Top 13 CRMs for Agencies (Paid & Free) – Decision Guide 2026

The best CRMs for agencies in 2025 include Productive, HubSpot, Apptivo, Monday.com, Insightly, Podio, Salesforce, Nimble, EngageBay, Pipedrive, Spiro, Pipeline CRM, and Sage CRM.

Our list below covers a range of options for creative, digital, and marketing agencies that are comparing tools in search of the best CRM for marketing agencies and the best agency CRM for long term growth.

Scan it to spot your best fit, each item links to a deeper section where you can compare CRM features, pros, and cons in more detail.

Productive is an all in one platform that combines CRM, project management, time tracking, budgeting, and invoicing for agencies of all sizes. Instead of moving deals, clients, and budgets between separate tools, your team works from a single source of truth.

Productive supports the full agency lifecycle, from first contact to final invoice. As a customer relationship platform, it helps you track sales leads through a customized funnel, manage follow ups, and keep client details in one place.

Once work is sold, the same data flows into project planning, financial management, and capacity planning.

Productive offers lightweight relationship management capabilities in the form of a connected Sales Pipeline that sits inside the same platform as your projects and budgets. This helps fix the disconnect between deal tracking and delivery.

You can:

With sales and delivery sharing the same records, your team spends less time re entering data and more time moving work forward.

When it is time to deliver the work, Productive gives you financial management support with its project budgeting, invoicing and purchase orders features. This helps close the gap between what was sold and how the work is tracked.

You can set up budgets that match how you price projects, whether they are fixed price, hourly, retainer based, or a mix. As the team tracks time and expenses, Productive updates your budget and profit margin in real time.

When it comes to invoicing, Productive supports branded invoices that pull in billable hours or remaining amounts from fixed price projects. You can attach timesheets and send invoices directly from the platform.

With Purchase Orders, you can track external costs alongside internal time so you see the full financial picture for each client.

Productive also integrates with popular accounting platforms like QuickBooks and Xero for your project finance accounting needs.

Productive’s Project Management feature supports agencies with tools that connect day to day delivery with your sales pipeline and budgets.

You can:

Alongside this, Productive’s Time Tracking helps you capture billable and non billable hours in one place. Team members can track time with a timer or manual entries, and managers can review and approve hours.

Productive also includes leave management so you can define absence categories, approve time off requests, and see who is available when you plan upcoming work.

Productive’s Reporting feature offers a template library with agency focused reporting tools that combine data from sales, projects, time tracking, and budgeting for fast analytics and reporting.

You can organize these reports into visual dashboards and interactive reports that:

Because deals and projects live in the same system, you can look at confirmed revenue and pipeline side by side, which makes it easier to understand your financial runway.

Additional features include Resource Planning, Docs, and Automations.

Integrations include Xero, QuickBooks, HubSpot, Breathe, Zapier, Slack, Jira, Google Calendar, and more.

Productive offers a 14-day free trial so you can decide if it’s the right CRM solution for your agency.

In case you’re already comparing Productive to other options, head over to our Productive alternatives review .

HubSpot Sales Hub is an extensive solution for deal tracking, managing your sales funnel, and optimizing email campaigns.

HubSpot Sales Hub is a robust tool for customer service teams and agencies of all shapes and sizes. It has various pricing points, making it suitable for mid sized to enterprise agencies looking for robust support.

However, it can be a less than ideal software solution for agencies that want to combine CRM functionalities with generalized agency project management capabilities. For this, you may consider an agency tool with a HubSpot integration, like Productive.

We also covered HubSpot in our list of the top Accelo alternatives.

Apptivo is a cloud-based customer relationship management software that supports your sales and marketing processes.

Multiple reviews note that Apptivo can be a great customer relationship solution for smaller agencies, as it offers affordable pricing and essential features for managing opportunities.

However, some users mention that certain features, such as reporting, may lack the advanced functionalities needed to run a larger agency. You can also check out how Apptivo performs as a WorkflowMax alternative.

Monday Sales CRM is a software platform from Monday.com designed specifically to improve client engagement and manage deal progress.

Monday Sales CRM is a well rated consulting client management tool. Users usually praise it for its versatility and customization options.

However, like HubSpot, reviewers note that the features might be too comprehensive for smaller to mid sized agencies. If you are looking for essential sales team management, you might consider a more lightweight alternative from this list.

