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Freshsales vs Zoho CRM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

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

Freshsales
Ranking in CRM
23rd
Ranking in Opportunity Management
10th
Ranking in Sales Force Automation
11th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
CRM Customer Engagement Centers (9th)
Zoho CRM
Ranking in CRM
3rd
Ranking in Opportunity Management
3rd
Ranking in Sales Force Automation
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the CRM category, the mindshare of Freshsales is 1.0%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zoho CRM is 1.8%, down from 3.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
CRM Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Zoho CRM1.8%
Freshsales1.0%
Other97.2%
CRM
 

Featured Reviews

Manojkumar Reddy - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Technology Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Automation has boosted sales efficiency and improves follow-ups across multiple customer segments
The automation runs whenever a certain trigger point is met. For example, if the person details captured indicate they are interested in proceeding further, then when we update the particular field, it automatically goes to the next person at a higher level, and then the status gets changed. There are many features including recently enabled AI that gives a brief description to the contact person about what that particular promotion is about. There are also features like auto email getting triggered and marketing emails. All of those features are part of Freshsales.
NaveenKumar S - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Engineer at Maximus
Zoho CRM improves lead conversion with AI assistance but could have better technical support
Zoho Zia has helped our lead conversion process by serving as a private AI of Zoho CRM that assists in boosting lead conversation by analyzing customer data, predicting outcomes, and automating workflow follow-ups. Regarding how Zia helps with lead conversion, there's lead scoring and conversion predictions, sentiment analysis, and workflow suggestions. For lead scoring, Zia analyzes past lead conversation patterns and assigns scores to new leads, and high score leads get prioritized for faster follow-up. In terms of conversation predictions, Zia predicts the probability of lead conversion based on demographics and engagements, helping the sales team focus on the most promising leads. Another point is sentiment analysis, where Zia scans customer emails, chats, and notes to detect tones such as positive, negative, or neutral, guiding us on how to approach the leads better. For workflow suggestions, it recommends automated workflows such as sending emails and assigning tasks to agents, improving our engagements. Additionally, the conversational AI feature through Zia chatbot can interact with leads via website chat or capture details and push them into Zoho CRM automatically. The analytics and reporting features in Zoho CRM helped me understand sales patterns and customer behavior through standard reports that include pre-built reports for leads, deals, sales activities, and campaigns. We can customize reports as well, creating reports based on any module fields, and we can integrate with Zoho Analytics for direct capture of reports from our modules. We can merge leads reports to contact reports using SQL, allowing for effective sales funnel tracking to identify drop-offs and optimize conversation strategies. Auto-generated reports are also available for daily scheduling, ensuring that admin receives daily basis reports through automation. With advanced BI features such as drag-and-drop dashboards and predictive analysis using pivot tables, we can create insightful dashboards while pulling CRM and external data from sources such as Google Ads and Facebook Ads for unified analytics. The automation capabilities in Zoho CRM have helped streamline our organization's sales and marketing tasks by handling repetitive tasks such as sending follow-up emails, assigning leads, and updating fields. For example, if a lead score is greater than 80, it automatically assigns that record to the senior sales representative. There are also blueprint options to define the step-by-step sales process, ensuring every sales representative follows the same process. Automation includes assignment rules, lead scoring, priority load options, sales signals, macros, and territory management, which automatically routes leads based on geography, revenue, and industries. Additionally, deal stage automations trigger actions when a deal moves stages, such as sending a contract when it moves to negotiation. For marketing, there are tools for email campaign automation, behavior-based triggers, campaign to lead sync, and social media automations. The overall benefits I have seen from using Zoho CRM include centralized customer data, where all customer interactions are visible in one place, providing a 360-degree view. Improved lead conversations through AI-powered scoring and automation helps us focus on the right leads, with end-to-end sales automation managing tasks from lead capture to deal closure, thereby saving time on repetitive tasks. This leads to better marketing ROI, as we can track campaigns, ad spend, and lead sources, connecting marketing efforts to revenue. Enhanced collaboration through shared notes, tasks, and role-based access enables teamwork within our internal users and sales teams, contributing to customer satisfaction. Moreover, Zoho CRM is scalable and customizable, adapting to startups, SMBs, and enterprises with its flexible modules and fields. Lastly, it is cost-efficient compared to Salesforce and HubSpot while including a wide range of features.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Freshsales is very simple to use, but it's fairly limited in its functionalities, and it's very cheap."
"The solution's most valuable feature is its well-organized sales cycle, which is important to us."
"One of the most valuable features is the ability to divert deals based on the potential revenue or specific market to certain sales teams."
"I like Freshsales because it's integrated with Shopify which we use to host our website."
"The solution is a low-cost CRM product compared to other CRM alternatives."
"Email integration is easy."
"Freshsales is user-friendly, scalable and stable."
"Freshsales has impacted us positively; it has saved time, increased sales, and improved customer relationships."
"Zoho CRM integrates easily with customer service workflows."
"The camera feature is valuable because it provides a look and feel."
"Customer tracking, order management, sales tracking and PO tracking provide efficiency."
"Zoho CRM is quite scalable; I have worked with clients who started with ten companies and have scaled up to managing 500 employees effectively within Zoho CRM."
"One of the most important features is that it's a cloud base and, it's also quite cheaper when compared to other solutions. Zoho CRM is customizable as per your requirement and, the Zoho team is able to help you to customize the CRM based on your requirements, and you can integrate to any third-party solution."
"CRM software that's simple to use, with good technical support, scalability, and stability."
"What I appreciate about Zoho CRM is the customization."
"I think the whole pipeline tracking is most useful for us."
 

