Free tools
Free CRM with a built-in power dialer: which ones are actually free
Last updated July 26, 2026
Short answer
Genuinely free CRMs with a built-in power dialer exist, but the field thins fast once you drop the trials. DialSheet is a free-forever CRM with a full power dialer built in — 3 seats, up to 500 leads, no card, no dialer paywall — and you pay only your own Twilio for the minutes (~$0.014/min). Agile CRM (free up to 10 users, BYO Twilio), Apollo, and EngageBay have real free tiers with tighter caps. HubSpot and Zoho are free CRMs but do not include a working dialer on free. Everything else labeled "free" is usually a trial.
Search "free CRM with a built-in power dialer" and the results look encouraging — until you read the fine print. One is a 7-day trial. One is free for exactly ten users. One gives you fifteen calling minutes a month. One is a dialer that plugs into a CRM you still have to pay for. The word free is doing an enormous amount of work across those pages, and it means something different on each. Before comparing tools, it helps to separate the four things vendors mean by it.
The word "free" means four different things here
Free trial
Full features for 7–30 days, then a card is required. Useful for evaluation, but it is not a free tool — it is a countdown. Kixie and CRM Dialer sit here.
Free for a few seats
Free until you hit a seat cap, then per-user billing kicks in. Fine for a solo user; a landmine for a growing team. EngageBay freezes near 5 agents; Agile’s free tier caps at 10.
Free, but metered
The software is free but calling is rationed — a small minute allowance or credit bundle, with overage fees after. HubSpot’s 15 free minutes per user per month is the classic example.
Genuinely free (BYOC)
The dialer and CRM are free forever; you bring your own carrier and pay wholesale for the actual minutes. No seat games, no minute meter on the vendor’s side. DialSheet is built this way.
Only the last category is free the way most people mean it: no expiry, no seat trap, no minute meter on the vendor's side. The trade is that you connect your own carrier — a few minutes of setup — in exchange for software that stays free and call rates at wholesale instead of marked-up bundles.
Which ones are actually free — and where the meter starts
| Tool | Free = trial or forever? | Power dialer on free? | Free seats | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DialSheet | Free forever | Yes — full power dialer on the free tier | 3 seats | 500-lead cap on free; you connect your own Twilio (~$0.01–0.02/min) |
| Agile CRM | Free forever tier | Auto dialer built in (needs your Twilio) | Up to 10 users | Calling runs on your Twilio; campaign/dialer depth is thin on free; dated interface |
| Apollo | Free forever tier | Basic browser dialer, credit-limited | Multiple | Recording restricted on free/by region; volume tied to credits; prospecting-first, not a calling CRM |
| HubSpot CRM | Free forever CRM | Calling, but no power dialer | Generous | 15 calling minutes/user/month, then log-only; power dialer + sequences are paid Sales Hub |
| Zoho CRM | Free forever tier | No native dialer on free | 3 users | Needs a paid telephony add-on (Zoho Voice / PhoneBridge) to actually dial |
| EngageBay | Free forever tier | Basic dialer | ~5 agents | Freezes near 5 agents, then per-seat; telephony features limited on free |
| Kixie | 7-day trial | Yes — real power/multi-line dialer | Trial only | Not free — per-seat from ~$35/user after the trial ends |
Approximate 2026 details from each vendor's public plans; verify current caps before you commit. "Power dialer" here means dialing a saved list one number after another without manual dialing between calls.
Two honest patterns emerge. If you want a name-brand CRM and only occasional calling, HubSpot's free tier plus its 15 monthly minutes is fine — but it is not a cold-calling setup. If you want to actually dial a list every day for $0 in software, the realistic choices are a free-forever tool with the dialer included (DialSheet, Agile) or a credit-limited prospecting tool (Apollo). The difference between those two is whether your day is spent calling a list or finding contacts.
The 60-second test before you trust a "free" badge
- 1. Forever or trial? Search the pricing page for "trial" and a day count. If there is one, it is a countdown, not a free plan.
- 2. Is the dialer on the free tier, or one tier up? A free CRM with the power dialer sold separately is a paid dialer wearing a free-CRM badge.
- 3. What happens at seat 3, 4, 5? Read the per-seat price, not just the free-seat cap. That number is your real cost the day you hire.
