Pega CRM vs Salesforce Essentials comparison

Pega and Salesforce are both solutions in the CRM category. Pega is ranked #16 with an average rating of 7.6, while Salesforce is ranked #15 with an average rating of 8.1. Pega holds a 0.7% mindshare in CRM, compared to Salesforce’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Pega users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Salesforce users who would recommend it.

Pega CRM

Read 10 Pega CRM reviews

927 Views
630 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Salesforce Essentials

Read 14 Salesforce Essentials reviews

562 Views
556 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Pega CRM

Salesforce Essentials

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Pega CRM and Salesforce Essentials are competing within the CRM market, both aiming to serve businesses seeking robust customer relationship management solutions. Salesforce Essentials appears to have the upper hand due to its flexibility and broader appeal, making it a worthwhile investment for many businesses.

Features: Pega CRM offers workflow automation, business process management, and robust integration abilities. It provides a high level of flexibility in managing workflows and allows for significant process customization. Salesforce Essentials provides basic CRM functionalities, comprehensive reporting, and analytics capabilities. It includes Sales Cloud and Service Cloud, which help in managing sales processes and post-sales activities, making it user-friendly for small businesses.

Room for Improvement: Pega CRM can be challenging for smaller teams due to its complex deployment process and extensive customization needs. It requires more configuration support and better ease-of-use features. Salesforce Essentials could enhance its AI capabilities and mobile app functionality, which are not yet fully optimized for complex customer interactions. Additionally, expanding its flexibility in handling unique business processes could be beneficial.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Salesforce Essentials provides a straightforward deployment process and reliable customer service, ensuring rapid onboarding and minimal setup time. Pega CRM, on the other hand, involves a more complex deployment process requiring significant configuration, which can be challenging for smaller teams.

Pricing and ROI: Pega CRM generally involves a higher setup cost due to its extensive customization options, which may result in a slower ROI if not fully utilized. In contrast, Salesforce Essentials offers a more cost-effective setup and clear pricing structure, leading to potentially faster ROI for smaller businesses seeking immediate impact without extensive initial investment.

To learn more, read our detailed Pega CRM vs. Salesforce Essentials Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Pega CRM vs. Salesforce Essentials

September 2025

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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:

Categories and Ranking

Pega CRM

Ranking in CRM

16th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

CRM Customer Engagement Centers (5th)

Salesforce Essentials

Ranking in CRM

15th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the CRM category, the mindshare of Pega CRM is 0.7%, down from 1.3% 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%
Pega CRM	0.7%
Other	98.7%

CRM

Featured Reviews

Srinivas Ganisetti

AVP/Sr Analyst Apps at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Case management feature is valuable but the pricing is expensive

I would like to suggest the solution but it really depends on your specific requirements, your business use cases and future plans. There is a significant investment involved in this solution and therefore it is very crucial to reevaluate your future necessity including automation potential and modernization plans. I would suggest that you select any kind of solution and explore alternatives of similar functionalities at a lower cost. This might help you to achieve more with less. In my experience, I would rate it between seven to eight because it offers robust capabilities. But please be aware that other BPM tools are emerging with similar features at a lower cost. Pega CRM is perceived as bulk care compared to order tools, as many of its capabilities are potentially underutilized. I would rate it 7 out of 10.

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Srini-Dhanaraj

Founder & CEO at imfine.club

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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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the ability to pull information about the customer on-the-fly so they feel the interaction is more personal."

"It also reduces the duration per call, and it ensures a first time resolution of the issue."

"The solution is very easy to use."

"The product's deployment phase was easy."

"Great flexibility and its locking mechanism enable multiple users to work on the same case seamlessly."

"The case management feature is really valuable."

"One of the most valuable features of Pega CRM for our team's productivity is its ease of setup, thanks to its configuration-driven approach."

"Pega offers a clear parent-child case relationship that's easily created and maintained. Dependencies can be configured, where reaching a specific stage in a parent case automatically triggers a child task in a child case, while the parent case remains on hold until a certain condition is met before moving forward. This configuration allows multiple users to work on cases in parallel. Many of these settings are readily available within Pega case settings. Overall, Pega's case management is unparalleled compared to other options."

More Pega CRM pros

"We use Salesforce Essentials for everything we do on the sales side."

"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."

"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."

"The solution is very scalable and flexible. It can be customized as per the business need."

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

"The product is stable."

"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."

"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."

More Salesforce Essentials pros

Cons

"The UI should be improved."

"The solution has room for improvement around decisional and real-time data analysis."

"For many of the clients, they have a separate system or separate layer of UI and a separate layer of the business rules engine, which Pega has taken care of in the recent releases."

"The disadvantage of the tool stems from the fact that it does not allow users to make database-level modifications."

"There has been a common acknowledgment among customers that this solution is an expensive tool and they often opt for cheaper tools like Comodo"

"The UI is lagging and needs to be improved."

"Price is always a concern for many organizations. They often think Pega is expensive, and sometimes they don't fully understand the pricing model."

"They should enable the data-driven streaming feature inside it."

More Pega CRM cons

"Salesforce should encourage new users by offering smaller license packages, such as packages for three or two users."

"Areas that could be improved or upgraded in the next release include analytics, automation capabilities, and stability."

"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."

"Salesforce Essentials does not contain domain-specific solutions."

"The solution's UI is not user-friendly."

"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."

"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 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."

More Salesforce Essentials cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive."

"The pricing is on the higher side."

"We have numerous uses of the solution in our organisation. Almost 72 applications are integrated with Pega CRM, and some of them are shutting down for various reasons including the high licensing costs. There is a strong focus in the market and offices on cost reduction."

"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."

"It's a perpetual license, and the subscription can be expensive."

"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 pricing is on the higher side, especially with additional costs for professional services like consultants."

"I rate Salesforce Essentials' pricing an eight out of ten."

"The tool is moderately priced."

"We chose quarterly payments."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

27%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	8

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

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Pega CRM?

The product's deployment phase was easy.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Pega CRM?

The disadvantage of the tool stems from the fact that it does not allow users to make database-level modifications. In Siebel CRM, you have complete control over your database, you can do any datab...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Pega CRM?

Pega CRM uses a layer cake architecture. Basically, the tool is a convenient application to use even if you are not a technical person, like a business analyst. I use the solution for the CRM modul...

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?

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...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 20% of the time

Salesforce Service Cloud vs Pega CRM

Compared 16% of the time

Salesforce Sales Cloud vs Pega CRM

Compared 16% of the time

Siebel CRM vs Pega CRM

Compared 15% of the time

Genesys Cloud CX vs Pega CRM

Compared 13% of the time

More Pega CRM Competitors

No data available

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pega CRM

September 2025

Download Pega CRM product report

Buyer's Guide

Salesforce Essentials

September 2025

Download Salesforce Essentials product report

Also Known As

Chordiant

No data available

Overview

Pega BPM streamlines your operations so you can reduce costs and improve business agility. Pega is recognized by leading analyst firms as the most comprehensive and unified BPM platform.

Pega

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

The State of Maine, Aegis, Aegon, AIG Japan, ING

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Pega CRM vs. Salesforce Essentials

September 2025

Free Report: Pega CRM vs. Salesforce Essentials

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