Top 10 Zoho CRM Alternatives and Competitors

Author
Authors
Clay Team
&
Date
Jan 27, 2024

Zoho CRM is a popular customer relationship management software that helps businesses streamline their interactions with customers and manage various aspects of their sales process. In this article will summarize the top 10 alternatives to Zoho CRM.

If you’re looking to get the most out of your CRM, Clay is the best tool for you. With Clay, you tap into a network of 50+ data providers, processing them all in parallel with its unique waterfalling approach. Allowing you to use data enrichment from all of our amazing providers, such as Clearbit, Lusha, and much more from a single platform. Clay's smooth integration with existing CRM systems streamlines your workflow, enabling you to concentrate on your core tasks while it filling out the gaps in your data.

1. Apptivo

Apptivo is a business management software that makes running your business easier by handling different parts of it efficiently.

  • Use cases: Sales automation, marketing, data management, security, intelligence and reporting, integration, mobile apps, premium support, and professional services.
  • Features: Sales automation, marketing, data management, security, intelligence and reports, integration, mobile apps, premium support, and professional services.
  • Price: Apptivo offers four pricing plans: Lite, Premium, Ultimate, and Enterprise. Prices range from $10 to $25 per user per month, with a 30-day free trial available.
  • Reviews: Apptivo has an overall rating of 4.4/5 on G2.
  • Available as a provider within Clay: No

Advantages of using Apptivo over Zoho CRM

  1. Better customer support experience: Users commend Apptivo for its responsive and effective customer support, highlighting the Chat Team, Customer Service Team, and Technical Team's assistance, in contrast to some users' dissatisfaction with Zoho CRM's customer support.
  2. Focused project management features: Apptivo offers comprehensive project management tools, including task milestones, project newsfeeds, and the capability to manage subprojects, which are designed to streamline project completion and team updates.
  3. Enhanced team collaboration tools: The Team app in Apptivo allows for better organization and collaboration by enabling teams creation within the platform and task assignments, facilitating effective management of group tasks.
  4. Superior integration with external applications: Apptivo integrates with a wide array of applications like Slack, G Suite, and QuickBooks, enhancing productivity, document management, and billing processes.

Disadvantages of using Apptivo over Zoho CRM

  1. Limited customization and automation in sales processes: Apptivo may not offer the same level of sales process customization and automation as Zoho CRM, which provides extensive capabilities in lead and deal management, and workflow automation.
  2. Potentially overwhelming feature set for some users: The extensive features and settings in Apptivo can be challenging to navigate for smaller teams or those with simpler needs, making the platform potentially overwhelming.
  3. Narrower focus on sales force automation: Compared to Zoho CRM's comprehensive sales force automation features, Apptivo might offer less depth in areas such as lead generation, data entry automation, and email notifications.
  4. Less extensive marketing automation tools: Apptivo may have fewer marketing automation options compared to Zoho CRM, which could limit its effectiveness for businesses with a significant focus on marketing activities.

2. Agile CRM

Agile CRM is a customer relationship management system that offers a comprehensive suite of sales, marketing, and service functionalities. With integrations such as Google Apps, Twilio, and LinkedIn, Agile CRM aims to streamline business processes and improve customer engagement.

  • Use cases: Automating sales, managing contacts, tracking deals, scheduling appointments, email marketing, landing page building, social CRM, mobile marketing, helpdesk, ticket feedback, knowledge base, and smart views.
  • Features: Sales, marketing, and service functionalities, integrations with Google Apps, Twilio, and LinkedIn, and access to 30+ apps through the 500APPS initiative.
  • Price: Agile CRM offers four pricing plans: Free, Starter, Regular, and Enterprise. The Free plan is available for 10 users with no credit card required.
  • Reviews: Agile CRM has an overall rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars on G2.
  • Available as a provider within Clay: No

Advantages of using Agile CRM over Zoho CRM

  1. Integrated Platform: Agile CRM combines sales, marketing, and customer service on a single platform, offering a unified solution that automates business processes across these key areas, ensuring consistency of communication and a smooth transition between sales and marketing functions.
  2. Social Media and Digital Marketing Tools: It provides tools for connecting to social media, enhancing digital marketing efforts, analyzing data, gaining customer insights, tracking communications, and personalizing engagement with customers.
  3. Innovative Help Desk: Agile CRM offers an innovative help desk to enhance customer relations by providing personalized service, allowing interactions and engagements with customers, understanding them better, and proactively resolving their queries.
  4. Affordability: Agile CRM is highlighted for its affordability and is particularly appealing to small and medium businesses looking for a simplified CRM solution with comprehensive functionality.

Disadvantages of using Agile CRM over Zoho CRM

  1. Third-Party Software Integrations: While Agile CRM integrates with essential productivity tools and social media apps, Zoho CRM offers more extensive integrations, including Slack, Google Suite, Office 365, Mailchimp, QuickBooks, WhatsApp, Facebook, RingCentral, among others, providing more flexibility and enhancing mobile accessibility.
  2. User Experience and Support: Agile CRM has lower user ratings in areas such as usability and support compared to Zoho CRM, indicating some users may find it less intuitive or experience difficulties with customer service.
  3. Analytics and CRM Tools: Zoho CRM is recognized for its seamless combination of analytics and CRM tools, offering advanced analytics integrated with the CRM to better understand customers, simplify business processes, and boost productivity and growth. This makes Zoho CRM more suitable for a broader range of businesses, including large enterprises.
  4. Sales Force Automation and AI Assistance: Zoho CRM provides advanced sales force automation and an AI conversational assistant to optimize sales and marketing efforts. It automates repetitive tasks and complex processes, empowering sales agents to engage more effectively with customers, which might offer a more sophisticated solution for businesses with complex sales processes.

3. Insightly

Insightly is a CRM platform designed to help businesses manage their customer relationships, sales, and projects. With a focus on ease of use and customizability, Insightly offers a range of features to streamline processes and improve collaboration across teams.

  • Use cases: Customer relationship management, sales tracking, project management, marketing automation, customer service, and app integration.
  • Features: Contact and lead management, sales pipeline tracking, project management, custom reports and dashboards, email tracking, and integrations with popular apps like Google Workspace and Microsoft 365.
  • Price: Insightly CRM offers three pricing plans: Plus ($29/user/month), Professional ($49/user/month), and Enterprise ($99/user/month). A free 14-day trial is available for each product.
  • Reviews: Insightly CRM has an overall rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars on G2.
  • Available as a provider within Clay: No

Advantages of using Insightly over Zoho CRM

  1. Better Customer Support and Learning Resources: Insightly is noted for its dedicated customer support and a focus on CRM learning for beginners. It offers an effective online help center with additional paid support options, and its knowledgebase is more accessible compared to Zoho CRM, making it standout for getting users up to speed quickly .
  2. Ease of Use: Insightly provides a more user-friendly experience with less of a learning curve than Zoho CRM. Its dashboard can be easily navigated, and the entire CRM can be customized with simplicity, offering a visual layout that efficiently meets users' needs .
  3. Innovative Sales Pipeline Visualization: Insightly uses a horizontal pipeline to visualize sales stages, extending its value into full-blown project management. This allows for a unique approach to managing sales opportunities as projects from end to end, offering a clear visualization that differs from the traditional vertical funnel used by many CRMs.
  4. Effective Workflow Automation for Small Teams: Insightly automates the entire customer journey, making it an excellent choice for small teams that may find themselves limited by their capacity. It uses a simple but effective flowchart approach to trigger customizable actions based on new and potential customer behaviors, significantly reducing manual work.

