Monday and Salesforce are often compared because they’re both established sales tools with significant marketing reach but they suit very different users.
Monday CRM is lightweight and small-business-friendly with roots in work management, while Salesforce offers the advanced control and customization options many enterprise users seek.
Whether you’re at either end of that spectrum or – like most SMB sales teams – somewhere in between, this objective Monday CRM vs. Salesforce comparison guide will help you choose the best CRM system for your business.
Key takeaways for Monday CRM vs. Salesforce
Monday CRM is suited to tracking sales alongside projects using a visual, board-based system that’s quick to set up.
Salesforce is a better fit if you need advanced control, reporting and customization to support a large or complex sales team.
Expect trade-offs between ease of use and depth when choosing between the two systems.
If your team sits between lightweight tracking and enterprise complexity, a sales-first customer relationship management (CRM) system like Pipedrive may be a better fit – see for yourself with a free 14-day trial.
Monday CRM vs. Salesforce at a glance
Before we dig into the details, here’s a simple run-down of how Monday CRM and Salesforce compare for key decision-making factors like ideal use cases, ease-of-adoption and most helpful sales features:
Monday CRM | Salesforce |
Best for: Tracking sales activity alongside project or work management | Best for: Managing complex sales processes across large teams and multiple brands |
Ideal team size: Solo users, small teams and early-stage sales orgs | Ideal team size: Mid-market and enterprise sales teams |
Setup and onboarding effort: Promotes fast, DIY setup using templates and drag-and-drop configuration | Setup and onboarding effort: Longer implementation that may require a dedicated admin, training or external support |
Most helpful sales features: Board-based pipelines, contact records, email sync, forms for lead capture, basic performance dashboards | Most helpful sales features: Full CRM suite including lead scoring and opportunity management, account hierarchies, advanced dashboards and lifecycle tracking |
Automation and AI depth: Rule-based automation via pre-built or custom sequences with basic AI for task generation, email composition and formula building | Automation and AI depth: Advanced automation through flows, rules and AI to support sales forecasting, customer support and advanced analytics |
Customization approach: Light customization without developer support, including pipeline management design and custom data fields | Customization approach: Extensive customization across objects, workflows and data models with pre-built apps to add capabilities |
Reporting and forecasting: Entry users get one performance dashboard; forecasting and analytics are available on pro plans and higher. | Reporting and forecasting: General reporting possible across plans; forecasting and deeper analytics on higher tiers |
Pricing model: Plans start at $15 per seat/per month – all plans for more than 50 seats require custom pricing | Pricing model: Free to start for up to two users, paid plans from $25 per user per month, rising to $100 for many features |
This comparison table is helpful as a quick reference guide but to make a fully informed decision it’s well worth exploring the functionality of both platforms in more depth.
Note: Monday and Salesforce both claim to cater to small and large companies, but their pricing models and brand messaging generally prioritize one or the other – hence our view on the ideal team size for each.
Monday CRM vs. Salesforce: core sales and CRM features compared
Core CRM features are the software capabilities that help teams strengthen or maintain customer relationships and ultimately increase conversions and revenue.
These vital capabilities shape how quickly a sales team can get value from a tool, how much day-to-day admin it creates and how well it supports growth over time.
Some CRMs focus on speed and flexibility, while others prioritize structure and control. Picking a tool that’s too light or too complex can slow teams down through feature gaps or added admin.
Here’s how the core CRM features of Monday.com and Salesforce stack up.
Monday CRM: flexible deal tracking built on project-style boards
Monday’s straightforward, board-based sales management interface aims to make organizing deals and customer data simple.
Deals appear as items that move through stages of a visually spacious pipeline with moveable columns to store contact details, deal values, journey stages and closing probabilities, like this:
Users can choose to view pipeline activity in a table (pictured above), in Kanban format or in a forecast view. These view options are pricing tier-dependent.
Templates help simplify basic sales tracking across all plans but dedicated lead and deal management tools – both key to running a successful sales team – are only available in higher tiers.
Salesforce: structured sales control for complex pipelines
Like any good CRM, Salesforce offers structured lead and opportunity management, activity tracking and performance reporting tools.
