Head to head
Salesforce Sales Cloud vs Zoho CRM
Both products assessed against the same checklist, with ratings drawn from 483 verified reviews.
Salesforce Sales Cloud
CRM Software
4.1
219 verified reviews
US$25
per month, from, excl VAT
- Rating gap
- 0.1
- Reviews behind this
- 483
- Monthly price gap
- US$235
- Features they share
- 2
Side by side
How they compare
Ratings computed from published reviews, and the specifications that change what a product costs to run. The washed column is the higher rated of the two.
| Compared on | Salesforce Inc. | Higher rated overall |
|---|---|---|
| What reviewers say | ||
| Overall rating | 4.1 | 4.2, higher |
| Ease of use | 3.9 | 4.1, higher |
| Value for money | 4.0 | 4.1, higher |
| Customer service | 3.9 | 4.0, higher |
| Functionality | 4.1 | 4.2, higher |
| Verified reviews | 219 | 264 |
| What it costs | ||
| Starting price | US$25per month, from | R260per month, from |
| VAT basis | Excl VAT | Excl VAT |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Published plans | 3 | 4 |
| Vendor and support | ||
| Vendor | Salesforce Inc. | Zoho Corporation |
| Founded | 1999 | 1996 |
| Support channels | Partner network, Telephone on premium tiers, Email, Trailhead training, Community | Email, Live chat, Telephone, Knowledge base, Community forum |
| Integrations listed | 9 | 10 |
| Local bank feeds | 0 | 0 |
The local yardstick
South African compliance
Amber marks a gap rather than a feature. This is usually where the decision is actually made.
Salesforce Sales Cloud
- GDPR tooling that maps onto POPIA
- Consent and data subject request handling
- Field level encryption available
- Detailed audit trail
- Data hosted outside South Africa
Zoho CRM
- POPIA aligned consent capture
- Data subject request handling
- Configurable retention rules
- Selectable data residency by region
- Operator agreement available
What they cost
Pricing, compared properly
Check the VAT basis on each. Vendors are not consistent, and the difference is 15%.
Salesforce Sales Cloud
Listed excluding VAT
- US$25/mo
Starter Suite
Per user
- US$100/mo
Pro SuitePopular
Per user
- US$165/mo
Enterprise
Per user
Billed in US dollars per user per month on an annual commitment. Budget implementation at two to three times the year one licence cost.
Zoho CRM
Listed excluding VAT
- Free
Free
3 users
- R260/mo
Standard
Per user
- R450/mo
ProfessionalPopular
Per user
- R780/mo
Enterprise
Per user
Zoho bills in rand, which removes exchange rate exposure. Prices exclude VAT and annual billing is discounted against monthly.
Capability
The full feature matrix
Every feature either product offers, and whether the other one has it.
| Compared on | Salesforce Inc. | Higher rated overall |
|---|---|---|
| 25 features across both products | ||
| Accounts, contacts, leads and opportunities | Included | Not included |
| Apex development platform | Included | Not included |
| AppExchange marketplace | Included | Not included |
| Approval processes | Included | Not included |
| Blueprint process automation | Not included | Included |
| Consent capture and data subject requests | Not included | Included |
| Custom modules and fields | Not included | Included |
| Custom objects and fields | Included | Not included |
| Customisable sales processes | Included | Not included |
| Deluge scripting | Not included | Included |
| Email integration with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace | Not included | Included |
| Forecasting | Included | Included |
| Full REST and SOAP APIs | Included | Not included |
| Leads, contacts, accounts and deals | Not included | Included |
| Multiple pipelines | Not included | Included |
| Offline capable mobile app | Not included | Included |
| Open REST API | Not included | Included |
| Quotes and orders | Included | Not included |
| Quotes, sales orders and invoices | Not included | Included |
| Reports and dashboards | Included | Included |
| Sandbox environments | Included | Not included |
| Territory and quota management | Included | Not included |
| Territory management | Not included | Included |
| Workflow and process automation | Included | Not included |
| Workflow rules and approval chains | Not included | Included |
Our verdict
Which one you should buy
We name a winner. Listing differences and leaving the decision to the reader is not a verdict.
Salesforce will model any sales process you can describe. The question is whether you need that, because the total cost gap is enormous.
Zoho CRM Enterprise gives you territory management, custom modules, a scripting layer and full workflow automation, billed in rand, at a fraction of Salesforce Enterprise licensing. For a South African business under about fifty users, Zoho does what you actually need.
Salesforce becomes the right answer at genuine complexity: multiple business units, formal territory and quota structures, a sales process that spans several systems, or an existing group standard. It also has the deepest local partner community and the largest application ecosystem in business software.
The number buyers most often miss is implementation. Budget two to three times the year one licence cost, and plan for an administrator, either a person or a retained partner. Businesses that budget the licence alone are the ones we see struggling two years later.
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