Looking for an alternative to Pipedrive? Here are our top 11 for selling fast and well
We're all familiar with Pipedrive: a simple, effective, well-oiled CRM for managing your sales pipeline. But let's be honest... as soon as your team grows or your needs become more complex, things start to go wrong. Lack of customisation, little automation, costs that rise with each subscription... Not ideal for every business.
Fortunately, the market is full of alternatives to Pipedrive that are more flexible, more powerful or simply better suited to the way you sell. There is CRM software designed for your customer relations, your pipeline and your sales team.
👉 In this guide, we've selected 11 CRMs that are really worth a look. We've compared them on their features, prices, integrations and efficiency/time spent ratio. Our aim: to help you find the best alternative to Pipedrive to boost your sales without drowning in tools.
What is Pipedrive?
Pipedrive is a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) designed to help sales teams better manage their prospects, deals and tasks. Born in 2010, it has quickly become a benchmark for SMEs and start-ups looking for a simple, visual, sales-focused customer relationship management tool .
The heart of Pipedrive is its ultra-visual sales pipeline: each stage of the sales process is materialised in the form of columns, making it possible to track the progress of prospects at a glance. Key features include :
- contact and deal management
- automation of certain actions (emails, reminders, tasks, etc.);
- performance monitoring via sales reports;
- integrations with popular tools (Gmail, Slack, Trello, etc.);
- a fluid, time-saving interface .
Pipedrive is particularly appreciated for its fast learning curve and its ability to structure sales work without unnecessary complexity. But this simplicity also has its limits...
Pipedrive
Why consider an alternative to Pipedrive?
While Pipedrive remains an excellent starting point for structuring a sales team, it is not suitable for all profiles or for all companies. When we look at online customer feedback, we often come across a number of obstacles:
1. Limited functionality for advanced needs
Pipedrive does the job very well... as long as you stick to simple pipeline management. As soon as you need to automate complex processes, manage cross-functional projects or integrate more robust CRM marketing, its limitations become apparent.
2. A rapidly escalating cost
At first glance, Pipedrive is attractively priced. But as soon as you add advanced functionalities (email tracking, automation workflow, forecasting), the bill quickly rises to several dozen euros per user. Hard to justify for some teams.
3. Integration can be rigid
It's true that Pipedrive offers a wide range of integrations. But they are not always as fluid or customisable as you would expect from a modern CRM platform. As a result, we often end up tinkering with Zapier... or looking for a more suitable solution.
4. Customer management not always sufficient
For teams focused on customer relations or user experience management, Pipedrive has its limitations: there is little room for support, tickets or inter-team collaboration. Some CRM alternatives offer a more comprehensive approach.
5. Reports and dashboards in need of improvement
The reporting section is functional, but not always intuitive or customisable. For sales managers who manage several channels, products or regions, this can quickly become frustrating.
Comparative table of the 11 best alternatives to Pipedrive
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| Pipedrive |  monday CRM |  Salesforce Sales Cloud |  Zoho CRM |  Close CRM |  HubSpot CRM |  Nimble |  Youday CRM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| For companies with 1 to 5000 employees | For companies with 1 to 5000 employees | For companies with 2 to 250 employees | For all companies | For companies with more than 250 employees | For companies with more than 1 employees | For companies with more than 50 employees | For companies with more than 250 employees |
| See software | See software | See software | See software | See software | See software | See software | See software |
| Learn more about Pipedrive | Learn more about monday CRM | Learn more about Salesforce Sales Cloud | Learn more about Zoho CRM | Learn more about Close CRM | Learn more about HubSpot CRM | Learn more about Nimble | Learn more about Youday CRM |
Our top 11 alternatives to Pipedrive
Bigin by Zoho
Bigin is Zoho CRM's clever little brother. Designed for small businesses, the self-employed and lean sales teams, this ultra-accessible CRM already ticks a lot of boxes.
Its objective? To enable simple, fluid and fast pipeline management without sacrificing the essentials. As a result, the solution offers a minimalist interface, smart features and an instant learning curve. You can manage your prospects, track your deals, connect your mailbox, make calls from your CRM, and even automate actions.
