Cheap CRM for Small Business (2026): 10 Affordable CRMs by Real 3-Year Cost

Most “cheap CRM” lists rank tools by their starting price per user. That number is misleading: add three colleagues, pay monthly, pass a contact limit or buy the email add-on, and a $15 CRM becomes a $2,000 one. So we looked for CRMs that stay cheap as you use them: free plans with real seats, flat prices that do not grow with your team, open-source and WordPress options, and the lowest per-user plans. Then we priced each one for three and five users over three years.

Prices were read on each vendor’s own pricing page on October 23, 2026, in US dollars.

Disclosure: DoubleScale is our product, and we list it first. It is the cheapest option only if your business already runs on WordPress, and we say below where another tool is the better buy.

What a cheap CRM really costs over three years

Most small businesses keep a CRM for years, because moving data and retraining a team is painful. So the number that matters is not the monthly price but the total you pay over that time, and how it changes when you hire.

Vendor pricing pages, October 23, 2026. List prices, yearly billing, before tax, usage fees and add-ons. Odoo uses its regular Standard price; self-hosted tools exclude hosting.

Two things stand out. First, a free plan often beats every paid plan: Odoo, Vtiger, EspoCRM, Jetpack CRM and DoubleScale can all cost $0 if their free version covers you. Second, the pricing model matters more than the price. Per-user plans grow by two-thirds when three users become five; flat and per-team prices do not move at all.

Per user or flat price? Find your break-even

A per-user plan is cheapest for one or two people. A flat price wins as soon as the team grows. Using Bigin, the cheapest per-user plan here ($84 per user a year), as the benchmark:

• DoubleScale ($99 a year, any users) is cheaper from two users.
• Moxie Teams ($385 a year, up to five) is cheaper from five users.
• Bitrix24 Basic ($588 a year, five users) only wins against higher per-user plans; Standard ($1,188 a year) covers 50 users, about $2 per user a month.
• GoHighLevel ($970 a year, unlimited users) is cheaper from 12 users, and sooner if it replaces other tools you pay for.

The 10 cheapest CRMs worth using

Every tool below either has a free plan you can run a business on, a flat price that does not grow with your team, or a paid plan under $15 per user a month. They are ordered by their three-year cost for three users, after DoubleScale.

1. DoubleScale: cheapest for a team on WordPress

DoubleScale is a CRM plugin for WordPress priced per site, not per user. The free plugin has unlimited contacts, email campaigns, automations, booking and invoices. Basic adds pipelines, custom fields, SMS and WhatsApp for $99 a year, or $249 once for a lifetime licence.

How small businesses use it: every colleague gets a login without changing the bill: three users pay $99 a year, and so do ten.

Watch out for: it needs WordPress and hosting, you run updates and backups, and pipelines and contact export are not on the free plan.

Best for: Small teams whose business already runs on a WordPress site.

2. Jetpack CRM: cheapest lightweight WordPress CRM

Jetpack CRM is a WordPress CRM plugin from Automattic. The free core includes contacts, companies, a sales funnel, invoicing and transactions. Paid bundles are per site: Freelancer is $11 a month billed yearly with four extensions, and Entrepreneur $17 with all 30+ extensions.

How small businesses use it: freelancers and small teams on WordPress track clients and send invoices from the dashboard, adding extensions such as Stripe or Gravity Forms sync only when they need them.

Watch out for: email campaigns need a paid bundle, the free version gets forum support only, and you handle hosting, updates and backups yourself.

Best for: WordPress users who want a light CRM with invoicing.

3. Zoho Bigin: cheapest per-user cloud CRM

Bigin is Zoho’s pipeline CRM for small businesses. It is free for one user and 500 records. Express costs $7 per user a month billed yearly ($9 monthly), and Premier $12 ($15 monthly).

How small businesses use it: owners who live in a pipeline: each deal is a card, each stage a column, with calls, emails and reminders logged on the card. When you outgrow it, the data moves to Zoho CRM.

Watch out for: the free plan is one person and 500 records, so a bought lead list fills it at once. Bigin keeps things lean on purpose; deeper customisation and automation live in Zoho CRM.

Best for: Owner-led businesses that sell through a simple pipeline.

4. Odoo: free CRM for any team size

Odoo is a suite of business apps. Its One App Free plan gives you one app, such as CRM, free for unlimited users, forever, hosted on Odoo Online. A second app moves you to Standard, listed at $8.95 to $11.20 per user a month depending on billing, with a discount for the first 12 months.

How small businesses use it: a team that only needs a pipeline puts everyone on Odoo CRM for free, then adds invoicing, sales or inventory apps later on the same database.

