11 Best SugarCRM Alternatives in 2023

Customer relationship management has significantly evolved, with customers becoming more mindful of the level of personalization delivered to them. 

Having a reliable CRM tool at your disposal can help you keep track of customer data and utilize it to craft meaningful experiences that keep customers returning to your business. 

One of the most well-established names in the CRM industry is SugarCRM. 

While it is one of the top-ranking CRM solutions, SugarCRM is far from being the only suitable choice for every business. 

From complicated features to expensive pricing, there are multiple reasons why a business may fail to benefit from the implementation of SugarCRM. 

If you are looking for SugarCRM alternatives, you have come to the right place!

This comparative guide, including the best features, pricing, advantages, and shortcomings of the 10 best SugarCRM alternatives, can help you find the right CRM solution for your business. 

What is SugarCRM?

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools empower businesses to take control of their customer data and leverage it to improve prospects and customer relationships.

SugarCRM is a powerful CRM system used to manage and personalize customer interactions and close more sales. 

This customizable CRM tool can be modified according to your needs, helping you utilize it to its maximum potential. You can use it to visualize and improve customer journeys and craft more delightful experiences. 

With SugarCRM, you can get a deeper understanding of your customer needs and alter your outreach strategy accordingly. 

Best features of SugarCRM:

1. Sales automation

2. Highly customizable

3. On-cloud and on-premise deployment 

4. Insights & real-time alerts 

5. Data security 

Pricing 

Let’s look at the pricing offered for SugarCRM:

1. Sugar Professional- $52/user/month

2. Sugar Sell- $80/user/month

3. Sugar Serve- $80/user/month

4. Sugar Enterprise- $85/user/month

5. Sugar Market- $1,000/month

What Makes SugarCRM Popular?

Before we get into more details about various SugarCRM competitors, let’s take a look at the reasons that have made it such a phenomenal success. 

SugarCRM makes contact management more simplified and effective. 

This tool offers the following functionalities to improve customer relationships and help businesses grow:

1. Automatic Data Capturing

SugarCRM allows you to put contact management on auto-pilot by automatically collecting, updating, and synchronizing data. By automating such repetitive processes, SugarCRM can help maximize your team’s productivity. 

2. Customizability 

SugarCRM works how you prefer with several integrations and extensive customization. This flexible CRM solution allows you to customize various modules to adapt them according to your business requirements.

3. Analytics

With built-in analytics, you can get deeper insights into your business processes and find ways to optimize future endeavors. Powerful analytics help you make data-driven decisions to maximize your business’s growth.

4. Updates & Recommendations

This intuitive CRM platform provides real-time recommendations based on previous interactions to help you improve customer relationships. With a detailed history for each contact record, you can easily see what works and what doesn’t.

Why Look for Alternatives to SugarCRM?

Although SugarCRM offers a broad range of valuable features to build and maintain customer relationships, it is not ideal for every business. 

With varying business needs, targeted customer base, and industry requirements, the type of CRM tool that would work best for every organization differs. 

Some of the reasons why you may feel the need to look for SugarCRM alternatives are:

1. Complicated Features

Some features of SugarCRM, such as the email module, are complicated and not as user-friendly as you would expect. 

2. Expensive Pricing 

While SugarCRM offers several advanced features, its pricing makes it an unfavorable choice for small and medium businesses. 

3. User Interface

The interface of the tool may get too clunky for some teams. Additionally, the speed of the tool slows down at times, which compromises the overall efficiency.

4. Business Requirements 

A common reason for businesses considering SugarCRM substitutes is it failing to meet their specific needs. 

If you have encountered similar problems with SugarCRM, it is best to look for suitable alternatives that match your exact requirements and can help you realize your business objectives.

How to Choose the Best SugarCRM Alternatives?

While the final decision should be based on your enterprise’s specific needs, certain essential features should not be overlooked when looking for SugarCRM substitutes.

These include:

1. Contact Management

94% of buyers consider contact management to be the most important characteristic when looking for a CRM system.

Effective contact management is the fundamental feature of CRM technology. 

Therefore, you must go for a CRM tool that offers powerful contact management to form long-lasting relationships.

