Considering a CRM switch? Explore top alternatives to Salesforce to find the perfect fit for managing customer relationships.
Most of the time, I am usually faced with a difficult decision on what to eat or what to wear out to a particular place. And as a sales professional, deciding which CRM to use can be just as challenging a decision.
Why you might need a Salesforce CRM Alternative
Over the years, businesses of all sizes have constantly relied on Salesforce to streamline their sales processes and drive revenue growth. However, while Salesforce offers a comprehensive suite of tools, it may not be the perfect fit for every organization.
Whether it's the cost, complexity, or specific needs of your business, exploring alternatives to Salesforce can lead to unexpected benefits and efficiencies. You will want to enhance your sales process without being burdened with overly complicated software.
In this article, if you're looking for Salesforce CRM alternatives, review our list below to find an option that will supercharge your sales process and eliminate friction. But before we go into the list, there are a list of things you should most likely look out for before deciding on the Salesforce to use for your business.
What should you look for in a Salesforce CRM Alternative
Salesforce is a very powerful CRM software, but the best CRM tool for you is the one that would provide a lot of value to your business. When looking for Salesforce alternatives, keep these concepts in mind:
- Features: Look at the features that come with all the major options and decide which ones are the must-haves for your organization.
- Ease-of-use: You want your employees to be able to make the most of the CRM. So, ensure that it is easy to use.
- Customization: A good Salesforce alternative is one you can customize to suit your needs.
- Integrations: Your organization needs more than just a CRM in its tech stack, and the CRM software you choose should be able to integrate nicely with those other tools.
- Pricing: Ensure to look at the pricing for the level at which you’re at and where you’ll most likely be in the future. As companies expand, certain products may undergo significant price hikes. Make use of any available free trial to gain firsthand experience without making a commitment.
Brief overview of the 8 CRM alternatives
| CRM | Product Summary | Pricing | Unique Features |
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| Distrobird | Distrobird helps you manage your entire sales process, with sequences, cloud call center, shared inbox, form tracking and more, on a single platform. |
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| HubSpot CRM | HubSpot is one of the earliest and most successful CRMs and an innovator in marketing and sales automation. Its platform offers hubs for marketing, sales, and customer service, all of which integrate seamlessly with the CRM. |
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| Zoho | Zoho offers a well-known suite of cloud-based business tools. The solution helps companies of all sizes manage sales, marketing, and customer support. It can store contact data, improve customer satisfaction, and automate tasks. |
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| Active Campaign | ActiveCampaign helps automate marketing and business processes and offers various tools for managing leads and creating targeted email campaigns. |
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| Pipedrive | Pipedrive's CRM makes it easy to visualize and manage your sales pipeline. Organize your deals in pipelines and then customize those pipelines so they're tailored to your unique sales cycle. |
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| Zendesk Sell | Zendesk is known for its customer support software, but they also offer a sales-focused CRM meant to enhance productivity and automate day-to-day sales tasks. |
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| Keap | Keap is a CRM with a number of sales and marketing tools to help you personalize all interactions, make appointments, track lead and contact data, and manage quotes. |
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A deep dive into the 8 CRM Alternatives
Salesforce software has many use cases, but there are some options that may provide better results but for the same function. We have compiled these 8 CRM Alternatives to help you choose the right alternative or replacement if you choose.
- Distrobird
- HubSpot CRM
- Zoho
- ActiveCampaign
- Pipedrive
- Zendesk Sell
- Keap
- Microsoft Dynamics
1. Distrobird
Distrobird is a cloud-based customer and sales engagement platform, designed to streamline sales and manage customer interactions. It is an all-in-one platform managing phone calls, SMS communications, and emails, along with product features like web chats, shared team inbox, and automated campaigns.
It also integrates seamlessly with various popular CRM and business tools, notably HubSpot, Gmail, Stripe, Microsoft Outlook, Twilio, Zapier, Clearbit, Zoho, Telnyx, Salesforce and NGP VAN.
- Features: The features of Distrobird includes data enrichment, contact management, cloud call center, form tracking, block list, shared inbox, Office 365, Gmail, and custom SMTP inbox sync, campaign exclusions, and scheduled campaigns.
- Pricing: There is a free plan for the Voice, Sequences, and Shared Inbox products. Startup plan for the Shared Inbox is $8/month. Startup, Growth & Enterprise plans for both the Sequences and Voice products are $25, $50, and $75/month respectively.
2. HubSpot CRM
HubSpot is an inbound marketing, sales, platform designed to help businesses attract and engage customers. The CRM system centralizes customer data, allowing businesses to track interactions, manage leads, and analyze sales pipelines.
HubSpot offers a knowledge base for businesses to create and share informative articles. It also offers ticketing tools that help teams manage and prioritize support requests.
Features:
Reporting and analytics, AI and automation, Apps and integrations, Knowledge base and Live chat.
Pricing:
There is the free plan. The starter plan is $50/month. While the professional plan is $500/month, and the enterprise plan is $1,200/month.
