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

Pipedrive and Salesforce are CRM software that helps sales teams organize and manage customer relationships with features like contact management tools and advanced reporting. Pipedrive pricing starts at $12.50 and is great for businesses wanting a user-friendly CRM. Salesforce pricing starts at $25 and is made specifically for large businesses and sales teams.

Pipedrive vs Salesforce at a Glance

When to Use Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a good choice for businesses and sales teams that want a customer relationship management (CRM) tool with an intuitive interface and customizable dashboard tools that allow users to visualize the sales pipeline at a glance. Initial setup and implementation time are rapid, and customer support is available right in the browser-based app.

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When to Use Salesforce

Salesforce is the right choice for mid-to-large-sized organizations and sales teams. Its ultra-robust feature list includes lead, contact, and sales management tools, contract and order management, and a visual app builder. Salesforce is, however, considered to have a steep user learning curve, and independent or provider-led training is recommended to set up and implement the CRM.

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How We Evaluated Pipedrive & Salesforce

While both Pipedrive and Salesforce can help sales teams collect and organize customer data and improve productivity by automating routine tasks, the choice depends on whether a unique pipeline view or highly granular reporting is better to help your company meet its goals. Pipedrive is known for a user-driven experience and Kanban-style pipelines. Salesforce is better known for its configurable dashboards and reporting capabilities.

Therefore, we compared Pipedrive and Salesforce based on the following criteria:

• Price: We evaluated the pricing structure of both CRM providers and compared package costs on a per-user basis.
• Contact management: We assessed tools for creating, editing, organizing, and searching contacts as well as how they integrated with workflow automation tools.
• Workflow automation: Features that allow users to automate common tasks like follow-up emails and reminders were evaluated.
• Reporting tools: We reviewed tools that provide data, analysis, and insight to help managers and teams monitor the sales pipeline.
• Customization tools: Features that allow users to customize sections of the CRM, like dashboards, reporting, and sales processes, were assessed.
• Initial setup and implementation time: We looked at approximately how much time it takes to set up and implement each CRM.
• Ease of use: We evaluated how easy each CRM is to use.
• Customer support: The type of customer service support each provider offers was evaluated.

After comparing the two, we recommend Pipedrive for small or emerging businesses that want an affordable CRM with enough tools to organize teams and manage customer relationships but doesn’t suffer from feature overload. Pipedrive offers content management, sales pipeline tracking, email tracking, advanced reporting, and phone-based customer support.

Pipedrive vs Salesforce: Pricing & Features

Pipedrive pricing starts at around $15 per month, beating Salesforce pricing, which starts at $25. However, Salesforce offers nearly every tool and functionality a sales team could require. That being said, Pipedrive includes a collection of features like contact management and workflow automation to accommodate the needs of most businesses without overburdening the system with features teams won’t use.

Pipedrive Pricing & Features

Pipedrive offers four plan levels, Essential, Advanced, Professional, and Enterprise. Prices range from $15 to $99 per user, per month, which is about average for small business-centric CRM software on the market. All plans include goal tracking and setting, a customizable dashboard, drag-and-drop calendar, and customer support via live chat and email.

Essential

Pipedrive’s Essential plan includes personal and company-wide goal setting and tracking and smart email BCC, enabling users to copy emails directly to Pipedrive, connecting emails with deals in the pipeline. This tier also includes drag-and-drop calendar view and customer support over live chat or email. This plan is a good choice for sales teams wanting a CRM that helps users get better organized without overwhelming them with features.

Pipedrive and email sync

The plan lacks the lead management, routing, and assignment tools offered by Salesforce. However, at $15 per user, per month, the Essential plan from Pipedrive is on par with other introductory CRM software plans on the market and costs less than that from Salesforce.

Advanced

Pipedrive’s Advanced plan is $29 per user, per month. It adds a data collection tool that pulls information about contacts from internet sources like LinkedIn. It also allows teams to send and read emails without leaving Pipedrive, a time-saving feature that eliminates the need to switch between Pipedrive and an email client and keeps important client emails from slipping through the cracks.

The Advanced tier is a good fit for teams that want to free up time spent on research tasks to spend more time on sales, but it does not offer Salesforce’s collaborative forecasting and case management features. Still, its contact data enrichment feature also makes it a great option for teams that are looking to leverage social media to generate new leads.

Professional

The Professional package from Pipedrive introduces team goal setting and tracking, as well as a multiple customized dashboards, allowing teams to rename dashboards, hide data widgets from view, and reposition widgets in a preferred order. Also included are revenue report forecasts and the ability to organize salespeople by team.

The plan addresses security concerns with the addition of security dashboards but does not offer a way to configure contracts, quotes, and orders as Salesforce does. For these reasons, we like the Professional plan for businesses with multiple sales teams working on different goals or projects, but only those who do not need to create custom quotes or who already have those processes in place.

Pipedrive dashboard

Enterprise

Pipedrive’s Enterprise plan is $99 per user, per month, and is its most comprehensive. Building on the functionality offered with the other tiers, it provides unlimited workflow rules and customizable live dashboards.

The Enterprise plan also includes an uncapped number of advanced user permissions, permitting administrators more control over which users can view or edit certain information. Because of its limitless features and competitive price compared to other CRM software, we recommend this tier from Pipedrive for large sales teams with largely autonomous sales reps.

