Pipedrive vs Zendesk comparison

Pipedrive and Zendesk are both solutions in the CRM category. Pipedrive is ranked #22 with an average rating of 7.8, while Zendesk is ranked #8 with an average rating of 7.6. Pipedrive holds a 0.9% mindshare in CRM, compared to Zendesk’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 78% of Pipedrive users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Zendesk users who would recommend it.

Pipedrive

Read 13 Pipedrive reviews

1,518 Views
1,063 Comparison Views

78% willing to recommend

Zendesk

Read 68 Zendesk reviews

5,200 Views
1,404 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Pipedrive

Zendesk

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

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: January 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Pipedrive vs. Zendesk

January 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 881,082 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

22nd

Ranking in Sales Force Automation

10th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Local Government CRM (9th), Opportunity Management (4th)

Zendesk

Ranking in CRM

8th

Ranking in Sales Force Automation

4th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

CRM Customer Engagement Centers (4th), Help Desk Software (4th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (6th), Reporting (10th), Knowledge Management Software (3rd), Community Platforms (1st), AI Customer Support (7th), AI IT Support (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the CRM category, the mindshare of Pipedrive is 0.9%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zendesk is 1.2%, down from 1.3% 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	0.9%
Other	97.9%

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.

Read full review

AmandaSanchez

Consultant and Startup Founder at AimHi Enterprises

Macros and automation have streamlined workflows and reduced manual effort across support teams

The ability to communicate on the Zendesk ticket through the actual user software, so TOPs, would have been helpful. Somehow seeing a user's ticket history within our app would have been beneficial. That is the only thing that I do not think existed at the time that might have been helpful. Some people struggled with Zendesk, but it was always easy enough to show them how to use it and what they were missing. The only times we really had people report concerns about it was when they did not understand that it could do that or how to use it in that way.

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 biggest and the best feature is the view that you get when you log in. You have a board like Kanban when you log in, and you've got a column on the left and several other columns that move to the right, depending on where you are in a particular deal. If it's a prospect or someone who is just looking, you move it along the process, and it really helps you keep track of where you are."

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

"The initial setup is straightforward."

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

"The usability of the solution is its valuable feature."

"Pipedrive makes it easy to understand who I'm talking to at a glance. It has all the activities, node features, opportunity interface, deal interface, and time drive deals.The sales process is extremely simple, which saves me time and energy. I can send the document for e-signature and make the most out of my deals. I can automatically send emails and phone calls. You need to do only a little API programming. It offers massive flexibility. You can run an entire enterprise on the platform. The ease of use facilitates huge adoption."

"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."

"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."

More Pipedrive pros

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

"It is a scalable solution."

"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."

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

"One of the most valuable features is that Zendesk gives you a lot of configurability, and a lot of leeway in terms of customizing the look and theme. Zendesk offers you the facility to design your own landing page, as well as the look and feel of the entire knowledge base. At the same time, they offer themes that you can simply purchase and implement. Either way, it can really be turned into the right look and feel of the knowledge base required by our company, which is very important—if you have a bland-looking page, most of the time, people will lose interest. Zendesk also allows you to test the customizations before you publish it. It gives you a sandbox location where you can test everything new that you're trying to create and publish, which is very interesting."

"The stability has been very good."

"The initial setup is simple and straightforward."

"Zendesk Support has a lot of good APIs."

More Zendesk pros

Cons

"The form builder works even though it has some shortcomings...Also, the forms don't have the ability to avoid or stop people from signing up if they don't have a corporate email."

"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."

"The platform could be even more robust."

"Pipedrive has some weaknesses against Salesforce. The documentation of Pipedrive could improve. They need more qualified documentation because I had to fix my colleague's work to correct the reports because they did not find how they can do it, or develop reports. There are some misunderstandings about how to do reporting."

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

"Pipedrive could be more efficient. I want the management to be more transparent so it's easier to monitor the sales team's activities and results and do business forecasting. It would help them to improve the quality of the sales cycle."

"The product is expensive."

"New features sometimes seem bolted on rather than being smooth."

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."

"It needs to improve in terms of its flexibility, price, and installation."

"My experience with Zendesk's customer support has not been positive. When I open a ticket for a bug, it often does not expedite the resolution process."

"There could be improvements in integration, which can be achieved with APIs or tools like Zapier."

"The price of the solution should be reduced."

"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."

"The dashboard could be better."

More Zendesk cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is affordable."

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

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

"The product is expensive but provides valuable services."

"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."

"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."

"The price of Pipedrive has been reasonable."

"Pipedrive is relatively more affordable than other solutions."

More Pipedrive pricing and cost advice

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which CRM solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Outsourcing Company

12%

Retailer

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Performing Arts

Computer Software Company

Outsourcing Company

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	36
Midsize Enterprise	21
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?

From what I recall, the experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Zendesk was quite expensive and that is what prohibited us from expanding usage of it into more users and using more o...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Zendesk Support?

I wish there was a more easily dynamic tool. Currently, it is quite difficult because not all the tools are labeled. A feature that would be beneficial is if hovering over an icon would tell you wh...

See all answers

Comparisons

Apollo.io vs Pipedrive

Compared 21% of the time

monday.com vs Pipedrive

Compared 8% of the time

noCRM.io vs Pipedrive

Compared 8% of the time

Jobber vs Pipedrive

Compared 7% of the time

Real Estate CRM vs Pipedrive

Compared 4% of the time

More Pipedrive Competitors

ServiceNow vs Zendesk

Compared 13% of the time

JIRA Service Management vs Zendesk

Compared 6% of the time

Freshservice vs Zendesk

Compared 6% of the time

NICE CXone vs Zendesk

Compared 3% of the time

BMC Helix ITSM vs Zendesk

Compared 3% of the time

More Zendesk Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pipedrive

January 2026

Download Pipedrive product report

Buyer's Guide

Zendesk

January 2026

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

January 2026

Free Report: Pipedrive vs. Zendesk

Find out what your peers are saying about Pipedrive vs. Zendesk and other solutions. Updated: January 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Pipedrive vs. Zendesk report.

See our list of best CRM vendors and best Sales Force Automation vendors.

We monitor all CRM reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.