Bigin and Zoho CRM are related products, but choosing between them is not simply a matter of picking the cheaper plan.
The real question is how much CRM your business actually needs.
Bigin by Zoho CRM is designed for small businesses that want contacts, pipelines, follow-ups and automation without a large CRM implementation. Zoho CRM is designed for organizations that need deeper customization, more sales-management features and more complex processes.
The short answer
Choose Bigin if your team is small, your sales process is understandable on a pipeline board, and you want people to actually use the CRM without extensive training.
Choose Zoho CRM if you need custom modules, deeper forecasting, complex workflow automation, territory management, advanced process controls or a larger sales organization.
Pricing
Bigin currently offers a free single-user plan. Express starts at $7/user/month billed annually, Premier at $12, and Bigin 360 at $18.
Zoho CRM offers a free plan for up to three users. Its Standard edition currently starts at $14/user/month billed annually.
The price difference matters, but the bigger difference is what you are paying to manage. Bigin intentionally exposes fewer moving parts.
Where Bigin is stronger
- Faster setup for a small team
- Pipeline-first interface that is easier to explain
- Lower paid entry price
- Less configuration before the CRM becomes useful
- A better fit for businesses graduating from spreadsheets or inbox-based lead tracking
Bigin itself describes its audience as small businesses, particularly teams of roughly 1–20 people. That is a useful way to think about the product.
Where Zoho CRM is stronger
- Custom modules
- Sales forecasting
- More advanced process enforcement
- Deeper automation options
- Territory and larger-team management
- More room for complex enterprise-style sales operations
Those capabilities are valuable when you need them. They can also become unnecessary overhead when you do not.
A practical example
A five-person digital agency probably needs to know which leads came in, who owns each opportunity, what stage the proposal is in, when to follow up and which clients are active. Bigin can handle that type of workflow without turning CRM administration into another job.
A 50-person sales organization with territories, multiple sales processes, complex approval rules, forecasting and custom data objects is much more likely to benefit from Zoho CRM.
What about WordPress?
For small businesses running their lead generation through WordPress, the CRM choice is only half the problem. The other half is getting the website activity into the CRM quickly enough to act on it.
NonStopDev’s Bigin CRM Connector Suite connects Bigin directly with popular WordPress form builders, WooCommerce, membership plugins and LearnDash. That lets a business keep the simpler CRM while still automating the handoff from its website.
Can you start with Bigin and move later?
Yes. One advantage of the shared Zoho ecosystem is that Bigin is not necessarily a dead end. If the business genuinely grows beyond Bigin’s scope, Zoho positions Zoho CRM as the more advanced next step.
The decision
Do not buy complexity in anticipation of a business you might become someday.
If Bigin handles the sales process you have today, its simplicity is an advantage. Move to Zoho CRM when you can point to specific requirements Bigin cannot satisfy, not simply because Zoho CRM has more features.
Bigin pricing · Zoho CRM pricing
Pricing checked November 2026 and may change.