Bigin by Zoho vs Pipedrive: Simple CRM Comparison (2026)

The case for

• Express at 7 dollars per user per month billed yearly covers 50,000 records, three pipelines and 30 automations, which fits most small teams.
• The free plan is a real single user tier with 500 records, one pipeline and three automations rather than a time limited trial.
• Moving up to Zoho CRM later is a supported migration with vendor tooling, so this first CRM choice is not a dead end.

The catch

• Custom fields are capped at 10 on Express, 25 on Premier and 50 on Bigin 360, which is tight past a simple sales process.
• Mass email and file storage only appear on Bigin 360 at 18 dollars per user, with 1,000 mass emails a day and 5 GB storage.
• Reviewers report outgrowing Bigin inside 6 to 12 months once lead volume and automation needs rise, forcing a move to Zoho CRM.
• Reporting depth and integrations outside the Zoho family are the most consistent complaints, so a non Zoho stack needs middleware.

The case for

• Lite starts at 14 euros per seat per month on annual billing, which buys a complete visual sales pipeline without a sales call.
• Every plan is self serve with a 14 day trial, so a five person team can evaluate and buy without talking to anyone.
• Annual billing drops the Lite seat price from 24 dollars to 14 dollars, so committing for a year removes a large part of the cost.

The catch

• Monthly billing on Lite costs 24 dollars per seat against 14 dollars annually, so paying month to month costs roughly 70 percent more.
• LeadBooster, Web Visitors, Campaigns, Projects and Smart Docs are separate paid add-ons, and LeadBooster alone adds 32.50 euros per month.
• Annual plans are not refunded pro rata on mid term cancellation, and downgrading mid term refunds none of the price difference either.
• Seats you remove keep billing until the renewal date, and buyers report being charged for seats they had already cancelled.