Quick answer
If you sell the usual way, leads to deals, mostly by email, a ready-made AI CRM is enough: HubSpot is free for 2 users, Attio for 3 seats with email and calendar sync, and folk suits small teams that prospect by email and LinkedIn.
Build your own when your stages, fields or workflow don't fit a sales funnel, or when per-seat pricing grows with your team. Capacity, which we make, builds a custom CRM app with its own database from a description, on a plan not priced per seat. Zite and Knack include unlimited users, Airtable and Glide build on tables and spreadsheets, Softr and Noloco on your Airtable or Google Sheets data, and Lovable from a chat with login included.
| Tool | Best for | Paid plans from | Free plan | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity | a CRM shaped like your business, with your own stages, fields and screens, on a plan that isn't priced per seat. | $25/month | Web app: no. Desktop: 1 project | No free web plan; no inbox sync |
 Zite | a team CRM and its workflows built from a prompt, with unlimited users on every plan. | $20/month (yearly) | Yes, 50 credits a month | Roles and permissions on Team (on request) |
 Softr | a CRM on Softr's own databases or your Airtable or Notion data, with permissions from Pro. | $19/month (yearly) | Yes, 5 AI credits a month | Permissions start on Pro ($99, yearly) |
 Airtable | a CRM on shared tables, built by Omni from a description, for a team that already works in Airtable. | $20/seat/month (yearly) | Yes, 1,000 records per base | Per-seat pricing, records capped per base |
 Glide | a simple CRM app for a small team, built from a spreadsheet, a prompt or a file. | $25/month | Yes, limited credits | Published apps are capped per plan |
 Noloco | a CRM on data you already keep in Airtable or Google Sheets, with record permissions on every plan. | $65/month (yearly) | Yes, 50 active clients | Records and client seats are capped per plan |
 Knack | a CRM on a relational database with unlimited users and roles, including HIPAA options. | $59/month | No, a free trial | Apps and records are capped per plan |
 Lovable | a custom CRM from a chat, with login and a database included, and the code synced to GitHub. | €25/month | Yes, 5 credits a day (up to 30 a month) | Credits for building and for Cloud usage |
 HubSpot | a free CRM to start, with marketing, sales and service tools and AI agents as you upgrade. | $7/seat/month (yearly, promo) | Yes, up to 2 users | Per-seat pricing; onboarding required on Pro |
 Attio | a modern sales CRM with AI agents and workflows, synced from your email and calendar. | $35/user/month (yearly) | Yes, up to 3 seats | Priced per seat; AI runs on credits |
 folk | a simple AI CRM for small teams that prospect, follow up and close by email and LinkedIn. | $24/member/month (yearly) | No, a 2-week trial | Priced per member; sequences on Premium |
Build a CRM or buy one. When a custom one pays off.
When a ready-made CRM is enough
If you sell from lead to deal to customer, mostly by email, a sales CRM works on day one: Attio and folk sync your email and calendar, and HubSpot, Attio and folk all have AI assistants built in.
When building your own pays off
Build when your records are properties, patients or shipments rather than deals, when your stages and fields don't match a sales funnel, or when the CRM has to run your own workflow.
The per-seat bill
Ten users at list price, billed yearly: $350 a month on Attio Plus, $240 on folk Standard, $200 on Airtable Team, $900 on HubSpot Professional plus required onboarding. Zite Pro ($20, yearly) and Knack Starter ($59, monthly) include unlimited users; Capacity is priced by credits.
Permissions
Decide who sees what before you pick: reps their own accounts, managers everything, a partner one pipeline. Ready-made CRMs gate permissions by plan, often the paid ones, and in a CRM you build, the rules are yours to define and test.
How we compared them. The same questions for every tool.
- Fit: your own stages, fields and record types, not only contacts and deals.
- What a team pays as it grows: per seat, per member or flat.
- Getting data in: CSV imports, spreadsheets as a source, email and calendar sync.
- Permissions: who sees and edits which records, on which plan.
- AI: building the CRM from a description, and AI at work inside it.
Build your own CRM
01 · our product
Capacity
Best for a CRM shaped like your business, with your own stages, fields and screens, on a plan that isn't priced per seat.
Capacity turns a plain-language description into a working app: a React front end, a server and its own database, published at a capacity.studio address or on your own domain. You change it by chatting and watch each change in the preview. You choose the model (Claude Opus 5.5, Claude Sonnet 5.5, Fable 5.1, Mistral Large 4 or Kimi K3) or leave it on Auto.
