Salesforce Sales Cloud vs Zoho CRM comparison

Salesforce and Zoho are both solutions in the CRM category. Salesforce is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.2, while Zoho is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.2. Salesforce holds a 9.9% mindshare in CRM, compared to Zoho’s 3.2% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Salesforce users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of Zoho users who would recommend it.

Salesforce Sales Cloud

Read 113 Salesforce Sales Cloud reviews

5,083 Views
2,850 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Zoho CRM

Read 51 Zoho CRM reviews

2,905 Views
1,245 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Salesforce Sales Cloud

Zoho CRM

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

Salesforce Sales Cloud and Zoho CRM are prominent competitors in the CRM market, each providing distinct features suited to various business needs. Salesforce appears to have the upper hand with robust customizability and extensive integration capabilities, making it ideal for enterprises, while Zoho stands out for its ease of use and affordability, appealing more to small and mid-sized businesses.

Features: Salesforce Sales Cloud offers advanced reporting dashboards, sales process automation, and seamless integration across various tools to accommodate customization. Zoho CRM provides intuitive design, effective lead management, and integration with Zoho's own suite of applications supplemented by robust analytics.

Room for Improvement: Salesforce Sales Cloud can be overwhelming due to its complexity and number of features, making it cumbersome and expensive as operations scale. Users also suggest better reporting capabilities and improved integrations with external systems. Zoho CRM can enhance its automation features, improve social media integration, and address technical aspects like API integration, although it faces limitations in scalability and customizability compared to Salesforce.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both Salesforce Sales Cloud and Zoho CRM are primarily offered on public cloud infrastructure. Salesforce provides hybrid and private cloud options with satisfactory customer service, especially with premium support packages. Zoho CRM is noted for its competitive customer service and community support, even if it lacks Salesforce's extensive community resources.

Pricing and ROI: Salesforce Sales Cloud is considered a premium solution with high costs that can be justified by its features, though users emphasize negotiating licensing to control expenses. Zoho CRM is a cost-effective option, especially appealing to small and mid-sized businesses with competitive pricing and subscription-based models.

To learn more, read our detailed Salesforce Sales Cloud vs. Zoho CRM Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Salesforce Sales Cloud vs. Zoho CRM

January 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Salesforce Sales Cloud

Ranking in CRM

1st

Ranking in Opportunity Management

2nd

Ranking in Sales Force Automation

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

113

Ranking in other categories

Conversation Intelligence Software (2nd)

Zoho CRM

Ranking in CRM

5th

Ranking in Opportunity Management

3rd

Ranking in Sales Force Automation

3rd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the CRM category, the mindshare of Salesforce Sales Cloud is 9.9%, up from 9.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zoho CRM is 3.2%, down from 5.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

CRM

Featured Reviews

Richard Mottershead

Enterprise Architect at a non-profit with 501-1,000 employees

Infinitely customizable, good end-to-end sales and customer management processes but lacks good documentation

Essentially, it's the CRM solution for managing customers and leads. The features that had the most significant impact on our sales efficiency include flexibility, regular updates, and very good end-to-end sales and customer management processes. AI and machine learning are on the agenda for next year. Initially, it will be very silo-based, but eventually, we'll be integrating MIBI data into our solution. Sales Cloud's reporting and analytics capabilities influenced our sales strategy quite a lot. We can build every report as a dashboard, and there are various sorts of things. We are using Tableau as our MIBI analytic solution, which is also owned by Salesforce these days.

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AmerKhan

Senior Director - Head of Solution Engineering at Osol tech (Private) Limited

Diverse integrations assist in seamlessly aligning marketing efforts with sales tracking

Zoho CRM is flexible due to its integrations, like with Zoho Campaign, helping integrate marketing efforts with CRM processes. It offers a no-cost entry with the ability for three users to use it at no charge, which is beneficial for startups to explore the platform without financial strain. This enables me to start using the platform, handle opportunities, and get a feel before committing financially.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Salesforce highlights what are we selling in different regions and which regions or areas offer opportunities. We are able to view sales by month, quarter or year."

"The tracking and monitoring of daily activities within each account is the most valuable aspect of Salesforce Sales Cloud. It allows for staying informed about ongoing activities, ensuring comprehensive visibility into the progress made within each account on a regular basis. Additionally, the plugins that are available, such as ZoolInfo are useful."

"Our use case within the organization covers the entire cycle from lead generation, demand planning, and opportunities to realization and closure. For our clients, Salesforce is used more to plot the cycle from products to cash and lead to revenue. They mostly build offers and pricing quotations in the Salesforce environment through their field marketing agents."

