Free Contact Management Software For Mac

  

A good contact app can make managing contacts easy, efficient and even fun. If you are on the hunt for the best contact manager for Mac, check out this list of the best apps to manage contacts on Mac. I hope the list will help Mac users make better decisions when choosing contact management software.

Best Free Mac CRM Software. Explore these highest-rated tools to discover the best option for your business. Based on ratings and number of reviews, Capterra users give these tools a thumbs up. Compare the best Contact Management software for Mac of 2021 for your business. Find the highest rated Contact Management software for Mac pricing, reviews, free demos, trials, and more.

What makes a good contact management app for Mac?

Apple’s Contacts app on your Mac can help you manage and organize contacts, but sometimes this first-party solution is not useful enough. That’s where the third-party ones come in. Below are some basic criteria in choosing the best contacts app for Mac. It should allow you to easily:

  • Add new contacts and edit existing contacts.
  • Search your contacts.
  • Group contacts and manage them.
  • Organize contacts by tagging.
  • Sync contacts with popular services such as iCloud and Gmail.
  • Export and back up contacts.
  • Share contact information.
  • Find and clean up duplicate contact entries.

The best contact manager for Mac 2021

#1 Cisdem ContactsMate

Compatibility: OS X 10.11 or later

Latest version: 5.6.0, released on 12/10/2020

Cisdem ContactsMate is a powerful, easy-to-use app to manage, organize and clean up contacts on your MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or iMac, etc.

In addition to the contacts on your Mac, it can handle your contacts from various other sources such as iCloud, Gmail, Exchange, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. As a result, you can manage all your contacts in one place.

The Best Way to Manage Contacts on Mac

Use Cisdem ContactsMate

  • Support contacts from sources such as Mac, Google, iCloud, Facebook, Exchange, Yahoo and more
  • Sync contacts between supported sources
  • Let you view, search, add, edit, share, print, and tag contacts
  • Enable you to group contacts to send group emails
  • Allow you to call or email from the app directly
  • Make it easy to import, export, transfer and convert contacts
  • Require only 1 click to back up or restore contacts
  • Find and delete or merge duplicate contacts in supported sources
  • Easy to use and customize
  • Compatible with macOS 10.11 or later, including macOS 11 Big Sur
Free Download

Let’s take a look at these great features.

Sync contacts with Google, iCloud, Exchange and more accounts

In addition to the contacts stored in Mac’s Contacts app, ContactsMate also supports contacts kept in Internet accounts such as Gmail, iCloud and Yahoo. With this Mac contact manager, you can effortlessly gather all your contacts to access and manage in one place.

Open the app. Click Add Account in the toolbar.

In the Internet Accounts window that appears, select a service. Sign in using your account.

Select the checkbox next to Contacts.

Quit ContactsMate and launch it again. Now the added account should appear in the left sidebar. When you select the account, the contacts in it will appear in the area next to the sidebar.

When you edit or delete, etc. the account’s contacts in ContactsMate, the changes will be automatically detected and synced to the account, and vice versa.

View, search, add, edit, share, and print etc. contacts

Free Contact Management Software For Mac And Pc

The best contact manager for Mac lets you easily perform basic tasks. Click the blue plus icon at the bottom to add contacts. When adding a company as a contact, you can check the box next to Company. Select a contact, and you can view or edit it as you wish. To add a field when editing, click the black plus icon in the bottom left corner of the editing area.

The search box is located in the top right corner of the main window. And you can find the share icon in the bottom right corner. You can also find the Share, Print and other options by control-clicking a contact.

Well integrated with macOS, this app enables you to directly email, call or text a contact. Select the specific contact and click a button under the name to start an email or a call, etc. To email a group of contacts, control-click the group (or sub-group) in the sidebar and choose Send Email.

Organize contacts by adding tags and creating groups

You can add one or multiple tags to individual contacts to efficiently segment and filter them. You can find a filed to add tags when editing a contact.

