Top 10 Zoho CRM Alternatives and Competitors in 2025

Updated on
June 03, 2025
14 min read
On this page

    Zoho CRM is a popular platform that offers a broad set of features for customer relationship management. However, if Zoho CRM falls short of your expectations, whether due to performance issues, scalability concerns, or missing advanced functionality, there are many strong alternatives worth considering.

    This article covers the top 10 Zoho CRM alternatives for 2025 — platforms that match or exceed Zoho’s capabilities and may better fit your business goals, budget, and workflows.

    What is Zoho CRM?

    Zoho CRM is a cloud-based platform designed to help businesses manage sales, marketing, and customer support in one system. It offers great visibility into the customer lifecycle, covering various stages from lead generation to post-sale customer interactions.

    The platform covers core CRM functionality such as contact and lead management, sales pipeline tracking, forecasting, onboarding, and support. It provides a basic functionality for marketing automation and quite robust sales automation capabilities. With flexible upgrades, scalable add-ons, and an intuitive interface, Zoho CRM is especially popular among SMBs and growing businesses. It also offers a free trial for up to three users to explore its basic features.

    Why Consider Alternatives to Zoho CRM?

    While Zoho CRM is a solid solution for sales and marketing teams, users often report several limitations that can impact long-term usability and efficiency:

    1. Cumbersome User Interface. The UI can feel cluttered, making it difficult to focus on key customer data. Irrelevant or empty fields are often displayed by default, and custom field limitations persist even with plan upgrades.
    2. System Performance Issues. Users frequently mention slow loading times and occasional bugs, particularly when working with reports or large databases, which can disrupt day-to-day workflows.
    3. Complex Implementation & Limited Integrations. While Zoho offers a wide range of features, configuring them often requires assistance from Zoho support or certified partners. Workflow setup can feel clunky, and not all third-party integrations are supported or work smoothly.
    4. Hidden Costs. Many key CRM features are locked behind the Enterprise plan ($50 user/month), and advanced integrations typically require partner support, leading to unexpected costs. Small teams often need to pay for additional subscriptions just to access the required functionality, which again rises up the total CRM cost.
    5. AI Functionality Limitations. Zoho’s AI assistant, Zia, is only available in plans starting at $50 per user/month. This puts advanced features out of reach for teams on tighter budgets, especially when more affordable Zoho alternatives offer built-in AI at lower tiers.

    Key Features to Look for in a Zoho Alternative

    When evaluating alternatives to Zoho CRM, focus on platforms that match Zoho’s capabilities and also strongly address its common limitations. Here are the key factors to consider:

    • Core CRM Functionality. Choose a solution that covers essential features like contact and lead management, pipeline management, marketing automation, and email integration. Avoid overly fragmented platforms that require separate modules for basic CRM tasks — this often leads to unnecessary complexity and extra costs.
    • Smooth Customization. Look for a CRM that allows you to tailor workflows, fields, and dashboards without relying on developers. Platforms that offer low-code/no-code customization make it easier for non-technical teams to adapt the system to their needs.
    • User-Friendly Interface. A clean, intuitive interface speeds up onboarding and drives adoption across teams. If users find it easier to navigate than Zoho, you’ll get better engagement and ROI from day one.
    • Seamless Integrations. Your CRM should easily connect with the tools you already use — whether it’s email marketing platforms, finance software, or customer support tools — without costly third-party connectors or workarounds.
    • Scalability for Growth. Choose a platform that can grow with your business as your teams expand or processes evolve. Your CRM alternative should support upgrades and new users without disruptions.
    • Support & Onboarding Resources. To avoid the common challenges with integration, consider a CRM that provides guided onboarding, documentation, and responsive customer support. Bonus points if advanced support (like dedicated success managers) is included or reasonably priced.
    • Transparent, Flexible Pricing. Make sure you understand the full CRM pricing, including not just base license fees, but also costs for storage, integrations, AI features, or additional user fees, so there are no unexpected costs as your team grows.

    These key parameters will help you to choose a strong alternative to Zoho CRM software, that is easy to use, reliable, and fully aligned with your industry requirements and business needs.

    10 Best Zoho CRM Alternatives to Choose in 2025

    The best alternatives to Zoho are the platforms that offer unified functionality across sales, marketing, and customer service, while also supporting greater scalability, customization, and integration. The alternative CRMs should also be suited for complex business processes and industry-specific requirements.

