8 Best CRM and Project Management Software for Small Businesses

As a small business, you need to maintain a lean and efficient operation. That often means consolidating your tech stack to cut back on unnecessary expenses.

CRMs are often one of the most expensive software investments a business makes, while project management tools are usually much more affordable. The good news is that several platforms now combine both functions.

In this article, we’ll explain why it makes sense to combine CRM and project management software, and which platforms do it the best.

Can a CRM Be Used for Project Management?

A customer relationship management (CRM) system is used to organize and manage customer interactions. It's designed to centralize contact details, monitors sales pipelines, and improve customer engagement.

A project management (PM) system, on the other hand, focuses on planning, executing, and tracking projects. It helps teams assign tasks, set deadlines, and measure progress. Its main purpose is to ensure projects are completed on time, within scope, and within budget.

You can use CRM software for project management as long as it includes features like task tracking, workflows, and collaboration tools. Some CRMs are built to manage both sales and projects, while others need integration with dedicated PM tools.

Using CRM and project management tools together connects the work of getting customers with the work of delivering for them. It keeps everything flowing smoothly from sales to project completion. Plus, it can also save money, which matters a lot for smaller businesses.

8 Best CRM and Project Management Software

The tools on this list all have strong reputations, and each one fills a different niche among CRM and project management software. Below, you’ll find in-depth reviews of the eight best project management and CRM software tools with a detailed breakdown of what each does best and who it’s best for.

Monday.com - Best for Non-Technical Teams

Monday.com helps teams manage projects, workflows, and day-to-day tasks in one platform. But it can also be configured to handle basic CRM needs like sales pipelines, lead tracking, and account management. For businesses that want to go further, Monday offers a dedicated Sales CRM product, but many small to midsize businesses use the Work Management platform alone for both customer tracking and project delivery.

Overview of Monday.com

• Ease of Use: Offers a user-friendly interface with a minimal learning curve. It's accessible for nontechnical users.
• Contact & Lead Management: Solid foundational CRM features make it suitable for simple sales workflows. With Monday Sales CRM, you also gain AI-powered task automation and sales forecasting capabilities. But it still falls short in areas like full-scale marketing automation and native customer support.
• Task & Project Tracking: Offers visualizations like Gantt charts, timelines, and milestone tracking to help manage tasks effectively.
• Collaboration: Boards in Monday.com serve as customizable workspaces where teams can manage tasks, track progress, and share updates in real-time. Features like comments, mentions, and file attachments reduce the need for external communication tools.
• Automation: Offers automation features that can assign tasks, send reminders, and update statuses based on predefined triggers. AI capabilities further enhance productivity.
• Integrations: Includes more than 200 integrations, including Slack, Gmail, Microsoft Teams, and accounting software like QuickBooks and Xero. You can also connect it to Zapier/Make for advanced automations. (Learn more about what these platforms can do in Make vs. Zapier.)
• Affordability: Offers a free plan for up to two users with essential features. Paid plans start at $9 per seat per month, billed annually.
• Reporting & Dashboards: It provides basic reporting tools, but more advanced tools like stacked charts and workload views are only available on higher-tier plans.

Insightly - Best for Sales Teams That Also Handle Delivery

Insightly is designed to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) manage customer interactions, sales pipelines, and projects. What makes it unique is that it blends CRM and project management into one platform, while most competitors tend to lean heavily to one side or the other.

Overview of Insightly

• Ease of Use: Widely praised for its clean, intuitive interface that makes onboarding and training easy.
• Contact & Lead Management: Offers full CRM capabilities with customizable contact records, tags, relationships, lead pipelines, and syncing communications.
• Task & Project Tracking: Includes built-in project tools for milestones, pipelines, and transitioning opportunities into projects.
• Collaboration: Team members can comment on tasks, share files, and maintain visibility across projects.
• Automation: Workflow automation includes email triggers, lead routing, and templated activity sets. These are available from the Professional tier upward.
• Integrations: Supports hundreds of no-code integrations across marketing (Mailchimp), accounting (QuickBooks, Xero), BI (Power BI), and more.
• Affordability: Paid plans start at $29 per seat per month, billed annually. There's no free plan, only a free trial.
• Reporting & Dashboards: Offers advanced reporting tools and dashboards, with Power BI integration for analytics. There's no dedicated client portal, and external access may require a workaround.

