Key takeaways
- Zoho CRM shows record counts per module on the Data Storage tab of Setup > Data Administration > Storage, and you add the modules together for your total.
- An administrator exports from Setup > Data Administration > Data Backup, and Zoho emails zip folders of CSV files plus a separate folder of attachments, valid for 7 days.
- A backup leaves out email content, Documents, integration data and IMAP email, and the Free edition includes no backups at all.
- You don't need to export anything to apply: have your record count, years of history and user count ready, and the data vendor anonymizes the records before any AI lab sees them.
01
What is Zoho CRM data, and why do AI labs and data vendors buy it?
The short answer
Zoho CRM data is the record of a company's sales relationships: its leads, contacts, accounts, deals, notes and emails, stored in Zoho CRM, a customer relationship management (CRM) system. AI labs (companies that build and train AI models) and data vendors (companies that anonymize business records and package them for those labs) buy an anonymized copy because the records show how a stranger becomes a paying customer, including what the sales team wrote down at each step.
What a Zoho CRM account records
A CRM is software where a company keeps track of everyone it sells to. Zoho CRM sorts that information into modules, with one module for each kind of record: Leads for people who might buy, Contacts for people the company already deals with, Accounts for the customer companies those people work for, and Deals for sales in progress.
Each record has a created time, and it can have notes, emails, tasks and attachments (files such as quotes and contracts) linked to it. After several years, an account holds thousands of these records, and together they show how the company won, and sometimes lost, its customers.
Why linked sales records teach an AI model something
An AI model learns by studying a very large number of examples and finding the patterns in them, and those examples are called training data. Public text shows the finished sales message, such as an advertisement, but it does not show the conversations that led to a purchase. A CRM shows those conversations: the first inquiry, the follow-ups, the notes on what the customer said and whether the deal closed.
Every record in a Zoho CRM backup carries its own unique ID, according to Zoho's backup page. A data vendor can use those IDs to connect a lead to its notes and its deal, and so follow one customer from the first inquiry to the outcome.
AI labs now want to train AI agents, software that carries out a job step by step, and an agent learns a job from records of that job being done. A data vendor can turn anonymized sales histories into worked examples that an agent studies like an answer key, or into a practice copy of a sales process in which the agent is scored on each attempt. The full mechanism is in AI training data: why AI companies want your company's data.
How Zoho CRM fits into a dataset
Zoho CRM is usually one of several apps in a company's dataset, next to email, documents and billing records. Companies are paid $100K to $2M or more per dataset, according to micro1, the data vendor we typically refer companies to. The price covers the whole dataset, not each app on its own, and what your data is worth explains what moves it.
02
Where does Zoho CRM show how much data you have?
The short answer
Zoho CRM lists a record count for each module under Setup > Data Administration > Storage, on the tab named Data Storage. Open it with a user on the Administrator profile, then add the module counts together for your total. The page measures current storage, so the figure includes items that are still in the recycle bin.
How to read your record count
The steps below read the size of an account from Zoho's own storage page. Each step names the menu you need.
- Sign in to Zoho CRM as a user on the Administrator profile.
- Open Setup, then Data Administration, then Storage.
- Select the Data Storage tab.
- Read the space each module uses and the record counts in the usage details, then add the record counts together.
Zoho's storage page does not say which role may open this tab, so an Administrator login is the safe choice. The same page counts most module records as about 2 KB each, and linking-module records, notes and emails as about 1 KB each. That sizing gives you a quick cross-check: the data storage figure divided by 2 KB should land near your record count.
What storage each edition allows
Zoho CRM sets its storage limits in records on the smaller editions and in gigabytes on the larger ones. The allowance tells you the most an account of that edition can hold.
| Edition | Base data storage |
|---|---|
| Free | 5,000 records (10 MB). |
| Standard | 100,000 records (200 MB). |
| Professional | 10 GB, about 5 million records. |
| Enterprise | 10 GB, about 5 million records; 15 GB for organizations with more than 200 users. |
| Ultimate | 10 GB, about 5 million records; 30 GB for organizations with more than 200 users. |
Why the storage count is only an estimate of your history
The Data Storage tab measures what the account holds now, not everything that ever happened. It counts recycle bin items at the same size as live records, so it can overstate the live total. It also counts emails and notes that the backup described below leaves out or stores differently.
A small number can reflect the edition instead of the business. A Free account is capped at 5,000 records, so its count says little about how much history the business has built up elsewhere.
03
What should you know about your Zoho CRM data before you apply?
The short answer
Have three facts ready: your total record count, how many years Zoho CRM has been in use and how many people use it. They go into the data manifest, the written summary of which apps hold your records, how many years each covers and roughly how much. You don't need to run an export to find them.
The record count
Report Zoho CRM in records. Enter the sum of the module record counts from the Data Storage tab, and treat it as an estimate if the account's recycle bin is full.
The years of history
Open a module such as Leads or Deals, sort it by created time with the oldest record first, and note that record's year. The number of years between that year and today is your history.
The number of seats
Seats are the people who use the CRM. Count the active CRM users in the account.
What you don't need to do first
You don't need to export anything to apply, and you don't need to clean or scrub a backup. The data vendor anonymizes the records before anyone else sees them, and nothing moves until a lawyer-reviewed license is signed. The application, the intro call and each later step are laid out in how to sell your company's data.
04
How do you export your full Zoho CRM history?
