NetSuite CRM vs. Salesforce (2024): Which CRM Is Best?

NetSuite CRM and Salesforce are both customer relationship management software that offer cloud-based marketing and sales tools for users to manage client interactions. While NetSuite CRM is offered within an ERP, Salesforce is primarily a CRM solution with multiple other products and services.

Salesforce is the more popular provider between the two for its advanced tech features and scalability for enterprises. But NetSuite CRM’s inventory and process tracking make it a comparable alternative. Below, I’ll dive into the key CRM features offered by both NetSuite CRM and Salesforce, plus pricing breakdowns and ideal use cases. This way, you can decide which might fit your business needs best.

NetSuite CRM vs. Salesforce: Comparison table

NetSuite CRM vs. Salesforce: Pricing

CRM pricing typically works with the provider having a fee per user per month, with additional add-ons and offerings available. Pricing can be billed monthly, annually or biannually.

NetSuite CRM offers a unique pricing structure since the Oracle SetSuite platform itself offers a variety of solutions. NetSuite CRM doesn’t disclose a starting price, so I suggest contacting its sales team for a custom quote. Salesforce operates in the standard way of having tiered pricing based on the number of users and access to features. Here, I dive further into each provider’s pricing:

NetSuite CRM pricing

• Annual license fee: Contact for quote. The license is dependent on three components: core platform, optional modules and the number of expected users. There is also a one-time set-up fee. NetSuite CRM is included with the NetSuite platform. Every user that accesses NetSuite CRM needs their own user license.

Salesforce pricing

• Starter Suite: $25 per user per month, billed annually. Users get account, contact, lead and opportunity management, as well as the mobile app, email integration and more.
• Professional: $80 per user per month, billed annually. The Professional plan includes all that’s found in Starter Suite, plus Sales Cloud, full offline functionality and more.
• Enterprise: $165 per user per month, billed annually. This tier offers opportunity scoring and deal insights, plus data synchronization and harmonization.
• Unlimited: $330 per user per month, billed annually. The Unlimited tier includes all features mentioned above, plus Developer Pro sandbox, lead scoring and five campaigns per opportunity.
• Einstein 1 Sales: $500 per user per month, billed annually. This tier includes all Salesforce CRM features, like collaboration tools via knowledge shares and Slack and more.

NetSuite CRM vs. Salesforce: Feature comparison

Sales automation

Winner: Tie

NetSuite CRM’s sales force automation feature helps sales teams with real-time access to prospect, opportunity and order records within a sales process. Specifically, NetSuite CRM offers incentive compensation management tools that allow users to design and manage complex multi-tiered commission plans based on criteria for maximum visibility into sales compensation calculations.

Both NetSuite CRM and salesforce offer sales force automation. Salesforce offers additional activity and lead management automation that can automatically capture emails, events and other types of sales activities directly into the CRM. By connecting your reps to customers across any communication channel, businesses can increase efficiency with actionable and prioritized to-do lists.

Reporting and analytics

Winner: Salesforce

NetSuite provides users with real-time analytics and role-based dashboards. Sales, marketing and support teams can monitor individual, team and company performance. Sales can access achieved versus quota goals and sales pipeline by stage. Support teams can measure case trends and client retention and satisfaction. Marketers can examine acquisition, engagement and conversion metrics for individual campaigns.

Salesforce sales analytics allows for a complete view of sales performance, deal inspection capabilities and rich visualizations. Users can access adaptable forecasts and multi-org forecasts from one consolidated view. Additionally, with the help of AI, businesses can build stronger pipelines with contextual insights and AI-powered recommendations.

AI-powered tools

Winner: Salesforce

NetSuite offers AI functionality throughout their solutions with an AI assistant and an AI advisor. The AI assistant can help with invoice processing, document object detection and content generation for sales emails, purchase orders and even product descriptions.

Salesforce has AI built directly into the CRM. Similar to NetSuite, Salesforce offers generative AI that can produce sales emails, call summaries, personalized close plans and prospect and account research. Additionally, it can predict activity, deal insights and forecast reports. Salesforce’s Einstein assistant can provide conversation intelligence and relationship insights that can equip sellers with everything they need to nurture relationships and close deals.

Mobile app

Winner: Tie

NetSuite offers a mobile app through the Apple App Store and Google Play. Users can manage expenses, log billable time, access calendars and monitor key business information. The app allows anyone to view, edit and attach files to records from anywhere.

Salesforce also offers a mobile app for iOS and Android mobile users. Its app includes similar NetSuite offerings, plus AI analytics and record searches. The Salesforce app enables users to create custom experiences with little code. The interface is also slightly more modern than NetSuite CRM’s.

NetSuite CRM pros and cons

Pros of NetSuite CRM

• Offers product demos.
• Users praise process automation tools.
• Doesn’t require intense customizations.

Cons of NetSuite CRM

• Users report complex implementation and setup.
• Users report slow customer support.
• Users report outdated UX/UI.

Salesforce pros and cons

Pros of Salesforce

• 30-day free trial.
• Offers over 7,000 possible integrations.
• Provides user access control settings.

Cons of Salesforce

• Can be costly as a CRM for small businesses.
• Users report two-factor authentication can be complicated.
• Users report a learning curve when implementing the platform.

Should your organization use NetSuite CRM or Salesforce?

Choose NetSuite CRM if:

• You’re wanting a solution to help track accounting, invoices and fulfillment operations.
• You’re in need of an e-commerce solution for managing customer activity and transaction data.

Choose Salesforce if:

• You’re an enterprise sales team looking for CRM software with advanced features.
• You’re in a niche industry sector such as healthcare, energy, education, media, or the public sector.

For more information, head over to our Salesforce review.

Review methodology

I reviewed both NetSuite CRM and Salesforce as general CRM software providers. This means I considered criteria around cost transparency, core features, customizations, integrations, system ease of use and customer support offerings. Using an inhouse rubric made up of these criteria, I identified pros, cons and ideal use cases for both. I also referenced NetSuite CRM and Salesforce online resources, user reviews and community forums to better understand the average user experience of the platform.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Which is better, Salesforce or NetSuite CRM?

I found Salesforce to be a better overall CRM provider. Though its cost can be considered pricey for startups or small businesses, its mix of core and advanced features is robust. Especially with the Einstein AI assistant, Salesforce proves its scalability and mobility. But both can provide CRM benefits that can streamline mundane marketing, sales and support tasks and give users 360-degree visibility on business goals.

Is NetSuite an ERP or CRM?

Oracle NetSuite is a platform that offers both an ERP and a CRM tool. The main difference between the two is that enterprise resource planning tools typically focus on back office or core business processes, while CRMs assist with marketing, sales and customer-facing operations.

Is NetSuite CRM similar to Salesforce?

NetSuite CRM and Salesforce are comparable CRM providers. While their features might operate differently and at different scales, they both offer core functionality such as reporting and analytics, process and contact management, accounting features and automations. Both are types of CRM software that provide collaborative and operational solutions.