Prices, features, advantages and disadvantages

Zoho CRM is a leading customer relationship management software that offers multi-channel marketing, intelligent sales tools, and a variety of customizable assets. The platform itself is flexible and focuses on data and profile transparency with tools like 360-degree customer view and contextual team collaboration.

Considering the various CRM features it offers, Zoho CRM is priced affordably compared to its competitors. This can be a big draw for startups and small businesses. However, if you specifically want a CRM tool that is easy to use or offers very specific industry-related features, there are better options available.

Zoho CRM Pricing

• Free CRM: Free for up to three users and comes with lead and document management and a mobile app.
• Standard: $14 per user per month, billed annually, or $20 per user when billed monthly.
• Professional: $23 per user per month, billed annually, or $35 per user when billed monthly.
• Company: $40 per user per month, billed annually, or $50 per user when billed monthly.
• Last: $52 per user per month, billed annually, or $65 per user when billed monthly.

Zoho CRM Key Features

360 degree customer view

Zoho CRM Plus offers a 360-degree view of the customer, providing access to important customer information such as contact information, name, location, and all sales or marketing communications that sales representatives have interacted with (Figure A). This comprehensive view can be accessed through a unified interface.

Omnichannel customer engagement

Omnichannel engagement acts as a hub for all customer service channels in the CRM dashboard (Figure B). After creating multi-channel, multi-step campaigns to engage with customers, this tool allows you to unify customer signals, such as real-time updates between teams and interfaces.

Process management

With Zoho CRM, sales reps can automate entire processes across sales and marketing teams. They can streamline processes, such as lead generation and nurturing through web forms and email campaigns. Additionally, sales reps can create custom lead tracking workflows, which break down projects into achievable tasks and subtasks, cutting ticket assignment efforts (Figure C).

Zia AI Tool

Zia is Zoho's AI assistant that can help monitor lead activity, forecast deals, and even answer support calls on behalf of an organization. With its Ask Zia feature, sales reps can request niche information and the tool will search all customer records in the software and get the information instantly (Figure D).

Pros and cons of Zoho CRM

Alternatives to Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM's user interface is reportedly not as user-friendly and customer support can be inconsistent. If you're looking for a more robust free version or software with an easier learning curve to implement in an organization, there are other CRMs to consider.

Other CRM software that is commonly compared to Zoho CRM include Freshsales, Insightly, Salesforce, and HubSpot. All of these options offer a trial or demo period, if not a lifetime free tier. In addition to the standard core features expected from a CRM, such as channel management or data analysis, these alternatives also offer advanced technology tools and integrations.

SEE: Check out our guide to the best business CRM software, where we cover these alternatives and others.

*Pricing is based on annual subscription plans. Month-to-month billing options will be different.

fresh sales

Freshsales is a popular choice with advanced collaboration and operation features. Sales representatives can assign and monitor individual tasks, as well as the progress of projects or entire agreements between departments. Freshsales multi-view dashboards allow you to sync information between views with the most up-to-date activity notes.

SEE: For a full breakdown, check out our independent Freshsales review.

Insightfully

After helping identify potential opportunities, Insightly's project management tools help users track post-sales activities and follow-ups. Its process automation feature reduces redundant sales tasks such as appointment scheduling, reminders, and follow-up emails. This streamlines productivity throughout an organization's sales process.

Sales force

Salesforce's data capabilities make it a great operational CRM. Users can create custom data reports, analytical pages, and sales forecasts. Its integrations and communication tools help simplify complex sales processes and its mobile app is even available offline, allowing users to access all information on the go.

SEE: For more information, check out our full Salesforce review.

HubSpot

HubSpot's robust free version allows up to 2,500 users. If an organization decides that HubSpot's paid tiers better align with its needs, those prices will remain affordable. The free version of the CRM offers a variety of sales and marketing tools, such as contact management and email marketing, making it an easy CRM to implement across teams.

SEE: Explore this side-by-side comparison of HubSpot and Pipedrive.

Review methodology

We use our internal scoring tool, which consists of criteria that we consider most important when evaluating CRM software. We then compare Zoho CRM to the industry standard for each criterion in that rubric. We rely on Zoho CRM's own resources, as well as comments and ratings from real users.

The criteria we use to rate Zoho CRM include:

• Cost: It weighted 25% of the total score.
• Main features: It weighted 25% of the total score.
• Customizations: It weighted 15% of the total score.
• Integrations: It weighted 15% of the total score.
• Easy to use: It weighted 10% of the total score.
• Customer Support: It weighted 10% of the total score.