Disadvantages of using Insightly over Zoho CRM

  1. Limited Email Integration and System Issues: Users have reported that Insightly's email system is poor, lacking hard integration and relying on a forwarding system that does not meet all business needs. Additionally, there are mentions of persistent issues within the platform that may not be quickly resolved.
  2. Less Comprehensive in Certain Technical Aspects: When comparing technical requirements like availability and scalability, integration and extensibility, mobile support, and platform security, Insightly lags behind Zoho CRM. Zoho CRM offers broader support and a higher level of customization and extension possibilities.
  3. Fewer Pre-Built Reports and Granular Tools: While both Insightly and Zoho offer robust reporting capabilities, Insightly lacks the same level of classification and granular tools that Zoho provides. Zoho CRM includes more than 40 pre-built reports and allows for more detailed custom reports, offering a slight advantage in data analytics capabilities.
  4. More Expensive Plans Compared to Zoho CRM: Insightly's pricing plans are generally higher than Zoho CRM's, which may present a barrier for small businesses or startups with tight budgets. Zoho CRM offers more affordable plans with a broader range of features included at lower price points.

4. Copper

Copper is a CRM software solution designed to help businesses organize contacts, automate tasks, and manage deals. With a focus on integration with Google Workspace, Copper is suitable for various industries such as agencies, consulting, real estate, corporate development, and technology.

  • Use cases: Contact organization, task automation, deal management, email and marketing tools, and report generation.
  • Features: Google Workspace integration, customizable fields and dashboards, email sequences and drip campaigns, lead scoring, LinkedIn integration, and more.
  • Price: Copper offers three pricing plans: Basic ($29 per user/month), Professional ($69 per user/month), and Business ($134 per user/month), all billed annually. A free trial is also available.
  • Reviews: Copper has an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars on G2.
  • Available as a provider within Clay: No

Advantages of using Copper over Zoho CRM

  1. Ease of Use and Setup: Copper is found to be easier to use, set up, and administer compared to Zoho CRM, offering a more user-friendly experience for businesses .
  2. Better Integration with GSuite: Copper seamlessly integrates with GSuite, providing a significant advantage for businesses that rely heavily on Google's suite of productivity tools.
  3. Higher Security Ratings: In security features, Copper slightly edges out Zoho CRM, offering robust security measures that businesses can rely on .
  4. Superior Customer Support: Users have rated Copper's customer support higher than Zoho CRM's, indicating a more satisfactory post-sale support experience.

Disadvantages of using Copper over Zoho CRM

  1. Limited Customization and Integration Options: Copper falls short in customization and third-party integration capabilities compared to Zoho CRM, offering fewer options for custom fields, objects, and integration with other software .
  2. Lower Functionality for Advanced CRM Needs: In terms of advanced CRM features like email marketing and social CRM, Copper is significantly outperformed by Zoho CRM, indicating a gap in functionality for comprehensive marketing efforts .
  3. Data Recovery Concerns: Copper does not offer confirmations of cancellation in the UI or via email, and if records are accidentally deleted, they cannot be recovered without a manual backup, posing a risk for data management.
  4. Less Value for Money in Certain Areas: While Copper scores well on ease of use, it is rated lower than Zoho CRM on value for money and functionality, suggesting that Zoho might offer a more comprehensive set of features per dollar spent.

5. Hubspot

HubSpot is a comprehensive business software platform that integrates marketing, sales, customer service, content management, operations, and commerce tools. With a focus on flexibility and power, HubSpot's customer platform is designed to help businesses generate high-quality leads, automate processes, and provide excellent customer service.

  • Use cases: Lead generation, marketing and sales automation, customer service, content management, app and data syncing, and B2B commerce.
  • Features: AI tools, integrations with popular apps like Google Contacts and Mailchimp, customer support, onboarding services, free courses and certifications, developer tools, and startup programs.
  • Price: HubSpot offers three pricing plans: Starter, Professional ($800/month), and Enterprise ($3,600/month). Users can choose to pay monthly or commit annually, with a 10% discount for upfront annual payments.
  • Reviews: HubSpot Sales Hub has an overall rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars on G2.
  • Available as a provider within Clay: Yes

Advantages of using HubSpot over Zoho CRM

  1. User Interface and Ease of Use: HubSpot offers a visually oriented and intuitive interface, making it easier for users to navigate and access features. It's organized into seven distinct categories, simplifying the process of finding what you need, such as creating landing pages or setting up automation .
  2. Onboarding and Learning Resources: HubSpot provides robust onboarding guides, including a dedicated onboarding hub with text guides, learning milestones, and real-time automated demos. This comprehensive approach to user education facilitates a quicker and less frustrating onboarding experience compared to Zoho .
  3. Lead Management Features: HubSpot offers advanced lead management capabilities, with more sorting and grouping options than Zoho, although more advanced features like contact scoring require upgrading to a more expensive plan.
  4. Marketing Automation: Both platforms offer marketing automation, but HubSpot provides sequences and workflows with presets or the ability to build custom ones from scratch, making it a strong choice for businesses looking to automate their marketing efforts efficiently.

Disadvantages of using HubSpot over Zoho CRM

  1. Complexity for Larger Sales Teams: Companies with large sales teams might find HubSpot's CRM not advanced enough for their needs, lacking in customization options which can be a significant disadvantage for businesses requiring extensive customization.
  2. Pricing: HubSpot's CRM platform, while free, lacks some critical features like marketing automation and lead management that many businesses require, pushing users towards its Sales Hub, which can be expensive for smaller businesses.
  3. Limitations in Free and Lower Tier Plans: HubSpot restricts the number of automation instances on its entry-level plan, requiring upgrades for unlimited rules, which may not be viable for all businesses.
  4. Custom Reporting: Custom reporting is available in HubSpot but only for users of the Professional and Enterprise plans, potentially making it cost-prohibitive for small businesses that need detailed analytics and reporting.

6. Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a CRM platform that emphasizes the principle of activity-based selling, offering a range of products and features to help businesses control the actions that drive deals towards completion.

