6 Best HubSpot Competitors & Alternatives for 2023
Jess served on the founding team of a successful B2B startup and has used a wide range of sales and marketing tools over the course of her 15-year career. She uses her industry knowledge to deliver the best answers to your questions about sales tools and sales management.
Bianca is a staff writer at Fit Small Business who specializes in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software.
This article is part of a larger series on CRM.
HubSpot is a popular customer relationship management (CRM) system that offers small businesses a user-friendly interface, a free plan, and marketing features like email campaign tools, a webform creator, and social media integrations. However, its paid plans are expensive, and the free plan does not include features like project management or advanced analytics, making HubSpot competitors desirable to small businesses.
To discover the best HubSpot alternatives, we analyzed the features HubSpot CRM lacks and other benefits, like sales automation functionality at a lower price point. We looked at dozens of platforms to arrive at the top six CRM options:
- Freshsales: Best overall, and best HubSpot alternative with customization capabilities
- Pipedrive: Great for teams looking for a more affordable choice to HubSpot’s Sales Hub for sales management functionality
- Zoho CRM: Good for small businesses wanting alternatives to HubSpot with advanced automation and analytics features
- Zendesk Sell: Ideal for mobile sales teams looking for a HubSpot alternative with strong telephonic features
- Really Simple Systems: Excellent choice for businesses looking for an easy-to-use, if not easier, alternative to HubSpot
- Bitrix24: Solid option for organizations looking for HubSpot alternatives with project management capabilities
Pro tip: Looking for other top-rated CRM systems? Check out our guide to the best CRM platforms for small businesses.
Best HubSpot Competitors Compared
Provider | Free Plan | Starting Price for Paid Plans* | Free Trial for Paid Plans | Special Features | Customer Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ✓ (unlimited users) | $45 per month, includes 2 users seats** | 14 days*** | Free marketing automation tools | Self-help resources, email, and in-app chat support |
 | ✓ (unlimited users) | $15 per user, per month | 21 days | Customizable sales pipelines | Support via email (24/7), phone, and chat (24/5) |
 | ✕ | $14.90 per user, per month | 14 days | AI features on the lowest-cost plan | Knowledge base, 24/7 email, and chat support |
 | ✓ (3 users) | $14 per user, per month | 15 days | Advanced sales metrics and AI features | 24/5 email support and phone support on paid plans |
 | No free plan | 30 days | $19 per user, per month | Ability to call and text clients | 24/7 live chat, phone, and email support |
 | ✓ (2 users) | $14 per user, per month | 14 days | Customizable reporting tools on the free plan | Email, chat, and phone support during business hours |
 | ✓ (unlimited users) | $39, includes 5 user seats | ✕ | Project and task management tools | Live chat and email support on paid plans |
*Based on annual billing. Monthly pricing is available at slightly higher rates.
**Premier success plan costs 30% of the subscription price and adds 24/7 phone support, developer support, training sessions, and coaching.
***For Professional and Enterprise plans of CMS (Content Management System) Hub and Operations Hub only.
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Freshsales: Best Overall & Best Alternative to HubSpot for Customization
Freshsales
Overall Score:
4.71 / 5
What We Like
- Highly customizable pipelines and data fields
- Many communication channel options for contacting leads
- Free option available
What's Missing
- Social media integrations
- Automated workflows require an add-on
- Free plan is limited to organizing lead contact information and communications via call or email
How It Compares to HubSpot
- More affordable paid plans than HubSpot for sales and marketing solutions
- More customization capabilities for fields, sales activities, pipelines, modules, and user roles than HubSpot
- HubSpot offers built-in e-signature capabilities while Freshsales requires integrations
- Freshsales does not allow integrations with social media platforms while HubSpot does
Freshsales is a CRM similar to HubSpot that offers a free-forever plan for an unlimited number of users, but it’s mostly limited to storing contact information and performing basic communication functions with those contacts. Freshsales is significantly more affordable than HubSpot when it comes to paid plans, and gives businesses more robust customization capabilities for designing data fields, sales pipelines, and user roles.
Freshsales Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance*
- Free Plan: Supports unlimited users
- Growth: $15
- Pro: $39
- Enterprise: $69
- Free trial: 21 days
Add-ons
- Additional workflows: $5
- Phone credits: Starts at $25
- CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote): $19
*Monthly pricing is based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are available at a slightly higher rate.
Freshsales Customization Capabilities
Freshsales is the best HubSpot alternative for businesses looking for plenty of customization abilities in their CRM design and layout. On their lowest-priced paid plan, users can create and track custom sales activities, design custom fields for collecting information, create modules for business processes, and customize user roles and permissions.
However, Freshsales doesn’t offer native social media integrations. If communicating with leads and customers via social media channels is vital to your business, consider Zoho CRM instead.
