NetSuite vs. Salesforce: Compare Core CRM Capabilities and More

NetSuite and Salesforce are two robust solutions that allow organizations to automate their processes. NetSuite, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, is geared toward medium and large businesses, while Salesforce, a customer relationship management (CRM) software, tailors its products for sales, marketing and customer service teams.

In this post, we’ll compare both software solutions on several factors.

What is the Difference Between NetSuite and Salesforce?

  • NetSuite is ERP software that includes an integrated CRM solution, while Salesforce is a CRM platform that works with third-party systems, such as ERP systems.
  • NetSuite’s CRM features are included in one solution, but Salesforce’s Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud and Service Cloud 360 are all separate products.
  • NetSuite prefers to provide a custom quote to each client, while Salesforce offers transparent pricing details on its site.

Product Overviews

The following excerpts from our NetSuite and Salesforce reviews summarize each software:

NetSuite

NetSuite is a cloud-based ERP software from Oracle that allows companies to streamline business processes and scale fast-growing businesses. It integrates and automates key functional areas like financial management, revenue management, inventory management, order management, billing, eCommerce, and customer relationship management (CRM). NetSuite targets medium and large businesses.

Salesforce

Salesforce Customer 360 is an integrated cloud-based CRM platform that provides customers the option of purchasing individual solutions that best fits their business needs. Its Sales Cloud software helps companies’ sales teams efficiently manage their pipeline to close deals quickly.

Sales reps can track their interactions with each prospect, create quotes and contracts, and analyze revenue generated and other metrics. Additional software within the Customer 360 platform are Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud 360 and Tableau Analytics.

Features Comparison

Sales Force Automation (SFA)

NetSuite

NetSuite has a dedicated CRM solution that integrates with its ERP platform. It gives users a 360-degree view of their customers, and it provides several tools to help sales reps manage their pipelines, such as sales forecasting, opportunity management and quote management. In addition, NetSuite CRM has compensation management functionality that calculates bonuses and commissions.

Salesforce

Salesforce Sales Cloud provides users a comprehensive view of each account, including multiple contact names per organization, email addresses, phone numbers, notes and historical activities. Sales reps can search for a specific company name or contact and update the data within each account.

With the opportunity management feature, reps can track their pipelines at every stage with the activity timeline view. The built-in quote feature populates a quote with relevant customer and product data and generates a PDF for email sending. Additional features of the Sales Cloud are lead management, reports/dashboards, automated approval workflows and sales forecasting.

Bottom Line

Both solutions have robust sales automation features, but NetSuite has compensation management features, while Salesforce doesn’t. (Users can integrate Sales Cloud with compensation management software via Salesforce’s AppExchange store.)

Marketing Automation

NetSuite

NetSuite’s CRM includes marketing automation features to help marketers target leads with effective campaigns. Marketers can set up landing pages with a drag-and-drop interface, and the Web to Lead form feature captures leads from the company’s website and automatically adds them into the CRM. With the Campaign Management feature, marketers can create email and other multichannel campaigns and measure their effectiveness. Other features include search engine optimization (SEO) and lead analytics.

Salesforce

Salesforce’s Marketing Cloud solution is a unified platform that consists of several modules aimed at various marketing channels. With the Journey Builder module, marketers can create customer journeys across all channels (e.g., email, social), and they can use the Interaction Studio solution for measuring and optimizing customer engagement. Additional modules include Email Studio (email marketing), Advertising (one-on-one advertising), Mobile Studio (mobile marketing), Social Studio (social media marketing), Pardot (B2B marketing automation), Salesforce CDP (unification of customer data), Datorama (marketing analytics), Google Marketing Platform, Loyalty Management and Content Management.

Bottom Line

Marketing automation features are included in NetSuite’s CRM solution, while Salesforce Marketing Cloud has several modules that companies can purchase if the solution fits their needs. Also, NetSuite mainly focuses on marketing automation, while Salesforce covers a range of marketing needs.

Customer Service Management

NetSuite

NetSuite’s Customer Service Management includes a self-service portal, so customers can check their order statuses, browse the knowledge base and submit support tickets. The case management feature lets users route and assign multichannel customer support requests to the appropriate agent. Users can also get visibility into the amount of time an agent spends with a customer with time-tracking tools tied to a specific customer record.

Salesforce

The Service Cloud 360 software helps customer support teams engage with customers from any channel (e.g., email, social, phone) in one place. Companies can leverage AI-powered chatbots that collect information from a customer before transferring them to an agent, as well as other self-service tools like a knowledge base, community forums or case submission forms. The field service features let customers book appointments online, and technicians provide virtual or in-person service. Service Cloud 360 includes tools such as intelligent job assignments, a dedicated mobile app and Einstein Vision that uses image recognition for identifying assets or parts.

Bottom Line

Both solutions have similar customer service management features, but NetSuite doesn’t have field service management features, while Salesforce does. Also, NetSuite requires integration to a third-party chatbot tool, but that feature is included in Service Cloud 360.

Pricing

NetSuite

NetSuite offers a licensed annual subscription model. It doesn’t publicly provide pricing details, but based on our research, the base license starts at $999 per month, plus $99 per user, per month. NetSuite offers a tailored quote that takes into consideration the client’s specific requirements, as well as ERP configuration, any add-on modules and other factors.