    Here’s a quick overview of the top Zoho CRM alternatives to consider in 2025:

    Platform

    Primary Use Case

    Plans & Pricing

    CreatioAll-in-one AI-native CRM platform3 plans for different needs, starting at $40 per user/month
    Microsoft Dynamics 365Enterprise-grade sales and customer service2 plans, starting at $65 per user/month
    HubSpotMarketing, sales, and service for SMBs and large-scale organizations3 plans, starting at $20 per user/month
    SalesforceScalable CRM for teams of all sizes2 plans, starting at $25 per user/month (for small teams), and from $100 per user/month (enterprises)
    Pipedrive

    Sales-focused CRM for pipeline management

     

    5 plans, ranging from $19 to $99 per user/month
    FreshworksUnified CRM for sales and marketing3 plans: Sales and Marketing plans ranging from $9-59 per user/month; Customer Service plans starting at $29-109 per user/month
    LeadSquaredSales management and marketing automation2 plans, Sales CRM – starting at $40 per user/month, Marketing Automation – starting at $1,200 per account
    SugarCRMCustomizable sales CRM4 plans, ranging from $19-$135 per user/month
    Monday CRMSimple CRM with workflow automation4 plans, starting at $12 to $33 per user/month, billed annualy
    InsightlyCRM for growing teams with project capabilities3 plans, starting at $29 per user/month

    * the CRM pricing is relevant as of June 2025

    Creatio CRM

    Creatio CRM is among the best alternatives to Zoho, designed for businesses seeking a flexible top-tier CRM and workflow automation capabilities seamlessly integrated within a unified platform.

    Thanks to its no-code approach and modern composable architecture, Creatio CRM is highly adaptable to multiple industries, workflows and use cases. Unlike Zoho CRM, Creatio’s AI-native capabilities are integrated into each base license at no cost, which gives more flexibility and improves operational performance. With Creatio CRM, businesses do not need dedicated IT developers to design automated workflows and business apps for their unique business operations, like often required in Zoho CRM, which contributes to better resource allocation and allows for ensuring smooth process optimizations.

    Creatio CRM

    Creatio’s comprehensive suite of CRM products includes:

    • Marketing Creatio – An AI-native marketing automation platform designed to streamline lead management and accelerate revenue growth. It enables marketing teams to segment audiences, track website behavior and audience, personalize campaigns, and optimize performance with AI-powered analytics.
    • Sales Creatio– An AI-powered sales automation platform that enhances sales excellence with opportunity scoring, sales forecasting, contract management, and intelligent data analytics.
    • Service Creatio – A unified service management platform to elevate customer experience through AI-driven case management, problem resolution, sentiment analysis, and seamless employee collaboration.

    Creatio is an ideal choice for mid-size to large organizations seeking an adaptable, efficient, cost-effective CRM software built on a unified platform. According to a recent Nucleus Research study, Creatio helps businesses reduce technology costs by 37% and cut implementation timelines by 70% — a strong demonstration to the platform’s value, speed, and operational impact.

    Key Strengths

    • Ready-set-go CRM and automation solutionsfor Service, Sales and Marketing to streamline customer interactions and business operations
    • Unlimited customization and flexibility to align the platform to the diverse business needs
    • AI-native features added across all base licenses for enhanced automation and decision-making
    • Intuitive no-code platform architecture to support scalability and process automation
    • Transparent, straightforward pricing with no hidden costs
    • 20+ Industry-specific sectors CRM solutions, ensuring an optimal fit for diverse business needs
    • Over 400 applicationsand third-party add-ons available at Creatio Marketplace

    Considerations

    • May present a slight learning curve for users with no experience in no-code development

    Pricing

    Creatio features a composable pricing model in which users pay for the products they use. The platform offers three plans: Growth ($25), Enterprise ($55), and Unlimited ($85) per user per month, with the core AI capabilities (Predictive AI, Generative AI , and Agentic AI) automatically included in each plan at no cost.

    Each of its CRM products, Sales, Marketing, and Service, is priced at $15 per user per month and can be purchased as standalone solutions or a single CRM bundle to fit your company’s exact needs.

    Customer Ratings

    • Capterra: 4.7
    • Gartner: 4.7
    • G2: 4.7
    Try Creatio AI-Powered CRM

    Microsoft Dynamics 365

    Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a strong alternative to Zoho CRM, particularly well-suited for mid-sized and enterprise-level organizations. It offers a comprehensive suite of AI-powered CRM applications, including Sales, Customer Service, Commerce, Field Service, and Customer Insights — all built with business intelligence and low-code capabilities.

