Is There a Good CRM Alternative to Salesforce?

While Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, we are always working to find new ways to help businesses build their customer relationships. We understand that the CRM industry is filled with options, including freemium products and alternatives with specialised features. How do CRM alternatives compare? Do any of them offer a viable alternative to Salesforce’s suite of CRM tools and third-party applications? Let’s look at a few of the top competitors.

As the CRM that captures the second largest market share, Microsoft Dynamics CRM approaches the idea of customer relationship management from a different angle. It treats CRM as more of an effect that flows from improved marketing campaigns; the basic underlying premise being that customers love you because you give them what they want, as opposed to you give customers what they want because they love you. Whatever the approach, Microsoft CRM uses social insights, business intelligence and campaign management to bolster sales. It can be bought in an on-premise package as a service on the cloud and is specifically designed to integrate with Office 365.

Plans begin at $65 per user per month and increase to $135 per month.

Microsoft Dynamics rates well for off-line access, tight integration with Microsoft products, multiple dashboards and its built-in marketing and automation tools. On the downside, users report a steep learning curve.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is useful for integrating every department across large organisations into a single platform. But while the interface is attractive, the reporting tools are effective and the automation features are comprehensive, it is mainly designed for larger organisations with complex needs.

Microsoft posts a step-by-step guide to onboarding online.

Keap is designed to handle a wide-range of tasks, from sales, to content management, to marketing, to ecommerce, all through a single, centralised tool. However, while it may be a jack-of-all-trades, it truly is a master of none. Many of its tools are rudimentary at best. And when compared to other, less expensive, equally-effective CRM solutions, it’s high cost is difficult to justify.

Starting at $299 per user per month and increasing to $599 per month for 5 users.

Like Microsoft Dynamics, Keap rates well as an effective CRM, but also like Microsoft Dynamics some users find it difficult to master. Keap's users generally find the platform to be streamlined and efficient once they learn how to use it.

Ostensibly billed as a comprehensive sales and marketing tool for small to medium-sized businesses, Keap is designed around the idea of clearing internal obstacles for business growth. The primary channel Keap follows toward that goal is through improving the length of the customer lifecycle relationships.

Keap offers personalised training and continued support to ensure that you are comfortable with each aspect of your solution. New users must factor in the onboarding process, which is reported to take 4-12 weeks. It includes everything sales and marketing pros need to move the needle.

Like Salesforce, Keap claims to be favoured by small business owners because of its comprehensive set of tools and its user-friendliness. In that respect, users give Keap high marks for its automation features and for its ability to help improve marketing, billing and project management processes. However, small business owners also favour low-cost CRMs and in that category, Keap does not fit the bill. On top of their monthly premiums, Keap requires newcomers to pay for their onboarding service. Prices for Keap's onboarding service, begin at $1,000.

Keap offers personalised training and continued support to ensure that you are comfortable with each aspect of your solution. New users must factor in the onboarding process, which is reported to take 4-12 weeks. It includes everything sales and marketing pros need to move the needle.

Zoho begins with a free version for up to 3 users that includes features like leads, accounts, contacts, feeds, documents and mobile apps. Paid subscriptions begin at $14 per month per user and increase to $52 per user per month.

Zoho's free version offers most of the functionalities a small business requires, including lead gathering, contact management, workflow automation, analytics, social collaboration and lead-conversion tools, as well as mobile accessibility.

The free version of Zoho is a great benefit, but it only serves a small business that isn’t looking for growth in the long term. Zoho isn’t as customisable as premium CRMs and some users also complain that navigation and simple tasks sometimes require too many steps.

Zoho has been noted by certain users as having too steep of a learning curve, making it difficult to get started with—especially for those who may be less familiar with CRM concepts and terminology.

With what seems like new, game-changing technology being introduced every year, innovation and improvement is what keeps a company from becoming stale. Innovation is what separates businesses that are invested in short term profits over long term growth. From social media to big data to artificial intelligence, Salesforce continues to iterate, improve and innovate its products so that they can continue delivering more value to their customers.

And customers agree.

If your business is small and simple enough then a “free” CRM like Zoho could be a decent alternative depending on your needs at the time. But if so, it’s only for a time when the idea of big growth is nowhere on the radar.

Salesforce is rich in features across Einstein 1 CRM, sales, customer service, business analytics, marketing and customisable through the platform and through AgentExchange. Even still, Salesforce is priced similarly as enterprise CRM options like Microsoft Dynamic or Keap, which offer less personalisation.

This allows for scalability not found in the alternatives. It’s designed to serve businesses from the startup phase, all the way through the enterprise level.

That’s why among all the CRM choices, Salesforce is that very rare combination of big enough to be a proven platform, flexible enough to fit any solution, yet still forward-thinking enough to be on integrating the latest technologies affecting the industry.

We're the #1 AI CRM and the industry leader chosen by companies of all sizes and in all industries, around the world. Find out why by trying Salesforce for free today.