Short answer: several good CRMs are free forever in India, but every free plan has limits — usually on the number of users, records, automations or channels, and sometimes a brand line on your messages. Zoho CRM and Privyr are free for up to three people, Zoho Bigin for one user and Sales Daddy for one user. The right free plan is the one whose limits you will not hit in your first three months.
We make Sales Daddy, and our Free plan is described exactly as it works below. Other plans are summarised from each vendor’s pricing page as of 19 October 2026.
The limits to check on any free plan
“Free” is a marketing word; the limits are the product. Before you put your leads into any free CRM, find these six answers on its pricing page or FAQ:
- Users: how many people can log in? One, three, unlimited?
- Records: is there a cap on leads or contacts, such as 500 or 10,000?
- Channels: is WhatsApp included, and is it the official API or just a link that opens WhatsApp on the phone?
- Automation: are auto-replies, follow-up flows and campaigns included, and how many a day or month?
- Branding: will your customers see the vendor’s name on messages or forms?
- Exit: can you export all your data if you leave or upgrade, in a format such as Excel that another tool can import?
Sales Daddy’s Free plan, honestly
Our Free plan (one user) is for someone who wants a real CRM with WhatsApp on the official API, without paying anything or entering a card. Here is exactly what it includes and what it does not:
- For one user, with one WhatsApp number connected through Meta.
- Unlimited leads, added by hand or uploaded from Excel, and every CRM module: pipeline, tasks, WhatsApp inbox, quotations, invoices and the mobile app.
- 1,000 WhatsApp messages in total — your own replies plus automations, chat flows and auto-replies — after which WhatsApp sending pauses until you upgrade.
- 2 WhatsApp campaigns a month, up to 100 people each.
- Messages end with “Sent via salesdaddy.in”.
- No AI agent on the Free plan, and no expiry — it is not a trial.
Other free plans compared
A summary of popular free CRM plans for Indian small businesses. Each vendor sets its own limits; read their plan pages for the full list.
| CRM | Free users | Notable limits or extras | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales Daddy | 1 | WhatsApp on the official API; 1,000 WhatsApp messages in total; brand line on messages; no AI agent | salesdaddy.in/pricing |
| Zoho CRM | Up to 3 | Core CRM features; paid editions add automation and AI | zoho.com/crm |
| Privyr | Up to 3 team members | Mobile lead alerts; WhatsApp from your own phone; paid automation add-ons | privyr.com/pricing |
| Zoho Bigin | 1 | 500 records, 1 pipeline, 3 automations | bigin.com/pricing |
| HubSpot CRM | Up to 2 | Free CRM tools; paid hubs add more | hubspot.com/pricing |
| Kylas | Unlimited | Embark plan with up to 10,000 records | kylas.io/pricing |
Free plan or free trial?
A free plan lasts as long as you stay inside its limits. A free trial gives you the paid product for a short time — often 7 to 14 days — and then stops. Trials are useful to test features you would pay for; free plans are better for actually running a small business on the tool. Sales Daddy has a free plan, and paid signups also get a 7-day money-back guarantee.
Watch for “free” plans that are really trials in disguise: a plan that stops working after 30 days, or that locks your data until you pay, is a trial.
A sensible way to use both: run your business on a free plan for a few weeks, so your team builds the habit of logging calls and setting follow-up dates. Then, when you upgrade, the paid features — more users, connectors, AI — land on a CRM your team already trusts, instead of on an empty system nobody opens.
Mistakes to avoid with a free CRM
Free plans fail less often because of their limits and more often because of how they are used. We see the same four mistakes again and again:
- Using a personal WhatsApp number or an unofficial sender to save money. If the number is restricted, every customer chat on it is gone. Start on the official API, even on a free plan.
- Importing years of old contacts on day one. Start with the last three months of real enquiries; old lists clutter the pipeline and tempt people into spam.
- Letting everyone share one login. It breaks the record of who said what, and most free plans do not allow it anyway.
- Never setting follow-up dates. A CRM without next dates is just an address book. Make the next date compulsory from the first week.
When to move to a paid plan
Upgrade when the free plan’s limits start costing you sales, not before. Typical signs:
- A second person needs to reply to leads or make calls.
- You are hitting the daily automation limit and follow-ups are going out late.
- You want leads from Meta ads, IndiaMART or your website to arrive automatically through a connector.
- You want the AI agent to answer WhatsApp chats at night.
- You would rather your messages did not carry the vendor’s brand line.
What the first paid step costs
On Sales Daddy the next step is the Core plan: ₹17,969 a year (about ₹1,497 a month), ₹7,199 a quarter or ₹5,500 a month, for 3 users, with the Free limits removed and 1 app connector included. GST is extra. The AI Sales Agent is an add-on at ₹1,500 a month. If all you need is WhatsApp — inbox, campaigns, flows and payment links — our WhatsApp-only plan is ₹6,000 a year for two users.
Key takeaways
- Every free CRM limits something: users, records, automation, channels or branding. Check all six before you start.
- Zoho CRM and Privyr are free for up to three people; Zoho Bigin is free for one user and Sales Daddy for one user.
- Sales Daddy Free: one user, one WhatsApp number on the official API, unlimited leads, 1,000 WhatsApp messages in total, a brand line, no AI agent.
- Move to paid when a second person joins or the limits start delaying follow-ups.