7 Agile CRM Alternatives for Small Businesses in 2025

Running a small or mid-sized business comes with a fair set of challenges, and your CRMs should make things easier, not harder. 

While CRM solutions like Agile CRM promise to boost growth and streamline operations, many users find themselves facing limitations as their needs evolve. 

From inadequate reporting and forecasting to a steep learning curve, complex setup process, and frequent downtimes – these are some of the reasons users cite for evaluating more dependable, and scalable Agile CRM alternatives.  

A user sums it up on Capterra, “If you expect in-depth reporting, detailed forecasting, and customization tailored to your needs, this may not be the best choice.”  

So, what should you look for in an Agile CRM alternative—and why are so many businesses making the switch? Let’s break it down. 

Businesses looking to replace Agile CRM have a number of excellent options. LeadSquared, HubSpot, Zoho, Pipedrive, and Freshsales are a few of the most well-liked choices. These platforms provide a variety of functions and address various business requirements, ranging from analytics and customer support to sales and marketing automation. 

But first:  

What Factors Should Businesses Consider When Choosing a CRM Platform? 

Before you jump into signing up for a shiny new platform to replace Agile CRM, it’s worth taking a pause and considering a few important factors. After all, the right CRM should slip seamlessly into your workflow, not create more headaches for your team. 

Here’s what you’ll want to keep on your radar: 

• Depth and Breadth of Integrations: A CRM isn’t meant to work in isolation—it should integrate seamlessly with the tools your business already uses. Check whether the platform connects with your current email, calendar, marketing, and accounting systems (think: Google Workspace, Slack, Mailchimp, QuickBooks, and more). The more integration options, the less you’ll have to juggle between tabs and tools. 

• Ease of Use and Learning Curve: Some CRMs greet you with open arms… others hand you a complicated user manual and wish you luck. Make sure your team can hit the ground running, not get bogged down in endless onboarding calls. Look for platforms known for intuitive dashboards, clear interfaces, and responsive support—especially if you don’t have a dedicated IT department. 

• Scalability and Flexibility: Your current needs are just the starting point. As your business grows, your CRM should keep up—whether you’re adding more users, branching into new markets, or handling more complex pipelines. Platforms that grow with you (like LeadSquared) can prevent painful migrations down the road. 

• Customization Capabilities: Every business is unique. Check how deeply you can tailor the CRM to fit your processes: Can you set up custom fields, workflows, or reports? The more customizable the platform, the better it will fit your process quirks and requirements. 

• Reporting and Analytics: Data without insights is just noise. Strong reporting features help you see what’s working, spot bottlenecks, and make data-driven decisions—no spreadsheets required. 

• Customer Support and Reliability: Downtime and poor support can cost you deals. Look for reviews mentioning responsive customer service, helpful knowledge bases, and a reliable uptime track record before you commit. 

Factoring in these essentials will save you from unwelcome surprises—and set you up with a CRM platform that helps, not hinders, your growth. 

What Are Agile CRM’s Limitations in Integrations, Scalability, and Customization? 

While Agile CRM puts forth a tempting package for small and mid-sized businesses, it doesn’t always play nicely with everyone’s must-haves. Here’s where things tend to fall short: 

• Integrations can be limiting: If your business depends on a broad ecosystem of third-party tools—think Shopify, Slack, or advanced accounting platforms—Agile CRM might not tick every box. Several users have found their favorite apps missing from the integrations list, pushing them to hunt for CRMs with deeper and wider sync capabilities. 

• Scalability issues: What’s manageable for a team of five can get messy fast when your organization starts growing. As companies expand, especially those with sprawling sales teams or eCommerce requirements, Agile CRM’s feature set can feel more confining than empowering. CRMs built with enterprise-scale workflows often deliver more flexibility to support your long-term growth goals. 

• Customization isn’t limitless: Agile CRM lets you tailor fields and processes, sure. But if your sales process is a bit atypical (most sales processes are)—and require nuanced custom automations, layouts, or reports—prepare for frustration. Several businesses hit a ceiling with personalization, noting that other platforms allow for more refined control over how data flows and displays. 

These limitations often send businesses searching for solutions that offer plug-and-play simplicity, flexible architecture, and true scalability as they expand. 

