Pipedrive Alternative
Track customers, not sales pipelines
Pipedrive is a great tool for sales teams managing deal stages. But indie hackers don't have deals — they have users, and they want to see all of them across every product in one place. TinyCRM is $9/month flat with an NPM SDK and zero pipeline overhead.
The problem
Why developers look for Pipedrive alternatives
Sales-focused UI that doesn't fit your workflow
Pipedrive is built around a Kanban pipeline where deals move through stages. That mental model makes sense for a sales rep managing leads — it doesn't make sense for a developer who wants to see which users signed up for which product and whether they've upgraded. The pipeline-first UI is friction you'll work around every day.
Per-seat pricing that penalizes growth
Pipedrive charges $14–49/user/month depending on the plan. For a solo founder or a small team, that's a meaningful recurring cost just to see your customers. As your team grows, the bill scales with headcount rather than with the value you're getting from the tool.
No NPM SDK for server-side tracking
Pipedrive has a REST API, but there's no first-class NPM SDK designed for programmatic customer tracking from your backend. To sync a new signup from your Next.js app, you're writing your own API wrapper, handling authentication, and mapping your data model to Pipedrive's contact and deal schema.
No cross-product view
If you run three SaaS products, Pipedrive has no way to show you that the same person is using all three. Each integration is independent. TinyCRM merges all customers by email, so one person across all your products is one row in one table — with a badge for each product they're in.
The solution
How TinyCRM is different
Customer-centric, not pipeline-centric
TinyCRM is a unified customer table. Filter by project, status, last activity, or any custom param. No deals, no stages, no Kanban — just your customers and the data that matters to you as a developer.
NPM SDK with two methods
Install tinycrm-sdk, call identify() when a user signs up, and call ping() when their status changes. That's the entire integration surface. Works in Node.js, Edge, and any serverless runtime.
$9/month, not $14–49/user/month
One price for your whole team. A 5-person team on Pipedrive Professional pays $2,940/year. The same team on TinyCRM pays $108/year. That's $2,832/year back to spend on your product.
Feature comparison
| Feature | TinyCRM | Pipedrive |
|---|---|---|
| Flat monthly pricing (no per-seat) | ||
| NPM SDK (identify + ping) | ||
| Unified view across multiple products | ||
| Setup in under an hour | ||
| CSV import & export | ||
| Custom fields / JSONB params | ||
| Customer status tracking | ||
| No dedicated admin required | ||
| Visual sales pipeline | ||
| Deal management | ||
| Activity reminders | ||
| Email integration | ||
| Sales forecasting | ||
| Mobile app |
Want a deeper breakdown? See the full TinyCRM vs Pipedrive comparison.
Integration
Add to your backend in minutes
Integrating Pipedrive with your app means calling their REST API directly, building a contact upsert flow, handling their authentication, and mapping your user data to their contact schema. Every time you want to track a new field, you're updating your integration code.
TinyCRM's SDK is a single npm install. Call identify() from your sign-up handler and pass whatever custom params you want in the JSONB field — no schema changes, no API wrapper needed.
// npm install tinycrm-sdk
import { TinyCRM } from "tinycrm-sdk";
const crm = new TinyCRM({
apiKey: process.env.TINYCRM_API_KEY,
});
// User signs up for Product A
await crm.identify({
email: user.email,
name: user.name,
status: "free",
params: {
product: "app-a",
plan: "hobby",
referrer: "twitter",
},
});
// Same user signs up for Product B
// — they appear in one merged row
await crm.identify({
email: user.email,
name: user.name,
status: "paid",
params: { product: "app-b", plan: "pro" },
});Frequently asked questions
Is TinyCRM a sales CRM like Pipedrive?
No — and that's intentional. TinyCRM is a unified customer database, not a sales pipeline tool. Pipedrive is built around deals moving through stages. TinyCRM is built around knowing who your customers are across all your products. If you need deal stages, activity reminders, and sales forecasting, Pipedrive may be the right tool. If you need a developer-first customer database, TinyCRM is the answer.
Can I migrate from Pipedrive to TinyCRM?
Yes. In Pipedrive, go to Contacts → People → Export and download your contacts as CSV. Then use TinyCRM's built-in CSV importer to bring them in. Map Pipedrive's Email field to TinyCRM's email field, Name to name, and any custom fields to the JSONB params field.
Does TinyCRM have a pipeline view?
No. TinyCRM is a filterable customer table — not a Kanban pipeline. You can filter customers by project, status, last activity, and custom params. If you need a visual pipeline with deal stages and forecasting, Pipedrive is designed for that. TinyCRM is designed for developers who want to know which users are in which products and what status they're at.
How does TinyCRM's pricing compare to Pipedrive?
TinyCRM is $9/month for your entire team — no per-seat pricing. Pipedrive's Essential plan is $14/user/month and Professional is $49/user/month. A solo founder pays $168/year on Pipedrive Essential vs $108/year on TinyCRM. A 5-person team on Pipedrive Professional pays $2,940/year vs $108 on TinyCRM.
Does TinyCRM have an NPM SDK?
Yes. tinycrm-sdk ships with two methods: identify() and ping(). Install it in your Node.js, Edge, or serverless backend, call identify() from your sign-up handler, and customers appear automatically in TinyCRM. Pipedrive has a REST API but no NPM SDK designed for server-side customer tracking.
Stop paying per seat for a pipeline you don't need
14-day free trial. $9/month after. Unified customer view across all your products.
npm install tinycrm-sdk
Also see: Full TinyCRM vs Pipedrive comparison · All alternatives · SaaS customer database