Zoho - The Software Suite I Ended Up Liking

I was searching for an automatic booking app & found so much more!

Although I can technically develop a lot of these automations, it would require a lot of time that I don't have. & besides, why spin the wheel more than necessary. For the needs where it's beneficial to use an already made solution, I've really been enjoying the Zoho apps.

Quick Summary:

While searching for a free/low cost automatic booking tool, I came across Zoho Bookings as an option to review. What I also found, was a company that offers a software suite containing more than 40 online applications to leverage across the business: sales, marketing, accounting, communication, etc. It gives a lot of larger monopolized companies a run for their money.

Here's a list of the Zoho Apps I'm actively using and how much I pay for them:
(Continue reading beyond the summary to learn more about Zoho Apps with Free Tiers)

Zoho Bookings: $0 Not large enough to need a paid tier, using Free Tier
Uses: Automatic Booking Directly on Website
Read a more in depth write up and review of this application here: Free Booking App - Seriously

Zoho Meetings: $1/month Upgraded to Standard Tier to get past the 60min meeting limit in Free Tier
Uses: Consultation Meetings, Client Meetings, Collaboration, Integrated with Zoho Bookings
Read a more in depth write up and review of this application here: Free Virtual Meetings & Webinar App

Zoho Books: $0 Not large enough to need a paid tier, using Free Tier
Uses: Accounting - Invoicing, Expenses, Quotes, Customer Portal, Online Payments
Read a more in depth write up and review of this application here: Free Accounting Application

Zoho Mail: $0 Not large enough to need a pair tier, using Free Tier
Uses: Custom domain email - hello@plantitalabs.com
Read a more in depth write up and review of this application here: Start using a Custom Domain Email for Free

A shoutout to their ALWAYS FREE invoicing app

Zoho Invoice
I ended up using Zoho Books instead, but really loved that they offered this simple, yet impactful business tool for FREE... Always
Read a more in depth write up and review of this application here: Always Free Invoicing App

Need help setting up Zoho Applications? Migrating to Zoho from current tool? Integrating it to with your business? Reach out to us or schedule a free consult with us - plantitalabs.com

Let's Get Into Zoho's Categories and their Apps with Free Tiers

I have not tested all of Zoho's applications mentioned below and there may be other better alternatives out there - this is a general overview of what they offer. Please scroll down to find information on the applications I currently use, tried, and on my list to test.

Sales

CRM - manage the leads to sale lifecycle
Forms - create forms without coding experience
SalesIQ - live chat and more
Bookings - automatic booking
Bigin - ready made templates for CRM needs
Thrive (currently in beta, might test it out) - loyalty and affiliate tools

Marketing

Campaigns - email marketing
Forms - create forms without coding experience
Survey - create surveys and collect responses
Backstage - event management
Webinar - video webinar platform

Service

Desk - customer service helpdesk
Assist - remote access support
Lens - AR remote assistance
FSM - field service management
SalesIQ - live chat and more

Finance

Books - accounting
Invoice - accounting, invoicing specific
Expense - expense reporting
Inventory - stock management and inventory control
Subscriptions - customer subscriptions
Checkout - branded payment pages

Email & Collaboration

Mail - business email
Meeting - virtual meetings
Writer - word processor with collab
Sheet - spreadsheet with collab
Show - slideshow with collab
Notebook - note taking app
Cliq - team communication
Connect - internal centralized intranet
Bookings - automatic booking
Sign - digital signatures
Calendar - online business calendar
Learn - knowledge base and training programs

HR

People - cloud based hr software
Recruit - recruiting platform
Expense - expense tracking
Workerly - staffing end-to-end temp lifecycle
BackToWork - employee safety

Legal

Contracts - contract lifecycle management

Security & IT Management

Creator - low code app builder
Directory - identity and access management
Vault - secure password vault
Site24/7 - ai-powered monitoring

BI & Analytics

Analytics - self-serivce BI and Analytics
DataPrep - data preparation software

Project Management

Projects - project management
Sprints - agile project management
BugTracker - bug tracking system

Developer Platforms

Flow - automate business workflows
Qntrl - workflow orchestration
Creator- low code app builder

Aside form their individual apps, they also offer suites that include a combination of apps to create one solution.

