Pipedrive vs Salesforce Essentials comparison

Pipedrive and Salesforce are both solutions in the CRM category. Pipedrive is ranked #26 with an average rating of 7.8, while Salesforce is ranked #15 with an average rating of 8.1. Pipedrive holds a 0.8% mindshare in CRM, compared to Salesforce’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 78% of Pipedrive users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Salesforce users who would recommend it.

Pipedrive

Read 13 Pipedrive reviews

1,029 Views
689 Comparison Views

78% willing to recommend

Salesforce Essentials

Read 13 Salesforce Essentials reviews

562 Views
556 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Pipedrive

Salesforce Essentials

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Pipedrive and Salesforce Essentials are strong contenders in the CRM market for small to medium businesses. Pipedrive is favored for its pricing and flexibility, while Salesforce Essentials is recognized for its advanced features and robust integration capabilities.

Features: Pipedrive provides valuable customization options, facilitating easy management of sales processes with a user-friendly interface. It supports defining custom data fields, applying automation, and delivering insightful reporting. Salesforce Essentials offers a comprehensive platform with Sales Cloud and Service Cloud, integrating finance and customer support seamlessly while leveraging AI for enhanced customer segmentation and management.

Room for Improvement: Pipedrive could enhance its integration capabilities and offer more comprehensive documentation, particularly for reporting. Its automation, especially in campaign management, could also be improved. Salesforce Essentials users point out a need for better integration with complex ERP systems, improved reporting features, and more flexible licensing options for small teams, along with a UI better suited for non-native English speakers.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Pipedrive offers deployment in Public and Private Cloud environments with generally positive user feedback on its technical support, despite some noted delays. Salesforce Essentials supports On-premises deployments and multiple cloud options, providing solid customer service, though response times can be inconsistent. Both platforms have effective customer engagement, although initial interactions via chatbots may be less satisfactory.

Pricing and ROI: Pipedrive is celebrated for its cost-effectiveness, presenting competitive features at a lower price, ideal for smaller companies. Salesforce Essentials is perceived as more expensive, offering extensive features that may justify the cost for larger teams. However, its pricing model, while reflective of premium features, may deter smaller businesses due to higher costs.

To learn more, read our detailed Pipedrive vs. Salesforce Essentials Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Pipedrive vs. Salesforce Essentials

September 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 868,706 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Pipedrive

Ranking in CRM

26th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Local Government CRM (14th), Opportunity Management (4th), Sales Force Automation (9th)

Salesforce Essentials

Ranking in CRM

15th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the CRM category, the mindshare of Pipedrive is 0.8%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Essentials is 0.6%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

CRM Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Salesforce Essentials	0.6%
Pipedrive	0.8%
Other	98.6%

CRM

Featured Reviews

Willem Lambrechts

Managing Director at Drebbel

Offers the ability to create multiple pipelines and the flexibility in filtering and reporting

We do a lot of analytics and reporting ourselves. We don't necessarily use all the features that Pipedrive provides, but it's very helpful at least. It has streamlined our deal-closing process. We use it for everything. When we create a lead, we put it into Pipedrive. That lead can be converted into an opportunity, which we manage through our whole pipeline. This includes having all data related to the opportunity in one place. Once the deal is closed, we use Pipedrive to follow up on the invoices until they are paid. We also manage sales commissions and payments to our salespeople through Pipedrive.

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Srini-Dhanaraj

Founder & CEO at imfine.club

Manages service requests and dispatches engineers to resolve issues

I work from home for a heater manufacturing company. They wanted to move away from their current SAP CRM system to Salesforce. There is a fulfillment process, which involves taking an order, delivering it, and providing service. Salesforce is used to manage the order-taking process. Once an order is taken, the backend system, SAP ERP, handles product manufacturing, delivery, and installation. After installation, the Service Cloud in Salesforce takes over for ongoing service management. Once your order is confirmed, integration with the SAP ERP backend will be seamless. The system takes the sales order from Salesforce and starts processing it for procurement, starting with creating a production order, manufacturing, and then delivery. Once the product is delivered, this information is passed back to Salesforce Service Cloud. In the Service Cloud, a service engineer receives a notification indicating that a product needs to be delivered to a specific location for installation. The engineer then inspects and installs the product at the designated site. SAP ERP manages the product manufacturing and delivery processes. After the product is delivered to the customer, Salesforce Service Cloud takes over. It manages service requests and dispatches engineers to resolve issues reported by customers. Service Cloud captures the information and creates an incident record when a customer reports a product fault. Engineers receive this information and promptly visit the client site to fix the issue. The solution is easy to implement. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The initial setup is straightforward."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to create timelines and custom fields."

