Free Salesforce Einstein Alternatives: CRMs With Free Plans and AI You Can Use Today
Salesforce Einstein was the AI inside Salesforce CRM: lead scoring, forecasts and drafted emails. Salesforce now sells its AI as Agentforce, and it is never free for a working sales team. Many CRMs, though, have a free plan, and several now put real AI into it: an assistant that summarises records, an agent that preps your sales calls, or credits for AI tasks. We checked every free plan below on the vendor's own pricing page on 13 November 2026, and for each one we show what the free tier includes, which AI features you get for free and what the first paid step costs. CRMs from the old list that no longer have a free plan are in their own section.
Quick answer: for AI inside a free CRM, start with HubSpot (Breeze Assistant, 2 users), Attio (Ask Attio agent, up to 3 users) or Clarify (AI sales agent, unlimited seats, 1,000 credits a month). For a free CRM with more users and no AI, choose Zoho CRM (3 users) or Odoo (one app, unlimited users). If you can host it yourself, EspoCRM is free and open source, and its free MCP server lets your own AI assistant work with your CRM data.
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What Happened to Salesforce Einstein, and What Salesforce Costs in 2027
Salesforce has moved its AI branding to Agentforce. When we checked, the old Einstein overview page redirected to the Salesforce AI page, which describes Agentforce as Salesforce's product for building and running AI agents and does not mention Einstein; the name survives only in a few feature names, such as Einstein Send Time Optimization. The Salesforce small business pricing page lists Starter Suite from $25 per user per month (billed monthly or annually) with assistive AI through Agentforce Coworker, and Pro Suite from $100 per user per month, billed annually with a contract. The Agentforce pricing page offers a free Agentforce Foundations tier to get started, then Flex Credits at $500 per 100,000 credits, $2 per conversation, or Agentforce add-ons at $125 per user per month. Prices are in US dollars, with EUR, GBP and other currencies available on the page. So the Salesforce route is a free trial, not a free plan.
Free Salesforce Einstein Alternatives Compared
Sources: each vendor's official pricing page, default view from our location, checked 13 November 2026; currencies as shown there. Self-hosted tools: official sites and GitHub repositories.
Free CRMs With AI in the Free Plan
1. HubSpot Free CRM: Breeze Assistant included
The HubSpot free CRM is free with no expiration date and no credit card, for up to two users and 1,000 contacts. HubSpot says Breeze Assistant is included in the free CRM: it researches companies, preps you for sales calls and summarises CRM records, and the free tools also list an AI content writer and a chatbot builder. More advanced AI, such as the AI customer agent, is in paid editions; Starter starts at $15 a month per seat and Professional at $50. It is the closest free match to Einstein's day-to-day help, as long as two users are enough. For the self-hosted route, see our open-source HubSpot alternatives.
2. Attio Free: an AI agent for up to 3 users
Attio describes itself as the platform that builds pipeline, advances deals and grows accounts around the clock. Its Free plan (EUR 0, up to 3 users) includes Ask Attio, described as your personal agent, plus agents and workflows, automatic enrichment and up to 50,000 records, with 100 Ask Attio credits and 250 workspace credits. Plus costs EUR 45 a month per workspace (EUR 35 billed annually) with one user included. Attio builds records from your email and calendar, so it suits founders who sell from their inbox.
3. Clarify Free: an AI sales agent with unlimited seats
Clarify was in the old list as having no free tier; that has changed. Its pricing page now offers a Free plan at $0 with 1,000 credits a month, an AI sales agent, deal and meeting intelligence and a call recorder and notetaker, limited to 20,000 records, 1 campaign and 3 objects. Every plan has unlimited seats, and credits pay for meeting prep, summaries, deal updates and follow-ups. Starter costs $40 a month billed annually.
Free CRMs Where AI Starts on a Paid Plan
4. Zoho CRM Free Edition: 3 users, AI from Standard
The Zoho CRM pricing page (shown to us in Dutch, in euros, yearly view) describes the free edition as free forever for 3 users, with leads, deals, workflows, reports and a mobile app; it lists no AI features. AI agents appear from Standard at EUR 14 per user per month, and the AI sales assistant with insights, predictions and recommendations from Zia comes with Enterprise at EUR 40; Professional is EUR 23 and Ultimate EUR 52, with VAT extra. Zia in Enterprise is the closest Zoho match to Einstein, so the free edition is a CRM, not an AI CRM.
5. Bitrix24 Free: a whole workspace, AI on paid plans
Bitrix24 is a workspace with CRM, tasks, chat, video calls and a website builder. Its Free plan is free for 1-2 users with 5 GB of storage and a basic CRM. CoPilot, the Bitrix24 AI assistant, covers call transcription and summaries and deal field autocompletion in CRM, but the pricing page lists AI for everyday work from the Basic plan: EUR 49 per organisation per month billed annually (EUR 69 billed monthly), for 5 users.
6. Capsule Free: a simple CRM for two people
Capsule has a free plan for up to 2 users and 250 contacts with one sales pipeline. AI starts on paid plans: Starter ($18 per user per month, billed annually) adds an AI pipeline generator, and Growth ($36) adds AI enrichment and summaries and connectors for ChatGPT, Claude and custom MCP. It suits a consultancy or service business that wants a clean CRM before it wants AI.
7. Odoo One App Free: CRM for unlimited users
Odoo offers One App Free: one app, such as CRM, for unlimited users on Odoo Online at EUR 0. Agentic AI is listed only in the Custom plan, together with Odoo Studio and the external API. Choose it if you want a free CRM for a whole team now and may add invoicing or inventory from the same suite later.
