Customer Relationship Management

15 Best CRM Tools for Customer Service Teams

Hana Mohan
15 Best CRM Tools for Customer Service Teams

Most CRM platforms are built with sales teams in mind. They track deals, manage pipelines, and forecast revenue. But customer service teams have different needs. They need to pull up a customer's full history in seconds, connect support tickets to contact records, and collaborate across channels without losing context.

A CRM for customer service bridges the gap between your sales data and your support workflows. Instead of switching between a help desk and a separate contact database, teams get a unified view of every interaction a customer has had with the company. The result is faster responses, fewer repeated questions, and stronger customer relationships over time.

In this article, we cover 15 CRM tools that work well for customer service teams, what features to prioritize, and how to connect your CRM to your help desk for a seamless support workflow.

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Key Features to Look For

Not every CRM is suited for customer service work. When evaluating options, look for these capabilities:

  • Contact management with interaction history: Your team should be able to see every email, call, and ticket associated with a customer from one screen. This eliminates the need to ask customers to repeat themselves.
  • Ticket or case integration: The CRM should either include built-in ticketing or integrate tightly with your help desk software so support requests are linked to customer records.
  • Shared inbox support: Teams that manage support over email benefit from a CRM that works alongside a shared inbox, keeping conversations visible and assigned.
  • Workflow automation: Look for tools that automate repetitive tasks like ticket routing, follow-up reminders, and status updates. This frees agents to focus on the customer instead of admin work.
  • Reporting and analytics: Tracking customer satisfaction metrics such as response times, resolution rates, and customer satisfaction scores helps identify where your team can improve.
  • Multi-channel support: Customers reach out via email, chat, social media, and phone. A service-oriented CRM should capture interactions from all these channels in one place.
  • Knowledge base integration: Connecting your CRM to a knowledge base lets agents quickly reference help articles and share them with customers during conversations.

15 Best CRM Tools for Customer Service

1. HubSpot CRM

HubSpot CRM offers a free tier that includes contact management, deal tracking, and a ticketing system through its Service Hub. For customer service teams, the unified timeline shows every interaction a contact has had, from marketing emails to support tickets. The free plan is generous enough for small teams, and the Service Hub adds features like a knowledge base, customer feedback surveys, and conversation routing as you scale.

Key Features:

  • Unified contact timeline across sales, marketing, and service
  • Built-in ticketing system and conversation inbox
  • Customer feedback surveys and NPS tracking

Best For: Small to mid-sized teams that want a free CRM with room to grow into a full service suite.

Cost: Free - $150/user per month (Service Hub)

2. Salesforce Service Cloud

Salesforce Service Cloud is the service-focused product within the Salesforce ecosystem. It provides case management, omnichannel routing, and AI-powered recommendations through Einstein. For teams already using Salesforce for sales, Service Cloud gives agents access to the full customer record without switching platforms. The AppExchange marketplace adds thousands of integrations for extending functionality.

Key Features:

  • AI-powered case classification and routing
  • Omnichannel support across email, chat, phone, and social
  • Customizable dashboards and reporting

Best For: Mid-sized to enterprise teams that need deep customization and already use Salesforce.

Cost: $25 - $330/user per month

3. Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM is part of the broader Zoho ecosystem, which includes Zoho Desk for help desk support. When paired together, agents can view CRM contact details directly inside support tickets and vice versa. Zoho CRM includes workflow automation, AI-powered predictions through Zia, and multi-channel communication tools. The pricing is competitive, making it accessible for smaller teams.

Key Features:

  • Tight integration with Zoho Desk for unified support
  • AI assistant (Zia) for predictions and anomaly detection
  • Workflow automation with custom rules and triggers

Best For: Teams looking for an affordable, integrated CRM and help desk from a single vendor.

