Warning about that 'free' CRM platform my startup jumped on

I overheard a guy at a Vancouver tech meetup last Thursday talking about how his company got locked into a contract with a popular free CRM provider. They thought they were saving money, but after 6 months the base price tripled and they had to pay extra for basic features like email logging. My own team at my Toronto fintech startup almost signed up with them back in February, but I noticed their Terms of Service had a clause about data ownership that basically gave them rights to our customer info. We dodged that bullet, but I know three other startups in our building who got burned. The guy said their monthly bill went from $0 to $600 in a year. Has anyone else run into hidden fees with these so-called free tools?

3 comments

3 Comments

wendyprice27d ago

My team switched to a paid but transparent plan with SuiteCRM after reading those same data ownership clauses, and our monthly cost never budged from the $50 we agreed on.

faith_thomas27d ago

Stuck with the free version of SuiteCRM and never had a billing surprise either. The paid plan is just for the support, not hidden fees.

the_christopher26d ago

That plus data ownership clauses are just the new version of old bait and switch tactics, like when gyms offer a free trial then hit you with cancellation fees.