Best free CRM & support tools (2026)

Plenty of CRM & support tools advertise a free plan; fewer truly back it up. These do.

Every entry below separates a real free plan from a time-limited trial, lists the actual limits (seats, items, sends or storage) and the trade-off you accept at $0. Limits are summarised from public plans at the time of writing.

The free tools at a glance

Tool	Free offer	What you get free	Best for
Crisp	Free plan	Basic chat, 2 seats	Startups on flat pricing
Freshdesk (Freshworks)	Free plan	1-2 agents for first 6 months; ticketing, KB, reports	SMB support teams
Freshsales (Freshworks)	Free plan	Up to 3 users, contact/account/deal management, chat, phone	SMBs wanting AI + phone in CRM
Help Scout	Free plan	Limited; 1 Beacon	Small/mid support teams
HubSpot CRM (Sales Hub)	Free plan	Unlimited users, up to 1M contacts	Free CRM to start
Tidio	Free plan	50 billable conversations, 10 seats, ticketing	Small ecommerce sites
Zoho CRM	Free plan	Up to 3 users, core CRM, no Zia	Budget-conscious SMBs
Zoho Desk	Free plan	Up to 3 agents, email ticketing, KB	Zoho ecosystem users
Capsule CRM	Free plan	2 users, 250 contacts, 50MB	Small teams wanting simplicity
Close	14-day free trial	trial only	Inside/remote sales teams
Copper	14-day free trial	trial only	Heavy Google Workspace users
Keap	14-day free trial	trial only	Solopreneurs and small biz
LiveChat	14-day free trial	trial only	Sales + support chat
Nimble	14-day free trial	trial only	Relationship-led selling
Nutshell	14-day free trial	trial only	SMB B2B sales teams
OnePageCRM	21-day free trial	trial only	Small sales teams and solos
Pipedrive	14-day free trial	trial only	SMB outbound sales teams
Salesflare	free trial	trial only	B2B SMBs selling via email

The picks, ranked

1. Crisp business messaging

All-in-one business messaging suite (chat, chatbot, shared inbox, CRM) with flat per-workspace pricing.

Free plan: Basic chat, 2 seats

Standout feature: Seat bundles per plan (Mini 4, Essentials ~10, Plus ~20).

Best for: Startups and small teams wanting multichannel messaging on predictable flat pricing.

The catch: AI usage is tightly capped until the Plus (~$295/mo) tier.

Full Crisp overview

Try Crisp free →

2. Freshdesk (Freshworks) customer support / helpdesk

Easy-to-adopt helpdesk with ticketing, automation and AI, a value-oriented alternative to Zendesk.

Free plan: 1-2 agents for first 6 months; ticketing, KB, reports

Standout feature: Freshdesk Omni tier adds omnichannel (chat, voice, social).

Best for: SMB support teams wanting easy ticketing with optional AI, on a budget.

The catch: Free plan was reduced from the old open-ended 10-agent offering.

Full Freshdesk (Freshworks) overview

Try Freshdesk (Freshworks) free →

3. Freshsales (Freshworks) sales CRM

AI-assisted sales CRM (Freddy AI) with built-in phone, email and lead scoring, part of the Freshworks suite.

Free plan: Up to 3 users, contact/account/deal management, chat, phone

Standout feature: Sales sequences and workflow automation.

Best for: SMBs wanting AI plus built-in phone in one affordable CRM, especially Freshworks users.

Full Freshsales (Freshworks) overview

Try Freshsales (Freshworks) free →

4. Help Scout shared inbox / helpdesk

Human, email-style shared inbox helpdesk that feels personal to customers, with docs and live chat (Beacon).

Free plan: Limited; 1 Beacon

Standout feature: Unlimited customer contacts on all paid plans.

Best for: Small and mid-size teams wanting email-first, human support with docs and chat.

The catch: Fewer enterprise/omnichannel features than Zendesk.

Full Help Scout overview

Try Help Scout free →

5. HubSpot CRM (Sales Hub) all-in-one CRM

Free-to-start CRM with Sales Hub layered on top, part of HubSpot's unified marketing-sales-service platform.

Free plan: Unlimited users, up to 1M contacts

Standout feature: Unified with HubSpot Marketing, Service, Content and Operations Hubs.

Best for: Scaling SMBs wanting a free CRM that grows into an all-in-one platform.

