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Honesty note: we have not run our own hands-on test of Bigin by Zoho CRM yet. Everything on this page is source-based research: the vendor's pricing, plan and help pages, each linked with the date we read it. Ease of use and support quality are not scored until we test.
Bigin by Zoho CRM in short
Bigin by Zoho CRM's core plan for a small team is Express at $7 per user per month with annual billing ($9 billed monthly). For a team of 5, that is $420 in the first year. There is a free option: Free plan: 1 user only, 1 pipeline, 500 records, 3 automations, built-in telephony, contact/product/activity management, standard dashboard, developer APIs, iOS/iPadOS/Android/macOS apps, no-code web forms. Permanently free; trial ends by moving the account to the free plan.
Choose it if
- Solo owners and micro-teams replacing spreadsheets with a single visual pipeline (Free plan, 1 user)
- Small teams that want the lowest per-seat entry in this group ($7/user/mo annual) with built-in calling and QuickBooks sync
- Teams that may outgrow it: vendor offers one-click upgrade to Zoho CRM and one-click migration from Pipedrive, HubSpot, Insightly and Zoho CRM
Skip it if
- Teams that need many pipelines or complex automation: Express allows 3 pipelines and 30 automations; even Bigin 360 caps at 15 pipelines and 100 automations
- Teams needing custom modules/objects, territory management or approvals (not listed on Bigin)
- Teams needing more than 1 user on a free plan
How much does Bigin by Zoho CRM cost?
Prices in USD as published on Bigin by Zoho CRM's pricing page, read Oct 3, 2026. Pricing model: Per user; free plan for 1 user.
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed annually | Unit | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | free | free | free, 1 user | 1 pipeline, 500 records, 3 automations, built-in telephony, standard dashboard, APIs[1] |
| Expresscore plan | $9 | $7 | per user / month | 3 team pipelines, 50,000 records, 30 automations, email + WhatsApp Business integration, bulk email with email insights, customizable dashboards, 10 custom fields per module, Zoho Books/Sign integrations, social ads lead integrations, QuickBooks integration[2] |
| Premier | $15 | $12 | per user / month | Adds 5 team pipelines, 100,000 records, 50 advanced automations, payment links, stage-transition rules, multi-currency, goal metrics, 25 custom fields per module, duplicate cleanup[2] |
| Bigin 360 | $21 | $18 | per user / month | Adds 15 team pipelines, 1M records, 100 advanced automations, 1,000 bulk emails/day per company, email-in with 5 aliases, File Cabinet with 5 GB, 50 custom fields per module, 100 booking pages; highest limits of all plans[2] |
Monthly cost on Express by team size
| Users | Billed annually | Billed monthly |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $7 | $9 |
| 5 | $35 | $45 |
| 10 | $70 | $90 |
| 25 | $175 | $225 |
Per month, before tax. "—" means the vendor does not publish the price for that team size.
What each Bigin by Zoho CRM plan includes
What the core plan (Express) includes, and what costs more. Levels come from the vendor's plan comparison.
| Capability | Availability | Details from vendor sources |
|---|---|---|
| Sales pipeline / deals | ✓ all plans | yes; team pipelines: Free 1, Express 3, Premier 5, Bigin 360 15 (more via add-ons) |
| Email sync & tracking | ✓ from Express | two-way email integration with Gmail, Outlook, Zoho Mail from Express; bulk email with email insights from Express |
| Workflow automation | ✓ all plans | automations: Free 3, Express 30, Premier 50 advanced, Bigin 360 100 advanced; stage-transition rules from Premier |
| Email marketing | ✓ from Express | bulk email with email insights from Express; Bigin 360 up to 1,000 bulk emails/day per company; advanced campaigns need separate Zoho Campaigns |
| Built-in calling | ✓ all plans | yes, built-in telephony on all plans incl. Free (calls, recording, auto-responses, call forwarding) |
| AI assistant / AI features | not documented | — |
| Reports & dashboards | ✓ all plans | standard dashboard with charts and KPIs on Free; customizable dashboards from Express; goal metrics from Premier |
| Custom objects | ✗ no | no custom modules listed; custom fields only (Express 10, Premier 25, Bigin 360 50 per module) |
| API access | ✓ all plans | yes, developer APIs listed on the Free plan |
| Mobile app | ✓ all plans | yes, iOS, iPadOS, Android and macOS apps on all plans incl. Free |
| HIPAA BAA | not documented | — |
| Gmail / Outlook | — | yes from Express (email integration with Gmail, Outlook, Zoho Mail); Gmail add-on and Outlook integration listed |
| QuickBooks | — | from Express |
Bigin by Zoho CRM pros and cons
What holds up
- No lock-in: cancel any time, plan downgrades allowed, full refund within 30 days (monthly) or 45 days (annual)[1]
- All paid plans include 30-day dedicated onboarding and phone/email/live-chat support[1]
- Built-in telephony and developer APIs are on the Free plan; QuickBooks integration from Express[1]
- Express and Premier have no user cap; free plan is limited to 1 user[1]
- Paid prices are low: $7 / $12 / $18 per user per month on annual billing[2]
What to watch
- Records are capped per plan: Free 500, Express 50,000, Premier 100,000, Bigin 360 1M; extra records and pipelines need add-ons[1]
- Free plan is single-user only[1]
- Monthly billing costs more: 9 / 15 / 21 per user vs 7 / 12 / 18 annual (numerals read on the vendor page in EUR display; USD equal per third-party listing)[1]
- Bigin 360 is a new tier (flagged 'NEU/New' on the page); its limits and pricing history are short[1]
How the 9.1 fact score is built
| Part | Weight | Points (0-10) |
|---|---|---|
| Cost for a small team | 30% | 10.0 |
| Feature coverage (core plan) | 30% | 8.0 |
| Pricing transparency | 20% | 10.0 |
| Risk-free start | 10% | 10.0 |
| Room to grow | 10% | 6.7 |
| Ease of use, support, reliability | — | not scored yet |
Same formula for every CRM; affiliate data cannot change it. Methodology →
Recent changes
- 2025-11 Bigin published a clarification that its listed entry price (Express) is regular pricing, not a promotion (India page dated 2025-11-19)[3]
The money trail
Zoho Corporation runs an affiliate program (In-house): Bigin page says 'generous commissions ., 90-day cookie. We are not an approved affiliate yet, so every link on this page goes straight to the vendor and earns us nothing. Either way, the score above is computed without this information.
What we could not verify
Listed so you know where to ask the vendor directly.
- Official USD prices not directly readable (pages showed EUR/INR); annual USD from Capterra, and the vendor-page numerals (EUR display) are identical; monthly USD only from the vendor-page numerals
- Bookings add-on price and other add-on prices (extra pipelines, records) not read from an official page
- AI features and AI credits per plan not verified on the official page
- HIPAA/BAA for Bigin not verified
- Whether the Zoho Affiliate Program pays on Bigin sales
Sources
- Bigin pricing page (German version read; limits, onboarding, trial, refund, FAQ; prices displayed in EUR with USD-equal numerals 7/12/18 annual, 9/15/21 monthly) · vendor source · fetched 2026-10-03
- Bigin by Zoho CRM pricing (Capterra, 2026): Express $7, Premier $12, Bigin 360 $18 per user annual · secondary · fetched 2026-10-03
- Bigin India pricing clarification (INR 400/720/1080, dated 2025-11-19) · vendor source · fetched 2026-10-03
- Zoho Affiliate Program · vendor source · fetched 2026-10-03
- Zoho Corporation (Wikipedia): founding, HQ, ownership · secondary · fetched 2026-10-03