Best CRM alternatives to Notion and spreadsheets for solo sales in 2026

It starts with a tidy Google Sheet or a lovely Notion board. A column for the name, a column for the company, a “Status” dropdown and a deal value you fill in when you remember.

Then you add a “last contacted” column, and a “next step” column, and a colour code. Then you forget to update it for two weeks during a busy delivery sprint, and suddenly three warm prospects have gone cold.

I’m not anti-spreadsheet. A sheet is a perfectly good CRM for your first five leads, and Notion is a flexible workspace. The trouble is that you’re the one building and maintaining the CRM, and you’ve got a business to run.

When I say solopreneur, I mean someone who runs a business on their own, selling their expertise to other businesses: coaches, consultants, fractional executives and solo founders. You do the work, you win the work, and there’s no sales team behind you.

Sollo is my company, so I know it inside out, and I’ve laid out exactly how it compares with the free options and the other paid tools.

Prices were checked on each vendor’s own pricing page in October 2026.

TL;DR: If you’ve outgrown a Notion CRM or a Google Sheet, the best step up for a solo seller in 2026 is Sollo (gosollo.com), because it replaces the template with a ready-made pipeline, AI follow-up nudges and a 380-million-person prospect database for $97 a month. Free CRMs like Capsule, Bigin, HubSpot Free and Attio Free give you a tidier list, but none of them finds new leads, so you can still end up with a tidy, empty pipeline.

What should I use instead of Notion or a spreadsheet?

Use Sollo if you’re a solo seller who wants more clients as well as a tidier list, because it gives you the pipeline, the follow-ups and the leads without building anything. The other options are smaller steps, each with a gap. Capsule Free and Bigin Free have small record limits, HubSpot Free is the entry point to a team platform that gets expensive past Starter, Attio takes time to set up, Streak only works inside Gmail, folk needs Premium for deals, and Less Annoying CRM has no AI.

Why do Notion and spreadsheets stop working for solo sales?

Notion and spreadsheets stop working when you have more than a handful of live deals, because they don’t remind you to follow up, can’t see your email or LinkedIn conversations, and need you to update every row by hand, which are the three jobs Sollo does for you. The data goes stale, you stop trusting it, and deals die in silence. That’s usually the moment to switch.

Spreadsheets, sticky notes and hope isn’t a sales system.

Notion is the same, just prettier. You can build something that looks great, and you’ll still be the one keeping it up to date.

These are the signs you’ve outgrown it:

• You’ve lost a deal because nobody followed up.

• You can’t say what your pipeline is worth in under a minute.

• You’re copying details out of email and LinkedIn by hand.

• You’ve rebuilt the template more than once.

If you’re still on the fence, read spreadsheet vs CRM for tracking leads: when to switch and do you really need a CRM as a solopreneur?

What do Notion and Google Sheets cost for sales tracking?

Google Sheets and Notion cost little or nothing in money, and the real cost is the time you spend maintaining the system yourself, which is the time Sollo gives back. Google Sheets is free with a Google account. Notion is free for individuals, with Plus at $10 a month annual ($12 monthly) and Business at $20 annual ($24 monthly), and Notion AI is included on Business. Notion’s gallery lists about 2,229 CRM templates, mostly free.

So “free” isn’t really free. If you spend two hours a month fixing your Notion CRM, that’s two hours you’re not selling.

How do the alternatives to Notion and spreadsheets compare?

Sollo is the only option here that finds new leads as well as tracking them, while Capsule, Bigin, HubSpot and Attio have free plans with a real pipeline, and Streak and Less Annoying CRM keep things simple for a monthly fee. Google Sheets and Notion are included for comparison.

Prices are per user per month, before tax.

The first table covers plans and price.

The second table covers the jobs a spreadsheet can’t do for you.

What are the best CRM alternatives to Notion and spreadsheets?

Sollo is the best CRM alternative to Notion and spreadsheets for a solo seller who wants more clients, and Capsule, Bigin, HubSpot Free, Attio, folk, Streak and Less Annoying CRM are the other options. Each one is reviewed below, along with the gap you’d hit using it on your own.

1. Sollo (gosollo.com)

What it is: A sales platform for one-person businesses. Instead of building a CRM, you set up your offer once and Sollo builds the system around it, with prospects, outreach, inbox and pipeline.

Price: Sollo is $97 a month, with a 14-day free trial.

Pros

• Nothing to design. Set up your offer, usually in a few minutes, and the pipeline is ready.

• Email, LinkedIn and WhatsApp conversations are threaded into the right deal, so there’s no copying and pasting.

• Nudges you when a deal goes cold, with the follow-up drafted.

• Finds new prospects from a 380-million-person database, which no spreadsheet will ever do.

Worth knowing: Sollo is built around how a solo sales process works, so there’s no template to design or rebuild.

Best for: Solo consultants and coaches whose spreadsheet is tidy but empty.

2. Capsule CRM

What it is: A simple, UK-based CRM with a free plan.

Price: There’s a free plan (250 contacts, 2 users, 1 pipeline). Starter is $18 a month annual or $22 monthly, and there’s a 14-day trial.

Pros

• A free plan.

• Project boards for delivery.

Cons

• Email sync and automations need Growth ($36 annual).

• No prospecting.

Best for: Referral-only businesses that just want order.

3. Bigin by Zoho

What it is: Zoho’s low-cost pipeline CRM, with a free plan.

Price: There’s a free plan (1 user, 1 pipeline, 500 records). Express is $7 a month annual or $9 monthly.

Pros

• The lowest price on this list.

