IFS Cloud Platform vs Salesforce Essentials comparison

IFS and Salesforce are both solutions in the CRM category. IFS is ranked #35 with an average rating of 6.5, while Salesforce is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.2. IFS holds a 0.9% mindshare in CRM, compared to Salesforce’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of IFS users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Salesforce users who would recommend it.

IFS Cloud Platform

Read 31 IFS Cloud Platform reviews

5,297 Views
900 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

Salesforce Essentials

Read 14 Salesforce Essentials reviews

842 Views
842 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

IFS Cloud Platform

Salesforce Essentials

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

IFS Cloud Platform and Salesforce Essentials serve different market segments with contrasting strengths. IFS Cloud targets large enterprises with its comprehensive features, while Salesforce Essentials is preferred for its streamlined CRM functionalities. IFS Cloud has an upper hand in integration and customization options, whereas Salesforce Essentials leads in CRM efficiency and usability.

Features:IFS Cloud is noted for its ability to implement complex pricing models, robust warehouse capabilities, and comprehensive ERP functionalities. It supports broader enterprise functions, making it suitable for large-scale businesses. Salesforce Essentials excels in CRM efficiency and AI-driven customer segmentation, offering valuable tools for sales and service management.

Room for Improvement:IFS could benefit from enhanced usability in workflow design and customization, which may be complex for new users. Salesforce Essentials needs to improve integration capabilities and provide a more user-friendly interface, particularly for non-native language users. Both platforms have specific areas where further development could enhance performance and compatibility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service:IFS Cloud provides versatile deployment options, including hybrid and private cloud solutions, suited for diverse IT environments. However, its support could improve in response time and clarity. Salesforce Essentials, with its primary public cloud deployment, offers simpler integration, yet user support and documentation require enhancement.

Pricing and ROI:IFS Cloud is priced competitively for the value it delivers to medium and large enterprises, though it remains costly for small businesses, with a long-term ROI perspective. Salesforce Essentials is also seen as expensive but offers immediate ROI through efficient CRM features that integrate smoothly into existing business processes.

To learn more, read our detailed IFS Cloud Platform vs. Salesforce Essentials Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IFS Cloud Platform vs. Salesforce Essentials

December 2025

Download the complete report

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Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score

5.1

Users reported improved operations and financial reporting with IFS Cloud, seeing up to 4.5x ROI over 18 months.

Sentiment score

8.0

Salesforce Essentials offers good ROI with easy implementation, accelerating sales and benefits realized in about three years.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the IFS Cloud Platform report

The ROI was always in a positive direction.

SayantanBhattacharya

Growth Adviser at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Essentials report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

5.7

Australian support is strong with expert consultants, but timeliness and service consistency vary, impacting resolution times and communication.

Sentiment score

6.3

Salesforce Essentials offers responsive service with minimal issues; users praise its reliability and effective customer support.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the IFS Cloud Platform report

Their service and uptime is phenomenal.

Attila Aranyos

Head of Commercial Excellence at Sartorius AG

Salesforce Essentials has excellent customer service.

Ganapathy Shanmugham

Senior Learning Solutions Architect at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees

I would evaluate their support and customer service with Salesforce Essentials as pretty decent, diligent, and to the point.

SayantanBhattacharya

Growth Adviser at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Essentials report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.8

IFS Cloud Platform is scalable for businesses of all sizes, though some face complexity in updates and dependency management.

Sentiment score

6.9

Salesforce Essentials is highly scalable, supporting diverse teams from small to large, and is praised for easy user addition.

IFS Cloud Platform has standard functionalities that follow the standard supply chain management processes, and it is easy to customize or configure.

Thangaraj Ramasamy

Consultant at Arcwide

For more quotes and insights, download the IFS Cloud Platform report

It is one of the most scalable systems available.

Attila Aranyos

Head of Commercial Excellence at Sartorius AG

For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Essentials report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

8.0

IFS Cloud Platform is praised for stability and reliability, with rare downtime, and depends on client maintenance and setup.

