Original research · AI recommendations
Which CRMs does AI recommend to small businesses?
When a small business asks an AI assistant which CRM to buy, a few brands get most of the mentions. We asked Claude 25 real buyer questions and counted.
Data collected 31 October – 2 November 2026 · 75 answers · Claude with web search · run 3 of 3
- Named in answers
- 94.7%HubSpot CRM, the most named
- Never named
- 13of 49 CRMs tracked
- Brands per answer
- 6.4on average
- Searched the web
- 97.3%of answers
Key findings
- HubSpot CRM was named in 95% of answers and placed in the top three 65 times (average position 1.7).
- HubSpot CRM, Pipedrive and Zoho CRM together took 61% of the share of voice, weighted by position.
- 13 of the 49 CRMs tracked were never named in any answer.
- A typical answer named 6.4 CRMs, and Claude searched the web before answering in 97% of answers.
- Claude read method.me in 8% of answers but never named Method CRM: being found is not the same as being recommended.
- Apart from the tracked CRMs' own sites, it read techradar.com (33%), zeeg.me (24%) and zapier.com (19%) most often.
Which CRMs get named
Share of all 75 answers that named each CRM, the 12 most named. 36 of 49 were named at least once.
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By kind of question
The three CRMs named most often for each kind of buyer question.
| Question type | Questions | Most named |
|---|---|---|
| Shortlist | 6 | HubSpot CRM (100%), Pipedrive (100%), Zoho CRM (100%) |
| Constraint | 10 | HubSpot CRM (97%), Zoho CRM (77%), Pipedrive (67%) |
| Alternatives | 3 | HubSpot CRM (100%), Pipedrive (100%), Zoho CRM (100%) |
| Comparison | 3 | Pipedrive (67%), HubSpot CRM (67%), Zoho CRM (33%) |
| Validation | 3 | HubSpot CRM (100%), Zoho CRM (100%), Pipedrive (100%) |
What it read
Share of answers in which Claude retrieved a page from each site while searching. Sites marked brand belong to a CRM in the study.
Read, but not recommended
CRMs whose own site was read in more answers than named them: the engine looked at these brands more often than it recommended them.
| Brand | Site read | Named |
|---|---|---|
| OnePageCRM | 30.7% | 10.7% |
| EngageBay | 29.3% | 18.7% |
| Nutshell | 18.7% | 8% |
| NetHunt CRM | 14.7% | 6.7% |
| Insightly | 13.3% | 10.7% |
| Pipeline CRM | 13.3% | 5.3% |
| Salesflare | 13.3% | 1.3% |
| folk | 9.3% | 8% |
| Method CRM | 8% | 0% |
| Ringy | 4% | 0% |
| Breakcold | 2.7% | 0% |
All 49 CRMs
Every brand tracked, including those never named. Each name opens that brand's own card. Download the data (CSV).
Show the full table
| Brand | Named | Avg. position | Top three | Share of voice | Site read |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HubSpot CRM | 94.7% | 1.7 | 65 | 30.1% | 16% |
| Pipedrive | 82.7% | 2.8 | 44 | 17.3% | 13.3% |
| Zoho CRM | 82.7% | 3.1 | 41 | 13.3% | 4% |
| Salesforce Starter | 36% | 5.1 | 10 | 5.2% | 1.3% |
| monday sales CRM | 32% | 5.9 | 6 | 3.7% | 16% |
| Bigin by Zoho | 24% | 3.9 | 8 | 2.9% | 9.3% |
| Close | 17.3% | 4.8 | 3 | 2.6% | 0% |
| Copper | 16% | 5.2 | 4 | 2.5% | 0% |
| Less Annoying CRM | 26.7% | 6 | 2 | 2.1% | 0% |
| Freshsales | 20% | 5.1 | 3 | 2% | 0% |
| Capsule CRM | 16% | 7 | 2 | 1.9% | 10.7% |
| Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales | 16% | 5.9 | 4 | 1.7% | 0% |
| Attio | 18.7% | 6.4 | 3 | 1.5% | 1.3% |
| EngageBay | 18.7% | 7.7 | 0 | 1.2% | 29.3% |
| Streak | 16% | 7.3 | 2 | 1.2% | 1.3% |
| ActiveCampaign | 9.3% | 4.6 | 3 | 1.1% | 0% |
| NetHunt CRM | 6.7% | 4.8 | 2 | 1.1% | 14.7% |
| OnePageCRM | 10.7% | 7.1 | 2 | 1% | 30.7% |
| Bitrix24 | 9.3% | 4.7 | 1 | 0.9% | 0% |
| Insightly | 10.7% | 7.5 | 1 | 0.8% | 13.3% |
| Salesmate | 9.3% | 9.3 | 1 | 0.6% | 5.3% |
| Nimble | 8% | 6.8 | 0 | 0.6% | 8% |
| folk | 8% | 6.2 | 0 | 0.6% | 9.3% |
| Pipeline CRM | 5.3% | 4.3 | 3 | 0.6% | 13.3% |
| Agile CRM | 8% | 8.5 | 0 | 0.5% | 0% |
| Nutshell | 8% | 8.2 | 0 | 0.5% | 18.7% |
| Apptivo | 4% | 4.3 | 1 | 0.5% | 0% |
