11 Best Salesforce Alternatives in 2024

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems have become essential tools for businesses, allowing them to collect, save, and organize customer data in one centralized platform.

Among the vast variety of available CRM systems, Salesforce stands out as one of the most prominent solutions, helping business owners effectively manage customer data and leverage them for strategic advantages. However, given the diverse needs and budgets each business has, it’s crucial to explore all your options before committing to any specific platform.

In this blog post, we’ve thoroughly compared the features and pricing of the 11 best Salesforce alternatives to help you find the perfect CRM system for your company. But first, let’s explore the most fundamental Salesforce features.

Salesforce features

Salesforce CRM offers a comprehensive set of features designed to help business owners manage relationships with clients and prospects while keeping all deals in total control. Now, let’s review each key Salesforce feature one by one.

• Advanced pipeline management. Salesforce offers a lot of flexibility for tailoring your sales pipeline to your specific needs, allowing for easy adjustments in pipeline stages, deal statuses, and task management.
• Team collaboration. The platform facilitates teamwork by allowing employees from different departments to seamlessly collaborate within one CRM.
• Extensive customization options. The service allows you to customize your CRM interface according to your business needs. It provides custom fields, layouts, and objects, allowing you to tailor them to your company’s preferences and enhance the visibility of your deals and contacts.
• Advanced permissions. Salesforce enables you to implement robust security measures through role-based access controls. You can set up your CRM’s sensitive data to only be accessible to specific team members.
• Account, contact, lead, and opportunity management. The platform’s lead management section can help you gather all the essential prospect data, allowing you to monitor and engage with them. Once your leads show interest in your business, you can use the service’s account, contact, and opportunity features to streamline converting your prospects into customers.

Despite all the positive features we’ve highlighted, it’s essential to recognize that every platform, including Salesforce, has its drawbacks. In the next section, we will examine some of this service’s limitations you should take into consideration.

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Salesforce disadvantages

Based on feedback from Salesforce customers, here are some potential issues you might encounter with this platform:

• High cost. Salesforce pricing structure is a common concern, especially for smaller businesses and startups with limited budgets. Users note that the cost increases as they scale or need to incorporate specific add-ons. For instance, Salesforce charges users for data storage, and this cost can escalate as data volumes grow.
• Complexity. While customization is one of Salesforce’s pros, some users find adjusting the platform to their needs challenging. It may require additional training for your company employees or the assistance of skilled developers to manage Salesforce and find out how each feature works.
• Vendor lock-in. Since the service is a proprietary solution, once your company heavily invests in Salesforce and deeply integrates it into your business processes, migrating to another platform can be challenging and costly.
• Integration challenges. Salesforce offers a wide range of apps, yet integrating them can become a problem for users. If you need seamless work of third-party solutions within the service, you’ll be involved in complex development work and financial resources.

In addition to the high pricing and vendor lock-in associated with Salesforce, users have reported concerns about payment issues and subpar customer service when addressing platform-related problems. Some Salesforce reviews also mention instances of lags and errors when working with tasks.

Considering the factors mentioned above, there are enough compelling reasons to explore Salesforce alternatives that may better suit your business needs.

Top Salesforce alternatives

We’ve compiled a list of excellent platforms that will suit various business needs, industries, and budgets. Let’s now explore them one by one to find your perfect match.

SendPulse

SendPulse is a versatile platform that combines a wide variety of essential tools for marketing and sales teams, including a CRM system, bulk email service, pop-up, chatbot, and website builders, among many others.

With SendPulse’s CRM, you can effortlessly collect and organize all necessary customer data in one place, create tailored pipelines for your company, and streamline your sales processes through automation. The service’s convenient Kanban board will allow you to access a clear list of open deals, efficiently distribute them among your sales reps, and closely monitor their progress.

Your team members can easily update each deal’s status as needed. When each new deal is created, it triggers real-time notifications, allowing your sales representatives to promptly respond and engage in meaningful customer interactions.

When it comes to the SendPulse CRM setup, it’s extremely simple and hassle-free. Whenever you need assistance, the service’s 24/7 customer support and comprehensive help center will help you quickly access all the information you need.

Now, let’s review the features this Salesforce alternative offers:

• Kanban, list, and calendar views;
• manual and automatic deal creation from chatbots, Automation 360, payments, websites, pop-ups, courses, and API;
• automated deal closing timeframe;
• various deal filters and saved filter criteria;
• custom deal, task, and contact fields;
• history and comment sections in deals and contact cards;
• export and import of contacts with duplicate control;
• contact filters and tags;
• payment links;
• task board with calendar;
• SMS campaigns and email inbox;
• integration with PayPal, Slack, WordPress, Facebook, and more;
• user permission management.

Pricing. You can try streamlining your sales and customer interactions with SendPulse CRM for free. The free plan includes up to 5 users, 2 sales pipelines, and 2 boards. If you need more team members and advanced features, the most affordable plan is priced at $29.60/month, paid annually.

Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM is a compelling Salesforce alternative that offers robust lead management, contact tracking, and sales automation features across multiple marketing channels.

The platform’s Al assistant, Zia, can analyze historical data and customer interactions, allowing businesses to predict the probability of lead conversions and better understand customer preferences. Besides, Zia supports natural language interactions, letting users communicate with the CRM system using voice or text commands.

Zoho CRM’s interface is simple and user-friendly. Once you open CRM with your deals, you can instantly see your customers’ names, statuses, and deals. Everything is visible and easy to manage.

Here’s a quick overview of this Salesforce alternative’s features:

• tasks, calls, events;
• notifications about customers’ interactions with your company;
• advanced filters;
• customer segmentation;
• targeted email campaigns;
• sales forecasting;
• data entry wizards;
• ZIP code address validation;
• dedicated admin panel.

Pricing. You can determine whether the platform is the right solution for your business during a 15-day free trial. After it expires, you can opt for a paid plan starting at $14 monthly, billed annually.

HubSpot CRM

HubSpot CRM is another excellent Salesforce alternative for businesses of all sizes. This platform provides extensive features for streamlining inbound marketing, sales, and customer relationship management.

With this free Salesforce alternative, you can turn your website visitors into leads, receive customer insights, establish trusting relationships, and convert your prospects into loyal clients.

The system’s intuitive interface makes it easy for sales and marketing teams to manage leads, track deals, and automate tasks. With its customizable dashboards, you can create custom reports and combine them to display the most relevant metrics and KPIs. Such flexibility allows teams to track the effectiveness of their strategies and campaigns and optimize their performance.

Let’s now explore the key features of this Salesforce alternative:

• automated updates on sales activities and deals;
• contact timeline recording;
• customizable dashboard;
• notifications on customer activities;
• meeting scheduler;
• prospect tracking;
• ticketing system.

Pricing. The platform offers a free plan and several paid subscriptions that start at $20 monthly, billed annually. With its cheapest plan, you’ll get access to 50 active lists, 1,000 static lists, and 1 subdomain.

Close CRM

Close CRM is another Salesforce alternative designed to streamline customer communication and enhance collaboration within sales teams. Tailored to businesses looking for a sales-centric CRM tool, it allows you to manage leads, send emails, track customer interactions, and automate repetitive tasks and workflows.

Close CRM offers a fast setup and intuitive interface, as well as flexible customization options beyond the dashboard. You can tailor workflows, pipelines, and communication templates to match the unique requirements of different sales processes.

With this Salesforce alternative, you can access the following features:

• data import and export;
• custom fields;
• custom activities;
• task management;
• pipeline view;
• calendar synchronization;
• meeting reminders;
• custom roles and visibility permissions;
• video calling.

Pricing. Close CRM offers a 14-day free trial. When it expires, you will have to choose from one of its paid plans starting at $49/month, billed annually. The cheapest paid plan includes 1 user, 1 pipeline, and 5 workflows.

LeadSquared

LeadSquared CRM is a tool that can help businesses of all sizes efficiently manage their sales activities and customer interactions. It unifies sales, marketing automation, and customer service functionalities under one roof, eliminating the need to juggle multiple disconnected tools.

One of LeadSquared’s standout features is its integrated telephony that lets you contact your leads with just one click, record conversations, and add notes. You can also reach out to your leads through various communication channels, including WhatsApp and email.

Here are some of the key features this Salesforce alternative offers:

• lead tracking, qualification, and scoring;
• automated and customizable sales workflows;
• task alerts and reminders;
• built-in dialer;
• one-on-one emails, SMS, and WhatsApp messages;
• detailed, real-time reports.

Pricing. The platform offers 3 paid plans that vary in terms of features. The cheapest plan costs $25 per user monthly if paid annually.

Freshsales (Freshworks)

Freshsales CRM is a robust CRM solution that offers various powerful tools for effectively managing all sales cycle stages, from prospecting to engaging leads and closing deals. Its notable features include lead scoring, contact management, email tracking, and deal management.

Freddy AI is another beneficial tool on this platform. It allows you to access sales forecasts for each customer by analyzing their buying behavior, efficiently segment your audience, and initiate targeted sales campaigns.

The service is simple and easy to set up, offering users assistance during onboarding. With its free onboarding session, you can master the platform in hours.

This Salesforce alternative provides users with the following helpful features:

• table and Kanban view;
• layout customization;
• auto-profile enrichment;
• role-based access;
• customer segmentation;
• contact scoring;
• deal insights;
• sales forecasting;
• custom sales activities;
• predictive lead scoring;
• phone (holiday routing).

Pricing. Freshworks has a free plan for up to 3 users. The cheapest paid plan costs $15 per user per month and includes AI-powered contact scoring, sales sequences, workflows, and custom sales activities.

monday.com CRM

monday.com is another excellent Salesforce alternative for improving your deals’ visibility and streamlining teamwork. It allows you to seamlessly create your sales pipelines by adding a new group of deals and importing them from third-party platforms.

