The founder’s guide to CRM pricing (and picking the right CRM)

Your CRM is the beating heart of all your customer-facing efforts. It’s where your sellers get all the data they need to generate more revenue. It’s where your support team can rappel in to tackle the issues your customers are dealing with. And it even allows your marketers to surprise and delight your audience at scale.

Like anything else, that kind of power has a price. You don’t have to make a deal with a witch, but you do have to make sure you’re paying the right price for what you get.

With many software tools, pricing can be a bit tough to parse through, and CRM pricing is no different. Here’s your full guide to how this works.

How CRM pricing works

Most CRMs use a per-user pricing model, meaning you’ll pay more for them based on the number of people using them. But the actual price you pay for users will also change, depending on the types of features you need.

Additionally, most CRMs let you break down the features you need, so you only pay for what you want. HubSpot, for example, will allow you to choose whether you want to pay for marketing features only, sales and marketing features, or get a single price for everything the CRM includes. But, obviously, HubSpot doesn’t just have sales and marketing features. It also has a service hub, a content management platform, a data hub, and a ton of other offerings.

See how quickly this gets complicated?

With most CRMs, you’ll typically pick a core set of features to start with and a plan for those features, which will give you an initial per-month cost. But, often, you’ll run into barriers that will force you to upgrade your plan, adding extra features until your monthly cost balloons.

A few CRMs, like Clarify, have altogether different pricing. Because it’s an AI-powered, fully autonomous CRM, Clarify only charges users based on the AI features they use, quantified with credits. You can have any number of users for one flat fee, and from there, you can upgrade your plan for extra AI credits. That makes it a lot easier to predict your monthly cost.

How to compare CRMs on pricing and value

If you’re comparing multiple CRMs to see which one has the best value for your team, you’ll need to dig deep into the price. Despite similar pricing models, the details people often miss can lead to hundreds of extra dollars spent a year. So here’s how you can compare apples to apples and pick the right CRM if you’re looking at pricing alone.

Know what you need

It’s one thing to know you need a CRM. It’s another to know why. Some CRMs are built with sales teams in mind, meaning the marketing and support features can be a bit more limited. Likewise, CRMs built primarily for marketing automation (e.g., ActiveCampaign) won’t support your sellers much.

And what about AI? Are you looking for a generalist AI chatbot that can help you answer simple questions, prep for calls, and generate a bit of copy for outbound emails? Or do you want a platform with AI built in throughout, automating everything from contact enrichment to outreach?

Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to figuring out what you need:

• Talk with impacted teams: What do your sellers really want? What frustrations is your customer success team dealing with? How can a CRM help resolve these issues?
• Consider your growth stage: Small-business founders need very different things from their CRM than what an established enterprise prioritizes.
• Review your data sources: Expensive CRMs like Salesforce have a huge library of data connections and integrations, which contribute to their increased cost. If you use a panoply of software tools, this will be a lot more valuable to you than if you’re still mainly using spreadsheets.
• Evaluate your team’s AI-readiness: Getting the most advanced AI-powered autonomous CRM won’t do your team much good if they’ve never used AI before. Similarly, a team that’s already deeply steeped in AI tools will get more out of a CRM that uses AI.

Compare per-user pricing

As the first variable in CRM pricing, per-user pricing will tell you a lot about what you can expect to pay. Generally, if you’re looking at deploying a CRM for a specific team, you can assume that every person on that team will need an account. But you’ll also likely need accounts for other users as well.

Say, for example, you’re looking for a CRM to support your sales team. Everyone on the team needs an account, whether they’re a seller or a sales leader. Some stakeholders, like RevOps experts, may need accounts as well. Finally, frequent collaborators, like marketers in charge of important campaigns or developers who need to deliver on new features promised in sales deals, may need additional accounts as well.

So if your sales team is 10 people, including leaders, these extra accounts for stakeholders and collaborators could easily lead you to needing 15, 20, or more accounts, depending on the size of your business.

Already, you can start to gauge which CRM will be more expensive with this number. A $10/user CRM, for example, will be a lot cheaper than a $15/user CRM.

Compare plans

Before you know your per-user cost for sure, you need to actually compare the plans for each CRM. That’s because, as mentioned above, the per-user cost changes depending on the features you get. Salesforce CRM, for example, has two plans: Starter and Pro. The former is $25 per user, per month. The latter is $100 per user, per month. But the Pro gives you access to enhanced, real-time chat, deeper customization, automations, sales quotes and forecasting, and access to AppExchange (where you’ll find many of Salesforce’s integrations).

