Top 6 Zoho Alternatives for Managing Your Business Operations

You may already know that Zoho is a popular CRM platform that has been around for a while. People like it because it is affordable and has many great features. But is it the best choice for your business?

As you grow and your needs become more complex, you might find that Zoho doesn't quite have everything you're looking for. That is where it might be time to start considering other CRM options.

I have compiled some Zoho alternatives that are worth checking out. With features like client portals and more refined customization options, one of these alternatives might be just what your business needs.

What is Zoho CRM?

Zoho CRM is a customer relationship management software that enables businesses of all sizes and industries to manage and grow their sales by customizing processes, creating sales workflows, and leveraging powerful reporting tools.

It is state-of-the-art software that allows companies to combine their sales, marketing, and customer support solutions in a central environment, leading to more conversions and better business outcomes.

With Zoho CRM, businesses can easily track leads, manage contacts, automate tasks, and gain valuable insights into their customer interactions, all in one place.

Features of Zoho

Contact Management

You can track customer interactions, store contact information, view profiles and set reminders. This feature will ensure that your sales team is following up with customers in a timely manner.

Lead Management

Zoho CRM allows you to manage leads, assign activities, and keep track of their progress. You can easily qualify leads and track their progress in real-time.

Task Management

This feature helps you keep your team on track by assigning tasks and tracking their progress. You can set up tasks with deadlines, set reminders and monitor the performance of tasks.

Invoice and Billing

With Zoho CRM, you can manage invoices and billing efficiently. You can also calculate taxes, generate invoices in multiple currencies, and track customer payments.

Analytics and Reports

Zoho CRM provides powerful analytics and reporting features. You can track sales performance, analyze customer trends and generate useful reports.

Pros and Cons of Zoho

Pros

• Ease of use
• Customizable
• High security
• Comprehensive features

Cons

• Limited integrations
• Learning curve
• Mobile app limitation
• Customization complexity

Pricing

Zoho CRM software offers several pricing plans to suit the needs and size of the client organization.

Standard Plan: This plan is priced at $18 per user per month when billed monthly or $12 per user per month when billed annually. It is best suited for automating and optimizing the sales cycle.

Professional Plan: This plan is priced at $30 per user per month when billed monthly or $20 per user per month when billed annually. It is designed to help businesses improve customer acquisition and accelerate growth.

Enterprise Plan: This plan is priced at $45 per user per month when billed monthly or $35 per user per month when billed annually. It offers complete CRM functionalities to manage global CX operations.

Ultimate Plan: This plan is priced at $100 per user per month when billed annually. It provides dedicated BI capabilities to help businesses scale exponentially.

Why the need for Zoho Alternatives?

Lack of desired features: Zoho CRM may lack specific features that some businesses require. For example, Pipedrive offers advanced document management capabilities, which Zoho may not have.

All-in-one solution: Businesses that require an all-in-one business management solution may prefer alternatives like ClientVenue, which offers more than just CRM.

Better integration options: Zoho CRM may not integrate with some business tools. Freshsales, for example, offers significantly more native and third-party integration options than Zoho CRM.

Better user interface: Some businesses may prefer a more user-friendly interface than what Zoho CRM offers. ClientVenue, for instance, offers a user-friendly design to make things easier for small businesses and larger corporations.

Best Zoho Alternatives

1. ClientVenue

ClientVenue is a software platform designed to streamline and manage client relations for photographers, freelancers, small to medium-sized businesses, and agencies. It offers project management, scheduling, billing and invoicing, and revenue tracking from the initial client contact to the final payment.

ClientVenue is also an all-in-one solution for streamlining client communications. It helps to organize and track conversations across multiple communication channels, allowing for a more efficient workflow.

Features 

• Streamlined client communication
• User-friendly interface
• Customizable workflows
• Project management
• Billing and invoicing
• Reporting
• Scheduling

Pros

• Automated workflow
• Customizable branding
• Improve collaboration
• Time tracking

Cons

• I have not encountered any drawbacks yet.

Pricing

ClientVenue has two plans. Each comes with a full featured 14-day trial.

Professional: The Professional Plan costs $25 per user per month and includes unlimited projects, a 10 GB storage drive, timesheets and resource management, client invoicing and payments, a branded white label portal, people performance reports, integrations, and priority support.

Enterprise: The Enterprise Plan is priced at $40 per user per month and includes everything in the Professional Plan, plus additional benefits such as client accounts, a 100 GB storage drive, a dedicated services selling page, a dedicated accounts manager, custom development, 1-on-1 custom onboarding and coaching, and daily standups.

2. Pipedrive CRM 

Pipedrive CRM is a CRM solution designed for sales teams to manage and track their sales pipeline, from lead generation to deal closure.

