A 40+ app suite (Zoho CRM, Books, Sign, Forms, Desk, Campaigns…) that you have to stitch together yourself — when you actually wanted one tool that already understands trade shows. Exphora is the only CRM purpose-built for the trade show industry — with 30+ booth specifications, a free 3D Booth Designer, AI-generated proposals, multi-currency invoicing and a 433,000+ exhibitor signal database. All at flat $49–$399/mo, not per seat.
Switch from Zoho in days, not months. Keep your data, drop the add-ons, ship your first AI booth proposal today. The 3D Booth Designer is forever-free with no credit card.
Zoho is a fine general-purpose tool. For the specifics of trade show production, it leaves you filling gaps with add-ons, integrations and manual workarounds.
A typical Zoho booth-builder stack: Zoho CRM (deals) + Zoho Books (invoices) + Zoho Sign (e-signature) + Zoho Forms (lead capture) + Zoho Desk (support) + Zoho Campaigns (email) + Zoho Inventory (materials). Seven SKUs, seven login flows, seven configs to keep in sync.
Zoho CRM uses the same Lead/Account/Deal model as everyone else. Booth size, electrical, AV rig, render gallery and trade show event are all custom fields that you build, maintain and break across version upgrades.
Nothing in the Zoho One stack does 3D, parametric stands, render galleries or CAD export. Booth teams keep separate SketchUp / Vectorworks / Cinema 4D subscriptions on top of Zoho One.
Zoho has no equivalent to Signal Explorer. There is no queryable list of who exhibits at CES, IFA, Hannover Messe, IDEF, EuroShop or Tüyap fairs. Lead generation stays manual: web scraping, LinkedIn, cold lists.
Multi-currency lives in Zoho Books, payment links in Zoho Checkout, e-signature in Zoho Sign. Three separate apps to send one branded invoice. Exphora unifies all of it under one record.
Each new Zoho app adds another permission model, another integration to debug, another monthly bill. Zoho One bundles them, but bundling does not solve the cognitive overhead of running seven mini-products as one workflow.
Zoho starts at $14/mo and tops out at $65/mo per seat — before add-ons. Exphora is flat $49 / $199 / $399, with the 3D Designer included free.
| Tier | Zoho | Exphora |
|---|---|---|
| Solo / 1 user | $14–$23/mo (CRM Standard) | $49/mo flat — CRM + Designer + invoicing in one |
| 5-user team (CRM only) | ~$200/mo (CRM Pro $40 × 5) | $199/mo flat — Pro + Signal Explorer |
| 5-user team (Zoho One) | ~$225/mo ($45/user × 5, all apps) | $199/mo flat — same scope, integrated |
| 10-user team (Zoho One + add-ons) | $450–$700/mo (Zoho One + Sign + Books bumps) | $399/mo flat — Enterprise, 10 users + API |
The capabilities booth builders actually need, side by side.
| Feature | Zoho | Exphora | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single unified product | No | Yes | Zoho = 40+ separate apps |
| Booth specs native | No | Yes | Custom-field hell on Zoho |
| Free 3D Booth Designer | No | Yes | Zoho has none |
| AI booth proposals | Partial | Yes | Zia generic, Claude booth-aware |
| Trade show / exhibitor DB | No | Yes | Signal Explorer |
| Multi-currency invoicing in same app as CRM | No | Yes | Zoho splits CRM and Books |
| Native e-signature | Partial | Yes | Zoho Sign separate SKU |
| Multi-channel inbox | Partial | Yes | Zoho Desk / SalesIQ separate |
| Flat pricing | Partial | Yes | Zoho One per user × app sprawl |
| One vendor SLA | Yes | Yes | Zoho is one vendor — but seven products |
Comparison data based on publicly available pricing and documentation as of April 2026. Plan names and feature gating may change — always verify on the vendor’s website.
Six reasons booth shops pick the industry-specific tool over the generic one.
CRM + 3D Designer + AI proposals + e-signed contracts + multi-currency invoicing + multi-channel inbox + Signal Explorer — one login, one data model, one bill.
Booth, BoothSpec, RenderImage, TradeShowEvent and FabricationMaterial are first-class objects. Zero custom-field engineering to support booth workflows.
Parametric stand editor, render gallery, electrical plan, art-list and 6 CAD export formats — included free, no Zoho-style "buy another module".
112k+ events, 433k+ exhibitor profiles, 632k+ contacts. Filter by country, sector, event date — push leads straight to the pipeline. Zoho has nothing comparable.
7 currencies, 9 payment methods, proforma + final invoices, partial payments — all on the same record as the deal, the booth specs and the e-signed contract.
Zoho’s Zia is mostly lead scoring + email summaries. Exphora’s Claude integration writes the full booth proposal, contract clauses and invoice notes from a 1-line brief.
Most booth shops migrate in under a week. Here is the path.
Export Leads/Contacts/Accounts/Deals from Zoho CRM, customers + invoices from Zoho Books, signed docs from Zoho Sign. Exphora’s wizard reconciles them into one unified record per company.
Re-attach booth size, hall, electrical and event date — fields that lived as scattered custom fields across Zoho apps now collapse into one booth record.
Zoho Forms → Exphora form embed. Zoho Sign → Exphora dual e-sign. Zoho SalesIQ → Exphora AI chat widget. One login replaces three.
Drop Zoho Sign, Zoho Forms, Zoho Campaigns, Zoho SalesIQ, Zoho Desk where appropriate — most booth teams retain only Zoho Books for statutory accounting (or replace it with Exphora invoicing entirely).
Everything booth builders ask before switching from Zoho.
Yes. Exphora replaces Zoho CRM, Zoho Sign, Zoho Forms, Zoho SalesIQ and Zoho Campaigns in one product, plus adds booth specs, free 3D Designer, AI proposals and Signal Explorer that no Zoho app delivers. Zoho Books may stay for statutory accounting; Exphora handles client-facing invoicing.
Zoho One at $45/user/mo for 5 users = $225/mo. Exphora Pro is $199/mo flat for 5 users — and bundles Signal Explorer + 3D Designer + 30+ booth specs that Zoho One does not have at any price.
Yes. Each Zoho app exports clean CSV. The complexity is reconciling them: a contact in Zoho CRM, an invoice in Zoho Books and a signed doc in Zoho Sign all need to land on one Exphora company record. Our import wizard handles the cross-join.
Exphora’s flat pricing is independent of region. For a 5-user team, Exphora Pro at $199/mo undercuts Zoho One ($225/mo) globally — including India.
For client-facing invoicing, yes — Exphora handles 7 currencies, 9 payment methods, proforma + final invoices and partial payments. For statutory bookkeeping, GST returns and chartered-accountant filings, most teams retain Zoho Books and pipe Exphora invoice data via CSV/API.
Yes — and surpass it for booth use cases. Zia covers lead scoring + email summarisation. Exphora’s Claude integration writes full booth proposals, drafts contract clauses and generates invoice notes — all aware of your 30+ booth specs.
3–7 working days, mostly because Zoho data lives across multiple apps. The actual import is a few hours; the rest is reconciling cross-app records and decommissioning old SKUs.
Yes — 3 days full-feature trial on every paid plan, plus the 3D Booth Designer free forever with no credit card.
Start free. Import your contacts in minutes. Ship your first AI-generated booth proposal today — and try the 3D Booth Designer with no credit card.
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