Pro tip:
Integrate your CRM with social media channels for richer contact data and faster response to customer concerns on social platforms. Check out our guide to the five best social CRM platforms.
Freshsales creating a custom field (Source: Freshsales)
Read our full Freshsales review to learn how this software helps teams collaborate, manage deals, and reach business goals. To see how this platform compares against similar CRMs, check out our Freshsales vs Salesforce and Pipedrive vs Freshsales reviews.
Pipedrive: Best Low-cost Alternative to HubSpot for Sales Tools
Pipedrive
Overall Score:
4.65 / 5
What We Like
- AI sales assistant tool for automating sales tasks and offering sales advice
- Unlimited number of sales pipelines
- Affordable pricing plans
What's Missing
- No free plan
- Lacks project management tools
- No integration with social media platforms
How It Compares to HubSpot
- HubSpot offers a free plan while Pipedrive does not
- Pipedrive allows for unlimited contacts, fields, and pipelines while HubSpot has limits on various plans
- Paid plans are less expensive than HubSpot’s
- AI features are available on lowest-priced plans while HubSpot’s AI features are only available on enterprise-level plans
When comparing paid subscription plans, Pipedrive is the most cost-effective CRM solution on our list of the best alternatives to HubSpot for small business. Additionally, even in its lowest-priced plan, Pipedrive users have access to the artificial intelligence (AI) sales assistant feature, a sales meeting scheduler, contact management capabilities, and sales deal reporting features—all for $14.90 per user, monthly.
Pipedrive Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance*
- Essential: $14.90
- Advanced: $24.90
- Professional: $49.90
- Enterprise: $99 (10-user minimum)
- Free trial: 14 days full access
Add-ons
- LeadBooster (lead generation tool set): Starts at $32.50 per company, per month
- Web Visitors (web tracking and lead ranking): Starts at $41.00 per company, per month
- Campaigns (customizable email marketing campaigns): Starts at $13.33 per company, per month
- Smart Docs (trackable sales documents): Starts at $32.50 per company, per month**
*Monthly pricing is based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are available at a slightly higher rate.
**Free with a Professional or Enterprise plan subscription.
Pipedrive’s Cost-effective Sales Tools
Pipedrive is fairly robust when it comes to the sales tools included in its Essential package. The most valuable benefit of this plan may be that the AI sales assistant feature is also included. Using past performance and pipeline tracking, the sales assistant offers coaching tips to improve sales performance. While Pipedrive provides competitive pricing, they do not have a free plan. If a free option is essential for your business, consider Freshsales as an alternative.
Pro tip: Do you prefer starting with a free CRM plan before scaling up to a paid tier? Head on to our guide to the best free CRM software for small businesses.
Pipedrive AI sales assistant notifications (Source: Pipedrive)
Discover how this software enables sales teams to communicate effectively, manage deals, and grow revenue in our in-depth Pipedrive review. You can also read our Pipedrive vs Zoho CRM and HubSpot vs Pipedrive reviews to find out how it holds up in side-by-side comparisons with other similar platforms.
Zoho CRM: Best HubSpot Competitor With Advanced CRM Features
Zoho CRM
Overall Score:
4.56 / 5
What We Like
- Advanced sales metrics, marketing, and lead management features through AI and automation capabilities
- Cost-effective HubSpot alternative with a free plan and low cost-per-user options
- Customizable layouts and information components
What's Missing
- User interface can be challenging to navigate, especially for novice users
- Free plan is only for up to three users and has limited features
- Slower loading times and glitchier experience compared to HubSpot's main competitors
How It Compares to HubSpot
- HubSpot offers better marketing tools on their free plan than Zoho CRM
- More customizable options than HubSpot
- More automation, business intelligence, and artificial intelligence features than HubSpot
- Free plan only supports three users while HubSpot allows unlimited users on their free plan
- Zoho CRM lacks an user-friendly interface compared to HubSpot
Zoho CRM offers advanced tools for automating tasks and sales processes, such as workflows, lead auto-assignment, and macros (triggers for simultaneous routine activities). It is the best alternative to HubSpot for users who prioritize having these tools over HubSpot’s mass email marketing automation capabilities. Many of these automation features, specifically the capabilities for workflow management, are available on Zoho CRM’s Standard plan.
Zoho CRM Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance*
- Free: Up to three users (limited features)
- Bigin: $7 (sales pipeline only)
- Standard: $14
- Professional: $23
- Enterprise: $40
- Ultimate: $52
- Zoho CRM Plus: $57
Add-ons
- Additional file storage: $4.60 for 5GB per month
- Additional data storage (Professional and up): $4 per 100MB for less than 200 users and $2 per 100MB for more than 200 users
- Additional data backup: $12 per request
*Monthly pricing is based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are available at a slightly higher rate.
