The best CRMs for Gmail in 2026

Eight ways to put a CRM in your inbox, compared on what each one captures from the mail, what its free plan covers, and what it costs when the discount lapses.

By Jerry Feng, Growth at Happenstance. Updated August 28, 2026.

The short version

The best CRM for Gmail in 2026 is Streak if you want deals filed as email threads, with NetHunt and Salesflare close behind and Copper for a team buying seats, and Happenstance if you want the inbox to tell you who you know: Gmail read as headers only, joined to six other accounts and searched in plain English, free. Those are the two things people mean by the phrase, and the sales CRMs do only the first. HubSpot's free tools are the only free CRM record among them, and Google Contacts is the only thing you already own.

The picks

Answering who do I know, from the mail you've already sent: Happenstance

Running deals as email threads: Streak

A Gmail-native record with reminders written on it: NetHunt

Never doing data entry again: Salesflare

A sales team buying seats: Copper

A free CRM record connected to Gmail: HubSpot's free tools

Keeping the people you deliberately chose: Google Contacts

Almost everything sold as a CRM for Gmail is a sales CRM that renders inside a mail client, and it is good at the thing it was built for. Happenstance does the other job: it tells you who you know.

Four things that decide it

How it gets its data. Three mechanisms, and they aren't interchangeable. Streak and NetHunt render inside Gmail, so the thread you're looking at is the record. Salesflare mines the mail: it gathers contact and company details from emails, email signatures and social profiles, and logs your meetings and calls. Happenstance reads only the envelope, who you wrote to and how often, and uses that to rank people rather than to file messages.

What it reads. A CRM that logs and tracks messages reads the messages. Happenstance reads Gmail as headers only: it tells you who you know and how well, and message content never reaches its servers.

Free plan or trial. One permanent no-cost tier among the paid set, HubSpot's, capped at 1,000 people and two users with no time limit. Streak, Copper, NetHunt, Salesflare and folk offer nothing unpaid. Trials run 14 days at NetHunt and 30 at Salesflare.

What the annual rate hides. Every vendor here quotes the annual number. Month to month, NetHunt Basic is $30 rather than $24, Salesflare Growth is $39 rather than $29 and Streak Pro is $59 rather than $49. If you won't commit to a year, budget from the monthly column.

Eight tools, one table

CRMs for Gmail compared on best fit, how each captures from the inbox, free plan, starting price and reminders
	Best for	How it fills itself	Free plan and limit	Paid starts at	Reminders
Happenstance	Who do I know	Gmail headers plus six other accounts	Yes, the whole product with usage limits	$30/mo, $24 billed yearly	No
Streak	Deals as email threads	The Gmail thread is the record	No free CRM plan	$49/user/mo annual, $59 monthly	Tasks and follow-ups
NetHunt	A Gmail-native sales record	Lives in Gmail, Google Workspace integration	No, 14-day trial	$24/user/mo annual, $30 monthly	Yes, stated on the plan
Salesflare	No data entry	Mail, signatures, meetings and calls, logged for you	No, 30-day trial	$29/user/mo annual, $39 monthly	Named on its homepage
Copper	A sales team buying seats	Google Workspace sync of mail, contacts and calendar	Not published	$23/seat/mo annual, $29 monthly	Tasks
folk	A shared list with campaigns	Email, Google Calendar, WhatsApp, LinkedIn via extension	No, two-week trial	$24/mo billed annually, $30 monthly	Follow-up assistant
HubSpot free tools	A free CRM record	Gmail connection with logging and tracking	Yes, 1,000 people and 2 users, no time limit	Starter $20/seat/mo list	Yes, tasks with due dates
Google Contacts	Keeping people you chose	Saves Gmail correspondents and syncs device address books	Included with a Google Account	Not sold separately	No

The one that answers a question

Happenstance: best for finding who you know without leaving your mail

Best for: Anyone who opens a CRM tab because they need a person, not a record.
Where it wins: It reads the shape of your mail instead of filing it. Gmail headers, who you wrote to and how often, join Outlook, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram in one network ranked by how well you know each person. Then ask in plain English: who can introduce me to someone at Stripe, how do I know this person. Groups pool a team's networks at no cost, and the largest make 380,000+ people searchable.
Pair it with: Streak or NetHunt, if you also need a pipeline pinned beside the thread. Happenstance is the search layer beside them.
Price: Free, and the free plan is the whole product with usage limits on chat and on web searches beyond your network. Pro $30 per month, $24 per month billed yearlyChecked August 2026
Choose it if: the job you keep opening a CRM for is finding somebody. 500,000+ people use it, and message content and attachments never reach Happenstance servers.

The five that manage deals

Ordered by how deep into Gmail each one lives. Every one of them is a sales CRM.

