I use HubSpot's free CRM, and I also built my own CRM. So I don't have a favorite to sell you — both are the right answer for different businesses. Here's how to tell which one fits yours.
What a CRM is really for
Strip away the features and a CRM answers three questions: Who are my customers and leads? What's the next step with each one? Who is doing it, and when? If your current system — inbox, spreadsheet, notebook — can't answer those reliably, you need a CRM. The brand matters less than whether your team actually uses it.
The case for HubSpot (or another off-the-shelf CRM)
- Fast to start. A useful setup can be ready in days.
- Free tier. HubSpot's free CRM covers contacts, deals, tasks and a meetings page — enough for many small teams.
- Proven and maintained. Security updates, mobile apps and integrations are someone else's job.
- Hiring-friendly. New staff may already know it.
The trade-offs: the more advanced features (sequences, advanced automation, custom reports) live in paid tiers, and pricing usually grows per user. You also adapt your process to the tool, not the other way around.
The case for a custom CRM
- Fits your process exactly. Your stages, your fields, your documents.
- No per-seat pricing. Running costs can stay low on modern serverless platforms.
- You own the data and the code.
- Unusual features are possible — like proposals with client links, or rules specific to your industry.
The trade-offs are real too: a higher upfront cost, someone has to maintain it, and security is part of the build rather than a vendor's problem. A custom CRM only makes sense if those costs are smaller than the cost of forcing your business into a tool that doesn't fit.
Mistakes I see when small businesses adopt a CRM
- Too many fields on day one. If adding a lead takes two minutes, people stop doing it. Start with name, contact details, source and next step.
- Pipeline stages nobody agrees on. “Qualified” should mean the same thing to everyone, written down.
- The website form still goes to an inbox. If leads have to be copied in by hand, some never will be.
- No owner. Someone has to keep the CRM tidy and notice when it isn't being used.
- Buying the biggest plan up front. Pay for advanced features once you know you'll use them.
A quick decision checklist
Lean off-the-shelf if most of these are true:
- You sell in a fairly standard way (lead → call → quote → won/lost).
- You have a small number of users.
- You need it working this month.
- Nobody on your side wants to own software.
Consider custom if several of these are true:
- Your process has steps no standard CRM handles well.
- Per-user pricing for the features you need is adding up.
- You want the CRM tightly connected to your website, booking and documents.
- You plan to keep and improve it for years.
Questions to ask before you pick any CRM
- Can we export all our data — contacts, deals, notes — in a standard format, at any time?
- What will it cost when we add two more people, and which features are behind a higher tier?
- Does it connect to our website form, calendar and email without extra paid tools?
- Does the mobile app do what we need away from the desk?
- Who will set it up, and who will fix it when something breaks?
Your data and leaving later
Whatever you choose, treat your customer list as a business asset. Off-the-shelf CRMs generally let you export to spreadsheets, though attachments, email history and automations rarely move cleanly. With a custom CRM, the database itself is yours, so you can take everything — but only if the contract says so and the system is documented. Either way, a quarterly export to a safe place is a cheap insurance policy.
The middle path most small teams should take
Start with a free or low-cost off-the-shelf CRM, connect your website form and booking page, and set up two or three automatic follow-ups. Use it for a few months. If you keep bumping into the same limits, you'll know exactly what a custom system needs to do — and you'll spend far less building it.
That's how I built mine: the Babaodi CRM case study shows the pipeline, proposals with client links, automations and an AI assistant — and there's a live demo with fictional data.
How to tell it's working
Three simple signs, whichever CRM you use: every new lead shows up without anyone copying it in; no open deal is missing a next step with a date; and once a week someone spends fifteen minutes looking at the pipeline and acts on it. If those three are true after a month, the tool is doing its job — and you can decide calmly whether you need anything more.
What about the AI features?
Most CRMs now advertise AI: summarizing a contact's history, drafting follow-up emails, suggesting the next step. These can genuinely save time, and they're one of the reasons I added an assistant to my own CRM. Two cautions apply whichever route you take. First, check what data the AI feature sends where, and whether it's covered by the agreements your industry needs. Second, treat every AI draft as a draft: a person should read it before it goes to a customer.
What it costs to get help
A CRM setup with me — choosing the tool, pipeline, website connection, follow-ups, import and training — starts at $2,500. CRM licenses are billed at cost by the vendor. A custom CRM like mine starts at $7,500, plus a care plan from $250/month. Individual automations start at $1,000 per workflow.