Zoho CRM Advanced Features
While Zoho CRM has a steeper user learning curve than HubSpot, sales teams can take advantage of built-in and integrated features for orchestrating customer journeys. Plus, the platform allows you to automatically generate and nurture leads based on marketing segmentation. You can also use the AI assistant Zia to pull data, ask questions, and make advanced predictions.
While Zoho CRM offers robust features and analytics, it can be cumbersome to learn all of its features, especially for non-technical users. If you’re looking for a simple CRM without much of a learning curve, consider Really Simple Systems.
Pro tip:
Looking for more CRMs with a user-friendly interface? Check out our guide to the best simple CRM systems for small businesses.
Zoho CRM Zia’s AI prediction of future trends based on past performance and data (Source: Zoho)
Read our full Zoho CRM review to explore its rich feature set and learn how it helps small businesses thrive. Check out our head-to-head comparison of this software with a competitor in our Zoho vs Salesforce review.
Zendesk Sell: Best HubSpot Alternative With Built-in Phone Features
Zendesk Sell
Overall Score:
4.10 / 5
What We Like
- Easy-to-use sales dashboard with drag-and-drop customization
- Excellent synchronization from web to mobile applications
- Solid built-in tools for phone calls and call tracking analytics
What's Missing
- No project management tools
- Lacks a free plan
- Limited number of custom pipelines
How It Compares to HubSpot
- Does not offer a free-forever plan while HubSpot CRM does
- More robust mobile apps than HubSpot
- Bulk emailing only available on Professional plan while HubSpot includes it in free plan
- More advanced reporting capabilities for lead and deal analytics than HubSpot
HubSpot has solid email campaign tools and basic telephone features for making and tracking calls, both of which are included in its free plan. Zendesk Sell doesn’t offer a free plan, but it does provide sales teams with more advanced CRM reporting features compared to HubSpot. It also has telephonic features within the platform proportional to HubSpot due to the overall capabilities and ease of use of the telephone tools.
Zendesk Sell Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance*
- Sell Team: $19
- Sell Growth: $49
- Sell Professional: $99
- Free trial: 14 days
*Monthly pricing is based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are available at a slightly higher rate.
Zendesk Sell Telephonic Features
Zendesk Sell telephone features include user-friendly tools for click-to-calling, call logging, call script storage, and texting communication channels. The platform also offers metrics for analyzing calls to monitor the quantity, duration, and outcomes of outgoing phone calls.
While Zendesk Sell provides robust calling tools, it does not currently offer tools for managing projects within the platform. If project management features are necessary for your sales operation, consider Bitrix24 as an alternative.
Pro tip: Do you want to explore more CRM options that offer features for managing and tracking calls? Check out this list of our top recommended call center CRM software.
Zendesk Sell’s Voice call logging feature (Source: Zendesk)
Read our full Zendesk Sell review to learn how this software helps teams streamline their sales processes and close more deals.
Really Simple Systems: Best HubSpot Alternative for Ease-of-Use
Really Simple Systems
Overall Score:
4.07 / 5
What We Like
- Customizable reports and sales forecasting on the free plan
- Platform is easy to navigate; tabs are divided into sales, marketing, or service functions
- Free plan available for two users
What's Missing
- Most marketing features require an add-on
- Lacks integration with social media platforms
- No customer support outside of business hours
How It Compares to HubSpot
- Email campaign scheduling requires additional paid add-on while HubSpot includes this in their free plan
- Offers more customization than HubSpot for data fields, tables, and dashboards
- Paid plans are less expensive than HubSpot’s
- HubSpot has social media integrations while Really Simple Systems does not
For businesses that want a HubSpot alternative with similar usability attributes and a free-forever option, Really Simple Systems is the best choice. HubSpot users find that the interface of Really Simple Systems has comparable features, and minimal buttons and tabs. Plus, it has solid user-experience design principles making the platform easy to navigate.
Really Simple Systems Monthly Pricing (per User) at a Glance*
- Free: Up to two users
- Starter: $14
- Professional: $30
- Enterprise: $46
- Free trial: 14 days
Add-ons
- Simple Marketing: $22 per month (free on Enterprise plan with five or more users)
- Advanced Marketing: $55 per month
- Service Desk: $55 per month (free on Enterprise plan with five or more users)
- Customizations service: Contact provider for a customized quote
*Monthly pricing is based on annual billing. Monthly subscriptions are available at a slightly higher rate.
Really Simple Systems Usability
One of the main reasons both HubSpot and Really Simple Systems are easy to navigate is that each CRM uses a single menu system. HubSpot’s menu is displayed horizontally across the top, while Really Simple Systems displays a vertical menu on the left side. Both layouts make it easy for the user to find the right button or tab to move from various web pages.
