SAP CRM vs Salesforce Essentials comparison

Salesforce and SAP are both solutions in the CRM category. Salesforce is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.2, while SAP is ranked #3 with an average rating of 7.8. Salesforce holds a 0.6% mindshare in CRM, compared to SAP’s 2.2% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Salesforce users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 84% of SAP users who would recommend it.

Salesforce Essentials

Read 14 Salesforce Essentials reviews

842 Views
842 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

SAP CRM

Read 44 SAP CRM reviews

3,941 Views
3,626 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

Salesforce Essentials

SAP CRM

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

SAP CRM and Salesforce Essentials are two CRM solutions competing for dominance in the business market. Salesforce Essentials seems to have the upper hand due to its cloud-based features and ease of deployment, offering flexibility and scalability that attract companies with these needs.

Features: SAP CRM excels in lead management, forecasting analytics, and sales reporting, offering deep customer insights with ERP integration. It supports extensive customization and scalability. Salesforce Essentials provides integrated Sales and Service Cloud capabilities, focusing on customer engagement and AI-driven segmentation, offering ease of use and proactive management tools.

Room for Improvement: SAP CRM users note the need for better user-friendliness, interface design, and performance speed improvements due to its technical complexity. Salesforce Essentials could benefit from simplifying its UI and enhancing customization options for diverse user needs, alongside optimized mobile solutions.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SAP CRM is utilized in hybrid and on-premises setups with variability in support based on partners, while its public cloud option is less common. Salesforce Essentials is preferred for public cloud deployment, offering straightforward customer service and a responsive support structure, though third-party customizations can be pricey.

Pricing and ROI: SAP CRM is priced higher due to its robust features and integration capabilities, which may not suit smaller businesses. It uses a licensing and annual fee structure. Salesforce Essentials, while considered costly, offers better fits for businesses with ample budgets. Both solutions can deliver ROI over several years, depending on enterprise scale and deployment strategies.

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

Buyer's Guide

SAP CRM vs. Salesforce Essentials

December 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:

ROI

Sentiment score

8.0

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

Sentiment score

6.6

Sales and revenue increased; operational efficiency justifies costs, but Salesforce suits large organizations more than smaller ones long-term.

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

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP CRM report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.3

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

Sentiment score

7.0

Customer service is responsive and reliable, with 24/7 support, although customization and response times can vary.

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

I am satisfied with their response time and quality.

Fazle Rabbi

CRM administrator at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP CRM report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

6.9

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

Sentiment score

8.1

SAP CRM excels in scalability, efficiently supporting numerous users and large data volumes while integrating various business functions.

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

In terms of scalability with data and number of users, I would give it a nine out of ten.

Fazle Rabbi

CRM administrator at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP CRM report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.6

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

Sentiment score

8.1

SAP CRM is stable and reliable, with occasional issues, but generally offers smooth operation and minimal downtime.

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

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP CRM report

Room For Improvement

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

SAP CRM requires UI enhancements, better integration, real-time analytics, increased flexibility, and modern tech adoption for future growth.

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

I am happy with SAP CRM because whenever we have requirements for changes or customization as per our needs, we get them, and the downtime is minimal.

Fazle Rabbi

CRM administrator at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP CRM report

Setup Cost

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

SAP CRM is costly, targeting large enterprises, with high setup costs but competitive features; price cuts could increase appeal.

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

SAP CRM is not suitable for small companies because of the cost.

Fazle Rabbi

CRM administrator at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP CRM report

Valuable Features

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

SAP CRM provides customizable reporting, seamless ERP integration, real-time data, enhancing customer management and improving business processes globally.

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

If there is any error in our machine, a log is automatically generated, and from SAP CRM, we can see that the machine has problems.

Fazle Rabbi

CRM administrator at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP CRM report

Categories and Ranking

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

SAP CRM

Ranking in CRM

3rd

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Local Government CRM (2nd), Marketing Management (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the CRM category, the mindshare of Salesforce Essentials is 0.6%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP CRM is 2.2%, down from 11.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

CRM Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
SAP CRM	2.2%
Salesforce Essentials	0.6%
Other	97.2%

CRM

Featured Reviews

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

Fazle Rabbi

CRM administrator at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Customization and automation drive effective user training and insights sharing

Recently, the price of SAP CRM has increased, which is one concern. Another issue is that sometimes we experience slow performance. Reports in SAP CRM itself can become very slow. Other than that, it is a very good CRM system. I am happy with SAP CRM because whenever we have requirements for changes or customization as per our needs, we get them, and the downtime is minimal. We are getting very good support from the incident team and the in-house support team who are responsible for customization. Some customer centers have moved to Salesforce, but I don't have any experience with Salesforce to make a comparison.

Read full review

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Manufacturing Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

University

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	27

Questions from the Community

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

What do you like most about SAP CRM?

Getting the right information at the right time across different programs is important. These programs lack interaction between them. IPA is a good option to bring them together.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP CRM?

SAP CRM is not suitable for small companies because of the cost. It is suitable for medium and large enterprise companies.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SAP CRM?

See all answers

Comparisons

No data available

Microsoft Dynamics CRM vs SAP CRM

Compared 38% of the time

Salesforce Sales Cloud vs SAP CRM

Compared 13% of the time

Zoho CRM vs SAP CRM

Compared 6% of the time

Oracle CRM vs SAP CRM

Compared 5% of the time

Siebel CRM vs SAP CRM

Compared 5% of the time

More SAP CRM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Salesforce Essentials

January 2026

Download Salesforce Essentials product report

Buyer's Guide

SAP CRM

January 2026

Download SAP CRM product report

Overview

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

SAP CRM is a comprehensive customer relationship management solution that helps businesses streamline their sales, marketing, and service processes. It offers a range of features including lead management, opportunity management, campaign management, and customer service management. With SAP CRM, businesses can effectively manage their customer interactions, improve customer satisfaction, and drive revenue growth.

The solution integrates with other SAP modules, allowing for seamless data exchange and real-time insights. It also offers mobile access, enabling sales and service teams to access critical information on the go.

SAP CRM is a powerful tool for businesses looking to enhance their customer relationships and drive business success.

SAP

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Brau Union Osterreich AG, Nu Skin Enterprises Inc., AOK Bundesverband, RAK Ceramics, NHS 24, Wholesale Sports Outdoor Outfitters, FC Bayern Munchen AG, Tumi, The Kellogg Company, MVV Energie AG, Anglian Water Services, German Football Association (DFB), Nebraska Book Company Inc.

Buyer's Guide

SAP CRM vs. Salesforce Essentials

December 2025

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