Integrating customer relationship management software (CRM) like Salesforce CRM and Zoho CRM can significantly improve your business’s sales and marketing operations. Both platforms are customizable and excel at managing customer data, handling leads and running promotional campaigns. We’ll compare their capabilities and pricing to help you find the right CRM software for your needs.
Salesforce and Zoho have millions of satisfied customers because they’re among the best CRM solutions on the market. Here’s an at-a-glance summary of how they compare.
Criteria
Salesforce
Zoho
Starting prices
$25 per user, per month
$14 per user, per month
Free trial
14 days
15 to 30 days
Sales and marketing
Omnichannel capabilities
Reporting and analytics
Customization and workflows
Platform Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Integrations and Application Programming Interface (API)
Salesforce is a powerhouse platform for companies that want to invest in CRM software to see better results from their sales and marketing efforts. You can run multichannel campaigns through Salesforce to reach customers via email, short message service (SMS), phone and social media. Salesforce has a huge range of integrations and a superb API, so you can tailor the platform precisely how you want it. Salesforce is a premium package with a price to match. However, your results will justify your investment. Visit our detailed Salesforce CRM review for additional information.
The Salesforce CRM is part of a suite of products that help businesses perform better. Read our review of Salesforce Service Cloud to learn about its call center software with CRM functionality.
Zoho excels in sales and marketing functions and comes with a much lower price tag ― and less of a learning curve ― than Salesforce. Many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) will appreciate Zoho’s affordable business performance tools. Zoho CRM can handle marketing campaigns, nurture sales leads and run custom reports. Its automation tools and AI integration will streamline routine tasks, saving time and boosting efficiency. Learn more about this capable CRM by visiting our in-depth Zoho CRM review.
If your CRM requirements include low prices and an intuitive interface, read our review of monday Sales CRM to learn about this user-friendly platform.
Salesforce and Zoho have robust feature sets. Here’s how their pricing and essential CRM features compare.
Sales and marketing features are core elements of an excellent CRM platform.

Salesforce CRM makes it easy to build and design an email marketing campaign. Source: Salesforce
The Salesforce Marketing Cloud plug-in provides extensive email marketing features to enhance your CRM solution. Read our Salesforce Marketing Cloud review to learn about tools to improve your email marketing campaigns.
Both platforms offer many features that support sales and marketing campaigns, primarily via add-ons. Salesforce comes out on top because of its broader range of add-ons and extra functionality.
Robust omnichannel communication abilities are crucial to customer communication. 

Users can access work emails via Zoho CRM through the platform, via a web browser and by email. Source: Zoho
Salesforce offers more options and granular control for companies that want to reach clients via multiple channels. However, Zoho is not far behind and offers enough for most SMBs in this area.
Reporting and analytics tools help you make better decisions. 

Salesforce makes customizing dashboards easy, allowing managers to view the crucial information they need. Source: Salesforce
Zoho has gamification and reward tools to help managers motivate staff to hit their key performance indicators (KPIs) and simulate healthy workplace competition.
Salesforce and Zoho CRM perform well in custom reporting, data management and sales forecasting. Zoho’s Anomaly Detector and Quadrant Analysis are excellent. However, Salesforce’s extensive app and plug-in ecosystem can provide any functionality you could need. 
Teams often waste time on repetitive tasks that don’t add value. Zoho and Salesforce offer customizations and workflows to overcome this challenge.
Salesforce used to have a reputation as being the CRM for coders but is now adopting more of a low-code, no-code approach. Read our HubSpot CRM review to learn about another platform with a low-code focus.

