Free CRM or paid CRM: which do you actually need

The question is not price, it is exit

The most expensive thing about a cheap CRM is not the subscription. It is discovering two years in that getting your own customer list out of it is a paid feature, or an API call, or a support ticket.

Whatever you choose, check the exit before you check the price. If you can export everything you have put in, at any moment, in a format a spreadsheet opens, then a mistake costs you an afternoon rather than your records.

When free is genuinely enough

• One person does the recording, even if others do the work
• You need a memory rather than a workflow engine
• The reporting you need is a period summary, not a forecasting model
• You do not need the CRM to issue documents with legal standing
• The device is the office — a phone, and maybe a tablet

When paying is the right call

• Several people need the same customer list at the same time, from their own devices
• You need to control who sees which customers, and prove it
• The tool must connect to accounting, e-invoicing or a payment processor
• You are running marketing sequences, not just keeping records
• You need a browser version because part of the team is at a desk

How this app splits it

Everything a single user needs is free, including export — deliberately, because export is the thing that should never be a hostage. The paid tier is the shared team workspace, and it is priced as a seat package the manager buys once.

If the list above put you in the "pay" column for reasons other than team sharing — e-invoicing, payment processing, a browser dashboard — then this is honestly not your tool, and it is better to know that now.