The 5 Best Pipedrive Alternatives (Free and Paid)

Our independent research revealed the best alternative to Pipedrive CRM is HubSpot as it offers the best value for money. HubSpot offers a good selection of features and is a more scalable sales product, which can be very attractive for growing businesses. It’s got a huge range of features suitable for marketing and customer service teams too, while Pipedrive mostly caters to sales teams as a solution for tracking business deals.

In fact, there are lots of solid alternatives when it comes to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, you just need to know what you’re looking for. Luckily, we’ve done the research to provide you with all the insight you need to make the right decision for your business. Plus, you can check out our free CRM comparison page to take a closer look at what you can get for your money.

In this guide, we review the best Pipedrive alternatives, compare their features,  pricing, to help you decide whether or not one of these platforms can improve your business. But first, let’s get a quick overview of how these Pipedrive alternatives stack up against each other:

In this guide:

• Best Alternatives to Pipedrive
• Should You Choose Pipedrive Anyway?
• About Our Research
• Free alternatives to Pipedrive
• Verdict: Can You Do Better Than Pipedrive?
• Frequently Asked Questions

Best Alternatives to Pipedrive

Now that you know the basics about these CRM platforms, let’s dig a little deeper into the features, pricing, and other important aspects of each one. Here are the best alternatives to Pipedrive:

1. HubSpot CRM – Most scalable, great customization
2. Zoho CRM – best for small businesses
3. Freshsales Suite CRM – best alternative for ease of use
4. monday.com CRM – best for customization
5. Zendesk Sell – best for sales teams

HubSpot CRM

HubSpot is a popular, extremely robust CRM system best suited to larger businesses. It’s not the cheapest software in the world, but it does have a reasonably low starting price per user and a free plan available. Its higher-tier plans are more expensive,  but they also have more features for bigger businesses managing a lot of customer and client data than the other Pipedrive alternatives on this list, which is why so many growing businesses see HubSpot as a worthwhile, long-term investment.

HubSpot’s paid plans have a lot of good CRM functionality that can help small businesses manage sales, customer service, and marketing depending on the hub they opt for. In fact, thanks to its wide range of plans and flexible interface, HubSpot scored 4.4/5 for sales customization on our latest round of user testing, while Pipedrive only scored 3.1/5. Security features like 2FA and team management features like team KPIs also helped it to a 4.3/5 scalability score that beats Pipedrive’s.

In our research, we found that HubSpot was also quite easy to use thanks to its simple, comprehensive interface, scoring it 3.9/5 overall for usability. Additionally, the company offers a lot of onboarding, even for free plans, so you can get set up the right way from the get-go. Plus, with virtually endless scalability, the platform can grow with your business.

HubSpot pricing vs Pipedrive pricing

Right out of the gate, the price is the biggest difference between Pipedrive and HubSpot. Pipedrive offers four different plans that range from $15 per user, per month to $99 per user, per month, while HubSpot offers a plan that’s completely free and paid plans that start at $9 per user, per month.

Obviously, there is a functionality difference as well, with Pipedrive offering more advanced features than HubSpot, like automated workflows, lead scoring, and even custom reports with the more expensive plans. Subsequently, it really matters what you’re looking for, because that free price is pretty enticing if you don’t need this kind of functionality.

Check out our HubSpot pricing guide for more information

Is HubSpot better than Pipedrive?

This all comes down to what you need a CRM for at your business. If you’re a sales company that only needs sales features like lead scoring, Pipedrive is going to be the better option. Conversely, if your business is growing quickly and you need a platform that can keep up with the continuous addition of more contacts and staff, HubSpot is the clear choice.

Zoho CRM

In our research, we found that Zoho CRM is actually the best CRM for small business, thanks to its excellent feature catalog spanning sales, customer service, and marketing functionality. The platform is quick and easy to use for beginners, while still providing a solid level of customization for those more advanced tasks.

