A five-person team on Starter Suite pays $1,500 a year and still cannot phone a customer from the CRM. WhatsApp is missing too. And if you track anything Salesforce did not plan for, there is nowhere to put it. Upgrading fixes less than you would expect: Pro Suite costs four times as much and sends the same 2,000 marketing emails a month.
Bigin Express is $7 a seat and comes with the phone, WhatsApp, mass email and automation.
Salesforce Starter Suite was not built with the needs of small businesses in mind
Starter Suite is fine as a basic CRM. Contacts, deals, cases and email all work as you would expect. What it lacks is flexibility, no custom objects, apps or tabs, 25 fields per object, and no sandbox to test in. That costs nothing in week one. It costs plenty in month six, when you need something it has no room for.
The fix Salesforce sells is Pro Suite: $100 per user per month, billed annually, on contract. It lifts the cap to 50 custom objects, then caps automation at five flows per org. Four times the price, five automations. On the other hand, Bigin Express is $7, with workflow automation, a built-in phone and developer APIs from the free plan.
Why is Bigin the go-to CRM for small businesses?
We built Bigin with the needs of small and micro businesses in mind. The features you see in Bigin are the essential features that every successful small business needs and uses on a daily basis. Everything a customer-facing team runs on comes in the box: customizable pipelines, a built-in phone with IVR, WhatsApp and email in one place, and automation that starts on the free plan. AI joins at $12/user/month with 1,000 credits every month, a number you can actually budget against.
There is a forever-free plan to start on, developer APIs from that free plan onward, help importing your Salesforce data when you are ready, and 50,000+ small businesses across 150+ countries already running on it.
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Key limitations in Salesforce Starter Suite
$25 a seat for a CRM you cannot change
Salesforce's own allocations page shows Starter Suite with no custom objects, no custom apps, and no custom tabs, and fields capped at 25 per object. There is no sandbox either, so you cannot test a change before making it. Bigin Express costs $7 and includes custom fields, tags, filters, and custom views, with developer APIs available from the free plan onward.
Pro Suite is four times the price for five automations
The next step up is Pro Suite at $100 per user per month, billed annually on a contract. It raises the custom object limit to 50, but Salesforce's pricing comparison and its own allocations page both cap automation at 5 flows per org. The Web Services API costs extra again. Bigin 360 is $18 and includes 100 automations, 1,000,000 records, and 3,000 AI credits monthly.
Neither plan comes with a phone
Salesforce Voice and CTI are both blank for Starter Suite on Salesforce's pricing comparison, and neither suite includes a dialer. Sales Dialer is a separate paid license that Starter Suite is not eligible for, and neither suite offers IVR or call routing at any price. Bigin includes a phone with IVR on the free plan, along with more than 100 telephony providers.
No WhatsApp and no SMS on either plan
Salesforce sells its messaging channels, including WhatsApp and SMS, through the Agentforce Contact Center Digital add-on at $75 per user per month, with message usage metered on top of that. Starter Suite carries no messaging channel at all, and Pro Suite offers only web and in-app chat. Bigin Express includes WhatsApp Business at $7, running on your own WhatsApp Business account.
The AI is included, the amount is not
Salesforce began bundling Agentforce into Starter and Pro Suite in March 2026 at no extra cost, which is a real improvement. What it does not publish is your allowance: the Agentforce pricing page states credits for other editions and none for these two. Bigin publishes the number: 1,000 AI credits a month on Premier at $12, and 3,000 on Bigin 360.
2,000 emails a month, whichever plan you buy
Starter Suite and Pro Suite both cap marketing email at 2,000 sends per month, and an additional 1,000 sends costs $10. Paying four times more for Pro Suite buys no additional email volume whatsoever. Bigin sends 150 a day on Express, 300 on Premier, and 1,000 on Bigin 360, which works out at roughly 30,000 a month on the $18 plan.
Quotes and forecasting start at the $100 plan
Salesforce's own comparison chart leaves both quote creation and forecast management blank for the Starter Suite, so each becomes available only when you move up to the Pro Suite at $100 per seat. Bigin handles quotes and invoicing through Zoho Books and Zoho Invoice on every paid plan, and payment links are included with the Express plan at $7 per user.