The catch: Sequences, automation and reporting gated at Professional (~$100/seat/mo).

Full HubSpot CRM (Sales Hub) overview

Try HubSpot CRM (Sales Hub) free →

6. Tidio live chat + AI chatbot

Live chat plus the Lyro AI chatbot, popular with small ecommerce and SMB sites for automated support.

Free plan: 50 billable conversations, 10 seats, ticketing

Standout feature: Flows: visual automation builder for support and conversion.

Best for: Small and mid-size ecommerce/SMB sites wanting affordable chat plus AI automation.

The catch: Free plan's Lyro/Flows are one-time bundles, not monthly.

Full Tidio overview

Try Tidio free →

7. Zoho CRM all-in-one CRM

Full-featured CRM at aggressive pricing, deeply integrated into the wider Zoho One business suite.

Free plan: Up to 3 users, core CRM, no Zia

Standout feature: Omnichannel: email, telephony, social and live chat capture.

Best for: Budget-conscious SMBs and teams standardizing on the Zoho suite.

Full Zoho CRM overview

Try Zoho CRM free →

8. Zoho Desk customer support / helpdesk

Context-aware helpdesk tightly integrated with Zoho CRM and the wider Zoho suite at low cost.

Free plan: Up to 3 agents, email ticketing, KB

Standout feature: Free plan for up to 3 agents.

Best for: Zoho-ecosystem users and budget-conscious teams wanting CRM plus support in one suite.

The catch: Real AI (Answer Bot, sentiment, anomaly, field prediction) only on Enterprise (~$40/agent/mo).

Full Zoho Desk overview

Try Zoho Desk free →

9. Capsule CRM simple CRM

Clean, easy-to-learn CRM for small teams who want contact and pipeline management without bloat.

Free plan: 2 users, 250 contacts, 50MB

Standout feature: AI features (from Growth): AI Pipeline Generator, contact/business enrichment, AI summaries, content assists.

Best for: Small teams wanting simple contact/pipeline management without complexity.

The catch: Free plan limited to 250 contacts and 50MB storage.

Full Capsule CRM overview

Free trials (no permanent free plan)

Trial-only options: free to try, not free to keep, but useful for a hands-on check:

Close — 14-day free trial. Inside/remote sales teams. Start Close trial →
Copper — 14-day free trial. Heavy Google Workspace users. Start Copper trial →
Keap — 14-day free trial. Solopreneurs and small biz. Start Keap trial →
LiveChat — 14-day free trial. Sales + support chat. Start LiveChat trial →
Nimble — 14-day free trial. Relationship-led selling. Nimble details →
Nutshell — 14-day free trial. SMB B2B sales teams. Start Nutshell trial →
OnePageCRM — 21-day free trial. Small sales teams and solos. Start OnePageCRM trial →
Pipedrive — 14-day free trial. SMB outbound sales teams. Start Pipedrive trial →
Salesflare — free trial. B2B SMBs selling via email. Start Salesflare trial →

How to pick a free tool

Start with the free plan whose limit you'll hit last for your use case — seats, items or sends — not the longest feature list. Free tiers are for validating fit; upgrade only when a real ceiling, not a nice-to-have, gets in your way.

FAQ

Which of these are genuinely free, and which are just trials?

9 tools here offer a permanent free plan you can keep using at $0 — including Crisp, Freshdesk (Freshworks) and Freshsales (Freshworks). Close, Copper, Keap, LiveChat, Nimble, Nutshell, OnePageCRM, Pipedrive and Salesflare only offer a time-limited free trial, not a standing free plan.

What's the catch with a free plan?

Free tiers trade away scale or polish. The usual limits are usage caps (seats, contacts, sends, storage), a reduced feature set, vendor branding or watermarks, and gated automations. Each pick above lists its specific limit and catch where the data names one.

How were these chosen?

We include a tool only when its own pricing or an independent source confirms a real free plan or trial — no assumed free tiers. Details, limits and facts are drawn from the vendors' plans and the reviews cited in Sources below.

Can you actually run a business on a free plan?

Up to a point. Free plans suit solo users and small volumes; once you need more seats, higher limits or to drop the vendor branding, upgrading is the honest call.

Sources

Free-plan limits and facts above are drawn from these vendor pages and independent reviews: