CRM · Comparison

Freshsales vs. Zoho CRM

Last verified 27 days ago · 19 sources · Updated automatically

Freshsales and Zoho CRM compared across Company facts, Pricing, Sales & pipeline, Automation & intelligence, Privacy & compliance and Platform & integrations — every fact sourced and re-verified from each vendor's public material.

Freshsales

AI-powered sales CRM from Freshworks with a built-in phone, email, and lead scoring.

Founded2010

HQ San Mateo, CA

Visit Freshsales Full profile

Zoho CRM

Highly customizable CRM for sales teams, part of Zoho's broad business software suite.

Founded1996

HQ Chennai, India

Visit Zoho CRM Full profile

Attribute

Freshsales

Zoho CRM

Company facts

Headquarters

San Mateo, CA

Chennai, India Zoho Corporation headquarters

Employees

4.6k

17k Approximate employees, Zoho Corporation (2025)

Pricing

Starting Price (per user / month, USD)

$9/user/mo Growth plan, billed annually (per user/mo)

$14/user/mo Standard edition, billed annually ($20/user/mo billed monthly)

Offers Free Tier

Free plan for up to 3 users

Free edition for up to 3 users

Free Trial Length (Days)

21 days 21-day free trial, no credit card required

15 days 15-day free trial, no credit card required

Free Plan User Limit

3 users Free plan includes up to 3 users

3 users Free edition covers up to 3 users

Sales & pipeline

Custom Pipelines

Yes

Multiple pipelines from Professional; stages editable

Email Sync & Tracking

Yes

Two-way email integration + email insights/tracking from Standard

Built-In Calling

Built-in cloud phone (click-to-call, call logs & recordings)

Built-in telephony (Zoho-provided, over Twilio) with click-to-call inside CRM

Meeting Scheduler

Calendar Booking (appointment scheduling) available from Free edition

Quotes & Documents

Built-in CPQ — quotes, proposals & documents

Native Quotes/Sales Orders/Invoices (inventory/CPQ) from Professional

Automation & intelligence

Workflow Automation

Yes

Workflow rules from Free (10 rules/module, 5 active); richer on paid tiers

Lead Scoring

Freddy AI contact scoring

Scoring rules from Standard

Built-In AI Assistant

Freddy AI (scoring, deal insights, writing assist)

Zia AI assistant (prediction, enrichment, email/assist)

Custom Reports & Dashboards

Yes

Unlimited custom reports & dashboards from Professional (standard reports on lower tiers)

Privacy & compliance

GDPR Compliant

Yes

Vendor states GDPR compliance; DPA available

SOC 2 Attestation

SOC 2 Type II

SOC 2 Type 2 (covers all cloud services incl. CRM)

Data Residency Options

Choose data region at signup: US, EU/EEA, India, Australia, UAE

Choice of data center region (US, EU, IN, AU, JP, etc.) selected at signup by country

Platform & integrations

Public API

Documented REST API

Documented public REST API (V8), OAuth 2.0

App Marketplace

Freshworks Marketplace (hundreds of apps)

Zoho Marketplace (first-party app/integrations directory)

Native Mobile App

Native iOS and Android apps

Native iOS and Android apps by Zoho Corporation

The verdict

Freshsales

Best for lower entry cost and a longer trial

Freshsales starts at $9/user/mo versus Zoho's $14, and gives a 21-day trial against Zoho's 15. Both include a free tier for up to 3 users, built-in calling, CPQ quotes, Freddy AI and lead scoring, so the core toolkit is comparable. Pick it when you want the cheaper paid entry point and more runway to evaluate.

Full profile

Zoho CRM

Best for built-in meeting scheduling

Zoho CRM includes native appointment scheduling (from the free edition), which Freshsales lacks entirely — so booking links live inside the CRM rather than needing a separate tool. It pairs that with its own AI (Zia), built-in calling and CPQ quotes. The trade-off is a higher $14/user/mo starting price versus Freshsales' $9.

Full profile

Sources · 19 verified references

ir.freshworks.com en.wikipedia.org freshworks.com zoho.com help.zoho.com support.freshsales.io + 4 more

Affiliate disclosure. DecisionWire may earn a commission when you sign up through links on this page. Commissions never influence our data, scores, or rankings.