7 Best CRMs for Gmail + Top Features
Learn what features to expect & how each Gmail CRM stacks up
If you’re using Gmail (whether a personal Gmail or a business email via Google Workspace), then you’re in luck. It allows for the best and most stable integrations with your CRM (if you don’t believe me, ask our tech team 😏).
With the many different CRM possibilities out there however, it can be hard to figure out what to expect from such an integrated Gmail-CRM setup, so first, I’ll tackle that for you and give you a list of essential features to look out for. 👀
After this, I’ll use this same feature list as well as review scores from G2 and the Google Marketplace to compare 7 different top CRMs that directly integrate with Gmail.
Here we go! 👇
Core features of Gmail CRMs
Here are 10 core features you can expect from a CRM that is well integrated with Gmail:
- Update and use your CRM from within your Gmail inbox
- Live sync your Gmail emails & Google calendar meetings to the CRM
- Auto-create contacts for people you’re emailing or meeting with
- Automatically enrich your contact database by syncing your contacts’ email signatures
- Send automated, personalized email sequences from your Gmail inbox
- Use (shared or private) email templates when sending emails from Gmail
- See who your colleagues know and how well, with “relationship strength scores” based on their email traffic
- Track whether people open your emails and click on the links in your emails sent from Gmail
- See whether these people who clicked email links also visit your website, which pages and for how long
- Be reminded of emails you haven’t replied to or customer conversations that have gone quiet
That’s a lot of useful stuff to follow up your leads better and boost your productivity 😄 I’ll detail below which of these features come with each CRM.
Ranking Gmail CRMs: our methodology
If you’re looking for a CRM that integrates well with your Gmail environment, the above set of features can significantly boost your productivity. To compile this ranking, I went through a list of around 800 possible CRMs to make a pre-selection. Then I tested every one of the 7 selected CRMs for Gmail first hand and researched which of them offer which features and detailed this for you below.
It is however important to keep the bigger picture in mind when comparing CRMs, because you need to make sure your team will actually use it as well. Getting a CRM that nobody uses is pretty useless as well 😏
Because of that, I’ve included the current scoring for each CRM on G2 so you get a better idea of how each CRM stacks up. It’s broken down as follows:
- Ease of Use
- Ease of Setup
- Meets Requirements
- Quality of Support
- Ease of Doing Business With
- Ease of Admin
And to top it off, I also incorporated the review score each CRM gets on the Google Marketplace. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I then took the average of the feature score, the average G2 review score, and the Google Marketplace score, to calculate… the final score! 🥇
The 7 Best CRMs for Gmail ranked
Don’t want to read the whole comparison? 🤓
The top 7 best CRMs for Gmail in 2024 are:
- Salesflare: 9.9/10 🏆
- Copper: 8.4/10
- HubSpot CRM & Sales Hub: 7.8/10
- Streak: 7.6/10
- Freshworks CRM: 7.1/10
- Zoho CRM: 5.6/10
- Pipedrive: 5.1/10
Want to dig into the details? Read on!
1. Salesflare [9.9/10] 🏆
It’s no surprise that Salesflare stacks up so well against other Gmail CRMs: it’s built from the ground up to make following up leads more productive, starting from your Gmail inbox.
Salesflare (founded in 2014) is used by thousands of small and medium-sized businesses who sell to other businesses (incl. agencies, consultancies, development houses, tech companies, …). It’s top ranked across review platforms and is the #1 CRM on Product Hunt, the leading community for product enthusiasts.
Salesflare’s Gmail plugin (also for LinkedIn!) doesn’t only offer a really tight integration (more on that below). What’s absolutely unique about it is that it brings 100% of the CRM functionality into Gmail, so you never need to switch tabs while selling (although if you want to use Salesflare in a separate tab and do all the same things from there, that is fully possible too 👊).
“[I like the] LinkedIn & Gmail integration, and the ability to send automated email sequences using a Gmail alias! I love how it pulls their socials & populates other useful info. Love their mobile app & timeline feature too!” writes Quan N., founder of a software company, about Salesflare.
If you’re a little technical: Salesflare is built on Google’s cloud server infrastructure with Google-led technologies like Angular. It also follows Google’s “Material Design” design language, so if you notice that it looks a little similar to the Google products you’re using already, that’s why. 😄
Testing it out
When you test Salesflare, you immediately notice how seamlessly it integrates with your Gmail inbox. The automated data entry feature is particularly impressive; as soon as you connect your email and social accounts, Salesflare starts pulling in information and creating detailed customer profiles without any manual input. You find that it gathers contact information, company data, and even social media profiles to build comprehensive records for each lead.
