Best CRM for Project Management

Best CRM for Project Management

A guide to the top CRM-infused project management tools, featuring unified platforms and strong integrations. This entry profiles Productive, HubSpot, Flowlu, Nimble, and Teamwork, detailing each tool’s ideal use case, key features, pricing, and pros/cons to help agencies and professional services choose a single, data-driven solution for client relationships and project delivery.

Ideal Customer Profile

Agencies and professional services firms seeking unified CRM and project management in one platform.

Common Pain Points

  • Fragmented tech stack between CRM and PM tools
  • Difficulty aligning client data with project tasks and timelines
  • Siloed reporting and budgeting across departments
  • Managing budgets, resources, and forecasting across teams without a single platform
  • Integration and maintenance overhead of disparate systems
5
Top CRMs
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2025
Updated

Top CRM Picks

5 expert-vetted recommendations

Ranked recommendations based on feature depth, pricing transparency, and adoption within the industry.

Top 1
1
Productive
💰 Essential $9 user/mo; Professional $24; Ultimate $32
Best all-in-one project management CRM software

Perfect For

Unified CRM and project management for professional services

⚡ Key Features

  • Customizable sales pipeline with Kanban
  • Deal collaboration with tasks, assignees, and deadlines
  • Sales inbox and email integration
  • Quotes/proposals from rate card data
  • Scenario Builder for estimates
  • Real-time project management with multiple views (Kanban, Gantt, Calendar, List, Workload)
  • Client Portal for client collaboration
  • Time Tracking
  • Automations
  • Resource Planning
  • Forecasting
  • Reporting with 50+ templates
  • Integrations with Slack, Calendar, Xero/QuickBooks, HR tools, Jira

Pros

  • All-in-one platform unifying CRM and project management
  • Real-time dashboards and robust reporting
  • Strong budgeting, resource planning, and forecasting

"Productive is the best all-in-one CRM Project Management tool for unifying client relationships and project delivery."

Top 2
2
HubSpot
CRM-heavy solution best for complex needs

Perfect For

Marketing, sales, and CS teams needing robust CRM with project management integration

⚡ Key Features

  • Marketing, sales, and CS use cases
  • Workflow automation
  • Pipeline management
  • Content creation
  • Integrations with productivity tools

Pros

  • Comprehensive marketing automation and sales process features
  • Strong pipeline management and integrations

Cons

  • Not ideal as a standalone project management tool; may be overkill for teams that only need CRM

"If you use only one feature like CRM, probably, not worth it."

Top 3
3
Flowlu
Integrated client work with CRM and project management

Perfect For

Integrated client work with CRM and project management at a fair price

⚡ Key Features

  • Project management
  • Collaboration tools
  • Online CRM
  • Document builder
  • Financial management and invoicing

Pros

  • You can get a range of features for customer relationships and project progress management at a fair price.

Cons

  • Smaller team in Russia; potential slower development and scaling

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4
Nimble
Lightweight PM needs with CRM-centric focus

Perfect For

Lightweight project management needs with strong CRM features

⚡ Key Features

  • CRM
  • Email sequences
  • Sales pipelines and reporting
  • Workflow automation

Pros

  • Data enrichment and contact management strength

Cons

  • Only a single pricing tier; lacks full PM feature set of larger CRMs; not ideal for heavy PM

"Most users use this software for sales and marketing because it does not have the ability to handle our projects."

5
Teamwork
Best for integrating apps; modular project management

Perfect For

Managing business processes with project management and apps integration

⚡ Key Features

  • Multiple project views
  • Time tracking
  • Project collaboration
  • Budgeting and invoicing

Pros

  • Well-known software for project planning and collaboration

Cons

  • CRM and Desk are separate products; not a true all-in-one integrated option for sales and client relationships

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Buying Guide

Step-by-step guide to finding your perfect CRM

Strategic considerations to shortlist the right CRM platform for your workflow, tech stack, and growth roadmap.

  1. 1

    Map your core workflows (CRM needed vs. lightweight PM) and list non-negotiables (contacts, pipelines, task dependencies).

  2. 2

    Shortlist 3–5 platforms that support these workflows, then run a two-week demos and gather team feedback on ease of use and integrations.

FAQ

Common questions answered

Quick answers to common questions digital teams raise when evaluating CRM platforms.

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