Our content is funded in part by commercial partnerships, at no extra cost to you and without impact to our editorial impartiality. Click to Learn More
Both have their merits, but according to our research, Salesforce is the better than Zoho because of its industry-leading features, notable scalability, and robust data analytics. Zoho, however, still has an ace up its sleeve – compellingly affordable plans for smaller businesses compared to Salesforce.
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.
Zoho is an admittedly popular competitor though, well known for its Google Docs competitor: Zoho Docs. It offers a comparably robust package at a more reasonable price point, and our research shows that it's the best CRM for small businesses and the best CRM for sales, although Salesforce makes it a close competition. You'll definitely miss out on some of the more advanced customizability found with Salesforce, though, so make sure you can part ways with that.
Honestly, both providers have their pros and cons, so let's take a closer look at both platforms below, and don't forget you can compare Salesforce, Zoho, and other CRM platforms with our helpful comparison tool to get the right price for your business.
Free trial | Free plan | Starting price | Most expensive plan | Verdict | Data cap in basic plan | Email marketing | Social marketing | Marketing campaigns | API | Email Comms Channel | Phone Comms Channel | Website Live Chat Comms Channel | Lead capture | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
30 days | 30 days | ||||||||||||||
| | ||||||||||||||
An incredibly popular and highly scalable CRM for all businesses | An attractive option, with lots of features for a low price | ||||||||||||||
612MB/user | 200MB | ||||||||||||||
| | ||||||||||||||
| | ||||||||||||||
| | ||||||||||||||
Open | Limited | ||||||||||||||
| | ||||||||||||||
| | ||||||||||||||
| | ||||||||||||||
| |
Of course, these aren't the only CRM tools to consider. Check out some of these further alternatives, below. Or, scroll on to learn more about Salesforce and Zoho.
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.
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 offers affordable plans, including a solid free version
- Salesforce is definitely expensive, particularly if you aren't a bigger company
As you can see, 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, robust data analytics, and a well-trained support team that could help you land a plane if you had to.

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.

Pros
- 15-day free trial
- Fully customizable dashboard and interface
- Includes sales, marketing, and service functionality
Cons
- Small amount of storage
- No spam prevention on web forms
- Onboarding assistance costs extra

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
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:
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 salesperson 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.
Additionally, Salesforce has announced a few great add-ons that could really bolster your online offering. For one, Salesforce Anywhere is the company's answer to the pandemic, offering a team collaboration platform that allows for real-time messaging and document sharing for remote workers. It has also announced that its new analytics platform is called Tableau and offers aa 360-degree view of customer interactions to give you all the information you need.
Overall, we give the advantage to Salesforce due to the massive number of web conferencing and VoIP integrations available through the platform. During a pandemic that has seen increasing numbers of employees working from home, the ability to remotely communicate with team members is more important than ever.
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.
We tested both platforms for usability. Our research found that the experience of completing basic actions such as managing contacts and sales pipelines was largely similar between the two. However, Zoho had a far better onboarding experience which only took 17 minutes whilst SF took 35 minutes due to a more complicated data import process.

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.
During testing, we found Zoho's automation builder easier to use. This is because Salesforce's automation builder is far more extensive, allowing you to automate almost anything within the system. Conversely, Zoho keeps it to the basics, like contacts, leads, deals, accounts, and products, so it's easier to get the hang of.
Both Salesforce and Zoho offer their AI features with their higher-priced Enterprise tiers ($150 per user per month for Salesforce; $40 per user per month for Zoho CRM), though Zoho does offer Zia's automation intelligence features starting with its Standard package ($14 per user per month).

