Freshsales vs Salesforce Sales Cloud Comparison

Why choose Freshsales

• Lower estimated cost for 10 users: $110/mo vs $250/mo
• Higher Cost score (8/10 vs 2/10)
• Higher Ease of Use score (8/10 vs 4/10)
• Better fit for startups (7/10 vs 4/10)
• Better fit for small business (8/10 vs 5/10)

Why choose Salesforce Sales Cloud

• Has a free plan (Freshsales does not)
• Higher Scalability score (10/10 vs 6/10)
• Higher Customization score (10/10 vs 6/10)
• Better fit for enterprise (10/10 vs 4/10)

Freshsales

Pros

• Chat, email and phone are built in from the entry Growth plan, so small teams don't need a separate dialer or inbox tool.
• The annual per-user price of $9 on Growth and $39 on Pro is low next to most mainstream sales CRMs.
• Freddy AI contact scoring and deal insights on Pro help reps decide which leads and deals to work first.
• It links well with Freshdesk and Freshchat for companies already using Freshworks for support.
• The vendor publishes SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO certification materials.

Cons

• Sales sequences, custom reports, multiple pipelines and territory management all require Pro, which limits Growth.
• Sandbox, audit logs, field-level permissions and custom modules are Enterprise-only.
• Reviewers say reporting is shallow, especially email metrics, and customization is limited.
• Support quality is reported as uneven, and Trustpilot reviews of Freshworks cite billing, renewal and cancellation disputes.
• Phone credits, numbers and AI agent sessions cost extra beyond the seat price.

Salesforce Sales Cloud

Pros

• AgentExchange (formerly AppExchange) and built-in Slack integration give it the widest ecosystem of add-on apps and connectors among CRMs.
• Admins can tailor objects, Flow automation and dashboards in great depth, and reviewers on Capterra and SoftwareFinder repeatedly praise its customization and reporting.
• It scales from a free two-user suite to enterprise editions with sandboxes, high API allowances and security tooling such as Security Center and Data Detect.
• Agentforce AI is built in, with prospecting agents, pipeline forecasting insights and call coaching added in the Winter 27 release.
• Gartner has named it a Leader in CRM Sales Platforms for 20 years in a row, according to Salesforce.

Cons

• List prices rose again in September 2026. Core costs $195 and Advanced $395 per user per month, roughly 11 and 13 percent above the Enterprise and Unlimited editions they replaced.
• Many capabilities are paid extras, including API access on Pro, Agentforce, Sales Dialer and Revenue Intelligence, so the real budget is well above the entry price.
• Pro Suite and higher editions require annual contracts, and analysts note that downgrading mid-contract is difficult.
• Reviewers say small businesses often need an in-house admin or paid partners to run it, and that they use only a fraction of the features they pay for.
• Capterra gives it 4.0 out of 5 for ease of use, and G2 reviewers cite a steep learning curve for new users.