Quick answer
Pick Close if your reps make calls every day. Calling and SMS are built into every Close plan and the power dialer comes with Growth, at $99 per user a month billed yearly. Call minutes are passed through at cost, around $0.02 a minute for most outbound calls by Close's own numbers. Pick Pipedrive if you want a cheaper, very visual pipeline and your outreach already runs in other tools. Its Growth plan, €39 per seat a month billed yearly, adds email sync, tracking and sequences, but Pipedrive's help center says it has no built-in calling, so dialing means a second app. I checked both pricing pages on 14 October 2026. Neither one should send your cold email volume.
Pipedrive vs Close at a glance
My own outbound runs on cold email and LinkedIn, so I look at a CRM from the reply side: where a reply lands, who picks it up and what happens next. For teams whose reps also pick up the phone, that's exactly where these two split.
| Pipedrive | Close | |
|---|---|---|
| Built around | The deal pipeline: stages, activities, forecasts | Communication: calls, SMS and email from the lead record |
| Built-in calling | None, by its own help center. Calls go through a Marketplace app or your mobile | On every plan, usage billed at cost |
| Power or predictive dialer | Only through the calling app you add | Power dialer from Growth, predictive on Scale |
| SMS | Through some calling apps (Kixie, Aircall and JustCall on Pipedrive's list) | On every plan |
| Email sequences | Sequences from Growth: 5, 25 or 50 per company by plan | Workflows on Growth and Scale only |
| Bulk email | Group emailing from Growth | Growth and Scale |
| AI | Nova meeting assistant on every plan, AI email tools from Premium | Chloe AI agent on every plan, paid in AI credits |
| Cheapest plan, billed yearly | €14 per seat (Lite) | $9 per user (Solo, one user only) |
What each costs (checked 14 October 2026)
Both publish their prices. Pipedrive showed me euros, VAT excluded, because I checked from Lithuania, so you may see your own currency. Close lists US dollars. Sources: Pipedrive's pricing page and Close's pricing page.
| Plan | Monthly | Billed yearly | What matters for outbound |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pipedrive Lite | €24 | €14 | Pipeline, leads inbox, email by bcc. No two-way email sync, sequences or automations |
| Pipedrive Growth | €49 | €39 | Two-way email sync, open and click tracking, group emailing, 5 sequences and 50 automations per company |
| Pipedrive Premium | €79 | €59 | LeadBooster included, 25 sequences, team inbox, several synced inboxes, AI email tools |
| Pipedrive Ultimate | €99 | €79 | 50 sequences, email and phone enrichment (500 credits per company), 20% off CloudTalk |
| Close Solo | $19 | $9 | One user, 10,000 leads, calling and SMS. No workflows or bulk email |
| Close Essentials | $49 | $35 | Unlimited leads, team features, calling, SMS, email open tracking. No workflows or bulk email |
| Close Growth | $109 | $99 | Workflows with email, SMS and call steps, bulk email, power dialer, voicemail drop |
| Close Scale | $149 | $139 | Predictive dialer, unlimited call recording retention, live call coaching, custom objects |
Prices are per user a month. On Close, calls and texts are billed on top: most outbound calls cost around $0.02 a minute and phone numbers start at about $1 a month, by its own FAQ. On Pipedrive, the main extras are the add-ons (LeadBooster is included from Premium, Campaigns and Web Visitors cost extra on every plan) and, for calling, whatever app you pick.
Calling: built in vs bring your own
Pipedrive. Its help article on making calls, updated September 2026, says "Pipedrive doesn't have a built-in calling integration" and points you to Marketplace apps: CloudTalk, Kixie, CallHippo, Aircall, Toky, JustCall and Circleloop. Without one, you can start a call from the web app on your mobile and log it in the mobile app, with the minutes on your normal phone bill. Each calling app is its own subscription that syncs its calls back into Pipedrive.
Close. Calling and SMS sit inside the product on every plan, with automatic call logging and recordings kept for 30 days on Solo and Essentials, 90 days on Growth and without a limit on Scale. Growth adds the power dialer and voicemail drop. Scale adds the predictive dialer, which rings several numbers at once and connects the rep when someone picks up, plus listen, whisper and barge coaching.
What five calling reps cost
Here's a rough monthly bill for five reps who need a power dialer, all billed yearly:
- Pipedrive plus CloudTalk: Pipedrive Growth €39, CloudTalk Starter €25 and CloudTalk's power dialer add-on €15 make €79 per rep, or €395 for five. CloudTalk's pricing page says Starter includes 500 domestic outbound minutes per user a month across the EU, UK, Iceland and Norway. I used CloudTalk because it's first on Pipedrive's list.
- Close Growth: $99 per rep, or $495 for five, plus call minutes. At Close's quoted rate of about $0.02 a minute, an hour of calls per rep per working day (roughly 1,260 minutes a month) adds about $25 per rep.
Different currencies, so don't read this to the cent. On paper the two land in the same range. The real difference is one vendor with every call already on the lead record, or two vendors joined by an integration that someone has to keep working.
Sequences and follow-up
Both tools can run a follow-up sequence, and both start on the Growth plan.
Pipedrive Sequences mix emails and activities in a linear flow. Per its help article, a sequence can have up to 15 steps and up to 500 deals or leads. Emails can be drafts you send by hand or go out automatically, but each user has to switch on consent for automated sending in each sequence. Pipedrive pitches the feature as nurturing over time.
