Founded in 2004, SugarCRM is one of the few CRMs companies that provide both on-premise and cloud-based CRM solutions.
It started as an open-source project. But in 2014, the company pivoted to proprietary software serving sales, marketing, and service domains. Currently, the company has over 2 million active users across 160 countries.
However, SugarCRM is reportedly complex to use and expensive. Their implementation process is also lengthy.
Therefore, if you’re looking for alternatives to SugarCRM, here’s a list of CRMs that specialize in sales, marketing, and service sectors. You’ll also find their pros, cons, and key features to evaluate as per your requirements.
Let’s look at the top 10 SugarCRM alternatives, followed by their details in the subsequent sections.
Top 10 SugarCRM Alternatives
| SugarCRM alternative | Popular for | Rating (Gartner) | Pricing |
| LeadSquared | CRM + Sales, marketing, and onboarding automation | 4.4 | Starts at $25 per user per month |
| Vtiger | All-in-one CRM for marketing, sales, and support | 4.2 | Starts at $30 per user per month |
| Zoho | Suite of cloud-based apps for different business functions | 4.4 | Starts at $14 per user per month |
| Act | On-premise CRM, CRM + marketing automation | 4.3 | Starts at $30 per user per month |
| EspoCRM | Free CRM (on-premise) + cloud hosted CRM | – | Cloud hosted CRM starts at $15 per user per month (minimum 3 users plan). |
| Insightly | Sales, marketing, and support | 4.3 | Starts at $29 per user per month |
| Zendesk | Customer service and sales CRM | 4.3 | Both customer service and Sales CRM starts at $19 per user per month |
| Monday Sales CRM | Pre-sales and post-sales management | 4.5 | Starts at $10 per seat per month Free tier is also available just to manage contacts |
| Salesflare | Contact management | 4.0 | Starts at $29 per user per month |
| Suite CRM | Open-source CRM | 4.4 | Open source |
1. LeadSquared
LeadSquared is a marketing automation and sales CRM platform built to execute sales at scale. It provides an end-to-end platform for all the aspects of selling—from lead capture to sales interactions and closure. That’s why it is a suitable tool for sales and marketing, as the teams have complete visibility into leads, opportunities, and deals.
Website – https://www.leadsquared.com/
Key features:
- Lead and sales management
- Marketing automation
- No-code workflow builder
- Dynamic forms for sales meeting dispositions
- Easily accessible lead details, facility to add notes
- Permission templates to allow selective access to individuals and teams
Why is LeadSquared a better alternative to SugarCRM?
SugarCRM has three different products for marketing, sales, and service functions (Market, Sell, Serve).
In contrast, LeadSquared provides all the marketing features—email campaign builder, landing page designer, marketing automation—on one platform. It gives both sales and marketing teams visibility into lead generated vs pipeline built.
According to a reviewer on Gartner, “we are using LeadSquared for Lead Management (wonderful Marketing tools offered in the package…”
Also, considering the price, LeadSquared’s sales CRM starts at $25 compared to SugarCRM, which starts at $49.
Where does LeadSquared fall short?
If you’re looking for customer service and support CRM, LeadSquared may not be your first choice. It does provide ready-to-use integrations with support and ticketing systems. But the functionality isn’t native as of now.
Pricing:
- Lite – $25 per user per month
- Pro – $50 per user per month
- Super – $100 per user per month
2. Vtiger
Vtiger CRM is an all-in-one platform for marketing, sales, and support teams. They aim to bring all these three functions on the same page to build a complete customer journey and reduce churn.
Website: https://www.vtiger.com/
Key features:
- Marketing management
- Social media and email marketing capabilities for lead engagement
- Sales lead segmentation and routing
- Customer support across multiple channels
Why is Vtiger a better alternative to SugarCRM?
While SugarCRM has different products for marketing, sales, and support, Vtiger combines them into one, connected platform.
According to a reviewer on G2, “It contains tools and features able to fully support all the important business activities.”
Where does Vtiger fall short?
While going through customer reviews on several sites, we realized that people are not satisfied with the integration, navigation, and data representation capabilities of Vtiger CRM—making it difficult to utilize it for their business benefits.
Pricing:
- One professional – $30 per user per month
- One enterprise – $42 per user per month
3. Zoho
Zoho offers a suite of cloud-based software for different business functions. The area where it is comparable with SugarCRM is the set of apps it provides for sales, marketing, and service.