The email and meeting tracking features stand out as well. Every email you send and receive is automatically logged into the CRM, including details about when it was opened and any links the recipients clicked. This provides a clear view of lead engagement, helping you prioritize follow-ups. Additionally, Salesflare tracks your meetings and adds them to the timeline with notes and action items, ensuring you never miss a detail.
Scoring
Without further ado, here’s an analysis of how Salesflare stacks up:
Features Salesflare offers: 10/10
- Update and use your CRM from within your Gmail inbox
- Live sync your Gmail emails & Google calendar meetings to the CRM
- Auto-create contacts for people you’re emailing or meeting with
- Automatically enrich your contact database by syncing your contacts’ email signatures
- Send automated, personalized email sequences from your Gmail inbox
- Use (shared or private) email templates when sending emails from Gmail
- See who your colleagues know and how well, with “relationship strength scores” based on their email traffic
- Track whether people open your emails and click on the links in your emails sent from Gmail
- See whether these people who clicked email links also visit your website, which pages and for how long
- Be reminded of emails you haven’t replied to or customer conversations that have gone quiet
Features Salesflare doesn’t offer: none
G2 review scoring:
- Ease of Use: 9.5
- Ease of Setup: 9.5
- Meets Requirements: 9.3
- Quality of Support: 9.7
- Ease of Doing Business With: 9.9
- Ease of Admin: 9.5
Final result
- Gmail CRM feature score: 10/10
- Average G2 review score: 9.6/10
- Google Marketplace review score: 5/5 → 10/10
- FINAL SCORE: 9.9/10
Pricing
Pricing to get all of the above (10 of 10 features) on the Salesflare Pro plan:
$49/user/month (billed annually)
$55/user/month (billed monthly)
Try Salesflare
Want to see it all in action? You can try Salesflare for free. 👈
It only takes a few minutes to start a Salesflare trial and install the Gmail plugin (it’s easiest in that order).
I guarantee you won’t find an easier CRM that connects so well with Gmail! 👌
2. Copper [8.4/10]
Copper is a CRM software company founded in 2011 that fully focuses on serving Gmail users, which is why it deserves its second place in this Gmail CRM ranking.
Its target industries are relatively similar to Salesflare’s, additionally serving real estate clients, as the software is not focused on B2B sales. This allows the company to reach a larger target audience, but inevitably also makes using it a little less straightforward for its B2B users.
When objectively comparing scores, the main differences are a more difficult set-up, lower quality support, and the absence of two Gmail productivity features. Also, the pricing to get all below functionality (8 features) is more than double.
Testing it out
When I tested Copper, the first thing I noticed was its tight integration with Gmail. Setting it up took a bit more time than I anticipated, but once everything was connected, it functioned smoothly. The ability to update the CRM directly from my inbox was convenient, and I appreciated how emails and calendar events were synced in real time.
One feature that stood out was the automatic contact creation. Whenever I emailed someone new, Copper would automatically create a new contact for them in the CRM, saving me a lot of manual data entry. However, I found the lack of automatic data enrichment to be a bit of a drawback, as it required additional effort to gather complete contact information.
Scoring
Features Copper offers: 8/10
- Update and use your CRM from within your Gmail inbox
- Live sync your Gmail emails & Google calendar meetings to the CRM
- Auto-create contacts for people you’re emailing or meeting with
- Send automated, personalized email sequences from your Gmail inbox
- Use (shared or private) email templates when sending emails from Gmail
- Track whether people open your emails and click on the links in your emails sent from Gmail
- See whether these people who clicked email links also visit your website, which pages and for how long
- Be reminded of emails you haven’t replied to or customer conversations that have gone quiet
Features Copper doesn’t offer:
- Automatically enrich your contact database by syncing your contacts’ email signatures
- See who your colleagues know and how well, with “relationship strength scores” based on their email traffic
G2 review scoring:
- Ease of Use: 9.2
- Ease of Setup: 8.9
- Meets Requirements: 8.8
- Quality of Support: 8.8
- Ease of Doing Business With: 9.1
- Ease of Admin: 9.1
Final result
- Gmail CRM feature score: 8/10
- Average G2 review score: 9/10
- Google Marketplace review score: 4.1/5 → 8.2/10
- FINAL SCORE: 8.4/10
Pricing
Pricing to get all of the above (8 of 10 features) on the Copper Business Plan:
$99/user/month (billed annually)
$134/user/month (billed monthly)
3. HubSpot CRM + Sales Hub [7.8/10]
HubSpot is a marketing automation platform turned everything platform. It was founded in 2005 to make marketing automation easier.
