The best CRM with texting and SMS messaging, compared for small business sales teams.

A CRM with texting lets your team send and receive text messages from inside the customer record. Every text lands on the right contact next to their calls, emails, notes and deals, so anyone on the team can read the whole conversation and pick it up. That is the difference between a CRM with text messaging and a texting app: the texts belong to the business and the pipeline, not to one person's phone.

Most small businesses already text customers. They do it because people answer a text faster than an email and because a short message feels personal. The trouble starts when those texts live on the owner's or a sales rep's phone. Nobody else can see them, nothing ties them to the deal and the follow up depends on someone remembering to send it. When that rep is off sick or leaves, the conversation leaves with them.

A texting CRM fixes three things at once. It keeps a shared history, so a customer never has to repeat themselves. It connects texting to the sales pipeline, so a quote discussed by text shows up on the deal. And it adds automation, so follow up texts, reminders and replies to new leads go out on time without a person watching the queue.

This guide compares the CRMs small businesses and sales teams ask about most when they want two-way texting: Close, Salesmate, Nutshell, Keap, HubSpot, Zoho CRM, GoHighLevel, Podium, Freshsales and Pipedrive. We make Multiply Revenue, which also has texting built in, so weigh our entry accordingly. It has its own marked section near the end and is not in the comparison list. None of these companies paid to be included.

We read each vendor's own pricing page and its own texting or help pages in October 2026 and compared them on the things that decide what texting will actually cost you and whether your team will use it.

Is texting built in or an add-on? Some CRMs include SMS in every plan. Others sell it as a paid add-on, need a higher plan before you can buy it or send you to a marketplace app that connects a separate texting provider. Each step adds a bill and a login.

How is each text charged? Business texting is usually billed per message or per segment (a standard text of up to 160 characters), plus a monthly fee for each phone number. Some vendors publish the rate, some pass the carrier cost through and some sell bundles of credits.

What does registration cost? US carriers expect business texting from a 10-digit number to be registered, often called A2P 10DLC registration. Some vendors list a one-time fee and a monthly campaign fee. Others mention the process without a price.

Who pays per user? A CRM priced per user per month gets expensive as the team grows, and texting add-ons are sometimes charged per user as well.

What can the automation do? We looked for two-way texting, templates, scheduled texts, follow up sequences, bulk messaging and whether messages log to the contact automatically.

Prices below are as published in October 2026 and can change. Several pages have a monthly and annual toggle that does not say which figure is shown, and we say so where it matters. Always confirm on the vendor's own page before you buy.

These are the published figures we read in October 2026. Plan prices are per month, and per user where the vendor says so.

Close: Solo $9, Essentials $35, Growth $99 and Scale $139 per user per month. SMS is built in from the Solo plan. Close says calling and SMS are usage based and passed through at cost, and phone numbers start at about $1 a month. It does not publish a per-text figure on the pages we read.

Salesmate: Basic $23, Pro $39 and Business $63 per user per month. Calling and texting is listed as an add-on rather than a plan feature. Local and toll-free numbers start at $1.1 a month. The per-text rate is behind an SMS rates link we could not save, so we do not quote one.

Nutshell: five tiers from $13 to $79 per user per month. Two-way SMS conversations come with the Engagement add-on at $16 per user a month, and a separate SMS add-on starts at $15 a month, sold in credit bands. No per-text price is published.

Keap: one plan starting at $299 a month. One-to-one texts are included, along with a starter bundle of 500 messages. Larger text bundles run from $24 to $279 a month, and overages are $0.015 per message.

HubSpot: texting is a paid Marketing SMS add-on that needs Marketing Hub Professional, which starts at $800 a month, or Marketing Hub Enterprise. The add-on price is not on the pages we read. HubSpot's SMS runs on Twilio and needs business registration first.

Zoho CRM: Standard $14, Professional $23 and Enterprise $40 per user per month, with a free plan for up to 3 users. SMS comes from the free SMS for Zoho CRM by Zoho Voice extension on paid editions. Zoho Voice lists a US text at 0.009 credit to send, where one credit is one US dollar, and a local number at one credit a month.

GoHighLevel: $97, $297 and $497 a month. Texting is billed by usage through its phone system: $0.00747 per segment in the US and Canada, plus carrier fees. A local number is $1.15 a month. A2P 10DLC registration is $22.50 or $64 one time, plus a monthly campaign fee.

