The short answer: the right HubSpot alternative depends on which hub you actually use. For CRM and sales pipeline, Pipedrive (from $14 a seat) and Zoho CRM (free for 3 users, paid from $14) cost a fraction of Sales Hub Professional. For marketing automation, ActiveCampaign starts at $15 a month against $800 a month for Marketing Hub Professional. Klaviyo is the pick for e-commerce email and SMS, Brevo for large lists on a small budget, Zoho One if you want to replace several tools at once, and Salesforce if you are outgrowing HubSpot at the enterprise end. Every price below is vendor-published and was checked on the vendor’s own pricing page in September 2026.
HubSpot Alternatives Compared on Price
| Platform | Replaces which hub | Entry paid price | Pricing basis | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HubSpot (for reference) | All | Starter $20 per seat (monthly billing) | Seats, plus marketing contacts | Yes, 2 users |
| Pipedrive | Sales Hub | Lite $14 per seat (annual) | Per seat | No (14-day trial) |
| Zoho CRM | Sales Hub | Standard $14 per user | Per user | Yes, 3 users |
| Freshsales | Sales Hub | Growth $9 per user (annual) | Per user | No (21-day trial) |
| ActiveCampaign | Marketing Hub | Starter $15 (1,000 contacts) | Contact volume | No |
| Brevo | Marketing Hub (email) | Starter, from 5,000 emails a month | Emails sent | Yes, 300 emails a day |
| Klaviyo | Marketing Hub (e-commerce) | Scales with active profiles | Active profiles | Yes, 250 profiles and 500 sends a month |
| Zoho One | Most hubs, plus other apps | $37 per employee (all-employee, annual) | Per employee or user | No |
| Salesforce | Sales Hub at enterprise scale | Starter Suite $25 per user (annual) | Per user | Yes, Free Suite |
Vendor-published, checked September 2026. Excludes taxes, onboarding fees and add-ons. Brevo and Klaviyo paid prices vary with volume, so use each vendor’s calculator for your list size.
Want the full list of HubSpot competitors with user ratings? See Spotsaas’ HubSpot CRM alternatives page.
How Much Does HubSpot Cost in 2026?
The complaint about HubSpot is rarely the entry price. It is the step from Starter to Professional, and the fact that the hubs are billed differently.
| Hub | Starter | Professional | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales Hub | $20 per seat (monthly) | $90 per seat annual, $100 monthly, plus $1,500 onboarding | From $150 per seat, plus $3,500 onboarding |
| Service Hub | $20 per seat (monthly) | $90 per seat annual, $100 monthly, plus $1,500 onboarding | From $150 per seat, plus $3,500 onboarding |
| Marketing Hub | $20 per seat (monthly), 1,000 marketing contacts | $800 a month annual, $890 monthly, 3 seats and 2,000 contacts, plus $3,000 onboarding | From $3,600 a month, 5 seats and 10,000 contacts, plus $7,000 onboarding |
Vendor-published on hubspot.com, checked September 2026. HubSpot was also advertising Starter at $7 a seat for new customers.
Two details explain most of the sticker shock. Sales and Service Hub stay per seat all the way up, while Marketing Hub switches to a platform fee at Professional, so moving from Starter to Professional is a change of pricing model, not a per-seat increase. And Marketing Hub scales with marketing contacts, so a growing database raises the bill whether or not your team grows.
Why Is HubSpot So Expensive?
Three things drive it. The Professional tiers carry one-time onboarding fees ($1,500 for Sales or Service Hub, $3,000 for Marketing Hub). Marketing Hub Professional is a platform fee of $800 a month on annual billing before any extra seats ($45 each) or contact tiers. And contact tiers cannot be lowered until renewal, so importing a large historical list locks in a higher bill for the contract term.
The Best HubSpot Alternatives in 2026
1. Pipedrive: Best Sales CRM Alternative
If you only use HubSpot for pipeline management, Pipedrive is a focused, visual sales CRM that is quick to set up.
- Pricing (vendor-published, checked September 2026): Lite $14, Growth $39, Premium $59, Ultimate $79 per seat/month billed annually; 14-day free trial.
- Best for: sales teams that do not need HubSpot’s marketing tools.
- Watch out for: email marketing is a paid Campaigns add-on.
More detail in our Pipedrive vs HubSpot comparison.
