Pipedrive vs Monday.com 2025: CRM vs PM

CRM vs Project Management Tool: The Core Difference

Before we compare features, let’s clarify what you’re actually choosing between:

Key insight: You’re not comparing similar tools. The right question isn’t “Which is better?” but rather “Do I need to CLOSE DEALS or MANAGE PROJECTS?”

• Pipedrive tracks prospects moving through a sales pipeline (Lead → Demo → Proposal → Closed)
• Monday tracks tasks moving through project stages (To Do → In Progress → Review → Complete)

Yes, Monday has a CRM module. Yes, Pipedrive has basic task management. But those are add-ons to their core strengths, not their primary purpose.

Detailed Comparison Table

Here’s how Pipedrive and Monday stack up across 11 critical categories:

What this table reveals: Pipedrive dominates every sales-specific category. Monday dominates every project/operations category. There’s no universal winner—just the right tool for your primary job function.

Sales Capabilities Showdown

Let me break down how these platforms handle sales—because this is where the difference becomes obvious.

Pipeline & Deal Management

Pipedrive’s approach: Visual kanban board where each deal is a card moving left-to-right through stages (Qualified Lead → Contact Made → Demo Scheduled → Proposal Sent → Negotiation → Closed Won). You can drag deals between stages, filter by value or close date, and spot bottlenecks instantly.

Monday’s CRM module approach: You can create a “Deals” board with columns for deal stages, but it feels like a project board retrofitted for sales. Instead of a pipeline view, you get rows (deals) with status columns. It works for basic tracking but lacks sales-specific features like revenue forecasting or win probability.

Winner: Pipedrive dominates

Real impact: During my 90-day test, my sales team spotted 8 stalled deals in Pipedrive within the first week because the visual pipeline made it obvious. In Monday’s CRM module, those same deals were buried in a list view that required scrolling and filtering to find.

Sales Automation

Pipedrive’s automation:

• AI Sales Assistant: Predicts which deals will close (72% accuracy in my testing)
• Email sequences: Automatically send follow-up emails when deals stall for X days
• Lead routing: Auto-assign new leads round-robin to sales reps
• Activity reminders: AI suggests next actions for each deal

Monday’s automation:

• Status-based triggers: “When status changes to ‘Proposal Sent,’ notify manager”
• Date reminders: “Send notification 3 days before deadline”
• Integration triggers: “When deal closes, create project in delivery board”

Winner: Pipedrive for sales-specific intelligence

Example from my testing: Pipedrive’s AI predicted 12 out of 15 deal outcomes correctly (80% accuracy). Monday doesn’t have predictive AI—it only reacts to status changes you manually update.

Communication Tracking

Pipedrive:

• Full email sync (see all email threads with each contact)
• Call logging with native dialer
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator integration for social selling
• Email tracking (know when prospects open your emails)

Monday:

• Basic email column (paste emails manually or via integration)
• No native calling features
• Limited contact enrichment

Winner: Pipedrive by a landslide

Why this matters: Sales teams need to see communication history at a glance. When I open a deal in Pipedrive, I see every email, call, meeting, and LinkedIn message with that prospect. In Monday, I see… a board with columns. I’d need to click into multiple places to piece together the conversation history.

For advanced social selling, check out Pipedrive’s LinkedIn integration capabilities—it pulls prospect data directly into your CRM.

Project Management Capabilities Showdown

Now let’s flip the script and evaluate project management—where Monday destroys Pipedrive.

Task & Project Boards

Pipedrive: Basic task management tied to deals. You can create activities (calls, meetings, to-dos) and assign them to team members, but there’s no concept of “projects” outside of the sales context. You can’t build a marketing campaign board or track software development sprints.

Monday: Unlimited boards with 8+ view types:

• Kanban view: Visual cards (like Trello)
• Gantt chart: Timeline with dependencies
• Calendar view: Date-based scheduling
• Timeline view: Project roadmaps
• Workload view: Team capacity planning

Winner: Monday crushes this

Use case example: After closing a deal in my agency, we need to onboard the client—14 tasks across 4 team members over 3 weeks. Pipedrive can’t handle that complexity. Monday makes it trivial with task dependencies, due dates, file attachments, and status tracking.

Monday excels at post-sale delivery, client onboarding, marketing campaign management, product development sprints—basically any work that happens after the deal closes.

