A well-known cloud-based customer relationship management system called Salesforce that combines marketing, sales, and service answers into one program. It has cutting-edge AI-powered tools that can be expanded or decreased to fit any business’s special requirements. Although it has a range of core features and advanced technological offerings, it’s natural to want to see how it stacks up against its rivals or alternatives before making a prime subscription.
Best Amazon competitors and options: Comparison table
To comprehend how Amazon compares to its best competitors, it’s essential to take a look at Amazon capabilities. Because of this, I considered Salesforce’s striking features such as its potential for flexibility, AI-powered tools, integrations and its competitive free demo size. Below, I compare leading options, including HubSpot, Pipedrive, yesterday selling CRM and Less Unpleasant CRM to give you a bird’s eye view of how each company lines up.
|
Software
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Customization potential
|
AI-powered admin
|
Integrations
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Free test size
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Starting cost
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salesforce |
High
|
Yes
|
7,000+
|
30 times
|
$ 25 per person, per month*
|
| HubSpot |
High
|
Yes
|
1,500+
|
14 weeks
|
Free starting amount
|
| Pipedrive |
Medium
|
Yes
|
350+
|
14 weeks
|
$ 14 per person, per month*
|
| Zoho CRM |
Medium
|
Yes
|
900+
|
15 times
|
Free starting amount
|
| yesterday sales CRM |
Medium
|
Yes
|
150+
|
14 weeks
|
$ 12 per person, per month*
|
| Less Frustrating CRM |
Low
|
No
|
5,000+
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30 times
|
$ 15 per customer, per month*
|
| ActiveCampaign |
Medium
|
No
|
900+
|
14 weeks
|
$ 19 per person, per month*
|
*Price when billed periodically.
PREMIUM: Choosing the right Salesforce for your business.
HubSpot: Best completely Amazon alternative
One of the best free Salesforce options available is provided by HubSpot. Its system can be used by sales rulers, salespeople, marketers, customer support teams, function managers and business owners. The free level can help up to 2, 500 users, which is above the market average and comes with features such as email templates, live chat program, offer network monitoring and simple monitoring. If the free rank is very minimal, HubSpot does have business features available in its superior tiers.
Pricing
- Free CRM: Free for up to 2, 500 people with email management, rates, life talk and more.
- Selling Hub Starter:$ 15 per chair per month, billed periodically, or$ 20 when billed monthly. The Starter plan includes all equipment in the complimentary strategy plus plain technology, e-signature, conversation forwarding and more.
- Selling Hub Professional:$ 90 per chair per month, billed periodically, or$ 100 when billed monthly and a one-time$ 1, 500 onboarding price. This strategy includes all Starter functions and prospecting desk, scripts, modeling and more.
- Sales Hub Organization:$ 150 per chair per quarter, with an annual devotion and one-time$ 3, 500 onboarding price. Users of this program get access to all professional tools, as well as innovative permissions, predicted direct rating, conversation intelligence, and cause form routing.
Features
- Meeting scheduler: With added Google Calendar and Office 365 Calendar integrations, you can quickly organize and schedule meetings.
- Company insights: Automatically populate lead records with company details imported from HubSpot’s B2B database with more than 20 million businesses.
- With AI-generated content, you can create sales outreach emails and email marketing campaigns in a fraction of the time.
HubSpot pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
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Why we chose HubSpot
HubSpot and Salesforce are extremely comparable for their scalability, AI tools, integrations, premium pricing and more. Salesforce does not offer a free version of its solution, but HubSpot does. Salesforce does, however, offer a little more customization opportunity than HubSpot.
To learn more about this alternative, check out our HubSpot review.
Pipedrive: Best for industry-specific solutions
Pipedrive has more than 100, 000 clients that serve a variety of industries. Pipedrive provides unique solutions for a multitude of industries, including automotive sales, banking, event management, call centers, government, higher education, manufacturing and many more. Each solution has characteristics and key characteristics that are in line with the industry’s business objectives. For example, the nonprofit solution specifically helps organizations attract donors and engage long-term supporters.
Pricing
- Essential:$ 14 per user per month, billed annually, or$ 24 per user when billed monthly. The Essential plan includes people and organization management, product catalog, sales assistant and more.
- Advanced:$ 29 per user per month, billed annually, or$ 39 per user when billed monthly. The Advanced plan offers all Essential plan features plus automations, two-way email sync, group emailing and more.
- Professional: $49 per user per month, billed annually, or $64 per user when billed monthly. This tier supports all Advanced features and contacts timeline, free Smart Docs add-on, automatic assignment and more. The AI-powered admin becomes available in this plan.
- Power:$ 64 per user per month, billed annually, or$ 79 per user when billed monthly. All Professional plan options are included in the Power plan, as are phone support, 500 custom fields, and more.
- Enterprise:$ 99 per user per month, billed annually, or$ 129 per user when billed monthly. This tier offers all features mentioned above plus up to 180 active automations, unlimited teams and unlimited custom permissions.
