Zoho Books vs. Zoho CRM

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Zoho Books
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Zoho Books is an accounting solution that is designed to help small businesses manage their finances. This solution includes dashboards and a wide variety of reports. Business users can automate tasks and set up custom workflows. The vendor offers a 14 day free trial.
$0
For businesses with turnover <50K USD per annum
Zoho CRM
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Zoho CRM is a simple, very low-cost CRM option for the smaller end of the SMB segment. The product has several useful integrations with other products, including QuickBooks, and Google Apps and Google Docs. The product also has an integrated project management module.
$14
per month
Pricing
Zoho BooksZoho CRM
Editions & Modules
Free
$0
For businesses with turnover <50K USD per annum
Standard
$15
Per Organization/Month, Billed Annually
Professional
$40
Per Organization/Month, Billed Annually
Premium
$60
Per Organization/Month, Billed Annually
Standard
$14.00
Per User/Per Month
Professional
$23.00
Per User/Per Month
Enterprise
$40.00
Per User/Per Month
Ultimate
$52.00
Per User/Per Month
Plus
$57.00
Per User/Per Month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Zoho BooksZoho CRM
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup Fee$15 Per Organization/Month, Billed Annually$14 /user/month
Additional DetailsZoho Books is available for both monthly and yearly plans. Users who sign up for the annual plan get a discount.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Zoho BooksZoho CRM
Considered Both Products
Zoho Books
Chose Zoho Books
Cloud vs. desktop, this and the fact that Zoho Books syncs with our other Zoho apps were the most pressing reasons for switching to Zoho Books. As mentioned previously, we consider our accounting software to be an integral part of doing business efficiently, and we can now do …
Chose Zoho Books
Zoho Books is significantly inferior to the competition. The listings offered here would not allow me to choose QB or MYOB.
Chose Zoho Books
I believe it is way easier to use, has more robust features, seamless integration with other Zoho apps like CRM, Projects, etc. is super useful and has saved a lot of time. Streamlining this process has been easy, and the end result is better reporting, improved decision making …
Chose Zoho Books
Easier to integrate with other Zoho apps. It’s also customized for mobile use making it easy to use wherever I am. I can get real-time updates on payments while in the field via the mobile app. The software is customizable and adaptable so I can easily make it fit various …
Chose Zoho Books
[QuickBooks and Zoho] are very comparable until you open your wallet. While they are both neck-and-neck with one another in features, QuickBooks does have the integration advantage. There are many more platforms that integrate with QB than Zoho Books. But Zoho has so many …
Chose Zoho Books
The very easy to read dashboard, the clear categorization, the customization features, the easy learning curve and the seamless integration with other Zoho products (that we use a lot and frequently) are for our company the reasons why we favored Zoho books over other …
Chose Zoho Books
Quickbooks is the standard. ZOHO Books will give it a run for its money. Your accountant may not like the fact that you switch over to Zoho Books, but since it's completely web-based, you are able to give them access to your account easily.
Chose Zoho Books
In comparison, Zoho is about the same price but comes with a lot more customizable fields. There are other solutions that feed right in and make it so there is only one place you need to go to get a full picture of your business and what you need to do to keep it running …
Chose Zoho Books
It's cloud based and AccountEdge wasn't at the time we needed it, a cloud based app. Zoho Books updates come automatically which makes it real convenient. Pricing was comparable and with AccountEdge it seems we were having frequent networking issues when being used by …
Zoho CRM
Chose Zoho CRM
I loved Daylite and hated to leave it as it was great but it didn't have a cloud-based solution and that was paramount to me at the time. I tried about 7 different CRMs and found that most of them had some really great features but each one seemed to be lacking some integration …
Chose Zoho CRM
To be honest this tool was already implemented at the company when I started with them. But what I can tell, is that I've worked with multiple CRM tools in the past and Zoho is the best one. It's a piece of cake to work with the tool, it's really flexible, the learning curve is …
Chose Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM has the best capabilities and features for the price. It is incredibly versatile and unbelievable value for money. Some things need to be "extended" with add-ons or other feature-specific apps from Zoho that connect pretty well. It is also very scalable, so we could …
Chose Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM is a web software that has all business included, it's not a complementary part of software that has to be bought at different prices to get the job done. It's very frustrating having a computer software, and with the high cost per user we cannot have the complete …
Chose Zoho CRM
Zoho is cheaper than Salesforce and Sugar, and more robust than Nimble. It's also probably easier to use than Salesforce and Sugar for most people, and there is monthly billing rather than a year contract if that is what you are looking for.
