Pipedrive vs Freshsales: Which CRM Wins in 2025?

by | Dec 2, 2024

Winner
pipedrive
4.5
  • Lead Management
  • Customize Deals
  • Pipedrive Projects
  • Pipedrive Campaigns
  • Powerful Analytics
  • Free trial Available
  • Paid Plan Starts at $14
Runner Up
Freshsales CRM
3.5
  • Email Management
  • Workflow Automation
  • Clear and Organized Deals
  • Sales Sequences
  • Awesome Web Forms
  • Free trial available
  • Paid Plans from $9/month
pipedrive vs freshsales

Choosing the right CRM can feel like trying to pick out a new car.

Overwhelmed by options?

You’re not alone. Two popular choices are Pipedrive and Freshsales, both packed with features but with key differences.

In this head-to-head matchup, we’ll break down Pipedrive vs Freshsales to help you decide which CRM is the perfect fit for your business.

Overview

To give you the most accurate comparison of Pipedrive vs Freshsales, we’ve spent weeks testing each platform.

We delved deep into each CRM’s features, ease of use, and pricing to provide you with a clear picture of its offerings.

Pipedrive logo
4.5out of 10

Want a CRM that’s easy to use and helps you close more deals? Start your free Pipedrive today!

Pricing:ย It has a free trial. The premium plan starts at $14/month.

Key Features:

  • Visual sales pipelines
  • Customizable reports
  • Mobile app
Freshsales CTA
3.5out of 5

Freshsales CRM might be the one for you. Its intuitive interface makes it an excellent choice.

Pricing:ย It has a free trial. The premium plan starts at $9/month.

Key Features:

  • Contact Management
  • Deal Tracking
  • Reporting and Analytics

What is Pipedrive?

Need a simple way to manage your sales? Pipedrive might be for you.

It helps you visualize your sales pipeline. Think of it like a Kanban board for your deals.

You can track leads, schedule follow-ups, and see where each deal stands.

It’s designed to be intuitive and easy to use, even for new CRM users.

Also, explore our favorite Pipedrive alternativesโ€ฆ

Pipedrive Homepage

Our Take

Pipedrive logo

Pipedrive is a solid choice for sales-focused businesses. It’s user friendly, visually appealing, & packed with helpful features. The only reason it doesn’t get a perfect 10 is that the lower-priced plans have some limitations.

Key Benefits

  • Laser focus on sales: Pipedrive is built to help you close more deals.
  • Visual pipeline management: See exactly where each deal stands.
  • Powerful automation: Automate tasks like sending emails and scheduling appointments.
  • 24/7 support: Get help whenever you need it.

Pricing

  • Essential: $14/user/month.
  • Advanced: $24/user/month.
  • Professional: $49/user/month.
  • Power: $59/user/month.
  • Enterprise: $79/user/month.
Pipedrive Pricing

Pros

  • Easy to use and navigate.
  • It is a great visual pipeline.
  • Powerful automation features.
  • Excellent customer support.

Cons

  • Limited customization on lower plans.
  • It can be pricey for large teams.
  • Reporting could be more robust.

What is Freshsales CRM?

Need a CRM that’s easy to use and won’t break the bank?

Freshsales CRM might be your perfect match. It’s designed to help you manage your contacts, track deals, and boost sales.

Think of it as your trusty sidekick for building strong customer relationships.

No more juggling spreadsheets or sticky notes! Freshsales keeps everything organized in one place.

Also, explore our favorite Freshsales CRM alternativesโ€ฆ

Freshsales Homepagee

Our Take

Freshsales CTA

Freshsales CRM is a solid choice for businesses prioritizing ease of use and affordability. It’s a great way to use CRM without a steep learning curve.

Key Benefits

  • User-friendly interface: Easy to navigate and learn.
  • Built-in phone and email: Connect with customers directly from the platform.
  • AI-powered insights: Get helpful suggestions and predictions.
  • Affordable pricing: Offers a free plan and competitive paid plans.

