If you have ever been searching for CRMs, you’ll know that Salesforce is one of the most popular CRM companies out there. Salesforce was one of the first-ever cloud-based software companies that helped businesses automate their sales processes and maintain customer relationships.
With an average 4.4 rating on Gartner, G2, and Capterra, this CRM is regarded as one of the best CRMs out there. However, this CRM comes with an expensive price tag and a long, complicated learning period.
Here are 10 affordable alternatives for Salesforce you can consider.
(Please note, since the number of reviews for each product is inconsistent, the average rating column is just to give you an idea about the customer perceptions.)
| Salesforce Alternatives | Popular for | Average Rating on Gartner, Capterra, and G2 | Pricing |
| LeadSquared | Flexibility, Pricing, Reliability, and no-code Automation | 4.4 | Lite – $25 per user/month Pro – $50 per user/month Super – $100 per user/month |
| Freshsales | Customer Support, Ease of use, Automation and Flexibility | 4.6 | Free – $0 per user/month Growth – $29 per user/month Pro – $69 per user/month Enterprise – $125 per user/month |
| ActiveCampaign | Ease of use, SMB – focused, automation and workflow | 4.6 | Lite – $29 per user/month Plus – $49 per user/month Professional – $149 per user/month Enterprise – Custom pricing |
| Pipedrive | Managing leads, creating pipeline, and lead campaigns | 4.3 | Essential – $9.90 per user/month Advanced – $19.90 per user/month Professional – $39.90 per user/month Enterprise – $59.90 per month |
| SugarCRM | Large-scale automation, flexibility, and scalability | 3.9 | Sell – $49 per user/month Serve – $80 per user/month Enterprise – $85 per user/month |
| Zendesk | Mobile CRM, Simplicity, and Artificial Intelligence in CRM | 4.3 | Team – $19 per user/month Growth $ 49 per user/month Professional – $99 per user/month |
| Less Annoying CRM | Fast, affordable, Customer Support | 4.8 | 15$ per user/ month |
| Insightly | SMB – focused, Functionality, and Customizability | 4.2 | Plus – $29 per user/month Professional – $49 per user/month Enterprise – $99 per user/month |
| Keap | A/B testing, auto-marketing, and prospect hunting | 4.2 | Pro – $129 per user/month Max – $199 per user/month |
| Bitrix24 | Managing Tasks, Telephony, Building websites and analytics | 4.1 | Free – $0 per user/month Basic – $61 per 5 users/month Standard – $124 per 50 users/month Professional – $249 per 100 users/month Enterprise – $499 per 250 users/month |
1. LeadSquared
While this alternative may come out of left field, LeadSquared is a fast-growing sales CRM, expanding aggressively in the APAC market. It combines sales CRM and marketing automation in one software to align both the teams to work towards the common goal of increasing revenue.
The most loved features of LeadSquared are:
- Lead management
- Sales process automation and management
- Marketing automation (including lead capture, nurturing, and campaign management)
- Out-of-box integrations with different tools used across sales and marketing functions.
This CRM is spread out over many industries, offering individualized services in each industry. It is also GDPR and HIPAA-compliant, making it an ideal fit for healthcare too.
You can check them out here – https://www.leadsquared.com/
Although there are fewer reviews, LeadSquared has been rated 4.4, the same average rating as Salesforce, over Gartner, G2, and Capterra.
Why is LeadSquared a better alternative to Salesforce?
As Deepa K, a campaign specialist put it, LeadSquared is very easy to use and learn compared to Salesforce.
Another review by the CEO of an education company deemed LeadSquared to be ‘the ultimate CRM’. This individual had high praises for the platform and advises businesses to opt for it over big named CRMs.
Price:
LeadSquared is also much cost-effective when compared to salesforce, especially for the more customizable and feature-driven packages. You can check out the pricing page or get an idea of the pricing structure below.
