Email remains the cornerstone of modern sales communication; it's where deals progress, follow-ups occur, and relationships flourish.

As teams increasingly depend on automated outreach, multi-channel engagement, and precise tracking, CRMs are competing more fiercely based on the quality of their native email integrations.

While both Freshsales and Pipedrive provide built-in email workflows, their depth, usability, and effect on daily sales operations vary significantly. For teams that prefer simplicity over complexity and seek fast, reliable email execution, folk offers one of the cleanest and most robust email integrations in any CRM, streamlining the process of sending, tracking, and automating outreach directly from your workspace.

Why Email Integration Matters?

Effective email integration elevates a CRM from a basic database to a cohesive communication hub. Rather than toggling between tabs or relying on disjointed tools, sales representatives can send messages, automate follow-ups, and monitor engagement all from a single platform.

• Centralized communication: All emails—both sent and received—sync seamlessly with the appropriate contact or deal.
• Smarter follow-ups: Automated reminders and sequences empower reps to follow up at the perfect moment without manual intervention.
• Real-time tracking: Open rates, clicks, and replies are directly reported in the CRM to inform subsequent steps.
• Cleaner data: Emails automatically enrich contact profiles with relevant context and conversation history.
• Email templates: Reusable, personalized templates enable teams to maintain consistency and save time.
• Outreach automation: Dispatch bulk emails, sequences, or triggered messages based on deal stages or contact engagement.

When a CRM manages email seamlessly, sales reps can stop juggling various tools and concentrate on the conversations that drive revenue. This distinction is what elevates a good CRM to one that genuinely accelerates sales!

What is Freshsales?

Freshsales is a sales CRM by Freshworks tailored for small to mid-sized teams seeking a user-friendly interface with robust automation features. Users can seamlessly connect their Gmail or Microsoft 365 accounts and opt for either one-way or two-way sync, ensuring that conversations remain consistent between the mailbox and the CRM. With tools like templates, bulk emails, and activity timelines, Freshsales makes email an integral component of how representatives manage their leads and opportunities.

What is Pipedrive?

Pipedrive is a sales-centric CRM that revolves around a visual pipeline, enabling sales representatives to track deals from initial contact to final close. Its email synchronization connects with Gmail, Outlook, and various IMAP providers, automatically logging every message to the appropriate contact and deal. Featuring a built-in sales inbox, tracking capabilities, and basic campaign tools, Pipedrive ensures teams can manage outreach and pipeline updates seamlessly, eliminating the need to use multiple tools.

Feature comparison of Freshsales and Pipedrive

Integration Capabilities

Freshsales provides native plugins for both Gmail and Outlook, seamlessly displaying email threads, scheduling tools, and associated contact details right next to your inbox. Once connected, Freshsales automatically scans incoming emails for recognized contact addresses, logging conversations without adding clutter, as you can select which folders to sync.

Pipedrive's email synchronization directly integrates with Gmail and Outlook, utilizing IMAP for other providers, to capture every inbound and outbound message linked to the appropriate contact or deal record. With the Smart Email BCC address feature, you can log messages without leaving your email client—simply add the dynamic BCC, and Pipedrive handles the rest. Additionally, native calendar integration with Google and Microsoft calendars ensures that all your meetings are automatically reflected on contact timelines, providing a comprehensive view of every customer interaction.

Sync Frequency and Reliability

Freshsales utilizes native plugins to establish a constant connection with your Gmail or Outlook account, ensuring real-time synchronization of emails and calendar events. Incoming messages from recognized leads appear within seconds, while outgoing emails logged in the CRM are instantly reflected in your email thread. Additionally, calendar events are updated immediately, so meetings scheduled in Freshsales seamlessly integrate into your personal calendar without any delay.

Pipedrive’s email synchronization with Gmail and Outlook operates every few minutes, striking a balance between speed and system efficiency. Both outbound and inbound messages are captured and matched to contacts or deals in under five minutes, minimizing the chances of missing or delayed logs. The IMAP fallback adheres to standard IMAP IDLE protocols for push notifications, providing near-instant updates for compatible providers.

Two-Way Email and Calendar Sync

Freshsales features a comprehensive Marketing Campaigns module—simply go to Campaigns > Email to launch blasts or automated Journeys based on user behaviors. Utilize drag-and-drop templates, dynamic segments, and analytics dashboards that track delivery rates, opens, clicks, and unsubscribes. Built-in retry logic and ISP throttling enhance deliverability, though note that advanced features like heat-map click analysis or AI-driven send-time optimization require an upgrade to Freshmarketer.

With Freshsales, you can take advantage of native Gmail and Outlook plugins, offering a choice of two-way or one-way email sync during setup, with two-way being the default. This ensures that both incoming and outgoing emails seamlessly flow between your mailbox and the CRM timeline. Additionally, Freshsales supports bi-directional sync with Google Calendar and Office 365, allowing appointments scheduled in either your inbox or the CRM to reflect across both platforms, so your meeting history is conveniently displayed alongside email conversations.

