Are you shopping for Salesforce alternatives? Salesforce, a juggernaut in the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) arena, has long been a staple for businesses aiming to streamline their sales processes, manage customer relationships, and execute effective marketing strategies. However, the one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t always hit the mark. For some businesses, Salesforce’s extensive array of features can be overwhelming. For others, the cost factor might be a hurdle, especially for startups and small businesses with tight budgets.

Recognizing these challenges, a variety of Salesforce alternatives have emerged, each bringing their unique strengths to the table. In this article, we’ll explore these alternatives, shedding light on their key features, pricing, ease of use, and customization capabilities. Whether you’re a small business seeking an intuitive interface, a mid-sized company looking for cost-effectiveness, or a large enterprise in need of advanced customization, we’ve got you covered. 

The top competitors to Salesforce CRM in 2023 are: 

TechnologyAdvice is able to offer our services for free because some vendors may pay us for web traffic or other sales opportunities. Our mission is to help technology buyers make better purchasing decisions, so we provide you with information for all vendors — even those that don’t pay us.

Featured Partners: CRM Software

Top Salesforce competitors

SAP Sales Cloud: Best for enterprises

Pros

  • Comprehensive reporting
  • Quick and efficient customer interaction tracking
  • Simplified contract management

Cons

  • Formatting issues when uploading documents reported
  • Complex tech stack
Sap logo.
Visit Website
  • Intelligent Sales: Leverages AI to provide intelligent recommendations, insights, and analytics to the sales team. This helps in making informed decisions and strategizing sales efforts effectively.
  • Digital Selling: Supports digital selling, allowing businesses to reach out to their customers through various digital channels.
  • Actionable Sales Analytics: Provides actionable sales analytics that help in understanding sales trends, customer behavior, and other important metrics.
  • Scalable Sales Automation: Offers scalable sales automation features that streamline and automate critical selling processes.
  • Retail Execution and Field Sales: Supports retail execution and field sales, enabling businesses to manage their retail and field sales operations effectively.
  • Built-in Email Templates: Provides built-in email templates for various sales scenarios, making communication with customers easy and efficient.
  • Social Media Integration: Integrates with various social media platforms, allowing businesses to leverage these platforms for sales and marketing.
  • Subscriber List Management: Provides features for managing subscriber lists, which can be useful for email marketing and other sales campaigns.

Standard Edition

Price: $275 per month

Included Users: 5

Features:

  • Mobile access on any device
  • Account and contact management and intelligence
  • Activity and visit management
  • Lead and opportunity management
  • Price, discount, and quotation management
  • Sales target planning and sales forecasting
  • Territory management
  • Real-time analytics
  • Groupware integration (client-side)

Professional Edition

Price: $550 per month

Included Users: 5

Features:

All Standard Edition Features plus,

  • Mobile apps supporting offline use on any device
  • Route planning and execution
  • Team selling with social collaboration
  • Buying center (allows sales reps to see the contact hierarchy among contacts of various accounts)
  • Quick order capture and back-office integration
  • Service tickets

Enterprise Edition

Price: $935 per month

Included Users: 5

Features:

All features included in the Professional Edition and,

  • Deal finder (provides sales reps with insight into high-probability opportunities)
  • Influencer map to identify top influencers in a deal
  • Contracts
  • Installed-base view
  • Industry-specific capabilities (for example, consumer products, retail, high tech, utilities, professional services, banking, and automotive)

We called out SAP Sales Cloud as the best Salesforce alternative for large enterprises due to its scalability, integration with the SAP ecosystem, and advanced analytics. Its AI capabilities and industry-specific features provide a competitive edge, while global support ensures compliance with international regulations. The customization and cost-effectiveness of SAP Sales Cloud make it a suitable choice for large enterprises with complex sales processes, offering a high return on investment. Its alignment with specific business needs makes it a compelling alternative to Salesforce for many large organizations.

SAP Sales Cloud, a product of SAP SE, a multinational software corporation founded in 1972, is a cloud-based CRM solution designed to streamline sales processes. It offers features like AI-driven insights, sales analytics, and industry-specific capabilities. SAP Sales Cloud integrates with the broader SAP ecosystem, enabling seamless data flow across various business functions. Its scalability and customization make it suitable for businesses of all sizes, particularly large enterprises. Over the years, SAP has established itself as a leader in the enterprise software market, with SAP Sales Cloud being a key offering.

