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CRM Comparison

Bigin by Zoho CRM vs. Keap

At a glance

At a glance

Bigin by Zoho CRM

Best for

Best for small teams moving off spreadsheets who want a pipeline-first CRM at a low per-user price, with a free plan to start on.

  • Freelancers
  • Small and mid-sized

Keap

Best for

Best for small businesses that want CRM, email marketing and sales automation together in a single automation-first platform.

  • Freelancers
  • Small and mid-sized

Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.

Full Comparison

Criterion Bigin by Zoho CRM Keap
Starting price lower value Free tier; Express from US$9 / user / month Billed yearly the rates fall to 7 US dollars for Express, 12 for Premier and 18 for Bigin 360 per user per month, saving up to 35 percent. The Free plan is a single user. No forced contracts, with a money-back guarantee within 30 days on monthly plans and 45 days on annual. From $249 / month Effective monthly rate billed annually ($2,988 / year); $299 / month billed monthly. Includes 2 users, additional users $39 / month; price scales with contact volume.
Free trial 15-day free trial, no credit card required Free trial available
API Yes, APIs on every plan including Free Yes, an API with webhooks plus a native Zapier integration
Hosting Cloud (SaaS) Cloud (SaaS)
Contacts and companies Yes, a 360-degree contact record holding every conversation and follow-up, with record limits from 500 on Free to 1 million on Bigin 360 Yes, contact management with segmentation, custom fields and lead scoring
Deal pipeline Yes, customisable team pipelines for different operations and departments: 1 on Free, 3 on Express, 5 on Premier and 15 on Bigin 360 Yes, a sales pipeline with lead scoring
Email and calendar Yes, email, phone calls, WhatsApp and social messages against the customer record, with Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 integration; mass email from Express upward Yes, email marketing with broadcasts and newsletters, appointment scheduling, and Gmail and Outlook sync
Workflow automation Yes, workflow automation that triggers email sequences, schedules actions and assigns tasks: 3 automations on Free, 30 on Express, 50 advanced on Premier and 100 on Bigin 360 Yes, marketing and sales automation with an AI Automation Assistant
Reporting and forecasting Yes, smart analytics dashboards covering sales metrics, customer tracking and campaign performance Yes, reporting and analytics
Integrations and API Yes, APIs on every plan including Free, with QuickBooks, Zoho Books, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Shopify, PayPal and social ad platform integrations plus 2,000 or more apps through Zapier Yes, an API with webhooks and a native Zapier integration
AI features Yes Yes
Deployment Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
Onboarding Not stated Guided onboarding
Company size Freelancers, Small and mid-sized Freelancers, Small and mid-sized
Integrations more entries QuickBooks, Zoho Books, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Shopify, PayPal, Zapier Zapier, Gmail, Outlook, PayPal, Stripe

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Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.

The short version

Key Differences

  • Starting price Bigin by Zoho CRM Free tier; Express from US$9 / user / month Keap From $249 / month
  • Free trial Bigin by Zoho CRM 15-day free trial, no credit card required Keap Free trial available
  • API Bigin by Zoho CRM Yes, APIs on every plan including Free Keap Yes, an API with webhooks plus a native Zapier integration
  • Contacts and companies Bigin by Zoho CRM Yes, a 360-degree contact record holding every conversation and follow-up, with record limits from 500 on Free to 1 million on Bigin 360 Keap Yes, contact management with segmentation, custom fields and lead scoring
  • Deal pipeline Bigin by Zoho CRM Yes, customisable team pipelines for different operations and departments: 1 on Free, 3 on Express, 5 on Premier and 15 on Bigin 360 Keap Yes, a sales pipeline with lead scoring

Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.

The trade-offs

Strengths and Limitations

Bigin by Zoho CRM

Strengths

  • Perpetually free single-user plan with pipeline, contacts, built-in phone and API access
  • Paid plans start at 7 US dollars per user per month billed yearly
  • Zia AI for email drafting, summaries, cross-sell and churn analysis at no extra subscription
  • No forced contracts, with a 30 or 45 day money-back guarantee

Limitations

  • Plans meter pipelines, records and automations, so growth runs into capacity limits
  • Aimed at businesses of roughly 1 to 20 people rather than larger sales organisations
  • Much of the integration value assumes the wider Zoho estate

Keap

Strengths

  • Strong marketing and sales automation aimed at small businesses
  • Bundles email marketing, invoicing and payments, appointment scheduling and SMS in one platform
  • AI Content Assistant and AI Automation Assistant included
  • API with webhooks and a native Zapier integration

Limitations

  • Single plan starting at an effective $249 / month is high for very small teams
  • Includes only 2 users; additional users and larger contact volumes raise the price

Plans

Pricing

Bigin by Zoho CRM

  • Free US$0 Single user. One pipeline, 500 records, basic contact management, 3 automations, built-in phone and APIs. No credit card required.
  • Express US$9 Per user per month, or 7 US dollars billed yearly. Adds 3 team pipelines, 50,000 records, 30 automations, email and WhatsApp integration, mass emails and 10 custom fields per module.
  • Premier US$15 Per user per month, or 12 US dollars billed yearly. Adds 5 team pipelines, 100,000 records, 50 advanced automations, advanced field types, 25 custom fields, data enrichment and 1,000 AI credits per month.
  • Bigin 360 US$21 Per user per month, or 18 US dollars billed yearly. Adds 15 team pipelines, 1 million records, 100 automations, 5 GB file storage, 50 custom fields, 1,000 mass emails per day and 3,000 AI credits per month.
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Keap

  • Keap From $249 / month Single plan billed annually ($2,988 / year), or $299 / month billed monthly. Includes 2 users; additional users $39 / month. Price scales with contact volume.
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What users say

Review Scores · opens after launch

Bigin by Zoho CRM

Ease of use
Not rated yet
User interface
Not rated yet
Onboarding
Not rated yet
Support and service
Not rated yet
Value for money
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Features
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No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.

Keap

Ease of use
Not rated yet
User interface
Not rated yet
Onboarding
Not rated yet
Support and service
Not rated yet
Value for money
Not rated yet
Features
Not rated yet

No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.

Where this comes from

Where this comes from

Bigin by Zoho CRM https://www.bigin.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-11

Keap https://keap.com · checked against the official source on 2026-08-20

This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.