    While Zoho CRM provides a simpler, more user-friendly experience, Dynamics 365 delivers deeper customization, better scalability, and stronger performance when managing large-scale campaigns or handling high volumes of customer data. It also offers native integration with Microsoft Office products and a variety of third-party tools and apps.

    Microsoft Dynamics 365

    Key Strengths

    • Unified customer view with real-time data and insights
    • Wide product range: Sales, Customer Service, Commerce, Field Service, Customer Insights, and more
    • Advanced sales pipeline and forecasting tools
    • AI Copilot integration for automation and productivity
    • Highly customizable with low-code tools

    Considerations

    • Higher cost compared to Zoho CRM and most Zoho alternatives
    • Lacks a standalone marketing automation product (Customer Insights is the closest option)
    • Complex architecture may require more time and expertise to implement

    Pricing

    MS Dynamics pricing depends on the products and functionality your business needs, ranging from $65 to $300+ per user/month.

    Customer Ratings

    • Capterra: 4.4
    • Gartner: 4.4
    • G2: 3.8

    HubSpot

    HubSpot CRM is a popular alternative to Zoho designed for the SMB and enterprise-grade segment. It offers a centralized platform that supports marketing, sales, and customer service automation, as well as specialized products for content management and business operations.

    The platform greatly benefits to cross-team alignment, helping teams to easier track key metrics, automate workflows, and manage the full customer journey. Sales teams can personalize outreach and manage pipelines, while marketing teams can use HubSpot to run targeted lead generation campaigns and refine content through its landing page builders, A/B testing, and other CRM tools. HubSpot CRM also offers Operations Hub – a product to automate workflows and scale operations without advanced technical expertise.

    Hubspot

    Key Strengths

    • All-in-one CRM solution for marketing, sales, service, content, and business operations
    • Easy-to-use interface offering multiple collaboration tools
    • Content Hub and Operations Hub to enhance marketing and automation workflows
    • Robust reporting tools for tracking performance and customer behavior
    • Free plan available to explore the platform’s basic functionality

    Considerations

    • Limited customization options for advanced business needs
    • Can become expensive as your team or data volume grows
    • Some essential CRM features are restricted to higher-tier plans
    • Steep learning curve for navigating and configuring multiple hubs

    Pricing

    The pricing for the Customer Platform package by HubSpot CRM ranges from $20 to $4,700 per seat/month. Higher-tier plans have user limits, with additional seats starting at $50 per user/month.

    Customer Ratings

    • Capterra: 4.5
    • Gartner: 4.4
    • G2: 4.4

    Salesforce CRM

    Salesforce is a widely used CRM platform that covers the core functionality offered by Zoho. It offers two main suites — Starter Suite and Pro Suite — that include tools for sales, marketing, service, and commerce, making them suitable for small to midsize businesses. For more advanced, enterprise-grade capabilities, users typically turn to specialized products like Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Service Cloud, and others.

    The platform supports sales teams with tools for managing accounts, contacts, leads, and opportunities across the sales funnel. Marketing teams can benefit from the CRM functionality for email campaigns, audience segmentation and campaign analytics. Its case management and knowledge management tools can be useful for service reps, but still advanced CRM capabilities are limited to higher-tier plans. For instance, its AI capabilities are often provided as add-ons, priced at $500 per user/month.

    Salesforce CRM

    Key Strengths

    • Centralized data across departments
    • Strong deal and case management features
    • Campaign templates for prospect and customer engagement
    • Basic sales analytics and insights

    Considerations

    • Steep learning curve, especially for non-technical users
    • Pricing can be difficult to navigate
    • Customization may require significant time or expert support
    • Advanced AI functionality requires an upgrade to the Enterprise plan ($165 per user/month), and is often priced separately

    Pricing

    The Starter CRM Suite starts at $25 per user/month, and the Pro Suite starts at $100 per user/month. Both plans include a free trial but require an annual contract.

    Customer Ratings

    • Capterra: 4.4
    • Gartner: 4.5
    • G2: 4.4

    Pipedrive

    Pipedrive is a solid replacement for Zoho CRM, especially for businesses looking for a sales-focused CRM software. It offers a user-friendly interface, strong scalability, and flexibility to adapt to specific business requirements.