*These prices reflect Pipedrive’s premium plan structure for the United States of America. Prices can change based on the location of the property.
Features
- Internal chat integration: Send sales representatives from clients on your website in real time.
- Recurring revenue: Keep track of all your repeat customers and subscriptions to keep support and satisfaction with your customers.
- Accessibility and login protection: Manage user access to create information hierarchies that safeguard your company’s data.
Pipedrive pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
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Why we chose Pipedrive
Similar to HubSpot, Pipedrive is comparable to Salesforce for its AI-powered admin. I will point out that Pipedrive’s visual pipelines make it easy to manage your customers’ journeys, but Salesforce’s scalability is much more robust for larger clients.
For more information, visit our Pipedrive review.
Zoho CRM: Best for omnichannel communication
Zoho CRM allows users to connect with their customers through multiple channels, all while organizing, tracking and centralizing data. It’s important for businesses to meet their customers where they are because this is such a digital era. Whether it’s through email, phone, social media, SMS, live chat, WhatsApp or webforms, Zoho CRM can integrate with all the tools that help reps serve clients in real time.
Pricing
- Free CRM includes a mobile app, lead and document management, and is free for up to three users.
- Standard:$ 14 per user per month, billed annually, or$ 20 per user when billed monthly. Users can access email insights, sales forecasting and multiple currencies.
- Professional:$ 23 per user per month, billed annually, or$ 35 per user when billed monthly. This tier includes all Standard features, assignment restrictions, and unrestricted customization of dashboards and reports.
- Enterprise:$ 40 per user per month, billed annually, or$ 50 per user when billed monthly. This plan includes all AI-powered tools, plus email segmentation, auto-response and more.
- Ultimate:$ 52 per user per month, billed annually, or$ 65 per user when billed monthly. Users can access Zoho Analytics and all of the features of Zoho CRM with the Ultimate Plan.
Features
- Territory management: Use appropriate criteria to categorize customers to make sure they are assigned to the best salesperson.
- Social integration: Keep an eye on what customers and customers think of your online business and automatically generate new social media leads.
- Blueprint sales process: Define every stage of your sales process, including on and offline stages, and execute them in a systematic manner.
Zoho CRM pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
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Why did we pick Zoho CRM?
Both Salesforce and Zoho CRM are enterprise CRM. Zoho CRM is a more affordable option to Salesforce, which is great for businesses looking for an enterprise-level solution with simple dashboards and less complexity than Salesforce.
To know more about this provider’s top features and more, read our Zoho CRM review.
Monday CRM: Best alternative for project management
Advanced project management tools are provided by Monday CRM to help businesses manage all pre- and post-sales tasks and responsibilities in one place. Monday CRM provides a user-friendly and flexible platform by centralizing client communication and providing time-saving automations. Users gain greater visibility into performance thanks to a mobile app and customized dashboards that display instant deal progress and sales figures.
Pricing
- Basic CRM offers are only available to students and nonprofit organizations after submitting an application.
- Basic CRM:$ 12 per user, per month when billed annually, or$ 15 when billed monthly. This tier offers unlimited pipelines, boards and contacts, as well as templates for lead, contact and deal management.
- Standard CRM:$ 17 per user, per month when billed annually, or$ 20 when billed monthly. This tier includes advanced account, contact and deal management, two-way email integration with Gmail and Outlook and an AI email generator.
- Pro CRM:$ 28 per user, per month when billed annually, or$ 33 when billed monthly. This tier includes Sales forecasting, email templates with custom parameters, mass emails and added integrations.
- Enterprise CRM: Contact monday .com for a quote. This level of support offers lead scoring, team goals and advanced analytics.
Features
- Call logging: Log all sales and client calls through an automated summary screen.
- Lead generation: Add a form to your company’s website that will import their information directly into the CRM to capture new leads.
- Mobile CRM mobile app: Use the Monday CRM mobile app to manage your sales and client communications on the go.
pros and cons of Monday CRM
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
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Why did we pick Monday CRM?
While monday CRM is a highly customizable and scalable tool, Salesforce and others on this list offer more integrations. This is important if you have existing tools in your sales tech stack that must be able to integrate with your next CRM. For a Salesforce alternative with many integration capabilities, I suggest considering Less Frustrating CRM or HubSpot.
For more information, read our detailed yesterday sales CRM review.
Less Frustrating CRM: Best for small businesses
Less Frustrating CRM specifically offers solutions to small businesses. CRMs for small businesses are scalable for growth but typically prioritize affordability, support and ease of use. Less Frustrating CRM prides itself on not being a spin-off of other big CRM providers or providing a lite version of a more expensive system; instead, the company offers one low flat rate for its entire platform with no upcharges or expensive add-ons.
Pricing
- Less Frustrating CRM: $15 per user, per month. This single basic plan includes unlimited contacts and companies, unlimited pipelines, task management and access to all Less Annoying features.