- Lite – $25 per user/month
- Pro – $50 per user/month
- Super – $100 per user/month
Cons:
Although this CRM has very good reviews, a reviewer, Jaisruthi, a Quality Assurance Associate, has pointed out that it is a little slow to use, and takes a little more time to load. However, this is probably something that will be addressed in the near future.
One of the biggest advantages of investing in LeadSquared CRM is that it is still a young company that releases frequent updates to improve its service. This makes it a very good alternative for Salesforce.
2. Freshsales
Freshsales is a cloud-based CRM company that primarily focuses on managing interactions with existing and potential customers. Some of the features of their CRM include event tracking, deal management, advance reporting, and built-in phone and chat tool.
Why should you consider Freshworks over Salesforce?
Freshsales is a good option to consider especially if you want to improve your customer support.
With a rating of 4.6 on notable review sites like Capterra and G2, this is a great alternative to Salesforce.
Some reviews on Capterra have called it the best CRM for small businesses. They said that the ease of use and the customizability have been a game-changer.
Another thing to like about this CRM is the robustness of its sales sequence automation. As the reviewer put on G2, Freshsales has very good automation features that allow better customer service.
Price:
Overall, the product has 4 price points, a basic demo package, which is free, and three other packages. You can check out their pricing page for more information or refer to the structure below –
- Free – $0 per user/month
- Growth – $29 per user/month
- Pro – $69 per user/month
- Enterprise – $125 per user/month
Cons:
Ironically, the software that is known to improve customer support, lacks providing support to its customers.
There’s a scope of improvement in their customer support has been pointed out by many reviewers.
Another review that was taken from Capterra states that the software’s integration capabilities are not as excellent as Salesforce’s.
Overall, this CRM is useful for companies looking to start investing in CRMs as it has a plenty of satisfied small business owners. If you are already using Freshsales CRM, you can also check out the top 5 alternatives to Freshsales for 2023.
3. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a powerful and easy-to-use CRM and marketing automation company. According to Gartner, 90% of its revenue is from small businesses. However, it also has packages suitable for bigger companies as well.
What makes ActiveCampaign a good alternative to Salesforce CRM?
This company beats Salesforce if you are looking for user-friendly CRMs which offer excellent workflow automation. This company has an average 4.6 rating on the three websites.
A review on Capterra by Anastacia, an account manager, called it an extremely user-friendly CRM.
Another advantage of this CRM software is that you are exposed to all its free demo software features, something that Salesforce does not offer. This allows users to familiarize themselves easily with the software, and hence have smoother transitions and a smoother learning curve. This proved advantageous for many users, including Erin E, as per her review.
Price:
There are three pricing packages for this CRM, and another customizable pricing option for enterprise businesses. You can check out their pricing page or check the structure below:
- Lite – $29 per user/month
- Plus – $49 per user/month
- Professional – $149 per user/month
- Enterprise – Customizable
Cons:
This CRM may not be the best if you are looking for strong reporting or pipeline management features. As one customer on Gartner put it, ActiveCampaign is “Easy To Put Your Information Into, Not Easy To Get Your Information Out Of”
Apart from this, users also face issues with the email templates on this CRM platform. People have also reported frequent issues in its user interface and experience.
But before you finalize Freshsales as the CRM for you, here are some more alternatives to consider.
4. Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a good, solid CRM that has all the basic features nailed down. This CRM helps with managing the lead database, building and managing the sales pipeline, and much more.
Why is Pipedrive a good Salesforce alternative?
Pipedrive is one of the most cost-effective CRMs out there. It has garnered an average of 4.3 rating out of 5 on Gartner, G2 and Capterra.
As one reviewer wrote. “It is fast, it is reliable, and it is bug-free.”
Another advantage of Pipedrive is that it is extremely intuitive, fast, and easy to use. As one customer on Gartner put it, “It offers a complete, efficient and easy to use description of our sales flow, and we can see the specific progress of all the members of our sales team in the company.”
