Quick answer
Choose CRM software by fit, not by brand. Start with how your team actually sells, then compare vendors on five things: the channels they connect to (especially Facebook Messenger and Gmail), ease of use for your staff, the total cost over 12 months including VAT and set-up, local support, and how they handle customer data. Shortlist two or three options, run each through the same weighted scorecard and a scripted demo, and test with your own leads during a free trial before you sign.
Searches for “best CRM software for small business” and “free CRM” are rising in the Philippines, and the results are full of “Top 10” lists. A ranking cannot tell you which tool fits a 6-person distribution team in Cebu or a 15-person contractor in Pasig. This guide gives you a vendor-neutral framework instead: how CRM pricing works, which features matter, what AI can and cannot do, the hidden costs, a scorecard you can copy and a demo checklist. If you are new to the topic, start with our explainer on what CRM software is and what it stores.
Step one: write down how you sell
Before opening any vendor website, answer these questions on one page:
- Where do leads come from? (Facebook Page messages, ads, website forms, email, phone, referrals, walk-ins, events)
- Which channel do most customers use to talk to you after the first contact?
- How many people need access now, and in 12 months? Who only needs to view reports?
- What are your sales stages, from inquiry to payment?
- Do you send quotations? Who approves discounts?
- What other systems must the CRM talk to (email, calendar, accounting, inventory, HR, logistics)?
- Who will own the CRM internally and keep the data clean?
This page becomes your requirements list. Any vendor that cannot support the channel your customers actually use, or the number of users you need at a sensible cost, drops off early.
How CRM pricing works
CRM pricing pages look different from each other, but most use one of three models. The examples below are what each vendor’s own pricing page stated when we checked on 24 October 2026; prices and terms change often, so confirm on the vendor’s site before deciding.
| Model | How it works | Examples (official pages, checked 24 Oct 2026) | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free tier | A permanently free plan with limits on users, contacts or features | HubSpot says its free CRM supports up to two users and 1,000 contacts, with no credit card required. Zoho says Zoho CRM’s free edition is free for up to 3 users. | Limits on automation, users, integrations and support; costs jump when you upgrade |
| Per user (per seat) | You pay a monthly fee for each person with a login | Pipedrive lists plans “per seat per month” with a 14-day free trial and no free plan. Salesforce lists its small-business suites per user per month. Zoho’s paid editions and HubSpot’s paid tiers are also priced per user or per seat. | Cost grows with every hire; part-time or view-only users may still need a seat |
| Flat team plan | One monthly fee covers up to a set number of users | NexCRM AI uses team plans (see the section below) | Check what happens when you exceed the user cap |
Other pricing details to check
- Free trial vs free plan. A trial is time-limited access to paid features; a free plan is permanent but limited. Pipedrive advertises a 14-day trial with no credit card; HubSpot stresses that its free CRM is not a trial and has no expiration date.
- Annual vs monthly billing. Many vendors discount annual prepayment. Pipedrive’s page, for example, says annual billing saves “up to 42%”; Salesforce’s Pro Suite is shown as “billed annually” with a contract required. Annual plans lower cost but reduce flexibility if the tool does not work out.
- Currency. The international pricing pages we checked (Pipedrive, Salesforce, Zoho, HubSpot) showed prices in US dollars or other foreign currencies by default. Your peso cost will move with the exchange rate and card fees.
- VAT. Philippine VAT-registered vendors usually quote prices excluding 12% VAT. For subscriptions from non-resident providers, Republic Act No. 12023 and BIR Revenue Regulations No. 3-2025 apply 12% VAT to digital services consumed in the Philippines, and for business buyers the regulations place the duty to withhold and remit that VAT on the Philippine buyer. Ask your accountant how this applies to your purchase.
- Add-ons. AI features, extra automation, messaging channels, extra storage and API access are often priced separately or limited to higher tiers.
Must-have features for a Philippine SME
Ignore long feature grids at first. These are the capabilities most small B2B and service businesses rely on every day:
- Lead capture from your real channels: Facebook Page messages, website forms, email, manual entry and spreadsheet import.
- Contacts and companies with a full activity timeline.
- Visual pipeline with your own stages, deal values and expected close dates.
- Tasks and reminders with owners and due dates, plus a view of overdue follow-ups.
- Quotations created from the deal, with status tracking.
- Basic automation: assign new leads, flag idle deals, remind before follow-ups are due.
- Reports: leads by source, conversion by stage, won/lost reasons, activity by salesperson.
- Roles and permissions so staff see only what they need.
- Data export in a standard format, so you are never locked in.
- Mobile access for salespeople in the field.
AI features: what is useful and what to question
Most CRMs now advertise AI. The useful features tend to fall into three groups:
- Customer-facing assistants that answer common questions instantly and collect a lead’s details.
- Copilots for staff that draft replies and follow-ups, summarize long conversations and suggest next steps.
- Agents that carry out multi-step tasks such as creating follow-up tasks, drafting proposals or chasing collections.
