Free CRM for Charities and Nonprofits in 2026, Compared

TL:DR: Salesforce is the most generous free CRM for charities in 2026: any eligible nonprofit gets 10 Nonprofit Cloud Core licences at no cost through the Power of Us program, and the bill that follows is implementation rather than licensing. HubSpot gives 40% off Professional and Enterprise, but not Starter, and only to nonprofits in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Zoho's nonprofit program is a one-time £4,500 credit that covers up to half of your subscription, and Microsoft prices Dynamics 365 Sales Enterprise at $23.80 per user per month for eligible nonprofits. The trade-off across every program is eligibility paperwork and, in most cases, a one-year commitment.

A charity needs a CRM for the same reasons a sales team does, minus the commission. Someone has to remember which funder asked for a report, which volunteer said yes to Saturdays, and which donor gave in 2023 and has not heard from you since.

The problem is that "free" here means four different things, and none is zero in year two. This post separates them using each vendor's pages, checked in November 2026.

What "free CRM for charities" actually means in 2026

Free CRM for charities usually means one of four commercial shapes, and the shape decides what you pay in year two. Donated licences are seats a vendor gives away, as Salesforce does with 10 Nonprofit Cloud Core licences. Percentage discounts cut the list price, as HubSpot does at 40%. Credit wallets pay part of each bill until the balance runs out, which is Zoho's model. The fourth is a product priced for nonprofits from the start.

The eligibility gate matters as much as the number. Some programs want recognised charitable status in your country, some route through US 501(c)(3) validation via TechSoup, and some cover four countries. A discount you cannot qualify for is worth nothing, and the wrong kind of CRM, donor-shaped when you needed a pipeline, costs a year of staff time.

Figures were read from each vendor's pricing or nonprofit page on 9 November 2026.

Option 1: Salesforce Power of Us, ten free seats and a project plan

Salesforce's nonprofit offer is the largest single grant in the category. Any eligible nonprofit receives 10 Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud Core licences at no cost, and additional licences are discounted for eligible nonprofits, per Salesforce's nonprofit pricing page. Premier Success activates when the organisation makes its first paid purchase, and the same page states that more than 56,000 nonprofits and educational institutions have started through the program.

The application runs through the Power of Us portal, and you do not need an existing org or trial to apply, because the licences come with a provisioned org, which means the grant includes the tenancy as well as the seats.

The catch is the shape of the product. Nonprofit Cloud is an enterprise platform, and ten free seats still need someone to model objects, build reports and decide what happens when a donor record and a volunteer record describe the same person. Most small charities hire a partner or use a fraction of it.

Pick Salesforce if you have staff or a partner who has done an implementation before, and you expect to grow past ten seats. Skip it if nobody on the team can own a Salesforce org, because donated complexity is still complexity.

Option 2: HubSpot for Nonprofits, 40% off two tiers in four countries

HubSpot's nonprofit program is a clean 40% discount with restrictions that decide whether it applies to you. The discount covers Professional and Enterprise tier products only, does not apply to Starter tier products, add-ons or capacity increases, requires a minimum one-year contract, and is currently available only to eligible nonprofits in Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Canada, per HubSpot's nonprofit eligibility criteria.

That restriction surprises UK and Indian charities. A registered charity in Manchester or Pune can read the offer on HubSpot's nonprofit page, and cannot claim it.

Separately, HubSpot's free CRM covers up to two users and 1,000 contacts with no expiration date and no credit card, per HubSpot's free CRM page. That is enough for a two-person fundraising team to test a pipeline, and not enough for a third colleague.

Pick HubSpot if you are in one of the four countries, you want marketing and CRM in one place, and you can commit to a year on Professional. Skip it if you are outside those markets, or if Starter was your budget.