Visit SAP Sales Cloud

Monday CRM: Best for collaboration

Pros

  • User friendly
  • Excellent task management capabilities
  • Flexible and modifiable setup 
  • Easy and extensive integrations with third-party software

Cons

  • Three-seat minimum for all plans
  • Limits automations to a set number of actions/month
monday CRM logo.
Visit Website
  • Email Sync and Tracking: Allows you to sync your emails and track them directly from the platform. This feature helps in keeping track of all communication with clients.
  • Activity Management: Allows you to manage all your tasks and activities in one place, ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks.
  • Sales Forecasting: Provides sales forecasting tools that can help you predict sales trends and make informed business decisions.
  • CRM Item Page and Deal Stages Widget: Found only in Monday Sales CRM, these features provide a detailed view of customer interactions and deal stages, helping you manage your sales pipeline effectively.
  • Lead Management: Allows you to manage and track your leads effectively, ensuring that potential sales opportunities are not missed.
  • Email Templates: Provides shared templates for emails and activities, making communication with clients more efficient and consistent.

BasicCRM

Price: $12 per seat/month, billed annually ($36/month total)

Features:

  • Organize all your team’s leads, contacts, & deals
  • Unlimited customizable pipelines, contacts, boards
  • Templates for lead, contact & deal management
  • iOS & Android apps
  • Unlimited free viewers
  • Create a dashboard based on 1 board

StandardCRM

Price: $17 per seat/month, billed annually ($51/month total)

Features:

  • All BasicCRM features plus,
  • Advanced account, contact, & deal management
  • 2-way email integration with Gmail and Outlook
  • Activity management
  • Quotes & invoices
  • Merge duplicate data
  • Custom CRM automations (250 actions per month)
  • Custom CRM integrations (250 actions per month)
  • Create a dashboard that combines 5 boards

ProCRM

Price: $28 per seat/month, billed annually ($84/month total)

Features:

  • All StandardCRM features and,
  • Sales forecasting
  • Email templates with custom parameters
  • Email tracking & automations
  • Mass emails
  • Google Calendar sync
  • Sales analytics
  • Customizable email signatures
  • Custom CRM automations (25,000 actions per month)
  • Custom CRM integrations (25,000 actions per month)
  • Create a dashboard that combines 10 boards

EnterpriseCRM

Price: Contact Monday Sales CRM for pricing

Features:

All ProCRM features+

  • Lead scoring
  • Team goals
  • Advanced analytics (dashboards up to 50 boards)
  • Account management
  • Documents for sales
  • Enterprise-scale automations & integrations
  • Enterprise-grade security & governance
  • Multi-level permissions
  • HIPAA Compliance

Monday Sales CRM arose as the best Salesforce alternative for collaboration for its user-friendly interface, customizable pipelines, and robust automation features. Its two-way email integration and activity management tools enhance team communication, while the ability to create dashboards based on multiple boards offers a unified view of tasks. The platform’s focus on collaboration, demonstrated by features like team goals and advanced account management, make it ideal for teams that need to work closely together. 

Monday.com, the company behind Monday CRM, was founded in 2012 by Roy Mann and Eran Zinman. Originally named “dapulse”, the company rebranded to Monday.com in 2017. The platform started as a project management tool and has since evolved into a comprehensive work operating system (Work OS) that powers teams to run projects and workflows with confidence.

Monday CRM is a part of this Work OS, designed to streamline sales processes and enhance team collaboration. It offers features like lead and deal management, customizable pipelines, automation, and advanced analytics. Its user-friendly interface and flexible setup make it a popular choice for businesses of all sizes. The platform’s focus on collaboration and transparency sets it apart in the CRM market.

Visit Monday CRM

HubSpot: Best for inbound marketing

Pros

  • Comprehensive platform that combines marketing, sales, marketing, customer support
  • Free core CRM
  • Real-time lead behavior notifications
  • Email tracking and personalized sequences

Cons

  • Costly premium features
  • Less configurable compared to other enterprise-level CRMs
HubSpot logo in dark blue and orange with spikes coming from the letter O.
Visit Website
  • Automated CRM Database: Automates various tasks performed by the marketing team, enabling users to close deals with less effort and manage customer data efficiently.
  • List Segmentation: Allows you to segment your audience based on various criteria, enabling more targeted and personalized marketing efforts.
  • Landing Pages, Web Pages, and Blogs: Provides tools for creating and managing landing pages, web pages, and blogs, which are crucial for inbound marketing.
  • Email Automation: Offers email automation features, allowing you to send automated emails based on specific triggers or actions.
  • Lead Capture Forms: Allows you to create and manage lead capture forms, which are essential for collecting information about potential customers.
  • Attribution Reporting: Provides attribution reporting tools, enabling you to understand which marketing efforts are driving results.