Nowadays, HubSpot’s main selling point is offering an all-in-one solution, including marketing, sales, service and operations. If you don’t like using different apps and integrating them (using tools like Zapier and native integrations), then HubSpot might be what you’re looking for.
To get CRM functionality that is comparable to what you’re getting with the other CRMs in this ranking, you need to get two HubSpot products: its CRM and its Sales Hub.
In terms of Gmail integration, HubSpot does a fair job, although the pricing to get all this handy functionality (7 features) is quite steep, starting at $90/user/month billed annually (plus $1470 for onboarding).
“[I like the] contact management to keep track of all your interactions. Email tracking and automation. I love that I can see when prospects open my email and what links they clicked on. Track the progress of my deals.” writes Karrie C., sales person at a small telco, about HubSpot Sales Hub.
Testing it out
Testing HubSpot was a mixed experience. The setup process was straightforward, and the integration with Gmail was solid. I liked that I could update and use the CRM directly from my inbox, which made managing my sales pipeline much easier. The live email and calendar sync were particularly useful, ensuring that all my communications were logged without any extra steps.
However, I found that HubSpot’s Gmail integration lacked some advanced features available in other CRMs. For instance, while it could send automated email sequences, it didn’t auto-create contacts from emails or meetings. This meant I still had to manually input some data, which was a bit time-consuming.
Scoring
Features HubSpot CRM + Sales Hub offers: 7/10
- Update and use your CRM from within your Gmail inbox
- Live sync your Gmail emails & Google calendar meetings to the CRM
- Automatically enrich your contact database by syncing your contacts’ email signatures
- Send automated, personalized email sequences from your Gmail inbox
- Use (shared or private) email templates when sending emails from Gmail
- Track whether people open your emails and click on the links in your emails sent from Gmail
- See whether these people who clicked email links also visit your website, which pages and for how long
Features HubSpot CRM + Sales Hub doesn’t offer
- Auto-create contacts for people you’re emailing or meeting with
- See who your colleagues know and how well, with “relationship strength scores” based on their email traffic
- Be reminded of emails you haven’t replied to or customer conversations that have gone quiet
G2 review scoring:
- Ease of Use: 8.6
- Ease of Setup: 8.3
- Meets Requirements: 8.5
- Quality of Support: 8.5
- Ease of Doing Business With: 8.7
- Ease of Admin: 8.6
Final result
- Gmail CRM feature score: score: 7/10
- Average G2 review score: 8.5/10
- Google Marketplace review score: 4/5 → 8/10
- FINAL SCORE: 7.8/10
Pricing
Pricing to get all of the above (7 of 10 features) on the HubSpot Sales Hub Professional plan:
$90/user/month (billed annually)
$100/user/month (billed monthly)
+ an extra required fee of $1470 for onboarding
4. Streak [7.6/10]
When ranking CRMs for Gmail, one can not ignore Streak. Streak was founded in 2011 to be the dedicated CRM for Gmail, and it has stayed true to this mission ever since.
Compared to the other CRMs in this list, Streak has historically focused very much on solo users, which is epitomized by its popular free plan without collaboration functionality (and its affordable “Solo” plan upgrade).
Streak runs entirely within the Gmail interface and that’s where it’s strongest. It has no dedicated web application and its mobile apps are a bit limited (getting 2.5 and 3 stars in the App Store and on Google Play).
Still, if you’re a single user and don’t use your CRM on your phone, Streak can be a simple and strong solution to start managing your leads.
Do note that to get all the 6 below features, you need to get on its Pro plan for teams, which will set you back $59/user/month (billed monthly).
Testing it out
Using Streak felt like a natural extension of Gmail, which was its biggest strength. The entire CRM operates within the Gmail interface, so there was no need to switch between tabs or applications. Setting it up was a breeze, and I could start managing my leads and deals right from my inbox.
One of the most helpful features was the email tracking, which showed me when recipients opened my emails and clicked on links. However, Streak’s focus on solo users was evident. While it worked well for individual use, it lacked some of the collaborative features I needed for my team, which made it less ideal for a growing business.
