At KodeThat, a custom CRM costs ₹70,000* for up to 5 users or ₹1,50,000* for unlimited users, paid once. Hosting, support after the included months and extras like Tally sync come on top. For a 10-person team, that build can cost less over three years than per-user Zoho CRM, but below about 5 users, or with a sales process that is still changing, Zoho is usually the cheaper answer.
Our earlier post and the CRM development page for Navi Mumbai cover whether a custom CRM suits the way you sell. This one is only about money: what moves the price, what our two CRM plans include, and how a build compares with a subscription over three years.
What decides the cost of a custom CRM?
Users and roles
On our price list the user count decides between the two plans: CRM Starter is for up to 5 users and CRM Pro has no limit. Roles add more work than headcount. A CRM where everyone sees everything is simple. Once a branch manager should see only their branch, or a telecaller shouldn't see deal values, every screen and report has to check who is asking. CRM Pro includes role-based access control. CRM Starter doesn't list it.
Modules
Leads, a pipeline and follow-up reminders are the core, and both plans have them. Each module after that is its own piece of work. A WhatsApp alert when a lead comes in is small and is part of Starter. Email and WhatsApp integration, so the team can send follow-ups from inside the CRM, is part of Pro. Neither plan lists invoices or Tally sync, so we quote those after the call. Invoices need GST fields, numbering rules and a PDF your accountant accepts. Tally usually runs on a computer in your office, so syncing with it is a separate job with its own testing.
Integrations
Every outside system the CRM talks to adds work: your website form, ad lead forms, property portals, Razorpay, Google Sheets. Most of the effort goes into what happens when the other side fails, so leads don't vanish when an API is down for an hour. CRM Pro includes API access, so other tools can read from and write to it later.
Mobile app or web only
If your team sits at desks, a web CRM is enough. If field agents log site visits from their phones, a mobile app means one more thing to build, test on real phones and publish to the stores. CRM Pro includes a mobile app for field agents. CRM Starter doesn't list one.
Moving your existing data
Teams usually come to us with leads in Excel sheets, an old CRM export and a few phones full of WhatsApp chats. Moving the sheets is easy when they're clean. The work grows when the same customer appears three times with three spellings of the phone number, or when the status column means something different in each sheet. Send us a sample sheet before the quote and we can say how much cleaning it needs.
Hosting and upkeep
A custom CRM needs a server, backups, security updates and someone to call when something breaks. CRM Pro includes 6 months of support. After that, support is quoted separately, because a CRM nobody changes costs far less to look after than one that gets new features every month. The server itself is a small cost. For scale, DigitalOcean's Basic droplet with 2 GiB of memory is listed at $12 a month, before backups and taxes. We use that figure as an example only; the right server depends on your data and users.
What do KodeThat's CRM plans include?
These are starting prices from our pricing page. Your written quote confirms the final price, taxes and timeline before any work starts.
CRM Starter, ₹70,000*
- Lead & contact management
- Sales pipeline (Kanban)
- Follow-up reminders
- Basic reporting
- Up to 5 users
- WhatsApp notification alerts
- Delivery in 5 weeks
CRM Pro, ₹1,50,000*
- Everything in Starter
- Unlimited users
- Custom workflows & automation
- Role-based access control
- Email & WhatsApp integration
- Advanced analytics & dashboards
- Mobile app for field agents
- API access
- 6 months support
More detail on how we build and hand over a CRM is on the CRM development service page.
Custom CRM or Zoho: what do 10 users pay in 3 years?
