Choosing the right CRM can be transformative, impacting everything from sales velocity to customer retention and long-term growth. While Salesforce has long dominated the customer relationship management (CRM) market, a fresh and modern wave of platforms offers compelling alternatives—each with unique strengths, pricing, and innovations.
Whether you’re a scaling startup or a relationship-driven investment firm, there are more options than ever for advanced CRMs.
Here, we’ll break down the top Salesforce alternatives, so you can find the right solution for your business goals and unlock the full potential of your relationship network.
1. Rings
Rings is an intelligent extended relationship management (XRM) platform designed to help firms identify, win, and manage their most valuable relationships and investments for business growth.
Core features:
Advanced relationship mapping: Visualize connections not just between you and your current contacts, but also across investors, advisors, board members, and more.
Comprehensive deal and investor data: Instantly access a vast database of funding rounds, complete with investor details and valuations.
Widespread prospecting: Search globally for companies and investors using dozens of filters, leveraging both public data and your private relationship history.
Pre-meeting intelligence: Get tailored insights on shared deals and mutual relationships before every critical meeting.
Real-time company news: Monitor and score news about companies you care about, so you never miss an important development.
AI-powered customizations: Prioritize outreach with AI-driven, fully customizable scoring for companies and individuals.
Centralized knowledge base: Store and search files and communications for seamless collaboration.
Portfolio management: Track performance, analyze relationship health, and predict fundraises across asset classes.
Robust privacy controls: Fine-tune data visibility with intuitive privacy settings at the team and company level.
Seamless integrations: Connect to thousands of apps via Zapier, plus native integrations with major CRMs, email, calendars, and LinkedIn.
Pros:
Unmatched depth in deal, investor, and relationship data.
Prospecting tools that go far beyond your existing network.
Rich, dynamic relationship mapping of key stakeholders.
AI-powered insights and scoring tailored to your business.
Centralized, searchable knowledge management for enhanced collaboration.
All essential features included—no hidden fees for core capabilities.
Free, expert onboarding and continuous support.
Cons:
May be feature-rich for very small teams or those with simple needs.
Use cases/ideal users:
Any business selling to or prospecting startups and venture-backed companies.
Businesses with complex and high-value relationships that want to unlock new opportunities from their networks.
Venture capital and private equity firms seeking deep deal and relationship intelligence.
Business development teams needing global prospecting and AI-driven prioritization.
Enterprises managing complex portfolios and requiring robust privacy controls.
Price:
As low as $1K per user/year
2. Affinity
Affinity is built to help investment firms make better deal decisions with existing network data and AI insights.
Core features:
Relationship intelligence: Track communications and prioritize connections within your existing network.
Deal management: Review and manage deals throughout your organization.
Data enrichment: Refresh your records with data from 40+ trusted sources.
Integrations: Sync network and deal data across your tech stack.
Activity tracking: Monitor emails and calendars for valuable relationship insights.
Pros:
Clean, user-friendly interface for basic relationship tracking.
Data-driven investment insights for enhanced decision-making.
Automated activity tracking through email and calendar integration.
Cons:
Limited to prospects inside your existing network.
No full deal data, company news tracking, or investor portfolio views.
Can’t important or analyze LinkedIn connections for relationship mapping.
Limited customizability and no AI scoring.
No support for fund and portfolio management.
Essential features like analytics and integrations come with added costs.
Pricier than other CRMs, plus required onboarding fees.
Use cases/ideal users:
Venture capital, private equity, and professional services firms focused on managing deals through network intelligence.
Small investment teams managing a known contact base.
Teams that do not require deep data enrichment, prospecting tools, or advanced mapping.
Price:
$2K per user/year.
Onboarding fee required, starting at $3K.
Extra charges for core features and capabilities.
3. Attio
Attio is a CRM designed for flexibility and collaboration. It empowers teams to build their own workflows and scale customer relationships with ease..
Core features:
Customizable data model: Define custom objects, fields, and relationships fit to your business goals.
Activity timelines: View a history of interactions across connections.
Advanced reporting and analytics: Generate detailed reports and dashboards to monitor performance and optimize workflows..
Integrations: Sync with Slack, Google Workspace, and other tools for integrated business processes.
No-code customization: Easily set up and adjust workflows with minimal technical know-how.
Pros:
Highly flexible and customizable.
Easy-to-use, intuitive interface.
Strong real-time collaboration and workflow automation.
