Outlook CRM: Best CRM for Outlook in 2026

If you’ve been using Outlook apps and are now in need of CRM features, you’re probably looking for an Outlook CRM.

In this guide, we break down what an Outlook CRM is, which features actually matter, and which tools are worth your time.

What is an Outlook CRM?

An Outlook CRM is a customer relationship management tool that works with Microsoft Outlook.

Instead of having to use Outlook for your email and calendar, then switching to another tool to manage contacts, deals, and follow-ups, an Outlook CRM helps you bring them all under one roof.

With an Outlook CRM, you can send and receive emails, log conversations, book meetings, and more, without ever leaving the CRM. Some tools even bring the CRM functionality into Outlook, letting you manage contacts, deals, and activities directly from your inbox. Some CRMs do both.

Either way, you get to work from one place, without having to constantly switch tabs or copy and paste information all over the place.

Features to look for in an Outlook CRM

The best Outlook CRM is not the one with the most features. Rather, it’s the one that houses the right mix of tools.

Below are the core features an Outlook CRM should have.

Email sync

Email sync is the foundation of any Outlook CRM. Without it, you’re right back to copying conversations, updating records by hand, and trying to remember who said what and when.

A good Outlook CRM syncs your Outlook inbox, so the emails you send and receive are automatically linked to the right contacts and deals. You can reply to emails, see the full conversation history, and keep track of sales communication without leaving the CRM.

Calendar sync

With the right Outlook CRM, you can connect your Outlook calendar and see your CRM activities—like follow-ups, meetings, and calls—inside Outlook. So, when you open your calendar to plan your day, everything you need to do is already there with their deadlines.

Calendar sync also improves visibility across your team. In addition to your CRM activities, you can also see your teammates’ schedules, which makes it easier to plan handoffs, avoid calendar clashes, and understand who’s handling what at any given time.

Auto lead capture

Manually adding leads is slow and tedious. A good Outlook CRM solves this by helping you capture leads the moment you come across them.

Ideally, you should be able to add a lead straight from your Outlook inbox, a website, or even a social media profile with a single click. Along with basic contact details, you can also save useful context about who they are and why they matter, so you’re not left guessing later.

Some CRMs go a step further by offering free web forms. When someone fills one out, their details are sent straight into your CRM.

Sales management

An Outlook CRM should come with sales management tools that help you see where every deal stands, and manage them as they progress through your funnel, from initial contact to close.

Ideally, the CRM allows you to view your pipeline visually, update deal progress quickly, and check important details such as deal value, expected close date, and recent activity at a glance.

It should also provide simple forecasts and reports, so you can determine which sales opportunities are moving forward, which ones are stalling, and where you need to focus your attention next.

Follow-up tracking

A proper Outlook CRM should help you stay clear on what to do next with every contact.

It should encourage you to set clear next steps for each contact or deal, then bring those follow-ups to the surface at the right time. That way, you always know who to contact next and why you’re reaching out.

Product or service delivery

Your Outlook CRM shouldn’t stop being useful once a deal is closed. It should also help you track what happens after the sale, whether that’s onboarding, delivery, or any other after-sale activity.

It should give you a visual pipeline to manage these post-sales processes and see what’s been delivered, what’s in progress, and what still needs attention.

Automations

The ideal Outlook CRM also includes automation tools that cut down repetitive work and help you keep your processes consistent.

It should let you set up tasks that are carried out automatically. It should also support automated emails and simple email sequences, so you can stay in touch with contacts without having to kick off the interaction by yourself every time.

Best 5 Outlook CRM Software in 2026

Below are five of the best small business CRM software that not only integrate with Outlook, but also help you manage contacts and sales.

OnePageCRM

OnePageCRM’s top feature as an Outlook CRM is its integration with Outlook email. With the two-way sync, you can send and receive emails, and see your full conversation history inside the CRM system.

Emails aside, OnePageCRM connects with Outlook Calendar, allowing you to bring your CRM scheduled activities—like calls, meetings, tasks, etc—into your Calendar app. And since you can use said app on a mobile device, you’ll be able to stay on top of your day, even if you’re away from your desk.

This Outlook CRM also has a Microsoft add-in, as well as a free browser extension that works inside your Outlook email inbox. With these tools, you can instantly capture leads from inside your email inbox with a click.

In addition to it’s integratons with Outlook tools, OnePageCRM still fulfills the primary goal of any CRM software: helping you sell more. That’s why it lets you set Next Actions for your contacts, after which it arranges them by urgency and reminds you to follow through.

And as you complete each action and guide your contacts closer to buying, the Outlook CRM offers you visual pipelines to track the sales and after-sales cycles.