Bigin integrates perfectly with the Zoho ecosystem and offers a particularly effective mobile application for tracking sales in the field. In short, it's a formidable CRM for those who want to save time without getting bogged down in a complex system.
🛠️ Key features include
- an intuitive, visual pipeline view
- tracking of calls, emails and tasks linked to contacts;
- simple automation of repetitive actions;
- integration with Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and Zoho apps;
- a comprehensive mobile application;
- contact segmentation and intelligent filters;
Bigin is proof that a CRM doesn't have to be complex to be powerful. If you're looking for a lighter, more fluid alternative to Pipedrive, but still focused on customer relations, you've come to the right place. Especially if your budget is limited but your ambitions are high.
Breakcold
Breakcold is the new-generation CRM designed for people who can't stand manual follow-up or cumbersome tools. Specialising in social selling, it centralises all communication channels (email, LinkedIn, Twitter) in a unified box, so you never miss an exchange with a prospect again.
Designed for freelancers, start-ups and agile sales teams, Breakcold features an ultra-fluid interface and a simple workflow focused on what makes the difference: following up at the right time, tracking interest signals, personalising your prospecting... and closing more deals.
Where Pipedrive requires clicks, steps and modules... Breakcold shows you directly who to follow up, when and why.
🛠️ Here's what it offers in concrete terms:
- a single box for tracking emails, LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and personalised messages;
- a simple but effective mini-pipeline for tracking leads;
- automatic detection of signals of interest (profile visits, interactions, etc.);
- intelligent, automated follow-up;
- a fast, clear UX without overload;
- a highly responsive French team.
Breakcold is a CRM designed for modern prospectors who spend more time on LinkedIn than in Excel spreadsheets. If your priority is to create personalised customer relationships without getting bogged down in management, this is an excellent alternative to Pipedrive, simple, straightforward... and frighteningly effective.
Close
Close is a CRM designed for sales teams who make outbound prospecting their daily business. There's no marketing frills or gimmicky features here: everything is designed to help you make a string of calls, track your follow-ups and close effectively.
🎯 It's one of the only tools on the market to offer an integrated power dialer, one-click calls and a fluid multi-channel follow-up system (email, SMS, calls). Close also facilitates teamwork with shared views, dynamic filters and powerful sales sequence automation.
We recommend it for sales teams who work intensively, often in B2B, with well-defined processes. It is clearly aimed at those who want to invest in a CRM designed for pure performance.
🛠️ Here's the best of what it has to offer:
- integrated VoIP calls with recording and transcription;
- a power dialler for burst calling with no downtime;
- mass emailing with tracking and automatic replies;
- automated multi-channel sequences (email + call + task);
- dynamic filters and views by rep/team;
- advanced reporting to monitor sales performance.
With Close, you don't manage a customer base: you sell. It's the ideal tool for sales managers who want to manage an aggressive, well-oiled sales team focused on ROI. If Pipedrive seems too soft or too 'visual pipe', Close will wake you up.
Close CRM
Folk CRM
Folk is the CRM that has understood something essential: in sales, everything starts with a relationship. Designed for those who juggle contacts, projects and opportunities without necessarily having a traditional 'sales force', Folk is positioned as a relationship CRM, ultra-personalizable and resolutely modern.
🎯 Here, there's no sales jargon, no rigid pipeline. Folk lets you create your own structure (by folder, tag or workflow) to track your exchanges with your customers, prospects, partners or investors, according to your needs. The interface is elegant, intuitive, almost 'notion-esque' in spirit. And yet, under the bonnet, it's all there: interaction tracking, reminders, light automation, team collaboration...
It's a tool that's particularly popular with freelancers, agencies and modern SMEs who want a CRM that's more flexible and less rigid than Pipedrive.
🛠️ Its strengths include
- a centralised contact view, enriched automatically (email, LinkedIn, etc.) ;
- organisation by customisable folders (sales, partnerships, projects, etc.);
- smooth collaboration with comments and shared tasks;
- intelligent import of contacts from Gmail, LinkedIn or CSV;
- consolidated exchange history and ultra-fast search;
- simple integrations: Zapier, Slack, Google Calendar, etc.
Folk is a CRM that's a pleasure to open. Perfect for those who want to manage relationships, not pipelines. If you find Pipedrive lacking in flexibility, or if you don't have a 'classic sales process', Folk CRM is a refreshing alternative that's as beautiful as it is effective.