Flowlu - Best for Organizations Needing Robust Financial Oversight

Flowlu is an all-in-one platform that combines CRM, project management, invoicing, finance, and collaboration tools into a single system. Its seamless integration of project cash flows, profit tracking, invoicing, receivables, and margin analysis makes it stand out and is especially important for businesses delivering services or goods. Flowlu is a secure project management software with a client portal where customers can view tasks, invoices, and even make payments under your branding.

Overview of Flowlu

• Ease of use: Offers a user-friendly interface with customizable CRM dashboards and multiple views.
• Contact & lead management: Provides full CRM functionality, including sales funnels, lead tracking, and opportunity management.
• Task & project tracking: Users have access to project pipelines, Kanban views, milestones, tasks, activity sets, and opportunity-to-project conversion features.
• Collaboration: Supports team collaboration through features like instant messaging, collaborative workspaces, Kanban boards, and Gantt charts.
• Automation: Offers automation workflows like triggers for email actions, lead routing, and task assignments. Users can also set up automation rules for Agile projects, such as creating issues or sending notifications
• Integrations: Strong ecosystem via AppConnect and API with Gmail, Outlook, QuickBooks, Xero, Mailchimp, Slack, and more than 250 third-party apps.
• Affordability: The free plan includes two users. Paid plans start at $39 and include multiple users, making it an affordable choice for teams.
• Reporting & dashboards: Custom dashboards and reporting are available. Advanced analytics require higher-tier plans or Power BI integration.

Zoho CRM + Zoho Projects - Best for Small to Mid-Sized Businesses That Need Scalability

Zoho CRM is a cloud-based platform designed to help businesses manage sales, marketing, and customer support processes in one place. While Zoho CRM includes basic task and activity tracking (calls, meetings, follow-ups), it doesn't provide full project management features on its own. For that, Zoho offers a dedicated tool called Zoho Projects, which integrates with Zoho CRM. Together, they allow businesses to manage both customer relationships and project execution in a unified system.

Overview of Zoho CRM

• Ease of Use: Reasonably easy to get the hang of, although there's a slight learning curve. Admins and CRM managers should expect 1-2 weeks of training time.
• Contact & Lead Management: Provides comprehensive contact and lead management features, including lead scoring, sales funnels, and opportunity tracking.
• Task & Project Tracking: Manage activities like tasks, calls, meetings, and reminders linked to leads or deals in Zoho CRM. Get full project management features in Zoho Projects.
• Collaboration: Teams can share notes, tag colleagues, and attach documents within a record in Zoho CRM. If you add Projects, collaboration expands with project discussions, comments, file sharing, and real-time task updates. Both sales and delivery teams see project status without leaving the Zoho ecosystem.
• Automation: Routine tasks such as follow-ups, task assignments, and notifications are automated with Zoho CRM. With Projects connected, automations can also trigger project creation and task assignments, bridging the gap between sales and fulfillment.
• Integrations: Supports more than 1,100 ready-to-use app integrations, including QuickBooks, Mailchimp, and Slack. The integration with Zoho Projects is native, ensuring smooth handoff from closed deals to project delivery.
• Affordability: One of the more affordable project management tools when paired with a CRM. Plans start at $14 per user per month, billed annually. Zoho Projects offers a free plan with up to five users. Paid plans start at $5 per user per month.
• Reporting & Dashboards: Provides customizable dashboards and reports with charts, KPIs, and forecasting. For advanced analytics (like cross-project sales insights), businesses can connect Zoho Analytics or use the built-in reporting in Zoho Projects.

HubSpot - Best for Growing Businesses That Value Easy Adoption

HubSpot CRM is a cloud-based CRM designed to manage sales, marketing, and customer service. It provides basic project management capabilities through task tracking and workflow automation. HubSpot’s biggest strengths lie in its free core CRM, intuitive interface, and seamless integration with HubSpot’s marketing, sales, and service hubs. While it comes with essential project management features for small teams, it may not be sufficient for more complex needs. Overall, it's a user-friendly CRM that provides basic project management and workflow automation without a heavy technical setup.