This is an illustration, so here are its assumptions. Ten people use the CRM every day for three years. Zoho is paid yearly, which is its cheaper option, at the India prices on its pricing page. Prices stay as they are today, which they rarely do. A 10-person team is past CRM Starter's 5-user limit, so the custom row uses CRM Pro.
| Option | Published price | 10 users, 36 months |
|---|---|---|
| Zoho CRM Standard, billed yearly | ₹800 per user a month | ₹2,88,000 plus GST |
| Zoho CRM Professional, billed yearly | ₹1,400 per user a month | ₹5,04,000 plus GST |
| Salesforce Starter Suite | $25 per user a month | $9,000, priced in US dollars |
| KodeThat CRM Pro | ₹1,50,000* once, with 6 months of support | ₹1,50,000*, plus a server (about $432 at the $12 droplet rate) and support from month 7, which we quote |
Zoho's figures are licence fees only, and Zoho's page says GST is charged on top. Salesforce publishes its India page in US dollars, so we kept it in dollars and didn't convert it. The custom row is a one-time build plus running costs, and we haven't added the dollar and rupee figures together because exchange rates and hosting choices move them. We also haven't compared features line by line. Zoho Professional and CRM Pro don't do the same things, so the table only compares cost.
Two costs apply to every row. If you send WhatsApp messages through the WhatsApp Business Platform, Meta charges per message for the messages your business sends, at its own India rates, whichever CRM sends them. And setting any CRM up takes your team's time, for data cleaning and training, which no price list shows.
Per-user pricing grows every time you hire. A custom CRM costs the most while it is being built and much less after that, unless you keep adding features. At 10 users the licence fees for three years add up to more than CRM Pro's build price. At 3 users the comparison flips, for the reason in our take below.
Who owns the data, and does the DPDP Act matter?
With a custom CRM, the database sits on a server you control, and you can export all of it whenever you like. With Zoho, the data sits on Zoho's servers under Zoho's terms. Either way, the customer names and phone numbers in it are personal data under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, and your business answers for them. The DPDP Rules were notified in November 2025 with an 18-month phased timeline, according to the government's press release. In a custom build, consent records, data export and deletion on request are features someone has to build and pay for. In Zoho, check what your edition already covers. We haven't audited Zoho's DPDP features ourselves, so we can't tell you how far they go.
Our take: when should you not build a custom CRM?
Sayed Zaid builds the server side of our CRMs and Ravinder Kumar builds the screens, so a custom build is what we sell. In these cases we'd still tell you not to buy one.
- Three people or fewer will use it. Zoho's pricing page says its free edition is free forever for 3 users and includes leads, deals, workflows, reports and a mobile app. No paid build beats that price.
- Your sales process is still changing. A custom CRM fixes your current process in code, and every change after launch is paid work. Run Zoho for six months to a year, write down where it gets in your way, and bring that list to us.
- You need it next week. CRM Starter lists delivery in 5 weeks, and Pro has more to build. A subscription works the day you sign up.
- Nobody will own it after launch. A custom CRM needs a person on your side who decides what changes, and a budget for support once the included months end. If neither exists, a SaaS vendor's support desk is the safer choice.
Our decision for a small Navi Mumbai business: up to about 5 users, start on Zoho's free or Standard edition and spend nothing on a build. Past roughly 8 to 10 users, with WhatsApp follow-ups or Tally at the centre of how you work, a custom CRM usually costs less over three years and fits better. Between 5 and 8 users, get a quote and price Zoho for the same three years before you decide. We say usually because your quote decides it. If the numbers don't favour a build for your team, we'll tell you on the call.
Where these numbers come from
- KodeThat's CRM Starter and CRM Pro prices and features: our pricing page, read from the same price list as this post, 3 November 2026.
- Zoho CRM Standard and Professional per-user prices in rupees, billed yearly, the free edition for 3 users, and the note that GST is charged on top: Zoho CRM pricing, India prices, checked 3 November 2026.
- Salesforce Starter Suite at $25 per user a month, billed monthly or annually: Salesforce Sales Cloud pricing, India page, checked 3 November 2026.
- DigitalOcean Basic droplet, 2 GiB memory, $12 a month: DigitalOcean droplet pricing, checked 3 November 2026.
- WhatsApp Business Platform charges per message, with an India rate card: Meta's WhatsApp pricing docs, checked 3 November 2026.
- DPDP Rules notified with an 18-month phased timeline: Press Information Bureau release, checked 3 November 2026.
