Is Bigin by Zoho CRM or Zoho CRM cheaper?

Bigin by Zoho CRM starts at $7 per user per month on annual billing (Express), or $0 for a single user (free plan available). Zoho CRM starts at $0 for up to 3 users, then $14 per user per month on annual billing (Standard) (free plan available).

Bigin by Zoho CRM vs Zoho CRM

An independent, review-free comparison compiled by the SaaSTracker editorial team. Both products are profiled in full, and neither can pay for placement here.

The short answer

Editorial assessment

Bigin by Zoho CRM compared with Zoho CRM

The same vendor selling two different philosophies. Zoho CRM gives you custom modules, Blueprint process enforcement, sandboxes, and deep configurability from $14 a user, and requires someone to configure it. Bigin removes all of that and charges $7. Buy Bigin if your process fits a pipeline and you want it running this week; buy Zoho CRM if you need custom objects, territory management, or serious reporting, and accept that it is a project.

Choose Bigin by Zoho CRM if

Small businesses and teams of one to about twenty-five people who want a real CRM with native calling, WhatsApp, email, and automation for under $20 a seat, and who are comfortable living inside Zoho's conventions and possibly adopting more of its suite later.

Choose Zoho CRM if

Cost-conscious small and mid-sized businesses that need real configurability (custom modules, process enforcement, approvals, territory management) and have at least one person willing to own the administration, especially companies already using or considering other Zoho applications.

Side by side

13 attributes

Attribute	Bigin by Zoho CRM	Zoho CRM
Category	CRM	CRM
Starting price	$7 per user per month on annual billing (Express), or $0 for a single user (free plan available)	$0 for up to 3 users, then $14 per user per month on annual billing (Standard) (free plan available)
Pricing model	Per-user subscription across a free tier and three paid tiers, with records, custom fields, pipelines, automations, and AI credits all metered by plan.	Per-user subscription across a free edition and four paid editions, billed monthly or annually, with API capacity metered as daily credits and the wider Zoho suite available as a separate per-employee bundle.
Free plan	Free plan for one user with 500 records, a single pipeline, three automations, built-in telephony, standard dashboards, and mobile apps.	Free edition for up to 3 users with contact, lead, account, and deal management, basic workflow automation, standard reports, mobile apps, and 5,000 API credits a day.
Free trial	15-day free trial on paid plans, no credit card required	Free trials are offered on every paid edition, and the free 3-user edition serves as an open-ended evaluation path
Best for	Small businesses and teams of one to about twenty-five people who want a real CRM with native calling, WhatsApp, email, and automation for under $20 a seat, and who are comfortable living inside Zoho's conventions and possibly adopting more of its suite later.	Cost-conscious small and mid-sized businesses that need real configurability (custom modules, process enforcement, approvals, territory management) and have at least one person willing to own the administration, especially companies already using or considering other Zoho applications.
Setup time	Under an hour to something usable. Import a CSV, pick a pipeline template, connect a mailbox, and the team can work. Adding telephony and WhatsApp channels is another hour of provider setup.	A basic instance in a day: import records, set pipeline stages, connect email. A properly configured deployment with custom modules, Blueprint processes, assignment rules, approvals, and reports is a 2 to 6 week project, and larger businesses usually engage a Zoho partner.
Learning curve	Low by design, and lower than Zoho CRM by a wide margin. The vocabulary is Zoho's, so occasional terms feel unfamiliar, but there is no module builder or layout designer to get lost in because Bigin removed them.	Moderate for reps because the interface is dense, and high for administrators because the configuration surface is enormous. The upside is that almost any requirement can be met without leaving the product; the downside is that meeting it requires reading documentation.
Platforms	Web, iOS, Android, Apple Watch, Mobile widgets	Web app, iOS, Android, Gmail and Outlook plugins, Browser extensions
Compliance	GDPR, SOC 2 Type II, ISO/IEC 27001, HIPAA available in parts of the Zoho estate	SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA support on eligible editions
Founded	1996	1996
Headquarters	Chennai, India, with a US base in Austin, Texas	Chennai, India, with a US base in Austin, Texas
Ownership	Privately held and bootstrapped; Zoho Corporation has never taken outside investment	Bootstrapped and privately held with no outside investors

Strengths and limitations

Bigin by Zoho CRM

Strengths

Native telephony, WhatsApp, email, and social capture in a $7 seat, where nearly every competitor at that price pushes calling and messaging out to third-party tools.
Automation is included from the entry tier rather than gated behind a $39 plan, which changes the effective price comparison against Pipedrive dramatically.
Zia AI credits are bundled into the plan allowance instead of metered separately, making the bill predictable.
One of the best mobile experiences in the category, with genuine feature parity, call logging, watch support, and widgets.