Close Workflows mix email, SMS, call tasks and CRM updates. Per its help docs, a run stops when the contact replies by email, text or call or books a meeting, and email and SMS steps only go out in a sending window, Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 16:00 in the contact's time zone by default. Solo and Essentials don't include workflows at all.
A typical use: someone replies "interested" to your cold email, and the rep needs to book the call. A short sequence for that, which works in either tool:
- Day 0: reply with two time slots.
- Day 1: call task.
- Day 3: short follow-up email if there's no answer.
- Day 6: last call task, then close the loop.
The Day 0 email can be this simple:
"Thanks for getting back to me, Anna. Two options for a 20-minute call: Thursday at 10:00 or Friday at 14:00 CET. If neither works, send me a time that does."
In Close, the call steps run through its own dialer and the run stops as soon as Anna answers. In Pipedrive, the call step is an activity in the feed that your calling app dials. More on this stage in from first reply to booked meeting.
Don't send cold email from either one
Neither tool is a cold email sender, and neither tries to be. Close's sending limits exist to protect your sender reputation. Pipedrive asks for per-user consent before it sends anything on its own. Use the CRM's connected mailbox for replies and warm follow-up, on your main domain.
Cold volume belongs somewhere else. This is how I set it up for clients: separate sending domains and mailboxes, 3 to 4 weeks of warmup, then 20 to 30 emails per mailbox per day, with email and LinkedIn in one sequence in the sending tool. When someone replies with interest, they go into the CRM as a deal and the rep takes over there. Neither pricing page lists LinkedIn steps, so LinkedIn runs outside both CRMs anyway. The numbers behind those limits are in how many cold emails per day per inbox.
Rule of thumb. If a mailbox sends your invoices and your proposals, it doesn't send cold email. Great copy means nothing if it lands in spam, and a burned main domain hurts every email your company sends.
Pipeline, reporting and AI
Pipedrive is the easier pipeline to read at a glance: kanban stages, alerts when a deal sits idle, forecasts from Growth and 500+ Marketplace apps. Its Nova meeting assistant is on every plan and gives a brief before each meeting and a transcript after it. AI email writing and summaries start on Premium, and Ultimate adds email and phone enrichment.
Close has pipelines and activity reports on every plan, with leaderboards and workflow reports from Growth and custom graphs on Scale. Its headline AI feature is Chloe, an agent that Close says can call leads, qualify them in live conversations, book meetings and update the CRM. Every plan includes AI credits, from 500 per user a month on Solo to 2,000 on Scale, with no rollover, and Chloe's calls use telephony on top. If you sell into Europe, check each country's rules on automated calls before you let an AI agent dial anyone, and test it on a small slice of your list first.
Pick Pipedrive if, pick Close if
Pick Pipedrive if
- Your reps mostly work email and LinkedIn, and calls are occasional.
- You want the cheapest way to give a small team a clear pipeline: Lite is €14 a seat billed yearly.
- You already pay for a calling tool your team likes, such as Aircall or CloudTalk.
- A founder or manager checks the pipeline once a day and needs to read it in seconds.
Pick Close if
- Your reps dial for a real part of every working day.
- You want calls, texts and emails on one lead record without an integration.
- You need a power or predictive dialer and call coaching from the same vendor.
- You're a solo founder who wants a CRM with calling for $9 a month billed yearly.
The deciding question is simple: how many hours a day does each rep spend on the phone? If the answer is close to zero, Pipedrive. If it's two or more, Close. In between, price both bills for your own team size. If HubSpot is also on your list, I compare it in HubSpot vs Pipedrive for outbound teams.
Key takeaways
- Close builds calling and SMS into every plan. Pipedrive's help center says it has no built-in calling, so dialing needs a Marketplace app.
- Prices checked 14 October 2026: Pipedrive €14 to €79 per seat a month billed yearly, Close $9 to $139 per user a month billed yearly, plus call usage on Close.
- For five reps with a power dialer, Pipedrive Growth plus CloudTalk and Close Growth land in the same range. The difference is one vendor or two.
- Sequences need Growth on both: Pipedrive Sequences up to 15 steps, Close Workflows with email, SMS and call steps that stop on reply.
- Neither should send cold email. Keep cold volume on separate domains and mailboxes and let replies flow into the CRM.
FAQ
Is Close better than Pipedrive for cold calling?
For teams that call every day, yes. Close has calling on every plan, a power dialer from Growth and a predictive dialer on Scale, while Pipedrive needs a separate calling app from its Marketplace.
Does Pipedrive have a built-in dialer?
No. Pipedrive's help center says it doesn't have a built-in calling integration and lists Marketplace apps such as CloudTalk, Aircall, Kixie and JustCall. Without one, you can start calls from the web app on your mobile and log them.
How much does Close CRM cost?
On 14 October 2026, Close's pricing page listed Solo at $9, Essentials at $35, Growth at $99 and Scale at $139 per user a month billed yearly, or $19, $49, $109 and $149 billed monthly. Calls and texts are billed on top at cost, around $0.02 a minute for most outbound calls.
Can you send cold emails from Pipedrive or Close?
Technically yes, through Pipedrive Sequences or Close Workflows on the Growth plans, but I wouldn't. Send cold volume from separate domains and mailboxes in a dedicated sending tool, and use the CRM for replies and warm follow-up.
Is Pipedrive cheaper than Close?
Per seat, yes: Pipedrive Growth is €39 billed yearly against $99 for Close Growth. Once you add a calling app with a power dialer to Pipedrive, the totals for a calling team end up in the same range.