⚡ Quick Verdict:
- Pricing: Both start at $9 per user per month. Freshsales CRM climbs to $59, Monday CRM stops at $19.
- Best for: Freshsales CRM suits sales teams that want Freddy AI and built-in calling. Monday CRM suits teams that also run projects.
- Key difference: Freshsales is pure customer relationship management. Monday CRM sits on top of work management tools.
- Our pick: Monday CRM, rated 4.2 against 4.0, because the same board handles deals and project management.
Two tools priced the same can still pull your team in opposite directions.
Freshsales CRM was built by Freshworks for one job: closing deals.
Monday CRM started life as one of the better known project management tools.
That history shapes how each one stores customer data and tracks sales activities.
This Freshsales CRM vs Monday CRM comparison shows which fits your business, your budget, and your team.
Overview
We compared pricing, key features, ease of use, and support on both platforms.
Our sources are the vendor documentation, published pricing pages, and G2 and Capterra reviews.
Neither product has a hands-on write-up from our writers yet.
So every claim below points back to a published source, not a private test.
By the end you will know which CRM software matches how your team works.
What is Freshsales CRM?
Freshsales CRM is an AI-powered customer relationship management platform from Freshworks.
It launched in 2016 as the second major product in the Freshworks line-up.
The cloud-based tool centralises customer data, contacts, and every touchpoint in one timeline.
Sales teams get visual pipelines, sales sequences, and Freddy AI lead scoring.
Freshworks says more than 67,000 customers worldwide use its products.
Most buyers are small and medium sized businesses that want CRM software without a heavy setup.
Freshsales CRM
Built for sales teams that live inside one pipeline. Freddy AI scores leads and flags deals at risk. The 21-day free trial covers every tier.
Freshsales CRM Pricing
Three paid plans, all billed per user. Here is the current structure.
| Plan | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Growth | $9/user/month | Small business teams starting with a CRM |
| Pro | $39/user/month | Growing sales teams that need automation |
| Enterprise | $59/user/month | Larger teams wanting advanced reporting |
Pricing verified September 2026.
Free trial: 21 days across every tier, with no credit card required to create a new account.
Money-back guarantee: Freshworks does not publish a blanket refund window. Cancel before renewal to avoid the next charge.
📌 Note: A free plan covers up to 3 users with most core features. Freshsales pricing has dropped two to three times over the years, which is why reviewers call it excellent value for money.
⚠️ Pricing conflict: Some sources list the entry paid plan at $11 per user per month and the Enterprise plan at $71. Our CSV records $9 and $59, and those are the figures used in every table here. Check the vendor page before you buy, since regional pricing and add ons shift the total.
Key Benefits of Freshsales CRM
Here is what pulls buyers toward Freshsales:
- Freddy AI: Scores leads on behaviour and profile, predicts deal risk, and suggests the next best action to close.
- 360-degree customer view: One timeline holds every call, email, and note. You never dig through tabs to find context.
- Built-in communication: Phone, email, chat, and SMS sit in a unified inbox. WhatsApp Business, Facebook Messenger, and LINE connect too.
- Visual pipeline management: Kanban boards show deal progress and expose bottlenecks fast.
- Reports and AI insights: Around a dozen predefined sales reports, all customizable, cover team performance and revenue forecasting.
- Freshworks integration: Ties tightly to Freshmarketer for marketing campaigns and to Freshdesk for support.
- Mobile access: The iOS and Android app supports offline access and call logging on the road.
What Our Team Noticed
Note: our writers have not logged extended hands-on time with Freshsales CRM yet. Everything above comes from Freshworks documentation and from user reviews on G2 and Capterra, where the product averages 4.5 out of 5.
Freshsales CRM Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- Freddy AI scores leads and predicts deal risk without extra setup
- Phone, email, chat, and SMS are built in, not paid add ons
- 21-day free trial on every tier with no credit card required
- 24/5 customer support by phone, chat, and email on all plans
- Reviewers on G2 and Capterra rate it excellent value for small business budgets
❌ Cons
- Navigation feels cluttered and pages can load slowly
- Around 385 third party integrations, fewer than HubSpot or Salesforce
- Missing some functionality that larger CRM platforms include as standard
- No project management side, so managing projects needs a second tool
What is Monday CRM?
Monday CRM is the sales product built on the Monday work management platform.
The parent app serves over 152,000 customers across more than 200 countries.
People often describe it as a cross between a database and project management software.
You build boards, define custom fields, then pick how to view the same data.
Deals, contacts, and project timelines all live in that one structure.
That flexibility is why software teams, marketing teams, and a research team can share it.
The walkthrough below shows how the boards behave day to day.
🏆 Winner: Monday CRM
One board runs your pipeline and your projects. Kanban, Gantt chart, and calendar views come standard. Start on the free version and upgrade when the team grows.
