You want one place to track inquiries, proposals, and your team’s next actions. Pipedrive and HubSpot are on your shortlist, but feature lists do not show how either would fit your work. Compare them through a real task: handling an inquiry and handing accepted work to the delivery team, including plan requirements and costs.
Chill&AutomateUpdated September 27, 2026
untangle → move on
✓
When this guide helps
Use this guide if any of these situations sound familiar:
Your spreadsheet is no longer enough, and the team needs a shared client history.
You need to know which plan gives teammates the shared messages and access they require.
You already use a CRM and are considering a switch to solve a specific gap.
First define what your teammates need the CRM to do. Then compare both products, the cost of the required users, and migration work. Use the decision sheet to record the choice and explain it to the team.
The approach
Consider Pipedrive when the main job is managing deals and their next activities. Shortlist HubSpot when you want forms and shared conversations alongside CRM records. In both cases, choose around a specific plan and the work your whole team needs to do.
Check off steps as you finish them. Progress stays in this browser; reset it below when you start again.
What the CRM must do
For a three-person studio, define one job: receive an inquiry, retain the original, assign an owner, schedule a response and hand over accepted work. Represent the inquiry as a deal rather than just a contact. A contact requesting a website and training needs two separate next actions.
List who needs to edit records, who only reads them and who replies from the shared address. Headcount and paid seats are not automatically the same. Include migration, field mapping and upkeep: moving data into a CRM does not make it accurate.
Pipedrive: check the feature package
The current plan matrix places email sync on Growth and Team Inbox on Premium. Premium includes Projects and LeadBooster; lower tiers offer them as add-ons. A team keeping its current shared mailbox can start by evaluating a lower plan. If the shared mailbox must live inside the CRM, compare the complete Premium setup.
HubSpot: start with manual assignment
HubSpot documents team email and form channels in the conversations inbox. That does not mean contact, conversation and deal ownership automatically stay aligned. Start with a coordinator who links the request to a deal and adds a task. Evaluate automatic routing separately because subscription and seat conditions matter.
When migrating, account for the fact that messages received before a team email connection are not imported into that inbox. Keep a reference to historical conversations unless the team actually needs to migrate them.
A decision for a small team
If pipeline management and individual email work dominate, start with Pipedrive Growth. For a shared mailbox inside Pipedrive, evaluate Premium. If the team already uses HubSpot for forms and conversations, start with the existing account and manual tasks. Switching must close a gap worth the migration effort.
Record the full quote for the required seats, add-ons and billing term. Do not compare one tool’s annual monthly equivalent with another’s monthly payment. If your mailbox and tracker already complete the same job, postpone buying and keep track of actual process gaps.
Filled example
Fictional example to explain the process, not a real client record.
In a fictional three-person studio, Jane handles sales, Peter provides cover and Eva receives the work. They handle two inquiries from one contact, one reply from the shared address and a handover to Eva. A route where Peter cannot see the sent reply or Eva lacks the agreed scope needs further configuration.
Required task / why it matters
A three-person team needs shared reply visibility and a next-review date.
Current setup: fits / gap
The shared inbox shows replies and a spreadsheet holds deadlines. Deal stages and cross-project history are not needed.
Pipedrive: plan, seats, add-ons, limits
No plan selected. Managing a sales pipeline is not the current problem.
HubSpot: plan, seats, add-ons, limits
No plan selected. Connected forms and other CRM capabilities are not needed yet.
Quote, currency, term and quote date
No new quote needed because no purchase is proposed. The current setup’s cost is not quantified in this example.
Chosen route, reason and accepted tradeoff
Keep the inbox and spreadsheet; assign one person to each inquiry. Revisit CRM selection if shared deal history and sales stages become necessary.
Take the worksheet with you
A decision sheet comparing both CRMs and the existing process against one job.
Expand the blank template below, select the text, and paste it into your document. Replace the brackets with your own information, using the filled example above for guidance. Keep a separate copy for each job. You can also download the text. No sign-up required.
For up to two people with manual assignment, HubSpot Free is a reasonable starting point. For three or more, evaluate paid Starter. Pipedrive Growth fits deal stages and individual email; choose Premium when shared mail and delivery projects need to live in the CRM.
Prices and terms checked September 27, 2026, in the currency shown by the vendor. Quotes may vary by country; confirm your currency, tax and commitment before buying. Example budgets exclude any additional tax.
Budget for this job
For three full seats, budget EUR 1,404/year for Growth or EUR 2,124/year for Premium, excluding VAT. HubSpot Starter’s USD 20 catalog rate gives a starting budget of USD 60/month; USD 720 over 12 unchanged months is not a quoted annual contract. EUR and USD are not interchangeable. Add migration and field maintenance.
Use the decision sheet to record your team’s required tasks, the plan that covers them, and the cost of the necessary users. Note what will have to change after migration.
What can go wrong
A feature on a product’s website may require a higher-priced plan. Compare quotes for the users and access you need, not just the lowest advertised price.
✓
How to check it works
Walk through one inquiry in the chosen setup: arrival, reply, proposal, and handoff. If a teammate cannot see a necessary message, the setup still needs work.
Where to start today
Write down three essential tasks and use them to choose an initial candidate. Confirm the plan and teammates’ access before moving all your data.