Pricing

  • Growth + 500 Marketing Contacts: $9/user/month.
  • Pro + 500 Marketing Contacts: $39/user/month.
  • Enterprise + 500 Marketing Contacts: $59/user/month.
Freshsales crm pricing

Pros

  • Intuitive and easy to use.
  • Affordable pricing options.
  • Great for small businesses.
  • Helpful AI-powered features.

Cons

  • Limited customization options.
  • Reporting could be more robust.
  • There are not as many integrations as some competitors

Feature Comparison

Let’s dive deeper into the advanced capabilities of these two crm platforms.

We focused on core sales activities and the helpful features that truly streamline your process, so you can make the right choice for your business needs.

1. Pipeline Management & Deal Tracking

  • Pipedrive: This is where pipedrive crm shines. It gives you clear, visual pipeline management via a drag-and-drop interface. Sales reps use it to efficiently organize and deal tracking across multiple sales pipelines.
  • Freshsales: Offers effective pipeline management as well, but its focus is on using ai sales assistant insights to prioritize your deal management. It helps you quickly manage deals but is less visually driven than Pipedrive.

2. Communication: Built-in Phone & Email

  • Freshsales: A major strength. It provides a built-in phone and email right inside the CRM. This simplifies log calls and tracking customer engagement. Chat support is also available 24/5 on most paid plans, providing excellent customer support.
  • Pipedrive: Basic email integration is standard. However, advanced features like a native dialer or advanced phone support are generally reserved for higher-tier plans or require third-party tools and integrations.

3. Sales Automation

  • Pipedrive: Focuses on automating core sales activities like scheduling and follow-ups. You can easily automate tasks and remove repetitive tasks to boost productivity for your sales reps.
  • Freshsales: Provides more advanced capabilities in sales automation. Its workflows can handle complex, multi-step sequences, enabling users to connect different parts of the platform and easily close deals.

4. AI & Actionable Insights

  • Freshsales: Freshsales stands out with its AI, Freddy. It offers predictive deal insights and sales forecasting. This provides solid actionable insights for lead management.
  • Pipedrive: Also offers an AI sales assistant to guide sales reps. It analyzes performance and suggests which deals to focus on, delivering personalized deal insights for better opportunity management.

5. Lead & Contact Management

  • Pipedrive: Excellent for organizing contact management and basic lead management. It is simple and easy to input new customer information.
  • Freshsales: It offers stronger lead management features, including AI-powered lead scoring and automatic data enrichment. This means your customer information is always current, supporting the broader customer relationship management.

6. Customization

  • Freshsales: Provides a greater level of control. You can create custom modules and tailor the interface more deeply to fit your unique business needs. This is great for teams with complex structures.
  • Pipedrive: Offers customizable pipelines and custom fields on all paid plans, making it simple to adapt to your basic sales flow. It maintains its reputation as the best crm software for simplicity.

7. Marketing Automation

  • Freshsales: Features integrated marketing automation tools. You can run full outreach campaigns and send highly personalized emails directly from the crm software, making it an all-in-one solution.
  • Pipedrive: Its focus on sales means marketing automation is generally an add-on or found only in higher tiers. Freshsales vs Pipedrive wins on native marketing depth at lower prices.

8. Reporting and Analytics

  • Pipedrive: Offers clear, visual reporting centered on your sales activities and pipeline management. It is easy to use for quick checks, though options for custom reports are somewhat limited.
  • Freshsales: Provides more robust and advanced functionalities in reporting, including more options for custom reports and using AI to uncover deeper actionable insights into customer information.

9. Integrations and Ecosystem

  • Pipedrive: Has a vast marketplace with a huge number of third party integrations and third party apps. It integrates well with project management tools, positioning itself as the best crm tool to connect other systems.
  • Freshsales: As part of the Freshworks suite, its native integration with other Freshworks crm tools is seamless. It offers extensive integrations and more features, but some third-party tools integration can be less comprehensive.

