Customer relationship management (CRM) software is designed to help businesses capture leads, communicate with customers and grow revenue. While some CRM platforms offer comprehensive solutions for team collaboration across all business departments, others focus on a specific area, like sales or marketing. Choosing the best CRM software for your company means finding a product that matches your business’s needs.
Pipedrive and Salesforce are top CRMs with very different audiences and feature sets. We’ve researched details from our comprehensive Pipedrive review and Salesforce review to help businesses compare these platforms and determine which is best for their growth.
Criteria | Pipedrive | Salesforce |
---|---|---|
Price and plans |
Note the following:
|
Note the following:
|
Artificial intelligence |
|
|
Sales features |
|
|
Contact management |
|
|
Ease of use |
|
|
Customer service |
|
|
Pipedrive is our choice for businesses that need a cost-effective, sales-focused CRM. With five plans to choose from, you’re sure to find the features and functionality you need at the right price to manage customer relationships and improve sales. We love that you can create unlimited visual sales pipelines and get excellent standard features to understand every deal and optimize the entire sales process.
However, while we appreciate Pipedrive’s sales tools, scalable plans and cost-effective add-ons, businesses that need a comprehensive CRM solution with features geared toward multiple departments will find Pipedrive’s platform limited.
Pipedrive empowers your sales team with the following features:
Pipedrive’s visual pipeline helps you easily manage deals as they progress. Source: Pipedrive
Salesforce is ideal for businesses of varying sizes that need a comprehensive, versatile CRM platform. This popular CRM vendor has a vast ecosystem of offerings; we’re focusing on its Sales Cloud CRM packages, which are popular small business solutions.
While the entry-level Starter plan is an excellent, all-in-one solution for small businesses, Salesforce’s premium plans provide extensive, customizable CRM features geared toward sales, marketing, service and IT departments. These tiers are excellent options for established businesses with complex needs. Salesforce’s advanced automations and generative AI tools will help companies with big budgets collaborate across departments to drive sales efficiently.
Salesforce is a powerful, all-in-one solution because of the following features:
Top Salesforce competitors include Keap, Zoho CRM and Zendesk. Check out our Keap review, our review of Zoho CRM and our Zendesk review to research these Salesforce alternatives.
Salesforce’s easy-to-use dashboard includes visual reports and Einstein AI insights. Source: Salesforce
Pipedrive has five reasonably priced plans that include essential tools to boost sales. Most plans include Pipedrive’s best features, although some are limited. We love that the slight price difference between plans means you can scale with Pipedrive as your business grows. Plus, you can save up to 32 percent when paying annually.
We like that all plans have unlimited seats, contacts and sales pipelines and that you can try any plan with a 14-day free trial. We also appreciate that Pipedrive offers cost-effective add-ons, like Lead Booster and Campaigns, to expand your CRM capabilities affordably. However, we would have preferred to see less-restrictive automation limits.
Plan | Price (per user per month) | Included features |
---|---|---|
Essential | $21.90 (billed monthly) $14.90 (billed annually) |
|
Advanced | $37.90 (billed monthly) $27.90 (billed annually) | Everything in Essential, plus the following:
|
Professional | $59.90 (billed monthly) $49.90 (billed annually) | Everything in Advanced, plus the following:
|
Power | $74.90 (billed monthly) $64.90 (billed annually) | Everything in Professional, plus the following:
|
Enterprise | $119 (billed monthly) $99 (billed annually) | Everything in Power, plus the following:
|
Salesforce offers four plans in its Sales Cloud CRM packages. In general, we found Salesforce to be on the expensive side. We appreciate the 30-day free trial for all plans but were disappointed that most features that make the platform so potent require a premium plan or add-ons.
The entry-level plan includes essential sales features such as lead management tools. However, the 10-seat limit means you must upgrade to a significantly more expensive plan as your business grows. The expansive tools in Salesforce’s premium plans are excellent for large businesses and enterprises. Still, the limited features and relatively high costs of lower-tier plans, as well as the required annual commitment, could be barriers for many small businesses.
Plan | Price (per user per month, billed annually) | Included features |
---|---|---|
Starter | $25 (10-seat user limit) |
|
Sales Professional | $80 | Everything in Starter, plus the following:
|
Sales Enterprise | $165 | Everything in Sales Professional, plus the following:
|
Sales Unlimited | $330 | Everything in Sales Enterprise, plus the following:
|
Pipedrive is our choice for an affordable CRM. We like that its plans are reasonably priced and include essential features so you can find a solution that fits your organization. As your business grows, you can upgrade or purchase add-ons without the painful price jump of Salesforce’s options. However, large businesses with complex needs might find Pipedrive’s features limiting and see better value in Salesforce’s comprehensive software.