"Pipedrive makes it easy to understand who I'm talking to at a glance. It has all the activities, node features, opportunity interface, deal interface, and time drive deals.The sales process is extremely simple, which saves me time and energy. I can send the document for e-signature and make the most out of my deals. I can automatically send emails and phone calls. You need to do only a little API programming. It offers massive flexibility. You can run an entire enterprise on the platform. The ease of use facilitates huge adoption."

"The usability of the solution is its valuable feature."

"The biggest and the best feature is the view that you get when you log in. You have a board like Kanban when you log in, and you've got a column on the left and several other columns that move to the right, depending on where you are in a particular deal. If it's a prospect or someone who is just looking, you move it along the process, and it really helps you keep track of where you are."

"Pipedrive's most valuable feature is reporting and insights. The CRM shows the database and lets the salespeople arrange their daily activities. The insights are essential from a management point of view because it helps the sales staff improve or adjust their whole sales cycle, activities, and quality."

"Pipedrive's most valuable features are that you can keep the whole information that's related to managing your sales process and you can customize it easily. The person that we have who is customizing Pipedrive is very junior in means of software development or process development. He can easily use it, anyone can use the solution. It has a very easy user interface to customize your processes and apply them to the Pipedrive process."

"The solution is very stable."

More Pipedrive pros

"In terms of features, the cloud-based solution and easy deployment are standout elements that have made a difference."

"I can download the data to Excel, create tables, and do whatever I want. I am very comfortable with the tool's mobile application. Its main benefit is transparency because I can share it with representatives."

"The solution helps to track the performance of salespersons before closing deals."

"The product is stable."

"Salesforce makes tracking every product and customer activity easy, enabling managers to monitor their products, such as key products and their peak performance."

"High availability is really important for us when getting our reports as a vendor."

"The solution is very scalable and flexible. It can be customized as per the business need."

"Salesforce provides the best they have with the current version. Most of the features we need are already there, and it's very easy to use."

More Salesforce Essentials pros

Cons

"The platform could be even more robust."

"Reporting capabilities of the solution could be improved."

"The tool's APIs are challenging. It should also be compliant with HIPAA, FINRA and GLBA. The data centers should be within US so that they are compliant with regulations."

"We are using the lowest version of it. As we become more sophisticated, we might outgrow the tool, but there are features that are available in the higher-level versions, which I'm unfamiliar with, that might be able to meet the needs we would have in the future. They can maybe add some of the features to the basic version or make it more reasonably priced or free."

"The integration possibilities with other systems could be better as well. We use it in connection with Octopus CRM, and there's room for improvement."

"Pipedrive has some weaknesses against Salesforce. The documentation of Pipedrive could improve. They need more qualified documentation because I had to fix my colleague's work to correct the reports because they did not find how they can do it, or develop reports. There are some misunderstandings about how to do reporting."

"You must pay more if you need an additional feature."

"The product is expensive."

More Pipedrive cons

"The solution needs to be more user-friendly. It's difficult for a senior to track leads when a salesperson uploads leads. The solution should also improve its integration capabilities."

"Salesforce Essentials does not contain domain-specific solutions."

"Less integration would be better. It should work independently."

"The primary area for improvement in Salesforce Essentials is its pricing. There are other competitors, like Zoho CRM, that offer similar features at a lower cost."

"Integrating Salesforce with SAP, considering our business relies heavily on SAP for ERP, has been quite challenging due to the intricate product configurations. Unlike standard products like computers with a few options, our products have hundreds of configurable options, making the integration complex. If such integration were possible, it would have been easier to understand the unique nature of our industry and the limited number of customers who buy steel products, unlike consumer electronics."

"The solution could be cheaper."

"I have seen Salesforce evaluate a lot of AI and analytics into that. But as an end user, I don’t have that much input."

"Salesforce should encourage new users by offering smaller license packages, such as packages for three or two users."

More Salesforce Essentials cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pipedrive is the most cost-effective in terms of the balance between cost and features. I would take Pipedrive over HubSpot or Zoho CRM. It's well-positioned on the market."