Pro tip: Are you looking for simple CRMs that will allow your startup or small business to streamline your sales processes without the extra cost of technical support? We recommend using any of these easy-to-use CRM programs that offer core CRM functionalities like contact and lead management, as well as a beginner-friendly interface.
Learn how this CRM system helps small businesses close more deals and collaborate effectively in our Really Simple Systems review.
Bitrix24: Best HubSpot Alternative With Project Management Features
Bitrix24
Overall Score:
3.03 / 5
What We Like
- Free version for unlimited users
- Supports unlimited leads and deals in the free plan
- Excellent project management features
What's Missing
- User interface is not as intuitive as other options
- Customer support is limited to business hours
- Most automation tools are only available on higher-priced plans
How It Compares to HubSpot
- Bitrix24 has project management tools that aren’t provided by HubSpot
- HubSpot is easier to use than Bitrix24
- More customization options available than HubSpot
- Allows for an unlimited number of deal pipelines on their free plan while HubSpot only allows one pipeline on their free plan
While HubSpot is easier to use and offers an array of marketing features for email campaigns and content management, Bitrix24 is the best HubSpot alternative for businesses that want certain components missing from HubSpot. Some of these components include mass system customization, human resources management tools, and, most notably, project management capabilities.
Pro tip: Do you need a customizable CRM that allows you to efficiently tailor data fields and functionalities according to your business-specific workflows? Read our best choices of customizable CRM software.
Bitrix24 Monthly Pricing at a Glance*
- Free: Unlimited users
- Basic: $39 (up to five users)
- Standard: $79 (up to 50 users)
- Professional: $159 (unlimited users)
Add-ons
- Landline calling: Starts at $0.005 per minute (check all rates here)
- Rent local number: $4.00 to $11.00 per month
- Rent toll-free number (U.S. and U.K.): $6.00 per month
- Rent SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) connector: $49.00 per month
- Call transcription: 5 cents per minute
*Pricing above is based on annual billing. However, you may also pay in full quarterly, annually, or biannually.
Bitrix24 Project Management Tools
For many users, Bitrix24 is their first choice among HubSpot competitors because of the project management tools available in the free plan―tools HubSpot doesn’t offer. Businesses with access to the project management tools included in Bitrix24 can create and view projects through Kanban or Gantt chart views, utilize task time tracking, and assign project owners.
Bitrix24 task management Gantt chart (Source: Bitrix24)
Discover how this CRM helps sales, customer service, and marketing teams collaborate to reach their business goals in our Bitrix24 review.
How We Evaluated the Best Competitors to HubSpot
To determine the top HubSpot competitors, we evaluated CRM systems offered by companies similar to HubSpot, like an easy-to-use interface, a free CRM plan, and tools for generating and deploying mass marketing email campaigns. We also analyzed software feature gaps offered by competitors to HubSpot.
Based on our evaluation, Freshsales is the best alternative to HubSpot. We chose this CRM software for its user-friendly interface, free plan for an unlimited number of users, and sales pipeline customization capabilities that aren’t offered by HubSpot.
The tabs below provide insight into our evaluation process for choosing the best alternatives to HubSpot:
10%
Pricing
10%
General Features
30%
Niche Features
20%
Ease of Use
20%
Help & Support
10%
Expert Score
10% of Overall Score
Cost is typically among the most important criteria for any small business. Plus, with HubSpot offering a free plan, the price was heavily weighted when reviewing the best options. For comparison specific to HubSpot, we considered the availability of a free plan, scalable subscription plans, and monthly billing availability.
10% of Overall Score
We looked at overall features we feel are necessary for a CRM, including reporting and analytics capabilities, tools for managing sales pipelines, and the ability to communicate with leads. We also evaluated each CRM’s mobile application and third-party integrations.
30% of Overall Score
We also looked at the niche and targeted features of the software to see the value a user can get by subscribing. We checked if they offer specialized features such as lead generation and management, email and SMS marketing, marketing automation, and sales forecasting.
20% of Overall Score
Platforms like HubSpot were also evaluated on product usability. This was analyzed in terms of the expertise needed to set up and integrate the CRM with other applications, the skill required to operate the platform, and the intuitiveness of navigating the interface.
20% of Overall Score
Extensive support and service can prevent issues a user might encounter while using any one of these HubSpot alternatives. Help and support were evaluated in terms of customer service hours and the availability of support via phone, live chat, and email.
10% of Overall Score
In addition to firsthand experiences with CRM platforms offered by companies like HubSpot, we evaluated what other users say about each CRM. Based on their reviews, these criteria consider how customers feel to gain insight into platform popularity, ease of use, and overall value for the price.
*Percentages of overall score
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