Zoho CRM and Salesforce are industry-leading CRMs, although for different reasons. Zoho CRM is an affordable and easy-to-use option for small and medium-sized businesses. Salesforce, on the other hand, provides large or fast-growing businesses with countless customizable, high-tech features. Honing in on the nuanced differences between Zoho vs Salesforce will help you decide if either is a smart choice for your business.
Here are the situations when you want to use either Zoho CRM or Salesforce:
Zoho CRM: Best for small-to-medium businesses needing a marketing-forward CRM that’s affordable still yet rich in crucial sales features (free to $52 per user, per month)
Salesforce: Best for quickly-scaling or large businesses seeking a state-of-the-art CRM with advanced analytics, automation, and customization ($25 to $300 per user, per month)
While Zoho CRM and Salesforce are both industry heavyweights, they might not be the best fit for your needs. If you'd like to consider other solutions, see our articles on the best overall CRMs and the best industry-specific CRM solutions. Otherwise, keep on reading for highlights of the showdown between Zoho CRM and Salesforce.
Zoho vs Salesforce at a Glance
Price Range (Annual)
Free to $52 per user, per month
$25 to $300 per user, per month
Core Features
Essential CRM features across marketing and sales
Advanced tools for deep insights into the customer journey
Ease of Use
Accessible to new users, but wealth of features can be overwhelming
Large time investment to become proficient with it
Reporting
Offers 40 standard reports and ability for custom ones
Able to build any type of CRM report
Sales Automation
Automates repetitive sales processes and tasks
Automates tasks across various functions
Mobile App
Capable of capturing voice notes and files
Custom navigation and offline access to key data
App Integrations
1,000+ apps, many of which are free via Zoho Marketplace
Over 7,000 apps, but only 1,200+ are free via AppExchange
Customer Service
All plans include email, phone, and chat support
All plans include support during local business hours
Zoho CRM and Salesforce are both great options, but each platform has its own strengths and weaknesses. We uncovered these distinctions by comparing the two platforms based on five key criteria that are most important to businesses when choosing any CRM — costs, features, ease of use, app integrations and customization, and user support.
Evaluation Criteria
First, we divided our five chosen evaluation criteria into weighted subcategories and scored each one based on key subcriteria. Then, we added up the subcategory and criteria scores, which helped us determine the winning CRM for each category.
Pricing:
25%
Features:
25%
Ease of Use:
20%
App Integrations & Customization:
15%
User Support:
15%
Pricing Overview
We checked out each CRM’s starting cost, free trials or versions, and billing plans.
Aside from the weighted criteria above, we separated three core CRM features into their own individual categories below: reporting, sales automation, and mobile app. We’ve honed in on these specific features because businesses deciding between CRM software options often want to know how they compare in their ability to uncover insights and streamline sales processes.
Winner: Zoho CRM is the more cost-effective choice by virtue of its free-for-life edition and low-cost enterprise edition.
Zoho CRM is a more affordable option than Salesforce. Zoho CRM’s free-for-life edition is a great option for small business owners who want the basic features of a CRM, such as contact management and standard reporting. And, if the number of your CRM users grows past three, the jump to the enterprise option is anything but prohibitive at $40 per user per month, and gives you advanced features like AI-backed suggestions and more customization options.
Salesforce is a more expensive choice than Zoho CRM, especially if you factor in the potential outside costs of hiring a Salesforce administrator, which is typical for medium to large businesses attempting to get the most out of the software’s Enterprise or Ultimate editions. However, Salesforce’s Essentials plan is $25 per user, per month — only $11 more than Zoho’s standard plan. Salesforce offers a 30-day free trial for those looking to test it out.
Winner: Salesforce has the most comprehensive CRM feature set out there and offers great functionality for sales, marketing, and support departments.
Zoho CRM has a large feature set to help businesses effectively track leads, contacts, and deals. It even ties in social media data regarding contacts, and allows you to communicate with contacts in-platform through live chat, email, and other channels. Zoho also offers marketing capabilities, like its ability to run email nurturing campaigns. The Enterprise plan includes the CommandCenter, where you can personalize the customer journey of your leads.
Salesforce, however, reigns supreme when it comes to range and depth of features. All plans offer robust contact, account, lead, and opportunity management functions. Users will also get great 360 degree views of their contacts’ demographics, communication history, and past actions. But, its Enterprise and Ultimate plans shine brightest, boasting workflow tools that allow you to easily automate almost any CRM task, including lead scoring and distribution to reps.
