How does Zoho CRM stack
up to Salesforce?
Salesforce and Zoho CRM are two feature-rich, powerful CRMs available for your business. Looking for a Salesforce alternative? This page provides a detailed side-by-side feature comparison with everything you need to make the right decision.
Sign Up For FreeDoes Salesforce have all that
you need?
Salesforce approached the CRM market with a top-down ideology and built their solution with enterprises in mind from the beginning. They have more recently started to provide more SME-oriented solutions. As a result, the end user experience is often disjointed. For example, the user has to constantly switch between the old interface and the new Lightning interface to do their job.
The user interface is overloaded, lacks the modern touch users have come to expect in SaaS, and requires a lot of customization to use it effectively. You can only get the most out of Salesforce if you have a dedicated implementation team.
Here's what Zoho CRM
can do for your business.
Streamlined user experience with Canvas
Uncompromising security and compliance
End-to-end implementation support
Ecosystem of 45+ integrated business applications
No hidden costs. No contracts.
Improvement in lead conversion rates.
Revenue increase per sales person.
Improvement in customer retention.
Shorter sales cycles.
* Growth metrics reported by our customers in an internal survey.
Why Zoho CRM wins over Salesforce
Nucleus Research, a global provider of ROI-focused technology research, outlines factors to determine why SMBs and enterprises opt for Zoho CRM in lieu of Salesforce.
Read the report hereWhat's the price difference?
Number of users: 550
With Zoho CRM, you save $ or upto in savings.
Feature comparison
When choosing a Salesforce alternative, you need to ensure it not only retains all the important features necessary to maintain your traditional sales activities with ease but also empowers your organization with industry leading CRM capabilities such as artificial intelligence, journey orchestration and advanced analytics. See how Zoho CRM Enterprise and Salesforce Sales Cloud Enterprise compare head-on-head when it comes to the most critical CRM functions.
Salesforce's lead management functionality gives you the basic tools to capture, qualify, and nurture leads. But Salesforce fails to deliver some key lead management features, with no built-in card scanner and only a bare bones web-to-lead capture function.
Zoho CRM offers a comprehensive set of tools to help businesses contact, capture, nurture, and convert as many leads as possible. For sales reps on the move, the Zoho CRM mobile app comes with business card scanning, voice-to-text notes, and many other handy features to help capture and track lead information in the field.
| Leads and contacts | ||
| Accounts and deals | ||
| Deal stages | ||
| Web-to-contact form | ||
| SalesSignals | ||
| Multiple pipeline management |
Leads and contacts
Accounts and deals
Deal stages
Web-to-contact form
SalesSignals
Multiple pipeline management
Salesforce Sales Cloud integrates with Outlook and Gmail giving sales reps the power to sync information directly to CRM from their inbox. Salesforce Sales Cloud does not offer native live chat capabilities and you'll need to buy Digital Engagement SKU to engage in live chat. If you want to respond to social posts, monitor customer social activity, connect multiple social accounts, or analyze social media reports, you need to purchase the Social Studio Plugin.
Zoho CRM allows you to connect with your customers through a whole range of channels and empowers your sales team to have contextual, meaningful conversations as they can access customer information while engaging. Bundled live chat and social media integrations help you proactively connect with prospects on your website and social media platforms.
| Telephony and PBX | ||
| Automated call logging | ||
| Email insights | ||
| Email parser | ||
| Enrich data from Twitter | $ | |
| Enrich data from Facebook | $ | |
| Automated social media lead generation | $ | |
| Live chat | $ | |
| Online meetings | $ |
Telephony and PBX
Automated call logging
Email insights
Email parser
Enrich data from Twitter
$
Enrich data from Facebook
$
Automated social media lead generation
$
Live chat
$
Online meetings
$
Salesforce allows you to use workflow rules to send email alerts, assign tasks, and update fields when certain requirements are met. However, we found the overall workflow builder interface outdated and unintuitive. Salesforce Process Builder and Flow allow you to automate different parts of your sales processes, but the app does not support macros.
You can automate regular sales routines with workflows in Zoho CRM. The drag-and-drop builder and intuitive UI makes it easier to visualize, construct, and edit workflows according to your needs. Blueprints help you build scalable and repeatable sales processes with an easy-to-use drag-and-drop builder, and macros are available in all editions in Zoho CRM.
| Assignment rules | ||
| Approval rules | ||
| Review process | ||
| Validation rules | ||
| Macros | ||
| Process builder | ||
| Journey builder |
Assignment rules
Approval rules
Review process
Validation rules
Macros
Process builder
Journey builder
While Sales Cloud offers most of the same customization features as Zoho CRM, configuring them is not as straightforward. For example, there is no built-in feature for layout rules, so if you want to create dynamic layouts that change based on the entries your sales team makes, you will have to use an integration or implement a code-based solution. However, the Lightning App Builder in Sales Cloud offers a drag-and-drop system to create custom records and page layouts and is highly customizable.
Zoho CRM's bottom-up approach toward customization and wide array of out-of-the-box customization options makes it easy to retrofit the software to meet your sales team's needs. You can customize page layouts, choose which modules are displayed for each user, create custom modules, and configure dynamic layouts that change based on the values entered, all without needing technical expertise or hiring implementation specialists.
| Page customization | ||
| Page layouts | ||
| Layout rules | ||
| Validation rules | ||
| Subforms | ||
| Custom fields | ||
| Custom modules | ||
| Picklist history tracking | ||
| Canvas | ||
| Sandbox | ||
| Portals |
Page customization
Page layouts
Layout rules
Validation rules
Subforms
Custom fields
Custom modules
Picklist history tracking
Canvas
Sandbox
User portals
One of the most confusing aspects of Sales Cloud is that you cannot create an analytics component, such as a comparator, without first creating a report. This makes it more time consuming to create comprehensive analytics components.
