The right tool to help you manage your business is out there—you just need to know where to look.
Choosing the wrong one can ultimately tank your business (so it’s essential to get it right the first time).
I’m AJ—here to take the guesswork out of the equation. I’ve spent the last decade building my business (to multiple seven-figure exit).
Since achieving financial freedom, I’ve made it my mission to help you get where I am (in a fraction of the time it took me).
So, let’s get to the main event—Pipedrive vs. Trello.
This was an incredibly close one! Bonus points if you can guess the winner.
Pipedrive: Some of the best pipeline management in the game.
Trello is a project management tool that’s more than meets the eye!
My team and I put Trello and Pipedrive through their paces (over six months).
We examined the following metrics:
Pricing & Free VersionTop FeaturesCustomer ServiceIntegrationsEase of UseBest Mobile AppKnowledge and Learning CenterLimitationsWhich One We Think is Best for Small Businesses
How We Objectively Test Each Platform:
AJ’s got a knack for kick-starting businesses, putting them on autopilot, and setting them up for acquisition. Over the past decade, he’s been right in the thick of things with hundreds of small businesses, helping them with just about everything under the business sun. If you need advice on software suites and choices? AJ’s your guy.
We roll up our sleeves and dive into the top CRM features we think are pretty crucial for small businesses. Stuff like reports and analytics, options to customize your pipelines, and the ability to link up with other apps and services. We know what makes small businesses tick, so we know what features they need to get the job done.
Money matters, folks! When it comes to picking a CRM system, price is usually the deal-breaker. We give a big thumbs up if a provider charges $30 or less per user each month for their starter plan. Extra brownie points for throwing in a freebie plan or trial, options to scale up or down as needed, and the freedom to pay monthly or yearly. We’re looking for flexability for small businesses.
We all know support is mega important when you’re choosing a CRM platform. This is especially true for those smaller businesses or sales teams who can’t afford to have tech wizards on their payroll. We put our detective hats on to see if these companies offer round-the-clock support, and we looked at the different ways you can get help. We’re talking live chat (like, real-time convo), email tickets, a good old-fashioned phone call, and self-service tools (for the DIY-ers out there).
When you’re in the business of picking a CRM, integrations are like the secret sauce that takes your burger from ‘meh’ to ‘mind-blowing’. Imagine, all your favorite apps and tools, working together in perfect harmony, making your workflow smoother than a fresh tub of Nutella. When we review a CRM, we look at the integrations most SMB owners are looking for.
When you’re reviewing a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, it’s essential to pay close attention to its ease of use. After all, a CRM is as beneficial as its usability. A simple, intuitive interface saves you and your team a great deal of time and headache. When we’re reviewing each CRM, this is a crucial aspect that we look for.
The importance of Mobile CRM cannot be overstated in today’s digital age. It’s essential for fostering strong customer relationships and managing business activities. Mobile access to CRM makes it possible for sales teams to update and access customer information in real time, improving efficiency and ensuring up-to-date data. Mobile CRM can have a massive impact on SMBs, so thoroughly testing it is essential for each one of our reviews.
Here’s a quick overview of our Trello/Pipedrive matchup.
Finding a CRM tailored to your business needs (without breaking the bank) can be challenging.
Let’s see how Pipedrive does against Trello regarding overall cost.
Pipedrive offers a free plan in addition to three paid plans:
Essential: $21.90/MonthAdvanced: $37.90/MonthProfessional: $59.90/MonthPower: $74.90/MonthEnterprise: $119.00/Month
Check out our complete Pipedrive pricing guide.
Trello offers a free forever plan and three paid plans.
They are as follows:
Free – Free ForeverStandard – $5/Month Premium – $10/Month Enterprise – $17.50/Month
AJ’s Take: Trello sweeps this round with a free plan and more affordable pricing. Plus, Pipedrive charges for add-ons (which can add up).
Both Trello and Pipedrive offer all the features you need to scale your business to new heights.
Let’s break it down to see which one wins.
Let’s look at some of our favorite advanced features from Pipedrive.
