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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
28th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Salesforce Essentials
Ranking in CRM
15th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the CRM category, the mindshare of Bigin by Zoho CRM is 1.0%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Essentials is 0.4%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
CRM
 

Featured Reviews

GS
Simplifies customer journey management with extensive value for startups
Bigin by Zoho CRM offers a suite of applications customized for the Indian market. Its modules, such as tax and invoicing, integrate smoothly with sales modules, managing the customer journey from start to end. It is startup-friendly and helps reduce the cost per lead, offering great value for small and mid-sized companies.
Srini-Dhanaraj - PeerSpot reviewer
Manages service requests and dispatches engineers to resolve issues
I work from home for a heater manufacturing company. They wanted to move away from their current SAP CRM system to Salesforce. There is a fulfillment process, which involves taking an order, delivering it, and providing service. Salesforce is used to manage the order-taking process. Once an order is taken, the backend system, SAP ERP, handles product manufacturing, delivery, and installation. After installation, the Service Cloud in Salesforce takes over for ongoing service management. Once your order is confirmed, integration with the SAP ERP backend will be seamless. The system takes the sales order from Salesforce and starts processing it for procurement, starting with creating a production order, manufacturing, and then delivery. Once the product is delivered, this information is passed back to Salesforce Service Cloud. In the Service Cloud, a service engineer receives a notification indicating that a product needs to be delivered to a specific location for installation. The engineer then inspects and installs the product at the designated site. SAP ERP manages the product manufacturing and delivery processes. After the product is delivered to the customer, Salesforce Service Cloud takes over. It manages service requests and dispatches engineers to resolve issues reported by customers. Service Cloud captures the information and creates an incident record when a customer reports a product fault. Engineers receive this information and promptly visit the client site to fix the issue. The solution is easy to implement. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I rate Bigin by Zoho CRM nine out of ten."
"We can add users and products to the workflows."
"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."
"I've found the product's basic AI functionalities, such as predictive analytics and workflow automation useful for optimizing processes and improving productivity."
"We use Salesforce Essentials for everything we do on the sales side."
"In terms of features, the cloud-based solution and easy deployment are standout elements that have made a difference."
"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."
"Salesforce makes tracking every product and customer activity easy, enabling managers to monitor their products, such as key products and their peak performance."
 

Cons

"The user interface is too modular and fragmented, posing challenges. The UI could be much better by the year 2025."
"Zoho CRM needs to incorporate HRM."
"The cost of running Salesforce Essentials is significant. The licenses are expensive, and the operational costs are considerable, including the necessity to maintain a team of approximately 15 people to run the system."
"I have seen Salesforce evaluate a lot of AI and analytics into that. But as an end user, I don’t have that much input."
"Salesforce Essentials does not contain domain-specific solutions."
"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."
"The solution's UI is not user-friendly."
"Less integration would be better. It should work independently."
"Areas that could be improved or upgraded in the next release include analytics, automation capabilities, and stability."
"The solution could be cheaper."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"It's a perpetual license, and the subscription can be expensive."
"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."
"The tool is moderately priced."
"There is a need to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the solution."
"I rate Salesforce Essentials' pricing an eight out of ten."
"The pricing is on the higher side, especially with additional costs for professional services like consultants."
"The pricing is a bit on the expensive side."
"We chose quarterly payments."
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Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Bigin by Zoho CRM?
We can add users and products to the workflows.
What needs improvement with Bigin by Zoho CRM?
The user interface is too modular and fragmented, posing challenges. The UI could be much better by the year 2025.
What is your primary use case for Bigin by Zoho CRM?
I am not currently using Bigin by Zoho CRM ( /products/bigin-by-zoho-crm-reviews ), but I have used it in a previous company for about five years. I often recommend Bigin by Zoho CRM ( /products/bi...
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?
We use a limited number of automated workflows in Salesforce Essentials. The workflows we implement are designed to make sales teams' lives easier when executing certain tasks. Instead of requiring...
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Bigin by Zoho CRM vs. Salesforce Essentials and other solutions. Updated: May 2025.
859,579 professionals have used our research since 2012.