If you often send emails to the same multiple contacts, you can create a group for them. The next time you send an email, just control-click the group and choose Send Email.

To create a group or sub-group, in the left sidebar, control-click On My Mac or an Internet account and choose Add a Group.

Export, import and backup contacts

To export contacts to a desired format, control-click On My Mac or an Internet account you have added to ContactsMate and choose Export.

Free contact management

In the dialog box that shows up, click the Format dropdown list and choose a format. It supports 8 export formats: CSV, Excel, vCard, TXT, DOCX, HTML, Numbers and Pages. Some services such as iCloud only support very few export formats. This Mac contact manager provides far more choices. It can import contacts from CSV and vCard files.

Backing up contacts is also a snap. Open the Preferences window.

Go to the Backup & Restore tab, select a source of contacts (e.g. your Mac's Contacts or iCloud account) and click Backup. To restore, select a source, choose a version of backup and click Restore.

Find and clean up duplicate contacts

Duplicate entries of the same contacts may cause inconvenience or confusion. Some entries are exactly the same. There can also be partially duplicate entries. The best contact manager for Mac detects duplicate contacts and provides multiple solutions for you to deal with different types of duplicates. Here’s the detailed guide on it if you are interested.

Also, it can identify contacts with incomplete information.

Get ContactsMate to keep your contacts well organized and clean on Mac!

#2 BusyContacts

Compatibility: macOS 10.12 or later

Latest version: 1.5.1, released on 01/05/2021

BusyContacts is another one of the best contact app for Mac. Many people use it as a replacement for the built-in address book. There are two ways you can view your contacts in this app: the List view and the Card view. Both are convenient. In the app, you can easily add, edit, delete, tag, filter and search contacts.

It can work with contacts from iCloud, Google, Facebook and some other services or platforms. Syncing used to be a bit slow especially if you had added multiple accounts. It was improved in a recent update. By the way, the update in early 2021 added support for Macs with Apple Silicon.

Easy Contact Management Software

BusyContacts also has something unique to it. It is designed to integrated with BusyCal, a calendar app from the same developer. The integration makes it easy to follow up events in this address book app.

Pros

  1. Support contacts from certain cervices and platforms
  2. Let you switch between two view modes
  3. Let you perform basic tasks to manage contacts
  4. Make it easy to tag and organize contacts
  5. Provide a useful filtering tool called Smart Filters
  6. Can be used with BusyCal

Cons

  1. Some options are somewhat hidden or confusing
  2. A bit expensive

#3 Contacts+

Compatibility: OS X 10.11 or later

Latest version: 20.08.0, released on 08/18/2020

Developed by FullContact Inc., the FullContact app used to provide contact management solutions for individuals and businesses. In 2018, the company acquired Contacts+, a contact management app. The FullContact app is now a part of Contacts+.

Contacts+ can help you organize, maintain, share and clean up contacts on Mac. You can use it to sync your contacts across services and accounts, remove duplicate contacts, add tags and perform other tasks. It works with Google Contacts, Exchange, popular social media platforms and more. It‘s easy to add tags to your contacts so that you can easily sort and organize them.

This top-rated Mac contact manager has a simple and easy to understand interface. It's free to use. However, to access full features, you need to get Contacts+ premium. With the free version, you can only sync one account, and other features are also limited.

Pros

  1. Sync contacts across multiple services and accounts
  2. Enable to efficiently tag and sort contacts
  3. Let you effortlessly import and export contacts
  4. Clean up your contact list
  5. Simple, easy-to-use interface

Cons

  1. A bit costly
  2. Sometimes fail to sync as expected

#4 Top Contacts

Compatibility: macOS 10.12 or later

Latest version: 1.3.3, released on 09/19/2019

A relatively new app, Top Contacts does a decent job of managing contacts on Mac. Users can easily add, delete, view and edit contacts. It offers useful features such as Tags and Add Relations, making it more efficient to navigate and organize. When it comes to searching, you can set up customizable filters to quickly locate contacts. It's also quick and easy to share and print contacts.

