Bigin by Zoho CRM
Zia drafts emails, writes smart summaries, flags cross-sell opportunities and analyses churn, with AI credits included from the Premier plan
Pipeline-centric CRM from Zoho for small businesses that have outgrown spreadsheets, with a perpetually free single-user plan.
- Starting price
- Free tier; Express from US$9 / user / month
- Free trial
- 15-day free trial, no credit card required
- API
- Yes, APIs on every plan including Free
Overview
Bigin is Zoho's small-business CRM, built around team pipelines rather than the full breadth of Zoho CRM. Deals move through customisable pipelines, and contacts sit in a 360-degree record that gathers every conversation in one place; email, phone calls, WhatsApp and social messages all land against that record. Workflow automation triggers email sequences, schedules actions and assigns tasks, while Zia, Zoho's built-in AI, drafts emails and analyses churn without a separate subscription. The plans scale by capacity rather than by feature, and APIs are open on every plan.
Our take
Bigin answers a narrow question well: what does a team of a handful of people move to when the spreadsheet stops holding the deals, without taking on a system that needs configuring first. The free single-user plan makes that first step cost nothing, and the paid rates stay in single and low double digits where most of this category has drifted upward. The limits are the honest part of the design and also the ceiling, because the plans meter pipelines, records and automations rather than withholding whole feature areas, so a team that grows past fifteen pipelines or needs deep territory and quoting machinery is being told to move up to Zoho CRM proper. Anyone already committed to another vendor's office suite should weigh how much of the value here comes from the wider Zoho estate.
Key Facts
| Category | |
|---|---|
| Starting price | 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. |
| Free trial | 15-day free trial, no credit card required |
| API | Yes, APIs on every plan including Free |
| Languages | Interface in 28 languages |
| Hosting | Cloud (SaaS) |
Screenshots
Placeholders. They are replaced as soon as the vendor sends material, and both open the same short form.
Features
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Reporting and forecasting
- Yes, smart analytics dashboards covering sales metrics, customer tracking and campaign performance
- 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
Integrations
- QuickBooks
- Zoho Books
- Google Workspace
- Microsoft 365
- Shopify
- PayPal
- Zapier
Deployment and Support
- Deployment
-
- Cloud (SaaS)
- Browser-based
- Support
-
- Email helpdesk
- Phone
- Chat
- Onboarding
-
- Guided onboarding
- Live online demos and webinars
- Personal consulting
- Company size
-
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
Pros and Cons
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
Pricing
-
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.
Alternatives and Comparisons
FAQ
- Is Bigin free?
- There is a perpetually free plan for a single user, covering one pipeline, 500 records, basic contact management, 3 automations, the built-in phone and API access, with no credit card required. Paid plans start at 9 US dollars per user per month, or 7 billed yearly.
- How does Bigin differ from Zoho CRM?
- Bigin is the small-business product, built around team pipelines and aimed at businesses of roughly 1 to 20 people that have outgrown spreadsheets but do not need a full enterprise CRM. Its plans are metered by pipelines, records and automations.
- What AI does Bigin include?
- Zia, Zoho's built-in AI, drafts emails, writes smart summaries, identifies cross-sell opportunities and analyses churn, with no separate subscription. AI credits are included from Premier, at 1,000 per month, and 3,000 per month on Bigin 360.
What users say
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