When it comes to scaling your sales process, excellent pipeline management is critical.
Thankfully, Pipedrive offers some of the best pipeline management in the biz.
Let’s walk you through our experience.
My team and I added some affiliate marketing deals at Small Business Bonfire to test this feature.
Here’s how a “new deal” card looks (for reference).
Within each card, we had a ton of information at our fingertips.
For example, we could easily see the following data at a glance:
Associated contactsOrganizationTitleValuePipeline stageProbability of winContact info
We could also easily add custom fields to our deal cards (with just a click).
From there, we could easily view our entire sales pipeline with Pipedrive’s sleek dashboard.
Here’s how it looked from our perspective (during our six months of testing).
We liked the ability to quickly schedule activities with each card by simply clicking the pipeline.
This made it easy to keep track of follow-ups and other vital tasks (without navigating a million menus).
Here’s a quick look at the activity scheduling process.
The fact that we could easily see our calendar on the right side of each card made it easy to avoid double-booking or other scheduling conflicts.
Plus, the ability to make notes on each card allowed us to keep track of important details (without cluttering up our main pipeline view).
The bottom line: Pipedrive offers some of the best pipeline management on the market.
If you want to take your sales processes up a notch, you can’t go wrong with Pipedrive.
If you need a way to manage projects with ease (while scaling), look no further.
Pipedrive provides powerful project management tools (for an extra $8/month).
With Pipedrive, we were able to easily do the following:
Track multiple projects at once Assign tasks to team members (with due dates and notifications) Set up a customizable project dashboard to view overall progressCommunicate with team members within the platform Easily switch between project and sales pipeline views
Throughout our testing, we created and tracked several projects using Pipedrive.
For example, here’s a project we created for our company newsletter.
We got an overview of each project’s progress (and where we were falling behind) at a glance.
Plus, seeing each task assigned to specific team members made it easy to keep everyone accountable for their part in the project.
We especially liked the ability to create project templates (shown below) for quick use.
This way, we could create similar projects (without starting from scratch each time).
The nuts and bolts: Pipedrive provides powerful project management features for an additional cost.
This is a great option if you’re looking to manage projects and sales in one place.
Pipedrive offers a variety of workflow automation options for SMBs to take advantage of.
Here’s a quick overview of what you can automate with Pipedrive:
Contact SegmentationLead Scoring and QualificationProgress trackingActivity remindersAutomated email sequences (Including follow-up)Appointment Reminders
Overall, Pipedrive offers some powerful automations to help streamline your processes and save time.
We were especially impressed with the automatic follow-up sequences we were able to create for our affiliate marketing clients.
This allowed us to effortlessly keep in touch with our clients and build stronger relationships (without manually sending follow-up emails).
The need to know: Pipedrive’s automation features can help boost your productivity and save time—plain and simple.
Great email marketing campaigns can be a game-changer for small businesses.
That’s where Pipedrive comes in.
With Pipedrive’s campaign creation (available for an additional $16/month), you can easily create, schedule, and send off powerful email marketing campaigns.
We got started with this feature by creating a campaign for our newsletter rollout.
We loved Pipedrive’s helpful templates (pictured below) that helped us get going (no coding knowledge needed.
From there, we were taken to Pipedrive’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor, where we could add the following elements to each email:
TextImagesButtonsVideoSocial linksCustom code
Here’s a sneak peek into the creation process (about halfway through).
Each email took just a few minutes to create and slot into our campaign schedule (which was awesome).
It was like having a separate email marketing software within our sales CRM.
The nitty gritty: If you’re serious about taking your email marketing efforts to the next level, our vote is Pipedrive.
One of the standout features of Pipedrive is definitely its contact management.
The user interface is super easy to navigate and has all the data you need in one place.
Plus, you can customize it to fit your business perfectly. It’s one of our favorite contact management features in a CRM tool.
Here are a few key things to know about Pipedrive’s contact management:
You get a complete view of your contacts with all the important info, like their interaction history and associated deals.You can customize it to match your business needs by adding custom fields to contact cards.Pipedrive is designed to be user-friendly, making contact management a breeze.