HubSpot CRM
HubSpot CRM is the Swiss Army knife of modern CRM. Free at its core, ultra-powerful in a paid version, it combines sales management, marketing, customer support and automation in an all-in-one platform.
Unlike Pipedrive, HubSpot goes way beyond the simple sales pipeline. It manages leads, email marketing, automated workflows, capture forms and even customer service - all from a clear, fluid and highly visual interface.
It's an ideal solution for ambitious SMEs, growing start-ups or marketing/sales teams who want a 360° view of customer relations. The free version is more than enough to get you started, but be warned: once you've got the hang of it, prices can go up quickly.
🛠️ Here's what HubSpot has to offer on the CRM side:
- management of contacts, companies, tasks, calls and transactions ;
- a customisable visual sales pipeline
- real-time tracking of emails, templates, scoring and notifications;
- task automation (reminders, emails, assignments, etc.);
- native integration with Gmail, Outlook, Zapier, Slack, Zoom, etc;
- powerful reports, dashboards and business forecasts.
HubSpot is a war machine for structuring all aspects of customer relationship management, from marketing to sales. If your team is growing and you want a more comprehensive, marketing-friendly but still fluid alternative to Pipedrive, HubSpot CRM is a sure bet.
HubSpot CRM
Karlia
Karlia is the all-in-one CRM designed for French SMEs that want to centralise their sales management, invoicing, projects and customer relations in a single, fluid, modern platform... and without any gasworks.
🎯 The tool focuses on ease of use, with a clear interface and perfectly integrated modules: tracking prospects, creating quotes/invoices, managing projects, managing customer support, automating repetitive tasks... everything is designed to save time and avoid double entry.
Unlike Pipedrive, which is limited to sales, Karlia supports the entire operational chain. And the icing on the cake is that support is ultra-responsive, in French, with a real focus on customer support.
🛠️ Here are its main assets:
- management of contacts, pipelines, reminders and sales documents ;
- integrated invoicing with quotes, invoices, recurring payments and reminders;
- project tracking with tasks, time spent, collaboration, Kanban/Gantt views;
- customer support with tickets, priorities, SLAs and a dedicated portal;
- customisable dashboards to manage your business;
- automation.
Karlia is the one-stop platform for those who are tired of juggling 5 different tools. If you're looking for a French alternative to Pipedrive capable of covering much more than just sales, while remaining clear and efficient, Karlia ticks all the boxes.
monday CRM
monday CRM is the logical evolution of the well-known monday.com project management platform. And that's great news for all teams who want to centralise their commercial and operational management in a single customisable, visual tool.
🎯 Here, we don't impose a fixed pipeline or standard structure on you: you build your own CRM space using templates, dynamic tables and automated workflows. The result is a totally modular experience that can be adapted to suit sales, marketing, support and even project management teams.
monday CRM is particularly recommended for SMEs, agencies and start-ups who want to keep control of their processes, while encouraging fluid collaboration between the various departments. And with a clear, colourful interface, adoption by teams is often rapid.
🛠️ Here's what you can expect:
- 100% customisable sales pipelines;
- Tracking of leads, calls, emails, tasks and sales activities;
- automated repetitive actions (reminders, assignments, etc.);
- integrated project management: deadlines, status, time spent, etc. ;
- enhanced collaboration: mentions, comments, real-time information sharing, etc;
- native integration with Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Google Docs, Zoom, etc.
monday CRM combines flexibility, visibility and collective efficiency. If you find Pipedrive too rigid, or if you're looking for a CRM that can also keep track of your internal projects, monday could become your central platform. An alternative to Pipedrive that speaks to both sales and ops.
monday CRM
Nimble
Nimble is the CRM that puts the emphasis on human relations. Its strength? It automatically connects your contacts, emails, social networks and calendars to create a unified view of your prospects and customers, without any manual effort.
Designed for small teams, freelancers or consultants, Nimble excels at tracking personalised relationships. It automatically detects public information (such as LinkedIn post, website, or recent exchanges), and allows you to stay on top of every opportunity without ever missing a follow-up.
