10 Best CRM Software & Tools 2025

Category Evolution

The CRM space is probably the largest software category in the world, just ahead of project management. That said, there's 2 types of CRM categories:

1. A standalone Customer Relationship Management tool
2. A database component to an existing software

Okay, let me explain. Most software will eventually get to a point where they need to determine if they should tack on the "CRM" category to their product offering. And because a CRM at the end of the day is really just a database, most software will justify "adding it" to their toolset.

This is incredibly frustrating if we're being honest. Why? Because just being a database does not make you a good CRM.

For example, in looking at the best database software we have listed, most of them have a "CRM template" available. Does this mean they are actually a CRM? Hell no! But then begs the question, what even is a CRM?

Fair—and to that, we'd say it's a database that is incredibly opinionated around that of relationship-focused features.

What Makes a Good CRM?

Things like tracking emails being sent/received across team members, deep calendar integration for when your team has external meetings. You should also have robust activity logging functionality, so you can integrate your VoIP software, bulk email sending software, and more to the CRM to add full contextual awareness around the relationships and deals you're working on.

All these things allow for your company to scale by leveraging a shared brain—the CRM.

Now when looking at a tool like Notion as a CRM or Airtable as a CRM, that's exactly where we start getting frustrated. Neither do the most basic email and calendar tracking that a CRM should have as absolute table-stakes, and yet they will run around claiming they are a CRM.

API & Integration

The best CRM's on the market will also have a robust API and have many great companies building integrations with them. For example, a Zapier connector is table-stakes with a CRM (it should have many triggers and actions available).

In addition, you'll also see some of the best help desks on the market natively integrating with them—although the tough part here is because Salesforce and HubSpot own 80%+ of the CRM market, you do find many tools just integrating with them, even though both those CRMs are mainly meant for large business and enterprise usage.

What CRM Should I Use?

You can check out our article on Best CRM for Small Businesses to get a full overview of the leading contenders.