| Keap | 5.3% | 6.3 | 0 | 0.4% | 0% |
| Vtiger | 5.3% | 8.5 | 0 | 0.3% | 0% |
| Odoo CRM | 5.3% | 6.8 | 0 | 0.3% | 0% |
| Really Simple Systems | 4% | 5 | 0 | 0.3% | 0% |
| noCRM.io | 1.3% | 3 | 1 | 0.2% | 0% |
| SugarCRM | 2.7% | 9 | 0 | 0.1% | 0% |
| Kommo | 2.7% | 15 | 0 | 0.1% | 0% |
| Salesflare | 1.3% | 13 | 0 | 0% | 13.3% |
| Flowlu | 1.3% | 15 | 0 | 0% | 0% |
| Zendesk Sell | 0% | — | 0 | 0% | 0% |
| Creatio | 0% | — | 0 | 0% | 0% |
| SuiteCRM | 0% | — | 0 | 0% | 0% |
| Teamleader | 0% | — | 0 | 0% | 0% |
| Thryv | 0% | — | 0 | 0% | 0% |
| Method CRM | 0% | — | 0 | 0% | 8% |
| Twenty | 0% | — | 0 | 0% | 0% |
| Breakcold | 0% | — | 0 | 0% | 2.7% |
| Membrain | 0% | — | 0 | 0% | 0% |
| Ringy | 0% | — | 0 | 0% | 4% |
| Workbooks | 0% | — | 0 | 0% | 0% |
| Benchmark ONE | 0% | — | 0 | 0% | 0% |
| Firmao | 0% | — | 0 | 0% | 0% |
Method
Brands. 49 CRMs sold to small businesses, compiled from G2 and Capterra listings and buyer's guides and the top search results for “small business CRM”. A brand counts as named when the answer uses its name or domain. Names that are everyday words (Close, Copper, Nimble) count only when used as a name. “Bigin by Zoho” is not counted as Zoho CRM.
Questions. 25 questions written the way buyers ask them, across 5 kinds: shortlists, constraints, alternatives, comparisons and validation. Each was asked on its own, with no system prompt and web search on, through the official API.
Measures. Named is the share of answers naming the brand. Average position is where it first appears among the brands an answer names. Share of voice weights each mention by position (first counts 1, second ½, third ⅓). Site read is the share of answers in which the engine retrieved a page from the brand's own domain.
Limits. This is one engine and 3 runs. Answers vary from day to day, so the study repeats every question on 3 days. So far, the CRMs named for the same question overlapped by 65% between runs on average. It shows what the engine said, not why: read the differences as correlation, not cause. CoScale.DM is not a CRM vendor and has no commercial tie to any brand here.
The 25 questions
- What's the best CRM for a small business? shortlist
- Which CRM should a 10-person startup use? shortlist
- What are the top CRM tools for small businesses in 2026? shortlist
- Best CRM for a small sales team of 5 people shortlist
- What CRM do most small B2B companies use? shortlist
- Best free CRM for a small business constraint
- Cheapest CRM that's still good for a small business constraint
- Best CRM for a small business that's easy to set up without IT help constraint
- Best CRM for a small agency managing client projects and deals constraint
- Best CRM for small businesses that integrates with Gmail and Google Workspace constraint
- Best CRM for a small business using Microsoft 365 and Outlook constraint
- Best CRM for a small real estate team constraint
- Best CRM with built-in email marketing for a small business constraint
- Best CRM for a small business in the UK with GDPR in mind constraint
- Best CRM for a small business that sells mostly over the phone constraint
- What are the best alternatives to Salesforce for a small business? alternatives
- HubSpot is getting too expensive. What CRM should a small business switch to? alternatives
- Alternatives to Pipedrive for a small team alternatives
- HubSpot vs Pipedrive for a small business comparison
- Zoho CRM vs HubSpot for a startup comparison
- Pipedrive vs monday sales CRM for a small sales team comparison
- Is HubSpot's free CRM good enough for a small business? validation
- Is Zoho CRM good for small businesses? validation
- Is Pipedrive worth it for a small business? validation
- I run a 20-person B2B services company and need a CRM. What would you recommend and why? shortlist
Where does your brand stand?
We run the same check for one brand against its rivals, across the engines your buyers use, and fix what keeps it out of the answers.