That\u2019s why I\u2019ll clearly explain when to go with which cloud CRM. \ud83d\udc48<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll also compare the top choices by combining their review scores on several independent platforms. \ud83e\udd47<\/p>\n
Here we go \ud83d\udc47<\/p>\n
\n
Choosing and ranking cloud-based CRMs: methodology<\/h2>\n
There are a three questions<\/strong> to consider when choosing a great cloud-based CRM:<\/p>\n To answer question 1, start from your exact use case <\/strong>and your type of business:<\/strong><\/p>\n To answer question 2, consider whether the CRMs you are looking at are a great fit for your sales toolset<\/strong>. I have written dedicated breakdowns for the following:<\/p>\n And finally, for question 3, you can look for CRMs that are well rated<\/strong> by their users across platforms. For this, check out the cloud-based CRMs in this list<\/strong> and their global review ratings.<\/p>\n These global review ratings<\/strong> are obtained by combining three ratings into one:<\/p>\n That way you know you get a cloud-based CRM that performs on all fronts. \u2b50\u2b50\u2b50\u2b50\u2b50<\/p>\n To compile this ranking, I went through a list of around 700 possible CRMs to make a pre-selection. Then I tested every one of the 7 selected cloud-based CRMs first hand and researched them in detail for you below.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t want to read the whole comparison? \ud83e\udd13<\/p>\n The top 7 best cloud-based CRM software in 2026 are:<\/p>\n Want to dig into the details? Read on! \ud83d\udc47<\/p>\n Salesflare is a dedicated sales CRM that was built from the ground up to help your sales team build better relationships and sell more, while requiring very little of that dreaded data input<\/strong>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s made to pull all the data together from where it already is (your Office 365<\/a><\/u> or Google email<\/a><\/u>, calendar, phone, social media, company databases, email signatures, email & web tracking<\/a>, \u2026) and uses that to help you follow up your leads in a better way<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The flip side is that some companies are not used to sharing this much information<\/strong> within the team, although this has been changing dramatically in recent years, and Salesflare has introduced a new permissions system for companies who want to limit some of that newly created transparency.<\/p>\n \u201cI have examined several CRMs. Signed up for Hubspot. Seemed good, but many limitations, and much less automation. Actually purchased a subscription for Salesforce. Seemed so cool, but a difficult integration with my Outlook for Mac<\/a> Office 365, and a very large learning curve. Labor intensive data entry, compared to Salesflare. Salesflare seems much more intuitive and taking advantage of AI at tremendously affordable costs.\u201d writes Rocco D.<\/a>, business developer at a building product company, about Salesflare.<\/p>\n When you test Salesflare, three features stand out immediately: automated data entry, email & meeting tracking, and the LinkedIn integration.<\/p>\n As soon as you connect your email and calendar, Salesflare begins automatically pulling in contact information, company details, and even social media profiles. This eliminates the need for manual data entry, making it effortless to build comprehensive customer profiles.<\/p>\n The email and meeting tracking feature is equally impressive. Every email you send and receive is logged automatically, showing you when it was opened and which links were clicked. Meetings are tracked with notes and action items added to your timeline, ensuring you have all the context you need for each interaction.<\/p>\n Finally, the LinkedIn integration is the best you can find and an essential tool for anyone who\u2019s selling to businesses.<\/p>\n Salesflare\u2019s G2 review scoring:<\/p>\n Salesflare\u2019s review ratings:<\/p>\n Price of the Pro plan:<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t sell B2B (aka to other businesses) and don\u2019t do active sales, one of the below cloud-based CRMs might then be a better fit for you. But, if you do actively sell B2B, give Salesflare a try<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n It only takes a few minutes to start a Salesflare trial<\/a><\/u><\/strong> and follow up your leads in a better way.