⚡ Quick Verdict:
- Pricing: Pipedrive starts at $14/user/month. Close CRM starts at $35/seat/month.
- Best for: Pipedrive suits visual pipeline management for small businesses. Close CRM suits high-volume inside sales.
- Key difference: Close CRM has built in calling, SMS, and a power dialer. Pipedrive needs other tools for phone work.
- Our pick: Pipedrive for most sales teams. It costs less and covers more of the sales process.
Most sales teams pick a CRM for one of two reasons.
They want to see every deal clearly, or they want to make more calls.
Pipedrive was built for the first group.
Close CRM was built for the second.
That single split explains almost every difference between them.
Overview
This Pipedrive vs Close CRM comparison covers pricing, features, and daily functionality.
We also break down which sales teams each system fits best.
Our sources include published specs, product documentation, and G2 reviews.
Our writers also spent hands-on time with both platforms.
Those notes appear in the “What Our Team Noticed” sections below.
What is Pipedrive?
Pipedrive is a sales focused CRM built around a visual sales pipeline.
You drag each deal from one stage to the next.
The board shows the value sitting at every stage of your sales process.
Small businesses use it to track leads, contacts, and follow ups in one place.
Higher plans unlock unlimited pipelines and deeper pipeline management.
Here is a short walkthrough of the platform in action.
🏆 Winner: Pipedrive
A CRM that makes your sales pipeline easy to read. Good for teams that manage deals across many stages.
Pipedrive Pricing
Here is what Pipedrive costs per user. Prices rise as you unlock more features.
| Plan | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Lite | $14/user/month | Solo sellers and tiny teams |
| Growth | $24/user/month | Growing teams that need email sequences |
| Premium | $49/user/month | Teams that want advanced reporting |
| Ultimate | $69/user/month | Larger teams with security and admin needs |
Pricing verified July 2026.
Free trial: Yes. Pipedrive offers a 14-day trial with no credit card required.
Money-back guarantee: No standard refund window. You cancel from the billing page before your renewal date.
📌 Note: There is no free plan here. Paid add-ons like lead capture and projects sit outside the base price, so users should check the pricing page on the Pipedrive website before they commit.
⚠️ Pricing conflict: Our research notes five annual plans for Pipedrive. Our verified data lists four: Lite, Growth, Premium, and Ultimate. We kept the four-plan figures above. Some customers also feel the add-on upsells act like a bait-and-switch.
Key Benefits of Pipedrive
Here is what makes Pipedrive worth a look:
- Visual pipeline: Drag-and-drop cards move each deal between phases. You spot stalled sales activities in seconds.
- User friendly interface: Navigation is simple enough for new reps. Scheduling follow ups takes very few clicks.
- Custom fields and filters: You shape the sales process to match your business. Saved filters show only the data you want.
- Detailed reports: Activities performance and email performance reports track sales performance over time.
- Marketplace access: Over 400 integrations connect Pipedrive to other apps you already run.
- Strong mobile app: Geolocation, offline access, and call logging help field reps update records on the road.
What Our Team Noticed
Our writer signed up for Pipedrive and spent several days moving real deals through the system. Here is what stood out:
Pipedrive Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- Entry price starts lower than most sales CRM tools at $14/user/month
- Visual pipeline management makes deal stages easy to read
- Over 400 marketplace integrations plus Zapier for other tools
- Mobile app supports geolocation, offline access, and call logging
- Email marketing and AI Sales Assistant included on paid plans
❌ Cons
- No built in calling, so phone work needs other tools
- Live chat with a human requires an upgrade to a higher plan
- The support chatbot gets weak marks in customer feedback
- Paid add-ons push the real monthly cost above the sticker price
What is Close CRM?
Close CRM is a sales platform for high-volume inside sales.
Calling, SMS, and email all live inside the same window.
Reps work a list of leads without switching to other apps.
The interface strips out clutter so teams can focus on the next conversation.
Outbound teams pick it for the power dialer and the automation behind it.
This video walks through the platform screen by screen.
🥈 Runner Up: Close CRM
Built for reps who live on the phone. Calling, SMS, and email sequences run from one screen.
Close CRM Pricing
Close CRM charges per seat. Each tier adds more automation and reporting depth.
| Plan | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $35/seat/month | Small teams testing built in calling |
| Growth | $99/seat/month | Outbound teams using the power dialer |
| Scale | $139/seat/month | Larger teams that need the predictive dialer |
Pricing verified July 2026.
