Employment Hero vs Pipedrive

Employment Hero or Pipedrive? How to Pick the Right Fit for Your Team

Every business has different workflows, team sizes, and budgets. This comparison of Employment Hero vs Pipedrive helps you find the platform that matches your actual needs - not just the one with the biggest marketing budget.

Features compared

50+

Clients advised

98%

Client retention

12+

Years experience

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Feature Comparison

Side-by-side feature analysis for Employment Hero and Pipedrive.

Invoicing

Employment Hero

Employment Hero provides invoicing functionality, popular with Retail & E-commerce businesses

Pipedrive

Pipedrive provides invoicing functionality, popular with Professional Services businesses

On paper invoicing looks similar across Employment Hero and Pipedrive, but the admin experience, reporting, and permission model tend to be the real differentiators.

Expense tracking

Employment Hero

Employment Hero provides expense tracking functionality, popular with Retail & E-commerce businesses

Pipedrive

Pipedrive provides expense tracking functionality, popular with Professional Services businesses

expense tracking support varies across Employment Hero and Pipedrive's plan tiers. Check whether the capabilities you need are on the plan you can actually afford.

Bank reconciliation

Employment Hero

Employment Hero provides bank reconciliation functionality, popular with Retail & E-commerce businesses

Pipedrive

Pipedrive provides bank reconciliation functionality, popular with Professional Services businesses

Employment Hero and Pipedrive take different philosophical approaches to bank reconciliation; the better fit is usually the one that matches how your team already thinks about the problem.

Payroll

Employment Hero

Combines HR, payroll, and employee benefits in a single Australian-built platform, reducing the need for separate systems

Pipedrive

Pipedrive provides payroll functionality, popular with Professional Services businesses

Employment Hero highlights payroll as a core strength. Pipedrive offers the capability but does not position it as a primary differentiator.

Tax reporting and BAS

Employment Hero

Limitation: Customer support response times can vary, with some users reporting delays during peak payroll periods

Pipedrive

Limitation: Reporting is adequate for pipeline metrics but lacks the depth needed for complex cross-functional business reporting

Both platforms cover the tax reporting and bas basics. The edges - automations, reporting depth, mobile parity - are where their opinions show.

Multi-currency support

Employment Hero

Limitation: Customer support response times can vary, with some users reporting delays during peak payroll periods

Pipedrive

Limitation: No built-in customer service or ticketing module, so growing businesses need a separate support tool alongside the CRM

On paper multi-currency support looks similar across Employment Hero and Pipedrive, but the admin experience, reporting, and permission model tend to be the real differentiators.

Contact management

Employment Hero

Compliance management tracks certifications, licences, and mandatory training with automatic expiry reminders

Pipedrive

Smart contact data feature automatically enriches lead profiles with publicly available information, saving manual research time

Both platforms are strong here. Employment Hero emphasises this as a core strength, and Pipedrive also invests heavily in contact management. Review each platform's approach to see which aligns with your team's workflow.

Pipeline management

Employment Hero

Compliance management tracks certifications, licences, and mandatory training with automatic expiry reminders

Pipedrive

Visual pipeline interface is genuinely intuitive - sales teams can be productive within hours rather than days of onboarding

Both platforms are strong here. Employment Hero emphasises this as a core strength, and Pipedrive also invests heavily in pipeline management. Review each platform's approach to see which aligns with your team's workflow.

Email automation

Employment Hero

Compliance management tracks certifications, licences, and mandatory training with automatic expiry reminders

Pipedrive

Limitation: Marketing automation is basic compared to HubSpot or ActiveCampaign - email campaigns and lead nurturing require third-party tools

email automation support varies across Employment Hero and Pipedrive's plan tiers. Check whether the capabilities you need are on the plan you can actually afford.

Reporting and analytics

Employment Hero

Limitation: Customer support response times can vary, with some users reporting delays during peak payroll periods

Pipedrive

Limitation: Reporting is adequate for pipeline metrics but lacks the depth needed for complex cross-functional business reporting

Employment Hero and Pipedrive take different philosophical approaches to reporting and analytics; the better fit is usually the one that matches how your team already thinks about the problem.

