shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use Salesforce?

#1 AI CRM — unified AI, data, and Customer 360 platform. - salesforce.com

Depends. Buy if you're a mid-size or enterprise org with complex sales processes, admin staff, and real budget. Skip it if you're a small team that just needs to track contacts — it's overkill and the costs pile up fast.

Confidence

High. Based on ~20 public sources: G2/Trustpilot/Reddit reviews, security advisories, pricing guides, and Salesforce's own pages. Price figures are approximate list prices.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

~$25/user/mo

Starter

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierNo
Pro~$100/user/mo
Enterprise~$175/user/mo
Unlimited~$330+/user/mo

Best for

  • Enterprise sales orgs
  • Multi-team service operations
  • Complex, heavily customized pipelines
  • Companies with dedicated admins

Not for

  • Small teams that need a simple contact list
  • Startups without a dedicated Salesforce admin
  • Budget-constrained buyers — hidden costs compound
  • Solo founders — a spreadsheet does the same job

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Per-user pricing plus AI and storage add-ons inflate total cost well beyond list price

high

Heavy customization creates lock-in; migrating off later is painful and costly

high

Third-party connected apps have been breach vectors; audit integrations carefully

medium

Users report price increases that punish reducing seat counts — hard to shrink later

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Comprehensive feature set across sales, service, and marketing
  • Reporting and dashboards are a user highlight
  • Integrates seamlessly with other tools, per user reviews
  • Deep customization via the Apex platform
  • Massive ecosystem: 200,000+ tracked customers, huge partner network

Cons

  • Expensive, and hidden costs pile up beyond license fees
  • Cluttered, clunky interface
  • Needs paid admins/consultants to run properly
  • Price increases; users report penalties for reducing licenses
  • Negative support and onboarding feedback on Trustpilot

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/19/2026 - 12 sources - Mature security program, but a steady stream of CVEs and notable third-party/social-engineering incidents.

official x2review x8security x2
  • Salesloft Drift third-party app incident, Unauthorized access via the third-party Drift app exposed customer Salesforce data; response guidance issued.
  • Critical CVEs in Industry Clouds, AppOmni reported 5 critical CVEs affecting Salesforce Industry Clouds (OmniStudio) components.
  • Voice-phishing data theft campaign, Hundreds of Salesforce customers targeted; hackers tricked employees into exposing org data via vishing.
  • Ongoing public CVE stream, CVE databases track regular vulnerabilities across Salesforce products, including a CLI vulnerability.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 2/5

    Rating

  • ~$25/user/mo

    Starting price

  • 12

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 2/5. Repeated complaints: expensive, hidden costs, price hikes
  • Ease of use: 2/5. Users report cluttered interface; onboarding friction
  • Feature depth: 5/5. Called comprehensive; broadest CRM feature set
  • Support quality: 2/5. Negative Trustpilot pattern; onboarding complaints
  • Security posture: 3/5. Mature program, but recurring CVEs and third-party incidents
  • 97,201 G2 reviews across all Salesforce products
  • ~$25/user/mo Starting price Starter tier, list price
  • No Free tier 30-day free trials only
  • 1999 Founded Public company, NYSE: CRM

Pricing

Starter

~$25/user/mo

  • Contact and lead management
  • Basic automation
  • Mobile app

Pro

~$100/user/mo

  • Full CRM features
  • Workflow automation
  • Forecasting

Enterprise

~$175/user/mo

  • Advanced customization
  • AI features
  • Admin tooling

Unlimited

~$330+/user/mo

  • Premium support
  • Max customization
  • Full platform

Security

Mature security program, but a steady stream of CVEs and notable third-party/social-engineering incidents.

  • Salesloft Drift third-party app incidentUnauthorized access via the third-party Drift app exposed customer Salesforce data; response guidance issued.
  • Critical CVEs in Industry CloudsAppOmni reported 5 critical CVEs affecting Salesforce Industry Clouds (OmniStudio) components.11
  • Voice-phishing data theft campaignHundreds of Salesforce customers targeted; hackers tricked employees into exposing org data via vishing.10
  • Ongoing public CVE streamCVE databases track regular vulnerabilities across Salesforce products, including a CLI vulnerability.

What users say

Reviews are polarized: enterprises praise the depth and reporting, while smaller users slam cost, clunky UI, and support.

“Salesforce blows.”
Reddit, r/CRM

Alternatives

Compare Salesforce with each alternative.

  • HubSpot CRM

    Free tier, cleaner UX, far less configuration

  • Pipedrive

    Simple visual pipeline for small sales teams

    Salesforce vs Pipedrive

  • Zoho CRM

    Cheap, surprisingly deep, good for budget buyers

Companies that use it

  • FIFA
  • Air France
  • KLM
Full analysis

Based on ~20 public sources: G2/Trustpilot/Reddit reviews, security advisories, pricing guides, and Salesforce's own pages. Price figures are approximate list prices.

Enterprise-grade CRM: deep features, steep costs, needs admins. Overkill for small teams; powerful for complex orgs.

Methodology

Based on ~20 public sources: G2/Trustpilot/Reddit reviews, security advisories, pricing guides, and Salesforce's own pages. Price figures are approximate list prices.

Sources

  1. Salesforce Review: Features, Pros And Cons – Forbes Advisorforbes.com
    review
  2. Salesforce Products | Read 97201 Reviews on G2g2.com
    review
  3. Salesforce Sales Cloud Pros and Cons | G2g2.com
    review
  4. Salesforce Reviews | Trustpilottrustpilot.com
    review
  5. Want to get an honest opinion of Salesforce — Reddit r/CRMreddit.com
    review
  6. Salesforce taking liberties with price increases — Reddit r/salesforcereddit.com
    review
  7. Salesforce Pricingsalesforce.com
    official
  8. Salesforce Review: The Pros and Cons — Cargascargas.com
    review
  9. Calculate Salesforce TCO — Nutshellnutshell.com
    review
  10. Hundreds of Salesforce Customers Targeted in Data Theft Campaign — SecurityWeeksecurityweek.com
    security
  11. Salesforce Industry Clouds Security Report — AppOmniappomni.com
    security
  12. Salesforce — Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
    official

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