Price:
They offer four price points. One of the apparent differences for different price points is report limits at 15, 30, 150, and unlimited respectively. You can check out the pricing page, or refer to the following:
- Essential – $9.90 per user/month
- Advanced – $19.90 per user/month
- Professional – $39.90 per user/month
- Enterprise – $59.90 per month
Cons:
One of the limitations of Pipedrive CRM is that they have a 15-report limit per user on their basic pricing plan.
Another significant concern is the integration with other apps. As this reviewer from Capterra put it, “Although Pipedrive has integrations that are ideal for businesses that are starting out, as you scale your business, you find fewer integrations available. You need third-party software such as Zapier to integrate them.”
Another customer also reviewed that while their basics were really good, the CRM’s add-ons were not much to gloat about. Quite a few reviewers also found issues with the chatbot feature offered by the company.
All-in-all, this CRM provides a solid basic package, which makes it a very popular alternative to Salesforce. It’s a great option for smaller companies that are looking to adopt a CRM for their teams. Here are 11 more alternatives to look at, if you are considering investing in Pipedrive.
5. SugarCRM
SugarCRM is another alternative to Salesforce, built for enterprises and large companies. It is available both on-premises and on the cloud.
Automation of salesforce, marketing initiatives, customer service, collaboration, mobile CRM, social CRM, and reporting are all features offered by SugarCRM.
Why should you consider SugarCRM over Salesforce?
It has an average of 3.9 rating on Gartner, G2, and Capterra. With plenty of third-party integrations, this CRM helps streamline communications so that your team stays organized.
One of the major advantages is that it is an open-source community CRM that can be self-hosted. It is cheaper, and offers more flexibility in designing what you need, provided you know a little bit of coding. This was all summarized in this review on Capterra.
Another great advantage is that though it is cheaper than salesforce, it is built to work with companies having branches in multiple locations around the globe. It helps simplify exchanging knowledge amongst branches.
A customer on Gartner even said, “SugarCRM enables for extremely effective control of your supply and marketing operations, as well as other processes such as invoice procedures, thanks to its great flexibility and capacity to configure.”
Price:
This CRM has three different pricing options:
- Sell – $49 per user/month
- Serve – $80 per user/month
- Enterprise – $85 per user/month
Cons:
One of the major drawbacks of SugarCRM is that you need to be a little more technically capable before using it. If you don’t, it is easy to get lost in the UI. As Partha on G2 put it, “It is very difficult to navigate”.
Another major drawback is some of the customers felt that the CRM is out of date, and very difficult to learn. One customer on G2 even went as far as writing that it is “Not a satisfactory Experience”. Overall, this is a solid platform for those who want a customizable CRM and have a fair bit of technical knowledge about CRMs and some coding skills.
6. Zendesk
More than 200,000 clients globally rely on Zendesk. The tool provides dynamic workspaces and automation powered by artificial intelligence (AI), which boosts team performance.
Additionally, it has document storage, support for third-party connectors, custom dashboards, and analytics tools. For companies of different sizes, it also offers a number of options, including Zendesk Sell Teams, Zendesk Sell Professional, and Zendesk Sell Enterprise.
What makes Zendesk a good Salesforce alternative?
Zendesk has an average rating of 4.3 stars out of 5 in Gartner, G2, and Capterra.
One of the advantages of using Zendesk over Salesforce is its powerful mobile CRM . Zendesk is also much easier to use and affordable, with its base package priced at just 19$.
Another USP of Zandesk is that they offer a free trial version even for mobile applications. This was one aspect that really boded well with the customers. Therefore, you can try almost all of Zendesk’s products before deciding on it. This is in line with what one reviewer had to say about their mobile CRM.
Another customer also applauded the simplicity of the platform, yet its power. As Trent put it, it is a “Powerful and simple sales management tool.”
Price:
The company has three price points. You can check out more information about their pricing on the pricing page or refer to the structure below:
- Team – $19 per user/month
- Growth $49 per user/month
- Professional – $99 per user/month
Cons:
A lot of customers on G2 face technical issues such as bugs and glitches on the platform. Some customers have also reported errors in their lead deduplication technology.
