- Best overall AI CRM with sales intelligence: Freshsales
- Best free CRM with AI tool: HubSpot
- Best for improving sales conversations: Salesforce
- Best for AI-powered predictive forecasting: Zoho CRM
- Best for writing emails with AI: Capsule
In addition to core and advanced technical offerings, the top customer relationship management software now begin to implement more artificial intelligence features. These AI-powered tools provide valuable automations, insights and analytics that can streamline an organization’s sales process end-to-end.
AI CRM software can help create marketing content, implement lead nurturing strategies like emails or even dialing, and then pull detailed reports in moments.
2
HubSpot CRM
Employees per Company Size
Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+)
Micro (0-49 Employees), Small (50-249 Employees), Medium (250-999 Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees)
Micro, Small, Medium, Large
3
Salesforce CRM
Employees per Company Size
Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+)
Any Company Size
Any Company Size
Features
Calendar, Collaboration Tools, Contact Management, and more
Top AI CRM software comparison
The top CRM platforms offering marketing and sales automations with notable AI tools are, as expected, also top general CRM providers, including Freshsales, HubSpot and Salesforce. Apart from the core CRM features users might expect from these technical CRM software, top features worth calling out are pipeline management, native or third-party integrations, AI-powered reporting or analytics and the availability of a mobile application for users to access on the go.
| Software | Pipeline management | AI assistant | AI-powered analytics | AI content generation | Free tier | Starting price* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freshsales | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | $9 per user per month |
| HubSpot | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | $20 per 2 users per month |
| Salesforce | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | $25 per user per month |
| Zoho CRM | Limited | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | $14 per user per month |
| Capsule | Limited | No | Limited | Yes | Yes | $18 per user per month |
* Pricing is based on annual subscription rates for paid tiers.
Freshsales: Best overall AI CRM with sales intelligence
Our star rating: 4.4/5
Image: Freshsales
Freshsales is popular sales CRM software offering in-depth analytics and AI functionality that measures sales performance with visual reports and improves productivity with predictions. Freshsales’ AI assistant, Freddy AI, provides robust support to an organization’s sales intelligence. It can predict deal closures, next best actions, forecasting and sales reports. The tool can even identify and prioritize the most sales-ready leads by assigning positive or negative scores.
Pricing
- Free CRM: Free for up to 3 users and offers email templates, a sales dashboard and more.
- Growth: $9 per user per month, billed annually, or $11 per user when billed monthly.
- Pro: $39 per user per month, billed annually, or $47 per user when billed monthly.
- Enterprise: $59 per user per month, billed annually, or $71 per user when billed monthly.
Features
- Table and Kanban views: Visualize all data, leads and reporting in comprehensive summaries (Figure A).
- Territory management: Segment and prioritize leads according to preset rules and metrics.
- Next best action tool: Use AI suggestions to detect OOO responses, manage calendars and reschedule appointments.
Figure A: Example kanban cards with drag-and-drop feature. Image: Freshsales
Freshsales pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 21-day free trial. | Limited integration with Google Workspace tools. |
| Offers an encompassing software demo. | No workflows are included in the free tier. |
| Built-in phone, chat and SMS features. | Only allows up to 6 reports per dashboard view. |
Why we chose Freshsales
Freshsales is our top-scoring enterprise CRM. Evaluating the platform against industry standards, Freshsales ranks highly in cost, core features and customization. Its sales intelligence feature includes in-depth analytics and AI to help organizations make smarter decisions quickly.
Even though Freshsales’ AI-powered sales CRM is robust in its sales pipeline management and data administration, its free version only offers AI chatbot features, not Freddy AI insights. If you’re looking for a stronger free tier supporting AI tools, look into HubSpot.
SEE: Read our Freshsales review for more insight into this provider’s top features, pricing and alternatives.
Features
- Lead management and prospecting: Manage leads and their associated activities for reps to easily engage and nurture them closer to a sale.
- Playbooks: Create process outlines for reps to reference such as scripts, competitor battlecards, positioning guides and more.
