Pipedrive vs Zendesk comparison

Pipedrive and Zendesk are both solutions in the CRM category. Pipedrive is ranked #26 with an average rating of 7.8, while Zendesk is ranked #18 with an average rating of 7.4. Pipedrive holds a 0.8% mindshare in CRM, compared to Zendesk’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 78% of Pipedrive users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Zendesk users who would recommend it.

Pipedrive

Read 13 Pipedrive reviews

1,029 Views
689 Comparison Views

78% willing to recommend

Zendesk

Read 61 Zendesk reviews

3,619 Views
832 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Pipedrive

Zendesk

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Pipedrive and Zendesk are both prominent tools in the CRM and customer support sectors, respectively. Pipedrive seems to have the upper hand in ease of use and cost-effectiveness, while Zendesk offers superior integration capabilities and customer support features.

Features: Pipedrive is notable for its customizable CRM elements, ease of use, and comprehensive reporting capabilities. The Kanban-style view aids in managing sales processes by allowing users to effectively track deals and activities. Automation tools streamline email and communication management, enhancing productivity. Alternatively, Zendesk provides robust ticket management, extensive integration options, and a reliable self-service portal. It also features powerful reporting tools and SaaS product integrations, catering effectively to customer support management.

Room for Improvement: Pipedrive needs to improve its integration capabilities, documentation, and offer more automation choices. Users would also like to see advancements in reporting and pricing structures. Zendesk could benefit from enhanced customization, better ticket merging, and improved reporting tools. Flexibility in pricing and ease of setup are areas where users see room for development.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Pipedrive is mainly deployed on the public cloud and is recognized for its responsive customer service and technical support. Zendesk offers more varied deployment options, including private and hybrid clouds. Although its customer support is generally rated highly, its responsiveness can vary according to demand.

Pricing and ROI: Pipedrive is viewed as cost-effective, especially for small to medium-sized businesses, and provides substantial ROI despite potential challenges in transition. Conversely, Zendesk is considered more expensive, particularly at the enterprise level, with additional costs for extra features and support. Despite this, its comprehensive customer service capabilities justify the cost for many users, leading to improved efficiency and increased customer satisfaction.

To learn more, read our detailed Pipedrive vs. Zendesk Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Pipedrive vs. Zendesk

September 2025

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Helped 868,706 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Pipedrive

Ranking in CRM

26th

Ranking in Sales Force Automation

9th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Local Government CRM (14th), Opportunity Management (4th)

Zendesk

Ranking in CRM

18th

Ranking in Sales Force Automation

8th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

CRM Customer Engagement Centers (6th), Help Desk Software (8th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (7th), Reporting (14th), Knowledge Management Software (4th), Community Platforms (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the CRM category, the mindshare of Pipedrive is 0.8%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zendesk is 1.2%, down from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

CRM Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Zendesk	1.2%
Pipedrive	0.8%
Other	98.0%

CRM

Featured Reviews

Willem Lambrechts

Managing Director at Drebbel

Offers the ability to create multiple pipelines and the flexibility in filtering and reporting

We do a lot of analytics and reporting ourselves. We don't necessarily use all the features that Pipedrive provides, but it's very helpful at least. It has streamlined our deal-closing process. We use it for everything. When we create a lead, we put it into Pipedrive. That lead can be converted into an opportunity, which we manage through our whole pipeline. This includes having all data related to the opportunity in one place. Once the deal is closed, we use Pipedrive to follow up on the invoices until they are paid. We also manage sales commissions and payments to our salespeople through Pipedrive.

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JohanSkibdahl

CEO at Etcetera Networks

Automating customer support with advanced AI capabilities and seamless communication

Zendesk has been invaluable in automating communications such as email and phone calls. It allows us to handle more support cases with fewer people due to its advanced artificial intelligence capabilities. This intelligent tool can manage complex queries before users even realize they are interacting with a non-human. Additionally, we have integrated Zendesk with Datto and Klaviyo, enhancing our workflows.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The most useful thing is the ability to create multiple pipelines and the flexibility in filtering and reporting."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to create timelines and custom fields."

"Pipedrive's most valuable features are that you can keep the whole information that's related to managing your sales process and you can customize it easily. The person that we have who is customizing Pipedrive is very junior in means of software development or process development. He can easily use it, anyone can use the solution. It has a very easy user interface to customize your processes and apply them to the Pipedrive process."

"The most useful stuff for me is that it's very flexible with all the data structures...Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"It is a stable platform."

"Pipedrive's most valuable feature is reporting and insights. The CRM shows the database and lets the salespeople arrange their daily activities. The insights are essential from a management point of view because it helps the sales staff improve or adjust their whole sales cycle, activities, and quality."

"The solution is pretty easy to use and intuitive."

"The solution is very stable."

More Pipedrive pros

"The most valuable features of Zendesk Support are collaboration, reports, and a self-service portal. The customer and team can see all the information needed from the portal."

"The feature to move over my customer experience team tickets for different specialists is very valuable for my team."

"One of the most valuable features is the ease of use. If you take the standalone product, it is so easy to use, but if you want a tailor-made Zendesk Guide, you can't do it yourself. However, you can use a template that already exists—they have a lot, and they're very cheap, around 300-400 euros—and use it on all your brands. It's a very easy product to use."

"Zendesk has been invaluable in automating communications such as email and phone calls."

"I love how the tickets would auto-populate very quickly in Zendesk, especially when a call comes in."

"What is cool about Zendesk Guide is how it works together with others Zendesk products. Especially with support and with the analytics. Put those together for a small or medium-sized company and it's a really powerful tool."

"It's a very stable tool, very powerful."

"It is very easy to connect back and forth between the requester and the person fulfilling the ticket."