Two aspects where Zendesk is still trying to catch up to Salesforce are number of extension/plugins and technology such as automated email flows triggering based on pipeline stage.
Although Zendesk is not necessarily built for small companies, it is a high potential CRM and a very good alternative for Salesforce.
7. Less Annoying CRM
As the name suggests, Less Annoying CRM is designed to be simple, fast, and easy to use for small businesses that are looking for CRMs at affordable prices. This tool helps SMBs keep track of their sales, businesses process, and contacts under one portal.
Why is Less Annoying CRM a good alternative to Salesforce CRM?
This CRM, though it has very few customers, has gained high praise, garnering a whopping 4.8 stars out of 5 on average on the various review websites. In fact, on G2 they have no single- and two-star reviews, and all their reviews are 3,4, and 5 stars.
The biggest advantage of using Less Annoying CRM is that they have excellent customer support. One of the small business owners wrote on G2, explaining that “In my opinion, the most valuable aspect of Less Annoying CRM is their customer support. In today’s world, speaking with a knowledgeable support person is getting harder and harder.”
Less Annoying CRM also has a very simple learning curve and does a really good job in helping you understand how to utilize their products for your business. If you are not using a particular feature, LACRM helps you understand how to implement it.
Price:
The Less Annoying CRM offers a trial period of 30 days, and just a single price point of 15$ per user/ month. There are no tiers or packages offered, and you can check out their pricing page here.
Cons:
Although the less annoying CRM does have plenty of high praises, one of the things it lacks when compared to other CRMs is automation. If automated emails and setting up campaigns are on your list, this CRM may not be the best pick for you.
One more disadvantage of using the LACRM is that its functionally pretty generic when compared to its alternatives. There is nothing that stands out in the actual product, nor is there anything that is horrible. As Todd S, Director of Sales said in his Capterra review, this is a good CRM if you are just starting out, but you need to shift to another CRM if scaling up is your goal.
8. Insightly
Insightly is an easy-to-use CRM system that’s squarely focused on SMBs. The software’s user interface is simple to learn, and more significantly, it isn’t difficult to enter data into the system.
Despite costing approximately half as much at the top end, Insightly is less feature-rich than Salesforce but easier to use. It is still an SMB-friendly CRM program due to its numerous advantages.
Why should you consider Insightly over Salesforce?
With an average rating of 4.2 stars out of 5 from Gartner, Capterra, and G2, here are some pros and cons of the software.
One of the strongest points of the software is that it provides all the functionalities of a CRM in a flexible pricing structure, which companies from different industries can fit into.
The ability to customize the CRM at cheaper prices when considered to high-end CRMs like Salesforce, is also one of the significant advantages when choosing an alternative. As Noah M had to say on G2, “Insightly is a great CRM for a small business.”
Price:
Although its basic package is costlier than Salesforce at $29, its next packages are much cheaper. You can check out their pricing page in this link, or refer to this structure:
- Plus – $29 per user/month
- Professional – $49 per user/month
- Enterprise – $99 per user/month
Cons:
If you are looking for a CRM to analyze your sales operations, then Insightly might not be the best CRM. Multiple reviews, like this one on Capterra show tell that the CRM’s reporting features are found to be lacking at times.
Another thing that the CRM lacks is automation. This was a recurring problem through the review sites, where users complained of having to manually enter data one by one, which they found to be very time-consuming.
If you are a simple organization that does not rely too much on automation and internal CRM mapping function, then this is a great alternative to consider investing in.
9. Keap
Keap is a simple-to-use CRM platform with features that may help you organize leads, automate tedious processes, and receive payments more quickly without the usage of external applications.
Keap provides checkout cart capabilities to raise conversion rates and average cart values in addition to built-in invoicing and multiple payment processing connections.
What makes Keap a good SalesForce alternative?
This CRM has an average rating of 4.2 on G2, Capterra, and Gartner.
