Salesforce Starter vs Salesmate Comparison
Compare Salesforce Starter vs Salesmate features, pricing, and more.
Last updated: November 2026
Salesforce Starter
5.7/10
Salesforce Starter Suite is an entry-level CRM bundling sales, service and email marketing tools with Slack and AI for small businesses.
Salesmate
6.5/10
Sales CRM with built-in calling and texting, sequences, workflow automation and Skara AI agents, sold per user to small and mid-sized sales teams.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | S Salesforce Starter | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 5.7/10 | 6.5/10 |
| Customization | 5/10 | 7/10 |
| Analytics | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Integration | 6/10 | 5/10 |
| Support | 4/10 | 7/10 |
| Ease of Use | 5/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 8/10 | 7/10 |
| Cost | 5/10 | 7/10 |
| Scalability | 8/10 | 6/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | $25/user/mo Starter Suite | $29/user/mo Basic |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $250/mo Starter Suite | $290/mo Basic |
| Features | ||
| Collaboration | ||
| Contact Management | ||
| Customer Support Management | ||
| Integrations | ||
| Lead Management | ||
| Marketing Automation | ||
| Mobile Access | ||
| Opportunity Management | ||
| Reporting & Analytics | ||
| Sales Automation | ||
| Built-in Calling | Not listed | |
Salesforce Starter vs Salesmate cost by team size
Salesforce Starter costs less at every team size we checked.
| Team size | Salesforce Starter | Salesmate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | $25/moStarter Suite | $29/moBasic |
| 5 users | $125/moStarter Suite | $145/moBasic |
| 10 users | $250/moStarter Suite | $290/moBasic |
| 25 users | $625/moStarter Suite | $725/moBasic |
| 50 users | $1,250/moStarter Suite | $1,450/moBasic |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
SWhy choose Salesforce Starter
- Lower estimated cost for 10 users: $250/mo vs $290/mo
- Higher Scalability score (8/10 vs 6/10)
- Higher Integration score (6/10 vs 5/10)
Why choose Salesmate
- Higher Support score (7/10 vs 4/10)
- Higher Customization score (7/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for sales teams (9/10 vs 7/10)
- Better fit for enterprise (4/10 vs 2/10)
Pros & Cons
SSalesforce Starter
Pros
- At $25 per user per month with monthly billing, it is one of the cheapest ways to get onto the Salesforce platform.
- Sales, service and email marketing come in one product instead of separate clouds.
- Includes a free Slack workspace connected to the CRM, which helps team collaboration.
- Salesforce lists no maximum user count, and teams can upgrade to Pro and higher editions without migrating data.
- Reviewers praise its reporting and its unlimited contacts.
Cons
- Moving from Starter to Pro Suite quadruples the price to $100 per user per month and requires an annual contract.
- Reviewers report limited customization and automation compared with higher Salesforce tiers.
- Reviewers say it has a steeper learning curve than HubSpot or Pipedrive.
- Reviewers say support on the cheaper plans is weak, and Trustpilot complaints mention difficulty cancelling contracts.
- Salesforce states that transaction fees apply to Starter.
Salesmate
Pros
- Native VoIP calling and SMS, with numbers from about $1.10 a month in 80+ countries, so teams avoid buying a separate dialer.
- Entry price of $23 per user per month on annual billing undercuts many sales-focused CRMs with similar pipeline and email tracking features.
- The 15-day trial includes every feature and unlimited users, and Salesmate will extend it on request.
- Reviewers on G2 and Capterra (about 4.7 out of 5) repeatedly praise fast, responsive support and a clean pipeline interface.
- Holds ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certification, encrypts data at rest with AES-256, and offers IP access controls.
- All native integrations and the REST API are included on every plan at no extra cost.
Cons
- Key sales tools are gated by tier: sequences and the team inbox need Pro, and the power dialer and voicemail drop need Business.
- Usage charges for automation credits, calls, SMS, dedicated IPs and AI credits make the total cost hard to forecast.
- Reviewers on Trustpilot and G2 report email sync failures and messages landing in spam.
- About 46 native integrations is a small catalog next to HubSpot or Salesforce, so other connections rely on Zapier or Make.
- All fees are non-refundable, including unused time and voice credits.
- Some reviewers mention slow loading, a learning curve for advanced automation, and gaps in the mobile app.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Salesmate scores higher on our CRM criteria: 6.5/10 against 5.7/10 for Salesforce Starter. The largest gap is in Support: 4/10 for Salesforce Starter and 7/10 for Salesmate.
Salesforce Starter costs less for 10 users: about $250/mo on its Starter Suite plan, against about $290/mo on its Basic plan for Salesmate, billed monthly.
No, neither Salesforce Starter nor Salesmate lists a free plan.
Salesmate is the better fit for enterprise: we rate it 4/10 for them, against 2/10 for Salesforce Starter.
