Act! vs Salesforce Sales Cloud Comparison

Why choose Act!

• Higher Cost score (6/10 vs 2/10)
• Higher Ease of Use score (5/10 vs 4/10)
• Better fit for small business (8/10 vs 5/10)

Why choose Salesforce Sales Cloud

• Has a free plan (Act! does not)
• Lower estimated cost for 10 users: $250/mo vs $300/mo
• Higher Scalability score (10/10 vs 4/10)
• Higher Analytics score (9/10 vs 4/10)
• Better fit for enterprise (10/10 vs 3/10)

Act!

Pros

• Contact management is detailed and copes with large contact databases and big imports.
• A desktop and hybrid deployment allows offline work, which most cloud-only CRMs do not offer.
• Basic marketing automation is included in Premium, with drip campaigns, lead scoring and web visitor tracking.
• Fields and sales processes are highly customisable.
• Mobile apps for iOS and Android are included at no extra cost for Premium Cloud subscribers.

Cons

• Reviewers describe the interface as dated and dense, comparable to older Windows software.
• Pipeline and profit reporting is a recurring complaint, and the date-based pipeline can hide open deals.
• Users report freezing and slowness, especially with remote databases.
• There is no native Mac desktop app.
• Enhanced support and several capabilities cost extra on top of the per-user fee.

Salesforce Sales Cloud

Pros

• AgentExchange (formerly AppExchange) and built-in Slack integration give it the widest ecosystem of add-on apps and connectors among CRMs.
• Admins can tailor objects, Flow automation and dashboards in great depth, and reviewers on Capterra and SoftwareFinder repeatedly praise its customization and reporting.
• It scales from a free two-user suite to enterprise editions with sandboxes, high API allowances and security tooling such as Security Center and Data Detect.
• Agentforce AI is built in, with prospecting agents, pipeline forecasting insights and call coaching added in the Winter 27 release.
• Gartner has named it a Leader in CRM Sales Platforms for 20 years in a row, according to Salesforce.

Cons

• List prices rose again in September 2026. Core costs $195 and Advanced $395 per user per month, roughly 11 and 13 percent above the Enterprise and Unlimited editions they replaced.
• Many capabilities are paid extras, including API access on Pro, Agentforce, Sales Dialer and Revenue Intelligence, so the real budget is well above the entry price.
• Pro Suite and higher editions require annual contracts, and analysts note that downgrading mid-contract is difficult.
• Reviewers say small businesses often need an in-house admin or paid partners to run it, and that they use only a fraction of the features they pay for.
• Capterra gives it 4.0 out of 5 for ease of use, and G2 reviewers cite a steep learning curve for new users.