Pricing: Zoho CRM vs Salesforce
One important difference between Zoho CRM and Salesforce is the price. While Salesforce is on the more expensive side — for good reason given the massive selection of features, analytics, and support — Zoho CRM caters to more budget-conscious businesses with lower prices that make it a bit more accessible. Still, the lower price comes with less functionality, so be sure to check on how that could affect your business.
Below, we've compared Zoho CRM and Salesforce pricing to give you a better idea of how much these platforms actually cost.
Salesforce CRM Pricing
Because Zoho CRM is a sales-focused option, we're going to focus on the Salesforce Sales Cloud pricing here. It starts with the Essentials plan, which despite the low price compared to other plans actually still offers a lot. You still get all the robust data analytics and support options, and only take a hit in certain advanced lead capture, communication, and conversion categories.
After that, the Professional, Enterprise, and Unlimited plans really open the door to more advanced features, namely in lead communication and conversion. Additionally, you'll get much more advanced infrastructure features, which can help you organize your team for better success.
Take a look at how these plans compare below and check out our Salesforce pricing guide for more information.
Plan | Price | Users | Storage | Lead scoring | API | Custom reports | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BEST FOR SMB | |||||||
Essentials | Professional | Enterprise | Unlimited | ||||
10 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | ||||
File storage: 1GB | File storage: 10GB + 2GB per license | File storage: 10GB + 2GB per license | File storage: 10GB + 2GB per license | ||||
| | | | ||||
| $15 per user per month | | | ||||
| | | |
Zoho CRM Pricing
Zoho also has a wide range of pricing plans. The software starts with a great free plan service for up to three users that includes its basic CRM. After that, Zoho CRM offers five different pricing plans: Standard, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate.
The Standard plan is quite affordable but offers notably less than Salesforce's Essentials plan even. You'll miss out on a lot of lead-based features, as well as a few key data visualization options. Still, it's a great starting point if the free plan isn't cutting it for you.
The Professional plan is the one we recommend for most businesses. It's still affordable while bringing more advanced features into the fray, most notably when it comes to lead conversion. Plus, you get a lot more infrastructure features, so you can keep track of your team more effectively.
The Enterprise and Ultimate plans are, as you can imagine, aimed at larger businesses. In this case, we recommend Salesforce over these, as it's more geared to enterprise-level organizations. But if you're already set up with Zoho, you might find this a better fit.
Zoho CRM also offers a unique Plus plan, which combines a wide range of other Zoho apps into one platform and costs $57 per user per month. The all-in-one hub allows for sales, marketing, and help desk functionality, as well as access to advanced analytics, social media integration, and project management features.
Take a look at how these pricing plans compare below and check out our Zoho CRM pricing guide for more information.
Plan | Price | Users | Storage | Support | Lead scoring | API | Custom reports | Custom automation builder | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
TRY FOR FREE | BEST FOR SMB | ||||||||
Free | Standard | Professional | Enterprise | Ultimate | Plus | ||||
3 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | ||||
User: n/a | User: n/a | User: 20MB | User: 50MB | User: 100mb | User: 1GB | ||||
Basic | Standard | Live chat, phone, email | Standard | 24/7 live | 24/7 live | ||||
| | | | | | ||||
| | | | | | ||||
| Max 100 | | | | | ||||
| | | | | |
Zoho and Salesforce for Customer Service
While Zoho and Salesforce are great for sales-focused businesses, both providers also offer customer service CRM options that can make handling your business that much easier. Learn more about the features and pricing options of Zoho Desk and Salesforce Service Hub below:
Zoho Desk
While it might not be one of the best options out there, Zoho Desk provides an affordable option — starting at $14 per user per month — that is geared towards small businesses. You'll get a lot of customer service features, although it is lacking a bit when it comes to customer feedback and the number of communication channels you can take advantage of.
Still, Zoho Desk provides great ticketing channels, plenty of contact focused features, and a lot of data so you can hone your strategy a bit more effectively. Here are a few pros, cons, and screenshots to get a better idea of how these customer service-focused CRM operates.

Pros
- Affordable prices and 15-day free trial
- Plenty of features, particularly for the price
- Easy to use interface
Cons
- Limited customer support options
- Small amount of available customization
Salesforce Service Cloud
Salesforce is ideal for sales businesses, as the name implies, but it also offers a wide range of other options, and the Service Cloud is the best for customer service-focused companies. While it isn't our favorite CRM for customer service — an honor that goes to Zendesk — it definitely holds its own for larger businesses in need of a robust option that costs a bit extra — specifically $25 per user per month.
You get all the data visualizations and features found in other Salesforce plans, and adds some customer service specific features, like offline customer service functionality and solid team infrastructure. It's notably lacking any customer feedback options like surveys, but that's certainly not a dealbreaker if you're looking to improve your team.
Take a look at some pros, cons, and screenshots of Salesforce Service Hub to get a better idea of what you're in for with this platform.

Pros
- Great infrastructure for managing teams
- Lots of customization opportunities
- Plenty of communication channels
Cons
- No built-in customer feedback options
- Comparatively quite expensive
Zoho CRM 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. In fact, our research found that Zoho CRM is the best CRM for small businesses, which is definitely saying something.
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.
If neither of these is appealing to you because you're a really small business, you're in luck! Zoho Bigin is the company's extra small business option that can save you a bit of money while providing you with a stripped-down CRM that can handle your needs.
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 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 | |||||
| | | | | | | | | | |||||
| 8/5 | | | | | | | | | |||||
| 8/5 | | | | | | | | | |||||
| | | | | | | | | | |||||
| | | | | | | | | | |||||
| | | | | | | | | | |||||
Zoho or Salesforce - Which CRM Should You Choose?
For larger teams, however, Salesforce does have some great options. The unmatched support, the massive feature catalog, and the plentiful analytics make Salesforce hard to compete with. Still, the prices are high, and the interface can be intimidating for smaller teams, so it really leans on what you need a CRM for.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
However, we think that Salesforce might be a better choice as it scales better with growing companies.
If you click on, sign up to a service through, or make a purchase through the links on our site, or use our quotes tool to receive custom pricing for your business needs, we may earn a referral fee from the supplier(s) of the technology you’re interested in. This helps Tech.co to provide free information and reviews, and carries no additional cost to you. Most importantly, it doesn’t affect our editorial impartiality. Ratings and rankings on Tech.co cannot be bought. Our reviews are based on objective research analysis. Rare exceptions to this will be marked clearly as a ‘sponsored' table column, or explained by a full advertising disclosure on the page, in place of this one. Click to return to top of page