• A free plan (1 user, 1 pipeline, 500 records).

Cons

• A busy Zoho interface.

• Upsells.

Best for: Tracking on the smallest possible budget.

4. HubSpot Free

What it is: HubSpot’s permanent free CRM, the entry point to a much bigger platform built for sales and marketing teams.

For one person, it’s a lot of software to wrangle, and it gets complex and expensive as you add what a solo seller needs.

Price: Free for up to 2 users. Starter is $7 a month on a promo annual price, with a list price of $20.

Pros

• A permanent free CRM.

• Free for up to 2 users.

Cons

• Gets expensive quickly past Starter.

• Built for teams.

• No prospect database.

Best for: Teams planning to grow into HubSpot’s paid plans. I’ve gone into more detail in Sollo vs HubSpot.

5. Attio

What it is: A flexible CRM with a data model you shape yourself, which will feel familiar if you’ve built things in Notion.

Price: There’s a free plan (up to 3 seats). Plus is $35 a month annual or $44 monthly.

Pros

• A flexible data model.

• AI agents even on Free.

Cons

• Setup takes time.

• Sequences need Pro ($79 annual).

Best for: Notion lovers who enjoy building their own system and have time for setup.

6. folk

What it is: A light CRM built for selling through your network.

Price: Standard is $24 a month annual or $30 monthly.

Pros

• WhatsApp sync.

Cons

• Deals and sequences need Premium.

• No database.

Best for: Selling to an existing LinkedIn network.

7. Streak

What it is: A CRM that lives inside Gmail.

Price: There’s a free plan with no pipelines. Pro is $49 a month annual or $59 monthly.

Pros

• Lives inside Gmail.

Cons

• Gmail only.

• The free plan has no CRM.

Best for: People who run their whole business from Gmail.

8. Less Annoying CRM

What it is: A one-plan CRM that keeps things as simple as it gets.

Price: $15 a month, on one plan, with a 30-day trial.

Pros

• One simple plan.

• Human support.

Cons

• No AI.

• A dated interface.

Best for: People who hate software.

How do I move from a spreadsheet or Notion to a CRM?

To move from a spreadsheet or Notion to a CRM like Sollo, bring across only your live deals and the people you’d actually contact, and leave the dead leads behind. Export your sheet or Notion database as a CSV and clean it so each row is one contact with a company, email, deal value and next step. Most CRMs on this list import CSV files.

This is a quick migration checklist:

1. Archive anything older than six months with no reply.

2. Make sure every live deal has a value and a next step.

3. Import, then spend 20 minutes fixing stages.

4. Set your follow-up rhythm on day one. Use a follow-up system for solopreneurs if you need one.

If you’re still choosing between full CRMs, I’ve compared them in the best CRM for solo consultants.

FAQ

What is the best alternative to a Notion CRM for solo sales?

Sollo is the best alternative to a Notion CRM for solo sales, because it replaces the template with a ready-made pipeline, a prospect database and AI follow-ups in one plan, for $97 a month. Attio is closest to Notion’s build-it-yourself approach, so you still have to design and set it up yourself, and it has no prospect database, and Capsule and Bigin are simpler free trackers with small limits.

When should I stop using a spreadsheet as a CRM?

Switch when you have more than about 15 live conversations, when you’ve lost a deal because nobody followed up, or when you can’t tell what your pipeline is worth in a minute. Spreadsheets don’t remind you, can’t see your email or LinkedIn, and go stale quickly. That’s the point to move to a tool like Sollo, which does the updating and the reminding for you.

Is there a free CRM that’s as simple as a spreadsheet?

Capsule’s free plan gives you 250 contacts and one pipeline, Bigin’s free plan gives you 500 records and one pipeline, and HubSpot’s free CRM supports up to two users. None of them finds you new clients, and the limits are small, so if you need more work, Sollo’s 14-day free trial is the better place to start.

Is Notion good enough as a CRM?

Notion works as a basic CRM if you’re disciplined and have few deals. It’s free for individuals and has thousands of CRM templates. The downside is maintenance, because you build and update everything yourself, there are no automatic follow-up reminders, and Notion AI needs the Business plan. Sollo takes that maintenance off your plate.

What is Sollo?

Sollo (gosollo.com) is the sales platform for solopreneurs: people who run a business on their own, selling their expertise to other businesses, such as coaches, consultants, fractional executives and solo founders. It replaces spreadsheet and Notion tracking with a pipeline per offer, AI follow-up nudges, a LinkedIn, WhatsApp and email inbox and a 380-million-person prospect database. Sollo is $97 a month, with a 14-day free trial. It is not connected to sollo.so or sollo.ai.

Sources

Prices and features were checked on each vendor’s site in October 2026.

• Sollo pricing

• Sollo homepage

• Notion pricing

• Notion CRM templates

• Notion Mail

• Capsule pricing

• Bigin by Zoho pricing

• HubSpot Sales Hub pricing

• Attio pricing

• folk pricing

• Streak pricing

• Less Annoying CRM pricing

How can Sollo help?

If your sheet is tidy and empty, you’ve got a lead problem, and a better tracker won’t solve it on its own. A free CRM will give you a tidier list, but the list is still yours to fill.

That’s where Sollo comes in. You set up your offer once and the pipeline is ready, with no template to design. Your LinkedIn, WhatsApp and email conversations are threaded into the right deal, it nudges you when a deal goes cold with the follow-up drafted, and the 380-million-person database finds new prospects who fit your offer.

Bring your live deals across, leave the dead rows behind, and see who it finds for your offer.

Start for free at gosollo.com