What to look for when choosing a CRM?

  • Check if the key features align with your business needs, and look for standout features like AI or built-in phone systems.
  • Examine the pricing, especially the cost per user and whether the vendor offers unlimited users on higher tiers.
  • Find out if a dedicated account manager is provided, which can be crucial for smooth onboarding and maximizing the crm software.
  • Test the mobile app functionality to ensure your sales reps can log calls and manage deals on the go.
  • See if the provider offers a free plan or a comprehensive trial, so you can test the platform (we evaluated Freshsales’ offering, for example).
  • Look at the security measures and data compliance. Remember, both Freshsales and Pipedrive aim to protect your customer information.

Final Verdict

Both CRMs prove to be strong contenders in the battle of Pipedrive vs Freshsales.

However, Pipedrive emerges as our top pick for its exceptional user-friendliness and affordability.

Its intuitive interface and visual pipeline make it ideal for businesses seeking a straightforward solution to manage their sales process.

While Freshsales offers a wider range of advanced features, Pipedrive’s focus on simplicity and core CRM functionality makes it a winner for most sales teams.

Trust us, we’ve spent weeks testing these platforms to help you make the right decision.

Ready to streamline your sales and boost your revenue? Give Pipedrive a try!

More of Pipedrive

Hereโ€™s a comparison of Pipedrive against other CRM software:

  • Pipedrive vs Keap: Pipedrive excels in visual sales pipeline management, while Keap specializes in robust marketing automation, lead scoring, and advanced email sequences.
  • Pipedrive vs GoHighLevel: GoHighLevel is an all-in-one marketing and sales platform for agencies. Pipedrive is a sales-focused CRM for managing deals and pipelines.
  • Pipedrive vs ActiveCampaign: Pipedrive is a sales-centric CRM with intuitive pipeline visualization, while ActiveCampaign prioritizes marketing automation and customer journey building.
  • Pipedrive vs HubSpot: Pipedrive is a more focused sales CRM known for simplicity, while HubSpot offers a comprehensive suite of marketing, sales, and service tools, being more complex.
  • Pipedrive vs ClickFunnels: Pipedrive is a sales pipeline CRM, while ClickFunnels primarily focuses on building sales funnels and landing pages, with basic CRM aspects.
  • Pipedrive vs Folk: Pipedrive is strong in sales pipeline management, whereas Folk emphasizes simple contact organization and relationship building for smaller teams.
  • Pipedrive vs Instantly: Pipedrive focuses on sales deal management, while Instantly specializes in cold email outreach, lead finding, and email automation.
  • Pipedrive vs ClickUp: Pipedrive is a dedicated sales CRM that is excellent for pipeline tracking. ClickUp is a versatile work management platform that can also be used as a CRM and offers broader project management.
  • Pipedrive vs Monday CRM: Pipedrive is a sales-focused CRM with visual pipelines, whereas Monday CRM is a highly customizable work OS that can be configured for CRM purposes and emphasizes workflow management.
  • Pipedrive vs Capsule CRM: Pipedrive focuses on visual sales pipeline management, while Capsule CRM is a simpler, growth-oriented CRM for managing contacts and relationships, often for smaller businesses.
  • Pipedrive vs Insightly: Pipedrive specializes in sales pipeline visualization, while Insightly offers a broader CRM solution with project management, marketing automation, and more robust reporting.
  • Pipedrive vs Freshsales: Pipedrive offers deep sales pipeline visualization, while Freshsales CRM provides a more complete solution with built-in phone, AI tools, and integrated marketing features.
  • Pipedrive vs Salesforce: Pipedrive is user-friendly and sales-focused for SMBs, whereas Salesforce is a highly customizable, enterprise-level CRM with extensive features across sales, service, and marketing.
  • Pipedrive vs Zendesk: Pipedrive emphasizes visual sales pipeline management and automation, while Zendesk primarily focuses on customer service and support. It also offers CRM capabilities with built-in communication tools.

