Customer relationship management (CRM) software is a big deal these days. Companies are aligning their sales, marketing, and customer service teams into one seamless unit, ready to meet the needs of current and potential clients.
If your business is deciding on which CRM platform to use, you'll definitely have come across Salesforce. As the market leader, and a company with healthy marketing and PR teams behind it, Salesforce is one of the first destinations when researching a CRM.
Another popular name is Zoho. Well known for its Google Docs competitor, Zoho Docs, this company also has its own CRM platform.
The question is, out of Zoho or Salesforce, which is the best CRM platform to choose? Both have their merits, but according to our research, Salesforce is the best because of its industry-leading features and notable scalability. Zoho, however, still has an ace up its sleeve – compellingly affordable plans for smaller businesses.
Let's take a closer look at both platforms in our Zoho vs Salesforce table, below:
| Verdict | Data cap in basic plan | Email integrations | Social media integrations | Marketing campaigns | API | Email Support | Live chat support | Phone support | Free Trial Version | Cheapest paid plan Price quoted is per user, per month | Most expensive plan Price quoted is per user, per month | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  | ||||||||||||
Salesforce | Zoho CRM | ||||||||||||
A market leading CRM for good reason and a great all-rounder – should always be considered first. | Flexible, friendly and effective, Zoho also starts at low price plans and has a great free trial | ||||||||||||
612MB/user | 1GB base + 512MB/user | ||||||||||||
Open | Limited | ||||||||||||
$25 | $12 | ||||||||||||
$300 | $100 |
Both Zoho and Salesforce are capable services that have a lot to offer – however, the question really isn't which of these companies is the best choice, but whether either of them is the right fit for you. A good way to discover a CRM that can be customized for your needs is to use our handy CRM Quotes Tool to receive tailor-made, zero-obligation CRM cost quotes, which take into account your company's individual needs and scale.
In this Guide:
Zoho CRM vs Salesforce: Pros and Cons
Deciding between Salesforce and Zoho CRM isn't easy, because both are decidedly respectable options in their field. They both offer a lot of helpful pros that can help you run your business, but also feature some notable cons that could be a deal-breaker:
- Salesforce is better for large companies
- Zoho is geared towards smaller businesses
- Salesforce has the most features of any CRM available
- Zoho is easier to use given the limited number of features
- Zoho features affordable plans, including a solid free version
- Salesforce is definitely expensive, particularly if you aren't a bigger company
As you can see from our quick pros and cons list here, the biggest pros and cons for Salesforce and Zoho CRM are related to the size of the company they're aimed at. Zoho is designed for smaller businesses, which makes them inherently more affordable and easier to use, because they don't have to cater to the often particular needs of a larger company.
Conversely, Salesforce is the very definition of robust when it comes to CRM systems, with a massive features catalog, hundreds of helpful integrations, and a well-trained support team that could help you land a plane if you had to.
Pros
- Free 15-day trial
- Lots of G Suite Integrations
- Supports 20 different languages
- Free trial available
Cons
- No data backups in free plan
- Shorter than average trial period
- Not great for larger companies
Pros
- Wide feature set
- Frequently updated
- Robust support & training
Cons
- No free plan
- On the more expensive end of the industry
- Basic plan caps data at 612 MB/user
Differences Between Zoho and Salesforce
The biggest difference between Salesforce and Zoho is how information is presented. Salesforce opts to use a mix of graphs and lists for its all-sales platform, whereas Zoho uses all lists by default for its combination of sales, service, and marketing tools.
Take a look at some of the other specific differences between Zoho and Salesforce below:
Basic Layout
When you first sign in to Zoho and Salesforce, you are greeted with a dashboard containing large rectangular tiles that display key information such as current quarterly performance, open tasks, and deals closing this month. What you see on either CRM's dashboard is customizable to a certain degree, although the “quarterly performance” tile is specific to Salesforce's default view.
Both CRMs use navigation menu tabs at the top of the screen and basic headings such as Leads, Contacts, Accounts, Deals/Opportunities, Documents/Files, Reports/Dashboard, and so on. Both also have a social networking style section where team members can share information in the form of posts.
Integrations
Contacts is a key section for any CRM, and both Salesforce and Zoho cover the basics here. Zoho, however, has some nice integrations that are available by default – the key one being if a sales person adds their Twitter or Facebook account, and then adds the corresponding social account for their contacts, they can view their contacts' social activity within Zoho's CRM. This is a great feature if you run a business where most of your interactions happen on social media.
Salesforce can do something similar with a lot of powerful tools for social media monitoring, but it requires Marketing Cloud, which is a service beyond Sales Cloud, Salesforce's basic CRM. Plus, with Salesforce and Microsoft teaming up, you can seamlessly add functionality to the platform through Microsoft Teams.
Ease of Use
Looking at both services from an ease of use perspective, there's no question that Zoho wins this face-off.