Salesforce retired its social tools and replaced them with nothing
Salesforce shut down Social Studio on November 18, 2024, and deleted the data when contracts ended. Its help article now refers customers to third-party alternatives instead. Capturing Facebook or Instagram lead ads requires Marketing Cloud Engagement, which starts at $1,500 per org per month. Bigin's LeadChain pulls lead ads directly from Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok.
A transaction fee on top of the seat fee
Both suites print the line "Starting price. Transaction fees apply." on the pricing page without explaining it anywhere on that page. The product pages do explain it: taking payment through Salesforce is pay-as-you-go, and US card payments cost 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction. Bigin's payment links run through your own Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay, or Paytm account.
Support is a two-day wait
Every Salesforce license includes the Standard Success Plan, which targets a two-day response even for business-stopping issues and limits phone contact to those cases during local business hours. A one-hour response and 24/7 cover require the Premier Success Plan at 30% of net license fees. Every paid Bigin plan includes phone, email, and chat support at no extra cost.
Getting your data out is a once-a-month job
One day, you will want your data out, whether for a backup, an audit, or a move elsewhere. Salesforce runs weekly exports on Enterprise and above, while Starter Suite waits on a monthly one you generate by hand every 29 days. Since Starter has no API either, that manual export is your only route out, and the download expires after 48 hours.
Here's a list of features that Bigin offers for your business:
Salesforce Pro Suite$100/user/month billed annually
Features
SALES
Full-fledged pipeline management
Contact & Lead Management
Deal management
Payment collection
Quote management
COMMUNICATION
Built-in telephony
Telephony marketplace
Built-in IVR system
Meeting integrations
Email integrations
Email templates
Email insights
WhatsApp integration
X integration
AUTOMATION
Workflow automation
Stage automation
Formula fields
Automation across apps via Zapier and Zoho Flow
STREAMLINING CUSTOMER-FACING OPERATIONS
Built-in pipelines dedicated to different operations
Case and ticket management through Email-in
Connected records (When a record reaches the desired stage in one team pipeline, you can create a record automatically in another team pipeline that captures the next set of business activities.)
Built-in dashboards for detailed insights into your business
Salesforce Pro Suite$100/user/month billed annually
All you need to take your business to the next level
Bigin is the right choice for your small business and is trusted by over 50,000 small businesses globally. We want to help you scale up your business and achieve consistent growth. And in the future, if your business needs more than what Bigin can offer, you can always switch to Zoho CRM or Zoho CRM Plus. We're here to help you at every milestone your business reaches.
Build your business using the most powerful app ecosystem
With its wide variety of editions and suites, Salesforce is often thought to be best suited to manage operations beyond sales. But that's far from the truth! Zoho One, a carefully crafted suite of applications, is perfectly equipped to manage all aspects of your business. The best part? It is priced at $37 dollar/user/month, which is considerably less than most of Salesforce's offerings.
Expert reviews and ratings
Rating Platform
Salesforce Starter Suite
Bigin
4.4/5
4.6/5
Ease of Use
8.2
9.1/10
Ease of Setup
7.8
8.7/10
4.4/5
4.7/5
4.7/5
4.7/5
4.4/5
4.7/5
4/5
4.7/5
*The names and logos for Zoho are trademarks of Zoho Corp. All other trademarks, brand names, or product names belong to their respective holders. Comparison information as of 4/08/2026. Prices mentioned are in USD.
Trusted by 50,000+ small businesses globally
I'm self-employed and run a design, printing, and marketing business. I wear all the hats when it comes to my business, so I need tools that help me automate and track everything that goes on day to day. I have been looking for a simple CRM for the last three years. During that time, all I found were apps with way too many features that came with a hefty price tag. When I started using Bigin, I loved how easy it was to use, and it had a clean and organized interface. The ability to sync my other apps with it using Zoho Flow was a big plus. One of the best things is that they made it affordable. I look forward to seeing how Bigin evolves and helps me run my business better.
Krista Guerrero,Owner, Kreative Design/Marketing
Bigin is easy to use for a growing organisation like Ammacus. The platform is very intuitive, saves time when it comes to entering duplicate information, and has saved us many hours in lost productivity. As an early adopter of Bigin, we look forward to continued new applications and developments to make the platform even better than it is today. In addition, we have received fantastic client support when it was required.
Craig Aspey,Managing Director, Ammacus
Zoho Bigin was easy for us to use from the very start. Within a couple of weeks, all users were able to use most features and benefit from them. Quick training and implementation from the Zoho Bigin support team was helpful. Users were immediately able to see the benefit to themselves, to their teams, and to the company as a whole. All this is the value we derive from this very comprehensive, easy, and intuitive application that we use on a daily basis.
