Close vs Pipedrive
 Close |  Pipedrive | |
|---|---|---|
| Sentiment | ||
| Score | 63/100 | 32/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 | #6 |
| Rated comments | 25 | 27 |
| Best for | Small sales teams and solo sellers doing high-volume cold calling; Teams that want calling, email, SMS and workflows inside the CRM; Founders who want a CRM they can pick up without a consultant | Small sales teams moving off spreadsheets; Sales-only pipeline tracking without marketing automation |
| Skip it if | Teams that need marketing automation in the same tool; Teams that need flexible automation or deep lead-level reporting; Sellers who rely on three-way or conference calling | Teams that need marketing and sales data in one place; Sales orgs scaling past about a dozen reps; Businesses whose records are not deals, such as commercial real estate |
| Starting price | $9/user/mo | £14/seat/mo |
| Pricing (vendor-stated) | Per user per month: Solo $9 annual / $19 monthly (1 user, 10k leads, no workflows), Essentials $35 / $49, Growth $99 / $109, Scale $139 / $149; custom plans via sales. Calling and SMS billed at cost. 14-day free trial with no credit card; no free plan; 30-day money-back guarantee. | Shown in GBP for a UK visitor: Lite £14, Growth £39, Premium £59, Ultimate £79 per seat/mo billed annually (£24, £49, £79, £99 billed monthly), excluding VAT. 14-day free trial with no card required; no free plan. Paid add-ons include LeadBooster (from £32.50), Projects, Campaigns, Web Visitors and Smart Docs. |
Independent users mostly rate Close as a simple, fast, sales-first CRM that suits small outbound teams and solo sellers who live on the phone, with calling, email, SMS and workflows in one place. The trade-off is depth outside the calling workflow: users call it rigid, report automation flaws and missing calling features such as three-way calls, and say it is weak for marketing and lead-level reporting. About a third of the comments mentioning it were promotional, including roughly ten near-identical comments that name-drop Close while plugging a Reddit-monitoring tool, referral links, and agency or rival-CRM pitches, so those were set aside.
Users like
- Easy to pick up: users describe it as light, simple and fast, easier to onboard than HubSpot, with decent automation that does not overwhelm[1][2][3][4][5]
- Built for phone-heavy outbound: users cite the power dialer and smart views, cold callers hitting 250 to 350 dials a day, and running a BDR team's outbound from inside it[1][2][3][4]
- Calling, email, SMS and workflows sit in one place, which users say keeps reps productive and organized[1][2]
- Users call it good value for small teams and solo operators, saying a low-tier plan covers most of what they need[1][2][3]
Users complain about
- Rigid, with automation flaws: one team of about ten calls it very rigid but good enough, and a solo user flags its automation weaknesses[1][2][3]
- Calling has gaps: one user found no three-way calling, another hit quirks with calling and stayed on Apollo[1][2]
- Reporting centres on caller activity and revenue rather than deeper lead analysis[1]
- Not strong on the marketing side, according to a user who otherwise rates it highly[1]
Independent users describe Pipedrive as a simple, sales-only pipeline tool that small teams actually keep updated, and some have run on it for years. The recurring trade-off is a ceiling: past about a dozen reps, or once marketing data needs to sit in the deal view, several teams moved to HubSpot, and add-ons push the real cost well above the base price. Opinion is genuinely split, and about a third of the 100 comments reviewed were promotional, mostly rival CRMs, custom-CRM builders and sync or lead tools pitching in the threads.
Users like
- Simple enough that reps actually use it; one team switched from HubSpot for that reason[1][2][3][4]
- Nicer to use day to day than HubSpot, according to teams that later moved to HubSpot anyway[1][2]
- Covers straightforward sales needs for years, with gaps filled by integrations or add-ons[1][2][3]
- Per-seat pricing scales linearly without forced plan jumps[1]
Users complain about
- Hits a ceiling as teams grow, especially when sequences, lead scoring or marketing attribution need to live with deal data[1][2][3][4][5]
- Add-ons and higher tiers push real cost well above the headline price; one user puts 12 seats at $700-800/mo all-in[1][2][3]
- Data model bends badly for non-deal records such as properties with multiple owners and units[1][2]
- Reporting can be unreliable: one user saw closed deals missing from reports and a pipeline view that shifts when scrolling[1]