The Calendar and To-Do features are available for all contacts, enabling you to create reminders for events and follow them up. One of the great things is the support for recurring events. These features are worth exploring and can help you improve efficiency greatly.

The app is almost as versatile as the best contact manager for Mac. But currently, it only supports syncing contacts with iCloud. No other services are supported.

Pros

  1. Easy to use and versatile
  2. Offer two convenient view modes
  3. Let you effectively and efficiently organize contacts
  4. Offer advanced, customizable filters
  5. Provide useful calendar and to-do list features

#5 Cardhop

Compatibility: macOS 10.11 or later

Latest version: 1.3.7, released on 12/29/2020

Cardhop is worth considering if you are looking for an app to do basic contact management tasks such as searching, editing and adding contacts. But it’s not your average contacts app. With it, you can actually handle your contacts on Mac in a fun way.

There are a few ways to add new contacts. You can do it by going to the settings and choosing New Card. Or, you can directly input the new contact’s information in the search bar, and this great contact manager for Mac is smart enough to automatically creating a new card. Don’t forget to click the Add Contact button to save the new card.

You can even edit an existing contact by specifying the name and entering new information in the search bar. Cardhop will automatically parse and recognize the information you enter.

Here is another way to create a new contact. Select text containing contact information from anywhere on your Mac such as a webpage and send it to Cardhop to add contact. And you can continue to enrich it easily.

But it’s not that convenient when it comes to viewing contacts. To view contact information, you need to select the contact.

Pros

  1. Can be accessed from the menu bar and using keyboard shortcut
  2. Easy, handy and fun to use
  3. Allow you to create contact groups
  4. Provide a list of recent contacts

Conclusion

The article recommends and reviews the best macOS apps to manage contacts, which can help you choose the best contact manager for Mac. They are great for individuals and small businesses to use. Keeping your contacts list clean, organized and well maintained can make things easier and improve efficiency.

Introduction

The CRM market’s size has tripled since 2010, attracting a more and more diverse user base as implementation costs have dropped and the overall software ecosystem has matured.

No surprise then that there are lots of CRM software targeted at Mac users. The majority of CRM are now SaaS, cloud-based apps that run in your web browser of choice, so whether you’re using Google Chrome, Safari, or Mozilla Firefox on your MacOS, you’ll be good to go.

Customer relationship management software can help teams using Apple devices to organize their work more efficiently. There’s a range of benefits for business activities across the board, from managing the sales process to customer support, document management, and building effective landing pages.

Benefits of using CRM software for Mac

Mac CRM software offers a holistic range of benefits for your business. From centralizing info to automating tasks and analyzing data, the idea is to provide an ‘all-in-one’ work solution that runs seamlessly in iOS and MacOS environments.

This will help give you the fundamental platform you need to grow your company on your own terms, using the devices you already run your business on. Some features to look for include good task management and contact management tools, compatibility with Apple Mail, and an iOS-friendly mobile app that works on your iPhone and iPad.

Improve team collaboration

Collaborative CRM features help your team work together more effectively. Assign tasks, track deals through stages, monitor workloads, share customer information, and @ other team members to give them a heads-up. In-app chat lets remote and distributed teams collaborate together in real-time.

Increase efficiency in serving clients

Serve clients more efficiently with quick access to their detailed contact records, including purchase history and interactions with other team members. Provide more timely service and support by receiving in-app notifications for customer inquiries across multiple channels (social media, web form, email, voice, and more). Automation tools for transferring inquiries to the most relevant agents, and collaborative tools to involve multiple team members also make your responses smarter.

Make better client relationships

Getting a Mac CRM will improve all your relationships with better timed, and better-targeted communication. Easy access to detailed contact records, including conversation and deal history, will ensure more informed interactions. Receiving task notifications and follow-up reminders will keep your communications on time, contributing to improved customer experience, reduced churn, and bonafide customer loyalty.