With complex auto-marketing and prospect hunting features, this CRM certainly has won the hearts of some businesses. Its out-of-the-box integration features provide uniqueness to a market flooded with sales CRM products. As Brian Del Terzo C., the administrator of a small business company wrote on G2, Keap is “A versatile CRM that meets the needs of businesses of all shapes and sizes!”
It also provides A/B testing, along with solid chat and phone support staff. Some of reviewers’ favorite aspects of the CRM are how informational their onboarding procedures are, and how they are designed to meet the needs of small businesses.
Price:
The CRM offers two pricing options, both of which are slightly more expensive than the other Salesforce alternatives mentioned here. You can check out more information on their pricing here, or refer the structure below:
- Pro – $129 per user/month
- Max – $199 per user/month
Cons:
Several reviews mention the lack of reporting capabilities in Keap.
Another drawback of using this product is the long learning curve. A lot of times customers might get confused with the functionalities, and hence earned the nickname ‘Confusionsoft’ instead of the parent of CRM, Infusionsoft.
Overall, it is good alternative to top competitors like Salesforce and HubSpot, if you have a company that has a generic marketing and sales process, aren’t too concerned about analytics, and want to focus on marketing and data storage instead.
10. Bitrix24
Bitrix24 is an online workplace with resources to make managing your business simpler and more effective.
They have solutions for managing tasks and projects, chats, video conferencing, building websites, telephony, CRM marketing and analytics, and much more. Bitrix24 is available to you via a conventional browser version, desktop app, or mobile app, and neatly puts everything into a single online service that is completely connected with one another.
What is Bitrix24 a good Salesforce alternative?
This CRM has been rated 4.5 on Gartner and 4.1 on Capterra and G2. With its adaptability to professional requirements, it is certainly a good alternative to Salesforce.
One of the biggest takeaways of this CRM is that when compared Salesforce, it slightly outperforms them in almost all categories.
Even though Bitrix24 has far fewer customers, you can’t deny that those are still pretty impressive numbers to put up.
Another advantage of Bitrix24 is that it is made for advanced users with experience in CRMsence in CRMs. It is a multi-operational platform that can help you create business sites and integrate its own CRM. Thierno Ousmane D. had a lot to say about this ‘All-in-one’ platform.
Price:
They have a free-to-use option, along with 3 other priced packages, with the highest being $499 per month, which is a little more expensive than Salesforce’s top package. You can check their pricing page here:
- Free – $0 per user/month
- Basic – $61 per 5 user/month
- Standard – $124 per 50 user/month
- Professional – $249 per 100 user/month
- Enterprise – $499 per 250 user/month
Cons:
One of the disadvantages that come with any advanced CRM is that sometimes you need a lot of configurations, and that is true for Bitrix24 as well. It can also be a little confusing because of the number of options you get.
Another disadvantage,that a lot of reviewers complained about, is that the Mobile CRM application felt outdated, and very complicated to use. A couple of reviewers even wrote that Microsoft Teams seemed to work better for them.
This is a good CRM, provided that you have the knowledge and experience in a CRM before investing in this one. If you are sure of setting up CRM processes and workflows, the plethora of options Bitrix24 provides can quickly confuse you, so it would be better to look at something simpler first.
So, that concludes the top alternatives we picked out for you. I hope this list helps you finalize a CRM for your business.
If you are interested in exploring the features of a CRM today that can help you resolve any business challenges, you can get in touch with our CRM experts at LeadSquared. Book a demo to understand the most important CRM features and receive a tailored solution for your business!
FAQs
Yes, one of the best alternatives to Salesforce is LeadSquared. It is HIPAA compliant, cost-effective, and offers better customizations than Salesforce.
Some of the competitors of Salesforce are Hubspot, Microsoft, Zendesk, and LeadSquared.
1. Leadsquared. 2. ActiveCampaign 3. Insightly 4. Less Annoying CRM 5. Freshworks
1. Less Annoying CRM 2. LeadSquared 3. Pipedrive 4. Zendesk
New-age CRMs such as LeadSquared, Less Annoying CRM, SugarCRM and Keap are giving Salesforce a run for their money.
