The best HubSpot alternatives for small business

Why small businesses leave HubSpot

For small teams, the push to leave HubSpot usually comes when the business hits a plan limit and the fix is a much larger bill. These are the plan rules that most often force the decision:

• The free tools run out quickly. They cover 2 users and 1,000 contacts, one pipeline per object, 3 email templates, 10 custom properties and reporting history limited to the past 30 days, with HubSpot branding on emails, meeting links and forms. Details are in HubSpot free CRM limits.
• Starter is cheap but thin. At $20 per seat (list price), Sales Hub Starter has no sequences, no custom reports, no forecasting and 50 restricted workflows.
• Professional is a price cliff. The tier with sequences, 100 custom reports and forecasting costs $90 per seat plus a required $1,500 onboarding fee. A five-person team goes from $1,200 to $6,900 in year one.
• Extras sit in other products. New customers need Revenue Hub Professional ($95 per seat) to send quotes, and custom objects are Enterprise-only at $150 per seat plus $3,500 onboarding.

If one of those rows is your reason for looking, the alternatives below are ordered by which problem they solve best. For the full tier-by-tier picture, see HubSpot pricing explained.

HubSpot alternatives at a glance

HubSpot vs alternatives: first-year cost for 3, 5 and 10 users

Entry prices hide the real gap. The fairer comparison is the cheapest plan on each CRM that includes automated email sequences, because that is the feature most teams leave HubSpot's free tools and Starter to get.

For five users, Pipedrive Growth saves $4,560 against HubSpot Professional in year one, and $3,060 a year after the onboarding fee drops away. Zoho CRM Standard is cheaper still at $840. Run your own seat count in the CRM pricing calculator, or see the two-vendor breakdown in Pipedrive vs HubSpot pricing.

When to stay with HubSpot

Switching is not always the cheaper answer. Stay with HubSpot in these cases:

• Marketing, sales and service share one customer record. If forms, email campaigns, tickets and deals all hang off the same contacts, a sales-only CRM means buying and integrating separate tools to replace what you lose.
• Starter genuinely covers you. Fifteen pipelines, 1,000 meeting links, 500 calling minutes a month (in supported countries) and no HubSpot branding for $20 a seat is competitive if you do not need sequences.
• Only a few people need to edit. HubSpot's view-only seats are free, so managers who only read reports do not add to the bill.
• You would rebuild a lot. Every workflow, sequence, form and report has to be recreated elsewhere. If you rely on dozens of them, price that work before the subscription saving.

Still unsure? Score HubSpot and one alternative against the same requirements with the CRM scorecard, or step back to the best CRM for small business.

How to switch from HubSpot without losing data

1. List what does not migrate

   Records move; automations do not. Write down every active workflow, sequence, form, template and report, and mark each one rebuild or retire.

2. Set up the new CRM before importing

   Create users, pipelines, stages and custom fields first, so imported deals land in the right stage with the right owner.

3. Export and import in order

   Export companies, contacts and deals from HubSpot, then import companies first so later records can link to them. Moving to Pipedrive, you can use its free Import2 option or its spreadsheet importer (up to 200,000 rows per file, revertible within 48 hours). Our HubSpot to Pipedrive migration guide covers every step.

4. Check, then cancel

   Compare record counts per owner, open a dozen deals to confirm their contacts and companies, and check your HubSpot renewal date before cancelling. The CRM migration checklist has a full reconciliation list.