Scoring
Features Streak offers: 6/10
- Update and use your CRM from within your Gmail inbox
- Live sync your Gmail emails & Google calendar meetings to the CRM
- Send automated, personalized email sequences from your Gmail inbox
- Use (shared or private) email templates when sending emails from Gmail
- Track whether people open your emails and click on the links in your emails sent from Gmail
- Be reminded of emails you haven’t replied to or customer conversations that have gone quiet
Features Streak doesn’t offer:
- Auto-create contacts for people you’re emailing or meeting with
- Automatically enrich your contact database by syncing your contacts’ email signatures
- See who your colleagues know and how well, with “relationship strength scores” based on their email traffic
- See whether these people who clicked email links also visit your website, which pages and for how long
G2 review scoring:
- Ease of Use: 8.7
- Ease of Setup: 9.4
- Meets Requirements: 8.8
- Quality of Support: 8.5
- Ease of Doing Business With: 9.4
- Ease of Admin: 8.6
Final result
- Gmail CRM feature score: 6/10
- Average G2 review score: 8.9/10
- Google Marketplace review score: 3.9/5 → 7.8/10
- FINAL SCORE: 7.6/10
Pricing
Pricing to get all of the above (6 of 10 features) on the Streak Pro plan:
$49/user/month (billed annually)
$59/user/month (billed monthly)
5. Freshworks CRM [7.1/10]
Freshworks CRM (formerly known as Freshsales) is a sales CRM from Freshworks, the company behind / initially called Freshdesk. The company was founded in 2010 to provide a better, cheaper solution for customer service teams.
This CRM’s main selling point is its feature depth. It has also managed to offer this range of functionality through an easier to use interface than its competitor/predecessor from the same city, Zoho.
While its Gmail integration is not as deep as with better performing CRMs in this ranking, it still deserves a mention in this ranking due to its relatively popular Gmail add-on.
Testing it out
Testing Freshworks CRM, I found its Gmail integration to be functional but not as robust as some other CRMs. The setup was relatively easy, and I appreciated that I could manage my contacts and deals from within my Gmail inbox. The live sync for emails and calendar events worked well, ensuring that all my interactions were logged in the CRM.
The automated email sequences and tracking features were useful, but I felt that Freshworks CRM could benefit from more advanced features like automatic contact creation and data enrichment. These omissions meant that I still had to spend time manually updating contact information, which was less efficient than I had hoped.
Scoring
Features Freshworks CRM offers: 4/10
- Update and use your CRM from within your Gmail inbox
- Live sync your Gmail emails & Google calendar meetings to the CRM
- Send automated, personalized email sequences from your Gmail inbox
- Track whether people open your emails and click on the links in your emails sent from Gmail
Features Freshworks CRM doesn’t offer
- Auto-create contacts for people you’re emailing or meeting with
- Automatically enrich your contact database by syncing your contacts’ email signatures
- Use (shared or private) email templates when sending emails from Gmail
- See who your colleagues know and how well, with “relationship strength scores” based on their email traffic
- See whether these people who clicked email links also visit your website, which pages and for how long
- Be reminded of emails you haven’t replied to or customer conversations that have gone quiet
G2 review scoring:
- Ease of Use: 9.1
- Ease of Setup: 8.9
- Meets Requirements: 8.9
- Quality of Support: 9.0
- Ease of Doing Business With: 9.1
- Ease of Admin: 9.4
Final result
- Gmail CRM feature score: score: 4/10
- Average G2 review score: 9.0/10
- Google Marketplace review score: 4.2/5 → 8.4/10
- FINAL SCORE: 7.1/10
Pricing
Pricing to get all of the above (4 of 10 features) on Freshsales Enterprise plan*:
$59/user/month (billed annually)
$71/user/month (billed monthly)
* Sequences with stricter limits also available on Pro plan
6. Zoho CRM [5.6/10]
Zoho is a true household name in the CRM industry, so I couldn’t omit them from this ranking.
The company launched its small business CRM product in 2005 and has historically been positioning itself as a cheaper alternative to Salesforce. That is immediately its main selling point.
If you’re looking for a CRM solution, Zoho has many tiers (and products even: Zoho CRM, Zoho CRM Plus, Zoho One, …). The two Gmail integration features below are already available on its free plan of its standard Zoho CRM product. Do note that its Gmail add-on gets the second lowest rating in this overview.
Testing it out
My experience with Zoho CRM was a bit underwhelming. While the basic Gmail integration was there, allowing me to update and use the CRM from my inbox, it lacked many of the advanced features that other CRMs offered. Setting it up was straightforward, and syncing emails and calendar events to the CRM worked fine.
However, Zoho CRM did not automatically create contacts from my emails or meetings, nor did it enrich my contact data by syncing email signatures. This meant a lot of manual data entry, which was time-consuming and somewhat frustrating. Additionally, the interface felt a bit dated and less intuitive compared to other CRMs I tested.
