Zoho vs. Salesforce: Which CRM is right for your sales organization?

Both Zoho and Salesforce offer CRM solutions designed for small to enterprise-level businesses. However, this feature-by-feature breakdown of each CRM’s pricing options, overall features, and user experience (UX) is narrowed to the plans best suited for small to medium-sized teams to help them choose the right CRM tool for their company’s budget and unique needs.

Zoho vs. Salesforce Starter and Pro Suite: Plans and pricing

Zoho CRM and Salesforce Starter and Pro Suite plans both offer entry-level plans that are affordable for most small businesses. However, for startups and solopreneurs on a tight budget, Zoho CRM has a free-forever plan with basic CRM features for up to three users. 

Salesforce offers a free trial that doubles the amount of time of Zoho CRM, making it a good fit for teams who want a full month to test out the CRM’s capabilities. All of the plans below offer a monthly billing option along with a discount for an annual commitment, with the exception of Salesforce Pro Suite, which is only available with an annual plan paid upfront.

Zoho vs. Salesforce Starter and Pro Suite: Sales pipeline functionality

Zoho CRM and Salesforce Starter and Pro Suite have ideal contact management tools for managing sales deals and leads. However, Zoho CRM includes lead scoring tools that make it easier to prioritize hot leads and maximize revenue. Plus, Zoho offers sales automations and sales forecasting at a lower price point than Salesforce to help reduce manual processes. 

Both CRM platforms are comparable regarding user permissions, custom fields, and document storage. The table below highlights key sales pipeline functionality features of both CRM systems, although additional capabilities may be offered by each provider.

Zoho vs. Salesforce Starter and Pro Suite: Marketing features

Zoho CRM and Salesforce Starter and Pro Suite plans are solid options for companies that want basic marketing features built into their CRM tool. These providers offer custom email templates, open and click rate tracking, and product catalogs. 

Teams looking for an affordable plan that includes email scheduling should choose Salesforce Starter or Pro Suite. Those seeking mass emailing features should pick Zoho CRM. The following table highlights key marketing features available from both providers, focusing on their most popular offerings.

Zoho vs. Salesforce Starter and Pro Suite: Dashboard customization

Zoho CRM and Salesforce’s Starter and Pro Suite plans include multiple customizable dashboards, notifications, mobile analytics, and dashboard collaboration. However, Zoho CRM offers dashboard collaboration and notifications on its free plan and has mobile dashboard analytics on its less expensive Standard plan, making it a better choice for budget-conscious teams. The table below outlines the key dashboard customization features offered by each provider, although it may not reflect all available options.

Zoho vs. Salesforce Starter and Pro Suite: Ease of use

While both providers offer a UX that makes it easy to adopt either CRM, Zoho CRM shines in this category by including a helpful browser extension, a meeting scheduling tool, and data import and export. Neither CRM provider offers an AI assistant on their lower-cost plans. However, Salesforce Starter Suite does include email send time optimization to send emails automatically when they are most likely to be opened, increasing open and response rates. While not an exhaustive list, the table below showcases the main features related to user-friendliness and ease of use.

Zoho at a glance

Zoho CRM

Base price:	Starting at $20.00 per user, per month, billed monthly
Free trial length:	15 days
Free plan available:	Yes, for up to three users with limited features

More features from Zoho CRM

While this comparison guide emphasizes Zoho CRM’s top features in each category, this CRM platform also includes a range of other valuable tools, such as:

• Multiple currencies: Zoho CRM includes support for five to 10 currencies across its Standard and Professional plans.
• Zoho CRM Motivator: Available on the Professional plan and above, Zoho’s gamification tool boosts sales team performance by fostering healthy competition.
• Integration with other Zoho products: Teams using other Zoho applications, such as Zoho SalesIQ, Zoho Survey, Zoho Desk, Zoho Meetings, Zoho Analytics, and Zoho Projects, can integrate them seamlessly into the Zoho CRM platform.
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance settings: Zoho CRM can be configured to meet HIPAA requirements for businesses that need to comply with this regulation.

Salesforce Starter Suite at a glance

Salesforce Starter Suite

Base price:	Starting at $25.00 per user, per month*
Free trial length:	30 days
Free plan available:	No

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Account, contact, lead, and opportunity management
• Lead assignment and routing
• Web-to-lead capture
• Customizable email templates

Cons

• Lacks AI tools
• No advanced reporting or forecasting features
• Lacks sales territory features
• No built-in quote or contract tools
• Limited collaboration features

Who is Salesforce Starter Suite good for?

Salesforce Starter Suite is an ideal CRM solution for sales teams that need basic CRM features, such as account, lead, and contact management. Businesses that want mass emailing features, email templates, and robust report tools find it’s a good option. It’s also great for companies that want to put some CRM functions, such as lead assignment and routing on autopilot with simple automation rules.

Who shouldn’t use Salesforce Starter Suite?

Companies looking for robust built-in artificial intelligence (AI) features, such as email insights and lead and opportunity scoring should choose another CRM provider as the Starter Suite doesn’t offer them. Teams that need comprehensive sales forecasting features would need to upgrade to Salesforce’s higher-cost plans as the only forecasting features the Starter Suite offers are customizable reports and dashboards.

Furthermore, companies that want advanced team collaboration tools should consider another CRM provider. While Salesforce Starter Suite offers file sharing, users must upgrade to another tier to access collaboration tools, such as Slack integration.

More features from Salesforce Starter and Pro Suite:

Although this article covers the most common CRM functionalities of Salesforce Starter and Pro Suite, the provider also offers additional valuable features, including:

• Web-to-lead capture: Teams can convert website visitors into leads and directly import them into the CRM.
• Lead assignment and routing: Users can assign leads to specific representatives to optimize the likelihood of closing deals.
• Pricing quotes: On the Pro Suite plan, users can generate and send price quotes to prospects directly within the CRM.
• Case management: Inquiries can be routed to the appropriate rep, ensuring questions are addressed quickly and effectively.

So, should you choose Zoho CRM or Salesforce?

Zoho CRM and Salesforce Starter plans provide impressive sales management and collaboration tools to help sales organizations thrive, close more deals, and build customer loyalty:

• Choose Zoho CRM if: Your team requires a free plan for up to three users with essential CRM features, or if your company already utilizes several other Zoho software products that you’d like to integrate into Zoho CRM. Zoho CRM is also an ideal choice for businesses needing robust customization capabilities. 
• Choose Salesforce Starter or Pro Suite if: Your business seeks an intuitive CRM platform that offers exceptional customer support, customizable sales pipelines, and in-depth email analytics.
• Go with an alternative if: Your sales team is looking for a free-forever plan for more users, such as Bitrix24 or Agile CRM. If you are seeking more advanced capabilities than the Salesforce Starter and Pro Suite plans include, check out popular Salesforce alternatives.

Frequently asked questions