Looking for a Zoho alternative? We’re here to help.
Zoho offers a vast suite of business tools, from CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to project management. But it’s not the best fit for every team. While it’s packed with features, Zoho can feel overwhelming and complicated—especially if your team doesn’t require all the advanced options.
Steep learning curves, slow support response times, and limited reporting functionality are just a few of the pain points that lead many teams to seek better alternatives.
In this guide, we’ll explore the top Zoho alternatives to help you find the perfect tool for your team’s needs.
What is Zoho?
Zoho is a cloud-based software suite offering an extensive array of business and productivity tools. With over 70 apps, it caters to various business aspects, such as finance, legal, IT, analytics, marketing, and sales.
Zoho CRM and Zoho Projects are among the sought-after apps under the Zoho umbrella, as these are exceptionally useful for project and client management. Its unique ecosystem lets you organize, manage, and monitor every business process.
Some of the things Zoho is capable of are:
Integrations: It works well with popular communication and team collaboration tools, such as Zoom, Slack, and Microsoft Teams.
Customizations: It allows you to map workflows for various niches, projects, and company sizes.
Analytics: Zoho offers analytics and reporting tools that provide overviews of success metrics for your projects, including processes, sales, and customer relationships.
Team collaboration: Through Zoho Projects and Zoho CRM, it supports seamless teamwork, helping your team maximize your potential and achieve synergy.
Automation and task management: Zoho can automate repetitive processes, helping you save time and lessen human error.
While these capabilities have helped Zoho earn its highly regarded reputation, there are some reasons why users might still be looking for alternatives.
For example, you may be dissatisfied with Zoho’s task visibility features or have issues navigating it. Additionally, some users have reported that Zoho’s customer support can be slow to respond, and its pricing can be difficult to understand.
Best Zoho alternatives at a glance
Here's a side-by-side comparison of the best Zoho alternatives based on their highlights, whether they have a free plan, and how much their paid plans cost.
6 best Zoho alternatives
We’ve handpicked the top 6 Zoho alternatives. Let’s dive into the details so you can find the best project management software to suit your team’s needs.
1. Lark – Best overall alternative to Zoho
Lark is an all-in-one super app that consolidates every aspect of teamwork into a single platform. It boosts efficiency by combining messaging, virtual meetings, document collaboration, file sharing, project management, approval management, AI-powered workflows, and automation in one platform.
What makes Lark truly unique when comparing Zoho alternatives is its flexibility. Whether you’re looking for a CRM solution, a content management system, a bug tracking tool, or a central hub for projects and tasks, Lark adapts to fit the way your business works. From startups to enterprises, tech teams to frontline operations, it delivers everything you need without the clutter of switching between multiple apps.
Key features:
Lark Messenger: Chat privately or in groups, @mention colleagues, send files, add custom bots, and schedule messages for different time zones.
Lark Docs: Collaborate in real time by co-editing documents, adding comments, @mentioning teammates, and tracking updates seamlessly.
Lark Meetings: Host audio and video calls, share your screen or documents, and collaborate on an interactive whiteboard. Real-time translation makes global communication effortless.
Lark Calendar: Plan and schedule meetings with ease, view your colleagues' availability, and sync changes instantly with all attendees.
Lark Base: Create business systems, organize projects, assign tasks, automate workflows, and track progress in real time. Perfect for CRM, project management, frontline operations, and more.
Pros:
All-in-one collaboration: Bring your team’s work together in one place. Messaging, video conferencing, document sharing, approvals, and project management are seamlessly integrated so everyone can move faster and stay aligned.
No-code building: Create the tools your team needs without coding or IT support. From custom databases to mini apps and automated workflows, you can build easily in minutes and adapt processes exactly to your business.
AI-powered: Eliminate repetitive work and focus on impact. AI can summarize meetings, generate customer profiles and pitch scripts, create content, translate in real time, and deliver insights automatically.
Generous free plan: Perfect for growing teams, offering 11 essential tools, 100GB of storage, and support for up to 20 users—all without cost.
Mobile-first design: Built for today’s workforce, Lark keeps everyone connected on the go. Frontline teams and desk workers alike can collaborate and manage tasks straight from their phones.
