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Which CRM is the right fit for your business? Start Quiz
Choosing the perfect CRM for your business can be a tough decision. Take our 5 minute quiz to understand if Salesforce or Zoho CRM is the right fit for you.
Disclaimer: All names and marks mentioned here remain the property of their original owners. The details provided on this page are for general purposes only and cannot be considered as authorized information from the respective competitors. Zoho disclaims any liability for possible errors, omissions, or consequential losses based on the details here.
How large is your business? How many licenses do you need?
Are you looking for an all-in-one CRM or are you open to using multiple tools?
How tech-savvy are you and your team?
What mobile CRM functions are you looking for?
Should your CRM integrate with your existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) system? If so, which ERP do you currently use?
What features are important to you in marketing automation?
In terms of e-commerce functionality, which integration is most important to your business needs?
Does your organization regularly review and modify its sales procedures to determine their success and enhance operational effectiveness?
Are you planning to hire an external consultant for your CRM implementation?
Does your current tech stack include any of the below apps?
Does your business operate globally?
What's your budget for CRM software?
When choosing a CRM Vendor, what do you prioritize more?
LIVE SCORE
Zoho CRM 0 ★Salesforce 0 ★
Zoho CRM and Salesforce are both good options for companies of all sizes. However, some of Salesforce's pricing plans enforce a minimum user count, which means you can't buy just one license for one user. Here are some examples:
- Sales Cloud Personal
- 1 user
- Sales Cloud Group
- 10 user
- Sales Cloud Essentials
- 5 users maximum
Zoho CRM offers a pay-as-you-go option and doesn't impose a minimum on user licenses in any pricing plans; you can start using with just one user. As your business expands, you can easily upgrade your plan or add more users without significant hurdles.
While Salesforce offers a robust standalone CRM, basic functionalities like marketing automation, customer surveys, and team collaboration are not included.
Zoho CRM provides a comprehensive suite of features out of the box. Basic functionalities for marketing automation, customer surveys, customer support, team collaboration, and project management are integrated into the core CRM, eliminating the need for separate module purchases and enabling businesses to manage all aspects of customer relationships within a unified platform.
If you're open to using multiple tools, Salesforce Sales Cloud can be integrated with Salesforce's other offerings, such as Marketing Cloud, Service Cloud, and Commerce Cloud. However, Salesforce apps don't cover the broad spectrum of business applications that Zoho offers.
If your sales team needs something specific—like customer invoice management, signing documents, preparing customer presentations, or video conferencing with customers—Zoho CRM has you covered. It seamlessly integrates with the rest of the Zoho product family, which includes more than forty full-fledged, enterprise-grade business applications. With Zoho, you get full-stack ownership of the platform, apps, and services.
Salesforce can fit well into a scenario where you prefer using a CRM in conjunction with your existing tools. Salesforce's App Exchange houses extensions and third-party add-ons and applications that integrate with Sales Cloud. However, in order to integrate with most of those apps, you need to be using the Professional or higher edition of Sales Cloud. There are also no direct integrations with some of the most widely used applications, like Microsoft Teams, Trello, DotConnect, and help desk apps like Zendesk Support.
Zoho CRM offers 900+ extensions through Marketplace, a platform where users can find a variety of extensions, apps, and integrations developed by Zoho and third-party developers. Zoho CRM's Catalyst SDKs provide your team with the perfect tools to craft custom mobile and web applications for all your organization's needs. Unlike Salesforce, Zoho CRM makes its add-ons available to users of all editions.
Generally speaking, If you're moving from spreadsheets to CRMs, Salesforce could be a risky investment, as it comes with a steep learning curve. The user interface is confusing, as it's split between two modes: Classic and Lightning. Even modern SaaS users who are used to contemporary software experiences require specialized training to use Salesforce effectively, which can be a significant expense, especially for small and medium-sized businesses.
On the other hand, Zoho CRM offers a user-friendly interface that's intuitive and familiar to most users, making it easier to learn and adopt than complex databases or custom-built solutions. Compared to specialized software, Zoho CRM requires minimal training and enables users to get started quickly and efficiently.
While Salesforce's core features—like lead tracking, contact management, and email management—are accessible for tech-savvy teams, its extensive capabilities and customization options can be daunting. Platform training and ongoing support from Salesforce experts are crucial in order to ensure smooth CRM adoption and improved sales productivity.
