A small funding shop has a different problem from a 50-seat ISO. You don't need territory rules or a data warehouse. You need leads worked fast, every deal submitted to the right funders, offers and commissions tracked, and renewals called at the right moment, for a price that makes sense at two or five seats, not fifty.
This guide is for business funding brokers and MCA shops with 1 to 10 reps. Instead of ranking on feature counts, it prices each CRM at 1, 3, 5 and 10 reps from published rates, and says what you get and give up at each price. Our top pick for this size of shop is Ferrylend: one rep pays $69 a month with no seat minimum, and submissions, offers, commissions and renewals are in the cheaper plan.
Here's the TLDR (prices checked October 24, 2026):
- Ferrylend (our pick): Best funding-specific CRM at 1 to 5 reps, priced per user with no minimum. $69/user/month. Newer, with no independent reviews yet.
- NextLevel MCA: Best for 3 to 6 reps who want texting and calling included. $747/month flat for up to 6 users.
- MCA Pilot: Best for 5 to 10 reps sending to API-connected funders. $499/month plus $99 per extra user.
- Close: Best general CRM for phone-heavy shops. From $49/user/month with calling and SMS built in.
- Zoho CRM: Best on a zero budget. Free for up to 3 users.
- HubSpot: Best free start for 1 or 2 people who may grow into marketing tools.
- Pipedrive: Best simple visual pipeline. From $39/seat/month (Growth, billed annually).
- Airtable or monday CRM: Best for owners who want to design their own tracker.
What each CRM costs at 1, 3, 5 and 10 reps
Monthly totals are our arithmetic from each vendor's published list price on October 24, 2026, using monthly billing unless noted. They exclude taxes, phone and texting usage, and add-ons.
| CRM and plan | 1 rep | 3 reps | 5 reps | 10 reps | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferrylend Core | $69 | $207 | $345 | $690 | $999 setup waived through Dec 31, 2026; Pro is $99/user |
| MCA Pilot | $499 | $697 | $895 | $1,390 | One plan; 15-day trial, card required |
| NextLevel MCA | $597 | $747 | $747 | $1,197 | Team bands; calls, SMS and email usage extra |
| Close Essentials | $49 | $147 | $245 | $490 | Power dialer and workflows start at Growth ($109) |
| ConvergeHub Professional | $45 | $135 | $225 | $450 | $29/user billed annually |
| Pipedrive Growth | $39 | $117 | $195 | $390 | Billed annually; monthly is higher |
| Zoho CRM | $0 | $0 | $100 | $200 | Free for 3 users; Standard $20/user monthly |
| HubSpot Starter | $0 | $60 | $100 | $200 | Free for 2 users; $20 list price, shown at $7 promo |
| monday CRM Standard | $75 | $75 | $125 | $250 | 3-seat minimum |
| Airtable Team | $24 | $72 | $120 | $240 | A database, not a CRM |
Two patterns stand out. Flat-fee MCA tools (MCA Pilot, NextLevel MCA) are expensive per rep at 1 to 3 seats and get cheaper per rep as you grow. Per-user tools cost little at one seat and scale in a straight line. Our MCA CRM pricing comparison goes deeper on contracts and add-ons.
What a 1 to 10 rep shop actually needs
- Fast lead import and working: upload a vendor list, dedupe it, and see attempts and outcomes per lead.
- An application link merchants can fill in and attach statements to.
- Funder submissions you can prove: who got the deal, when, and with which documents.
- Offers and commissions on the deal, so you know what you'll earn before the merchant signs.
- A renewals list by paid-in percentage, because renewals are the cheapest deals a small shop closes.
What you can usually skip at this size: ISO portals, syndication, data warehouses and custom-built reporting. The first three picks below cover the list out of the box; the general CRMs cover the first item and need building for the rest.
1. Ferrylend
Ferrylend is a funding-specific CRM for MCA and business loan brokers, covering lead import with saved mapping presets per lead vendor, a merchant application link, statement figures, lender matching, stamped multi-lender submissions, offer comparison, commissions and renewals. Loans, lines of credit, SBA and equipment run in the same pipeline, which suits shops that broker more than MCA.
Pricing: on Ferrylend's pricing page, Core is $69/user/month ($59 billed annually) and Pro is $99 ($84 annually), with no seat minimum and month-to-month billing. The $999 setup fee, which includes importing your data, is waived for workspaces created through December 31, 2026. Pro adds Gmail sending, renewal automation, advanced reports and 25 AI statement reads a month. There's no free trial; instead there's a live demo loaded with sample deals (no signup; asks for a work email to start).
Why it fits small shops: one rep pays $69, not a $499 base, and the core broker workflow is in the cheaper plan. In the sample-data tour on Ferrylend's homepage, a funded deal shows a paid-back bar ("48 of 140 daily payments") and "Renewal eligible at 50% paid", and the commission card splits $4,400 between rep and house.
Limits: it's newer, and we found no independent reviews on G2, Capterra or Trustpilot. There's no built-in dialer or SMS (coming soon), no lender API submissions, no native mobile app (it works in a phone browser) and no SOC 2 report. Core sends email from Ferrylend under your name; your own Gmail is Pro only.
Pick it if you want funding-specific tools at a per-rep price and can live without built-in calling for now. Its page for business loan brokers covers the non-MCA products, and Gold Penguin's Ferrylend listing has the summary.
