Pipedrive is a better CRM. It's also four price tiers.
Pipedrive does sales software properly, and on the features a sales team lives in — email sync, sequences, multiple pipelines, native mobile apps — it beats us. What it also does is spread those features across four plans, from Lite at $14 per seat per month billed annually to Ultimate at $79. Our $14 seat is one plan with everything in it, plus SB Time Tracker and SB Project Management. Below: the whole picture, rows Pipedrive wins included.
Compared at Pipedrive's published pricing as of 21 August 2026
| Feature | SB CRM | Pipedrive |
|---|---|---|
| Free trial | 30 days, every feature, no card | 14 days, full access, no card |
| Free plan | No — trial, then $14 / seat / mo | No — paid plans start at $14 / seat / mo |
| Plans and prices (billed annually) | One plan — $14 / seat / mo, everything in it | Four plans: Lite $14, Growth $39, Ultimate $79 / seat / mo. Premium sits between Growth and Ultimate; Pipedrive doesn't publish that figure on the pages we checked |
| Monthly billing | $14 / seat / mo, month to month — same price | Available; annual is paid upfront and discounted, so monthly costs more (Pipedrive doesn't state the difference) |
| How seats are counted | One person, one seat — portal users and AI agents are free | Charged per seat whether it's assigned to a user or not |
| Drag-and-drop deal pipeline | Yes — one pipeline, stages you name, with stage totals and conversion | Yes — customizable pipelines on all four plans |
| Forecasting | Weighted forecast on the one plan | Forecast view and reports from Growth ($39 / seat / mo annually) up |
| Web forms | Yes — as many embeddable forms as you want, on the one plan | Web Forms come with LeadBooster, included on Premium and Ultimate |
| Email sync, templates, group email | No — SB CRM doesn't send sales email | Yes — listed on all four plans |
| Workflow automation | No — activities and reminders only | Yes — automations listed on all four plans |
| Contacts and companies | Yes, no stated record cap | Yes — lead and deal limits scale by plan |
| Follow-up reminders | Yes — agenda split Overdue / Today / Upcoming, with email and daily digest | Yes — activity reminders on all plans |
| Reporting dashboards | Dashboard with open pipeline, weighted forecast, win rate, and what's due | Insights reporting and dashboards on all four plans |
| Project / post-sales work | SB Project Management included in the seat | Projects included on Premium and higher |
| Time tracking and invoicing | SB Time Tracker included in the seat | Not part of the plan tiers on Pipedrive's pricing page |
| Documents, e-signature, data enrichment | No — document links only | Smart Docs on Premium and higher; contracts, e-signatures, and enrichment on Premium |
| AI features | None — by design | Yes — AI-generated sales reports from Lite up |
| Teams and role-based access | Yes — Viewer to Company Admin, team-lead delegation, audit log | Yes — visibility groups and permission sets, custom sets on Premium and Ultimate |
| Mobile | PWA install (installable; offline page only) | Native iOS + Android |
If selling is the whole job, Pipedrive is the better tool.
Pipedrive has been building sales software for over a decade, and it shows. Email lives inside the CRM — sync, templates, group send, nurturing sequences. Workflow automation is on every plan. Multiple customizable pipelines, native iOS and Android apps, lead generation, deal scoring, data enrichment, contracts and e-signatures, a sandbox on Ultimate. We have none of that. If your team is a sales team, buy Pipedrive and don't look back.
- Email sync, templates, group emailing, and sequences — we send no sales email
- Workflow automation on all four plans — we have none
- Multiple customizable pipelines (we have one)
- Native iOS and Android apps (we're PWA-only)
- Lead generation, deal scoring, and data enrichment on Premium
- Smart Docs, contracts, and e-signatures on Premium and higher
Small service shops don't only sell. They deliver.
A five-person shop that wants a forecast is on Pipedrive Growth at $39 per seat billed annually — $2,340 a year. Web forms mean Premium. Post-sales project work means Premium. And you still need something to track hours and send invoices. Our $14 seat is $840 a year for those five people, with the weighted forecast, unlimited embeddable forms, teams and audit log all on the one plan — and SB Time Tracker and SB Project Management on the same login and the same bill. Pipedrive Lite is the same $14 as us, and it's a sharper CRM than ours at that price. It just stops at the CRM.
- One plan — the forecast and web forms aren't a tier away
- Time tracking, invoicing, and project management in the same seat
- Same $14 whether you pay monthly or annually
- Seats are people — client-portal users and AI agents don't take one
- A shared customer directory across CRM, Time Tracker, and PM
- No AI anywhere in the product, deliberately
Bring the book of business with you.
Export your contacts and companies to CSV, upload them here, and your accounts are in place. Stages get named the way you already work, and deals go on the board. Everything you put in comes back out — companies, contacts, and deals all export to CSV.
- CSV import for contacts and companies
- CSV export for companies, contacts, and deals
- Companies added here become clients in SB Time Tracker and SB Project Management
When to stay on Pipedrive, when to switch.
Stay on Pipedrive if: your team sells for a living. Stay if you run email from the CRM, need sequences or workflow automation, work more than one pipeline, live in the mobile apps, or want deal scoring, enrichment, or e-signatures. Stay if AI in the CRM matters to you — we have none. On price alone, Pipedrive Lite is $14 per seat billed annually, the same as us.
Switch to us if: you're a 2–10 person US service business that sells a bit, delivers a lot, and bills for it. One $14 seat covers the pipeline and forecast, the project work, and the time tracking and invoicing — one login, one bill, no tier to climb when you want a forecast or a web form. 30-day free trial, no credit card.