CRM Comparison White Paper:

Salesforce, Zoho CRM, SugarCRM, Pipedrive & Odoo

April 2016
Introduction

Introducing CRM offers available today

Todays CRM market offers a significant number of solutions and software alternatives. Some fit larger
enterprises (which typically require on-premise hosting) while others apply more to the needs of SMEs
(commonly utilizing a cloud-hosted solution).

When it comes to CRM solutions, providers must adapt their product to fit a constantly changing business
landscape. For example, more and more CRM solutions are now becoming available for mobile. This is a
crucial advantage for modern companies and brings versatility to their CRM usage. Being able to maintain
your customer relationships directly from your phone or tablet changes the way you operate and manage
your sales activities.

Customer expectations are changing regarding CRM functionalities and best practices. Modern businesses
need more than just the ability to manage their contacts; a CRM has to offer other features such as efficient
communication tools, emailing, phone or chat integration, being social, and most importantly, having a great
user interface for your salespeople to be productive.

Features Comparison
In order to offer a fair comparison of the top CRM solutions, we have compiled a table of the most important
features a CRM should offer. These are organized into five categories: Customer Relationship Management,
Sales, Marketing, Reporting, and Productivity & Usability.

These categories encompass nearly everything a company might need in order to manage and further develop
its customer relationships and sales pipeline. In this comparison, we have also included a comprehensive list
of the pricing conditions for each solution.

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Introduction to CRM Software

Salesforce
Founded in 1999 by a former Oracle Executive, Salesforce is the #1 selling CRM software and enterprise
ecosystem. The Salesforce CRM platform, called Sales Cloud, is a SaaS offer which allows your sales teams
multiple cloud-based solutions that will help them to locate leads and close more deals. There are 3 free
major upgrades every year.

SELL SMARTER AND FASTER WITH

THE WORLDS #1 CRM.

The only free version of Salesforce is the Devel-

oper Edition which is limited in terms of data
150,000+
and number of users. Salesforce also provides
10 donated subscriptions and deep discounts customers
to Nonprofit Organizations and higher educa-
tion institutions.

Salesforce business solutions include Sales Cloud,

Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Community Cloud,
Wave Analytics, App Cloud, and IoT Cloud. Four
different pricing models and editions are available:
SalesforceIQ CRM Starter, Professional, Enterprise
and Unlimited (all are billed monthly). For this
comparison, we will select Salesforce Enterprise.
30+
offices across
the globe

19,000
founded in

1999 employees

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Zoho CRM
Founded in 1996, the company changed its name from AdventNet in 2009 and began focusing on SaaS
services. Zoho is a business applications suite offering more than 30 apps to manage your company. Only
available on the cloud, the apps are fully integrated and mobile friendly. This leader in cloud software
focuses its budget mainly on R&D projects and insists on the fact that they remain private as no investors
are involved.

THE OPERATING SYSTEM

FOR BUSINESS

15+
Zoho CRM exists in 4 versions: Standard, Profes-
sional, Enterprise, and CRM Plus. For instances
of less than 10 users, you can use Zoho CRM for
free. For this comparison we chose to compare
the Professional edition. million users

6
offices

founded in
3,500
1996 employees

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SugarCRM
SugarCRM is a web-based CRM application available in open source or in a commercial version. Its modern
interface helps both employees and customers to better engage and also includes a mobile application.
Originally released as open source, SugarCRM no longer updates their community version since the release
of version 7, but you can still find open source forks like vTiger.

CRM SOFTWARE TRUSTED BY

MILLIONS WORLDWIDE

1.5+
SugarCRM is divided into four editions: Commu-
nity, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate. This
solution is available online or on-premise, with the
possibility of customization for both versions. For
this comparison, we chose to include the Enter- million users
prise edition of SugarCRM.

120
countries

26 350+
languages employees

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Pipedrive
New in the market, Pipedrive was founded in 2010. This solution is dedicated to managing leads and sales
step-by-step. It was developed in conjunction with sales managers based on their direct sales experience.
CRM is their unique product and only one version is available.

GREAT FOR SMALL TEAMS.

