NetSuite CRM vs Salesforce Comparison 2024: Which Is Better?

Have you ever wondered what the difference is between NetSuite CRM vs Salesforce? Well, you have come to the right place.

In today’s article, we will undertake a thorough side-by-side breakdown of these two platform giants. 

Whether it’s a simple CRM or a robust ERP you need, this article has the answers to that eternal question: Salesforce or NetSuite. Bangarang!

What is the difference between NetSuite and Salesforce?

The main difference between Salesforce and NetSuite is that customer relationship management is the backbone of Salesforce while enterprise resource planning forms the core of NetSuite. But as we crack open their respective toolboxes, we will find that they cover much of the same ground.

If you come across a Salesforce review, you’ll notice that this system gets praise for basic CRM, sales, and marketing tools. You might also find that it gets some light criticisms for its ease of use. But compared to NetSuite, those arguments pale.

Now, your average NetSuite review might be less clear-cut when it comes to recommending this SaaS. A lot of reviewers swear that when it comes to the small business, you might look elsewhere. But regarding larger companies, NetSuite is just the ticket.

NetSuite vs Salesforce comparison chart

Here’s a quick breakdown of the Salesforce NetSuite debate:

NetSuite CRM vs Salesforce pricing

Kicking things off with pricing plans for these two ERP and CRM software solutions.

Salesforce offers a wide range of packages and pricing plans. It would be impossible to go over every detail here. Let us turn to Salesforce Sales and Service Cloud pricing as an example. 

The Starter plan is $45, the Professional plan is $105, the Enterprise plan, which is the most popular, costs $190, and the Unlimited plan is $355. All of these prices are per user per month, billed annually.

Similarly, the Salesforce Small Business Solution starts at just $25 per user per month, billed annually. This plan has basic sales, customer service, and email outreach tools.

Oracle NetSuite, sadly, does not list its prices on its website. You have got to talk to sales or request a product tour.

Winner: Salesforce

We love it when any ERP or CRM software solution lists their prices clearly and does not require you to have to deal with sales. So Salesforce wins.

Salesforce vs NetSuite Customer support

NetSuite offers several tiers of customer support for their CRM solution or ERP software. Basic gets you 24/7 critical support. 

Premium has toll free help. There is also advanced customer support and partner support for more personalized case management. Prices will vary.

Salesforce also offers varying support plans. The Standard Success plan is mostly self service. The Premier Success plan has coaching as well as 24/7/365 support. 

The Signature Success plan gets you a technical account manager as well as faster response times during regular 24/7/365 support requests.

Winner: NetSuite

NetSuite has some degree of real customer service in their basic plan, while Salesforce does not have that level of support in their standard plan.

Knowledgebase & learning

As for self-service and knowledge base features, NetSuite has SuiteAnswers, which has a thorough FAQ and training videos. 

You can also join the NetSuite Support Community to ask questions to other NetSuite users. 

The Salesforce Help Center is where you can go to find documentation and general assistance with known issues. 

There are several community forums for Salesforce, like the Trailblazer community where you can connect with more subscribers to Salesforce and trade tips.

Winner: Tie

Salesforce, like NetSuite, has pretty solid self-help resources that can save you time from having to wait for a real support agent. It's a tie.

NetSuite CRM vs Salesforce desktop and online versions

NetSuite is a cloud-based CRM and ERP; however, many people use NetSuite precisely because it allows you to download a desktop version of the software. There is a web browser version as well. 

Salesforce would normally see its users prefer to stick to the web browser version. All the features you need to run your business are included in the cloud.

Winner: Salesforce

Using Salesforce is normally such a great experience because of its emphasis on being cloud-based, whereas NetSuite CRM solution can cause a bit of annoyance at having to decide between web and desktop apps.

Salesforce vs NetSuite features & functionality

These are the features we’ll be comparing between NetSuite and Salesforce:

• Customer relationship management

• Marketing automation

• Sales features

• Customer service

• ERP

• Commerce

• Integrations

Netsuite or Salesforce for ease of use

A good CRM system should be easy as pie. Less so when dealing with a more complex ERP solution, as there are simply more tools and functions. 

Generally, Salesforce is among the simpler suites of SaaS out there when it comes to learning the tools and features.

Since NetSuite's bread and butter is really enterprise resource planning, be ready to put in the time to become a pro with all the tools. However, like Salesforce CRM, the NetSuite CRM is not that annoyingly difficult.

Winner: Salesforce

When comparing NetSuite ERP and Salesforce, it is commonly accepted among users and critics that Salesforce is simpler.

Customer relationship management

A robust CRM solution is the backbone of running a business. It keeps all your contact data organized in one central location.

Salesforce is one of the original popularizers of all things that CRM provides. Now, there is no single Salesforce CRM module; instead, CRM data flows through other modules like Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud, or Service Cloud. 

Your CRM needs are fully catered to with Salesforce, giving you access to customer information and engagement histories. CRM data also helps with reporting and analytics.

NetSuite does have a package dedicated to CRM. But like Salesforce, the tools overlap with other important departments, like sales, marketing, customer service, and even partner relationship management. 

And just as Salesforce provides CRM data to analytics, NetSuite's CRM solution also helps give you intelligent business insights.