Option 3: Microsoft Dynamics 365, discounted seats and a free Power Apps grant

Microsoft's nonprofit program is a set of discounts rather than a donated CRM, and the numbers are published per product. Dynamics 365 Sales Enterprise is $23.80 per user per month for eligible nonprofits, Service Enterprise is also $23.80, Business Central is $32.00, Power Automate Premium is $3.75, and Power Apps is free for up to 10 users then $2.50 per user per month, per Microsoft's nonprofit Dynamics 365 page.

Adjacent grants change the total cost of the stack. Azure carries an annual $2,000 grant, Microsoft 365 Business Premium is discounted 75% to $5.50 per user per month, and Windows 11 Pro grants run to 50 licences through TechSoup, per Microsoft's nonprofit offers page.

The argument for Dynamics is that a charity already on Microsoft 365 gets identity, email and CRM under one tenant. The argument against is that Dynamics implementations are partner-led projects, and the discounted seat is the smallest line on the invoice.

Pick Dynamics if you are a Microsoft shop with an IT partner and you need finance and operations alongside fundraising. Skip it if you want a CRM a volunteer coordinator can learn in a week.

Option 4: Zoho for Nonprofits, a credit wallet rather than a discount

Zoho's program pays half your bill rather than cutting your price. Zoho for Nonprofits offers a one-time £4,500 credit to use across Zoho products, with Zoho covering half the cost of each purchase, described on the program page as credits that cover up to 50% of subscription costs, per Zoho for Nonprofits. Applications need organisation documents, and some Zoho apps sit outside the program.

The free edition is what makes this workable for small charities. Zoho CRM's free edition supports 3 users with leads, deals, workflows, reports and a mobile app, per Zoho CRM's pricing page, so a small team starts at zero and spends the credit later.

Two cautions. The credit is a pound figure on the UK page and the program is administered per region, so confirm the amount on your own country's page. When the credit runs out, you are on list price.

Pick Zoho if you want the widest app suite for the smallest cash outlay and you are comfortable configuring software yourself. Skip it if you need donor-specific objects, gift aid, or grant tracking out of the box.

Option 5: Neon CRM, Little Green Light and Bloomerang, priced for nonprofits from the start

These three do not run charity discounts, because every customer is a charity. The list price is the nonprofit price.

Neon CRM starts at $99 a month and charges on revenue rather than records, which means adding supporters never triggers an upgrade, per Neon One's pricing page. Little Green Light starts at $45 a month for up to 2,500 constituents, rises in $15 steps to $135 a month at 50,000 records, adds $15 a month for each further 10,000 up to a 200,000-record ceiling, includes unlimited users and gives 30 days free, per Little Green Light's pricing page. Bloomerang's platform starts at $242 a month billed annually with unlimited users, its CRM alone starts at $125 a month, and its fundraising product starts at $40 a month as a bundle add-on, per Bloomerang's pricing page.

What these three sell is the donor model: gifts, pledges, recurring giving, grant tracking, acknowledgements and the retention report your board asks for.

Pick one of these if fundraising is the core of the job and you want the vocabulary to match. Skip them if you mainly need a pipeline for corporate partnerships and volunteer coordination, where a sales-shaped CRM is cheaper.

How to choose, the decision tree

• If you have someone who can run an enterprise platform, apply for Salesforce Power of Us and treat the ten licences as a project start, not a finish.
• If you are in the US, Canada, Australia or New Zealand and want marketing plus CRM, take HubSpot's 40% on Professional.
• If you are already paying for Microsoft 365, price Dynamics 365 Sales Enterprise at $23.80 per user, then get a partner quote.
• If your budget is close to zero and your team is three people, start on Zoho CRM's free edition and apply for the nonprofit credit when you outgrow it.
• If fundraising is the core job, choose between Neon CRM, Little Green Light and Bloomerang on pricing model: revenue, records or platform bundle.
• If you need a CRM, projects and invoicing for a small team and no per-seat bill, a self-hosted open-source CRM is a fourth path, and this comparison of open-source and SaaS CRMs covers the trade honestly.
• If a vendor's eligibility page excludes your country, stop there.

