Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM: Free Plans, Pricing and Which to Choose

By the MarketingStackHub team · Research-based, from vendors’ own pricing pages and documentation · How we research

On this page

• At a glance
• A note on currency
• The free plan
• Where the prices diverge
• Where each one wins
• How to choose
• Common questions

Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM at a glance

Prices checked on each vendor’s own pricing page, September 2026. Zoho CRM is shown in US dollars and Pipedrive in euros — see the note on currency.

Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM: a note on currency

In Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM, both vendors price by region. Zoho publishes its price list in several currencies, and its US-dollar prices use the same numbers as its euro prices, so Zoho is shown in dollars here. Pipedrive’s pricing page only showed us euros from a European connection, so Pipedrive’s figures are the euro prices as displayed — US visitors may see different numbers. Where this page compares the two directly, it uses Zoho’s euro list, which matches its dollar figures. Check your own view before budgeting.

Worth knowing too: Pipedrive has renamed its tiers. What older comparison articles call Essential, Advanced, Professional and Power are now Lite, Growth, Premium and Ultimate. If a review quotes the old names, it hasn’t been updated in a while — treat its pricing as stale.

Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM: the free plan is the real decision

Zoho CRM’s Free Edition covers three users permanently and isn’t a stripped demo: leads, deals, workflows, reports and the mobile app are all included. A small team can run a genuine sales process on it without paying anything.

Pipedrive gives you 14 days and then asks for a card. There is no free tier at any user count.

For a solo founder or a two-person team, that’s not a feature gap — it’s the whole Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM comparison. Zoho lets you find out whether a CRM helps before committing budget. Pipedrive requires you to decide first.

Above three users the calculation resets, because both start at 14 per seat — €14 on Pipedrive, $14 on Zoho — and the free tier stops applying.

Where the prices in Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM actually diverge

Entry pricing is the same number — Pipedrive €14 and Zoho $14 per seat per month on annual billing. The gap opens as you climb:

• Pipedrive: Lite €14 → Growth €39 → Premium €59 → Ultimate €79
• Zoho CRM: Standard $14 → Professional $23 → Enterprise $40 → Ultimate $52 (the same numbers in euros)

At the top tier of Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM, Pipedrive costs roughly 50% more per seat. Across a ten-person team that’s about €3,240 a year in difference — real money for a small business, and worth weighing against how much you value Pipedrive’s simplicity.

In Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM, the second tier is where it bites soonest. Most teams outgrow the entry plan quickly, and Pipedrive’s Growth at €39 sits well above Zoho’s Professional at €23 on Zoho’s euro list ($23 in the US) for broadly comparable capability.

Where Pipedrive wins

• Time to useful. You can import contacts and start moving deals the same afternoon. Zoho expects configuration before it earns its keep.
• Focus. Pipedrive is a pipeline tool, not a platform. Fewer features, fewer decisions, less to ignore.
• Adoption. Sales teams actually use it. The most common CRM failure is a system nobody updates, and simplicity is the best defence against that.
• Integrations. 500+ apps including Zapier, Zoom and the usual email and calendar stack.

Where Zoho CRM wins

• The free tier. Three users, permanently, with real functionality.
• Price ceiling. Cheaper at every tier above entry, and substantially so at the top.
• Customisation depth. Custom functions, wizards, journey orchestration and territory management go well beyond what Pipedrive offers.
• The wider suite. Zoho sells books, desk, campaigns, projects and dozens more. If you want one vendor for the whole business, that’s a genuine strategic advantage — and a genuine lock-in risk.

Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM: how to choose

Under four users? Start on Zoho’s free edition. There is no argument for paying for Pipedrive before you’ve confirmed a CRM changes anything for you.

A sales team that has resisted CRMs before? Pipedrive. The extra cost buys adoption, and a CRM nobody updates is worth nothing regardless of price.

Already running other Zoho products, or planning to? Zoho CRM, without much deliberation. The suite integration is the point.

Complex sales process with territories, approvals and custom logic? Zoho. Pipedrive’s simplicity becomes a ceiling.

Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM: common questions

Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM: is Zoho CRM really free?

Yes, for up to three users, with no time limit. It includes leads, deals, workflows, reports and the mobile app. The limit is user count rather than features or duration.

Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM: which is easier to learn?

Pipedrive, clearly. It’s a smaller product with fewer concepts. Zoho’s depth is its strength and its cost — there is more to configure before it works the way you want.

Can I migrate between them?

Both import from spreadsheets and from other CRMs, so contact and deal data moves reasonably well. What doesn’t migrate is your automations, custom fields and reports — those get rebuilt by hand, which is the real switching cost.

What about HubSpot?

HubSpot’s free CRM is less generous than Zoho’s on user count — two users and 1,000 contacts, against Zoho’s three users — and its paid tiers climb faster than either of these. We compare it with Pipedrive separately below.

Try them

Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM is cheap to settle: Zoho’s free edition costs nothing to test properly. Pipedrive’s trial is 14 days, so start it only when you have time to actually use it.

Related comparisons

• How to Integrate HubSpot with Pipedrive — connecting two CRMs rather than picking one
• Best Pipedrive Alternatives — the whole field, including the add-on costs
• HubSpot vs Pipedrive — the other side of the Pipedrive question
• Best Automation Tools for Marketing Teams — for connecting your CRM to everything else