The best Zendesk Sell alternatives are HubSpot CRM, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, Salesforce Starter, Freshsales, Close, Insightly, and monday sales CRM, depending on budget, sales process, and support needs.
TLDR: Zendesk Sell works well for basic sales tracking, but many teams want deeper automation, better reporting, or lower costs. A 12-person sales team, for example, might save 20 to 30 hours per month by switching from manual follow-ups to automated sequences in HubSpot, Pipedrive, or Freshsales. For simple pipeline work, Pipedrive is often the cleanest pick. For larger growth plans, Salesforce or Zoho CRM may fit better.
Zendesk Sell is useful for managing contacts, deals, and follow-ups. Still, it can feel limited when sales teams need richer workflows, advanced forecasting, or tighter marketing tools. Some users also dislike how common actions take extra clicks. It drives sales reps crazy when updating a deal stage takes five or six seconds longer than it should, especially when they do it 80 times a day.
Below are eight strong CRM options for teams that want a better way to manage leads, customer relationships, sales activity, and revenue forecasts.
1. HubSpot CRM
Best for: teams that want sales, marketing, and service tools in one place.
HubSpot CRM is one of the most popular Zendesk Sell alternatives because it starts with a strong free plan. It gives teams contact management, pipeline tracking, email templates, meeting links, live chat, and basic reporting.
Its biggest strength is the link between sales and marketing. Leads can come from forms, ads, landing pages, email campaigns, and chat. Sales reps can then see each touchpoint before making contact.
- Pros: generous free plan, clean interface, strong marketing tools.
- Cons: paid plans can become expensive as contact lists grow.
- Good fit: startups, SaaS companies, agencies, and inbound sales teams.
2. Pipedrive
Best for: sales teams that want a simple visual pipeline.
Pipedrive is built around deal movement. Reps can drag deals from one stage to another, log calls, schedule activities, and see what needs attention next. It is less cluttered than many large CRMs, which makes adoption easier.
Its automation tools help with repetitive work. For example, when a deal moves to “Proposal Sent,” Pipedrive can create a follow-up task three days later. That saves managers from chasing reps for updates.
- Pros: easy pipeline view, fast setup, strong activity reminders.
- Cons: marketing features are lighter than HubSpot or Zoho.
- Good fit: small sales teams, consultants, B2B service firms.
3. Zoho CRM
Best for: budget-conscious teams that still need deep customization.
Zoho CRM offers a wide range of features at a fair price. It includes lead scoring, workflow rules, email tracking, sales forecasting, reports, and AI assistance on higher plans. It also connects with Zoho’s other apps for email, finance, projects, and support.
The catch is that setup can take time. Zoho has many settings, fields, modules, and permissions. That power is useful, but it can feel heavy for a team that only wants a basic contact list and pipeline.
- Pros: strong value, many features, flexible customization.
- Cons: interface can feel busy for new users.
- Good fit: growing companies, remote teams, firms using other Zoho apps.
4. Salesforce Starter
Best for: companies that expect to grow into a larger CRM system.
Salesforce Starter gives smaller teams access to the Salesforce ecosystem without starting with a complex enterprise setup. It supports account management, opportunity tracking, email integration, dashboards, and basic automation.
Salesforce is strong when teams need structure, compliance, and detailed reporting. It also has a huge app marketplace. The downside is cost and setup effort. Even the simpler plans can feel more formal than tools like Pipedrive or monday sales CRM.
- Pros: scalable, trusted, strong reporting, many integrations.
- Cons: can require admin support as needs grow.
- Good fit: B2B firms, finance teams, larger sales organizations.
5. Freshsales
Best for: teams that want built-in phone, email, chat, and lead scoring.
Freshsales, from Freshworks, is a practical alternative to Zendesk Sell for teams that want sales communication inside the CRM. Reps can call, email, track activity, and manage deals from one system.
Its AI-based lead scoring helps sales teams focus on contacts most likely to buy. It also supports workflows, custom fields, pipelines, and sales sequences. The interface is fairly clean, though some advanced settings may take trial and error.
