Best CRM for free

AI's answer · live, with web access

HubSpot

Contested

99/100 slot score

100% of answers name it

1st avg. position

+15 ahead of Zoho CRM

HubSpot leads every answer at position 1 across all 12 responses and all three models, making it the clearest winner for anyone asking which CRM has the best free plan.

Zoho CRM and Bitrix24 both appear in 100% of answers but average position 3, meaning the models consistently treat them as supporting options rather than the headline pick. Freshsales and EngageBay fill out the mid-tier with meaningful presence but uneven model agreement: Freshsales gets all four ChatGPT and Gemini mentions yet barely shows in Perplexity, while EngageBay runs the opposite pattern. The slot is contested rather than owned, which tells a brand like Zoho or Bitrix24 that universal presence alone is not enough when one competitor is pulling every first-position citation.

AI-generated analysis of the July 2026 measurements.

The full field

Every brand recommended for this question, from 12 answers across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini.

#	Brand	Slot score	Appears in	Avg. position
1	HubSpot	99	100%	1st
2	Zoho CRM	84	100%	#3
3	Bitrix24	83	100%	#3
4	Freshsales	53	75%	#4
5	EngageBay	49	67%	#4
6	Zite	15	17%	#2
7	ClickUp	14	25%	#6
8	Streak	13	25%	#7

Slot score is position-weighted, 0 to 100: being recommended first counts far more than a trailing mention. "Appears in" is the share of answers naming the brand at all.

How this was measured

ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini each answered this question in two phrasings, several times each, with live web access and citations: the closest API-reachable version of the real assistant experience (no personalization or account memory, which no vendor can provide). Model-memory answers (no web) are measured separately and shown above as a comparison surface. A brand counts once per answer that recommends it. The exact questions:

• "What's the best CRM for someone who needs a genuinely free plan?"
• "We're not able to spend anything yet, so we need a real free plan, not a trial. Which CRM should we use?"

Part of the CRM ranking. Method details on the methodology page. Rankings reflect measured AI answers, not paid placement.

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