Why pick Capacity
- Describe your records, stages and screens, and Capacity builds them, with a full version history to roll back any change.
- Priced by building credits, not by seat: a new salesperson doesn't change your Capacity plan.
- Login with Clerk, Auth0 or Supabase, email with Resend, Brevo or SendGrid, payments with Stripe; your code downloads as a zip, or goes to your GitHub from Capacity Desktop.
Watch out for
- It isn't a sales CRM: no inbox or calendar sync, enrichment or AI sales agents like Attio's or HubSpot's.
- Login isn't built in: Clerk, Auth0 and Supabase each have their own pricing, and who sees which records is code in your app, to test with two accounts first.
- No free plan in the web app (from $25 a month); Capacity Desktop has a free plan with one project.
Pricing
Starter $25/month (100 credits), Growth $69/month (250 credits), Professional $129/month (500 credits), Business $299/month (1,000 credits). Every plan includes unlimited projects, custom domains and unlimited building from Claude and ChatGPT.
02
Zite
Best for a team CRM and its workflows built from a prompt, with unlimited users on every plan.
Zite builds business apps and workflows on its own database from a description, so a team can run its operations in one place, from a prompt like "a client management app for my marketing agency", connected to the apps it already uses. Every plan, including Free, has unlimited users, apps and editors.
Why pick it
- User login on every plan, Free included, so each teammate signs in without a seat cost.
- Apps, workflows and a database in one product, with data import and CSV export on every plan.
Watch out for
- Roles, granular permissions and enforced two-factor authentication are on the Team plan, priced on request.
- Credits cap building (50 a month on Free, 100 on Pro, 400 on Business), and records are capped: 5,000 on Free, 100,000 on Pro.
Pricing
Free: 50 credits a month, 5,000 records, 1,000 workflow runs. Billed yearly: Pro $20/month (100 credits, 100,000 records, a custom domain), Business $75/month (400 credits, 250,000 records, your own AI). Team and Enterprise on request.
03
Softr
Best for a CRM on Softr's own databases or your Airtable or Notion data, with permissions from Pro.
Softr is an AI app builder for business operations: secure internal tools and client portals with databases, workflow automation and integrations included. You build with AI or with no-code blocks, and connect data from its own databases or tools like Airtable and Notion.
Why pick it
- Unlimited apps, databases, workflows, agents and forms even on the free plan.
- Over 59 integrations, including Airtable and Notion as data sources, and CRM is one of its listed use cases.
Watch out for
- Permissions start on Pro at $99 a month billed yearly, a big step up from Basic at $19.
- AI credits are few (5 a month free, 10 on Basic, 50 on Pro), so most building is done with no-code blocks.
Pricing
Free: 5 AI credits a month. Billed yearly: Basic $19/month (10 AI credits, custom domain), Pro $99/month (50 AI credits, no Softr branding, permissions, custom code), Business $329/month (100 AI credits, 2FA, installable mobile app with push notifications). Yearly billing gives two months free.
04
Airtable
Best for a CRM on shared tables, built by Omni from a description, for a team that already works in Airtable.
Airtable is a no-code platform where teams build apps on shared tables, with interfaces, automations and AI. Omni, its conversational builder, creates an app's tables, interfaces and automations from a description and answers questions about your data. Apps run in Airtable on the web and in its iOS and Android apps.
Why pick it
- Building and changing apps with Omni uses no AI credits; analysis questions about your data cost 10 credits each.
- Everything Omni creates stays editable with Airtable's drag-and-drop tools, alongside its integrations and sync.
Watch out for
- Priced per seat: $20 a seat a month on Team billed yearly, so $200 a month for ten people; field, table and interface permissions start on Team.
- Records are capped per base: 1,000 on Free, 50,000 on Team, 125,000 on Business.
Pricing
Free: up to 5 editors, 1,000 records per base, 500 AI credits per editor a month, 100 automation runs. Team: $20 per seat/month billed yearly or $24 billed monthly, 50,000 records per base, 15,000 AI credits per paid user, 25,000 automation runs. Business: $45 per seat/month billed yearly or $54 monthly, 125,000 records, 20,000 AI credits, SSO. Enterprise Scale: custom pricing, 500,000 records. Extra AI credits from $20/month for 10,000.
