7 Best Personal CRM Software Apps 2024 (For Networking)

by Chris Von Wilpert, BBusMan • Last updated November 23, 2023

Expert Verified by Leandro Langeani, BBA

First-Person Perspective: We buy, test and review software products based on a 3-step rating methodology and first-hand experienceIf you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read our rating methodology and how we make money.

Today there are 130 different personal CRM software. We spent 90 hours comparing the top 50 to find the seven best you can use to manage your relationships for work, friends, and family.

What is the Best Personal CRM?

  1. Monica — best of the best
  2. Dex — best for professionals
  3. Covve — best for phone contact management
  4. Streak — best for email marketers
  5. Queue — best for iOS
  6. Notion — best for integrations
  7. UpHabit — best for enterprise

Our Verdict — Best Of The Best

Price: Starts at $9/month

Monica is the most versatile personal CRM available. We think it’s the best because of its open-source code, moderate pricing, and powerful dashboard.

The Best Part:

  • No-nonsense pricing. Monica charges a flat rate for unlimited features in exchange for hosting your personal CRM on their server.

The Worst Part:

  • It is not available for mobile. You can't download Monica from Play Store or App Store, so it's pretty much only available for desktop.

Get it if you want the best all-around personal CRM app for desktop.

I recommend you get started with the Free plan, then upgrade to a yearly subscription for $90/year to access all features and manage unlimited contacts.

(free plan available)

Best For

Monica is best for individuals who want the best and most flexible personal CRM in the market.

Top Features

  • Free self-hosted plan. Host your own personal CRM on your local server for free with access to all the same kickass features available in the paid cloud-based plan.
  • Unlimited contacts for a flat price. Just nine bucks lets you add unlimited contacts to take your relationships to the next level. 
  • Fully open-source software. Modify the source code to fit your specific needs without the need to build a personal CRM from scratch.
  • Contact management made easy. Update contact details such as pet names, addresses, gifts, and reminders with minimal effort thanks to the software's user-friendly dashboard.
  • Powerful dashboard. See what matters most first and always stay in the know for what's coming next for tasks, reminders, meetings, and more, all in a single screen. 

Pricing

Monica offers three pricing plans:

  • Free (hosted): Free forever for newbies who want to try out the software with up to 10 contacts.
  • Free (DIY): Free forever, for tech-savvy individuals who want to host the software on their own server and access all features for free.
  • Monthly: $9/month for individuals who want a cloud-hosted personal CRM solution with unlimited contacts.

Annual plans provide a 17% discount.

Try Monica today with the free plan.

2. Dex

Our Verdict — Best For Professionals

Price: Starts at $144/year

Dex is an amazing personal CRM tool. We think it’s the best for professionals because of its versatile Chrome extension, user-friendly interface, and availability for mobile and desktop.

The Best Part:

  • Automatic contact imports. Add contacts to your Dex CRM as you browse the internet with just one click.

The Worst Part:

  • Slow and lengthy set-up process. Dex takes a while to set up and then requires you to connect your LinkedIn and Gmail, as well as installing the Chrome extension.

Get it if you want a fully loaded personal CRM for professionals.

I recommend you get started with the free 14-day trial, and then upgrade to the Premium Plan for full access at $144/year.

(14-day free trial)

Best For

Dex is best for professionals who want a personal CRM to manage both personal and work relationships under the same roof.

Top Features

  • Dedicated dashboard for birthdays. Keep track of all your friends' and connections' birthdays in a nice and easy dashboard.
  • Smart event creation. Save time by scheduling events with multiple contacts seamlessly with just a few clicks.
  • Efficient dashboard navigation. Use keyboard shortcuts to quickly add notes, set reminders, and create events without breaking a sweat.
  • The best personal CRM Chrome extension. Add your professional contacts to your Dex account directly from LinkedIn, Gmail, Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook Messenger with one click using the software's Chrome extension button.
  • Multi-device CRM management. Web, Android, or iOS — choose your weapons and manage your CRM from anywhere.

Pricing

Dex offers one pricing plan:

  • Premium Plan: $144/year for individuals who want to access the full personal CRM with unlimited contacts and Chrome extension contact sync.

Try Dex today with a free 14-day trial

Our Verdict — Best For Phone Contact Management

Price: Starts at $12.99/month

Covve is the best mobile CRM for managing personal relationships. We think it’s the best for phone contact management because of its seamless phone contact synchronization, sleek mobile app, and social media integration.

The Best Part:

  • Seamless mobile contact synchronization. Covve synchronizes contact details unquestionably better and faster than alternatives.

The Worst Part:

  • No desktop version. The CRM is only available via  Android and iOS apps, and cannot be accessed through your browser.

Get it if you want a sleek personal CRM that works perfectly for managing your phone contacts on your mobile.

I recommend you install the app on your phone and try it out for free, with up to 20 contacts, then sign up for the Pro plan at $12.99/mo.

(free plan available)

Best For

Covve is best for individuals who want a great personal relationship manager for mobile.

Top Features

  • Powerful social media finder. Use your contact's phone number to automatically find and add them on LinkedIn and Twitter.
  • Stay committed to your relationships. Track your progress and commitment with sleek in-app graphs to always stay in touch with your connections.
  • Say good-bye to infinite scrolling. Filter your contact searches by frequencies, status, tags, and more with the app's advanced search features.
  • Timely reminders. Take advantage of the app's built-in calendar and receive tailored phone notifications to never miss a meeting ever again.
  • Easily record everything. Catalog all your past events with name,  day and communication method (call, text, email, or in-person meeting).

