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Do you really need a CRM?CRMは本当に必要ですか
The conclusion first. If 1–2 people touch the same customer list and it is updated at most 1 time in 1 day, a spreadsheet is enough even with several thousand customers. What triggers the need for a CRM (customer relationship management software: a tool that gathers customer and deal history in 1 place so it can be shared) is not the number of customers but the number of people editing the same sheet at the same time.
How far does a spreadsheet take you?
The table below is not from vendor sources; it is an editorial estimate worked back from the ways things go wrong.
| Axis (editorial estimate, not vendor data) | Fine as is | Danger zone | Consider a CRM | How to read this line |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customers and contacts | Up to 1,000 | 1,000–5,000 | Over 5,000 | The count itself never becomes the limit. The limit is the point where you can no longer clear duplicates by eye |
| Deals running at the same time | Up to 30 | 30–80 | Over 80 | The test is whether all of them fit on 1 screen. Once you have to scroll to see the whole picture, missed follow-ups are only a matter of time |
| People touching the customer list | 1–2 | 3–5 | 6 or more | This is the heart of it. From the 3rd person on, you can no longer track from memory who rewrote what, and when |
| Update frequency | 1 batch a week | 1 time in 1 day | Several times in 1 day | With 1 update a week, simultaneous editing barely happens. If it is opened several times a day, you have to design on the assumption that overwrites will occur |
Moving 1 column to the right is not by itself a reason to buy. What is dangerous is the combination: only when "3 or more people touching it" and "updated several times in 1 day" overlap does it break, and then it breaks at 200 customers.
The moment a spreadsheet breaks
There are 4 ways it breaks. Two people fix the same row at the same time, and only the version saved later survives. A staff member leaves and the whole table disappears along with their personal drive. Files named "customer list_latest_revised" pile up and nobody can say for certain which one is live. And spreadsheet history records only that a cell changed, never why the discount was given.
How far can you get for free?
HubSpot’s free tier is roughly the same size as the "fine as is" zone above. A deal pipeline, the item in the table below, is a screen that lays out the path a deal travels — prospect → proposal → quote → won — as 1 flow. When you want to separate new business from existing customers, you add flows.
| Item | Free-tier limit | How to read this number |
|---|---|---|
| Users | 2 (up to two free users) | The moment you add the 3rd person you move to paid. That matches the tipping point in the table above |
| Contacts | 1,000 (Up to 1,000 contacts in free accounts) | 1,000 business cards. A company with several years of deal history is over the line from the start |
| Deal pipelines | 1 (1 deal pipeline per account) | If you want to manage new business and existing customers as separate flows, the free tier cannot line them up |
| Custom properties | 10 in total (10 custom properties in total) | Your own fields, such as "renewal month" or "acquisition channel". It is 10 across contacts, companies and deals combined |
| Price | $0, no expiry (100% free, with no expiration date) | As long as you stay within the limits, nothing is charged |
Source: HubSpot product and services catalog (checked August 2026)
What happens once you pass 1,000 (whether you simply cannot add more, or you get charged) is something we could not find stated on the vendor’s own pages. If you are getting close, check with the vendor’s support team before you cross the line.
What actually leaves your account at signing
HubSpot’s Starter Customer Platform has a list price of $20 a month for 1 seat. The vendor’s page carries a discount for new customers: annual billing at $7 a month (1 year paid upfront at signing = $7 × 12 = $84 a year), and monthly billing at $10 a month with no annual commitment (New customers only. Offer available for a limited time.). How long the discount runs and what the price is at renewal are not stated, so the safe way to budget is to assume a return to the list price of $20 × 12 = $240 a year.
monday CRM has no free plan — only a 14-day trial (Get full access. No credit card required.) and purchases from 3 seats up. Basic on annual billing is $12 × 3 seats × 12 months = $432 a year, paid in full upfront at signing (US dollars, excluding tax); monthly billing is $18 × 3 seats = $54 a month with nothing upfront. Seats can only be bought as a group, so the 4th person takes you to $720 a year ($12 × 5 seats × 12 months), 1.67 times the 3-seat price (720 ÷ 432 = 1.666…).
The jump comes when people are added: monday CRM Basic seats and annual cost (annual billing, US dollars, excluding tax — Prices do not include tax.)