The app treats leads and opportunities as separate objects, supporting detailed pipeline control and revenue tracking from first touch through close – albeit in a text-heavy interface like this:
Salesforce also supports account hierarchies, so users can map how different accounts relate to one another. For example, a global “parent” account may have multiple regional subsidiaries (i.e., “child” accounts).
This detail helps enterprise teams coordinate outreach when targeting buyers at different levels of a company but adds a layer of complexity that many smaller teams won’t need.
Pipedrive: sales-first views built for clarity and scale
Pipedrive is explicitly built around managing deals, pipelines and activities rather than adapting a broader work or enterprise system for sales.
With a straightforward pipeline view at the heart of Pipedrive’s user experience, reps can effortlessly see which leads need their attention at any moment.
Clear separation between leads, deals and contacts keeps pipeline data clean, supporting more accurate reporting and forecasting as sales activity increases.
Monday CRM vs. Salesforce: which is better for AI and workflow automation?
Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are distinct but complementary ways to reduce manual sales work.
Alongside integrations and rule-based workflows, many CRM tools use AI to automate more complex unstructured tasks such as generating performance insights and suggesting actions.
Monday itself reports that 82% of sales leaders feel AI makes them more efficient and Pipedrive found that 81% of sales teams rely on CRM systems with automation capabilities.
Here’s how Monday CRM and Salesforce combine AI and automation to increase user productivity.
Monday CRM: simple automation with emerging AI support
Monday keeps automation relatively simple with rule-based triggers that users can apply across sales boards and pipelines.
Pre-built sequences handle simple routine tasks like updating deal stages, sending alerts to stakeholders and routing qualified leads to specific sales reps.
Users can also automate email workflows by building lead sequences, like this:
Monday AI adds an extra layer of support for automated tasks by generating email content, building reporting formulas and suggesting follow-up tasks.
While Monday labels its sales software an “AI-first CRM”, Monday AI still appears to be in beta at the time of writing. Many teams find more refined and proven AI support in other tools.
Salesforce: advanced automation and agentic AI tools
Salesforce offers rule-based automation through Flow Builder, which can handle repetitive sales tasks without developer support.
However, the software’s two layers of AI support are a bigger draw for many sales organizations.
Salesforce Einstein is mostly assistive AI. Einstein tools like Copilot provide automatic insights, predict sales outcomes and recommend actions to help speed up day-to-day sales work.
Einstein can also draft simple sales emails like this:
Agentforce Sales (formerly Salesforce Sales Cloud) is Salesforce’s brand of agentic AI, designed to handle specific sales tasks like lead follow-ups and record updates, more independently.
Advanced AI like this can be powerful but getting it to support an end-to-end sales process reliably may require specialist knowledge and time that many SMB teams don’t have.
Pipedrive: practical AI and automation for everyday selling
Pipedrive applies AI and automation to support day-to-day selling in practical, user-friendly ways rather than building complex workflows or autonomous systems.
Automations streamline deal movement, follow-ups and activity tracking, while AI highlights stalled deals, suggests next steps and helps reps prioritize work.
For example, users can set email automations up to re-engage cold leads or interact with new prospects and even use AI to craft the email content.
For SMB teams, this approach delivers time savings and insight without requiring specialist setup or ongoing maintenance. Reps can focus on improving customer experiences instead of chasing tech support or trawling through documentation.
Crush your manual admin with this sales automation guide
Monday CRM vs. Salesforce: which has better add-on and integration capabilities?
Connecting a CRM to your existing tech stack helps keep sales data consistent across the business without having team members manually copy it.
Meanwhile, add-ons extend your CRM’s functionality as business needs change without requiring you to switch tools.
Here’s how Salesforce and Monday’s sales CRM compare when it comes to add-ons and integrations.
Monday CRM: integrations tied to the broader Monday ecosystem
Monday CRM offers 200+ native integrations for synchronizing sales data and triggering automation actions across apps.
The integration library (pictured below) covers categories like communication, project management, social media, e-commerce and email. Many business staples are present here, including Slack, Microsoft Teams, HubSpot, Google Drive, Gmail and LinkedIn.
Users can also create integrations for proprietary sales and marketing tools with the Monday.com CRM API. However, this process generally requires significant investment.
