Best CRM For
Best CRM for Remote Sales Teams
Quick answer: Close is the best CRM for remote sales teams that sell by phone, since automatic call recording gives managers real accountability without in-person oversight, while monday CRM is a better fit for teams that already run their workflows on monday.com boards.
Why remote sales teams need different things from a CRM
Managing a sales team you can't see in an office changes what matters in a CRM. You can't glance over at someone's desk to know if they made their calls today, so activity has to be visible in the system itself — recorded calls, logged emails, timestamped notes. Async collaboration across time zones also matters more: a lead handed off between reps in different regions needs enough context in the record that nothing gets lost in the handoff.
Top picks at a glance
| CRM | Best for | Activity visibility | Price tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | Remote teams selling by phone | Automatic call recording and logging | Mid |
| Zoho CRM | Remote teams needing broad automation | Strong, customizable dashboards | Budget–mid |
| HubSpot | Remote teams wanting a central shared hub | Good, deeper on paid tiers | Free tier available |
| Pipedrive | Simple shared pipeline across time zones | Basic on lower tiers | Budget |
| monday CRM | Teams already using monday.com for other work | Good via boards/automations | Not covered here — check current pricing |
1. Close — best for remote teams that sell by phone
Without an office to walk through, a remote sales manager needs a different way to know the team is actually working the phones. Close records every call automatically and logs it to the contact, so a manager can review activity and even listen back to specific calls for coaching, all without needing anyone in the same room — or even the same time zone.
Pros
- Automatic call recording gives remote managers real accountability data
- Sequences keep async follow-up consistent across time zones
- Fast interface that works well for distributed reps managing their own day
Cons
- No free tier
- Less relevant for remote teams that aren't calling-heavy
2. Zoho CRM — best for broad automation across time zones
Remote teams spread across regions often need more automated handoffs than a co-located team would, since you can't just ask someone across the room to take a lead. Zoho's workflow automation can route leads, escalate stalled deals, and trigger notifications automatically, and its dashboards give managers a way to check in on team activity asynchronously without live check-in calls.
Pros
- Deep workflow automation reduces need for manual handoffs
- Customizable dashboards for async reporting
- Affordable at scale across a distributed team
Cons
- Calling requires a telephony integration
- More setup time to get automations right
3. HubSpot — best as a single shared hub for a distributed team
For remote teams, having one obvious source of truth matters more than usual — there's no shared office system to fall back on if the CRM isn't it. HubSpot's ecosystem of CRM, marketing, and service in one place, plus meeting scheduling, gives a distributed team a single shared reference point, with the free tier available while you validate whether the paid features are worth it for your setup.
Pros
- Single shared hub reduces "which tool has the real data" confusion
- Built-in meeting scheduling helps across time zones
- Free tier available to start
Cons
- Deeper reporting and automation cost more as you scale
- Calling is less central than in a phone-first CRM
Other solid options
Pipedrive works fine for a remote team that mainly needs a shared pipeline view without heavy automation or calling infrastructure. monday CRM is worth considering if your sales team already runs its broader workflow on monday.com boards — its CRM extends that same board-based collaboration style into sales, though it's less built around native calling than the phone-first options here.
Pricing (entry-level plans)
| CRM | Starting price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Close | Solo $9 · Essentials $35 · Growth $99 · Scale $139 | Per user/month. Free 14-day trial, no credit card required. |
| HubSpot | Free $0 · Starter from ~$15–20 · Professional/Enterprise Suite bundles from ~$1,000+/mo | HubSpot prices per "Hub" (Marketing/Sales/Service/etc.) and by contact tier, so the total varies a lot by what you bundle. |
| Pipedrive | Lite $14 · Growth $39 · Premium $59 · Ultimate $79 | Per seat/month, billed annually (monthly billing costs more). 14-day free trial. |
| Zoho CRM | Standard €14 · Professional €23 · Enterprise €40 · Ultimate €52 | Per user/month (EUR pricing shown; check your region for local currency). |
Prices above are current as of writing and shown for the entry-level tiers — always confirm the latest numbers on each provider's pricing page before buying, since SaaS pricing changes often.
“We are currently paying $833.33 each month for 2,000 marketing contacts and 5 users.”
How to choose
Ask what "visibility" actually needs to mean for your team. If it means knowing reps are genuinely making calls and how those calls go, a CRM with native recording like Close gives you that directly. If it means keeping deals from stalling silently across time zones, automation-heavy tools like Zoho reduce how much needs to happen synchronously in the first place.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best CRM overall for this use case?
Close is our top overall pick for this use case, based on ease of setup, pricing, and fit for typical workflows — though the right choice depends on team size and budget, covered in the sections above.
Do I need a paid CRM, or is a free plan enough?
A free plan is usually enough for a single user or a very small team just getting started. Growing teams typically outgrow free tiers once they need automation, reporting, or more than a couple of users.
How long does it take to set up a CRM?
Simple CRMs can be set up in under an hour. More full-featured platforms with custom pipelines, automations, and integrations typically take a few days to a few weeks to configure properly.