Streak: best for running deals as email threads

Best for: Someone whose pipeline is made of conversations rather than records.
Where it wins: Threads as records. Streak is a CRM built into Gmail, so a deal is the email conversation rather than a copy of it, with tasks and follow-ups on each thread, and the ladder is per user with a clear annual saving: Pro $49 against $59 month to month.
What you give up: Cost. There is no unpaid CRM tier, and $588 per user per year at the annual rate makes it the most expensive route into an inbox here.
Price: No free CRM plan. Pro $49 per user a month billed annually, $59 monthly; Pro+ $69 or $89; Enterprise $129 or $159Checked August 2026
Consider it only if: the pipeline is the mail, and you want it filed where it already lives.

NetHunt: best Gmail-native record with reminders on it

Best for: A small sales team that wants the CRM to be a panel in Gmail.
Where it wins: It lives inside Gmail. Basic carries the Google Workspace integration and an MCP server, task reminders are on the plan, and tasks and projects sit on the record.
What you give up: The entry and the summit. There's nothing permanent without paying, only 14 days, and while Basic and Basic Plus publish annual rates, Business and Business Plus print the monthly price and route the annual to sales. Automation actions are metered above the plan, 5,000 more for $20 a month.
Price: No free plan. Basic $24 per user a month billed annually, $30 monthly; Basic Plus $34 or $42; Business $60 monthly, annual on request; 14-day trialChecked August 2026
Consider it only if: you want a sales CRM that never makes you leave the inbox, with reminders written on the record.

Salesflare: best at filling itself

Best for: A B2B seller or a small team that won't do data entry.
Where it wins: Automatic capture: it gathers company and person details from emails, email signatures and social profiles, and logs your meetings and calls for you. There is an email sidebar for Gmail and Outlook, a LinkedIn sidebar and a mobile app, and the trial is 30 days with no card.
What you give up: It's a B2B sales CRM with per-user plans and a five-user minimum on Enterprise. No free tier. Automated reminders are named on its homepage.
Price: No free plan. Growth $29 per user a month billed annually, $39 monthly; Pro $49 or $64; Enterprise $99 annual, minimum five users; 30-day trialChecked August 2026
Consider it only if: you sell B2B and the record has to fill itself while a pipeline runs beside it.

Copper: best for a team buying seats

Best for: A sales team that wants conventional tiers rather than a sidebar.
Where it wins: A per-seat ladder that discounts at every rung: Basic $23 against $29, Professional $59 against $69, Business $99 against $134.
What you give up: The trial. Copper publishes neither a no-cost tier nor a trial length, and the ladder is per seat from the first user.
Price: Basic $23 per seat a month billed annually, $29 monthly; Professional $59 or $69; Business $99 or $134; no unpaid tier publishedChecked August 2026
Consider it only if: you're buying seats for a sales team and the Google-shaped interface is why it made your list.

folk: best for a shared list rather than an inbox

Best for: Two to five people who need one list and want to send from it.
Where it wins: It is built around a shared list instead of a pipeline. It leads with contact management, pipelines, email integration and email campaigns, and it publishes the full ladder rather than routing you to sales.
What you give up: Proximity, and the bill. There is nothing permanent without paying, only two weeks, and folk connects Gmail as an email integration rather than as a panel in the inbox.
Price: No free plan. Standard $30 a month, $24 billed annually; Premium $60 or $48; Enterprise from $100; two-week trialChecked August 2026
Consider it only if: the shared list matters more to you than living inside the mail.

What you already have

HubSpot's free tools: the only free CRM record here

Best for: Anyone who wants a free record per person, connected to Gmail.
Where it wins: The free tier is a tier rather than a countdown: 1,000 people, up to two users, no time limit, with the Gmail and Outlook connection, message logging and tracking, tasks with due dates and notes on the record.
What you give up: The cliff above it, and the shape of the thing. Past 1,000 people you are on Starter at a $20 per seat per month list price. HubSpot is a sales and marketing platform, so a person in it is a lead-shaped object whether or not you sell to them.
Price: Free tools $0, 1,000 people and 2 users, no time limit. Starter $20 per seat a month list, currently discounted to $7 for new customers as a limited-time offerChecked August 2026
Consider it only if: you want a free record beside your mail and you can live inside a sales platform's idea of a person.

Google Contacts: the address book you are already paying for

Best for: Keeping the people you have deliberately decided matter.
Where it wins: It is already open, it isn't sold separately, and it fills itself quietly: Gmail correspondents get saved, phone address books sync, imports take CSV and vCard, and every card carries a free-text note. The published ceiling is 25,000 people or 20 MB. There's no plan to choose and nothing to cancel.
What you give up: Reminders, entirely. There's no follow-up feature and no birthday nudge; birthdays surface in Google Calendar. There's no ranking, no way to search by anything nobody typed, and nothing to upgrade to.
Price: Included with a Google Account at no additional cost, with no published plan structureChecked August 2026
Consider it only if: your list is a list, and you were never going to open a second tool for it.