Website: https://www.zoho.com/
Key features of Zoho Sales CRM:
Zoho is built to make operations easier. It covers several aspects of the sales process like:
- Sales force automation
- Sales enablement
- Performance management
- Marketing automation
- Customer journey builder
Why is Zoho a better SugarCRM alternative?
Zoho CRM is known for its easy configuration. It offers a solution for almost any business function one can think of, which makes it better than SugarCRM in many situations.
Where does Zoho fall short?
Many reviewers have reported ambiguity in the system because of the terminologies used. Nonetheless, people appreciate that they get what they need in one place because of the myriad of tools Zoho offers. But on the other hand, for the same reason, some people find it cluttered—making it difficult for them to get what they’re looking for.
Pricing:
- Standard – $14 per user/month
- Professional – $23 per user/month
- Enterprise – $40 per user/month
- Ultimate – $52 per user/month
4. Act!
Act! is a CRM and marketing automation platform for SMBs.
Website: https://www.act.com/
Key features of Act! CRM:
It’s a very simple CRM platform offering functionalities like:
- Customer management
- Activity management
- Marketing automation
- Sales pipeline management
Why is Act! a better SugarCRM alternative?
Today, almost every CRM software company is flooding their software with features and tools. But Act! has kept it simple. They provide limited features but are very efficient, which is why they have been able to retain many customers for over a decade.
In short, the platform’s simplicity makes it stand out from the crowd and the fact that setting it up and running is very easy.
Where does Act! fall short?
There are several customer concerns regarding the ability to reach out to support for query resolution. Also, users have expressed their dissatisfaction with the tool’s integrations and reporting capabilities.
Pricing:
- Act! Premium Desktop (on-premise) – $37.50 per user per month
- Act! Premium Cloud – $30 per user per month
5. EspoCRM
EspoCRM offers:
- Free CRM (self-hosted or on-premise CRM)
- Cloud CRM software
EspoCRM is an open-source CRM, which lands it in the SugarCRM alternatives list. However, note that there are paid add-ons to extend the functionality of this software.
Website: https://www.espocrm.com/
Key features of EspoCRM:
EspoCRM offers a range of features to improve sales productivity.
- Sales automation
- Shared calendar synched with Google and Outlook
- Email marketing
- Workflow automation for business processes
Why is EspoCRM a better SugarCRM alternative?
The software’s flexibility in terms of customizations and integrations is much appreciated by users. Another reviewer on G2 likes that EspoCRM provides a unique capability to map contact with several accounts—a feature that Sugar CRM lacks.
Where does EspoCRM fall short?
Reviewers on Software Advice have reported challenges with reporting and dashboards. Also, the software lacks detailed documentation, which is of utmost importance in any open-source CRM.
Pricing:
The on-premise or desktop version of EspoCRM is free. However, the cloud-hosted version comes at the following pricing points.
- Basic – $15 per user per month (minimum 3 users required)
- Enterprise – $25 per user per month (minimum 5 users required)
- Ultimate – $69 per user per month (minimum 10 users required)
6. Insightly
Insightly is a CRM designed for small and medium size businesses. It supports marketing, sales, service, and project management modules.
Website: https://www.insightly.com/
Key features of Insightly CRM:
- Lead routing
- Workflow automation
- Email marketing
Why is Insightly a better SugarCRM alternative?
Users find this software intuitive and customizable, which makes it a good SugarCRM alternative. They also find the platform to be easy-to-use to track project timelines.
Where does Insightly fall short?
One of the major drawbacks of Insightly CRM is its inability to scale. Multiple users cannot use the platform simultaneously. Another area of concern is that the software doesn’t support custom workflows, which is absolutely required in today’s time.
Pricing:
- Plus – $29 per user per month
- Professional – $49 per user per month
- Enterprise – $99 per user per month
7. Zendesk
Zendesk provides two most prominent software solutions:
- Ticketing system for customer service
- CRM system for sales
Website: https://www.zendesk.com/
Key features of Zendesk CRM:
Features of Zendesk ticketing system:
- Integrated ticketing across email, Twitter, and Facebook wall posts
- Service routing based on agent availability
- Customer interaction history
Features of Zendesk Sell (Sales CRM)
- Customizable sales pipeline
- Email integration
- Synched calendar for meetings and appointments
- Dashboards and reporting
Why is Zendesk a better SugarCRM alternative?
