The best HubSpot alternatives in 2026 (cheaper CRMs with AI)
The best HubSpot alternatives for small businesses and sales teams, compared on price, CRM features, marketing tools and AI.
- Best all-in-one budget alternative: EngageBay. CRM, email marketing, automation and a helpdesk in one platform, at a fraction of HubSpot's price.
- Best for sales pipelines: Pipedrive. A focused, visual sales CRM that small teams pick up in a day.
- Best value suite: Zoho CRM. Deep features and the Zia AI assistant at low per-user pricing.
- Best for email marketing: Brevo. Email, SMS and a free CRM, priced by emails sent rather than contacts.
- Best modern CRM: Attio. Flexible data model and AI built in, popular with startups.
HubSpot is excellent, but costs climb quickly once you need more contacts, seats or the Professional tier for automation. Many small businesses find they pay for features they never use.
The alternatives below cover the same core jobs, from contacts and pipelines to email marketing and automation, for less. Most have a free plan or trial so you can import a sample of contacts and test before switching.
Some links in this guide are affiliate links, so we may earn a commission if you sign up. It never affects which tools we recommend.
What to check before switching from HubSpot
- Which HubSpot features you actually use each week
- How many contacts and users you will have in 12 months, since pricing scales with both
- Whether you need marketing, sales and support in one tool, or just a sales CRM
- Integrations with your email, calendar, forms and accounting software
- How you will migrate contacts, deals, notes and email history
Which alternative fits you?
If you use HubSpot for marketing, sales and support together, EngageBay is the closest like-for-like replacement at a lower price. If you mainly track deals, Pipedrive is simpler and faster. If email campaigns are your main use, Brevo is cheaper. For a wider look at CRMs with built-in AI, see our guide to the best AI CRM software.
The best HubSpot alternatives
| # | Tool | Best for | Price | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | EngageBay | Small businesses | Free plan | 7.6 |
| 2 | Pipedrive | Small sales teams | From $14/mo | 8.5 |
| 3 | Zoho CRM | SMBs | From $14/mo | 8.2 |
| 4 | Brevo | SMBs | From $9/mo | 8.3 |
| 5 | Attio | Startups | From $29/mo | 8.3 |
| 6 | ActiveCampaign | SMBs | From $15/mo | 8.6 |
| 7 | monday CRM | SMBs | From $12/mo | 8.0 |
| 8 | Close | Inside sales teams | Free trial | 8.2 |
| 9 | Salesforce Sales Cloud | Mid-market & enterprise sales | From $25/mo | 9.0 |
| 10 | folk | Founders | Free trial | 7.7 |
EngageBay
Affordable all-in-one CRM with AI. CRM that combines marketing automation, sales pipeline and customer support in one platform, aimed at small businesses that want a cheaper HubSpot alternative.
Our take: The most direct HubSpot replacement on this list: the same marketing, sales and service hubs, with a free plan and much lower paid tiers.
Why we like it: Much cheaper than HubSpot. Marketing, sales and support in one.
Watch out for: Interface feels dated in places.
Pipedrive
Pipeline-focused CRM with an AI sales assistant. Pipedrive is a visual, pipeline-based CRM designed for small sales teams. Its AI sales assistant recommends next actions, summarises emails and helps write messages.
Why we like it: Very easy to use. Good value.
Watch out for: Limited marketing features.
Zoho CRM
Affordable CRM with the Zia AI assistant. Zoho CRM is a widely used CRM for small and mid-sized businesses with automation, analytics and the Zia AI assistant for predictions, anomaly detection and writing. It integrates with the wider Zoho suite.
Why we like it: Great value. Broad Zoho suite integration.
Watch out for: UI can feel cluttered.
Brevo
Email, SMS and WhatsApp marketing with AI. Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) offers email, SMS, WhatsApp, a CRM and transactional email, priced by email volume rather than contacts. Aura AI helps write content and optimise campaigns.
Why we like it: Volume-based pricing. Generous free plan.
Watch out for: Template editor less flexible.
Attio
Flexible, AI-native CRM for modern teams. Attio is a data-driven CRM that builds itself from email and calendar data, with flexible objects, automations and AI attributes. It is popular with startups and VC firms.
Why we like it: Modern, fast UI. Very flexible data model.
Watch out for: Fewer integrations than incumbents.
ActiveCampaign
Email marketing and automation with AI agents. ActiveCampaign combines email marketing, advanced automation, a CRM and site tracking. AI features generate emails and build automations from prompts.
Why we like it: Very powerful automations. Good deliverability.
Watch out for: Can be complex.
monday CRM
Customisable no-code CRM with AI built in. monday CRM is built on the monday.com Work OS, offering customisable pipelines, email sync, automations and AI for writing emails and summarising data.
Why we like it: Very flexible. Familiar to monday.com users.
Watch out for: Seat minimums.
Close
CRM with built-in calling, email and SMS for SMB sales. Close is a sales CRM with built-in calling, power dialer, email sequences and SMS. AI features summarise calls, draft emails and enrich leads.
Why we like it: Communication built in. Fast for high-volume reps.
Watch out for: Less customisable than enterprise CRMs.
Salesforce Sales Cloud
World's leading CRM with Agentforce AI agents. Salesforce Sales Cloud is an enterprise CRM for managing pipeline, forecasting and sales processes. Einstein and Agentforce add AI agents that prospect, summarise, update records and coach reps.
Our take: The opposite direction from most switchers: more powerful and more expensive than HubSpot, for larger sales teams.
Why we like it: Extremely customisable. Huge ecosystem.
Watch out for: Expensive with add-ons.
folk
Lightweight AI CRM for relationship-driven teams. folk is a simple CRM with LinkedIn contact capture, enrichment, pipelines and AI-assisted messaging. It suits founders, agencies and small teams managing relationships.
Why we like it: Very quick to set up. Great LinkedIn import.
Watch out for: Lighter reporting.
How we chose
We shortlisted tools by reputation, reader interest and real-world usefulness, then scored each one on output quality, ease of use, features and value, using the same review process we apply to every tool on the site.
FAQ
What is the cheapest alternative to HubSpot?
EngageBay, Zoho CRM and Brevo all have free plans and low-cost paid tiers. EngageBay is the closest match if you use HubSpot for marketing, sales and support together.
Is there a free alternative to HubSpot?
Yes. EngageBay, Zoho CRM, Brevo and Attio all offer free plans with limits on contacts, users or features.
Can I move my data from HubSpot?
Yes. HubSpot lets you export contacts, companies and deals as spreadsheets, and most alternatives have importers or migration help for HubSpot data.
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