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Bigin by Zoho CRM vs Salesforce Essentials comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Bigin by Zoho CRM
Ranking in CRM
23rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Salesforce Essentials
Ranking in CRM
12th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the CRM category, the mindshare of Bigin by Zoho CRM is 0.7%, down from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Essentials is 0.6%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
CRM Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Salesforce Essentials0.6%
Bigin by Zoho CRM0.7%
Other98.7%
CRM
 

Featured Reviews

Vivek_Kumar@ - PeerSpot reviewer
Zoho Developer at KG CRM Solutions LLP - Zoho Authorized Partner
Has supported lead and deal tracking for small businesses but lacks deeper customization options
The pipeline management has helped to streamline the sales processes in that I can develop the business pattern where we can send automated emails and automated calls at different stages. For example, when a lead enters a system, we can automatically generate welcome emails. Once any modification in the lead is done, such as when it's qualified, we can send them qualified emails or acknowledgment emails based on the business pipeline. This user-friendly interface has helped my customers adapt quicker to Bigin by Zoho CRM as, after customization or completion of the project, I will make a Loom video to train the clients through the sessions, and through the Loom videos and SOPs, they can adapt easily to Bigin by Zoho CRM. They can also adapt to all the applications.
AA
Head of Commercial Excellence at Sartorius AG
Has provided a reliable service with responsive support and offers valuable features, though pricing could be more affordable
We are a large organization with 14,000 people. As a user, Salesforce Essentials is extremely easy to use. The complete rollout from minimum viable product to final acceptable product took two years for our global deployment. The business operations for our 14,000 people are managed by approximately 10 people on the business side. These business admins are responsible for sales operations, troubleshooting, training, and driving features and requirements from the sales and marketing organizations. Additionally, we work with product owners on the IT side and a team of programmers. Daily operations require about five people for IT work, security programming, system connections, and development execution. For day-to-day user support, we need eight to ten people in the business. We operate on Microsoft Azure private cloud infrastructure. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate Salesforce Essentials a 9 out of 10.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The pipeline management has helped to streamline the sales processes in that I can develop the business pattern where we can send automated emails and automated calls at different stages."
"The pipeline management has helped to streamline the sales processes in that I can develop the business pattern where we can send automated emails and automated calls at different stages."
"We can add users and products to the workflows."
"With Bigin by Zoho CRM, we spent about a week for setup and within 15 days it was operational, requiring less than a month total for implementation."
"I rate Bigin by Zoho CRM nine out of ten."
"The most important feature is how Salesforce Essentials brings together information from multiple channels. The nature of our complex custom product data has been challenging due to our manufacturing nature. Salesforce also allowed business processes like finance, credit lines, customer complaints, and quality issues to integrate seamlessly. I haven’t used the mobile app functionality, because we haven't fully utilized because of our preferance of more personal interactions over using mobile apps."
"The combination of product and service are exceptional."
"High availability is really important for us when getting our reports as a vendor."
"The solution is very scalable and flexible. It can be customized as per the business need."
"The product is stable."
"The CRM system has SAP Sales, SAP Service, and SAP Billing, with everything integrated into an on-premise SAP CRM system. Salesforce Essentials replaced this on-premise system, bringing all functionalities onto the cloud platform."
"I can download the data to Excel, create tables, and do whatever I want. I am very comfortable with the tool's mobile application. Its main benefit is transparency because I can share it with representatives."
"We use Salesforce Essentials for everything we do on the sales side."
 

Cons

"The user interface is too modular and fragmented, posing challenges. The UI could be much better by the year 2025."
"Bigin by Zoho CRM is a very limited application; we cannot customize it as we want."
"Bigin by Zoho CRM is a very limited application; we cannot customize it as we want."
"Their commercial model based on slabs is not easily comprehensible. The sales representatives should be better equipped to explain the slab structure in a simpler manner."
"Zoho CRM needs to incorporate HRM."
"Salesforce Essentials operates in a table format where the entire user interface is based on tables, more specifically pivot tables. This is not very user-friendly for mobile."
"The primary area for improvement in Salesforce Essentials is its pricing. There are other competitors, like Zoho CRM, that offer similar features at a lower cost."
"Salesforce should encourage new users by offering smaller license packages, such as packages for three or two users."
"Salesforce Essentials does not contain domain-specific solutions."
"The solution could be cheaper."
"When we use mixed languages, it can be uncomfortable because there seems to be no consideration for right-to-left speakers. It feels like these tools were developed by people who only speak left-to-right languages and didn't consider other language types' needs."
"Salesforce Essentials operates in a table format where the entire user interface is based on tables, more specifically pivot tables. This is not very user-friendly for mobile."
"The solution needs to be more user-friendly. It's difficult for a senior to track leads when a salesperson uploads leads. The solution should also improve its integration capabilities."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The pricing is on the higher side, especially with additional costs for professional services like consultants."
"It's a perpetual license, and the subscription can be expensive."
"We chose quarterly payments."
"There is a need to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the solution."
"The pricing is a bit on the expensive side."
"The tool is moderately priced."
"I rate Salesforce Essentials' pricing an eight out of ten."
"Salesforce Essentials is quite expensive, almost 10 out of 10. I don't have the exact cost, but we found it to be very expensive based on our budget constraints."
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Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Bigin by Zoho CRM?
With AI becoming prevalent, Bigin by Zoho CRM needs AI updates, which I heard they are working on. Additionally, their commercial model based on slabs is not easily comprehensible. The sales repres...
What is your primary use case for Bigin by Zoho CRM?
In my previous organization, we used Bigin by Zoho CRM for vendor onboarding, payments, and everything. In the present organization, we are only doing the billing. Since we are a very small organiz...
What advice do you have for others considering Bigin by Zoho CRM?
We are currently working on integrating Bigin by Zoho CRM with other applications, particularly an HR HRIS system, though this is planned for 2026 end. Bigin by Zoho CRM saves considerable time com...
What do you like most about Salesforce Essentials?
Salesforce provides the best they have with the current version. Most of the features we need are already there, and it's very easy to use.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Salesforce Essentials?
Salesforce Essentials is very expensive, but it delivers exceptional value. It is a good platform to have if you can afford it because it has numerous add-ons and modules. Anything that Salesforce ...
What needs improvement with Salesforce Essentials?
The mobile access can be improved in several ways. Salesforce Essentials operates in a table format where the entire user interface is based on tables, more specifically pivot tables. This is not v...
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Bigin by Zoho CRM vs. Salesforce Essentials and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.