  • Use cases: Activity-based selling, sales process management, email marketing, project management, marketplace integrations, lead generation, and web visitor tracking.
  • Features: Automation, CRM, customization, email and communications, insights and reports, integrations, leads, privacy, processes, pipeline, and activities.
  • Price: Pipedrive offers five pricing plans: Essential ($14.90/user/month), Advanced ($27.90 per user/month), Professional ($49.90 per user/month), Power ($64.90/user/month), and Enterprise ($99.00/user/month), all billed annually. A free 14-day trial is available for all plans.
  • Reviews: Pipedrive has an overall rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars on G2.
  • Available as a provider within Clay: Yes

Advantages of using Pipedrive over Zoho CRM

  1. User Interface and Experience: Pipedrive is praised for its polished user interface and user experience, often described as the iOS to Zoho CRM's Android. It's designed to provide a more intuitive and streamlined experience for users, with made-to-fit features that cater to sales teams' needs.
  2. AI Accessibility Across Plans: Unlike Zoho CRM, where AI features are only unlocked with higher-priced plans, Pipedrive offers most of its features, including AI, across all plans. This ensures users have access to AI capabilities from the start, without the need for upgrading to significantly more expensive options.
  3. Effective Sales Reporting and Forecasting: Pipedrive allows the creation of detailed and attractive sales reports and forecasts. Its reporting tools are intuitive, enabling users to easily track sales growth, set goals, and share insights with team members. The forecasting feature helps in shaping sales strategies by analyzing expected deal close dates and probabilities.
  4. Extensive App Marketplace: The platform boasts a comprehensive app marketplace, offering a wide range of extensions and integrations across various categories such as email marketing, analytics, customer support, and more. This flexibility allows businesses to tailor Pipedrive to their specific needs by adding functionalities that enhance their sales processes.

Disadvantages of using Pipedrive over Zoho CRM

  1. Limited Customization: Users have noted that Pipedrive doesn't offer the same level of customization as some enterprise-level platforms, including Zoho CRM. This can be a limitation for businesses looking for a highly customizable CRM solution to match their specific workflows and processes.
  2. Lack of a Free Plan: Pipedrive does not offer a free plan, which could be a barrier for small businesses or startups looking to test out a CRM solution without financial commitment. Zoho CRM, on the other hand, provides a free plan for up to three users, making it more accessible for businesses on a tight budget.
  3. Challenges with Customer Support: Some users have expressed dissatisfaction with Pipedrive's customer support, particularly noting the lack of clear information on whom to contact for support when the system is down. This could pose challenges for users needing immediate assistance.
  4. Lower Ratings in Sales Force Automation and Customer Support Features: In terms of sales force automation and customer support features, Pipedrive scores lower than Zoho CRM, indicating that it may not be as robust in automating sales tasks or managing customer service inquiries as effectively as Zoho CRM.

7. Bitrix24

Bitrix24 is a complete business software platform built to make teamwork, customer relationship management (CRM), task and project management, contact center operations, website and online store creation, and HR and automation processes more efficient.

  • Use cases: Collaboration, CRM, tasks and projects, contact center, websites and online stores, HR, and automation.
  • Features: User-friendly interface, good video quality, everything in one place, and a wide range of tools for various business needs.
  • Price: Bitrix24 offers five pricing plans: Free, Basic ($49/organization/month), Standard ($99/organization/month), Professional ($199/organization/month), and Enterprise ($399/organization/month), all billed annually. A 15-day free trial is also available.
  • Reviews: Bitrix24 has an overall rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars on G2.
  • Available as a provider within Clay: No

Advantages of using Bitrix24 over Zoho CRM

  1. Real-time communication tools for remote teams: Bitrix24 is highly beneficial for geographically dispersed or remote teams, offering instant messaging and video conferencing for seamless collaboration, regardless of location .
  2. Centralized document management: The platform ensures easy access and collaboration on shared documents, facilitating efficient teamwork in a remote or distributed environment .
  3. Free plan availability: Bitrix24's ability to share folders and secure files, along with its free plan, is quite helpful for businesses looking to reduce costs.
  4. User-friendly interface: Customers appreciate Bitrix24's pleasant interface, which is orderly and easy to work with, making customer data easy to enter and access.

Disadvantages of using Bitrix24 over Zoho CRM

  1. Technical support issues: Some users have reported dissatisfaction with Bitrix24's technical support, mentioning that formal replies often come without solving problems, leaving customers to deal with issues on their own.
  2. Usability concerns: Although Bitrix24 is designed for effective remote collaboration, some users find the platform to be less intuitive, which could lead to a steeper learning curve for new users .
  3. Value for Money: While Bitrix24 offers a free plan, some users might find the paid features and overall value less compelling compared to Zoho CRM, which has a slightly higher rating for value for money.
  4. Functionality: Users have rated Zoho CRM slightly higher in terms of overall functionality, suggesting that Bitrix24 may lack in certain areas compared to its competitor.

8. Salesforce

Salesforce Sales Cloud is a leading CRM platform designed to help businesses manage their customer relationships, sales processes, and marketing efforts. As part of the Salesforce ecosystem, Sales Cloud offers a wide range of features and integrations to streamline operations and improve customer engagement.

  • Use cases: Customer relationship management, sales process management, marketing automation, and data unification.
  • Features: Real-time data unification, automation, intelligence, personalized experiences, and integrations with other Salesforce products and popular apps.
  • Price: Salesforce Sales Cloud offers a consumption-based pricing model, with the Data Cloud Starter for Marketing plan costing $108,000 USD per organization per year (billed annually). This plan requires an annual contract. Visit the Salesforce pricing page for more information.
  • Reviews: Salesforce Sales Cloud has an overall rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars on G2.
  • Available as a provider within Clay: Yes

Advantages of using Salesforce over Zoho CRM

  1. Scalability: Salesforce is recognized for its superior scalability, providing thousands of applications and a comprehensive suite of cloud products. It is designed to accommodate the needs of rapidly growing or large businesses, ensuring that it can keep up with any business requirement .
  2. Advanced Reporting and Analytics: Salesforce leads in reporting capabilities, offering unlimited custom dashboards starting at the Professional level and a broad range of pre-built and custom reports in every plan. Its advanced reporting tools enable users to organize data effectively, making it easier for businesses to make data-driven decisions.
  3. Superior Workflow Automation: Salesforce's automation capabilities extend beyond basic sales functions, incorporating the latest developments like Einstein GPT’s generative AI feature for more efficient task management. This allows for standardization and automation of common CRM routines, significantly saving time on repetitive tasks.
  4. Mobile App Functionality: Salesforce's mobile app is rated higher for usability and features an offline mode that allows access to a wider range of sales data beyond just contact information. Its AI-powered analytics and customizable elements provide a seamless experience, making it the entire CRM in the palm of your hand.