Overview of HubSpot

• Ease of Use: User-friendly interface and minimal learning curve make it ideal for small to medium-sized businesses. Users often find the platform intuitive, with a clean design and straightforward navigation.
• Contact & Lead Management: Includes tools for creating contact records, logging sales activities, and viewing previous interactions.
• Task & Project Tracking: Includes task management features such as to-do lists and activity tracking. More advanced features, including Gantt charts and timelines, often require third-party integrations.
• Collaboration: Shared inboxes, task assignments, comments, and integrations with Slack/Teams keep teams aligned.
• Automation: Free and Starter tiers provide limited automation; advanced workflows are available on Professional plans and above.
• Integrations: Integrates with more than 1,900 applications, including QuickBooks Online and Xero, as well as marketing platforms like Mailchimp.
• Affordability: Free forever CRM. Paid plans start at $15 per user per month.
• Reporting & Dashboards: While advanced analytics features are available on higher-tier plans, the free version offers basic reporting capabilities suitable for small businesses.

Salesforce - Best for Businesses with High Security and Compliance Needs

Salesforce CRM is a powerful, highly customizable CRM platform designed to unify sales, marketing, service, and customer data. While it includes basic task tracking, full project management typically requires AppExchange add-ons (like Mission Control or Inspire Planner) or integrations with external PM tools. Its strengths lie in scalability, automation, AI insights, and its huge integration ecosystem.

Overview of Salesforce

• Ease of Use: Designed to be user-friendly, and beginners can benefit from comprehensive training resources. However, new users may still encounter a learning curve.
• Contact & Lead Management: All contacts, leads, accounts, and related interactions are stored in a single platform. Users are given a 360° view of each customer, including emails, calls, meetings, purchases, and social media interactions.
• Task & Project Tracking: Tasks and activity tracking are built in; true project management needs third-party apps.
• Collaboration: Teams can assign tasks, set deadlines, and track progress directly within Salesforce. It also integrates with email, calendars, Slack, and other collaboration platforms.
• Automation: Includes workflow rules, a process builder, and Einstein AI to automate tasks such as lead assignment, follow-up emails, and data updates.
• Integrations: Supports more than 9,000 integrations with third-party applications, including accounting software like QuickBooks and marketing platforms like Mailchimp.
• Affordability: Starts at $25 per user per month.
• Reporting & Dashboards: Provides powerful reporting and dashboard tools that allow users to visualize key metrics in real-time using charts, gauges, tables, and graphs. Drag-and-drop customization makes it easy to create dashboards for teams or executives.

Keap - Best for Small Businesses and Solo Entrepreneurs

Keap CRM is a cloud-based platform designed primarily for small businesses, solopreneurs, and service-based businesses. At first glance, it seems expensive. But for some businesses, it can be a bargain. It combines CRM, marketing automation, and basic project management features in a single platform. It also has email marketing, scheduling, and invoicing functionality, which means it could replace other software for some users. It may be less suited for large enterprises or highly complex workflows. Overall, Keap CRM provides a practical all-in-one solution for growing businesses that need efficiency and automation without extensive technical expertise.

Overview of Keap

• Ease of Use: Designed to be user-friendly, featuring an intuitive interface and drag-and-drop tools. New users can get up to speed without extensive training.
• Contact & Lead Management: Offers comprehensive contact and lead management capabilities, including tagging, lead scoring, and automation of the entire sales pipeline.
• Task & Project Tracking: Provides task management tied to CRM workflows, but lacks full-fledged project management features.
• Collaboration: Facilitates team collaboration by allowing users to assign tasks, set due dates, and track progress. However, it mostly revolves around sales activities, appointments, and automated follow-ups, not team-based project work.
• Automation: Keap’s strongest feature. It includes follow-up emails, task assignments, and project triggers. Users can easily set up workflows to automate repetitive tasks.
• Integrations: Connect Keap to thousands of apps, including project management tools, lead generation software, and social media platforms. It also supports integrations with third-party automation and productivity tools via Zapier.
• Affordability: Offers a free trial. Paid plans start at $249 per month, with additional users costing $39 per month.
• Reporting & Dashboards: Reporting is straightforward and designed for small businesses. It focuses on sales pipeline health, revenue trends, and campaign performance.