\ud83d\udc48<\/strong><\/p>\n I guarantee you won\u2019t find any better cloud CRM! \ud83d\udc4c Salesforce is the biggest CRM company<\/strong> in the world, controlling about 20% of the market. Its stock ticker is even \u201cCRM\u201d and it was the the pioneer in bringing CRM to the cloud, so I definitely can\u2019t compile a list of cloud CRMs without mentioning it.<\/p>\n While, in the first few years of its existence, Salesforce was focused on small businesses, it has since shifted its focus on enterprises<\/strong>. This also immediately explains why it\u2019s forte is extreme customizability (provided you pay a team of consultants to do that) and why it has positioned itself to be the one cloud software vendor that offers a solution to all your business needs.<\/p>\n Salesforce does still offer a solution to small businesses today, called Salesforce Essentials, a limited version of the full cloud platform. Compared to other CRMs in this list however, it lacks in user friendliness<\/strong> and is not really customized for sales teams<\/strong>.<\/p>\n This frustration with Salesforce is actually one of the reasons why we started building Salesflare<\/strong>, and \u2013 perhaps not surprisingly \u2013 why many of our customers find Salesflare<\/a><\/u> while looking for a better alternative.<\/p>\n If extreme customizability is however your thing, or you\u2019re working at a corporate, Salesforce might still be the best choice for you. But before signing any contract, read this guide to the small print<\/a><\/u> first.<\/p>\n \u201c[I like the] simple and effective way of using Sales Cloud to manage our new business opportunities all in one place. Being able to link this to our Service Cloud and Marketing Cloud apps as well provides a full, 360 view of our customers, regardless of how and when they want to contact us.\u201d writes Michael B.<\/a>, implementation manager at a national postal company, about Salesforce Sales Cloud.<\/p>\n When I tested Salesforce, two aspects were immediately apparent: its vast customizability and the time required to set it up.<\/p>\n The platform offers a myriad of options to tailor the CRM to specific business needs, but this also means a steep learning curve. Configuring Salesforce to match my processes took significant time and effort, but once set up, the system was incredibly powerful.<\/p>\n The dashboard provided a wealth of data, but navigating through it could be overwhelming at first. Salesforce is undeniably robust, but it\u2019s clear that to fully leverage its capabilities, a dedicated admin or support team might be necessary.<\/p>\n Salesforce\u2019s G2 review scoring:<\/p>\n Salesforce\u2019s review ratings:<\/p>\n Price of the Pro plan (Salesforce Sales Cloud Pro Suite):<\/p>\n HubSpot is a marketing automation platform <\/strong>turned everything<\/em> platform. It was founded in 2005 to make marketing automation easier.<\/p>\n Nowadays, HubSpot\u2019s main selling point is offering an all-in-one solution<\/strong>, including marketing, sales, service and operations. If you don\u2019t like using different apps and integrating them (using tools like Zapier and native integrations), then HubSpot might be the cloud CRM you\u2019re looking for.<\/p>\n \u201cThe best thing is [the] option to view all the domains under one roof. Be it quotations, deals, payment links, support tickets, subscriptions, invoices etc. The flip side of the coin is that HubSpot\u2019s software is extremely expensive<\/strong>. Yes, it\u2019s cloud-based CRM is free, but it\u2019s only comparable to the others in this list if you buy it together with the Sales Hub. And if you want to actually reap the benefits<\/a> of the all-in-one platform, you need to pay up for the other Hubs too.<\/p>\n On top of that, you\u2019ll find that the different tools in the platform do not compare<\/strong> to their more polished, feature-rich and usually cheaper HubSpot competitors<\/a>.<\/p>\n Actually, if you have some ideas of what functionality you need (a CRM, lead forms, landing pages, automated emails or maybe newsletters, \u2026), hit us up on the chat and we\u2019ll help you come up with the perfect sales-marketing stack<\/strong>. I guarantee that it\u2019ll be better and cheaper\u2026 and easy to integrate.<\/p>\n When I tested HubSpot CRM & Sales Hub, two things stood out: the user-friendly interface and the pricing structure.