Disadvantages of using Salesforce over Zoho CRM

  1. Cost: Salesforce's premium features and scalability come at a higher cost, which can be prohibitive for smaller businesses or those with a limited budget. While it offers a vast selection of features, analytics, and support, the pricing may not be as accessible as Zoho CRM's more budget-friendly options.
  2. Complexity and Learning Curve: Despite Salesforce's extensive functionality, its wide range of features can make it somewhat challenging to use or become proficient in quickly. Many businesses may require a dedicated administrator or a managed services provider to handle CRM implementation and management, presenting a steeper learning curve compared to Zoho CRM.
  3. Less Comprehensive Contact Management Features at Base Level: While Salesforce provides advanced contact and lead management features, Zoho CRM offers more comprehensive contact management capabilities at its base level, including built-in social media CRM features that Salesforce would require an add-on for.
  4. Fewer Features in Lower-tier Plans: Salesforce's lower-tier plans offer robust data analytics and support options but lack certain advanced lead capture, communication, and conversion features available in Zoho CRM's plans. This can limit the functionality for businesses not opting for Salesforce's higher-tier plans.

9. Nimble CRM

Nimble is a CRM solution focused on social interactions, offering various features.

  • Use cases: Relationship management, prospect marketing and outreach, sales automation, inbox, and mobile CRM, workflows and automation, web forms, and integration with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
  • Features: Unify and enrich contacts, access valuable relationships from anywhere using the Nimble Prospector browser extension, manage relationships, and stay on top of everything with Nimble's CRM software.
  • Price: Monthly plan ($29.90/user/mo) and Annual plan ($24.90/user/mo, save up to 17% with annual pricing). Both plans include 25,000 contact records, 2 GB/user storage, Microsoft 365 & Google Workspace integration, Nimble Prospector, and a 14-day trial. See the Nimble pricing page for more details.
  • Reviews: Nimble has an overall rating of 4.5/5 stars on G2.
  • Available as a provider within Clay: No

Advantages of using Nimble CRM over Zoho CRM

  1. Higher Ease of Use and Setup: Nimble CRM is found to be easier to use, set up, and administer compared to Zoho CRM, offering a user-friendly experience that can significantly benefit businesses looking for a CRM that is quick to implement and navigate .
  2. Better Customer Support: Nimble CRM users have reported a higher satisfaction rate with the platform's customer support compared to Zoho CRM users. This aspect is crucial for businesses that rely on timely and effective support to address their issues.
  3. Superior Social CRM Features: Nimble CRM offers enhanced Social CRM features, providing better capabilities for social data and social engagement. This is particularly beneficial for businesses that actively engage with their customers on social media platforms .
  4. More Effective Integrations with 3rd-party Software: Nimble CRM boasts better integration capabilities with third-party software, including marketing automation and compensation management tools, offering a more seamless experience for businesses that use a variety of applications .

Disadvantages of using Nimble CRM over Zoho CRM

  1. Limited Functionality for Larger Databases: Some users have reported difficulties with managing large databases of contacts in Nimble CRM, suggesting that it might not be as scalable as Zoho CRM for businesses with extensive customer databases.
  2. Annoyances with Spam Ads/Suggested Info Pages: Nimble CRM users have mentioned that spam ads or suggested information pages within the platform can be a bit annoying, which could potentially hinder the user experience.
  3. Fewer Customization Options: While Nimble CRM excels in ease of use and setup, it may offer fewer customization options compared to Zoho CRM, which could be a limitation for businesses requiring highly tailored CRM solutions.
  4. Less Comprehensive Suite of Tools Compared to Zoho CRM: Zoho CRM provides a more comprehensive suite of tools and features, which may offer deeper functionality in certain areas compared to Nimble CRM. This could be a disadvantage for businesses looking for a more all-encompassing CRM solution.

10. Freshworks CRM

Freshservice, developed by Freshworks, is an IT service management solution designed to streamline processes across departments with its modern and intuitive interface, AI and automation capabilities.

  • Use cases: IT service management, IT operations management, IT asset management, and project management.
  • Features: Modern and intuitive interface, AI and automation capabilities, various modules for different IT management needs, and industry expert recommendations.
  • Price: Freshservice offers four pricing plans: Starter ($29/agent/month), Growth ($59/agent/month), Pro ($115/agent/month), and Enterprise ($145/agent/month). A free trial is available for each tier.
  • Reviews: Freshworks has an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars from 7,137 reviews on G2.
  • Available as a provider within Clay: No

Advantages of using Freshworks CRM over Zoho CRM

  1. AI and Automation Capabilities: Freshworks CRM stands out with its AI Assistant and workflow automation abilities, which are designed to significantly enhance business growth and customer management through effective data sorting and lead management. These features are praised for their practical analysis and control of historical data, improving various processes.
  2. User-Friendly Interface: Freshworks provides a more intuitive and user-friendly interface, which is appreciated for its ease of use. This aspect is particularly highlighted in its data deduplication functionality, powered by an AI engine that helps in efficiently managing customer contacts and alerting users about deal rotting.
  3. Communication Options: The platform offers a wide array of communication options, including email templates and call recording, which enhance customer interaction and management. This is a key advantage for businesses focused on maintaining strong customer relationships.
  4. Superior Mobile Access: Freshworks CRM offers exceptional mobile access, scoring significantly higher in this area compared to Zoho CRM. This makes it an excellent choice for teams that require constant access to CRM functionalities on the go.

Disadvantages of using Freshworks CRM over Zoho CRM

  1. Opportunity and Integration Management: Zoho CRM outperforms Freshworks CRM in opportunity management and integration with email clients, such as Outlook or Gmail. These are critical features for businesses that rely heavily on email communications and require sophisticated opportunity tracking capabilities.
  2. Marketing Automation: Zoho CRM offers more advanced marketing automation features, including lead management and email marketing, compared to Freshworks CRM. This could be a significant disadvantage for businesses that prioritize comprehensive marketing efforts.
  3. Customization and Security Features: Zoho CRM provides better customization options and higher security measures. It allows for extensive custom fields, objects, and API for custom integration, along with superior security features like single sign-on capability and role-based user permissions, which are essential for businesses with complex CRM needs and stringent data security requirements.
  4. Customer Service and Support: While both platforms offer various levels of customer service and support, Zoho CRM has a slightly higher support rating, indicating a potentially better customer support experience compared to Freshworks CRM.

Enrich your data with Clay!

Finalizing our comparison of Zoho CRM and its peers, Clay emerges as a leader with its refined data enrichment solutions and network-building capabilities. By deploying a multi-level data integration approach with input from over 50 sources, Clay provides top-notch precision and extensive scope. Ideal for the needs of sales and marketing experts, Clay eases the challenge of handling multiple data streams. With straightforward interfaces and multiple pricing tiers, Clay is your go-to for advancing data and network relations. Explore elite data enrichment—Sign up today with Clay for a transformative professional networking and data oversight experience.

