Close vs Pipedrive

Close suits smaller teams wanting simplicity and affordability. Pipedrive suits sales teams of any size wanting visual pipelines and reliable forecasting.

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The verdict Side by side Plans and pricing Who each is for Other options

The verdict

These two split cleanly along one line: is the phone the centre of your sales day, or is the pipeline? Close wins built-in calling outright, because the dialer is native on every plan and the whole product is shaped around it. Pipedrive wins ease of use, pricing and reporting: it is faster to set up, cheaper at the door for a real team with no metered calling, and stronger on forecasting and customisable dashboards out of the box.

Automation lands as a tie. Both put email and SMS sequences one rung above the entry plan, Close behind Growth and Pipedrive behind its own Growth tier, so the shape of the gate is the same on either side. And neither tool has a permanent free plan, only a 14-day trial, so if a free tier is a hard requirement, neither is your answer.

So pick on where your team lives. If you live on the phone and want the dialer built into the CRM, choose Close and accept the usage-based calling cost. If you want a fast, visual pipeline that a team is productive in within the hour, with the cheaper and steadier entry price, choose Pipedrive. Both tools pay us a commission on the same terms, so neither side has been favoured here, and nothing on this page has been tilted by money.

What the data says

Close covers more of the features we compared: 6 of 6, against 5.
Both have an API and an MCP server, so either works with AI employees.
In our CRM ranking, Close places 9 and Pipedrive 5 of 20.

Side by side

Close and Pipedrive compared
10 points compared	Close	Pipedrive
Starts at	$9/mo	€14/mo
Free plan	No	No
API	Yes	Yes
MCP server	Yes	Yes
Built-in calling	Yes	Yes
Contact enrichment	Yes	Yes
Custom objects	Yes	No
Email sequences	Yes	Yes
Lead capture forms	Yes	Yes
Workflow automation	Yes	Yes
Links	Visit	Visit

Plans and pricing

Close

SoloPer user: $19 billed monthly or $9 a month billed annually; one user and 10,000 leads.$19/mo/seat
EssentialsPer user: $49 billed monthly or $35 a month billed annually.$49/mo/seat
GrowthPer user: $109 billed monthly or $99 a month billed annually; most popular.$109/mo/seat
ScalePer user: $149 billed monthly or $139 a month billed annually.$149/mo/seat

Pipedrive

LitePer seat per month: 24 billed monthly, 14 billed annually.€24/mo/seat
GrowthPer seat per month: 49 billed monthly, 39 billed annually. Adds automations and email sequences.€49/mo/seat
PremiumPer seat per month: 79 billed monthly, 59 billed annually. Adds LeadBooster lead routing, scoring, contracts and e-sign.€79/mo/seat
UltimatePer seat per month: 99 billed monthly, 79 billed annually. Adds enhanced security, sandbox and extended phone support.€99/mo/seat

Prices as the vendors list them. They change often; the final price is on their sites.

Who each is for

Choose Close if…

Pick Close if your team lives on the phone

You run high-velocity inside sales or SMB outbound, and the call is the heart of the day. Close is built around exactly that. The dialer is native on every plan, the Power and Predictive Dialers arrive as you scale, and calling, email and SMS all log themselves against the lead without a bolt-on. The REST API, webhooks and an MCP server are on every tier, and the Chloe AI agent qualifies leads and logs activity for you. For a team that wants the phone built into the CRM rather than wired alongside it, nothing here is closer.

Go in clear on the costs. There is no permanent free tier, only a 14-day trial, and the calling is usage-based on top of the seat price, roughly two cents a minute plus about a dollar a month per number. Workflows for email and SMS sequences open on the Growth plan at 99 USD a user a month, so the entry tiers do not have them. If the dialer is the reason you are buying, that is a fair trade.

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Choose Pipedrive if…

Pick Pipedrive if you want a fast, visual pipeline

You are a small or mid-size sales-led team, and you want a CRM that is productive within the hour without a configuration project. Pipedrive is built for exactly that. The visual deal pipeline is fast to set up and opinionated, the entry Lite plan is 14 USD a user a month and works for a full team from day one with no metered calling on top, and the reporting and forecasting are a genuine, well-developed strength rather than an add-on. For pipeline UX and ease of use over an all-in-one suite, it is the steadier, cheaper door to walk through.

Know where it gives ground. There is no permanent free tier, only a 14-day trial, the native calling is light enough that real outbound volume means a third-party phone system, and the automations and email sequences sit on the Growth plan, not entry Lite. If the phone is not the centre of your day and you want a clean, visual pipeline, that is the deal you want.

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