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While Salesforce is definitely a top pick for CRM, it's not perfect for everyone. Our research shows that HubSpot is the best alternative to Salesforce, thanks to its notable value, its overall ease of use, and its advanced features. There are plenty of other great alternatives though, so keep scrolling to learn about each one.
The biggest name in the CRM world is Salesforce, which is about as close to a household name as a piece of specialized online business software can get. Still, Salesforce isn't the only game in town, and while the market leader might be the right choice for some, it does fall short in a couple of areas. It's a little bit pricey (not even offering a free tier), and it can be a bit difficult to use for newcomers. So which providers pick up the slack?
- HubSpot is a far better choice for marketing than any other CRM including Salesforce
- SugarCRM offers a great budget option, although it seriously lacks when it comes to customer service
- Freshworks CRM has a genuinely good free tier (something Salesforce can't offer)
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a pretty expensive option, but offers great integration with other Microsoft products
Additionally, if you're a small business looking for a reasonably priced, easy to use CRM that won't overload your team too much, Zoho CRM is our top-rated CRM for small businesses, thanks to its intuitive interface and functionality for sales, marketing, and service industries.
So, with all these great Salesforce alternatives on the market, would we ward you off choosing Salesforce entirely? No chance – Salesforce is a market leader for good reason, and between best-in-class features and some surprisingly competitive tailored pricing plans there are plenty of reasons to opt for Salesforce.
In this guide, we'll examine the merits of each of Salesforce's main competitors, and those of Salesforce itself, helping you to decide which is the best CRM software for your own business, whether it be for marketing, sales, or customer service.
In This Guide:
- Top Alternatives to Salesforce CRM
- Free Salesforce Alternatives
- Salesforce Alternatives for Sales
- Salesforce Alternatives for Marketing
- Salesforce Alternatives for Customer Service
- Salesforce Alternatives for Small Businesses
- What to look for in a great Salesforce CRM alternative
- Conclusion – Should You Use Salesforce, or a Rival CRM Platform?
Free trial | Free plan | Starting price | Most expensive plan | Verdict | ||
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30 days | | 30 days | 30 days | |||
| | | | |||
An incredibly popular and highly scalable CRM for all businesses | An extremely solid CRM for all businesses with a great free plan | Solid feature set and team management infrastructure | An attractive option, with lots of features for a low price |
Choosing a CRM platform is all about finding the right fit – something that offers the features you need, and the customizability every business requires. Our advice is to always seek out a personalized quote for the needs and scale of your business – and you can do this using our simple, no-obligation CRM quotes form. That way, you can make sure you're investing in a CRM solution that's fit for your purposes and budget.
Top Alternatives to Salesforce CRM
It's tempting to think that all CRM platforms must be the same, since they all have similar goals in mind, but nothing could be further from the truth. Each platform has its own focus and specialization, as well as various supporting services that will create a unique fit for each company. Here's a quick rundown of the Salesforce alternatives we'll be looking at in this article:
- HubSpot — A “freemium” CRM that offers its basic-tier CRM platform for free, and features stellar marketing tools for your business
- Freshworks CRM — A highly intuitive, feature-packed CRM that has a respectable free plan
- Microsoft Dynamics — A top choice if integration with existing Microsoft business services and platforms is key
- SugarCRM — A flexible, intuitive CRM platform with loads of customization options
Customer Relationship Management is a key part of any business strategy. With the right CRM platform, companies can keep better track of their customers, convert leads into recurring customers, and retain current customers with the right attention. If you're having trouble deciding which CRM platform to use, this article will help by running through the highlights of the biggest competitors to Salesforce, as well as taking a brief look at Salesforce itself.
HubSpot CRM
The key appeal of HubSpot is also its biggest differentiation from Salesforce: it starts by offering the basic HubSpot CRM for free, with virtually no limits on users or features for the basic CRM for following up on leads, opportunities, and tracking your customer database. The company prides itself on offering a product that takes “minutes to learn,” and provides a dashboard with an at-a-glance view for all ongoing deals. It also integrates with Gmail and Outlook to easily pull in email data, for better visibility of customer interactions within your organization.
