Salesforce is the world’s most powerful CRM. It is also built for every industry - which means solar companies spend months and tens of thousands of dollars configuring it before it does what SolarCrm does out of the box on day one.
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Salesforce is the right choice for enterprise companies that need a single CRM across multiple business units. For solar companies that need BOQ, project milestones, inventory, vendor procurement and field crew management - SolarCrm is operational on day one at a fraction of the cost.
An honest breakdown of what each platform does and does not do for solar companies.
| Feature | SolarCrm Solar-first | Salesforce Enterprise CRM |
|---|---|---|
| CRM & Sales | ||
Lead & deal management Pipeline, stages, tasks | Solar-specific stages, watcher, tasks, source attribution - ready out of the box | Fully customisable - but requires 40–80 hours of admin to configure for solar workflows |
Solar site survey Structured field assessment | Digital site survey form linked to deal record - feeds BOQ generation | No native site survey module. Requires custom objects or third-party app |
BOQ generation Auto from system size | Auto-generate BOQ from system size using your product catalogue. Internal approval workflow | No BOQ module. Would require custom development or AppExchange apps ($$$) |
Proposal creation Branded solar proposal | Auto-generate branded proposal from approved BOQ. E-signature included at no extra cost | Requires CPQ add-on ($75/user/mo extra) or third-party proposal tool. E-sign via DocuSign add-on |
| Project & Operations | ||
Project milestones Solar phase tracking | Auto-create project on deal won. Milestones with tasks, dependencies, billing triggers, crew assignment | No native project management. Requires Salesforce Industries (Energy & Utilities) - enterprise pricing only |
Inventory management Multi-warehouse control | Multi-warehouse inventory, BOQ-linked reservations, consumption tracking | No inventory module. Requires third-party integration |
Vendor & procurement Full PO cycle | Vendor database, RFQ, PO, delivery, payment and credit management in one module | No procurement module. Requires custom development or third-party app |
Mobile field app Geo attendance + tasks | Purpose-built field app with geo check-in, task updates, photos, expense logging | Salesforce mobile for CRM updates only - not built for field installation crews |
| Finance & Billing | ||
Milestone billing Auto-triggered invoicing | Invoice auto-created on milestone completion - zero manual triggers | No native invoicing. Requires Salesforce Billing ($$$) or integration with QuickBooks/Xero |
Multi-currency Global billing | Full multi-currency invoicing included on all plans | Multi-currency available but requires additional configuration and Enterprise edition |
| Platform & Cost | ||
Setup time Time to first value | Most teams operational in 2–5 days with free onboarding session | Typical Salesforce solar implementation: 3–6 months, $20,000–$100,000 implementation cost |
Total cost All-in pricing | $39–$89/user/month - all solar modules included. No implementation fees | $25–$300+/user/month base + CPQ, Billing, Service Cloud add-ons + implementation cost |
Solar specificity Industry fit | Built exclusively for solar. No configuration required for solar workflows | Built for all industries. Solar companies must configure and customise everything from scratch |
Support Onboarding & migration | Free onboarding, free data migration, dedicated specialist | Standard email support. Solar-specific expertise requires a certified Salesforce partner (billable) |
Salesforce requires CPQ ($75/user/month extra) plus significant configuration to approximate BOQ generation. SolarCrm auto-generates a full Bill of Quantities from system size on day one - no add-ons, no configuration.
A Salesforce implementation for solar typically requires a certified partner, 3–6 months of configuration and $20,000–$100,000 in professional services. SolarCrm onboarding is free and takes 2–5 days.
Salesforce has no native project milestone management. Solar EPCs need milestone tracking with task assignments, crew scheduling, dependency rules and milestone-triggered invoicing - none of which Salesforce provides natively.
Solar companies managing panels, inverters and cables across warehouses cannot do this in Salesforce without significant custom development. SolarCrm includes multi-warehouse inventory and full vendor procurement natively.
Salesforce mobile is designed for CRM updates by sales staff. It is not designed for field technicians who need geo check-in, task completion, site photos, expense logging and service ticket management from a job site.
When you add Salesforce base + CPQ + Billing + Service Cloud + implementation fees, the total cost for a 10-person solar team is typically $3,000–$8,000/month. SolarCrm Growth plan for the same team is $890/month - everything included.
We spent six months and $60,000 implementing Salesforce and it still does not have a BOQ module
SolarCrm includes BOQ auto-generation, internal approval and branded proposal generation on day one - zero configuration, zero implementation cost.
Our Salesforce admin costs more than our SolarCrm subscription would
SolarCrm is designed to be self-managed by a non-technical team. No Salesforce admin required. Your operations manager can configure the product catalogue and pipeline stages in one afternoon.
We had to buy CPQ, Service Cloud and Billing add-ons and it still does not do what we need for solar
SolarCrm is a single flat subscription. Every solar module - leads, BOQ, projects, inventory, vendors, invoicing, tickets, HRMS - is included. No add-ons. No surprises.
Salesforce is great for our corporate CRM but useless for our solar field crews
The SolarCrm mobile app is purpose-built for installation crews. Geo check-in, task completion, site photos, expense logging - all from a smartphone on-site.
We ran a full Salesforce evaluation for 4 months. The implementation quote came back at $85,000 and 5 months. Our COO asked whether there was a purpose-built solar option. We found SolarCrm, ran a trial and were fully live in a week. Everything Salesforce would have taken months to configure - BOQ, milestones, inventory, field app - was just there.
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Solar-specific EPC software vs a general contractor tool.
Solar workflow management vs a marketing-first CRM.
Structured solar operations vs manual spreadsheet management.
Solar operations platform vs a solar design tool.
No implementation fees. No configuration months. No add-ons. Just solar - operational in a week.
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