SugarCRM is a versatile CRM solution that facilitates communication and organization within a company. Its primary use case includes call and comment logging, account relation, customer detail storage, verification handling, transaction tracking, marketing material management, and payment transaction handling. The most valuable functionalities include customizable exports of graphics, statuses, complaints, and tasks, as well as its scalability, stability, and low cost. It integrates well with Jira and can be easily configured. The platform improves efficiency, productivity, collaboration, communication, and coordination within organizations, while also providing valuable insights and data analytics for informed decision-making.
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SugarCRM Platform is the #8 ranked solution in top CRM Customer Engagement Centers, #8 ranked solution in top Marketing Automation solutions, #9 ranked solution in top Sales Force Automation solutions, and #24 ranked solution in top CRM solutions. PeerSpot users give SugarCRM Platform an average rating of 7.0 out of 10. SugarCRM Platform is most commonly compared to Microsoft Dynamics CRM:
SugarCRM Platform vs Microsoft Dynamics CRM. SugarCRM Platform is popular among the large enterprise segment,
accounting for 51% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a
educational organization, accounting for 24% of all views.
My company is considered a customer and an end-user. I'm not sure which version of the solution we're using right now. It's a company that offers lots of user manuals and you can find most of your stuff there before starting development. I'd advise potential new users to go through everything. I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. By default, it comes with a really good model where you can start working with it without having a lot of developers in your team. It's a system that includes everything related to the client and you can see everything under one screen without having a different product or system. It's been great, for the most part.
Senior Manager / IT Planning & Architecture Services at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
It has been effective in managing customer relationships. It has sales email campaigns, plus integration with Active Directory. And there are centralized reports for the CEO and the general managers. We work with automation for these marketing and email campaigns. It sends out emails to prospective customers related to sales offers automatically. And it copies the sales team so that they can follow up. They are tracking the sales leads. So, the automation within SugarCRM enhances the marketing campaigns. For now, my work is done because I am the IT strategy and planning manager. I just try to deliver the solution according to the requirements of the business. From my side, it's implemented already, the requirement related to the sales funnel. But if they have any other requirement from the business side, they will submit it to me, and then I will look for a suitable solution.
I would rate the easiness of the initial setup a ten out of ten. It is quite straightforward. Sugar CRM is deployed in our customer's organizations both on-premises and on the cloud. Sugar offers both options. When it comes to cloud deployment, our customers commonly prefer cloud providers like AWS and Azure for hosting the SugarCRM solution. The time it takes to deploy the SugarCRM solution depends on the complexity of the business process. For simpler processes, it can be done in about two to three weeks, but for more complex processes, it might take up to five months. The deployment process follows a standard procedure. First, there is requirement gathering to understand what is needed. Then, modules are developed based on those requirements. Next, UAT is done to make sure everything works as expected. If UAT is successful, the solution is deployed to the production server.
As of May 2025, the mindshare of SugarCRM Platform in the CRM Customer Engagement Centers category
stands at 1.8%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
CRM Customer Engagement Centers
PeerResearch reports based on SugarCRM Platform reviews
The most valuable features of the SugarCRM Platform include customizable exports of graphics, statuses, complaints, and tasks. It is a versatile CRM solution that can be tailored to meet the specific needs of an organization.
It integrates well with Jira and can be easily configured. The scalability and stability of the product are commendable. Additionally, its low cost is a significant advantage.
"It has sales email campaigns, plus integration with Active Directory."
"The most valuable features of the SugarCRM platform include its flexibility in customizing fields, layouts, and dashboards."
"The most valuable features of Sugar Enterprise are the exports of graphics, statuses, complaints, and tasks."
Room for Improvement
SugarCRM could benefit from bug and glitch removal, as well as improved functionality for exporting graphics and adding tasks.
The color scheme of the interface is considered bland and lacks customization options, leading some users to switch to a different solution.
The current user permissions flow is complicated and requires custom teams and permissions to distinguish specific customers.
The interface could be more user-friendly, and there is a desire for increased integration on a mobile platform.
"I would appreciate it if SugarCRM could support us in on-premise implementation."
"While it is already user-friendly, a slight enhancement in UI design, especially in terms of color combinations, could make the platform more visually appealing and comfortable to use."