Yes, Zoho CRM can be a bit expensive, particularly for extra small businesses that don’t have the funds. However, you can opt to check out Zoho Bigin, which is the providers alternative solution for smaller businesses. It’s more affordable and still offers solid functionality for sales teams.

Zoho pricing vs Pipedrive pricing

Zoho CRM and Pipedrive have quite comparable pricing as far as their platforms are concerned. While Pipedrive’s most expensive plan is a bit more expensive at $99 per user, per month, in comparison to Zoho CRM at only $57 per user per month, both have mid-tier plans between $25 per user, per month and $40 per user, per month that are competitive and still offer lots of features.

Additionally, both Pipedrive and Zoho CRM have starter plans that are priced at about $15 per user, per month, so if you’re opting for the beginner plan, the difference will be largely negligible.

Check out our Zoho CRM pricing guide for more information

Is Zoho CRM better than Pipedrive?

Here, we can confidently say that Zoho CRM is better than Pipedrive. It’s generally more affordable, offers more features, and covers sales, marketing, and customer service industries. On top of that, Zoho CRM is very easy to use and quick to setup, so we simply have to give it the edge over Pipedrive, based on the research.

Freshsales CRM

Your team needs to be able to actually use the CRM software you end up buying, which is where an easy-to-use platform like Freshsales Suite can come in handy. This combination sales and marketing CRM was found to be one of the best offerings for small business in our research, providing a truly straightforward interface that even the most novice employees will be able to figure it out.

On top of all that, Freshsales Suite still provides a lot of customization, and the more expensive plans offer some seriously advanced functionality to manage and integrate all your marketing and sales tasks.

Freshsales pricing vs Pipedrive pricing

Much like Zoho CRM, Freshsales Suite has similar pricing to Pipedrive, offering four different pricing plans that are relatively close in cost. Again, Pipedrive’s Enterprise plan is up there, but the mid-tier plans all run about the same, around $20 per user, per month to $40 per user, per month.

One big advantage that Freshsales Suite has over Pipedrive, though, is that it offers a free forever plan. Yes, the features are decidedly limited, but any free forever plan is going to be better than a 14-day free trial.

Is Freshsales better than Pipedrive?

Again, our research suggest this one is  pretty obvious: Freshsales Suite is better than Pipedrive. Simply put, it offers more features at a more reasonable price, along with serious ease of use and customization to boot. Pipedrive does have a place as a premium option for sales-focused businesses, but if you need any marketing at all, or might in the future, Freshsales Suite is the way to go.

monday.com CRM

Customization is the biggest advantage monday.com CRM has over Pipedrive and the majority of other providers. It started out as more of a project management software that offered CRM functionality, but it’s now considered a full-on CRM. This allows monday.com to be extremely flexible in terms of what it can do for your business.

In our research, monday.com checks every single box when it comes to customization, offering features like custom fields, task types, and objects, along with a custom dashboard that can manage your entire system across all plans except the free option. You can even set up a customizable sales pipeline to see every transaction from interest to sale.

monday.com pricing vs Pipedrive pricing

To start off, monday.com is definitely more affordable than Pipedrive. The most expensive plan is only $28 per user, per month and the most affordable plan is only $12 per user, per month, which is much more competitive than the equivalent Pipedrive plans.

Obviously, Pipedrive offers more when it comes to the advanced nature of its platform, offering more features and better customer support, but if you’re trying to save a bit of money, monday.com could be your answer.

Check out our monday CRM review and pricing guide for more information

Is monday.com better than Pipedrive?

We wouldn’t go that far. The low price certainly makes it more attractive, but monday.com is missing a lot of features that some businesses may need. Marketing is one area that monday.com is lacking in, offering almost no features no matter how much you spend. Its customer support is lacking a bit too, only offering email, knowledge base, and community forum options. Basically, it’s a classic you-get-what-you-pay-for situation.

