Zoho CRM Reviews

“Free growth-friendly CRM”

Pros

One of the biggest advantages of this software is that it stays free for a lot of what small businesses actually need. Instead of pressuring new startups with expensive fees just to manage their first 50 customers or clients, Zoho gives them room to get started and grow over time. Even better, it has kept most of its strongest features available for free for years which still feels kind of unbelievable.

Cons

A few more customizable lead fields would make a big difference. For example, if you want to label leads as "Cold," "Warm," or "Hot," there isn't a built-in attribute you can use and search by. The workaround is to put that information in the notes which does help surface those leads but relying on notes becomes limiting. Once everything depends on a single searchable term like "cold" or "hot," you lose the ability to combine multiple attributes into a more useful filter such as finding leads that are "cold," have income over $100k and are located in Florida.

“Top-notch analytics”

Pros

Zoho's analytics still feel top notch to me and remain one of the strongest parts of the platform.

Cons

I honestly don't have many negative comments and at this point I'm mostly just curious to see what more Zoho can add or improve over time.

“Best for customization”

Pros

Customization is where it really shines. It brings together just about every part of customer and prospect management, with workflow tools for marketing, projects social, customer service, email marketing, inventory, HR management and more. It also lets me track engagement from webinars and use different modules depending on what the business needs. Beyond basic contact management, it offers strong workflows and custom fields and it is especially helpful for quickly finding communications and staying on top of leads, deals and customers. It connects well with other Zoho apps and plenty of outside systems too which makes the workflow feel much more unified. The API is available for custom integrations and Blueprint gives a simple way to build custom workflows and approvals. Interaction management and automation are solid and the self-service portals make the CRM even more capable. The different pricing tiers make it possible to scale as needed and Zoho One is a simple and affordable all-in-one package. Zoho keeps improving its products, shows a strong commitment to design and functionality and actually seems to respond to user feedback. On top of that, it is very user-friendly to use, priced well below competitors, simple to configure with third-party integrations and packed with frequent new features and updates. For the money, this is the best CRM I've used and I've tested a lot of them.

Cons

The training materials could be better. During implementation, questions come up that often require help from a Zoho consultant. Integrations can also be complicated and inconsistent and some Zoho products do not feel as polished as Zoho CRM itself. The AI assistant has not added much real value for me. Since it is internet-based, you need a connection at all times. Pricing is charged per user rather than in grouped bundles of 5 or 10 and there are still features I'd want included in Zoho One. Support has improved a lot but the quality still depends on which person you end up reaching. I also find some of the documentation and help videos confusing or overly technical. You really need a clear picture of your requirements before choosing which Zoho modules fit best. A few usability issues stand out too: events are automatically marked closed once the date arrives, I'd like visibility into what teammates see on other clients' calendars and scheduling a call feels complex. Updates need more timing options like one week or two weeks, the fonts are too large and I'd prefer to see more information on each page. Faster support access would help as well. I'm also still waiting on stronger accounting features, better calendar views, a chat bot, forms that work as landing pages, anonymous prospecting without starting a chat, document tracking for proposals and presentations and more inside sales automation tools.

“Fully functional CRM”

Pros

A fully functional CRM like this usually comes with a price tag so getting this level of features and capability at no cost has been a huge plus. The free plan does have a few limits but for a one-person business, it fits exactly what I need.

Cons

I haven't run into anything I dislike and I also didn't have trouble learning how to use it, even though I'm not very technical or tech-savvy at all.

“Helpful customer tracking”

Pros

It's been really helpful for staying on top of customer interactions, tracking issues and making sure we respond quickly when something comes up.

Cons

Nothing to complain about right now. It works exactly as intended and has been performing really well.

“More affordable compared to other options”

Pros

Compared with other CRM options out there, Zoho CRM has been the best choice for me and it's much more cost-effective as well.

Cons

Honestly, I haven't run into any complexity while using it.

“Frequent updates”

Pros

Simple to work with, frequently updated and available across multiple platforms so the data is always within reach.

Cons

The downside is the lag when syncing data between Zoho CRM and the other Zoho apps.

“Easy to get the hang of”

Pros

It feels very natural because the tool is user-friendly and quick to learn. The simplicity is something users genuinely appreciate and it makes day-to-day use very comfortable.

Cons

We've been very satisfied with Zoho overall and I can't point to anything specific that I dislike.

“Real-time information for analysis”

Pros

Very customizable software. The application is user-friendly and having real-time information available makes analysis much better. It's highly customizable overall which makes it adaptable to different needs.

Cons

The mobile app feels a little sluggish at times and the formula field could definitely be improved. I've only used the admin dashboard a handful of times but it seems like there's still plenty of room to make it better. That said, there's nothing major to complain about since it handles the job well overall.

