NimbleCRM is an affordable contact management platform laser-focused on helping small businesses and solo entrepreneurs generate leads and nurture client relationships. While it lacks some of the advanced reporting and customization of enterprise CRM platforms, Nimble compensates with an array of unique prospecting tools I haven't seen in competing products at this price point.

Some highlights include a mobile app that scans and captures contact details from business cards, a browser plugin to find social media profiles and professional info for contacts, email signature parsing to automatically update CRM records, and a "prospector" feature to extract contact information from company websites.

The modern and intuitive interface centers around a customizable dashboard displaying deal pipelines, messages, events, and social network updates. A unified inbox provides two-way sync with Office 365/Outlook or Google Workspace to manage all client communications. Nimble's cheapest plan starts at $19/user/month and offers a generous 25,000 contacts and 2GB storage per user.

Nimble CRM core capabilities

Nimble CRM offers a comprehensive set of core functionalities that address the essential needs of businesses for efficient contact management, sales pipeline tracking, task and activity management, and workflow automation.

Its intelligent contact manager automatically gathers and consolidates contact information from various sources, such as email, social media profiles, and business apps, into unified contact records. This enables users to easily access and manage extensive information about their contacts in one place.

I also found Nimble's task and activity management capabilities to be quite robust. Users can create, categorize, and sort tasks, and associate them with specific contacts for added context. The visual Kanban-style interface of the Workflows feature is great for project and process management, allowing teams to map out processes, identify bottlenecks, and optimize workflows.

For sales teams, Nimble Deals provides an effective way to manage opportunities through the sales pipeline. Deal stages can be customized to align with the business's unique sales processes. Nimble also delivers powerful sales analytics and reporting, with multiple custom dashboards, in-depth reports, and the ability to track individual and team performance. This enables sales forecasting and data-driven decision-making.

Another strength of Nimble is its mobile app for iOS and Android. It provides core CRM functionalities on the go, allowing users to access contact details, track deals, and stay on top of tasks while out of the office. Recent enhancements have further improved the mobile experience.

While Nimble checks the boxes for essential CRM capabilities, it could improve certain areas to be even more compelling. For example, the platform would benefit from deeper customization options for its reporting and stronger native integrations with a wider range of third-party business apps. But overall, Nimble provides a solid and affordable CRM solution, especially for small businesses and sales teams.

How easy is Nimble CRM to use?

When I first logged into Nimble CRM, I was immediately struck by its modern, clean, and intuitive interface. For a feature-rich CRM with multiple modules, the layout felt accessible and easy to navigate from the get-go.

Nimble provides helpful new user onboarding that walks you through every step of the setup process. This made learning the ropes a painless experience, as the onboarding helps familiarize you with the key features and layout in a guided way. I felt I was able to start using the core functionality confidently in a short amount of time.

Customization is another area where Nimble shines in the user experience department. You can create multiple sales pipelines tailored for different needs, audiences or teams. Kanban-style pipeline views enable dragging and dropping deals visually through stages. Dashboards are able to surface the data and insights most relevant to your role.

Nimble offers mobile apps for iOS and Android, making it convenient to access contact records, communication history, deals, and tasks while on the go. Based on the easy learning curve I encountered, it seems realistic that a new user could get comfortable with the key features and workflows within a few hours to a couple of days max.

All in all, I'd say ease of use is one of Nimble's greatest strengths. The clean UI, helpful onboarding, and customization options make it an accessible yet powerful solution for users of varying technical comfort levels. The ability to get up and running quickly is a huge asset for busy sales and marketing teams.

Nimble CRM integrations

Nimble CRM offers a wide range of integrations and connectors to make it easy to sync data with other apps and services. The Nimble Marketplace lists over 120 pre-built integrations with popular business tools like Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Slack, Mailchimp, Zapier, HubSpot, QuickBooks, and others.

I was also pleased to find that Nimble has direct integrations with iPaaS providers Zapier and Make. This opens up the possibility to connect Nimble with thousands of other apps not available natively. Setting up integrations via Zapier or Make is straightforward, only requiring your login credentials.

