Zoho CRM Review 2025

Zoho CRM shows up everywhere when you’re searching for small business CRM software.

Zoho promises to be your all-in-one business platform. It goes beyond basic CRM features and tries to handle everything from sales, marketing, customer service, and beyond.

But more features don’t always mean better results. Sometimes, having too many bells and whistles just makes things harder.

That’s why we spent countless hours thoroughly testing Zoho CRM to see if it really works for small businesses.

Overview of Zoho CRM for Small Business

Zoho CRM tries to be more than just a customer management tool. It wants to be your entire business platform.

The software lets you customize almost everything through Canvas, their no-code editor that changes how the CRM looks and works.

The platform gives you tools for managing contacts, tracking deals through pipelines, and automating repetitive tasks. You can create detailed reports, build custom dashboards, and communicate with customers through email, phone, and social media—all from one place.

Integrations are one of Zoho’s strong points. Besides the suite of 40+ tools in its ecosystem, Zoho also integrates with over 1,000 other business apps.

The problem is that this “everything” approach creates issues. The interface is packed with buttons, tabs, and options that can overwhelm users. What’s more, important features like two-way email sync don’t work on the lowest tier.

You’ll also face limits on data storage, and things you expected to be free, like daily data backups, cost extra money.

Zoho CRM Pros and Cons

Zoho CRM has a lot of advantages, but it comes with even more drawbacks.

Key CRM Features of Zoho CRM

Let’s look at what Zoho CRM actually offers. We tested the Standard plan (the lowest paid tier) to see what small businesses get for their money.

Here’s the table showing Zoho CRM’s features.

• Core Features

  • Mobile app
    ✅ Android and iOS
  • Contact management
    ✅
  • Follow-up tracking

    

    As a small business looking to close more sales, you need to stay on top each opportunity, so you don’t lose them. Follow-up tracking is what makes that happen.
    ❌
  • Pipelines
    ✅ 5
  • Duplicate management
    ✅

• Centralization Tools

  • Centralized workspace

    

    A centralized workspace is an essential small business CRM feature that lets you manage your whole business on just one page.
    ❌
  • Dashboard
    ✅
  • Number of integrations
    1,000+

• Communication Tools

  • Two-way email sync
    ⚠️ Higher plans only
  • Click-to-call options
    ✅
  • Multi-channel inbox

    

    To make communications faster and easier, a multi-channel inbox stores messages you receive from various channels in one place.
    ✅ Email, Facebook, X
  • Meeting scheduling
    ✅

• Simple Automation

  • CRM workflows
    ✅
  • Sales email sequences
    ✅
  • Free web forms
    ✅
  • Browser extension for auto lead capture
    ⚠️ Gmail only

• Customer Support

  • Email support
    ✅
  • Live chat
    ✅
  • Phone support
    ✅

• Pricing

  • Starting price
    $14 per seat/month
  • Free trial
    ✅ 15 days
  • Free plan
    ✅ Up to 3 users
  • Next paid plan
    ✅ Affordable $23 per seat/month

Below, we cover Zoho CRM’s key features in detail.

Contact Management

In a few clicks, you can create or import contacts, who are then organized in a list on your general contact page. On that list, you can create tasks, set up meetings, schedule calls, or give the contact a ring right then and there.

You can also click on the contact to see everything about them. Manage all their data, create new deals, add new tasks, schedule calls, send emails, keep an activity log, and more — all from one place.

You can also head back to the main contact list to take various actions: mass delete, mass update, mass emails, add to campaign, approve, and export.

Task Management

In Zoho CRM, you can create tasks on the task module or in individual contact, lead, or deal pages. During this process, you can select the status of the task, fix a deadline, and assign a priority level.

Zoho also allows you to set up reminders that pop up on your CRM when it’s time to carry out a task.

The task appears in your task board (a Kanban board), where you can update the progress using drag and drop.

That said, you can’t track follow-ups on this small business CRM. Follow-up tracking involves associating every task with a deal or lead, which turns them into ‘follow-up actions’. Afterward, every single follow-up is organized based on their deadlines, on one page where you can stay on top of everything.

However, Zoho CRM does not compel you to tie tasks to specific contacts, leads, or deals. Neither does it have a dedicated tab for managing follow-ups. This makes it easy to miss critical follow-ups and lose opportunities.

Pipeline Management

Zoho’s free edition gives you only 1 pipeline, while the lowest plan ($14/month) allows you to create up to 5 pipelines. For more, you’ll need to upgrade to the Professional plan ($23/month).

