What a freelancer is actually deciding
Whether this will still be open in six months. Nothing else on the evaluation list matters as much, because a CRM that is abandoned in week three has cost you an evening and taught you to distrust the category. Most freelancers who say CRMs do not work for them are describing a setup problem rather than a software problem, and they are usually right about their own experience.
The way to avoid repeating it is to make the tool ask for almost nothing. Five fields. Five stages. No required anything. If it takes longer than an hour to set up, you are building the thing you will abandon, however satisfying the configuration feels at the time.
Recording is not your problem; remembering is
Freelancers are generally good at knowing what is happening in their business. What they cannot do is hold twelve follow-up dates in their head across a fortnight of physical work. That distinction should drive the whole decision: prioritise a tool that prompts you over a tool that stores things beautifully.
Every field you add is a tax on future you
A custom field feels free when you create it. It is paid for every single time you add a client, at the exact moment you are least willing to pay it, which is standing in a car park with one hand free. Five is a good number. Seven is a warning. Twelve is the beginning of the end.