For custom integrations, Nimble provides a well-documented REST API. The API lets developers access most of the core Nimble data and functionality. However, it appears API access is not enabled by default, and admins need to explicitly allow it for each user account, which could be a hassle for larger teams.

In my experience testing some of the key integrations, like Google Contacts and Microsoft 365 calendar sync, the data syncing has been reliable with no noticeable lags or errors. Performance seems solid, even with a large number of records.

One area I think Nimble could improve is providing more fine-grained controls and filters for syncing. Currently, it's largely all-or-nothing. The ability to limit which fields get synced or filter records based on criteria would add flexibility.

How good is Nimble CRM's customer support?

While it provides some helpful support options, NimbleCRM's user reviews indicate that the overall quality and effectiveness of their customer support is mixed.

According to Nimble's website and third-party reviews, email is the main support channel, available Monday through Friday from 9 am-5 pm PT. They also offer phone support during those same hours. A chatbot is available for submitting requests, but it is not a true live chat.

Self-service resources include a knowledge base and support community. However, the depth and usefulness of these resources are unclear based on the information I could find.

One point of frustration for some users is the lack of 24/7 support or live chat, which many consider essential for a paid CRM. Support hours are limited to standard business hours in the Pacific time zone.

That said, a few reviewers reported positive experiences with support responsiveness. One reviewer noted that they received an email response and resolution within an hour of submitting a ticket after hours. They also got immediate responses via Twitter.

Other users praised the support as "solid and high quality" and noted "responsive customer support with less wait time." However, the average first response and resolution times are not published anywhere that I could find.

On the flip side, some reviewers were less impressed, with one saying that "customer support could be better." Another described it as just "fine," noting it sometimes took a full day to get a response.

So while Nimble does offer a few different support channels and has some fans of their service, support hours are limited, 24/7 live channels are lacking, and quality seems hit-or-miss based on user sentiment. There's definitely room for improvement in Nimble's customer care.

Nimble CRM plans and pricing

Nimble keeps its pricing structure simple and straightforward, offering a single plan at a flat per-user rate. The Business plan is priced at $24.90 per user per month when billed annually, or $29.90 per user per month if you opt for month-to-month billing. That represents a savings of over 15% if you commit to a yearly subscription upfront.

For the price, each user gets access to Nimble's full set of CRM features, along with a generous 25,000 contact record limit and 2GB of storage per user. Should you hit the storage ceiling, additional space can be tacked on in 10GB increments at $10 per month, prorated for the remainder of the current billing period.

I appreciate that Nimble doesn't nickel and dime customers with complex pricing tiers or hidden fees. The only variables impacting your monthly cost are the number of user licenses and any extra storage you might need. Nimble simply charges a prorated amount for additional licenses or upgrades made mid-cycle.

It's also worth noting that Nimble doesn't require an annual contract or commitment. You can go the monthly route and cancel anytime if the platform doesn't meet your needs or your team size changes. Although the annual discount is attractive if you're confident Nimble is the right long-term CRM solution for your business.

For anyone on the fence, Nimble does provide a 14-day free trial to test drive the software risk-free. No credit card information is required. It's not as generous as the 30-day trials offered by some competitors, but two weeks is ample time to assess if the feature set justifies the expense.

All in all, while Nimble's entry point isn't the cheapest compared to some barebones entry-level CRM plans on the market, the pricing is reasonable considering its robust capabilities. Growing businesses that want to streamline sales and marketing on a single platform without breaking the bank will find Nimble's predictable, all-inclusive pricing appealing. Just be mindful of potential storage costs if you anticipate maintaining a large database of detailed customer records.

Nimble CRM review: Final verdict

After spending time testing and evaluating NimbleCRM, my overall impression is that it provides a solid set of core features at an affordable price point. It particularly excels at contact management, with helpful tools to aggregate contact data from various sources into unified records.

Nimble's visual deal pipeline and task management functionalities are intuitive and effective for keeping sales processes on track. The ability to customize deal stages and dashboards allows aligning the software to unique business needs.