Automate everyday tasks

Eliminate menial admin tasks with automated data entry, smart identification of potential customers, lead and customer tracking, drip email marketing, follow-ups, and information field updating. Marketing automation, sales force automation, and service automation features free up time for human, high-level cognitive tasks like one-on-one engagement with customers.

Improved data and reporting

CRM provides a ‘single source of truth’ for your business, taking siloed data from other platforms and integrating it with data generated by your activities in CRM. Reporting tools allow you to monitor sales activity and sales trends, plus a multitude of other business activities (including team member productivity), so you can identify successful strategies and areas that need improvement.

Key features of Mac CRM

Mac and iOS friendly system interface

CRMs for Mac have been designed specifically for MacOS and iOS, meaning they work seamlessly with the operating systems you use every day. You can access your SaaS cloud-based CRM from Chrome, Safari, Mozilla, and other browsers on any Mac system.

Support for iPhone & iPad

A mobile CRM app comes standard with most CRMs for Mac, bringing business productivity on-the-go. Being able to chat with clients, access contact records, view your sales pipelines, and access other CRM features from your iPhone and iPad, you’ll never miss an out-of-office opportunity.

Easy-to-use task management

Contact

Task management tools let you assign tasks to specific team members, giving everyone full visibility on who is doing what, and when deadlines are. Send out reminder notifications to stay on-task, put all your work processes in one place, and deal with task and workflow processes on-the-fly.

Easily integrate with Macintosh e-mail

Integration with Mac’s Mail platform lets you two-way sync emails from your CRM to your inbox and vice-versa. This integration saves you flipping between inboxes and ensures contact information flows freely from Apple Mail to your CRM.

Cloud support

SaaS CRM is cloud-based, meaning you’ll have access to the app and all associated data 24/7. Data is securely stored through the vendor on a service like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure. CRM vendor customer support will be around to help you with any technical issues you may have.

Top 15 best Mac CRM

Daylite

Benefits:

Daylite is a CRM designed specifically for Mac, iPhone and iPad users. It’s a pretty good platform for startups and small businesses of up to 100 people looking to expand their client list and projects so they can scale.

The Daylite set of tools are divided into CRM features and project management tools. The idea here was to break down the old division between customer-facing tasks and internal ones. It isn’t just for sales and marketing. All departments can use it to stay informed of what’s going on with a project for a client.

Other great assets are the Daylite Mail Assistant, which integrates directly with Apple Mail (something very few platforms do). Daylite offers loads of customization options. These include a variety of ways to categorize and tag contacts, tasks, projects, deals, etc. It allows you to create custom and flexible reports, as well as administrative team and user permissions. Finally, as a Mac tool, it works with other Apple apps like Calendar, Contacts and even Siri.

Drawbacks:

Daylite only has one plan. This means there’s less flexibility in pricing and packages. Another limitation here is that it’s only meant to be a CRM and Project Management app for Apple users.

Pricing:

  • Daylite is $24 per user per month, billed annually. Visit the vendor’s site for the most current prices or specials.

Daylite offers a 30-day free trial. It also includes a complimentary 30-minute onboarding call to help new users get started.

Website:marketcircle.com

HubSpot CRM

Benefits:

  • Manages workflows for improved project management; you’ll be able to effectively assign and track leads, keep an eye on the sales process, and record customer interactions across channels

  • Well-built iOS native app with good functionality on iPad and iPhone

  • Works with both G Suite and Microsoft Office

  • Zapier integration enhances usefulness by making it easy to share information across apps, such as Google Sheets, Slack, Facebook Lead Ads

  • HubSpot CRM is free, so you can get started without overhead, while paid add-on packages for HubSpot pile on features like reporting, AI, and advanced automation

Drawbacks:

  • Limited customization options

  • The basic, no-cost CRM’s features are many but basic, and you may eventually need to buy Sales Hub or one of HubSpot’s other add-on packages to boost the CRM’s capabilities

Pricing:

  • HubSpot CRM is free, and the number of users is unlimited

  • Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, and Service Hub add-on packages are $50 each per user/per month, billed monthly

  • HubSpot CMS starts at $300 per month, billed monthly

  • All-inclusive Starter Growth Suite starts at $113 per user/per month, billed monthly

There are no free trials for the add-on packages.