Three names that used to belong here: Clay.earth became Mesh in 2026, and Contactually and Zoowho have shut down. Cloze is still sold. Its site, ai.cloze.com, is written for real estate, and its pricing page at cloze.com/app/pricing sells a general plan: Pro $17 a month billed annually, $19.99 month to month, over a free plan of contact management and an email inbox.

Pick by the sentence that sounds like you

"I lose track of which thread a deal is in." Streak, and expect to pay for it.

"I hate updating records." Salesflare, which is the only tool here that sells automatic capture as the product rather than as a feature.

"I want to spend nothing." HubSpot's free tools if you want a record per person, Happenstance if you want an answer per question. Neither expires.

"I know I have met someone who works there, and I can't remember who." Happenstance. That question is a search rather than a CRM feature, and it's the one job here that only Happenstance does. More on the Gmail source at Happenstance for Gmail.

Who do I know at Ramp from Gmail?

Example

Ran 1 search

22 people at Ramp are in your network; eight are in product.

Example results for “Who do I know at Ramp from Gmail?”
Person	Thinking	Mutuals
IK Ivan KovacProgram Manager at Ramp	Directly known. Program management at Ramp since 2021, on the integrations team.
CF Clara FischerStaff Engineer at Ramp	Directly known. Staff Engineer at Ramp; four years at Plaid before that.
BH Ben HolmProduct Manager at Ramp	Directly known. LinkedIn post, June: 'Shipping the new bill pay integrations at Ramp.'

An example of the answer this question returns. The people and the counts are illustrative; what a search returns depends on the accounts each person has connected.The same Gmail account, asked a question instead of filed into a pipeline.

"My network isn't in Gmail at all." Then the field is different. Try the best CRMs for networking, where the field is Dex, folk, Covve, Mesh and Nimble.

Prices and plan limits are from each vendor's own pricing page. HubSpot's free-tier limits and its Starter promotion banner come from hubspot.com/pricing/crm; the Google Contacts ceiling from Google's own support documentation.

What Happenstance reads from Gmail

Email is read as headers only. Message content and attachments never reach our servers. Yes. Your connections are searchable only by you, the friends you accept, and the groups you join, and sharing is always mutual. Your public profile shows a constellation of named people you know by default, which you can turn off anytime. We never share, sell, or use your data to train AI models. Happenstance is SOC 2 certified and DTI Trust Level 2; the full list of what is stored and for how long is on the security page.

Frequently asked questions

What's the best CRM for Gmail?

Streak for managing deals without leaving the inbox, because a deal is the email thread itself; NetHunt and Salesflare are the closest alternatives and Copper is the per-seat option. Happenstance for finding who you already know from the mail you've already sent; it reads Gmail headers rather than filing threads.

Is there a free CRM for Gmail?

Two, of different kinds. HubSpot's free tools are a genuine free tier with a Gmail connection, capped at 1,000 people and two users with no time limit. Happenstance is free and the free plan is the whole product, with usage limits on chat and on web searches beyond your network. Streak, Copper, NetHunt, Salesflare and folk have no free plan. 500,000+ people use Happenstance.

Does Google make a CRM?

No. Google Contacts is the closest thing, and it's an address book rather than a CRM: it's included with a Google Account at no additional cost, has no published plan structure, holds up to 25,000 people or 20 MB, and takes a free-text note on every card. It has no follow-up reminders. Birthdays appear in Google Calendar, not in Contacts.

What does a Gmail CRM do that Gmail does not?

Three things, and different tools do different ones. It keeps a record per person or per deal that survives the thread being archived. It shows that record beside the message you're reading. And it captures information from mail automatically, which is what Salesflare sells: gathering company and person details from emails, signatures and social profiles, and logging meetings and calls.

How much do CRMs for Gmail cost?

Per user per month, billed annually: Copper Basic $23, NetHunt Basic $24, folk $24, Salesflare Growth $29 and Streak Pro $49. Month to month those become $29, $30, $30, $39 and $59. HubSpot Starter lists at $20 per seat per month. Happenstance Pro is $30 a month, $24 a month billed yearly, on top of a free plan.

Is HubSpot really $7 a month?

Not as a list price. HubSpot Starter shows $7 per seat per month with $20 struck through, under a banner offering up to 65% off for new customers only for a limited time. Plan for $20 per seat per month and treat $7 as a discount that expires. The free tools are the durable part of the offer: 1,000 people, two users, no time limit.

Can a CRM read my email?

The sales CRMs above connect to your mailbox to log and track messages, which means reading them. Happenstance does not: email is read as headers only, so message content and attachments never reach our servers. That's the trade at the center of this category, and it is worth deciding on before you connect anything.

Which of these work with Outlook too?

HubSpot connects both Gmail and Outlook. Salesflare describes an email sidebar for Gmail and Outlook alongside its LinkedIn sidebar. Happenstance treats Gmail and Outlook as two of its seven sources, so a network split across a work Outlook account and a personal Gmail account is searched as one. Streak and NetHunt are built specifically for Gmail and Google Workspace.

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