I was also impressed by Nimble's mobile apps, which enable accessing key customer data and features on the go. The interface is modern and user-friendly across devices.

While it delivers essential capabilities, certain areas could still be enhanced. Reporting customization options are somewhat limited compared to higher-end CRM solutions. Some users might also wish for a wider breadth of out-of-the-box integrations.

But for small businesses and teams wanting an accessible yet fully featured CRM at a reasonable cost, Nimble is a compelling option. Its strengths in contact management, deal tracking, and mobile access make it well-suited for entrepreneurs and SMBs looking to foster sales growth and deepen customer relationships without undue complexity.

Capsule is an intuitive and affordable customer relationship management (CRM) solution designed for small to medium-sized businesses. Its user-friendly interface and gentle learning curve make it approachable even for non-technical users.

Despite its competitive pricing, Capsule provides a robust set of core features for managing contacts, identifying opportunities, tracking communications, and overseeing sales pipelines. Standout capabilities include the ability to store up to 30,000 contacts for just $18/month, a simple "projects" feature that can function as a basic helpdesk, and useful integrations with popular apps like Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Mailchimp, and Xero.

In my experience, Capsule excels at delivering the key CRM platform essentials in a streamlined package. The well-designed layouts and intuitive workflows can help small teams quickly get up to speed. However, some advanced features like marketing automation are limited compared to pricier competitors. But for small businesses seeking an affordable and capable CRM without unnecessary complexity, Capsule is well worth considering.

Capsule CRM core capabilities

Capsule is a streamlined customer relationship management system designed to help small businesses efficiently manage their customer interactions and sales processes. Its core capabilities revolve around simplifying the most essential aspects of CRM.

It allows users to easily store, organize, and access customer data in one centralized location. Beyond basic info, it enables linking contacts to relevant opportunities, cases, and notes, providing a complete view of each customer relationship.

Sales teams can take advantage of visual pipeline tracking to monitor the progress of deals. Drag-and-drop functionality makes it simple to move opportunities from one stage to the next. Customizable pipelines ensure they fit the unique sales processes of each business.

Opportunity records give a snapshot of key data like value, win probability, and expected close date. This rolls up into sales forecasting reports and analytics to predict revenue and identify trends. The reporting features are a bit basic compared to higher-end CRMs, but they cover the essential needs of small businesses.

Where it really shines is in its ease of use and mobility. The interface is clean and intuitive, with a minimal learning curve to get a team up and running. And it gets full marks for its mobile-friendliness — a fully featured mobile CRM that makes it a breeze for sales reps and account managers to work on the go.

Integration options ensure the CRM isn't isolated but connected to the other systems businesses rely on. It hooks into popular small business tools for email, ecommerce, marketing automation, customer support, and productivity.

With a robust feature set yet simple interface, Capsule checks the boxes small businesses need in a CRM at a very affordable price point. The core capabilities are there, without a lot of extra bells and whistles that tend to bog down other systems. If complex and fine-grained customization isn't a requirement, Capsule is an excellent option.

How easy is Capsule CRM to use?

Capsule is widely praised for its user-friendly interface and intuitive design that makes it easy for new users to navigate and quickly become proficient with the platform. The simple layout focuses on the core CRM features small businesses need most, without unnecessary complexity.

I found the straightforward dashboard a breeze to use from the get-go. Key functions like contact management, opportunity tracking, task scheduling, and reporting are easily accessible. The visual sales pipeline is also simple to understand at a glance.

Capsule offers a good degree of customization to tailor the tool to your specific needs and processes. You can create custom fields, tags, filters, and views to track the exact information you need for contacts, opportunities, cases, and more. It's quick to set up dropdown menus, checkboxes, and date fields. You can also customize your sales pipeline stages and milestones.

The platform makes onboarding painless with a wide array of self-service training resources. These include tutorial videos, step-by-step guides, webinars, and an extensive knowledge base. The intuitive UI and wealth of educational content make it realistic for most users to get up and running in a couple of hours.