Zoho Suites

CRM Plus - customer experience
Finance Plus - operations and finances
People Plus - HR platform
Workplace - productivity and collaboration
IT Management - align IT to business
Marketing Plus - marketing platform
Zoho One - all in one suite

The Apps I Currently Use

Zoho Bookings

This Application is what led me to Zoho. I was doing some research on free/low cost applications to offer automatic booking for my Free 20min consultation option. I can add as many services as I want as I continue to grow.
I ended up sticking with Zoho Bookings because it offered the best free tier. I am still using the free forever version as my needs haven't grown for the need to jump to a paid tier.
Read a more in depth write up and review of this application here: Free Booking App - Seriously

Zoho Meetings

I looked at others like Zoom and Skype, but those were a bit more on cost that isn't worth my current usage. Google Meets is great, but they have a 60min limit, which is the same for Zoho's free tier.
I opted to pay the $1/month tier so that I don't have to worry about the 60min limit.
Read a more in depth write up and review of this application here: Free Virtual Meetings & Webinar App

Zoho Books

I use this application for my current accounting needs and still within the free tier limits.
I track customersCreate Estimates/Proposals
Create Invoices
Recurring Invoices
Track Vendor purchases & Expenses
Pull reporting
Update documents to client or invoice history
Connect Squareup for fast online payments
Read a more in depth write up and review of this application here: Free Accounting Application

Zoho Mail

I finally got a custom domain email. I was avoiding google because they charge $6/month for their and my needs just aren't there yet.
Using the free tier, I'm able to connect one domain and make multiple emails such as:
hello@plantitalabs.com
nancy@plantitalabs.com
support@plantitalabs.com
Read a more in depth write up and review of this application here: Start using a Custom Domain Email for Free

The Apps I Tried, but Don't Use

CRM
My business needs are not enough to leverage CRM. Books is currently more than enough to fulfill my needs with customer tracking, invoicing, expenses, & more.

Forms
I don't have a need for this as I custom code forms, but a great free alternative to other form builders that charge from the start.

Webinar
Interested, but don't currently have a need for it. Maybe in the future.

Desk
Interested, but don't currently have a need for it. Hopeful to get to a place where my customers need a help desk platform.

Invoice
Loved the simplicity, but wanted to start with more so I went with Books.

Expense
Similarly to Invoice, I have this capability with Books.

Workplace - Writer, Sheet, Show
Already using Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and no need to move to workplace at the moment.

Assist
No need for remote support at the moment.

Projects
Currently using Jira to track projects.

The Apps I Want to Test

Thrive
Loyalty and Affiliate management platform I want to test with a new project.

Campaigns
Email campaigns - I have a few projects in progress that I may test this out with.

Backstage
Would love to work on a project where I can use this tool to test during an event. No need at this time, but keeping it in mind.

SalesIQ
Would love to incorporate a live-chat and chatbox - currently a future potential project. I already have a chat option that starts a conversation with facebook or instagram, but this would be a great upgrade.

Final Thoughts

It's important to remember that there are endless possibilities out there. Zoho may very well not be the solution for your business for a variety of reasons. Maybe you are already established with another app, have another app in mind, or whatever other reason - they are all valid.If you are in search of some technology to help support your business and growth, I definitely recommend checking out Zoho.

Need help with Zoho Apps or any other application set up or integration? Reach out to us!
Plantita Labs

Disclosure: Some of the links above are affiliate links, meaning that at no additional cost to you, I will receive a commission if you click through and make a purchase. I am not paid to write reviews or share my thoughts on a product, software, or tool. Everything shared and opinions expressed are solely my own.