Monday CRM is itself a kind of add-on to Monday’s broader work management system.
While there is an email marketing add-on (called Monday Campaigns), extending capabilities further usually means investing in the wider Monday ecosystem – not just adding standalone sales or marketing features. That limits scalability for leaner teams on tight budgets.
Salesforce: vast add-on potential with cost and complexity trade-offs
Salesforce handles most integrations and extensions through AppExchange, an official marketplace that also houses details for certified consulting organizations.
AppExchange includes thousands of plug-ins. Some connect Salesforce with the widely used tools you’ll find in most CRM integration libraries, like Docusign, Zoom and Slack. Others are more specialized and built to perform specific tasks within Salesforce products.
This wide mix of free and paid-for add-ons is useful to sales leaders with particular needs and the resources to support them.
For new users who only want to sync CRM data with other general sales, marketing and productivity apps, the choice can be overwhelming.
Pipedrive: focused integrations and purpose-built sales add-ons
Pipedrive’s Marketplace is home to hundreds of carefully chosen, sales-relevant integrations designed to increase the CRM’s automation potential and save teams time.
You’ll find connectors for email, calendars, lead generation tools and workflow automation platforms like Zapier.
Most integrations are free and quick to connect so teams can extend sales workflows without adding unnecessary complexity or cost. Logged-in users even get smart app recommendations based on their location, industry type and other factors.
Note: Pipedrive users can also extend the software’s capabilities with purpose-built add-ons for email marketing (Campaigns), lead generation (LeadBooster) and document management (Smart Docs). These tools share data natively with the CRM, further streamlining processes.
Monday CRM vs. Salesforce: onboarding and usability compared
A new CRM solution is only valuable if the sales team can adopt it quickly and use it with confidence. Otherwise, reps will naturally revert to less organized relationship management methods, like spreadsheets.
Here’s how Monday and Salesforce compare when it comes to onboarding and ease-of-use.
Monday CRM: fast setup with a familiar interface
Monday CRM’s UI design is clear and approachable. New users can create pipelines quickly via templates and move stages, fields and views around to suit their needs.
Here’s an example of the lead management interface:
The drag-and-drop CRM interface is visually consistent with the broader Monday ecosystem. If your team already uses other Monday tools, adopting the CRM should be straightforward.
Sales reps can complete most day-to-day actions without technical knowledge so it’s easy for them to log activity and track deals without friction.
That said, Monday’s ultra-simplistic approach sometimes makes the tool feel more like a project management app, which may not suit teams looking for a sales-first CRM.
Salesforce: powerful tools with a steeper learning curve
Salesforce prioritizes depth and control over simplicity, trusting managers will have the time and know-how to configure objects, permissions, workflows and reports before reps can start selling.
Once set up, experienced users can access powerful tools for managing complex sales cycles, although there’s a steep learning curve for non-technical reps.
Some teams rely on external consultants to manage implementation and maintenance, which is why Salesforce includes them in its AppExchange library.
That said, there is also plenty of documentation and training resources available for those committed to doing it independently.
Pipedrive: quick adoption without technical overhead
Pipedrive is designed for non-technical teams to adopt quickly, with no training or complex configuration required. That usability focus shows consistently in customer reviews and testimonials.
For example, Jesse Pärnänen, VP of Sales at Finnish tech company Framery, said this after using Pipedrive to increase lead generation by 800%:
The Motley Fool even named Pipedrive the “Easiest to Use” CRM for small businesses in 2023 and Pipedrive’s user experience continues to earn awards from across the industry.
Monday CRM vs. Salesforce: pricing breakdown
Monday and Salesforce both offer entry points for small teams but pricing scales differently as users’ needs grow. Here’s how the two solutions compare.
Monday CRM: accessible entry pricing with feature trade-offs
Monday’s paid packages are billed per seat and start with the Basic tier followed by Standard, Pro and Enterprise.
Prices rise as teams unlock features such as advanced automations, reporting and forecasting.
The Enterprise plans – which has the fewest restrictions – is priced on request, as are all tiers for teams of 50 or more people.
While Monday’s entry point is affordable for many, it lacks key sales features such as deal and lead management and centralized communication.
