HubSpot Alternatives

The best HubSpot alternative depends on which part of the bill hurts. Salesforce and Zoho replace the whole platform, Pipedrive, Attio, Close and Freshsales replace the sales side for less, and ActiveCampaign and Brevo replace the marketing side without HubSpot's contact tiers.

• The concrete reasons to leave are pricing mechanics, chiefly marketing contact tiers that ratchet up until renewal and required onboarding fees on Professional and Enterprise

• Paid sales CRMs here start between $9 and $35 a seat a month, against $90 for Sales Hub Professional on annual billing

• Every switch gives something up, most often the single record that HubSpot keeps across marketing and sales

In brief

HubSpot Alternatives section by section. Each row is that section's own opening claim, so the table summarizes the argument below and adds nothing new.

HubSpot's free tools and $7 Starter seats make it an easy first platform. The trouble tends to start one step up, when a growing team moves to Professional and meets a monthly base price, a required onboarding fee and a contact allowance that only moves in one direction during a contract.

None of that makes HubSpot a bad product. Its strength is that marketing, sales and service share one record, and our HubSpot vs Salesforce comparison explains where that wins. This piece is for the teams whose costs or needs have moved past it. It covers eight alternatives across CRM and marketing automation, using each vendor's published pricing and documentation as of October 2026.

Why teams look elsewhere

The most concrete reasons to leave are about how HubSpot bills, and each one is written into HubSpot's own pricing pages and help docs.

Marketing contact tiers ratchet up

Marketing Hub prices include a set number of marketing contacts, 1,000 on Starter, 2,000 on Professional and 10,000 on Enterprise. HubSpot's billing documentation says that if you exceed your tier by adding marketing contacts, the account moves to the next tier and is billed at that level until renewal. It also says HubSpot doesn't downgrade contact tiers mid-term. By default, anyone who submits a marketing form is set as a marketing contact, so list growth from forms raises the bill without anyone choosing it.

Onboarding fees on the upper plans

Professional and Enterprise carry required one-time onboarding fees. On Marketing Hub those are $3,000 and $7,000. On Sales Hub they're $1,500 and $3,500.

The step from Starter to Professional

Marketing Hub Starter costs $7 a seat a month on annual billing. Professional costs $800 a month when paid annually, with three core seats included, and extra core seats start at $45 a month. On the sales side, Sales Hub Professional is $90 a seat a month on annual billing and Enterprise is $150. For a 10-person sales team on annual billing, Sales Hub Professional comes to $900 a month before onboarding, against $70 on Starter. Our CRM pricing comparison puts those tiers next to every other published CRM rate.

The alternatives side by side

Each alternative replaces one part of HubSpot well, and the table shows which part and what it costs to start.

Entry pricing from each vendor's own pricing page, October 2026. Per-seat prices are annual rates wherever the vendor states a billing period.

Salesforce

Salesforce is the alternative for companies whose sales process has outgrown what HubSpot can model.

Starter Suite costs $25 a user a month, billed monthly or annually, and Pro Suite costs $100 a user a month on annual billing. There's also a Free Suite. For B2B marketing automation, Account Engagement, the product formerly called Pardot, starts at $1,250 an org a month on annual billing.

Switch if you need deep customization and complex forecasting, and have someone to administer it. You give up the single, low-setup system. Marketing becomes a separate product with its own price, and the CRM asks for more configuration before it's useful.

Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM is the budget way to replace HubSpot across sales and marketing with one vendor.

The CRM is free for up to three users. Paid editions are listed at $14, $23 and $40 a user a month for Standard, Professional and Enterprise, and Zoho's lighter CRM, Bigin, starts at $7. Zoho CRM Plus bundles sales, marketing and service from $20 a user a month. Zoho Marketing Automation on its own starts at $14 a month for 1,000 contacts on annual billing.

Switch if price is the deciding factor and you're comfortable inside the Zoho suite. You give up HubSpot's single marketing and sales record unless you buy CRM Plus, since Zoho's marketing tools are otherwise separate products with their own plans.

Pipedrive

Pipedrive is the pick for a sales team that only ever used HubSpot as a pipeline.

Its four plans cost $14, $39, $59 and $79 a seat a month on annual billing, from Lite to Ultimate, with a 14-day trial and no card required. Email campaigns come through a Campaigns add-on starting at $13.33, and lead capture, projects and document tools are add-ons too.

Switch if your team lives in the deal board and marketing is someone else's tool. You give up native marketing automation and the shared marketing and sales record, and the add-ons can stack up once you need several.

Attio

Attio suits a startup that wants to design its own CRM data model.

