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The Best Salesforce Starter Alternative for Small Businesses

Salesforce Starter not what you need? OnePageCRM is an ideal Salesforce alternative. While Salesforce Starter tries to do everything for everyone, OnePageCRM focuses on helping small businesses manage contacts, follow up religiously, and close more sales. Here's how they compare.

Logo for OnePageCRM

OnePageCRM is a sales-first CRM that turns your contact list into a prioritized list of next steps. All leads have follow-ups, and the system always pushes you to follow through with them.

  • Best for: Small teams that sell and grow through follow-ups and personal outreach.
  • Core feature: Action Stream
  • Starting price: $9.95 per user
salesforce logo

Salesforce Starter is a scaled-down version of an enterprise software. It bundles sales, marketing, service, and commerce tools into one platform.

  • Best for: Large teams that want an all-in-one tool.
  • Core feature: Unified dashboard
  • Starting price: $25 per user

Ease of Use

Which of the two CRMs is easier for beginners to use?
ZERO LEARNING CURVE
onepagecrm central workspace
Built for ease of use, OnePageCRM lets you handle everything from a single page. You can manage contacts, send emails, make calls, schedule follow-ups, advance deals, and so much more. And since that page resembles an email inbox, you’ll be working with an interface you already know how to use.
  • One page does everything
  • Looks like your email inbox
  • Includes only features you’ll use
  • Built for beginners
ENTERPRISE-LEVEL COMPLEXITY
Salesforce interface
In contrast, Salesforce Starter pushes you to work from numerous tabs. The CRM has different tabs for Sales, Marketing, Service, and Commerce tools, each with its own subtabs. Moreover, its extensive feature list makes the CRM hard for most solo and small businesses to figure out.
  • Work from numerous tabs
  • Enterprise-grade design
  • Wide range of functionalities
  • For experienced users

Pricing

From which CRM does your small business get more for its money?
AFFORDABLE FOR SMALL TEAMS
OnePageCRM’s entry plan starts from $9.95 per user/month, and it comes with all the features your small business needs. We're talking follow-up tracking, workflow automations, email sync, lead capture, pipelines, and more. No vital feature is reserved for upper plans.
  • Small business pricing
  • All core features from the start
  • No hidden fees
PREMIUM PRICING
Salesforce Starter costs $25 per user/month, which puts it well above the market average for a small business CRM. And even at that price, you still don’t get access to workflow automation, quick customer support, or more than 1GB of file storage.
  • Priced for medium-sized businesses
  • 1GB of file storage space
  • Extra cost for faster support

Customer Support

Which CRM gives you better support when you need it most?
VIP SUPPORT, EVERY TIME
With OnePageCRM, every customer gets the same VIP support, no matter what plan they're on. Even on the free trial, you can reach a real human through phone, email, live chat, or a screen-sharing session. You also get free access to the Sales Academy, plus live webinars throughout the year.
  • VIP assistance on every plan
  • Phone, email, live chat, screen share
  • Free Sales Academy + certifications
  • Live demos and webinars
MORE MONEY FOR BETTER HELP
In Salesforce Starter, the kind of support you get depends on how much you're paying. By default, the response time for support is 2 days. If you want faster support, you'll need to pay an extra 30% of your license fees.
  • Tiered support plans
  • Two-day default response time
  • Better support costs 30% extra
  • Live chat with an AI agent

Contact Management

Do contact profiles help you sell, or just store data?
BUILT FOR SELLING
onepagecrm contact page
Contact profiles in OnePageCRM are laid out so that the things that matter most for selling appear first. You see essential sales information first, followed by your next steps and deals. Less relevant data appear further down. Some are even hidden under a ‘Show all’ button, so you don’t get distracted while working on a sales opportunity.
  • Focused contact profiles
  • Most vital sales info comes first
  • Hides less crucial fields
BUILT FOR STORING DATA
Salesforce contact management
Contact profiles in Salesforce Starter try to show you everything at once. You'll see personal details, tasks, events, call logs, sales opportunities, support cases, files, and a Google Maps view, all on the same page. Worse yet, there's no hierarchy to show which ones are more vital to your sales process.
  • Comprehensive contact profiles
  • All fields visible at once
  • Google Maps view

Follow-up Tracking

How well do these CRMs help you stay in touch with and nurture contacts?
CUSTOMER FOLLOW-UPS
customer follow ups in onepagecrm
To help you convert more contacts into customers, OnePageCRM nudges you to schedule a follow-up activity for each of them. And to ensure you actually carry out those activities, the CRM organizes and color-codes all contacts based on how urgently their follow-ups need to happen.
  • Follow-up activities for each contact
  • Auto-prioritized follow-up list
  • Next step suggestions (AI)
GENERIC TO-DO LIST
Salesforce follow-up tracking
Salesforce Starter lets you manage tasks, but they don't have to be tied to any particular contact. So, they’re really just generic to-dos, rather than legit reminders to stay in touch or re-engage with someone.
  • Pop-up to-do list
  • Activity and event management
  • Due and overdue tabs

