What will I actually be paying per year?
Annual billing is often tempting because it offers a per user price that is slightly lower than monthly billing. However, annual billing requires you to pay for a full year either in advance, or by the end of the service year. As such, the true cost of annual billing should factor in the entire year.
The prices bolded below are the total upfront cost for a full year, for the minimum number of users for that tier.
Zoho Standard
- $14 per user per month
- Because you are billed annually, your minimum upfront cost is 14 x 12 = $168 (for a single user)
Zoho Professional
- $23 per user per month
- Because you are billed annually, your minimum upfront cost is 23 x 12 = $276 (for a single user).
Zoho Enterprise
- $40 per user per month
- Because you are billed annually, your minimum upfront cost is 40 x 12 = $480 (for a single user).
Zoho Ultimate
- $52 per user per month
- Because you are billed annually, your minimum upfront cost is 52 x 12 = $624 (for a single user).
When should I pay monthly instead of annually?
While there are many reasons why you would opt to pay monthly instead of annually (for example, the ability to switch CRMs whenever you want), one of the more straightforward reasons would be the duration of time you plan on using a CRM.
Listed below is the maximum duration of time you would need to use a CRM tier before it is more "worth it" to pay for a full year instead.
Zoho Standard
- $20 per user per month
- This is 42.8% more expensive than the monthly price billed annually.
- For a single user, you should opt for monthly billing if you plan on using Zoho Standard for fewer than 168 / 20 = ~8 months.
Zoho Professional
- $35 per user per month
- This is 52.2% more expensive than the monthly price billed annually.
- For a single user, you should opt for monthly billing if you plan on using Zoho Professional for fewer than 276 / 35 = ~7 months.
Zoho Enterprise
- $50 per user per month
- This is 25% more expensive than the monthly price billed annually.
- For a single user, you should opt for monthly billing if you plan on using Zoho Enterprise for fewer than 480 / 50 = ~9 months
Zoho Ultimate
- $65 per user per month
- This is 25% more expensive than the monthly price billed annually.
- For a single user, you should opt for monthly billing if you plan on using Zoho Ultimate for fewer than 624 / 65 = ~9 months
Zoho Standard
- Will allow you to handle basic contact management, including workflow rules. You will have limited document (1GB) and email management (100 email templates), and will only have access to 100 custom reports.
Zoho Professional
- Offers more email (unlimited email templates) marketing, unlimited custom reports, inventory management, but limited team permission management.
Zoho Enterprise
- Includes more developer tools, user permissions and hierarchies, territories, and more in-depth analytic tools.
Zoho Ultimate
- The exact same feature set as the Enterprise tier, with more data sharing rules, territories, and webforms.
Many CRMs offer a free version of their software with severe feature limitations. While appealing to small businesses or solopreneurs, most free versions are simply marketing tools to introduce new users to a paid tier and are not designed to be scalable.
Zoho offers a free plan for 3 users with the following limitations:
- No automation or forecasting tools
- No email tracking or custom reports
- 10 email templates
- 1 web form
- 5,000 records
- No integrations with any third-party system, and limited API usage
- No support
With these limitations in mind, Zoho's free plan is likely to only be enough for personal projects, or small teams trying to manage leads that require only an occasional follow up, without a need for any custom reporting.
