Is a free CRM enough for a small business, and when should you upgrade to a paid plan?

Moving away from spreadsheets is definitely the right call. But 6 people isn't a tiny team; without sales permissions, an employee who leaves down the road could export your entire client database with a single click and walk away with it. The biggest advantage of paid tiers is data security and access controls.

We started out free with 5 people. The first 40 days were great. Then once our client count hit 1,000 records, the system blocked us from adding any new contacts. It was either delete old clients or upgrade to a paid tier. We ended up having to shell out 7,500 Rubles a month for the higher plan, but it was worth every penny—our turnaround time on quotes doubled.

While testing out free tiers, definitely check whether the "export data" button actually works. Some platforms lock your data down on the free tier, holding it hostage and demanding payment when you decide you want to switch to another tool. Keep a close eye on that.

The issue isn't whether the CRM is free or paid, it's whether the team will actually use it. Sales reps generally hate logging every single conversation manually. If the mobile app doesn't record calls automatically and the UI is clunky, you'll spend more time fighting with staff than getting work done.

We're in wholesale building materials too. Two years ago we set up a free version. One of our reps took screenshots of all the custom discount lists and phone numbers in the system on his way out, because there were no visibility restrictions on the free tier. After the financial hit we took that day, we upgraded to a professional license immediately.

No software company on earth is going to hand over server resources to a 6-person wholesale team for life out of the goodness of their heart. The free version is just a teaser; when you actually need reporting and integrations, you'll have to open your wallet. Budget for that right from the start.

Don't sweat it, a monthly cost of 1,500 Rubles per user is easily covered by the margin on just a single wholesale order. Forgetting about a client in a spreadsheet and losing them to a competitor will cost you far more than any CRM subscription fee.

When weighing your options, ask these questions: 1) Can you block reps from seeing each other's quotes? 2) Does it integrate directly with your PBX phone system? 3) What are the monthly limits on generating invoices and quotes? You won't get satisfying answers to these three on a free tier.

Exactly, and not many people know this. The harder it is to reverse a decision, the slower you should make it.

Just leaving this note, it might be useful.

I didn't know that.

You're right.

The discussion got scattered, let me summarize. Just because everyone does it doesn't mean it's right.

The cheapest quote is usually the least thought-out one.

i have no experience with small business crm, so I'm asking then the real issue isn't the number, but what it's based on.

if you post the result here it will help others too.

There's also a measurement aspect to this. Code without setup documentation isn't yours, even if you have it.

If you're going this route, sort this out first. If you don't write this down from the start, it leads to arguments later.

Proven by experience.

I agree, and I'd like to emphasize that. Everything goes well for the first three months; problems arise in the fourth.

Any unwritten clause becomes a point of disagreement later, as both sides remember it differently. If you post the result here, it will help others too.

noted thanks.

There's a part I don't understand. Implementing a change request process doesn't slow things down, it speeds them up.

If you post the result here, it will help others too.