2. Reporting

A reliable reporting and analytics module is a must-have functionality of a CRM system. 

These reports can help you track every business activity and monitor the effectiveness of your operations. You can identify roadblocks and discover opportunities to enhance your business with the help of detailed reports. 

3. Automation

80% of companies reported an increase in leads as a result of automating their marketing efforts.

Therefore, it is critical to look for a CRM system that offers powerful automation capabilities. This can help you boost efficiency and remove any unnecessary delays or errors from your business processes. Marketing automation can improve your customer experiences and help you convert more leads into sales.

By automating repetitive and time-intensive tasks, CRM can help your team achieve better productivity and meet targets easily. 

4. Integrations

Go for a tool that is compatible with other business applications that you work with. This can drive user adoption and help your team transition to the CRM tool effortlessly. 

Pay attention to the integrations offered by the CRM tool to ensure you get a single platform to manage a variety of business processes. 

5. Customer Support 

Pay attention to the type of customer support offered by the CRM provider.

A delightful and resourceful customer support team can help you implement and utilize your CRM tool effectively. 

6. GDPR Compliance

Focusing on Data security is a crucial component of CRM. 

Therefore, you must look for a GDPR compliant CRM system that can keep your contact data secure and help you adhere to regulatory guidelines for data collection and storage. 

7. Scalability

Your business needs will continue to evolve as your business grows. 

Therefore, you must pay attention to the scalability of the CRM system that you invest in. Working with a future-ready CRM tool can safeguard you from looking for new solutions frequently. With a scalable CRM system, you can easily expand your contact database and, consequently, your business. 

8. Remote Access

Staying updated on the go is a necessity in this fast-paced business landscape. 

Go for a CRM tool with mobile access to customer data. This can help you engage with prospects at the most reasonable time and prepare for meetings on the go.

Our Selection Criteria 

CRM comparison is never easy!

While you may wish there was some cheat sheet to help you make the decision instantly, this is far from being the case. 

To find an optimal solution, you have to compare multiple products against your business needs and market trends. 

Since this can be overwhelming, we have tried to make the decision easier by providing you with the 10 best SugarCRM alternatives that can be the right fit for your organization. 

To make the final choice of these 10 tools, we have considered the following factors:

1. Ratings

We have considered the ratings of the tools for a clearer picture of their usability.

2. User Reviews

User reviews from credible sources have helped us better understand the tools’ functionality.

3. Pricing 

We have included tools offering competitive pricing to help you find an affordable CRM solution.

4. Ease of usage

We have taken into account how easy the tools are to navigate for them to qualify as suitable SugarCRM alternatives. 

5. Functionality

We have included tools with similar functionality as SugarCRM.

Top 10 Sugar CRM Alternatives

Software	Key Features	Pricing
BIGContacts	Email integration Social media tracking Automated reminders Webform connection	BIG- $5/user/month BIGGER- $15/user/month BIGGEST- $25/user/month ENTERPRISE- Custom pricing
Salesforce	Automated actions Improved targeting Artificial intelligence Multiple integrations	Essential- $25/user/month Professional- $75/user/month Enterprise- $150/user/month Unlimited- $300/user/month
HubSpot	Visible sales pipeline Lead generation Built-in analytics Automated actions	Unlimited free version Starter- $45/month Professional- $1,600/month Enterprise- $4,000/month
Zoho CRM	AI assistant Contact management Customer journey management Mobile application	Free for 3 users Standard- $14/user/month Professional-$23/user/month Enterprise- $40/user/month Ultimate- $52/user/month
Pipedrive	Custom sales pipeline Automated processes Email tracking Sales forecasting	Essential- $12.40/user/month Advanced- $24.90/user/month Professional- $49.90/user/month Enterprise- $99/user/month
Insightly	Marketing automation Customer relationship linking Custom roles & permissions Mobile access to data	Free for 2 users Plus- $29/user/month Professional- $49/user/month Enterprise- $99/user/month
Keap	Sales & marketing automation Personalized follow-ups Powerful integrations Sales pipeline management	Lite- $56/month Pro- $119/month Max- 4140/month
Freshsales	Deal management Pipeline management Artificial intelligence Powerful analytics	Free for unlimited users Growth- $15/user/month Pro- $39/user/month Enterprise- $69/user/month
Suite CRM	Activity tracking Comprehensive dashboards Marketing automation Detailed reports	Open-source software SuiteCRM: OnDemand pricing- Starter- £95/month Business- £332.50/month Premium- £475/month
Nimble	Pipeline Management Calendar view Email tracking Mobile access	$19/user/month

