⚡ Quick Verdict:
- Pricing: Freshsales CRM starts at $9/user/month. ClickUp has a free forever plan, with paid plans from $7/user/month.
- Best for: Freshsales CRM for sales teams tracking leads, contacts and deals. ClickUp for teams that manage projects, tasks and due dates.
- Key difference: Freshsales is customer relationship management software. ClickUp is a project management platform.
- Our pick: ClickUp for most teams, scoring 4.3 against 4.0, because the free plan covers real work before you spend anything.
Freshsales CRM and ClickUp are not really competitors.
One tracks people who might buy from you.
The other tracks the work your team owes.
Small businesses still compare them every week.
That happens because both promise to hold your business operations in one place.
The gap shows up fast once you look at what each one stores.
Overview
This full Freshsales CRM vs ClickUp comparison covers pricing, core features and who each tool fits.
Our writer spent hands-on time inside ClickUp directly.
Notes on Freshsales come from Freshworks documentation plus G2 and Capterra review data.
Every price below comes from each vendor’s published plans.
By the end you will know which platform belongs in your tech stack.
What is Freshsales CRM?
Freshsales CRM is cloud-based customer relationship management software from Freshworks.
It launched in 2016 as the second major product in the Freshworks suite.
Sales teams use it to store contacts, track deals and log sales activities.
Freddy AI scores leads, predicts deal risk and suggests the next best action.
The tool is built mainly for small and medium sized businesses.
Freshworks says over 67,000 customers worldwide now run on its products.
Here is a closer look at how the platform works day to day.
Freshsales CRM
A sales CRM with Freddy AI scoring built in. Phone, email, chat and SMS sit in one inbox. The free trial runs 21 days.
Freshsales CRM Pricing
Freshsales sells three tiers. All prices are per user per month.
| Plan | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Growth | $9/user/month | Small sales teams starting with a CRM |
| Pro | $39/user/month | Growing teams that need sales sequences and deeper automation |
| Enterprise | $59/user/month | Larger teams needing audit logs and custom modules |
Pricing verified September 2026.
Free trial: 21 days on every tier. You can create a new account and explore the features with no credit card required.
Money-back guarantee: Freshworks publishes no refund window. Monthly billing lets you cancel at the end of a cycle instead.
📌 Note: Freshworks sells add ons such as extra Freddy AI credits and phone credits. Those and other features sit outside the plan price, so a $9 seat can cost more once calling is switched on.
⚠️ Pricing conflict: Third-party sources list a free plan for up to 3 users, an entry tier at $11 per user, and an Enterprise plan at $71 per user. Our CSV data is canonical, so we show $9, $39 and $59. Freshsales pricing has dropped 2 to 3 times over the years, which explains the gap. Check the Freshworks website before verifying your final cost.
Key Benefits of Freshsales CRM
Here is what makes Freshsales CRM worth a look:
- Freddy AI scoring: Freddy AI scores leads on behavior and profile. That ranking lifts conversion rates by pushing reps toward warm contacts first.
- 360-degree customer view: Every touchpoint lands on one timeline. Customer data stays centralized instead of scattered across inboxes.
- Built-in communication: Phone, email, chat and SMS run inside a unified inbox. Reps respond without leaving the record.
- Omnichannel reach: WhatsApp Business, Facebook Messenger and LINE connect directly. Marketing campaigns can then use the same collected data.
- Freshworks integration: It ties tightly to other Freshworks products like Freshdesk and Freshmarketer. Support and marketing share one contact record.
- Excellent value with real support: Reviewers rate it excellent value for money. Every plan includes 24/5 support by phone, chat and email.
What Our Team Noticed
Note: We have not had extended hands-on time with Freshsales CRM. The observations below come from Freshworks documentation and from published reviews.
Capterra and G2 reviewers average the platform at 4.5 out of 5. The intuitive interface is the most praised part, and new reps learn it quickly. The most common complaint is speed, since screens that should load in a few seconds often lag once the customer data grows.
