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Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service vs Salesforce Essentials 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.9
Organizations see ROI in 3-4 years; Dynamics 365 enhances efficiency, reduces costs, increases satisfaction, and saves time significantly.
Sentiment score
7.9
Salesforce Essentials offers an efficient, user-friendly platform that accelerates sales, aids teams, and automates processes for quick returns.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
4.3
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service is responsive but can face delays in complex cases, needing improvement in response times.
Sentiment score
8.0
Salesforce Essentials is praised for fast, efficient support and reliable service uptime, enhancing user satisfaction and operational stability.
We are using local Microsoft partners, not Microsoft themselves.
I would evaluate Microsoft tech support as an eight out of ten, as they are quite responsive.
Their service and uptime is phenomenal.
Salesforce Essentials has excellent customer service.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service is scalable, adaptable for various business sizes, though experiences with integration and licensing vary.
Sentiment score
7.5
Salesforce Essentials is highly scalable, supporting enterprise-level needs with flexibility, although some report connectivity and enhancement dependency issues.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service is highly rated for stability, with users appreciating its reliable performance despite occasional issues.
Sentiment score
8.1
Salesforce Essentials offers stable performance, smooth SAP integration, minor bugs, and reliable uptime, ensuring minimal operational disruptions for users.
Salesforce Essentials has proven stable, with no downtime that affects my work.
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service requires enhancements in usability, customization, integration, scalability, support, documentation, and pricing transparency.
Salesforce Essentials needs better integration, intuitive UI, competitive pricing, simplified automation, enhanced connectivity, and improved language support.
The solution could improve by providing internal scorecards for agents and much better staff ratings.
The main area for improvement is the pricing model.
Instead of requiring users to think about system navigation and clicking procedures, they can simply follow a workflow that guides them through the process.
There are other competitors, like Zoho CRM, that offer similar features at a lower cost.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service offers moderate pricing, competitive for its features, with a straightforward user-based licensing model.
Salesforce Essentials is costly, but offers value through flexibility and add-ons, despite complex payment options and operational expenses.
We did our integration with sales automation and other tools internally, which incurred no additional costs beyond the standard licensing fees.
The pricing is within the market range, but there is room for improvement.
The cost of running Salesforce Essentials is significant.
The costs associated with Salesforce Essentials are substantial, which is a drawback compared to competitors who offer similar services for less.
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service enhances integration, automation, and customization, improving customer support with AI, analytics, and seamless cloud access.
Salesforce Essentials offers cloud deployment, customization, AI, and mobile support, benefiting process optimization and data integration despite high costs.
It has a workflow feature and offers excellent automation capabilities that streamline our customer service.
It is fully integrated and easily scalable with other Microsoft tools like Power BI, which is a great advantage.
It is very customizable to specific needs.
Salesforce Essentials is excellent because it is one of the most flexible CRMs available.
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Cust...
Ranking in CRM
13th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
21
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 August 2025, in the CRM category, the mindshare of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service is 0.9%, up from 0.4% 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

reviewer2748861 - PeerSpot reviewer
There is significant room for improvement in routing and setup challenges
The system is easy to use, especially when logging customer interactions or requests, which flow to the resolution teams. Users can attach documents and easily review past interactions. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service streamlines operations in my customer support department. The automation feature in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service impacts workflows positively by making work easier. When logging customer cases, they automatically flow to the resolution team instead of sending an email. Cases can be easily logged, and feedback can be checked in the same application without sending emails or calling the resolution team. The analytics and reporting tools work perfectly for improving service delivery. We can see full interactions, number of interactions, and how often customers reach out before resolutions, among other metrics. Since implementing the AI feature, our CS scores, customer effort scores, and customer satisfaction scores have improved tremendously. AI has several use cases where it responds to issues immediately and offers the best-case scenario for handling such cases, reducing human impact compared to manually processing complaints before resolution. The main benefit from using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service is the great improvement compared to the past manual method of escalating issues to the resolution team. Now, information is collected and logged, flowing to the resolution team, which has significantly improved turnaround times compared to the days it previously took to resolve customer complaints.
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.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Healthcare Company
8%
Government
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service?
The pricing is within the market range, but there is room for improvement. I have annual subscriptions.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service?
The main area for improvement is the pricing model. While it is competitive within the market, there is room for improvement, as is the case with most software vendors.
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...
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service vs. Salesforce Essentials and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.