Best Personal CRM solutions for Individual Use

Discover the best personal CRM solutions for individual and personal use, from simple databases to nocode solutions, to dedicated SaaS solutions.

Best Personal CRM for personal use

What is CRM?

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It is a technology solution that helps businesses manage customer data and interactions. It can help organizations create a better customer experience, increase sales, and improve customer service. CRM software can be used to track customer information, manage customer relationships, and store customer data, such as contact information, purchasing history, and more. Additionally, CRM software can be used to automate marketing, sales, and customer service processes.

The TLDR Version of this article:

Simply sign up for a FREE Clay account if you’re genuinely looking for a personal CRM.
It is the best of all things in a single solution. It is free to start for up to 1,000 contacts (enough for most people).

Here’s my detailed review of Pipedrive for anybody looking for a sales CRM for their business.

What is Personal CRM?

Personal CRM is a type of CRM software specifically designed for individuals. This type of software has all the same features as traditional CRM software, but with a focus on helping individuals manage personal relationships and data about people in their personal and professional networks.

Simple databases as a Personal CRM solution for Individuals

Having no system to track your personal relationships

You can choose not to use a system to manage your personal relationships and choose live in simpler times. This will work for you if you have very few people you want to maintain your relationships with. This can work just fine if you are organized and diligent about staying on top of your relationships. You will, however, not be able to track your relationships over time to understand how they have evolved into something meaningful for all people involved.

Using Your Phonebook/Contacts Directory/WhatsApp as a Personal CRM

Using your phonebook, contacts directory, or WhatsApp to manage your personal relationships works great if you have a limited amount of time to devote to maintaining data and interactions in a personal CRM. It allows you to store contact information, and record important information about people in your network. You can also use it to send messages, set reminders, and even schedule calls or meetings over messages or emails.

Using your phonebook or contacts directory as a CRM can be a great way to stay organized and on top of your relationships. However, it can be difficult to track the evolution of your relationship over time and to really get a deep understanding of your relationships. Additionally, you will need to manually update information for each contact, which can be time-consuming. Also, phonebooks, WhatsApp, Messages, and Calendar apps don’t necessarily play well with one another.

Using a Spreadsheet as a Personal CRM for Individuals

Using a spreadsheet as a Personal CRM is a great way to stay organized and track your relationships over time. With this method, you can create a structured spreadsheet that has a list of contacts and a separate list of interactions with each contact. Each contact will have a history of interactions and a few upcoming interactions in the future.

Using a spreadsheet for your Personal CRM allows you to keep track of all your contacts and the interactions you have had with them. It also has the benefit of allowing you to easily review and analyze the data in your CRM. You can use filters to quickly find contacts with certain characteristics, and use sorting to view contacts in different orders. Additionally, you can use formulas in your spreadsheet to automate certain tasks, such as calculating the total number of interactions with a contact.

Here’s an example of a CRM I developed in Google Sheets for Hubspot.

Using Airtable-based Personal CRM for Individuals

Using Airtable as a Personal CRM is a great way to keep track of your relationships over time. With Airtable, you can create a custom database to track all of your contacts and the interactions you have had with them. Each contact will have a history of interactions and a few upcoming interactions in the future. Airtable can also be used to automate certain tasks, such as setting reminders for upcoming interactions and creating contact groups for targeted communications. Additionally, Airtable’s UI is user-friendly and easy to use, making it easy to review and analyze the data in your CRM. Airtable is an ideal personal CRM solution for individuals looking to keep track of their personal relationships and data.

Here’s an Airtable-based Personal CRM template.

Using Notion as a Personal CRM for Individuals

Notion is a powerful tool that can be used as a Personal CRM to help you stay organized and on top of your relationships. Notion allows you to easily create a database of contacts and track interactions with each contact. You can also customize your database with additional fields that are relevant to you, such as their job title, company, or even a photo.

One of the main advantages of using Notion as your Personal CRM is that it is highly customizable. Notion allows you to create custom views for your data, so you can tailor the way it looks and behaves to fit your needs. You can also easily access and update your data from any device, and Notion provides a powerful search feature to help you quickly find the contacts or data you need.

However, Notion is not without its disadvantages. One downside is that it can be difficult to track relationships over time, as Notion does not provide a timeline view of interactions. Additionally, as with any database, you will need to manually enter data and update it regularly.

Here is an example of a Notion Personal CRM template.

Using Coda as a Personal CRM for Individuals

Coda offers a range of benefits if you’re looking to create your own personal CRM. With Coda, users can create powerful interactive documents with embedded content, pull data from outside sources, and design visualizations with charts, graphs, and maps.

The platform also has powerful automation capabilities. You can create rules to trigger automated actions, such as sending reminder emails, sending notifications when changes are made to documents, and more. You can also automate data entry.

Overall, Coda may be a great choice for a personal CRM system. With its powerful automation capabilities and easy collaboration features, Coda can help you manage contacts and leads more effectively.

Here’s a Coda CRM template that you can customize for personal use.