"One of the most valuable features is the automation of Sales Cloud. It gives us the ability to easily—without the use of coding—create automation in order for us to do our work a lot more efficiently, whether it's notification reminders or certain automatic processes. There are a lot of things that Sales Cloud can do that, in my opinion, make everyone's jobs a whole lot easier and give them the visibility they need when they require it, when talking to customers and prospecting. It makes the account management process easier as well."

"This solution offers a good user experience. It is easy to learn and use, even for those who are using it for the first time."

"You can capture all the contacts that relate to an account or business, including personal details."

"This product is lightweight."

"The type of customization that comes with Salesforce CRM gives me a lot of liberty and ease of access to add any information that I wish to add. For example, the name, email ID, designation, the name of the decision maker, when the client joined the company, and the amount of influence he will have on the product."

More Salesforce Sales Cloud pros

"Zoho CRM has been a really good product. From a basic CRM perspective, we use it to maintain the details of our company's customers."

"We can customize the solution the way we want to."

"I like Zoho CRM's automatic lead assignment and automated workflows."

"The whole forecasting and pipeline management is very good."

"We use the solution for different projects. We use it to patch lead details from clients' sources."

"One of the most important features is that it's a cloud base and, it's also quite cheaper when compared to other solutions. Zoho CRM is customizable as per your requirement and, the Zoho team is able to help you to customize the CRM based on your requirements, and you can integrate to any third-party solution."

"It also provides robust reporting capabilities to analyze and report on these key aspects of customer relationship management."

"Zoho CRM integrates easily with customer service workflows."

More Zoho CRM pros

Cons

"Amount of storage provided is limited."

"Salesforce Sales Cloud overall is too complex. There is too much functionality, it's hard for the user, at the beginning. It takes a lot of time to update the information."

"I would like to see licensing fees reduced in the next release."

"There are also certain restrictions on the reports in terms of the number of records. Ideally, that should be removed."

"My age-old complaint with Salesforce Sales Cloud is that it has to be refreshed because it's a cloud-based system. If you make any updates, you have to refresh and save because you're fundamentally looking at what's running in the cloud. It can be slow since you constantly refresh and save the screen. If you were running a local application, like a local CRM system, as you input anything, it would be more seamless."

"As a cloud solution with web browser, it's different than my classical way of thinking. It's modern, but for older people, maybe it's not that understandable. It could be more user-friendly, maybe with an option to switch between interfaces."

"Salesforce Sales Cloud does not integrate with Slack or WhatsApp, for example. As a result, there is no easy way to directly log a conversation with a client that occurred on one of these platforms. There are a few things that still need to be done manually in these instances."

"Salesforce is a powerful tool and you need specialists to create or to develop new functionalities. It is a difficult platform to learn to manage and you need years to know the whole product."

More Salesforce Sales Cloud cons

"Zoho could be more user friendly by improving the UI of the interface."

"I would like to see more integrations and customization options in the next release."

"This solution needs a more user-friendly interface."

"What needs improvement in Zoho CRM is the UI. It needs to be more user-friendly. I like Salesforce better than Zoho CRM in terms of the UI, so if Zoho CRM can make some UI changes, that would make the tool better."

"The tool is hard for people who have worked with Microsoft Office for a long time."

"We would like to always email users as soon as any new features are launched."

"Since Zoho CRM is not made for the enterprise kind of company, its stability for enterprise businesses could be improved."

"The main area for improvement is how the solution handles leads. Leads are separated and always tied to a contact, which makes it difficult to maintain leads within a company. This could be handled better."

More Zoho CRM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"My understanding is that Salesforce is a little bit expensive, but in terms of the efficiencies, automation, and visibility, I think it's definitely value for money."

"The price is fair."

"Price-wise, the product does not fall under the category of cheaply priced products."

"Its license is expensive. It is probably a lot more than smaller solutions. It is around £500 a month, but I don't know how many licenses we have."

"Being license based, the license varies by type. The pricing is considered average."

"The price of the product is very high. I rate the product price a ten on a scale of one to ten, where one means low price, and ten means expensive."

"The main thing is it is costly. Salesforce it is not cheap, it's costly. Some of our customers say it is a costly solution. So, we have lost some sale opportunities regarding the high price. This is the main thing that we are facing. It is sales per user and the user price is about $150 per month, per user for the Enterprise Edition. The other edition is less than this, but it is costly. A company that has 70 or 80 users would pay more than $8,000 USD yearly because it is cloud based."

"The tool's pricing is based on the number of users. It has a different pricing for 0-100 and another for 100-500 users."

More Salesforce Sales Cloud pricing and cost advice

"The product costs $35 per user per year."

"The solution is cost-effective."

"Zoho CRM is an expensive tool."

"We pay for an annual license to use this solution."

"Compared to other solutions, I would say Zoho CRM is very, very affordable because we can use different applications with one license."

