On score, Systeme.io comes out on top: a genuinely free all-in-one (funnels, email, courses and automation) with 0% transaction fees and a free plan up to 2,000 contacts. It's built for bootstrappers and solo creators rather than agencies, though. If you manage clients, GoHighLevel is the one to compare: flat pricing with unlimited contacts, true white-labeling, and the option to resell the platform as your own SaaS. HubSpot is the polished, enterprise-grade option (with a free tier to start), while Keap suits small service businesses that want CRM plus invoicing in one.
Watch the pricing model carefully: GoHighLevel stays flat with unlimited contacts, Systeme.io tiers by contact count but stays cheap, and HubSpot, Keap, and ActiveCampaign scale steeply as your list grows. Compare below.
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Best overall fit for a typical agency crm buyer. Here's why, and when something else wins.
Genuinely free all-in-one: funnels, email, and courses in a single tool.
Why it fits: Highest TryToolFit score in this category (4.6 of 5). Best for: Bootstrappers and beginners on a budget.
| Tool | Score | From | Free | Txn fee | Best for | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Free Lowest | ✓ | 0% | Bootstrappers and beginners on a budget | Visit Systeme.io (affiliate link, opens in a new tab) | |
| | Free Lowest | ✓ | 0% | Scaling B2B teams needing one platform | Visit | |
| | $24 | No | 0% | Founders | Visit folk (affiliate link, opens in a new tab) | |
| | Free Lowest | ✓ | None (CRM) | Small businesses and startups | Visit | |
| | $29 | No | None (CRM) | Small B2B teams selling via email | Visit | |
| | Free Lowest | ✓ | None (CRM) | Small sales teams | Visit | |
| | Free Lowest | ✓ | None (CRM, no sales cut) | Bootstrapped teams wanting all-in-one cheap | Visit | |
| | $15 | No | 0% | Creators and SMBs focused on email automation | Visit | |
| | $9 | No | None (CRM); calling/SMS billed as usage | High-volume inside sales teams | Visit | |
| | $97 | No | 0% platform fee | Marketing agencies managing multiple clients | Visit GoHighLevel (affiliate link, opens in a new tab) | |
| | $12 | No | None (CRM) | Small to mid-size sales teams wanting flexibility | Visit | |
| | $23 | No | None (CRM) | Google Workspace teams | Visit | |
| | $29 | No | Payment processing: card from 2.9% + 25¢; ACH 1.5% | Freelancers and solo creatives | Visit | |
| | $24.9 | No | None (CRM) | Solopreneurs and small relationship-driven teams | Visit | |
| | $39 | No | 0% | Gmail-based teams | Visit | |
| | Free Lowest | ✓ | None (CRM, no sales cut) | Budget-conscious sales teams | Visit | |
| | $9 | No | Payment processing fees apply on online client payments | Freelancers and independent contractors | Visit | |
| | $7 | No | None (CRM) | Small-to-midsize B2B sales teams | Visit | |
| | $14 | No | None (CRM) | Small to mid-size sales teams | Visit | |
| | $29 | No | None (CRM) | SMBs/mid-market needing CRM + project management | Visit | |
| | $66 | No | None (CRM) | Solopreneurs/SMBs wanting CRM + marketing automation | Visit | |
| | $299 | No | 0% | Small service businesses needing CRM + payments | Visit |
Score is our composite of independent user ratings, value, and feature breadth (how we score). Prices are entry-tier estimates; verify current pricing on each site.
Cost changes as your contacts grow. Drag to your size to compare.
Drag to your size and we'll sort the tools cheapest-first and show where each one jumps a tier.
Enterprise-grade CRM and marketing automation that scales from free up.
Relationship-first, lightweight CRM for founders and agencies with contact enrichment and email sequences.
The simple CRM small teams love: manage contacts and close deals with no bloat
Automated CRM for SMBs that fills itself in from email, calendar and social
Pipeline-centric CRM by Zoho built for small businesses and teams
Affordable all-in-one CRM with marketing, sales, and support in one suite.
Advanced email and marketing automation with an optional built-in CRM.
Inside-sales CRM with built-in calling, SMS and email for high-velocity SMB teams
White-label all-in-one CRM, funnels, and automation built for agencies.
Visual, customizable sales CRM built on the monday.com Work OS platform
CRM built for Google Workspace that lives inside Gmail and Calendar
All-in-one clientflow for freelancers: proposals, contracts, invoices, payments
Simple relationship-focused CRM with social and email enrichment for small teams
CRM built directly inside Gmail with pipelines, email tracking and mail merge for small teams.
Full-featured sales CRM with deep automation and a generous free tier.
All-in-one CRM and business suite for freelancers and agencies
All-in-one CRM and email marketing platform built for small-business sales teams
Visual, pipeline-first sales CRM built to help SMBs and agencies close more deals
Unified CRM with project management for growing SMBs and mid-market teams
All-in-one CRM, marketing automation and email platform for small businesses
CRM, sales automation, and payments in one tool for small service businesses.
We email when pricing changes or a better option appears. One useful email, no spam.
Ontraport sells flat pricing over per-seat CRMs. But Basic includes one user and each extra costs ~$552/yr, more than a whole Pipedrive seat. The maths.
Most agency CRM advice compares features. The decision that actually moves the bill is per-seat versus flat pricing, and it flips at around 5 seats.
The best CRM for a small agency is GoHighLevel: flat pricing, unlimited contacts, white-label. Compared honestly against HubSpot, Keap, Pipedrive.
For agencies, usually yes. GoHighLevel has flat pricing with unlimited contacts and lets you white-label and resell the platform, which HubSpot can't. HubSpot is more polished and better for in-house B2B teams, but its per-contact pricing gets expensive fast. See GoHighLevel vs HubSpot.
GoHighLevel charges a flat monthly fee for unlimited contacts and sub-accounts; it makes money on usage (SMS/email/AI) that you can rebill to clients. HubSpot, Keap, and ActiveCampaign instead charge by contact count, so a growing list raises your bill steeply.
Systeme.io is the cheapest entry (free up to 2,000 contacts) if you mainly need funnels, email, and basic CRM. For true agency features (white-label, client sub-accounts, SaaS resale), GoHighLevel at $97/mo flat is the best value.