Website:hubspot.com

Zoho CRM

Benefits:

  • Zoho CRM is easy-to-use, with a simple user interface targeted at small businesses, including customizable modules, automation, and social media features

  • Lets you define workflows and rationalize everyday tasks, as well as manage leads

  • CRM and Mail apps for iOS allow for Apple-friendly productivity on the move

  • Data porting features allow you to quickly migrate your data from spreadsheets and contact management software to the Zoho platform, making implementation pretty straightforward

  • Integrates with Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ for reaching out and engaging with leads quick and snappy, at just the right time

Drawbacks:

  • Zoho doesn’t have individual email tracking or lead notifications; that can be limiting if you rely heavily on one-on-one engagement

  • Add-on modules are priced on top of the existing CRM product you purchase, so costs can increase significantly as you expand your use of the platform

Pricing:

  • Free version is available for up to three users and is targeted at home businesses

  • Standard version is $12 per user/per month, billed annually

  • Enterprise version is $35 per user/per month, billed annually

A free trial is available for the Standard and Enterprise versions.

Website:zoho.com/crm

Pipedrive

Benefits:

  • Flexible and results-oriented CRM that allows you to construct multiple sales pipelines with customizable, unique stages appropriate to a specific product/service’s context

  • Reminders, notifications, and follow-up alerts automatically keep you on task

  • iOS app for calling, contact management, activity tracking, and more on the move

  • Customize data fields and workflow for your distinct business processes

  • Low learning curve speeds pace of implementation

Drawbacks:

  • No internal emailing platform, so you’ll have to use the app’s Mailchimp integration

  • Pipedrive Dealbot integrates with Slack, giving you a heads up in both apps when a deal is identified, won, or lost, but notifications get lost easily in normal Slack chat

Pricing:

  • The Essential plan is $12.50 per user/per month billed annually, and $15 billed monthly

  • The Advanced plan is $24.90 per user/per month billed annually, and $29 billed monthly

  • The Professional plan is $49.90 per user/per month billed annually and $59 billed monthly

  • The Enterprise plan is $99 per user/per month, billed annually

A 14-day free trial is available for the Essential, Advanced, and Professional plans.

Website:pipedrive.com

Zendesk Sell

Benefits:

  • Useful for prospecting, deal-making, and improving customer retention and conversions with timely sales interventions and follow-ups

  • Sales automation gives sales reps the space to focus on the more important things

  • Set triggers when you get a new lead, qualified deal, or incoming deal; everyone on the team gets a heads up and the opportunity to analyze and collaborate, so there are fewer meetings and less crossed wires

  • Lead prioritization capabilities and tools like funnel tracking, custom lead forms, customizable lists, communication templates, conversion rate tracking, and channel optimization make it easy to gain context on leads

  • Android/iOS version is the #1 rated mobile sales app

Drawbacks:

  • Some users have reported a slow loading time and mistakes in automated data entry

  • Entry-level pricing might be too high for a startup or small business.

Pricing:

  • Contact Zendesk directly for pricing and custom plans

No free trial is available.