The formula is $12 × seats × 12 months. Seats are bought as a group, not 1 at a time: a minimum of 3, and 5 for a team of 4 (If you have a team of 4 for instance, you may choose the 5 seat option.). At 1 dollar = 150 yen, 3 seats means about 65,000 yen (432 × 150 = 64,800 yen) leaving the account in one go at signing. For reference, starting HubSpot Starter on the new-customer discount, annual billing, 1 seat, comes to $84 a year = about 13,000 yen (84 × 150 = 12,600 yen). Billing is in US dollars, and exchange rates move. Sources: monday CRM pricing page, monday.com support, HubSpot Starter pricing page (checked August 2026)
How much work is the migration?
Exporting (writing your current table out as a CSV or similar file) and importing both take minutes; where you get stuck is the columns. The conditions in monday CRM’s help are 10 MB or less, fewer than 50 columns and fewer than 8,000 rows, so for a table with more than 50 columns, cut the columns you do not need first and allow half a day to 1 day for cleaning up formats and inconsistent spellings.
What a CRM will not fix
Data that is never entered is not made visible by any CRM. If 1 salesperson never moves the deal stage (where a deal currently sits in the pipeline), their share stays blank and shows as "no deals", so the reports actively lie to you.
If the reason things are not updated is that entry is a chore, a tool can improve it; if the reason is that no one has decided entry is required, a CRM reproduces exactly the same state and you pay a monthly fee to look at an empty screen.
Stay on a spreadsheet, or bring in a CRM
Spreadsheet or CRM: the trigger is not the number of customers but the number of people editing the same sheet
Currency is US dollars. monday excludes tax (Prices do not include tax. The price is determined by the user’s billing country.); for HubSpot we could not find the tax treatment stated. Sources: HubSpot Starter Customer Platform pricing page, HubSpot pricing page, monday CRM pricing page, monday.com pricing page (all checked August 2026)
Readers who do not need to buy
To name them plainly: a business with 1,000 customers or fewer, 30 deals or fewer, 1–2 people touching the list and updates about 1 time a week will find that a CRM removes almost no work and only adds another place to type into. If you sell on your own, what you are working against is your own memory rather than a table, so writing it out on 1 sheet works better first. If your problem right now is "the sales team will not enter anything", the cause is not the tool. If you only started looking because a client asked, using the free tier for six months before deciding is enough.
If you are unsure, try it in this order
Start by importing your current table into the HubSpot free tier as a CSV. It is $0 with no expiry, and if it fails, all you lose is the half day you spent cleaning up. Once you find that "2 people is not enough", go to monday CRM (from 3 seats, $432 a year); once you find that "volume and pipelines are not enough", go to HubSpot Starter (from $84 a year on the new-customer annual discount). If both are sufficient and it still feels cramped, the cause is not the tool but your entry rules.
Sources (all checked August 2026)
- HubSpot Starter Customer Platform pricing (annual $7/month per seat, monthly $10/month per seat, base price $20/month per seat, New customers only. Offer available for a limited time.)
- HubSpot pricing page (free tier, up to 2 users, 1,000 contacts)
- HubSpot free CRM (up to two users / 1,000 contacts / 100% free, with no expiration date)
- HubSpot product and services catalog (10 custom properties in total / 1 deal pipeline per account / Up to 1,000 contacts in free accounts / up to two free users)
- HubSpot knowledge base (Free tools have 0 custom pipelines, meaning only the 1 default)
- monday CRM pricing (Basic $12 annual / $18 monthly, Plans start from 3 users, no free plan, 14-day trial)
- monday CRM product page (Get full access. No credit card required.)
- monday.com pricing page (Prices do not include tax. The price is determined by the user’s billing country. / If you purchase a plan for one year, you will pay for one year upfront.)
- monday.com support (seats are bought as a group, minimum 3 seats, If you have a team of 4 for instance, you may choose the 5 seat option.)
- Importing Excel/CSV into monday CRM (10 MB or less, fewer than 50 columns, fewer than 8,000 rows, If a column is not matched, it will be added to your board as a text column.)
Items we could not find stated on the vendors’ own pages: how long the HubSpot Starter discount applies and the price at renewal, what happens when HubSpot contacts go past 1,000, the minimum seat count for HubSpot Starter, whether HubSpot prices exclude or include tax, the maximum number of dropdown options in HubSpot, any limit on the number of sheets in monday CRM, and the date format and maximum number of status options for monday CRM imports (for imports into monday.com boards there is separate documentation stating ISO format (e.g. 2021-10-23) and that more than 40 status labels causes a failure).