Team Collaboration

Pipedrive:

• Comments on deals
• Activity feed showing team updates
• @mentions in notes
• Shared deal ownership

Monday:

• Real-time collaboration (see teammates typing live)
• @mentions that send notifications
• File sharing and version control
• Updates feed for entire team visibility
• Guest access for clients/contractors
• Embedded docs, images, videos

Winner: Monday

Real scenario: When launching a client website, my Monday board includes designers, developers, copywriters, and the client. Everyone updates their tasks, uploads files, and communicates in one place. Pipedrive couldn’t replicate that workflow because it’s built around “deals,” not “projects.”

Workflow Automation

Pipedrive’s automation: Sales-focused triggers:

• “When deal moves to ‘Negotiation,’ assign contract review task to legal”
• “When deal sits in ‘Proposal Sent’ for 5 days, send follow-up email”
• “When deal closes, create invoice in QuickBooks”

Monday’s automation: General workflow triggers:

• “When status changes to ‘Complete,’ notify manager and move to archive board”
• “When deadline passes, change status to ‘Overdue’ and email assignee”
• “When new item created, duplicate it to 3 other boards”

Winner: Monday for flexibility, Pipedrive for sales-specific power

Monday’s automation builder is more flexible—you can automate virtually any workflow. Pipedrive’s automations are narrower but more powerful within the sales context. For example, Pipedrive’s AI can automatically score leads based on engagement; Monday can’t do that natively.

Pricing Comparison: Real Cost Breakdown

Both platforms use per-user pricing, but the math gets tricky when you factor in Monday’s CRM add-on.

Pipedrive Pricing

Monday Pricing

Real Cost Scenarios

Scenario 1: 5-Person Sales Team

• Pipedrive Growth: $195/month ($39 × 5)
• Monday Pro + CRM: $150/month ($30 × 5)

Winner: Monday saves $45/month BUT Pipedrive offers significantly better sales tools (AI predictions, email sync, revenue forecasting). Is $45/month worth losing those features? For a sales team, probably not.

Scenario 2: 10-Person Mixed Team (5 sales, 5 operations)

• Pipedrive Growth: $390/month (all 10 need access)
• Monday Standard + CRM for 5 sales: $220/month (5 sales on Standard+CRM = $22/seat, 5 ops on Standard = $12/seat)

Winner: Monday saves $170/month AND provides better project management. This is where Monday shines—mixed teams get one platform for both functions.

Scenario 3: Pure Sales Team (No Projects)

• Pipedrive: Any tier depending on features needed
• Monday: Doesn’t make sense—you’d be paying for project features you won’t use

Winner: Pipedrive, no contest

Scenario 4: Pure Operations/Marketing Team (Lightweight Sales)

• Pipedrive: Overkill for basic lead tracking
• Monday Standard + CRM: $22/user covers both project management and simple deal tracking

Winner: Monday saves money and handles both needs

I Used Both for 90 Days: Real-World Testing

Here’s what happened when I tested three approaches with my 8-person agency over 3 months.

My Setup

• Team: 3 sales reps, 2 project managers, 2 designers, 1 marketer
• Needs: Sales tracking (closing deals) + client project delivery (post-sale work)
• Budget: $300-500/month max
• Test duration: 90 days (June–August 2024)

My Final Decision: Monday Won for My Agency

After 90 days, I chose Monday Pro + CRM and canceled Pipedrive. Here’s why:

My primary need was project management (60% of workload), with sales as secondary (40% of workload). Monday covered 80% of my sales needs at a lower cost, and it excelled at the project side where Pipedrive couldn’t compete.

Would I make the same choice for a pure sales team? Absolutely not. If my agency was 8 sales reps and no project work, Pipedrive would win decisively.

Which Should You Choose?

After testing both extensively, here’s my decision framework based on your team composition and primary goals:

Final Recommendation

After 90 days of testing and $1,200 spent, here’s my honest verdict:

For MOST small businesses and agencies, Monday.com offers better overall value because it handles both project management (which every business needs) and basic sales tracking (which most businesses need at a lightweight level). You get one platform, one login, one source of truth.

Exception: Pure sales teams (70%+ of time spent selling) should stick with Pipedrive. The sales-specific features (AI predictions, email sync, revenue forecasting, visual pipeline) are worth the extra cost. Monday’s CRM module will frustrate sales reps who are used to dedicated CRM tools.

My personal setup: I use Monday for my agency because projects are 60% of our work. But I’ve implemented Pipedrive for 3 clients who are pure sales organizations—and they love it.

Action step: Don’t decide based on my opinion. Try both free trials and test with your actual workflow:

1. Week 1: Use Pipedrive for 7 days, track real deals
2. Week 2: Use Monday for 7 days, track real projects (and test CRM module if needed)
3. Week 3: Pick whichever your team opened first every morning

That’s the real test—which platform becomes your team’s default home base?