    The platform is well known for its data visualization tools, which help teams track sales pipelines, manage leads and deals, and automate variety of tasks across customer-facing operations. However, similar to Zoho, its core AI features are only available in higher-tier plans starting at $49 per user/month, which can be expensive compared to other AI-driven alternatives.

    Pipedrive

    Key Strengths

    • Lead, calendar, and pipeline management
    • Seamless data import and integration with third-party tools
    • Solid project management capabilities
    • AI-powered Sales Assistant and email tools (available in Professional plan and higher)

    Considerations

    • Contact management often features issues with data sync and duplicate records
    • Limited reporting customizations
    • Data exports can be a bit challenging
    • Search and filtering options may feel unintuitive

    Pricing

    The pricing for Pipedrive CRM ranges from $19 to $99 per user/month, billed monthly. A free trial for 14 days is available.

    Customer Ratings

    • Capterra: 4.5
    • Gartner: 4.2
    • G2: 4.3

    Freshworks

    Freshworks is another decent Zoho alternative, offering a suite of products tailored to different CRM needs. Its core CRM offering, Freshsales Suite, focuses on sales and marketing, while Freshservice supports customer service and IT service management. Freshworks also offers products for IT service management, AI-powered bots and live chat, and conversation management to enhance digital engagement.

    Similar to Zoho, Freshworks unifies CRM data across touchpoints and provides tools for lead management, pipeline management, email marketing campaigns, and customer support. It also supports cross-team collaboration through shared marketing and sales views, process automation, and multichannel engagement. However, customer service functionality is sold separately via Freshservice, which makes the platform more expensive compared to Zoho CRM competitors.

    Freshworks

    Key Strengths

    • Unified sales and marketing workflows
    • Clear pipeline visualization and dynamic revenue forecasting
    • AI-powered sales assistant and contextual insights
    • Multichannel engagement for email, SMS, WhatsApp, and chat
    • Built-in email marketing tools for transactions support

    Considerations

    • Quite limited functionality for enterprise needs and complex customizations
    • CRM functionality covers only sales and marketing; Freshservice for customer service needs to be purchased separately
    • Not too deep on analytics and reporting

    Pricing

    The pricing plans for Freshsales Suite range from $9 to $59 per user/month., with AI functionality provided in high-tier plans only, and add-on costs may be required for it. Customer service pricing plans start at $29 to $109 per user/month.

    Customer Ratings

    • Capterra: 4.5
    • Gartner: 4.2
    • G2: 4.5

    LeadSquared

    LeadSquared is a strong Zoho alternative focused on streamlining sales processes and automating marketing efforts. The platform offers two core products: Sales CRM and a Marketing Automation platform. With its Sales CRM, teams can track leads, qualify and prioritize prospects, automate repetitive tasks, and set alerts to improve the sales process. The marketing solution supports campaign automation, lead nurturing, and engagement tracking.

    One of LeadSquared’s key strengths is its robust reporting and customizable dashboards, which help managers track individual and team performance with ease. Unlike Zoho CRM, LeadSquared also provides a mobile CRM app, enabling sales reps to access lead data, update meetings, and track project progress on the go. Overall, it’s a solid Zoho alternative for boosting sales productivity and ensuring process transparency.

    LeadSquared

    Key Strengths

    • Real-time access to key sales data
    • Accessible across mobile and desktop devices
    • Quick filter options for customized lead views
    • Activity logs to track lead interactions

    Considerations

    • Limited functionality for customer service workflows
    • Navigation between multiple leads can be clunky
    • Requires a dedicated team for full CRM setup and configuration
    • Lacks predictive insights and advanced analytics

    Pricing

    Pricing plans for the LeadSquared platform start at $40 per user/month for basic Sales CRM. Automated marketing functionality starts at $1,200 per 2 users per account. No free trial is provided.

    Customer Ratings

    • Capterra: 4.3
    • Gartner: 4.2
    • G2: 4.6

    SugarCRM

    SugarCRM is a good Zoho CRM alternative, known for its user-friendly interface, flexibility, and industry-specific templates designed to enhance sales workflows. This platform includes four core products: Sugar Sell, Sugar Market, Sugar Serve, and Sales-i — a revenue intelligence tool for sales teams in manufacturing, wholesale, and distribution

    One of SugarCRM’s strongest capabilities is its focus on the sales process. It provides a full view of customer data and supports managing complex deals, long sales cycles, and long-term customer relationships. Thanks to its advanced reporting and collaboration tools, the platform enables teams to get data-driven insights to enhance sales performance, streamline customer service efforts and build long-term customer relationships.

