Email is the cornerstone of modern sales communication, serving as the platform where deals progress, follow-ups take place, and relationships strengthen.

As teams increasingly depend on automated outreach, multi-channel engagement, and accurate tracking, CRMs are competing more on the effectiveness of their email integrations.

Pipedrive and Streak both feature built-in email workflows, yet their usability, depth, and influence on daily sales processes vary significantly. For teams prioritizing simplicity and seeking fast, dependable email execution, folk offers one of the cleanest and most robust email integrations within any CRM, streamlining the process of sending, tracking, and automating outreach directly from your workspace.

Why is Email Integration Important?

Effective email integration elevates a CRM from a mere database to a comprehensive communication hub. Instead of constantly switching tabs or relying on disparate tools, sales reps can send messages, automate follow-ups, and monitor engagement all in one place.

• Centralized communication. All emails—both sent and received—sync automatically with the appropriate contact or deal.
• Smarter follow-ups. Automated reminders and sequences enable reps to follow up at the optimal times without manual intervention.
• Real-time tracking. Metrics like open rates, clicks, and replies are fed directly into the CRM, providing guidance for the next steps.
• Cleaner data. Emails instantly enrich contact profiles with context and conversation history.
• Email templates. Customizable, reusable templates ensure team consistency while saving time.
• Outreach automation. Send bulk emails, sequences, or triggered messages based on deal stage or contact engagement.

When a CRM manages email seamlessly, sales reps can focus less on juggling tools and more on engaging in conversations that drive revenue. This distinction sets apart a good CRM from one that truly accelerates sales!

What is Pipedrive?

Pipedrive is a sales-oriented CRM designed around a visual pipeline that assists representatives in tracking deals from initial contact to closure. Its email synchronization feature integrates with Gmail, Outlook, and other IMAP providers, automatically logging every message to the appropriate contact and deal. With a built-in sales inbox, tracking tools, and basic campaign functionalities, teams can manage their outreach and pipeline updates all in one unified platform instead of relying on multiple tools.

What is Streak?

Streak is a streamlined CRM that operates directly within Gmail, transforming your inbox into a collaborative pipeline for sales, support, and account management. Rather than toggling between different tabs, users can manage deals, monitor stages, and collaborate on threads directly from the familiar Gmail interface. Email serves as the backbone of this product, with real-time tracking and pipeline views seamlessly integrated into your existing Gmail conversations.

Feature comparison of Pipedrive and Streak

Integration Capabilities

Pipedrive seamlessly integrates with Gmail and Outlook, utilizing IMAP for other providers to capture all inbound and outbound messages linked to the appropriate contact or deal record. With the Smart Email BCC address feature, you can log messages directly from your email client—simply add the dynamic BCC, and Pipedrive takes care of the rest. Additionally, its native calendar integration with Google and Microsoft calendars ensures that all your meetings automatically appear on contact timelines, providing you with a comprehensive view of every customer interaction.

Streak operates entirely within Gmail, transforming your inbox into a complete CRM without the need for extra windows or applications. Every email sent or received is automatically recorded in the correct pipeline and shared across your team's workspace, so you always have an up-to-date timeline on each deal without the hassle of manual BCC’ing.

Sync Frequency and Reliability

Pipedrive’s email sync with Gmail and Outlook operates every few minutes, striking a balance between immediacy and system performance. 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.

Streak, on the other hand, achieves real-time email sync as it operates within Gmail’s infrastructure. As soon as you send or receive a message, Streak instantly logs it to the relevant pipeline, ensuring your team always has access to the most recent activity without delay. There’s practically no lag or queuing—messages and thread updates appear immediately in your inbox and Streak’s interface. By integrating directly with Gmail, you also take advantage of Google’s exceptional uptime and reliability.

Two-Way Email and Calendar Sync

With Advanced plans and higher, Pipedrive’s Group Emailing allows you to choose up to 100 contacts from any list and send bulk messages, complete with merge tags and reply tracking. Additionally, Pipedrive Campaigns (available as an add-on) offers a dedicated module for crafting email journeys, segmenting audiences, and analyzing open and click rates. All replies are automatically linked back to the corresponding deal or contact. However, it's worth noting that the Campaigns add-on comes with an additional cost, and its reporting capabilities are more limited compared to standalone email marketing platforms.

Streak, on the other hand, operates entirely within Gmail, merging your inbox with your CRM—every email you send or receive is logged automatically in real time, offering seamless two-way email sync without any extra setup. For calendar functionality, Streak provides a one-way sync, pushing tasks into Google Calendar: when you schedule or complete a task in Streak, it instantly appears on your calendar, but any changes made directly in Google Calendar won’t sync back to Streak.

