startbuddi vs Pipedrive: an honest comparison

Pipedrive is a sales CRM built around a visual deal pipeline, with lead capture and email campaigns sold as add-ons and no free plan. startbuddi pairs a pipeline with a shared inbox, marketing, pages and invoices in one workspace; pick Pipedrive if your team lives in the pipeline and wants native mobile apps, and startbuddi if you want sales, messages and billing together.

We make startbuddi, so we're biased. We've tried to be fair: we list where Pipedrive is stronger, every fact about Pipedrive links to its source, and anything we couldn't confirm on their own site is marked "not published". Checked in September 2026. Spotted something wrong? Tell us and we'll fix it.

startbuddi

startbuddi is best for

Small businesses that want a pipeline, a shared inbox and invoices in one place

Pipedrive

Pipedrive is best for

Sales teams that manage deals in a visual pipeline

At a glance

Best for

startbuddiSmall businesses that want a pipeline, a shared inbox and invoices in one place

PipedriveSales teams that manage deals in a visual pipeline

Free plan

startbuddiYes, the Free plan

PipedriveNone on the published plans

First paid plan

startbuddiStarter, $29 a month

PipedriveLite, $14 USD per seat per month, billed annually (US$168 per seat a year)

Checked

startbuddiPrice book, October 2026

PipedriveSeptember 2026

Where each one is stronger

The short version. Pipedrive first, because it does some things better than we do.

Pipedrive is stronger at

Pipeline-first designPipedrive is built around a visual deal pipeline with activity tracking and reports.

Native mobile appsPipedrive has Android and iOS apps for working deals on the go.

Marketplace and APIPipedrive syncs with over 500 tools and offers webhooks and an open API.

Add-ons on any planLeadBooster adds a chatbot, live chat, web forms and a prospect database to any Pipedrive plan.

startbuddi is stronger at

Free planstartbuddi has a Free plan with the CRM and inbox; Pipedrive offers a 14-day trial.

Shared inbox in the boxWhatsApp, email, SMS, website chat, Instagram and Facebook arrive in one inbox, and replies can move deals forward.

Invoices close dealsinvoices are built in and paid through Paystack or Stripe, and a paid invoice marks the deal won.

Marketing without an add-onemail, SMS and WhatsApp campaigns come with the paid plans, alongside landing pages and forms.

Chip on the pipelineChip flags stalled and at-risk deals and suggests the next stage.

Feature by feature

Each Pipedrive value links to where we found it. Anything their site doesn't state is marked "not published".

Show differences only

startbuddi and Pipedrive, feature by feature
Feature	startbuddi	Pipedrive
Free planFree plan: 1 seat and 250 contacts	Yes	14-day trial onlySource (opens in a new tab)
Visual deal pipelineBoard, table and list views; several pipelines	Yes	YesSource (opens in a new tab)
Contact and company records	Yes	YesSource (opens in a new tab)
Two-way email syncGmail mailbox, two-way	Yes	Growth plan and upSource (opens in a new tab)
Automations	Starter plan and up	Growth plan and upSource (opens in a new tab)
Web forms and live chat	Yes	Paid add-on (LeadBooster)Source (opens in a new tab)
Email campaignsThe Marketing hub is not on the Free plan	Starter plan and up	Paid add-on (Campaigns)Source (opens in a new tab)
Invoices and online paymentsPaystack or Stripe; a paid invoice marks the deal won	Yes	Via integrationsSource (opens in a new tab)
Native mobile appsWeb app only; works in a mobile browser	No	IOS and AndroidSource (opens in a new tab)
Open API and webhooksNot available yet; startbuddi connects to Zapier	No	YesSource (opens in a new tab)
Integrations	Catalogue incl. Zapier	500+ toolsSource (opens in a new tab)

What each one looks like

Real screens, captured by us or taken from the official press kit, each dated.

startbuddi: Deals on the sales pipeline — **startbuddi** · Deals on the sales pipeline. Captured from our own account, personal details blurred.

startbuddi: Contacts with their full history — **startbuddi** · Contacts with their full history. Captured from our own account, personal details blurred.

startbuddi: One inbox for email, WhatsApp and chat — **startbuddi** · One inbox for email, WhatsApp and chat. Captured from our own account, personal details blurred.

Pipedrive's own screens are on Pipedrive's website. We don't show another company's product without a dated capture from a trial or its press kit.

Pricing side by side

List prices as each company publishes them. We never convert currencies.

See startbuddi pricing

startbuddi

FreeFree
Starter$29 a month
Growth$79 a month
Scale$199 a month

Prices in US dollars, billed monthly. From our pricing page, updated 3 Oct 2026.

Pipedrive

Lite$14 USD per seat per month, billed annually (US$168 per seat a year)Source (opens in a new tab)
Growth$39 USD per seat per month, billed annually (US$468 per seat a year)Source (opens in a new tab)
Premium$59 USD per seat per month, billed annually (US$708 per seat a year)Source (opens in a new tab)
Ultimate$79 USD per seat per month, billed annually (US$948 per seat a year)Source (opens in a new tab)

Checked in September 2026. Check Pipedrive's site for current plans.

Switching from Pipedrive

What moving across involves.

Export your data from PipedriveIn Pipedrive, admins can export deals, people and organisations as CSV or XLSX files from the Export data section or a list view.
Import your contacts into startbuddiIn Customers → Contacts, click Import and drop in the CSV of your people (up to 10,000 at a time). startbuddi suggests a field for each column, and you choose whether contacts you already have are updated or skipped. There's no one-click Pipedrive connection yet, and deals don't come across, so recreate open deals in your pipeline.
Set up your pipelineRecreate your stages in Customers → Pipeline. Default stages are New Leads, Qualified, Proposal Sent, Negotiation, Won and Lost, and you can rename them.
Rebuild automations by handPipedrive automations don't transfer. Rebuild them in Automations, or describe what you want and let Chip draft it.

Sources

Checked in September 2026. startbuddi prices come from our own price book. Pipedrive's website.

Questions people ask

Can I move my deals from Pipedrive to startbuddi?

Not automatically. Pipedrive lets admins export data as CSV or XLSX, and startbuddi imports the people as contacts from a CSV in Customers → Contacts → Import. There's no one-click Pipedrive connection yet, and deals and automations don't come across, so recreate open deals in your pipeline and rebuild automations by hand.

Does startbuddi have a free plan?

Yes. startbuddi has a Free plan, and every paid plan has a 30-day trial. Pipedrive has no free plan and offers a 14-day trial.

Does startbuddi have a mobile app like Pipedrive?

Not a native one. startbuddi is a web app that works in a phone's browser.