# Do you still need Salesforce? Edition downgrades and lighter CRMs for small teams

> For small sales teams on Salesforce Sales Cloud: how to check edition fit, when Starter or Free Suite is enough, and when a Google Sheets CRM can replace part of it.

Updated 2026-10-13 · https://onelesstool.com/guides/replace-salesforce-small-team

**Typical savings:** a small team on Pro Suite pays $100 per user/month (billed annually). Moving that to a free or spreadsheet CRM saves $100 per user/month, and dropping to Starter Suite saves $75. At the top end, each Max seat removed saves $550/month.

Salesforce Sales Cloud editions range from Free Suite ($0 per user/month) and Starter Suite ($25 per user/month) up to Core ($195), Advanced ($395) and Max ($550 per user/month, billed annually). Small teams often end up on an edition built for much larger organisations. In order of risk:

## Option 1: Move to the edition you actually use

- **Seats.** Remove users who haven't logged in recently. Every Max seat removed saves $550/month.
- **Edition fit.** List the features you rely on (custom objects, automation, forecasting, AI features) and compare them with the edition below on our [Salesforce page](/tools/salesforce). Pro Suite is $100 per user/month and Starter Suite $25.
- **Contract.** Core and above are billed annually, so plan any change around your renewal.

## Option 2: Switch to a lighter CRM

For a team of one to ten tracking contacts and deals, a simpler CRM can be enough. Compare [HubSpot](/tools/hubspot) and [Pipedrive](/tools/pipedrive) plans before deciding. Moving data out of Salesforce is a project, not a switch, so budget time to map fields and automations.

## Option 3: Rebuild only the basics in Google Sheets

For a small service business with a few deals at a time, the [Google Sheets CRM workflow](/workflows/small-business-crm-in-google-sheets) covers contacts, a pipeline and follow-up reminders for $0 extra. It replaces Salesforce only partly. There's no email or calendar sync, no sequences or tracking, and no forecasting.

## When to keep paying

Keep Salesforce if you depend on years of custom objects, automation and integrations, need reporting across many teams with role hierarchies, or need its permissions, field-level security and audit trails. In those cases, Option 1 is where the savings are.