Free plan available for up to three users, making it easy to try out.
Cons:
No access to full deal data, investor portfolios, and company prospecting.
Limited options for portfolio and enterprise opportunity management.
Lack of capabilities for deep relationship mapping.
Some advanced features, like reporting and analytics, are only available on higher-tier plans.
Self-serve onboarding only.
Use cases/ideal users:
Startups and SMBs seeking a lightweight, customizable CRM.
Price:
Free for up to three users; paid Plus plans start at $29 per user per month.
4. HubSpot
HubSpot’s free CRM is ideal for basic contact management, with upgrades available for marketing and sales tools.
Key features:
Free core CRM: Manage unlimited contacts and tasks with a forever-free plan.
Unified interaction timeline: Track every customer touchpoint across email, calls, meetings from one platform.
Built-in sales tools: Leverage email templates and scheduling to streamline outreach.
Growth add-ons: Expand with marketing, sales, and service modules as your business grows.
Drag-and-drop pipelines: Customize deal stages and with visual tools.
Pros:
Free forever plan with no user limits.
Intuitive interface for beginners.
Strong marketing automation add-ons.
Cons:
Advanced features require costly upgrades.
Limited reporting in free tier.
Lack of support for prospecting, enterprise workflows, and fund and portfolio management.
No deep relationship mapping and customizable AI scoring.
Use cases/ideal users:
Startups and SMBs seeking a lightweight, customizable CRM.
Price:
Free for up to three users; paid Plus plans start at $29 per user/month.
5. Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a sales-focused CRM that helps businesses organize leads, track deals, and manage their sales pipelines.
Core features:
Visual pipeline management: Access a customizable interface for moving deals through sales stages.
Contact and lead management: Store and organize contacts and companies in one place.
Workflow automation: Automate repetitive tasks like follow-ups, notifications, and assignments.
Reporting and dashboards: Monitor performance with customizable sales dashboards and reports.
AI sales assistant: Get personalized tips and reminders to optimize sales activities.
Integrations: Connect with over 400 apps, including email, calendar, and marketing tools.
Pros:
Easy to use, with a clean and intuitive interface.
Quick data import and setup for new users.
Flexible pricing plans to suit different team sizes and budgets.
Cons:
Many advanced features, like lead generation and enhanced reporting, come with extra costs or premium plans.
Limited in-depth relationship mapping and no native support for investor or portfolio management.
No company news tracking or AI-driven pre-meeting insights.
Not designed for fund management or enterprise opportunity workflows.
Use cases/ideal users:
Sales teams that need a simple way to manage leads and deals.
Small to medium businesses that prioritize sales management over relationship intelligence.
Price:
Starts at $14/user/month.
Add-ons for lead generation, web forms, live chat, and more are available at extra cost.
Key Factors to Consider When Choosing a CRM
Selecting the right CRM goes far beyond basic contact management. Prioritize these features to choose a platform that truly supports your business growth and strategic relationship building:
Relationship mapping: Integrate emails, meetings, LinkedIn, and other platforms to visualize key connections and best paths to decision-makers.
Privacy and data security: Set granular permissions to keep sensitive information confidential and compliant.
Automated data enrichment: Eliminate manual entry and keep records accurate and current in real time.
Portfolio and fund management: Beyond just customer relationships, track assets, leverage AI scoring, and predict future fundraises and relationship health.
Integration ecosystem: Seamlessly connect with your tech stack, including email, calendar, and marketing tools.
Collaboration and knowledge sharing: Unite teams around shared data and insights to boost productivity and break down silos.
Scalability and customization: Adapt with custom fields, workflows, and dashboards as your business grows.
User experience and support: Get started quickly with intuitive interfaces and accessible onboarding to increase adoption across teams and maximize long-term value.
Which Salesforce Alternative Is Right for You?
In 2025, the CRM market is filled with options for every business size and need. That means there’s no reason to just choose any popular CRM and hope it scales with your organization. Instead, take the time to find the right fit for your goals and network, so you can stay on the cutting edge of relationship management and get ahead of the competition.
For organizations that want to move beyond basic sales tracking and unlock the full value of their data, Rings stands out as the most comprehensive and future-ready Salesforce alternative. With unmatched relationship mapping and AI-powered insights, Rings is built to grow with your business and uncover new opportunities in your network and beyond.
Ready to try it for yourself? Book a demo with Rings.