Free trial: Yes. Close CRM offers a 14-day trial with no credit card required.
Money-back guarantee: No published refund window. Monthly plans can be cancelled before the next billing date.
📌 Note: Calling minutes, SMS, and phone numbers are billed on top of the seat price. There is no free plan, but the pricing page is clear about what each tier includes.
⚠️ Pricing conflict: Our research reports a $99 entry tier with a three-user minimum and $49 per extra user. Our verified data lists Essentials at $35/seat/month with three plans total. We kept the verified figures above.
Key Benefits of Close CRM
Here is what pulls outbound teams toward Close CRM:
- Built in calling: Calls, SMS, and email run inside the CRM. Call recording and logging happen without extra setup.
- Power Dialer: It dials several numbers at once. A free rep is routed in the moment a human answers.
- Call Assistant: Every phone call is transcribed and summarised. Reps spend less time typing notes.
- Smart Views: Saved filters group prospects by any rule you create. Finding the next call list takes one click.
- Email templates and sequences: Personalised templates send automated outreach across a whole list of contacts.
- Fast support: An in-house team across several time zones answers in under two hours on average.
What Our Team Noticed
Our writer ran a week of outbound calls through Close CRM before writing this review. Here is what stood out:
Close CRM Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- Native calling, SMS, and email in one window
- Power dialer and predictive dialer for high call volume
- AI call transcription and summaries cut manual note taking
- In-house support answers in under two hours on average
❌ Cons
- Entry seat price is more than double Pipedrive’s Lite plan
- The interface carries a learning curve for new reps
- Around 100 integrations against Pipedrive’s 400+ marketplace
- Mobile app is thinner than Pipedrive’s for field sales
Feature Comparison
Here is where Pipedrive vs Close gets practical. We compare eleven areas that shape daily work for sales teams.
| Feature | Pipedrive | Close CRM |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $14/user/month | $35/seat/month |
| Free Plan | ❌ | ❌ |
| Visual Sales Pipeline | ✅ | ✅ |
| Built In Calling | ❌ | ✅ |
| Power Dialer | ❌ | ✅ |
| Email Marketing | ✅ | ❌ |
| Advanced Reporting | ✅ | ✅ |
| Integrations | 400+ | 100+ |
| Mobile App | ✅ (offline access) | ✅ (basic) |
| Best For | Visual pipeline management | High-volume calling |
1. Pipeline Management
Pipedrive: The visual sales pipeline is the whole product. Each deal sits as a card you drag between stages, and the board totals the value waiting at every step. Higher plans allow unlimited pipelines for longer sales cycles.
Close CRM: Pipelines exist, but they sit behind the inbox and call queue. The layout pushes reps toward the next conversation rather than a board view of the sales process.
2. Lead Management and Custom Fields
Pipedrive: Leads land in a separate inbox before they become deals. Custom fields and saved filters let you view data the way your team works.
Close CRM: Smart Views filter and group prospects into call-ready lists. Notes and logged call notes are categorised, so finding details inside a client record is quick.
3. Built In Calling and Power Dialer
Pipedrive: There is no native phone system. Calling, call recording, and SMS come from third-party integrations, which adds another vendor and another bill.
Close CRM: Deep native call and SMS functionality is the main reason teams switch here. The Power Dialer rings several numbers at once and routes an available rep the moment a human picks up. A predictive dialer sits on the top tier.
⚠️ Warning: If your reps make fifty or more calls a day, this single category may outweigh everything else in this comparison.
4. Sales Automation and Follow Ups
Pipedrive: Automation features fire on triggers tied to a deal, person, activity, lead, organization, or project. For example, a lead from one source can trigger a follow-up task the same day it arrives.
Close CRM: Sales automation points outward. Workflows assign leads to a user or user group, then start outbound communication by email, SMS, or calls. The company positions these tools as a way to double rep productivity.
5. AI Features
Pipedrive: The AI Sales Assistant reads your pipeline and suggests which deal to touch next. It works best when your data is tidy and your stages are consistent.
Close CRM: The Call Assistant transcribes and summarises every phone call automatically. Reps stay in the conversation instead of typing while a prospect talks.
6. Email Marketing and Email Sequences
Pipedrive: Campaigns handle real email marketing with templates, segments, and open tracking. That puts newsletters and drip mail in the same system as your deals.
Campaign building uses a drag-and-drop editor, so marketing tasks do not need a designer.