Capsule also has an active user community for Q&A, best practices, and feature suggestions. For more hands-on help, email support is responsive and thorough in my experience. All plans include customer support at no extra charge.

If your small business needs an affordable CRM without a steep learning curve, Capsule is well worth considering. Its thoughtfully designed interface, customization options, and strong support make it one of the most user-friendly CRMs that I've tried. Most teams should be able to deploy it quickly and see rapid user adoption.

Integrations

When it comes to integrations, Capsule really shines. The system offers an impressive array of pre-built integrations and connectors that make it easy to sync data with other business apps. There are official integrations for popular tools like Mailchimp, Xero, FreshBooks, and Google Workspace. So if you're already using those in your workflow, getting them connected is a breeze.

But the integration options don't stop there. Capsule also supports leading iPaaS vendors like Zapier and Make. This opens up a world of possibilities, allowing you to connect Capsule with thousands of other web apps without needing any coding skills. You can automate data syncing, trigger workflows based on events, and much more. Zapier integration, in particular, is very well done.

For those with more technical needs, Capsule provides a robust API. This allows developers to integrate the system more deeply with custom or third-party applications. In my experience, the API is well-documented and reliable.

I've found the data syncing to be fast and seamless. Once you have an integration set up, you can count on your data always being up-to-date across all tools. The system also handles data conflicts gracefully.

Little touches, like being able to easily map custom fields when setting up an integration, make the whole process very user-friendly. And if you ever run into issues, CapsuleCRM’s support team is very knowledgeable about integrations and quick to help.

How good is Capsule CRM customer support?

Capsule offers some customer support options, though it may not be as comprehensive as larger competitors. Users can access live support via email, with the friendly customer service team typically responding within one business day, Monday through Friday. However, phone and live chat support do not appear to be offered at this time.

Where the CRM really shines is in its self-service support resources. The company provides an extensive knowledge base filled with helpful articles and step-by-step guides covering everything from getting started to more advanced features and use cases. The Capsuleblog and YouTube channel are also fantastic resources, offering insightful tips, video tutorials, and customer success stories to help users make the most of the platform.

While researching CapsuleCRM's support, I was impressed by the largely positive customer reviews and high ratings the company has earned on third-party sites like G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius. Many users praise the responsiveness and helpfulness of the support team, noting that they received prompt and effective assistance despite the lack of live support options. However, a few reviewers did mention that the lack of phone support could be an issue for some customers.

It's worth noting that Capsule doesn't have a dedicated user forum or community at this time. While the knowledge base and tutorials are undoubtedly valuable, having a space for customers to connect, share ideas, and help one another could further enhance the support experience.

Capsule CRM plans and pricing

Capsule CRM employs a per-user per-month pricing model with five tiers ranging from a limited free plan up to $72 per user monthly. The free version supports up to 2 users, 250 contacts, and 10 AI content assists, but lacks workflow automations, project management features, and advanced customizations.

In my view, Capsule's pricing is fairly standard for a CRM, with the per-user monthly cost increasing as more robust features and higher usage limits are unlocked. The Starter plan, at $18 per user per month, should suffice for small teams just needing core CRM functionality. However, growing businesses will likely need at least the Professional plan at $36/user/month to access workflow automation capabilities that can significantly boost productivity.

One downside is that many features SMBs would want, like sales pipeline management, email templates, and custom fields, are limited or unavailable on the free and lower-tier plans. Capsule does offer a free plan and trial to test out the software, but the free version is quite limited compared to some competitors.

On the plus side, Capsule's pricing is transparent and straightforward, without any hidden fees or required add-ons. Discounts are provided for annual billing and new customers. The monthly price maxes out at $72 per user for the Ultimate plan, which is reasonable compared to enterprise tiers of many other CRMs.

SmallPDF is an online PDF editor with a wide variety of tools to help you edit, convert, encrypt, merge, sign PDFs and more. In addition to working with PDF files online, the company also offers mobile apps for Android and iOS as well as a desktop app for Windows. While SmallPDF features plenty of tools, is it enough for your needs? 