HubSpot Features
For any business that needs to go beyond the basic CRM, HubSpot offers additional CRM-related platforms called ‘hubs' for one-to-one marketing, sales (beyond the basic CRM), and customer service. All of these hubs have free tiers; however, the added features that most businesses would want to require a monthly subscription.
Free trial | Free plan | Starting price | Most expensive plan | Verdict | ||
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Hubspot Sales Hub | HubSpot Marketing Hub | Hubspot Service Hub | ||||
| | | ||||
| | | ||||
$120/user/month | $3,200/month | $120/user/month | ||||
A scalable tool that's perfect for managing contracts and payments | The best option for businesses looking to scale | A solid option with good functionality, but others do it cheaper |
HubSpot Pricing
HubSpot pricing varies pretty dramatically based on which hubs you're interested in taking advantage of, with each adhering to three pricing plans: Starter, Professional, and Enterprise. If you're interested in marketing, sales, and service hubs, the price is going to be pretty hefty, particularly for the enterprise-level plans. That's the benefit of HubSpot, though: you can mix and match depending on your needs to save a bit of money.
Why HubSpot Is a Better Alternative
HubSpot is a better alternative to Salesforce because of the marketing features available. In fact, HubSpot is the best CRM available for marketing features, according to our research. HubSpot's marketing hub offers ad management and retargeting, conversational chatbots, and landing pages, and that's all found in the Starter plan. Simply put, if you're looking for a CRM with marketing capabilities, HubSpot is your absolute best bet.
Check out our guide HubSpot Pricing for more, or see our full HubSpot vs Salesforce guide

Pros
- Free plan available
- Provides sales, marketing, and service functionality
- Tidy, easy to navigate interface
Cons
- Limited customization
- Basically no customer support
- File storage limit to 5 documents
Freshworks CRM
Freshworks is the umbrella under which Freshsales, Freshmarketer, and Freshdesk operate under. These offerings are typically a bit more affordable than your average CRM and offers enough features to get you through. With a highly intuitive UI and a powerful feature set including built-in phone and email, AI-based lead scoring, visual deal pipeline, intelligent workflow automation, and customizable visual reports and dashboards, it gives businesses everything they need to manage their sales without having to juggle multiple tools.
Freshworks CRM Features
At these prices, it's understandable that Freshworks doesn't have all the features of a Salesforce or a Hubspot, particularly when it comes to data visualization and analytics. However, at this price, it offers quite a lot of features, especially those that are used to engage new customers online. Simply put, if you're trying to save a bit of money without sacrificing a lot, Freshworks is a great place to start.
Free trial | Free plan | Starting price | Most expensive plan | Verdict | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Freshmarketer | Freshdesk | |||||
21 days | 21 days | 21 days | ||||
| | | ||||
$15/user/month | ||||||
$69/user/month | $299 per month | $79/user/month | ||||
A low-cost option that's great for engaging potential customers online | A good option for email, but not great for scalability | A practical option with lots of channels but no survey functionality |
Freshworks CRM Pricing
Freshworks CRM offers three different pricing plans across its many offerings: Growth, Pro and Enterprise. You'll also get access to a free plan across the board, allowing you unlimited users with obviously stripped-down functionality compared to the paid plans. Still, it's a great way to test out the software before making a financial commitment.
Why Freshworks CRM Is a Better Alternative
It's got to be the price on this one. Freshworks is infinitely less expensive than Salesforce, even when it comes to infamously expensive marketing plans. In fact, on average Freshworks plans are nearly ten times less expensive than their Salesforce counterparts, making it a good to budget option that doesn't sacrifice too much.