    SugarCRM

    Key Strengths

    • Flexible dashboard and reporting tools
    • Highly customizable automation and process configuration
    • Easy to use and accessible for non-technical users
    • Responsive customer support

    Considerations

    • Lacks advanced analytics like predictive modeling and deeper customer insights
    • The interface may feel a bit clunky and unintuitive
    • Out-of-the-box features are limited; much of the functionality needs to be built manually
    • Some system bugs may require frequent support interactions or forum searches

    Pricing

    SugarCRM’s pricing is higher than Zoho’s and depends on the product selected. Sales plans range from $19 to $135 per user/month. The marketing solution starts at $1,000/month for up to 10,000 contacts. Its service product is priced at $80 per user/month. There are also on-premises CRM plans for enterprise-level sales and service automation, starting at $85 per user/month, billed annually.

    Customer Ratings

    • Capterra: 3.8
    • Gartner: 4.3
    • G2: 4.0

    Monday CRM

    Monday CRM is a great alternative to Zoho, which offers an intuitive, AI-powered interface to automate task tracking, boost productivity and enhance sales processes. The platform offers a range of CRM tools for up to 10 popular industries, including business services, real estate, software and IT services, manufacturing, and more.

    Monday CRM provides a solid set of features for project management, particularly for managing sales pipelines, creating custom dashboards, and specific task tracking. Unlike Zoho CRM, if offers 500 AI credits for each plan, which can be used for automating routine tasks or generating content. However, key CRM capabilities like sales forecasting, custom reports and advanced analytics are only included in higher-tier plans, which can make the total cost higher compared to some other Zoho alternatives.

    Monday CRM

    Key Strengths

    • Automated email sequences and task notifications
    • Centralized customer data view for leads, contacts, and accounts
    • Call logging and contact tracking
    • Tools for capturing and managing leads
    • A range of third-party integrations and apps
    • Basic collaboration tools for tracking goals and performance

    Considerations

    • Core CRM tools are limited in lower-tier plans
    • Most of the email management features are not provided in the Basic and Standard plans
    • Advanced sales tools are available only in the Enterprise plan

    Pricing

    CRM pricing ranges from $15 to $33 per user/month, billed annually. The Enterprise plan offers custom pricing and separate pricing alternatives can be offered for larger teams (50+ users).

    Customer Ratings

    • Capterra: 4.7
    • Gartner: 4.5
    • G2: 4.6

    Insightly

    Insightly is a reliable alternative to Zoho CRM, offering essential CRM features for sales, marketing, and customer service. It's a good software solution for growing businesses looking for a straightforward yet scalable platform. It provides a flexible interface for managing sales pipelines and lead nurturing, helping teams drive conversions and improve customer engagement.

    One of Insightly’s standout features is its built-in project management functionality, which allows teams to track opportunities, automate repetitive actions, and monitor project progress — all within the same system. This helps ensure excellent alignment between teams and deliver high-end customer experiences.

    Insightly

    Key Strengths

    • Granular view of customer segments and individual leads/contacts
    • Robust reporting and analytics capabilities
    • Extensive customization options to meet specific business needs
    • Multiple tools for task management, and functionality to add comments/notes to various objects
    • Simple data import process for smooth migration and comprehensive customer profiles
    • A granular view on customer segments, excellent functionality for contact management

    Considerations

    • Steeper learning curve for more advanced features
    • Customization can be challenging without technical support
    • Limited client experience tracking tools
    • AI functionality is limited to only crafting email summaries and response suggestions

    Pricing

    Insightly CRM pricing ranges from $29 to $100 per user/month. A free trial is available for users to evaluate the platform before committing.

    Customer Ratings

    • Capterra: 4.0
    • Gartner: 4.1
    • G2: 4.2

    Make the Move with Confidence – Try Creatio CRM

    Choosing the right CRM solution is key to building strong customer relationships and sustainable business growth. While Zoho has been a solid choice for basic CRM needs, many alternatives now offer broader capabilities and greater long-term value.

    Creatio CRM brings together powerful out-of-the-box functionality, no-code customization, seamless integrations, and enterprise-grade performance — all within a unified, AI-native platform. These strengths make it easy for companies to scale, adapt, and automate even the most complex workflows and business operations.

    Ready to switch to Creatio CRM? 
    Tags