Pipedrive vs Freshsales: Price, Features & What’s Best in 2019

Pipedrive and Freshsales are customer relationship management (CRM) software that includes contact management, Kanban-style pipeline tools, and customization options. Comparing Pipedrive vs Freshsales, both offer a range of plans based on the number of users and overall features. However, Freshsales is the only one of the two that offers a free forever plan.

When to Use Freshsales

Freshsales is the best option for small businesses that want an affordable and customizable CRM to manage both inside and field sales teams. It includes innovative features like in-app calling and call recording as well as automated lead scoring, with monthly plans starting at $12 per month, per user. Freshsales even offers a free-forever plan with unlimited users, making it a better general-purpose CRM for small businesses with field sales teams.

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When to Use Pipedrive CRM

Pipedrive CRM is known for its visual, multiple pipeline view as well as its product catalogs, making it a better choice for businesses that sell both products and services and those that want to create proposals based on catalogs from within their CRM. The built-in scheduling tools also make it a better choice for sales teams like contractors and landscapers who regularly schedule in-person meetings and demos with plans starting at $12.50 per month, per user.

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Pipedrive CRM vs Freshsales at a Glance

How We Evaluated Pipedrive & Freshsales

We looked at how both Pipedrive and Freshsales streamline the sales process by making it easy to perform common CRM tasks like creating and managing leads, moving deals through the sales pipeline, and measuring performance with reporting features. We also evaluated how easy they are to use and how affordable they are for small businesses.

The criteria we used to evaluate the best include:

• Affordability: We considered the cost of each software based on the features that matter most, and whether or not there is a free plan available to get started
• Ease of use: The best CRMs are easy to use, so we looked at how easy each was to configure and get started as well as how easy it was to use their overall interface
• Lead & sales opportunity management: We evaluated how each software handles generating and organizing as well as the process of creating deals, or sales opportunities, and how easy it is to track and monitor them through the sales process
• Workflow automation: Options available for creating workflows that automate tasks, like updating lead information and moving deals through the pipeline, were considered
• Email & email tracking: We looked at how the software handles communicating with contacts via email, including mass emails, and whether or not the software provides email tracking capabilities and reporting
• Customization: The ability to customize features like the sales pipeline, custom forms and fields, advanced reporting, and the overall look and feel of the software was something we looked for
• Analytics & reporting: We considered what reporting is available, including whether or not the software allows tracking of individual goals, sales activities, and overall team performance to plan
• Customer support: We evaluated the customer support options provided by each company at each price point, and what type of onboarding and training materials each provides

We recommend Freshsales for its intuitive and customizable interface, affordable plans, and its ease of performing common CRM features. In addition, Freshsales includes functionality not included in Pipedrive, like in-app calling and lead scoring as well as integration with the entire Freshworks software ecosystem with chat, support desk, call center, and human resources (HR) apps.

Pipedrive vs Freshsales: Pricing & Features

Both Pipedrive and Freshsales offer common CRM features like lead and contact management, sales opportunities ― often called deals ― and reporting in paid plans ranging from $12 to $49 per month, per user. Both also feature clean, modern interfaces, and include capable mobile apps. However, Freshsales is generally a better value, with comparable features at a lower price-point, and offers an entry-level plan at no cost.

Freshsales Pricing

Freshsales offers a free plan called Sprout, which includes unlimited users and contact management capability. Sales opportunity management, lead assignment, and lead scoring, as well as advanced analytics, are available in three paid plans ranging from $12 per month, per user to $49 per month, per user.

Freshsales Tiered Features

Sprout is Freshsales’ free entry-level plan and provides an unlimited number of users with access to basic contact management and deal functionality. There is no free plan for Pipedrive, making the Sprout plan the better choice for small businesses who are just starting to manage contacts and deals in a CRM. In addition, the Sprout plan includes the built-in voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) calling feature from within the mobile app, which Pipedrive does not include in any plan level.

