You have three accountants. They work in Exact Online. It's time-consuming. Client emails scatter across Outlook. You don't know who contacted which client. Projects disappear. You feel it: you need a CRM.
Then comes the same question every Belgian service firm asks: HubSpot, Zoho, or Pipedrive?
The answer depends on how you work. And you should know: none is perfectly built for Belgian accountants, bookkeepers, and consultants. But some come closer than others.
Pipedrive. speed and simplicity
Pricing. €12 to €120 per user per month. Cheapest entry point.
Best for. Teams that want to start immediately without training overhead.
Pipedrive is sales-first. You get a pipeline, stages, deadlines. It feels surface-level. It is. But that's the strength.
For a small accounting firm, this means: you place clients in "Stage 1. prospect," "Stage 2. quote sent," "Stage 3. contract signed." It works within two weeks.
Integrations. Pipedrive connects via Zapier (so indirectly to nearly everything). It integrates natively with Slack and Google Workspace. With Exact Online. no direct connector, but options exist via Zapier.
Downside. Basic reporting. If you love metrics. conversion funnels, revenue forecasting. you'll need add-ons.
Price for 3 users. €36 to €360 per month (depends on plan).
HubSpot. the all-in-one (but expensive)
Pricing. Free plan (limited) to €3,200+ per month for Enterprise.
Best for. Teams wanting marketing, sales, and service in one tool.
HubSpot is the Netflix of CRM. You get Sales Hub, Marketing Hub, Service Hub. Each is solid. Together, they're powerful, but expensive if you want every feature.
For accountants: HubSpot Service Hub is relevant. Ticket system for client questions. Knowledge base. Reporting. You track client history, notes, contract data.
Integrations. Native connection to many tools. Google Workspace, Slack, Zapier. Exact Online. no native connector, but workable via Zapier.
Downside. Costly. The odds you'll pay for more features than you use are high. Marketing Hub is overkill for many accounting firms.
Price for 3 users (Sales Hub). €420 to €1,200 per month.
Zoho. flexible and economical (but more complex)
Pricing. €11 to €30 per user per month. Labeled as affordable.
Best for. Teams wanting heavy customization and not afraid of complexity.
Zoho CRM is like an Italian scooter. Flexible, tons of tuning options, affordable. But you need to know what you're doing.
Creating custom fields, workflows, dashboards. everything is possible. Zoho also offers accounting integration via their Zoho Books suite. That's relevant for accountants managing client bookkeeping.
Integrations. Native integration with Zoho products (Zoho Books, Zoho Invoice). Zapier support. Exact Online. workable via Zapier.
Downside. Learning curve. The UI isn't as intuitive as Pipedrive. Support feels less accessible sometimes.
Price for 3 users. €33 to €90 per month.
Side-by-side comparison
Setup speed: Pipedrive fast (1-2 weeks), HubSpot moderate (3-4 weeks), Zoho slow (4-6 weeks).
Ease of use: Pipedrive very simple, HubSpot good (many features), Zoho complex.
Pricing (3 users): Pipedrive €36-360/mo, HubSpot €420-1200/mo, Zoho €33-90/mo.
Exact Online integration: Pipedrive via Zapier, HubSpot via Zapier, Zoho via Zapier.
Reporting: Pipedrive basic, HubSpot comprehensive, Zoho comprehensive.
For accountants: Pipedrive basic pipeline, HubSpot full service mgmt, Zoho custom workflows.
Real-world case. the Ghent firm
A small firm in Ghent with 4 accountants, working on Exact Online, chose Zoho. Why? They wanted client tracking without paying for HubSpot's marketing modules. They configured Zoho with:
• Client entry
• Contact history
• Task scheduler
• Integration with Zoho Books for clients
After two months: improved workflow, no lost emails, faster client follow-up.
Benefit. €85 per month for all three.
Downside. setup required two training sessions.
Would HubSpot have helped? Yes. But they'd pay €350+ extra monthly for unused features.
Integration with your accounting stack
This is the real question. No CRM integrates natively with Belgian accounting standards (Exact, Visma, KBC, Rabobank). They all go through Zapier.
It works. But it doesn't feel seamless. Client data from CRM to Exact, invoice data back. Lag. Duplicate entry sometimes.
Why mention this? Because you ultimately manage two tools. CRM for relationships, accounting software for books. They must communicate, but they don't communicate perfectly.
This is where Dytto (Blog 1) becomes interesting. AI assistants can help bridge that gap. Automatically route documents from CRM to accounting.
Recommendation by team size
1-3 people. Pipedrive. Affordable, fast, intuitive. As you grow, you scale up.
4-10 people. Zoho. Affordable, flexible, custom workflows. Training needed.
10+ people plus marketing. HubSpot. You pay more, but you get ecosystem.
The future. CRM plus AI
All three (Pipedrive, HubSpot, Zoho) now integrate AI assistants. HubSpot's AI Sales Assistant writes emails. Zoho's Zia predicts client churn. Pipedrive is adding similar features.
For accountants, this means: AI learns from your contact history, suggests which client to call next week, what to discuss. It changes the game.
But today, in 2026, it's not perfect yet. The core question remains: which CRM fits my workflow?
Pipedrive if you want speed. Zoho if you want customization. HubSpot if you want ecosystem.
Choose, install, measure. Within two months, you'll know if it works.