Cost-effective: Say goodbye to stacking third-party apps. With all essential tools already built into Lark, you don’t need to juggle extra subscriptions—helping your team cut costs while boosting productivity.
Limitations:
Lark has a wide variety of advanced features. However, you may need to visit Lark's YouTube channel and the Lark Help Center to master all the features.
Pricing:
Starter plan: Free forever plan that includes 11 powerful tools for up to 20 users. It also comes with 100GB of storage, 1000 automation runs, AI translations, and more.
Pro plan: $12/user/month (billed annually) for up to 500 users. It includes everything in Starter plus group calling for up to 500 attendees, 15TB of storage, 50,000 automation runs, and more.
Enterprise plan: Contact sales for custom pricing. Supports unlimited users and includes even more automation runs and advanced security, compliance, and management features.
2. ClickUp – Best for teamwork management
Considered one of the best platforms for teamwork management, ClickUp is also among the top alternatives to Zoho. Known for its flexibility, ClickUp brings together task management, project tracking, goal setting, time tracking, and team collaboration in a single workspace.
Image source: clickup.com
Key features:
Task management: ClickUp has customizable tasks, nested subtasks, checklists, and over 35 ClickApps, allowing you to control your task management fully.
Document management: With ClickUp’s Docs feature, you can create, edit, and share documents with your team in real time. You can also add rich editing and update your team members with a visual knowledge base.
Centralized project-related communication: Streamline teamwork with powerful collaboration features, such as comments, proofing, chat, and document sharing. You can also brainstorm ideas with whiteboards.
Real-time updates: No more need for needless meetings; team members can communicate, add, and update tasks in real time.
Automated business processes: Choose over 50 actions, triggers, and conditions to automate routine work and processes. You can also start with a pre-built automation recipe and customize it based on your needs.
Pros:
Releases new features based on customer requests
Highly customizable project management options
A mobile app that allows you to manage your projects on the go
Limitations:
Lack of language options in ClickUp means Chinese, Japanese, and other language speakers can’t work in their own language.
There are alternatives to ClickUp that have more advanced features.
Pricing: ClickUp offers a free plan for personal use. Paid plans start at $7 per user per month.
3. Scoro – Best for time-tracking tasks within projects
If you’re looking for a project management software that allows you to track time spent on individual tasks, then Scoro might be the one to choose. Designed for professional service firms and consultancies, Scoro combines project management, time tracking, billing, and resource planning into a single solution.
Image source: scoro.com
Key features:
Real-time Gantt chart: This feature lets you track progress, tasks, and dependencies in an always-updated view, lessening manual updates.
Drag-and-drop planner and Kanban task board: The features, calendars, and built-in time tracker enable efficient work prioritization and planning.
CRM: Scoro’s CRM allows real-time tracking of deals and opportunities.
Multi-currency management: Feature for managing purchases, orders, and costs and comparing budget scenarios to actual results.
Reporting and dashboard: Create high-level reports and real-time dashboards for tracking performance and planning for the future.
Pros:
Incorporates project management with time tracking for enhanced productivity
Has project management tools for creating budgets, managing billable work, invoices, and expenses
It has a user-friendly interface
Limitations:
It doesn’t have an in-app chat feature, meaning it’s not a great choice for collaboration needs.
Pricing is relatively high compared to its competitors.
Pricing: No free plan available. Paid plans start at $25 per user per month.
4. Basecamp – Best for remote team collaboration
Basecamp is a project management platform designed to help small teams stay organized and move faster while making steady progress remotely. It simplifies collaboration by combining to-do lists, file storage, message boards, scheduling, and real-time group chat into one easy-to-use hub.
Image source: basecamp.com
Key features:
Visual dashboard: Basecamp has a straightforward, one-page dashboard for your projects, schedule, and assignments. You can also use Basecamp’s unique take on Kanban, called Card Table, to organize tasks and visually track work that progresses through stages.
Organize and share docs and media files: Basecamp has an organized space to create, share, and discuss docs files and images.
Organize work by assigning tasks and setting due dates: Basecamp’s To-dos feature lets you track work deadlines, responsibilities, progress, and details. It also shows dated to-dos, milestones, and relevant events.
Leave feedback on tasks: Basecamp’s Messages feature offers a centralized place to discuss big topics with your team. It completely replaces project emails.