Mail Merge and Campaigns

Freshsales offers a comprehensive Marketing Campaigns module—simply head to Campaigns > Email to create email blasts or automated Journeys based on user behaviors. With intuitive drag-and-drop templates, dynamic segments, and analytics dashboards, you can easily track delivery rates, opens, clicks, and unsubscribes. Additionally, built-in retry logic and ISP throttling enhance your email deliverability. However, keep in mind that more advanced features, such as heat-map click analysis and AI-driven send-time optimization, require an upgrade to Freshmarketer.

For those on Advanced plans or higher, Pipedrive’s Group Emailing feature allows you to select up to 100 contacts from any list to send bulk messages that include merge tags and reply tracking. The Pipedrive Campaigns add-on provides a specialized module for creating email journeys, segmenting audiences, and analyzing open and click rates, with all replies automatically mapped back to the corresponding deal or contact. The downside? The Campaigns add-on comes with an additional cost, and its reporting capabilities are more limited compared to standalone email marketing platforms.

Open and Click Tracking

Freshsales allows you to activate “Track opens and clicks” in Settings > Email Settings, ensuring that every email sent through the native plugin logs open events and link clicks in the contact timeline. You can view delivery, open, and click metrics in both the Deal dashboard and the Campaigns module. Keep in mind that open rates depend on image-based pixels; if a recipient blocks images or views links in preview panes, the stats may be underreported.

Pipedrive’s “Track email opening” and “Track link opening” toggles enable tracking for every sent message, capturing both opens and clicks, along with counts and timestamps in the Mail tab. You can toggle tracking on or off for each email and see precisely who clicked which link directly in the deal view. However, Pipedrive’s reporting is limited to basic open and click rates—funnel visualization or heat-map insights require exporting the data to a BI tool.

In-Inbox CRM Experience

Freshsales offers native plugins for Gmail and Outlook that integrate your CRM sidebar directly within your inbox, displaying lead profiles, deal values, and past email threads while you compose or read messages. You can easily log emails, schedule meetings, and initiate sequences, all with a simple one-click sync back to Freshsales. Additionally, the plugin incorporates calendar events into the same view, creating a seamless integration of messages and appointments. However, if you prefer a different email client, you will need to utilize IMAP sync instead of enjoying the full plugin capabilities.

Pipedrive’s Gmail Add-on adds a side panel within your inbox, allowing you to access contact and deal information, update stages, and create new activities right from Gmail. You can quickly access Smart Email BCC, templates, and tracking features without leaving your inbox, enabling you to create new leads or deals with just one click. It effectively transforms your mailbox into a Pipedrive cockpit. However, this in-inbox functionality is only available for Chrome or Edge, as there is no equivalent add-on for desktop Outlook.

folk CRM: The Best Email CRM

folk provides teams with the seamless, connected email workflow they've been lacking. It centralizes communication, automates follow-ups, and simplifies sequencing—all within a clean and user-friendly CRM. With a 4.5/5 rating on G2, folk is recognized as one of the top lightweight CRMs for modern sales and partnership teams.

Designed specifically for startups, agencies, and growing sales teams of 20-50, folk ensures that email operations are smooth and manageable.

Extract Intel from Emails

A standout feature of folk is its ability to centralize communication and transform every email and call into actionable insights, thanks to native email sync with Gmail and Outlook, combined with AI-driven analysis. Teams can:

• Quickly recap past conversations with a single click using folk's Recap assistant, which gathers intel from emails and notes to draft a summary, providing context in seconds.
• Follow up at the right moment, as AI scans conversations to remind you when to reach out to a contact and even drafts replies.

Email Sequencing & Automation

folk’s built-in sequencing engine simplifies the creation of automated outreach flows directly within the CRM. You can design multi-step email sequences, personalize messages using CRM fields, and ensure every interaction is logged automatically. Whether nurturing leads, running outbound campaigns, or re-engaging dormant deals, folk offers a powerful yet straightforward sequencing workflow that eliminates the need for separate tools.

Set conditions based on your CRM variables to automatically send emails, such as when a deal closes or when a new lead is acquired.

AI-Powered Follow-Up Reminders

folk’s AI Follow-Up feature guarantees that no conversation slips through the cracks. By reviewing your email history, folk notifies you when a contact hasn’t responded, highlights cold conversations, and identifies the optimal time to re-engage. It functions like a built-in assistant, keeping your inbox organized and your pipeline active—without any manual tracking.

folk starts at $20 per user per month, includes native email integration and sequences, and offers a 14-day free trial—no credit card required.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Freshsales excels with its user-friendly interface and robust automation, while Pipedrive offers a visual pipeline and solid email synchronization. However, for teams that prioritize seamless email integration, automation, and effective sequencing, folk stands out as the best alternative. With its clean interface, AI-driven follow-up reminders, and powerful sequencing capabilities, folk transforms your email workflow into a streamlined sales powerhouse—ensuring that every engagement is both efficient and impactful.

Start your 14-day free trial or book a demo today.