Once you have your pipelines, you can create deals and organize them in a Kanban board. There, you can see each deal’s details and the next task to advance it (if any). You can use drag and drop to move a deal to the next stage, or you can click on the deal name to open its full page.

Deal Management

On a deal’s page, you can modify its basic data, send emails to connected contacts, view the timeline of all actions connected to the deal, and update the deal’s stages.

You can also add new activities such as tasks, meetings, and calls. Each activity you add becomes a ‘Next Action‘ that appears close to the top of the page. The Next Actions are arranged in the deal page by order of the closest deadline, from top to bottom.

Email Sync

There’s no 2-way email sync on Zoho’s lowest plan, but you can log emails. One way to do this on Zoho is to send emails to contacts right from the CRM. The email and its contents will be logged in your timeline.

Another option is to use the BCC dropbox feature, where you get a dedicated email address provided by Zoho. You forward or BCC emails to that address, and they’ll be recorded in your CRM.

Interestingly, Zoho CRM verifies the email addresses of your contacts and notifies you if they’re invalid.

Collaboration

From the free edition (3 users), you can add members of your team to the tool and work together seamlessly. You can write notes for your team members or assign them activities, leads, deals, and contacts.

And if you’re on any paid plan, you’ll have access to the Team module, a dedicated feature for collaborating across teams and grouping team activities under one module. You can create Team modules for various business processes and share access with associated users in your organization.

Duplicate Management

Zoho CRM offers two different ways to manage duplicates: the Find & Merge function and the Deduplication tool.

The Find & Merge option is useful when you’re working with a specific record in your CRM. From the record’s page, you click the three dots at the top-right corner and select “Find and Merge Duplicates.”

You’ll then be asked to choose the criteria you want to use, such as first name, last name, or email. If Zoho finds matching records, you can select the duplicates you want to merge. In cases where there’s conflicting data, the system prompts you to decide which details to keep.

The Deduplication tool, on the other hand, is designed to scan entire modules in bulk, such as Leads or Contacts. To use it, you’d go to a module homepage, click “Actions” on the top-right, and select “Deduplicate.”

You can pick up to three fields for Zoho to search against. If duplicates are found, the system automatically merges those without conflicting data. But if there are conflicts, you’ll need to review and decide which information should remain in the Master Record.

Dashboard and Reporting

On the Standard plan, Zoho CRM offers you up to 10 custom dashboards and 100 custom reports, complete with KPIs and charts.

Furthermore, the first thing you’ll see when you open this CRM software is a dashboard of sorts that’s different from the one you’ll find in your “Dashboard” module.

This gives you an overview of the status of your sales process. It shows your open tasks, meetings, leads to work on for the day, as well as deals you need to close that month.

Keep in mind: The Dashboard module is not available on the free plan.

Automations

Zoho CRM comes with built-in tools for automating your workflow and sales process.

With the visual automations builder located in this small business CRM’s Settings → Automations page, you can set up actions to occur based on event- and time-based triggers.

You can also use these triggers to create email sequences or, instead, rely on Cadences, the actual email sequencing functionality on this CRM.

By using the Zoho browser extension, you can automatically capture contacts and leads directly from your Gmail. However, this browser extension doesn’t work on social media or other web pages.

Integrations

Zoho’s integration capabilities are robust. This small business CRM lets you connect with over 1,000 business tools.

Besides, the software offers native integrations with Facebook, X, and over 40 business and productivity apps in Zoho’s ecosystem.

Mobile App

Zoho CRM has a mobile app available for Android and iOS devices, and it allows you to manage records and advance your sales cycles even when there’s no internet connection.

The mobile app also comes equipped with a host of features, including caller ID, click-to-call, automatic call logging, a map for finding nearby contacts (or leads or accounts), and more.

Ease of Use

Zoho CRM’s interface features so many buttons, tabs, and modules. And although they’re cleanly organized, navigation can still be daunting.

The CRM offers numerous customization options, which may not be ideal for a small business. Too many settings can be overwhelming and time-consuming for teams that just want to get to work right away.

There’s also a ton of features, many of which a small business CRM doesn’t need. As a result, you’ll need a lot of time and training to be able to implement the CRM software comfortably.

Zoho CRM has an average rating of 4.1/5 on G2, based on over 2,800 customer reviews. Many of the reviewers say that although it’s a comprehensive CRM system, the loading speed is slow. They also say that the interface is too complex for CRM newbies to navigate.

However, Zoho offers a free, personal demo. You can schedule it at your convenience and get it via a web conference.

