While Salesforce may be at the top end of pricing for a CRM, the functionality, customization, and ecosystem are top tier, if you are looking for cost efficiency and all-in-one solution I would lean toward HubSpot CRM (so long as you are already using them for you marketing automation platform).
If you already have a separate MAT in place and Salesforce is just out of budget then I think about any system that integrates with your marketing platform or has a decently built out data export so that when you do eventually migrate to Salesforce mapping the data over wont b be so cumbersome.
Pipedrive is a good beginner CRM, but you will probably outgrow within a year or two. One other to look into would be SalesLoft. With SalesLoft, you get email, cadences, phone calls, and meeting/call recordings, in addition to a lightweight deal management product. The good aspect here is that when you do eventually move to Salesforce, migrating data will be relatively easy and you will already have a sales enablement tool built.