One of the much-appreciated features of Zendesk is that it allows users to respond to customer grievances on Facebook and Twitter cc’ing the respective departments/team members.
Where does Zendesk fall short?
Users have reported that they had to upgrade to a higher tier and a more expensive plan for the basic features they require in a customer service software. Aside from this, as per a reviewer, “mobile interface is extremely limited and tough to navigate.”
Pricing:
Although Zendesk has two different software modules for support and sales, it has a consistent pricing structure for either of the software.
- Team – $19 per user per month
- Growth – $49 per user per month
- Professional – $99 per user per month
8. Monday Sales CRM
Monday Sales CRM enables users to manage pre-sales and post-sales activities in one place. In terms of post-sales management, it supports customer onboarding, collection tracking, and client project management.
Website: https://monday.com/crm
Key features of Monday Sales CRM:
- Deal management
- Account and contact management
- Sales operations
Why is Monday a better SugarCRM alternative?
Modern UI and customizations are the strengths of this tool over SugarCRM. People also appreciate the intuitiveness of Monday software.
Where does Monday fall short?
The confusing pricing structure is something that worries most of the reviewers. Apart from this, Monday is better known for its project management capabilities than CRM functionalities.
Pricing:
- Basic – $10 per seat per month
- Standard – $14 per seat per month
- Pro – $24 per seat per month
9. Salesflare
Salesflare is basically a B2B CRM designed for SMBs. Normally, in any CRM, the customer/prospect contact details are filled through details captured via lead forms, or sales reps add them manually.
Salesflare automates building prospect profiles by gathering all this information from their email signatures, social profiles, etc.
Website: https://salesflare.com/
Key features of Salesflare CRM:
- Automated system to fetch the lead information like contact details
- Logs meetings and phone calls automatically
Why is Salesflare a better SugarCRM alternative?
Salesflare offers limited functionalities but with great efficiency. For instance, according to a reviewer, “Having all your former contacts and conversations available from the start of using Salesflare is really a time saver!”
Also, users are happy with its simple UI and features like lead enrichment.
Where does Salesflare fall short?
Salesflare’s pricing for minuscule number of features is a concern for many users. They reported that Salesflare “lacks the robust feature sets found in its competitors.”
Pricing:
- Growth – $29 per user per month
- Pro – $49 per user per month
- Enterprise – $99 per user per month
10. SuiteCRM
It is an open-source CRM, and mainly that’s why on the list that compares SugarCRM with other similar tools available.
They also offer SuiteAssured, a fully supported build of SuiteCRM covering warranty and professional services.
Website: https://suitecrm.com/
Key features of SuiteCRM:
SuiteCRM has different modules for sales, marketing, and service departments. It supports the following features:
- Reporting dashboards
- 360-degree view of customers
- Workflow automation
- Activity and case management
Why is SuiteCRM a better SugarCRM alternative?
Since SuiteCRM is open-source software, you can easily customize it per your business requirements. The biggest benefit of this CRM is that, unlike other CRMs, the cost does not increase drastically as the number of users increases.
Where does SuiteCRM fall short?
Users have reported a lack of documentation and scalability issues with SuiteCRM. Some people also claim that their integration modules are not smooth and don’t function as expected.
Pricing:
While the core software is free, the company charges the users for hosting, training, and support. Their pricing packages are as follows:
- Starter – £95.00 per month (1-10 users)
- Starter – £332.00 per month (5-50 users)
- Starter – £475.00 per month (10-150 users)
The pricing for fully supported build of SuiteCRM (SuiteAssured) is not revealed on the website.
Final Thoughts
SugarCRM offers similar functionalities as Salesforce but at a cheaper price. However, the users aren’t satisfied with the software’s integrations and reporting capabilities.
The good news is, there are many SugarCRM alternatives available in the market at a reasonable price. It all drills down to finding the tool that fits your requirements.
If you need help finding the right CRM software for your business, you can refer to our CRM buyer’s guide. It highlights the dos and don’ts of selecting software and red flags to watch out for before finalizing a CRM vendor.
FAQs
SugarCRM started as open-source software, but it no longer provides a free version of the tool.
You can check out LeadSquared CRM software or ask for a demo to understand if it fulfils your requirements.