Building automated workflows in Zoho is straightforward. Source: Zoho
When it comes to customizing and automating the platform, Zoho provides real competition to Salesforce. However, larger, more complex companies may prefer Salesforce because its wider range of apps and API options will help them tailor their CRM to fit their business needs.
Artificial intelligence adds automation and predictive capabilities to drive more value from your CRM.
We were impressed that both platforms embrace AI and apply it intelligently. At the moment, Salesforce wins this category. It’s been in the AI space longer and its tools are more refined and functional.
Robust integrations and API access help extend and customize CRM functionality.
Salesforce’s app selection is unmatched. However, both platforms offer excellent API interfaces, providing enhanced flexibility ― although you may need to hire a developer to take full advantage.
Salesforce and Zoho have competitively priced entry-level subscription services. However, adding services creates a bigger price differential between the vendors. 
The costs listed here reflect annual billing. The Essentials plan is available on a month-to-month basis. All other plans require an annual contract. 
Plan
Price
Features
Essentials
$25 per user, per month (up to 10 users)
Professional
$75 per user, per month
Everything in Essentials, plus:
Enterprise
$150 per user, per month
Everything in Professional, plus:
Unlimited
$300 per user, per month
Salesforce is one of the more expensive CRMs. While the Essentials plan costs $25 per user, per month, it only supports up to 10 users, so it’s not a viable long-term option for most small businesses. Additionally, you may need to pay extra for add-ons. Take advantage of Salesforce’s 14-day free trial to test the platform and ensure it’s worth the investment for your business. 
Prices reflect annual payments. You’ll pay more for monthly billing.
Plan
Price
Features
Free 
Free (up to three users)
Standard
$14 per user, per month
Everything in the Free plan, plus:
Professional
$23 per user, per month
Everything in Standard, plus:
Enterprise
$40 per user, per month
Everything in Professional, plus:
Ultimate
$52 per user, per month
Everything in Enterprise, plus:
You’ll pay much less for Zoho’s top tier than Salesforce’s top or even middle tiers. However, as with Salesforce, your actual costs will vary if you must buy add-ons. The Standard, Professional and Enterprise tiers have a 15-day free trial; the Ultimate tier offers an extended 30-day trial.
Zoho wins this round with its lower pricing. The ability to pay monthly ― albeit at a higher price ― is helpful for many businesses. Salesforce’s prices reflect its appeal to enterprise-level businesses with bigger budgets.
Depending on your service tier, Zoho can provide customer support response in as little as an hour. Excellent support is valuable for businesses switching CRM systems.
Salesforce won many of our head-to-head comparisons. However, choosing a CRM is more nuanced. Salesforce is packed with features and can be customized to work precisely as you want; however, many SMBs don’t need this level of complexity and prefer an easier-to-use and affordable option like Zoho. 
Salesforce is a superb CRM with all the features needed to improve your sales and marketing outcomes. It’s great for multichannel marketing and communicating with customers one-on-one. It’s excellent at tracking and interpreting data and its AI integrations will continue bolstering this functionality. Salesforce’s AppExchange is vast; its app selection and comprehensive API interface will help you customize the platform to your precise needs. It’s expensive. However, fully utilizing even a few features will make the investment worth it for your business. 
Zoho can provide much of Salesforce’s functionality. However, even with plug-ins, it can’t match Salesforce’s massive feature set. Still, Zoho’s core functionality and available plug-in communications and analytics apps should be more than enough to help SMBs get better results from their sales and marketing teams. Zoho is excellent at email marketing and workflow automations. We like its industry-specific solutions and insightful custom reports. Price-wise, $52 per month, per user, for the Ultimate package is a great value.
Zoho and Salesforce both excel at helping companies maximize their sales and marketing campaign ROI. Salesforce’s AI integrations and large app store allow for greater customization options than Zoho. Salesforce is, therefore, more suited to larger businesses, while Zoho should suit many SMBs’ needs.
Salesforce and Zoho are popular, highly functional CRMs designed to help companies generate more leads and sales. Salesforce is a more advanced system best suited to larger businesses that want the highest level of customization. Zoho is better for SMBs seeking a sophisticated solution without granular control over all CRM aspects.
For SMBs, Zoho is one of the best CRM options due to its affordable pricing, omnichannel communication capabilities and workflow automation features.
For SMBs, Zoho CRM may be better than Salesforce because of its budget-friendly pricing, workflow automation and customization capabilities and ability to handle and analyze large amounts of data.
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