05
Glide
Best for a simple CRM app for a small team, built from a spreadsheet, a prompt or a file.
Glide is an AI app builder for internal business apps: you describe the tool, and Glide builds it on its own platform with integrations and workflows, then publishes it to your team or, from Plus, to the public. You choose how hard its agent works (light, medium or heavy).
Why pick it
- Made for the internal apps teams run on, with integrations and AI features inside the apps.
- A free plan with 10 projects to try it.
Watch out for
- Published apps are capped below Pro: 2 on Basic, 5 on Plus.
- Pro, where the limits lift, starts at $125 a month for 5 team members.
Pricing
Free: limited credits, 2 team members, 10 projects. Basic: $25/month (100 credits, 2 published apps). Plus: $50/month (250 credits, 5 published apps, public apps). Pro: $125/month for 5 members (500 credits, unlimited published apps and workflows). Enterprise on request.
06
Noloco
Best for a CRM on data you already keep in Airtable or Google Sheets, with record permissions on every plan.
Noloco calls itself the AI portal builder for teams running complex operations: one system for your team, your clients and the AI agents that help run it. You build client portals, CRMs, project trackers and dashboards with its AI, Nola, on Noloco Tables or on the Airtable and Google Sheets data you already have.
Why pick it
- Record permissions, a Kanban view and CSV import on every plan, Free included.
- Unlimited team seats on the free plan, and a 14-day trial of Build with every feature.
Watch out for
- The free plan stops at 50 active clients and 2,000 records, with Noloco Tables or a CSV import as the only data sources.
- Build includes 10 team seats, 1,000 active clients and 25,000 records; more records cost $25 for each extra 25,000.
Pricing
Free: 30 AI credits a month plus 5 a day, unlimited team seats, 50 active clients, 2,000 records. Build: $79/month, or $65/month billed yearly (250 AI credits, 10 team seats, 1,000 active clients, 25,000 records, other data sources, 2FA). Enterprise: custom. Non-profits get 50% off.
07
Knack
Best for a CRM on a relational database with unlimited users and roles, including HIPAA options.
Knack builds secure business apps and online databases without code: custom workflows, portals and internal tools on a relational database, with AI-powered app building, users and roles, and automations through Knack Flows and its API. Its MCP server lets other AI tools use Knack as a backend.
Why pick it
- Unlimited users and roles on every plan, so a growing team adds no seat costs.
- A relational database at the core, with record change history on Pro and above.
- HIPAA and GovCloud options on Enterprise, and a separate Knack Health offer.
Watch out for
- Starter allows 3 apps and 20,000 records, and its 25 AI credits a month go quickly if you build with AI.
- There's no free plan, only a trial, and the $19 and $49 prices are for a new customer's first three months.
Pricing
Billed monthly: Starter $59/month (3 apps, 20,000 records, 25 AI credits), Pro $130/month (unlimited apps, 50,000 records, a custom domain, 50 AI credits), Corporate from $300/month. Enterprise on request. New customers pay $19 and $49 for the first three months.
08
Lovable
Best for a custom CRM from a chat, with login and a database included, and the code synced to GitHub.
Lovable builds web apps from a chat with a live preview beside it. Lovable Cloud adds the backend, with a database, user login, file storage and server functions on a Supabase foundation, and your code syncs both ways with GitHub on every plan.
Why pick it
- The chat and the preview are the whole interface, so there's little to learn.
- Because the code syncs to GitHub on every plan, including Free, a developer can take over the CRM later.
- It also works from its own desktop app, from ChatGPT and as an MCP server.
Watch out for
- Each message uses credits, and Lovable Cloud usage is billed in credits too once its monthly grant is used.
- Pipelines, imports and permissions are code it writes: test them with real data before your team moves in.
Pricing
Free: 5 build credits a day, up to 30 a month. Pro: €25/month for 100 monthly credits, with rollovers, top-ups and custom domains. Business: €50/month, adding a team workspace and SSO. Prices shown in euros from France.
Ready-made AI CRMs
09
HubSpot
Best for a free CRM to start, with marketing, sales and service tools and AI agents as you upgrade.
HubSpot is a customer platform that puts marketing, sales and service on one CRM. Its free CRM, with no expiration date, keeps contacts, companies, deals, tasks and tickets in one place, with the Breeze Assistant for AI help. Paid plans add automation, email campaigns, calling and AI agents for marketing, sales and service that work from your CRM data and use HubSpot Credits.