More Zendesk pros

Cons

"The integration possibilities with other systems could be better as well. We use it in connection with Octopus CRM, and there's room for improvement."

"We are using the lowest version of it. As we become more sophisticated, we might outgrow the tool, but there are features that are available in the higher-level versions, which I'm unfamiliar with, that might be able to meet the needs we would have in the future. They can maybe add some of the features to the basic version or make it more reasonably priced or free."

"The tool's APIs are challenging. It should also be compliant with HIPAA, FINRA and GLBA. The data centers should be within US so that they are compliant with regulations."

"Reporting capabilities of the solution could be improved."

"The automation process is challenging."

"The product is expensive."

"The platform could be even more robust."

"You must pay more if you need an additional feature."

More Pipedrive cons

"Zendesk Guide's customization could be improved. I would like it to be easier and maybe open-sourced, so that if you have a developer in your company, you can do it yourself. Right now, that isn't allowed, so you need to have it done via the integrator. Another improvement—this is nit-picking—is that it could be less easy to make changes. Some things are so easy that they sometimes look a little amateur-ish. Most of the templates are built-in so they can be used directly, so they are very simple."

"There is always a network issue with Zendesk. But we don’t know whether it is managed. The network issue is that when I call, it does not let us."

"It wasn't easy to set up so we're only using a third of all of the features,"

"I'm going to piggyback on what I said regarding Freshdesk concerning what could be better in Zendesk: incorporate more AI."

"Zendesk's stability on inbound calls could be improved as compared to Talkdesk."

"One of the drawbacks of Zendesk is that it doesn't provide a secure way for us to send data. So, we usually use a secure SharePoint folder link. We put that in the Zendesk ticket so that the requester has a secure way of getting to their data."

"I'm going to piggyback on what I said regarding Freshdesk concerning what could be better in Zendesk: incorporate more AI."

"The data you get when logged in to Zendesk Support differs from the data you get when you programmatically query Zendesk Support through its API because of a sync time delay."

More Zendesk cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is affordable."

"As of now, the pricing and value are quite good."

"The solution's pricing is excellant. It costs 65 dollars a month for top tier plan."

"On a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price, two or three. For us, everything is expensive because this is a startup, but for a normal company, it should be peanuts."

"Pipedrive keeps increasing the prices, which is becoming a bit annoying. It was reasonable when we started, but now they're increasing all the time."

"Pipedrive is the most cost-effective in terms of the balance between cost and features. I would take Pipedrive over HubSpot or Zoho CRM. It's well-positioned on the market."

"We pay $1000 a month for the tool."

"The product is expensive but provides valuable services."

More Pipedrive pricing and cost advice

"From what I hear, Zendesk's pricing is a little expensive."

"Zendesk's licensing is not cheap. For Enterprise, we are paying $200 per agent. It's a per-month cost, so it's pretty steep. There are some services you need to pay extra for. For example, with Zendesk Guide, we had to buy the most expensive offering in order to get Multibrand and everything. We also had to pay a lot of money for themes."

"The price is very competitive."

"We pay for the solution on a yearly basis and my understanding is that the cost is about $30,000. That's the cost for 24 to 25 agents."

"You have to pay extra for better support. So it's not only the license that you pay for, but you have to pay extra for the support as well."

"There are different plans that are offered. We are using the entry-level plan. The overall price of the solution should be reduced. The price is too high."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Outsourcing Company

13%

Retailer

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

21%

Manufacturing Company

Performing Arts

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	3

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	29
Midsize Enterprise	20
Large Enterprise	11

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Pipedrive?

The most valuable feature is the ability to create timelines and custom fields.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pipedrive?

The pricing is satisfactory.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Pipedrive?

New features sometimes seem bolted on rather than being smooth.

See all answers

What do you like most about Zendesk Support?

I found the user experience with vendors on Zendesk to be straightforward, especially when it comes to understanding and searching for specific tickets. The search and navigation tools are easy to ...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zendesk Support?

Zendesk's pricing is reasonable. It is not the cheapest solution nor the most expensive, but it provides value for money.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Zendesk Support?

I'm going to piggyback on what I said regarding Freshdesk concerning what could be better in Zendesk: incorporate more AI. I know many CRM tools are already on the way to do that.

See all answers

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Compared 14% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

Odoo vs Pipedrive

Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 14% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

Freshservice vs Zendesk

Compared 6% of the time

PagerDuty Operations Cloud vs Zendesk

Compared 5% of the time

BMC Helix ITSM vs Zendesk

Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pipedrive

September 2025

Download Pipedrive product report

Buyer's Guide

Zendesk

September 2025

Download Zendesk product report

Also Known As

No data available

Zendesk Support, Zendesk Guide, Zendesk Sell

Overview

Pipedrive CRM, a SOC 2 Certified Service Provider, is built around activity-based selling. It ensures total visibility through its Pipeline Management tool with a clear visual interface that prompts you to take action, remain organized and stay in control of a complex sales process, Sales Reporting that provides visual report, understands pipeline metrics, tracks and tests sales process and shows sales split by product. Pipedrive CRM boosts productivity, optimizes the Sales Process, It has an import/export feature that safeguards against human error. It is fully customizable, has multiple usage possibilities and can automatically creates contacts in your pipeline.

Pipedrive

Zendesk Support is intuitive, and it's built with support agents in mind. Everything they need lives in a single, dynamic help desk interface so it's easy to be productive and manage customer interactions.

Zendesk

Sample Customers

Samsung, Amazon, SkyScanner, TDW, Vimeo, ReMax, Festo

Mailchimp, Tesco, Vimeo, Instacart, Mediaocean, Slack, Uber

Buyer's Guide

Pipedrive vs. Zendesk

September 2025

Free Report: Pipedrive vs. Zendesk

Find out what your peers are saying about Pipedrive vs. Zendesk and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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