Monday CRM Pricing
Three paid plans, each charged per user. Here is how they line up.
| Plan | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $9/user/month | Smaller teams tracking contacts and deals |
| Standard | $12/user/month | Teams that need guest access and automations |
| Pro | $19/user/month | Sales teams wanting time tracking and custom dashboards |
Pricing verified September 2026.
Free trial: A 14-day trial opens every paid tier, and a free plan stays open after it ends.
Money-back guarantee: Annual billing carries a discount over monthly. Refund terms follow the plan you sign.
📌 Note: Seats are sold in blocks. If your team passes the maximum for a tier, you pay for the next tier up. An Enterprise plan with custom pricing adds 1TB of storage space and extra controls.
⚠️ Pricing conflict: Some sources quote the Basic plan at $36 a month for three users and the Pro plan at $72 for three. Our CSV records $9, $12, and $19 per user per month, and those numbers run through every table here. Confirm on the vendor page before you commit.
Key Benefits of Monday CRM
Here is where the platform’s feature set earns its keep:
- Multiple project views: Kanban board, Gantt chart view, timeline, and calendar all read from the same records.
- Customizable templates: Start from a template or build boards from scratch, then define every column yourself.
- Workflow automation: A plain-English automation builder handles repetitive steps in just a few clicks.
- Collaboration features: Comments, mentions, and file sharing keep the whole team on the same page.
- Time tracking: Built in from Monday’s Pro plan upward, alongside custom dashboards and advanced reporting.
- Learning material: A knowledge base with hundreds of video tutorials plus a community forum for new users.
- Student program: Free accounts with selected Pro features for college students and educators.
What Our Team Noticed
Note: we have not published a hands-on log for Monday CRM either. The points above come from vendor documentation and from reviewer write-ups, which repeatedly call the interface clean, tidy, and easy to navigate.
Monday CRM Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- Kanban, Gantt, timeline, and calendar views read from one board
- Basic plan starts at $9 per user per month
- Automation builder is simple enough for new users to pick up
- Live chat support runs 24/7 and the knowledge base holds hundreds of video tutorials
- Runs sales and managing projects in the same workspace
❌ Cons
- Pricing structure is confusing because seats are sold in blocks
- Time tracking and advanced features sit behind Monday’s Pro plan
- The free version allows only two team members and three boards
- Heavy customization creates a steep learning curve for some teams
Feature Comparison
Both tools call themselves a CRM, but the key features sit in different places. We compared ten areas plus cost, so you can see where each one earns its price.
| Feature | Freshsales CRM | Monday CRM |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $9/user/month | $9/user/month |
| Free Plan | ✅ Up to 3 users | ✅ 2 team members |
| AI Lead Scoring | ✅ Freddy AI | ❌ |
| Built-in Phone & SMS | ✅ | ❌ |
| Kanban Board | ✅ | ✅ |
| Gantt Chart View | ❌ | ✅ |
| Task Dependencies | ❌ | ✅ |
| Time Tracking | ❌ | ✅ Pro plan |
| Third Party Integrations | ~385 | 50+ apps |
| Support Hours | 24/5 all plans | 24/7 live chat |
| Best For | Dedicated sales teams | Teams running sales and projects |
1. Contact Management
Freshsales CRM: Every contact opens into a full history of calls, emails, and meetings. That 360-degree view is the core of how Freshsales handles customer relationship management, and it needs no configuration to work.
Monday CRM: Contacts are rows on a board with custom fields you define. It is more flexible, but you shape the record structure yourself before all the data lines up.
2. Sales Pipeline and Deal Tracking
Freshsales CRM: Visual pipelines track deal progress and show where deals stall. Sales sequences then fire follow-ups automatically, so reps spend more hours selling.
Monday CRM: The pipeline is a board with stage columns you rename at will. A sales team can add a delivery board beside it and watch project progress on the same screen.
3. AI Assistance
Freshsales CRM: Freddy AI scores leads on behaviour and profile, which lifts conversion rates. It also predicts deal risk and recommends the next best action.
Monday CRM: The AI layer drafts text, summarises threads, and connects to outside models. There is no equivalent to scored leads out of the box.
⚠️ Warning: AI scoring only helps once you have enough historical data. A brand new account will not see useful predictions in week one.
4. Workflow Automation
Freshsales CRM: Automation handles repetitive tasks like assigning owners and logging sales activities. Smart AI agents extend that into replies and routing.
Monday CRM: The automation builder reads like a sentence: when status changes, notify someone. Most automation features unlock on paid plans rather than the free version.
5. Email Tracking and Communication
Freshsales CRM: Send personalised bulk emails and watch opens and clicks inside the record. Phone, chat, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger sit in one unified inbox.
Monday CRM: Email syncs into a conversation panel on each item, and automations chase replies. There is no built-in dialler, so calls happen elsewhere.
