Salesforce Essentials vs. Scratchpad: Comparing Best CRM Solutions 2026

Overview: Salesforce Essentials and Scratchpad as CRM Category solutions.

Salesforce Essentials and Scratchpad target CRM needs but cater to different audiences and objectives. Salesforce Essentials shines with its comprehensive capabilities in managing customer relationships and sales documentation, while Scratchpad focuses more on forecasting and pipeline management. Both offer solid support, but Salesforce Essentials is geared more towards larger enterprises across varied industries, making it suitable for complex organizational needs. Scratchpad serves enterprises with a focus on software and IT, aligning with businesses seeking streamlined workflow management and forecasting.

Salesforce Essentials: Salesforce-essentials offers a powerful CRM solution for small businesses to enhance sales processes and stay competitive. Control of sales processes and business success is facilitated.

Scratchpad: Scratchpad, the AI-powered workspace for sales teams, eliminates stale spreadsheets and process struggles. Loved by sales teams with 1,400 reviews and a 4.8-star rating on G2.

Top use cases: Salesforce Essentials vs Scratchpad

Use cases tied to Salesforce Essentials and Scratchpad from verified data sources. Click any use case for supporting evidences.

Salesforce Essentials
Scratchpad
Shared by both · Use cases
Salesforce Essentials Scratchpad

Top Capabilities: Salesforce Essentials vs Scratchpad

Lengths: relative topic prominence (square-root scale) · Labels: comparison split. Click any item for supporting evidences.

Salesforce Essentials
Shared
Scratchpad
Shared by both · Topics

Salesforce Essentials only
Scratchpad only

Deployed Market Segments: Salesforce Essentials vs Scratchpad

Share of peer evidence by company size for Salesforce Essentials and Scratchpad. Each product segments add up to 100%. Click any segment for supporting evidence.

Salesforce Essentials 100%
Scratchpad 100%
Salesforce Essentials Scratchpad
Key Capabilities Supported Salesforce Essentials excels in engagement and helpdesk management, highlighting its role in robust customer interaction and sales documentation. → Scratchpad offers strong pipeline and workflow management capabilities, focusing on enhancing operational efficiency and sales forecasting. →
Business Goals Salesforce Essentials primarily supports enhancing customer relationships and acquiring new clients, aligning with strategic growth and customer retention. → Scratchpad aids in scaling best practices and increasing revenue, aligning with businesses focused on optimizing internal operations and sales enhancements. →
Core Features Salesforce Essentials features extensive data integration and custom reporting, supporting comprehensive data management needs. → Scratchpad's standout features include easy data import and custom reports, catering to businesses prioritizing streamlined data workflows. →
Vendor Support Salesforce Essentials offers extensive 24/7 support and multiple communication channels, aligning with the demands of large scale enterprise operations. → Scratchpad provides robust training and onboarding, with support channels tailored for enterprises focusing on effective user adoption and integration. →
Segments and Industries Salesforce Essentials mainly serves large enterprises and diverse industries, including manufacturing and IT, reflecting its adaptability to complex business needs. → Scratchpad caters primarily to the software and IT sectors, focusing on enterprises seeking refined management of sales processes. →
Operational Alignment Salesforce Essentials integrates seamlessly into large organization workflows, meeting complex and varied operational demands. → Scratchpad aligns with enterprises looking for streamlined operational workflows, benefiting those focused on pipeline structure and sales forecasting. →
lightning

Applying your context and needs changes the comparison

Salesforce Essentials and Scratchpad: Best activities based on customer satisfaction