Freshsales CRM Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- 21-day free trial on every plan with no credit card required
- Freddy AI scores leads and suggests the next best action on deals
- Phone, email, chat and SMS built into one unified inbox
- Averages 4.5 out of 5 on Capterra and G2
❌ Cons
- Around 385 integrations, fewer than HubSpot or Salesforce
- Cluttered navigation and slow loading times in daily use
- Missing functionality that HubSpot and Salesforce include
What is ClickUp?
ClickUp is project management software that holds tasks, docs, calendars and chat in one workspace.
Teams use it to plan work, assign tasks and track progress.
Work sits in a hierarchy of Spaces, Folders, Lists, Tasks and Subtasks.
You can view tasks as a list, kanban board, calendar, Gantt chart or timeline.
ClickUp Brain is the built-in AI assistant that tracks workloads and time spent.
The platform connects with over 1,000 tools, including Google Drive, Slack and Zoom.
Our ClickUp review video below shows how those pieces fit together.
🏆 Winner: ClickUp
One workspace for tasks, docs and time tracking. The free forever plan holds an unlimited number of users. Paid plans add a 30-day money-back guarantee.
ClickUp Pricing
ClickUp offers a free plan plus three paid tiers.
| Plan | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Solo workers and small teams testing the platform |
| Unlimited | $7/user/month | Smaller teams needing unlimited storage and guest access |
| Business | $12/user/month | Marketing teams running multiple projects at once |
| Enterprise | Custom | Large teams needing single sign on and HIPAA compliance |
Pricing verified September 2026.
Free trial: 15 days on the paid plans. The free forever plan is completely free, covers the essential features, and has no end date.
Money-back guarantee: 30 days on every paid plan.
📌 Note: These rates are billed annually. The Business plan adds advanced automation and API access, while the Enterprise plan adds user permissions controls, live onboarding training and HIPAA compliance.
⚠️ Warning: You upgrade your entire workspace, not single seats. Every team member moves to the paid plan together, so a five-person Business plan costs $60 per month even if only one person needs it. ClickUp’s free plan also caps custom fields at 100 uses.
Key Benefits of ClickUp
ClickUp includes a lot for the money. Here is where it earns its high score:
- Free forever plan: The free plan supports unlimited users, which is rare among project management tools. Small businesses can run real projects on it.
- One place for everything: Tasks, docs, calendars and team communication live together. Less tool switching means fewer dropped handoffs.
- Flexible views: List, Board, Calendar, Gantt and Timeline cover most workflows. Gantt charts help on complex projects with dependencies.
- Time tracking built in: Native timers and manual logging track billable hours against estimates. Workload views help prevent burnout.
- Automation to save time: Over 100 pre-built automation templates handle repetitive steps. Custom rules cover the rest.
- Learning resources: ClickUp University, a knowledge base and live chat back new users up. Over 1,000 templates cover common workflows.
What Our Team Noticed
Our writer signed up for ClickUp and used it to manage projects across several months of client work. Here is what stood out from that hands-on time:
ClickUp Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- Free forever plan supports an unlimited number of users
- Over 1,000 integrations, including Google Drive, Slack and Zoom
- Time tracking, docs, chat and a whiteboard feature are all built in
- 30-day money-back guarantee on every paid plan
❌ Cons
- The interface is complex and overwhelming for new users
- Reporting tools are scattered across the platform and hard to find
- No phone support on any plan, only live chat and a knowledge base
Feature Comparison
These two tools overlap less than the search results suggest. The table below shows where each one actually competes, and the sections after it explain why.
| Feature | Freshsales CRM | ClickUp |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $9/user/month | Free, then $7/user/month |
| Free Plan | ❌ (21-day free trial) | ✅ Free forever |
| Deal Pipeline | ✅ | ❌ |
| Task Management | ❌ | ✅ |
| Time Tracking | ❌ | ✅ |
| Built-in Phone & SMS | ✅ | ❌ |
| AI Assistant | ✅ Freddy AI | ✅ ClickUp Brain |
| Gantt Charts | ❌ | ✅ |
| Integrations | ~385 | 1,000+ |
| Best For | Sales teams closing deals | Teams running projects |
1. Contact and Deal Management
Freshsales CRM: This is the core of the product. Every contact record holds a full history of calls, emails and sales activities. Deals move through named stages, and the record shows who touched the account and when.
