Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM: Price, Features & What’s Best in 2021
Jess served on the founding team of a successful B2B startup and has used a wide range of sales and marketing tools over the course of her 15-year career. She uses her industry knowledge to deliver the best answers to your questions about sales tools and sales management.
Bianca is a staff writer at Fit Small Business who specializes in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software.
This article is part of a larger series on CRM.
Pipedrive and Zoho CRM both provide contact management, lead management, and visual sales pipeline tools. However, Pipedrive offers a much simpler interface design that makes it easy to learn and use, plus it has 24/7 chat and email support. Zoho CRM’s paid plans are less expensive—it even has a free plan, but its advanced customization capability combined with its more limited live support give it a steeper learning curve.
To discover the best option for your business, here’s a quick look at when to use Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM:
- Pipedrive: Better choice for sales professionals and teams who need an easy-to-use customer relationship manager (CRM) with visual sales pipeline tools.
- Zoho CRM: Better option for businesses that want an all-inclusive and free CRM with robust social integrations.
While both products are highly rated CRMs, neither product might be best for you. If you are looking for other straightforward CRM solutions that do not require technical skills to set up and are priced affordably, check out our guide to the best simple CRM systems.
Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM at a Glance
 |  | |
Expert Score | 4.75 out of 5 | 4.35 out of 5 |
Starting Price* | $14.90 per user, per month | Free or $14 per user, per month |
Ease of Use | Beginner-friendly | Beginner to intermediate |
Lead and Deal Management | ✔ | ✔ |
Visual Sales Pipeline | ✔ | ✔ |
Email Tracking and Mass Email | ✔ | ✔ |
Configure, Price, and Quote (CPQ) | N/A | ✔ |
Lead Generation | Add-on (LeadBooster): Starting at $32.50 per company, per month | Paid plans only |
App-based Calling | Enterprise plan only | Add-on or integration |
Reporting and Analytics | All plans offer default deal and activity reports; higher-tier plans offer custom reports and revenue forecasts | All plans offer default deal and activity reports; paid plans offer custom and schedule reports, as well as sales forecasting; higher tiers offer workflow reports |
Customer Support | 24/7 via chat and email | Free: Email, customer portal, and knowledge base Paid plans: 8 hours x 5 days live chat and toll-free phone Additional fee: 24x5 and 24x7 support plans |
Integrations | 2,000+ including QuickBooks, Trello, Mailchimp, Google Workplace, and Zapier | 3,000+ including Slack, Shopify, Mailchimp, Zoho apps, Google Workspace, Microsoft apps, and Zapier |
*Based on annual subscription. Monthly pricing is also available at slightly higher rates.
How We Evaluated Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM
To help you choose which customer relationship management (CRM) software is the best fit for your business needs, we compared Pipedrive and Zoho CRM based on several factors, including pricing, ease of use, general features, customer service, and expert score.
Click the tabs below for more information on the criteria we used to evaluate each CRM system:
40%
Pricing
20%
General Features
15%
Ease of Use
15%
Help & Support
10%
Expert Score
40% of Overall Score
The costs per user and any upfront costs like CRM customizations, onboarding, and maintenance fees were considered. We also factored in the availability of a free plan and monthly billing option to determine the best value for your money.
20% of Overall Score
We evaluated the overall set of CRM features, including customizable fields, reporting, and analytics. The quality of its contact management capabilities was one of our main deciding factors. In addition, we looked at the availability of a mobile app and third-party integrations.
15% of Overall Score
The best CRM solution should not require technical skills to understand and use, and it should also have an intuitive interface. In determining which software is the best, we considered how easy it is to set up and operate.
15% of Overall Score
Business owners prefer CRM systems that come with 24/7 customer service via phone, live chat, and email. We assessed the two providers to see the quality of help and support they offer to their users.
10% of Overall Score
We checked customer reviews on reputable sites to evaluate how satisfied their customers are. We also noted common issues that the users had. Apart from online reviews, we weighed the features that stood out, their value for money, and their popularity.
*Percentages of overall score
Let’s take a closer look at Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM:
Most Affordable: Zoho CRM
| | |
Starting Price* | $14.90 per user, per month | Free or $14 per user, per month |
Free Trial | 14 days | 21 days |
*Based on annual subscription. Monthly pricing is also available at slightly higher rates.
Pipedrive offers four plans starting at $14.90 per user, per month. Its most expensive tier costs $99 per user, per month. It does not have a free plan and its lead generation feature comes at an additional cost of $32.50 per company, per month. Zoho CRM, on the other hand, has a free tier for up to three users. In addition, all its plans come with webforms, and all the paid plans include automated lead generation from social media.
Zoho CRM also offers Bigin, a pipeline-centric CRM for small businesses, that starts at $7 per user, per month. It also has a unified customer experience platform called CRM Plus that costs at least $57 per user, per month. However, these two are not included in Zoho CRM’s main editions.
In the Enterprise plan, Zoho CRM is more affordable at $40 per user, per month. Pipedrive’s Enterprise tier costs $99 per user, per month with a minimum of 10 users. If you need artificial intelligence (AI)-powered insights and inventory management features, you can stick with Zoho CRM. In contrast, Pipedrive is the better choice for larger companies that need a CRM with a meeting scheduler, robust document management features, and e-signature capability.
Winner: Zoho CRM’s basic plan is more expensive than Pipedrive’s, but its mid-level and Enterprise plans are more competitively priced. Moreover, it offers a free plan, which is missing from Pipedrive.
There are more affordable CRM systems available for small businesses to consider. Read our guide on the best free CRMs to explore other options.