Scoring
Features Zoho CRM offers: 2/10
- Update and use your CRM from within your Gmail inbox
- Live sync your Gmail emails & Google calendar meetings to the CRM
Features Zoho CRM doesn’t offer:
- Auto-create contacts for people you’re emailing or meeting with
- Automatically enrich your contact database by syncing your contacts’ email signatures
- Send automated, personalized email sequences from your Gmail inbox
- Use (shared or private) email templates when sending emails from Gmail
- See who your colleagues know and how well, with “relationship strength scores” based on their email traffic
- Track whether people open your emails and click on the links in your emails sent from Gmail
- See whether these people who clicked email links also visit your website, which pages and for how long
- Be reminded of emails you haven’t replied to or customer conversations that have gone quiet
G2 review scoring:
- Ease of Use: 8.1
- Ease of Setup: 7.6
- Meets Requirements: 8.2
- Quality of Support: 7.4
- Ease of Doing Business With: 7.9
- Ease of Admin: 7.8
Final result
- Gmail CRM feature score: 2/10
- Average G2 review score: 7.8/10
- Google Marketplace review score: 3.5/5 → 7/10
- FINAL SCORE: 5.6/10
Pricing
Pricing to get all of the above (2 features) on the Zoho Free plan:
Free
7. Pipedrive [5.1/10]
Pipedrive is an easy-to-use and easy-to-setup sales CRM for small businesses, and is therefore compared to Salesflare very often.
The company was founded in 2011 to launch a counterreaction to enterprise CRMs like Salesforce, which are built more for enterprise needs than they are for sales teams. Pipedrive set out to change that and made it super easy to track your sales.
“I enjoy the simple over[view] of all phases of a lead. It´s neat, clean, and tidy, along with an easy interface. I love the options of using the function to check if my lead is reading, and keeping all email interactions nice and neat, under the same category. This removes confusion, guess work and having multiple email inboxes.” writes Nektarios I., an account manager at a consulting services company, about Pipedrive.
While the company has been doing its best in recent years to build out a closer Gmail integration, it still has some work to do on this front. Its relatively low depth of integration, combined with an abysmal rating on the Google Marketplace, makes it land in last place for this Gmail CRM ranking.
Testing it out
When I tested Pipedrive, the first thing I noticed was its ease of use and setup. The interface is user-friendly, and getting started was quick. The Gmail integration allowed me to update and manage my CRM from within my inbox, which was convenient. However, the depth of integration left something to be desired.
Pipedrive synced my emails and calendar events well, but it didn’t automatically create contacts or enrich contact data from email signatures. This meant I had to manually input a lot of information, which was time-consuming. Additionally, the lack of features like email tracking and automated sequences made it feel less powerful compared to other CRMs.
Scoring
Features Pipedrive offers: 2/10
- Update and use your CRM from within your Gmail inbox
- Live sync your Gmail emails & Google calendar meetings to the CRM
Features Pipedrive doesn’t offer
- Auto-create contacts for people you’re emailing or meeting with
- Automatically enrich your contact database by syncing your contacts’ email signatures
- Send automated, personalized email sequences from your Gmail inbox
- Use (shared or private) email templates when sending emails from Gmail
- See who your colleagues know and how well, with “relationship strength scores” based on their email traffic
- Track whether people open your emails and click on the links in your emails sent from Gmail
- See whether these people who clicked email links also visit your website, which pages and for how long
- Be reminded of emails you haven’t replied to or customer conversations that have gone quiet
G2 review scoring:
- Ease of Use: 8.9
- Ease of Setup: 8.7
- Meets Requirements: 8.4
- Quality of Support: 8.4
- Ease of Doing Business With: 8.7
- Ease of Admin: 8.6
Final result
- Gmail CRM feature score: score: 2/10
- Average G2 review score: 8.6/10
- Google Marketplace review score: 2.3/5 → 4.6/10
- FINAL SCORE: 5.1/10
Pricing
Pricing to get all of the above (2 of 10 features) on the Pipedrive Professional plan:
$49/user/month (billed annually)
$64/user/month (billed monthly)
Want to dig deeper into the differences? Just ask our team using the chat on salesflare.com. We’re here to help 😄
Not sure about Gmail by the way? I also wrote a guide with Outlook CRMs.
Or if you’re still in full exploration mode, check out these CRM examples.
I hope you liked this post. If you did, spread the word!
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