Cons

"The licensing costs should be based on the amount of data and number of clients that one can insert into the application."
"We can use only one domain in the basic package."
"It lacks customizability for complex and larger use cases."
"The price of this solution could be improved as well as the reporting functionality."
"The reporting for this solution across all their products could be improved. Currently, we have clients who export their data from Freshservices to third party solutions such Power BI to create more comprehensive reports."
"We have a problem with the time to delivery for our customers, although this is not specific to this solution. Time to delivery can be 90 days."
"The solution needs to improve the user experience and leads capture."
"The chatbot feature is not very intelligent and lacks AI capabilities."
"Since Zoho CRM is not made for the enterprise kind of company, its stability for enterprise businesses could be improved."
"Adding a new contract to the solution is quite complicated."
"Some of our clients could not develop their requirements using the product."
"I'm not sure that there is scalability potential for enterprises."
"The mobile application is a little complicated and could be simplified."
"There was a challenge while deploying Zoho when we brought an API code. Because integrations "aren't perfect" for every organization."
"What needs improvement in Zoho CRM is the UI. It needs to be more user-friendly. I like Salesforce better than Zoho CRM in terms of the UI, so if Zoho CRM can make some UI changes, that would make the tool better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Freshsales is an economical product."
"The price for this solution is good in general, but in Brazil we do pay additional taxes."
"The basic price is affordable. The add ons are expensive."
"If one is a very low price and ten is expensive, I rate the product price as a three."
"The tool is not that expensive."
"I rate the product a four out of ten. The cost for Zoho CRM is not fixed; different editions are available, and the features depend on the edition chosen. Some capabilities, such as integrating with workflows, might incur additional costs, but these are well-documented and not hidden."
"Zoho CRM is an expensive tool."
"There is a license required for this solution."
"The solution is cost-effective."
"Zoho CRM has a subscription-based license, which is not too expensive."
"Compared to other solutions, I would say Zoho CRM is very, very affordable because we can use different applications with one license."
"The licensing is the subscription, where we pay $50 per month per user."
"This solution is less expensive than Salesforce."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Insurance Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Marketing Services Firm
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise10
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Freshsales?
The licensing costs should be based on the amount of data and number of clients that one can insert into the application. The number of clients in the tool is 500, which is less in number.
What is your primary use case for Freshsales?
I use the solution in my company since we are interested in the application and all the activities that salespeople do. We track the email, then the appointment, and the feedback from the appointme...
What advice do you have for others considering Freshsales?
I can tell others that it is a good product and it is perfect for medium and large-sized companies because the setup phase is fast, and you don't need to do many customizations apart from the confi...
What do you like most about Zoho CRM?
Zoho CRM integrates easily with customer service workflows.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zoho CRM?
Zoho CRM and all of Zoho's software are quite affordable because they are specifically designed for small and medium businesses.
What needs improvement with Zoho CRM?
I think areas of Zoho CRM that need to be improved or enhanced include the permission structure, which can be easy to set up custom permissions within Zoho Creator using different filters and runni...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Caratlane, Pykih, Buying Show, INTUO, WallyPark, Exploring Vacations, Raved, Forest, Ascendore, MagePlaza, Vacasa,
JetHub, Anderson Sales Advantage, ActionCoach, Milagro Advisory Group, TECO Pneumatic, Proteomics Consult
Find out what your peers are saying about Freshsales vs. Zoho CRM and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,328 professionals have used our research since 2012.