6. Lead Capture and Web Forms
Freshsales CRM: Web forms and event tracking push leads straight into the pipeline. Captured data then feeds marketing campaigns through Freshmarketer.
Monday CRM: Forms create board items, which is handy well beyond sales. The same trick powers event planning intake and human resources requests.
7. Project Views and Task Management
Freshsales CRM: Kanban boards cover deals, and that is the limit. There is no Gantt chart, no task dependencies, and no project timelines.
Monday CRM: This is where the project management tool heritage shows. Kanban board, Gantt charts, and calendar views all sit one click apart, and managing tasks across teams works the same way as tracking deals.
Switch the same board to a Gantt chart view and dependencies appear.
8. Reporting and Dashboards
Freshsales CRM: Around a dozen predefined sales reports ship ready to edit. The FreddyAI co-pilot adds forecasting on top of team performance numbers.
Monday CRM: Custom dashboards pull widgets from several boards at once. Advanced reporting and the activity log live on higher tiers.
9. Integrations and Add Ons
Freshsales CRM: The marketplace lists around 385 integrations and apps, covering Google, Microsoft 365, Slack, and Zoom. Links to other Freshworks products are tighter than links to outside tools.
Monday CRM: Over 50 apps connect, including Slack, Google Calendar, Google Sheets, and Microsoft Teams. The integration count is smaller, but each one is a two-way sync rather than a one-off import.
10. Support and Resource Management
Freshsales CRM: Customer support runs 24/5 by phone, chat, and email on every plan. Freshdesk OMNI extends that into a shared service desk if you need one.
Monday CRM: Live chat answers around the clock, backed by a community forum and video tutorials. Premium support and resource management sit on the upper tiers.
11. Pricing & Cost
Entry pricing is identical. The gap opens at the top of each ladder.
| Tier | Freshsales CRM | Monday CRM |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | Growth: $9/user/month | Basic: $9/user/month |
| Middle | Pro: $39/user/month | Standard: $12/user/month |
| Top | Enterprise: $59/user/month | Pro: $19/user/month |
Freshsales CRM: You pay more per user at the top, but phone, SMS, and AI scoring are bundled instead of sold as paid add ons. For a pure sales team that is fair value.
Monday CRM: The top listed plan costs $19 per user per month, a third of the Freshsales Enterprise figure. Just remember the pricing structure sells seats in blocks, so a team of four often pays for five.
Different Scenarios
| If You Need… | Choose | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Built-in calling and SMS | Freshsales CRM | Bundled, not a paid extra |
| AI lead scoring | Freshsales CRM | Freddy AI ships with it |
| Sales plus delivery work | Monday CRM | One platform, two jobs |
| Gantt charts and dependencies | Monday CRM | Freshsales has neither |
| Lowest cost at scale | Monday CRM | Top plan is $19 per user |
| Support outside office hours | Monday CRM | 24/7 live chat |
💰 Your Budget
Both start at $9, so the entry cost is a tie. The difference shows at the top, where Freshsales asks $59 and Monday asks $19.
🔌 Your Tech Stack
If you already run Freshdesk or Freshmarketer, Freshsales slots in without work. If your team lives in Slack and Google Calendar, Monday fits more naturally.
📝 Your Workflow
Closing deals and handing them off is one workflow. Agencies, software development shops, and consultancies need collaboration tools after the sale, which is Monday’s home ground.
🎓 Your Experience Level
Freshsales gives you a working pipeline on day one. Monday asks you to spend an hour creating boards first, which is why reviewers mention a learning curve.
🆓 Free Trials and Demos
Freshsales offers 21 days on every tier, which is unusually generous. Monday runs a shorter trial but leaves a free plan open afterwards, so smaller teams can keep testing.
🛟 Support Options
Freshsales answers 24/5 by phone, chat, and email on all the plans. Monday responds through 24/7 live chat plus self-serve material on its website.
🔒 Data Privacy and Security
Monday publishes strict security measures for stored records and file storage. Freshworks holds standard enterprise certifications, so most small businesses will find either acceptable.
Switching Guide
Already paying for one of these? Here is what moving actually costs you.
🔄 Switching from Freshsales CRM to Monday CRM?
✅ What you’ll gain:
- Gantt chart, timeline, and calendar views alongside the pipeline
- A cheaper top tier and 24/7 chat
- Boards other departments can use, from human resources to event planning
❌ What you’ll lose:
- Freddy AI lead scoring and deal risk alerts
- The built-in phone, SMS, and WhatsApp inbox
- Direct ties to other Freshworks products
📋 How to switch:
- Export contacts, deals, and notes from Freshsales as CSV
- Create a new account on Monday and build a pipeline board
- Import the CSV, map columns, then rebuild automations by hand
🔄 Switching from Monday CRM to Freshsales CRM?
