Salesforce vs. SharpSpring

Salesforce is primarily a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) platform with robust sales forecasting and automation features. SharpSpring is an agency-friendly marketing automation solution that has a built-in CRM. However, SharpSpring also integrates with other third-party CRM software like Salesforce, Zoho CRM, and Pipedrive.  

Features 

Both products include CRM capabilities, though SharpSpring focuses more on marketing automation features while Salesforce is a best-of-breed CRM. 

Salesforce includes standard CRM features like contact and opportunity management, lead scoring and qualification, reporting and analytics, email integration, and sales forecasting. It also has advanced workflow automation and customization capabilities. These features can be found within the Salesforce Sales Cloud. 

SharpSpring offers core marketing automation capabilities such as email marketing and campaign management, landing page creation, lead management, lead scoring, and reporting and analytics. It also includes features crucial for marketing agencies, such as a month-to-month contract (instead of annual), a dedicated agency support manager, and a re-brandable platform, single-sign-on (SSO). 

Limitations 

The main limitations of each of these products are tied to their primary use cases. 

Salesforce’s Sales CRM functions as a customer relationship management system, and is not the best solution for businesses looking for an email marketing or marketing automation platform. However, Salesforce is ideal for companies looking for a comprehensive CRM platform that can easily integrate with third-party applications. 

Conversely, SharpSpring is a marketing automation platform that includes a basic (but free) CRM system. Therefore, SharpSpring would be best suited for organizations looking for a flexible marketing automation tool with a simple, built-in CRM. 

Pricing

Both products have monthly subscription pricing, though Salesforce charges per user while SharpSpring charges based on the size of your contact list. 

Salesforce has four plan tiers ranging from $25 – $300 user/month, all of which include a free trial. SharpSpring’s plans all include unlimited users and all the platform features. Pricing for these plans range from $550 per month for 1,500 contacts to $1,250 per month for 20,000 contacts.