Zoho CRM is a popular customer relationship management software that helps businesses streamline their interactions with customers and manage various aspects of their sales process. In this article will summarize the top 10 alternatives to Zoho CRM.

If you’re looking to get the most out of your CRM, Clay is the best tool for you. With Clay, you tap into a network of 50+ data providers, processing them all in parallel with its unique waterfalling approach. Allowing you to use data enrichment from all of our amazing providers, such as Clearbit, Lusha, and much more from a single platform. Clay's smooth integration with existing CRM systems streamlines your workflow, enabling you to concentrate on your core tasks while it filling out the gaps in your data.

1. Apptivo

Apptivo is a business management software that makes running your business easier by handling different parts of it efficiently.

  • Use cases: Sales automation, marketing, data management, security, intelligence and reporting, integration, mobile apps, premium support, and professional services.
  • Features: Sales automation, marketing, data management, security, intelligence and reports, integration, mobile apps, premium support, and professional services.
  • Price: Apptivo offers four pricing plans: Lite, Premium, Ultimate, and Enterprise. Prices range from $10 to $25 per user per month, with a 30-day free trial available.
  • Reviews: Apptivo has an overall rating of 4.4/5 on G2.
  • Available as a provider within Clay: No

Advantages of using Apptivo over Zoho CRM

  1. Better customer support experience: Users commend Apptivo for its responsive and effective customer support, highlighting the Chat Team, Customer Service Team, and Technical Team's assistance, in contrast to some users' dissatisfaction with Zoho CRM's customer support.
  2. Focused project management features: Apptivo offers comprehensive project management tools, including task milestones, project newsfeeds, and the capability to manage subprojects, which are designed to streamline project completion and team updates.
  3. Enhanced team collaboration tools: The Team app in Apptivo allows for better organization and collaboration by enabling teams creation within the platform and task assignments, facilitating effective management of group tasks.
  4. Superior integration with external applications: Apptivo integrates with a wide array of applications like Slack, G Suite, and QuickBooks, enhancing productivity, document management, and billing processes.

Disadvantages of using Apptivo over Zoho CRM

  1. Limited customization and automation in sales processes: Apptivo may not offer the same level of sales process customization and automation as Zoho CRM, which provides extensive capabilities in lead and deal management, and workflow automation.
  2. Potentially overwhelming feature set for some users: The extensive features and settings in Apptivo can be challenging to navigate for smaller teams or those with simpler needs, making the platform potentially overwhelming.
  3. Narrower focus on sales force automation: Compared to Zoho CRM's comprehensive sales force automation features, Apptivo might offer less depth in areas such as lead generation, data entry automation, and email notifications.
  4. Less extensive marketing automation tools: Apptivo may have fewer marketing automation options compared to Zoho CRM, which could limit its effectiveness for businesses with a significant focus on marketing activities.

2. Agile CRM

Agile CRM is a customer relationship management system that offers a comprehensive suite of sales, marketing, and service functionalities. With integrations such as Google Apps, Twilio, and LinkedIn, Agile CRM aims to streamline business processes and improve customer engagement.

  • Use cases: Automating sales, managing contacts, tracking deals, scheduling appointments, email marketing, landing page building, social CRM, mobile marketing, helpdesk, ticket feedback, knowledge base, and smart views.
  • Features: Sales, marketing, and service functionalities, integrations with Google Apps, Twilio, and LinkedIn, and access to 30+ apps through the 500APPS initiative.
  • Price: Agile CRM offers four pricing plans: Free, Starter, Regular, and Enterprise. The Free plan is available for 10 users with no credit card required.
  • Reviews: Agile CRM has an overall rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars on G2.
  • Available as a provider within Clay: No

Advantages of using Agile CRM over Zoho CRM

  1. Integrated Platform: Agile CRM combines sales, marketing, and customer service on a single platform, offering a unified solution that automates business processes across these key areas, ensuring consistency of communication and a smooth transition between sales and marketing functions.
  2. Social Media and Digital Marketing Tools: It provides tools for connecting to social media, enhancing digital marketing efforts, analyzing data, gaining customer insights, tracking communications, and personalizing engagement with customers.
  3. Innovative Help Desk: Agile CRM offers an innovative help desk to enhance customer relations by providing personalized service, allowing interactions and engagements with customers, understanding them better, and proactively resolving their queries.
  4. Affordability: Agile CRM is highlighted for its affordability and is particularly appealing to small and medium businesses looking for a simplified CRM solution with comprehensive functionality.

Disadvantages of using Agile CRM over Zoho CRM

  1. Third-Party Software Integrations: While Agile CRM integrates with essential productivity tools and social media apps, Zoho CRM offers more extensive integrations, including Slack, Google Suite, Office 365, Mailchimp, QuickBooks, WhatsApp, Facebook, RingCentral, among others, providing more flexibility and enhancing mobile accessibility.
  2. User Experience and Support: Agile CRM has lower user ratings in areas such as usability and support compared to Zoho CRM, indicating some users may find it less intuitive or experience difficulties with customer service.
  3. Analytics and CRM Tools: Zoho CRM is recognized for its seamless combination of analytics and CRM tools, offering advanced analytics integrated with the CRM to better understand customers, simplify business processes, and boost productivity and growth. This makes Zoho CRM more suitable for a broader range of businesses, including large enterprises.
  4. Sales Force Automation and AI Assistance: Zoho CRM provides advanced sales force automation and an AI conversational assistant to optimize sales and marketing efforts. It automates repetitive tasks and complex processes, empowering sales agents to engage more effectively with customers, which might offer a more sophisticated solution for businesses with complex sales processes.

3. Insightly

Insightly is a CRM platform designed to help businesses manage their customer relationships, sales, and projects. With a focus on ease of use and customizability, Insightly offers a range of features to streamline processes and improve collaboration across teams.

  • Use cases: Customer relationship management, sales tracking, project management, marketing automation, customer service, and app integration.
  • Features: Contact and lead management, sales pipeline tracking, project management, custom reports and dashboards, email tracking, and integrations with popular apps like Google Workspace and Microsoft 365.
  • Price: Insightly CRM offers three pricing plans: Plus ($29/user/month), Professional ($49/user/month), and Enterprise ($99/user/month). A free 14-day trial is available for each product.
  • Reviews: Insightly CRM has an overall rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars on G2.
  • Available as a provider within Clay: No

Advantages of using Insightly over Zoho CRM

  1. Better Customer Support and Learning Resources: Insightly is noted for its dedicated customer support and a focus on CRM learning for beginners. It offers an effective online help center with additional paid support options, and its knowledgebase is more accessible compared to Zoho CRM, making it standout for getting users up to speed quickly .
  2. Ease of Use: Insightly provides a more user-friendly experience with less of a learning curve than Zoho CRM. Its dashboard can be easily navigated, and the entire CRM can be customized with simplicity, offering a visual layout that efficiently meets users' needs .
  3. Innovative Sales Pipeline Visualization: Insightly uses a horizontal pipeline to visualize sales stages, extending its value into full-blown project management. This allows for a unique approach to managing sales opportunities as projects from end to end, offering a clear visualization that differs from the traditional vertical funnel used by many CRMs.
  4. Effective Workflow Automation for Small Teams: Insightly automates the entire customer journey, making it an excellent choice for small teams that may find themselves limited by their capacity. It uses a simple but effective flowchart approach to trigger customizable actions based on new and potential customer behaviors, significantly reducing manual work.