Salesforce

Salesforce’s pricing is based on its individual products. With Salesforce Sales Cloud, there are four pricing tiers.

  • Essentials – At $25 per user, per month, the Essentials tier targets companies with up to 10 users. It includes basic features such as lead management, account/contact management, opportunity management, a mobile app, customizable reports and dashboards, collaboration, cross-selling/upselling functionality, the ability to automate up to five processes and forms each, and integration with Google Apps and Outlook.
  • Professional – At $75 per user, per month, the Professional tier is intended for companies of any size. It includes all the features of the Essentials tier, plus rules-based lead scoring, up to three campaigns per opportunity, sales forecasting, quotes and orders, unlimited custom applications, a developer sandbox and the ability to sync Salesforce calendar with Microsoft Exchange.
  • Enterprise – At $150 per user, per month, the Enterprise tier offers all of the features of the other two plans, plus up to five campaigns per opportunity, advanced sales forecasting features, unlimited customizable profiles, unlimited roles and permissions, unlimited record types per object, a partial sandbox and integration via Web Services Application Program Interface (API).
  • Unlimited – At $300 per user, per month, the Unlimited tier has all the features of the other three tiers, plus a full sandbox for trying new features.
  • Add-ons: Salesforce also has several add-on solutions. Sales Cloud Einstein is $50 per user, per month. Pardot starts at $1,250 per month for up to 10,000 contacts. CPQ & Billing costs $75 per user, per month.

Each product within the Salesforce Marketing Cloud platform has its own pricing. For example, the Email Studio, Mobile Studio and Journey Builder modules are purchased together, and there are four pricing tiers.

  • Basic – The Basic tier starts at $400 per organization, per month and includes email marketing, content creation, integration with Sales Cloud, subscriber profiles, drag and drop segmentation, mobile-optimized email templates, A/B testing, reports and dashboards and personalization features.
  • Pro – The Pro tier starts at $1,250 per organization, per month and includes all of the features of the Basic tier, plus the Einstein tool for email recommendations and content tagging, triggered messaging and automated workflows.
  • Corporate – The Corporate tier starts at $3,750 per organization, per month and includes all of the features of the Pro tier, plus advanced reporting features, the Einstein Engagement Scoring and Frequency features, a journey builder, the Einstein Web Recommendations feature and mobile messaging functionality (e.g., location-based push messaging, SMS response messaging).
  • Enterprise – The Enterprise tier includes all of the features of the Corporate tier, plus multiple business unit support, real-time big data segmentation and custom user roles.

The Salesforce Service Cloud 360 software has four tiers:

  • Essentials – At $25 per user, per month, the Essentials tier includes basic features such as case management, service console applications for agent productivity, omnichannel routing, a mobile app, knowledge base management and computer telephony integration (CTI).
  • Professional – At $75 per user, per month, the Professional tier is intended for companies of any size. It includes all the features of the Essentials tier, plus a case milestone tracker, service orders management and asset management.
  • Enterprise – At $150 per user, per month, the Enterprise tier offers all of the features of the other two plans, plus integration via Web Services API, advanced reporting features and offline access.
  • Unlimited – At $300 per user, per month, the Unlimited tier has all the features of the other three tiers, plus a full live chat functionality.

Bottom Line

NetSuite doesn’t display its pricing up front. Instead, it relies on a tailored quote process, which can frustrate prospective users. And it doesn’t offer a free trial, but prospective users can sign up for a product tour. Salesforce does offer transparent pricing, and users can sign up for a free trial of Sales Cloud to test the software.

Customer Support

NetSuite

NetSuite offers two support plans: Basic and Premium. The Basic plan is included with each subscription, and its features are:

  • 24/7 phone support for Severity 1 (critical) cases
  • The ability to browse articles, watch tutorials and submit tickets through the SuiteAnswers knowledge base
  • Support Community user forum

The optional Premium support plan includes all of the features of the Basic plan, plus:

  • 24/7 phone support for Severity 1 and Severity 2 cases
  • Business hours phone support for Severity 3 and Severity 4 cases
  • Four authorized support contacts

Salesforce

Salesforce offers three support plans.

  • Standard – The Standard plan is included in each Salesforce subscription. It comes with guided journeys (which help users learn best practices and other basics of Salesforce), Learning on Trailhead (online training paths for users, developers and administrators), a Trailblazer Community forum and a two-day response time from tech support.
  • Premier – The Premier plan costs an additional 30% of the net price. It has all the features of the Standard plan, plus phone support, one-hour response times for critical issues, outcome-based Expert Coaching sessions (one-on-one work sessions with Salesforce experts on onboarding, implementation and optimization), developer support, personalized success paths, discounted pricing for the Trailhead Academy public classes, business value reviews and technical health reviews.
  • Signature – The Signature plan includes all the features of the other two plans, plus deployment planning services, proactive services (24/7 proactive monitoring, early alerts), technical account management and key event management. Pricing is based on a client’s complex needs, so you’ll need to contact Salesforce for a custom quote.

Bottom Line

Both vendors offer basic support features within the subscription price. However, NetSuite offers phone support in its Basic plan for critical issues, whereas Salesforce’s phone support is only available in the Premier and Signature plans.

ERP Vendor Comparison Guide

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