Chat with team members: With built-in real-time group chat, Basecamp lets you and your team discuss time-sensitive topics and move on.
Pros:
Straightforward visual and user-friendly interface
Features for easy collaboration
Limitations:
Limited customization
Pricing may not suit all business types
Pricing: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $15 per user per month.
5. Pipedrive – Best for sales pipeline management
With Pipedrive, you can track your sales pipeline, manage leads, and automate your entire sales process. Built specifically for sales teams, Pipedrive provides a visual pipeline that makes it easy to see where every deal stands and what action is needed next.
Image source: pipedrive.com
Key features:
AI-powered automation: Pipedrive offers task automation, one-click contact data collection, webhooks, open API, and an AI-powered sales assistant.
Customizable pipelines: Pipedrive lets you customize pipelines for your specific business needs, letting you manage your sales process more efficiently and keep your team on the right track.
Centralized communication: With its smart features, Pipedrive lets you centralize your communication efforts, connect with your target audience, and move leads through the sales funnel.
Create custom sales reports: Pipedrive lets you create custom sales reports to help you forecast revenue while enabling you to check your sales process and make data-driven decisions.
Goal setting and activity tracking: Manage pipelines by setting goals, tracking activities, and getting insights.
Pros:
Integration with third-party apps
Sales forecasting features
Lead management features
Limitations:
No free plan
There are more advanced sales management tools in the market.
Limited customer support
Pricing: No free plan. Paid plans start at $14 per month.
6. Freshsales – Best for AI-driven sales insights
Freshsales is a customer relationship management (CRM) system that helps you manage your existing and potential customers with ease. It offers lead scoring, email tracking, built-in phone, and AI-powered insights to help sales teams identify the best opportunities and engage prospects at the right time.
Image source: support.freshsales.io
Key features:
Predictive insights into sales processes: Freshsales analyzes your previous sales data and predicts your future sales.
Track and manage sales deals: This feature lets you track deals from start to finish, helping you identify bottlenecks and optimize your sales processes.
Centralized customer and lead information database: Freshsales shows a single view of the customer, helping you deliver personalized experiences and improve customer satisfaction.
Automates repetitive sales tasks: You can save time from repetitive tasks, such as data entry, lead scoring, and follow-up emails, and focus more on important tasks.
Keeps track of email interactions with leads and customers: With this feature, you can understand customer behavior and tailor outreach accordingly.
Prioritizes leads based on their interaction and engagement: Freshsales provides predictive insights into sales processes, helping you and your sales team identify trends.
Pros:
Customizable dashboards and user-friendly interface
Real-time notifications
Available mobile app for iOS and Android smartphones
Limitations:
Fewer integrations than its competitors
Users reported inconsistencies with customer support
Pricing: No free plan available. Paid plans start at $15 per user per month.
Honorable mentions
Here are some more great Zoho alternatives that didn't make our top 6:
Salesforce – A powerful and highly customizable CRM for managing leads, sales pipelines, and customer relationships at scale.
HubSpot – An inbound-focused CRM that combines lead management, email marketing, analytics, and workflow automation.
Insightly – A combined CRM and project management platform that helps teams track customer interactions alongside project progress.
Proofhub – A project management and team collaboration tool offering task management, time tracking, and workflow automation.
Odoo – An open-source business management suite that includes CRM, inventory, accounting, and more.
Why Lark is the best alternative to Zoho
Lark offers a modern, intuitive platform that seamlessly integrates communication, collaboration, and project management, making it the best alternative to Zoho.
A unified platform
Lark combines all essential tools—messaging, video calls, file sharing, cloud storage, project management, and more—into a single, seamless super app. With Lark, there’s no need to constantly switch between apps, saving time and reducing distractions.
A side-by-side comparison
Zoho has over 50 products, but not all are bundled under one price. One of its core offerings is Zoho Workplace, positioned as its collaboration suite—comparable to Microsoft Teams and Google Workspace. Since Lark also rivals Teams and Workspace in collaboration, here’s a side-by-side look at the features included in Lark vs. Zoho Workplace.
When comparing the two, it’s clear Lark offers the more complete solution for teams needing a platform for their work. If you need all of Lark’s features, you’ll be forced to pay for multiple add-ons or have to subscribe to Zoho One, which offers the same functionality as Lark but is incredibly expensive.