It's an alternative to Pipedrive that will suit those who want a simple, clean tool that focuses on human connection, rather than a purely transactional CRM.
🛠️ Its strengths include
- automatically enriched profiles (email, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) ;
- a complete timeline of interactions with each contact;
- tracking of tasks, reminders and sales opportunities;
- integrations with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Zapier, Mailchimp, etc;
- an effective mobile application for managing relationships on the move;
- a customisable dashboard that's easy to configure.
Nimble is like the social CRM in your pocket: light, fluid and hyper-connected. If your strength lies in networking and local customer relations, this is an excellent alternative to Pipedrive, which is much better suited to long-term relationships than mass deals.
Nimble
Salesforce Sales Cloud
Salesforce is the big name in global CRM. With its Sales Cloud module, it offers a complete platform for managing the entire sales cycle, from lead to signature, including automation, reporting and large-scale personalisation.
🎯 It's an ultra-powerful CRM, designed for businesses with complex processes, large volumes of data, or a well-structured sales team. Where Pipedrive stops, Salesforce goes much further: advanced automation, multi-team management, predictive reporting, business customisation, etc.
But this power comes at a price, both in terms of cost and complexity of implementation. Salesforce is therefore aimed primarily at fast-growing SMEs, ETIs and large enterprises.
🛠️ Here's what Sales Cloud has to offer:
- A complete CRM with management of leads, contacts, opportunities and accounts;
- customised automation via Flow Builder;
- management of sales teams, forecasts, targets and quotas;
- powerful reports and dashboards (with built-in AI);
- a robust mobile app for working on the move;
- advanced integrations with thousands of third-party apps (ERP, support, marketing, etc.).
Salesforce Sales Cloud is the " unlimited scalability" option. If you're looking for an alternative to Pipedrive to take your business to the next level, manage larger teams or industrialise your sales, this is one of the most solid platforms on the market. But be warned, it's not a plug & play tool: it's better to have a real CRM strategy behind it.
Salesforce Sales Cloud
Youday CRM
Youday CRM is the 100% French CRM solution, designed for SMEs, start-ups and ambitious teams who want to centralise sales, invoicing, marketing, project management and customer relations in a single intuitive tool.
Its key advantage? A scalable platform, with no IT development required, that adapts to your business processes. You manage your contacts, pipeline, quotes/invoices, tasks and projects, while automatically generating documents and steering via customisable dashboards.
🛠️ Here's what Youday CRM has to offer:
- a tailor-made CRM: management of contacts, deals, quotes, invoices and collections;
- comprehensive sales management (pipeline, portfolio monitoring, deal flow);
- collaborative time and project management (shared diary, budget tracking) ;
- effective automation: documents, dashboards, notifications, etc;
- seamless integration with your tools (emailing, mapping, calendar, storage, etc.);
- a robust mobile application to manage your sales and business on the move;
- local support and personalised assistance for rapid adoption.
Youday CRM is the tailor-made CRM tool that's just like you, with no frills or complications. Simple to set up, user-friendly and fully controllable, it's the obvious alternative to Pipedrive when you want to go further in managing your customer relations, without having to use multiple tools.
Youday CRM
Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM is a modular behemoth, capable of adapting to all sizes of business: from agile start-ups to large, structured accounts. It's part of the Zoho ecosystem, a suite of interconnected business tools covering sales, marketing, support, finance and even HR.
🎯 Its great strength? A rare balance between customisation, automation, artificial intelligence (via Zia) and native integrations with over 800 applications. All in a modern, well-structured interface, and with a price/performance ratio that's hard to beat.
Unlike Pipedrive, Zoho CRM offers a much more comprehensive approach: you don't just manage pipelines, you manage the entire customer relationship, from lead to closing... and beyond.
🛠️ Key features include
- management of leads, contacts, accounts, deals and activities ;
- automated workflows, scoring, allocation, intelligent reminders, etc;
- Zia AI: conversion prediction, suggestions for best actions, sentiment analysis, etc;
- customisable dashboards and reporting;
- native integrations with Zoho Books, Campaigns, Desk, Mail, Creator, etc;
- a powerful mobile application with voice control, business card scanning, etc.