The short answer
An administrator opens Setup > Data Administration > Data Backup and either downloads a backup immediately or schedules one. Zoho emails when the backup is ready, and it arrives as zip folders holding CSV files for the records and a separate folder for attachments. The download link works for 7 days.
Who can request a backup
Only users on the Administrator profile can request or schedule a data backup, per Zoho's data backup page. Sign in with one before you begin.
The steps
- Sign in with an Administrator-profile user.
- Open Setup > Data Administration > Data Backup.
- Pick the radio button for a backup right now, or for a repeating schedule (every week, once a month or twice a month), and select Done.
- Zoho sends an email once the backup exists. Download both zip folders it links to: the first contains a CSV file for every module, and the second contains the attachments.
A schedule can be stopped from the same page with Stop Backup, unless a backup is already running or waiting to be downloaded.
How many backups each edition includes
Backups are a limited allowance in Zoho CRM, so choose the immediate download for a one-time full copy. A monthly or twice-monthly schedule spends the allowance on repeats you do not need.
| Edition | Backups included |
|---|---|
| Free | None. A one-time add-on or an upgrade to a paid edition is needed. |
| Standard, Professional and Enterprise | 2 free backups per cycle. |
| Ultimate | 4 free backups per cycle. |
File format, size and how long the link lasts
The records come as CSV files, which open in any spreadsheet program. Each zip file is at most 1 GB, according to Zoho's backup API overview, and a larger backup is split into several zip files. The download link stays active for a maximum of 7 days after Zoho creates the backup, so download it promptly or request another one.
What a Zoho CRM backup leaves out
Zoho lists three things as outside the backup: email content and attachments, Documents, and any data that arrived through an integration. Email on IMAP-configured accounts (accounts connected over the standard mail-sync protocol) is not supported either. If email history matters to your dataset, say so on the intro call, because it has to come from your mail system instead.
The backup gives you the records but not the original screens. Each record in it is assigned a unique alphanumeric ID, and Zoho recommends leaving those IDs untouched.
How long a backup takes
Zoho's help page gives no estimate for building a backup. You find out when its email arrives, so start early and watch your inbox.
Sources: Zoho CRM Help, Data Backup and Manage Data Storage Space, and the Zoho CRM developer docs, Data Backup API overview. Steps checked against these pages in November 2026.
05
What stays private when Zoho CRM data is licensed?
The short answer
The company decides which records and which files are in scope, and the data vendor replaces names and other personal details with consistent stand-ins before an AI lab sees anything. The company keeps ownership of its Zoho CRM data, and the license covers defined records for a defined use.
You choose what is in scope
Zoho delivers attachments in their own zip folder, apart from the record data. That split lets the company decide whether any files are shared at all. A company can license the records and keep every quote and contract out.
Names are replaced before a lab sees them
Anonymization means replacing every detail that identifies a person, such as a name or an email address, with a stand-in that is the same every time it appears. The sales history still reads in order, so a lab can learn from it, but it no longer says who the customers are. The diagram below shows one lead, note and deal before and after.
The method, including what is deleted outright and how you review samples, is in how company data is anonymized for AI training.
Ownership and payment
Licensing gives the buyer limited rights to a copy, while the company keeps ownership of the originals. The terms that matter, such as exclusivity, permitted use and deletion, are covered in data licensing. micro1 pays in full within 30 days of accepting the data, usually as a single payment.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Who can request a Zoho CRM data backup?
Only users on the Administrator profile can request or schedule a backup. Other users cannot request one, even if they can see the Setup menu.
How long does the Zoho CRM backup download link last?
The link stays active for a maximum of 7 days from the day Zoho creates the backup. After that you need to request another backup, which can use up one of your included backups.
Does the Zoho CRM backup include attachments?
Yes. Attachments arrive in their own zip folder next to the CSV data folder, and each zip file is at most 1 GB. Large backups are split into several zip files.
Does a Zoho CRM backup include emails?
No. Zoho excludes email content and attachments from the backup, and it does not back up email on IMAP-configured accounts. Notes are part of the record data, but the email history has to come from your mail system.
Can a Free Zoho CRM account export a backup?
Not with an included backup. The Free edition includes no backups, so it needs a one-time add-on or an upgrade to a paid edition. Standard, Professional and Enterprise include 2 per cycle, and Ultimate includes 4.
Do we need to export Zoho CRM before we apply?
No. The application takes about two minutes and shares no data. You only need your approximate record count, your years of history and your number of CRM users for the intro call, and you can read the first from the Data Storage tab. The backup is needed later, when the records are transferred after you sign the license.
How many records does 10 GB of Zoho CRM storage hold?
About 5 million, according to Zoho. Zoho counts most module records as about 2 KB each, and notes, emails and linking-module records as about 1 KB each.
What is Zoho CRM data worth to AI labs and data vendors?
Zoho CRM records are priced as part of a whole dataset rather than on their own. Companies are paid $100K to $2M or more per dataset, according to micro1, and the price depends on the years of history and how completely the records show each job. What your data is worth explains the factors.
Bottom line
Know what is in Zoho CRM, then see what it is worth
You don't need to export anything to apply. Apply in two minutes, describe your records on the intro call, and micro1, the data vendor we typically refer companies to, prices the whole dataset and sends an offer 1–2 days later.
Not legal, tax or financial advice. Figures come from micro1's published pages and public reporting as of November 2026.