More of Freshsales

Hereโ€™s a brief comparison of Freshsales CRM with these software solutions:

  • Freshsales CRM vs Pipedrive: Freshsales CRM provides a comprehensive sales solution with integrated communication and AI, whereas Pipedrive excels in visual sales pipeline organization and deal tracking.
  • Freshsales vs GoHighLevel: GoHighLevel is a robust, all-in-one platform with strong marketing automation and a steeper learning curve, often favored by agencies. Freshsales focuses more on streamlined sales processes and ease of use.
  • Freshsales CRM vs Keap: Freshsales CRM emphasizes intuitive sales management and AI-powered insights; Keap offers powerful sales and marketing automation with a focus on contact management.
  • Freshsales CRM vs ActiveCampaign: Freshsales CRM is a dedicated sales CRM with built-in phone and email; ActiveCampaign is strong in marketing automation, email campaigns, and advanced segmentation.
  • Freshsales CRM vs Hubspot: Freshsales CRM offers AI-powered sales tools and a quicker setup; HubSpot provides an extensive all-in-one suite covering marketing, sales, and customer service.
  • Freshsales CRM vs Clickfunnels: Freshsales CRM is a sales-focused CRM for managing customer interactions, whereas ClickFunnels is a specialized tool for building sales funnels and landing pages.
  • Freshsales CRM vs Folk: Freshsales CRM offers a comprehensive sales platform with AI and automation; Folk focuses on simple, collaborative contact management and visual pipeline organization.
  • Freshsales CRM vs Instantly: Freshsales CRM is a full-fledged sales CRM with robust features; Instantly is primarily an email outreach and cold email automation tool.
  • Freshsales CRM vs ClickUp: Freshsales CRM is designed for streamlining sales processes and managing pipelines; ClickUp is a versatile work OS that encompasses project management, tasks, and CRM functionalities.
  • Freshsales CRM vs Monday CRM: Freshsales CRM provides a dedicated sales solution with intelligent insights, while Monday CRM offers highly customizable boards for managing workflows, including CRM.
  • Freshsales CRM vs Capsule CRM: Freshsales CRM offers a more robust sales CRM with AI features; Capsule CRM focuses on straightforward contact management and sales opportunity tracking.
  • Freshsales CRM vs Insightly: Freshsales CRM is a dedicated sales tool with AI and comprehensive sales automation; Insightly provides a broader CRM experience, including strong project management capabilities.
  • Freshsales CRM vs Salesforce: Freshsales CRM offers an intuitive, AI-powered sales platform with competitive pricing; Salesforce is a highly customizable, enterprise-grade CRM with an extensive ecosystem and advanced features.
  • Freshsales CRM vs Zendesk: Freshsales CRM focuses on sales automation and pipeline management, while Zendesk is primarily a customer service platform with robust ticketing and support features.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, Pipedrive or Freshsales?

Both are excellent CRM platforms. Pipedrive is known for its ease of use and visual sales pipeline, while Freshsales offers more advanced features and AI-powered insights. The best choice depends on your specific needs and budget.

Is there a free version of Pipedrive or Freshsales?

Pipedrive offers a 14-day free trial but no free version. Freshsales, on the other hand, has a free forever plan with basic CRM functionality, making it a great option for small businesses with limited budgets.

Does Pipedrive integrate with other software?

Yes, Pipedrive integrates with many popular business tools, including Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and Mailchimp. The Pipedrive Marketplace offers more integrations.

What kind of businesses is Freshsales best for?

Freshsales is a versatile CRM suitable for various businesses, from startups to large enterprises. Its comprehensive features and scalability make it a particularly good choice for businesses with complex sales processes or growing teams.

Can I import my existing data into Pipedrive or Freshsales?

Yes, both platforms allow you to easily import your existing customer data from spreadsheets or other CRM systems. This ensures a smooth transition and prevents data loss when switching to a new platform.