Pipedrive vs Salesforce Starter: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of Pipedrive and Salesforce Starter to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
Pipedrive
6.9/10
Pipedrive is a sales CRM built around visual deal pipelines, helping small and mid-sized sales teams track deals, contacts, activities and email in one place.
Salesforce Starter
5.7/10
Salesforce Starter Suite is an entry-level CRM bundling sales, service and email marketing tools with Slack and AI for small businesses.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | S Salesforce Starter |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.9/10 | 5.7/10 |
| Customization | 6/10 | 5/10 |
| Scalability | 5/10 | 8/10 |
| Security | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Analytics | 5/10 | 6/10 |
| Cost | 7/10 | 5/10 |
| Ease of Use | 9/10 | 5/10 |
| Integration | 8/10 | 6/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 4/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | $24/user/mo Lite | $25/user/mo Starter Suite |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $240/mo Lite | $250/mo Starter Suite |
| Features | ||
| Contact Management | ||
| Integrations | ||
| Lead Management | ||
| Mobile Access | ||
| Opportunity Management | ||
| Reporting & Analytics | ||
| Sales Automation | ||
| Collaboration | Not listed | |
| Customer Support Management | Not listed | |
| Marketing Automation | Not listed | |
Pipedrive vs Salesforce Starter cost by team size
Pipedrive costs less at every team size we checked.
| Team size | Pipedrive | Salesforce Starter |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | $24/moLite | $25/moStarter Suite |
| 5 users | $120/moLite | $125/moStarter Suite |
| 10 users | $240/moLite | $250/moStarter Suite |
| 25 users | $600/moLite | $625/moStarter Suite |
| 50 users | $1,200/moLite | $1,250/moStarter Suite |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Pipedrive
- Lower estimated cost for 10 users: $240/mo vs $250/mo
- Higher Ease of Use score (9/10 vs 5/10)
- Higher Cost score (7/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for sales teams (9/10 vs 7/10)
SWhy choose Salesforce Starter
- Higher Scalability score (8/10 vs 5/10)
- Higher Security score (8/10 vs 7/10)
- Better fit for customer support teams (5/10 vs 2/10)
Pros & Cons
Pipedrive
Pros
- Sales reps can pick up the drag-and-drop pipeline view quickly, and ease of use is the strength reviewers mention most often on G2 and Capterra.
- The marketplace has more than 500 integrations, including telephony apps such as Aircall, CloudTalk and Kixie that log calls as deal activities.
- Lite starts at 14 dollars per seat per month on annual billing, which is cheap for a CRM with pipeline management and AI report generation.
- Premium bundles LeadBooster, e-signature documents and Projects, which cost extra on lower plans.
Cons
- Reviewers often criticize reporting as thin, hard to customize or manual. About 39 percent of reporting-related Capterra reviews are negative.
- Email sync and automations are not available on Lite, so most teams will need Growth or higher.
- Web calling is not built in and needs a third-party Marketplace app, though the mobile apps can place and log calls.
- Email marketing (Campaigns) and Web Visitors are paid add-ons on every plan, so the total cost can rise well above the seat price.
SSalesforce Starter
Pros
- At $25 per user per month with monthly billing, it is one of the cheapest ways to get onto the Salesforce platform.
- Sales, service and email marketing come in one product instead of separate clouds.
- Includes a free Slack workspace connected to the CRM, which helps team collaboration.
- Salesforce lists no maximum user count, and teams can upgrade to Pro and higher editions without migrating data.
- Reviewers praise its reporting and its unlimited contacts.
Cons
- Moving from Starter to Pro Suite quadruples the price to $100 per user per month and requires an annual contract.
- Reviewers report limited customization and automation compared with higher Salesforce tiers.
- Reviewers say it has a steeper learning curve than HubSpot or Pipedrive.
- Reviewers say support on the cheaper plans is weak, and Trustpilot complaints mention difficulty cancelling contracts.
- Salesforce states that transaction fees apply to Starter.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Pipedrive scores higher on our CRM criteria: 6.9/10 against 5.7/10 for Salesforce Starter. The largest gap is in Ease of Use: 9/10 for Pipedrive and 5/10 for Salesforce Starter.
Pipedrive costs less for 10 users: about $240/mo on its Lite plan, against about $250/mo on its Starter Suite plan for Salesforce Starter, billed monthly.
No, neither Pipedrive nor Salesforce Starter lists a free plan.
Salesforce Starter is the better fit for customer support teams: we rate it 5/10 for them, against 2/10 for Pipedrive.