Starting Price: $9.95 per user/month

Key Features:

• Instant lead capture. Add a contact to your CRM in just one click from your Outlook email inbox, or any website or social media site, using a free add-on or a browser extension called Lead Clipper.
• Single-page workspace. Manage contacts, communicate, track deals, and stay on top of your next steps—all from a single page.
• Follow-up tracking. Set your next steps with each contact and get them automatically arranged and color-coded according to their urgency.
• Sales pipeline. Create a visual pipeline with stages that mimic your actual sales process, and advance deals through it using drag-and-drop.
• Dashboard and analytics. Get a visual overview of your sales performance from a lightweight dashboard.
• Workflow automation. Set up automated actions that are triggered when certain things happen inside your CRM.
• User-friendly interface. OnePageCRM houses just the tools that Outlook-centric small businesses need and will use to manage contacts and sales opportunities.
• Full mobile CRM. Use the mobile CRM to access all the essential CRM features even when you’re away from your desk.

Microsoft Outlook Integrations:

• Microsoft Outlook
• Outlook Calendar
• Lead capture browser extension
• Free Microsoft add-in

Salesflare

Salesflare brings CRM features into your inbox.

When you open an email, you can view and manage the related contact or deal without opening the CRM itself. Emails are automatically synced, and Salesflare can even create new contact records for people you’re communicating with.

Outside of Outlook, Salesflare uses automation to handle a lot of the manual work that usually comes with CRM upkeep. When you add a new contact, it looks up company information, email addresses, and social media profiles and enriches their profile automatically.

Salesflare CRM also includes a Kanban-style sales pipeline to help you track deal progress, an email workflow builder for setting up follow-ups and campaigns, and email tracking so you can see how recipients engage with your messages.

That said, Salesflare does have a few drawbacks. There’s no free plan, and even the lowest-tier plan requires a business email address to sign up. On top of that, useful features like custom dashboards and advanced workflows are locked behind higher-tier plans.

Starting Price: $29 per user/ month

Main Features:

• Automatic contact & data entry. Automatically fills in contact and company details using information pulled from emails and the web.
• Email & link tracking. The CRM tracks when prospects open your emails, click links, and even visit your website.
• Pipeline and timeline views. Deals are organized in clear Kanban boards, so you can see where opportunities stand and what needs attention next.
• Automated email sequences & workflows. You can create multi-step sequences that send follow-up emails automatically.
• Mobile & sidebar apps. Salesflare is accessible via a mobile app and a sidebar add-on, so you can manage contacts and deals wherever you are.
• Lead enrichment credits. Depending on your plan, get credits that let you discover new leads and automatically enrich existing contact profiles.
• Relationship strength scores. Shows how strong your team’s relationship is with a contact, based on how often and how recently colleagues have interacted with them by email.

Microsoft Outlook Integrations:

• Microsoft Outlook
• Outlook Calendar

HubSpot CRM

HubSpot started life as an inbound-marketing tool and has since evolved into a large all-in-one platform. The core of the Smart CRM (HubSpot’s term for the combined contact, deal, and ticket database) is free to use and includes basic tools for sales, marketing, and customer service management.

When it comes to Outlook, HubSpot mostly acts as a two-way bridge. You link your email and use the CRM as your inbox, so every message you send or receive from Outlook is tracked, logged, and associated with the right contact or deal.

You can also connect your Outlook calendar so that tasks set in the CRM appear in your calendar and vice versa. HubSpot even offers a browser extension that scrapes contact details from your Outlook inbox and creates a CRM record for you.

Beyond that, HubSpot offers sales management tools such as a kanban-style pipeline and a 360° page for sales context, like contact details, notes, tasks, and communications, amongst others.

That said, some powerful features like advanced automation, sequences, and custom reports are hidden behind higher-tier subscriptions that cost up to $90 and require an additional $1,500+ for onboarding.

Moreover, because the platform serves multiple business functions, the interface is busy. And yet, HubSpot makes it impossible to hide features you don’t need.

Starting Price: $15 per user/month

Main Features:

• Free forever plan. Free Outlook CRM housing just the basic sales, marketing, and service tools.
• Two-way email sync. Connect your Outlook email address to send and receive emails in your CRM. Also, track when recipients open your emails or click links in them.
• Reporting & dashboards. The free plan includes a handful of pre-built dashboards and reports.
• Automations & sequences. Professional/Enterprise tiers include a robust workflow builder and email sequence tool that can automate follow-ups and internal notifications.
• Quick lead capture. Browser extension pulls contact details from your Outlook mailbox and creates a record in your CRM. Web forms are also available.
• AI tools. High-tier plan includes an AI note-taker, an agent that can respond to customer requests, and a low-code builder for creating custom AI agents.

Microsoft Outlook Integrations:

• Microsoft Outlook
• Outlook Calendar
• Lead capture extension

Pipedrive

Pipedrive comes with email integration for Outlook. Once you connect your Microsoft email account, emails linked to contacts and deals show up inside Pipedrive, and you can reply without leaving the CRM.

There’s also a dedicated Outlook add-in called Pipelook. It opens a side panel inside Outlook and shows Pipedrive details about the person you’re communicating with. From the side panel, you can add contacts, create or view deals, and schedule activities.

Pipedrive’s main feature is its visual sales pipeline. Deals can be dragged from one stage to another, which makes it easy to track progress, deal values, and overall sales momentum. Follow-up reminders are built in as well, so you always know what action to take next for each deal.

On higher-tier plans, Pipedrive adds AI-powered sales assistance, email templates with open and click tracking, and forecasting reports to help you plan ahead.

