Freshsales vs. Salesforce | Prices & Features Comparison

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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 (and has a free CRM option), 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.

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Score 4.5	Score 3.7
Best For Tracking communication with leads	Best For Scalability
Price Range Free – £49 per user, per month	Price Range £20 – £240 per user, per month
Key Features 24/5 live support No social listening feature Third-party integrations (7 apps only)	Key Features 24/7 live support Social listening (social intelligence add-on required) Third-party integrations (large number of integrations available)
Free Trial/Plan	Free Trial/Plan
Try Freshsales	Try Salesforce

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

4.5

Pricing Free - £49

Try Freshsales

Quick overview

Freshsales is an affordable CRM platform that’s easy to launch, easy to use, and designed with the end user in mind. Its greatest asset is its forever free plan, which is packed with useful features to support your small business. There are three pricing tiers that are still feature-rich and affordable, earning a pricing score of 4.6/5 in our research.

Freshsales enables you to view data at each pipeline stage and make sales forecasts, and empowers you to streamline your processes so that you can focus on generating more leads and closing more sales.

There are some features that aren’t available on Freshsales' free plan, but it does come with all the useful customer support channels, such as phone, chat, and email support, receiving a score of 4.2/5 in our customer support research category. However, it only earns 3.2/5 in the lead capture category because its plans don’t come with website visitor tracking or social listening.

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.

	Freshsales’ score	Salesforce’s score	Winner?
Pricing	4.6/5	1/5	Freshsales’ paid plans are affordable, and it has a free plan
Scalability	3.9/5	4.7/5	Salesforce is highly scalable, has more customisation options, and has a large number of third-party integrations
Lead capture	3.2/5	2/5	Freshsales offers a website chatbot on its Pro and Enterprise plans
Features	4/5	3.5/5	Freshsales offers more lead capture and lead communication features such as website live chat and website chatbot
Customer Support	4.2/5	5/5	Salesforce offers 24/7 live phone support, a community forum, a knowledge base, and email and chat support
Lead communication	3.5/5	2/5	Freshsales has website live chat, native VoIP, and instant messaging apps which aren’t on any Salesforce plans
Customisation	3.6/5	4.3/5	Salesforce has more customisable features, including sales forecasts

▶ Read more: The Best Small Business CRM Systems

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:

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Tier Freshsales Free	Tier Salesforce Essentials	Tier Freshsales Growth	Tier Salesforce Professional	Tier Freshsales Pro	Tier Salesforce Enterprise	Tier Freshsales Enterprise	Tier Salesforce Unlimited
Price £0	Price £20 per user, per month	Price £7 per user, per month	Price £60 per user, per month	Price £29 per user, per month	Price £120 per user, per month	Price £49 per user, per month	Price £240 per user, per month
Try Freshsales	Try Salesforce	Try Freshsales	Try Salesforce	Try Freshsales	Try Salesforce	Try Freshsales	Try Salesforce

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.

Our software experts rate Freshsales as great value for money

Find out whether it’s right for you with its free CRM package

Try Freshsales Starting from £0

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.

	Freshsales	Salesforce
Score	3.9/5	4.7/5
Key features	Custom task types Custom dashboards Custom automation builder First-party integrations Third-party integrations VoIP and social media integrations API on paid plans	Custom dashboards Custom objects Custom automation builder Large number of third-party sales engagement apps First-party integrations Social media and VoIP integrations API on all but the Essentials plan

Our software experts found Salesforce to be the most scalable CRM

Find out whether Salesforce is the right CRM system for your growing team

Try Salesforce With a 30-day free trial

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.

	Freshsales	Salesforce
Score	3.2/5	2/5
Key features	Website visitor tracking Web forms Website chatbot	Website visitor tracking Web forms

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.

	Freshsales	Salesforce
Score	3.5/5	2/5
Key features	Email templates Website live chat Instant messaging apps Native VoIP Auto response	Email templates Auto response Video conferencing tools (only on the Unlimited plan)

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.

	Freshsales	Salesforce
Score	4.2/5	5/5
Key features	24/5 support	24/7 live support

Alternatives to Freshsales and Salesforce

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Zoho CRM	Hubspot	Pipedrive	Salesmate	monday CRM	Microsoft Dynamic 365 Sales	Sugar Sell	Zendesk Sell	Keap

