# Freshsales vs Nutshell: which do AI models recommend for CRM, September 2026

GTM AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition, CRM. Zero of twelve models named Freshsales first on the direct prompt; zero named Nutshell. Page: https://gtm-ai-index.com/revops/crm/freshsales-vs-nutshell/

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freshsales | 2% | #6 of 11 | 10% | 30 | 12 of 12 |
| Nutshell | 2% | #8 of 11 | 0% | 11 | 8 of 12 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

- Perplexity Sonar: neither first, one named (first choices: HubSpot Sales Hub) (alternatives: Coevera, Freshsales, Salesforce Sales Cloud, Zoho CRM)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: neither first, one named (first choices: HubSpot CRM, Pipedrive) (alternatives: Freshsales, Salesflare, Zoho CRM)
- Mistral Small: neither first, one named (first choices: HubSpot Sales Hub) (alternatives: Freshsales, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales, Salesflare)
- Llama 4 Maverick: neither first, one named (first choices: Coevera) (alternatives: Freshsales, NetSuite, Salesflare)
- Kimi K2: neither first, one named (first choices: HubSpot Sales Hub) (alternatives: Freshsales, Pipedrive, Salesflare, Zoho CRM)
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: neither first, one named (first choices: HubSpot CRM) (alternatives: Close, Monday.com, Nutshell, Pipedrive, Pipeline CRM, Salesforce Sales Cloud, Zoho CRM)
- Claude Haiku 4.5: neither named
- GPT-5.4 mini: neither named (first choices: HubSpot Sales Hub, Salesforce Sales Cloud) (alternatives: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: neither named (first choices: HubSpot CRM) (alternatives: Pipedrive, Salesforce Sales Cloud, Zoho CRM)
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: neither named (first choices: HubSpot CRM) (alternatives: Attio, Pipedrive, Salesflare, Zoho CRM)
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: neither named (first choices: HubSpot Sales Hub) (alternatives: Close, Coevera, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales, Pipedrive, Salesforce Sales Cloud, Zoho CRM, Zoho One)
- MiniMax M2.5: neither named (first choices: HubSpot Sales Hub) (alternatives: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales, NetSuite, Zoho CRM)

## What the models said about Freshsales

- "14+ Reddit threads about poor support - Tickets going unanswered for weeks" (MiniMax M2.5, negative prompt, hard negative)
- "Be careful with Freshsales/Freshworks if you need reliable support." (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "Others like Insightly, Freshsales: 100+ negatives on workflow/UI" (Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "Start with Freshsales if you want the cheapest credible upgrade path with AI and calling built-in." (Kimi K2, budget prompt, first choice)
- "Freshsales is another option for mid-market B2B companies wanting industry-specific lead segmentation" (Llama 4 Maverick, direct prompt, alternative)

## What the models said about Nutshell

- "The best CRM for a company with a limited budget is Nutshell, starting at $13 per month per user" (Llama 4 Maverick, budget prompt, first choice)
- "Nutshell if you want an affordable, easy-to-use CRM for a growing B2B sales team" (Perplexity Sonar, paraphrase prompt, alternative)
- "Start with HubSpot Free/Starter or Nutshell for ease of use and support" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, paraphrase prompt, alternative)

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category. Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category. Published under CC BY 4.0; the output is the models' output, and nothing here is a recommendation by the index.