How These CRM Solutions Stack Up: Integration, Customization, Scalability, and Price 

When it comes to picking the right CRM, no two businesses have exactly the same requirements. Some need expansive integration options, while others are hungry for deep customization or are laser-focused on scalability as they grow. Price, of course, lingers as the ultimate deciding factor for most SMBs, so let’s break down how these alternatives measure up in the areas that matter most. 

Integration Capabilities 

Robust Integrators: Platforms like LeadSquared and Zoho CRM shine when it comes to connecting with a wide array of third-party apps—think Mailchimp, G Suite, QuickBooks, and beyond. This breadth comes in handy when you’re running multiple tools and want everything pulled under one roof. 

Limited Integrations: On the flip side, some CRMs focus their integration efforts narrowly, primarily syncing with widely –used platforms like Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. If your tech stack is more eclectic, you might find yourself hitting walls or relying on manual workarounds. 

Plan-dependent Access: A common theme (looking at you, Copper and Monday CRM) is that integrations often hide behind higher subscription tiers, so entry-level plans may be less attractive if connecting disparate systems is critical. 

Customization Flexibility 

Tailor-made Experiences: A few alternatives, like LeadSquared, deliver settings galore—custom fields, tags, and dashboards that let you mold the CRM to fit your unique processes. This flexibility can be a lifesaver if you need granular control over data, reporting, or workflows. 

Customization Roadblocks: While many platforms tout “customizability,” some fall short when it comes to genuinely enabling businesses with more complex or unusual needs. If your team requires deep tailoring, double-check the platform’s capabilities (and pay attention to small print limiting options on lower plans). 

Scalability Considerations 

Geared for Growth: The best CRM contenders are ready to evolve as you do, scaling features, storage, and user capacities gracefully as your business expands. However, a few systems—originally built for SMBs—can show their seams as your team grows or as your sales operation diversifies. 

Plan Limits: A common concern is feature caps or hardwired ceilings on things like the number of sales pipelines, contacts, or storage—occasionally only lifted on premium plans. If rapid growth is on the horizon, choose a CRM with room to stretch. 

Now that you have a better idea, let’s take a closer look at some alternatives to Agile CRM. 

Top 7 Agile CRM Alternatives for 2025

1. LeadSquared

LeadSquared is an end-to-end sales execution platform designed to streamline sales and service processes and enhance marketing initiatives with robust automation features. It helps businesses manage leads more effectively, automate workflows, and engage prospects across multiple channels. By combining sales execution with marketing automation, LeadSquared helps teams close deals faster and ensures that no potential opportunity falls through the cracks.  

LeadSquared’s verticalized approach, which provides customized solutions for a variety of industries, including manufacturing, real estate, healthcare, education, hospitality, and more, is what really makes the company stand out. Thus, LeadSquared is a great alternative to Agile CRM.  

Particularly well-suited for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) aiming to scale, it offers a range of CRM features that support growth. These include of real-time reporting, dashboard customization, intelligent lead scoring, sales pipeline management, and lead tracking. Additionally, it supports integrations with a wide array of third-party tools, making it easier to build a connected sales and marketing ecosystem. 

Some of the CRM’s noteworthy features are: 

• Lead management 

• Lead tracking 

• Workflow Automation 

• Sales automation 

• Service CRM 
  
• Out-of-the-box integrations 

Why is LeadSquared a great Agile CRM alternative? 

When compared to Agile CRM, LeadSquared provides far better customer service, and a broader range of integrations. Furthermore, it provides in-depth features, is simple and quick to set up, and highly customizable, which makes up for the shortcomings of Agile. 

Its intuitive interface and flexible workflows make it accessible for teams without deep technical expertise, while still offering robust capabilities for more advanced users. LeadSquared stands out as a practical, scalable solution for growing businesses. 

A user shared on Gartner that LeadSquared is “the best choice when it comes to CRM “ and also wrote that it is “an impressive CRM software with a lot of customization options and marketing automation. It is a really efficient tool to close good deals.”.  

