Best CRM Software for Financial Advisors

Since 1999, Salesforce has been expanding its global dominance in the CRM space, giving it the scale to compete each year as one of the top CRM companies. Although Salesforce is a leading CRM provider across many industries, its Financial Services Cloud is an advisor-specific product. The software-as-a-service (SAAS) pioneer's solution has been described as a big box full of state-of-the-art components that can be put together any way a customer wants, making it our choice as the best overall solution.

Salesforce's Financial Service Cloud pricing tilts toward the expensive end of the spectrum, starting at $225 monthly per user for organizations of any size. At $375 monthly per user, its Starter Unlimited plan gives firms one full sandbox. Firms that want deeper customization will pay $300 monthly per user for the Enterprise plan. At $450 monthly per user, its Unlimited plan is best suited for large organizations. Salesforce provides technical support at all pricing levels, but the Unlimited plan includes unlimited services.

With Salesforce, financial advisor firms get a mature platform offering integrations with several other marketing automation tools. Salesforce can integrate with multiple data sources to create a massive data bank, providing advisors with deeper insights into clients' needs, interests, and preferences. In addition, Salesforce is optimized for mobile access on any device.

Salesforce's biggest advantage may also be its biggest disadvantage depending on an organization's technology capabilities. Its platform comes with so many tools and features that it may be beyond the capacity of some users to fully grasp all of its capabilities. But it's that vast array of components that enables organizations to customize the platform to specific needs.

Since 2003, Redtail Technology's CRM offering has become the most popular CRM solution for financial advisors. While it has some features that distinguish it from its peers, the main reasons for its popularity are its robust platform with an easy-to-use interface, a wide selection of integrations, and its short learning curve, which is why it wins our category of best user experience.

Redtail offers subscription-based pricing per database rather than per user. One database costs $99 per month, and it can include up to 15 users. This is an ideal model for small firms that want to scale up quickly.

Redtail has managed to create a straightforward, advisor-specific solution without sacrificing the critical features advisors need in a CRM. These include lead and contact management, workflow automation, customizable reporting, as well as the capability to integrate with popular financial tools such as Morningstar, MoneyGuide Pro, LaserApp, and Riskalyze.

Redtail's CRM solution also includes two distinct features that its customers find attractive: seminar management and Redtail University. The seminar management feature allows advisors to add seminar marketing to their CRM to manage pre- and post-seminar activities. Redtail University is the first and only feature of its kind, offering in-person, online classroom training along with individualized support based on your particular needs.

Redtail's platform has been optimized for use on any mobile device. While its platform doesn't include built-in phone or video conferencing, users can purchase RedtailSpeak as a compliant communication platform integrated with its CRM platform.

Since its founding in 2014, Wealthbox has made tremendous headway in the financial advisor space, capturing the second-largest market share among advisor-specific CRM software. Its popularity can be attributed to its quick startup and easy-to-use platform, offering advisors the power of a high-end CRM with hassle-free operation. That, together with several key features, makes Wealthbox our choice for the best CRM for small firms and independent advisors.

Its platforms offer everything advisors need in a CRM, including contact, task, and pipeline management, project management, and workflow automation. The key feature of Wealthbox is the activity stream, allowing users to collaborate as a team as they move through workflows.

For $35 monthly per user, the Basic platform offers everything a startup financial advisor needs in a CRM to manage one workspace and one pipeline, including customized reports and 2GB of file storage.

The Pro plan adds five pipelines to manage, along with email tracking tools, for $49 monthly per user. The Pro level also increases storage capacity to 5 gigabytes (from 2GB in the Basic plan). With the Premier plan, users pay $65 monthly per user for 10 pipelines and five workspaces, along with 10GB of data storage.

Wealthbox also offers one of the best email/CRM integrations, which enables users to send and receive emails through Wealthbox while tracking clicks and open rates. In addition to partner integrations with popular industry tools such as eMoney and Riskalyze, Wealthbox offers storage integration with services like Google Drive and Dropbox. Wealthbox was designed with bank-level security for its web and mobile platforms, making it safe and easy to get work done while traveling.

Founded in 2000, Envestnet Tamarac has become a financial services behemoth, offering best-in-class solutions in wealth management, portfolio management and reporting, data analytics, and CRM. The Tamarac CRM harnesses all the power of Envestnet's digital prowess to provide a more complete and compelling end-client experience.

Tamarac's primary focus is on helping financial advisors provide their clients with more personalized investment expertise, making it our choice for the CRM with the best end-user experience. Pricing is provided through a custom quote after Tamarac's consultants work with advisors to determine what they specifically need to configure and implement the platform.

Tamarac users can draw from dozens of data sources through partner integrations with custodians and portfolio managers to centralize essential client information and make it available in customizable reports. Its reporting feature provides flexible reporting and robust portfolio analysis, making it accessible to clients through a client portal, which can also be accessed through a mobile app.

Its business intelligence capabilities are second to none, with the ability to automatically pull data from multiple integrated systems. It can then create business intelligence reports to track pipeline progress versus goals, prepare for client meetings, and monitor critical centers of influence for developing referrals.

If Tamarac sounds sophisticated, that's because it is. The good news is that the platform is built on top of the widely used Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform, making it easy for Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft 365 users to learn and use. The downside is the Tamarac platform is designed for use by independent advisors, with limited capabilities for team collaboration.

UGRU Financial was started in 2011 by a financial advisor who grew frustrated with the limitations of CRM programs. His goal was to create a platform that included everything a burgeoning financial advisory team could need to manage and grow client relationships at a price most could afford. He succeeded far beyond his expectations, making UGRU our choice for the best value for small, growing firms. 

UGRU is a full-featured CRM with all the perks advisors have come to expect with a quality solution. At $59 per month for up to three users, its starting package covers all the bases, with contact, lead, and opportunity management for unlimited contacts.

It also includes calendars for multiple users and solid workflow-building capabilities that include more than 40 pre-designed workflows advisors use most. While that price may be a little steep for a single user, when three users are involved, it drops the per-user cost to less than $20.

The Performance plan jumps to $139 monthly for three users, adding email functionality to send and receive emails from the CRM, including bulk and mass emails. Additional features include document storage for clients and a client portal. There are standard but liberal allowances for free storage and email processing. Additional fees apply when the standard allowances are exceeded.

At $179 (less than $60 per month each for three users), the Professional plan starts to get a bit pricey, but UGRU added some key features to maintain its value approach. In addition to the Performance plan features, the Professional plan adds full marketing and workflow automation functionality. Considering that a standalone marketing automation program can cost $60 per month, this is an excellent value to have included with a CRM. Using these features to increase revenue and efficiency can produce more than enough ROI to cover the additional cost. 

UGRU also offers an Advisor Pro plan for advisors serious about reaching the next level. For $324 a month, the plan adds advanced revenue-generating tools such as a financial planning module and tools for creating professional-quality marketing collateral.