ClickUp: There is no contact object. Teams build a CRM-style list with custom fields, which works for a handful of deals but breaks down past a few hundred contacts. Deal history has to be typed into task comments.
2. Pipelines, Boards and Views
Freshsales CRM: The visual pipeline uses Kanban boards built for revenue. You drag deals between stages and spot bottlenecks fast. The views are fixed to sales, so there is no way to reshape them for other work.
ClickUp: The same data set renders as a list, kanban board, calendar, Gantt chart or timeline. Gantt charts handle dependencies on complex projects. Switching views takes one click and nothing needs rebuilding.
3. AI Assistants
Freshsales CRM: Freddy AI scores leads on behavior and profile, flags deals at risk and recommends the next best action to close. The scoring is the useful part, since it tells a rep which contacts to call before a human even opens the list.
ClickUp: ClickUp Brain is an AI assistant aimed at work, not revenue. It summarizes threads, drafts updates and answers questions about who is doing what. It will not tell you which lead is worth calling.
4. Automation
Freshsales CRM: Automation here removes repetitive admin from reps. Smart AI agents assign leads, update fields and trigger follow-ups so nobody sits waiting on manual data entry.
ClickUp: Over 100 pre-built automation templates cover status changes, assignments and new tasks. Custom rules chain triggers to actions across a whole Space, which saves real time on recurring project work.
5. Email and Team Communication
Freshsales CRM: You send personalized bulk emails and monitor opens and clicks on each one. WhatsApp Business, Facebook Messenger and LINE plug in, so reps respond wherever the customer started the conversation.
ClickUp: The communication features point inward at your team. Chat, comments, docs with real time editing and an AI Notetaker for meetings keep discussion attached to the work. There is no outbound email marketing.
6. Lead Capture and Templates
Freshsales CRM: Web forms capture leads straight from your site into the CRM, with event tracking that records what the visitor viewed first. That context lands on the contact record before anyone calls.
ClickUp: Over 1,000 templates cover sprints, content calendars and onboarding. You can also import data from Asana, Trello or a spreadsheet during setup, which cuts the first week of work down to an afternoon.
7. Sequences vs Time Tracking
Freshsales CRM: Sales sequences run multi-step outreach on a schedule and stop when a prospect replies. It has no time tracking at all, so agencies billing by the hour need a second tool.
ClickUp: Native timers and manual logging track billable hours against estimates, and workload views handle resource management across a team. Reviewers note the timers can feel clunky compared with dedicated trackers.
Scheduling sits next to that, and it is where each due date gets set.
⚠️ Warning: ClickUp schedules tasks, not people. It lacks true employee scheduling, so shift planning still needs separate business software.
8. Reporting, Search and Support
Freshsales CRM: Around a dozen predefined sales reports ship ready to edit, covering forecasting and team performance. Support runs 24/5 by phone, chat and email on every plan, and Freshdesk OMNI extends the same record into service.
ClickUp: Dashboards track KPIs, team capacity and project health in real time, and Enterprise Search pulls results from tasks, docs and connected apps. Reporting tools are scattered across the platform, and support is live chat only after an AI chatbot.
9. Integrations and Security
Freshsales CRM: The marketplace holds around 385 integrations and apps, including Google, Microsoft 365, Slack and Zoom. Any connection to other Freshworks products is tight, but third-party coverage is thinner than HubSpot’s.
ClickUp: Over 1,000 integrations cover Google Drive, Slack and Zoom, and the mobile app adds offline access. On security, ClickUp supports two-factor authentication and user permissions, with single sign on reserved for the Enterprise plan.