Pipedrive sales CRM offers a range of features that enable salespeople to record, track and manage marketing campaigns.

Features 

• Sales and marketing automation
• Customizable email templates
• Scheduler
• Customizable reports
• Workflow automation

Pros 

• Ease of Use
• Intuitive UI design
• Custom Reporting Capabilities
• Long list of app integrations
• Automate marketing campaigns

Cons

• Meant for small to mid-scale businesses
• Doesn’t offer integrations with larger-scale companies such as SAP or Oracle
• Limited solutions and features to handle marketing 

Pricing 

Pipedrive CRM offers four different pricing plans with varying features and capabilities to meet the needs of different businesses. All the plans which come with a free 14-day trial include the following:

Essential: The Essential plan costs $11.90 per user per month when billed monthly or $9.90 per user per month when billed annually. It includes lead, deal, calendar, pipeline management, simple data import and customization, 24/7 support, and 300+ integrations.

Advanced: The Advanced plan costs $24.90 per user per month on monthly billing or $19.90 per user per month on annual billing. It includes all the features of the Essential plan plus full email sync with templates and scheduling, group emailing with open and click tracking, and customizable automation with an in-depth automation builder.

Professional: The Professional plan costs $49.90 per user per month when billed monthly or $39.90 per user per month, billed annually, and includes all the features of the Advanced plan plus the ability to create, manage, and eSign documents and contracts, revenue projections and forecasts, and enhanced custom reporting.

Enterprise: The Enterprise plan costs $74.90 when billed monthly or $59.90 per user per month when billed annually. It includes all the features of the Professional plan plus unlimited user permission and visibility settings, additional and heightened security preferences, an implementation program, and phone support with no feature usage limits.

3. Hello Bonsai

Hello Bonsai is an all-in-one workflow management solution that simplifies paperwork and automates various aspects of freelance work for small businesses and freelancers.

It is a comprehensive suite of tools that includes freelance proposals, contract management, invoice and payment management, expense tracking, client and lead management, project management, and time tracking.

Features 

• CRM System
• Customer Support
• Finances Management
• Project Management
• Time Tracking

Pros

• Customizable language
• Dashboard
• Time tracking
• User-friendly

Cons

• Inadequate evidence of work
• Limitations of contract creation tool

Pricing

Hello Bonsai offers a seven-day trial period and three different pricing plans.

Starter: The Starter plan is available at a monthly billing rate of $24 or an annual billing rate of $17. This plan is designed for freelancers and contractors starting. It includes unlimited clients and projects, invoicing and payment, proposals and contracts, scheduling, tasks and time tracking, client CRM, forms and questionnaires, and expense tracking.

Professional: The Professional plan is available at a monthly billing rate of $39 or an annual billing rate of $32. This plan includes everything in the Starter plan plus added features.

Business: The Business plan has a monthly billing of $79 and an annual billing of $52. This plan offers everything in the Professional plan, plus added features.

4. ClickUp

ClickUp is another project management tool that can benefit creative agencies in managing tasks, campaigns, documents, and clients comprehensively.

With ClickUp, collaboration and work management become easier, enabling more effective communication and faster project completion.

Features 

• Client management features
• Collaborative task management
• Data-driven insights with customizable dashboards and reports
• Document management features
• Marketing campaign management tools

Pros 

•  Excellent project management
• Simple task management
• Comprehensive platform
• Easy customization

Cons

• Learning curve
• Cluttered board views
• Reporting could be better

Pricing

ClickUp provides five different pricing plans with varying features and capabilities. These plans are as follows:

 Free Plan: This plan allows users unlimited access to tasks, lists, storage, members, and comments without any charges. The downside of this plan is that it has a limited set of features and integrations compared to the paid plans.

Unlimited Plan: The Unlimited Plan offers additional features and capabilities for users and costs $5 per user per month when billed annually and $9 per user per month when billed monthly.

Business Plan: The Business Plan is suitable for businesses that require more advanced features and customization options. This plan costs $9 per user per month when billed annually and $19 per user per month when billed monthly.

Business Plus Plan: This plan is designed for businesses with more complex needs and offers even more features and capabilities than the Business Plan. This plan costs $19 per user per month when billed annually and $29 per user per month when billed monthly.

Enterprise Plan: The highest-tier plan is the Enterprise Plan. It offers custom pricing based on the specific requirements of the business.

5. Agile CRM

Agile CRM is a customer relationship management software that helps you in managing staff, projects, customer data and tasks, tracking your time, drafting legal contracts, and integrating strong customer relationship management.

Agile's comprehensive CRM system enables you to handle your leads, clients, and tickets with the assistance of the customer success team. Install a client portal central business system to enable direct client participation in your projects.