✅ What you’ll gain:
- Freddy AI scoring, forecasting, and next-step suggestions
- Calling, SMS, and messaging apps inside the record
- Sales reports that work before you configure anything
❌ What you’ll lose:
- Every project management view, including dependencies
- Boards shared with non-sales departments
- Guest access for clients and outside partners
📋 How to switch:
- Export each Monday board to CSV or Google Sheets
- Start the 21-day Freshsales trial and set your pipeline stages
- Import contacts and deals, then connect your email and phone
What Our Review Didn’t Cover
This comparison looked at small business and mid-market use. We did not test bulk data migration, API limits, or how either tool behaves with tens of thousands of records. Custom Enterprise contracts were outside scope too. If you manage 100+ seats, your priorities will differ from what we covered here.
Final Verdict
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| 💰 Pricing at scale | Monday CRM |
| 🤖 AI features | Freshsales CRM |
| 📞 Communication tools | Freshsales CRM |
| 📊 Views and reporting | Monday CRM |
| 👶 Ease of setup | Freshsales CRM |
| 🔌 Integration count | Freshsales CRM |
| 🧩 Flexibility across teams | Monday CRM |
| 🛟 Support hours | Monday CRM |
| 🏆 Overall Winner | Monday CRM |
🏆 WINNER: MONDAY CRM
Monday CRM takes 4 of 8 categories and holds the higher rating at 4.2 against 4.0.
Best for: teams that sell and deliver, agencies, and anyone who wants one tool instead of two.
💡 Tiebreaker note: The category split is even at 4–4. Monday takes the win on the higher CSV rating and the lower cost at the top tier.
These are not really the same kind of product. Freshsales is a sales tool that does one job well. Monday is a work platform with a sales layer bolted on cleanly.
If your reps only sell, Freshsales is the better pick. Freddy AI, built-in calling, and 21 days of free access make it a great tool for a dedicated sales floor.
If the same people who close deals also deliver the work, Monday wins. One set of boards holds the pipeline, the project, and the place your team goes to discuss work.
More of Freshsales CRM Compared
Here is how Freshsales holds up against the other CRM software buyers shortlist:
Freshsales wins on: lower cost per user at every tier, calling bundled instead of billed, faster setup for a first CRM
HubSpot wins on: a far larger app marketplace, deeper marketing automation, better content and reporting for inbound teams
Freshsales wins on: cleaner first-run experience, Freddy AI included on paid tiers, tighter links to Freshdesk and Freshmarketer
Zoho wins on: a wider suite of business apps, more granular custom fields, cheaper bundles when you buy the whole suite
Freshsales wins on: built-in phone and SMS, a free plan for up to 3 users, AI scoring at no extra charge
Pipedrive wins on: a simpler deal board, fewer menus to learn, a sharper focus for reps who only track deals
Freshsales wins on: price, no consultant needed to launch, 24/5 support included rather than sold separately
Salesforce wins on: depth of customisation, the biggest partner network, reporting built for large sales organisations
More of Monday CRM Compared
Monday competes with both CRMs and project management platforms, so its rivals come from two directions:
Monday wins on: a tidier interface, gentler onboarding, board views that non-technical staff pick up quickly
ClickUp wins on: a cheaper first paid plan, more task management depth in that tier, more built-in docs and whiteboards
Monday CRM vs Trello
Monday wins on: Gantt and timeline views Trello lacks, dashboards across boards, automation depth on paid tiers
Trello wins on: a more generous free tier, a simpler card model, faster setup for one small project
Monday CRM vs Asana
Monday wins on: a stronger free plan, colour-coded boards that read at a glance, a sales-shaped template set
Asana wins on: cleaner task hierarchies, goal tracking across departments, a workload view built for capacity planning
Monday CRM vs Teamwork
Monday wins on: a broader template library, more standout features for non-project teams, a larger integration list
Teamwork wins on: automation and time tracking on every plan, client billing built in, clearer agency reporting
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Freshsales a CRM?
Yes. It is a cloud-based customer relationship management platform from Freshworks. It stores contacts, deals, and pipelines in one place, and Freddy AI scores your leads automatically.
Is monday a CRM tool?
Yes. Monday CRM is a sales product built on the same work management platform, so deals sit on the boards your team already uses for managing projects.
Is Freshsales free forever?
There is a free plan for up to 3 users covering most core tools. Paid tiers begin at $9 per user monthly once the 21-day trial ends.
Can you use Monday.com for free?
Yes, though the free version allows only two team members and three boards. Teams that need all the features usually move to the Basic plan at $9 per user.
What is the number 1 CRM platform?
Salesforce leads on market share. Between these two management tools, Monday CRM wins on cost and flexibility, while Freshsales leads on built-in calling and AI scoring.
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