"The tool started out quite cheap. It's had some changes with small and medium business subscriptions, but it's still worth the price. I'd say it's priced a bit below the medium range."

"I rate the product a four out of ten. The cost for Zoho CRM is not fixed; different editions are available, and the features depend on the edition chosen. Some capabilities, such as integrating with workflows, might incur additional costs, but these are well-documented and not hidden."

"There is an annual license."

More Zoho CRM pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

77%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

83%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Salesforce Sales Cloud?

The features of Sales Cloud most useful for testing and running email campaigns are highly valuable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Salesforce Sales Cloud?

There is no room for improvement in Sales Cloud. I would not want any new features included in the next release.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Salesforce Sales Cloud?

I use Sales Cloud to manage my sales pipeline.

See all answers

What do you like most about Zoho CRM?

Zoho CRM integrates easily with customer service workflows.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zoho CRM?

Currently, I am using Zoho CRM at no charge, sticking with the free tier. I have not had to pay for licenses or setup costs.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Zoho CRM?

Zoho CRM could benefit from predictive analysis based on historical trends to forecast future performance over the next two to three years, particularly from a sales pipeline perspective. This feat...

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Dynamics CRM vs Salesforce Sales Cloud

Compared 33% of the time

SAP CRM vs Salesforce Sales Cloud

Compared 32% of the time

Oracle CX Sales vs Salesforce Sales Cloud

Compared 6% of the time

IQVIA Orchestrated Customer Engagement vs Salesforce Sales Cloud

Compared 5% of the time

Salesforce Platform vs Salesforce Sales Cloud

Compared 1% of the time

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SAP CRM vs Zoho CRM

Compared 47% of the time

monday.com vs Zoho CRM

Compared 12% of the time

Bitrix24 vs Zoho CRM

Compared 10% of the time

Odoo vs Zoho CRM

Compared 7% of the time

Oracle CRM vs Zoho CRM

Compared 5% of the time

More Zoho CRM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Salesforce Sales Cloud

December 2024

Download Salesforce Sales Cloud product report

Buyer's Guide

Zoho CRM

December 2024

Download Zoho CRM product report

Also Known As

Sales Cloud, SFDC, Salesforce

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Salesforce

Zoho

Overview

Salesforce Sales Cloud is a comprehensive CRM platform designed for efficient lead management, sales forecasting, and customer engagement, offering extensive customization and cloud-based accessibility.

Aimed at enhancing business efficiency, Salesforce Sales Cloud supports core business processes like CRM, lead and opportunity management, sales forecasting, and customer engagement. Its robust integration capabilities allow seamless connectivity with ERP systems and various applications. The platform offers pipeline tracking, process automation, and advanced sales cycle management. Users appreciate its cloud-based accessibility, allowing teams to operate remotely and manage sales operations effectively. However, users highlight concerns about its complexity, cost, and the need for a more intuitive interface.

What features does Salesforce Sales Cloud offer?

Customization: Tailor the CRM to meet specific business requirements.
Robust Reporting: Comprehensive analytics and data insights.
Lead Management: Efficiently manage and convert leads.
API Integration: Seamless connectivity with multiple applications.
Cloud Accessibility: Work from anywhere with cloud-based access.

What benefits should be evaluated in Salesforce Sales Cloud reviews?

Enhanced Productivity: Streamline sales processes with automation.
Improved Collaboration: Facilitate team coordination and client engagement.
Accurate Forecasting: Make informed decisions with reliable sales forecasts.
Flexibility: Accommodate diverse industry needs with ease.
Legacy System Integration: Efficiently update and integrate with existing systems.

Salesforce Sales Cloud is widely implemented across industries such as finance, healthcare, and retail, supporting sales teams in tracking and managing sales operations. Its use extends to reporting, collaboration, and enhancing client interactions, allowing companies to tailor Salesforce to meet industry-specific requirements efficiently.

Zoho CRM empowers organizations with a complete customer relationship lifecycle management solution for managing organization-wide Sales, Marketing, Customer Support & Service and Inventory Management.

Sample Customers

Coca-Cola Enterprises, Kuoni Global Travel Services, Financial Times, Just Eat, Jobsite, H.R. Owen, PlayerLayer, O2, DMGT, Philips, Xtreme.ie, Business Stream, Remote Asset Management, Dialogue Group

JetHub, Anderson Sales Advantage, ActionCoach, Milagro Advisory Group, TECO Pneumatic, Proteomics Consult

Buyer's Guide

Salesforce Sales Cloud vs. Zoho CRM

January 2025

Free Report: Salesforce Sales Cloud vs. Zoho CRM

Find out what your peers are saying about Salesforce Sales Cloud vs. Zoho CRM and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.

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We monitor all CRM reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.