Zoho CRM comes with a host of prebuilt dashboards and reports and allows users to schedule reports. Zoho CRM offers in-depth analysis of both lead data and sales reps' performance through other analytics options including KPIs, Funnels, Targets Meters, and Comparators .
| Standard reports | ||
| Custom reports | ||
| Charts | ||
| KPIs | ||
| Funnels | ||
| Target meters | ||
| Cohorts | ||
| Quadrants | ||
| Anomaly detectors | ||
| Webform analytics | ||
| Webform A/B testing |
Standard reports
Custom reports
Charts
KPIs
Funnels
Target meters
Cohorts
Quadrants
Anomaly detectors
Webform analytics
Webform A/B testing
Salesforce's Einstein is capable of lead scoring, automating mundane tasks, and predicting sales, but there are no standout features to justify the high price tag. The fact Einstein is limited to certain components and the extensive customization it requires to perform some pre-built tasks that Zia offers as standard are also a let down.
Zoho CRM's Zia helps you identify the best leads, predict sales, detect anomalies, and automate mundane tasks. Users can even dictate notes to Zia so your sales reps don't have to scramble for a pen to write down something important about a lead or a key observation. Zia also offers image validation and data enrichment.
| Lead conversion prediction | $ | |
| Deal closure prediction | $ | |
| Data enrichment | $ | |
| Zia voice | $ | |
| Best time to contact | $ | |
| Macro suggestion | $ | |
| Prediction builder | $ | |
| Recommendation engine | $ | |
| Image validation | $ |
Lead conversion prediction
$
Deal closure prediction
$
Data enrichment
$
Zia voice
$
Best time to contact
$
Macro suggestion
$
Prediction builder
$
Recommendation engine
$
Image validation
$
Sales Cloud offers basic sales enablement features but you will need to find integrations if you want to handle sales quotes for products from your CRM. Some key functions that come bundled with Zoho CRM as standard are locked behind a paywall in Sales Cloud.
Since Zoho CRM was built for businesses of all sizes, it comes with a comprehensive set of prebuilt sales enablement tools that enable sales reps to be a single point of contact for the customer from the beginning to end of a sale. Zoho CRM's integration with the Zoho Finance Suite allows your sales representatives to instantly generate quotes, sales, or purchase orders from Zoho CRM. Allows your team to access expense, inventory, and subscription information right in Zoho CRM to avoid shuffling between different software applications.
| Price books | ||
| Sales quotas | $ | |
| Sales orders | $ | |
| Documents | ||
| File versioning | ||
| Reviews | ||
| Wizards | $ | |
| SalesInbox |
Price books
Sales quotas
$
Sales orders
$
Documents
File versioning
Reviews
Wizards
$
SalesInbox
Salesforce Sales Cloud only offers 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 and email and survey analytics are locked behind a paywall which may be upwards of $2,000 a month, depending on your usage. Another useful feature, the Google AdWords Integration, which is free in Zoho CRM, has an additional cost in Sales Cloud.
Zoho CRM allows you to run email marketing campaigns, map leads with the marketing campaigns that they were captured from, and even segment your customers so you can target them better. These marketing features are usually only available behind paywalls, but Zoho CRM allows you to perform marketing functions like these that help you build a better connection with your customer base at no extra cost.
| Email templates | ||
| Mass email | ||
| Marketing campaigns | $ | |
| Marketing attribution | $ | |
| Customer segmentation | $ | |
| AdWords integration | $ | |
| Auto response |
Email templates
Mass email
Marketing campaigns
$
Marketing attribution
$
Customer segmentation
$
AdWords integration
$
Auto response
Salesforce offers a variety of team collaboration features like Chat, a forum to share ideas and important updates, and integration with third-party applications for video conferencing. But you'll discover that most of these capabilities are dependent on integrations with external vendors. For example, if you want to schedule a meeting with a prospect or conduct a webinar, you'll have to integrate with Zoom Meeting or Zoom Webinar. And you will need to have paid licenses for any external products you integrate with.
Zoho CRM is a collaborative CRM built to facilitate communication with your own teams as well as your customers. It enables teams to add helpful context to their sales records, helps them stay connected with real-time sales updates, and connects your collaboration tools so your team can share all their updates from one platform.
| Gamescope | $ | |
| Calendar | ||
| Calendar sync through CalDav | $ | |
| Calendar booking | $ | |
| Groups for team collaboration | $ | |
| Tagging | $ | |
| Collaboration chat tool | $ |
Gamescope
$
Calendar
Calendar sync through CalDav
Calendar booking
Groups for team collaboration
Tagging
Collaboration chat tool
$
Pricing comparison
| Free | $0 0 | - |
| Standard | $14 20 | - |
| Professional | $23 35 | $75 75 |
| Enterprise | $40 50 | $150 150 |
| Ultimate | $52 65 | $300 300 |
Free
$ 00
-
Standard
$ 14 20
-
Professional
$ 23 35
$75 75
Enterprise
$ 40 50
$150 150
Ultimate
$ 52 65
$300 300
Here's what our
customers say
Switch to a better
CRM experience with Zoho
The names and logos for Zoho are trademarks of Zoho Corp. All other trademarks, brand names, or product names
belong to their respective holders. Comparison information as of 21.09.2021