Cost: Free - $52/user per month

4. Freshworks CRM (Freshsales + Freshdesk)

Freshworks offers Freshsales for CRM and Freshdesk for customer support, and the two products integrate closely. The Freshworks Customer Service Suite bundles both capabilities together, giving agents a single view of customer data alongside support tickets. The AI engine, Freddy, helps with lead scoring, ticket prioritization, and suggested responses.

Key Features:

  • Unified customer view across sales and support
  • AI-powered ticket prioritization and response suggestions
  • Built-in phone, email, and chat channels

Best For: Teams that want CRM and help desk functionality from a single platform with strong AI features.

Cost: Free - $69/user per month (Freshsales); Freshdesk from $15/agent per month

5. Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a sales-focused CRM known for its visual pipeline management. For customer service, Pipedrive is useful when support teams need visibility into deal stages and customer context. It integrates with help desk tools to link support conversations to contact records. SupportBee users can connect Pipedrive through the Pipedrive integration to sync customer data between both platforms.

Key Features:

  • Visual deal pipeline with drag-and-drop interface
  • Activity-based workflow automation
  • Contact timeline with full communication history

Best For: Sales-driven teams where customer service agents need deal context to provide better support.

Cost: $14 - $99/user per month

6. Capsule CRM

Capsule CRM focuses on simplicity and relationship management. It gives teams a clear view of contacts, organizations, and communication history without the complexity of larger platforms. The task management features help service teams track follow-ups, and the integration options connect Capsule to popular help desk and email tools. SupportBee users can link customer records through the Capsule CRM integration.

Key Features:

  • Clean contact management with custom fields and tags
  • Task tracking and follow-up reminders
  • Sales pipeline alongside customer interaction history

Best For: Small teams that want a straightforward CRM without a steep learning curve.

Cost: Free - $72/user per month

7. Insightly

Insightly combines CRM with project management, which makes it useful for service teams that handle ongoing client projects alongside support requests. The relationship linking feature connects contacts, organizations, and projects so agents can see the full picture. SupportBee integrates with Insightly through the Insightly integration, allowing teams to create and update CRM records directly from support tickets.

Key Features:

  • Relationship linking between contacts, organizations, and projects
  • Project management tools built into the CRM
  • Customizable dashboards and reports

Best For: Service teams that manage both support tickets and client projects.

Cost: Free - $99/user per month

8. Kustomer

Kustomer was built from the ground up as a customer service CRM. Unlike traditional CRMs adapted for support, Kustomer centers its interface around a timeline view of every customer interaction across all channels. This includes emails, chats, phone calls, social messages, and order history. The platform uses AI to classify and route conversations, and agents can take action without switching between tools.

Key Features:

  • Omnichannel timeline view of every customer interaction
  • AI-powered classification, routing, and suggested responses
  • Built-in knowledge base and self-service portal

Best For: Support-first teams that want a CRM designed specifically for customer service rather than adapted from sales.

Cost: $89/user per month

9. Monday CRM

Monday CRM is built on top of the Monday.com work management platform. It offers customizable boards for tracking contacts, deals, and customer interactions. For service teams, the flexibility of Monday's board system means you can build custom workflows for support tracking, escalation management, and follow-ups. The visual interface makes it easy to see the status of every customer interaction at a glance.

Key Features:

  • Highly customizable boards and workflow automations
  • Visual dashboards for tracking team performance
  • Integration with email, calendar, and third-party apps

Best For: Teams that already use Monday.com for project management and want CRM capabilities in the same platform.

Cost: $12 - $28/user per month

10. Zendesk Sell + Support

Zendesk Sell is the CRM component of the Zendesk suite, and it integrates directly with Zendesk Support. When both products are used together, agents can see sales context alongside support tickets. The Sell sidebar within Support tickets shows deal information, contact details, and recent activity. This is useful for teams where sales and support overlap, such as account management or customer success.

Key Features:

  • Integrated CRM sidebar within Zendesk Support tickets
  • Sales pipeline management with email and call tracking
  • Unified reporting across sales and support

Best For: Teams already using Zendesk Support that want to add CRM capabilities without switching platforms.