Check out an example of a contact card for one of our B2B affiliate marketing contacts at Small Business Bonfire.
The layout is organized so that you can quickly understand your customers and communicate with them more effectively.
Contact management may not be the flashiest feature, but trust me, it’s crucial for any business. And let me tell you, Pipedrive really shines in this department.
Their contact management capabilities are super user-friendly and can be customized to fit your needs. Seriously, it’s a game-changer!
Staying on top of your day-to-day activities is crucial for keeping your business running smoothly.
With Pipedrive’s activity tracker feature, it’s like having your own personal assistant to help you stay organized and on top of everything that needs your attention.
We tested this feature (over six months) by adding in all kinds of tasks at Small Business Bonfire.
Here’s what we loved:
Stay organized: You can easily see all your upcoming activities in a timeline view, so you’ll always know what’s coming up.Never miss a task: With reminders, you’ll never forget an important task or deadline again.Track progress: The activity tracker lets you see completed tasks to track your progress over time and find areas for improvement.In-app communication: Keep all your important notes and communication within each activity (so everything is in one place).Easy scheduling: Schedule tasks and meetings directly from the Activity Tracker, and they’ll sync with your calendar, making it easy to manage your schedule.
Pipedrive’s activity tracker is more than just a to-do list; it’s a comprehensive tool that helps you effectively manage your tasks, time, and resources.
Check out an activity card for a meeting we scheduled (with one of our affiliate marketing clients).
Within each card, we were able to easily add and edit the following info:
Time & dateLocationGuestsAssociated contacts & dealsNotesAssigned users
This information gave us an overview of each activity at a glance (without having to sift through emails or calendars).
Plus, Pipedrive’s reminders kept us on track and helped us stay organized. It’s a win-win.
The final verdict: Managing your daily tasks is a must when scaling your business.
Pipedrive’s Activity Tracker makes it easy to track and manage all your activities in one place so you can focus on what matters—growing your business.
It’s a no-brainer for any SMB looking to stay organized and productive.
Pipedrive offers powerful lead management capabilities with their LeadBooster add-on (for an additional $39/month).
With LeadBooster, you can instantly access the following tools:
Live chat: Engage with website visitors in real time and collect leads. Chatbot: Set up automated chatbots to qualify leads, schedule meetings, and more.Web forms: Create customizable forms to capture lead information on your website.Prospecting: Find and contact potential leads as Pipedrive combs multiple databases for contact information. With Pipedrive, managing leads has never been easier.
We tested this feature over six months and found it significantly increased our lead generation and conversion rates.
Plus, the chatbot feature helped us save time by automating follow-up tasks.
The final say: Pipedrive offers some of the best lead management tools on the market with their LeadBooster add-on. This feature is worth considering if your business relies heavily on generating leads.
Along with Pipedrive, another tool that has greatly helped us with project management is Trello.
Here are some of its top features that have made our lives easier.
Managing your projects as your business scales can be tricky.
Luckily, Trello provides an extremely robust project management platform designed to help you stay on top of multiple projects at once.
Here’s what we love most about Trello’s project management features:
Visual organization: Trello uses a card-based system that makes it easy to see the progress of each project and quickly prioritize tasks across the entire project.Collaboration made simple: You can easily invite team members to specific projects and assign tasks, making it easy to work together.Automation: With Trello’s automation features, you can save time by setting up rules for certain actions (like moving a card when a task is completed).Integrations: Trello integrates with many popular tools like Google Drive, Slack, and Zoom, making project management even easier.
We especially loved Trello’s project templates (shown below).
These gorgeous, pre-made templates offer a ton of versatility and customization options to fit your specific project needs.
Once we had our template in place, we could create each project and customize it fully to our specific needs.
For example, we created a project for our newsletter—the Bonfire Field Guide.
Here’s how our Trello board view looked, with some tasks put in.
With this view, we were able to track projects like a boss, quickly moving each card to the appropriate stage in the timeline.
We could also switch things up on the fly with our table view (pictured below).
