monday CRM vs. Bigin by Zoho – CRM Comparison 2026

Two CRMs for different ambitions

Bigin by Zoho was built as a deliberately stripped-down CRM for small teams and solopreneurs – cheap, simple, pipeline-centric. monday CRM is a flexible platform that connects sales with operations, project management and service.

Both target teams that don't want an enterprise monster. But the approach couldn't be more different.

Companies at a glance

Metric	monday.com	Zoho (Bigin)
Founded	2012	1996 (Bigin: 2020)
Headquarters	Tel Aviv, Israel	Chennai, India
Employees	~2,200	~15,000
Revenue (est.)	~$1.2B	~$2B (Zoho total)
Customers	225,000+	100M+ (Zoho total)
Stock / Status	NASDAQ (MNDY)	Private (profitable, no VC)
CRM products	monday CRM	Zoho CRM, Bigin, CRM Plus

Bigin is Zoho's answer to the question: "What if Zoho CRM is too much?" – a deliberately reduced product for small teams with simple sales processes.

Bigin by Zoho – the mini CRM

Strengths

• Extremely affordable: Starting at €7/user/month (Express) – one of the cheapest CRMs on the market
• Free plan: Up to 1 user with 500 contacts – a real entry point, not a trial
• Simplicity: Deliberately few features, quick setup, minimal learning curve
• Pipeline-focused: Clear deal stages, drag & drop, activity tracking
• Built-in telephony: Calls directly from the CRM – remarkable for a tool at this price point
• Mobile-first: The mobile app is surprisingly good and suitable for field teams
• Zoho ecosystem: Upgrade path to Zoho CRM or Zoho One when needed

Weaknesses

• Deliberately limited: Maximum 5 pipelines, limited automations, few custom fields – that's by design, not a bug
• No project management: After the deal closes, it's over – handoff to operations is manual
• Reporting: Only basic reports, no flexible dashboards or cross-pipeline analytics
• Automations: Only simple workflows – complex if-then logic not possible
• Integrations: Mainly Zoho-internal, third-party connections are limited
• Scaling limits: From 10–15 users or more complex processes, Bigin hits its ceiling

monday CRM – the scalable platform

Strengths

• Sales + Operations: From lead to project handoff – everything on one platform
• Maximum flexibility: Custom fields, views, automations and dashboards without rigid limits
• Automations on every plan: Workflows, notifications and status changes via no-code
• monday AI: Email templates, summaries, formula assistant and content creation right in the board
• 200+ integrations: Slack, Gmail, Outlook, HubSpot, Zoom and via Make/Zapier virtually anything
• Dashboards: Real-time dashboards across multiple boards – pipeline, team performance, forecast at a glance
• EU Data Residency: GDPR-compliant with EU server location

Weaknesses

• Higher entry price: Starting at €12/user/month, minimum 3 seats – more expensive than Bigin for 1–2 people
• More setup required: More options mean more initial configuration effort
• No free plan: 14-day trial instead of a permanent free version

Feature comparison

Feature	Bigin by Zoho	monday CRM
Pipeline management	✅ Simple, max. 5	✅ Unlimited, flexible
Lead management	✅ Basic	✅ With scoring
Email integration	✅ Basic	✅ Gmail & Outlook, tracking
Automations	⚠️ Very limited	✅ On all plans
Custom fields	⚠️ Limited	✅ Unlimited
Dashboards	⚠️ Basic reports	✅ Excellent
Project management	❌	✅ Native
Service management	❌	✅ monday Service
AI features	❌	✅ monday AI
API	✅ REST	✅ GraphQL + REST
Integrations	⚠️ Mainly Zoho	✅ 200+ native + Make/Zapier
Mobile app	✅ Very good	✅ Good
EU Data Residency	⚠️ EU hosting possible	✅ Guaranteed
Telephony	✅ Built-in	✅ Via integrations

Pricing comparison 2026

Bigin by Zoho

Plan	Price/user/month	Highlights
Free	€0	1 user, 500 contacts, 1 pipeline
Express	€7	50,000 contacts, 3 pipelines
Premier	€12	100,000 contacts, 5 pipelines, automations

monday CRM

Plan	Price/user/month	Highlights
Basic	€12	Contacts, deals, dashboards
Standard	€17	Email, automations, quotes
Pro	€28	Forecasting, sales analytics
Enterprise	On request	SSO, HIPAA, advanced permissions

Note: Bigin is significantly cheaper for 1–3 users. From 5+ users with growing requirements, the price advantage is offset by the feature limitations.

When Bigin is the better choice

• You're a micro-team (1–5 people) with a simple sales process
• Your budget is under €10/user/month and that's non-negotiable
• You need a quick setup without configuration overhead
• Your requirements are stable – you know you won't need more
• You're already using other Zoho tools and want to stay in the ecosystem

When monday CRM is the better choice

• Your team is growing and you need a CRM that scales with you
• You want to unify sales and operations on one platform
• Automation matters to you – even without a premium surcharge
• You work with external tools (Slack, Google, Jira) and need seamless integrations
• After deal close, you want seamless handoff to delivery
• GDPR and EU Data Residency are hard requirements
• You want a CRM you won't outgrow

Avoiding the upgrade trap

A common pattern: Teams start with Bigin, grow – and then have to migrate to Zoho CRM or another system. That means:

• Data export and re-import
• Setting up new workflows
• Retraining the team
• Weeks of lost productivity

monday CRM avoids this problem because the platform grows with your requirements. From the first deal to enterprise setup – no system switch needed.

Conclusion

Bigin is an honest, affordable CRM for teams that know they won't need more. For freelancers, solo founders or micro-teams with a stable sales process, it's a solid choice.

monday CRM is the strategically better investment for any team that wants to grow. The flexibility, integrations and the connection of sales with the rest of the organization quickly make up for the higher entry price.

Criterion	Winner
Price (1–3 users)	Bigin
Price (5+ users)	monday CRM
Simplicity	Bigin
Flexibility	monday CRM
Scalability	monday CRM
Automation	monday CRM
Sales + Operations	monday CRM
GDPR	monday CRM
Mobile app	Tie

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Next steps

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