Head to head
Freshsales vs Zoho CRM
Both products assessed against the same checklist, with ratings drawn from 416 verified reviews.
- Rating gap
- 0.2
- Reviews behind this
- 416
- Monthly price gap
- US$260
- Features they share
- 1
Side by side
How they compare
Ratings computed from published reviews, and the specifications that change what a product costs to run. The washed column is the higher rated of the two.
| Compared on | Freshworks Inc. | Higher rated overall |
|---|---|---|
| What reviewers say | ||
| Overall rating | 4.0 | 4.2, higher |
| Ease of use | 4.0 | 4.1, higher |
| Value for money | 4.2, higher | 4.1 |
| Customer service | 3.8 | 4.0, higher |
| Functionality | 4.0 | 4.2, higher |
| Verified reviews | 152 | 264 |
| What it costs | ||
| Starting price | Freefree plan available | R260per month, from |
| VAT basis | Excl VAT | Excl VAT |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Published plans | 3 | 4 |
| Vendor and support | ||
| Vendor | Freshworks Inc. | Zoho Corporation |
| Founded | 2010 | 1996 |
| Support channels | Email, Live chat, Telephone, Knowledge base | Email, Live chat, Telephone, Knowledge base, Community forum |
| Integrations listed | 7 | 10 |
| Local bank feeds | 0 | 0 |
The local yardstick
South African compliance
Amber marks a gap rather than a feature. This is usually where the decision is actually made.
Freshsales
- GDPR tooling that maps onto POPIA
- Consent capture
- Data subject request handling
- Selectable data region
Zoho CRM
- POPIA aligned consent capture
- Data subject request handling
- Configurable retention rules
- Selectable data residency by region
- Operator agreement available
What they cost
Pricing, compared properly
Check the VAT basis on each. Vendors are not consistent, and the difference is 15%.
Freshsales
Listed excluding VAT
- Free
Free
3 users
- US$11/mo
Growth
Per user
- US$47/mo
ProPopular
Per user
Billed in US dollars per user per month. Confirm South African telephony number availability during the trial if built in calling is part of the decision.
Zoho CRM
Listed excluding VAT
- Free
Free
3 users
- R260/mo
Standard
Per user
- R450/mo
ProfessionalPopular
Per user
- R780/mo
Enterprise
Per user
Zoho bills in rand, which removes exchange rate exposure. Prices exclude VAT and annual billing is discounted against monthly.
Capability
The full feature matrix
Every feature either product offers, and whether the other one has it.
| Compared on | Freshworks Inc. | Higher rated overall |
|---|---|---|
| 24 features across both products | ||
| Blueprint process automation | Not included | Included |
| Built in telephony with recording | Included | Not included |
| Consent capture and data subject requests | Not included | Included |
| Contact scoring | Included | Not included |
| Contact, account and deal management | Included | Not included |
| Custom modules and fields | Not included | Included |
| Custom reports and dashboards | Included | Not included |
| Deluge scripting | Not included | Included |
| Email integration with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace | Not included | Included |
| Email, chat and phone on one timeline | Included | Not included |
| Forecasting | Not included | Included |
| Leads, contacts, accounts and deals | Not included | Included |
| Mobile app for iOS and Android | Included | Not included |
| Multiple pipelines | Not included | Included |
| Offline capable mobile app | Not included | Included |
| Open API | Included | Not included |
| Open REST API | Not included | Included |
| Quotes, sales orders and invoices | Not included | Included |
| Reports and dashboards | Not included | Included |
| Sales sequences | Included | Not included |
| Territory management | Included | Included |
| Visual sales pipeline | Included | Not included |
| Workflow automation | Included | Not included |
| Workflow rules and approval chains | Not included | Included |
Our verdict
Which one you should buy
We name a winner. Listing differences and leaving the decision to the reader is not a verdict.
We have not written a full verdict for this pairing yet, so here is the position from the data.
Zoho CRM holds the higher rating at 4.2 against 4.0, from 264 reviews against 152. Reviewers rate it 4.1 for ease of use and 4.1 for value for money, against 4.0 and 4.2.
Read the compliance comparison below before deciding on the rating alone. A product that scores well overall can still be missing the one statutory output your business cannot do without.
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