We love that Pipedrive’s Sales Assistant, powered by AI and preprogrammed algorithms, is available with all plans. Using your sales data, the Sales Assistant can do the following:
However, while the Sales Assistant can help your employees convert leads more efficiently, we would have liked to see Pipedrive’s AI functions extend to communications.
AI-powered automations are a popular CRM feature, but new machine learning developments are taking CRM capabilities to the next level.
Salesforce offers multiple AI-powered tools, but Einstein GPT and Einstein Conversation Insights stand out.
Salesforce’s AI capabilities are state-of-the-art. However, we were disappointed that most functions are restricted to premium plans. In fact, the only standard feature is Einstein Activity Capture, which syncs data from your email and calendar accounts.
Salesforce’s powerful AI tools far outpace Pipedrive’s. Pipedrive’s AI assistant provides helpful tips, CRM analytics and recommendations, but Salesforce’s Einstein is a more robust machine-learning tool. It offers insights and helps you communicate effectively with contacts to stay on top of the best leads and close more deals quickly.
Lead generation is a breeze thanks to Pipedrive’s visual pipeline and robust sales features. We like that all plans include most tools but with varying limits, so you get access to everything you need but only pay for the functionality that’s appropriate for your business size.
Salesforce combines the tools and information your sales team needs to manage leads, collaborate with other departments and close the deal.
We were disappointed that Salesforce’s most powerful features are available only with premium plans. We think all users would benefit from Salesforce’s accurate sales forecasting tools and time-saving workflow automations.
Salesforce provides visual reports and helpful filters that let you stay on top of deals and monitor employees. Source: Salesforce
The best CRM for sales features depends on your business’s size and characteristics. Small and midsize businesses will find a better value in Pipedrive’s easy-to-use platform and the second-tier plan’s essential features and automations. However, large businesses with complex sales cycles and processes will likely be constrained by Pipedrive’s limitations, thus making Salesforce’s premium plans a better choice.
The best CRM solutions can help you design and implement an efficient sales process while tracking customer data, handling leads and managing sales funnels.
Pipedrive provides contact management and email marketing tools, including the following:
We were disappointed that some of the best features to reach customers and nurture leads aren’t available in Pipedrive’s Essentials plan. Still, you can augment your contact management with these value-priced add-ons:
Pipedrive allows you to automatically notify sales reps when prospects open emails and send triggered emails at various stages of the customer relationship.
Salesforce has everything you need to manage contacts successfully.
Use Salesforce’s extensive audience segmentation tools to create more effective, personalized email marketing campaigns.
Salesforce’s cadences allow you to create custom paths for communicating with contacts. Source: Salesforce
Salesforce edges out Pipedrive for contact management because most of its powerful tools to help you communicate with customers and leads come standard. We appreciate that Pipedrive offers competent email capabilities, but we would have liked to see them available across all plans.
Pipedrive’s simple visual interface and straightforward, sales-focused features make it a highly user-friendly platform.
Salesforce offers a more extensive list of features than most competitors, and you can complete almost any task right from the platform. The learning curve for such a complex solution can be steep, but we think that once you get the hang of things, Salesforce is easier than it seems.
Still, we were disappointed that many helpful features, like integrations and AI, don’t come standard across all plans.
Pipedrive beats Salesforce because of its simple, easy-to-navigate visual platform. We think most teams will start selling better right off the bat, thanks to its foolproof features. For businesses that need the advanced functions of a more robust platform, Salesforce is a better option and is relatively easy to use despite its complex feature set.
To ensure a successful CRM implementation, ensure that you’ve researched your platform and that it aligns with your company’s vision. Train your team, test the system, and carefully migrate your data.
Salesforce offers three support tiers:
We appreciate Salesforce’s online self-help resources and the ability to get a callback when you require additional support. Still, the wait time could be costly. We would have liked to see phone support included with all plans.
We appreciate that Salesforce and Pipedrive offer excellent online resources to help users navigate the platforms and troubleshoot problems. However, we were disappointed that neither plan includes phone support as a standard feature.
Choosing CRM software requires finding a solution that meets your needs. Pipedrive is focused on sales, with a visual interface and limited email and AI tools. Salesforce is an all-in-one solution with extensive tools, powerful AI and thousands of integrations.
Choose Pipedrive if …
Choose Salesforce if …
Pipedrive is a sales-focused CRM known for its visual pipeline and essential features to help businesses capture leads, manage contacts and make sales from one unified platform.
Pipedrive is an affordable CRM solution with five plans at reasonable prices compared with the competition. You can save more money with discounts for annual payments.
Salesforce is generally easy to use, although some of the complex features in premium plans require some effort. Salesforce offers online resources and onboarding support to help businesses learn how to navigate the platform.
Salesforce is an industry leader because of its extensive range of plans and features tailored to different business needs and its state-of-the-art Einstein AI technology.