10. Pricing & Cost
Here are the plans side by side, straight from each vendor.
| Tier | Freshsales CRM | ClickUp |
|---|---|---|
| Free | ❌ | $0 |
| Entry | Growth: $9/user/month | Unlimited: $7/user/month |
| Mid | Pro: $39/user/month | Business: $12/user/month |
| Top | Enterprise: $59/user/month | Enterprise: Custom |
Freshsales CRM: The $9 Growth seat is fair for CRM software, and reviewers call it excellent value for money. The jump to Pro at $39 is steep, and that is the tier where sales sequences and deeper automation live.
ClickUp: The gap between the Unlimited plan and the Business plan is only $5 per user, so upgrading rarely hurts. ClickUp plans stay flat as you grow, and the free tier means a five-person team can start at zero cost.
💡 Pro Tip: Both vendors offer discounts on annual billing. Run the 21-day Freshsales free trial and ClickUp’s free plan in the same week, on the same real project, before you pay either one.
Different Scenarios
| If You Need… | Choose | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Zero budget to start | ClickUp | Free forever plan, unlimited users |
| Deal pipeline and lead scoring | Freshsales CRM | Freddy AI ranks every lead |
| Task management for a team | ClickUp | Built for projects, not deals |
| Calling and texting customers | Freshsales CRM | Phone and SMS built in |
| Billable hours tracked | ClickUp | Native timers and estimates |
| Phone support from the vendor | Freshsales CRM | 24/5 by phone on all plans |
💰 Your Budget
The free plan packs enough features for a whole team to work at no cost. Freshsales has no free tier, so budget from day 22 at $9 per user.
🔌 Your Tech Stack
Already running Freshdesk or Freshmarketer? Freshsales shares records with other Freshworks products out of the box. Everyone else gets wider coverage from ClickUp’s 1,000+ integrations.
📝 Your Daily Work
If your day is calls, follow-ups and quotes, you need a CRM. If your day is briefs, handoffs and deadlines, you need project management tools.
🎓 Your Experience Level
Freshsales is easier on day one thanks to a simpler layout. ClickUp’s features take longer to learn, though ClickUp University and live training shorten that curve.
🆓 Free Trials and Demos
Freshsales gives 21 days across all tiers. ClickUp gives 15 days on any paid plan, plus a free tier you can keep forever.
🛟 Support Options
Freshsales answers by phone, chat and email 24/5 on every plan. ClickUp has no phone support, so urgent issues go through chat and the knowledge base.
Switching Guide
Already on one of them? Here is what changes.
🔄 Switching from Freshsales CRM to ClickUp?
✅ What you’ll gain:
- A free forever plan with an unlimited number of users
- Real task management with Gantt charts and workload views
- Time tracking, docs and a whiteboard feature in one place
❌ What you’ll lose:
- Freddy AI lead scoring and deal risk alerts
- Built-in phone, SMS and WhatsApp channels
- Phone support and the shared Freshworks record
📋 How to switch:
- Export contacts, deals and notes from Freshsales as CSV
- Create a ClickUp account and pick a CRM template
- Import data into a List and map fields to custom fields
🔄 Switching from ClickUp to Freshsales CRM?
✅ What you’ll gain:
- A real pipeline with stages, forecasting and deal history
- Freddy AI scoring so reps call the warmest leads first
- Calling, SMS and messaging apps inside one unified inbox
❌ What you’ll lose:
- The free plan and unlimited storage on paid tiers
- Task views, docs, chat and built-in time tracking
- Roughly 600 integrations, including deep developer tools
📋 How to switch:
- Export your CRM List from ClickUp to CSV
- Start the 21-day Freshsales trial and set your deal stages
- Import contacts, then connect email and calling
What Our Review Didn’t Cover
This comparison focused on small businesses and smaller teams. We did not test Freshsales at 200 seats, and we did not push ClickUp through a full sprint cycle with a development team. Custom Enterprise plan quotes, migration services and any new features shipped after September 2026 sit outside what we checked. If you run a regulated business, verify compliance terms directly with each vendor.