2. Zoho CRM: Best Free and Low-Cost CRM
Zoho CRM is free for 3 users, and its paid plans cost a fraction of Sales Hub Professional.
- Pricing (vendor-published, checked September 2026): Free for 3 users; Standard $14, Professional $23, Enterprise $40 per user/month.
- Best for: small teams replacing HubSpot’s free or Starter CRM.
3. Freshsales: Best for Sales and Support From One Vendor
Freshsales adds built-in phone, email and chat plus AI deal insights, and pairs with Freshdesk for support.
- Pricing (vendor-published, checked September 2026): Growth $9, Pro $39, Enterprise $59 per user/month billed annually; 21-day trial.
4. ActiveCampaign: Best for Marketing Automation
ActiveCampaign is the usual destination for teams that use HubSpot mainly for email and automation. Its automation builder is its strength.
- Pricing (vendor-published, checked September 2026): Starter $15, Plus $49, Pro $79, Enterprise $145 a month at 1,000 contacts; price rises with contact volume.
- Best for: automation-heavy email marketing.
- Watch out for: no website CMS, and its CRM is lighter than HubSpot’s.
5. Brevo: Best Budget Email for Large Lists
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) prices on emails sent, not contacts stored, which changes the maths for anyone holding a large list they email occasionally.
- Pricing (vendor-published, checked September 2026): Free plan with up to 300 emails a day; Starter from 5,000 emails a month; Professional from 150,000 emails a month. Use Brevo’s calculator for your volume.
- Best for: budget-conscious teams with big, lightly mailed lists.
6. Klaviyo: Best for E-commerce Email and SMS
For Shopify and other online stores, Klaviyo models orders, products and customer value natively, which suits e-commerce flows better than a general marketing tool.
- Pricing (vendor-published, checked September 2026): Free for up to 250 active profiles and 500 email sends a month, including $5 of mobile messages; paid plans scale with active profiles.
- Watch out for: it is not a B2B CRM.
7. Zoho One: Best All-in-One Replacement
Zoho One bundles CRM, marketing, help desk, finance, HR and more in one subscription, so the comparison is against your whole software stack, not HubSpot alone.
- Pricing (vendor-published, checked September 2026): $37 per employee/month billed annually if you license all employees; $67 per user/month billed annually ($90 monthly) on flexible user pricing.
- Watch out for: individual apps are less polished than best-in-class point tools.
8. Salesforce: Best for Enterprise CRM
If HubSpot cannot model your sales process, Salesforce is the usual upgrade path, with deeper customisation and a larger partner ecosystem.
- Pricing (vendor-published, checked September 2026): Free Suite $0; Starter Suite $25; Pro Suite $100; Core $195; Advanced $395; Max $550 per user/month billed annually.
- Watch out for: it needs an administrator, and marketing automation is a separate product.
See our Salesforce vs HubSpot comparison and HubSpot vs Salesforce vs Zoho CRM.
What Is a Cheaper Alternative to HubSpot?
For CRM, Zoho CRM (free for 3 users, Standard $14) and Pipedrive (Lite $14) cost far less than Sales Hub Professional at $90 to $100 a seat plus onboarding. For marketing, ActiveCampaign Pro is $79 a month at 1,000 contacts against $800 a month for Marketing Hub Professional on annual billing. For email to a large list, Brevo’s send-based pricing is usually the cheapest. The honest caveat: if you use marketing, sales and a website together, replacing HubSpot usually means buying two or three tools, so compare the combined bill, not one line.
Who Is HubSpot’s Competition?
It depends on the hub. In CRM, Salesforce at the enterprise end and Pipedrive, Zoho CRM and Freshsales below it. In marketing automation, ActiveCampaign, Brevo and Klaviyo. In customer service, Zendesk and Freshdesk. No single competitor matches HubSpot’s full bundle, which is why teams that leave usually replace one platform with two or three specialised tools.
What Are the Downsides of HubSpot?
- Price jumps between tiers, especially Marketing Hub Starter to Professional, plus one-time onboarding fees on Professional and Enterprise.
- Contact-based marketing pricing that grows with your database and cannot be lowered until renewal.
- Lock-in through the CMS: if your website or blog runs on HubSpot, leaving means rebuilding pages and setting up redirects.
- Less depth than specialists in complex enterprise CRM (Salesforce) or e-commerce marketing (Klaviyo).