On the other hand, Zoho CRM offers a user-friendly interface that's intuitive and familiar to most users, making it easier to learn and adopt than complex databases or custom-built solutions. Compared to specialized software, Zoho CRM requires minimal training and enables users to get started quickly and efficiently.
For large organizations with complex setups, diverse teams, and limited technical expertise, dedicated training teams are necessary for smooth adoption, as they ensure consistent knowledge, bridge technical gaps, and provide ongoing support.
Although Salesforce training and implementation costs can easily increase your budget by two to ten times over, Salesforce has a dedicated network of consultants, developers, and trainers who focus on equipping users with the necessary skills and knowledge to use the Salesforce platform effectively. Salesforce Trailhead provides a community where users, consultants, and developers can collaborate, share best practices, and seek assistance.
Zoho CRM offers a wealth of online documentation, videos, webinars, getting-started guides, and virtual/offline training programs to assist users in understanding and utilizing the platform effectively. With our enterprise support system, you'll get access to highly skilled support engineers who are on standby 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Whether you're an existing Zoho customer, a company switching from a different platform, or even an organization implementing a CRM solution for the first time, Zoho's Enterprise Business Solutions (EBS) team can help you set up the most efficient system in a seamless and structured manner.
Zoho EBS is an end-to-end consulting, software implementation, and project management service dedicated to helping mid-range to large companies deploy the best solutions to optimize their business processes.
The Salesforce mobile app (iOS and Android) gives you access to your mobile data on the go and provides your sales team with personalized dashboards that detail important reports, lists, tasks, events, and more. Salesforce also offers a dedicated mobile app for Analytics and Dashboards. Salesforce doesn't offer a card scanner app, so you'd have to rely on third-party apps to scan business cards.
With the Zoho CRM mobile app (iOS and Android) your sales team can keep in touch with their leads, log and access important prospect details, keep track of their KPIs, and make data-driven decisions—all while on the move. Zoho CRM also offers a dedicated app for Analytics and Dashboards, and a card scanner app to convert business cards into CRM contacts.
Salesforce and Zoho CRM both offer ERP integration capabilities, enabling businesses to connect their CRM systems with ERP systems for streamlined business processes. Both CRM Platforms can connect with external databases, CDPs(Customer Data Platform), data lakes and legacy systems.
Salesforce Sales Cloud offers only bare-bones marketing automation features out of the box. It can associate leads and contacts with campaigns, add notes, and update member statuses. Many key features, such as the ability to send lead nurturing or survey campaigns, marketing attribution, and customer segmentation, are locked behind a paywall, which can be upwards of $1,250 a month, depending on your usage. Another useful feature is the Google Adwords integration, which is free in Zoho CRM but comes at an additional cost in Sales Cloud.
Zoho CRM enables you to run email marketing campaigns, map leads with the marketing campaigns they were captured from, run survey campaigns, run marketing analyses, and segment your customers so you can target them more effectively. Zoho CRM for Google AdWords combines investment information and offline conversion data from Google Ads and enables you to measure a customer's journey from first click to conversion.
Zoho CRM integrates with Zoho Commerce and lets you operate a complete customer management platform for your ecommerce business.
Salesforce provides robust ecommerce integration capabilities through its Commerce Cloud, formerly known as Demandware, which offers native integration with popular ecommerce platforms like Magento, Shopify, and others.
Salesforce offer strong ecommerce integration capabilities. The choice between the two would depend on factors such as the specific ecommerce platforms used, budget, scalability requirements, and desired level of customization.
For organizations with frequent updates to their sales processes, Salesforce might not be the right fit. While Salesforce offers deep customization, that customization is more developer-focused, which means that for every change you make to your sales process, you need the expertise of a certified Salesforce developer team. This often results in longer deployment times and involves higher costs.
Zoho CRM is known for its flexibility and easy customization. You can modify modules, layouts, workflows, and approval processes without writing a single line of code.
Salesforce's flexibility allows for modifications as needed, but the level of complexity might make occasional updates and deployment more time- and labor-intensive.
Zoho CRM is known for its flexibility and easy customization. You can modify modules, layouts, workflows, and approval processes without writing a single line of code.