結論から書きます。同じ顧客リストを触る人が1〜2人で、更新が多くても1日1回なら、顧客が数千件あってもスプレッドシートで足ります。CRM（顧客関係管理ソフト。顧客と商談の履歴を1か所に集めて共有する道具です）が必要になる引き金は顧客数ではなく、同じ表を同時に触る人の数のほうだと考えたほうがよさそうです。
どこまでならスプレッドシートで足りますか
次の表は公式ソースではなく、事故の起き方から逆算した目安です。
| 軸（※公式データではなく、編集部が事故の起き方から逆算した目安） | 足りている | 危ういゾーン | CRMを検討する | この線の読み方 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 顧客・連絡先の数 | 〜1,000件 | 1,000〜5,000件 | 5,000件超 | 件数そのものは限界になりません。限界は「重複を目視で潰せなくなる」点です |
| 同時進行の商談数 | 〜30件 | 30〜80件 | 80件超 | 基準は1画面で全部見えるか。スクロールしないと全体が見えなくなった時点で、追いかけ漏れは時間の問題です |
| 顧客リストを触る人 | 1〜2人 | 3〜5人 | 6人以上 | ここが本丸。3人目から「誰がいつ何を書き換えたか」を記憶で追えなくなります |
| 更新の頻度 | 週1回まとめて | 1日1回 | 1日に何度も | 週1更新なら同時編集はほぼ起きません。日に何度も開くなら、上書き事故は起きる前提で設計する必要があります |
1つ右に振れただけで買う必要はありません。危ないのは組み合わせで、「触る人が3人以上」と「1日に何度も更新」が重なったときだけ、顧客200件でも壊れます。
スプレッドシートが壊れる瞬間
壊れ方は次の4つです。二人が同じ行を同時に直し、後から保存したほうだけが残る上書き。担当者の退職で個人ドライブの表ごと行方不明になること。「顧客リスト_最新_修正版」が並び、どれが生きているか誰も断言できない状態。表計算の履歴は「セルが変わった」ことしか残さず、「なぜ値引きしたか」は残らないこと。
無料でどこまで試せますか
HubSpot の無料版は、上の「足りているゾーン」とほぼ同じサイズです。表にある商談パイプラインとは、見込み→提案→見積→受注と商談が進む道筋を1本の流れで並べた画面です。新規開拓用と既存顧客用に分けたいとき、本数を増やします。
| 項目 | 無料版の上限 | この数字の読み方 |
|---|---|---|
| ユーザー数 | 2人（原文：up to two free users） | 3人目を入れた時点で有料へ。上の表の分岐点と一致します |
| 連絡先 | 1,000件（原文：Up to 1,000 contacts in free accounts） | 名刺1,000枚。数年分の商談履歴がある会社は最初から超えます |
| 商談パイプライン | 1本（原文：1 deal pipeline per account） | 新規と既存を別々の流れで管理したい場合、無料では並べられません |
| カスタムプロパティ | 合計10個（原文：10 custom properties in total） | 「契約更新月」「導入経路」などの自社独自項目。連絡先・会社・取引の合計で10個です |
| 料金 | $0・期限なし（原文：100% free, with no expiration date） | 上限の範囲で使う限り、費用は発生しません |
出典：HubSpot 製品・サービスカタログ（2026年8月確認）
1,000件を超えたときにどうなるか（追加できなくなるのか、課金されるのか）は、公式に記載を確認できませんでした。近づいている会社は、超える前に公式サポートへ確認してください。
契約時に、実際いくら出ていきますか
HubSpot の Starter Customer Platform は定価が1席あたり月$20です。公式ページには新規顧客向けの割引があり、年払は月$7（1年分を契約時に前払い＝$7×12＝年$84）、月払は月$10で年間契約なしです（原文：New customers only. Offer available for a limited time.）。割引が続く期間と更新時の価格は記載を確認できないため、定価の $20×12＝年$240 に戻る前提で見積もるのが安全です。
monday CRM に無料プランはなく、14日間のトライアル（原文：Get full access. No credit card required.）と3席からの購入だけです。Basic の年払は $12×3席×12か月＝年$432 を契約時に一括で前払い（米ドル・税別）、月払は $18×3席＝月$54 で前払いなしです。席はグループ単位でしか買えず、4人目で年$720（$12×5席×12か月）、3席の1.67倍（720÷432＝1.666…）へ跳ねます。
跳ねるのは人が増えた段：monday CRM Basic の席数と年額（年払・米ドル・税別。原文：Prices do not include tax.）
計算式は $12×席数×12か月。席は1人単位ではなくグループ単位で、最低3席、4人なら5席（原文：If you have a team of 4 for instance, you may choose the 5 seat option.）。1ドル150円なら3席分は約6万5,000円（432×150＝64,800円）が契約時に一度に出ていきます。参考：HubSpot Starter を新規割引・年払・1席で始めた場合は年$84＝約1万3,000円（84×150＝12,600円）。請求は米ドル建てで、為替は変動します。出典：monday CRM 料金ページ、monday.com サポート、HubSpot Starter 料金ページ（2026年8月確認）