The realistic answer for most small charities is a donor CRM such as Little Green Light at $45 a month, with Salesforce's ten donated seats reserved for organisations that can staff an implementation.

Integrating with the rest of your stack

The CRM decision is rarely the expensive one. The expensive part is the join between the CRM, the finance system and whatever holds programme data, and charities feel that join more than businesses because the same donor, volunteer and beneficiary can appear in all three.

Start with export. Before you sign a one-year contract, ask what your data looks like as a CSV and whether gift history survives with its dates and designations. A platform that stores gifts as line items on a contact exports cleanly, and one that stores them as activity notes does not.

BareStack's own position is that a charity should not pay a subscription for a contact database at all. The free open-source CRM core is free for everyone and can be self-hosted, and the philosophy page sets out the offer for registered NGOs and nonprofits: custom builds at no cost, because software bills come out of donor money. You can compare the shapes at the comparison page, and the FAQ covers hosting, backups and data portability.

For the argument itself, this comparison of simple and enterprise CRMs is the shortest version. If you are leaving Salesforce, the BareStackOS comparison covers what migrates. If HubSpot is on your shortlist, the 2026 HubSpot pricing breakdown covers the costs the discount does not touch, and the CRM guide for solopreneurs is the wider shortlist.

Bottom line

Salesforce Power of Us is the most valuable free CRM offer for charities in 2026, at 10 Nonprofit Cloud Core licences for eligible organisations, provided you can staff the implementation. HubSpot's 40% discount is simpler but limited to Professional and Enterprise tiers in four countries, Zoho's £4,500 credit covers half your spend, and Microsoft's discounted Dynamics seats suit organisations already inside its tenant. If fundraising is the core job, a nonprofit-priced CRM such as Little Green Light at $45 a month beats a discounted sales platform you have to reshape.

FAQ

Does Salesforce really give nonprofits 10 free licences?

Yes. Any eligible nonprofit receives 10 Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud Core licences at no cost through the Power of Us program, and additional licences are discounted, per Salesforce's nonprofit pricing page. The licences arrive with a provisioned org, so you do not need an existing instance to apply.

Is HubSpot free for nonprofits?

No. HubSpot gives 40% off Professional and Enterprise products to eligible nonprofits in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand on a one-year minimum term, and the discount excludes Starter products, add-ons and capacity increases, per HubSpot's eligibility criteria. Separately, HubSpot's free CRM covers two users and 1,000 contacts for any organisation.

What are TechSoup's eligibility rules?

TechSoup's US program requires an organisation to be a 501(c)(3) public charity recognised by the IRS, or a public library, per TechSoup's eligibility article. Individual offers add limits on organisation type, budget, location and quantity, with some counts resetting each fiscal year from 1 July, per TechSoup's provider restrictions.

Which CRM is cheapest for a small charity?

Zoho CRM's free edition supports 3 users at no cost, per Zoho's pricing page, and Little Green Light starts at $45 a month for up to 2,500 constituents with unlimited users, per its pricing page. Salesforce's ten donated licences cost nothing but assume an implementation, and HubSpot's free CRM stops at two users and 1,000 contacts.

Do charities need a donor management CRM or a sales CRM?

It depends on what the CRM has to count. Neon CRM, Little Green Light and Bloomerang model gifts, pledges, recurring giving and grant tracking, while Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho and Dynamics model contacts, deals and pipelines that nonprofits adapt. If most reporting is about donors and retention, a donor-shaped CRM saves configuration, and if it is about partnerships, a sales-shaped one is cheaper.

Is a free CRM really free for a nonprofit?

Rarely in total, often in licence fees. Salesforce donates ten seats but expects an implementation, HubSpot's 40% leaves a Professional bill and a one-year term, and Zoho's credit covers half your costs until it expires. The genuinely free paths are Zoho's 3-user edition, HubSpot's 2-user CRM, and a self-hosted open-source CRM where the only cost is the server.

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Photo by Joel Muniz on Unsplash

Photo by Thomas Rodriguez on Unsplash