- 4. Are minutes capped or metered? Find the included-minutes number and the overage rate per minute. For cold calling, that rate — not the sticker — is your bill.
- 5. If it's BYOC, whose carrier? Free software + your own Twilio is the cheapest honest setup; just confirm you're comfortable connecting an account.
What "free" includes on DialSheet
DialSheet is a free power dialer and CRM in one, built for list-based outbound. The free tier is not a trial and does not gate the dialer behind an upgrade. On $0 you get:
- ✓Full power dialer, browser-based
- ✓3 team seats included
- ✓Up to 500 leads
- ✓Call notes, outcomes & recording
- ✓CSV lead import
- ✓Built-in pipeline & CRM
- ✓DNC scrubbing
- ✓Bring your own Twilio number
Because it is Bring Your Own Carrier, the software costs nothing and you pay Twilio directly for what you dial — about $0.014 per US outbound minute and ~$1.15/month per number. A rep on the phone two hours a day runs roughly $15–30/month in usage; a light caller, a few dollars. When you outgrow 500 leads or want unlimited leads, the no-per-seat Pro plan is $19/month per 3-seat pack — never a per-user charge — and adds parallel dialing, AI call summaries, and call/email/SMS sequences.
Start dialing on the free tier
Free forever: the full power dialer, a built-in CRM for up to 500 leads, and 3 seats — no credit card, no dialer paywall. Connect your own Twilio and you are calling in minutes, paying only wholesale for the minutes you actually use.
Common questions
Is there a truly free CRM with a built-in power dialer?
Yes, but the list is short once you exclude trials. DialSheet is a free-forever CRM with a full power dialer built in — up to 500 leads and 3 seats, no credit card, no feature paywall on the dialer itself. Agile CRM offers a free tier for up to 10 users with a built-in auto dialer, though calling runs on your own Twilio account. Apollo and EngageBay have genuinely free tiers with a basic dialer but tighter caps. Most other "free" results are 7-to-30-day trials or free-for-a-handful-of-minutes plans that push the real dialer into a paid tier.
Does HubSpot’s free CRM include a power dialer?
Not a power dialer, and barely a dialer. HubSpot’s free CRM includes 15 minutes of calling per user per month; once those are used you can log calls but not place them from HubSpot. Automated sequenced dialing and higher minute allowances live in paid Sales Hub tiers (Starter adds 500 minutes per account per month). The free HubSpot CRM is excellent for storing contacts; it is not a cold-calling dialer.
Do I still pay for calls if the CRM and dialer are free?
Almost always, yes — someone pays the carrier for the actual minutes. The honest models split into two: bundled-minute tools include some calling in the price then meter overages, and Bring-Your-Own-Carrier (BYOC) tools let the software be free while you pay your own carrier directly. DialSheet is BYOC: the dialer and CRM are free, and you connect your own Twilio account at roughly $0.014 per US outbound minute plus about $1.15 per month per phone number. A rep dialing two hours a day lands around $15–30/month in usage.
Can a small team use a free CRM dialer without per-seat fees?
This is exactly where most "free" plans break. Free tiers commonly cap seats (EngageBay freezes at 5 agents; HubSpot’s calling is per-user-metered), and adding people flips you to per-seat billing. DialSheet includes 3 seats on the free tier and never charges per user — Pro is $19/month per additional 3-seat pack, so a 6-person team is $38/month total rather than 6 × a per-seat rate. Check what the price does at 3–5 seats before you commit, not just at seat one.
Is Apollo’s free dialer good enough for cold calling?
For light, list-based dialing paired with prospecting, it can work — Apollo’s free tier includes a basic browser dialer and monthly credits. The limits show up fast for heavy callers: call recording is restricted on the free plan and by region, dial volume is tied to credits, and the free tier is built around finding contacts more than running a disciplined outbound calling motion. If your day is mostly dialing a saved list, a dedicated free power dialer will feel less constrained.
What is the catch with a free power dialer?
There are four common catches, and a real tool tells you which one applies: (1) it is a trial, not free forever; (2) it is free only up to a small seat count, then per-seat; (3) calling minutes are capped or sold as credits with overage fees; or (4) the CRM is free but the dialer sits in a paid tier. BYOC tools trade a fifth thing instead — you connect and manage your own carrier account — in exchange for genuinely free software and wholesale call rates.