Let’s delve deeper into the functionality, pricing, pros, and cons of these 10 SugarCRM alternatives:

1. BIGContacts

BIGContacts by ProProfs is one of the simplest and the most affordable alternatives to SugarCRM. This email marketing CRM is designed to help small and medium-sized businesses form long-lasting customer relationships that propel business growth. BIGContacts also offers a robust reporting module with pre-built templates and customizable filters. You can use this CRM tool to manage sales opportunities with a custom-built sales pipeline.

Best features of BIGContacts:

• Email marketing 
• Pipeline management
• Reporting & analytics
• 360° view of contact profiles 
• Static & dynamic contact lists 

Pricing:

BIGContacts offers the following pricing options:

• BIG- $5/user/month 
• BIGGER- $15/user/month 
• BIGGEST- $25/user/month
• ENTERPRISE- Custom pricing

What works well:

• Webform connection
• Delightful customer support 
• Easy-to-use interface

What needs improvement: 

• Mobile app UI needs improvement.
• Searching for contacts can be made more user-friendly.

2. Salesforce CRM

Salesforce is one of the most widely used CRM tools offering enterprise-grade functionality. This CRM tool allows you to bring sales, marketing, commerce, and customer service to a single platform. Salesforce offers cloud-based access to customer data, allowing your team members to stay updated on the go. The tool also provides AI-based insights into customer behavior so that you can make better business decisions. Automation of redundant tasks with Salesforce helps boost productivity and reduce inefficiencies from customer relationship management.

Best features of Salesforce:

• Cloud-based access 
• AI-based recommendations
• Data-driven actions with analytics 
• Hyper-personalization of customer outreach 
• Lead capturing & management 

Pricing:

Salesforce has the following pricing plans:

• Essential- $25/user/month 
• Professional- $75/user/month
• Enterprise- $150/user/month
• Unlimited- $300/user/month 

What works well:

• Automation of repetitive processes 
• Personalized marketing content 
• Communication tracking 

What needs improvement:

• Salesforce’s pricing is expensive.
• The tool’s complexity makes it difficult for non-technical users to utilize it optimally.

3. HubSpot

HubSpot is a free SugarCRM alternative that offers a broad range of functionality to keep your contact data organized. You can use HubSpot CRM to keep track of every prospect from one place. All the communications are stored in a shared inbox, allowing your team members to stay updated always. In addition to sales tracking, HubSpot also offers marketing functionality to help you generate more leads and guide them toward conversion.

Best features of HubSpot:

• Comprehensive dashboards 
• Sales pipeline management
• Automated contact management
• Lead management
• Help desk integration 

Pricing:

Other than the free pricing plan, the following options are available for HubSpot CRM:

• Starter- $45/month 
• Professional- $1,600/month 
• Enterprise- $4,000/month

What works well:

• Data synchronization
• Contact profile enrichment
• Email tracking

What needs improvement:

• The pricing model is steep and can end up being too expensive.
• Reporting module needs to be more advanced. 

4. Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM is a great alternative to SugarCRM owing to its simplicity and usability. The tool offers several advanced features, including deal prediction, customer segmentation, marketing automation, and reporting. You can use Zoho CRM to craft personalized customer journeys that can boost your customer retention levels. The CRM tool allows you to include custom components, layouts, views, etc., to adapt it according to your business needs.

Best features of Zoho CRM:

• Real-time analytics 
• AI assistant- Zia
• Lead nurturing 
• Collaborative tools
• Workflow automation 

Pricing:

Along with a free version for 3 users, Zoho CRM has the following pricing plans:

• Standard- $14/user/month 
• Professional-$23/user/month 
• Enterprise- $40/user/month 
• Ultimate- $52/user/month 

What works well:

• Sales and revenue forecasting
• Integrations such as G Suite, Office 365, etc.
• Lead management 

What needs improvement:

• The tool can be overwhelming without extensive training. 
• UI needs enhancement to be more intuitive.