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Zoho BooksZoho CRM
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
Zoho Books
7.0
15 Ratings
1% below category average
Zoho CRM
7.9
278 Ratings
4% above category average
API for custom integration7.015 Ratings8.0204 Ratings
Custom fields00 Ratings8.4276 Ratings
Custom objects00 Ratings7.9223 Ratings
Scripting environment00 Ratings7.5179 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Zoho Books
10.0
24 Ratings
24% above category average
Zoho CRM
8.4
267 Ratings
1% above category average
Single sign-on capability10.019 Ratings8.4232 Ratings
Role-based user permissions10.023 Ratings8.4262 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Zoho Books
9.0
23 Ratings
17% above category average
Zoho CRM
-
Ratings
Dashboards9.023 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports9.022 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
Zoho Books
8.9
24 Ratings
20% above category average
Zoho CRM
-
Ratings
Accounts payable9.022 Ratings00 Ratings
Accounts receivable9.023 Ratings00 Ratings
Cash management8.021 Ratings00 Ratings
Bank reconciliation8.021 Ratings00 Ratings
Expense management8.022 Ratings00 Ratings
Time tracking8.014 Ratings00 Ratings
Multi-currency support10.013 Ratings00 Ratings
Regulations compliance10.011 Ratings00 Ratings
Self-service portal10.015 Ratings00 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
Zoho Books
8.0
13 Ratings
17% above category average
Zoho CRM
-
Ratings
Inventory tracking9.013 Ratings00 Ratings
Automatic reordering7.07 Ratings00 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
Zoho Books
9.5
21 Ratings
26% above category average
Zoho CRM
-
Ratings
Pricing9.018 Ratings00 Ratings
Order entry9.017 Ratings00 Ratings
Credit card processing10.018 Ratings00 Ratings
Cost of goods sold10.017 Ratings00 Ratings
Sales Force Automation
Comparison of Sales Force Automation features of Product A and Product B
Zoho Books
-
Ratings
Zoho CRM
7.9
289 Ratings
2% above category average
Customer data management / contact management00 Ratings8.4280 Ratings
Workflow management00 Ratings8.0267 Ratings
Territory management00 Ratings7.8197 Ratings
Opportunity management00 Ratings8.3253 Ratings
Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)00 Ratings7.9248 Ratings
Contract management00 Ratings7.9204 Ratings
Quote & order management00 Ratings7.7204 Ratings
Interaction tracking00 Ratings7.8250 Ratings
Channel / partner relationship management00 Ratings7.6192 Ratings
Customer Service & Support
Comparison of Customer Service & Support features of Product A and Product B
Zoho Books
-
Ratings
Zoho CRM
7.6
222 Ratings
1% above category average
Case management00 Ratings7.7214 Ratings
Call center management00 Ratings7.2172 Ratings
Help desk management00 Ratings7.8189 Ratings
Marketing Automation
Comparison of Marketing Automation features of Product A and Product B
Zoho Books
-
Ratings
Zoho CRM
8.1
267 Ratings
6% above category average
Lead management00 Ratings8.2262 Ratings
Email marketing00 Ratings8.0220 Ratings
CRM Project Management
Comparison of CRM Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Zoho Books
-
Ratings
Zoho CRM
8.0
264 Ratings
5% above category average
Task management00 Ratings8.3249 Ratings
Billing and invoicing management00 Ratings7.7181 Ratings
Reporting00 Ratings8.1243 Ratings
CRM Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of CRM Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Zoho Books
-
Ratings
Zoho CRM
8.1
259 Ratings
5% above category average
Forecasting00 Ratings7.8217 Ratings
Pipeline visualization00 Ratings8.1236 Ratings
Customizable reports00 Ratings8.3250 Ratings
Social CRM
Comparison of Social CRM features of Product A and Product B
Zoho Books
-
Ratings
Zoho CRM
8.0
166 Ratings
9% above category average
Social data00 Ratings8.1165 Ratings
Social engagement00 Ratings8.0157 Ratings
Integrations with 3rd-party Software
Comparison of Integrations with 3rd-party Software features of Product A and Product B
Zoho Books
-
Ratings
Zoho CRM
7.9
211 Ratings
9% above category average
Marketing automation00 Ratings8.1208 Ratings
Compensation management00 Ratings7.7139 Ratings
Platform
Comparison of Platform features of Product A and Product B
Zoho Books
-
Ratings
Zoho CRM
7.9
231 Ratings
6% above category average
Mobile access00 Ratings7.9231 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Zoho BooksZoho CRM
Small Businesses
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
Score 9.3 out of 10
Salesmate
Salesmate
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Accounting Seed
Accounting Seed
Score 8.3 out of 10
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Score 7.0 out of 10
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Zoho BooksZoho CRM
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(25 ratings)
8.3
(313 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
7.4
(42 ratings)
Usability
9.9
(7 ratings)
8.0
(172 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
8.9
(7 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(8 ratings)
Support Rating
5.3
(5 ratings)
6.2
(69 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
5.8
(8 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
5.5
(16 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
5.6
(114 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
9.5
(21 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
7.1
(5 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
6.4
(6 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(7 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.1
(13 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(13 ratings)
User Testimonials
Zoho BooksZoho CRM
Likelihood to Recommend
Zoho
If using other cloud applications and you wish to create Zoho Books transactions via APIs, Zoho Books is great. The overall UI and flow of the application are great. If you need a detailed job cost accounting solution and robust reporting there is some room for improvement here.