- Free personalized quote: If your company plans to use the CRM for more than 10 people, get a custom quote.
Features
- Access control: Add an unlimited number of users for a monthly flat rate of$ 15 per user, with the ability to add additional ones for each.
- Set reminders for follow-up reminders: Set reminders using the platform to let you know when it’s best to reach out to a lead.
- Task management: Receive automated reminders, daily digests and even task prioritization through a cohesive task dashboard.
Less Frustrating CRM pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
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Why we chose Less Frustrating CRM
Salesforce is a more robust CRM option compared to Less Frustrating CRM; Salesforce has an extensive feature catalog that includes opportunity management, quote and invoice tracking and Einstein AI. But if you’re a small business needing a simplified version of Salesforce at a flat, straightforward cost, I would suggest considering Less Frustrating CRM.
ActiveCampaign: Best for email marketing
ActiveCampaign provides advanced automation for sales engagement and email marketing. By sending personalized emails, SMS, and digital campaigns, users can increase client engagement. Use intelligent marketing automation to target those leads and send engaging emails to active lead generation after creating an ideal customer profile.
Pricing
- Sales Plus:$ 19 per user per month, when billed annually, or$ 23 per month billed monthly. This plan offers sales automation, lead scoring, personalized chat, email support and more.
- Sales Professional:$ 49 per user per month, when billed annually, or$ 59 per month billed monthly. This tier offers all Sales Plus features plus sales engagement automation, AI sentiment analysis and win probability.
- Sales Enterprise:$ 99 per user per month, when billed annually, or$ 119 per month billed monthly. Sales Enterprise includes all Professional features, custom reporting and objects, single sign-on, uptime SLA, and more.
- Bundle Plus:$ 93 per month billed annually or$ 116 per month billed monthly. For five users, this offering includes 1, 000 marketing contacts as part of a package that includes marketing automation and sales CRM.
- Bundle Professional:$ 386 per month, when billed annually, or$ 482 per month billed monthly. This plan supports 10 users, 2, 500 marketing contacts and more.
- Bundle Enterprise:$ 734 per month, when billed annually, or$ 918 per month billed monthly. This bundle includes 15 users, custom reporting, HIPAA support and more.
Features
- Reporting and analytics: Uncover data around site and event tracking, deliverability, split testing, win probability and more.
- Segmentation: Organize contacts by industry, job title, quiz results, purchase history and so much more.
- Lead scoring: Identify high-value contacts and opportunities through predetermined signals and scores.
Pros and cons of ActiveCampaign
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
|
|
Why we chose ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign offers core marketing features for a high price in comparison to the industry standard. Similar to Salesforce’s pricing, but there are even more marketing options, including B2B marketing automation, marketing AI, marketing analytics, and even managing customer loyalty campaigns.
Do you need an alternative to Salesforce?
Some notable shortcomings of Salesforce include how expensive it can be for startups or small businesses, how complicated can its features be, and how quickly users report having to learn the software.
I advised you to first learn how CRM pricing works, what industry standards are, and your specific budget and requirement for a CRM tool. Second, adhering to CRM best practices will help set up your business for real long-term success.
Head over to our independent Salesforce review if you want to learn more about what Salesforce has to offer.
Review methodology
In accordance with an internal benchmark, I reviewed and scored each CRM program that can be regarded as the best alternative to Salesfroce. Criteria and subcategories of the standard CRM features and offerings are provided in that rubric. I then created an ideal use case for each provider that combines the product’s best offerings using that rubric and algorithm to create an overall star rating.
What are the steps I took to evaluate the alternatives to Salesforce?
- Cost: Weighted 25 % of the total score.
- Core features: Weighted 25 % of the total score.
- Customizations: Weighted 15 % of the total score.
- Integrations: Weighted 15 % of the total score.
- Ease of use: Weighted 10 % of the total score.
- Customer support: Weighted 10 % of the total score.
Frequently asked questions ( FAQs )
Who is Salesforce’s main competitor?
HubSpot, Pipedrive and Zoho CRM are all stand out competitors of Salesforce when comparing price, top core features, advanced AI tools and customization. A generalized CRM provider that provides a range of marketing, sales, and customer support services to businesses of all sizes and sectors is available to each competitor.
Is Salesforce the largest CRM platform?
Salesforce is unquestionably a very well-known CRM program used by businesses all over the world because of its highly technical features, scaleability, and industry specialization. For the 11th consecutive year, Salesforce was ranked as the# 1 CRM provider by The International Data Corporation. Gucci, Turtle Bay, Baptist Health South Florida, Air India, and others are well-known Salesforce clients.
Why should I use Salesforce instead of other CRMs?
When it really comes to it, Salesforce is a very versatile CRM provider. If you’re in the financial services, retail, healthcare, manufacturing, energy or media industries, Salesforce offers you an industry-specific solution of its platform. If affordable, Salesforce can modernize your business, save time on mundane marketing and sales taks, and create a tighter pipeline between you and your customers.