Features

• Customized Dashboard
• Project Management
• Manage Tasks
• Invoices
• Teams
• Time Tracking

Pros

• Customizable
• Collaboration
• User-friendly interface
• Integrations

Cons

• Free version limitation
• The learning curve for some users
• Limited privacy
• Limited reporting

Pricing

The finest strategy that makes the most sense can be chosen by you and your team.

Basic: Users who register as people are not charged.

Pro: An annual subscription costs $7.99 per person for one month.

Premium: An annual subscription costs $11.99 per person for one month.

6. SuiteDash

SuiteDash is a business management tool that consolidates all crucial processes into one platform. It simplifies tasks such as optimizing workflows, sales processes, managing subscriptions, collecting feedback, and storing files.

Moreover, its project management module has a built-in Kanban board that enables teams to monitor tasks and track progress.

SuiteDash allows users to create client proposals online, which can be quickly converted into invoices for payment. It's an excellent all-in-one solution for business management.

Features

• CRM client management
• Integration
• Invoicing and billing
• Real-time reporting
• Secure client portal
• Time tracking

Pros 

• Comprehensive software
• Customizable
• Good customer service
• Contact management

Cons

• Expensive
• Steep learning curve
• Limited integrations
• No free trial

Pricing

The Start: The START plan costs $19/month and provides users with the CORE platform, unlimited CRM contacts, staff/team members, and portals. It also has a fully branded experience, a custom branded URL/login, and 100GB of file storage.

THRIVE costs $49/month. The THRIVE plan builds upon the features of the START plan by adding growth tools such as the proposals and eSign toolkit, email marketing toolkit, folder structure profiles, advanced custom menus, and deal stage pipelines. The plan includes 500GB of file storage, and users can upgrade or downgrade their plan anytime.

PINNACLE: The PINNACLE plan costs $99/month and includes all the features of the THRIVE plan, along with premium tools such as the FLOWs automation toolkit, trigger/action automation, LMS learning management*, support tickets toolkit*, and task dependencies. The plan includes 1TB of file storage; users can downgrade their plan anytime.

ClientVenue: The best choice among Zoho Alternatives

The best choice among Zoho alternatives is ClientVenue. ClientVenue is an excellent platform as it comes designed with powerful automation capabilities.

This makes it the perfect solution for many businesses, including service-based businesses, photographers, web and graphic designers, coaches, virtual assistants, marketers, and event planners.

ClientVenue has customizable workflows, templates, and triggers, and users can easily automate tasks like sending invoices, contracts, and questionnaires; another of its unique features is its user-friendly interface. This allows even those who are not tech-savvy to navigate it with ease.

For added convenience, video tutorials and customer support are also available to help users get started and maximize its features. There is also a provision for customizable forms that help streamline the client onboarding process.

Additionally, the platform offers comprehensive project management capabilities that allow users to easily manage multiple projects.

Top Features

Billing and Invoicing

ClientVenue allows you to manage all your invoices, payment plans, and billing statements in one place, making it easy to track payments and billing history.

Reporting

Generating reports on project progress and performance is made super easy with ClientVenue. ClientVenue's reporting capabilities have covered you, allowing you to create custom reports to ensure projects are completed efficiently.

Scheduling

Another great feature of ClientVenue is its scheduling tool. Optimizing workflows, managing resources, and planning shifts can be effortlessly done by dragging and dropping tasks.

Customizable Workflows

ClientVenue allows users to create customizable workflows for sending invoices, contracts, and questionnaires. This feature enables you to automate repetitive tasks, ensuring everything is organized and on track.

Resource Management

With ClientVenue's resource management feature, you can get an overview of project resources, including tools, materials, personnel, contractors, and vendors. This feature helps you maintain a project timeline and ensure everything runs smoothly.

Project Management

ClientVenue provides excellent project management features. With this tool, you can plan and execute projects from start to finish and track progress in real-time, ensuring that everything stays on track.

Integrations

ClientVenue offers integration with other tools such as Slack and Dropbox. This makes it easy to share files and keeps everyone on the same page.

Streamlined Client Communications

 ClientVenue provides a centralized hub for managing all client communications. This feature eliminates the need to juggle multiple channels and potentially miss important messages.

Conclusion

Among the several Zoho CRM alternatives, you should consider trying out ClientVenue.

ClientVenue is a highly user-friendly platform, making it easy to use even if you are not tech-savvy. It also lets you customize the clean interface to suit your preferences.

ClientVenue also has a mobile app that is more comprehensive than the other tools available.

Another outstanding thing about ClientVenue is that small teams can take advantage of a two-week trial period. This will enable you to try it out and see if it meets your needs. What’s more, their pricing plans are flexible.

With ClientVenue, your projects will be more efficiently managed and executed. ClientVenue is the best choice for you.