Website:zendesk.com/sell

Freshsales

Benefits:

  • Easy to get up-and-running with critical startup features like lead management, email management, and pipeline management

  • Lead capture lets you grab leads from emails automatically, and you can also sort out your own lead scoring criteria to better keep track of who’s who and who’s most likely to convert (it’s possible to set custom organizational parameters too)

  • Access customer data and track sales pipeline on your iPhone with iOS app

  • There’s a “free forever startup plan” limited to 10 users and 10,000 records (aka leads, contacts, accounts, and deals); it’s a bit hidden, however (you’ll have to sign up for a 21-day free trial, which gives you the full-stack version of the software; at the end of the period, you’ll be asked if you’d like to commit to one of four paid plans or continue with the free, no-frills version)

Drawbacks:

  • Once you start to expand your use of Freshsales and access more complex features, there is a significant learning curve

  • Sorting and filtering tasks is less intuitive than it could be

Pricing:

  • Blossom plan for small teams is $12 per user/per month, billed annually

  • Garden plan for growing teams is $25 per user/per month, billed annually

  • Estate plan for large teams is $49 per user/per month, billed annually

  • Forest plan for enterprises is $79 per user/per month, billed annually

A 21-day free trial is available for all Freshsales plans.

Website: freshworks.com/freshsales-crm

Bitrix24

Benefits:

  • Bitrix24 is a comprehensive CRM that handles sales management and marketing campaigns, and helps your team collaborate effectively

  • Allows you to create unlimited work and user groups, set up an HR help desk, and centralize the storage of documents in-app

  • iOS app with mobile CRM (allowing access to deals, contacts, companies, products), public/private chat, activity stream calendar, and project and task management

  • Bitrix24 offers a free version for up to 12 users with 5 GB of storage, targeted specifically at startups, with HR, task, lead, contact, and project management tools (it’s actually the most popular free CRM in the world)

Drawbacks:

  • UI is a bit “busy,” which can hinder app navigation

  • There are customization and configurability limitations

Pricing:

  • Free starter business tool suite for up to 12 users

  • Start+ plan for up to 2 users is $19 per month billed annually, and $24 per month billed monthly

  • CRM+ plan for up to 6 users is $55.20 per month billed annually, and $69 per month billed monthly

  • Project+ plan for up to 24 users is $55.20 per month billed annually, and $69 per month billed monthly

  • Standard plan for up to 50 users is $79.20 per month billed annually, and $99 per month billed monthly

  • Professional plan for unlimited users is $159.20 per month billed annually, and $199 per month billed monthly

The prices above are for the cloud-based version; On-premise solutions are also available. There are no free trials for paid plans.

Website:bitrix24.com

Copper

Benefits:

  • Automated data entry, smart identification, lead and customer tracking, plus optimization of sales contacts and opportunities

  • Native integration with G Suite, meaning data import is seamless from Gmail and other Google tools you most likely use every day

  • iOS app has great UX, with easy management of sales process through visual pipelines

  • Improves management of teams and workflows with weekly pipeline progression reports using drag-and-drop functionality, custom filters, and alerts when deals might be going stale

  • Provides an eye-pleasing sales pipeline for easy tracking and managing of leads through the qualification process

Drawbacks:

  • Despite its excellent UX, it has a moderate learning curve, so be forewarned you’ll need to set aside some time for implementation

  • Sometimes there are issues with Excel data import, meaning you’ll be required to manually enter information into Copper

Pricing:

  • Basic plan is $19 per user/per month, billed annually

  • Professional plan is $49 per user/per month, billed annually

  • Business plan is $119 per user/per month, billed annually

Copper offers a 14-day free trial for all plans.

Website: copper.com

Insightly

Benefits:

  • Streamlined, user-friendly CRM platform for tracking contacts, communications, projects, sales and documents in a single interface

  • Provides customization options for structuring and accessing customer data, including customized data capture, display, and validation; users can also create their own specialized fields to add unique information, such as customer types, subscriptions, contract renewal dates, and billing ID numbers

  • Smooth pipeline integration between CRM features, like managing contacts and customer data, tracking opportunities (aka sales leads)

  • Insightly sidebar runs as a handy Chrome extension, letting you save Gmail messages directly to your CRM so you can easily cross-reference contact information

Drawbacks:

  • Two-way sync for Google Calendar can be glitchy at times, with events not displaying for other team members

  • Custom fields for contacts are capped at 25

Pricing:

  • “No-frills” plan is free for up to two users

  • Plus plan is $29 per user/per month, billed annually

  • Professional plan is $49 per user/per month, billed annually

  • Enterprise plan is $99 per user/per month, billed annually

A 14-day free trial is available for the Plus and Professional plans.