Very visual, Pipedrive can be installed quickly (in

10,000+
as little as 2 minutes) with no specific knowledge
required. The application is cloud-based and you
can work from anywhere via their mobile app.

customers

$13.4
million raised

156
founded in

2010 employees

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Odoo Online
Odoo is an open source software that is available in three editions, of which two are local and one is hosted in the
cloud. More than 360 apps are available thanks to the multiple developments made by Odoo S.A. and its commu-
nity. Some of these apps are officially validated by Odoo, whereas others are developed by the community and
dedicated to specific versions for specific needs.

GROW YOUR BUSINESS

For this comparison well choose the application

2+
Odoo CRM in the cloud-hosted version, Odoo
Online. The unique feature of this offer is that its
completely customizable. There are more than
30 apps that cover the vast majority of business
cases. These apps are all connected to the same million users
database on Odoos servers, linking your compa-
nys sales pipeline to the rest of your business
operations.

120+
countries

730 1,500
partners developers

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Features Comparison

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Leads Management

Leads Management

Leads Scoring

Deduplication

Sales Quotas

Leads Acquisition

Emails Integration

Contact Forms

Website Call-To-Action

Mass Import

Sales Pipeline
Opportunities

Management
In-Pipeline

Management 1

Pipeline by Expected

Closing Dates
Log Calls
Scripts/Automated

Next Actions
Relationships

Companies

Contacts

Photos in Contacts
Multiple Contacts

per Company
Multiple Companies
2
per Contact

1 Opportunities are managed directly in the pipeline, rather than a list view

2 Available in summer 2016

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Quotations

Quotations

Pricelists

Quotation Templates

eSignature

Online Payment

Inline Negotiation

Multiple UoM

Sales Order

Sales Orders

Invoicing

Customer Portal

Shipper Integration
1
(Cost+Tracking)
Subscriptions

Management

1 Available through third-party modules

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Leads Generation

Mass Mailing

Web to Leads Capture

Leads Tracking

(Visited Pages)

Leads Nurturing

Events

Surveys

Blogs
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Reports

Activities Analysis

Pipeline Analysis

Sales Analysis

Invoice Analysis

Sales Forecasts

Commissions &
1
Targets
Recurring Business 2

Report Engine

Dynamic Graphs

Dynamic Pivot Table

Customizable

Dashboard

1 Available through a third-party app

2 KPIs, MRR, Churn, CLTV, CAC Ratio, etc.

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Productivity &

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Productivity

VOIP Integration

Calendar Integration

Realtime Chat

Ability to Add Fields

Drag and Drop Fields

Social Network

Integration

Emails

Email Integration

Email Templates

Users Satisfaction

Brand Visibility 1

Usability

Full Web Interface

Mobile App 2

Android Offline App

iPhone Offline App

Multi-language

Interfaces
API

1,000 179 7,300

Apps Store
Apps Apps Apps 3

1 The brand visibility is measured by Google Trends, measuring the number of searches on brand keywords

2 Scheduled for release with v10

3 Since Odoo covers lots of business needs, not all the 7,300 apps are related to CRM

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User Interface
When it comes to efficiency and end-user satisfaction, fine-tuned usability is one of the most important
factors in any software platform. In order to provide a strong value proposition, a CRM solution must take
into account the needs and goals of its users in order to actively help them achieve their objectives. The
user interface supports the overall product design in deciphering human factors such as preferences,
habits, and learned skills in order to effectively serve the intended purpose of the software as it relates to
the businesses that utilize it. A strongly functional design is critical in providing a positive user experience.

Usability is qualitatively measured as a softwares ability to anticipate what a user might need to do.
This includes ensuring that all of the elements in the interface are easy to access, understand, and use.
Well designed software will provide usability that helps the users feel comfortable with the system and
obtaining their unique desired results. It will help users perform actions quickly and become more efficient
in their day to day tasks. Best practices also suggest having a simple interface with consistency (common
elements) and a page layout based on hierarchical importance and flow.
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Subjective Ratings

Navigation and Search

Opportunities Pipeline

Mobile App

2
Reports Flexibility

Speed/Page Reloads 1

User Satisfaction

Ratings on g2Crowd 4.1 / 5 3.6 / 5 3.2 / 5 4.5 / 5 4.6 / 5

Ratings on GetApp 3.9 / 5 4/5 4/5 5/5 5.0 / 5

Ratings on Capterra 4.5 / 5 4/5 4.5 / 5 4.5 / 5 5.0 / 5

The next section includes screenshots to help you compare the user interface, both in the list and form
view, for each software in the comparison.