Podium: Core $399 and Pro $599 a month. One-to-one texts are listed as unlimited on every plan, with 250 or 500 bulk message credits a month. A base 10DLC fee of $5 a month applies to every US location.

Freshsales: Growth $9, Pro $39 and Enterprise $59 per user per month, billed annually. SMS comes from a free marketplace app that connects to a texting provider you pay yourself, such as Twilio.

Pipedrive: its pricing page blocked our reader, so we list no price. Its help center says texting from the mobile app opens your phone's own messaging app, and texting tied to a deal comes from marketplace apps.

Close is built for sales teams that live on the phone. Calling, email and SMS sit inside one inbox from the cheapest plan, and the workflow is built around working a list of leads quickly. For an inside sales team that calls and texts all day, it is one of the most direct choices in this guide. The trade off is cost as the team grows: every seat is billed per user and the higher plans are where most of the automation lives. Texting usage is billed on top at cost. Close also says SMS needs a Close phone number to text the US and Canada and that it does not send international texts.

Salesmate covers similar ground with a pipeline, sequences and a built-in dialer, and it sells calling and texting as an add-on with credits. That suits a team that wants a full sales CRM first and texting second. Check the SMS rates page and the number fees before you commit, because the per-text price is not on the main pricing page.

Both are strong if your sales process is many conversations a day handled by reps. Neither will do the outreach for you: someone still has to send the first text, make the call and chase the reply.

The large general CRMs all support texting, but none of them treats it as a basic feature for a small team.

HubSpot puts SMS behind its Marketing Hub. You need Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise before you can add the SMS add-on, and the business has to be registered with the carriers first. HubSpot says 10DLC registration takes six to eight business days and a short code takes eight to twelve weeks. HubSpot is a good fit if you already run marketing in it. If you only want reps to text customers, it is the most expensive way to get there in this guide.

Zoho CRM is the lowest cost route if you are comfortable setting things up. The SMS extension is free on paid editions and the per-text rate is published, which makes the monthly bill easy to predict. The trade off is setup: texting runs through Zoho Voice, so you configure numbers and credits in a second Zoho product.

Freshsales connects texting through a free marketplace app, but you bring and pay your own SMS provider. That gives you control over the provider and the rate, and it also gives you two bills and two accounts to manage.

Pipedrive does not include SMS. Texting tied to a deal comes from marketplace apps, which add their own pricing and their own setup. If Pipedrive is already your CRM, a marketplace texting app is the practical route. If texting is central to how you sell, a CRM with SMS built in will be simpler.

Keap bundles texting into its single plan, including one-to-one texts, broadcasts and automated texts in the US, with a starter bundle of messages and paid bundles above it. It suits a small business that wants marketing automation, texting and email in the same product and is comfortable with a higher starting price and its required onboarding.

GoHighLevel is popular with agencies and owners who want texting, funnels and automation in one subscription. Its texting is pay as you go per segment, and it publishes every fee, including carrier fees and the A2P 10DLC registration costs. That transparency is useful: you can work out what a month of texting will cost before you send anything. The trade off is that the platform is broad, and many owners need help setting it up.

Nutshell is a friendly sales CRM for small teams. Two-way texting comes through its Engagement add-on per user, plus SMS credits, so check both prices together.

Podium is built around reviews and customer messaging, for businesses where customers text in: service shops, clinics and local retail. Its plans include one-to-one texting and bulk message credits, with a monthly 10DLC fee per US location. It is a customer service and reviews tool first and a sales CRM second, and the starting price reflects that.

Every CRM with texting has to send the message from somewhere, and there are two common routes. Knowing which one a tool uses tells you most of what to expect about cost, setup and delivery.

A registered business number. Most CRMs in this guide give you a local or toll-free number through a texting provider. You register your business and your use case with the carriers, which is A2P 10DLC registration for local numbers, and then you pay per message or per segment plus a monthly number fee. This route is built for volume and for teams. Registration takes time and has fees, and unregistered business texting is more likely to be filtered or blocked.

Your own phone and SIM. A few tools send texts through a phone you already own, on your own carrier plan. Customers see a number they already know and there is no messaging bill from the software on top of your phone plan. Setup is quick. The trade off is that your number is still subject to your carrier's rules for your plan. A carrier can filter or block a number that sends like a spammer, so this route suits one-to-one conversations with people who already know you, not large blasts.

Neither route changes the consent rules in the next section. Those apply to the message, not to the way it is sent.

