Zoho Bigin vs Close

Both of these fit a small sales team and they cost very different amounts, which usually means one is overpriced. Here it means they are solving different problems, and the useful question is which problem you have.

Shallow on purpose against deep on purpose

Zoho Bigin is deliberately shallow. That is the design rather than a shortfall — it is meant to be the CRM a small team can run without thinking about it, and Zoho Bigin scores 5 for ease of setup against Close's 4.

Close is built around a specific way of selling: a power dialler, call recording and two-way email sync inside the product, with custom objects and single sign-on available on ordinary tiers. Close scores 4 for pipeline depth against Zoho Bigin's 3, and 4 for scale headroom against 3.

Neither of those numbers is a verdict on quality. Zoho Bigin is not trying to be deep, and its documentation says as much.

Which one survives your third salesperson

This is where the difference bites. Moving beyond Zoho Bigin eventually means moving to a different, larger product rather than a higher tier of this one — the ceiling is real and the vendor is open about it.

Close's ladder runs nine, thirty-five, ninety-nine and one hundred and thirty-nine dollars, all four rungs published with both billing terms shown, and the product stays the same shape the whole way. If you expect to add people who sell full time, that continuity is worth paying for.

On price the gap is wide. Zoho Bigin has a free tier and paid tiers at seven and twelve dollars a user, among the lowest published per-seat prices in this field, and scores 5 for value against Close's 3. Close has no free plan and its trial carries only five dollars of calling credit, and calling is billed on usage on top of the seat price.

Which should you choose?

Choose Zoho Bigin if your team is small, selling is not done by phone, and you would rather spend nothing until you are sure. Choose Close if the telephone is how deals actually happen, or you are hiring salespeople and want a product you will not have to leave.

If you want Close's continuity without the usage-billed calling, Pipedrive includes calling at a fixed seat price and scores 5 for scale headroom — the highest of any of these.