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 8.3. Salesforce holds a 9.5% mindshare in CRM, compared to Zoho’s 3.0% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Salesforce users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of Zoho users who would recommend it.

Salesforce Sales Cloud

Read 114 Salesforce Sales Cloud reviews

5,366 Views
2,859 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Zoho CRM

Read 51 Zoho CRM reviews

2,871 Views
1,231 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Salesforce Sales Cloud

Zoho CRM

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

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: February 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Salesforce Sales Cloud vs. Zoho CRM

February 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 837,501 peers since 2012

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

114

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 February 2025, in the CRM category, the mindshare of Salesforce Sales Cloud is 9.5%, up from 9.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zoho CRM is 3.0%, down from 4.9% 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.

Read full review

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

"It is an open the platform with API integration with other systems. Salesforce, it is not a software. It is very famous and available. When you are creating leads, generating leads, opportunities, it is wonderful in the reports as well. Dashboards are amazing."

"Salesforce's user interface is easy to use, and the reporting is good. It worked well with Excel, so I was okay with it. I don't know about integration with any other software because I didn't have to deal with them."

"Salesforce Sales Cloud is a stable solution."

"This product is lightweight."

"The dashboards and dashboard customization are great."

"There is a ton of information on the dashboard. Reports are also there for us. We can analyze information across the team and across a period, such as quarterly or annually."

"You can adapt Salesforce for all customer needs."

"The solution has the ability to run reports on the pipeline and understand the likelihood of the sales. The analytics tools are very good."

More Salesforce Sales Cloud pros

"I like the solution's reminder feature which is helpful for big projects. There are many tasks that run at the same time. The reminder feature makes things easy for me since I use Zoho's mobile version as well."

"The dashboards and visualizations help us see how different markets perform. I find the dashboard feature most valuable because it's easy to visualize data. I've been trying to use the built-in quotations feature, which could reduce turnaround time. We're not using many automation features for record management and opportunity tracking. I'm trying to integrate Zoho CRM with Zoho Flow for quotation submission workflow."

"Zoho CRM handles the entire customer relationship management, from lead generation to workflows, reports, and lead qualification."

"I like that it is easy to get data in and out of it. We can export and import CSV files. I also like that the database is hierarchical, which allows me to be able to look at a parent and multiple children."

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

"The login and logout times of each employee of our company are recorded by Zoho CRM for productivity calculations"

"Its initial setup process for the cloud-based version is straightforward."

"Zoho CRM is easy to use and easy to understand."

More Zoho CRM pros

Cons

"An area for improvement would be the ease of configuration."

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

"Its licensing can be improved to accommodate small companies. They provide a certain number of licenses in a set or batch, and you have to buy the set. For example, if they have 20 licenses in a set, you have to get the whole set, even if you need just three licenses, which could be a barrier for small companies. There is no option to buy fewer licenses. So, small companies have to go for a smaller CRM, such as HubSpot."

"I need to do a lot of customization to implement an ERP solution for an energy and utilities client versus a BFS client. Salesforce should look at the common customizations each client wants and see how much of that can be standardized into industry-specific specific solutions. That would speed up implementation, so we don't need to go through the same steps a hundred times. Salesforce could do it once and put it out for the rest of the clients to use it."

"Salesforce could improve its response speed. Compared to AWS, it is slower, which could be a hindrance."

"The solution's configuration could be improved because getting a purchase order and administrating the right fields can be a real headache for us, especially when the Sales Cloud system enters an error stage."

"The built-in functionality is a little dated."

"Sales Cloud could be improved with more training. In general, the training is very good, but you have to really seek out some good options in order to upskill yourself. Another thing, which could also be a benefit, is that Sales is very customizable. If you move from one organization to another, you can see your Salesforce as before, but their Sales Cloud may look completely different from what you're used to. It's not like Microsoft Excel or Trello, where the layout and all the functions are the same. Because it's so customizable, I feel like there is a bit of a learning curve when you inherit another Sales Cloud instance. To be honest, I think that's the beauty of Salesforce because you can customize it so much to fit your needs as a company. It follows your processes and use cases in order for you to get the most out of the system itself."

More Salesforce Sales Cloud cons

"In Creator, you can do calculations and change another field immediately after you enter any value. If you add the quantity or price in any field, you can immediately change the total in Creator. The same functionality is not directly available in CRM because it is prebuilt."

"Certain functions have occasional performance issues."

"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."

"Pricing for Zoho CRM could be improved because it is expensive. My company also needs some analytics, so it would be good if Zoho CRM had built-in analytics."

"The only thing I noticed was that it does not support multi-country operations. In Canada, for example, we do not use the term "state," but rather "province," and we do not use zip codes, but rather "postal codes.""

"It is hard to modify information around a customer. You need to pay for the features and the tool needs to improve it."

"There should be easy access to feature recommendations in the solution"

"There are two things I would like to see from Zoho CRM. The first would be to include a calling feature that is connected to our call center. Second, I would like financial targeting and how to measure targeting for the sales agent to be connected better with bookings."

More Zoho CRM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"We must pay for the licenses."

"You need to pay for the license per user per month. For example, you need to pay $100 per user. If you have 200 users using your Salesforce, that would be multiplied by a hundred, that's $20,000 per month and a quarter million per year."

"Sales Cloud is expensive."

"The price is fair."

"The subscription is on a monthly basis."

"Pricing is reasonable."

"It's expensive, storage being the most costly aspect."

More Salesforce Sales Cloud pricing and cost advice

"I have no information about the pricing for Zoho CRM because the finance department handles that."

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

"Compared to other CRMs, it is very cheap."

"This solution is less expensive than Salesforce."

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

"There is a license required for this solution."

"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."

"The price of Zoho CRM is already competitive, but we would always like to have a better discount. Most of the features are included in the price but if we want the extra features then we have to purchase them."

More Zoho CRM pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which CRM solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.

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?

Improving system performance and processing speed would enhance productivity and allow for even smoother workflows according to my view. Additionally, introducing faster data retrieval and real-tim...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Salesforce Sales Cloud?

My primary use case for Salesforce is to streamline sales strategies, define key sales parameters, and manage focus areas effectively. I leverage Salesforce to record, track, and optimize our sales...

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 31% of the time

SAP CRM vs Salesforce Sales Cloud

Compared 30% of the time

Oracle CX Sales vs Salesforce Sales Cloud

Compared 6% of the time

Camunda vs Salesforce Sales Cloud

Compared 4% of the time

Pega CRM vs Salesforce Sales Cloud

Compared 1% of the time

More Salesforce Sales Cloud Competitors

SAP CRM vs Zoho CRM

Compared 50% of the time

Bitrix24 vs Zoho CRM

Compared 10% of the time

monday.com vs Zoho CRM

Compared 9% of the time

Odoo vs Zoho CRM

Compared 8% of the time

LeadSquared vs Zoho CRM

Compared 5% of the time

More Zoho CRM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Salesforce Sales Cloud

January 2025

Download Salesforce Sales Cloud product report

Buyer's Guide

Zoho CRM

January 2025

Download Zoho CRM product report

Also Known As

Sales Cloud, SFDC, Salesforce

No data available

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.

Salesforce

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

Zoho

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

February 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: February 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Salesforce Sales Cloud vs. Zoho CRM report.

See our list of best CRM vendors, best Opportunity Management vendors, and best Sales Force Automation vendors.

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.