StackAmplify

Close vs Pipedrive

A side-by-side of Close and Pipedrive on pricing and our methodology scores, drawn from each tool's category Listings. They compete in CRM for Small Business.

Close logo

Close

from $49/mo

Inside-sales CRM purpose-built for high-volume outbound teams.

Visit Close

The verdict

Pipedrive is the stronger overall pick. In the CRM for Small Business ranking it scores 3.70 to Close's 3.40 out of 5. That said, Close wins on individual criteria below, so read the breakdown against your own priorities.

At a glance

Close Pipedrive
Starting price $49/mo $14/mo
Free tier No No
CRM for Small Business score 3.40 (#4) 3.70 (#3)

Head to head: CRM for Small Business

scored / 5
Contact & Pipeline 25% weight
Close 4.5

The standout strength — a clear real-time activity overview, unlimited contacts on every paid tier, and drag-and-drop pipeline visualization that reviewers consistently single out as easy to work from.

Pipedrive 4.5

The strongest area by a clear margin — pipeline management rates 4.6 and contact management 4.4, and reviewers describe the drag-and-drop deal board as the quickest CRM to read at a glance.

Automation 20% weight
Close 3.5

Multichannel automation across email, calls, and SMS with cloneable templates is capable, but true workflow automation is gated to the Growth and Scale tiers and absent from Solo and Essentials.

Pipedrive 3.5

Automation and filters let small teams focus on selling and stop them missing follow-ups, but depth is limited for complex branching workflows and the best of it is gated to higher tiers.

Integration Breadth 20% weight
Close 3.0

Around 100 native integrations — far short of the category leaders — and reviewers note thinner connectors that frequently push teams onto Zapier workarounds.

Pipedrive 4.0

500+ integrations with strongly rated Outlook, Zapier, Gmail and Slack connectors and native Google/Outlook/QuickBooks sync, though some workflows still lean on Zapier rather than native hooks.

Reporting 15% weight
Close 2.5

The most-cited limitation across review sources; pipeline reports lack the customization to be useful, advanced analytics rate only medium, and leaderboards sit behind higher-priced plans.

Pipedrive 2.5

The most consistently cited weakness — reviewers want more report customization, call advanced analytics limited, and find the better dashboards restricted to higher-tier plans.

Value for Money 20% weight
Close 3.0

Expensive for startups with sharp jumps between tiers and no free entry point, but rated worth it by high-volume phone teams who collapse calling, email, SMS, and pipeline into one tool.

Pipedrive 3.5

Aggregate value scores a solid 4.4, but the dominant theme is price escalation — the entry tier feels thin, there is no free plan, and costs climb as add-ons and gated features pile up.

Close

Pros

  • Calling, email, and SMS auto-log to the contact record in one place — reviewers call it a feature usually found on CRMs that cost four times as much
  • Clear real-time activity view that makes follow-up prioritization easy for reps working a high-volume pipeline
  • Unlimited contacts and drag-and-drop pipeline on every paid plan above Solo
  • Holds a 4.7/5 on Capterra across 164 verified reviews, with ease of use rated 4.6

Cons

  • Reporting is the single most-cited weakness — Opportunity-pipeline reports aren't customizable enough to be useful, with no good workaround
  • Roughly 100 native integrations against HubSpot's 1,500+, so connectors often fall back to Zapier
  • No free tier, and the jump from Essentials to Growth more than doubles the per-seat price
  • Workflow automation is locked out of Solo and Essentials entirely — you pay for Growth before you can build one

Pipedrive

Pros

  • Drag-and-drop deal board rates 4.6/5 and is the fastest CRM in the category to understand at a glance
  • Contact and pipeline management is the single most-praised area across every independent review platform
  • 500+ integrations with top-rated connectors — Outlook 4.8, Zapier 4.7, Gmail 4.7, Slack 4.7 — plus native QuickBooks sync
  • Automation and filters genuinely cut admin so small teams stop missing follow-ups

Cons

  • Reporting is the most consistently cited weakness — advanced analytics feel limited and custom dashboards are gated to higher tiers
  • No permanent free tier, only a 14-day trial, so there is no $0 runway for a solo founder
  • Reviewers repeatedly call it pricey for small teams as add-ons and core features push you up the plans
  • The most useful automation depth lives behind more expensive plans, not the entry tier

FAQ

Is Close or Pipedrive better?
Pipedrive edges ahead in our scoring. In the CRM for Small Business ranking Close scores 3.70 and Pipedrive scores 3.40 out of 5. Close still wins on specific criteria, so the right pick depends on what you weight most.
Is Close cheaper than Pipedrive?
Pipedrive has the lower entry price: Close starts at $49/mo and Pipedrive starts at $14/mo.
What is the difference between Close and Pipedrive?
Close is positioned as Inside-sales CRM purpose-built for high-volume outbound teams. Pipedrive is positioned as Visual pipeline CRM that keeps small sales teams moving deals forward. They go head to head in CRM for Small Business.
Read the full Close review → Read the full Pipedrive review →

StackAmplify may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. This does not influence the scores, which are computed from each category's published methodology.