Integration ecosystem

Employment Hero

Employment Hero connects with 41+ tools natively, offering one of the broadest integration ecosystems in its category

Pipedrive

Pipedrive connects with 60+ tools natively, offering one of the broadest integration ecosystems in its category

Pipedrive has a broader native ecosystem (60+ integrations) compared to Employment Hero (41+). Both connect via automation platforms like Zapier and Make.

Mobile app

Employment Hero

Employment Hero connects with 41+ tools natively, offering one of the broadest integration ecosystems in its category

Pipedrive

Mobile app is one of the best among CRMs, with call logging, nearby contacts, and offline access for field sales teams

Pipedrive highlights mobile app as a core strength. Employment Hero offers the capability but does not position it as a primary differentiator.

Pricing Comparison

General pricing information for each platform.

Employment Hero

HR Standard from approximately $8/employee/month, HR Premium from approximately $12/employee/month, Payroll from approximately $6/employee/month (AUD). HR and Payroll billed separately. Onboarding and benefits modules included at Premium level.

These figures are estimates based on publicly available pricing. Actual costs depend on your usage, team size, and any negotiated rates.

Pipedrive

Essential from approximately $21/user/month, Advanced from approximately $43/user/month, Professional from approximately $73/user/month, Power from approximately $86/user/month, Enterprise from approximately $129/user/month (AUD). All plans billed annually.

Pricing may vary based on team size, features, and region. Contact the vendor for the latest Australian pricing.

Pros & Cons

An honest look at the strengths and limitations of each platform.

Employment Hero

Pros

Combines HR, payroll, and employee benefits in a single Australian-built platform, reducing the need for separate systems
Employee self-service portal handles onboarding paperwork, leave requests, and personal detail updates without HR intervention
Built-in employee benefits marketplace (Swag) offers discounts on everyday purchases, which can help with retention and employee satisfaction
Compliance management tracks certifications, licences, and mandatory training with automatic expiry reminders
Performance review tools with goal setting, 1-on-1 templates, and 360-degree feedback are included on higher plans without needing a separate tool

Cons

Payroll module pricing is separate from the HR platform, so the all-in cost can be higher than expected when both are needed
The platform has grown rapidly through acquisition and feature addition, which sometimes shows in inconsistent UX between modules
Customisation of workflows and approval chains is less flexible than dedicated HRIS platforms like BambooHR or Rippling
Customer support response times can vary, with some users reporting delays during peak payroll periods

Pipedrive

Pros

Visual pipeline interface is genuinely intuitive - sales teams can be productive within hours rather than days of onboarding
Activity-based selling methodology keeps reps focused on next actions rather than just deal values, which suits consultative sales
Smart contact data feature automatically enriches lead profiles with publicly available information, saving manual research time
Revenue forecasting with weighted pipeline gives sales managers accurate projections without complex configuration
Mobile app is one of the best among CRMs, with call logging, nearby contacts, and offline access for field sales teams

Cons

Marketing automation is basic compared to HubSpot or ActiveCampaign - email campaigns and lead nurturing require third-party tools
Reporting is adequate for pipeline metrics but lacks the depth needed for complex cross-functional business reporting
No built-in customer service or ticketing module, so growing businesses need a separate support tool alongside the CRM
Custom fields and data structures are less flexible than Salesforce, which can be limiting for businesses with non-standard sales processes

Best For

Which tool suits which use case.

Choose Employment Hero if you need

✓ Retail & E-commerce businesses
✓ Teams needing extensive third-party integrations
✓ Complex data models (employees, payroll, leave and more)
✓ Hospitality & Tourism organisations
✓ Tax compliance

Choose Pipedrive if you need

✓ Contact management
✓ Complex data models (contacts, deals, organisations and more)
✓ Teams needing extensive third-party integrations
✓ Sales pipeline tracking
✓ Real Estate organisations

Expert Verdict

Our Harvard-educated consultants' take on this comparison.