Read full review
Zoho
Interfacing with our target clients at the correct minute is crucial in today's society. Another valuable include is its capacity to coordinated with other programs. It helps me in keeping track of the every day work emails I send to my colleagues or get. Zoho CRM makes it straightforward to consequence or send out information agreeing to our needs. Zoho makes a difference keep in mind individuals by means of e-mail and pop-ups, which dispenses with the issue of overlooking follow-ups and reminders. This not as it were helps within the organization of this incredible instrument but moreover within the execution of data.
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Pros
Zoho
  • Zoho Books invoicing and receipting features are second to none. We find it easy to quickly invoice clients and add items to their bills and also for our own receipting internally.
  • The accounting features are great for our accounting team to be able to see where we are financially and how the business is doing.
  • The ability to add contacts and run a mini CRM channel with clients within Zoho is invaluable. Since we use this in conjunction with our other CRM channels, it helps to have a centralized place to follow up and see through a sales funnel.
  • Zoho Books allows us to take payments from clients around the globe a feature we didn't have when we used another accounting system.
  • The pricing for Zoho Books is fairly reasonable for an SME organization which is a great for us as it pays itself back many times over every month.
Read full review
Zoho
  • Hooks into our website and can import data from forms.
  • Has great automation tools built in.
  • Reporting features are great.
  • Easy to learn, makes it easy for us to onboard new users onto it.
  • Fairly customizable. We have fine tuned it to work the way we need it to.
Read full review
Cons
Zoho
  • Zoho Books is only available in Texas and California. There is no integration allowed for paying employee expenses. The absolute worst aspect is the fact that if you make even the slightest error in data input there is no backing up. You cannot undo an error.
  • The system does not allow change once implemented, so you must get every one of your beginning balances perfect. The practice of Journal Entries is cumbersome. When reconciling, Zoho Books has adopted a number of required steps that significantly overcomplicate reconciliation using practices that are not consistent with general accounting principles in the US.
  • On the customer side, you must look in two places to see the beginning balance and the current receivables that might exist for current invoicing.
  • The way the system works, you must avoid having much trust with the balances depicted. So far, it appears that Zoho Books uses what we called in school "that new math."
  • It would be terrifying to rely on this bookkeeping system to support an IRS Audit. The system violates too many fundamental accounting principles.
  • The software is used by so few people that there is concern that we might never find a skilled bookkeeper.
Read full review
Zoho
  • Need some way to switch a field type without losing the pre-existing data.
  • The settings controls should be broken out differently - I don't like that I can't keep some users from exporting all contact records (i.e., the entire Contacts module) because if the export function is turned off, the export function of Reports for those same modules is also blocked.
  • Frustrating that only 3 custom lookup fields are allowed per module in our license.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Zoho
No answers on this topic
Zoho
i have already renewed my subscription twice. I am in the 3rd Year now. I have been using it for a while and have been recommending to my friends as well.. have attended ZOHOLICs the annual program of zoho and it gave me new insights of managing the crm solutoin.
Read full review
Usability
Zoho
Customization is the biggest struggle for us and most of the time we need to involve a tech person. The chat support is a great feature and very helpful. It would be great to be able to customize and create invoices and correspondence (templates) such are reminders in multiple languages within one organization. The currency (USD) would be the same. We have clients in different countries that don't speak English but pay in USD.
Read full review
Zoho
The methodology of the 'out of the box' user interface is fairly easy to learn. In some cases however, the interface is not consistent throughout the software. Upgrades to the interface has certainly improved some of this--- but now we are seeing the same kinds of inconsistencies across Zoho apps, particularly those more recently added to their platform. This issue is not major in that everybody on staff seems able to learn how to work the programs--- it's just annoying and less than efficient when inconsistent user interfaces or inconsistent terms are used in the programs and/or the requisite documentation.
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Reliability and Availability
Zoho
No answers on this topic
Zoho
In my many years using Zoho, I think there were only 1 or 2 days when there was something happening and I was not able to log in. Sure, it wasn't fun and we all panicked a bit, but right after that, all was well and work-life continued. Being cloud based, I'm never worried about losing my iPhone, iPad or Laptop as I know I can log in anywhere on any device and workflow won't stop.