Pros
- Packed with a great catalog of features
- Highly intuitive user interface, easy for beginners
- Free tier available
Cons
- Reporting tools are a bit limited
- Some key features exclusive to expensive plans
Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft's newest mission is to bring its software to every platform with seamless integration between its various products, and the company's CRM, Microsoft Dynamics, is no exception. If your company already lives and breathes the Microsoft platform, with products such as Office 365 and Outlook for email, then the Dynamics CRM can make a lot of sense. Dynamics is also a good platform if you've been wanting to try out Microsoft HoloLens as a business tool, since it integrates with that as well. Dynamics feels very much like a tool that is ideal for large enterprises and active medium-sized businesses but may be overkill for smaller companies.
Microsoft Dynamics Features
Microsoft offers some unique tools that go beyond the CRM within the Dynamics umbrella of services. These include platforms for finance, operations, and talent recruiting, as well as services we've seen elsewhere, such as customer service and marketing platforms. It's incredibly robust as far as features are concerned, which is why it's such a great option.
Free trial | Free plan | Starting price | Most expensive plan | Verdict | ||
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Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales | Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing | Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service | ||||
30 days | 30 days | 30 days | ||||
| | | ||||
$65/user/month | $50/user/month | |||||
$162/user/month | $1,500 per month | $95/user/month | ||||
An expensive, robust tool for analytics that's better suited to current Microsoft users | A bit too expensive for most, but great for managing teams closely | A great, customizable platform aimed at larger businesses |
Microsoft Dynamics Pricing
The Microsoft Dynamics pricing scheme is certainly different than what you might be used to. Like HubSpot, it offers a wide range of specific options, so that you can mix and match exactly what you're looking for. It can get pretty expensive if you're looking to add every piece of it, which includes field service, customer service, marketing, sales, finances, operations, commerce, and human resources, but hopefully you're only looking for a few of these.
Why Microsoft Dynamics Is a Better Alternative
Microsoft Dynamics is similarly robust when it comes to comparisons with Salesforce, but the biggest edge it has over everyone's favorite CRM is that it's from Microsoft. This means that it integrates flawlessly with Office, Outlook, and many other Microsoft systems. So if your company is already set up with Microsoft, then the Dynamics platform is the way to go.
Interested in Microsoft Dynamics? Head to our Microsoft Dynamics review

Pros
- Integrates with Microsoft products
- Features on par with Salesforce catalog
- Robust, 24/5 support options
Cons
- Decidedly expensive
- Limited API, particularly compared to Salesforce
- No free plan
SugarCRM
SugarCRM isn't the biggest name in the business, but it prides itself on being able to hang with the big boys. It has a simple, easy to understand interface, with deep customization options — making it incredibly flexible and adaptable. Sugar also has no hidden fees, offering three standard pricing plans ranging from $40 to $150 per user, per month, each providing a different service: Sugar Sell, Sugar Market, and Sugar Serve.
SugarCRM Features
SugarCRM has a range of tools to facilitate collaboration between different business functions and works seamlessly across mobiles and tablets making it great for mobile workers. SugarCRM is easy to integrate with your existing IT infrastructure, offering SaaS and on-premises installations.
Free trial | Free plan | Starting price | Verdict | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sugar Sell | Sugar Market | Sugar Serve | |||
7 days | | | |||
| | | |||
$49/user/month | $1,000/month | $80/user/month | |||
A reasonably priced platform offering solid customization options | A good budget option for covering multiple marketing channels | A weak offering with few native service channels available |
SugarCRM Pricing
SugarCRM's pricing model is similar to that of HubSpot, with different options for service, marketing, and sales. Additionally, you can combine all of them in two different plans, Professional and Enterprise, which cater to small and large companies depending on your needs.
Why SugarCRM Is a Better Alternative
Customizability is the name of the game when it comes to SugarCRM. With a widely flexible platform designed for particular needs, this platform can be molded to suit whatever metrics and functionality you need. Plus, with a stylish, easy to use interface, you can't go wrong with SugarCRM when it comes to customizability.