This view gave us a broader overview of each of our Trello boards (throughout our six months of testing).
In addition to those views, Trello also offers the following convenient perspectives:
Calendar DashboardTimelineMap
The breakdown: If you’re struggling to get your sales teams organized and on the same page regarding project management, Trello is one of the best options out there.
It’s powerful, easy to use, and, best of all—completely free.
Trello offers many team collaboration tools that make it easy for sales teams to work together, streamline communication, and stay on task.
Here are some of the standout features (based on our six months of testing):
Advanced checklists: Trello’s advanced checklists allow teams to break down tasks into manageable subtasks, assign individual responsibilities, and track progress in real time. This feature ensures that all team members clearly understand their roles and responsibilities (and nothing falls through the cracks). File storage: With Trello, teams can attach files directly to cards from Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive (or upload files from their computers). This makes it easy to share essential documents and keep all relevant materials in one place. Comments & mentions: Trello allows team members to add comments to cards and mention other members to draw their attention to a specific task or discussion. This enhances communication and ensures everyone is updated on project developments. Real-time updates: Trello provides real-time updates and notifications, ensuring all team members are informed about task changes and project statuses. Labels and tags: Trello’s labels and tags make categorizing and finding cards easy. This is particularly useful in large projects with multiple tasks and team members.
Trello is one of our all-time favorite platforms for fostering teamwork—so much so that it’s our go-to project management platform at SBB.
Trello delivers in a big way when it comes to making repetitive tasks a thing of the past.
It’s got robust automation creation, guaranteed to help your SMB scale.
Let’s walk you through our experience using the platform (creating all sorts of automation over six months).
With Trello, we were able to create the following types of automation (in just a few clicks):
Adding members when a card is createdRemoving the due date when a card is completedSending a notification when a deal is wonCreating a new due date for follow-ups
Here’s a look at the automation creation process with Trello.
With this unique interface, we could create complex automations (with no coding knowledge needed).
We simply created a trigger, selected an action, and that was it! Once we hit save, each automation worked just like magic.
We especially liked how we could see (and easily edit) all of our automation rules in one convenient location.
Here’s a look at some of the automation rules we created during our testing.
We also liked how we could customize each board with specific automation rules.
This was useful when working with different departments and teams within our organization (so no wires got crossed).
The breakdown: Trello provides some fantastic automation in an easily accessible format.
With its automation features, you can streamline your processes and save time (while maintaining high-quality work across several teams).
Trello is known for its project management capabilities, first and foremost. However, it’s also a pretty stellar customer relationship management (CRM) tool.
For example, Trello provides a fantastic pairing with Crmble, which provides all the bells and whistles to help you manage your customer relationships like a pro.
To test this feature out (over six months), we added some B2B affiliate marketing contacts.
Here’s a look at a new contact card (using Crmble).
With Trello, we were able to edit the following contact info with ease:
NameContact infoCompanyBirthdayAddress Additional notesCustom fields
Once our information was customized, we could see a detailed overview of each contact, including all associated deals and contact history.
The icing on the cake was the ability to easily email our contacts directly from Trello using the Gmail integration.
This kept all our communication in one place, ensuring nothing got lost in the shuffle.
All in all, Trello provides some surprisingly good contact management capabilities for a platform known for its project management.
In addition to being a robust project management software, Trello also provides fantastic pipeline management.
In fact, it’s good enough to rival even some of the best CRM platforms on the market.
Let’s break down our experience.
We tested this feature by adding some of our affiliate marketing deals to Trello.
We really liked the ability to create template cards (pictured below) so that we could customize our deal cards and replicate them with just one click.
This saved us a ton of time manually adding the same custom fields to each card (which was awesome).
Once our deals were put in, here’s how our board view looked.
We loved the sleek drag-and-drop interface that allowed us full control over our deals through each stage in the pipeline.
Plus, the sheer level of customization for each deal card was seriously impressive.
We could add the following elements with just one click:
ImagesVideoGIFsTextCheckboxesDrop down menusLabelsTags
The bottom line: Trello is much more than meets the eye when it comes to helping your sales teams succeed.