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Performance
Zoho
No answers on this topic
Zoho
I don't recall every having any issues with a page not loading due to it being a Zoho issue. Anytime I've had any issues with something being wonky, I clear cache and that has always solved the problem. Or a simply computer reboot and we're back, hard at work. Look, I don't expect any product to delivery 100%, 100% of the time but if I had any consistent ongoing issues, I would have left many years ago. I still keep my eyes open to what is new but after a quick evaluation, I know Zoho will long be my home.
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Support Rating
Zoho
The support team feels very disjointed. We have filtered through a number of "lead" contacts and are frequently spammed by other Zoho members. Once getting an appropriate support contact on the phone - the team is very helpful, it just takes a lot of hoop jumping to get there. We actually unsubscribed from their support package as we were not getting the value we were looking for.
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Zoho
We did the training and that was a huge waste of money. The information provided was basic and the instructor was sloppy (he even forgot to turn off his mic when he used the restroom - no one should ever hear what we heard). I offered up a 9 because we were able to find what we needed on your website.
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In-Person Training
Zoho
No answers on this topic
Zoho
I attended a Zoho-Holics event in Austin, TX, several years ago, and it blew my mind. So many industries were represented using Zoho in so many different ways. It was unbelievable all that I learned from that experience, as there were features that I wasn't aware of that I immediately started using. Best of all, the trainers were patient and knowledgeable
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Online Training
Zoho
No answers on this topic
Zoho
There is an endless supply of YouTube videos from Zoho and the many Zoho partners/consultants. Plus, Zoho has it's own library of training videos and webinars to learn from plus an entire community at the ready to answer any questions. While Zoho has been available for many years, there are constantly new training videos and webinars available for the novice and the experienced users.
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Implementation Rating
Zoho
No answers on this topic
Zoho
When you switch CRMs, you can automatically assume everything isn’t going to match up correctly. We had used Salesforce for 10+ years and had a ton of data and customizations. It was not a clean transfer, but we were able to sort it all out. The only issue that really bothered me was Zoho support. Even simple questions couldn’t be answered over chat, and we would have some team members try for hours to find the right answer
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Alternatives Considered
Zoho
We had a lot of problems with Exact Online, support-wise and price-wise. So Zoho Books wins on every point there. While Exact offers way more options, it tends to be really slow... and complex. Again Zoho Books wins. If you want an easy-to-use tool and not pay a lot of money, or if you are a small administration office with a few clients, this tool will be perfect for you.
Read full review
Zoho
Free user access was one reason to use it more than any other software. Also, for a mid-size organization, the Salesforce cost was a little higher, and Pipedrive was almost similar to Zoho. As we were already using Zoho, we found no urgency to switch.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Zoho
No answers on this topic
Zoho
I think Zoho CRM is priced at a reasonable amount. Simply put, you get what you pay for and Zoho does not disappoint. My organization is comfortable with what we pay and pleased with continually renewing the software. The billing frequency is just right. There are no complaints on our end
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Scalability
Zoho
No answers on this topic
Zoho
We're still in the early stages of scaling this across departments. We have high aspirations of doing this, but it takes time to migrate to the new system and to help people get acquainted of doing their work in a different way thru Zoho.
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Professional Services
Zoho
No answers on this topic
Zoho
In addition to being a user of Zoho CRM, we are a reseller as well. Often, at times our Partners request for on-boarding the platform configuration for them. During such requirements, we have utilized the Professional services team directly from the Zoho CRM team. Our partner feedback was quite positive, throughout.
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Return on Investment
Zoho
  • Integration: Zoho Books offers out of the box integrations to extend the functionality and connect with the applications you love like MailChimp, Microsoft Outlook, PandaDoc, and Quickbooks, etc.
  • Flexibility makes Zoho Books great!
  • Since I can use forecast reports, I can create customizable sales forecast data from the dashboard to accurately measure revenue forecasts and establish sales quotas.
Read full review
Zoho
  • because we are new to the CRM world, we wanted a product that was reasonably priced, yet had the features we were looking for
  • we have found a much higher customer engagement rate and ROI
  • we used to "lose" customers in our makeshift process. Now, all customers are being attended to.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Zoho Books Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of

Zoho CRM Screenshots

Screenshot of Deals - Cash in on all opportunities. Close more deals. Great sales management is all about prioritizing, tracking, and monitoring the deals in your pipeline. Zoho CRM gives you everything you need to manage deals across territories and sales structures.Screenshot of Activities - Keep track of all the tasks, meetings, calls, events, or activity records. Neatly organize the numerous records along with the activities associated to them such as follow-up, pre sales and post sales activities, phone conversations etc.