Watch out for: the free plan is one app only. Installing a second app or Studio, or adding a company, switches you to a paid plan, and implementation help is not included.

Best for: Teams that need only a pipeline today, and maybe an ERP later.

5. Freshsales: cheapest full sales CRM

Freshsales from Freshworks starts at $9 per user a month on Growth, billed yearly. Pro is $39 and Enterprise $59. There is a 21-day trial of the full product.

How small businesses use it: a small sales team gets contacts, deals, built-in email and phone, and a sales pipeline in one place, from the cheapest plan up.

Watch out for: the jump from Growth ($9) to Pro ($39) is steep, and add-ons such as the Freddy AI Agent ($49 per 100 sessions) and branded documents ($19 per user a month) are billed on top.

Best for: Sales teams that want a full CRM at an entry price.

6. Moxie: cheapest SaaS suite for freelancers

Moxie is business software for freelancers: clients, a sales pipeline, proposals and contracts, invoicing, projects, time tracking and scheduling. Starter is $10 a month billed yearly ($12 monthly). Pro ($20) adds a white-label client portal and automations, and Teams ($32) covers up to five team members.

How small businesses use it: a freelancer or small studio goes from lead to proposal, contract, project and invoice in one tool instead of paying for four.

Watch out for: it is built for freelancers and agencies, not sales teams. There is no free plan, and anyone beyond the owner needs the Teams plan, which stops at five members.

Best for: Freelancers and small agencies.

7. Vtiger: biggest free plan

Vtiger‘s One Pilot plan is free forever for up to 10 users, 3,000 records and 1,000 emails a month. One Growth is $12 per user a month billed yearly, for up to 15 users and 100,000 records. The trial lasts 15 days with no card.

How small businesses use it: a small team runs contacts, deals and email on the free plan, with more free seats than most CRMs allow, and moves to Growth when records run out.

Watch out for: 3,000 records goes quickly once you import leads, local taxes are added to the price, and the next plan, Professional, is $30 per user a month.

Best for: Small teams that need many free seats.

8. EspoCRM: free open-source CRM

EspoCRM is open source under the GNU AGPLv3 licence, so you can run it on your own server for free. If you would rather not host it, EspoCRM Cloud Basic is $15 per user a month for at least three users, billed every six or twelve months, with a 30-day trial.

How small businesses use it: a business with a developer or IT person hosts it in-house, keeps the data on its own server and adapts entities, fields and layouts to the way it sells.

Watch out for: self-hosting means you handle installation, updates, backups and security, and some extensions, such as the Advanced Pack for workflows, are paid.

Best for: Businesses with technical help that want open source.

9. Bitrix24: cheapest per-team pricing

Bitrix24 prices per organisation, not per user. The free plan covers one to two users with 5 GB of storage. Basic is $49 a month billed yearly ($69 monthly) for five users, and Standard is $99 a month ($144 monthly) for 50 users.

How small businesses use it: a small team gets deals, tasks, calendars, chat and video calls in one account, replacing several tools with one bill.

Watch out for: the interface is busy and takes time to learn, and the free plan is small. Per-team pricing pays off only when you fill the seats.

Best for: Teams of five or more that want CRM, tasks and chat together.

10. GoHighLevel: cheapest all-in-one marketing platform

GoHighLevel is an all-in-one marketing platform: CRM and pipelines, funnels and websites, email and SMS, booking, reviews and automations. Every plan includes unlimited contacts and users. Starter is $97 a month or $970 a year, with a 14-day trial.

How small businesses use it: a business that pays separately for a CRM, an email tool, a booking app and a page builder moves everything onto one bill. Agencies run clients as sub-accounts (three on Starter).

Watch out for: email, SMS, phone and AI are charged on usage on top of the plan, WhatsApp is $10 a month per sub-account, and the platform takes time to learn. If you only need a CRM, it is not the cheap option.

Best for: Businesses replacing several marketing tools with one.

Popular CRMs that are not as cheap as they look

These come up in every search for an affordable CRM. They are good products, but their per-user prices add up quickly for a small team.

Vendor pricing pages, October 23, 2026.

7 hidden costs that make a cheap CRM expensive

1. The next user. Per-user pricing means every hire, part-timer or assistant who needs to log a call adds a full seat. Count the people who will need access in a year, not today.
2. Monthly billing. Paying month to month costs 20% to 71% more than paying yearly on the tools in this guide (see the table below).
3. Record and contact caps. Bigin’s free plan stops at 500 records, Vtiger’s at 3,000, and Capsule’s at 250 contacts. Passing a cap forces an upgrade.
4. Usage fees. All-in-one platforms bill messaging separately. GoHighLevel charges for email, SMS, phone numbers and AI on top of the plan, and WhatsApp is $10 a month per sub-account.
5. Add-ons and extensions. Jetpack CRM’s email campaigns need a paid bundle, EspoCRM’s workflows need the paid Advanced Pack, and Freshsales’ AI Agent is $49 per 100 sessions.
6. Introductory prices. Odoo’s discount lasts 12 months and HubSpot’s $7 Starter price was marked “limited-time” when we checked. Budget for the regular price at renewal.
7. Self-hosting. Free open-source and WordPress CRMs need hosting, updates and backups. That is cheap if you already run a website, and real work if you do not.

