TLDR (Summary)
Pipedrive is a sales CRM that tracks leads through deal pipeline stages, but once a deal closes, there's nothing for managing the project, invoicing, time tracking, or client-facing work. Proposals require the Smart Docs add-on at $32.50/month, and project management costs another $6.67/user/month on top of the per-seat CRM license. Plutio covers proposals through project delivery and billing in one platform. Proposals with pricing tables and e-signatures create projects on signature, and tracked hours become invoice line items with Stripe and PayPal collection. Clients check progress from a branded portal at a custom domain. Plans start at $19/month with every feature included and no per-seat pricing.
What happens after a Pipedrive deal closes
Pipedrive's pipeline view tracks where a deal sits in the sales process, but once the deal closes, the pipeline view doesn't extend to Kanban boards, Gantt charts, task dependencies, or milestone tracking for the actual work. Plutio's project management picks up exactly where the deal ends.
Pipedrive offers a Projects add-on for $6.67/user/month that adds basic task boards and activity tracking. But the add-on sits disconnected from proposals and invoicing, and clients get no visibility into project progress. For a 3-person team, the Projects add-on alone adds $20/month on top of the CRM license, and the project boards still sit in a different section from the deal pipeline with no automated handoff between closing a deal and starting a project.
Plutio's project management starts from the signed proposal. When a client signs, the project opens from a template with tasks, deadlines, milestones, and portal access already configured. Kanban boards and Gantt timelines show where work stands, task dependencies unlock phases automatically, and the same client record that holds the proposal also holds the project, the tracked hours, and the invoices.
Pipedrive tracks when a deal closes. Plutio tracks when a deal closes and what happens next: the project scope, the task deadlines, the hours spent, the invoices sent, and the client's view of progress.
Plutio's project management turns signed proposals into live projects with tasks, Gantt timelines, and client portal access, so the handoff from closing a deal to starting the project happens in one click instead of across two tools.
Invoicing that Pipedrive doesn't have at any tier
Pipedrive has no invoicing at any plan level. Generating invoices, collecting payments, and tracking revenue all require a separate accounting tool like FreshBooks, QuickBooks, or Xero on top of the CRM subscription.
For freelancers billing hourly clients, the gap runs deeper: hours tracked in a separate time tool get exported, matched to the right Pipedrive deal, and manually entered into a third tool's invoice builder. The stack adds up to three tools, three logins, and three separate data stores just to handle one billing cycle. At minimum, adding FreshBooks Lite ($17/month) or QuickBooks Simple Start ($38/month) brings a freelancer's stack to $31-52/month before the CRM even adds proposals or project management.
In Plutio, every project has invoicing built in from the first task. When a billing period ends, tracked hours, task descriptions, and client rates flow into a ready-to-send invoice without copying data between tools. Clients pay through Stripe, PayPal, or bank transfer with one click. Recurring invoices go out on schedule for retainer clients, late payment reminders follow up automatically, and multi-currency support handles international billing without workarounds.
Pipedrive's Revenue Forecasting feature predicts what deals might close. Plutio's invoicing shows what's actually been billed, what's been paid, and what's outstanding across every client.
Plutio's invoicing generates invoices from tracked project hours and collects payments through Stripe and PayPal, replacing the separate accounting subscription that Pipedrive requires.
Proposals and contracts behind a $32.50/month paywall
Pipedrive's Smart Docs add-on costs $32.50/month and adds document templates with autofill fields and e-signatures. But Smart Docs creates static documents, not interactive proposals with pricing tables where clients pick services and see totals update.
Smart Docs pulls contact data from Pipedrive's CRM into a document template for autofilling names and addresses. But the document itself is a flat PDF-style file. Clients can't select from service packages, toggle optional add-ons, or see the total price change based on selections. For freelancers who scope projects with variable pricing, Smart Docs collects a signature but doesn't support the pricing negotiation that comes before it.
Plutio's proposal builder opens with interactive pricing tables that let clients select service packages and toggle add-ons, with the total updating in real time as they choose. E-signatures are built into the document, so clients review scope, approve pricing, and sign from a single link. When the client signs, Plutio auto-creates the project with tasks from a template, activates the client portal, and attaches the contract.
Smart Docs at $32.50/month creates signed documents. Plutio's proposals at $19/month (included in every plan) create signed documents that trigger projects, portal access, and billing setup automatically.
Plutio's proposals include interactive pricing, e-signatures, and automatic project creation, replacing Pipedrive's $32.50/month Smart Docs add-on and the manual project setup that follows every signed deal.