Customer Support

All plans give you access to chat, email, and phone support. However, the quality will vary depending on what support tier you’re on.

Zoho CRM has two tiers of customer support: Classic and Premium Support. Here’s the difference:

Classic Support	Premium Support
Available 8 hours/day	24-hour availability
5 days a week	5 days a week
8-hour response time	3-hour response time
Up to 3 sessions weekly (45 mins each)	Up to 5 sessions weekly (60 mins each)

The Classic support is good enough for a lot of small businesses, but it won’t be adequate for many others.

Some users simply need more time because they’re not tech savvy, while others have a deeper issue that takes time to understand and resolve.

Zoho CRM Pricing Structure

Zoho CRM uses a tiered pricing system that includes one limited free plan and four paid subscription tiers: Standard, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate.

The starting price is within the ideal range, but essential features are spread across different price points, and access to them is limited on lower plans. You’ll also face hidden costs through add-ons and upgrades.

How Much Does Zoho CRM Cost?

Zoho CRM’s subscription plans begin with the freemium edition. This plan covers the basic functionalities a small business needs, except for two-way email sync. But there are other limitations:

• Low number of records (5,000)
• 1 pipeline
• No free data backups; you pay for each backup
• 1GB of storage, forever
• No audit logs, IP restrictions, or data encryption

Between all of these, it’s only a matter of time before you’ll need to shell out some money for the next tier, which costs $14 per user/month. (Standard).

But even that may not be ideal. Like the freemium, the lowest plan doesn’t support two-way email sync. Not to mention, it still has some limitations that may hinder your small business as it grows:

• No data encryption
• Just 5 pipelines
• Free data backups happen only twice per month
• Very little file storage. Just 1GB + 512mb of storage per user

Once again, you may find yourself needing to upgrade to the next plan, which costs $23 per user/month.

That said, there are free trials on all plans. You get 15 days free on the Standard (lowest), Professional, and Enterprise plans. But on the Ultimate and CRM Plus plans, you get 30 days free.

Is Zoho CRM Pricing Affordable for Small Businesses?

At first glance, Zoho’s Standard plan at $14 per user/month seems reasonable. But when you look at what’s actually included, the value isn’t great.

You still don’t get two-way email sync, which means manually tracking email conversations. You only get 5 pipelines, which might not be enough if you sell different products or services. The storage limits are tiny, and data backups are limited to twice a month.

If you need more features, the Professional plan costs $23 per user/month. Add in costs for Premium Support, extra storage through WorkDrive ($1-6 per user/month), and other add-ons, and your monthly bill can grow quickly.

Zoho tries to be transparent with its pricing plans, but it’s not just a CRM system but a whole suite of different apps. That’s why even though Zoho CRM pricing mentions email marketing, these features are part of Zoho Campaigns, which is a separate product.

The costs add up fast. What looked like an affordable CRM becomes expensive, especially when some other CRM tools include these basic features in their lowest plans.

Final Verdict: Is Zoho the Best CRM for Small Businesses?

Zoho CRM tries to be everything for everyone. That’s why it offers a comprehensive suite of tools for various business ops. It’s also why it features robust customizations and integrates with virtually every business app out there.

But most small businesses often find that Zoho’s ambitious scope makes things unnecessarily complicated. Besides, some basic features, like inventory management, invoices, and quotes, are gated behind the Professional plan (starts from $23/user/month).

So, if you need a platform that can be customized to handle complex business processes and you have the time and expertise to set it up, Zoho CRM might work for you.

However, if you’re after a simpler, more focused small business CRM, you might need to look elsewhere.

Based on our criteria (Value, Impact, and Speed), Zoho’s fit for small businesses is Low.

With so many easier and more affordable options available, it is not the best CRM for small businesses.

This is further reinforced by the fact that Zoho’s team built Bigin CRM, a leaner version of the tool to cater to small businesses in a way the flagship product does not.

Best Alternative for Zoho CRM

If Zoho’s complexity is putting you off, OnePageCRM offers a much simpler solution that still gets the job done.

Value: High
Impact: High
Speed: High
Pricing starts from: $9.95

OnePageCRM costs less than Zoho’s lowest plan, but gives you more bang for your buck. You get two-way email sync, unlimited nightly data backups, and quality customer support—no matter what plan you’re on.

And unlike the overbloated Zoho, OnePageCRM provides just the functionalities your small business needs. It also has a super simple interface that lets you manage your entire sales process from a single page.

For small businesses that want to start selling instead of spending weeks learning complicated software, OnePageCRM is the better choice.