Sales

Salesforce Alternatives

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Salesforce is a dependable CRM (customer relationship management) software that thousands of businesses use everyday. They offer unique reporting features and automations that keep your business flooded with revenue without lifting a finger. But the price tag can be a shock and it isn’t the easiest platform to get the hang of. Depending on how important that is, there may be better CRM options for you. Let’s talk all about the alternatives to Salesforce and how they stack up in critical areas. 

The Best Salesforce Alternatives

HubSpot is a top-notch CRM that many feel is the best out there. You have to be the judge. They are the free software that you won’t believe is free. You get unlimited users on an easy-to-use platform, plus reporting that rivals the best paid software and plenty more. Get started for free here. 

EngageBay is the CRM built for your small business. But you get big value. The software’s simplicity belies the ability to create email, web forms, landing pages, and 360-degree views of your customers. Start a free demo or sign up for EngageBay’s free-forever plan today

Monday Sales CRM is the perfect balance between project management and customer relationship management. Set up your projects—be they for sales, product development, client work, or anything else—and follow through with your customer insights all in one place. The versatility is unmatched. Get the best of both worlds with Monday Sales CRM. 

More Top CRM Services

If you’re looking for our expert recommendations about CRM software, we have a list for you. Each provider has been critiqued based on hours of research. If you don’t want to get lost in the black hole of the internet, searching for the best and fastest way to select a CRM, you can trust us and get started with quickly by seeing all of our top CRM picks

Our Take on Salesforce

Salesforce home page

Our Salesforce company review highlights the reasons Salesforce is a top contender in the CRM space. However it’s not the best overall for most businesses because of the high price tag and steep learning curve. For that reason, it didn’t even make the cut of our list of the best CRM  software.

But that doesn’t stop hundreds of businesses from signing up every year. Salesforce is powerful and its robust feature set fits like a glove with many organizations. With that said, there are several alternatives that might meet your needs better than Salesforce. And we want you to know about them. 

Salesforce vs. HubSpot

Salesforce is perfect for scaling from a small business to something much bigger. But HubSpot offers some growth-minded advanced features like marketing automation for much cheaper. Plus, HubSpot doesn’t lock away 24/7 support on only the highest-priced plan like Salesforce does. And with the clear breakdown of industries HubSpot services, they make it easy to start with a foundation tailored to your organizational focus. So, no matter your business, they have you covered.  

HubSpot home page

HubSpot is known for being able to get started with a robust CRM for free. In fact it’s the best option on our top list because of its affordability and ease of use. They actually help you learn as you are using the software, so many CRM novices enjoy getting the hang of the platform. Their interface is intuitive, which lessens the learning curve even more. With HubSpot, you can get a powerful CRM and save thousands of dollars every year that can be funneled back into your business. 

Salesforce vs. Zoho CRM

Reporting is a huge part of using CRM software and Salesforce does a fantastic job in this regard. Their Tableau Analytics offers a simple drag-and-drop interface for building reports, which is light years ahead of the competition in terms of visibility, customization and speed. 

Zoho CRM home page

Zoho CRM is also great for reporting but usually works best when you include all the other apps Zoho uses. That’s the biggest downside to Zoho CRM. It works well within the ecosystem they provide but doesn’t make the reporting easy if you’re pulling data from non-Zoho software. But the reporting is easy to create and focuses on the most important things when trying to manage your data. That’s why it’s #2 on our top list post and a great (cheaper) alternative for a CRM with quality analytics. 

Salesforce vs. Freshsales Suite

Automation with Salesforce is flexible and straightforward, something any business owner can appreciate. It stands out above most CRMs on the market because of all the integrations and custom apps that play nicely with the software. Manage payments, order management, and more with the integrations available. 

Freshsales home page

Freshsales ranks highly in our eyes in this regard as well. What makes it better than Salesforce is the lack of limitations. If you can think of a sales or marketing workflow you want to automate, Freshsales can probably do it. For one, it can take leads and immediately score them so you know they are top priority—something not offered by Salesforce. Best of all, you get full usage of automations on any paid Freshsales Suite plan.

Salesforce vs. Salesflare

Salesforce is definitely a sales-first platform. But they also focus on making marketing easier through targeting and personalization features. You get a handful of useful tools that can be employed in boosting your marketing efforts. But not every business seeking a CRM wants or needs these features included.

Salesflare home page

If you want a CRM that doesn’t mess around with anything but boosting your sales operations, Salesflare offers more features to close on sales in the entry-level plan than other CRMs’ base plans. It doesn’t come close to the power and flexibility Salesforce provides its users, but they do make getting started easy because they provide a ton of resources and a very simple onboarding process. You also get a seven-day free trial that can be extended to 30 days just for following all of the steps in the initial setup checklist. You are rewarded for simply learning to use the software.  

Salesforce vs. EngageBay

Salesforce specializes in growing side by side with you as you progress through your business journey. Over 150,000 businesses can attest to growing with Salesforce. It’s no contest in terms of scalability, but it can be overwhelming if your small business isn’t primed for major growth in the near future. 

EngageBay home page

EngageBay is a great CRM that helps tons of simple small businesses stay organized and grow their sales pipeline. While they don’t offer options for pursuing larger opportunities this all-in-one tool can work wonders for agencies, localized operations, and others who are growth-minded but not set on conquering the world. You can use advanced tools like an autoresponder and automated sequences on EngageBay’s free plan or lead scoring and SMS marketing for just $12 per user per month. If you are just starting out or don’t have designs on aggressive growth, you can opt for EngageBay without being disappointed. 

Salesforce vs. Streak

Organizing your contacts is an essential quality of CRMs. Salesforce has AI-driven features and an interface that makes it easy to find and communicate with your contacts, whether they’re new prospects and leads or established customers. That aspect of the software is only enhanced by the integrations with different email platforms and sales tools. It’s a one-stop shop for external communication and personalization. 

Streak home page

Streak is more focused on Gmail and communicating through that platform specifically. So if you love Gmail and want something that bumps up your sales and marketing communications within it, using Streak is ideal for you. It allows you to streamline your communication and add powerful tools to your Gmail inbox, though its automations and mobile app leave something to be desired.

Salesforce vs. Monday Sales CRM

While Salesforce is a CRM first and foremost, it does offer features for loyalty management, making better decisions on how to interact with your customers, and app development. Those are nice extras, but it’s hardly able to mimic actual project management software.

Monday.com home page

Monday Sales CRM is incredible and unique for being both project management software and a CRM. While the entry-level plan is limited with automations, it compensates with the ability to customize your CRM in ways Salesforce can’t. It’s very powerful because the combination of CRM and PM increases productivity for any work your company does. You also get unlimited contacts, so you are not stuck paying for a package that squeezes you if you have a large list. All in all, Monday Sales CRM is not as powerful as Salesforce, but you can get two key platforms for the price of one. 

Summary 

Finding the right CRM can be summed up into one word: functionality. You need to find what tool works best for you based on how its features fit your business and the users that lean on the CRM to build customer relationships. 

Salesforce is a great provider because they offer massive scalability and loads of features. However there are alternatives that do several things better and are flat-out cheaper. Some are even free. So comb through this alternatives list as much as you need to. Also, check out our post on the best CRM software to give you a clearer view of how each option can benefit your business in a very specific way. 


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