“Connects with external apps”

Pros

It can connect with many apps for sharing data beyond the Zoho ecosystem. On top of that, the support team has been amazing and consistently high quality.

Cons

It doesn't save personal documents in the CRM which is a limitation. The interface also could be improved since a better UI would make it simpler to use.

“User-friendly to use”

Pros

Getting this up and running was quick and the interface feels very user-friendly to use.

Cons

Help desk isn't always readily accessible when support is urgently needed.

“Leave tracker makes planning simple”

Pros

At my current company, I use Zoho People CRM for pretty much all of my day-to-day work. The part I appreciate most is how conveniently I can log time and add my daily tasks. It covers everything I need in one place, including attendance, timesheets, leave management, self-service and the leave tracker. The Leave Tracker is my favorite feature because it lets me view all my available leaves clearly which helps me plan and apply for them accordingly.

Cons

A popup notification for upcoming company holidays 2-3 days in advance would be nice. Other than that, everything works really well and meets expectations.

“Missing autosave”

Pros

Creating custom fields to store the most important client details is really convenient and having that information readily available is essential. The email template setup is also simple which makes it simple to reuse the same template across multiple customers.

Cons

The lack of an auto-save feature for fields in the CRM is annoying. If text gets deleted by accident, once it's saved there's no way to recover it.

“Natural to use”

Pros

Coming from Google Workspace, this platform feels very natural to use and bringing some Google tools into it is quite simple. The interface is user-friendly and it makes it simple to keep track of activities. I'm also able to organize emails from leads and clients by grouping them into customized boxes which helps a lot.

Cons

The Google tool integration works well overall but adding tools outside the Google ecosystem can sometimes be harder to handle during the integration process.

“Made a big difference for us”

Pros

Switching to this tool made a big difference for us because we used to struggle a lot with tracking contacts and prospects. The platform looks polished, feels user-friendly and offers a lot of customization. That combination has really helped us improve our outreach and make better use of sales opportunities. Setting up the customer database is fairly quick and it's fast to customize filters, manage live activity lists and keep up with leads. It also offers different integration options that help make the follow-up process more efficient.

Cons

One frustrating part came up when we tried to connect unique customizations to existing contacts. We did eventually figure out a workaround but it took some effort and was pretty tedious for a while. I'd also really like Zoho to include a live chat feature for handling simple questions. On top of that, integrating Gmail with Zoho was a bit challenging. The process was tricky although I was able to get it working in the end.

“Complete invoicing and client history”

Pros

Being able to generate invoices directly linked to products is really useful and the full history available for each customer makes everything much more complete. Inventory management is handled well too, plus you can create personalized invoices and save different preferences based on your needs.

Cons

Honestly, there was nothing that made me want to stop using it. I would have gladly kept it because it felt very complete and user-friendly. If I had to mention one thing, maybe the interface design could use a bit of updating.

“Offers most value for the price”

Pros

Compared with other CRMs I've used, it offers the most value for the price. The views and dashboards can be arranged and tailored to fit the specific needs of the business which makes it very practical day to day. It also gives plenty of room to experiment with reporting and analytics and that flexibility is a big plus. The system is powerful, fast overall and capable of storing a large amount of information. On top of that, the long list of integrations and the useful notes feature make it much easier to work with. Zoho CRM is one of the best ways to organize database information quickly and efficiently.

Cons

There are moments when it feels a bit slow and new team members usually need a few days of training before they become fully comfortable using it.

“Works well for diverse teams”

Pros

With support for more than 20 languages, this platform works really well for diverse teams. It helps keep the whole team productive, strengthens customer relationships in a meaningful way and gives sales teams the tools they need to stay organized and close more deals.

Cons

Something that still needs work is the lead-to-contact sync time. Right now, it can take more than 3 hours which feels far too long.

“Fast cloud tools that connect well”

Pros

Right away, the speed of the application stands out especially because it is fully cloud-based. Everything is presented on one screen so it is simple to scan without having to do a lot of scrolling. We use several Zoho products and they integrate really well with each other. On top of that, support is always available and does an excellent job of resolving any issues that come up.

Cons

From a personal standpoint, there are more options than we actually need since we do not use many of the extra features. That can feel a little overwhelming for new staff at first although the learning curve is still not too difficult.

“Comes with lot of add-ons”

Pros

It is easy to use and it does a really good job of helping me keep up with everything in my business. It also comes with a lot of add-ons which makes it even more useful.

Cons

It works really well overall but I do wish the customer support was a little better. Even though they're a large company, it's hard to actually reach someone or get direct help when you need assistance with the software.