Final Verdict
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| 💰 Pricing | ClickUp |
| 🚀 Core Features | Tie (different jobs) |
| 🎯 Lead and Deal Handling | Freshsales CRM |
| 📋 Task and Project Work | ClickUp |
| 👶 Ease of Use | Freshsales CRM |
| 🔌 Integrations | ClickUp |
| 🛟 Support | Freshsales CRM |
| 🏆 Overall Winner | ClickUp |
🏆 WINNER: CLICKUP
ClickUp wins 3 of 7 categories and ties a fourth, scoring 4.3 against 4.0.
Best for: Managing projects, task management for marketing teams, tracking billable hours
ClickUp takes the overall win, but the margin is narrower than the scorecard suggests. It wins because more teams need somewhere to manage tasks than need a sales pipeline, and because the free tier removes the risk of trying.
Freshsales CRM is the better product at its own job. If your revenue depends on calling leads and moving deals forward, no amount of custom fields in ClickUp will match a purpose-built CRM.
Plenty of teams end up running both. Freshsales holds the customers, ClickUp holds the work, and a Zapier connection keeps the two in step.
More of Freshsales CRM Compared
Here is how Freshsales holds up against the other CRM software people shortlist:
Freshsales wins on: Cheaper paid seats at $9, phone and SMS included at entry level, 24/5 support on every plan
HubSpot wins on: A genuinely usable free CRM tier, a far larger app marketplace, stronger inbound marketing tooling
Freshsales wins on: Cleaner interface for new reps, Freddy AI scoring on lower tiers, a longer 21-day trial
Zoho wins on: Deeper customization per module, a much broader suite of business apps, lower cost at the top tier
Freshsales wins on: Built-in calling and messaging channels, AI scoring at no extra cost, tighter link to support tools
Pipedrive wins on: Faster screens under load, a simpler pipeline-first layout, more third-party sales add ons
Freshsales wins on: Setup measured in days not months, no admin headcount required, far lower entry price
Salesforce wins on: Depth of reporting and forecasting, thousands of certified apps, functionality Freshsales still lacks
This video walks through the closest alternatives in more detail.
More of ClickUp Compared
And here is where ClickUp sits among rival project management platforms:
ClickUp vs Asana
ClickUp wins on: A free plan without a seat cap, time tracking included at no cost, more view types per list
Asana wins on: A calmer interface new hires grasp faster, steadier performance on huge boards, cleaner portfolio reporting
ClickUp vs Monday.com
ClickUp wins on: Better value per seat, docs and chat bundled in, no minimum seat count on paid tiers
Monday.com wins on: A friendlier first hour, more polished board design, a gentler learning curve for non-technical staff
ClickUp vs Trello
ClickUp wins on: Handling complex tasks and dependencies, native reporting dashboards, built-in goals and time estimates
Trello wins on: Ten-minute setup, almost nothing to learn, a lighter fit for solo workers and short lists
ClickUp wins on: Purpose-built task tracking, automation rules that fire reliably, workload and capacity views
Notion wins on: Documents and wikis, a cleaner writing surface, flexible databases for knowledge work
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Freshsales a CRM?
Yes. It is a cloud-based customer relationship management platform from Freshworks, built to store contacts, track deals and run sales activities for small and medium sized businesses.
Is ClickUp actually free?
Yes. The Free Forever plan is completely free and allows unlimited users. Custom fields are capped at 100 uses, and advanced automation, dashboards and guest access need a paid plan.
How much does ClickUp cost?
Free is $0. The Unlimited plan is $7 per user per month, Business is $12 per user per month, and the Enterprise plan is custom priced.
What are the advantages of Freshsales?
Freddy AI lead scoring, built-in phone and SMS, a 21-day free trial and 24/5 support on every tier. Reviewers rate it 4.5 out of 5 on Capterra.
What is ClickUp best for?
Teams running multiple projects who want tasks, docs, goals and time tracking in one workspace. It suits marketing teams and agencies better than it suits sales teams.
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