Disadvantages of using Insightly over Zoho CRM

  1. Limited Email Integration and System Issues: Users have reported that Insightly's email system is poor, lacking hard integration and relying on a forwarding system that does not meet all business needs. Additionally, there are mentions of persistent issues within the platform that may not be quickly resolved.
  2. Less Comprehensive in Certain Technical Aspects: When comparing technical requirements like availability and scalability, integration and extensibility, mobile support, and platform security, Insightly lags behind Zoho CRM. Zoho CRM offers broader support and a higher level of customization and extension possibilities.
  3. Fewer Pre-Built Reports and Granular Tools: While both Insightly and Zoho offer robust reporting capabilities, Insightly lacks the same level of classification and granular tools that Zoho provides. Zoho CRM includes more than 40 pre-built reports and allows for more detailed custom reports, offering a slight advantage in data analytics capabilities.
  4. More Expensive Plans Compared to Zoho CRM: Insightly's pricing plans are generally higher than Zoho CRM's, which may present a barrier for small businesses or startups with tight budgets. Zoho CRM offers more affordable plans with a broader range of features included at lower price points.

4. Copper

Copper is a CRM software solution designed to help businesses organize contacts, automate tasks, and manage deals. With a focus on integration with Google Workspace, Copper is suitable for various industries such as agencies, consulting, real estate, corporate development, and technology.

  • Use cases: Contact organization, task automation, deal management, email and marketing tools, and report generation.
  • Features: Google Workspace integration, customizable fields and dashboards, email sequences and drip campaigns, lead scoring, LinkedIn integration, and more.
  • Price: Copper offers three pricing plans: Basic ($29 per user/month), Professional ($69 per user/month), and Business ($134 per user/month), all billed annually. A free trial is also available.
  • Reviews: Copper has an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars on G2.
  • Available as a provider within Clay: No

Advantages of using Copper over Zoho CRM

  1. Ease of Use and Setup: Copper is found to be easier to use, set up, and administer compared to Zoho CRM, offering a more user-friendly experience for businesses .
  2. Better Integration with GSuite: Copper seamlessly integrates with GSuite, providing a significant advantage for businesses that rely heavily on Google's suite of productivity tools.
  3. Higher Security Ratings: In security features, Copper slightly edges out Zoho CRM, offering robust security measures that businesses can rely on .
  4. Superior Customer Support: Users have rated Copper's customer support higher than Zoho CRM's, indicating a more satisfactory post-sale support experience.

Disadvantages of using Copper over Zoho CRM

  1. Limited Customization and Integration Options: Copper falls short in customization and third-party integration capabilities compared to Zoho CRM, offering fewer options for custom fields, objects, and integration with other software .
  2. Lower Functionality for Advanced CRM Needs: In terms of advanced CRM features like email marketing and social CRM, Copper is significantly outperformed by Zoho CRM, indicating a gap in functionality for comprehensive marketing efforts .
  3. Data Recovery Concerns: Copper does not offer confirmations of cancellation in the UI or via email, and if records are accidentally deleted, they cannot be recovered without a manual backup, posing a risk for data management.
  4. Less Value for Money in Certain Areas: While Copper scores well on ease of use, it is rated lower than Zoho CRM on value for money and functionality, suggesting that Zoho might offer a more comprehensive set of features per dollar spent.

5. Hubspot

HubSpot is a comprehensive business software platform that integrates marketing, sales, customer service, content management, operations, and commerce tools. With a focus on flexibility and power, HubSpot's customer platform is designed to help businesses generate high-quality leads, automate processes, and provide excellent customer service.

  • Use cases: Lead generation, marketing and sales automation, customer service, content management, app and data syncing, and B2B commerce.
  • Features: AI tools, integrations with popular apps like Google Contacts and Mailchimp, customer support, onboarding services, free courses and certifications, developer tools, and startup programs.
  • Price: HubSpot offers three pricing plans: Starter, Professional ($800/month), and Enterprise ($3,600/month). Users can choose to pay monthly or commit annually, with a 10% discount for upfront annual payments.
  • Reviews: HubSpot Sales Hub has an overall rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars on G2.
  • Available as a provider within Clay: Yes

Advantages of using HubSpot over Zoho CRM

  1. User Interface and Ease of Use: HubSpot offers a visually oriented and intuitive interface, making it easier for users to navigate and access features. It's organized into seven distinct categories, simplifying the process of finding what you need, such as creating landing pages or setting up automation .
  2. Onboarding and Learning Resources: HubSpot provides robust onboarding guides, including a dedicated onboarding hub with text guides, learning milestones, and real-time automated demos. This comprehensive approach to user education facilitates a quicker and less frustrating onboarding experience compared to Zoho .
  3. Lead Management Features: HubSpot offers advanced lead management capabilities, with more sorting and grouping options than Zoho, although more advanced features like contact scoring require upgrading to a more expensive plan.
  4. Marketing Automation: Both platforms offer marketing automation, but HubSpot provides sequences and workflows with presets or the ability to build custom ones from scratch, making it a strong choice for businesses looking to automate their marketing efforts efficiently.

Disadvantages of using HubSpot over Zoho CRM

  1. Complexity for Larger Sales Teams: Companies with large sales teams might find HubSpot's CRM not advanced enough for their needs, lacking in customization options which can be a significant disadvantage for businesses requiring extensive customization.
  2. Pricing: HubSpot's CRM platform, while free, lacks some critical features like marketing automation and lead management that many businesses require, pushing users towards its Sales Hub, which can be expensive for smaller businesses.
  3. Limitations in Free and Lower Tier Plans: HubSpot restricts the number of automation instances on its entry-level plan, requiring upgrades for unlimited rules, which may not be viable for all businesses.
  4. Custom Reporting: Custom reporting is available in HubSpot but only for users of the Professional and Enterprise plans, potentially making it cost-prohibitive for small businesses that need detailed analytics and reporting.

6. Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a CRM platform that emphasizes the principle of activity-based selling, offering a range of products and features to help businesses control the actions that drive deals towards completion.