Close CRM: The focus is one-to-one outreach, not bulk marketing. You create personalised email templates and email sequences that pause when a prospect replies, all managed from a shared inbox.
7. Reporting and Detailed Reports
Pipedrive: Reporting is broad. Activities performance and email performance reports sit next to deal forecasts, and advanced reporting on higher tiers adds custom dashboards for sales performance.
Close CRM: Reports track how leads move through the pipeline and compare one period against another. Call and SMS metrics are the strongest part of the set.
8. Integrations and Other Apps
Pipedrive: The marketplace holds over 400 integrations. Popular picks include SendPulse, Quickbooks, Trello, Microsoft Teams, Asana, Slack, Intercom, Zoom, and Fireflies.ai.
Close CRM: Over 100 integrations cover communication, automation, finance, support, lead generation, marketing, and collaboration. Microsoft 365, HubSpot, Segment, Gong, JustCall, and Help Scout are all supported.
💡 Pro Tip: Both platforms integrate with Zapier. If your favourite app is missing from either marketplace, that is usually the fastest bridge.
9. Projects, Documents and Templates
Pipedrive: Projects turn a won deal into delivery work with boards and tasks. Documents and templates let you send quotes and contracts without leaving the record.
Signed documents log back against the deal, which keeps handover data in one place.
Close CRM: Post-sale project work is not the goal here. Teams that need delivery tracking usually connect a separate tool for that stage.
10. Ease of Use and Mobile Access
Pipedrive: G2 reviews highlight the user friendly interface, and the user interface is rated easier to navigate than the alternative here. The mobile app adds geolocation, offline access, and call logging for reps in the field.
Close CRM: There is a learning curve at first, though the layout gets easier once reps know where things live. The mobile app carries core communication tools but is thinner for field sales.
11. Pricing & Cost
Let us put the plans side by side.
| Tier | Pipedrive | Close CRM |
|---|---|---|
| Free | ❌ | ❌ |
| Entry | Lite: $14/user/month | Essentials: $35/seat/month |
| Mid | Growth: $24/user/month | Growth: $99/seat/month |
| Upper | Premium: $49/user/month | Scale: $139/seat/month |
| Top | Ultimate: $69/user/month | — |
Pipedrive: Four plans give you room to start cheap and upgrade later. Even the Ultimate plan costs less per user than Close CRM’s mid tier, and higher tiers pack in more features than similarly priced rivals.
Close CRM: This is a premium, all-inclusive product. The seat price covers the phone system, so the comparison is fairer once you add a dialer subscription to the Pipedrive column.
Different Scenarios
| If You Need… | Choose | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Tight budget | Pipedrive | $21 cheaper per seat at entry |
| Heavy phone work | Close CRM | Built in calling and power dialer |
| Visual pipeline management | Pipedrive | Drag-and-drop deal stages |
| Email marketing campaigns | Pipedrive | Native campaign builder |
| Automated outbound sequences | Close CRM | Email, SMS, and call workflows |
| Field sales on mobile | Pipedrive | Offline access and geolocation |
💰 Your Budget
Pipedrive is the cheaper entry point at $14 per user. Close CRM asks $35 per seat, but that price already covers the phone system.
🔌 Your Tech Stack
Count the other apps you must integrate. A 400-strong marketplace favours Pipedrive, while teams already running Gong or JustCall may prefer the Close CRM side.
📞 Your Sales Process
Long, multi-stage deals suit a visual board. High-volume outbound suits a dialer and a call queue.
🎓 Your Experience Level
New reps get productive faster on a drag-and-drop board. Expect a short learning curve before the Close CRM layout clicks.
🆓 Free Trials and Demos
Neither product has a free plan, so use the free 14-day trials. If you are interested in both, import twenty real leads and run a normal week on each.
🛟 Support Options
Close CRM keeps an in-house support team across time zones with replies under two hours on average. Pipedrive routes you to a chatbot first, and live chat with a person needs a higher plan.
Switching Guide
Already on one of these? Here is what changes when you move.
🔄 Switching from Pipedrive to Close CRM?
✅ What you’ll gain:
- Native calling, SMS, and call recording inside the CRM
- Power dialer and AI call transcription
- Support replies in under two hours on average
❌ What you’ll lose:
- The drag-and-drop pipeline view your team knows
- Email marketing campaigns and project boards
- Roughly 300 marketplace integrations
📋 How to switch:
- Export deals, contacts, and custom fields to CSV
- Start a Close CRM trial and map your fields during import
- Rebuild your Smart Views, then port phone numbers last
🔄 Switching from Close CRM to Pipedrive?