Clever Ops Recommendation

Employment Hero and Pipedrive solve different problems: Employment Hero handles accounting & finance, while Pipedrive covers crm & sales. Most mid-market Australian businesses benefit from running both with a proper integration layer. Employment Hero is the right pick when Australian SMBs that want HR, payroll, and employee engagement tools in a single locally built platform, particularly businesses managing onboarding, compliance, and leave at scale. Pipedrive fits when sales-driven small to mid-market teams that need a clean, visual pipeline and want their reps selling rather than wrestling with CRM configuration. Clever Ops can design the integration architecture and implement both, typically within 4-8 weeks.

Migration Notes

What to know about switching between Employment Hero and Pipedrive.

Migrating Between Employment Hero and Pipedrive

Migrating between Employment Hero and Pipedrive requires careful planning since they serve different functions. Clever Ops identifies the data overlap (your core data), builds custom mapping logic, and ensures nothing falls through the cracks. Even cross-category migrations typically complete within 4-8 weeks with our structured process.

Employment Hero vs Pipedrive FAQ

Both Employment Hero and Pipedrive serve Professional Services businesses. Employment Hero is also popular with Retail & E-commerce organisations, while Pipedrive is widely used in Real Estate. Clever Ops can advise based on what we have seen work for businesses like yours.

Yes, both platforms are used by Australian businesses. Employment Hero is popular with Retail & E-commerce and Hospitality & Tourism in Australia. Pipedrive is widely used by Professional Services and Real Estate. Key Australian considerations include AUD pricing, local support hours, GST handling, and data residency. Employment Hero offers Australian-specific pricing. Clever Ops, based in Gippsland, Victoria, factors these nuances into every recommendation.

Switching costs include data migration, team retraining, workflow rebuilding, and potential downtime. Employment Hero pricing: HR Standard from approximately $8/employee/month, HR Premium from approximately $12/employee/month, Payroll from approximately $6/employee/month (AUD). Pipedrive pricing: Essential from approximately $21/user/month, Advanced from approximately $43/user/month, Professional from approximately $73/user/month, Power from approximately $86/user/month, Enterprise from approximately $129/user/month (AUD). Beyond licensing costs, budget for implementation (Clever Ops typically completes migrations in 4-8 weeks) and training. We run parallel systems during transitions and provide 3 months of post-migration support to minimise disruption.

We audit your current workflows, team size, budget, and growth plans, then recommend the platform that fits. Our advice is vendor-neutral: we do not earn commissions from Employment Hero, Pipedrive, or any vendor. Our Harvard-educated consultants have helped 50+ businesses make informed technology decisions over 12+. Book a free assessment to get started.

Both platforms have their own setup considerations. Employment Hero manages 8 data object types and Pipedrive manages 8, so configuration complexity scales with your data requirements. Clever Ops provides implementation support for both, typically completing setup within 2 weeks.

Since Employment Hero (accounting & finance) and Pipedrive (crm & sales) serve different functions, many businesses run both. The key is connecting them so data flows automatically. Clever Ops builds these integrations, keeping your core records in sync across both platforms.

Yes. Employment Hero provides a REST API and Pipedrive provides a REST API, so automations can be built via Zapier, Make, or custom integrations. Common automated workflows include syncing shared data objects between both platforms. Clever Ops builds these automations for mid-market Australian businesses, saving teams 8+ hours/week on average.

Employment Hero may hit limits when businesses that only need payroll without HR features (KeyPay is more cost-effective), or companies needing highly customised HR workflows beyond standard Australian employment practices. Pipedrive may hit limits when businesses that need an all-in-one platform combining CRM, marketing automation, and customer service in a single tool, or companies with highly complex data modelling requirements. Both platforms are designed to grow with your business, but scaling experience varies. Employment Hero connects with 41+ tools, and Pipedrive with 60+, so integration flexibility at scale is comparable. Clever Ops helps mid-market Australian businesses plan their tech stack for growth, not just for today.