Sentiment score

7.6

Salesforce Essentials is highly stable and available, with few bugs or downtimes, though occasional automation delays occur.

Now, with the drastic developments especially in the cloud applications known as Arena on IFS Cloud Platform, it has improved tremendously.

Thangaraj Ramasamy

Consultant at Arcwide

For more quotes and insights, download the IFS Cloud Platform report

Salesforce Essentials has proven stable, with no downtime that affects my work.

Ganapathy Shanmugham

Senior Learning Solutions Architect at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Essentials report

Room For Improvement

IFS Cloud Platform requires usability, integration, and support improvements, along with enhanced customization, AI, and simplified user experience.

Salesforce Essentials struggles with integration, UI, and pricing, needing improvements in analytics, mobile interface, and automation features.

There is not much available online, and the documentation availability is on the lower side compared to other products, especially Maximo.

reviewer2642043

Senior Director at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees

They are working on IFS AI, but we have not explored much into that yet, and if they want to keep their competitive edge, that is an area they need to concentrate on.

Thangaraj Ramasamy

Consultant at Arcwide

For more quotes and insights, download the IFS Cloud Platform report

Instead of requiring users to think about system navigation and clicking procedures, they can simply follow a workflow that guides them through the process.

Attila Aranyos

Head of Commercial Excellence at Sartorius AG

Salesforce Essentials operates in a table format where the entire user interface is based on tables, more specifically pivot tables.

SayantanBhattacharya

Growth Adviser at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

There are other competitors, like Zoho CRM, that offer similar features at a lower cost.

Ganapathy Shanmugham

Senior Learning Solutions Architect at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Essentials report

Setup Cost

IFS Cloud Platform offers competitive pricing, best for large enterprises, with scalable value similar to SAP and Oracle.

Salesforce Essentials licensing is costly but valued for flexibility and add-ons, with some finding additional professional expenses burdensome.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the IFS Cloud Platform report

The cost of running Salesforce Essentials is significant.

Attila Aranyos

Head of Commercial Excellence at Sartorius AG

The costs associated with Salesforce Essentials are substantial, which is a drawback compared to competitors who offer similar services for less.

Ganapathy Shanmugham

Senior Learning Solutions Architect at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Essentials report

Valuable Features

IFS Cloud Platform offers customizable pricing, robust integration, intuitive interface, and excels in enterprise management with adaptable features.

Salesforce Essentials offers robust features and user-friendly design but may be costly for some businesses.

Thangaraj Ramasamy

Consultant at Arcwide

There are fewer fields on the user screen compared to other products.

reviewer2642043

Senior Director at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IFS Cloud Platform report

Their reporting and analytics features have a very significant impact on my company's operational efficiency.

SayantanBhattacharya

Growth Adviser at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

Salesforce Essentials is excellent because it is one of the most flexible CRMs available.

Ganapathy Shanmugham

Senior Learning Solutions Architect at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees

It is very customizable to specific needs.

Attila Aranyos

Head of Commercial Excellence at Sartorius AG

For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Essentials report

Categories and Ranking

IFS Cloud Platform

Ranking in CRM

35th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Customer Experience Management (9th), Field Service Management (2nd), Help Desk Software (21st), ERP (19th), Activity Based Costing Software (9th), Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) (4th), Local Government CRM (15th), IT Asset Management (15th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (19th), License Management (2nd)

Salesforce Essentials

Ranking in CRM

12th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the CRM category, the mindshare of IFS Cloud Platform is 0.9%, up from 0.4% 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
Product	Market Share (%)
Salesforce Essentials	0.6%
IFS Cloud Platform	0.9%
Other	98.5%

CRM

Featured Reviews

Thangaraj Ramasamy

Consultant at Arcwide

Has supported project management and business customization through strong modular flexibility

The cloud feature in IFS Cloud Platform is predominantly valuable, especially the enterprise asset management module, which IFS has very good business into, along with strong finance, project management, and supply chain management modules; these are the major modules that are performing well with IFS, and the cloud options along with user-friendly customizations for any technical developments are additional advantages. The integration of IoT with IFS Cloud Platform is performing well, enabling us to integrate with predominantly any third party through the standard inbuilt connectors that are readily available, and if we need to customize the integration, we can certainly do that too.