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Free If You Host It: Open-Source CRMs
These have no licence fee, but you pay for a server and your own time. Our open-source Salesforce Einstein alternatives guide covers them, and AI agent platforms such as Dify, n8n and Activepieces, in depth.
8. EspoCRM: free CRM with a free MCP server
EspoCRM is an open-source CRM under AGPLv3 (version 10.1.1, 10 November 2026). Its official MCP extension is free under AGPLv3 and turns EspoCRM into a Model Context Protocol server, so AI agents can read and update CRM data with your own AI assistant. Built-in AI features such as summaries and an AI email composer come in a separate paid extension.
9. Twenty: open-source CRM, AI on the cloud plans
Twenty is an open-source CRM you can self-host (release 2.58.0 came out on 12 November 2026). Its cloud plans start with Pro from $9 per user per month, with agentic workflows and limited personal AI usage, and Organization at $39 with five times more AI usage; both start with a free trial without a credit card.
10. SuiteCRM: free and mature, but no built-in AI
SuiteCRM is an AGPL-licensed open-source CRM; versions 8.10.2 and 7.15.2 came out on 31 July 2026. It has no built-in AI, so add it through integrations if you need Einstein-style features.
No Longer Free or Removed From the Old List
- Freshsales: the old list said it had a free tier. The Freshsales pricing page now shows only Growth ($9), Pro ($39) and Enterprise ($59) per user per month, billed annually, with a 21-day free trial; contact scoring and deal insights start on Pro, and the Freddy AI Agent is a $49 add-on per 100 sessions.
- Pipedrive: still no free plan. It offers a 14-day free trial, and Lite costs EUR 14 per seat per month billed annually, with AI-powered report creation.
- Vtiger: its pricing page answered our check with a bot challenge, so we could not verify a free plan and removed it.
- LeadLoft: an AI prospecting and outreach tool with a free trial, not a free CRM.
- Old claims removed: guesses such as "likely a free trial" and generic feature lists; every limit above comes from the vendor's own pricing page.
Which Free Salesforce Einstein Alternative Should You Choose?
- The most complete free AI CRM for one or two people: HubSpot.
- An AI agent that builds the CRM from your inbox: Attio.
- AI that preps meetings and updates deals, for a whole team on a free plan: Clarify.
- A free CRM for 3 users, AI later: Zoho CRM.
- CRM plus tasks, chat and website in one place: Bitrix24.
- Unlimited free users: Odoo One App Free.
- Full control and your own AI model: EspoCRM with its MCP server, or Twenty.
- You already have the budget for Salesforce: start with Starter Suite and the free Agentforce Foundations tier.
Comparing related tools? See HubSpot vs ActiveCampaign, SendGrid vs HubSpot, Mailchimp vs Pardot and Marketo vs Omnisend; for support tools, the free HubSpot Service Hub alternatives, free Zendesk alternatives and free Intercom alternatives; and for prospecting, the open-source Apollo alternatives.
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How Founders Use a Free AI CRM
A CRM pays off long before you have a sales team: it keeps every investor, pilot customer and partner conversation in one place, and AI summaries mean you walk into each call prepared. Start with the free plan, log every conversation for a month, and upgrade only when you hit a real limit such as users, contacts or AI credits. To build the pipeline in the first place, read landing your first 10 paying customers, how to grow your customer base and our examples of customer relationships in business models. Connect the CRM to the rest of your stack with the open-source Zapier alternatives or free Make alternatives, send campaigns with the free Mailchimp alternatives, and see our guide to AI agents for startup founders and the open-source ChatGPT alternatives if you want to run your own model. Keeping the books too? See the free Zoho Books alternatives.
Before you pay for any sales tool, validate your startup idea with real users, and use the F/MS AI SEO Tool to bring leads into your new CRM from Google and AI assistants.
FAQ About Free Salesforce Einstein Alternatives
Is Salesforce Einstein still available in 2027?
Salesforce now sells its AI as Agentforce. The old Einstein overview page redirects to Salesforce's AI page, which describes Agentforce, although some feature names, such as Einstein Send Time Optimization, still use the Einstein name.
Is there a free version of Salesforce with AI?
No free CRM plan. Salesforce offers free trials, Starter Suite from $25 per user per month with assistive AI through Agentforce Coworker, and a free Agentforce Foundations tier for getting started with agents.
How much does Agentforce cost?
The Agentforce pricing page lists Flex Credits at $500 per 100,000 credits, $2 per conversation, and Agentforce add-ons at $125 per user per month (checked 13 November 2026).
Which free CRM includes AI?
HubSpot's free CRM includes Breeze Assistant, Attio's Free plan includes the Ask Attio agent with 100 credits, and Clarify's Free plan includes an AI sales agent with 1,000 credits a month.
Does HubSpot's free CRM have AI?
Yes. HubSpot says Breeze Assistant is included in the free CRM and can research companies, prep sales calls and summarise records. The AI customer agent needs a paid edition.
Does Zoho CRM's free edition include Zia?
No AI is listed for the free edition. AI agents start with Standard, and the Zia AI sales assistant with predictions and recommendations comes with Enterprise.
Does Freshsales still have a free plan?
Not on its current pricing page: it lists Growth, Pro and Enterprise with a 21-day free trial. Contact scoring and deal insights start on Pro.
Does Pipedrive have a free plan?
No. Pipedrive offers a 14-day free trial; Lite costs EUR 14 per seat per month billed annually in the euro view.
What is the best free CRM for a whole team?
Odoo One App Free allows unlimited users for one app such as CRM, and Clarify's free plan has unlimited seats. If you can host software, EspoCRM and SuiteCRM are free and open source.
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About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