Free trial available

Free plan available

Paid plan starting at $45/user/month

HubSpot’s automated CRM database, list segmentation, and landing page tools are essential for attracting and nurturing leads. Its email automation and lead capture forms streamline communication and data collection, while attribution reporting provides valuable insights into marketing efforts. The platform’s user-friendly interface and competitive pricing, coupled with its focus on inbound marketing, make HubSpot CRM a compelling alternative to Salesforce. 

HubSpot CRM is a product of HubSpot Inc., a company founded in 2006 by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah. The company pioneered the concept of “inbound marketing,” which focuses on attracting customers through content and interactions. HubSpot CRM, launched in 2014, is a free platform designed to help businesses manage relationships and track customer interactions. It’s part of HubSpot’s comprehensive suite of sales, marketing, and customer service tools. Known for its user-friendly interface and robust features, HubSpot CRM has become a popular choice for businesses of all sizes.

Visit HubSpot

Microsoft Dynamics 365: Best for integration with Microsoft ecosystem

Pros

  • End-to-end solution
  • Easily accessible and extensive insights
  • Highly customizable and adaptable
  • Easy migration, implementation, and updates

Cons

  • Lack of clear documentation in many areas
  • High level of customization leads to complexity for newer users
Visit Website
  • Mobility: Complete dashboard on Dynamics 365 mobile allows representatives to access all their activities, leads, and contacts on the go.
  • LinkedIn Sales Navigator Integration: Integration between Dynamics 365 and LinkedIn allows you to access the LinkedIn profiles of your prospects directly from your CRM solution.
  • Email Integration with Outlook 365: Allows your CRM to fully integrate with your Microsoft email management software, providing access to all the information and opportunities linked to the specific contact you are sending an email to.
  • Customer Service Dashboard: Alows managers to access the most urgent cases as well as the status of requests made, providing an overview of the customer experience being offered by your company.
  • Smart Search Feature: Makes it possible to find information through all records, contacts, templates, and stored opportunities, saving your teams a considerable amount of time.

Free trial available

Refer to Microsoft’s official pricing page for comprehensive options

Microsoft Dynamics 365 has a natural leg up on the competition due to its seamless integration with the Microsoft ecosystem. As a part of Microsoft’s suite of services, Dynamics 365 works effortlessly with other Microsoft products like Office 365, Outlook, and LinkedIn, providing a unified and streamlined experience. This integration can enhance productivity, as users can access CRM data directly from their familiar Microsoft applications. Moreover, Dynamics 365’s robust features, such as sales insights, mobility, and smart search, offer comprehensive CRM capabilities.

Microsoft Dynamics 365, launched in 2016, is a cloud-based suite of business applications that combines CRM and ERP capabilities. It integrates with other Microsoft products, such as Office 365, to provide a comprehensive solution for managing various business processes, including sales, customer service, finance, operations, and marketing.

The platform is known for its flexibility, scalability, and deep integration with the Microsoft ecosystem. It allows businesses to start with what they need and add applications as their business grows. Over the years, Microsoft Dynamics 365 has evolved to include AI-driven insights and modular applications tailored to specific business functions.

Visit Microsoft Dynamics 365

Pipedrive: Best for sales process management

Pros

  • Sales focus
  • Intuitive, minimalistic layout
  • Extensive customization
  • Customizable chatbot feature
  • Integration with over 400 third-party platforms

Cons

  • Limitations on lower-tier plans
  • Focus on sales makes it less suitable for some businesses
Dark green script pipedrive logo in all lower case.
Visit Website
  • Customizable Email Templates: Offers customizable email templates, which can be very beneficial when creating email marketing strategies.
  • Logging Leads: Allows users to use the platform in a simplified format for logging “lead-ins” and the full customization of their sales process.
  • Revenue Projection: Provides users with revenue projection capabilities, which can be extremely important when implementing a new strategy and wanting to see if it’s working.
  • Scheduler: Scheduler helps users keep everything organized and follow a specific timeline, allowing them to keep a unified calendar of all their scheduled demos in one place.