  • Use cases: Activity-based selling, sales process management, email marketing, project management, marketplace integrations, lead generation, and web visitor tracking.
  • Features: Automation, CRM, customization, email and communications, insights and reports, integrations, leads, privacy, processes, pipeline, and activities.
  • Price: Pipedrive offers five pricing plans: Essential ($14.90/user/month), Advanced ($27.90 per user/month), Professional ($49.90 per user/month), Power ($64.90/user/month), and Enterprise ($99.00/user/month), all billed annually. A free 14-day trial is available for all plans.
  • Reviews: Pipedrive has an overall rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars on G2.
  • Available as a provider within Clay: Yes

Advantages of using Pipedrive over Zoho CRM

  1. User Interface and Experience: Pipedrive is praised for its polished user interface and user experience, often described as the iOS to Zoho CRM's Android. It's designed to provide a more intuitive and streamlined experience for users, with made-to-fit features that cater to sales teams' needs.
  2. AI Accessibility Across Plans: Unlike Zoho CRM, where AI features are only unlocked with higher-priced plans, Pipedrive offers most of its features, including AI, across all plans. This ensures users have access to AI capabilities from the start, without the need for upgrading to significantly more expensive options.
  3. Effective Sales Reporting and Forecasting: Pipedrive allows the creation of detailed and attractive sales reports and forecasts. Its reporting tools are intuitive, enabling users to easily track sales growth, set goals, and share insights with team members. The forecasting feature helps in shaping sales strategies by analyzing expected deal close dates and probabilities.
  4. Extensive App Marketplace: The platform boasts a comprehensive app marketplace, offering a wide range of extensions and integrations across various categories such as email marketing, analytics, customer support, and more. This flexibility allows businesses to tailor Pipedrive to their specific needs by adding functionalities that enhance their sales processes.

Disadvantages of using Pipedrive over Zoho CRM

  1. Limited Customization: Users have noted that Pipedrive doesn't offer the same level of customization as some enterprise-level platforms, including Zoho CRM. This can be a limitation for businesses looking for a highly customizable CRM solution to match their specific workflows and processes.
  2. Lack of a Free Plan: Pipedrive does not offer a free plan, which could be a barrier for small businesses or startups looking to test out a CRM solution without financial commitment. Zoho CRM, on the other hand, provides a free plan for up to three users, making it more accessible for businesses on a tight budget.
  3. Challenges with Customer Support: Some users have expressed dissatisfaction with Pipedrive's customer support, particularly noting the lack of clear information on whom to contact for support when the system is down. This could pose challenges for users needing immediate assistance.
  4. Lower Ratings in Sales Force Automation and Customer Support Features: In terms of sales force automation and customer support features, Pipedrive scores lower than Zoho CRM, indicating that it may not be as robust in automating sales tasks or managing customer service inquiries as effectively as Zoho CRM.

7. Bitrix24

Bitrix24 is a complete business software platform built to make teamwork, customer relationship management (CRM), task and project management, contact center operations, website and online store creation, and HR and automation processes more efficient.

  • Use cases: Collaboration, CRM, tasks and projects, contact center, websites and online stores, HR, and automation.
  • Features: User-friendly interface, good video quality, everything in one place, and a wide range of tools for various business needs.
  • Price: Bitrix24 offers five pricing plans: Free, Basic ($49/organization/month), Standard ($99/organization/month), Professional ($199/organization/month), and Enterprise ($399/organization/month), all billed annually. A 15-day free trial is also available.
  • Reviews: Bitrix24 has an overall rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars on G2.
  • Available as a provider within Clay: No

Advantages of using Bitrix24 over Zoho CRM

  1. Real-time communication tools for remote teams: Bitrix24 is highly beneficial for geographically dispersed or remote teams, offering instant messaging and video conferencing for seamless collaboration, regardless of location .
  2. Centralized document management: The platform ensures easy access and collaboration on shared documents, facilitating efficient teamwork in a remote or distributed environment .
  3. Free plan availability: Bitrix24's ability to share folders and secure files, along with its free plan, is quite helpful for businesses looking to reduce costs.
  4. User-friendly interface: Customers appreciate Bitrix24's pleasant interface, which is orderly and easy to work with, making customer data easy to enter and access.

Disadvantages of using Bitrix24 over Zoho CRM

  1. Technical support issues: Some users have reported dissatisfaction with Bitrix24's technical support, mentioning that formal replies often come without solving problems, leaving customers to deal with issues on their own.
  2. Usability concerns: Although Bitrix24 is designed for effective remote collaboration, some users find the platform to be less intuitive, which could lead to a steeper learning curve for new users .
  3. Value for Money: While Bitrix24 offers a free plan, some users might find the paid features and overall value less compelling compared to Zoho CRM, which has a slightly higher rating for value for money.
  4. Functionality: Users have rated Zoho CRM slightly higher in terms of overall functionality, suggesting that Bitrix24 may lack in certain areas compared to its competitor.

8. Salesforce

Salesforce Sales Cloud is a leading CRM platform designed to help businesses manage their customer relationships, sales processes, and marketing efforts. As part of the Salesforce ecosystem, Sales Cloud offers a wide range of features and integrations to streamline operations and improve customer engagement.

  • Use cases: Customer relationship management, sales process management, marketing automation, and data unification.
  • Features: Real-time data unification, automation, intelligence, personalized experiences, and integrations with other Salesforce products and popular apps.
  • Price: Salesforce Sales Cloud offers a consumption-based pricing model, with the Data Cloud Starter for Marketing plan costing $108,000 USD per organization per year (billed annually). This plan requires an annual contract. Visit the Salesforce pricing page for more information.
  • Reviews: Salesforce Sales Cloud has an overall rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars on G2.
  • Available as a provider within Clay: Yes

Advantages of using Salesforce over Zoho CRM

  1. Scalability: Salesforce is recognized for its superior scalability, providing thousands of applications and a comprehensive suite of cloud products. It is designed to accommodate the needs of rapidly growing or large businesses, ensuring that it can keep up with any business requirement .
  2. Advanced Reporting and Analytics: Salesforce leads in reporting capabilities, offering unlimited custom dashboards starting at the Professional level and a broad range of pre-built and custom reports in every plan. Its advanced reporting tools enable users to organize data effectively, making it easier for businesses to make data-driven decisions.
  3. Superior Workflow Automation: Salesforce's automation capabilities extend beyond basic sales functions, incorporating the latest developments like Einstein GPT’s generative AI feature for more efficient task management. This allows for standardization and automation of common CRM routines, significantly saving time on repetitive tasks.
  4. Mobile App Functionality: Salesforce's mobile app is rated higher for usability and features an offline mode that allows access to a wider range of sales data beyond just contact information. Its AI-powered analytics and customizable elements provide a seamless experience, making it the entire CRM in the palm of your hand.