Email Sync

Which CRM makes it easier to sell using your email?
POWERFUL EMAILING
onepagecrm full email sync and email inbox
OnePageCRM has a two-way sync with Gmail, Outlook, and other email providers (IMAP/SMTP). From inside the CRM, you can reach out to your contacts, receive emails from them, and store every conversation. You can also schedule emails for later or reach out to contacts en masse.
  • Gmail, Outlook, and IMAP
  • Automatically filtered inbox
  • Email open tracking
BASIC EMAIL SYNC
Salesforce email sync
Salesforce Starter, too, offers a two-way email sync. However, it only connects with Gmail and Microsoft Outlook accounts. And if you'd rather not connect your inbox, there's a BCC-to-Salesforce address you can use to log emails.
  • Gmail and Outlook
  • CRM-focused inbox
  • Log emails via BCC

Instant Lead Capture

How easily can each CRM help you save new leads from the web?
BUILT FOR CONTACTS
OnePageCRM Lead Clipper capturing a contact from a web profile
OnePageCRM's free browser extension grabs contact details from any web page, social profile, or email inbox with one click. The lead lands in your CRM, along with all its details filled in.
  • Capture contacts in one click
  • Works on any website
  • Captures from email and socials
BUILT FOR COMPANIES
Salesforce lead capture
Salesforce Starter has a browser extension, as well, but it's mostly for capturing companies, rather than individual people. What’s more? It only works well if used on the companies’ websites.
  • Focuses on companies
  • Built for company websites

Pipeline Management

How do the two CRMs handle your sales pipeline?
FOR SALES AND DELIVERY
onepagecrm sales pipeline
OnePageCRM gives you a Kanban pipeline to track, manage, and close sales opportunities. And so the product or service you sold reaches the customer as and when due, this CRM also offers a pipeline to track and manage the delivery process. You can even use it for onboarding, implementation, feedback, or any other post-sales activity.
  • Kanban view
  • Manage delivery and post-sales
  • Sales forecasting
FOR SALES AND SUPPORT TICKETS
Salesforce sales pipeline
From the start, Salesforce Starter lets you create as many pipelines as you want. But unlike OnePageCRM, you can only use these pipelines to track sales opportunities and customer support cases.
  • Unlimited pipelines
  • Track sales and customer tickets
  • Comprehensive dashboards

Integrations

Which CRM connects better with the tools you already use to run your small business?
FOCUSED ON SMALL BUSINESSES
OnePageCRM integrations with popular small business apps
OnePageCRM integrates with around 40 carefully chosen apps that small businesses already rely on. The likes of Gmail, Outlook, QuickBooks, Xero, Mailchimp, and other similar ones. If you need something more niche, you can integrate via Zapier and Webhooks. There’s even a full API for custom builds.
  • 40+ small business apps
  • Zapier and Webhooks support
  • API for custom integrations
EXHAUSTIVE MARKETPLACE
Salesforce integrations
Salesforce Starter offers you over 9,000 integrations through AppExchange. The problem is, you’ll need a Pro subscription.
  • 9,000+ integrations
  • Native Slack sync (two-way)
  • Gated integrations

Add-Ons

What's included with the basic CRM, and what costs extra?
FREE TOOLS
On top of its affordable pricing, OnePageCRM throws in a bunch of free tools to help you sell better. You get free web forms for capturing leads, an AI route planner that maps efficient routes for field sales reps, and a free business card scanner on the mobile app.
  • Free web forms
  • AI route planner
  • Business card scanner
PAID EXTRAS
Salesforce Starter costs more than the average small business CRM, and still only gives you one extra tool. You only get a free mobile app builder. For other extras, like better and faster customer support, as well as certain AppExchange integrations, you’ll need to pay.
  • Paid customer support upgrade
  • Mobile app builder
  • Paid AppExchange integrations

When to Use Either CRM Software

Choose OnePageCRM if:
  • You want a CRM you can start using in minutes
  • Your sales depend on consistent, personal follow-ups
  • You don't want to pay extra for better customer support
Choose Salesforce Starter if:
  • You have CRM experience or have an expert in-house to help you handle the CRM setup
  • You need tools for sales, marketing, service, and commerce
  • You plan to grow into the wider Salesforce ecosystem eventually

