Best Lead Generation Software (Free & Paid) in 2024

So, if you are a businessman, marketing leader, or just a salesman, you must know this term's importance: lead generation.

It's the core topic that keeps your activities going, facilitating an expansion market, increasing the number of consumers, and opening up revenue to your company.

As lead generation software accelerates the sales cycle for sales reps, this article will serve as a guide that sheds some light on turning leads into customers.

If you need a more detailed guide on lead generation strategies, don't forget to check out our article titled SaaS Lead Generation: 7 Tips on Lead Management.

TL;DR

👉 Lead generation software is crucial for businesses of all sizes. It automates tasks, targets the right audience, boosts conversion rates, and provides valuable data insights.

👉 Choosing the right software should include considering your needs, budget, and technical skills. Let's briefly exemplify some software for specific factors:

👉 Top lead generation software for enterprise businesses includes SalesLoft, HubSpot Sales Hub, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, ZoomInfo, and LeadForensics.

👉 Small businesses can benefit from HubSpot CRM, Mailchimp, OptinMonster, Sumo, and Leadfeeder.

👉 There are free lead generation tools like Google Forms, Zoho CRM, Bitrix24, SendPulse, and Agile CRM.

Before diving into the specifics, let’s clarify what lead generation software actually is:

What is Lead Generation Software?

Lead generation software is a single platform designed to transform how businesses acquire potential leads or customers.

It lies at the basis of every modern marketing strategy and aims to simplify and optimize the process of detecting, attracting, and catching the interest of individuals or organizations that show interest in products or services.

Why Should You Use Lead Generation Software?

You might be wondering, "Why do I need lead generation software?" Well, here are some persuasive reasons:

👉 Efficiency 

Lead generation features are capable of automating repetitive tasks that occur during the generation process.

Thanks to automations, generation software tools tend to save teams time and resources throughout the sales process.

👉 Improved Targeting

These tools enable sales and marketing teams to target an ideal audience of high-quality leads and keep in constant contact through digital marketing.

👉 Increased Conversion Rates 

Thanks to the key features of sales tools, teams will be able to nurture potential prospects—having a higher chance of converting prospective customers into paying customers.

👉 Data Insights 

Gain valuable insights into your potential leads' behavior and preferences, allowing for better decision-making.

👉 Scalability 

Regardless of company size and industry, lead generation software can adapt and scale with you.

Understanding the importance of lead generation software, it's time to explore some of the top options available (all of which are categorized according to different business needs):

15 Lead Generation Software You Need (Free & Paid)

Lead Generation Software for Enterprise Businesses

1. SalesLoft

SalesLoft is a leading lead generation platform for enterprise businesses. Offering a wide range of features to help businesses identify, connect with, and convert leads, SalesLoft is a great solution for sales engagement.

✅ Pros:

• It has a comprehensive set of features.
• It is easy to use.
• It works with many CRM and marketing automation systems.

❌ Cons:

• It can be expensive for small and medium businesses.
• It can be complex to set up and use.

Pricing: 

SalesLoft offers Essentials, Advanced, and Premier plans. You can contact their sales team to learn about the pricing.

2. HubSpot Sales Hub

HubSpot Sales Hub is a cloud-based CRM and sales platform that helps businesses attract leads, close deals faster, and retain more customers.

Throughout the lead generation process, it offers a variety of features, including:

• generating leads,
• tracking pipelines,
• checking built-in analytics,

✅ Pros:

• It is an affordable tool.
• It is easy to use.
• It offers a basic plan for free.

❌ Cons:

• It isn't as comprehensive as some other lead-generation platforms.

Pricing: 

• $0/month USD (Free)
• $45/month USD (Starter)
• $450/month USD (Professional)
• $1,200/month USD (Enterprise)

3. LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator provides organizations with an opportunity to find and connect with potential customers on LinkedIn.

From job titles to prospect lists, this solution provides teams with a social network that is home to many leads.

✅ Pros:

• It has access to a large database of qualified leads.
• It has powerful lead search and filtering capabilities.
• It provides insights into lead activity and interests.

❌ Cons:

• It might be expensive for some businesses.

Pricing: Contact LinkedIn's sales team to learn about the pricing options.

