It’s not enough for your CRM solution to fit your pocketbook. If it doesn’t fit your needs, no matter the cost, it’s not a good investment. In fact, the lowest price is a lousy deal if the solution doesn’t bring sufficient value to your business.
You should expect basic capabilities in any CRM solution: track leads and prospects, manage sales opportunities, maintain contact histories, generate/record emails, and build business reports. In addition to those functions there may be additional features that will help you meet your business objectives.
To that end, Zoho CRM offers 3 paid editions: Standard, Professional, and Enterprise Features range from an entry-level version (including the essentials mentioned above, and adding basic customization and workflow capability) to a version that supports enterprise-level requirements.
To help you select the best fit for your business, here’s an overview of the features in each edition.
For a comprehensive comparison, download our 6 page Zoho CRM Feature Availability Guide.
Zoho CRM Standard @ $12.00 per user per month
Best fit:
- Home-based or small office and a small number of users.
- Small group (1-3 people) to manage marketing and sales
- Simple business processes and limited integration requirements.
- No organizational hierarchy
- Detail: Email marketing is a core marketing function but access to email marketing analytics is not important for users.
| Customization | Features |
|---|---|
| Max 10 custom fields per module | No financial features |
| 50 Custom Views | No email history |
| Max 100 email templates | Limited User security |
| 3 Workflow rules | No Territory Management |
| No Custom App Support | No Quickbooks or MS Office integration |
| No custom macros | Limited to Single Currency |
The Zoho CRM Standard edition can be a good choice for a small business with less complex needs. Although this edition does not lend itself to integration with Zoho custom or 3rd-party applications, it is possible to integrate Zoho Campaigns for email marketing and Zoho Projects for project management. There are no limits on the number of users for this edition, and a nice addition is a “read only” version of the mobile app.
You can add a small number of custom fields and create up to three automated workflow rules in the Standard edition, although there are no modules for customer support management. A growing organization might start with the this edition and upgrade to Professional once business processes become more complex. That said, for the very small business, the Standard edition may be all you’ll ever need.
For a comprehensive comparison, download our 6 page Zoho CRM Feature Availability Guide.
Zoho CRM Professional @ $20.00 per user per month
Best fit:
- Small to mid-sized regional or national business
- Company has (or intends to develop) defined sales processes
- Sales team(s) with specific performance goals
- Workflow automation to increase productivity and manage tasks
- Marketing team uses web forms to create leads and track lead source
- Need to track customer service events or tickets
- Detail: Integration with QuickBooks and/or MS Word and MS/Outlook
| Customization | Features |
|---|---|
| 150 custom fields per module | Includes basic financial features |
| Unlimited Custom Views | Email plugins and email history |
| Unlimited email templates | Limited User security |
| 10 Workflow rules | No Territory Management |
| No Custom App Support | Quickbooks, MS Office and Outlook integration |
| Custom macros | Limited to Single Currency |
| Field Level security | Customer support module |
The Zoho CRM Professional edition expands on features and customizations and can support dozens of users in multiple departments. It includes the full mobile edition for offline access and can integrate with most Zoho add-ons. This edition adds a module for customer support management, introduces assignment rules for web forms to manage lead distribution, and provides more robust levels of user security and access controls. The “right” number of users for this edition could range widely, from as few as 3 or 4 up to 50 or more.
For a comprehensive comparison, download our 6 page Zoho CRM Feature Availability Guide.
Zoho CRM Enterprise @ $35.00 per user per month
Best fit:
- Small to large-sized national or international business
- Regional or divisional sales teams
- Customer support or service teams utilize trouble tickets or case management
- Track external data such as equipment lists, memberships, renewal dates or other many-to-one relationships
- Require extensive workflow rules and automated tasks to standardize workflow and streamline business processes.
- Detail: Create and integrate custom applications
| Customization | Features |
|---|---|
| 150 custom fields per module | 20 Web form Assignment Rules |
| Unlimited Custom Views | 30 Workflow rules with advanced functions |
| Custom Modules | Extensive User security |
| Custom Functions | Territory Management |
| Custom Apps (Creator) Support | Case Escalation Rules |
| Social Functions | Multi-Currency |
| Zoho Support integration | Zoho PhoneBridge integration |
The Zoho CRM Enterprise edition supports businesses with more complex needs, regardless of business size. The Enterprise edition offers extensive automated workflow that includes time-based actions, workflow task reminders, and field updates. It also supports integrated custom applications, custom modules and custom functions to further extend CRM capabilities.
The customer support module (Cases) adds case escalation rules and user security management can handle large and diverse deployments. While the “right” number of users for this edition depends more on advanced requirements the number of users may range from as few as 10 up to 200 or more.