Having tested the best PDF editor and even the best free PDF editor tools, we were keen to see if this popular software could still hold its own against - so, we put the latest version to the test.

SmallPDF: Pricing & plans

SmallPDF has various subscription plans on offer, mostly geared towards businesses, but do include an option for individuals. All allow you to pay yearly or monthly (the latter’s much more expensive).

‘Personal’ will cost you the equivalent of $9 a month on a yearly contract, or $12 on a month-by-month basis. ‘Team’ is for two to one hundred people, and will cost $7 or $10 respectively per account. The ‘Business’ plan (for over 100 people) is simply listed as having custom pricing that should be tailored for your unique business needs

Both ‘Personal’ and ‘Team’ offer you a seven-day free trial, and you can also check out the Free plan. However, although you can use 21 of Small PDF’s available tools with it, the Free account has a serious limitation: only allowing two conversions per day (that’s switching to and from PDFs); there doesn’t appear to be limits when using other non-premium tools.

SmallPDF: Features

SmallPDF’s main page showcases its six most popular tools, namely, PDF to Word, Merge PDF, JPG to PDF, eSign PDF, Edit PDF, and Compress PDF. The full gamut of features is revealed by clicking on the big blue ‘See All PDF Tools’ button beneath those, or by clicking on ‘Tools’ menu at the top of the page.

You’ll find 32 icons to choose from, allowing you to do anything with a PDF, including important features such as merging or splitting documents, redacting or watermarking files, scanning, locking, or signing PDFs.

There are even some AI tools to summarise or generate questions from a document. The conversion tools work both ways, but are limited to Microsoft file formats (Word, Powerpoint and Excel), and going to or from JPGs. Interestingly, there’s an OCR version which helps turn an image or an un-selectable PDF into selectable text.

The newest feature is the ability to edit the existing content of a PDF. This was severely lacking up to now, and it’s a great and important addition for anyone having to work with such files. It is however reserved for paying customers (or those using the free trial).

SmallPDF: Interface & experience

SmallPDF is a cloud based service, but also allows for offline working through its downloadable software, of which the mobile versions are even available with the ‘Free’ plan. You can grab a copy of it for Windows, iOS and Android. Sadly the Mac isn’t supported. SmallPDF also offers integration with Google Chrome, Google Drive and Dropbox.

We found the interface quite intuitive. After you’ve selected your first tool and uploaded your chosen document, You’ll find a list of features to the left. Mouse over some of them to reveal additional ones. What’s not clear at first is that selecting a new tool necessitates either uploading a new document, or opening one already in your SmallPDF account - you cannot work on the same file directly; you must first finish your work with one tool, save it, select another tool, and open your file from there once more. It’s convoluted, but you get used to it. And yes, you need to register and log in even if you’ve chosen the ‘Free’ account; doing so is free, and allows you to keep some files in the SmallPDF servers.

The Sign feature is great, as it not only lets you fill in forms and sign them, but lets you email documents to others and track their progress, just like any dedicated PDF Signing service. The Redaction tool is easy to use, and unlike PDF Candy, actually prevents you from selecting the redacted text.

SmallPDF: Support

SmallPDF has a full help desk on their site with an FAQ set up with additional ability to write in another question and/or suggest a new feature.

The frequently asked questions are quite helpful for a plethora of basic questions, however the more detailed questions will require further assistance. For these questions, SmallPDF has a contact form that allows for file uploads, categorical questions, and a textbox to ask whatever questions you may have.

SmallPDF: Final verdict

Small PDF is in a very crowded market, and although it’s not the sleekest service and downloadable software out there, it has made remarkable strides recently, even including new and crucial features. The interface is mostly nice to work with, and aside from the less than ideal way of switching between different tools, it does function very well, whatever you need to do with your PDF documents.

• Do even more with PDF files with one of the best Adobe Acrobat alternatives

You might think that Time Machine is all the backup software you need if you work on Apple Mac OS machines, but it’s always better to have more than one option for data preservation – which is where Get Backup Pro 3 comes in.

We’re now on version 3.7.3 of this app, which is into its second decade of service, and it remains one of the most popular and comprehensive protection choices for Apple users.