Real limitations to test in a demo:
- Accuracy. Generative AI can state things confidently that are wrong. Ask where the assistant’s answers come from, and whether you can restrict it to answers you approve.
- Human review. Check whether AI-drafted messages are sent automatically or wait for a person. For pricing, discounts and commitments, you want a person in the loop.
- Audit trail. Can you see what the AI did, when, and who approved it?
- Usage limits. Many vendors meter AI with credits. Ask what happens when credits run out: does the core CRM keep working?
- Language. Test with real Taglish messages from your inbox, not polished English samples.
- Data handling. Ask how customer data is used by the AI features and where it is processed.
Ease of use and adoption
The CRM your team actually uses beats the one with the most features. During the trial, ask two or three salespeople to log a new lead, move a deal, set a follow-up and send a quotation without help. Time it. If simple tasks need many clicks or training, adoption will suffer. Also check how easily you can hide fields you do not need; a cleaner screen is often more valuable than more options.
Local support and time zone
When something breaks at 10 a.m. on a Monday in Manila, you want an answer that day. Ask each vendor:
- What support channels are included in my plan (chat, email, phone, a named contact)?
- What hours does support cover in Philippine time (UTC+8)?
- Is onboarding included or charged separately? Is it live or self-serve?
- Can the trainer explain the tool to non-technical staff in Filipino or Taglish if needed?
- Who handles data migration from our spreadsheets?
Integrations: Messenger, Gmail, calendar and the rest
For many Philippine businesses, the Facebook Page inbox is the busiest sales channel. Check exactly what a CRM’s Messenger integration does: can you reply from inside the CRM, are past conversations synced into the lead record, and can an automated assistant answer first and hand over to a person? Our guide to setting up Messenger lead capture and follow-up automation explains Meta’s messaging rules you will need to work within.
Also confirm:
- Email: two-way sync with Gmail or Outlook, so emails appear on the customer timeline.
- Calendar: meetings booked in the CRM appear in Google Calendar or Outlook, and vice versa.
- Website: lead forms or booking links that create records automatically.
- Other channels: if customers use WhatsApp, Viber, Instagram or SMS, ask whether each is supported natively, through a third party, or not at all.
- Back office: accounting, ERP, inventory or operations systems. For transport and logistics companies, for example, a won quotation may need to become a transport order; see our fleet management buying guide for that side of the workflow.
- API: which plan includes API access, and with what limits.
Need a better way to organize leads and follow-ups?
Discover NexCRM AI.
Data migration and implementation
Most SMEs start with contacts in spreadsheets, phone address books and Messenger threads. Plan the move:
- Inventory your data. List every spreadsheet, shared drive and inbox that holds customer information.
- Clean before you import. Remove duplicates, fix phone number formats, and drop contacts you have no reason to keep.
- Map fields. Match your spreadsheet columns to CRM fields, and decide what becomes a lead, contact, company or deal.
- Import a sample first. Test 50 to 100 records, check them, then import the rest.
- Connect channels. Link Messenger, email and calendars, and check whether past conversations can be synced.
- Configure the minimum. Pipeline stages, users and roles, two or three automation rules.
- Train and go live on a set date. From that day, new leads go only into the CRM.
Ask each vendor what part of this they do for you, what it costs, and how long it typically takes for a team your size.
Total cost of ownership
The monthly subscription is only part of the cost. Over 12 months, add one-time set-up, add-ons, VAT and your own staff’s time.
Example
Illustrative figures only — not quotes from any real vendor. An 8-person sales team compares two hypothetical options over 12 months, excluding VAT.
| Cost item | Vendor A (per user) | Vendor B (flat team plan) |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | ₱1,200 × 8 users × 12 months = ₱115,200 | ₱9,000/month for up to 10 users, 15% annual discount = ₱91,800 |
| Add-ons (messaging, AI) | ₱2,000 × 12 = ₱24,000 | Included = ₱0 |
| Set-up and migration | Self-serve = ₱0 | One-time fee = ₱30,000 |
| Internal staff time for set-up | 40 hours × ₱300 = ₱12,000 | 16 hours × ₱300 = ₱4,800 |
| 12-month total (excl. VAT) | ₱151,200 | ₱126,600 |
If the team grows to 12 people, Vendor A’s subscription rises to ₱172,800 a year, while Vendor B would require its next tier. The cheaper option depends on your headcount, growth plans and which features are included, so run the numbers with real quotes.
A weighted scorecard you can copy
Score each shortlisted CRM from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) on each criterion, multiply by the weight, and add up. Adjust the weights to your priorities, but agree on them before the demos so the loudest salesperson does not decide.
| Criterion | Weight | What to test | Score (1–5) | Weighted (weight × score) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fit to your sales process | 20 | Can your stages, quotations and approvals be set up without workarounds? | ||
| Channels and integrations | 15 | Messenger, email, calendar, website forms, accounting | ||
| Ease of use | 15 | Staff complete core tasks in the trial without help | ||
| 12-month total cost | 15 | Subscription, add-ons, VAT, set-up, internal time | ||
| Data privacy and security | 10 | Roles, audit logs, data processing terms, export and deletion | ||
| Local support | 10 | Hours in Philippine time, onboarding, migration help | ||
| AI usefulness and controls | 10 | Approved answers, human review, audit trail, credit limits | ||
| Reporting | 5 | Leads by source, conversion by stage, forecast | ||
| Total | 100 | Max 500 |
Demo checklist: questions to ask every vendor
Send the same script to every vendor before the demo, and ask them to show it live with sample data similar to yours.