The project management software provides many CRM functionalities to help your business scale (without breaking the bank).
Crmble’s integration with Trello makes data tracking and visualization a breeze.
Crmble’s dashboard gives you a clear, comprehensive picture of your customer relationships and sales progress, presenting you with an array of valuable data points at a glance.
Here’s a look at our dashboard, where we could easily see an overview of our deals won.
Here are some things we loved about this feature:
Deals overview: Crmble neatly organizes all your deals into easily understandable charts and graphs. Sales funnel: The sales funnel feature gives you a visual representation of your pipeline, helping you identify bottlenecks and opportunities for optimization.Activity reports: Crmble provides you with detailed activity reports, offering you insights into your interactions with customers, including emails sent, meetings conducted, and calls made.Performance metrics: You can easily track your sales team’s performance with Crmble. It provides you with win rates, deal values, and other vital metrics that can help you drive productivity and efficiency.Conversion rates: Crmble’s dashboard also displays conversion rates at each stage of sales pipeline management, giving you insights into where prospects are dropping out and where they are converting.
In a nutshell, Crmble (in conjunction with Trello) is a powerful tool that assists in streamlining your sales processes, presenting a wealth of data in an easily digestible format, and providing thorough insights into your CRM activities at a glance.
AJ’s Take: This round is a straight-up tie. Trello is easily the better project management tool, whereas Pipedrive takes customer relationship management to another level.
After testing, we compiled a thorough list of our favorite CRMs for Small Businesses. Check it out now! The list might surprise you.
Let’s take a look at how Pipedrive and Trello handle the following aspects of customer service:
Availability & responsive supportKnowledge baseTraining
Let’s look at how Pipedrive handles customer service when it comes to the following:
Availability & responsive support: Pipedrive offers 24/7 live chat, phone, and email support. No matter when we contacted them, Pipedrive came through. Knowledge base: Pipedrive offers a comprehensive knowledge base filled with helpful articles, videos, and tutorials to help you get the most out of your CRM platform. Training: Pipedrive offers live training sessions, webinars, and access to Pipedrive Academy (a series of courses designed to help you master your CRM).
Here’s a quick look at how Trello performs in the following metrics:
Availability & responsive support: Trello’s support is based on your pricing plan. It’s worth noting that the free plan only offers community support. Knowledge base: Trello offers a basic knowledge base that includes user community support to help users when they get stuck. Training: Trello offers some basic tutorials and guides to help new users get started and make the most out of Trello.
AJ’s Take: Pipedrive wins this round with incredibly responsive 24/7 support. Trello’s support is great, but it mostly depends on your chosen pricing plan.
Connecting your CRM to other tools and platforms is crucial, especially since each business has its own needs and requirements.
In this section, we’ll see how Trello and Pipedrive stack up regarding integrations.
Pipedrive provides a ton of native integrations to help your business grow.
Some great integrations include:
SlackTrelloZapierZoom
Pipedrive also offers a great Zapier pairing for thousands of additional third-party applications.
Trello offers over 200 great native integrations.
Here are some of our favorites:
Slack Google DriveZapierSalesforceCrmbleGmail
Trello also offers a great Zapier integration for tons of additional apps.
AJ’s Take: Pipedrive and Trello provide many helpful integrations to help your SMB grow. You can’t go wrong with either platform, making this round a tie.
If you can’t easily navigate the platform or find the features you need, it doesn’t matter how powerful or useful your CRM is.
So, let’s look at how Pipedrive and Trello compare in this regard.
Pipedrive is incredibly easy to use, thanks to its intuitive interface and well-organized features.
Here’s what we loved:
Clean user interface: Pipedrive has a clean, modern UI that helps you easily navigate the platform.Drag-and-drop functionality: With Pipedrive, you can drag and drop deals and contacts into different sales pipeline stages. This feature makes it easy to keep track of your progress and move deals along.Customizable pipelines: Pipedrive allows you to customize your sales pipeline according to your unique business needs. This feature is useful for businesses that have their own specific sales processes.
