The Bitrix24 free plan isn't a demo version with disabled buttons, nor a thirty-day trial that turns into a pumpkin once it's over. It's a fully functional product: it includes CRM, tasks, chats, video calls, and even a website builder. A small team can realistically run actual sales on it for months without paying a single tenge.
But the free plan has a ceiling — and it's important to know where it lies so you don't hit it at the worst possible moment. As integrators, we regularly see companies that started 'on the free plan,' grew, and are now going through a painful migration. In this article, we'll give you an honest breakdown: what's really free, where the limits kick in, how much paid plans cost in Kazakhstan, and what signals tell you it's time to pay.
What the free plan actually gives you
Let's start with the good news. The free plan doesn't limit the number of employees — you can add your entire staff, and this is a notable difference from many other CRMs, where the free plan is capped at a small number of users. Here's what you get for free:
- CRM with a customer database and a sales pipeline — you can manage clients, log inquiries, and see what stage each deal is at.
- Tasks and projects — as a list, on a Kanban board, or as a Gantt chart; handy when you work as a team.
- Messenger and video calls with up to 300 participants — internal chat and calls without third-party services.
- Websites and online stores — a builder with free hosting to quickly put together a landing page or storefront.
- Electronic document signing with counterparties directly from the portal.
- BitrixGPT — a basic AI agent that helps with texts and suggestions.
- Mobile app — the entire portal on your phone, so you can work away from your computer.
This set is enough to bring order to your sales: stop losing inquiries in message threads, gather all your clients in one place, and see how your team is working. For a startup, a sole proprietor, or a small sales team, it's an honest starting point.
Where the free plan's ceiling is
Now, honestly, about the limitations. The free plan is great until you start growing — but as soon as your business picks up speed, you'll run into several walls at once.
- Only 5 GB of storage. Sounds like a lot, but email attachments, deal files, and documents fill it up faster than you'd think.
- Usually a single sales pipeline. Multiple directions (for example, wholesale and retail as separate pipelines) already require paid plans.
- Automation is heavily cut back. Robots and triggers that move deals and create tasks on their own are either unavailable or work in a minimal capacity.
- No telephony. Renting a number and recording calls aren't included in the free plan.
- Chat history — about 30 days. Older conversations in the messenger become inaccessible.
- No time tracking, you can't install apps from the Market, and inventory management is unavailable.
- Task limits start to apply after roughly 100 tasks.
Free vs. paid: a side-by-side comparison
To make the difference easier to see, we've put the key features into a single table.
| Feature | Free | Paid plans |
|---|---|---|
| Users | Unlimited | Depends on the plan (5 to 250+) |
| Storage | 5 GB | From 24 GB to 3 TB and more |
| Sales pipelines | Usually one | Several for different directions |
| Automation (robots/triggers) | Heavily limited or unavailable | Available |
| Telephony | No | Yes (number rental, call recording) |
| Chat history | About 30 days | Longer — depends on the plan |
| Apps from the Market | No | Yes |
| Inventory management | Unavailable | Available |
How much paid plans cost in Kazakhstan
If the free plan is no longer enough, here are the current cloud plans for Kazakhstan.
| Plan | Price | Users | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | from 8,450 ₸/mo | up to 5 | 24 GB |
| Standard | from 24,700 ₸/mo | up to 50 | 100 GB |
| Professional | from 49,400 ₸/mo | up to 100 | 1 TB |
| Enterprise | from 123,500 ₸/mo | from 250 | 3 TB and more |
When it's time to move to a paid plan
There's no need to migrate 'just in case' — the free plan honestly handles basic needs. But there are signals that turn the move from a question of 'if' into a question of 'when':
- You need telephony. If you want to call from the CRM, record conversations, and not miss a single incoming call — that already means a paid plan and connecting IP telephony.
- You've got several sales directions. Wholesale, retail, service — each needs its own pipeline. We explain how to build one properly in the article a sales pipeline from scratch.
- Routine work eats up time. When managers manually do what could be handed off to robots, it's time to turn on automation — here are 12 automation scenarios people usually start with.
- You've run out of space. 5 GB filled up with attachments and documents — paid plans offer from 24 GB to several terabytes.
- You need roles and access rights. As the team grows, it's important to separate access and bring structure — flexible permission management is available on paid plans. The users themselves, meanwhile, can still be added for free: team size alone doesn't require an upgrade.
- You need time tracking and apps from the Market — the free plan simply doesn't have them.
If you recognize at least two items on this list, chances are you've already outgrown the free plan — you're just putting up with the inconvenience for now.
Where to start
Our advice is simple and unhurried:
- Register for free at bitrix24.kz and add your team — it costs nothing.
- Bring order to your CRM: migrate your clients, set up a pipeline, and get managers into the habit of logging every inquiry. Most sales problems are solved at this stage already.
- Upgrade to a paid plan as needed — when you hit a specific limitation (telephony, a second pipeline, storage), not 'because you're supposed to.'