5. Pipedrive

One of the SugarCRM competitors that can considerably impact your sales is Pipedrive. This CRM offers robust pipeline management to help you track and guide leads toward conversion. Pipedrive offers several advanced CRM features, including customer segmentation, email marketing, automation, and webform connection. The reporting capabilities of Pipedrive enable you to monitor relevant performance metrics and make accurate forecasts for your business.

Best features of Pipedrive:

• Customizable sales pipeline 
• Alerts & reminders
• Communication tracking 
• Over 280 integrations with tools like Slack, Outlook, etc. 
• iOS and Android mobile app

Pricing:

The pricing plans available for Pipedrive are:

• Essential- $12.40/user/month 
• Advanced- $24.90/user/month 
• Professional- $49.90/user/month 
• Enterprise- $99/user/month

What works well:

• Automation capabilities
• Collaboration tools 
• Reporting dashboard 

What needs improvement:

• Customer support needs to be more prompt. 
• The tool does not work as efficiently for large teams. 

6. Insightly

Insightly CRM can work as a great SugarCRM substitute by helping you create personalized customer experiences and drive conversions. Powerful automation capabilities of the CRM tool can help you get everything done on time. You can automate email campaigns, share data with team members, assign leads to the right salespeople, and track the performance of business activities in real-time. Insightly also allows you to access critical business data from any device, anytime.

Best features of Insightly:

• Custom workflow
• Reporting dashboards
• Lead tracking & management 
• Email integration 
• Data security 

Pricing:

Insightly is free for 2 users and has the following paid options:

• Plus- $29/user/month
• Professional- $49/user/month 
• Enterprise- $99/user/month 

What works well:

• Custom user roles 
• Workflow automation
• Drag & drop UI

What needs improvement:

• The free version offers limited functionality and storage.
• The task module is sightly complicated to use. 

7. Keap

Keap is a highly customizable SugarCRM alternative that can help you keep customer data well-organized. This CRM tool automatically captures lead data and stores it in your database for quick and easy access. With Keap CRM, you can set up custom triggers to follow up with prospects at the right time. Migrating contacts to Keap is hassle-free, allowing you to get started with the CRM quickly.

Best features of Keap:

• Automatic lead capturing
• Customer segmentation
• Marketing automation
• Several integrations, including Quickbooks and Shopify
• Mobile app

Pricing:

The pricing options available for the first 5 months when you sign up to Keap are:

• Lite- $56/month
• Pro- $119/month 
• Max- 4140/month 

What works well:

• Automated workflows 
• Sales pipeline management 
• Reporting & analytics 

What needs improvement:

• The tool has a steep learning curve.
• The search feature needs to be more advanced.

8. Freshsales

Freshsales by Freshworks is a great SugarCRM substitute that can help your sales team track and meet its targets effortlessly. This AI-powered CRM tool provides you with relevant insights based on customer data to drive more conversions. You can create multiple sales pipelines to keep track of all sales opportunities and monitor their movement in your sales cycle. Freshsales allows you to share emails, make calls, chat or schedule meetings with your contacts from a single platform. 

Best features of Freshsales:

• Automatic lead assignment
• Email templates & tracking
• Sales pipeline management 
• Contact deduplication
• Pre-built reporting templates 

Pricing:

Along with a free version, the following pricing options are available for Freshsales:

• Growth- $15/user/month
• Pro- $39/user/month
• Enterprise- $69/user/month

What works well:

• AI-based insights
• Email integration
• Custom fields, modules, layouts, etc. 

What needs improvement:

• The mobile application needs improvement.
• More direct and comprehensive integrations are required.

9. SuiteCRM

SuiteCRM is an open-source SugarCRM alternative that can make it easy for you to acquire and retain more customers. Using this CRM tool, your sales, marketing, and customer service teams can work in better collaboration to offer improved customer experiences. Custom reports allow you to get valuable insights into your business performance and identify ways to improve it. You can use SuiteCRM to personalize your outreach, automate repetitive tasks and keep track of upcoming activities with personal and team calendars.

