Read our in-depth Zoho CRM review to learn if this popular sales and marketing CRM is right for your business.
Zoho CRM is great for lead nurturing and marketing thanks to its large catalog of tools and customization options, as well as its free-for-life version. But the downside is that the most useful features are in paid tiers, and it’s not the best for overall usability. So, it’s worth looking at available alternatives to Zoho CRM to determine if another option is right for you. To help, we examined the top Zoho alternatives and competitors to rank the best, including an overall winner.
Here are the best Zoho CRM alternatives for salespeople:
Zoho is a good CRM option, but for some, all of Zoho’s functionalities aren’t needed or are difficult to use. Because Zoho CRM offers a wealth of sales and marketing tools, we assessed alternative options with some mix of sales and marketing features as well as an easier-to-use interface or a more inexpensive offering. Also considered were Zoho's operational features — like invoicing and billing — as well as user feedback that data syncing could improve.
If you're specifically looking for better data integrity, check out Salesflare, and for a billing alternative try Apptivo. While both scored out of our top six overall Zoho CRM alternatives, they may be the best alternatives for these two specific use cases.
Per-user pricing is based on an annual commitment unless otherwise noted.
As we tallied the results, a clear Zoho CRM alternative emerged across all criteria, scoring the best in several categories. That CRM was Freshsales. Read on for how all the evaluated CRMs fared as alternatives to Zoho CRM, including primary use cases for each option:
Freshsales offers an intuitive pipeline with sales features like AI forecasting, live chat, and a built-in phone.
Price Range: Free to $69 per user, per month (21-day free trial)
Freshsales is a robust sales pipeline tool rated our top overall CRM. It offers an easy-to-use sales pipeline with features including live chat widgets, a built in dialer, lead capture forms, and AI-powered automations and insights. What's more, many features like the native phone or chat is offered in Freshsales' free tier. Zoho CRM only offers phone integrations and doesn't have live chat functionality, plus Freshsales' AI is at minimum comparable to Zoho's.
While Freshsales is the top Zoho CRM alternative, it's missing some social media functionality. If you need more social marketing features, check out EngageBay instead. It's also missing a free visual pipeline offered in alternatives like HubSpot CRM below.
HubSpot is the best free sales tool to manage pipeline activity, store data, and log tasks, with options to unlock capabilities.
Price Range: Free to $1,200 per month (Sales Hub)
HubSpot CRM is rated our top free CRM for salespeople and our best free Zoho CRM alternative thanks to its robust free-for-life option with a visual pipeline and basic marketing features. You can also integrate seamlessly with HubSpot's free marketing and service hubs for added features like help desk functionality. Advanced functionality like custom reports and sales forecasting are available with paid Sales Hub tiers.
However, while HubSpot is powerful, its paid tiers can be pricey for small teams or solo-users. For more cost-effective paid features, check out Freshsales.
For a deeper dive on HubSpot CRM and how it compares to Zoho, check out our HubSpot vs Zoho CRM comparison.
Visit Hubspot CRM
Salesforce Essentials is the small business solution that brings the power of Salesforce to smaller teams and users.
Price Range: $25 per user, per month (14-day free trial)
Salesforce Essentials is the small business version of the powerful Salesforce Sales Cloud offering solo-users or small teams a powerful pipeline tool for managing longer or more complex sales cycles. Essentials separates leads and opportunities into two separate and customizable pipelines for the best management. Also included are powerful reporting dashboards as well as communication and collaboration tools to stay on top of your pipeline.
While Salesforce Essentials is a good option for those like B2B businesses with longer or more complex sales processes, it lacks some advanced sales and lead generation features. If you're looking for a more feature-packed alternative, check out Freshsales.
Sales Cloud Upgrade Pricing
For a deeper review, check out our comparison of Salesforce vs Zoho CRM.
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Pipedrive is an intuitive pipeline tool with add-on upgrades like document management, website tracking, and more.
Price Range: $14.90 to $99 per user, per month (14-day free trial)
Pipedrive is an intuitive CRM offering a highly visual sales pipeline with drag-and-drop functionality. It also syncs calls, appointments, and emails across devices and allows reps to see where their prospects sit in the sales funnel from any device. One of its standout alternative features to Zoho CRM are its available add-on upgrades like Smart Docs and Lead Booster to help with operations and lead generation, though they can become pricey.
If you're instead looking for robust, prebuilt tiers rather than customizing via mix-and-match upgrades, check out Freshsales.
Insightly CRM delivers visual project management pipelines and task management to streamline client projects.
Price Range: Free to $99 per user, per month (14-day free trial)
Insightly CRM specializes in increased productivity with project management tools accessible through its simple interface. Included in these tools is a separate project management pipeline as well as ongoing project task management, things Zoho CRM doesn't offer. Insightly has a basic free tier with a visual pipeline as well as standard project features for up to two users. Upgrade for advanced sales and project management.
Even though Insightly is a good alternative for project management, there may be better options for sales features as well as a more robust free tier. For paid tiers with robust sales features check out Freshsales, and for an advanced free option check out HubSpot CRM.
Engagebay offers an affordable CRM and marketing suite with social media management, powerful automations, and more.
Price Range: Free to $79.99 per user, per month
Engagebay is a CRM and marketing platform offering a free tier with basic sales and marketing features or premium paid tiers with advanced functionalities. Its free option includes a visual pipeline as well as live chat, and its paid tiers offer social media management as well as advanced lead generation tools. You can even upgrade for product and proposal management. However, its lowest pricing requires a two-year commitment.
Even though Engagebay offers an attractive free option, if you're looking for the most robust free tier available, you might want to check out HubSpot CRM instead.
Prices based on all-in-one package with a two-year commitment
While many consider Zoho to be the best CRM software available, it won’t tick every box for every organization. Or, you may not want to pay for an upgraded tier to unlock only another feature or two. Zoho will also cost you in time to customize it the way you need it. Fortunately, there are many solid CRMs in the market, all offering an array of features at different price points. Our list of the best alternatives should help you find a solution to fit your exact needs.
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