Feature-rich plans with cost savings
Lark's plans provide exceptional value, with a feature-rich free plan that supports up to 20 users and offers 100GB of cloud storage, 1,000 automation runs, and unlimited AI translation for chats, documents, and emails. Lark's free plan also includes enterprise-level search across all messages, files, emails, calendars, and documents, making it an incredibly powerful tool for teams at no cost.
Lark’s Pro plan unlocks the full suite of collaboration tools—advanced project management, seamless video conferencing, unlimited chat history, 15TB of storage, and more—all for just $12 per user per month.
To match this functionality with Zoho, you’d need to forget about Zoho Workplace and subscribe to Zoho One. However, Zoho One’s pricing model and licensing rules make it far less appealing. You’ll either have to pay $37 per month for every employee, even those who don’t use the apps, or $90 per month per user under the flexible plan. This all-or-nothing approach quickly drives up costs, while Lark keeps pricing simple—you only pay for the users who need it.
Curious to see how much you could save by switching to Lark? Try the Savings Calculator.
Lark Base: The ultimate business tool
For teams looking for a comprehensive solution, Lark Base is the ideal tool. It combines task management, team collaboration, and no-code workflow automation.
Customizable dashboards: Visualize key metrics like sales performance, team productivity, and project milestones in real-time for informed decision-making.
Powerful automation: Automate tasks like creating assignments, sending reminders, and syncing data to reduce manual effort and keep projects on track.
Seamless workflow management: Track your entire project or sales cycle in a single base with 6 custom views including Kanban, Calendar, and Gantt to stay aligned and meet deadlines.
Advanced data management: Customize fields, integrate data from external sources like Excel, and use forms to update records and collect feedback seamlessly.
AI-powered tools: Generate summaries and briefs, and send out automatic notifications to keep you and your team updated on business goals or processes.
Efficient feedback management: Collect customer feedback with forms, convert it into tasks, and stay aligned with customer needs.
Adaptable to any scenario: Whether you need a CRM, a performance management tool, or a system to manage your stores and frontline teams, Lark Base flexes to fit your business needs—no coding required.
Final thoughts on the best alternative to Zoho
When it comes to finding the perfect alternative to Zoho, Lark stands out as an all-in-one solution for teams seeking seamless collaboration. While Zoho offers many tools, its complexity and steep learning curve can slow teams down. Lark simplifies teamwork by combining messaging, video conferencing, document sharing, project management, and all business systems into a single, intuitive platform.
By bringing all communication, collaboration, and productivity tools together, Lark helps teams work smarter, stay connected, and focus on what truly matters.
FAQs about Zoho alternatives
What is comparable to Zoho?
Tools like Lark, ClickUp, and Pipedrive are comparable to Zoho, offering many tools for sales, marketing, and customer management. However, it's important to note that Zoho offers a variety of different products which are each comparable to a number of platforms.
What are the best alternatives to Zoho?
The best alternatives for growing businesses include Lark, HubSpot, Salesforce, Freshworks, and Insightly, each providing tools for sales automation, analytics, and customer engagement.
Is Zoho the best CRM?
Zoho is strong for small businesses due to its suite of apps and custom fields, but other systems such as Lark, Pipedrive, Freshsales, and Salesforce may offer a more intuitive interface or stronger emphasis on enterprise-level features.
What is a free Zoho alternative?
Lark, ClickUp, and Hubspot CRM are free alternatives, offering many tools for contact management and sales tracking without upfront costs.
Does Microsoft offer a Zoho alternative?
Yes, Microsoft offers Dynamics 365 as a Zoho alternative. Integrated with Microsoft Office and Microsoft Teams, it provides core features for sales, marketing automation, and customer management, though some small businesses may find its setup more complex than Zoho.
Does Google offer a Zoho alternative?
Yes, Google Workspace can serve as a basic Zoho alternative. While it covers core features like email, contacts, and collaboration, it has limited features for CRM and marketing automation compared to Zoho’s suite.
What is an open-source alternative to Zoho?
SuiteCRM and Odoo are open-source alternatives, providing tools similar to Zoho’s suite while allowing customizations for businesses seeking flexibility.