Capsule - Best for Mobile and Remote-First Teams

Capsule CRM is a cloud-based platform designed for small to midsize businesses, freelancers, and solopreneurs. It focuses on simple, organized customer relationship management with lightweight project and task management features. The software is best for small businesses or independent professionals who want an affordable, easy-to-use CRM with light project management capabilities. It also has an excellent mobile app for iOS and Android for teams that need to update deals, log interactions, or manage tasks from anywhere.

Overview of Capsule CRM

• Ease of Use: Known for its intuitive interface and minimal learning curve. It's accessible even for users without technical expertise.
• Contact & Lead Management: Store all customer, prospect, and partner information in one place. Users can also keep a full history of communications, such as emails, calls, documents, and meeting notes.
• Task & Project Tracking: Offers lightweight task management and workflow tracking (via Cases and Tracks), but not full project management.
• Collaboration: Allows users to share notes, files, and tasks. While it doesn't offer built-in client portals, integrations with other tools can extend its collaborative capabilities.
• Automation: Automation is basic. It includes task reminders, Tracks (task sequences), and integrations via Zapier.
• Integrations: Integrates with a wide range of applications, including accounting software like Xero and QuickBooks, email platforms like Gmail, and marketing tools like Mailchimp.
• Affordability: Free plan includes two users. Paid plans start at $18 per user per month.
• Reporting & Dashboards: Offers reporting dashboards for sales pipeline, tasks, and conversions.

Read: How to Choose a CRM

CRM in Project Management: Examples

Businesses of all types and sizes combine project management and CRM software to improve operations. Here are a few examples of small businesses and solopreneurs that have successfully transformed their client relationships with the right CRM and project management combo.

Example 1: Velv Uses Monday.com to Increase Automation and Customer Satisfaction

Velv, a software development company based in Portugal, was looking for a way to deal with its disjointed workflows and manual processes. Chasing down data, sending numerous emails, and using disconnected systems cost time, slowed collaboration, and risked customer experience disruptions.

Velv chose Monday.com for project management, but soon found it could also be used to build a CRM tailored to their specific sales processes. The company now uses Monday to manage sales pipelines and post-sale workflows, performance evaluations, and even its recruitment process.

The result? An 80% drop in internal email volume, thanks to automations and updates. Velv has also seen a 60% improvement in sales tracking, as all key interactions and updates are readily available to anyone on the team.

Read the full story at Monday.com.

Example 2: Small Business / Solopreneur Hybrid Improves Customer Communication

Stuart George, founder and Creative Director at CKP Creative, needed to integrate his online business tools. He was using Trello for project management, but had his communications scattered across Gmail and Slack. Stuart knew he needed a way to better sync his business with his customers.

CKP Creative had two employees at the time, which made the financial need to consolidate the tech stack even more urgent. Stuart quickly made the choice to implement Zoho One (an all-in-one suite that bundles CRM, PM, and much more) because of the flexibility provided by the extensive apps and integrations. The company now uses a suite of integrated applications to manage both customer relationships and project workflows in a cohesive way.

As a result of the new software, the agency saw improved client communication and better internal metrics. They also saw a 60% uplift in KPIs.

Read the full story at Zoho.

Example 3: Small Digital Agency Centralizes Its Operations

Yaralink, a small digital marketing agency, was managing its work using Google Workspace and multiple apps, but the lack of integration made workflows inefficient.

The company was specifically looking for a CRM and project management software and decided to try Flowlu. Setup was simple. They were up and running in just a day, managing project workflows, invoicing, task tracking, client portals, sales funnels, and more, all within Flowlu.

And the results? A fully centralized workflow, without the need for app switching, means work is being completed faster. This helped Yaralink stay ahead in a very competitive market.

Read the full story at Flowlu.

Final Thoughts

Finding the best CRM and project management software isn’t so much about finding the “best” tool as it is about finding the one that best meets your needs. If you’re feeling overwhelmed and unsure of where to start, we can help. We’ve tested and reviewed dozens of the best CRMs and best project management tools out there to help you find the tools that will work best for you.

Or, try our Finder Tool. It makes it easy to compare software by finding most of the answers for you. All you have to do is answer a few key questions, and the Finder Tool will quickly provide a recommendation specific to your needs.