Pricing

Covve offers two pricing plans:

  • Covve Free: Free forever, for newbies starting out and managing up to 20 relationships.
  • Covve Pro: $12.99/month for individuals who want to add unlimited contacts and access full app features and AI-powered functionalities.

Annual plans provide a 23% discount.

Try Covve today with the free plan

Our Top Three Picks

Here’s a quick summary of our top three picks:

  1. Monica — best of the best
  2. Dex — best for professionals
  3. Covve — best for phone contact management

Here’s a quick comparison of our top seven picks:

Tool

Entry Offer

Pricing

Monica

Free plan

Starts at $9/month

Dex

14-day free trial

$144/year

Covve

Free plan

$12.99/mo

Streak

Free plan

Starts at $15/mo

Queue

Free plan

$7.99/mo

Notion

Free plan

Starts at $10/mo

UpHabit

Free plan

Starts at $24.99/mo

Here are the top 50 personal CRM tools we considered in this review:

  1. Monica
  2. Dex
  3. Covve
  4. Streak
  5. Queue
  6. Notion
  7. UpHabit
  8. Hubspot
  9. Zoho
  10. Nat
  11. Mogul
  12. Folk
  13. Cloze
  14. Airtable
  15. Nimble
  16. Insightly
  17. Clay
  18. UpLead
  19. TinyBlu
  20. Texts
  21. Sunshine
  22. Sugar CRM
  23. Softr
  24. Sellf
  25. Salesflare
  26. Relatable
  27. Pipedrive
  28. OnePageCRM
  29. Ntwork
  30. Maximizer
  31. Keep My Friends
  32. Jovie
  33. Hippo
  34. Garden App
  35. Freshsales
  36. Forge
  37. FollowUp for Email
  38. EngageBay
  39. Contacts+
  40. ClickUp
  41. Circles
  42. Capsule CRM
  43. BIGContacts
  44. Agile
  45. Salesforce
  46. Apptivo
  47. Microsoft Dynamics 365
  48. Highrise
  49. Nutshell
  50. amoCRM

What is a personal CRM?

A personal CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is a contact management tool designed for individual users who want to organize their personal network and professional relationships.

Personal relationship management software often offers advanced features such as contact organization, email integration, and email tracking to help you manage your contact base more efficiently. It allows you to keep track of contact data management, contact profile, and contact cards.

The personal contact management software can also help you manage your personal life by keeping track of personal appointments and upcoming events.

What you should be looking for in a personal CRM is an intuitive interface that is easy to use. Some personal relationship management apps offer browser extensions, a mobile version, and a single platform that integrates with other tools like Google Workspace, Google Sheets, and Google Calendar. Smart reminders, event management features, contact list synchronization, and business card scanning are also other features that you may typically find in personal CRMs.

You can choose to integrate your marketing automation or outreach with personal CRM apps and integrate email templates, follow-up emails, email marketing campaigns, email signatures, and social networks to get the most out of your CRM. 

Is a personal CRM worth it?

Absolutely, if you're a busy individual, business owner, or professional, a personal CRM might just be the best investment you can make to boost your organization and help you keep in touch with your contacts.

Keeping an updated personal CRM can come with extremely good perks such as obtaining new clients for your business, keeping in touch with old friends, tightening your family relationships, and always keeping a good line of communication with your acquaintances.

All of these benefits can be aligned with your goals by using a good CRM; in other words, you can turn your personal contact management software into an all-in-one platform where you not only keep in touch with your connections but also manage tasks that involve the individuals without ever losing track.

What is the best CRM for an individual?

The best CRM for individuals is Monica, hands down, as it provides a great solution for free and also for a paid plan, and makes for a flexible open source tool that you can adjust to fit your exact professional or personal needs.

Other options you can look into for great personal CRMs include Covve, Dex, Streak, Notion, and Queue. 

Does Google have a personal CRM?

While Google doesn't have a standalone personal CRM available, you can use available personal CRMs in the market with great Google integrations such as Notion.

Notion makes a perfect tool for integrating your Google accounts, whether we're talking Google Workspace, Google Calendar, or even Google Contacts. It is worth noting that integration tools such as Zapier might be necessary for integrating certain Google products with your personal CRM.

Which CRM is easiest to use?

The easiest CRM to use is probably Monica, as it has a very clean user interface that you could start using from day one with no issues.

You can also check out Covve for mobile, or Notion if you're ready for a quick learning curve before you start getting the hang of the interface. 

Based on our research, sometimes it is best to invest some time in advance to get familiar with certain CRMs in case they serve your use case best. This is especially relevant if you're a professional with a busy life, as this may end up saving you time and helping you manage things more efficiently as you get more familiar with the CRM and start to use it consistently.

Can I use Excel as a CRM?

Excel can indeed be used as a CRM if you're looking for a simple tool and have a limited budget. It has powerful features if you're familiar with managing spreadsheets and using Excel formulas.

You can use Excel to create a contact list or database, and track sales data, deals, tasks, and more. However, using Excel as a CRM comes with lots of downsides, as it lacks typical features you may find in CRMs such as collaboration and permission management.

So it's best to avoid using Excel as a CRM if you're looking for advanced CRM functionalities that enable you to collaborate with customers, employees, as well as colleagues.

The Bottom Line

To recap, here are the best personal CRM software to try this year:

  1. Monica — best of the best
  2. Dex — best for professionals
  3. Covve — best for phone contact management
  4. Streak — best for email marketers
  5. Queue — best for iOS
  6. Notion — best for integrations
  7. UpHabit — best for enterprise

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