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Freshsales is a low-cost sales CRM that provides a lot of functionality for communicating and converting leads for your team. In our in-depth research, we found it to be one of the best sales CRM options out there, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses that want advanced conversion tools like lead scoring to make sales at a competitive price.
When it comes to larger businesses, though, Freshsales is missing some key functionality in the team infrastructure department, missing out on tools like team communication and workflow approvals, which could be a dealbreaker if you need to manage a larger staff. Still, the analytics tools are stellar, particularly for the price.
In this review, you’ll learn about whether or not Freshsales is a good fit for your business, as we dig deep into everything from features and pricing to usability and customer support.
Pros
- Free plan available for up to three users
- More digital selling options than most
- Phone, email, and live chat support with 24/5 coverage
Cons
- Lacks some team organization capabilities found in competitors
- Doesn’t provide an IP restriction security feature
- No integrations available on free plan
- Growth: $9/user/month
- Pro: $39/user/month
- Enterprise: $59/user/month
Freshsales Quick Fact File
Before we get into the nitty gritty details of how Freshsales operates as a sales CRM, let’s get some of the basics out of the way, so that you understand exactly what you’re getting. Here are some quick facts about Freshsales:
- Pricing – Freshsales offers seriously competitive pricing, with a starting price of only $9 per user, per month, and a free forever plan for up to 3 users.
- Features – Freshsales provides features for lead conversion, communication, and capture across all paid plans.
- Customer support – Freshsales offers customer support across email, phone, and live chat, but it’s only available 24/5 with no weekend support.
- Security – Freshsales provides SSO and multi-factor authentication on all plans, but no IP restriction at all.
- Integrations – Freshsales offers many integrations for engagement, social media, and VoIP, although none are available on the free plan.
- Team infrastructure – Freshsales is limited when it comes to features like team communication and workflow approvals, but task management and calendar functionality are available.
Freshsales Review: Key Features
The Freshsales feature offering makes its low price all the more impressive, with a competitive catalog even compared to top enterprise solutions like HubSpot and Salesforce. From lead communication and conversion to analytics and customer support, Freshsales checks a lot of boxes at a decidedly lower price than most other options on the market.
Below, we’ll highlight some of the key features that make Freshsales stand out from other sales CRM, with in-depth screenshots from our research, so you can see what you’re getting before you make the decision.
Contact dashboard
Managing your sales team is all about contacts, and Freshsales has a stellar interface that is simple to operate and easy on the eyes. The color-coordinated navigation gives it a modern feeling, and it’s customizable enough to allow you to add a profile picture to a contact entry.
The contact database for Freshsales allows for list segmentation as well, and you can get all the contacts’ communication history to stay on top of their needs. You will have to pay a bit extra for duplicate detection, though, as that feature is only available in the Pro ($39 per user, per month) and Enterprise ($69 per user, per month) plans.
We found the contact database for Freshsales to be easy to use and very customizable. Source: Tech.co testing
Search your CRM
Perhaps one of the most important features that contributes to Freshsales’ overall usability is the search your CRM functionality. This helpful search bar makes it easy to navigate the entire system in an instant, with helpful prompts, guided selections, and an intuitive search function to find exactly what you need.
You can also customize the search in your CRM feature, adding bookmark filters and changing time periods to narrow down your search for more effective system navigation.
The search CRM function made it easier for our team to navigate the platform. Source: Tech.co testing
Third-party integrations
A big value of Freshsales is that it can integrate with a lot of other services. In fact, the Freshworks Marketplace shows that the Freshsales platform can integrate with 190 third-party apps, making it a veritable all-in-one hub for your entire sales team.
Freshsales integrates with a lot of the standard platforms like Gmail and Outlook, but you can also get more advanced functionality by connecting services like Mailchimp, QuickBooks, Docusign, and many others to really take advantage of this platform for more than just sales CRM functionality.
We were able to send emails directly in Freshsales once we connected our Gmail to the platform. Source: Tech.co testing
How Much Does Freshsales Cost?
Freshsales offers three different pricing plans to choose from, each of which adheres to the per-user pricing model found with most CRM solutions. Here’s how the three pricing plans compare to each other on cost:
- Growth – $9 per user, per month
- Pro – $39 per user, per month
- Enterprise – $59 per user, per month
Freshsales pricing is decidedly competitive in the CRM industry, with the starting price of $9 per user, per month representing the lowest cost option across our sales CRM research. Robust options like Salesforce and HubSpot cost between $20-25 per user, per month, while budget solutions like Zoho CRM cost around $14 per user, per month. All that to say, Freshsales is a steal when it comes to cost, particularly when you realize that most features are still available at this price point.
If you’d like to test out the features of any of these paid plans, you can take advantage of the 21-day free trial available from Freshsales. This is a bit longer than the industry standard for 14 days, offered by providers like HubSpot, although it is slightly less generous than some popular solutions like Salesforce, which offers a 30-day free trial.
| Plan | Price Billed annually | Users | Storage | Lead scoring | API | Custom reports | Custom automation builder | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | BEST FOR SMB | | | |||||
| $9/user/month | $39/user/month | $59/user/month | ||||||
| 3 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | |||||
| None | 2 GB | 5 GB per user | 100 GB per user | |||||
| | | | | |||||
| | | | | |||||
| | | | | |||||
| | 20 | 50 | 100 |
Does Freshsales have a free plan?