3. Zoho
Zoho offers a well-known suite of cloud-based business tools. The solution helps companies of all sizes manage sales, marketing, and customer support. It can store contact data, improve customer satisfaction, and automate tasks.
Zoho CRM can also combine with companies’ other tools to share CRM data and improve business intelligence.
Features:
Zoho can automate repetitive tasks and streamline the sales process. Gain insights into sales performance and trends with analytics and reporting. Create automated workflows to improve efficiency and also access CRM features through mobile apps.
Pricing:
The Zoho standard pricing is $14 per user/month. The professional plan is $23 per user/month. The enterprise plan is $40 per user/month. The ultimate plan is $52 per user/month. There is also the flex plan which is $14 per user/month. And the plus plan which is $57 per user/month which is billed annually.
4. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a CRM alternative that targets the needs of both small and large organizations. It helps automate marketing and business processes and offers various tools for managing leads and creating targeted email campaigns.
Features:
Features of ActiveCampaign are, it can create automated campaign management based on customer behavior. It can design and send personalized email campaigns. It can identify and prioritize potential leads based on engagement. And it can also monitor user activity on your website and events.
Pricing:
The pricing for ActiveCampaign plus plan is $19/month. The professional plan is $49/month. And for the enterprise plan, you would have to contact sales for pricing.
5. Pipedrive
Pipedrive has a simple and user-friendly interface that allows users get up and running quickly. It was designed to help sales teams manage leads and track communication. The software can automate repetitive administrative tasks, and email tracking also notifies users when their emails are opened, which in turn provides timely insights into audience engagement.
Features:
Easily track deals through various stages. Sync and track emails within the CRM. Generate reports and gain insights into sales performance.
Pricing:
The pricing for Pipedrive essential plan is $14.90 per user/month. Advanced plan is $27.90 per user/month. Professional plan is $49.90 per user/month. Power plan is $64.90 per user/month. Enterprise plan is $99 per user/month, but they are billed annually.
6. Zendesk Sell
Zendesk Sell is a CRM tool that focuses on meeting the needs of sales teams. It is a cloud-based platform that integrates easily with other Zendesk products. Zendesk Sell is also an ideal software for businesses looking to align their sales and customer service teams.
Features:
Visualize and manage sales opportunities through various stages. Organize and track customer’s journey. Gain insights into sales performance and trends. Connects to your email to track communications.
Pricing:
The pricing for Zendesk Sell team plan is $19/month per user. Growth plan is $55/month per user. Professional plan is $115/month per user. And the enterprise plan is $169/month per user.
7. Keap
Keap is a CRM alternative with a number of sales and marketing tools to help you personalize all interactions, make appointments, track lead and contact data, and manage quotes. Users can design and automate personalized email campaigns, segmenting their audience based on preferences and previous interactions.
Features:
Automate sales processes and manage contacts. Design and implement targeted email marketing campaigns. Integrate with ecommerce platforms for online sales tracking. Enable clients to book appointments online.
Pricing:
The pricing for Keap Pro plan starts at $159 per month (1,500 contacts). Max plan starts at $229 per month (2,500 contacts). And for the Max Classic plan, you will have to contact Keap sales for pricing but plans are billed annually.
8. Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics is a CRM and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software with social insights, cloud-based campaign management, and business intelligence (BI). The CRM can be delivered by cloud, it can be hosted, or it can be on-premises.
Microsoft Dynamics has a variety of apps that you can integrate to help you manage relationships with customers via a mobile device and sync data from social media and other business tools with your CRM. Microsoft Dynamics is suitable for organizations of all sizes, it is the CRM platform in the Microsoft ecosystem. It also includes a comprehensive set of CRM features and integrates with other Microsoft products to extend functionality.
Features:
Comprehensive suite, including CRM, enterprise resource planning, and other business tools. AI-driven insights to enhance sales performance. Targeted marketing campaign creation and management. Seamless connection with Office 365, Teams, and other Microsoft products.
Pricing:
The pricing for Microsoft Dynamics Customer Service Professional plan is $50 per user/month. Customer Service Enterprise plan is $95 per user/month. Field Service plan is $95 per user/month. Remote Assist plan is $65 per user/month.
Which Salesforce CRM Alternative is right for you?
Choosing a CRM tool can be such an exacting task but it doesn't have to be. The best thing to do is make a list of your must-haves and compare the possible tools to select the right software for your team.
The complexity and the high pricing of a Salesforce software can push businesses to look for a more practical alternative. While searching for the right solution, ensure to consider the total cost of ownership—accounting for all costs associated with the product—so there are no surprises down the line. You’ll also want an agile software that can adapt to your company’s needs quickly.
If you are looking for a comprehensive and affordable solution with a free plan, Distrobird is a great option. It offers all the essential features you need to manage your sales & customer engagement tech stack in one place - multi-channel sequences and campaigns, web messenger, outbound dialer, inbound call center software, shared team inbox, and conversation analytics - in a single solution. Distrobird is also easy to use and integrates with a variety of popular apps.
Whether you're a startup or an established business, Distrobird's scalable pricing plans make it a cost-effective choice. Create your free Distrobird account and see how it can transform your customer interactions!
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