Zoho CRM is the ideal solution for growing businesses that want a comprehensive, reliable and highly adaptable tool. If Pipedrive seems too limited or too focused on pure sales, Zoho CRM is a robust alternative that will grow with your ambitions.
Zoho CRM
How do you choose the right Pipedrive alternative for you?
Summary table of the best alternatives to Pipedrive
| CRM software | Key features | Primary target | Entry price |
| Bigin by Zoho | Simple pipeline, calls, emails, light automation | VSEs, freelancers, small teams | Free offer |
| Breakcold | Social selling, unified inbox (email, LinkedIn), automated follow-ups | Freelancers, SDR, growth agencies | From €17.38 / month |
| Close | Power dialer, VoIP calls, automated multi-channel sequences | Intensive prospecting teams (B2B) | From €29.96 / month |
| Folk CRM | Relationship view, free personalisation, contact enrichment | Freelancers, agencies, network management | From €17.12 / month |
| HubSpot CRM | CRM + integrated marketing, automation, lead tracking | Start-ups, marketing-driven SMEs | Free offer |
| Karlia | CRM + invoicing + support + projects + cash flow | Multi-activity French SMEs | From €24.90 / month |
| monday CRM | CRM + project management, customised tables, automation | Collaborative sales teams | From €12 / month |
| Nimble | Social CRM, auto enrichment, contact timeline | Solopreneurs, consultants, small teams | From €21.32 / month |
| Salesforce Sales Cloud | Modular CRM, advanced reporting, complex automation, AI | Growing SMEs, ETIs, key accounts | From €25/month |
| Youday CRM | Customisable CRM, invoicing, projects, dashboards, automation | SMEs, start-ups, customised structures | On quotation |
| Zoho CRM | Complete CRM, Zia AI, native integrations, reporting | Start-ups, SMEs, flexible ETIs | From €14 / month |
Criteria for selecting an alternative to Pipedrive
Choosing the right CRM is not just a question of price or interface. Above all, it's about finding the tool that adapts to the way you sell, your internal processes and your business priorities. Here are the key criteria to take into account to make an informed choice. 👇
1. Your type of business and sales organisation
A freelancer or a very small business will not have the same needs as a team of 10 B2B salespeople. Ask yourself the right questions:
- Do I manage few deals, but with a lot of follow-up?
- Does my team make a lot of calls, or more automated emailing?
- Do I need to centralise sales, marketing, projects, support... in a single tool?
🔎 Example: Breakcold will be perfect for a freelance LinkedIn prospect, whereas Salesforce will be better suited to a structured team with several levels of reporting.
2. Ease of use
A CRM that is too complex is a CRM that has been abandoned. The interface needs to be clear, the tasks quick to perform and the onboarding well guided.
Bigin, Folk or monday CRM shine here: an intuitive interface, rapid configuration and easy adoption, even without training.
3. The features that are essential to your objectives
List your priority needs:
- Email or reminder automation?
- Electronic signatures?
- Document management, quotes, invoices?
- Dashboards?
- Integration with other tools (Gmail, Slack, Zapier, etc.)?
- Collaboration between several people on the same projects?
Each CRM has its own strengths: Close for cold calling, HubSpot for marketing, Zoho CRM for automation, Karlia for complete business management.
4. Your budget and your ability to grow
Beware of bogus freebies: some CRMs display a low introductory price, but then charge for essential modules (such as automation or reporting).
💡 Tip: check carefully what each subscription includes, and what it will cost you if your team or your needs change.
5. Scalability and support
A good CRM is also a tool that can grow with your business. It needs to be customisable, integrate new modules and offer you responsive support.
Special mention should be made of Youday and Karlia, which offer local, human support.
The perfect alternative to Pipedrive is just a click away
There isn't one CRM that's better than all the others, but there is the right CRM for you.
Today, there are solutions that are more agile, more powerful or simply more suitable than Pipedrive.
Bigin, Close, HubSpot, Folk, Karlia, Zoho CRM... each of these tools offers a different vision of customer relationship management. It's up to you to choose the one that best serves your strategy, your team and your customers.
Take the time to test. Compare workflows, automations and prices. The best alternative to Pipedrive isn't the one that's imposed on you - it's the one that saves you time, closes more sales and gets you moving faster.
So, are you ready to take action?