Salesforce Sales Cloud is the most customizable CRM product you can buy, with flows, custom apps and editions that add room as you pay more. A custom CRM built by Black Badger ranks third, and it becomes the better answer when the list of things you need to change is longer than the list of things you would leave alone.
The ranking, entry by entry
1 Salesforce Sales Cloud
Best for companies that will pay for depth and staff an admin team
Salesforce is first on a list about customization because it gives you the most room. Flows, custom apps and a range of editions let an admin team move stages, fields and automation a long way from the default. More people for hire know how to do it than for any other product here. The room is sold by edition. Core is billed per user, annually, and Advanced and Max cost more.
Watch for. Pro Suite lists 5 flows and 1 custom app per org, so it is not the edition for a customization project. A Full Sandbox is an extra purchase on Core.
- How it charges
- Per user, by edition, with paid add-ons
- Main limit
- Pro Suite caps flows at 5 per org. Core and above bring Flex Credits.
2 Creatio CRM
Best for companies that want a low-code platform with CRM on top
Creatio is second. Where Salesforce is a CRM you configure, Creatio is a low-code platform you build on, with the Sales app added for a per-user fee. That makes it the most open product here for a company that wants its own workflows and has people to design them. The Growth plan lists two environments and 50K executed process elements a month, and Enterprise lists three environments and unlimited process runs.
Watch for. New customers face a minimum yearly purchase on a standard three-year term, so this is not a platform to try for a quarter.
- How it charges
- Per user for the platform, plus a per-user fee for each CRM app
- Main limit
- New customers have a minimum yearly purchase on a standard 3-year term.
3 Custom build by Black Badger
Best for companies whose list of needed changes keeps getting longer
A custom CRM ranks third on a list written for companies that do not plan to build, and we put it here on purpose. Black Badger publishes this guide and builds custom CRMs. Not wanting to build usually means not wanting to hire developers or run a software project, and having a system built for you is a different thing. If your change list covers most of the product, you are already paying for a build, only inside a vendor's limits.
Watch for. If two or three changes would make a product fit, configure the product. A build starts with discovery and a written scope and is for a process worth owning.
- How it charges
- One-time build scoped in writing, then running costs such as hosting
- Main limit
- Needs a scoping call first, and suits companies of 50 or more employees
What a custom build involves, and how to ask about one
4 Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales
Best for microsoft companies that will license Power Apps for custom work
Dynamics 365 Sales ranks fourth. Sales Enterprise lists advanced customization and custom apps, is billed per user and paid yearly, and costs less than the Salesforce edition it competes with. It sits under Creatio here because the customization has a second price. The pricing page says custom apps require Power Apps and additional licenses, so how far you can reshape it depends on what else you license.
Watch for. Microsoft describes Sales Professional as core sales force automation with limited customization and automation. Start your pricing at Sales Enterprise.
- How it charges
- Per user, paid yearly, by edition
- Main limit
- Professional is limited in customization. Custom apps need Power Apps licenses.
5 Zoho CRM
Best for companies that want custom modules at a low per-user price
Zoho CRM is fifth. Its Standard edition, billed per user, already lists custom modules and multiple pipelines, and Professional adds process management, CPQ and custom portals. That is a lot of room to customize for the price. It ranks fifth because the controls you need to customize safely, a developer sandbox and an approval process, are listed on the Enterprise edition only.
Watch for. The pricing page shows no storage or workflow rule caps. Ask Zoho for both in writing before you plan a heavily customized setup.
- How it charges
- Per user, by edition, with a free edition for 3 users
- Main limit
- Free is capped at 3 users and 5,000 API calls a day. Sandbox is Enterprise.
6 HubSpot Sales Hub
Best for teams that want modest customization and an easy daily tool
HubSpot Sales Hub ranks sixth. It is on this list as the product to choose when you want a little customization and a lot of ease. The limits are counts set by plan. Professional lists 300 workflows and 100 custom reports, and Enterprise lists 1,000 workflows and 500 custom reports. Starter lists 50 workflows with restricted triggers and actions, which is too little for a company reshaping its process.
Watch for. Professional and Enterprise each carry a required one-time onboarding fee. Sequences, lead scoring and custom reports are not on Starter.
- How it charges
- Per seat, by plan, plus a one-time onboarding fee on higher plans
- Main limit
- Starter has no sequences or custom reports. Onboarding fee on Professional.
7 Pipedrive
Best for sales teams with one defined process and light custom fields
Pipedrive is seventh, and it is here to mark the other end of the range. It is a simple pipeline tool for a defined sales process, and its customization is counted. Custom fields per company are 30 on Lite, 100 on Growth, 300 on Premium and 500 on Ultimate, and active automations run from 50 on Growth to 250 on Ultimate. A company that needs deep custom structure across departments will reach those limits fast.
Watch for. Lite has no automations at all. If your shortlist includes Pipedrive, count your custom fields and automations against the plan table first.
- How it charges
- Per seat, billed yearly, with paid add-ons
- Main limit
- Lite has no automations. Growth caps active automations at 50 per company.
How this list was ranked
We ranked for a company of 50 or more employees that has decided to buy and wants the product it can reshape the furthest. The test was how much of a specific process each option can hold, at which plan, and what the vendor publishes about the limits on that plan.
Where a vendor counts its customization, such as flows per org, workflows per plan or custom fields per company, we used the published count. Where a vendor publishes no cap, the entry says so.
Questions buyers ask
Which CRM can be customized the most?
Among products, Salesforce Sales Cloud on the Core edition or above can be customized the most, followed by Creatio, which is a low-code platform with CRM apps on top. Beyond both sits a custom CRM, which has no template to customize because it is written from your process.
What is the difference between configuring and customizing a CRM?
Configuring is changing what the vendor lets you change, such as stages, fields and workflows. Customizing in the heavier sense is adding things the product did not ship with, such as your own apps and logic. The second kind is where edition limits, extra licenses and consulting costs appear.
How much customization is too much?
Customization is too much when most of what your team touches each day is something you added, because the product underneath is doing little for its seat price. That is the point to compare the yearly license bill with a system you own. Until then, a product is usually the cheaper route.