Comparing these plans within a single CRM is pretty simple, but you need to actually compare them across tools to get the best value. For example, Salesforce’s Pro plan has access to more integrations and third-party apps. Does HubSpot’s? What about Zoho CRM’s? Is that difference represented in a difference in pricing?

You need to determine the value of these different features for you, and determine if having them is essential to your workflows. And if they aren’t, you need to ask yourself if losing these features lowers the price enough for your budget.

Compare extra features

A plan’s built-in features aren’t the only comparison points across CRMs. You might need extra marketing features, extra AI credits, or any number of other features that don’t come with a standard plan. First, are these features available? And if so, how much do they cost?

Extra features in one CRM might come standard with another, further complicating your cost calculation. But it’s something you need to consider, since some of these features can cost almost as much as your plan does.

How to negotiate CRM pricing

In some cases, you might be able to negotiate the price you pay for your CRM. This can represent significant savings down the line, especially if your usage ramps up as your teams get more successful thanks to the time and effort savings they get from the platform. Here’s what you need to know about negotiating your price.

When can you negotiate your CRM's price?

If you only have a few users and you’re using one of the CRM’s lower plans, you probably won’t be able to get much in a negotiation. CRM vendors will usually only negotiate if one or more of the following criteria are met:

• You have a quote for a lower price from a competitor.
• You’re looking to commit to a CRM for more than a year.
• You’ll be paying a significant amount for the CRM each year.
• You have dozens, if not hundreds, of potential users.
• You have enough brand recognition that partnering with you would benefit the vendor.
• When vendors are at the end of their sales cycle.

In some cases, you can negotiate discounts of up to 10-20% simply by meeting some of the criteria above. A company with significant brand recognition, for example, can negotiate a lower price by offering a testimonial in exchange.

Know what you need (and what you don't)

There’s a tendency to pay for features you’re not sure you’ll need, just in case you need them later. In a negotiation, those nice-to-haves can ratchet up your price, and they’ll work against you in a negotiation. When you’re evaluating a CRM, you should already have a list of the things you’ll need. Don’t let a clever negotiator sway you into paying more for your CRM by offering features that sound good on paper but aren’t completely necessary.

Don't just go for a discount

While negotiating for a discount on your CRM is the obvious priority for most users, it’s not the only thing you can negotiate for. There are a few costs and benefits you can try to shoot for in a negotiation, such as:

• Waived setup or implementation fees.
• Extra customer support at no extra cost.
• Added security features.
• Custom enhancements.
• Extended free trials.
• Free or assisted data migration.

Some of these bonuses can easily be worth more than a discount, especially if you can snag a few of them.

Make sure you understand your contract

When negotiating your CRM’s price, pay close attention to contract terms. Look for potential pitfalls, such as auto-renewal clauses and cancellation fees. Understanding these terms can help you avoid potential costs in the future and give you more leverage in negotiations. You should also ask how flexible your contract is. Are there any variables, like users or features, that can be adjusted as your business grows?

If you have questions, make sure that you ask the vendor about them. They should go out of their way to explain anything that’s unclear; if they don’t, that’s usually a warning sign. If you have a lawyer on staff or retainer, you can consult them as well to see what they have to say about your contract.

How to transition to your new CRM

Whether you’re making a transition from an existing CRM to a new one or going from spreadsheets to your first CRM, the process can involve a few pitfalls. Here’s your guide to avoiding them.

Assess the cost of your transition

One of the most expensive aspects of making this transition (in both time and money) is getting data out of whatever system you currently use and into your new one. Some CRMs have built-in methods for doing this, like CSV importers that allow you to bring in data exported from spreadsheets. They might also have full software integrations that automatically sync data between systems as easily as flipping a switch.

Data’s just one cost, however. You also need to account for implementing the new tool, which takes time, and training your team on it. There will potentially be some lost productivity throughout this process, which can cost you sales you’ll need to make up later.

Factor in all these costs, so you can prepare your team and your budget for the transition.

Plan and execute your data migration

A data migration of any kind can be daunting. Moving historical data to a new system depends on careful planning and smooth execution, so nothing is lost in transit.