Cost: $19 - $169/user per month (Sell); Support plans from $19/agent per month

11. Agile CRM

Agile CRM is an all-in-one platform that bundles sales, marketing, and service tools into a single product. The service module includes help desk ticketing, canned responses, and a knowledge base. For small teams, the free plan supports up to 10 users with basic CRM and help desk features. The marketing automation tools are a bonus for teams that handle both outbound campaigns and inbound support.

Key Features:

  • Help desk ticketing with smart views and prioritization
  • Marketing automation alongside service tools
  • Integration with Google Apps and social media channels

Best For: Small teams that need CRM, marketing, and service tools in one affordable package.

Cost: Free - $47.99/user per month

12. SugarCRM

SugarCRM offers separate products for sales (Sugar Sell), marketing (Sugar Market), and service (Sugar Serve). Sugar Serve provides case management, SLA tracking, and a self-service portal for customers. The platform emphasizes letting "the platform do the work" through AI-powered predictions and automation that reduce manual data entry and surface actionable insights for agents.

Key Features:

  • SLA management and case routing
  • AI-powered predictions for customer churn and case escalation
  • Self-service portal and knowledge base

Best For: Mid-sized teams that want AI-driven automation and separate modules for sales, marketing, and service.

Cost: $19 - $135/user per month

13. Copper CRM

Copper CRM is designed to work natively inside Google Workspace. It lives in a sidebar within Gmail and Google Calendar, which means agents can manage contacts, log interactions, and update records without leaving their inbox. For service teams that rely heavily on Gmail for customer communication, Copper eliminates the context-switching that comes with a separate CRM interface.

Key Features:

  • Native Google Workspace integration (Gmail, Calendar, Drive)
  • Automatic contact and activity logging from email
  • Pipeline management with custom stages

Best For: Teams that run their support and communication through Google Workspace.

Cost: $9 - $134/user per month

14. Nimble

Nimble is a relationship-focused CRM that automatically enriches contact records with social media profiles, company data, and interaction history. The browser extension and email sidebar let agents access contact details from anywhere they work. For service teams, Nimble is useful for maintaining rich customer profiles without manual data entry, which helps personalize support interactions.

Key Features:

  • Automatic contact enrichment from social media and web data
  • Browser extension for accessing CRM data from any website
  • Unified inbox for email and social messaging

Best For: Teams that value relationship context and want automated contact enrichment without manual entry.

Cost: $24.90/user per month

15. Bitrix24

Bitrix24 is a comprehensive business platform that includes CRM, project management, communication tools, and a contact center. The CRM handles contacts, deals, and customer interactions, while the built-in contact center supports email, phone, live chat, and social media channels. For smaller teams, the free plan includes basic CRM and communication features for up to 5 users.

Key Features:

  • Built-in contact center with phone, chat, and social channels
  • CRM with pipeline management and workflow automation
  • Team collaboration tools including chat, video calls, and task management

Best For: Teams that want an all-in-one platform covering CRM, communication, and project management.

Cost: Free - $399/month (for the organization, not per user)

How to Choose the Right CRM for Your Team

With 15 options on the table, narrowing down the right CRM comes down to a few practical questions:

What size is your team? Smaller teams often benefit from simpler tools like Capsule CRM or Nimble that are quick to set up and easy to learn. Larger teams may need the customization and scalability of Salesforce Service Cloud or SugarCRM.

Do you need a CRM and help desk in one, or separate tools? Platforms like Kustomer, Freshworks, and Agile CRM bundle both capabilities together. If you already have a help desk you like, look for a CRM that integrates well with it rather than replacing your existing setup.

What channels do your customers use? If most of your support comes through email, a CRM that works well with a shared inbox tool will serve you better than one optimized for phone and chat.

