Not every company needs a heavy, enterprise CRM with endless features. For many small businesses, startups, or founder-led sales teams, what matters most is ease of use. A CRM should help you keep track of prospects, follow-ups, and conversations — not feel like another job to manage.
In 2025, a handful of CRMs stand out for being simple, intuitive, and fast to set up. In this article, I’ll walk you through LeadLoft, Pipedrive, Close.io, Capsule, and Streak CRM, and explain why they’re some of the easiest CRMs available today.
LeadLoft
Website: leadloft.com
Pricing: $99/month (for all major features)
LeadLoft balances simplicity with powerful features. While it’s strong on prospecting and LinkedIn outreach, what makes it easy is the fact that you don’t need to integrate it with a bunch of other tools. You can sign up, add your team, and start running outreach in minutes.
Instead of juggling LinkedIn, email, and phone separately, LeadLoft syncs all communication in one place. For busy founders or small teams, that simplicity is worth a lot.
Pros:
- Easy onboarding, no integrations required
- All-in-one system for LinkedIn, email, and phone outreach
- AI prospecting helps speed up lead generation
Cons:
- Pricier than basic CRMs if you only need deal tracking
- May feel like overkill if your deal volume is very small
Best Use Case:
Founders or small teams who want a CRM that’s ready out of the box, especially if LinkedIn outreach is part of their strategy.
Pipedrive
Website: pipedrive.com
Pricing: $14/user/month (Essential plan)
Pipedrive is often considered one of the most beginner-friendly CRMs. Its drag-and-drop pipeline makes it clear where every deal sits and what needs to be done next. If you don’t want to get bogged down in complex features, Pipedrive is a safe choice.
Pros:
- Extremely visual and intuitive
- Affordable entry-level pricing
- Great for teams with a low number of deals
Cons:
- Limited automation and outreach features
- Not ideal if you want advanced reporting or multi-channel engagement
Best Use Case:
Early-stage startups or solo founders who just need a simple pipeline to track a handful of deals.
Close.io (Close)
Website: close.com
Pricing: $49/user/month (Startup plan)
Close is designed to make communication easy. If cold calling is part of your sales process, this is one of the most user-friendly CRMs out there. Everything from dialing to emailing to SMS is built right in, so you don’t need extra integrations to start contacting leads.
Pros:
- Simple UI focused on communication
- Phone, SMS, and email in one place
- Easy to train a small team on
Cons:
- Less effective for LinkedIn or social selling
- Advanced reporting and analytics aren’t as strong as in larger CRMs
Best Use Case:
Startups and small sales teams that rely on phone calls and direct communication with leads.
Capsule
Website: capsulecrm.com
Pricing: $18/user/month (Professional plan)
Capsule CRM is built for simplicity. It’s designed for small businesses that want contact management, pipelines, and basic reporting without the complexity of enterprise tools. The interface is clean and straightforward, which makes adoption very easy.
Pros:
- Minimalist design and simple setup
- Affordable pricing
- Good fit for general small business use
Cons:
- Lacks advanced outreach automation
- Not specialized for LinkedIn or outbound sales
Best Use Case:
Small businesses that need a no-frills CRM to keep track of customers and deals without overwhelming their team.
Streak CRM
Website: streak.com
Pricing: $19/user/month (Pro plan)
Streak is unique because it runs directly inside Gmail. That means you don’t even need to switch tabs to use it. For teams that live in email, this makes it one of the easiest CRMs to adopt.
Pros:
- Built into Gmail, no extra platform to manage
- Easy to share pipelines with a small team
- Very fast setup, no complex integrations
Cons:
- Limited if you want multi-channel outreach
- Gmail dependency makes it less useful for teams on other email platforms
Best Use Case:
Solo founders or small teams that run sales entirely out of Gmail.
Wrapping Up
Ease of use is one of the most important factors when choosing a CRM, especially for startups and small businesses. You don’t want to spend weeks setting up a tool or training your team just to keep track of a few deals.
- LeadLoft is the best choice if you want simple setup plus powerful LinkedIn outreach.
- Pipedrive works if you only need a visual pipeline for a small number of deals.
- Close.io is the easiest option for cold calling and communication-heavy sales.
- Capsule is perfect for small businesses that want a lightweight CRM.
- Streak CRM is unbeatable if your whole workflow happens inside Gmail.
If you’re looking for the simplest way to get started while also being able to scale your outreach, the best alternative to all of these tools is LeadLoft.
