Start by deciding which of the three jobs you need: marketing, sales or customer service. If you use all three every week, look at a CRM with marketing built in. If you mainly track contacts and deals, a simpler CRM will feel lighter, and open-source CRMs suit teams happy to host their own software.
Count the jobs before you count the features. EngageBay sells marketing, sales and customer service as one suite, and most small businesses only lean on one or two of those every week. Knowing which ones you'd miss tells you whether you need another suite or something much simpler.
Marketing, sales and service: which do you use weekly?
- Marketing: email campaigns, forms, landing pages and automated sequences that nurture leads.
- Sales: contacts, deals, pipelines, tasks and reminders that keep follow-ups moving.
- Service: a help desk, tickets or live chat for customers who need support.
Here's the catch with leaving a suite. Most tools below only cover part of what you get now. Several are CRM-first, so if you use the marketing or help desk side today, you may need a separate email tool or help desk to match it. That isn't a bad thing. Two focused tools are often easier to live with than one crowded one, but you should know before you switch, not after.
Write your three jobs on a page and tick the ones you used last week. That list decides which group below you shop in.
Ten CRMs side by side
| Tool | Type | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Agile CRM | Sales and marketing automation | Small firms wanting sales and marketing automation |
| Bigin by Zoho CRM | Simple CRM from a suite vendor | Leads, deals, calls and WhatsApp in one place |
| Brevo | Email, SMS and CRM platform | Keeping email, SMS, chat and CRM under one login |
| Capsule | Simple CRM | Contacts, sales and long-term customer relationships |
| Copper | CRM inside Google Workspace | Teams who live in Gmail and Google Workspace |
| folk | AI CRM | Prospecting, engaging and closing deals |
| Insightly | CRM and marketing | Fast-growing companies needing a flexible CRM |
| Less Annoying CRM | Simple contact CRM | Contact management and lead tracking without clutter |
| SuiteCRM | Open-source CRM | Selling, marketing and service on your own server |
| Twenty | Open-source CRM | Technical teams who want to shape the CRM |
Four routes away from an all-in-one suite
Keep marketing built in
Agile CRM, Insightly and Brevo keep sales and marketing under one roof. The first is closest to the suite idea, the second pairs a CRM with marketing tools for growing firms, and the third starts from email and SMS and adds a CRM around them.
Go simple
Capsule, Less Annoying CRM and folk drop the marketing suite and focus on people and deals. They suit owners who want to open the CRM, see who to call and get on with the day.
Stay close to a bigger ecosystem
Copper lives inside Google Workspace, so it suits teams who already run everything from Gmail. Bigin by Zoho CRM is the small-business CRM from a much larger software family, which helps if you might add other apps later.
Host it yourself
SuiteCRM and Twenty are open source. You get control over your data and how the CRM works, but someone on your team has to look after hosting, updates and backups.
Every option, alphabetically
These are in no particular order, sorted A to Z. Each line reflects how the vendor describes its own product.
Agile CRM
Best for: Firms after an all-in-one CRM with sales and marketing automation built in, which is how the vendor describes it for small businesses.
Bigin by Zoho CRM
Best for: Owners who want leads, deals, emails, calls and WhatsApp in one simple CRM; the vendor says it has AI built in for small businesses.
Brevo
Best for: Teams replacing the marketing half of a suite: email and SMS campaigns, automation, live chat and transactional email, with a CRM included, per the vendor.
Capsule
Best for: Relationship-led businesses tracking contacts and sales over years, not weeks; the vendor's line is simple to start, built for growth.
Copper
Best for: Google Workspace teams tracking leads, deals and projects without leaving it; the vendor promises no more switching tabs.
folk
Best for: Small sales teams wanting AI help with prospecting, engaging and closing, in what the vendor calls one platform for the whole sales motion.
Insightly
Best for: Fast-growing companies that want CRM and marketing software together, pitched by the vendor as a flexible CRM.
Less Annoying CRM
Best for: Small businesses outgrowing a spreadsheet; the vendor's own phrase is more than a spreadsheet, less than a full CRM.
Want AI doing the heavy lifting in your marketing?
I build the systems that handle the boring 80 percent, so you get your week back. Done properly, with the human kept in.
SuiteCRM
Best for: Teams that want to self-host, or use managed hosting, for selling, marketing and service; the vendor stresses there's no vendor lock-in.
Twenty
Best for: Technical teams that want an open-source CRM they can adapt; the vendor describes it as modular and built to fit your business.
My advice before you leave EngageBay
If you only used the sales side, go simple and don't look back. A lighter CRM will be quicker to learn and easier to keep tidy. If you leaned on the marketing side, stay with a tool that keeps marketing built in, or pair a simple CRM with a dedicated email platform you already like. If you used the help desk, check that whichever route you take still gives customers a way to reach you.
Be wary of open source unless you've got someone technical. It's a fine choice when a developer is happy to run it, and a headache when nobody is. For a wider view, see my Keap alternatives, my Salesflare alternatives and my EngageBay review.
Getting your contacts and deals out cleanly
Before you sign up anywhere, export everything from your current CRM: contacts, companies, deals, notes and email templates. Open the files and check that the columns make sense, because a messy export is far easier to fix now than after an import has scattered it across a new system.
Then check that each option on your shortlist can import contacts and deal history in the format you've got. Run a small test import of fifty or so records first. Look at whether deal stages, owners and notes landed where you expected, then import the rest.
Finally, rebuild any automations by hand. Sequences and workflows rarely move between tools, so list them before you leave and recreate the ones that earn their keep.
Do you make CRM software for small businesses? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.
Want your tool on this list? Featured spots and reviews here are paid partnerships. Here's how to partner with me.
Frequently asked questions
Is EngageBay a CRM or a marketing tool?
It's sold as both: one platform covering marketing, sales and customer service. That's why replacements often look narrower, as many focus on the CRM side only.
Do I need a CRM with built-in email marketing?
Only if you send campaigns or automated sequences regularly. If you mostly track contacts and deals, a simple CRM plus an email tool you already use can work just as well.
Are open-source CRMs free to run?
The software can be free to download, but you'll still need hosting, updates and someone to maintain it. Managed hosting is often offered if you don't want to run it yourself.
How do I move my contacts to a new CRM?
Export contacts, deals and notes as files, check the columns, then test a small import before bringing everything across. Automations usually need rebuilding by hand.
What about data protection when I switch?
Rules on storing customer data vary by country. Check where each vendor stores data and confirm your obligations with your local data protection regulator.
Should a small business use a CRM from a big software suite?
It can help if you already use that suite's other apps or plan to. If you don't, a standalone CRM is usually simpler to set up and learn.