The Sprout plan is a great choice for small teams needing basic tools for managing contact relationships and basic deal management. Solo entrepreneurs like freelancers and consultants will find that the Freshsales Sprout team is a good place to start, allowing them to grow and upgrade as they need. In addition, unlike Pipedrive, Freshsales is a part of a growing family of software including help desk, live chat, and marketing automation.

Blossom Plan

The Blossom plan costs $12 per user, per month, which is roughly the same price as the entry-level Pipedrive plan. In addition to the basic contact management tools, the Blossom plan adds features like bulk emails with templates and email tracking. Users also gain the ability to add custom fields, sales pipelines, and workflows, and Freshsales includes lead scoring at this level, which Pipedrive does not offer at all.

The Blossom plan is ideal for businesses who want an entry-level CRM with email scheduling and email tracking features, which are not included in the base Pipedrive plan. While the prices are similar, Freshsales includes more advanced third-party integrations with software like Mailchimp compared to Pipedrive. In addition, the email tracking feature is more intuitive in Freshsales, although it’s a little more complicated to set up than the email sync in Pipedrive.

Garden Plan

The Garden plan is $25 per month, per user and adds team management and territory management features, including lead assignment as well as lead segmentation by geographic area or industry. None of these are features found in Pipedrive. The Garden plan also allows unlimited custom reports for monitoring your sales team performance, which is far more advanced than the reporting options in Pipedrive.

The Garden Plan is the best choice for small and midsized sales teams who want advanced reporting but aren’t looking for extensive customization. The Garden Plan is slightly more expensive than Pipedrive’s Gold plan, which is $24.17 per month, per user. However, the value of features like in-app calling, call forwarding, and call transfer, none of which are available in Pipedrive, more than make up for the minimal cost difference for multi-user teams.

Estate Plan

The Estate plan, at $49 per month, per user, gives users the ability to customize their sales process along with advanced reporting dashboards. Users are also able to incorporate website activity into lead scoring, which isn’t available on lower-level plans and isn’t offered in Pipedrive at all. The Estate plan is slightly more expensive than the relatively comparable Pipedrive Platinum plan. However, it contains many features not available in that offering.

As an example, Freshsales offers profile enrichment in this plan, which adds social media and publicly available information into your contact profiles automatically. Pipedrive also does not offer a help desk solution, making Freshsales a better end-to-end customer relationship tool when paired with other Freshworks software like Freshdesk or Freshsupport.

Pipedrive Pricing

Pipedrive does not offer a free forever plan, instead offering three tiered plans ranging from $12.50 per month, per user and $49.17 per month, per user. Those prices are comparable to Freshsales’ paid plans, and Pipedrive does offer a 14-day free trial, giving you the chance to try it out before subscribing.

Pipedrive Tiered Features

Silver

The Silver plan costs $12.50 per month, per user and includes contact management tools, a visual pipeline, and configurable reporting. Pipedrive is easy to set up, easily customized, and intuitive to use, which makes it an ideal choice for businesses focused on moving sales opportunities through their sales pipeline. Pipedrive also allows users to set personal and company sales goals, a feature that is not offered in Freshsales.

Pipedrive lacks some of the innovative features like in-app calling and lead scoring, compared to Freshsales, but the overall software is much simpler and easier to get running, making the Silver plan an especially good choice for individuals who mostly communicate by email and handle a smaller number of prequalified leads.

Gold

The Gold Plan is $24.20 per month, per user, making it slightly less expensive than Freshsales’ Garden plan. This plan adds features that include the meeting scheduler, which allows users to send their availability for prospects to pick a time to meet, and the product catalog, which makes it a great alternative for businesses that manage product sales and regularly build proposals and quotes. Neither of these features are included in Freshsales.