Pros
- Incredibly customizable for specific needs
- On-premise installations available
- No hidden fees
Cons
- No free plan available
- A bit expensive compared to the rest of the industry
- Less well-known brand
Reasons to Choose Salesforce
And then there's Salesforce, a popular choice among businesses of many different sizes. The key with Salesforce is the absolute breadth of its services beyond the basic CRM platform, including services for running ecommerce, one-to-one marketing, customer service, and many others.
While we've stated that Pipedrive, Freshworks, and Zoho are all cheaper than Salesforce, that doesn't mean it's expensive by any means. In fact, compared to contemporaries like HubSpot and Zendesk, Salesforce is extremely affordable.
Salesforce also has a robust application programming interface (API), allowing developers to create custom apps for Salesforce and integrate your Salesforce data with programs you might already be using.
While Salesforce might have more services than a small or medium-sized business might need, it can still be a useful platform for companies of any size. Plus, as the CRM platform in widest use, it's much easier to find support and tutorials on how to get the most from your subscription.
Free trial | Free plan | Starting price | Most expensive plan | Verdict | ||
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30 days | 30 days | | ||||
| | | ||||
A scalable, highly customizable platform that's great for managing teams | An fully-featured yet pricey CRM solution with excellent team management tools. | A very expensive option that provides robust email and omnichannel features |
Salesforce also offers a wide range of great add-ons that can really improve your growing business if you can afford them. Salesforce Anywhere, for example, is perfect for a newly remote business due to the pandemic, as it allows for team collaboration, real-time chat, and document sharing. Plus, with Tableau, the platform's new analytics tool, you'll get all the data you need about your customers to make the best decisions every time.
Check out our full guide to Salesforce Pricing for more

Pros
- 30-day free trial
- Tailored pricing plans
- Provides sales and service functionality
- Lots of analytics and data provided
Cons
- Lacks basic marketing features
- Limited help and support functionality
- Busy interface can be hard to use
Free Salesforce Alternatives
Many customer relationship management platforms offer free versions, but there are downsides to be aware of. Most are limited by the number of users, or require you to pay for upgrades beyond the core service. One of our top-choice Salesforce alternatives, Freshworks CRM, has a genuinely impressive free CRM tier. However, to unlock the very best of Freshworks, it's likely you'll need to upgrade to the premium plans.
A free taster is still a great option for testing the various features and interfaces of multiple CRM platforms, or experimenting with a platform to see if it's right for you.
The reality, however, is that a free option is not a long term solution. Free CRM software, even from reputable companies, can be open to changes and downgrades, and offer far fewer options for customization and added features.
Salesforce Alternatives for Sales
As the name might suggest, Salesforce is a great CRM for sales. However, it can be a bit intimidating to smaller teams that don't need all those features and data visualizations, which opens the door to some of the alternatives below. Whether it be lead capture or the ability to accept payments, these providers offer a lot when it comes to sales. Take a look at some of our top picks below:
Free trial | Free plan | Starting price | Verdict | Data cap in basic plan | Lead capture | Accept payments | Onboarding | Get started Click to get started and compare prices for your business | ||
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Hubspot Sales Hub | Sugar Sell | Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales | Keap | |||||||
30 days | 30 days | | 7 days | 21 days | 30 days | 30 days | ||||
| | | | | | | | |||
$49/user/month | $65/user/month | |||||||||
An attractive option, with lots of features for a low price | A scalable, highly customizable platform that's great for managing teams | A scalable tool that's perfect for managing contracts and payments | A reasonably priced platform offering solid customization options | A low-cost option that's great for engaging potential customers online | An expensive, robust tool for analytics that's better suited to current Microsoft users | Solid feature set and team management infrastructure | A suitable all-in-one platform for sales and marketing but a bit expensive | |||
200MB | File storage: 1GB | 5 documents | 60GB | 2GB per user | Database: 10GB | 2GB per user | Unlimited | |||
| Web forms only | | Web forms only | | | Web forms only | Web forms only | |||
| | Stripe integration | | | | | | |||
| | | | | | | | |||
Salesforce Alternatives for Marketing