Best features of Suite CRM:

• Sales automation
• Targeted lists 
• Highly customizable
• Detailed customer profiles 
• Automated marketing campaigns

Pricing:

SuiteCRM is open-source software that can be downloaded for free.

The pricing options available for SuiteCRM: OnDemand are:

• Starter- £95/month
• Business- £332.50/month
• Premium- £475/month

What works well:

• Automated workflow
• Activity tracking & management 
• Reporting module

What needs improvement:

• UI could be better.
• Some integrations such as Google Calendar offer limited functionality and need improvement. 

10. Nimble

Nimble is a CRM tool that enables you to build detailed contact profiles to improve personalization. With data enrichment such as social profile tracking, you can get better insights into your customers’ behavior and preferences. Nimble also enables you to track all the activities for your team with its comprehensive calendar and to-do lists. You can use this CRM to segment your customer base and share group emails for increased effectiveness and better targeting. 

Best Features of Nimble:

• Pipeline Management 
• Social profiles enrichment 
• Email tracking
• Activity tracking & to-do lists
• Automatic data synchronization with Office 365, Google Contacts, etc.

Pricing: 

Nimble Business is available for $19/user/month.

What works well:

• Intuitive CRM with easy implementation
• iOS, Android application 
• Customer segmentation

What needs improvement:

• Dashboards offer limited customization.
• The UI needs improvement. 

11. LeadSquared

LeadSquared is a new-age marketing & sales execution CRM built to run high-velocity sales at scale. It provides easy lead and sales management with marketing and onboarding automation functionalities. The unique feature of LeadSquared CRM is Smart Views which enables sales users to see the filtered view of leads assigned to them, manage their pipeline, schedule follow-ups and more.

Best features of LeadSquared:

• Lead and sales management
• No-code workflows for different user/lead journeys
• Automated lead distribution
• Dynamic forms for entering call dispositions basis business requirements

Pricing:

LeadSquared has the following pricing plans

• Lite – $25 per user per month
• Pro – $50 per user per month
• Super – $100 per user per month

What works well:

• Comprehensive lead tracking in a timeline fashion
• List segmentation for sending out personalized campaigns
• Facility to set up automation for multichannel campaigns. 
• Supports communications via email, SMS, WhatsApp, Phone Calls, chats, and more

What needs improvement:

• The UI is a bit outdated, especially for Windows PC, and needs to be improved
• The software is not intuitive for first-time users and requires a walkthrough 

SugarCRM Alternatives Comparison

Software	Capterra Ratings	G2 Ratings	Free Trial	Free Plan
BIGContacts	4.3/5	4.4/5	30 days	-
Salesforce	4.3/5	4.2/5	14 days	-
HubSpot	4.5/5	4.4/5	-	Free for unlimited users
Zoho CRM	4.2/5	4/5	15 days	Free for 3 users
Pipedrive	4.5/5	4.3/5	14 days	-
Insightly	3.9/5	4.1/5	-	Free for 2 users
Keap	4.1/5	4.2/5	14 days	-
Freshsales	4.6/5	4.6/5	21 days	Free plan available
Suite CRM	4.3/5	4.2/5	30 days	Free plan available
Nimble	4.4/5	4.5/5	14 days	-

SugarCRM Alternatives- Which One to Choose?

While the best SugarCRM alternatives can only be found based on your specific needs, these 10 tools are reliable solutions that are worth trying. 

Evaluate multiple options against your business objectives to find the most optimal SugarCRM alternative out of these. 

Go through user reviews and avail the free trial of the tools to understand how well they can fit into your business operations. 

If you require an easy-to-use alternative to SugarCRM that is affordable, scalable, and efficient, make sure to check out BIGContacts. Designed for small and medium businesses, BIGContacts offers advanced functionality without any of the complexity. You can use the CRM tool to optimize your customer relationships, track and manage activities, measure the performance of team members, and keep everything in line with your objectives.