The Gold plan is also a good alternative for businesses who sell both products and services and are looking to gain visibility into advanced analytics including margins, discounts, and sales splits. Freshsales, in comparison, does not include product catalogs. Therefore, these analytics tools are not offered in any plan. Pipedrive also offers better import capabilities, with an automated process that moves all of your data directly from your existing CRM.

Platinum

The Platinum plan is $49.17 per month, per user, and includes many of the same features as the Gold plan but adds additional sales forecasting and advanced reporting. The Platinum plan also includes the ability to set specific permissions for different team member roles as well as team sales goals.

The Platinum plan is almost the same price as the Estate plan offered by Freshsales, although it does offer team sales goals, which is a feature not included in Freshsales. As a result, hierarchical teams may find that Pipedrive is a good alternative, especially those who need product catalog and scheduling capabilities. However, the Freshsales plan does include customizable workflows and advanced lead scoring not found in Pipedrive.

Pipedrive vs Freshsales: Mobile Apps

Pipedrive and Freshsales both get high marks for their mobile apps, which are well-designed and include common CRM functionality on the go. There are, however, a few important differences both in the way they approach the user experience.

Freshsales Mobile App

One of the distinguishing characteristics of the Freshsales app is the in-app call log feature that prompts users to log notes as soon as the call is over, making sure that important information is captured when it’s fresh in their mind. Users can also record audio notes to attach directly to contacts or deals, which is not available in the Pipedrive app, making it more suited to field sales representatives who want to capture notes immediately after they meet with clients.

Freshsales mobile app

Pipedrive Mobile App

Pipedrive’s mobile app optimizes the CRM experience for the features most likely to matter to mobile users. The app opens to a “Focus” tab which shows your upcoming schedule, tasks, and emails. It also notifies you of contacts that are near you, giving you a heads up on appointment opportunities based on your location. Pipedrive also brings the Kanban-style sales pipeline to the mobile app, where Freshsales presents deals only in list format.

Pipedrive mobile app

Pipedrive vs Freshsales: Integrations

Both Pipedrive and Freshsales offer a variety of integrations with third-party tools including email marketing, accounting software, productivity suites like G Suite and Office 365, and lead generation tools. Additionally, Freshsales offers direct integration with the entire Freshworks family of software applications.

Freshsales Integrations

Freshsales features a robust set of integrations, including with some of the most popular third-party software like Zapier, G Suite, Mailchimp, HubSpot, QuickBooks, and Office 365 as well as proprietary integrations with Freshworks software like Freshdesk and Freshchat. Freshsales includes both app integrations as well as extensive application programming interface (API) integration, and even allows you to create and customize your own integrations.

Pipedrive Integrations

Pipedrive also includes an extensive app integration library it calls Marketplace. While it also includes many popular third-party software, some of them are less advanced than Freshsales. For example, the Mailchimp integration does not include two-way sync of your information, and other integrations like QuickBooks require an intermediary like Zapier.

Pipedrive vs Freshsales: Specialized Tools

While both Pipedrive and Freshsales offer many common CRM features like contact management, Kanban-style sales pipelines, email templates, there are distinct differences both in how these features are implemented and in unique functionality not found in the other. As a result, you may find one or the other a better fit depending on which features are most important to your sales team.

Freshsales Specialized Tools

Freshsales offers built-in calling through Freshcaller, which allows you to make VoIP phone calls directly from within the CRM. You can log call activity and create call notes while you are making contact. In addition, Freshsales features automated lead scoring based on contact characteristics as well as website visitor activity, neither of which are available at this time in Pipedrive.

Freshsales in-app calling feature

Pipedrive Specialized Tools

Unlike Freshsales, Pipedrive allows you to create product catalogs that can be used as you create deals and proposals. As you build a deal, you can attach preconfigured products to establish the deal value. In addition, Pipedrive’s email sync feature allows you to access your entire email inbox from the CRM, send and track emails, and get notifications when you receive new emails. You can also attach contacts and deals directly to emails from within the inbox.