Limitations

Custom fields are rationed at ten per module on Express, which is a hard ceiling for businesses that record a lot of structured detail.
No custom objects or module builder at all; that capability was deliberately removed and only exists in Zoho CRM.
Record caps of 50,000 and 100,000 on the lower tiers mean a data-heavy business is pushed up the ladder by volume rather than by need.
Reporting is competent but shallow compared with Zoho CRM or Pipedrive: standard dashboards, limited custom analytics, and no serious forecasting engine.

Zoho CRM

Strengths

Unmatched capability per dollar: custom modules from $14, Blueprint process enforcement and unlimited reports from $23, approvals and sandboxes from $40.
Genuine configurability including custom object types, Canvas layout design, Deluge scripting, and territory management, which lets one CRM serve very different businesses.
Built-in telephony, web forms, SMS, and omnichannel capture included from the entry paid edition rather than sold as add-ons.
A free 3-user edition that is a real product, not a demo, so the smallest teams can start at zero cost.

Limitations

The interface is dense and utilitarian; it works, but it does not delight, and rep adoption suffers if nobody uses Canvas to clean it up.
Nearly everything good needs configuring, so a deployment without an owner drifts into a cluttered, half-used system.
Support quality on lower editions is a persistent complaint, and genuinely responsive support usually means buying a paid support plan.
Marketing automation, BI, and ticketing are separate Zoho products, so the CRM alone is narrower than HubSpot's single platform.

Pricing compared

Bigin by Zoho CRM

Per-user subscription across a free tier and three paid tiers, with records, custom fields, pipelines, automations, and AI credits all metered by plan.

Free$0
Express$7
Premier$12
Bigin 360$18

Express at $7 a seat is the best raw value in this directory's CRM category, and it is not a close contest. Native telephony, WhatsApp, mass email, thirty automations, payment links, and 50,000 records for a third of what Pipedrive charges before its automation tier even begins is a serious proposition. The honest caveat is that you are buying breadth within tight limits: ten custom fields per module and no custom objects means Bigin fits businesses whose data model is genuinely simple. If yours is, this is the cheapest complete CRM you can responsibly buy. If yours is not, the limits will chase you up the ladder and eventually into Zoho CRM proper, which is exactly what Zoho designed the ladder to do.

Zoho CRM

Per-user subscription across a free edition and four paid editions, billed monthly or annually, with API capacity metered as daily credits and the wider Zoho suite available as a separate per-employee bundle.

Free$0
Standard$14
Professional$23
Enterprise$40
Ultimate$52

On raw capability per dollar, Zoho CRM has no serious rival. Custom modules at $14, Blueprint process enforcement and unlimited reports at $23, and approval chains, sandboxes, and field-level encryption at $40 would cost three to six times as much from HubSpot and are simply unavailable at any price from Pipedrive or Capsule. The cost is not in the invoice, it is in the configuration and the interface. Budget for an administrator, whether that is an internal ops person or a Zoho partner for a few thousand pounds, and Zoho becomes the best-value CRM a small business can buy. Skip that budget and you have paid $14 for something your reps will not use.

Editorial verdict on each

Bigin by Zoho CRM

Bigin is the best value CRM a small business can buy, and the reason is structural: Zoho already owned the infrastructure, so it could afford to build a cheap product properly rather than as a stripped-down lure. Native calling and WhatsApp at $7 a seat, automation from the entry tier, bundled AI credits, and a genuinely good mobile app add up to something most competitors cannot match without doubling the price. Buy it if your data model is simple, your conversations happen across channels, and you are comfortable in Zoho's world. Do not buy it if you need custom objects, hold more than 100,000 records on a budget, or want a big third-party marketplace. And model the metering before you sign: records, fields, pipelines, and automations are all counted, and those counts, not the feature list, are what will eventually move you up the ladder.

Read the full Bigin by Zoho CRM profile

Zoho CRM

Best Value

Zoho CRM is the best-value CRM a small business can buy, provided somebody owns it. Custom modules at $14 a user, Blueprint process enforcement and unlimited reports at $23, approvals, sandboxes, and field-level encryption at $40: nothing else in this category comes close on capability per dollar, and the company behind it is a bootstrapped, profitable, thirty-year-old private business that has never had a reason to reprice aggressively. The catch is stated plainly by everyone who has deployed it: the interface is dense and the power is latent until configured. Budget a fortnight of admin time or a partner engagement. If you cannot, buy Pipedrive instead and be happy. If you can, Zoho will do things at $23 a seat that HubSpot charges $90 for.

Read the full Zoho CRM profile

Bigin by Zoho CRM profile last reviewed 2026-08-22; Zoho CRM last reviewed 2026-08-22. Pricing is compiled from public sources and can change without notice. See our methodology.