That said, Pipedrive is designed for bigger teams and can be feature-heavy and too complex for small businesses.

There’s also no free plan, and the lower-priced Lite plan limits the number of deals you can work on while omitting features like full email sync and custom reports. Even web forms require a separate add-on, which can cost up to twice the price of the entry subscription.

Starting Price: $14 per user/month

Main Features:

• Visual pipeline management. A Kanban pipeline where you can drag deals between stages, see deal value and probability at a glance, and customize stages to match your sales process.
• Follow-up reminders. Create follow-up activities, set deadlines, and receive reminders when they are due.
• Reporting. Dashboards and custom reports that show won and lost deals, sales cycle length, revenue forecasts, and activity performance.
• AI assistance. An AI sales assistant that highlights deals needing attention and suggests actions that are most likely to improve conversion.
• Workflow automation. Create simple “If-then” rules to automate repetitive admin work and routine tasks.
• Email sequences. On advanced plans, you can create email templates, send bulk emails, track opens and clicks, and build automated sequences that send messages over a set period of time.
• Chatbot. Automates conversations with website visitors and customers.

Microsoft Workspace Integrations:

• Outlook Email
• Outlook Calendar
• Microsoft Teams
• Pipelook add-on

Nutshell

Nutshell is a sales-focused CRM designed for growing businesses. This CRM offers a native Outlook add-in that brings CRM functions into your email inbox.

You can send emails directly from Nutshell and automatically save a copy in your Outlook’s Sent folder. And from the sidebar inside your Outlook, you can create contacts and tasks, view upcoming activities, track communications with contacts, jot down notes, and access CRM records without leaving your inbox.

It’s worth noting that Nutshell’s sync with Outlook emails and calendar is two-way. That means messages, meetings, and tasks stay updated in both your CRM and your Microsoft account.

Beyond that, Nutshell’s pipeline can handle both sales and post-sales activities. The Outlook CRM also features automation tools, with which you can automatically assign leads, follow up with them, and move them through pipeline stages.

On the downside, Nutshell doesn’t offer a free plan, and some advanced features—like unlimited pipelines, deeper customization, and AI—are restricted to higher-tier plans costing $59+ per user/month.

Starting Price: $13 per user/month

Main Features:

• Sales automation. Automatically assign leads, set triggers to auto-move deals to the next stage, and create email sequences and text messages.
• Pipeline management. Nutshell provides multiple views (list, board, map, and chart) to visualize where deals sit in the pipeline.
• Post-sales management. Build separate pipelines for after-sales activities.
• Analytics & reporting. Customize reports to measure your funnel performance and forecasted revenue. Download presentation-ready graphs.
• AI-powered features. Higher-tier plans include AI features such as automatic summarization of Zoom calls or meetings and AI timeline summaries. There are also AI agents and generative AI.
• Built-in email marketing. Set up email campaigns, newsletters, and automated drip sequences.
• Quotes and invoices. Create, send, and track custom quotes and invoices right in the Outlook CRM

Microsoft Outlook Integrations:

• Outlook Email
• Outlook Calendar
• Microsoft Teams
• Teams Events

Choose the right Outlook CRM

Microsoft Outlook does a great job as an email and calendar tool, but it doesn’t have a CRM of its own. So if you’re trying to manage sales from Outlook alone, you’ll eventually hit a wall.

That’s why an Outlook CRM makes so much sense.

Of course, what you get depends on the option you choose. Some tools mainly bring CRM context into your inbox. Others focus more on automation, reporting, or pipeline management.

But if you’re looking for an Outlook CRM that helps your small business close more deals, OnePageCRM may just be your best bet.

You get full email sync with Outlook, instant lead capture so you’re not manually adding contacts, and the Next Action system that keeps you focused on what to do next with every lead. On top of that, you can handle your entire business from just one page.

No wonder it’s a top choice amongst small businesses in over 80 countries across the globe. Try it today for free—no credit card required.

FAQs about Outlook CRM

• Is there a CRM built into Microsoft Outlook?

  No, Microsoft Outlook doesn’t have a built-in CRM. Outlook is designed for email, calendar scheduling, and contact management, not for managing sales processes or customer relationships.
  
  While it helps you communicate and stay organized, it lacks tools for tracking deals, follow-ups, pipelines, and sales performance. That’s where a dedicated Outlook CRM comes in.

• Can I use Outlook as a CRM?

  You can use Outlook to handle parts of customer management like sending emails, storing contacts, and scheduling meetings.
  
  However, unlike a proper CRM system, Outlook won’t be ideal if you’re trying to manage sales opportunities, track follow-ups, or get visibility into your sales performance.

• What if I can’t afford a proper Outlook CRM software?

  If budget is a concern, there are still options worth exploring. Many Outlook CRMs offer free trials, giving you time to test whether the tool fits your workflow before committing.
  
  There are also free alternatives—like this Notion CRM—that can connect with Outlook. And while these options may lack advanced features, they can still help you organize contacts, track follow-ups, and stay consistent until you are ready to invest in a full CRM software.