We mentioned earlier that HubSpot is easily the best CRM for marketing, but there are plenty of other options out there that do a great job. Like Salesforce, HubSpot is geared towards larger businesses, so if you're looking for something a bit less intense, these alternatives should get the job done without too much of a hit to your budget. And don't forget to check out our best CRM for marketing guide for a more in-depth look at these providers:
Free trial | Free plan | Starting price | Verdict | Email marketing | Social marketing | Content marketing | Paid marketing | Omnichannel features | Get started Click to get started and compare prices for your business | ||
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SPONSORED | |||||||||||
Keap | HubSpot Marketing Hub | Freshmarketer | Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing | Sugar Market | |||||||
| | 21 days | 30 days | | |||||||
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$1,000/month | |||||||||||
A suitable all-in-one platform for sales and marketing but a bit expensive | The best option for businesses looking to scale | A very expensive option that provides robust email and omnichannel features | A good option for email, but not great for scalability | A bit too expensive for most, but great for managing teams closely | A good budget option for covering multiple marketing channels | ||||||
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Salesforce Alternatives for Customer Service
The importance of customer service cannot be overstated when it comes to business, and a good CRM can help a lot. Salesforce does a fine job of this, but there are plenty of other options that are specifically geared towards helping customers that might be a better fit. Take a look at some of the options below to get a better idea of what kind of CRM are aimed at customer service:
Free trial | Free plan | Starting price | Verdict | Email Comms Channel | Phone Comms Channel | Website Live Chat Comms Channel | Get started Click to get started and compare prices for your business | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Zendesk Service | Hubspot Service Hub | Zoho Desk | Sugar Serve | Freshdesk | Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service | ||||
30 days | 30 days | | 15 days | | 21 days | 30 days | |||
| | | | | | | |||
$14/user/month | $80/user/month | $15/user/month | $50/user/month | ||||||
A robust platform aimed at businesses looking to scale | An fully-featured yet pricey CRM solution with excellent team management tools. | A solid option with good functionality, but others do it cheaper | An affordable option with plenty of features for smaller businesses | A weak offering with few native service channels available | A practical option with lots of channels but no survey functionality | A great, customizable platform aimed at larger businesses | |||
| | | | | | | |||
Requires Telephony integration on Support plans, available on Suite plans | Requires Telephony integration/Voice add-on on all plans | | | | | | |||
| Limited to 1 license (Essentials), unavailable (Pro), additional cost (Enterprise) | | | | | | |||
Salesforce Alternatives for Small Businesses
While Salesforce is considered one of the top CRM around the world, it's not exactly suited to small businesses. Between the extensive feature catalog and the high price, smaller teams can take a larger hit to their budget than they need, for a lot of functionality they might not need. Plus, given the robust nature of Salesforce, your small team could get bogged down by complicated dashboards, which is never helpful.
Fortunately, we've done some research and found out which options are the best CRM for small business. Take a look at the table below of small business alternatives to Salesforce.
Plan | Price | Free Trial | Users | Storage | Rating Based on usability, customization, functionality, pricing, and help and support | Email support | Phone support | Live chat support | Forum suppot | Lead scoring | Custom reports | Try it | ||
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SPONSORED | BEST OVERALL | BEST VALUE | ||||||||||||
Pipedrive | Zoho Bigin | Zendesk | Salesforce Sales Cloud | Less Annoying CRM | Act! | |||||||||
Advanced | Professional | Growth | Pro | Express | Free | Sell Team | Essentials | Less Annoying CRM | Expert | |||||
14 days | 15 days | 21 days | 14 days | 15 days | | | 30 days | 30 days | 14 days | |||||
Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | 5 | Unlimited | Unlimited | 10 | Unlimited | Based on number of licenses | |||||
Unlimited | User: 20MB | 2 GB | 100 GB | 1 GB | Unlimited | 2GB per user | File storage: 1GB | 10 GB per user | 6GB | |||||
3.9 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.2 | |||||
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| 8/5 | | | | | | | | | |||||
| 8/5 | | | | | | | | | |||||
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What to look for in a great Salesforce CRM alternative
Not all Salesforce competitors are created equal, which is why having a keen eye for features is key to picking the right one. The following are a few key features to look out for when deciding on a Salesforce alternative.