It's free for up to three seats. Plus costs $35 a user a month on annual billing or $44 monthly, for up to 10 seats, and Pro is $79 annually or $99 monthly with sequences and call intelligence. Each plan caps objects and records, from three objects and 50,000 records on Free to 12 objects and 1 million records on Pro, and includes a monthly allowance of credits per seat and per workspace.

Switch if your sales motion doesn't fit a standard pipeline template and you want custom objects. You give up marketing automation entirely, so you'll pair it with a separate email tool, and the credit allowance is one more meter to watch.

Close

Close is built for inside sales teams that spend the day on the phone and in the inbox.

Plans run $9, $35, $99 and $139 a user a month on annual billing, or $19, $49, $109 and $149 if you'd rather pay month to month. Calling and SMS are passed through at cost, with most outbound calls around $0.02 a minute and numbers from about $1 a month. Call recording and summaries cost $50 per org a month plus $0.02 a minute. Automated workflows start on the Growth plan, and Solo is limited to one user and 10,000 leads.

Switch if calling and follow-up are the core of how you sell, and you're happy to run marketing elsewhere. You give up marketing automation, and usage charges make the monthly bill less predictable than a flat seat price.

Freshsales

Freshsales is the low-cost per-seat CRM for teams that want sequences without a big price step.

Growth costs $9 a user a month on annual billing with basic workflows, Pro is $39 with sales sequences, and Enterprise is $59 with a sandbox and audit logs. There's a 21-day trial of the full CRM. Freshworks says more than 74,000 businesses use its products.

Switch if you want HubSpot-like sales tooling at a lower seat price. You give up the bundled marketing side, and Freddy AI Agent sessions cost $49 per 100 on top of the seat price.

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign replaces Marketing Hub for small and mid-size teams that mainly need email automation.

At 1,000 contacts, Starter is $15 a month, Plus $49, Pro $79 and Enterprise $145, all on annual billing. ActiveCampaign says there are no setup costs, which removes the onboarding fee that HubSpot charges on Professional. There's a 14-day trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Switch if Marketing Hub Professional's base price and onboarding fee are the problem. You give up HubSpot's shared record with sales, since sales data has to come in through a CRM integration, and contact-based billing doesn't go away.

Brevo

Brevo is the alternative for teams whose HubSpot pain is a large contact list that they don't email often.

It bills on emails sent. The free plan allows 300 emails a day, Starter is $9 a month on monthly billing for 5,000 emails, and Standard is $18. A Sales Essentials add-on costs $27.92 a month, and Professional starts at $499 a month for 150,000 emails.

Switch if your list is big and your sending is light, so per-contact billing has you paying for people you rarely reach. You give up CRM depth, since the sales tools are an add-on, and WhatsApp, pop-ups and push only arrive on the $499 tier.

Which alternative fits

Match the alternative to the part of HubSpot you're actually replacing.

• If you're replacing everything and run a complex sales process, choose Salesforce and budget for an admin

• If you're replacing everything on a tight budget, choose Zoho CRM or Zoho CRM Plus

• If you're replacing only the sales side, choose Pipedrive for a simple pipeline, Close for phone-heavy teams, Attio for a custom data model, or Freshsales for low seat prices

• If you're replacing only Marketing Hub, choose ActiveCampaign for automation or Brevo for a big, quiet list

Splitting the stack has a cost of its own. Once marketing and sales sit in different tools, someone has to own the sync between them. Our guide to auditing a martech stack is a good place to work out whether the savings cover that work. Small teams weighing a CRM-first move can also start from the best CRMs for small teams.

Frequently asked questions

Why do companies switch away from HubSpot?

The most concrete reasons are cost mechanics. Marketing contact tiers move up automatically when you pass them and don't come down until renewal, Professional and Enterprise plans carry required onboarding fees, and the step from Starter to Professional is large.

What is the cheapest HubSpot alternative?

Zoho CRM is free for up to three users and Attio for up to three seats. Among paid plans, Freshsales Growth starts at $9 a user a month on annual billing, and so does Close Solo, which is limited to one user.

Does HubSpot charge for every contact?

No. HubSpot bills on marketing contacts, and non-marketing contacts aren't billed. Contacts who submit a marketing form are set as marketing by default, though, so the billable count can grow on its own.

Is there a HubSpot alternative that doesn't bill by contacts?

Brevo bills on emails sent, with a free plan of 300 emails a day and Starter from $9 a month. That suits a large list you don't email often.

Is Salesforce a good HubSpot alternative?

For complex sales processes, yes. Starter Suite costs $25 a user a month and Pro Suite $100 on annual billing. You'll buy marketing automation separately through Account Engagement, which starts at $1,250 an org a month.

Do HubSpot Professional plans require onboarding?

Yes. Marketing Hub Professional carries a required one-time onboarding fee of $3,000 and Sales Hub Professional $1,500. Enterprise onboarding costs $7,000 and $3,500.