"Pipedrive keeps increasing the prices, which is becoming a bit annoying. It was reasonable when we started, but now they're increasing all the time."

"We pay $1000 a month for the tool."

"The solution's pricing is excellant. It costs 65 dollars a month for top tier plan."

"The price of Pipedrive has been reasonable."

"The product is expensive but provides valuable services."

"As of now, the pricing and value are quite good."

"On a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price, two or three. For us, everything is expensive because this is a startup, but for a normal company, it should be peanuts."

More Pipedrive pricing and cost advice

"Salesforce Essentials is quite expensive, almost 10 out of 10. I don't have the exact cost, but we found it to be very expensive based on our budget constraints."

"We chose quarterly payments."

"There is a need to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the solution."

"I rate Salesforce Essentials' pricing an eight out of ten."

"It's a perpetual license, and the subscription can be expensive."

"The tool is moderately priced."

"The pricing is on the higher side, especially with additional costs for professional services like consultants."

"The pricing is a bit on the expensive side."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Outsourcing Company

13%

Retailer

Comms Service Provider

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	3

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	7

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Pipedrive?

The most valuable feature is the ability to create timelines and custom fields.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pipedrive?

The pricing is satisfactory.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Pipedrive?

New features sometimes seem bolted on rather than being smooth.

See all answers

What do you like most about Salesforce Essentials?

Salesforce provides the best they have with the current version. Most of the features we need are already there, and it's very easy to use.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Salesforce Essentials?

Salesforce Essentials is very expensive, but it delivers exceptional value. It is a good platform to have if you can afford it because it has numerous add-ons and modules. Anything that Salesforce ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Salesforce Essentials?

We use a limited number of automated workflows in Salesforce Essentials. The workflows we implement are designed to make sales teams' lives easier when executing certain tasks. Instead of requiring...

See all answers

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Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

Microsoft Dynamics CRM vs Pipedrive

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No data available

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pipedrive

September 2025

Download Pipedrive product report

Buyer's Guide

Salesforce Essentials

September 2025

Download Salesforce Essentials product report

Overview

Pipedrive CRM, a SOC 2 Certified Service Provider, is built around activity-based selling. It ensures total visibility through its Pipeline Management tool with a clear visual interface that prompts you to take action, remain organized and stay in control of a complex sales process, Sales Reporting that provides visual report, understands pipeline metrics, tracks and tests sales process and shows sales split by product. Pipedrive CRM boosts productivity, optimizes the Sales Process, It has an import/export feature that safeguards against human error. It is fully customizable, has multiple usage possibilities and can automatically creates contacts in your pipeline.

Pipedrive

Salesforce Essentials is a cloud-based CRM tool for businesses seeking flexible, scalable, and customizable solutions to enhance sales and customer support processes.

Designed for seamless integration across multiple channels, Salesforce Essentials includes Sales and Service Cloud to simplify sales tasks and customer management. It enhances finance, credit, and quality processes with user-friendly AI capabilities and predictive analytics. Despite its strengths, there is room for improvement in SAP integration, interface simplicity, and report generation. Cost-effectiveness and support for diverse languages are also potential upgrade areas. Businesses use this CRM solution for lead management, opportunity tracking, and automating sales workflows, transitioning from paper-based methods to digital efficiency.

What are the essential features of Salesforce Essentials?

Scalability and Flexibility: Accommodates growth and customization needs.
Multiple Channel Integration: Enhances finance and quality processes.
User-Friendly: Easy navigation with AI capabilities.
Cloud Deployment: Includes Sales and Service Cloud features.
Predictive Analytics: Improves productivity and tracking.
Mobile App Support: Facilitates on-the-go access and management.

What benefits or ROI can users expect from Salesforce Essentials?

Improved Productivity: Automation features save time and streamline tasks.
Enhanced Customer Management: Centralizes interaction and data handling.
Ease of Transition: From manual to automated workflows.
Performance Monitoring: Standardizes processes for better oversight.

In the retail industry, businesses employ Salesforce Essentials for customer data management and transparency in order processing. Healthcare providers use it for patient engagement and streamlined communication. Financial services utilize it for billing management and compliance, harnessing automation tools for efficient data handling.

Salesforce

Sample Customers

Samsung, Amazon, SkyScanner, TDW, Vimeo, ReMax, Festo

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Pipedrive vs. Salesforce Essentials

September 2025

Free Report: Pipedrive vs. Salesforce Essentials

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