While Salesforce offers deep customization, that customization is more developer-focused, which means that for every change you make to your sales process, you need the expertise of a certified Salesforce developer team. This often results in longer deployment times and involves higher costs.
Zoho CRM is known for its flexibility and easy customization. You can modify modules, layouts, workflows, and approval processes without writing a single line of code.
Hiring an external consultant or implementation team is essential to ensure a successful Salesforce deployment. The platform's limited out-of-the-box functionality necessitates expert guidance to optimize its capabilities effectively.
With Zoho CRM, you have the option to hire an implementation team if you want a full-fledged, customized deployment that's tailored from the bottom up for your industry. On the other hand, Zoho CRM is also ready to use out of the box.
Opting not to hire an external consultant may result in challenges with a Salesforce implementation, given its complex nature and the need for expertise to fully utilize its features.
No external consultant is required to achieve immediate usability with Zoho CRM, as it's ready to use out of the box. You can choose from no-code, low-code, or a custom deployment based on your needs, giving you flexibility without any immediate need for external assistance.
Whether you are an existing Salesforce or a Zoho user, leveraging apps from their respective ecosystems can extend the CRM's capabilities across various aspects of business operations.
When components of a tech stack are owned by the same company, they are designed to work together seamlessly. This ensures a consistent user experience, smooth data flow, minimal compatibility issues, easier implementation and a higher level of accountability in case any issues arise.
Both Zoho CRM and Salesforce Sales Cloud offer a multitude of features, such as multiple currencies, multiple time zones, and multi-language translations for businesses which operate on a global scale. With territory management, users can define a hierarchical structure for territories, including regions, districts, and sub-districts.
Users can also create a clear representation of their organization's structure and automatically distribute leads, accounts, and deals to specific territories.
Businesses operating in specific regions will find that both Salesforce and Zoho are adaptable and allow for customization that meets localized requirements. Their comprehensive features provide the flexibility necessary to align with regional laws, compliances, and country-specific market dynamics.
Given its complex capabilities, Salesforce might be perceived as offering more than is necessary for businesses operating solely at a local level. For such businesses, the cost of data migration, implementation, and training could far exceed the costs of running their businesses with a straightforward CRM like Zoho's.
Zoho CRM is a versatile solution suitable for local businesses. Its user-friendly interface and easy onboarding make it accessible for businesses with a focus on local markets without the need for extensive customization.
If you're looking for a cost-effective solution, Salesforce is a no-go. Salesforce is barely usable out of the box and requires a slew of add-ons, additional storage, customizations, and extensions to work effectively. Based on our findings, your license costs could more than double compared to their listed pricing.
When you invest in a Zoho solution, you're getting the best value on the market. Zoho CRM is fully functional from day one. We have no hidden fees, no tricky clauses, no catches, and no fine print. In other words, what you see is what you get.
Salesforce is often perceived as lacking transparency in its pricing structure, with many businesses finding that the full cost of implementing it becomes apparent only after the initial "sticker price" is revealed. Our online research indicates that although the first-year costs might seem lower, Salesforce has a tendency to incrementally raise license fees annually with multi-year contracts.
When you invest in a Zoho solution, you're getting the best value on the market. We'll never raise your fees or use predatory business practices and aggressive, multi-year contracts to strong-arm users into sticking around. We're so confident in the strength of our product that we offer flexible, month-to-month subscriptions that can grow with your business.
If pricing isn't a factor, both Salesforce and Zoho CRM could be a good fit for your business.
However, keep in mind that you can save more than 50% of your license costs with Zoho. At Zoho, we save a great deal of money by declining to engage in aggressive marketing. These saved costs are passed on to you, our customer, in terms of real value.
Zoho CRM is the best CRM for your business for the following reasons :
Salesforce might be a better fit for your business owing to the following reasons
In summary, while Salesforce may be a safe choice for businesses with deep pockets, Zoho CRM offers a compelling combination of affordability, ease of use, flexibility, integrations, and global support.
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Disclaimer: All names and marks mentioned here remain the property of their original owners. The details provided on this page are for general purposes only and cannot be considered as authorized information from the respective competitors. Zoho disclaims any liability for possible errors, omissions, or consequential losses based on the details here.