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Searching for a good CRM (customer relationship management software)?
You’ll soon come across Zoho CRM. It seems that its free plan tops the list of many recommendation websites, especially for small business owners.
But how free is free exactly? And is it worth getting into its ecosystem if the paid plans are exorbitant? Don’t worry, we’ve got all your Zoho CRM pricing questions answered here.
How Much Does Zoho CRM Cost?
The most attractive plan for small teams (under 3 users) is its free plan. That’s $0 forever, including features to manage leads, contacts, accounts and tasks. The main limits are for the number of custom lists you get (5 per module), and the number of email notifications you can get per day (150). Storage is 1 GB.
For sales forecasting and unique user email addresses, you need the Standard plan ($20 a month per user). This also boosts the number of free data backups you get each month and brings the email templates from 10 to 100.
Professional ($35 month / user) adds macros, multi-use portals, advanced customization options for buttons, layouts, and a sandbox environment. You also get full inventory management for products, price books and purchase orders.
The key advantage of the Ultimate plan, ($65 a month per user) is that you get full reporting, including its Advanced Business Intelligence, and complete customization options for all your CRM needs.
Zoho CRM Pricing And Plans Side-by-Side
Note that the prices are for monthly plans. It’s also possible to pay annually, which will cost you around 20% less overall. Also keep an eye on the auto-renewal feature, which is enabled by default.
| Free | Standard | Professional | Enterprise | Ultimate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 | $20/user/month Free trial | $35/user/month Free trial | $50/user/month Free trial | $65/user/month |
| Sales Automation | Leads, contracts, accounts, deals, tasks… | Adds reminders, email insights, sales forecasting, multiple pipelines… | Adds email association with deals | Adds custom signals. Multiple currencies. | Same as Enterprise |
| Lead scoring fields – module | 0 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 50 |
| Page customization | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom fields per module | 0 | 10 | 155 | 300 | 500 |
| Custom modules | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 500 |
| Standard reports | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom reports | 0 | 100 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| KPIs | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom dashboards | 0 | 10 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Enrich user profile Facebook and Twitter profiles | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Email templates | 10 | 100 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Email opt-out | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mass email | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Customer segmentation | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Autoresponders | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Team calendar | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Team tagging | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Inventory management | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| File storage | 1 GB | 1 GB | 1 GB | 1 GB | 5 GB |
| Plugin for Microsoft Outlook and 365 | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Integration with Gmail | Basic | Full | Full | Full | Full |
| Support | Basic | Basic + Classic | Basic + Classic | Basic + Classic | Basic + Classic |
| Premium and Enterprise Support | N/A | Paid | Paid | Paid | Paid |
Zoho CRM Support Pricing Comparison
Zoho CRM Support is pretty confusingly segmented, and it’s quite counterintuitive because you pay more on the more advanced plans. I think it deserves its own table to clear things up:
| Basic Support | Classic Support | Premium Support | Enterprise Support | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free | 20% of license fee | 25% of license fee |
| Email support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Live chat | No | Business hours | 24 hours / 5 days a week | 24/7 |
| Phone support | No | Business hours | 24 hours / 5 days a week | 24/7 |
| Product onboarding | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Configuration assistance | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Technical Account manager | No | No | No | Yes |
| Max Response time | 24 hours | 8 hours | 3 hours | 1 hour |
I hope this helps highlight that the more you spend on Zoho CRM, the more important and pricier support is. I suppose if you need a CRM at the enterprise level, you have a) a much bigger budget and b) a lot more to lose if things go wrong.
What is the difference between Zoho CRM and Zoho CRM Plus?
Now to make things even more overwhelming, Zoho CRM is also included in the Zoho CRM Plus bundle. That’s the key difference. Zoho CRM is for custom relationship management only, and Zoho CRM plus is a full bundle of business products.
What is included in Zoho CRM Plus?
Get ready for this one because it’s a long list.
- Zoho CRM
- A full email marketing solution
- Advanced reporting and analytics
- Developer tools
- Team management
- Full integration with finance apps (Quickbooks, Zoho Finance Suite…)
- Sales IQ for visitor tracking
- Time tracking
- Task and project management
- Telephony features
- Surveys
- And much more…
What’s interesting, for instance, is that Zoho CRM doesn't offer much in the way of email marketing – presumably because they don’t want to cannibalize its Campaigns product (which is dedicated to email marketing- see how it compares to other email marketing tools like Mailchimp).
So you can see how getting started with Zoho CRM for free is a gateway to the whole ecosystem of business tools that Zoho offers. This could be good for you, or overwhelming if you already rely on other web apps and SaaS.
How Much Does Zoho CRM Plus Cost?
It’s $69 per user/month billed annually. Local taxes are extra, and you do get a free trial, if you want. There is also a money-back guarantee offer during the first 45 days of your yearly plan.
Add-Ons
As aforementioned, Zoho support can be a paid extra if you need it to be open 24/7 and via more channels.
You also get 2 data backups per month on all plans (except the free plan), but it’s possible to ask for more at the price of $10 each.
File storage is also scalable, costing an extra $5 per 5 GB per month on all plans (except the free plan).
Is Zoho CRM Free?
Yes – amazingly its free plan is indeed completely free. It’s a great option for small teams (3 people max).
I suppose you could always open multiple free accounts, but of course, you create data silos and make things harder for yourself, when the whole idea of a CRM is to keep everything in one place.
Find out how it compares to the best free CRM software on the market.
Zoho CRM Pricing Conclusion + the Fine Print
Zoho CRM has a fantastic free option for teams of 3 people max, and its affordable prices make it one of the best CRMs for small business, which align with its main competitor HubSpot.
In terms of fine print, it’s good to know that the free plan is indeed completely free – with zero strings attached. Zoho’s refund policy is also fairly generous, and the free trial for top-tier plans is also attractive if you’re just testing the waters.
Let us know if you have any questions in the comments section below!
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06 Apr 2021: Updated prices to reflect increase
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