Salesforce Essentials in Action: Unique Activities

What makes Salesforce Essentials ideal for Engagement Management?
Salesforce Essentials Engagement Management provides tools for managing customer interactions, tracking progress, and personalizing follow-ups. The system integrates with other CRM and communication platforms to provide a complete picture of customer engagement. However, the system may require multiple steps for follow-up actions.
"...Pretty intuitive and has a lot of features to make following up with clients and capturing notes very easy and reliable...." Peer review by Consultant
What benefits does Salesforce Essentials offer for Helpdesk Management?
Salesforce Essentials provides a basic cloud-based helpdesk solution for small and medium-sized businesses. It integrates with Salesforce and offers features such as advanced search, mass actions, and easy export. While the platform offers a simple solution, it has limited capabilities and customization options.
"...Help Desk functionality, such as ticket tracking, hosting knowledgebase, ticket routing, social media integration, and API would be great, but only if they work as advertised, which they do not necessarily do...." Peer review by Jonathan C., Medical Practice
What benefits does Salesforce Essentials offer for Sales Document Management?
Salesforce Essentials enables sales document management by allowing users to store, access, and track contracts and proposals. It also facilitates the tracking of conversations with prospects and commitments. Salesforce Essentials offers limited customization and support.
"...Knowledge Base Self Service Portal Multiple Service Level Agreement policies Automations - Ticket routing, scenario automations Multi-channel support, including Facebook & Twitter Community Portal with Idea Management & Voting Multi-product/multi-brand Support Integrations: Freshbooks, Google Apps, Harvest, CapsuleCRM Multi-language & multi-time zone support Satisfaction Surveys Leaderboard & gamification Support Channels..." Peer review by Anoosha D., ISR, Computer Software
How does Salesforce Essentials facilitate Knowledge Management?
Salesforce Essentials offers knowledge management features that include an integrated knowledge base, automated responses, and case filtering. These features allow for efficient knowledge sharing and self-service capabilities. nThe platform’s knowledge base lacks advanced customization options.
"...Knowledge Base Self Service Portal Multiple Service Level Agreement policies Automations - Ticket routing, scenario automations Multi-channel support, including Facebook & Twitter Community Portal with Idea Management & Voting Multi-product/multi-brand Support Integrations: Freshbooks, Google Apps, Harvest, CapsuleCRM Multi-language & multi-time zone support Satisfaction Surveys Leaderboard & gamification Support Channels..." Peer review by Anoosha D., ISR, Computer Software
What Are the key features of Salesforce Essentials for Contact List Management?
Salesforce Essentials facilitates contact list management by providing comprehensive customer profiles, including contact information, history, and past interactions. This enables users to track and nurture leads, manage opportunities, and close deals. The platform's limitations include the difficulty of exporting simple contact lists to Excel.
"...It has the ideal measure of itemized data to monitor your clients, contacts, and pipeline openings...." Peer review by Guy J, Customer Support Specialist, Retail

Scratchpad in Action: Unique Activities

How can Scratchpad optimize your Forecasting Workflow?
Scratchpad streamlines sales forecasting by simplifying pipeline management and opportunity updates. This tool allows for efficient adjustments to forecasts, saving time and improving accuracy. As a result, sales teams experience increased productivity and a cleaner CRM system.
"...From one single tab, I can update tasks, SFDC fields, forecasting, and take notes, without ever having to login to Salesforce...." Peer review from Awardco
What solutions does Scratchpad provide for Workflow Management?
Scratchpad helps users manage their workflows by providing a central location for notes, tasks, spreadsheets, and processes. Users can customize the platform to fit their specific needs and easily integrate it with existing systems like Salesforce. While Scratchpad offers a comprehensive workflow management solution, it currently lacks the ability to send emails directly through Salesloft.
"...It streamlines many workflows, by bringing my notes, multiple reports, and tabs into one easy-to-use page...." Peer review from Construction
How does Scratchpad facilitate Pipeline Management?
Scratchpad helps sales professionals manage their pipelines efficiently. nIt streamlines tasks and notes, centralizing information and improving forecasting accuracy. nThis leads to better pipeline visibility for management and saves time for sales teams.
"...During calls, I'm taking crucial customer notes that allow me to stay organized, move deals through and accurately report my pipeline to sales management...." Peer review by Joshua J.
What Are the key features of Scratchpad for Training & Onboarding?
Scratchpad offers a comprehensive onboarding experience that is tailored to the user's needs. The onboarding process is designed to help new users quickly learn how to use the platform effectively. Scratchpad's customer success team is dedicated to assisting users throughout the onboarding process.
"..." It's so easy to use, navigate, and onboard with...." Peer review by Megan M., Renewal & Expansion Manager, Classy

Integrations

Ecosystem partners each product commonly connects with.

News

Latest Salesforce Essentials news

Salesforce aims to be your enterprise AI harness, touts AIforce

Salesforce introduces AIforce, an enterprise AI harness designed to integrate data and workflows with AI agents without additional integrations. AIforce aims to unify Salesforce's platform layers, including data, applications, and semantics, enhancing enterprise transformation. The platform features zero data retention and packaged agents for industry-specific tasks.

25/08/2026 - source