.

Those AI features are a bit basic, though, when compared to the AI tools that unlock in the Enterprise plan and beyond. Most notably, you get access to Zia — the AI assistant from Zoho CRM. This AI chatbot can help you find data quickly and generate content for marketing and sales efforts. It will also help you view analytics and provide insights on which sales leads or marketing campaigns are most worth your attention.

You can ask Zia to provide data visualizations of your data. Source: Zoho

Zoho CRM pricing

For small businesses, Zoho CRM is a very attractive option. In addition to offering the lowest starting price on this list, it offers five competitively priced plans that won’t break the bank for any business trying to keep costs low. On top of that, it offers a free forever plan for up to three users that can provide some serious functionality for your growing team.

• Standard: $14 per user, per month
• Professional: $23 per user, per month
• Enterprise: $40 per user, per month
• Ultimate: $52 per user, per month
• Plus: $57 per user, per month

Unfortunately, Zoho CRM does not offer its AI features across all paid plans. You’ll have to pay at least $40 per user, per month for the Enterprise plan to get access to its strongest AI features — like the Zia AI assistant — but that’s still quite competitive compared to the other price restrictions on this list.

Check out our Zoho CRM pricing guide to learn more

Zendesk – Best Customer Service CRM with AI Features

• Price: $19/user/month
• Free plan: No

Zendesk is the best CRM for customer service businesses, according to our research, offering some of the most robust helpdesk features, even compared to bigger providers like HubSpot and Salesforce. Your team will be equipped with all the communication channels you can imagine, email, social, live chat, and SMS, making it easy to reach your customers where they are.

Zendesk also provides users with advanced customer interaction analytics, driven by AI, so you can evaluate how your team is performing in those roles. However, those features do cost extra, as do many others with Zendesk, which can make it quite an expensive commitment for smaller businesses on tiny budgets.

AI features in Zendesk

Streamlining customer service requests can substantially improve response times and resolve rates, which is where Zendesk really shines. Every pricing plan from the service-focused CRM offers access to its AI Agents, the chatbot system that can allow your users to implement self-service tools, directing them know knowledge centers and resolving problems with in-system automations.

Even better, the AI Agents system comes with an Insights dashboard that will give you an in-depth look at how your AI chatbots are performing when it comes to solving problems and dealing with customers. You can then optimize the system to respond better if there are issues, improving the process for you and your customers.

Zendesk AI Assist provides users with helpful insights about customers. Source: Zendesk

Zendesk pricing

Zendesk is admittedly a bit competitive compared to some other options on this list, with the starting price being higher than Pipedrive, HubSpot, and Zoho CRM. On top of that, it offers no free forever plan. However, it’s worth noting that its AI features — like AI Agents — are available across all paid plans, which means you can get access to them for as little as $19 per user, per month. Here’s how the pricing plans compare to each other:

• Team: $19 per user, per month
• Professional: $55 per user, per month
• Enterprise: $115 per user, per month

On top of that, the advanced AI functionality from Zendesk that is offered as an add-on costs $50 per user, per month. This includes features like generative AI writing tools, automated workflows, AI insights and suggestions, and an agent copilot to help you make sales.

Check out our Zendesk pricing guide to learn more

Pipedrive – Most Secure CRM with AI Features

• Price: $14/user/month
• Free plan: No

Pipedrive isn’t for everyone, because it only offers sales CRM features, but if that’s all you need, it can be a key tool for your business, particularly if you’re a large one. The CRM offers an unlimited contact database, allowing you to track as many sales as you need, no matter how big your team is.

More importantly, Pipedrive is an excellent CRM when it comes to security, owning multiple certificates for compliance to protect customer data. On top of that, it offers a full-on security center that features dashboards to keep track of problems and notifications to keep you informed about your security protocols.

AI features in Pipedrive

Pipedrive is another CRM that offers AI features within its most affordable plan, with access to the Sales Assistant, which gives you suggestions on how to improve your sales, and smart app recommendations (third-party integrations would best be suited for your particular business needs).

There are some more advanced AI features in the expensive plans, though. If you go with the Professional, Power, or Enterprise plans, for example, you get access to a more advanced AI Sales Assistant, which can actually suggest which deals are closest to being closed and how to proceed. You’ll also get access to email summarization features, which can streamline your communication for your whole business.

You’ll also find new AI tools from Pipedrive, like Pipedrive Pulse, which was launched in September 2024 and allows users to streamline action and opportunities feeds with automations and get AI-powered insights on when to reach out to leads and how to communicate with them.

Pipedrive’s AI summaries can help you get a clear picture of a sale based on your email. Source: Pipedrive

Pipedrive pricing

Pipedrive is one of the more accessible options on the list, with a lower starting price than HubSpot, Salesforce, and Zendesk. Plus, it offers five plans, tied for the most on this list, so you have plenty of options to choose from for your business. There is no free forever plan, but there is a 14-day free trial to test it out before you buy. Here’s how the pricing plans match up against each other:

• Essential: $14 per user, per month
• Advanced: $34 per user, per month
• Professional: $49 per user, per month
• Power: $64 per user, per month
• Enterprise: $99 per user, per month

However, it’s worth noting that Pipedrive only gives users access to the majority of its AI features — like the AI-powered Sales Assistant — in the Professional, Power, and Enterprise plans, so you’ll have to pay at least $49 per user, per month to take advantage.

Check out our Pipedrive pricing guide to learn more

What to Look for in AI CRM Software

If you’re currently on the market for a CRM platform that offers a wide range of AI functionality, there are some key features you should consider before making your decision. After all, “artificial intelligence” can be pretty vague when it comes to business software, with the term generally representing three different types of features. Here’s what you should look for in an AI CRM:

• Generative AI tools – Made popular by platforms like ChatGPT, generative AI tools describe the kind of features that can generate content or imagery for you, like the subject line of marketing emails. Just click a button and you’ll have usable content for whatever your CRM needs require.
• AI chatbots – AI chatbots take many forms, but it simply describes an AI-powered bot that can respond to questions and queries in a chat message with users. This kind of feature is ideal for customer service businesses, as it can provide a self-service avenue for customers that won’t take up your team’s time.
• Automation features – AI-powered automation describes the features that can establish automatic processes to save your team time on the nitty gritty details of your business. These workflow automations can streamline business operations, like transferring contacts to leads or sending follow-up emails after an initial customer service query.

Most importantly, while AI features are a big draw for business software in 2024, the reality is that you don’t want to pick your CRM exclusively based on available AI features. These platforms offer vast functionality for a wide range of purposes and narrowing your decision to a few features that will likely be updated in the near future is shortsighted for your business strategy.

When it comes to choosing a CRM in general, you want to consider factors like pricing, available integrations, security, and general ease of use for your team. Because if it’s too complicated to use, you might as well just be throwing your money in the trash.

Check out our guide to the best CRM for beginners to learn more

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