When you’re a startup, your priorities are usually:
- Getting your first customers quickly
- Founder or small-team sales (often doing outreach yourself)
- Low friction to set up & use
- Tools that can grow with you without having to rip everything out when you scale
Here are some of the best CRMs that hit those marks. I’ll point out what makes each one good (especially if it helps with LinkedIn or prospecting), what trade-offs you get, and when they make the most sense.
LeadLoft
Why it’s strong for startups:
LeadLoft is built for prospecting, outreach, and communication sync. For a startup, that means you can generate your first leads without having to stitch together a bunch of tools. Founder-led outreach becomes much more manageable: you can do LinkedIn tasks, send connection requests/messages, pull in contact & company data, follow up with email & phone, and see messages from LinkedIn & email in one inbox. No huge integrations needed to start.
Main Pricing:
- The “Unlimited” plan is US$99/month per user.
- There’s also a more advanced Scale AI plan (~ US$400/month) when you want extra AI-features.
Pros:
- Very easy to get set up, minimal external dependencies
- Strong LinkedIn-prospecting & outreach built in, which helps when you’re cold outreach / identifying leads
- Unified inbox + communication sync reduces overhead
- Good value if you are going to use prospecting + outreach + follow-ups actively
Cons:
- Higher cost per user from the start if you only need simple CRM features
- Some advanced analytics or scaling features might lag behind enterprise tools
- The more you scale, the more you'll hit limits or want features that cost more
Best Time to Use It:
If you’re at the stage of bootstrapping, founder-led sales, trying to get your first 10-50 paying customers, doing outreach via LinkedIn/email/phone, and want something that works out of the box. If you need to move fast and don’t want to spend weeks integrating tools.
HubSpot + OutboundSync
Why it works for startups:
HubSpot is one of the most popular CRMs because it has a generous free tier, lots of templates, integrations, and branding and tools you can grow into. You can start small and then layer in more features. When you integrate something like OutboundSync, you can bring in more robust outbound email, sequences, and sync of data so your outreach tools work more tightly with your CRM.
Main Pricing:
- HubSpot Sales Hub Starter starts at about US$15–20 per user/month
- The Professional tier is ~ US$100/user/month
- OutboundSync starts at US$99/month
Pros:
- Very stable and mature platform, good dashboards, reporting, resources & support
- Because many users already know HubSpot, adoption tends to be easier
- Free / low tier lets you start without heavy cost
- With OutboundSync, your outreach/tools/data sync more reliably with HubSpot so you don’t lose context or do double entry
Cons:
- HubSpot becomes expensive as you need more seats + higher tier features
- Some advanced features only in higher tiers
- Even with OutboundSync, full LinkedIn outreach (messaging, connect automation) is usually less out-of-the-box than LeadLoft
Best Time to Use It:
If you want a CRM that can scale, if you expect you’ll need more than just outreach eventually, and if you prefer stable & broad ecosystem. Good if you have modest outreach now and plan to grow.
Close.io (Close)
Why it’s strong for cold calls + founder-led sales:
Close is built around communication: email, phone calls, SMS. If part of your sales process is making cold calls or follow-up calls, Close often makes that easier. The UI tends to be lean, focused, and less overhead. It’s good when you need your sales tool to help you actually dial and manage conversations, not just store contacts.
Main Pricing:
- Their “Base” plan starts at US$19/user/month
- The more functional “Startup” plan is US$49/user/month billed annually
Pros:
- Strong calling + SMS + email combo, good if cold calling is part of your playbook
- Easier setup, less bells & whistles than big CRMs so your team can move quickly
- Reasonable cost for what you get, especially for early sales heavy outreach
Cons:
- Less marketing or advanced automation features than tools built for full-scale teams
- If your outreach depends a lot on LinkedIn, Close may require extra tools
- Some limits in reporting or pipelines in lower tiers
Best Time to Use It:
If your startup is making cold calls or voice outreach, or you want unified communication to handle calls + emails in one tool. Also good when your team is small and you want something that just works without heavy setup.
Pipedrive
Why it works for very low deal volume / visual pipelines:
Pipedrive is very simple, visual, and easy to use. If you’re moving a small number of deals (for example founder → first few deals), the drag-and-drop pipeline is very helpful. You see what’s in each stage, what needs follow-ups, etc. Not overloaded with features out of the box. If you only need basics, it might be enough.
Main Pricing:
- Pipedrive’s “Essential” is around US$14/user/month for a simple plan
Pros:
- Very low barrier to entry, easy to set up, very visual
- Less cost and less complexity
- Good if you’re only tracking a few deals and don’t need sequences or advanced analytics yet
Cons:
- Not as strong for outreach automation, cold email or sequencing, LinkedIn messaging
- As you scale, you may outgrow it and need to move to something else
Best Time to Use It:
If you’re just starting, have small deal volume, and want something simple to track pipelines and tasks, maybe no fancy outreach yet. Great first CRM for many founders doing small sales.
Other CRMs That Make Sense for Startups
Here are a few others you might want to consider, depending on your exact needs:
- Apollo.io: Provides prospecting, large contact database, and email sequences. If your growth strategy leans heavily on identifying leads and reaching them via email, Apollo is a strong pick.
- HubSpot Free CRM: If you want to get started with absolutely minimal cost, HubSpot’s free tier gives you basics like contacts, deals, and email tracking. Then you can layer in paid features gradually.
- Freshsales / Freshworks CRM: Often mentioned in startup communities, they provide built-in phone, email, task tracking, good UI, and fairly affordable tiers.
- Zoho CRM: Has a lot of flexibility and low-cost plans. If you don’t need high polish or fancy automation initially, it can work.
My Recommendation: What You Should Choose First (As a Startup)
If I were a founder selling my first few clients, here’s what I would pick:
- LeadLoft is hard to beat. You get strong prospecting, outreach, and communication sync immediately. LinkedIn outreach baked in means you can go find leads more actively. Great for founder-led sales.
- Close.io is a solid backup if your sales process uses cold calling heavily.
- Pipedrive is fine if you only need to track a few deals and don’t expect outbound or outreach to dominate.
- HubSpot + OutboundSync is a good grow-into option: start with free or Starter, then add syncing and outbound features when you need them.
