CRM options and pricing models compared
How the main types of CRM and pricing models work, which small businesses they fit, and what to watch for in a Canadian purchase.
This table compares types of CRM and pricing models, not vendors, and it does not rank anything. A real offer often combines rows: for example a per-seat sales CRM with a contact-priced marketing add-on, billed annually in US dollars. Find the rows that describe the offers in front of you, then cost them over three years with the 3-year cost estimator and check fit with the best-fit checklist.
Select a column header to sort.
| Option | How it works | Good fit for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheet plus shared inbox | Contacts and follow-ups in a spreadsheet, email in a shared mailbox | Owner-operators with a few dozen active customers | No consent records, no reminders, version conflicts; outgrown quickly once two people sell |
| Free or entry tier of a CRM | Limited seats, contacts or features at no or low cost, upgrades sold later | Testing whether the team will actually use a CRM | Key features (automation, reporting, quotes) often sit in paid tiers; check limits and export |
| Per-seat sales CRM | Monthly or yearly price per user, features by tier | Small sales teams focused on pipeline and follow-up | Seat minimums, read-only users charged as full seats, tier jumps for one feature |
| All-in-one suite (sales, marketing, service) | Bundled hubs or modules on one database, priced by tier and seats | Businesses that market by email and run support tickets as well as sales | Price rises sharply between tiers; paying for modules you do not use |
| Marketing automation priced by contacts | Price set by the number of marketing contacts or emails sent | Businesses with large email lists and newsletters | Contact tiers grow with your list; inactive contacts still cost money; CASL consent needed |
| Industry-specific CRM | CRM built for one trade (field services, real estate, clinics, agencies) | Businesses whose workflow matches the industry template | Smaller integration choice, harder to switch, may include features you must pay for anyway |
| CRM inside accounting or ERP software | Customer and sales features included in software you already run | Businesses that mostly need quotes, invoices and customer history in one place | Lighter pipeline and marketing features; check whether extra users cost more |
| Open-source or self-hosted CRM | Software licence free or low cost; you or a partner host and maintain it | Businesses with in-house IT or strict hosting requirements | Hosting, security, updates and backups become your cost and responsibility |
| Annual prepaid vs monthly billing | Discount for paying a year up front versus flexibility of monthly | Annual: stable teams; monthly: trials, seasonal or growing teams | Annual terms can lock in seats and auto-renew; monthly can cost noticeably more over a year |
This table describes how CRM types and pricing models generally work; it is not a review or ranking of any product, and no price or score is given for any vendor. Plans, tiers and prices change often, so check the vendor's current price page (note its date) and get a written quote in Canadian dollars where possible. For the rules a CRM must help you follow, see the CRTC for CASL and the National Do Not Call List, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada for PIPEDA, the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec for Law 25, and the Canada Revenue Agency for GST/HST.