Read full review

Attila Aranyos

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.

Read full review

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	10

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	7

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IFS Applications?

The product is reasonably priced. The costs are justified by the value provided, considering the comprehensive features and minimal need for customization. I rate the pricing a seven out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IFS Applications?

When it comes to AI, I feel that is the area where we expect something more from IFS Cloud Platform. They are working on IFS AI, but we have not explored much into that yet, and if they want to kee...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IFS Applications?

Currently, I am working with Arcwide, which is a service industry that predominantly focuses on IFS consulting, including IFS implementations, rollouts, upgrades, and support services.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

Comparisons

SAP ERP vs IFS Cloud Platform

Compared 14% of the time

IBM Maximo vs IFS Cloud Platform

Compared 6% of the time

Oracle E-Business Suite vs IFS Cloud Platform

Compared 6% of the time

ServiceNow vs IFS Cloud Platform

Compared 4% of the time

IFS assyst vs IFS Cloud Platform

Compared 4% of the time

More IFS Cloud Platform Competitors

No data available

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IFS Cloud Platform

January 2026

Download IFS Cloud Platform product report

Buyer's Guide

Salesforce Essentials

January 2026

Download Salesforce Essentials product report

Also Known As

IFS Applications, Assyst, IFS Cloud

No data available

Overview

IFS is the world’s leading provider of Industrial AI and enterprise software for hardcore businesses that make, service, and power our planet. Our technology enables businesses which manufacture goods, maintain complex assets, and manage service-focused operations to unlock the transformative power of Industrial AI™ to enhance productivity, efficiency, and sustainability. Industrial AI is IFS.ai.

IFS Cloud is a fully composable AI-powered platform, designed for ultimate flexibility and adaptability to our customers’ specific requirements and business evolution. It spans the needs of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), Supply Chain Management (SCM), Information Technology Service Management (ITSM), and Field Service Management (FSM). IFS technology leverages AI, machine learning, real-time data and analytics to empower our customers to make informed strategic decisions and excel at their Moment of Service™.

IFS

Salesforce Essentials is a cloud-based CRM tool for businesses seeking flexible, scalable, and customizable solutions to enhance sales and customer support processes.

Designed for seamless integration across multiple channels, Salesforce Essentials includes Sales and Service Cloud to simplify sales tasks and customer management. It enhances finance, credit, and quality processes with user-friendly AI capabilities and predictive analytics. Despite its strengths, there is room for improvement in SAP integration, interface simplicity, and report generation. Cost-effectiveness and support for diverse languages are also potential upgrade areas. Businesses use this CRM solution for lead management, opportunity tracking, and automating sales workflows, transitioning from paper-based methods to digital efficiency.

What are the essential features of Salesforce Essentials?

Scalability and Flexibility: Accommodates growth and customization needs.
Multiple Channel Integration: Enhances finance and quality processes.
User-Friendly: Easy navigation with AI capabilities.
Cloud Deployment: Includes Sales and Service Cloud features.
Predictive Analytics: Improves productivity and tracking.
Mobile App Support: Facilitates on-the-go access and management.

What benefits or ROI can users expect from Salesforce Essentials?

Improved Productivity: Automation features save time and streamline tasks.
Enhanced Customer Management: Centralizes interaction and data handling.
Ease of Transition: From manual to automated workflows.
Performance Monitoring: Standardizes processes for better oversight.

In the retail industry, businesses employ Salesforce Essentials for customer data management and transparency in order processing. Healthcare providers use it for patient engagement and streamlined communication. Financial services utilize it for billing management and compliance, harnessing automation tools for efficient data handling.

Salesforce

Sample Customers

China Airlines, Electrolux Group, Babcock, Cimcorp, Sky, Multiplex, Veolia.

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

IFS Cloud Platform vs. Salesforce Essentials

December 2025

Free Report: IFS Cloud Platform vs. Salesforce Essentials

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