Freshsales vs Salesforce: Prices and Features Comparison

When you get a glimpse of their services, Freshsales and Salesforce seem almost identical. But our extensive research shows that Freshsales is, in fact, the better CRM software, receiving an overall score of 4.5/5, while Salesforce gets 3.7/5 from our expert software researchers.

Despite the gap in their scores, these two are among the very best customer relationship management (CRM) platforms on the market. Freshsales smokes Salesforce when it comes to pricing, features, lead capture, and lead communication services. However, Salesforce wins in the customisation, scalability, and customer support categories.

Both Freshsales and Salesforce have their strengths and weaknesses – it’s now a matter of choosing which one best meets the needs of your business.

Want to get started? Freshsales offers a 21-day free trial and a free plan, while Salesforce has a one-month free trial, but no free plan available.

We’ll lay out more comparison points between the two as you read along, but if you want to compare other CRM options right away, you can try our free quote comparison tool. Just fill in a few details about your business, and the top providers for you will be in touch with tailored, obligation-free quotes for you to compare.

Freshsales and Salesforce: overviews

Freshsales vs Salesforce: head to head

Freshsales wins the battle in several of our research categories. It takes the lead when it comes to pricing, scoring 4.6/5 in this category versus Salesforce’s 1/5, with Freshsales’ free plan presenting a great deal.

But cost isn’t the only thing we compare. What features are offered on each platform? Can they integrate with your other existing applications? Will you need to switch to another CRM provider as your business changes in size and activity?

Our research investigates all these categories, and shows that Freshsales comes out on top again for features, lead capture ability, and lead communication. Salesforce, however, wins in customisation, scalability, and customer support.

Best value: Freshsales

CRM system pricing is a key factor when it comes to choosing your CRM software, and our in-depth research sees Freshsales score a solid 4.6/5 for pricing against Salesforce’s 1/5. This section will give you a better understanding of how their price plans match up against one another. Let’s take a look at what both have to offer:

A free plan already lures potential customers into betting on this software. While Freshsales offers this, Salesforce doesn’t. However, both offer a free trial period. Salesforce, on the other hand, offers a top-tier package that offers a wider range of features than Freshsales’ most expensive plan.

Freshsales’ Growth plan provides more lead communication features, such as website live chat, native VoIP, and instant messaging apps, which aren’t included in any of Salesforce’s plans. If digital engagement is a huge part of your business process, then Freshsales’ Growth plan knocks Salesforce out in this round.

However, the integrations round looks promising for both contenders, because both Freshsales’ Pro and Salesforce’s Professional plans come with an API feature, which is great because it allows you to create custom automations and integrations. However, Salesforce’s Professional plan charges an additional £15 per user, per month to cover it, while Freshsales’ Pro plan comes with the API feature for free.

Both Freshsales’ Pro and Salesforce’s Enterprise plans score a tie when it comes to data reporting, with both offering extensive data features on all of their plans. However, Salesforce’s Enterprise plan doesn’t enable you to make sales forecasts, while Freshsales’ Pro plan does – an important feature that enables you to predict business outcomes.

Finally, Salesforce wins the customer support round as Salesforce’s Enterprise plan offers 24/7 live support, which isn’t available on Freshsales’ Enterprise plan.

Freshsales vs Salesforce: Which has the best free plan?

Freshsales’ highly functional, forever free plan is a great tool to help you launch your sales journey, and this is what sets Freshsales apart from Salesforce. While Salesforce doesn’t offer a free plan, it has a 30-day free trial period, which is enough time for you to give this CRM software a test run.

Best for scalability: Salesforce

Salesforce is the champion when it comes to scalability. It offers vast options for integration on all of its plans, including social media integrations, third-party sales engagement integrations, and VoIP integrations. Salesforce also has customisable data reporting and business process features, such as with custom dashboards and custom automation builders, which will enable you to adapt how you work as your business grows.

These integrations and customisation options aren’t available on Freshsales’ free plan, though you do get access to them on its paid plans. However, its integration options are more limited than Salesforce’s, which means that you get to integrate a few third-party lead generation applications which may limit your software scalability at the same time.

Best for lead capture: Freshsales

Freshsales has more lead capture features on its Pro and Enterprise plans than Salesforce offers on its higher tier plans. In addition to website visitor tracking and web forms on all of Freshsales’ plans, you can set up website chatbots when you upgrade to the Pro and Enterprise plans, a feature that isn’t offered on any of Salesforce’s plans.

These lead capture features give you the opportunity to track prospects and convert these leads into loyal customers. Website chatbots are especially helpful for sales teams, because they help you to monitor purchase patterns and consumer behaviour.

Best lead communication features: Freshsales

Freshsales offers more lead communication features, such as website live chat. This is an excellent way for sales reps to connect with leads immediately, with a quicker response time giving you a higher chance of converting leads into paying customers. Salesforce, however, doesn’t offer this feature.

As well as this, Freshsales’ paid plans offer features that can help you engage with customers across multiple channels, like instant messaging apps, which Salesforce doesn’t offer. And lastly, native VoIP is included on all of Freshsales’ plans, meaning you may not need to purchase a separate software package for business communication, as you can use it to make and receive calls. Meanwhile, Salesforce doesn’t offer this feature on any of its plans.

Best for user support: Salesforce

Salesforce offers a wide range of user support channels, including 24/7 live phone support, but this is only available as an add-on with its Professional and Enterprise plans. Salesforce’s Unlimited plan, however, comes with all the necessary support channels, such as email, live chat, and 24/7 phone support.

Freshsales, on the other hand, offers all the customer support channels, even on its free plan – but unlike Salesforce, none of these channels are open 24/7. Freshsales offers 24/5 email, phone, and chat support instead, with no support available at weekends. Be wary if you operate over weekends, as you won’t have customer support to assist you if something goes wrong with your system, which could impact the relationships you’re building with your customers.

Alternatives to Freshsales and Salesforce

Our research shows that Zoho CRM is the best of the 11 CRM software providers our researchers analysed, earning the highest overall score of 4.7/5. In addition to offering a free plan and free trial, Zoho’s cheapest paid plan only costs £12 per user, per month, and comes packed with lead capture, lead conversion, and contact database features, including website visitor tracking, contact social media profiles, and lead scoring.

Zoho CRM is the best CRM for sales, customer service, and marketing businesses of all sizes. It gets a perfect score in several of our research categories, including user support, data reporting, and lead capture because even on its free plan it offers an excellent range of features, including website visitor tracking for lead engagement, revenue data for tracking business earnings, and email and chat for support. Freshsales also offers the features found on Zoho CRM’s free plan, but you need to upgrade to Freshsales’ paid plans to access them.

Salesforce, however, offers as many data visualisation tools as Zoho CRM, enabling you to process and understand complicated data much more easily. These include custom reports and chart builders.