Another user wrote on G2 that “LeadSquared helps organize and track leads, automate follow-ups, and manage sales tasks — all in one platform. The mobile CRM is especially useful for field sales teams who are always on the move. It saves time, reduces manual work, and keeps everything updated in real time. I can easily track lead status, assign tasks, and get reminders. The mobile app helps me stay connected with my leads even when I’m away from my desk. It’s improved how I manage my day and increased my response speed with clients.”.   

Cons 

One user felt that “sometimes the interface became difficult.”. 

However, another user wrote on G2 that they were “happy with the interface in all the aspects.”. 

Overall, LeadSquared is an excellent choice for SMBs as it offers unlimited customization and helps businesses scale their operations rapidly. 

2. Freshsales

Freshsales is used by companies use to automate their sales force. For businesses looking for complete sales force automation, it provides excellent work scheduler, lead scoring, integrations, and sales forecasting to help engage with clients and remind your team of pending tasks. 

Why is Freshsales a great Agile CRM alternative? 

Freshsales is better at managing and analyzing lead data as compared to Agile CRM. 

A reviewer on Capterra liked how “you can maintain highly extensive data throughout the software according to your preferences for an account or a lead and further manage them seamlessly.” 

Another user liked its “extensive customization options, making it adaptable to various business needs.”.  

Cons 

A user felt that Freshsales is a “buggy product” with “horrible customer support”.  

If you’re just starting out or looking to expand your business, then Freshsales may not be for you. A user wrote “for many companies that are just starting out, if they get the free plan, it is very limited and does not allow me to do some things.”  

While Freshsales is a great CRM, its inadequate customer support disappoints users. There are quite a few Freshsales alternatives that offer similar features. There are some good Freshdesk ticketing system alternatives, too, if you’re looking for customer service tools.    

3. Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a great platform that helps small and medium B2C businesses improve their sales. Commonly dubbed as the CRM “made by salespeople, for salespeople”, some of the key features of this CRM include: 

• Pipeline management 

• Lead capturing 

• Activities overview 

• Lead distribution 

Why is Pipedrive a great Agile CRM alternative? 

Choosing Pipedrive over Agile CRM is advantageous in some ways. The tool provides far better pipeline management and customization. It also offers  sales forecasting features, something that Agile CRM lacks. 

A customer who loves  the CRM’s visual interface stated, – “One of the things that sets Pipedrive apart from other CRM tools is its visual pipeline feature. This allows me to easily track the progress of deals and make adjustments as needed, which has been extremely useful for my sales process.” 

Another user wrote, “For someone with no high-level experience setting up CRMs, it has been such an easy, and quick process.  

Then why do clients look at Pipedrive alternatives? 

Cons 

While the CRM stands apart in terms of its features, it’s infamous for its poor customer support. A customer called it a “great product marred by terrible customer support.”   

If you’re a growing business, Pipedrive may not be for you, as a user wrote, “It would be nice if there was a different pricing tier (lower) for businesses like mine that do not need the majority of the capabilities of the core Pipedrive features”. 

Pipedrive is a great choice for B2CB businesses that want extensive pipeline management and little automation. Of course, provided you don’t have to contact their customer support! 

4. Zoho CRM 

Zoho CRM is a part of Zoho One, a suite of products built to improve business operations and efficiencies. It offers a range of features like reports and analytics, workflow automation, lead distribution, and sales force automation. 

Why is Zoho CRM a great Agile CRM alternative? 

Zoho works well for SMBs and solopreneurs because it offers a free CRM called Zoho Bigin. 

A user stated that Zoho is a very “informative and useful CRM. It helps to nurture the lead efficiently and keeps the progress updated.” 

Cons 

One issue with Zoho is that it contains a lot of hidden payments. While the platform is customizable, the customization charges are even more expensive than the cost of the entire paid package that a user has opted for. 

Many reviewers wrote that the software is pretty tricky to use, especially for first-time users. A user wrote “It’s clunky to use and oddly set up, with multiple sections within the CRM separating things like leads and contacts, so it can make full lifecycle reporting difficult.” 

Another user was not happy with Zoho’s pipeline management, saying it “could have been better”.  

Overall, Zoho is a good CRM for SMBs that have a generic sales process and want to explore a lot of features at affordable prices. If you’d like, you can explore a few Zoho alternatives. 