✅ What you’ll gain:
- A lower seat price and four plans to grow into
- Visual pipeline management with unlimited pipelines on higher tiers
- Email marketing, projects, and a stronger mobile app
❌ What you’ll lose:
- Built in calling, SMS, and the predictive dialer
- Automatic call summaries from the Call Assistant
- Two-hour support replies on every plan
📋 How to switch:
- Export leads, contacts, and call notes to CSV
- Create a Pipedrive account and build your stages first
- Import the data, then add a calling app from the marketplace
What Our Review Didn’t Cover
This comparison focused on small businesses and mid-sized sales teams. We did not test enterprise security reviews, custom API builds, or bulk seat licensing. Call quality also depends on your region and carrier, which we could not measure. If you manage fifty or more reps, your limitations and priorities will differ from what we describe here.
Final Verdict
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| 💰 Pricing | Pipedrive |
| 📊 Pipeline Management | Pipedrive |
| 📞 Calling and Dialers | Close CRM |
| 🤖 Sales Automation | Close CRM |
| 📈 Advanced Reporting | Pipedrive |
| 🔌 Integrations | Pipedrive |
| 👶 Ease of Use | Pipedrive |
| 🛟 Support | Close CRM |
| 🏆 Overall Winner | Pipedrive |
🏆 WINNER: PIPEDRIVE
Pipedrive wins 5 of 8 categories.
Best for: visual pipeline management, small businesses, longer sales cycles, field sales teams
These two products chase different buyers. Pipedrive is a sales pipeline you can read at a glance, priced for teams that watch every dollar.
Close CRM is a phone-first system for reps who dial all day. Its calling, SMS, and outreach automation are hard to match at any price.
If your team lives on the phone, the runner-up here is still the right buy. For everyone else, Pipedrive covers more of the sales process for less money.
More of Pipedrive Compared
Here is how Pipedrive measures up against other CRM tools:
Pipedrive wins on: cheaper paid entry, faster setup for small teams, cleaner deal board
HubSpot wins on: a genuine free plan, deeper marketing tools, wider content features
Pipedrive vs Salesforce
Pipedrive wins on: lower admin overhead, shorter onboarding, predictable per-user cost
Salesforce wins on: custom object depth, huge partner network, large-account governance
Pipedrive wins on: sales-first reporting, mature deal forecasting, stronger sales mobile app
Monday CRM wins on: flexible board building, cross-team work views, colourful task tracking
Pipedrive wins on: richer automation triggers, larger app marketplace, deeper campaign features
Capsule CRM wins on: a free starter tier, simpler contact records, lighter daily interface
More of Close CRM Compared
This video lines Close CRM up against other options before we dig in:
Close CRM vs Instantly
Close CRM wins on: voice plus SMS in one place, full deal records, live call routing
Instantly wins on: inbox rotation at scale, cheaper cold email seats, deliverability warm-up
Close CRM wins on: dialer speed, call transcription, cleaner rep workspace
Keap wins on: invoicing and payments, appointment booking, small-business marketing automation
Close CRM wins on: outbound calling, rep-level activity metrics, prospect Smart Views
ActiveCampaign wins on: broadcast email design, lifecycle nurture flows, lower cost per contact
Close CRM wins on: dialer depth, faster human support, tighter outbound workflows
Freshsales CRM wins on: lower seat pricing, built-in chat widgets, tie-ins to a wider product suite
Frequently Asked Questions
What CRM is better than Pipedrive?
It depends on the job. Close CRM is better for phone-heavy outbound teams. HubSpot suits marketing-led growth. For visual deal tracking on a small budget, Pipedrive still wins.
What is the difference between Pipedrive and Cloze?
They are separate products. Cloze is a relationship assistant that builds contact history automatically. Pipedrive is a sales pipeline CRM for teams that manage deals through stages.
What is Close IO used for?
Close.io is the former name of Close CRM. Teams use it for inside sales: calling, SMS, email sequences, and tracking leads through the pipeline from one screen.
Can Pipedrive be used as a CRM?
Yes. It is a full CRM. You store contacts, log sales activities, manage deals across stages, and pull detailed reports on sales performance.
What is better, HubSpot or Pipedrive?
HubSpot offers a free plan and stronger marketing features. Pipedrive costs less on paid tiers and gives sales teams a simpler pipeline. Pick by which side matters more.
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