- Show a Facebook Page message becoming a lead, being replied to, and being assigned to a salesperson.
- Show a deal moving through our stages, with a quotation created and sent from the record.
- Show how an overdue follow-up is flagged to the salesperson and the manager.
- Show the AI answering a real customer question. Where does the answer come from? Can staff review before it is sent?
- Show the report of leads by source and conversion by stage.
- Show how a user’s access is removed when they resign, and how their deals are reassigned.
- Show how we export all our data, and how we delete one person’s records on request.
- What exactly is included in the plan you are quoting, and what costs extra?
- Is the price inclusive or exclusive of VAT, and in which currency is it billed?
- What support hours apply in Philippine time, and who does our onboarding?
- Which channels are not supported?
- Can we trial it with our own leads before paying?
Where NexCRM AI fits
NexCRM AI is Nexvision’s CRM for Philippine businesses. Here is what it offers, so you can score it on the same framework as any other option.
| Plan | Price (excl. 12% VAT, as listed on 24 Oct 2026) | Users |
|---|---|---|
| Lite | ₱2,999 / month | Up to 3 users |
| Business | ₱8,999 / month | Up to 10 users |
| Enterprise | ₱17,999 / month | Up to 25 users |
- Pricing model: flat team plans in pesos, with 20% off annual billing. 30-day free trial with no credit card; onboarding included and no implementation fee for standard setup.
- Core CRM: lead capture; leads, contacts and companies; visual pipeline with weighted forecast; tasks and follow-ups; quotations and proposals; projects and tasks; campaigns (email campaigns on Business and up); customer portal (Business and up); reports, KPI dashboards and forecasts.
- Automation: workflow rules, such as creating a follow-up task and notifying a manager when a deal goes idle, on Business and up.
- AI: an AI Customer Assistant that replies on Facebook Messenger from your approved answers and hands qualified leads to your team; an AI Sales Copilot whose drafts staff review before sending; and AI Workflow Agents whose actions wait in an Approval Queue by default, with an Audit Timeline. AI credits reset monthly, and the core CRM keeps working if credits run out.
- Integrations: Facebook Messenger (reply to Page messages, sync past threads into a lead), Gmail, two-way Google Calendar, Facebook Page posting, website lead capture links and booking page, Excel/CSV import, and REST API (Enterprise; limited on Business). Integrations with NexHRIS, NexLogistics and ERP/accounting systems are custom.
- Not supported: WhatsApp, Instagram messages, SMS and TikTok lead forms. If those are your main channels, weigh that in your scorecard.
Frequently asked questions
Is a free CRM enough for a small business?
It can be at the start, especially for one to three users. Check the limits on users, contacts, automation and integrations, and what the paid tier costs, because you may need it once your team or lead volume grows.
Should I choose per-user or flat team pricing?
Per-user pricing suits very small or fixed teams. Flat team plans can be more predictable if you plan to add staff, as long as the user cap fits your growth. Compare 12-month totals at your current and expected headcount.
Do foreign CRM subscriptions have VAT in the Philippines?
Under RA 12023 and BIR Revenue Regulations No. 3-2025, digital services from non-resident providers consumed in the Philippines are subject to 12% VAT, and for business buyers the regulations require the Philippine buyer to withhold and remit it. Confirm the treatment of your specific subscription with your accountant.
How many CRMs should we trial?
Two or three is usually enough. More than that and the team spends weeks comparing instead of selling. Use the same scorecard and demo script for each.
What is the most common reason CRM projects fail?
Low adoption. If staff keep working in personal chats and spreadsheets, the CRM becomes an empty database. Pick a tool your team finds easy, set a go-live date, and use the pipeline in every sales meeting.
Can a CRM handle Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram in one place?
Some can, some cannot. Support for each channel varies by vendor and plan, so ask each vendor to show every channel you need working live during the demo.
Sources
- HubSpot CRM — free CRM and paid tiers — HubSpot, checked 24 Oct 2026
- Zoho CRM free edition — Zoho, checked 24 Oct 2026
- Zoho CRM pricing and editions — Zoho, checked 24 Oct 2026
- Pipedrive pricing — Pipedrive, checked 24 Oct 2026
- Salesforce small business pricing — Salesforce, checked 24 Oct 2026
- Revenue Regulations No. 3-2025 (VAT on digital services) — Bureau of Internal Revenue, checked 24 Oct 2026
- VAT on Digital Services flyer — Bureau of Internal Revenue, checked 24 Oct 2026