5. Keap 

Formerly known as Infusionsoft, Keap is a great CRM for B2B companies that want to manage leads, create reports and landing pages, and send email campaigns. 

It also offers checkout cart functionality to increase conversion rates and average cart values, along with built-in invoicing and different payment processing interfaces. 

Why is Keap a great Agile CRM alternative? 

One reason to choose Keap over Agile is that the former offers better customer service, marketing automation, and sales pipeline management. 

A particular aspect that customers like is that “the system is easy to set up, even with its many features.” 

Then why do customers go for Keap alternatives? 

Cons 

Unfortunately, the easy setup doesn’t mean you can start using the CRM immediately.  “Unless you have about 150-200 free hours to learn how to do things in Keap, you may want to look elsewhere. Even the simplest of tasks – which should be one or two clicks at the most – are multi-step nightmares that give you so many options, it’s overwhelming,. ” a reviewer pointed out. 

Furthermore, a user wrote that it has “very minimal integrations”. 

If you want a basic CRM with minimal features that are easy to set up, Keap is a good alternative for your business. 

6. Insightly 

Insightly is a cloud-based CRM software designed to help businesses manage customer interactions and improve overall sales performance. Some of the software’s best features include the following: 

• Project management 

• No-code customization 

• Email integrations 

• Workflow automation 

Why is Insightly a great Agile CRM alternative? 

This Agile CRM alternative also provides project management along with lead management, which helps businesses improve efficiency. 

A user wrote that they like how “well sorted our projects are within the program. It is very easy to navigate and deal with.”.  

Another user also wrote that “the program updates very fast and almost instantly.” 

Then, what are the shortcomings of this CRM? 

Cons 

A user  mentioned some disadvantages such as “The learning curve for automation and workflow setup can be a bit steep for new users. Additionally, occasional syncing delays with third-party integrations can disrupt workflow.” 

Another user said that “being able to email from the CRM is great, buy you can only email 50 at one time.” 

7. EspoCRM 

EspoCRM is an open-source Agile CRM alternative that offers extensive customizability and flexibility. Its array of features like sales automation, email marketing, workflow automation, and shared calendar sync with Google and Outlook, helps businesses manage their processes efficiently. 

Why is EspoCRM a great Agile CRM alternative? 

This CRM is much more flexible than Agile CRM. As EspoCRM is an open-source software, customers can easily access the source code and adjust it to their products and processes. 

Furthermore, a user wrote they liked how they can “attach a contact to several accounts and get a “lot of functionalities at low price”. 

But the CRM falls short in a few places. 

Cons 

Every open-source software needs extensive documentation so that developers can easily use it. Unfortunately, EspoCRM doesn’t have the best documentation, making it tricky to learn the software. 

Furthermore, a user wrote that it “has a scaling problem. Large data quantities may be complicated to handle, which can be problematic for expanding enterprises. If you want to customize the product, you need to know a bit of coding, and as with any other open-source software, the support team can’t help you once you have made your own modifications to the code.” 

If you know the basics of coding and want a good, customizable CRM at affordable costs, then EspoCRM is a good choice for your business. 

Well, there you have it! We hope you found our top 7 Agile CRM alternatives for small and medium businesses valuable and informative. Since you have made it this far down the blog, let us share a tip that every SMB investing in a CRM should look for – scalability. 

But Why Is Scalability So Important? 

Well, purely because you don’t want to keep changing your software as and when your company expands, because your old CRM can’t handle more leads than you are working with. Not only will your employees have to adjust to a new UI, but you’ll also waste a lot of time in implementation. Therefore, when investing in a CRM, consider your business’s future. 

LeadSquared is a feature-extensive, affordable, and scalable solution for businesses. The platform  provides all the solutions businesses need for specific industries—right from SMBs up to enterprise sizes. If you want to know more about how we help different-sized sectors with tailored solutions, then get in touch with our sales reps! 

Frequently Asked Questions on Agile CRM Alternatives 

Additional Links

Best CRM For Small Business: A Guide To Choosing Right

10 Best HubSpot Alternatives For 2025

Top 10 SugarCRM Alternatives For 2025 + What To Look For In A CRM