Disadvantages of using Salesforce over Zoho CRM

  1. Cost: Salesforce's premium features and scalability come at a higher cost, which can be prohibitive for smaller businesses or those with a limited budget. While it offers a vast selection of features, analytics, and support, the pricing may not be as accessible as Zoho CRM's more budget-friendly options.
  2. Complexity and Learning Curve: Despite Salesforce's extensive functionality, its wide range of features can make it somewhat challenging to use or become proficient in quickly. Many businesses may require a dedicated administrator or a managed services provider to handle CRM implementation and management, presenting a steeper learning curve compared to Zoho CRM.
  3. Less Comprehensive Contact Management Features at Base Level: While Salesforce provides advanced contact and lead management features, Zoho CRM offers more comprehensive contact management capabilities at its base level, including built-in social media CRM features that Salesforce would require an add-on for.
  4. Fewer Features in Lower-tier Plans: Salesforce's lower-tier plans offer robust data analytics and support options but lack certain advanced lead capture, communication, and conversion features available in Zoho CRM's plans. This can limit the functionality for businesses not opting for Salesforce's higher-tier plans.

9. Nimble CRM

Nimble is a CRM solution focused on social interactions, offering various features.

  • Use cases: Relationship management, prospect marketing and outreach, sales automation, inbox, and mobile CRM, workflows and automation, web forms, and integration with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
  • Features: Unify and enrich contacts, access valuable relationships from anywhere using the Nimble Prospector browser extension, manage relationships, and stay on top of everything with Nimble's CRM software.
  • Price: Monthly plan ($29.90/user/mo) and Annual plan ($24.90/user/mo, save up to 17% with annual pricing). Both plans include 25,000 contact records, 2 GB/user storage, Microsoft 365 & Google Workspace integration, Nimble Prospector, and a 14-day trial. See the Nimble pricing page for more details.
  • Reviews: Nimble has an overall rating of 4.5/5 stars on G2.
  • Available as a provider within Clay: No

Advantages of using Nimble CRM over Zoho CRM

  1. Higher Ease of Use and Setup: Nimble CRM is found to be easier to use, set up, and administer compared to Zoho CRM, offering a user-friendly experience that can significantly benefit businesses looking for a CRM that is quick to implement and navigate .
  2. Better Customer Support: Nimble CRM users have reported a higher satisfaction rate with the platform's customer support compared to Zoho CRM users. This aspect is crucial for businesses that rely on timely and effective support to address their issues.
  3. Superior Social CRM Features: Nimble CRM offers enhanced Social CRM features, providing better capabilities for social data and social engagement. This is particularly beneficial for businesses that actively engage with their customers on social media platforms .
  4. More Effective Integrations with 3rd-party Software: Nimble CRM boasts better integration capabilities with third-party software, including marketing automation and compensation management tools, offering a more seamless experience for businesses that use a variety of applications .

Disadvantages of using Nimble CRM over Zoho CRM

  1. Limited Functionality for Larger Databases: Some users have reported difficulties with managing large databases of contacts in Nimble CRM, suggesting that it might not be as scalable as Zoho CRM for businesses with extensive customer databases.
  2. Annoyances with Spam Ads/Suggested Info Pages: Nimble CRM users have mentioned that spam ads or suggested information pages within the platform can be a bit annoying, which could potentially hinder the user experience.
  3. Fewer Customization Options: While Nimble CRM excels in ease of use and setup, it may offer fewer customization options compared to Zoho CRM, which could be a limitation for businesses requiring highly tailored CRM solutions.
  4. Less Comprehensive Suite of Tools Compared to Zoho CRM: Zoho CRM provides a more comprehensive suite of tools and features, which may offer deeper functionality in certain areas compared to Nimble CRM. This could be a disadvantage for businesses looking for a more all-encompassing CRM solution.

10. Freshworks CRM

Freshservice, developed by Freshworks, is an IT service management solution designed to streamline processes across departments with its modern and intuitive interface, AI and automation capabilities.

  • Use cases: IT service management, IT operations management, IT asset management, and project management.
  • Features: Modern and intuitive interface, AI and automation capabilities, various modules for different IT management needs, and industry expert recommendations.
  • Price: Freshservice offers four pricing plans: Starter ($29/agent/month), Growth ($59/agent/month), Pro ($115/agent/month), and Enterprise ($145/agent/month). A free trial is available for each tier.
  • Reviews: Freshworks has an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars from 7,137 reviews on G2.
  • Available as a provider within Clay: No

Advantages of using Freshworks CRM over Zoho CRM

  1. AI and Automation Capabilities: Freshworks CRM stands out with its AI Assistant and workflow automation abilities, which are designed to significantly enhance business growth and customer management through effective data sorting and lead management. These features are praised for their practical analysis and control of historical data, improving various processes.
  2. User-Friendly Interface: Freshworks provides a more intuitive and user-friendly interface, which is appreciated for its ease of use. This aspect is particularly highlighted in its data deduplication functionality, powered by an AI engine that helps in efficiently managing customer contacts and alerting users about deal rotting.
  3. Communication Options: The platform offers a wide array of communication options, including email templates and call recording, which enhance customer interaction and management. This is a key advantage for businesses focused on maintaining strong customer relationships.
  4. Superior Mobile Access: Freshworks CRM offers exceptional mobile access, scoring significantly higher in this area compared to Zoho CRM. This makes it an excellent choice for teams that require constant access to CRM functionalities on the go.

Disadvantages of using Freshworks CRM over Zoho CRM

  1. Opportunity and Integration Management: Zoho CRM outperforms Freshworks CRM in opportunity management and integration with email clients, such as Outlook or Gmail. These are critical features for businesses that rely heavily on email communications and require sophisticated opportunity tracking capabilities.
  2. Marketing Automation: Zoho CRM offers more advanced marketing automation features, including lead management and email marketing, compared to Freshworks CRM. This could be a significant disadvantage for businesses that prioritize comprehensive marketing efforts.
  3. Customization and Security Features: Zoho CRM provides better customization options and higher security measures. It allows for extensive custom fields, objects, and API for custom integration, along with superior security features like single sign-on capability and role-based user permissions, which are essential for businesses with complex CRM needs and stringent data security requirements.
  4. Customer Service and Support: While both platforms offer various levels of customer service and support, Zoho CRM has a slightly higher support rating, indicating a potentially better customer support experience compared to Freshworks CRM.

Enrich your data with Clay!

Finalizing our comparison of Zoho CRM and its peers, Clay emerges as a leader with its refined data enrichment solutions and network-building capabilities. By deploying a multi-level data integration approach with input from over 50 sources, Clay provides top-notch precision and extensive scope. Ideal for the needs of sales and marketing experts, Clay eases the challenge of handling multiple data streams. With straightforward interfaces and multiple pricing tiers, Clay is your go-to for advancing data and network relations. Explore elite data enrichment—Sign up today with Clay for a transformative professional networking and data oversight experience.

More Articles