- Pros: built-in communication tools, lead scoring, fair pricing.
- Cons: reporting may feel limited for complex sales operations.
- Good fit: inside sales teams, support-led sales teams, SMBs.
6. Close
Best for: outbound sales teams that call and email all day.
Close is designed for speed. It combines CRM records, calling, SMS, email sequences, and task management. Reps do not need to jump between a dialer, inbox, spreadsheet, and CRM. Honestly, it feels like a relief for teams tired of copying call notes into separate tools.
Close works best when outreach volume matters. It is less suited for firms that need complex account hierarchies or very detailed project records after a sale.
- Pros: excellent calling tools, fast outreach, strong email sequences.
- Cons: less ideal for account-heavy sales processes.
- Good fit: SDR teams, outbound agencies, startup sales teams.
7. Insightly
Best for: teams that manage both sales and post-sale projects.
Insightly combines CRM features with project management. This makes it useful for companies that sell services and then need to deliver work after the deal closes. A won opportunity can become a project, with tasks, milestones, and owners.
It includes lead routing, workflow automation, relationship linking, email sync, and reporting. Its project tools are not as deep as standalone project systems, but they are enough for many service teams.
- Pros: sales plus project tracking, good relationship mapping.
- Cons: interface can feel less modern than newer CRMs.
- Good fit: agencies, consultancies, implementation teams.
8. monday sales CRM
Best for: teams that want a visual, flexible sales workspace.
monday sales CRM is built on monday.com’s work management platform. It gives teams boards for leads, contacts, deals, activities, and accounts. Users can customize columns, automations, views, and dashboards without much technical skill.
It is especially useful for teams that dislike rigid CRM layouts. Sales managers can create board views for pipelines, forecasts, territories, or renewals. The tradeoff is that too much customization can create messy boards if no one owns the process.
- Pros: highly visual, flexible, easy automation builder.
- Cons: needs clear rules to stay organized.
- Good fit: creative teams, agencies, startups, operations-heavy teams.
How to Choose the Right Zendesk Sell Alternative
The best choice depends on the sales process, not just feature lists. A team making 300 outbound calls per day should consider Close. A firm with strong marketing needs should compare HubSpot and Zoho. A company planning a large sales operation may prefer Salesforce.
Pricing also matters. Some CRMs look cheap at first, then charge more for automation, reports, calling, or extra contacts. Teams should check the total cost for at least 12 months before switching.
Migration is another key point. Contacts, notes, tasks, deal stages, and custom fields must move cleanly. A messy import can hurt sales activity for weeks. Before going live, teams should test with a small data sample and confirm that reports still make sense.
Quick Comparison
- Best free CRM: HubSpot CRM.
- Best simple pipeline: Pipedrive.
- Best value for features: Zoho CRM.
- Best for scaling: Salesforce Starter.
- Best built-in communication: Freshsales.
- Best outbound sales tool: Close.
- Best sales-to-project handoff: Insightly.
- Best visual workspace: monday sales CRM.
FAQ
What is the best Zendesk Sell alternative?
HubSpot CRM is often the best all-around alternative because it combines sales, marketing, service, and reporting tools. Pipedrive is better for teams that only need a clean sales pipeline.
Which Zendesk Sell alternative is cheapest?
HubSpot offers a free plan, while Zoho CRM is usually one of the best low-cost paid options. The cheapest choice depends on users, contacts, and required features.
Is Pipedrive better than Zendesk Sell?
Pipedrive may be better for teams that want faster deal tracking and easier pipeline management. Zendesk Sell may still suit teams already using Zendesk support tools.
Which CRM is best for outbound sales?
Close is a strong pick for outbound sales because it includes calling, SMS, email sequences, and sales activity tracking in one platform.
Can companies migrate data from Zendesk Sell to another CRM?
Yes. Most CRMs support CSV imports or assisted migration. Teams should export contacts, leads, deals, notes, tasks, and custom fields, then test the import before moving all data.