Monthly vs yearly billing: what committing saves

Vendor pricing pages, October 23, 2026.

The safe pattern is to pay monthly for the first month, while you find out whether the team actually uses the tool, then switch to yearly billing once it sticks.

How to pay less for any CRM

• Use a free plan until it pinches. Odoo, Vtiger, Bitrix24 and Bigin all let you run real work at $0. Our free CRM guide for small business lists each free plan’s limits.
• Match the pricing model to your team. One or two people: a low per-user plan. Three or more: a flat or per-team price.
• Buy the plan you need, not the cheapest one. If you need automation, compare the plans that include it. A $9 plan that sends you to a $39 plan in three months is not cheap.
• Count the tools a CRM replaces. An all-in-one at $97 a month can be cheaper than a $9 CRM plus an email tool, a booking app and a proposal tool.
• Test the export before you buy. The cheapest CRM is the one you never have to leave. Export a CSV of contacts and deals in the trial, so you know you can move later.

Which cheap CRM should you choose?

• A team that only needs a pipeline and wants to pay nothing: Odoo CRM (free, unlimited users) or Vtiger (free for 10).
• One person, simple pipeline: Zoho Bigin (free, then $7).
• Freelancer or small studio: DoubleScale if your site runs on WordPress, Moxie if you prefer SaaS.
• A sales team on a budget: Freshsales Growth.
• A developer on the team, data in-house: EspoCRM, self-hosted.
• Five or more people who want CRM, tasks and chat: Bitrix24.
• Replacing several marketing tools: GoHighLevel.
• A business that runs on WordPress: DoubleScale, or Jetpack CRM for something lighter.

If price is not your only concern, our guide to the simplest CRMs for small business ranks CRMs by how quickly a team can start using them.

Comparing two of these?See GoHighLevel vs HubSpot, Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM and our HubSpot alternatives for small business.

How we compared: every price was read on the vendor’s own pricing page on October 23, 2026 (USD, before tax). Three-year costs use each CRM’s cheapest paid plan, billed yearly at list price, for three and five users, with no add-ons or usage fees. Prices change often, so check the vendor’s page before you buy.

Questions people ask

What is the cheapest CRM for a small business?

Several CRMs cost nothing: Odoo CRM is free for unlimited users as your only Odoo app, Vtiger is free for 10 users and 3,000 records, and EspoCRM is free if you host it. The cheapest paid cloud CRM per user is Zoho Bigin at $7 a month billed yearly. On WordPress, DoubleScale costs $99 a year per site for any number of users.

Is there a CRM that is free forever?

Yes. Odoo (one app, unlimited users), Vtiger One Pilot (10 users), Bitrix24 (1–2 users), Zoho Bigin (1 user), the free Jetpack CRM and DoubleScale plugins for WordPress, and the self-hosted EspoCRM edition are all free with no time limit.

What is the cheapest CRM without per-user pricing?

DoubleScale ($99 a year per WordPress site) and Jetpack CRM ($11 a month per site, billed yearly) are priced per site. Bitrix24 prices per team ($49 a month for five users), Moxie Teams covers up to five people for $32 a month, and GoHighLevel includes unlimited users from $97 a month.

What is the cheapest CRM for freelancers?

WordPress-based: DoubleScale. The free plugin includes proposals, invoices, booking pages and a client portal, and Basic adds projects, tasks, contracts and online payments for $99 a year. You never pay per contact or per project: both are unlimited. SaaS-based: Moxie Starter at $10 a month billed yearly ($120 a year) includes a pipeline, proposals, contracts, invoicing and projects. Zoho Bigin is free for one user if you only need a pipeline.

Is GoHighLevel cheap?

Not as a CRM alone: Starter is $97 a month or $970 a year, plus usage fees for email, SMS, phone and AI. It becomes good value when it replaces several tools, because every plan includes unlimited users and contacts.

How much does a CRM cost for a small business?

From $0 on a free plan to about $7 to $15 per user a month on budget plans billed yearly. For three users over three years, the paid plans here cost $297 to $1,764, or $2,910 for the GoHighLevel all-in-one, while popular CRMs such as HubSpot Starter cost about $2,160 at list price.