How we score crm
Each crm is scored 0–100 on the criteria below, compared with rivals on sale now. BuyScore is the weighted average. We have researched 3 so far.
Criteria and weights
| Criterion | What we look at | Weakest acceptable evidence | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pipeline and contact management | How well it tracks contacts, companies and deals: visual pipelines, custom fields and stages, activity history and follow-up reminders. A high score needs experts to agree the core sales workflow is clear and complete for a small team. | 2 independent expert reviews that agree | 20 |
| Ease of use and adoption | Set-up time, data import, daily use and the mobile app, judged by whether a sales team will actually keep using it. A high score needs experts and owners to agree it is quick to learn and easy to keep up to date. | 1 expert review + owner discussions | 20 |
| Cost at 1 / 10 / 50 users | Real monthly cost for 1, 10 and 50 users on the cheapest plan that includes pipelines, email sync and basic automation, against rivals, using dated list prices. A high score needs a clearly lower cost than rivals with the same features and no essential paid add-ons. | Dated prices for the product and 2 rivals | 15 |
| Automation and AI assistance | Workflow automations, email sequences, lead scoring and AI help, and which plan unlocks them. A high score needs useful automation on mid-priced plans, confirmed by experts, not just listed by the vendor. | 2 independent expert reviews that agree | 15 |
| Integrations and email sync | Two-way email and calendar sync (Gmail, Outlook), native integrations, marketplace size, API access and Zapier. A high score needs reliable email sync on every paid plan and an open API. | Manufacturer spec, labelled "claimed" | 10 |
| Reporting and forecasting | Dashboards, sales reports, forecasting and goal tracking, and which plan includes them. A high score needs useful pipeline and revenue reports without the top plan. | 2 independent expert reviews that agree | 10 |
| Security, data export and vendor track record | Certifications from the vendor's trust page, 2FA and SSO, data regions, full data export (contacts, deals and activity history), support quality, outages and security incidents in the last 36 months. A high score needs published certifications, complete self-service export and no unresolved incidents. | Vendor trust page + 1 independent source | 10 |
Methodology v1.0.
Rubric anchors
| 90–100 | Among the best currently available |
|---|---|
| 75–89 | Clearly above typical for the category |
| 60–74 | Typical for the category |
| 40–59 | Noticeable weakness |
| 0–39 | Serious problem (caps the BuyScore at 79) |
When evidence falls below the weakest acceptable basis for a criterion, it is marked "Evidence limited" instead of scored.
Changelog
- v1.013 Oct 2026 · First version: Pipeline and contact management (20), Ease of use and adoption (20), Cost at 1 / 10 / 50 users (15), Automation and AI assistance (15), Integrations and email sync (10), Reporting and forecasting (10), Security, data export and vendor track record (10). Criteria and weights researched from 5 buying guides, adoption studies and owner sources.