Trello’s simple drag-and-drop functionality and Kanban boards make it incredibly easy to use.
Here are some of our favorite features:
Kanban boards: Trello’s Kanban board view allows you to easily move cards (tasks) from one column to another, giving you a clear visual representation of your tasks and their progress.Simple interface: Trello has a user-friendly interface that is easy for teams to navigate and collaborate on projects.Customizable boards: Trello allows you to customize your boards, labels, and lists according to your team’s needs. This feature makes it easy to organize and prioritize tasks.
AJ’s Take: Both platforms are incredibly easy to use, with intuitive interfaces and helpful features that make it easy to navigate. This round is another tie.
In today’s fast-paced business world, it’s essential to have a mobile app that allows you to stay connected and on top of your tasks while on the go.
Let’s see how Trello and Pipedrive compare when it comes to their mobile apps.
Pipedrive offers a great mobile app on both iOS and Android.
The app is user-friendly and provides all the necessary features to help you manage your business on the go.
Some notable features include:
Project managementTask trackingPipeline managementEmail marketingReporting & analytics
Pipedrive’s mobile app is essentially like having a fully-fledged CRM in the palm of your hand.
Trello provides a fantastic mobile app (for iOS and Android).
We downloaded the app on iOS to really test it out (over six months).
Here are some features that stood out to us:
Calendar viewProject management softwarePipeline management toolsNotifications
Trello’s mobile app is easy to use, offers a comprehensive overview of your projects, and lets you collaborate with your team while on the go.
AJ’s Take: This round is yet another tie. Both platforms offer a mobile app comparable to the desktop version in almost every way.
Having a great knowledge center where your team can find tutorials, FAQs, and other resources is essential for any CRM.
Let’s see how Pipedrive and Trello do when it comes to self-service.
Pipedrive offers a robust knowledge center with a detailed FAQ section, video tutorials, and helpful guides.
Some notable features include:
Detailed articles on how to use PipedriveTips & tricks for increasing sales productivityFAQsVideo tutorials
Pipedrive’s knowledge center is comprehensive and easy to navigate, making it an excellent resource for users who need quick help or want to learn how to use the platform more effectively.
Trello provides some basic resources to help new users learn the platform.
These include the following:
Helpful articlesCommunity centerGetting started guides
Trello’s knowledge center is limited, but it does offer some basic resources.
However, if you need more in-depth tutorials or support, you may have to rely on external sources.
AJ’s Take: While Trello has some helpful resources, Pipedrive knocks this one out of the park with many resources for SMBs to take advantage of.
No platform is perfect—Pipedrive and Trello both have limitations.
Let’s take a look at some potential drawbacks of each platform.
Pipedrive has a lot going for it, but it’s not perfect.
Here are a few limitations of Pipedrive:
No free plan: Pipedrive doesn’t offer a free plan, which can be a potential barrier to entry for startups or small teams. Limited customer journey views: Pipedrive provides a ton of pipeline management features, but it doesn’t offer a full view of the customer journey (which may be a limitation for some).
Trello is one of our favorite platforms on the market, but it has a few downsides.
Here are a couple:
No customer support with the free plan: Trello’s free plan does not include customer support, which can be a major drawback for businesses that need assistance.Limited marketing features: While Trello offers plenty of project management tools and sales CRM capabilities, it’s lacking when it comes to advanced marketing features (such as A/B testing or email campaigns).
AJ’s Take: Both platforms have their limitations, but none are deal-breakers. It really depends on your business needs and priorities.
This one was a real nail-biter. In the end—our winner is Pipedrive.
Pipedrive wins because of its superior customer service, robust knowledge base, and powerful sales and marketing features. While it doesn’t have a free plan, it’s well worth the price tag (in our opinion).
However, Trello is our go-to project management software. We use it and recommend it to clients because of its flexibility and ease of use.
Both platforms are free to try, so do your business a favor and check them out today!
The post Pipedrive Vs. Trello 2023: Paid Vs. Free CRM appeared first on Small Business Bonfire.
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