Most User-friendly: Pipedrive
| |
Simple interface design beginners can easily navigate | User-friendly interface that suits beginner to intermediate-level users; has more customization options |
Pipedrive and Zoho CRM are both easy to use and have an intuitive and modern interface. However, Pipedrive offers simpler setup and configuration options that make it easier to navigate because you can see all your options in one glance. Meanwhile, Zoho CRM displays more options and information on one display.
- Pipedrive: Best for beginners, sales professionals, and smaller sales teams. The clean interface layout gives you a convenient view of your leads, contacts, and deals. It also allows you to easily migrate from another CRM.
- Zoho CRM: Recommended for beginner to intermediate CRM users. It allows you to filter your view of leads, contacts, deals, accounts, activities, and reports.
Creating a Contact in Pipedrive
Adding a contact in Pipedrive is simple because its menu is intuitive. Simply go to the “Contacts” tab and select the option to add a person. Then, enter the person’s name, organization, phone number, and email address into the form that pops up. Click “Save” when you’re done.
Adding a person as a contact in Pipedrive
Creating a Contact in Zoho CRM
Adding a contact in Zoho CRM is also easy to do, similar to Pipedrive. However, there are more configuration options. After clicking the “Create Contact” button from the “Contacts” tab, you will be prompted to enter the person’s name, associated account name, lead source, email, department, phone number, and birth date. You also have the option to add an address and description. Click the “Save” button once you’re done.
Adding a contact in Zoho CRM
Winner: Pipedrive wins here for its simplicity and straightforward user experience (UX), especially for beginners. Its menus and options are intuitive, making it easier to learn and use. Zoho CRM is also easy enough to use, but the available configuration options on display can be a bit overwhelming.
Most Extensive Capabilities: Zoho CRM
| |
Robust features and an app market with 2,000+ apps | Has more advanced capabilities and an app market with 3,000+ apps |
Pipedrive allows you to generate custom reports, add custom fields and pipeline stages, and switch features or modules on and off. Zoho CRM offers more extensive options as it enables users to customize modules, fields, templates, and even your home view. For both platforms, you can extend their functionalities through third-party app integrations.
When it comes to CRM integrations, Zoho CRM delivers more options by offering more than 1,000 ready-to-use extensions from the Zoho Marketplace, plus over 3,000 others via Zapier. Meanwhile, Pipedrive allows you to sync with more than 200 third-party apps from its Marketplace and over 2,000 more via Zapier.
Pipedrive’s Marketplace shows all its integration options
The Zoho Marketplace shows all available integrations with Zoho CRM
Winner: Zoho CRM holds the advantage over Pipedrive when it comes to customizability and options for third-party app integrations.
Best Mobile App: Zoho CRM
| | |
Contact, Account, and Deal Management | ✔ | ✔ |
Call Tracking | ✔ | ✔ |
Notes | ✔ | ✔ |
Sales Activity Tracking | ✔ | ✔ |
Geolocation and Maps | ✔ | ✔ |
Offline Access | ✔ | ✔ |
Key Metrics and Sales Trends | N/A | ✔ |
In-app Dialer | N/A | N/A |
Both Pipedrive and Zoho CRM have mobile apps for Android and iOS you can use to manage your contacts, accounts, and deals on the go. They also offer a similar set of features, including call tracking, notes, sales activity tracking, geolocation, and offline access. While neither has an in-app dialer, Zoho CRM allows you to integrate your private branch exchange (PBX) system with it. It also gives you access to key metrics and sales trends via mobile.
Winner: Zoho CRM narrowly wins in this category by adding mobile access to key metrics and sales trends.
Best for Help & Support: Pipedrive
| | |
24/7 Support | All plans | Premium price for 24/7 support |
Support via Phone | N/A | ✔ |
Support via Chat | ✔ | ✔ |
Support via Email or Tickets | ✔ | ✔ |
All of Pipedrive’s plans include 24/7 support via chat and email, knowledge base, community forum, and tutorial courses on Pipedrive Academy. The only support feature they lack is phone support, which Zoho CRM offers in addition to email and live chat support. However, Zoho CRM does not offer a uniform level of support across all its plans. The higher the tier, the shorter the maximum response time.
Zoho CRM offers four kinds of support plans. The Basic plan is available to all plans and includes email support and access to the customer portal, community forum, and knowledge base. Paid tiers give you access to the Classic support plan, which has live chat and toll-free phone support eight hours a day, five days a week. If you want 24×5 or 24×7 support with onboarding and technical assistance, there’s an additional cost of 20% to 25% of your license fee.
Winner: Pipedrive wins in this category because it offers 24×7 chat and email support across all its plans. Zoho CRM’s basic support offerings include phone, chat, and email support during business hours on weekdays only. Aside from that, 24×7 support requires an additional cost.
Best Alternatives to Pipedrive & Zoho CRM
Pipedrive and Zoho CRM both offer an impressive array of features, but some business needs may not be completely met by either of these providers. If you are looking for a different CRM solution, here are some alternatives to consider:
- Freshsales: Recommended for businesses that need call tracking and management features. It is also our top pick for the best call center software.
- HubSpot: Ideal for teams looking for a free CRM with chat and email marketing features.
- Salesforce: If you need more advanced CRM features like partner management, Salesforce is an excellent alternative.
Read our guide to the best CRM software for small businesses and determine which option works best for your specific business needs.
Bottom Line
Pipedrive and Zoho CRM both offer extensive CRM features that are easy to learn and navigate. Pipedrive has a simpler interface design and broader customer support options available for all users. However, if you’re looking for a solution that’s also easy to use but has a free plan and deeper customization options, Zoho CRM is the right choice for you.
You Might Also Like…
- Get your business going with a guide on how to create a CRM strategy.
- Follow practical steps to training your team in your CRM.
- Ready for more sales strategies? Learn what cross-selling is and how to make it more effective.