Chirag Selarka,Head of Business Development, Simplifie
Love the new features. It helps make the entire CRM system more personal and germane to our workflow. The searches seem to be more pointed and concise. Bigin has the capabilities and customization for my growing business and no bloat to clutter my process. Overall, Bigin is the perfect option for what I need.
Derek Osborne,CEO, Osborne Real Estate and Business Brokerage
The Bigin team at Zoho has brilliantly solved the software adoption dilemma faced by sales organizations today. Now, with the ability to customize pipeline views, stages, module names, and fields, the moment one of our salespeople starts using the app, it simply works, and they love using it. It requires virtually zero training. In today's environment, the importance of simplicity, focus, and ease of use cannot be overstated, and the team at Bigin has just delivered a world-class tool.
Seth Campbell,President, Five Doors Inc
Still have more doubts? Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions!
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Is Salesforce free?
There is a free Salesforce now, and it is worth knowing what it is before you rule it out. Free Suite costs $0 for up to two users, with no expiry as long as somebody logs in every 60 days. It covers leads, opportunities and cases, one price book, and email campaigns that carry Salesforce branding. It has no custom objects, no integrations and no automation you build yourself. Bigin's free plan is single-user, but it includes a built-in phone with IVR, three automations, a web form, a booking page, developer APIs and MCP support. Paid Bigin starts at $7. Paid Salesforce starts at $25.
How much cheaper is Bigin than Salesforce Starter Suite?
Bigin's paid plans run $7 to $18 per user per month billed annually. Salesforce runs $25 for Starter Suite and $100 for Pro Suite, with Sales Cloud Enterprise above that at $175. The gap widens once you match features rather than price tags. For a five-person team, Bigin Express is $420 a year against $1,500 on Starter Suite. Bigin Premier, with the full AI toolkit, is $720 a year against $6,000 on Pro Suite. Then add what Salesforce charges separately on top of the seat price: the Web Services API, faster support at 30% of your licence fees, and 2.9% + $0.30 on every payment you take through the platform.
Does Salesforce Starter Suite include AI?
Yes, Agentforce is now built into Free, Starter and Pro Suite at no extra cost, covering record summaries, email drafting and a conversational assistant. What Salesforce does not publish is how much of it you get. No AI credit allowance appears for Starter Suite or Pro Suite on the small business pricing page, the Agentforce pricing page or the help documentation, and the Flex Credits rate card says entitlements are whatever your order form says. The published meter is $500 per 100,000 credits, 20 credits for one standard agent action, and no rollover. Bigin includes 1,000 AI credits every month on Premier at $12 and 3,000 on Bigin 360.
Can I make calls from Salesforce Starter Suite?
No. Salesforce Voice and CTI are both blank for Starter Suite on Salesforce's pricing comparison, and no dialer is included in either suite. Sales Dialer is a separate paid add-on licence, and Starter Suite is absent from every eligibility list Salesforce publishes for it. Neither suite has IVR, call routing or call queues at any tier. Bigin has a built-in phone with IVR from the free plan onward, plus 100+ telephony providers in the marketplace.
How do I migrate from Salesforce to Bigin?
Export your Salesforce data and Bigin's import tools bring across contacts, companies, deals and notes. Every paid plan includes a free onboarding session and data-import help, so you do not have to work out the field mapping alone. One thing to plan for on the Salesforce side: Starter Suite has no API and only a monthly export, which runs once every 29 days and stays downloadable for 48 hours, so start the export before you need it. Bigin's single-click migration covers Pipedrive, HubSpot, Insightly and Zoho CRM today; Salesforce is a file import. If it does not work out, Bigin has a money-back guarantee: 30 days on monthly plans and 45 on annual.
Will I outgrow Bigin?
Bigin scales from a free single-user plan to Bigin 360 at $18 per user per month, with 15 team pipelines, one million records, 100 automations and 3,000 AI credits a month. If you eventually need more, your data moves to Zoho CRM with one click, so you never migrate platforms twice.
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Begin your CRM journey with Bigin
Why pay extra for Salesforce Starter when you have a better alternative? Say no to expensive and bloated CRM software. Get started with our free 15-day trial and see your sales skyrocket. Plus, you'll actually have a human to speak to whenever you need any help!