Insightly is a CRM software solution for businesses from various industries, including consulting, healthcare, finance, manufacturing, and more.

Insightly can be a good choice for users who are looking for a joint sales and project management process on a single platform.

However, some expanded capabilities for agencies are lacking compared to similar tools on the market, such as capacity resource planning or advanced utilization forecasting.

Podio is described as a flexible, collaboration database that helps automate your processes and share information between key parties.

Users note Podio’s potential to create flexible and versatile workflows, but they also add that technical knowledge might be required to get the most out of the tool. This also means the implementation may take longer than with more structured software, so keep this in mind if you have time sensitive agency concerns.

Podio is also one of the top Plutio alternatives.

Salesforce Sales Cloud is a CRM solution with customizable dashboards and robust sales pipeline management.

Salesforce is an advanced tool that supports client prospecting and sales analytics. Figuring out which features are included in which pricing tier can be complex, and the user interface has been described as confusing at times.

Like HubSpot or Monday Sales CRM, it might not be the best option for smaller agencies or inexperienced teams. However, although it is a challenging solution, it does provide a broad range of features for sales management.

You can also check out how Salesforce performs as an alternative to Bitrix24.

Nimble is a CRM software solution focused on nurturing your relationships. You can use it for tracking relationships, however, you still need ti stitch other tools for other key operations (like sending invoices to your clients).

One of Nimble’s unique features is that it offers only one pricing tier. This can be a good thing, as it streamlines the decision making process. It also means that you may be getting more functionalities than you need at a higher price than necessary.

Additionally, users enjoy most things about Nimble but underline that the user interface is slightly outdated.

EngageBay is a business operations platform that combines modules for marketing, CRM and sales, and customer service.

EngageBay provides a pricing tier that combines marketing and sales into one tool, making it a good pick for agencies that are looking to unify these workflows.

The modules can also be purchased separately, which is suitable for smaller teams needing a specialized solution. However, some reviewers mention that certain features are less advanced than expected.

Pipedrive is a versatile CRM solution for marketing teams and agencies of all shapes and sizes.

Users frequently praise Pipedrive as an intuitive solution for agencies. However, multiple reviews mention issues with customer support responsiveness, issue solving, and onboarding.

Spiro is a CRM software tailored to sales teams in mid-sized and enterprise companies, with a particular focus on the supply chain industry.

Spiro is a complex CRM software solution that offers a wide range of features powered by AI. The pricing point is fairly high, similar to more extensive solutions like HubSpot. However, consider that Spiro provides solutions for distributors and manufacturers, and might not offer all of the capabilities necessary for daily agency operations.

Pipeline CRM is a software solution that supports sales and marketing efforts in professional services and consulting agencies.

Pipeline can be a good relationship management solution for marketing automation and sales management when it comes to covering essential features.

However, users have stated that some advanced features are missing, such as more robust integrations or invoicing. Consultants could benefit from researching more robust software for consulting firms.

Sage CRM is a tool designed to support sales efforts from the leading provider of agency software solutions, Sage.

Though Sage CRM features useful capabilities for managing your sales process, numerous reviews mention the downsides of the tool. Users often highlight that the tool is unintuitive.

Some reviews also mention that importing data can be difficult and that costs can ramp up depending on your usage.

Customer relationship management, or CRM software for agencies, is a software solution specifically designed to manage and support interactions with clients and potential customers, from initial lead generation through ongoing client interactions and renewals.

In practical terms, that can mean a CRM for marketing agencies, a CRM for marketing agency teams, a CRM for creative agencies, or CRM software for advertising agencies that keeps every client touchpoint in one place.

Some professional services automation examples include real time sales revenue management and automated quote creation.There are also options such as integrated project management software with CRM features.

CRM software is important for agencies because it centralizes client data, improves sales performance, and supports better decisions across your pipeline.

A survey by Aberdeen Research and Strategy shows that companies increasing their investment in CRM software experience more benefits than those reducing their CRM spending.

These include:

This data highlights the importance of CRM software in enhancing your day to day operations. By helping you organize your client information and interactions, CRM platforms can give you a deeper understanding of client needs, support effective communication, and ensure a more consistent customer experience.