Choosing by What You Actually Use
Before comparing anything, list which HubSpot features someone used in the last month. The answer usually points straight at the right replacement.
Mostly email and automation: ActiveCampaign or Brevo.
Mostly the free CRM plus light email: Zoho CRM’s free plan or Brevo’s free plan.
E-commerce email and SMS: Klaviyo.
Sales pipeline above all: Pipedrive or Freshsales.
Several hubs plus finance or HR: Zoho One.
You genuinely use the whole platform: stay. If marketing, sales, service and the website all live in HubSpot and are used, the shared customer record is the product, and splitting it apart can cost more than it saves.
Migrating Off HubSpot: What to Check First
Export before you cancel. Contacts, companies, deals, email history and form submissions. Engagement history is the piece teams most often find missing afterwards.
Landing pages and blog content do not transfer. If your site runs on HubSpot CMS, plan the rebuild and redirects carefully; it is usually the largest hidden cost and the one most likely to hurt search traffic.
Audit automations. Mature portals accumulate workflows that no longer run anything important. Rebuild only what is live.
Confirm reporting. Identify the two or three reports leadership relies on and check the replacement can produce them before you commit.
Why Teams Reconsider HubSpot at Renewal
The contact database grew faster than the team. Cleaning the database before renewal often keeps you on a lower contact tier.
Seats were bought for a plan that did not happen. Checking which seats logged in last quarter is the fastest saving, and it does not require leaving.
One hub carries all the value. When Sales Hub is the only part in daily use, a $14 to $23 per-user CRM does the same job, and sales data migrates more cleanly than marketing assets.
Get the renewal quote in writing early. Enterprise pricing is often negotiable, particularly with a multi-year commitment.
For a broader view, see our complete CRM buyer’s guide, best email marketing software, best marketing automation software, and our guide to Salesforce alternatives. Or browse every HubSpot CRM alternative on Spotsaas.
Related reading: HubSpot Pricing 2026: Every Hub, Seat Type and Onboarding Fee Explained, Zoho CRM vs HubSpot 2026: Pricing, Features and Which to Choose, Attio Review & Pricing 2026: Plans, Pros, Cons and Attio vs HubSpot
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best alternative to HubSpot?
It depends on the hub you use. Pipedrive or Zoho CRM for CRM and sales pipeline, ActiveCampaign for marketing automation, Klaviyo for e-commerce email and SMS, and Salesforce for complex enterprise CRM. Zoho One is the broadest single replacement.
What’s cheaper than HubSpot?
Zoho CRM (free for 3 users, then from $14 per user), Pipedrive (from $14 per seat), Freshsales (from $9 per user) and ActiveCampaign (from $15 a month at 1,000 contacts) all cost less than HubSpot’s Professional tiers, which run $90 to $100 per seat for Sales Hub and $800 to $890 a month for Marketing Hub (vendor-published, checked September 2026).
Why is HubSpot so expensive?
Marketing Hub switches from per-seat pricing to a platform fee at Professional ($800 a month billed annually), it scales with marketing contacts, and Professional and Enterprise tiers carry one-time onboarding fees from $1,500 to $7,000.
Who is HubSpot’s competition?
In CRM, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM and Freshsales. In marketing automation, ActiveCampaign, Brevo and Klaviyo. In customer service, Zendesk and Freshdesk. No single competitor matches the full HubSpot bundle.
Is ActiveCampaign better than HubSpot?
For email marketing automation alone, many teams prefer ActiveCampaign’s builder and its lower price. For teams that want CRM, website, sales and service tools on one record, HubSpot is more complete.
What are the top 3 CRM systems?
Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and HubSpot are the three CRMs most often compared. Salesforce is the default at enterprise scale, Dynamics suits Microsoft-centric organisations, and HubSpot is popular with small and mid-sized businesses that want marketing and sales in one platform.
What is the cheapest HubSpot alternative?
Zoho CRM and Brevo both have free plans that are real plans: Zoho CRM for 3 users and Brevo for up to 300 emails a day. Zoho One at $37 per employee is the best value if you want to replace several tools at once (vendor-published, checked September 2026).
Why is HubSpot declining?
The question usually refers to share price or growth rate, not the product losing its usefulness. For a buying decision, what matters is whether HubSpot’s pricing model fits how you actually use it, especially the jump to Marketing Hub Professional.