Nocode-based Personal CRM solutions for Individuals

Using Glide Apps to create a Personal CRM for Individuals

If you don’t like working with spreadsheets or databases, Glide Apps can be a great option for creating a personal CRM. Glide Apps is a no-code platform that allows you to convert your database into a beautiful, interactive app for both web and mobile. With Glide Apps, you can easily create a custom CRM that is tailored to your needs.

You can also easily connect your app with other services, such as Mailchimp and Zapier, to automate various tasks. Glide Apps works with Google Sheets, Airtable, Excel, etc.

Personal CRM Template in Glide Apps

Here’s an example of a Glide App CRM template.

Check out my Glide Apps Development service if you’re looking for help creating a bespoke CRM system that serves you personally or your business.

Creating a Personal CRM for Individuals using StackerHQ, Noloco, Softr

Using StackerHQ to create a personal CRM is a great option for those who want to create an effective and user-friendly CRM without coding. StackerHQ is a no-code platform that makes it easy to create powerful and interactive apps and databases to store and manage customer data.

StackerHQ allows you to customize the look and feel of your CRM, as well as add features to your app such as forms, charts, and filters. Additionally, you can easily add automation capabilities to your CRM, such as sending emails, setting reminders, and more. Additionally, StackerHQ works with a variety of databases, such as Google Sheets, Airtable, etc.

Personal CRM template in Stacker

Here’s an example of a StackerHQ CRM template.

Noloco and Softr are a couple of other Nocode platforms like Glide Apps and Stacker that allow you to create customizable front-ends for your data in Google Sheets or Airtable.

Personal CRM template in Noloco

Using SaaS-based CRMs as Personal CRM solutions for Individuals

SaaS-based CRMs could be great applications for a personal CRM solution. They offer an easy-to-use interface, powerful automation capabilities, and scalability, all without requiring any coding or technical skills.

The advantages of using SaaS-based CRM solutions:

  • Robust contacts management
  • Detailed relationship history
  • Email integration
  • Calendar integration
  • Automation and integration capabilities
  • Calling and texting capabilities

Some of the most popular, yet FREE, SaaS-based CRM solutions include:

While Pipedrive is not free, it’s a great CRM solution for both businesses as well as personal use. Here’s a review of Pipedrive if you’d like to take a deeper look at Pipedrive. If you’re convinced about Pipedrive, and if you’d like me to help you, check out my Pipedrive Consulting service.

Personal CRM SaaS solutions for Individuals

Clay.earth

Clay.earth is a powerful and user-friendly SaaS platform for personal CRM management. It allows users to keep track of all of their contacts, relationships, and data in one place, making it easy to stay organized and on top of their relationships.

One of the main advantages of using Clay.earth as a personal CRM is its integration across all social media profiles of your contacts. Clay.earth allows you to easily group your contacts, set up reminders for each user group, automate data entry and updates, and more.

Clay personal CRM

One of my favorite features of Clay.earth is its ability to track changes to the social media profiles of people in your contact book. It’s a great way of reinitiating contact with people who you have lost touch with. It becomes a great conversation starter for both parties and helps keep relationships fresh and up to date.

Folk.app

Folk.app is another SaaS-based personal CRM solution for individuals looking to keep track of their contacts and relationships. It offers a spreadsheet-style layout to keep track of your contacts and allows grouping of contacts to work with them in the right context. It also provides data enrichment and deduplicates contacts for you to keep your database clean.

Folk app

With a collaborative workspace, you can sync rich contact data, send personalized emails in bulk, track interactions and pipelines, and more. Additionally, a collaborative workspace can be highly customizable. You can create custom views for your data, so you can tailor the way it looks and behaves to fit your needs.

Using a collaborative workspace such as Folk.app can be a great choice for a personal CRM system. With its powerful collaboration and automation capabilities, Folk.app can help you manage contacts and leads more effectively.

Dex

Dex: One of the best SaaS solutions for Personal CRMs

Dex is a personalized CRM designed to foster meaningful connections by reminding users to stay in touch with acquaintances who might otherwise be forgotten. Unlike traditional CRM tools, Dex is tailored for informal relationships, making it a perfect fit for managing connections within your network. The Chrome extension integrates seamlessly with popular social platforms, such as Facebook, Messenger, and Twitter, providing users with the ability to manage relationships effortlessly. Dex goes beyond simple reminders, offering actionable nudges and calendar-based prompts to log interactions, enabling users to build stronger relationships, remember key details, and become effective superconnectors. If you’ve struggled with maintaining personal connections using conventional tools, Dex offers a lightweight and user-friendly solution for cultivating lasting relationships.

Conclusion

The article provides an overview of different personal CRM solutions available, ranging from no-code and SaaS-based solutions to free, open-source options. No matter which solution you choose, it’s important to find one that fits your individual needs and is easy to use and customize. With the right personal CRM, you can easily keep track of your contacts and the interactions you have with them, as well as automate certain tasks like setting reminders and creating contact groups. Ultimately, the right personal CRM solution can help you stay organized and on top of your relationships.