Zoho CRM is Zoho’s customer relationship management application. It is sold as a cloud subscription per user, either on its own or in the CRM Plus bundle and Zoho One.[1][5] Zoho calls it “a pay-as-you-go service (monthly or yearly)”, with no binding contracts.[1] The licence unit is a named user: “Anyone whose email address is mapped to a user license for your account is a CRM user.”[2] Two details matter for licence counts. A separate team user licence exists for staff outside sales. A deactivated user’s licence stays billed until it is unsubscribed.[1][3]
Editions
| Edition | Position on the pricing page | Examples of what it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Free | “Free forever for 3 users” | Contact management, workflows, standard reports, 5,000 API calls/day |
| Standard | Small team, getting started | Email integration, multiple pipelines, forecasting, custom modules |
| Professional | Growing team, needs automation | AI agents, process management, inventory, CPQ, portals |
| Enterprise | Running a mature sales org | Multi-team management, sandbox, field-level encryption, extended AI |
| Ultimate | Large-scale, bespoke deployments | “Highest possible feature limits”, expert consultation, migration assistance |
Source: Zoho CRM pricing page.[1] Paid editions are priced per user per month, with lower rates on annual billing. Local taxes come on top.[1] The page shows prices in the visitor’s regional currency, so the catalog records the editions without list prices. Customers can switch plans from the Upgrade link in the product.[1]
CRM Plus bundles CRM with help desk, live chat, email marketing, social media, surveys, projects and analytics. The pricing page lists Starter and Enterprise packages, with “All modules included at their highest edition”.[1] Zoho One includes CRM at enterprise level but not the Ultimate Edition, which “can be availed as an add-on”.[5] Catalog proof: Zoho One includes enterprise-level features, not CRM Ultimate.
Metrics
- Zoho CRM user. The FAQ defines a CRM user as someone “who can manage records, either their own or those shared by other users, within the organization. In short, any employee who accesses the CRM account to manage the data is a user.”[2] The pricing page calls these org users with “full-scale CRM access”, suited to “sales reps, sales managers, presales teams, and central CRM admins”.[1]
- Zoho CRM team user. Team users work on team modules. “Outside of their team modules, they only have partial access to CRM data and functionality.” The licence is “ideal for all non-sales users, like marketing, support, legal, finance, and others”.[1]
- CRM Plus user license. “Each unique login, regardless of the number of applications used in CRM Plus, is considered a user license.”[4]
The FAQ separates customer portal users from CRM users. Portals give customers access to part of the CRM, and the FAQ does not describe portal users as needing CRM user licences.[2]
Counting / floors
Every accessing user
“You need to buy a license for every user who accesses CRM.”[2] An administrator cannot add a user without a spare licence. Users must confirm their account within 30 days of registration, and only confirmed users can access CRM.[2] The general Terms of Service also forbid sharing a licence among several people. Licences may only be reassigned to a new user.[6] Catalog proof: Every user who accesses Zoho CRM needs a licence; User licences may be reassigned but not shared.
Deactivation does not reduce the bill
When a user is deactivated, that user can no longer log in. “You are free to use the same user license to add another user.” However, “The user license is not canceled. the number of user licenses that you have purchased remains the same, and you will be billed accordingly unless you reduce your total user licenses.”[3] The FAQ says the same for deletion: “deleting or deactivating a user does not cancel the user’s license. If you no longer want the user license, you will need to unsubscribe it.” Users are unsubscribed through Upgrade, Manage, then Downgrade.[2] The list of Inactive Users is therefore a list of billed but unused licences, until they are reassigned or unsubscribed. Catalog proof: Deactivating a CRM user does not cancel the licence.
On an annual plan, unsubscribing licences is a partial downgrade. Zoho credits it as an extension of the subscription for the remaining licences, valued at monthly list price for the months used. It does not refund cash.[7] Catalog proof: Annual partial downgrades earn credits, not cash.
Free edition and trials
The Free edition “supports upto 3 users”.[1] Zoho CRM offers a 15-day trial of Standard, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate, with all features of the chosen edition. “In the trial edition you can only add up to 3 users.”[2] Catalog proof: CRM Free edition and trials are limited to 3 users.
Team users
Team user licences are add-ons bought “from the Add-ons page of the Zoho Store”. Teamspaces, team modules and team users are available “only in the new CRM For Everyone UI”.[1] In org modules, team users can view and add notes, tags and attachments in up to 10 org modules, view integration tabs, use public views, Feeds and mobile apps. They cannot own records, hold admin-level permissions, use Reports and Dashboards, start calls or meetings, create automation, use AI or Zia features, or use Google and Microsoft integrations.[1] A non-sales employee who needs reports or record ownership therefore needs a full user licence. Catalog proof: CRM team users have partial access only.
CRM Plus
In CRM Plus, the user licence covers all the associated applications. An administrator can turn individual apps on or off for licensed users “without requiring any additional licenses”. Giving access to a new person “you will have to purchase an additional user license”. A user with access to one application “is still counted the same as a user with access to all of the applications”.[4] Catalog proof: CRM Plus counts each unique login once.
Virtualization & partitioning
Zoho CRM is a hosted service, so no virtualization rules apply. Some editions mention hosting from Zoho’s KSA data centres, which affects where data is stored, not how licences are counted.[1]
Cloud / BYOL
There is no bring-your-own-licence mechanism. Within Zoho One, CRM storage is “1 GB per organization, with an additional 1 GB per employee”.[5] The Free edition allows 5,000 API calls per day.[1]
Programs
- Billing. Monthly or yearly. Payment is by card or PayPal, with bank transfer or cheque for yearly subscriptions.[1] Subscriptions renew automatically, and Zoho must be told at least seven days before renewal to stop it.[6]
- Support. Paid editions include Classic support. Paid support plans are optional.[1]
- Refunds. Covered by the Customer Satisfaction Policy: full refund in the first month (monthly) or first 45 days (annual).[7]
- Bundles. CRM Plus and Zoho One are the bundled routes; see Zoho One licensing.
Out of scope
This article does not cover Bigin, Zoho’s separate pipeline CRM, which the pricing page lists alongside CRM. It also leaves out Zoho CRM add-ons such as extra storage, and Marketplace extensions. List prices are not recorded because the pricing page shows regional prices.