This chapter is general information, not legal advice. Rules change and differ by state, so check yours before you send a campaign.

Get permission first. Federal rules require prior express written consent before you send marketing texts with automated software. In practice that means a clear opt in: a checkbox on a form, a keyword someone texts to your number or a signed agreement, with wording that says they agree to receive marketing texts from your business. Keep a record of when and how each person opted in.

Say who you are. The first message, and any message that could be confusing, should name your business so the person knows who is texting.

Make it easy to opt out, and honor it every time. Replies like STOP, QUIT, END, CANCEL or UNSUBSCRIBE are opt outs, and so is any plain reply that a reasonable person would read as asking you to stop. Once someone opts out, stop marketing texts to that number.

Respect the clock. The federal rule for telephone solicitations is no earlier than 8 a.m. and no later than 9 p.m. in the recipient's local time, and some states set narrower hours.

Check the Do Not Call list. Numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry should not get marketing messages unless the person gave you consent.

A good CRM helps you keep these habits: it records consent on the contact, stops texts to anyone who opted out and keeps every message on the record. No software can make a message lawful on its own, so treat any tool that promises compliance with care.

Two-way texting on the contact record. Replies should land on the same contact as the original message, next to calls and emails, without anyone copying them over. This is the feature that makes a CRM with texting worth having.

A shared team inbox. Anyone on the team should be able to see open conversations and reply, so customers get an answer when the person they first spoke to is busy.

Automated follow up. Look for texts that send on their own when a lead goes quiet, when an appointment is coming up or when a form comes in. Speed matters most with new leads, and automation is how you reply in minutes instead of hours.

Templates and scheduled texts. Saved replies keep messages short and consistent, merge fields keep them personalized with the customer's name and details, and scheduling lets you send at a sensible time in the customer's time zone.

Bulk messaging, used carefully. Sending one message to a list is useful for reminders and announcements to people who opted in. Check how the tool prices bulk sends, because many charge per segment or by credits.

Integrations. Check how texting connects to the rest of your tools, such as your calendar, website forms and email. When contact data flows into the CRM on its own, workflows can send the right text the moment a form comes in or a meeting is booked, and your customer communication stays in one place instead of three.

Reporting. You should be able to see how many texts went out, how many got replies and which ones led to a booked appointment or a closed deal.

The number customers see. A local number or a number customers already know gets answered more often than an unknown short code. Check whether the tool gives you a new number, lets you bring your own or sends through your phone.

The full monthly cost. Add the plan price, any texting add-on, per-user charges, number fees, per-message costs and registration fees. Two tools with the same plan price can end up far apart once texting is added.

We make Multiply Revenue, so read this section as our own description, not an independent review.

Multiply Revenue is a CRM with texting built in, plus AI agents that do the outreach. Texts go out through an Android phone with your own SIM, connected once during setup. Customers see the number they already know, and every message lands on the contact record with their calls and emails. Send from your own SIM: nothing to register with us, nothing per message from us. Your carrier's rules for your plan still apply, so keep to the consent habits above.

The difference from the CRMs above is who does the follow up. When a lead goes quiet after a call or an email, the AI agent can text them, written from what they actually said, and keep the conversation going until they book or say no. Calls, texts and emails sit on one record, and the whole team works from the same inbox.

Plans are $97, $297 and $497 a month with unlimited users, no setup fee and no contract. There is no per-user texting charge.

Where another tool is the better fit: if your team uses iPhones only, if you need a dedicated toll-free or short code number for high volume campaigns or if you want texting inside a CRM you already run, look at the options above. If what you need is more conversations started and followed up for you, that is what Multiply Revenue is built for.

Start with how your customers text you today. If most texting is one-to-one with people who already know you, appointment confirmations, quote questions and follow ups, a CRM with built-in two-way texting and a familiar number will do more for you than a campaign tool.

Count the real monthly cost for your team size. Take the plan price per user, multiply by your team, add the texting add-on, the number fees, a month of messages and the registration fees. Do the same for two or three options before you look at features.

Decide who does the follow up. If your reps will send every text themselves, choose the tool they will enjoy using. If follow up is where leads slip through, choose automation that sends on its own and logs every message.

Check the setup. Some tools text on day one. Others need carrier registration, a second product or a marketplace app first. Ask how long it takes before your first text goes out.

Try it with real conversations. Most of these vendors offer a trial or a demo. Send texts to your own phone, reply from it and check that the reply lands on the right contact. Then decide.