Winner: Zoho CRM is accessible to users of most experience levels thanks to its relatively simple setup and customization.
Zoho CRM is known as one of the more user-friendly CRMs. Its intuitive, no-frills interface and wizard-guided setup make it easy to get the software up and running quickly. Zoho users also enjoy how easy it is to customize when compared to Salesforce — albeit, this is in part because the customization options are less complex. Users can pay an extra 20-25% of the license fee for onboarding support, or, if they have over 25 users, an account manager for ongoing help.
Salesforce offers tremendous functionality and the highest level of customization, but it comes with quite the learning curve, which prompts many businesses to hire an in-house Salesforce administrator to manage the system. Setup is a cumbersome process due to the software’s flexibility, and mistakes can lead to issues later on. However, fans do often state that once you’ve learned the platform, it offers endless possibilities and easy navigation.
Winner: Salesforce gives businesses the ability to create any type of CRM report they need to make data-driven decisions.
Zoho CRM includes 40+ standard pre-built report types that users can run, along with unlimited custom reports in the Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate plans. For your convenience, all paid plans allow you to schedule reports to automatically run on certain dates. Plus, reports can be easily represented visually in charts and graphs. Zia, the AI assistant that can answer your questions about analytics in real-time, is available in the two highest plans.
Salesforce offers pre-built and custom reports in every plan. Building your own reports is simple thanks to the drag and drop editor; just pick your filters, fields, and visualization type and you’re done. Its higher-tier plans include advanced reporting features like cross filters and bucketing that enable users to organize data in an easy-to-find manner. Salesforce gives you all the tools you need to track key metrics and also investigate how to improve a team’s sales performance.
Winner: Salesforce can automate a wide variety of business and CRM processes, which will help salespeople save time on repetitive tasks.
Zoho CRM’s sales automation features are primarily focused on communication and follow-up with leads or clients. For example, it can automate email follow-ups to be sent after a certain number of days. It can also be configured to create new contacts when you’ve received an email from an unfamiliar email address. If you want to create workflows for other processes (like approval for requested discounts), you’ll have to purchase the Enterprise or Ultimate editions.
Salesforce’s automation extends beyond those found in Zoho. Its Lightning Flow Automation tool enables users to build processes that standardize and automate your most common CRM routines. Users can even build out workflows that recommend next steps to their salespeople as they move through a deal. Also, design self-service wizards for tasks like updating a contact’s address, thereby ensuring team members follow the most productive company procedure.
Winner: Salesforce has a mobile app that allows you offline access to crucial sales data beyond contact information.
Zoho CRM's mobile app enables users to access data from their IOS or Android devices while on the move. It offers time management features like a daily planner, map, and alerts to help you stay on track. Plus, top plans offer task automation; simply text the actions you want taken to Zia, an AI, who’ll perform them for you. When offline, you can check and amend contact info, and even leave voice notes that’ll be reflected in the CRM when you’re back online.
Salesforce’s mobile app is essentially the entire Salesforce CRM in the palm of your hands. Its most notable feature is its offline mode, which, compared to Zoho, enables you to see and update more information, including dashboards and opportunities. Online, the mobile app gives AI-powered insights that foster smart decisions and the ability to customize your mobile experience by personalizing navigation and selecting favorites for even greater productivity.
Winner: Salesforce wins this one due to the sheer number of apps it supports and the simplicity of the integration processes.
Zoho CRM and Salesforce both support a large number of third-party applications. The Zoho App Marketplace currently has over 1,000 integrations spanning business applications, document storage, marketing tools, and more. Many of the most popular integrations are free (G Suite, PandaDoc, Office 360, Mailchimp, Dropbox). While its app plugins cost extra, some offer free versions with limited functionality.
Salesforce AppExchange, on the other hand, allows for the implementation of over 7,000 pre-integrated apps that can help you improve your performance in a variety of key areas, from document management to sales automation. The integration with these apps is seamless and enables you to customize your experience more than you would with Zoho. But, more than half cost money. Popular free integrations are ZoomInfo, Cirrus Insight, and Yesware.
Winner: Salesforce gets a slight win here because it’s the industry standard; many questions have been posed and answered online in forums.