Winner: Salesforce

This is not an easy category for this ultimate comparison between Salesforce CRM and NetSuite CRM. 

The reason Salesforce wins here is because their CRM tools feel more streamlined and do not suffer from an overcluttering of features, which you get in a solution like NetSuite.

Marketing automation

There are no sales without customers, and there are no customers without some sort of marketing outreach. Marketing automation is one of today's most popular forms of marketing strategies, eliminating a lot of the manual process.

NetSuite's marketing automation toolkit is part of their CRM package. You can easily create targeted marketing campaigns, and then track and measure their success. 

You can run marketing campaigns with email, direct mail, and multi-channel outreach. Other great marketing tools from NetSuite include a landing page builder and a forms tool. 

Salesforce Marketing Cloud leverages a lot of AI to keep campaigns running smoothly. Some of the many great tools here include an email marketing studio, a customer journey builder, and even advertising tools which run off CRM information. 

You get a fair amount of customization here, and of course there are great real-time analytics too.

Winner: NetSuite

Here is another close call. Ultimately, NetSuite's power to automate marketing campaigns is really hard to outdo, though Salesforce's tools are a very close second place. 

Sales features

Businesses of all sizes need sales to keep the lights on. Let us turn to the tools which these platforms employ to get more new customers and sell more to current customers as well.

Salesforce Sales Cloud helps sales teams with sales force automation tools like activity, lead and opportunity management. Get better pipeline results with powerful forecasting and reporting. 

You can also get quotes and contract approval tools. Another Salesforce product to look out for is the sales engagement feature that can customize how you satisfy customers' needs.

As an ERP system, NetSuite can also help win new clients and close more deals. Opportunity management helps companies to manage their sales funnel. 

Other sales features are included here, like quote building, sales forecasting, and even a sales rep compensation system. You can also employ intelligent item recommendations to boost the business process of making deals.

Winner: Salesforce

The difference between NetSuite vs Salesforce when it comes to selling is a well-matched race, but Salesforce emerges as the winner for having more intuitive features.

ERP

The main distinction between ERP vs CRM is that ERP includes many more features for running a company beyond customer management and sales.

NetSuite has it all. You have total procurement, warehouse management, and order management, both of which use SCM, or supply chain management, to streamline activities. 

The financial management toolkit offers a range of features, like accounting software, to help you run your books. 

Salesforce does not offer a dedicated ERP system. You will have to integrate with third-party tools for things like inventory and shipping tools.

Winner: NetSuite

You'll be able to handle all your enterprise resource planning needs with Oracle NetSuite in ways that you cannot do with Salesforce.

Commerce

For those with shops or online stores looking to scale their business, is Salesforce or NetSuite better?

Salesforce has an entire module for e-commerce operations and brick-and-mortar. It has tools for both B2B and B2C operations. You have a great order management module that works in tandem with your CRM and customer service.

When it comes to NetSuite, it is possible to turn some of those ERP tools into features for running commerce and e-commerce operations. However, for simpler small businesses and online shops, the whole NetSuite ERP solution may be pricey and complicated.   

Winner: Salesforce

Most comparison guides in the world will crown Salesforce as the winner when it comes to commerce and e-commerce. 

Integrations

Finally we arrive at the category of third-party integrations. 

If you want to integrate Salesforce with other apps, you can use their app marketplace called AppExchange. There you have all manner of apps based on category, such as accounting tools like Quickbooks, or there are more categories like IT, HR, ERP, and more.

In the meantime, you have got NetSuite Connector for more interrogations. 

NetSuite can be integrated with e-commerce platforms like Walmart, Shopify, Amazon, eBay, BigCommerce and more. There is also a comprehensive SuiteCloud Platform Integration module. 

If by chance you do not see an integration you like, say, for example, with Hubspot, you can always use a tool like Zapier.

Winner: Salesforce

We give this category to Salesforce due to the larger variety of native integrations and the easier dashboard to browse through them all.

A note on NetSuite and Salesforce integration

There are indeed some NetSuite Salesforce integrations mostly built by third-party apps. For example, there is one by Breadwinner Integrations, and another by Commercient LLC. These are usually not free.

Which is better, Salesforce or NetSuite? Our conclusion

Choosing between Salesforce and NetSuite boils down to the specific needs and scale of your business. 

Salesforce stands out for startups and small to medium-sized enterprises with its intuitive interface, comprehensive CRM capabilities, and a vast array of integrations, making it highly accessible and adaptable. 

Additionally, its transparent pricing structure is particularly attractive for smaller companies with tighter budgets.

On the other hand, NetSuite proves to be the powerhouse for larger corporations that require robust ERP functionalities to manage complex operations. It's the preferred solution when a business seeks extensive resource planning and management features that Salesforce doesn't inherently offer.

Although Salesforce takes the lead in CRM and e-commerce functionalities, and NetSuite excels in ERP, the final verdict will depend on whether your business needs an advanced CRM with excellent support and integration or a full-fledged ERP suite for wider organizational management. 

You ought to know that these are not the only contenders and there is other top CRM software available. The truth is options are nearly unlimited. We do our best to break things down and save you time in selecting a CRM software solution and more. Hope this helps!