Website:insightly.com

Gro CRM

Benefits:

  • Covers full spectrum of business processes, including lead acquisition, deal tracking, task management, invoicing, order processing, and much more

  • Developed specifically as a mobile CRM for iOS 13, Apple Watch, iPhone & iPad, so the app has excellent, desktop-level mobile features and UI on-the-go

  • Integrated email app routes your prospects into leads and customer contact lists, which saves time and seamlessly increases visibility.

Drawbacks:

  • A desktop app is in the works, but it's not available yet; that may be a deal-breaker for some teams who want both an out-in-the-field and in-the-office solution

Pricing:

  • Solo plan for a single user is $14.99 per seat/per month billed annually or monthly.

  • Basic plan for team CRM is $19.99 per seat/per month billed annually, and $24.99 per seat/per month billed monthly.

  • Pro plan for core CRM is $39.99 per seat/per month billed annually, and $49.99 per seat/per month billed monthly.

A 14-day free trial is available and offers the full features of the Pro plan.

Website:grocrm.com

Odoo CRM

Benefits:

  • Odoo CRM handles leads, sales forecasting, and all the other CRM features you might need, while a modular design lets you mix and match different features to meet your business requirements

  • The open source Community Edition of Odoo CRM plugs into the 10,000+ apps in the vendor’s orbit, which are configured to integrate with one another seamlessly

  • Odoo mobile app for iOS allows easy access to CRM and other Odoo modules you may use

  • If you’re in retail, restaurants, or other brick-and-mortar enterprises, you may be interested to know Odoo has a very useful point of sale app; working with other Odoo apps, point of sale data can easily flow into your inventory management, email marketing, and sales operations

Drawbacks:

  • Open source version of Odoo CRM has a significant learning curve, and you’ll have to pay special attention to setting it up and implementing it to prevent headaches later

  • The invoicing tool is a bit more complicated than necessary (you have to create a quote, followed by an order in order to generate an invoice)

  • Customer support is dependent on app community members, which is not always the fastest route to issue resolution

Pricing:

  • Open source CRM is free. Paid add-ons available.

Website: odoo.com/page/crm

Agile CRM

Benefits:

  • Integrates contact management, marketing automation, real-time alerts, VoIP telephony, social suite, and email and web tracking

  • Feed your appointment calendar into Agile CRM and it will automate all your upcoming voice calls and follow-ups

  • Easily attach documents to deals, companies, contacts, and emails in-app

  • Agile CRM offers a free, full-featured sales CRM for up to 10 users

Drawbacks:

  • Price increases significantly as you move up from one version to the next, which may cause headaches as your company scales

  • The iOS mobile app's UI is clunky and could use a refresh

Pricing:

  • Free version is available for up to 10 users

  • Starter version is $8.99 per user/per month (billed every two years)

  • Regular version is $29.99 per user/per month (billed every two years)

  • Enterprise version is $47.99 per user/per month (billed every two years)

There are no free trials available for paid plans.

Website:agilecrm.com

Pipeliner

Benefits:

  • Built to meet today’s complex selling needs with real-time communication and collaboration; helps sales teams effortlessly view opportunities and their place in the sales process, as well as completed and in-progress tasks

  • Create, import, save and store collaborative documents in-app

  • iOS app with account, contact, lead, opportunity, and task management features

Drawbacks:

  • Sometimes a number of erroneous “opportunities” are auto-generated and you have to delete them manually

  • Software and support are only available in English, which can be a dealbreaker for non-Anglophone companies

Pricing:

  • Starter plan is $25 per user/per month, billed annually

  • Business plan is $65 per user/per month, billed annually

  • Enterprise plan is $85 per user/per month, billed annually

A 14-day free trial is available for all plans.