1 The speed of the applications was measured by the impact of page loads on performance during standard operations

2 Pipedrive provides great usability in reports, however those reports are limited. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Salesforce has
robust reporting features and poor usability. In both cases, each software was given 3 stars for overall quality in reports flexibility.
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User Interface - Salesforce

Opportunities - Kanban View

Opportunities - Form View

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User Interface - Zoho CRM

Opportunities - List View

Opportunities - Form View

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User Interface - SugarCRM

Opportunities - List View

Opportunities - Form View

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User Interface - Pipedrive

Opportunities - Kanban View

Opportunities - Form View

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User Interface - Odoo Online

Opportunities - Kanban View

Opportunities - Form View

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Pricing & Conditions

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$125 / $20 / $65 / $12 /

MONTHLY PRICING Free 2

User User User 1

User

Monthly
Contract Duration Yearly Yearly Monthly n/a
or Yearly

Free Cloud Version

Free Trial

Free Updates

Upgrades to

Future Versions

Hosting &

Maintenance

Support 3

1 With a minimum of 10 users

2 Odoo CRM is free for unlimitied users, as long as you use solely the CRM app; when other apps are added (ex. Sales, eCommerce, Inventory),
the cost is $25/user

3 Support is not included in the Enterprise plan, however this is offered in the Unlimited plan at $250/user

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Market Trends
The following graph was created with the Explore Tool on Google Trends. The color curves show the num-
ber of Google searches for the associated keywords1. This metric shows the relative consumer interest in
each software platform.

Odoo and Zoho are not exclusively CRM-dedicated softwares. Both are business application suites where
their CRM app is integrated with the other apps they offer. Search volume on this graph might include
non-CRM searches in this regard.

An additional search excluding Salesforce displays a more defined close-up view of the other software
platforms in this comparison.

1 Odoo was formerly known as OpenERP before 2014. Zoho was formerly known as AdventNet before 2009. So
both keywords were used for each company to reflect the growth since their initial stages respectively.

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Conclusions
Choosing and implementing a CRM solution is an important decision as well as a significant investment.
It should be carefully considered with regards to your unique business needs and operations. If you are in
the process of choosing a CRM solution, here are some points to consider before making your decision.

First, be sure to define your objectives. Examples of such objectives could be to get more leads, improve
conversion rates, manage your sales teams, upsell to existing customers, etc. Secondly, what type of
technology or support does your company prefer to work with? Do you prefer to maintain your software
yourself via an on-premise server or utilize a cloud-hosted solution maintained by the software vendor?
Additionally, what is your budget and internal competencies? On-premise solutions are preferred by large
companies because they provide increased control of the platform and can assist in overcoming security
concerns. Alternatively, online solutions are advisable for SMEs as the customization and costs (hosting,
maintenance, implementation service, etc.) are usually minimal or even included in the base rate.

Once you have weighed the costs and benefits associated with these factors, your business can better
analyze the potential solutions available on the market. When comparing the features of each solution,
remember to consider the functional needs of the employees using the system in their daily operational
tasks. Also, consider the business needs of decision makers in the organization; an optimal solution will
support the efforts of all users.

Be sure to pay close attention to the usability of the system you choose. Simplicity contributes to a faster
adoption of the software for users, and ultimately allows the salespeople in your organization to be more
productive. In terms of usability, Pipedrive and Odoo allow for more advanced features to be learned and
adopted quickly compared to the rest of the solutions on the market. Most CRM solutions offer a free trial,
so its easy for businesses to test independently in just a few minutes.

As many CRM experts have mentioned, the future is mobile with integrated solutions supporting multi-
channel sales and efficient communication. A mobile tool allows your employees to react quickly to
customer requests while an integrated tool can seriously save time, empower users to operate more effi-
ciently, and help maintain a clean, unified database.

Lastly, dont forget to look at the big picture. If a companys long-term goal is to grow its sales volume, the
best approach to choosing a CRM solution is to start with a solution that can follow that growth over time.
To accomplish this, a flexible solution with robust features that can offer tools which work in tandem with
the CRM to manage the business would be the ideal choice for a scaleable and cost-effective solution.

This whitepaper was compiled by Odoo SA. We did our best to make it objective and fair. If you find a mistake or a missing feature,
please report it to feedback@[Link] and we will update this document. Our goal is to have a continuously updated compar-
ison of the main competitors to be as accurate as possible.

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