What is your budget? Several CRMs on this list offer free tiers, including HubSpot, Zoho, Agile CRM, and Bitrix24. These are good starting points, but review the limitations of free plans before committing.

How important are integrations? If your team already uses specific tools for email, project management, or communication, check whether the CRM connects to them. A CRM that fits into your existing workflow will see higher adoption than one that requires your team to change how they work.

Integrating Your CRM with a Help Desk

A CRM becomes significantly more useful for customer service when it is connected to your help desk. Without integration, agents end up toggling between systems, copying customer details from one screen to another, and losing time that could be spent helping customers.

SupportBee integrates with several CRM platforms to bring customer data directly into support tickets. When a new ticket arrives, agents can see the customer's CRM profile, past interactions, and account details without leaving SupportBee. This makes it easier to personalize responses and resolve issues quickly.

SupportBee offers direct integrations with three CRM platforms:

  • Capsule CRM — View and create Capsule contacts and cases directly from SupportBee tickets.
  • Insightly — Link SupportBee tickets to Insightly contacts and create tasks or notes in your CRM.
  • Pipedrive — Access Pipedrive deal and contact information alongside your support conversations.

These integrations give your service team the context they need without forcing them to switch between tools. If your CRM is not listed, SupportBee's API and third-party connectors like Zapier can help you build a custom connection.

For a deeper look at how customer service software fits into your support stack, including help desk, chat, and social tools, check out our comprehensive guide.

Final Thoughts

The right CRM for customer service is one that gives your team fast access to customer context, reduces manual busywork, and connects to the tools you already use. Whether you choose a service-first platform like Kustomer or a flexible option like HubSpot CRM, the key is to make sure your customer data flows between your CRM and your help desk without friction.

If your team manages customer support through email, SupportBee's shared inbox pairs well with CRM tools to keep conversations organized and customer records accessible. Try SupportBee to see how a simple, collaborative help desk can complement your CRM and improve your team's customer retention efforts.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a CRM for customer service?

A CRM for customer service is a software platform that helps support teams manage customer interactions by combining contact records, communication history, and support tickets in one place. Unlike sales-focused CRMs that emphasize pipeline management and deal tracking, a service-oriented CRM prioritizes quick access to customer context, multi-channel communication, and integration with help desk tools. This helps agents resolve issues faster and deliver more personalized support.

What are the best CRM tools used in customer service?

The best CRM tools for customer service include HubSpot CRM, Salesforce Service Cloud, Zoho CRM, Freshworks (Freshsales + Freshdesk), Kustomer, and Zendesk Sell + Support. The right choice depends on your team size, budget, and whether you need a standalone CRM or an integrated CRM and help desk solution. For a broader look at customer service software beyond CRM, see our guide to the best customer service software tools.

Can you use a CRM as a help desk?

Some CRMs include help desk features such as ticketing, case management, and knowledge bases. Platforms like Kustomer, Agile CRM, and Freshworks bundle CRM and help desk capabilities together. However, a dedicated help desk tool like SupportBee typically provides a more streamlined support experience, especially for email-based workflows. Many teams get the best results by using a CRM and help desk together through integrations.

What CRM tools are used in BPO?

Business process outsourcing (BPO) companies typically use CRM tools that support high-volume customer interactions across multiple channels. Popular choices include Salesforce Service Cloud for its scalability and customization, Zoho CRM for cost-effectiveness, Bitrix24 for its built-in contact center, and Freshworks for its combined CRM and help desk capabilities. BPO operations often prioritize features like omnichannel routing, workflow automation, and detailed reporting to manage large support teams efficiently.

What is the best CRM with a shared inbox?

For teams that manage customer support through email, a CRM that integrates with a shared inbox tool provides the best experience. HubSpot CRM includes a built-in conversation inbox, and tools like Copper CRM work natively inside Gmail. For dedicated shared inbox functionality, pairing a CRM with SupportBee's shared inbox gives teams both customer context and collaborative email management in one workflow.