We believe there are better options available in this category, read below to learn what this software does well, and what they could do better. ⤵
The CRM space is probably the largest software category in the world, just ahead of project management. That said, there's 2 types of CRM categories:
Okay, let me explain. Most software will eventually get to a point where they need to determine if they should tack on the "CRM" category to their product offering. And because a CRM at the end of the day is really just a database, most software will justify "adding it" to their toolset.
The CRM for small + medium teams (200 or less) that are using Microsoft 365.
Pipedrive is more of a "sales-focused" CRM for small + medium teams (meaning 100 seats or less), and it's pretty good at just that.
It's a huge upgrade from trying to use a spreadsheet like Google Sheets as a CRM or a database like Airtable as a CRM, any yet flexible enough to even build out for some additional internal processes beyond just sales.
Their API is flexible and robust (we enjoy integrating it for teams), and they've been around for a while, so they aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Solid recommendation if your team's tech stack revolves around Microsoft.
While Pipedrive allows you to sync in emails retroactively into the system, it only does it for the past 6 months, whereas competitors like Copper will actually go an entire year back, across everyone on your team, when a new contact is added to the CRM.
If you're using Microsoft 365 though, Pipedrive would be your best bet, as Copper doesn't work with non-Google Workspace/Gmail accounts.
If you're deeply considering Pipedrive as your CRM and your team is using Google Workspace—go check out Copper instead.
If you're heavily a sales-focused company and are using Microsoft Outlook for email, Pipedrive will actually give you one of the best experiences when it comes to a CRM.
While we might in some cases recommend HubSpot if you're a Microsoft shop, we would do so hesitantly as HubSpot gets to 5–figures per year very quickly. And that's a lot of Pipedrive seats!
We might recommend reading the Best CRM Comparison post we made which goes deeper into the positives and negatives of Pipedrive as compared to others.
For teams of all sizes looking for a flexible and user-friendly database (spreadsheet replacement) that can easily connect with other tools.
Airtable is an incredibly flexible tool that can be used from something as simple as a Google Sheets replacement, all the way up to a no-code builder.
At a core, it's really just a user-friendly database, similar to that of Coda and even Notion (although those 2 apps both started as more of knowledge base tools first, whereas Airtable has always been first-and-foremost a user-friendly database).
If your team is still using Google Sheets (for things outside of company finance reporting like balance sheets, etc.), then we fully encourage you to check out Airtable and to give it a try. In most cases, it will completely replace the need for Google Sheets, Google Forms, Typeform, Jotform, and other Form software.
Believe it or not, over the past 8+ years, we've actually entirely replaced every single internal Google Sheet with Airtable alternative. Sometimes the structure needs to change slightly, but doing so unlocks so much additional functionality.
We've done this because it provides way more structure (it being a proper database), while also having an incredibly powerful API (for integrating and automating).
And that's where it has some no-code builder functionality, which means with the right guidance, it can even replace more complicated apps lite Submittable (more of an application management software).
As much as we don't recommend using Airtable as your CRM, we do believe it serves a place in just about every business. For instance, Airtable can serve as a fantastic database extension of your lead and customer info.
That said, we actually named Airtable as one of our 5 Best Copper App Integrations of 2023, so it still serves a purpose even when you're seeing how it might fit alongside your CRM needs.
Airtable is also not a project manager—please stop trying to use it as one 😅
On that note, if you're super tempted to use Airtable as your CRM and don't want a more fully-fledged CRM like Copper, you might want to try out Folk instead.
We love working with the Airtable API. It just does most everything you could want it to do, and it incredibly flexible and easy to work with.
You can simply create a new view within an Airtable Base, add filtered logic to it, and set it up so when a new record enters that view, an automation can be triggered. This allows it to be incredibly flexible.
With it ultimately just being a database at the end of the day and having such a powerful API, it is the most core tool in our stack. I don't think there's one customer we've taken on that we haven't used Airtable with for at least some aspect to their business.
Even if it's just more in the background as an intermediary database, doing data manipulation, allowing for us to more easily pass data between software.
With all of that said, there's a fine line between what it is good for, and what it's not good for. So it brings with it the same issues we've seen arise with tools like Notion and Coda. Determining when you should and shouldn't be using it is probably the most important thing to nail down when determining if Airtable is the right fit for your needs.
Curious how this app compares to others?