Yes, Freshsales does have a free plan for up to three users, so if you’re a very small business looking to get started without taking a hit to your budget, this could be the sales CRM for you.
The Freshsales free forever plan offers web forms, Kanban views, email templates, list segmentation, and task management functionality, but beyond that, it’s quite limited, so we wouldn’t recommend going with a paid plan to take full advantage. After all, only $9 per user, per month can get you going with virtually all the functionality of this top-tier sales CRM.
How Does Freshsales Compare With Other Sales CRM?
Freshsales was one of the best CRM for sales across our research, providing a low-cost option for small to medium-sized businesses that provides plenty of lead-focused features aimed at attracting new customers and retaining loyal clients. However, it is lagging a bit when it comes to team management features, and its lack of support options on the weekend could give some businesses pause, so understanding which other options are available can be a big help.
For larger businesses that need team infrastructure features like team communication tools, HubSpot and Salesforce are both excellent options, and both provide substantially scalable solutions. The price can get a bit high for both, though, so make sure your budget can handle that burden.
Zoho CRM is the most similar option to Freshsales, offering a lot of functionality at a low price point, along with a free forever for up to three users. Plus, it offers 24/7 customer support, although only with the Enterprise plan, which costs $40 per user, per month.
Check out the table below to see some other Freshsales alternatives:
| Starting price | Free plan | Free trial | Verdict | Data cap in basic plan | Lead capture | Accept payments | Onboarding | Get started Click to get started and compare prices for your business | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPONSORED  |  |  |  | |  |  | ||||
| | | | | | | | ||||
| 30 days | 30 days | | 7 days | 21 days | 30 days | 14 days | ||||
| A scalable, highly customizable platform that’s great for managing teams | An attractive option, with lots of features for a low price | A scalable tool that’s perfect for managing contracts and payments | A reasonably priced platform offering solid customization options | A low-cost option that’s great for engaging potential customers online | An expensive, robust tool for analytics that’s better suited to current Microsoft users | A suitable all-in-one platform for sales and marketing but a bit expensive | ||||
| File storage: 1GB | 200MB | 5 documents | 60GB | 2GB per user | Database: 10GB | Unlimited | ||||
| Web forms only | | | Web forms only | | | Web forms only | ||||
| | | Stripe integration | | | | | ||||
| | | | | | | | ||||
| Try Salesforce | Try Zoho CRM | Try HubSpot | Get Quotes | Try Freshsales | Get Quotes | Try Keap |
Our Methodology: How Did We Evaluate Freshsales?
We take our impartial research and analysis seriously, so you can have complete confidence that we're giving you the clearest, most useful recommendations.
After conducting an initial exploration to identify the most relevant, popular, and established CRM tools in the market, we put them through their paces to find out more about their strengths and weaknesses. In total, we analyzed 13 CRM systems, grading them across 84 areas of investigation.
Based on years of market research and CRM product testing, we've established a CRM research methodology to score products, which consists of six main assessment categories and 13 subcategories. This covers everything from the available features and scalability capacity to the product's value for money and much more.
Our main testing categories for CRM systems are:
Features: The functionalities and capabilities provided by the CRM software, such as contact management, lead and opportunity tracking, and task and activity management.
Help and Support: The resources and assistance available to users when they encounter issues or require guidance while using the CRM software.
Customization: The ability to tailor the CRM software to suit the specific needs and processes of the organization, e.g. customizing fields, layouts, and workflows.
Scalability: The ability of the CRM software to accommodate the growth and changing needs of the organization, such as the capacity to handle a growing customer database.
Price: The cost associated with using the CRM software. It includes factors such as licensing fees, subscription plans, and additional charges for add-on modules or features.
Team Structure – Sales CRM: Determining if a platform makes it easier to manage large sales teams, including team dashboards, team hierarchies, and team inboxes.
Usability – Small Business CRM: Assessing the simplicity of the interface, the ease of navigating through menus and options, and the overall user experience.
When it comes to calculating a product's final score, not all testing areas are weighted evenly, as we know some aspects matter more to our readers than others, which are merely "nice to have." After hundreds of hours, our process is complete, and the results should ensure you can find the best solution for your needs.
At Tech.co, we have a number of full-time in-house researchers, who re-run this testing process regularly, to ensure our results remain reflective of the present day.
Verdict: Is Freshsales Worth It?
Freshsales is one of the top sales CRM options in our in-depth research, receiving high marks for its lead communication and conversion tools, its impressive analytics options even with the inexpensive plans, and robust and responsive customer support team, which is available 24/5. Small and medium-sized teams will particularly enjoy Freshsales, thanks to its low starting price of only $9 per user, per month, its free forever plan for up to three users, and its vast selection of third-party integrations.
Larger teams might have trouble with Freshsales, though. The support team is not available on weekends, the platform lacks team communication and workflow approval functionality, and there are no IP restrictions allowed. Still, if your team can get by without these bells and whistles, Freshsales remains a solid option for all businesses, given the overall functionality at such a reasonable price.
Our content is funded in part by commercial partnerships, at no extra cost to you and without impact to our editorial impartiality. Click to Learn More