OnePageCRM and Salesforce Starter Feature Overview

A feature-by-feature comparison of OnePageCRM and Salesforce.
OnePageCRM
Salesforce Starter
  • CORE FEATURES
  • Mobile app

    yes

    yes

  • Contact management

    yes

    yes

  • Follow-up tracking
    tooltip
    Built-in reminders to stay in touch with every contact, not just the ones in active deals.

    yes

    no

  • Pipelines

    yes

    yes

  • Duplicate management

    yes

    yes

  • CENTRALIZATION TOOLS
  • Centralized workspace
    tooltip
    Manage contacts, tasks, deals, and emails from a single page — no tab-switching.

    yes

    yes

  • Dashboard
    tooltip
    An at-a-glance summary of pipeline health, sales activity, and team performance.

    yes

    yes

  • Number of integrations
    40+
    9,000+
  • COMMUNICATION TOOLS
  • Two-way email sync

    yes

    yes

  • Click-to-call options

    yes

    yes

  • Multi-channel inbox
    tooltip
    A unified inbox that combines email, chat, and other channels in one place.

    no

    no

  • Meeting scheduling

    no

    no

  • SIMPLE AUTOMATION
  • CRM workflows

    yes

    yes

  • Sales email sequences

    yes

    yes

  • Free web forms

    yes

    yes

  • Browser extension for auto lead capture

    yes

    partialCapture companies only
  • CUSTOMER SUPPORT
  • Email support

    yes

    yes

  • Live chat

    yes

    yes

  • Phone support

    yes

    yes

  • PRICING
  • Starting price
    $9.95 per seat/month
    $25 per seat/month
  • Free trial
    yes21 days
    yes30 days
  • Free plan

    no

    no

  • Next paid plan
    tooltip
    The next pricing tier above the entry plan — useful for comparing long-term cost.
    yesAffordable ($19.95 per seat/month)
    partialExpensive ($100 per seat/month)
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Need a Good Salesforce Starter Alternative for Your Small Business?

Salesforce Starter is an enterprise software that's trying so hard to be ‘the one’ for small businesses. If you want a Salesforce alternative that's actually built for your small business, OnePageCRM is it.
Try OnePageCRM for free
21-day trial. No credit card required.
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Frequently Asked Questions

  • Is Salesforce Starter easy to use for small businesses?

    No, it’s not. The Starter Suite is a stripped-down version of the larger Salesforce platform, but it still retains some complexity. For one, the sheer number of tabs and subtabs makes the CRM more difficult to navigate. And since it comes equipped with such a wide range of functionalities—a lot of which small businesses don’t need—its learning curve is steeper.
  • Is Salesforce Starter Suite worth it for small businesses?

    Not really. First off, since the CRM houses too many tabs and features, it can be harder for non-tech-savvy solo or small businesses to learn and use. And although it attempts to offer Salesforce functionality at a lower price point, $25 per user is still above what the average small business CRM costs.
  • What’s the best Salesforce alternative for small businesses?

    If Salesforce doesn’t seem like a good fit for your small business, OnePageCRM is one alternative you can try. Unlike Salesforce Starter, OnePageCRM is built specifically for small businesses. It has a familiar and beginner-friendly interface that anyone can start using immediately. It also comes equipped with only the features your small business will need and actually use to manage contacts and sales. To top it off, it's one of the most affordable CRM software for small businesses.
  • Is OnePageCRM cheaper than Salesforce Starter?

    Yes, it is. Salesforce Starter costs $25 per user/month, which is well above the average. Yet, it has no follow-up tracking, and keeps automation on a pricier plan. On top of that, quicker support costs 30% of your net license fees. And if you'd like to move up from Starter, you'll need to shell out $100. In contrast, OnePageCRM costs just $9.95, and it still covers everything your small business needs, like follow-up tracking, automation, and quality support.
  • Is OnePageCRM easier to use than Salesforce Starter?

    Yes, it is. OnePageCRM is designed to be easy for beginners to use. That’s why its interface resembles an email inbox and the contact pages look like social media profiles—things you’re already familiar with. It’s also why the CRM allows you to handle your whole business from a single page. Adding to its simplicity is how OnePageCRM includes only the tools your small business will actually need and use.
  • Can I export my CRM data from Salesforce Starter?

    Yes, you can export your data from Salesforce Starter. Just go to Setup (the gear icon on the top right-hand corner of your screen), click on the Quick Find box, and search for “Data Export”. Then open the Data Export module, select what kind of data you want to export, and decide whether or not you want files to be exported, as well. Once you go through the process, you’ll get an email leading you to where you’ll download your data.
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