<\/p>\n Setting up basic workflows was a breeze, thanks to its clean and intuitive design. HubSpot makes it easy to align sales and marketing efforts, particularly with its integrated marketing tools. However, I quickly realized that the costs ramp up significantly if you want to unlock more advanced features.<\/p>\n While the free version provides a good starting point, the true power of HubSpot lies in its premium plans, which may not be the most budget-friendly option for smaller teams.<\/p>\n HubSpot\u2019s G2 review scoring:<\/p>\n HubSpot\u2019s review ratings:<\/p>\n Price of the Pro plan (HubSpot Sales Hub Professional):<\/p>\n + an extra required fee of $1500 for onboarding<\/strong><\/p>\n ActiveCampaign is an email marketing\/automation platform, founded in 2003. It now brands itself as a customer experience automation (CXA)<\/strong> platform, to cover its expanding range of functionality.<\/p>\n ActiveCampaign added a cloud-based CRM to its offering in 2014, as a sales focused add-on to the rest of the platform. This integration<\/strong> between email automation and CRM is probably its main forte.<\/p>\n Setting up ActiveCampaign is not a light task and its software may become overwhelming<\/strong>, while the CRM aspect itself on the other hand will not be as feature rich<\/strong> compared to the other cloud CRMs in this list.<\/p>\n When people compare ActiveCampaign to Salesflare, which also offers automated emails and email sequences, my advice is usually simple: if you\u2019re an ecommerce company or B2C company, or you need very complex or very high volume email automation, ActiveCampaign is probably what you\u2019re looking for. If you\u2019re a B2B company with an active sales team and the need to automate more personal emails, then go with Salesflare<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n When I tested ActiveCampaign, the strong integration between email marketing and CRM functionalities<\/a> immediately caught my attention.<\/p>\n Setting up email automation and sequences was straightforward, and I appreciated the platform\u2019s detailed customer segmentation capabilities. However, the CRM side felt more like an add-on rather than a core feature. The interface was clean, but moving between marketing automation and CRM functions sometimes felt a bit disconnected.<\/p>\n For businesses that prioritize email marketing, ActiveCampaign excels, but if CRM features are your main focus, you might find it somewhat lacking.<\/p>\n ActiveCampaign\u2019s G2 review scoring:<\/p>\n ActiveCampaign\u2019s review ratings:<\/p>\n Price of the Pro plan (ActiveCampaign Pro plan with the \u201cEnhanced CRM\u201d add-in that includes \u201cPipelines & sales engagement\u201d)<\/span>:<\/p>\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\nThe 7 best cloud-based CRM software ranked<\/h2>\n
\n
\n1. Salesflare [9.7\/10]<\/a><\/u> \ud83c\udfc6<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"visual](\"https:\/\/lib.salesflare.com\/images\/salesflare-awards-transparent-2024-800.avif)
<\/picture>Testing it out<\/h4>\n
Scoring<\/h4>\n
\n
\n
Pricing<\/h4>\n
\n
Try Salesflare<\/h4>\n
\n\n \n <\/picture>\n <\/a>\n
\n2. Salesforce [8.7\/10]<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"screenshot](\"https:\/\/images.storychief.com\/account_481\/salesforce-sales-cloud-lead-view_868655574b29feef1b0b8a0ba8a8c6f5_800.png\")
<\/figure>\nTesting it out<\/h4>\n
Scoring<\/h4>\n
\n
\n
Pricing<\/h4>\n
\n
\n3. HubSpot CRM & Sales Hub [8.6\/10]<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"screenshot](\"https:\/\/images.storychief.com\/account_481\/hubspot-crm-lead-followup_d69397210e41595286b7d9c2fdc5bece_800.png\")
<\/figure>\n
\nSetting up tasks and meetings directly from HubSpot makes it very efficient to use.\u201d writes Shalini V.<\/a>, business developer at an IT services company, about HubSpot Sales Hub.<\/p>\nTesting it out<\/h4>\n
Scoring<\/h4>\n
\n
\n
Pricing<\/h4>\n
\n
\n4. ActiveCampaign [8.5\/10]<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"screenshot](\"https:\/\/images.storychief.com\/account_481\/activecampaign-screenshot_ef5e9521a4f074e0fbcc5cb5d8bddea4_800.png\")
<\/figure>\nTesting it out<\/h4>\n
Scoring<\/h4>\n
\n
\n
Pricing<\/h4>\n
\n
\n5. Freshworks CRM [8.3\/10]<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"Freshworks](\"https:\/\/images.storychief.com\/account_481\/freshworks-crm-lead-tracking_5df3c82e4246e3fbe7e69f11123356b5_800.jpg\"){kind=tracking}
<\/figure>\n