Time tracking that doesn't exist in Pipedrive
Pipedrive has no built-in time tracker at any tier. Freelancers who bill hourly add Toggl, Clockify, or Harvest alongside Pipedrive, then manually match exported hours to the right deal before entering line items into a separate invoice tool.
Pipedrive tracks activities like calls, emails, and meetings in the deal timeline, but those aren't billable hours. A 45-minute client call shows as a logged activity in Pipedrive but doesn't connect to an hourly rate, a project budget, or an invoice. Every billing cycle, the freelancer opens the time tracker, exports the hours, finds the matching deal in Pipedrive for context, and re-enters the data into QuickBooks or FreshBooks. Each step introduces a chance to miss an entry, round a number, or bill the wrong client.
Plutio's time tracking lives inside every project. A timer starts from any task and runs across the web app, browser extension, and mobile app. Billable hours stay separated from internal work automatically. At billing time, selecting a date range pulls tracked hours into invoice line items with task names, durations, and rates pre-filled. Budget tracking shows accumulated hours against the project estimate so overruns are visible before the invoice goes out.
Pipedrive logs when activities happen. Plutio logs how long work takes and turns that duration into a payable invoice line item without export or re-entry.
Every billable hour tracked in Plutio becomes an invoice line item with the task name, duration, and rate already filled in, so billing cycles happen without exporting hours from one tool and re-entering them into another.
Client portals that Pipedrive doesn't offer
Pipedrive has no client-facing features at any tier. Clients never see the CRM, and every project update, file share, and invoice goes through separate email threads and external links.
When a Pipedrive deal becomes an active project, the client can't see anything inside the tool. Status updates go by email, files share through Google Drive or Dropbox links, invoices arrive from FreshBooks or QuickBooks, and approval requests come as standalone messages. Each channel creates a separate thread, and the freelancer ends up forwarding updates, files, invoices, and approval requests between four tools that the client never sees.
Plutio's client portals include a custom logo, color scheme, and domain from the base plan. Clients log in and see active projects with milestones, shared files organized by task, conversation threads attached to deliverables, and outstanding invoices with payment links. Deliverable approvals happen inside the project, and invoice payments go through Stripe or PayPal directly from the portal.
Pipedrive keeps the client record internal. Plutio gives every client a branded workspace where the project, files, and invoices live in one place, reducing the status update emails and follow-up messages that pile up when clients can't check progress on their own.
Plutio's client portals give every client a branded login with project progress, shared files, and invoice payments, replacing the email threads and scattered links that fill the gap Pipedrive leaves after a deal closes.
With Plutio we don't jump between apps anymore! Everything from projects to invoicing is finally connected in one fully-branded app.
How to switch from Pipedrive to Plutio
Most freelancers switch by exporting contacts and active deals from Pipedrive, then starting new client engagements on Plutio while finishing active Pipedrive work through current project cycles.
- Start a free trial: The 14-day trial opens every feature Pipedrive charges extra for: proposals, project management, time tracking, invoicing, and client portals. No credit card needed.
- Export contacts from Pipedrive: Go to Contacts in Pipedrive and export as CSV. Include name, company, email, phone, deal value, and deal stage. Pipedrive exports contact and deal data on all plan levels.
- Import contacts into Plutio: Upload the CSV to Plutio's CRM. Contact records import with name, company, email, and phone mapped automatically. Deal notes and custom fields carry over as client notes.
- Build a proposal template: Draft the standard scope structure, pricing tiers, and payment terms in Plutio's proposal builder. Proposals and contracts share one document, so clients sign once for scope and terms together.
- Set up project templates: Create templates for common engagement types with task lists, milestones, file folders, and default deadlines. When a proposal gets signed, the matching project template activates automatically.
- Send the next proposal from Plutio: When a new lead enters the pipeline, send the proposal from Plutio instead of Pipedrive. The signed proposal creates the project, activates the portal, and sets up billing in one step.
- Cancel Pipedrive add-ons first: Smart Docs ($32.50/month), Projects ($6.67/user/month), and any other add-ons can end immediately since Plutio covers proposals, project management, time tracking, invoicing, and client portals. The base CRM subscription stays active for reference during the transition.
- Downgrade or cancel Pipedrive: After active deals close and new work runs through Plutio, downgrade to the Lite tier ($14/user/month) for reference or cancel entirely.
Pipedrive handles the pipeline before the sale. Plutio handles the pipeline, the project scope, the tracked hours, the invoices, and the client portal. The switch starts with the next proposal, not a data migration project.
New client engagements start on Plutio with proposals, contracts, and project templates while active Pipedrive deals finish through their current sales cycle.