Reporting
One of the major benefits of any CRM software is its ability to provide analytics on a wide range of metrics within your business. From conversion rates to customer attrition, a good CRM platform will have reporting tools designed to let you know exactly what's working for your business, and more importantly, what isn't.
Customization
If you're looking for CRM software that can do exactly what you want it to do, customizability is going to a big consideration for you. Salesforce has a robust feature offering, but doesn't offer features like an open API or a wide range of flexible options. Basically, if you've got niche CRM needs, make sure to take a look at customizability.
Automation
The whole point of CRM software is to save you a little time, which is why automation features are so necessary in a good provider. After all, what's the point of installing business software if it isn't going to take care of the small projects for you? Finding the right software means discovering exactly what each provider can do for your automation needs, so make sure not to overlook that.
What's more, automation allows you to expedite leads through your sales pipeline based on pre-programmed criteria, making it easier for your business to generate sales.
Ease of Use
Whether you're an expert or a beginner, having an easy to use platform can make a huge difference when it comes to improvements in productivity. Salesforce, in particular, is quite complicated for beginners due to its robust feature catalogue and reporting tools. If you're giving CRM software a go for the first time, ease of use needs to be at the top of your list.
Support
Speaking of beginners, having a little help from an expert support team can go a long way when adapting to new software, which is why noting the customer service options is invaluable to understanding a provider. From 24/7 service to sporadic ticket systems, providers run the gamut as far as customer support goes, so if you're just starting out, it's certainly worth noting.
Pricing
Let's be honest of course you're looking at price when it comes to CRM software. From pricing plans to providers, there are hundreds of different price points to consider. Fortunately, compared to Salesforce, most CRM software is markedly more affordable, but the range is still pretty substantial. Not that we have to say it, but seriously: take a look at your pricing options before pulling the trigger on your new CRM software.
How We Rate CRM Software
Finding the best CRM software is about more than just looking at the logo. We at Tech.co take the ranking of business software like CRM very seriously, which is why we spend our time thoroughly researching each provider. This data is designed to help you get the most objective information about CRM providers, so you can make the right decision for your business.
There are a lot of aspects of CRM software to consider when it comes to our rankings, and that's why we take it so seriously. Our rankings take into consideration a wide range of metrics, including support options, key functionalities, depth of features, and of course, price. Additionally, we assign each provider a customer score, which is an aggregate of online reviews, competitor scores, and our own, independent research.
Choosing business software can be stressful. A simple installation could be the difference between a successful business and a fun memory, which is why we want to make sure you have all the information necessary to make the best decision for your company.
Conclusion – Should You Use Salesforce, or a Rival CRM Platform?
If you wanted to opt for Salesforce, you really couldn't be faulted. It's got one of the most comprehensive list of features out there, and it's not absurdly expensive. However, if you find it a bit too pricey, you could try the more affordable Pipedrive, or even Freshworks CRM's free tier.
And remember, if you're a small business, Salesforce isn't ideal, as it can get a bit expensive and overwhelming with all those features. Our top-rated CRM for small business is Zoho CRM, so give that a try if you're still growing.
A great way to find the CRM that's right for you is to use our helpful form to get a bespoke quote from multiple CRM platforms. This process takes into account your business' needs, and lets you compare the different services first. Click below to get started.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you're still confused, check out our guide to Salesforce pricing — we've spent an entire article explaining how it all works.
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