移行にどれだけ手間がかかりますか
エクスポート（今の表をCSVなどのファイルとして書き出すこと）も取り込みも数分で終わり、詰まるのは列です。monday CRM のヘルプにある条件は10MB以下・50列未満・8,000行未満なので、50列を超える表は先に不要列を削り、書式と表記ゆれの掃除に半日から1日を見てください。
CRMを入れても解決しないこと
入力されないデータは、どんなCRMでも可視化されません。商談ステージ（パイプライン上での商談の現在地）を動かさない営業が1人いると、その担当分は空白になり、「商談がない」と表示されるので、レポートはむしろ嘘をつきます。
更新されない原因が「入力が面倒」ならツールで改善できますが、「入力する義務が決まっていない」ならCRMでも同じ状態が再現され、月額を払って空の画面を眺めることになります。
スプレッドシート継続かCRM導入か
引き金は顧客数ではなく、同じ表を同時に触る人の数：スプレッドシート継続かCRM導入かの判定
通貨は米ドル。monday は税別（原文：Prices do not include tax. The price is determined by the user's billing country.）、HubSpot の税の扱いは記載を確認できませんでした。出典：HubSpot Starter Customer Platform 料金ページ、HubSpot 料金ページ、monday CRM 料金ページ、monday.com 料金ページ（いずれも2026年8月確認）
買わなくていい読者
名指しします。顧客1,000件以下・商談30件以下・触る人1〜2人・更新は週1回程度の事業者は、CRMを入れても減る作業がほとんどなく、入力先が増えるだけです。一人で営業しているなら、相手は表ではなく自分の記憶なので、まず1枚に書き出すほうが効きます。「営業が入力してくれない」が今の悩みなら、原因はツールではありません。取引先に言われて検討し始めただけなら、無料版を半年使ってから決めれば足ります。
迷ったら、この順番で試してください
まず HubSpot 無料版に今の表をCSVで取り込んでみてください。$0で期限がなく、失敗しても失うのは掃除にかけた半日だけです。「2人では回らない」と分かったら monday CRM（3席・年$432から）、「件数とパイプラインが足りない」と分かったら HubSpot Starter（新規割引の年払で年$84から）です。どちらも足りているのに窮屈なら、原因はツールではなく入力ルールのほうです。
出典（すべて2026年8月確認）
- HubSpot Starter Customer Platform 料金（年払 $7/month per seat、月払 $10/month per seat、base price $20/month per seat、New customers only. Offer available for a limited time.）
- HubSpot 料金ページ（無料版 up to 2 users・1,000 contacts）
- HubSpot 無料CRM（up to two users／1,000 contacts／100% free, with no expiration date）
- HubSpot 製品・サービスカタログ（10 custom properties in total／1 deal pipeline per account／Up to 1,000 contacts in free accounts／up to two free users）
- HubSpot ナレッジベース（Free tools は custom pipeline が0本、つまり既定の1本のみ）
- monday CRM 料金（Basic 年払$12／月払$18、Plans start from 3 users、無料プランなし・14日間トライアル）
- monday CRM 製品ページ（Get full access. No credit card required.）
- monday.com 料金ページ（Prices do not include tax. The price is determined by the user's billing country.／If you purchase a plan for one year, you will pay for one year upfront.）
- monday.com サポート（席はグループ単位・最低3席、If you have a team of 4 for instance, you may choose the 5 seat option.）
- monday CRM へのExcel/CSVインポート（10MB以下・50列未満・8,000行未満、If a column is not matched, it will be added to your board as a text column.）
公式に記載を確認できなかった項目：HubSpot Starter の割引適用期間と更新時の価格、HubSpot の連絡先1,000件超過時の挙動、HubSpot Starter の最低席数、HubSpot 側の価格が税別か税込か、HubSpot の選択肢（ドロップダウン）数の上限、monday CRM 側のシート枚数の制約、monday CRM インポートの日付書式とステータス選択肢数の上限（monday.com のボードへのインポートについては、ISO形式（例：2021-10-23）、ステータスのラベルが40種を超えると失敗、と別途記載があります）。