You can choose the right CRM software for your agency by matching each platform’s features to your sales process, service mix, and growth plans.

CRM software can vary depending on its comprehensiveness. Some tools focus only on CRM functionalities. Other platforms include marketing features with integrations or add ons. Finally, the most extensive type is all in one software that combines sales with multiple other functionalities.

Here are some specific features to consider when researching vendors and their solutions:

We will consider these key points in our overview of the best CRM for agencies and what a modern agency CRM should cover.

You can implement a CRM system in your agency by aligning stakeholders, mapping your processes, migrating clean data, and rolling it out with training and feedback.

Start by agreeing on why you are adopting a CRM and which problems you want to solve. Include leadership, account managers, sales, project managers, and operations. Capture a short list of goals, such as improving forecast accuracy, reducing manual updates, or getting a single view of each client.

Document how you manage leads, opportunities, contracts, and ongoing client communication today. Note where handoffs happen between sales and delivery, and where data gets lost or duplicated.

This process map will guide which CRM features you need and how to configure them.

Audit your existing spreadsheets, legacy customer systems, and email lists. Remove duplicates, standardize key fields such as company names and contact roles, and decide which data you really need to bring over.

Work with your vendor or internal admin to import data into the new CRM in a structured way.

Set up pipelines, deal stages, custom fields, and user permissions to match your mapped processes. Keep the first version simple to avoid overwhelming your team. Focus on a clear pipeline, consistent data entry rules, and basic reports that support weekly decision making.

Run a pilot with a smaller group or a single business unit before a full rollout. Provide hands on training, short how to guides, and clear expectations about what should live in the CRM. Collect feedback, remove friction, and adjust fields, views, or automations as needed.

Once the pilot works, extend access to the rest of the agency. Use regular check ins and team meetings to review pipeline quality and report adoption. Make it clear that the CRM is the source of truth for client and deal data, not side spreadsheets or personal notes.

For more context, head over to the Clear Launch’s CRM implementation success story.

To determine the ROI of your CRM implementation, compare your costs to measurable gains in revenue, efficiency, and client satisfaction.

Include subscription fees, implementation support, internal admin time, and training. Estimate these costs over a defined time frame, such as the first 12 or 24 months.

Choose a small set of metrics you can track consistently, such as win rate, average deal size, sales cycle length, billable utilization, or time spent on reporting. Use historical data as your pre CRM baseline where possible.

After go live, compare new results to your baseline over time. For example, measure whether your win rate improved, whether your team is sending more proposals, or whether leaders spend less time preparing reports.

Convert these changes into estimated revenue gains or cost savings.

Not all customer relationship benefits show up directly in revenue. Note qualitative improvements, such as better client satisfaction, fewer dropped handoffs between sales and delivery, more reliable forecasting, or higher employee engagement because admin work is easier.

These support your overall business case even if they are harder to quantify.

Schedule regular reviews, for example quarterly, to revisit your relationship management metrics and configuration. If certain reports are not used or fields are always empty, simplify. If a team is seeing strong results, document what they are doing and replicate it across the agency.

Looking at both tangible and intangible results gives you a realistic picture of whether your CRM is paying off.

Investing in a CRM for your professional services agency can simplify operations, improve client relationships, and increase productivity while delivering a better overall customer experience. The ideal choice depends on your agency’s specific needs, size, and goals.

Evaluate your strategic objectives carefully and research essential considerations such as scalability, user friendliness, reporting capabilities, and independent Ratings G2 or Capterra reviews before deciding which tool to go with.

If you are interested in the smartest (centralized) option for sales and agency operations, book a short a demo with Productive.

The best CRM for an agency owner depends on your specific industry, agency, and even type of typical client engagement. A good all-around choice is Productive, a comprehensive tool for agencies that is designed to provide sales, project planning, financial management, capacity planning, and more, on a single platform.

CRM solutions are often divided into three categories: operational, analytical, and collaborative. Operational CRM software helps automate tasks to streamline day-to-day operations. Analytical CRM software helps gather and analyze key agency data. Finally, collaborative CRM software focuses on centralizing information and supporting teamwork.

A realtor CRM is a type of customer relationship software that helps real estate agencies manage client interactions. The essential features don’t differ much from agency CRM solutions. They include contact management, lead tracking, and workflow automation.