2. NextLevel MCA
NextLevel MCA pairs an MCA deal desk with a GoHighLevel sub-account it provisions, so texting, calling, email campaigns and workflows come with it. The pricing bands suit small teams: $597/month for up to 2 users, $747 for up to 6, $1,197 for up to 12. There are no setup fees, the workspace is "set up within 24 hours", and there's a 14-day trial with a card at signup.
Limits: usage (calls, SMS, email, AI) is billed on top, and the CRM is a GoHighLevel account under NextLevel's agency. Pick it if you have 3 to 6 reps and want one bill for the CRM and the phones.
3. MCA Pilot
MCA Pilot is the strongest automation pick once you have the volume: AI statement reading, funder ranking, 20 direct funder API integrations, and funder replies parsed into offers. One plan, $499/month for the first user and $99 for each of users 2 to 10, with "No feature tiers, no add-ons, no hidden fees" and a 15-day trial (card required).
Limits: at one or two reps the base fee is hard to justify, the API funder list isn't published, and SMS runs on your own provider accounts. Pick it if you're at 5 or more reps and your funders take API submissions.
4. Close
Close is a general inside-sales CRM with calling, SMS and email built in. Solo is $19/month for one user ($9 billed annually), Essentials $49 per user, and Growth $109 adds workflows and a power dialer. Calls are about $0.02 a minute on top. The free trial needs no card, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Limits: no funder submissions, statement parsing, offer or commission tracking. Pick it if your shop wins on call volume and you'll track submissions in custom fields.
5. Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM is free for up to 3 users with workflow automation and mobile apps. Standard ($14/user billed annually, $20 monthly) adds multiple pipelines, built-in calling, mass email and custom modules, which is what you'd use to model funders and submissions. Pick it if budget is the constraint and someone on the team enjoys setting up software.
6. HubSpot
HubSpot is free for up to 2 users with no card. Starter shows $7/seat (from a $20 list price) without saying how long that lasts, and Professional is $90/seat plus a required $1,500 onboarding. Pick it if you're one or two people who want a free pipeline now and HubSpot's marketing tools later. We compared it head to head in Ferrylend vs HubSpot for MCA brokers.
7. Pipedrive
Pipedrive is the cleanest visual pipeline of the general CRMs. Growth ($39/seat billed annually) is the tier with full email sync, automations and sequences; Premium ($59) adds web forms and e-signatures. 14-day trial, no card. Pick it if your reps think in drag-and-drop stages and you'll build the funder workflow yourself.
8. Airtable or monday CRM
Airtable has a free plan (1,000 records per base) and Team at $24/seat monthly; read-only collaborators aren't charged, so a funder or partner can view records free. monday CRM starts from 3 seats, and its Basic plan's 5 columns per board is too tight for a deal record, so Standard is the realistic floor. Both are build-it-yourself, and storing bank statements and SSNs in a general tool puts the security setup on you.
Also worth a look
ConvergeHub's MCA Edition is a general CRM with SMS and calling from $29/user billed annually, but its MCA setup can't be trialled. Fundara builds a GoHighLevel CRM for you in 3 to 5 business days, price by call. For the full list of MCA-specific options, see our roundup of the best MCA CRMs, and if submissions are your bottleneck, our guide to lender matching software.
How to choose
- Price your next 12 months, not today. If you'll go from 2 to 6 reps, check both points in the table.
- Decide where calls and texts live. If you want them in the CRM today, NextLevel MCA, Close or ConvergeHub. If you already have a phone system you like, a CRM without one is fine.
- Count hours, not just dollars. A free general CRM that takes 30 hours to set up for funders isn't free. Ask each vendor who does the setup and whether migration is included.
- Check the exit. Month-to-month terms (Ferrylend, MCA Pilot monthly, NextLevel MCA, Fundara) are lower risk for a small shop than an annual commitment.
Whichever you pick, the CRM only works as hard as the leads in it. For sourcing, see our guides to getting leads from Google Maps, cold email tools and our UpLead review.
FAQ
What's the best CRM for a one-person funding shop?
For funding-specific tools, Ferrylend Core at $69 a month is the lowest published one-user price we found. For a general CRM, Zoho and HubSpot have free plans, and Close Solo is $9 a month billed annually with calling built in.
Is there a free CRM for business funding brokers?
Only general ones: Zoho CRM (3 users), HubSpot (2 users) and Airtable's free plan. None includes funder submissions or commission tracking, so you'd build those.
How much should a small brokerage spend on a CRM?
At published prices, a 5-rep shop pays roughly $100 to $345 a month for a per-user CRM and $747 to $895 for the flat-fee MCA platforms. Weigh that against the setup hours a general CRM needs before it handles funder submissions.
When should a small shop move off spreadsheets?
When a second person works the same deals, when you lose track of which funder has which file, or when renewals slip past because nobody saw the paid-in percentage. Any one of those costs more than a CRM seat.
Do I need a dialer built into my CRM?
Only if your reps make high volumes of calls from their desks. Close, NextLevel MCA and ConvergeHub include calling. Others, Ferrylend included, use tap-to-call links to your own phone or softphone.
Pick the two that fit your seat count from the table, put one real deal through each trial or demo, and choose the one your reps would actually open every morning.
Disclosure: Ferrylend is made by Digital Mundo, a separate company with the same owner as Gold Penguin. We rank it first, and we've kept its drawbacks in plain view.