Mail Merge and Campaigns

For users on Advanced plans and higher, Pipedrive’s Group Emailing feature allows you to select up to 100 contacts from any list to send bulk messages, complete with merge tags and reply tracking. The Pipedrive Campaigns add-on provides a specialized module for crafting email journeys, segmenting audiences, and analyzing open and click rates, with all replies automatically linked to the correct deal or contact. However, the downside is that the Campaigns add-on comes at an additional cost, and its reporting features are not as robust as those offered by standalone email marketing platforms.

Streak’s Mail Merge tool is conveniently integrated within Gmail, enabling you to send personalized mass emails to hundreds of recipients in less than two minutes—without the need for CSV imports or third-party applications. You can easily insert custom variables such as first names, company names, and deal information directly from your pipelines. It also allows you to schedule automatic follow-up sequences within the same thread and A/B test subject lines to enhance reply rates. Every sent message and follow-up is seamlessly logged in your Streak timeline, ensuring you maintain visibility over who has opened, clicked, or replied. On the downside, Streak’s campaign functionalities lack advanced analytics dashboards, meaning you won’t get detailed insights into unsubscribes or bounce handling unless you integrate another tool.

Open and Click Tracking

Pipedrive offers “Track email opening” and “Track link opening” toggles that allow you to monitor every sent message, capturing both opens and clicks along with counts and timestamps in the Mail tab. You can easily enable or disable tracking for each email and identify exactly who clicked which link directly in the deal view. However, Pipedrive’s reporting features are somewhat limited to basic open and click rates, lacking built-in funnel visualizations or heat-map insights unless you export data to a BI tool.

On the other hand, Streak integrates a small tracking pixel and link tracker directly into Gmail, providing real-time “eye” icons that indicate when an email is opened or a link is clicked within a thread. You can hover over the green eye to access timestamps, locations, and click data for each link without leaving your inbox. Because it relies solely on Gmail’s API, Streak requires virtually no setup and offers instant feedback; however, it does not provide aggregated campaign dashboards or multi-link heat mapping beyond individual message views.

In-Inbox CRM Experience

Pipedrive’s Gmail Add-on seamlessly integrates a side panel into your inbox, allowing you to view contact and deal information, update stages, and add new activities directly from Gmail. You gain instant access to Smart Email BCC, templates, and tracking toggles without leaving your inbox, plus you can create new leads or deals with just one click. It effectively transforms your mailbox into a Pipedrive cockpit. However, this in-inbox convenience is limited to Chrome or Edge, as there is no equivalent add-on for desktop Outlook.

Streak operates entirely within Gmail, providing you with comprehensive CRM functionality—pipelines, contact details, and email logging—without the need to leave your inbox. The sidebar displays deal stages, custom fields, and shared notes next to every email thread, ensuring you always have context readily available. You can easily drag and drop emails into different pipelines or update statuses on the spot, creating a cohesive experience between your inbox and CRM. Nevertheless, since Streak is exclusively for Gmail, you won't enjoy this integrated functionality if you switch to Outlook or another mail client.

folk CRM: The Premier Email CRM

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

Designed specifically for startups, agencies, and scaling sales teams of 20-50 members, folk streamlines email operations without adding complexity.

Extract Insights from Emails

One of folk’s standout features is its ability to centralize communication and convert every email and call into actionable insights. Thanks to native email synchronization with Gmail and Outlook, along with AI-driven analysis, teams can:

• Quickly recap past conversations using folk's Recap assistant. It gathers information from emails and notes to create a summary, giving you context in seconds.
• Timely follow-ups, as AI scans conversations to alert you when it's time to reach out again and even drafts responses.

Email Sequencing & Automation

folk’s built-in sequencing engine facilitates the creation of automated outreach flows directly within the CRM. You can design multi-step email sequences, personalize messages using CRM data, and automatically log every interaction. Whether nurturing leads, executing outbound campaigns, or re-engaging inactive deals, folk offers a robust yet straightforward sequencing workflow that eliminates the need for separate tools.

Set conditions based on your CRM variables to automatically trigger emails, such as when a deal is closed or when you acquire a new lead.

AI-Powered Follow-Up Reminders

folk’s AI Follow-Up feature guarantees that no conversation slips through the cracks. By examining your email history, folk notifies you when a contact hasn't responded, highlights inactive conversations, and pinpoints the optimal time to reconnect. It serves as a built-in assistant, keeping your inbox tidy and your pipeline progressing—without the hassle of manual tracking.

folk starts at a competitive $20 per user per month, offering native email integration and sequencing features, along with a 14-day free trial—no credit card required.

Conclusion

Pipedrive excels with its visual pipeline and robust integration for managing deals across various email platforms, while Streak offers seamless email management directly within Gmail, enhancing team collaboration. However, for teams prioritizing email integration, automation, and sequencing, folk stands out as the superior choice. With its user-friendly interface, AI follow-up reminders, and comprehensive email workflow management, folk transforms email into a dynamic revenue engine, positioning itself as the ultimate CRM solution for email-centric sales teams.

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