4. ZoomInfo

ZoomInfo is a business intelligence and B2B lead generation tool that helps businesses identify and connect with qualified leads. 

Creating email lists for customer outreach, this platform also serves as an email marketing tool that provides teams with customizable templates.

✅ Pros:

• It has a comprehensive lead database.
• One of its prominent features is powerful lead search and filtering.
• It provides teams with insights into lead activity and interests.

❌ Cons:

• It might be expensive.
• It is difficult to use.

Pricing: ZoomInfo offers three pricing plans: SalesOS, MarketingOS, and TalentOS. You can contact ZoomInfo's sales team to learn about the pricing options.

5. LeadForensics

LeadForensics is a B2B lead generation software that helps businesses identify companies that visit their website.

With this capture tool, teams get an alert in real-time when a certain B2B potential prospect visits a support page.

✅ Pros:

• It can identify companies that visit your website even if they don’t fill out a contact form.
• It provides insights into lead behavior, such as pages viewed and time spent on site.
• It allows teams to score leads based on their engagement with your website.
• It offers a variety of integrations with other CRM and marketing software.

❌ Cons:

• It isn't as comprehensive as some other lead-generation platforms.
• It can be difficult to use for beginners.

Pricing: LeadForensics offers two basic pricing plans: Essential and Automate. Contact LeadForensics' sales team to learn the pricing options.

Lead Generation Software for Small Businesses

1. HubSpot CRM

HubSpot CRM is a free CRM platform that helps small businesses manage their contacts, leads, and deals.

This customer relationship management software enables teams to track sales activity, make use of email templates, and organize the sales pipeline without any hassle.

✅ Pros:

• It has a free basic plan.
• It's easy to use.
• It offers a wide range of features.

❌ Cons:

• It has a steeper learning curve for advanced features.
• It has limited features in the free version.

Pricing: It's free.

2. Mailchimp

Mailchimp is an email marketing tool that helps businesses create and send email campaigns to their subscribers.

Also, this email marketing software encourages marketing teams to take their email game to the next level in order to have more success with cold email campaigns.

✅ Pros:

• It facilitates email marketing campaigns.
• It has affordable pricing ranges.
• It has a lot of integration options.
• One of its key features is A/B testing.

❌ Cons:

• It has limited CRM capabilities.
• It puts a limit on customer support in the free plan.

Pricing: There’s a free plan that you can send up to 1,000 emails per month.  Other plans are:

• Essentials: Starts at $13/month
• Standard: Starts at $20/month
• Premium: Starts at $350 

3. OptinMonster

OptinMonster is a lead generation software that helps businesses convert website visitors into leads.

With a suite of tools, this solution is here to help teams turn cold leads into warm ones.

✅ Pros:

• It has a powerful lead generation.
• It includes exit-intent technology.
• This platform is highly customizable.

❌ Cons:

• Its pricing can be considered high for some businesses.
• It is focused on a specific niche (lead generation) and may not serve as a comprehensive marketing solution.

Pricing: OptinMonster's pricing ranges between $16 and $99.

• Basic: $16/mo
• Plus: $32/mo
• Pro: $69/mo
• Growth: $99/mo

4. Sumo

As an app that is part of AppSumo, Sumo is a lead generation software that helps businesses capture leads from their website.

This solution handles several processes in order to reach out to your B2B contacts, from capturing to email marketing.

✅ Pros:

• It has a free plan available.
• It offers easy-to-use tools for website optimization and lead generation.
• It provides heat maps and other analytics for understanding user behavior.

❌ Cons:

• Some features may require technical expertise to implement effectively.
• Its advanced automation is limited in comparison to specialized marketing automation platforms.

Pricing: Sumo offers two plans: Free and Pro, which is $39 a month.

5. Leadfeeder

Leadfeeder is a lead generation software that helps businesses identify companies that visit their website.

✅ Pros:

• It offers a free trial.
• It integrates with a variety of CRM and marketing automation platforms.
• It provides insights into lead behavior, such as pages viewed and time spent on site.
• It allows you to score leads based on their engagement with your website.

❌ Cons:

• It can be inaccurate at times, especially for smaller companies.
• It doesn’t provide as much data as some other lead-generation platforms.
• It can be difficult to qualify leads without additional information.
• It requires integration with other tools for full lead nurturing capabilities.

