5 ms·

Ask HN: Feelings about Zoho. Go

4 points by taurusnoises 5y ago

Would love to hear what your feelings are about Zoho as an alternative to, say, Google. Some criteria that would be interesting to me would be: 1. General take 2. Is it any less creepy than surveillance capitalist giants? 3. How does Zoho stand up against some of the more independent, pro-privacy platforms you're into? 4. Anything else you wanna share...

delgaudm 5y ago
I'm a solo business, one guy, no employees, so my take might be different than others with dozens or hundreds of employees. But I absolutely swear by Zoho One - it's been a lifesaver for my business. With One you pay one license that covers pretty much every product Zoho Offers. They also have really good onboarding and have treated me just like any other company. Personalized Support, actual onboarding calls. The best part is every app is already integrated because it's all Zoho in the back. So for less than $400 US a year I use: - Website (comparable to weebly) - CRM (not salesforce level, but more than I need for small business, and it is customizable and you can code to it) - Email (comparable to Gmail, but feels more like fastmail) - Paid Appointments (Similar to VCita, but totally integrates with CRM) - Bookkeeping (Similar to Quickbooks, but integrated with CRM) - Webforms (similar to formspree but...) - Web meetings (Similar to Zoom, but not quite as good) - Webinars - Help Desk software - E-Signatures (Similar to Docusign) - Email Marketing (like mailchimp) - Project management There is way more, lots of stuff I don't need yet, like HR, transactional email, remote support, Augmented Reality support, recruiting, a no-code platform, contract management... just tons. So, yeah, I'm a fan. I don't know how they compare to anyone else with respect to your 2) and 3), but I'd be hard pressed to imagine they're any worse.
- taurusnoises 5y ago
  This is interesting. I'm doing some side research for the girlfriend who runs a team and is in the market for robust and customizable project mgmt software (unhappy with Notion, Basecamp is too small), but now that I'm playing around with it, I'm curious about how it might work as a Google substitute for myself as well. Also, I use Mailchimp for my weekly newsletter, and if their systems is good, that's another bonus.
YXNjaGVyZWdlbgo 5y ago
It's great. You are a customer and not the product. There is no advertising. It is business focused but you can just use it as a private person by ignoring a lot of functionality and still have a great package with online office suite, gdrive replacement, a good note taking app. Data ingress and egress are amazing and without artificial borders. I like it and I probably only use 20% of the functionality. For privacy their statement is pretty clear. https://www.zoho.com/privacy-commitment.html https://www.zoho.com/privacy-commitment.html Personally I switched from fastmail to zoho because I host emails for part of my family and zoho offers exchange compatibility so the setup is just as easy as setting up a google mail account on iphone and androids. No fiddling around with cal and carddav.
- taurusnoises 5y ago
  Thanks for the insights and the privacy link.
kordlessagain 5y ago
Allegedly, they copied Zoto's original logo and name, by changing a single letter. Their "borrowed" logo is (allegedly) the same today, same color scheme and everything. I received quite a few messages from old coworkers and friends when Zoho started running ads in the Bay area. Zoto's logo was created by an ad agency which is now located in New Braunfels, Texas. Ironically, the owner just emailed me a few days ago when the news hit that Zoho was opening an office in New Braunfels. I decided not to pursue litigation, but it may be worth mentioning regarding trusting them, or not! It was certainly irritating at the time!
- YXNjaGVyZWdlbgo 5y ago
  Can you link to the Zoto company? Google doesn't really bring anything at all.
- lewisjoe 5y ago
  I'm searching the internet for Zoto and nothing is turning up. Can you point me to something that can verify the claim?
willcipriano 5y ago
Reminds me of Zombo[0]. [0]https://www.zombo.com/ https://www.zombo.com/
- taurusnoises 5y ago
  100%
Mandatum 5y ago
Security and privacy are a nightmare. I wouldn't trust anything that requires heavy levels of compliance. However if you're a private individual or a startup, I'd go all-in until you either outgrow them or can afford nicer things. Zoho user for 5+ years here.

4 points by taurusnoises 5y ago

delgaudm 5y ago

I'm a solo business, one guy, no employees, so my take might be different than others with dozens or hundreds of employees. But I absolutely swear by Zoho One - it's been a lifesaver for my business. With One you pay one license that covers pretty much every product Zoho Offers. They also have really good onboarding and have treated me just like any other company. Personalized Support, actual onboarding calls. The best part is every app is already integrated because it's all Zoho in the back. So for less than $400 US a year I use: - Website (comparable to weebly) - CRM (not salesforce level, but more than I need for small business, and it is customizable and you can code to it) - Email (comparable to Gmail, but feels more like fastmail) - Paid Appointments (Similar to VCita, but totally integrates with CRM) - Bookkeeping (Similar to Quickbooks, but integrated with CRM) - Webforms (similar to formspree but...) - Web meetings (Similar to Zoom, but not quite as good) - Webinars - Help Desk software - E-Signatures (Similar to Docusign) - Email Marketing (like mailchimp) - Project management There is way more, lots of stuff I don't need yet, like HR, transactional email, remote support, Augmented Reality support, recruiting, a no-code platform, contract management... just tons. So, yeah, I'm a fan. I don't know how they compare to anyone else with respect to your 2) and 3), but I'd be hard pressed to imagine they're any worse.

taurusnoises 5y ago
This is interesting. I'm doing some side research for the girlfriend who runs a team and is in the market for robust and customizable project mgmt software (unhappy with Notion, Basecamp is too small), but now that I'm playing around with it, I'm curious about how it might work as a Google substitute for myself as well. Also, I use Mailchimp for my weekly newsletter, and if their systems is good, that's another bonus.

YXNjaGVyZWdlbgo 5y ago

It's great. You are a customer and not the product. There is no advertising. It is business focused but you can just use it as a private person by ignoring a lot of functionality and still have a great package with online office suite, gdrive replacement, a good note taking app. Data ingress and egress are amazing and without artificial borders. I like it and I probably only use 20% of the functionality. For privacy their statement is pretty clear. https://www.zoho.com/privacy-commitment.html https://www.zoho.com/privacy-commitment.html Personally I switched from fastmail to zoho because I host emails for part of my family and zoho offers exchange compatibility so the setup is just as easy as setting up a google mail account on iphone and androids. No fiddling around with cal and carddav.

taurusnoises 5y ago
Thanks for the insights and the privacy link.

kordlessagain 5y ago

Allegedly, they copied Zoto's original logo and name, by changing a single letter. Their "borrowed" logo is (allegedly) the same today, same color scheme and everything. I received quite a few messages from old coworkers and friends when Zoho started running ads in the Bay area. Zoto's logo was created by an ad agency which is now located in New Braunfels, Texas. Ironically, the owner just emailed me a few days ago when the news hit that Zoho was opening an office in New Braunfels. I decided not to pursue litigation, but it may be worth mentioning regarding trusting them, or not! It was certainly irritating at the time!

YXNjaGVyZWdlbgo 5y ago
Can you link to the Zoto company? Google doesn't really bring anything at all.
lewisjoe 5y ago
I'm searching the internet for Zoto and nothing is turning up. Can you point me to something that can verify the claim?

willcipriano 5y ago

Reminds me of Zombo[0]. [0]https://www.zombo.com/ https://www.zombo.com/

taurusnoises 5y ago
100%

Mandatum 5y ago

Security and privacy are a nightmare. I wouldn't trust anything that requires heavy levels of compliance. However if you're a private individual or a startup, I'd go all-in until you either outgrow them or can afford nicer things. Zoho user for 5+ years here.