- AI blog writing: Generate fresh and branded content with an AI-powered blog writing tool that users can edit for added customization (Figure B).
Figure B: HubSpot’s AI blog writing and editing tool. Image: HubSpot
HubSpot pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 24/7 email and chat support. | No free trial. |
| Offers an intuitive user interface. | Pricey paid tiers compared to others. |
| Over 1,500 apps available for integration. | No live support available for users of the free tier. |
Why we chose HubSpot
HubSpot is our top-scoring free CRM provider. The CRM software offers a robust free tier that can support up to 2,500 users and 1,500 integrations. It also offers a vast suite of solutions, including sales, service, marketing and operations, from one hub that all use HubSpot AI branded tools.
While the platform itself isn’t open-source, HubSpot allows users to develop their own applications to integrate with the software. If your business is capable and willing to utilize the niche functionality of developing its source code, consider checking out our guide to the top open-source CRM software.
SEE: To learn more about this CRM software, including top features and alternatives, read our HubSpot review.
Salesforce: Best for improving sales conversations
Our star rating: 4.3/5
Image: Salesforce
Salesforce offers extensive sales AI that is built directly into the CRM to help sales reps supercharge their tasks and activities throughout their sales process. Its AI assistant and tool is called Einstein. and the tool can help generate content such as sales emails or call summaries, predictive deal insights and conversation insights. Conversation intelligence includes call insights to understand common objections and conversation mining to know exactly what customers are saying about your competitors and products.
Pricing
- Starter Suite: $25 per user per month, billed annually.
- Professional: $80 per user per month, billed annually.
- Enterprise: $165 per user per month, billed annually.
- Unlimited: $330 per user per month, billed annually.
- Unlimited+: $500 per user per month, billed annually.
Features
- Revenue intelligence: Close deals quickly with purpose-built analytics given to reps throughout the sales cycle.
- Sales performance management: Track sales rep performance with insights showing peak performers and projects.
- Sales Conversation Insights: Filter through what customers are saying and reading about your competitors and products online (Figure C).
Figure C: Sales Conversation Insights filtering feature. Image: Salesforce
Salesforce pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 24/7 email and chat support. | No free trial. |
| Offers an intuitive user interface. | Pricey paid tiers compared to others. |
| Over 1,500 apps available for integration. | No live support available for users of the free tier. |
Why we chose Salesforce
Salesforce unites marketing, sales and service within one single application. Since it’s an all-in-one CRM, it provides scalable functionality to support organizations of all sizes. It also has specializations in a variety of industries, such as financial services, retail, healthcare and manufacturing to name a few.
While Salesforce’s sales AI functionality is all-encompassing with generative AI, predictive AI and conversational AI, the Starter Suite is its lowest-priced tier. If you’re in need of a free CRM to begin with, consider HubSpot.
SEE: For more insight into this provider, check out our Salesforce review.
Zoho CRM: Best for AI-powered predictive forecasting
Our star rating: 4.3/5
Image: Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM is a powerful CRM tool that supports customer-facing teams with personalized automations and solutions. Zoho CRM offers a comprehensive analytics suite that gives users a bird’s eye view of their business with custom dashboards. The AI assistant, Zia, offers advanced predictive forecasting that can suggest both company-wide and individual targets based on historical data. The tool can inspire healthy, competitive sales by visualizing achievable targets for reps.
Pricing
- Free CRM: Free for up to 3 users and comes with lead and document management and a mobile app.
- Standard: $14 per user per month, billed annually, or $20 per user when billed monthly.
- Professional: $23 per user per month, billed annually, or $35 per user when billed monthly.
- Enterprise: $40 per user per month, billed annually, or $50 per user when billed monthly.
- Ultimate: $52 per user per month, billed annually, or $65 per user when billed monthly.
Features
- Sales process builder: Create a universal sales process with actionable steps for sales reps to follow in detail.
- Customer portals: Offer prospects a self-service tool where they can view an organization’s products or services to make purchasing decisions.