Pricing: Leadfeeder offers two plans: Free and Pro, which is which is an annual plan for $139 a month.

Free Lead Generation Software

Let's take a look at the free lead generation tools you can use other than the free versions of the tools listed above:

1. Google Forms

Google Forms is a tool for surveys, quizzes, and lead capture forms – it’s free of charge! 

✅ Pros:

• It is free and is quite easy for anybody to use.
• The other Google Workspace tools such as Google Sheets are utilized in storing and analyzing data on it, making integration possible.
• It has several customization options, including creating custom forms with various question types to collect specific lead information.
• It enables teams to share forms via email or links, making it convenient for lead-generation campaigns.

❌ Cons:

• It is primarily a form builder and lacks advanced CRM features for lead management.
• It provides basic analytics but it may not be sufficient for in-depth lead analysis.
• It has limited automation options compared to dedicated CRM and marketing automation tools.
• It may not be suitable for businesses with complex lead generation needs.

2. Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM is a free CRM platform that offers a variety of features to help businesses manage their contacts, leads, and deals. It also offers a free lead capture form builder.

✅ Pros:

• It offers robust lead management features, including contact and deal management, email marketing, and analytics.
• It integrates with a wide range of third-party apps and tools, enhancing lead generation capabilities.
• It allows you to automate lead nurturing and follow-up processes.
• It helps prioritize leads based on their likelihood to convert.

❌ Cons:

• It may take some time to fully utilize all its features, especially for beginners.
• Customization options might be limited compared to some other CRM platforms.
• Its marketing features aren't as robust as dedicated marketing automation tools.

3. Bitrix24

Bitrix24 is a free CRM platform that offers a variety of features to help businesses manage their contacts, leads, and deals. 

✅ Pros:

• It offers a wide range of features, including CRM, task management, and communication tools, making it a comprehensive solution for lead generation.
• It is highly customizable to meet specific lead generation and CRM needs.
• It offers automation of routine tasks and leads nurturing processes.
• It facilitates team collaboration, which can be beneficial for lead generation efforts.

❌ Cons:

• Its extensive feature set can be overwhelming for some users, especially small businesses.
• More advanced features are available in higher-priced plans, which may not be budget-friendly for all businesses.
• It can take time for users to become proficient in using all of its features.
• It may not be ideal for extremely large enterprises.

4. SendPulse

SendPulse – an e-mail service in which one can send up to fifteen thousand e-mails per month for 500 subscriptions. 

It provides you with multiple tools such as landing page builder, email autoresponder, and leads scoring for creating and sending email campaigns.

✅ Pros:

• It specializes in email marketing and offers features like automation, segmentation, and A/B testing, which are essential for lead nurturing.
• It allows you to reach leads through email, SMS, web push notifications, and more.
• It offers competitive pricing, making it accessible for small businesses.
• It provides detailed analytics to track the performance of email campaigns.

❌ Cons:

• It has CRM features but it's not as comprehensive as dedicated CRM solutions.
• Integrations with other tools may be limited compared to larger marketing automation platforms.
• It can be inappropriate for companies that use complicated lead-generating and selling approaches.
• It might take a while for users to get used to it due to steep learning curve.

5. Agile CRM

Agile CRM is a sales, marketing, and customer service software for customer relationship management.

✅ Pros:

• It brings together functions such as marketing, sales, and other support departments under one program that offers coordinated services to customers.
• It provides for effective contact management that enables you to organize interactions with prospects and customers.
• It includes marketing automation capabilities, such as email marketing, campaign management, and lead nurturing, to help you engage with leads and customers effectively.
• It provides sales automation features like lead scoring, task management, and deal tracking to streamline your sales processes.

❌ Cons:

• Its advanced features require a higher plan.
• It doesn't have a built-in eCommerce.
• It doesn't have a built-in help desk.

In Conclusion

Lead generation software and tools will be indispensable for businesses of all sizes, as always.

When selecting the right software for your business, remember to appraise your particular needs, budget, and technical skills.

By investing in lead generation software you may revolutionize your marketing efforts, increase your sales, and get important information on your audience.

Whether you’re a small startup, a growing enterprise, or looking for free options – this article displays the lead generation solution that suits you. Make sure to use these powerful tools to stay ahead of the competition and generate more leads.