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

Plans and upgrades

The free CRM stays free

Customers, appointments, sales and reminders keep working without a plan. If Personal Pro ends, nothing is locked and nothing is deleted.

General CRM remains free. Existing records are never locked or deleted when Personal Pro is inactive.

Personal Pro

The free plan admits 50 imported records in total. Personal Pro lifts that ceiling for phone contacts, CSV and Excel alike.

New Drive backups require Personal Pro. Restoring existing Drive backups and local backup/restore remain free.

• Full Personal Web/PWA access at app.crmsalestracker.com
• 14 specialized Business Profiles
• Unlimited phone-contact imports
• Unlimited CSV and Excel imports
• New Personal Pro features released while your subscription is active
• Create manual and automatic backups in your own Google Drive, including attachments.
• Save customer search, filters and sorting for reuse on this device. Up to 10 views.

Team Workspace

Shared customers, roles, encrypted Drive sync, Team business profiles and Team imports.

Personal Pro does not include Team Workspace. Team Workspace does not upgrade your separate Personal workspace. If purchased separately, both may be active.

Personal Pro Lifetime

Lifetime grants lasting access to current and future Personal Pro features that do not carry separate usage costs.

Personal Pro Lifetime excludes Team Workspace, AI, enterprise/S3 storage, and future usage-based services.