Price Range £0 – £52 per user, per month	Price Range £0 – £99 per user, per month	Price Range £14 – £99 per user, per month	Price Range $12 – bespoke per user, per month (USD pricing only)	Price Range £0 – Bespoke per user, per month	Price Range £39 – £108.34 per user, per month	Price Range £39 per user, per month	Price Range £19 – £120 per user, per month	Price Range $149 – $199 per user, per month (USD pricing only)
Key Features Basic modules Tasks, calls, events Advanced filters Multiple pipelines Scoring rules	Key Features ABM tools and automation Playbooks product library Forecasting	Key Features Lead, deal, calendar and pipeline management Simple data import and easy customisation 24/7 support and 300+ integrations	Key Features Contacts, companies, deals Email sync, tracking & templates Multiple pipeline management Standard dashboard and reports Workflow management	Key Features Up to 3 boards Unlimited docs 200+ templates Over 20 column types Up to 2 team members	Key Features Sales execution Microsoft 365 integration Reporting and analysis Customisation and extensibility	Key Features Account management Contact management Lead management Opportunity management Quote management	Key Features Customisable sales pipeline Task and appointment setting Document storage—2GB/user	Key Features Email marketing Sales & marketing automation Dedicated phone line (US & Canada) Automated lead capture Lead & client management (CRM)
Free Trial/Plan	Free Trial/Plan	Free Trial/Plan	Free Trial/Plan	Free Trial/Plan	Free Trial/Plan	Free Trial/Plan	Free Trial/Plan	Free Trial/Plan

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.

Our software experts rated Zoho CRM as the best CRM system overall

We recommend it to both established sales teams and small businesses. Why not try its free plan?

Try Zoho CRM Starting from £0

How We Compared Freshsales and Salesforce

To bring you our reviews, we analysed 13 market-leading CRM systems, evaluating them in terms of functionality, usability, cost, and scalability so we can make honest and accurate recommendations to UK businesses.

Our rigorous testing and research procedures see these products scored and rated using six core categories of investigation and 13 subcategories – in fact, we covered 84 areas of investigation in total. We then gave each category score a ‘relevance weighting' to ensure the product's final score perfectly reflects the needs and requirements of Expert Market readers.

Our main testing categories for CRM systems are:

Features: the functionalities and capabilities provided by the CRM software, such as contact management, lead and opportunity tracking, and task and activity management.
Help and Support: the resources and assistance available to users when they encounter issues or require guidance while using the CRM software.
Customization: the ability to tailor the CRM software to suit the specific needs and processes of the organisation, e.g. customising fields, layouts, and workflows.
Scalability: the ability of the CRM software to accommodate the growth and changing needs of the organisation, such as the capacity to handle a growing customer database.
Price: the cost associated with using the CRM software. It includes factors such as licensing fees, subscription plans, and additional charges for add-on modules or features.
Team Structure – Sales CRM: determining if a platform makes it easier to manage large sales teams, including team dashboards, team hierarchies, and team inboxes.
Usability – Small Business CRM: assessing the simplicity of the interface, the ease of navigating through menus and options, and the overall user experience.

Verdict

While each has their obvious strengths, our extensive research shows that Freshsales is the better choice for pricing, features, lead capture, and lead communication categories. It nets a brilliant 4.5/5 overall score from our software experts, while Salesforce earns a lower overall score of 3.7/5.

Freshsales is one of the best cheap CRM systems, and its greatest asset is its forever free plan, which comes with great features to support your low-cost business. However, Freshsales receives a lower score for lead capture than Salesforce because it only provides web forms for lead generation, compared to Salesforce’s web forms and website chatbots.

Meanwhile, Salesforce offers a highly scalable platform with lots of customisation options and deep integrations to choose from, making it a better choice for scaling businesses. However, due to its expensive plans with limited lead generation features, Salesforce doesn’t give as much value for money as Freshsales.

In the end, the top choice overall is Zoho CRM, which offers low cost plans with powerful features and scores 4.7/5 overall in our in-depth research. So if you don’t think Freshsales or Salesforce is right for you, we’d recommend taking a look at Zoho CRM.

Still a bit stuck? To help you choose the right CRM, try our free-quote finding tool. All you need to do is fill in some details about your business, and we’ll match you up with the best CRM providers for your needs. They’ll then be in touch with obligation-free quotes that have been tailored to your business. It’s a quick and easy way to compare the best options for your team.

Freshsales vs. Salesforce FAQs

How is Freshworks different from Salesforce?

Freshworks is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform with a wide array of products ranging from Freshsales, its sales CRM system, to recruitment tools and helpdesk software. It’s designed to provide you with simple business solutions that are focused on delivering an improved customer and employee experience.

Salesforce, on the other hand, focuses on all kinds of customer relationship management. Its highly customisable and easily integrable system enables your business to scale and grow.

Who is Salesforce’s biggest competitor?

Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM is the most similar platform to Salesforce, as both integrate extensively with a large number of applications. MS Dynamics fully integrates with Microsoft Office products, including OneDrive, Excel, and Outlook. Meanwhile, Salesforce can be integrated with other widely-used applications, such as Outlook, Gmail, and more third-party integrations. Both offer a wide range of data visualisation tools to help you explore and analyse business trends easier. However, Salesforce offers friendlier prices compared to MS Dynamics’ expensive plans.