If you’ve already been using a CRM extensively, your data migration might take significantly more time than simply transitioning away from spreadsheets. That’s because your CRM will be constantly receiving new data as your sellers work, increasing the burden on your migration.

Even if you’re using spreadsheets, you’ll have to centralize data from multiple sheets, likely scattered throughout whatever storage platform your sellers use. You’ll need to export each one, get the data into your CRM, and make sure everything’s there.

So, before you start migrating, you have to choose your method. If your CRM has built-in tools for your migration, then you’ll just need to learn your way around those. If it doesn’t, you’ll either have to manually import all that data or pick an integration platform that can automate this for you.

In most cases, you’ll want to migrate in stages instead of all at once. You might want to start with data for deals that have already closed, so that deals still on the go aren’t affected. Or, in some cases, you’ll want to migrate just a team or two at a time, evaluate the migration’s success, and move on from there with the learnings from each stage.

In short, you need to gather your data, pick a migration method, and migrate in stages. Only then can you turn off the old system, whether that means ending a previous CRM subscription or retiring your trusty spreadsheets.

Onboard your teams on the new CRM

Ideally, you want to give your teams some training before switching them over. But whether that’s possible or not, you need to plan for a transition period during which your team won’t be as productive as they once were. Your new CRM will almost always improve productivity, and usually pretty quickly, but there’s still going to be an adjustment period.

Start by training your teams on just a few workflows at a time. You don’t necessarily want to turn on all your CRM’s automations and features right away; that’ll just overwhelm your team. Encourage them to start small, push themselves consistently every day, and come to you if they run into any issues. It helps to designate a champion in each team, a person who gets a bit of extra training before the migration happens, so they can help their teammates with the simpler, recurring issues.

You’ll know your team is fully onboarded when the rate at which you get questions and concerns about the new platform decreases. If you only get a few questions a day (or even a week), your team’s onboarded.

It's not all about price (but it still matters)

Price can make what looks like a great CRM on paper an astronomical cost that strains your margins. Since so many of these platforms have complex pricing with multiple variables, it’s important to take the time to review their price carefully before you sign up. Just remember that most CRMs have a per-user cost that varies based on the plan you choose, as well as some extra features that can add on to your bill at the end of the month. Do your homework, take your time, and you’ll find the perfect CRM for your team.

Want a CRM with a flat price and no surprises? Check out Clarify here.

FAQ: CRM pricing

How much does CRM software cost per month in 2025?

The monthly cost of CRM software can vary wildly based on the following factors:

• The CRM you choose.
• The number of people using the CRM.
• The price per user of your CRM.
• The plan you pick.

Generally, a CRM can cost anywhere between $12 to over $200 per user, on average. The size of the sales, marketing, or support team using that CRM can also vary, with a team of 10 paying anywhere from $120 to $2000 a month for their CRM.

Most CRMs use a per-user pricing model, which is why prices can vary so much. Some autonomous CRMs, like Clarify, use a flat pricing model instead, charging you for the AI features you use rather than the number of people using your CRM.

What is the average CRM implementation cost for a small business?

The cost you can expect to pay for CRM implementation usually includes:

• The actual license for your CRM (usually anywhere from $720 to $12,000+ annually).
• The cost of migrating data from existing tools to your CRM ($500-$3,000).
• Training staff on the new tool ($1,000-$5,000 in lost productivity and training costs).
• Post-implementation customization of new CRM ($2,000-$10,000).

Some of these costs can be avoided, like data migration if you’re using a CRM that has built-in data migration tools. But, generally, you’re looking at hundreds to thousands of dollars for implementing your CRM.

What are some potential hidden costs of CRM pricing?

One of the biggest hidden costs teams don’t consider when paying for a new tool is data migration. Moving data between an old system and a new one typically either involves extra manual work—which represents lost time sellers don’t spend selling—or an extra cost for a migration tool.

Another hidden cost? Extra licenses. Teams often end up needing more users for their CRM than initially anticipated, usually for stakeholders or frequent collaborators.

Finally, premium support or third-party consultants might be needed if you need to customize your CRM to specific workflows or run into technical issues you can’t resolve yourself.

Can I negotiate CRM pricing with vendors?

CRM prices are often negotiable if you pay above a certain amount, commit to an annual contract, or have a large number of users. Depending on the terms of the contract, you might be able to negotiate a discount, have setup fees waived, get an extended free trial, or even receive additional features.