We've also listed the best data recovery software out there right now.

Get Backup Pro: Plans & pricing

If you want to give Get Backup 3 a test run before splashing any cash, a thirty-day trial is available – but there’s no free version of this app.

Happily, a single licence of Get Backup Pro costs $30, which is a reasonable price that competes well with many other options: EaseUs ToDo Backup Home costs $40 for Windows but also $30 for Mac, for instance, and O&O DiskImage Professional is $50 for a single-PC licence.

A family pack comes with five licences and costs $50, which is another excellent deal, and there are discounted prices if you want to upgrade from an older version of the app to the current software.

Sadly, there aren’t any high-end Technician, Enterprise or Server versions of this app, which restricts Get Backup Pro’s potential use cases. It may not be ideal for larger businesses, but five licences may be enough if you’re a small organisation working on Apple hardware.

Features

Get Backup Pro’s range of features matches up with what small businesses and home users will need, too.

Incremental and full backups are supported, and the app includes templates for pre-configured backups of files from iTunes, Mail, Contacts, Documents and Photos – handy if you want to preserve the data from some of your most-used apps. Backup compression is also included if you need to save drive space, and backup synchronization means no chance of absent files.

128-bit, 256-bit, Blowfish and Triple DES encryption and password protection methods are available to protect crucial information, and relatively basic scheduling options are available too: you can configure backups to start at particular times and days, or when you mount specific disks. Impressively, the app launches and closes without notifying users if backups are scheduled – so you don’t need to worry about it.

Users can back up to hard drive destinations, external drives, network volumes or other kinds of physical media, and archives can be restored to any computer without having Get Backup Pro installed.

You can clone backups, which is ideal if you want to migrate to a new machine, and you can also create bootable APFS/HFS+ versions.

For everyday home and small business use, it’s a good set of features, although this more affordable app is found wanting in some areas too. There’s no server or cloud support beyond networking destination abilities, and many other apps have more extensive scheduling and command tools.

Interface & use

It’s certainly easy to use, at least. Click a Plus icon on the left-hand side of the app and you’ll open a window where you can configure a backup – all of your pertinent options are included. You can click another button to add files, folders or app data, and tap the Play button to get started.

Different tabs on the left-hand side allow for archival, cloning or synchronization jobs, and a separate logging window gives you complete visibility of Get Backup Pro’s workloads.

Get Backup Pro offers decent speeds, too. We tested our latest slate of backup apps with a 42GB document folder, a 2.5GB spreadsheet folder, a 162GB folder of media and an 82GB file that mixes all of those file types. We backed them up to three different SSDs to weed out any inconsistency.

Its average of six minutes and 15 seconds in our Document test is certainly not the fastest result we’ve seen, but it’s a mid-table result that won’t slow you down too much – and it delivered a similar result in our Excel benchmark. It took just over 15 minutes with our Media files and a little less with our Mixed folder, which is similarly middling pace.

Support

Get Backup Pro users can easily access product documentation online and use a support form to request free technical support, but there’s no indication of how long it’ll take to receive a reply.

Sadly, that’s it – there doesn’t seem to be a forum and there’s no phone support. But that’s not surprising, especially with a relatively affordable app mostly produced for home users rather than businesses.

Competition

Indeed, Get Backup Pro’s main rivals are home alternatives, like EaseUS ToDo Home for Mac. And when it comes to features, there’s hardly anything between the two – they perform similar tasks and have similar shortcomings compared to Windows tools.

Get Backup Pro and EaseUS ToDo are both compelling options for Mac users, but they also line up against Paragon Backup and Recovery for Mac. That app is free but only backs up entire systems and has no configuration options. If you’re serious about Mac-based backup, a paid tool like Get Backup Pro 3 is far better.

Verdict

Get Backup Pro 3 is one of the best home and small business tools available for Apple users thanks to a decent range of features that covers every core backup task – alongside solid speed and pricing.

That said, if you’re running a larger business or need more capabilities, then be prepared to look elsewhere and perhaps pay a higher price.