"Sugar Enterprise could improve by removing bugs and glitches. For example, a comment was made but in the comment section, it was never displayed. However, the problems we faced might not be the fault of the solution."
ROI
ROI from the SugarCRM Platform has been exceptional. It has helped streamline sales processes and improve customer satisfaction, resulting in a significant increase in revenue.
It has allowed users to better track and manage leads, resulting in a higher conversion rate and ultimately, a positive return on investment.
Pricing
The pricing for SugarCRM involves a standard setup fee followed by monthly payments per user. Sugar Enterprise is reasonably priced. Licensing fees are paid annually, with the option for monthly licensing without extra charges. There may be some additional costs involved.
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
Popular Use Cases
The primary use case of SugarCRM is to facilitate communication and organization within a company.
It is used to lock calls and comments, relate to accounts, store customer details, handle verification, track transactions, manage marketing materials, and handle payment transactions.
Additionally, it is utilized to manage sales focus and track appointments.
Service and Support
Customers have expressed satisfaction with the assistance received from SugarCRM Platform's customer service and support. They have found the support to be good and have not had the need to contact technical support often.
Deployment
The initial setup and implementation of the SugarCRM were relatively easy and straightforward. The process took approximately two weeks, which included training and installation. It is easy to learn and use the solution and mentioned that it can be deployed and maintained by one technical person.
Scalability
Some users experienced slow performance when there were a lot of people using it simultaneously, and there were instances when the solution went down and required IT intervention to restore access. However, users also mentioned that the scalability is great and it can handle many users without any issues.
Stability
The solution is generally stable and reliable. However, the performance may be affected by the number of users utilizing the solution.
The stability of the solution is dependent on the server it is set up on and the number of daily logins. If the server has low memory and cannot support a high volume of logins, issues may arise.
Overall, the solution's stability is commendable, and runs smoothly without any support issues.
These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.
" It has sales email campaigns, plus integration with Active Directory. "
Cons
"I would appreciate it if SugarCRM could support us in on-premise implementation."
What is our primary use case?
We use it for the Sales funnel.
How has it helped my organization?
It has been effective in managing customer relationships. It has sales email campaigns, plus integration with Active Directory. And there are centralized reports for the CEO and the general managers.
We work with automation for these marketing and email campaigns. It sends out emails to prospective customers related to sales offers automatically. And it copies the sales team so that they can follow up. They are tracking the sales leads.
So, the automation within SugarCRM enhances the marketing campaigns.
For now, my work is done because I am the IT strategy and planning manager. I just try to deliver the solution according to the requirements of the business.
From my side, it's implemented already, the requirement related to the sales funnel. But if they have any other requirement from the business side, they will submit it to me, and then I will look for a suitable solution.
*Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
"The most valuable features of the SugarCRM platform include its flexibility in customizing fields, layouts, and dashboards."
Cons
"While it is already user-friendly, a slight enhancement in UI design, especially in terms of color combinations, could make the platform more visually appealing and comfortable to use.
"
What is our primary use case?
In general, SugarCRM is used by customers in various industries, including BFSI, manufacturing, and consumer packaging. It helps them manage the entire customer journey, from tracking potential leads, guiding them through the onboarding process, and finally providing self-service solutions. For example, in BFSI, it streamlines sales processes and enhances customer relationships, while in manufacturing, it assists in lead management and customization. In consumer packaging, it supports customer onboarding and post-onboarding self-service needs.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of SugarCRM Platform include its flexibility in customizing fields, layouts, and dashboards. It is user-friendly and allows for creating your own modules. Integration with other software is easy, as long as that software has open APIs. SugarCRM offers useful default reports and allows for customizing reports to meet specific needs. These features make SugarCRM a versatile and adaptable tool for businesses.
*Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
"It works well with Jira. You can customize it to fit your needs."
Cons
"You cannot include all your entities under one instance at the moment."
What is our primary use case?
We use Sugar as our CRM. It includes all our customer details, tech to sign in from the verification side, the transactions, all the marketing materials, everything related to the client, and key payment transactions.
What is most valuable?
It's great as a CRM.
It's fully customizable. You can create and develop any features in order to meet your organization's needs.
It works well with Jira. You can customize it to fit your needs.
The product is extremely easy to configure.
We've found the scalability to be good.
The stability is great.
*Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
"The most valuable features of Sugar Enterprise are the exports of graphics, statuses, complaints, and tasks."
Cons
"Sugar Enterprise could improve by removing bugs and glitches. For example, a comment was made but in the comment section, it was never displayed. However, the problems we faced might not be the fault of the solution."
What is our primary use case?
I was using Sugar Enterprise in a communication company to allow users to lock the calls and the comments.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of Sugar Enterprise are the exports of graphics, statuses, complaints, and tasks.
*Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
SugarCRM 7.0 promises to be an exceptional release. A new, highly improved and unique user experience that sports more efficient workflow and new intelligence features highlight what will be a great product upgrade. That being said, it also introduces the need for some immediate planning and changes for some existing Sugar users. Based on our early reviews, we’ve identified 5 key areas you need to evaluate in your SugarCRM instance and possibly update to be ready for SugarCRM 7.0. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but it’s a good starting point you should consider when planning for your upgrade to version 7.0.
If you are a Sugar OnDemand user, it is even more critical you start this process now. Sugar will be introducing a compatibility mode for existing users for a period of time, but the duration that backwards compatibility to some old interface metaphors will be available isn’t known yet, so planning and executing the necessary changes now is a prudent step.
Key items to address and questions to answer:
Do you have custom behaviors on your edit or detail views within any modules? If so, it’s time to start planning to make changes. The model of having two different views is being replaced with a new, more efficient and easier to use model. This will require you to begin preparing changes for view based actions triggered by on field change events.
If you are using SugarOnDemand and use anything other than the SOAP or REST API’s for integration, you need to begin making changes now. Absolutely no integration approaches other than API calls will be honored. If you are integrating large data sets (such as a 100k file of customer records daily), you will need to likely architect or implement a tool to integrate this data through the API in a throttled or controlled way. A better solution is to start designing logic to minimize the # of API calls needed (only update records that really need an update vs. a complete refresh). The updated API’s in Sugar 7 are fully extensible allowing you to create customized web service calls to meet your specific integration requirements. This is a best practice you should follow regardless of the upgrade, but it is being highlighted now.
If you have an extension or plug-in from a third party, consider it suspect. If it affects the user interface at all, you’re likely going to have to make changes.
Carefully evaluate the business logic hooks you have in place. These are not absolutely guaranteed to be impacted, but it is not uncommon for these to somehow impact the user interface. Hooks that do this need to be reviewed and updated. Sugar 7 includes a vastly improved development architecture that may affect how your current hooks
behave. All hooks need to be reviewed and updated
If you have built custom, client side code (AJAX, JavaScript, etc.) that is not applied and controlled via Studio, you will need to recreate or rewrite this. Do it now. With the change of the approach to the views, these elements will likely be impacted immediately
The best thing you can do to prepare for what will be a tremendously valuable, but impactful upgrade is to do a health assessment or upgrade audit in advance. Build a plan to respond to the changes and make sure the key parties in your company are on board and in place to support updates that may be needed.
Disclaimer: The company I work for is partners with several vendors - http://levementum.com/company-information/partners/
*Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Very basic UX and UI, but does what it says on the tin. (disclaimer: I was using an old version but a lot of charities and smaller businesses seem to carry older versions for some reason. Probably because, with limited resources in smaller orgs, old software gets carried over)
I'm not sure why it needs to look like it was designed 10 years ago, though, but I guess that is a separate point.
The second time I used this (late in 2015) was to keep track of multiple projects and comms spread over 7 months. Putting so many things into SugarCRM became a much-hated-task, mainly because of the horrible UI. It felt like every dashboard was eye-torture.
Saying that, it has a small server footprint and is easy to set up. It means it can run on a relatively low spec server so much smaller organisations can use it.
Problems: It offended my eyes every time I needed to use it. The UX was designed by someone that hated users. Basic. A grind to use.
Benefits: open source version (called the community edition). Doesn't need a lot of server resources. Straight forward install.
Does it keep track of customer relationships? Yes, it does this.
Does it allow you to split out customers, companies, projects, activities...? Yes, it does.
Does it allow you to drill down? With a few too many clicks, yes.
Does it allow you to pull of reports and metrics? Yes it does.
Does it support things like other languages and currencies? Yes it does.
Will using it make you feel like you did something terrible in a previous life? Yes, yes it will.
*Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