Salesforce: tiered pricing that scales fast with complexity
Salesforce’s pricing is also tiered and scales with access to advanced features and tools. However, the jumps between plans are bigger and require more careful consideration.
A free plan for up to two users includes basic CRM functionality but limited sales features.
To unlock more seats and key sales capabilities, you’ll need a Starter or Pro Suite plan, both of which must be paid for annually (at a considerable $300 or $1,200 per user).
The Pro Suite is also four times more expensive than the Starter Suite, making it harder for SMBs to scale quickly as needs change.
Note: Not all of the plugins in Salesforce’s AppExchange are free, so you’ll need to factor in some extra costs if you plan to integrate your tech stack with the CRM software. For example, this Docusign connector alone starts at $45 per user per month.
Pipedrive: predictable pricing with key sales features included
Pipedrive uses transparent, per-user pricing with all core sales features present on lower tiers, including sales AI.
Teams can scale users and functionality gradually without large jumps between plans or relying on paid add-ons. This simplicity makes long-term costs far easier to predict.
What’s more, there are free 14-day trials available on all tiers so you can test the Pipedrive version that best suits your business needs.
Monday CRM vs. Salesforce: what do customers think?
Monday CRM users often highlight the software’s visual layout and ease of setup as its biggest strengths.
Many appreciate how quickly they can build pipelines and track deals without technical help, including this reviewer from a business with fewer than 50 employees writing for G2.com:
Other small business users highlight shortcomings in important sales functions.
Ultimately, Monday CRM scores a 4.6/5 rating on G2.com based on 1,100+ user reviews at the time of writing, including many from small and mid-market teams.
Meanwhile, Salesforce is widely praised for its power and customization options, even by some SMB reviewers.
For example, when asked by G2 what they like best about Salesforce, one Head of Partnerships said:
However, Salesforce’s complexity is an even more common theme. Here’s another verified SMB user’s take:
Salesforce scores 4.4/5 on G2.com, based on 25,000+ reviews at the time of writing, although most reviewers represent enterprises.
Why SMBs trust Pipedrive for speed, clarity and confidence
Many Pipedrive users highlight smooth user experience, fast setup and real-time pipeline visibility as key reasons for choosing the platform.
One small business founder posted this review to G2.com:
“We love how simple and clean [Pipedrive’s] layout is. It’s easy and intuitive to know exactly where we are at with every deal.”
“We have tried many other CRM tools, but they were just databases that hold information. We were looking for something that specifically helps us track deals as they move through the sales pipeline. I am very pleased that I discovered Pipedrive. It is exactly what I was looking for."
Meanwhile, a B2B sales representative commented:
Feedback on Pipedrive points to a CRM that enables users to move faster and stay organized as deal volumes grow. The software helps many sales teams maintain confidence in their pipelines and performance forecasting without unnecessary costs.
How to choose the right CRM for your business
Choosing between Monday CRM and Salesforce comes down to how complex your sales process is and how much structure your team needs.
If sales is closely tied to project or work management and ease of setup matters more than advanced reporting, Monday CRM is a solid contender.
Monday works best for small sales operations needing flexibility and quick visibility without heavy configuration.
If your sales operation involves lots of pipelines, regions or stakeholders and you need detailed reporting and forecasting, Salesforce offers far more control.
That enterprise-grade depth comes with a steeper cost and learning curve so it’s better suited to teams with dedicated resources.
For teams between these two extremes, Pipedrive offers the best of both worlds: award-winning usability and accessible sales analytics without enterprise costs and complexity.
Pro tip: For more help finding the best sales software for your company and optimizing your ROI, check out our CRM evaluation guide. It covers the key capabilities to look for and runs through a simple step-by-step decision-making process.
Final thoughts
For a new CRM system to be truly worth adopting it needs to support how your sales team works today and scale easily as your needs change.
Monday CRM is highly accessible and easy to implement but could it still help your team work efficiently if deal volumes rose significantly?
On the other hand, Salesforce is built for scale but could it slot neatly into your current workflow and start improving performance metrics right away?
If either option feels like a compromise, you’ll likely get better value from your investment by choosing a more balanced CRM that blends ease of use with robust sales logic. Pipedrive is a great example, trusted by more than 100,000+ teams – try it for yourself with a free 14-day trial.