All Zoho CRM users have access to live chat and phone support during local business hours. You can pay extra for Premium support, which bumps support access to 24/5, but costs 20% of your license fee. Businesses with 25+ users can pay 25% of their license fee to get a dedicated account manager and 24/7 support. Still, Zoho’s customer service staff is notorious for delays. If you need an answer in a pinch, you can turn to their knowledge base and community forums.
All Salesforce plans come with email and live chat support, along with access to Salesforce’s community forums and knowledge base, which are extremely helpful. Thanks to the software’s ubiquity, even the most niche questions have likely been answered. Premium support plans can be purchased separately as well. They include additions like 24/7 support, one-on-one coaching, and advanced diagnostics that can help you get the most out of the platform.
Zoho CRM and Salesforce each have a base of raving fans that get everything they need from the software. However, there are some businesses with specific attributes that might want to avoid using Zoho or Salesforce. Ultimately, your specific sales needs are the priority when choosing a CRM, and it’s best not to become enamored with a system just for its reputation.
Who Shouldn’t Use Zoho CRM
The business types below tend not to be a great fit for Zoho CRM:
Enterprise Companies Needing Heavy Customization: Zoho offers relatively few customizable elements and shallow feature depth, which might hold back large teams.
Companies That Just Want a Sales CRM: Zoho CRM has a lot of great marketing capabilities; if you don’t use them, it might not be worth paying for the whole platform.
Companies That Need 24/7 Support: Zoho’s customer support is limited unless you pay for it, which can be up to 25% of the licensing fee.
If you fall into any of these camps, don't simply default to Salesforce. For a deeper understanding of which businesses would benefit from Zoho CRM and which wouldn't, read our independent Zoho CRM review. Also look at the list below to see if you might want to choose another CRM entirely.
Who Shouldn’t Use Salesforce
The following businesses and reps might not want to choose Salesforce:
Small Businesses and Startups: Salesforce’s massive feature and customization set will be too overwhelming, not to mention pricey, for most smaller companies.
Companies Without In-House Tech Support: Salesforce is prone to small bugs or crashes due to its complexity, so you'll want someone who understands your customized platform.
Salespeople New to CRMs: Salesforce takes time and effort to learn, even for people who have experience with CRMs, so it’s not recommended as a first-time CRM.
Before deciding against Salesforce, check out our full Salesforce CRM review. There, you'll find an independent analysis of the product and a roundup of user feedback.
3 Best Alternatives to Zoho CRM & Salesforce
Zoho CRM and Salesforce both have their advantages, but there’s a chance neither ticks the right boxes for your business. Whether you’re seeking a more sales-focused CRM or a free option with unlimited users, there's a bounty of great choices. We find the below three CRMs to be the best alternatives to Zoho CRM and Salesforce:
Pipedrive
Insightly
HubSpot CRM
Pipedrive is a sales-focused CRM that’s easy to use and implement. Leverage Pipedrive’s visual, highly-customizable pipelines to track your opportunities for just $14.90 per month. Extend its functionality with add-ons like LeadBooster to capture high-quality leads and Campaigns to create personalized email communication. If you’re looking for a CRM that offers sales and marketing features without needing add-ons, check out HubSpot CRM.
Insightly is a cloud-based CRM renowned for its robust project management tools and product delivery solutions. Its forever free plan offers basic tools for tracking contacts, leads and projects. Upgrade to paid plans to access workflow automation, email marketing, report scheduling, and more. Although Insightly offers robust tools for project management, its interface might be too rigid for full customization. In this case, we recommend Pipedrive.
HubSpot CRM is rated as our best free CRM that offers a robust mix of sales and marketing features. Its free plan hosts unlimited users and provides basic tools for contact management, email marketing, and third-party app integrations. While upgrading into paid tiers gives you more robust sales and marketing features, it can be pricey, especially if you’re a small business. If you’re looking for a CRM with more affordable paid plans, try Pipedrive.
Check out our lists of the best Zoho CRM alternatives and the best Salesforce alternatives to learn about comparable solutions and find the right one for your business. In the articles, you’ll find information about their pricing, core features, use cases, and more.
Bottom Line: Zoho vs Salesforce
While Salesforce takes the crown in features and customization, Zoho CRM still receives knighthood in those categories and seizes the throne when it comes to usability and affordability. In sum, the best CRM for you should fit your business and sales needs, be within your budget, and gain traction with your team. Depending on your business’s current state, the right CRM for you could be Salesforce, Zoho CRM, or another one you just haven’t encountered yet.
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