Why pick it
- A free CRM with no time limit for up to 2 users, including the Breeze Assistant, deal pipelines and ticket routing.
- The free CRM imports your data from another tool and includes email tracking and a meeting scheduler whose links sync with your calendar.
Watch out for
- Priced per seat: Professional is $90 a seat a month billed yearly and Enterprise $175, and both require buying onboarding.
- Starter's $7 is a limited-time 65% discount and stops at 10 users; AI agents and automation spend HubSpot Credits, and unused credits don't roll over.
Pricing
Free: up to 2 users. Billed annually: Starter $7/seat/month (limited-time 65% off, up to 10 users, 5,000 HubSpot Credits a month), Professional $90/seat/month (10,000 credits), Enterprise $175/seat/month (15,000 credits). Billed monthly: Starter $10 (limited-time 50% off), Professional $100, Enterprise $175. Onboarding is required on Professional and Enterprise. Extra credits in packs or pay-as-you-go.
10
Attio
Best for a modern sales CRM with AI agents and workflows, synced from your email and calendar.
Attio is an AI CRM built for what it calls agentic revenue: agents and workflows that build pipeline, advance deals and grow accounts around the clock. You connect your inbox and calendar, and Attio fills the CRM from emails, calls, product usage and connected tools, with enrichment on companies and people. Ask Attio answers revenue questions from that data.
Why pick it
- Contacts sync in real time from email and calendar, with automatic company and people enrichment, even on the free plan.
- Workflows, sequences, call intelligence and AI agents live inside the CRM.
- Built to extend: API and webhooks, an App SDK and an MCP server.
Watch out for
- Priced per seat: Plus is $35 per user a month billed yearly and stops at 10 seats; call intelligence, sequences and permission controls start on Pro at $79.
- AI and workflows draw on credits: 250, 1,500 or 10,000 workspace credits a month by plan, then $70 to $85 a month for each extra 5,000.
Pricing
Free: up to 3 seats, 3 objects, 50,000 records. Plus: $44 per user/month billed monthly, or $35 billed annually (up to 10 seats, 5 objects, 250,000 records). Pro: $99 per user/month, or $79 annually (unlimited seats, 12 objects, 1,000,000 records, call intelligence, sequences). Enterprise: custom, billed annually. Extra workspace credits from $85/month for 5,000 ($70 annually). 14-day trial of Pro.
11
folk
Best for a simple AI CRM for small teams that prospect, follow up and close by email and LinkedIn.
folk is an AI CRM for small sales teams: contacts, companies and pipelines, with email, calendar and WhatsApp sync, contact enrichment, email campaigns, a LinkedIn extension and phone call recording. AI assistants research leads, score them against your ideal customer, draft follow-ups and recap calls.
Why pick it
- Prospecting, outreach and pipeline in one place: find emails, send campaigns and add contacts from LinkedIn.
- AI assistants for research, follow-ups and call recaps, plus AI-filled fields on your records.
- Unlimited members on every plan, with Zapier, Make, MCP and more than 5,000 integrations.
Watch out for
- No free plan: a two-week trial with every premium feature, after which the account is blocked until you upgrade.
- Priced per member, and sequences, custom objects, deals, dashboards and API access start on Premium at $48 a member a month (yearly).
Pricing
Billed yearly: Standard $24/member/month ($288 a year), Premium $48 ($576 a year), Enterprise from $80 ($960 a year). Billed monthly: $30, $60 and from $100. Standard includes 500 email finds and 2,000 AI fields a month and 2,000 messages per member a month; Premium 1,000, 5,000 and 5,000. Two-week free trial, no card.
The 11 CRM options, side by side. From each official site, October 17, 2026.