The service’s user-friendly interface allows you to visualize your sales pipelines using Kanban boards. There are numerous customization features for you to tailor your dashboard to your requirements. Using pre-built templates, you can create workflows that help delegate tasks and handle deals.

Here’s a brief summary of this Salesforce alternative’s features:

• contact management;
• lead management;
• lead capturing;
• automated task generation;
• activity management;
• performance tracking;
• sales forecasting;
• team goals.

Pricing. The platform has a 14-day free trial for testing its CRM before purchasing. Once it expires, you can buy a paid plan starting at $10.95 per seat monthly for unlimited, customizable pipelines, contacts, and boards, paid annually.

Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a robust sales management platform aimed at helping companies monitor, manage, and close deals. Its visual sales pipeline provides a clear and organized view of ongoing deals and their respective stages, allowing teams to track progress, identify bottlenecks, and prioritize activities.

Pipedrive also offers automation tools to help you streamline repetitive tasks — you can automatically create deals, pull customer data from various sources, distribute leads, send follow-up emails, schedule meetings, and more.

The system’s interface is simple and flexible, allowing you to track all the interactions with prospects and customers, including calls, emails, and texts. On top of that, a comprehensive interaction history will provide you with all the contacts your reps make with clients. It results in a better understanding of behavior and chances of closing the deals.

Let’s take a closer look at the features offered by this Salesforce alternative:

• team collaboration;
• visual sales pipeline;
• contact history;
• deal rotting;
• deal card customization;
• activity reminders;
• lead segmentation;
• revenue forecasting;
• duplicate data merging.

Pricing. The platform has a 14-day free trial that allows you to explore its CRM features. When it expires, you’ll need a paid plan that will cost you $13.69 per user monthly, billed annually. The cheapest paid plan includes lead and deal management, customizable pipelines, a products catalog, leads inbox, and more.

Snov.io

Snov.io is a simple CRM system that helps your sales team find touchpoints with prospects and turn them into loyal customers faster. With this Salesforce alternative, you can create pipelines with numerous stages and add comments to each deal to increase the possibility of winning the most important deals.

By providing the Kanban board, the service allows you to sort deals based on status and instantly see all available deals. This way, you can keep an eye on essential deals that require instant attention from your reps.

This Salesforce alternative’s notable features are the following:

• custom fields;
• deal notes;
• prospect notes;
• tasks scheduling;
• Google calendar synchronization;
• deal timeline;
• task delegation;
• teamwork.

Pricing. Snov.io has a free trial that lets you explore the service’s basic features. For advanced features, you’ll need a paid plan. The cheapest plan will cost you $30 monthly for 20 pipelines and 10,000 deals if billed annually.

Agile CRM

Agile CRM is an affordable CRM solution serving businesses of different sizes. With this platform’s help, company owners can seamlessly gather and manage contact data, streamline sales processes, and nurture prospects.

This service provides a centralized database for customer information, making it easy for team members to access all details and notes on lead interactions.

The CRM system has a customizable dashboard, providing the main metrics, activities, and tasks.

Here are some of the main features of this Salesforce alternative:

• custom data fields;
• lead scoring;
• appointment scheduling;
• custom deal tracking;
• call recording.

Pricing. The service has a free plan for 10 users. For more users and access to advanced features, you can buy a paid plan starting at $9.99/month, billed annually.

Odoo CRM

Odoo CRM is another free Salesforce alternative that consolidates customer and prospect data in one platform and provides robust features for managing your sales pipelines, expanding your customer base, and boosting deal closure. This service facilitates efficient task delegation and promotes smooth collaboration across different departments within your company.

Designed with beginners in mind, Odoo’s user-friendly interface lets you quickly grasp available functions, requiring only a couple of hours to familiarize yourself with the dashboard. Its convenient Kanban board organizes deals based on their stages, making it easier to track new deals.

Now, let’s delve into this Salesforce alternative’s crucial features:

• automatic import of new contacts;
• custom dashboards;
• pipeline management;
• deduplication;
• lead assignment rules;
• activity history;
• meeting scheduling;
• revenue forecasting;
• team performance analysis;
• lead scoring.

Pricing. You can choose and use one of Odoo’s apps, including CRM, for free or purchase a paid plan if you need to combine several tools. The price starts at $7.25 per user monthly if paid annually.

Conclusion

Now, let’s move on to a concise overview of each Salesforce alternative, considering both affordability and essential features for businesses. Use the table below to you quickly identify the best solution for your needs.

Once you’ve gathered information about your prospects and customers, it’s crucial to move on to lead nurturing to turn prospects into loyal clients. That’s where a versatile solution like SendPulse will come in handy.

This multi-channel sales and marketing automation platform encompasses all necessary tools for capturing, nurturing, and converting leads into customers. With SendPulse, you can not only skyrocket your conversions but also build trusting relationships with clients, encouraging them to return. Sign up for SendPulse now and effectively guide your leads through your sales funnel!