Salesforce has a ton of features and options to tweak. The basic categories are easy enough to understand, but there are many ways to customize the service and many extra features to explore – not to mention a thriving third-party app marketplace.
Zoho is more straightforward, with a cleaner look and about the same number of menu tabs as Salesforce. Zoho's third-party integrations aren't as deep as Salesforce, but if you're looking for simplicity, then that may be less of an issue unless there's a particular third-party tool you absolutely must use.
Source: Salesforce
Click to expand
Artificial Intelligence and Automation
If you're interested in harnessing computing power with your CRM to help provide insights into your business, improved workflows, and other suggestions, both services offer this kind of powerful feature in the upper pricing tiers. Zoho's is called Zia AI, and you can use it as a chatbot to surface key data on demand, including record data, dashboards, and reports. Zia can also predict the probability of success for leads and deals based on historic performance.
Salesforce, meanwhile, has Einstein AI, which can also surface predictions and recommendations based on the data saved in the CRM. Like Zia, Einstein has predictive capabilities to examine the likelihood of successfully converting leads and opportunities, as well as forecasting sales data.
Both Salesforce and Zoho offer their AI features with their higher-priced Enterprise tiers, though Zoho does offer Zia's automation intelligence features starting with its Standard package.
Source: Zoho
Click to expand
Zoho and Salesforce for Small Business
Any small business looking at these two CRM platforms first has to consider the onboarding process. If you just want to get up and go, then Zoho is probably the better option. It's easier to understand, and the interface is less intimidating. Zoho also specializes to a certain degree in small businesses, though there are tools for enterprises as well.
Conversely, Salesforce can work for smaller companies, but it has that “large organization” feel with its powerful interface, administrator panel, and vibrant web developer tools. Salesforce is also more clearly delineated, with sales, service, and marketing tools all part of different products. Zoho, by comparison, has some basic marketing and service tools integrated with the CRM, as mentioned above.
Salesforce CRM Pricing
Of course, when it comes to deciding on a CRM, price is a big consideration. Fortunately, Salesforce pricing comes in several shapes and sizes. For extremely small teams, Salesforce has its Essentials package, which charges $25 per user, per month for up to five users on Sales Cloud or Service Cloud. Larger teams will need to pay for the Professional, Enterprise, or Unlimited tiers, priced at $75, $150, or $300 respectively per user, per month.
To get both clouds, you'd need to pay $100, $175, or $325 for each respective tier. As you increase in cost you get more customizability, more tools and features, and enhanced support options.
We've rounded up the various price plans in our handy Salesforce pricing table, below:
| Essentials | Standout features (Salesforce Essentials) | Professional | Standout features (Lightning Professional) | Enterprise | Standout features (Lightning Enterprise) | Unlimited | Standout features (Lightning Unlimited) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Salesforce Sales Cloud | Salesforce Service Cloud | Salesforce Sales and Service Cloud | Salesforce Marketing Cloud | |||||
$25 | $25 | N/A | $400 | |||||
|
| No combo deal available in the Salesforce first tier |
| |||||
$75 | $75 | $100 | $1,250 | |||||
|
|
|
| |||||
$150 | $150 | $175 | $3,750 | |||||
|
|
|
| |||||
$300 | $300 | $325 | By request | |||||
|
|
|
|
Zoho CRM Pricing
Zoho also has a wide range of pricing plans. The software starts with a free service for up to three users that includes its basic CRM. If you need the CRM for more users, or with more features – such as sales forecasting, customized fields and modules, and macros – then you need to pay. Zoho Standard costs $12 per user, per month; Professional is $20, Enterprise is $35, and Ultimate is $100. Zoho's website breaks down the advanced features you get as you go up in price.
Both Zoho's and Salesforce's pricing tiers are priced monthly but billed annually. For companies unwilling to commit to a full year, Zoho allows for month-to-month pricing at a higher cost.
Zoho or Salesforce - Which CRM Should You Choose?
For extremely small teams, however, Salesforce does have some pretty good pricing with its Essentials packages, as long as Sales and Service Cloud are all you need. But Salesforce Essentials is still more expensive than Zoho's two starter pricing tiers. If you have a five-member team filled with Salesforce veterans, then perhaps that extra cost is worth it – but most small businesses should take a long look at Zoho before opting for the “trendier” solution.
And don't just stop at these two platforms: there are a ton of other companies besides Zoho and Salesforce that can offer a capable CRM. To make sure you're getting a CRM that suits your company, grab a quote using our simple CRM software quotes form that takes into consideration your company's particular situation and needs.
Tech.co is reader-supported. Using Tech.co's comparison form, you can receive quotes from various suppliers, tailored to the needs of your business. If you enter into a contract with a provider, we may receive a payment for the introduction. Equally, if you make a purchase through the links on our site, we may earn a commission from the retailers of the products we have reviewed. This helps Tech.co to provide free advice and reviews. It carries no additional cost to you, and doesn’t affect our editorial independence.