| Feature | Capacity | Zite | Softr | Airtable | Glide | Noloco | Knack | Lovable | HubSpot | Attio | folk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paid plans from | $25/month | $20/month (yearly) | $19/month (yearly) | $20/seat/month (yearly) | $25/month | $65/month (yearly) | $59/month | €25/month | $7/seat/month (yearly, promo) | $35/user/month (yearly) | $24/member/month (yearly) |
| The bill grows with | Credits, not users | Credits, records, workflow runs | Plan and AI credits | Seats and records | Credits, published apps, members | Records, team seats, active clients | Apps and records | Credits | Seats and HubSpot Credits | Seats and workspace credits | Members |
| Your own stages, fields and objects | Whatever you describe | Built from a prompt | Your own databases | Tables built by Omni or by hand | From a spreadsheet, prompt or file | Built with Nola on your tables | Relational database | Whatever you describe | Custom objects on Enterprise | 3 objects free, 5 on Plus, 12 on Pro | Custom objects from Premium |
| Permissions | Code in your app; login via Clerk, Auth0 or Supabase | Roles and granular permissions on Team | From Pro | Field, table and interface permissions from Team | Org-level roles from Pro | Record permissions on every plan | Users and roles on every plan | Login in Lovable Cloud; rules generated | Permission sets from Starter; field-level on Enterprise | Permission controls from Pro | Workspace roles on Premium; group-level on Enterprise |
| Where the data lives | Its own database; zip download | Its own database; CSV export | Its databases, Airtable, Notion | Airtable bases | Glide's platform | Noloco Tables, Airtable, Google Sheets | Its own relational database | Lovable Cloud; GitHub sync | HubSpot | Attio | folk; CSV import and export |
How to choose. Start from what you need, not from the ranking.
A free CRM for one or two people, room to growHubSpot
A modern sales CRM synced with email and calendarAttio
Prospecting by email and LinkedIn, small teamfolkA CRM shaped like your business, no per-seat billCapacity
A team CRM from a prompt, unlimited usersZite
A CRM on tables your team already usesAirtable
A CRM on Airtable or Google Sheets dataNoloco
A CRM with permissions, on Airtable or NotionSoftr
Unlimited users and roles, HIPAA optionsKnack
A simple CRM app from a spreadsheetGlide
A custom CRM from a chat, code on GitHubLovableQuestions people ask. Short answers, with the details above.
Can I build my own CRM with AI?
Yes. You describe your records, stages and screens, and an AI builder makes the app: Capacity and Lovable write a full app with its own database, Zite builds team apps with unlimited users, and Airtable's Omni builds tables, interfaces and automations. Softr and Noloco build on data you already keep in Airtable or Google Sheets.
Should I build a custom CRM or use HubSpot?
Use HubSpot, Attio or folk if you sell the usual way and want email sync and AI sales tools on day one; HubSpot is free for 2 users. Build when your records, stages or workflow don't fit a sales funnel, or when seats add up: ten users on HubSpot Professional cost $900 a month billed yearly, plus required onboarding.
Can I build a CRM on Google Sheets?
Yes. Noloco keeps a Google Sheet or an Airtable base as the source and syncs it on its Build plan ($65 a month billed yearly), with record permissions and a Kanban view. Glide builds apps from a spreadsheet, a prompt or a file. To move off the sheet, export it as a CSV and import it into the CRM you pick.
What's the best free CRM in 2026?
HubSpot's free CRM has no time limit for up to 2 users, and Attio's free plan covers up to 3 seats and 50,000 records with email and calendar sync. To build your own for free, Zite, Softr, Airtable, Glide, Noloco and Lovable have free plans with limits. folk and Knack offer trials, and the Capacity web app has no free plan (Capacity Desktop has one, with a single project).
How do I move my contacts into a new CRM?
Export them as a CSV from your current tool or spreadsheet, and remove duplicates first. folk, Noloco and Zite import CSV files on every plan, HubSpot's free CRM imports data from another tool, and Noloco and Softr can keep Airtable as the live source. In a CRM you build yourself, the import is part of the build, so try it on a sample first.
Can a custom CRM sync with my inbox?
Ready-made CRMs are built for it: Attio fills contacts from your email and calendar in real time, folk syncs email, calendar and WhatsApp, and HubSpot's free CRM has email tracking and a meeting scheduler synced with your calendar. A CRM you build only syncs what you connect, so check the builder's integrations first. Capacity sends email through Resend, Brevo or SendGrid; it doesn't sync your inbox.
Can I build a CRM in Airtable?
Yes. Omni, Airtable's AI builder, creates the tables, interfaces and automations from a description on every plan, Free included. Free stops at 1,000 records per base and Team at 50,000, at $20 a seat a month billed yearly, and field and interface permissions start on Team.
Related comparisons
Build the CRM your business runs on.
Describe your app in a sentence and Capacity builds it, or connect it to Claude or ChatGPT and build from the chat. Plans from $25 a month.