- Sales forecasting: Make accurate forecasts around future sales with AI predictions to measure success against current sales (Figure D).
Figure D: Forecasted target account by AI assistant, Zia. Image: Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 15-day free trial. | No available social media integration in the free tier. |
| 24/7/365 data security. | Some users report poor UI and UX. |
| Offers workflow automations for each tier. | AI tools are only available in higher-paid tiers. |
Why we chose Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM continues to be top-ranking CRM software in our features due to its competitive pricing, core features and customization opportunities. Its team collaboration, marketing and project management tools make it a great option for organizations wanting a strong platform with AI sales and marketing functionality.
Zoho CRM’s artificial intelligence tools, specifically the AI assistant Zia, are only available in the top two pricing tiers, Enterprise and Ultimate. If you’re looking for a provider with AI accessibility in its free or standard subscriptions, check out HubSpot.
SEE: For more information, check out our full review of Zoho CRM.
Capsule: Best for writing emails with AI
Our star rating: 4/5
Image: Capsule
Capsule is easy-to-use CRM software that supports full sales cycle contact management. The platform offers an AI-powered content assistant that can help organizations produce email copy quickly. This feature allows users to spend valuable time doing other sales tasks and benefiting from the efficiency and speed of AI-powered content creation while still being in control by enabling edits as needed.
Pricing
- Free tier: Free for up to 250 contacts and 50MB of storage per account.
- Starter: $18 per user per month when billed annually, or $21 per user when billed monthly.
- Growth: $36 per user per month when billed annually, or $38 per user when billed monthly.
- Advanced: $54 per user per month when billed annually, or $60 per user when billed monthly.
- Ultimate: $72 per user per month when billed annually, or $75 per user when billed monthly.
Features
- AI content assistant: Generate a variety of content, such as sales emails, with filters regarding tone and length to choose from (Figure E).
- Google Data Studio: Unify multiple data sources to create interactive dashboards and build reports.
- Opportunity filtering: Filter projects and forecasted data based on status, tags, milestones and more.
Figure E: Capsule AI content assistant. Image: Capsule
Capsule pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 14-day free trial. | No custom automations available in the free tier. |
| 1,000+ available integrations. | No assigned sales teams or support. |
| Exporting for data security. | Doesn’t integrate with Outlook calendar. |
Why we chose Capsule
Users of Capsule describe it as a simple online CRM provider with all the needed core sales and relationship management tools. Capsule scores highly for its ease of use and cost compared to other general CRM software. Its free version allows access for up to two users, making it an affordable option with its AI content assistant included in each tier.
While Capsule’s AI content can be extremely beneficial to streamlining marketing emails to leads, the platform lacks AI-powered tools for reporting or analytics. If you’re looking for a provider with more robust AI capabilities for data and analytics, check out Zoho CRM.
More about CRM
How do I choose the best AI CRM software for my business?
After identifying these top CRM providers with advanced AI tools, the next step would be to request demos or sign up for free trials from the providers on this list that peak your interest. This way, you can begin communicating directly with the provider and start onboarding the software.
Below are questions to consider asking when choosing AI CRM software:
- Does the free version offer the core features you need, such as list segmentation or advanced reporting?
- What is the total in-market expertise for your industry, if any?
- Is the CRM scalable and detailed enough to fit your small business or enterprise?
- Does the CRM software integrate with tools you already have in your tech stack?
FORUM: Here are some factors to consider when choosing a CRM.
Review methodology
To fairly evaluate each provider’s AI CRM offerings, I used an in-house rubric with outlined criteria and subcategories with a special focus on AI features. After scoring each provider with our rubric, an algorithm calculated an overall star rating which I used to assign each software an ideal use case.
Here’s a breakdown of the scoring criteria I followed:
- Cost: Weighted 25% of the total score.
- Core features: Weighted 25% of the total score.
- Customizations: Weighted 15% of the total score.
- Integrations: Weighted 15% of the total score.
- Ease of use: Weighted 10% of the total score.
- Customer support: Weighted 10% of the total score.