Website: pipelinersales.com

Sugar CRM

Benefits:

  • Provides a comprehensive CRM solution covering marketing, sales, and customer service, with an emphasis on cross-team sharing of relevant and useful intel

  • Lets you map customer journeys to get your messaging right, and automate complex business processes like lead routing quote review and approval with drag-and-drop flowchart

  • iOS app for iPhone and iPad lets you manage sales activities, make phone calls, send SMS and emails, and more on-the-go

  • Vendor customer support is attentive, which is a major plus for startups who need quick answers and issue resolution times; on top of that, there's a large user community surrounding Sugar CRM, so you can talk shop with other startups

Drawbacks:

  • Sugar CRM app's roots are in the open-source, developer community, so there's a moderate learning curve

  • You have to have at least 10 people on your team to use Sugar CRM, so it might not be appropriate for very small startups

Pricing:

  • Sugar Professional plan is $40 per user/per month (10 user minimum), billed annually.

  • Sugar Enterprise plan is $65 per user/per month (10 user minimum), billed annually

  • Sugar Serve plan is $80 per user/per month (10 user minimum), billed annually

  • Sugar Sell plan is $80 per user/per month (10 user minimum), billed annually

  • Sugar Market plan is $1,000 (unlimited users, 10,000 contacts per month), billed annually

A free trial is available for all plans. After answering a few questions on the vendor website, you’ll be assigned the version of SugarCRM that best matches your business needs.

Website:sugarcrm.com

FreeAgent

Benefits:

  • Captures customer interactions across channels and automatically centralizes and updates data

  • Has a configuration engine called ‘Composer’ that allows you to customize the platform for your startup's distinct workflow and business requirements

  • FreeAgent includes a large list of integrations, which helps it slot into your existing work tools; these include real-time sync with Gmail, Twilio, Office365, and Google Calendar, and two-way Mailchimp sync

Drawbacks:

  • Price might be a deal-breaker for some companies, given there's a big jump in cost between the first and second levels of paid plans

Pricing:

  • Essentials plan is $25 per user/per month, billed annually

  • Professional plan is $75 per user/per month, billed annually

  • Enterprise plan is $135 per user/per month, billed annually

  • Unlimited plan $250 per user/per month, billed annually

A full-service free trial is available; no credit card is required.

Website:freeagentcrm.com

Maximizer CRM

Benefits:

  • Provides full-fledged service, sales, and marketing CRM features

  • Intelligent address book where every contact with all their info is readily accessible; Maximizer shows you all related contacts, for example, grouped by job, industry or location (and you can upload and store documents there too)

  • Multiple-step solutions can be standardized and reused as templates, and there are triggers for alerts and notification tools that can be customized.

Drawbacks:

  • Customer support is not always super responsive

  • UX is functional, but it's a bit dated and could be more intuitive

Pricing:

  • On-Premise CRM plan is $40 per user/per month, billed annually.

  • CRM Live plan is $65 per user/per month, billed annually.

  • CRM for Financial Advisors plan is $70 per user/per month, billed annually.

Maximizer offers a 30-day free trial.

Website:maximizer.com

Conclusion

CRM users today are a diverse bunch, from traditional enterprise organizations to real estate agencies, nonprofits, PR firms, editorials, and more. The maturation of the cloud-based app ecosystem has allowed small and medium-sized businesses, and even individuals, to take advantage of sophisticated CRM tools. Costs have gone down, and ease of implementation has gone up.

The MacBook and iPhone crowd are now well-served; and even those with a mix-and-match setup, say an Android phone and a Mac, will have no problems with any of the CRMs on this list.

The easiest way to find out which Mac-friendly CRM works for you is, of course, comparison shopping. Sign up for a free trial with a few of the vendors above, see which suits, and get on track to stabilizing and scaling your business.

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