Zendesk Sell

Now, if you’re an outright sales team, you can probably guess from the name that Zendesk Sell could be what you’re looking for. This sales-focused CRM can get on the expensive side, but with a low starting price with lots of features, Zendesk Sell is a serious competitor when it comes to the best CRM for sales.

Zendesk Sell provides some robust analytical reports as well as thorough organization tools that can help you manage your business. It lacks a bit in lead management and conversion features, unless you’re interested in the more expensive plans, but it offers lots of integrations and plenty of contact management options.

Zendesk Sell pricing vs Pipedrive pricing

In our research we found that Zendesk Sell has probably the most comparable pricing to Pipedrive. Both are sales-focused CRMs that have low price starting plans at around $15-20 per user per month along with a more expensive enterprise plan that comes in at $99 per user per month.

You probably get a bit more from Pipedrive than you do from Zendesk Sell for the money, but both offer competitive starting and high-end advance tier pricing, so take your pick.

Check out our Zendesk pricing guide for more information

Is Zendesk Sell better than Pipedrive?

If you’re a smaller sales team, Zendesk Sell might be the right fit for you. However, Pipedrive has a bit more scalability, offering add-on options for features like marketing and lead generation, so it’s like better if you plan on growing with the business. Still, sales teams should absolutely consider Zendesk Sell before moving on, particularly because you can add the rest of the Zendesk family of apps to the platform.

Should You Choose Pipedrive Anyway?

While all these alternatives have a lot going for them in their own right, Pipedrive is not a CRM to scoff at. It really does offer a lot of features, even if they’re only focused on sales, plus the automation features found in Pipedrive make it a decidedly attractive option for businesses looking to save a bit of time. Second to HubSpot, Pipedrive is the best lead management software we’ve reviewed too, thanks to its competitive functionality and slick usability.

The price is quite high compared to other providers, with the most expensive plan coming in at a staggering $99 per user, per month. Still, the starting plan is only $15 per user, per month, with two mid-tier plans that cost $25 per user, per month and $50 per user, per month, respectively.

Even with those high prices, sales teams would be remiss if they didn’t at least investigate whether the advanced features like lead scoring and custom reports are something they’re interested in, as the cost is certainly worth it if that’s what you need from Pipedrive.

About Our Research

We at Tech.co have done a lot of research on business software, particularly when it comes to the CRM providers listed above. Our team has spent hours looking through feature catalogs, testing out free trials, and giving these software interfaces the business to make sure they’re a good fit for your business.

As for which metrics we measured to gauge how well each one would fit with your company, here are some things we checked on along the way:

• Price – Arguably the most important metric for every business, we investigated the pricing plans available for each CRM
• Features – Whether you’re a small business or a big enterprise, knowing how many features you’ll get is key for an CRM provider
• Help & support – New software like CRM can be hard to handle, which is why understanding how these companies help you out is so important
• Customer score – This is an aggregate score of app ratings and site reviews, so that you know exactly how actual customers feel about a software

If you want to know more about how Tech.co collects this data, take a look at our research guide to understand exactly how we do what we do.

Free Alternatives to Pipedrive

While paying for a CRM is likely your best bet, as they typically provide better features, support, and general functionality, sometimes you just don’t have the budget. Fortunately, there are some free options out there that could help you get through until you’ve got the funds to invest more into your business.

• HubSpot – HubSpot offers one of the most robust free plans on the market, making it a go-to option for businesses that need sales, marketing, and customer service features without breaking the bank.
• Freshsales Suite – If you only need sales and marketing features, Freshsales Suite is an excellent choice, and its free plan can handle lots of functionality, like emails, organization, and lead management.
• monday.com – Customizability is the name of the game with this CRM, and its affordable price plans have ecommerce integrations, web forms, and a visual sales pipeline.

And remember, the majority of CRM providers offer some kind of free trial that will let you try out the features and functionality of the platform before committing to it with a monthly fee. Pipedrive, for instance, offers a 14-day free trial to test it out.

Frequently Asked Questions