Essential: $24/user/month 

Advanced: $44/user/month 

Professional: $64/user/month

Power: $79/user/month 

Enterprise: $129/user/month

Pipedrive is designed by salespeople for salespeople, offering features like Activities Overview and Scheduler that help manage and streamline sales activities. Its ability to log leads and provide revenue projections offers valuable insights into the sales process. Moreover, the platform’s customization capabilities, including custom columns, filters, and email templates, allow for a tailored sales process.

Founded in 2010 by seasoned sales professionals, Pipedrive is a sales-focused CRM tool designed to manage complex sales processes. Headquartered in New York and Tallinn, Estonia, Pipedrive serves over 30,000 customers worldwide. Known for its user-friendly interface, it offers features like deal management, communication tracking, task automation, and analytics. Over the years, Pipedrive has introduced advanced features like AI sales assistant and customizable chatbots, maintaining its position as a leading CRM tool for sales teams.

Visit Pipedrive

Who is Salesforce best for?

Salesforce is best suited for businesses of all sizes that require a comprehensive CRM solution. It’s particularly beneficial for companies with complex sales cycles and those that need to manage large volumes of customer data. Salesforce’s extensive features, including sales forecasting, lead management, and customer service capabilities, make it a strong choice for businesses looking to streamline their sales and customer service processes.

 It’s an excellent choice for businesses that need advanced analytics and reporting capabilities. Its customizable dashboards and reporting tools provide valuable insights into sales performance and customer behavior.

Companies that require extensive integrations will also benefit from Salesforce, as it can seamlessly integrate with a wide range of third-party applications. Businesses that prioritize mobile access to their CRM will appreciate Salesforce’s mobile app.

ALSO READ: CRM Types: Which CRM Software is Right for You? 

Who should consider a Salesforce alternative? 

Businesses should consider a Salesforce alternative if they find Salesforce’s pricing structure to be beyond their budget, particularly small to medium-sized businesses or startups with limited resources. Companies that require a simpler, more intuitive user interface might also look for alternatives, as Salesforce is often considered complex and may require extensive training.

If you still don’t see the right fit for you, maybe Salesforce is the smartest option for your business

If a business needs a CRM solution that is more tailored to their specific industry or has features that Salesforce does not offer, they might consider an alternative. For instance, some businesses might prefer a CRM with a stronger focus on customer service, marketing automation, or social media integration.

Companies heavily invested in another ecosystem, like Microsoft or Google, might prefer a CRM that integrates more seamlessly with those systems. Lastly, businesses that value having a dedicated customer support representative or more personalized customer service might seek alternatives, as Salesforce’s customer support is often criticized for being impersonal.Still can’t find the right Salesforce alternative for your business? Check out our comprehensive CRM Software Buyer’s Guide.

TechnologyAdvice is able to offer our services for free because some vendors may pay us for web traffic or other sales opportunities. Our mission is to help technology buyers make better purchasing decisions, so we provide you with information for all vendors — even those that don’t pay us.

Featured Partners: CRM Software

Methodology and selection process

At TechnologyAdvice, we assess a wide range of factors before selecting our top choices for a given category. To make our selections, we rely on our extensive research, product information, vendor websites, competitor research and first-hand experience. We then consider what makes a solution best for customer-specific needs. 

By defining business needs, we can determine the essential features organizations in various sectors require, and select platforms that will cover all bases. Reputable providers known for their ease of use and customer satisfaction are added to our compilation list for further analysis. We then evaluate each solution on the list based on the features they offer, considering the platform’s usability, integration capabilities, customization options, mobile access, and any other relevant functionalities. Price plans, hidden fees, customer reviews, and customer support are also assessed in the selection process. 

Technology Advice writers will often take advantage of free trials and demos to get a first-hand user experience of available software. Finally, we curate a comprehensive list based on the previously stated factors, ensuring readers have the necessary tools to make an informed decision.

FAQs

Salesforce CRM is a comprehensive cloud-based platform that helps businesses manage their relationships and interactions with customers and potential customers.

To choose an alternative to Salesforce CRM, consider your business’s specific needs, budget, the CRM’s ease of use, its integration capabilities with your existing systems, and the quality of customer support provided.

Aron Vaughan Avatar
Aron Vaughan
Staff Writer
linkedin
Aron Vaughan is a TechnologyAdvice Staff Writer focused on coverage and research in the fields of Business Intelligence, Sales, and IT software categories. During his career, he has covered a wide array of cutting-edge tech topics from Artificial Intelligence to Sustainable Energy, Augmented Reality, and more. With a background in journalism, he is dedicated to crafting articles that inform readers and deliver the best possible answers for data-driven decision making.