Pipedrive pricing catalog feature

Pipedrive vs Freshsales: Ease of Use

Both Pipedrive and Freshsales are intuitive and easy to use. Pipedrive is arguably a little easier to set up though that’s largely because it has fewer configuration options than Freshsales. Also, it has a migration tool that handles setup when moving from another supported CRM. Both feature clean, modern interfaces that make it easy for users to navigate and find what they need quickly, although they are set up very differently.

Freshsales Ease of Use

Freshsales features a clean layout that provides access to each of the major areas along the left side. Users can navigate between modules easily, although compared to Pipedrive, the amount of information provided can be a little overwhelming for users new to CRMs. Freshsales makes it easy to create leads, contacts, and deals from wherever you’re at. However, it requires extra steps to associate a new contact with a deal compared to Pipedrive.

Freshsales contact profile interface

Pipedrive Ease of Use

Pipedrive makes it especially easy to switch from another CRM, handling all of the details using a third-party service that moves all of your data, and keeps it connected to contacts, deals, and activity. Additionally, Pipedrive focuses the user experience around the sales pipeline, making it easy to see where your sales opportunities stand at a glance. This is especially useful for individuals or smaller teams tracking progress on a few big projects.

Pipedrive setup import wizard

“Pipedrive is quick and simple to use, and perfect for busy salespeople. One of the most useful things is the sales pipelines, where you can see instantly where a prospect is in the sales pipeline.”

― Richard George, Marketing Manager, Print4Hospitality

Pipedrive vs Freshsales: Customer Service

Both Pipedrive and Freshsales offer top-notch support to their customers. Although while Freshsales provides phone, email, and chat support, Pipedrive only offers chat and email channels. Both companies are responsive and helpful, especially for users who need assistance getting set up, even when they are on free or trial plans.

Freshsales Customer Service

Freshsales offers exceptional customer support including a robust self-help knowledge base as well as chat, phone, and email support. Additionally, it offers an extensive video library covering everything from setting up the software to performing advanced configuration. Customer support agents are especially helpful at assisting new users on getting set up and running.

Pipedrive Customer Service

Pipedrive doesn’t offer phone support, but users can contact support via chat and email. Pipedrive also offers an extensive support knowledge base with videos and webinars covering important help issues like getting set up, configuring your CRM, Mobile app, and integrations. Overall, Pipedrive does a great job of taking care of its customers.

Pipedrive vs Freshsales: Customer Reviews

Pipedrive and Freshsales both get high marks from users on their interface and features. Users generally find both easy to set up and use, and express appreciation at how easy it is to get support when needed. Both also get positive reviews for their mobile apps, which are well designed and full of useful features on the go.

Freshsales Customer Reviews

Freshsales users like how intuitive and easy the software is to learn and use. They like how easy it is to manage your sales pipeline, but they do mention that they wish there were more robust reporting features, and additional customization to workflows and pipelines. You can read more in-depth reviews on our Freshsales review page.

Pipedrive Customer Reviews

Pipedrive users especially like the visual pipeline and intuitive interface that requires little onboarding. Users also give it high marks for its integrations with other third-party software like marketing automation and email marketing tools. Users do express the desire to have more robust webhook integrations as well as advanced search and filtering capabilities. Learn more about what users are saying on our Pipedrive review page.

The Bottom Line

Pipedrive and Freshsales are both excellent CRM choices for small businesses, with features that help sales teams streamline their efforts and convert more leads to customers. However, when it comes to comparing Freshsales vs Pipedrive, Freshsales offers the better overall value for most small businesses when considering the features in each plan and price point.

Freshsales offers paid plans from $12 per month, per user, with a free plan that includes basic features for unlimited users. More advanced customization and features like automated lead scoring, territory management, and reporting are available on higher-priced plans. In addition to the free plan, Freshsales offers 30-day free trials of each of its paid plans. Visit its site to start your free trial today.

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