Salesforce Pricing

The Salesforce Essentials plan costs $25 per user, per month for up to 25 users, and the Professional plan is $75 per user, per month for unlimited users. Features include lead management tools, customizable deal processes, and reporting. Additional enterprise-level Salesforce plans are available for $150 to $300 per month, depending on the option selected.

Salesforce Tiered Features

Essentials

The Essentials plan from Salesforce features an account and contact tool set that includes an activity history, key contacts, internal account discussions, and a record of customer communications for a monthly per-user price of $25. Lead management tools track, filter, and qualify new prospects, and case management tools route inquiries to the right agent for resolution.

This tier also includes fully supported mobile functionality. However, it does not include the features found in the Professional tier that large organizations with multiple sales teams may want, like collaborative forecasting or lead assignment and routing. At $25 per user, per month, this level is also more expensive than the introductory pricing offered by Pipedrive and other small business CRM providers.

Salesforce mobile app

Professional

The Professional plan from Salesforce is $75 per user, per month. In addition to the features offered with the preceding plan, it adds lead assignment, routing tools, and rules-based lead scoring. Users can also create contracts, quotes, and orders directly in the platform.

The plan also includes a collaborative forecasting feature, providing teams with shared visibility of pipelines and enabling them to work together on updating deals in progress. This tier is a good choice for large businesses wanting a CRM with strong lead management and that can help improve inventory and resource planning.

Salesforce reporting dashboard

Enterprise

The Enterprise plan from Salesforce enables large businesses to more easily handle territory management and to automate other workflows. This saves time and prevents unauthorized users from accessing and altering records.

Customer support across both tiers includes online case submission with a two-day response and unlimited on-demand online training materials. For access to increased support options, workflow automation tools, and unlimited roles and permissions, Salesforce offers an Unlimited plan for a monthly per-user price of $300.

Pipedrive vs Salesforce: Ease of Use

From setup and implementation to everyday use, CRM software should be straightforward and easy to maintain. Features and tools should be intuitive and user-friendly so sales teams have more time to spend on customers and leads. While comparing Pipedrive and Salesforce, we considered each provider’s ease of use.

Pipedrive Ease of Use

Pipedrive takes only a few minutes to set up, and customers say its customizable dashboard is intuitive and very simple to use. It’s designed to display the full sales pipeline, making it easy to stay on track every step of the way.

Salesforce Ease of Use

Salesforce customers say setup can take several hours or longer depending on the selected plan and level of customization desired. Sales agents may also require training on how to use the CRM’s tools and features. For these reasons, some businesses find it necessary to have a dedicated Salesforce administrator on staff.

Pipedrive vs Salesforce: Customer Service

CRM software is the foundation of many successful sales teams, so it’s important to know the product is backed by responsive customer support and service in case something goes wrong. While evaluating Pipedrive and Salesforce, we took a look at the types of customer support each provider offers with their plans.

Pipedrive Support & Customer Service

Pipedrive’s paid plans include live chat and email support. The company also offers an online knowledge base, training videos, and phone support Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in European Union (EU) and U.S. time zones.

Salesforce Support & Customer Service

Salesforce’s standard plans include online case submission with a two-day response and unlimited online on-demand training. The company also offers an online knowledge base, free self-led learning materials, a self-service portal, and customer communities where users can interact with other Salesforce customers.

Pipedrive vs Salesforce: Customer Reviews

When considering CRM software, customer input can be helpful for making a final decision. While evaluating Pipedrive and Salesforce, we checked our user review pages to learn what each company does well and what each one doesn’t.

Pipedrive Customer Reviews

Our readers give Pipedrive high marks, with 4.5 stars out of 5. Customers say Pipedrive’s visual layout is great at keeping teams on track, and it’s easy to move deals from one pipeline to another. However, some readers report a delay in receiving notifications. For more user reviews, visit our Pipedrive user review page.

Salesforce Customer Reviews

Our readers give Salesforce good reviews, with an average rating of just over 4 out of 5 stars. Users say the platform generates helpful reports and excels at data tracking. However, some customers say its pricing is too high for smaller businesses. For more user reviews, visit our Salesforce user review page.

Alternatives to Pipedrive & Salesforce

If your business requires some of the more advanced features not found in Pipedrive, there are also other affordable alternatives to Salesforce you can consider, like Freshsales. Freshsales requires little effort to implement and offers unique benefits, as well as a user-friendly interface, making it easy to start using as part of your CRM strategy.

Freshsales is our top pick as an alternative to Salesforce as it offers the most direct one-to-one comparative features with paid plans starting as low as $12 per user, per month. It also offers a forever-free plan, which gives an unlimited number of users access to critical functionality like contact management for free with no time limit. Visit Freshsales to get started for free today.

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Bottom Line

Pipedrive and Salesforce both deliver great CRM software systems with similar features. While Salesforce has tools for every step in the sales process, from qualifying leads to closing sales and beyond, Pipedrive stands out for its ease of use, customization, and affordability.

Businesses that want CRM software that’s easy to set up and comes with a great set of small business-friendly features should check out Pipedrive. The company offers a free trial with no credit card required. Visit Pipedrive’s website for details.

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