Best CRM for Freelancers 2026: Free to $50/Month

Most freelancers don’t need a $100/month CRM. You need something that tracks leads, reminds you to follow up, and shows your pipeline at a glance. Here are the best options from free to $50/month:

Rank	Tool	Price	Contacts	Users	Best for
1	HubSpot Free	$0	1,000,000	2	Best free option overall
2	Freshsales Free	$0	Unlimited	3	Best free with built-in phone
3	Freshsales Growth	$9/user/mo	Unlimited	Unlimited	Best budget paid CRM
4	HubSpot Starter	$20/seat/mo	1,000	Per seat	Best paid if already on HubSpot

What freelancers actually need in a CRM

Before picking a tool, know what matters for solo and small-team workflows:

• Contact management — Store client details, notes, communication history
• Deal pipeline — Visual board showing where each lead/project stands
• Follow-up reminders — Never forget to follow up on a proposal
• Email tracking — Know when a client opens your proposal
• Mobile access — Check your pipeline from anywhere
• Meeting scheduler — Let clients book time without email ping-pong

You probably don’t need: advanced automation, custom objects, AI forecasting, territory management, or hierarchical teams. Those are for sales teams, not freelancers.

1. HubSpot Free CRM — $0 (best free option)

HubSpot’s free CRM is surprisingly generous. You get contact management for up to 1 million contacts (more than any freelancer needs), a visual deal pipeline, email marketing (2,000 sends/month), live chat for your website, and a meeting scheduler.

What you get for free:

• 1M contacts, unlimited deals, unlimited tasks
• Visual deal pipeline with drag-and-drop
• Email marketing (2,000 sends/month)
• Meeting scheduler with calendar sync
• Live chat widget for your website
• Reporting dashboard (basic)
• Mobile app (iOS and Android)

Limits to know about:

• 2 user seats maximum
• HubSpot branding on emails and forms
• No automation beyond simple email sequences
• Limited reporting customization
• No phone support

Best for: Solo freelancers who want a full-featured CRM without paying anything. The meeting scheduler alone is worth setting up HubSpot.

Full breakdown: HubSpot pricing

2. Freshsales Free — $0 (best with built-in calling)

Freshsales’ free plan stands out for including built-in phone and email — you can make calls and send emails directly from the CRM without integrating third-party tools. The 3-user limit is also more generous than HubSpot’s 2.

What you get for free:

• Unlimited contacts
• 3 user seats
• Built-in phone (limited credits) and email
• Kanban deal view
• Chat widget
• Lifecycle stages
• Mobile app

Limits to know about:

• No automation or workflows
• No sales sequences
• Basic reporting only
• Limited phone credits
• No AI features

Best for: Freelancers who do a lot of phone outreach (sales calls, client check-ins) and want calling built into the CRM. Also great if you have a small team of 3.

Full breakdown: Freshsales pricing

3. Freshsales Growth — $9/user/month (best budget paid)

When you outgrow the free tier and need automation, Freshsales Growth is the most affordable upgrade. At $9/user/month (annual), you get AI-powered contact scoring, sales sequences, WhatsApp integration, and visual pipelines.

What $9/month adds over free:

• AI-powered contact scoring (prioritize hot leads)
• Sales sequences (automated follow-up emails)
• WhatsApp and SMS integration
• Slack integration
• Product catalog
• Custom dashboards and reports

Best for: Freelancers who’ve grown to the point where manual follow-ups are dropping leads. The sales sequences automate the “check in after 3 days” workflow that most freelancers do manually.

4. HubSpot Starter — $20/seat/month (best for HubSpot ecosystem)

If you’re already using HubSpot’s free tools and want more, Starter removes branding, adds email health insights, and provides basic automation. At $20/seat/month, it’s more expensive than Freshsales Growth but keeps you in the HubSpot ecosystem.

What $20/month adds over free:

• Remove HubSpot branding from emails and forms
• Simple automation (task creation, email sequences)
• Multiple currencies
• Stripe payment processing
• Email and in-app support

Best for: Freelancers already on HubSpot Free who need branding removed and basic automation. Not worth switching to from another CRM.

When to upgrade from free

Stay on a free plan until one of these is true:

• You’re losing leads — If you’ve missed follow-ups because there’s no automation to remind you, it’s time
• You need your brand — HubSpot branding on client-facing emails looks unprofessional as you grow
• You have 3+ people — Free plans limit seats; paid plans scale with your team
• You need reporting — Free analytics are basic; paid plans show pipeline velocity, conversion rates, and forecasts

For most freelancers, free CRMs work for the first 1–2 years. The upgrade to $9–20/month becomes worthwhile when you’re consistently managing 20+ active leads.

The verdict

Start with HubSpot Free. It has the most generous feature set for $0, and the meeting scheduler is immediately useful for any freelancer. The 1M contact limit means you’ll never outgrow it on contacts alone.

If you outgrow free, move to Freshsales Growth ($9/user/mo). It’s the best value for the first paid CRM step — more features per dollar than HubSpot Starter, with AI scoring and sales sequences that actually save time.

Skip HubSpot Starter unless you’re deeply embedded in the HubSpot ecosystem. At $20/seat, you get less than Freshsales Growth offers at $9/user.

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Pricing sourced from HubSpot and Freshsales official pricing pages. Last checked February 2026.