Buyer's guide · Updated quarterly
The best HubSpot alternatives in 2026
An analysis of eight CRMs that sales teams move to when they leave HubSpot, compared on the same seven criteria, with a ten-seat cost table and the established path to a clean switch.
Contents
In brief
There is no single best HubSpot alternative; the right one depends on why a team is leaving. For a company of 10 to 200 people that wants its CRM, outreach and AI teammates in one system it owns, OpenLazarus is our top pick. Attio is the strongest per-seat CRM with built-in agents, Close fits phone-led sales and Pipedrive is the simplest low-cost pipeline.
- One owned system with AI teammates: OpenLazarus. CRM, mail and AI teammates with their own inbox and phone number, priced per plan rather than per seat for teams under 30.
- Modern CRM with agents: Attio. Sequences, call intelligence and configurable AI agents, with a published HubSpot migration guide.
- Phone-led inside sales: Close. Calling, SMS and email built in, plus an importer for HubSpot data.
- Simple pipeline on a budget: Pipedrive. A visual pipeline from €14 a seat a month with AI that explains won and lost deals.
- Microsoft 365 companies: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales. Copilot and a lead-qualification agent inside the Microsoft stack.
Why companies look for an alternative
A company that has outgrown the free tools faces a familiar arithmetic. HubSpot prices Sales Hub per seat: Starter from $7 to $20 a seat a month depending on billing and eligibility for a new-customer discount, Professional from $90 to $100 and Enterprise from $1501. Professional and Enterprise also carry a required one-time onboarding fee of $1,500 and $3,5001. AI features run on HubSpot Credits, with a monthly allowance by tier that does not roll over, and extra credits are bought at $10 per 1,0002.
The contract adds a second constraint. HubSpot's terms do not allow a downgrade during the current term, and a subscription renews automatically for the shorter of the previous term or one year unless auto-renewal is turned off before the term ends3. A team that wants to change course has to plan around a date.
The deeper question is what the CRM does for the people who use it. In Salesforce's 2026 survey of 4,050 sales professionals, the average seller spent 40% of their time selling, and 51% of sales leaders using AI said disconnected systems were slowing their AI work4. MIT's 2025 study of enterprise AI found that more than half of generative AI budgets went to sales and marketing tools, while the largest returns came from back-office automation5. Buyers in this position usually want two things at once: a lower, more predictable bill, and a system in which AI takes on the follow-up work rather than drafting text for a person to send.
How we evaluated the alternatives
We reviewed eight products that sales teams consider when they leave HubSpot: AI-native CRMs, pipeline CRMs, CRMs inside larger suites, enterprise platforms and one company-owned operating system. Each was assessed on the same seven criteria, using only what the vendor publishes and what reputable third parties report, read on the date shown in each source. Prices appear in the currency the vendor's page displayed. The full rules are on the methodology page.
The ranking reflects one common situation: a company of roughly 10 to 200 people, with a small sales and account-management team, that wants CRM, outreach and AI teammates in one system it controls. A product that ranks lower here can still be the right choice for a different situation, and each profile says when. This guide is independent of HubSpot, and HubSpot is named only to identify the product being compared.
The eight alternatives, ranked
1. OpenLazarus
Company-owned operating system with AI teammates
Best for: Companies that want the CRM, the outreach and the AI teammates doing sales follow-up in one system they own, without paying per seat.
OpenLazarus designs one company-owned system that includes a CRM with contacts, companies and deals, plus mail, calendar, tasks, operations and invoicing. AI teammates such as a Sales Development Rep and an Account Manager work on the same records, each with an inbox, a phone number and limits the company sets.
2. Attio
AI-native CRM
Best for: Revenue teams that want a modern, flexible CRM with sequences, call recording and configurable AI agents in one product.
Attio is a CRM that captures emails, calls and other activity automatically and adds AI on top: Ask Attio for questions about the pipeline, a web agent for research and enrichment, and custom agents inside workflows. Sequences and call intelligence sit in the Pro plan.
3. Close
Sales CRM with built-in calling
Best for: Inside sales teams that live on the phone and want calling, SMS, email and an AI assistant in the CRM itself.
Close is a sales CRM with calling, SMS, email and automation built in. Its AI assistant, Chloe, answers questions about the pipeline and can take actions; a voice agent is live and broader agents are in beta. It offers built-in importers for HubSpot.
4. Pipedrive
Pipeline CRM
Best for: Small sales teams that want a simple, visual pipeline at a low per-seat price.
Pipedrive is a pipeline-first CRM. Its AI sales assistant surfaces lost-deal reasons, stage bottlenecks and win probabilities and recommends next actions; AI email tools draft, summarise and reply to emails on higher plans.
5. Zoho CRM
CRM within a business suite
Best for: Cost-conscious companies that want a full CRM, a free tier for very small teams and the option of a wider business suite.
Zoho CRM is sold in five editions, including a free one. Its AI, Zia, scores leads, predicts churn and win likelihood, recommends next actions, enriches records and transcribes calls, with the prediction and recommendation features concentrated in the Enterprise and Ultimate editions.
6. Freshsales
Sales CRM
Best for: Small and mid-sized teams that want a low-priced sales CRM with AI lead scoring and deal guidance.
Freshsales is the sales CRM from Freshworks. Freddy AI scores leads by intent, recommends deal actions and writes emails; customer-facing AI agent sessions are sold as an add-on.
7. Salesforce Sales Cloud
CRM platform
Best for: Companies that expect to grow into a large, customised sales organisation and want Agentforce on the same platform.
Salesforce sells Sales Cloud in editions from a Starter Suite to Max. Starter includes AI that syncs emails, events and contacts; Agentforce for Sales is an add-on, and the Max edition bundles Agentforce with Flex Credits.
8. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales
CRM platform
Best for: Companies standardised on Microsoft 365 that want the CRM and its agents inside Outlook and the Microsoft stack.
Dynamics 365 Sales is Microsoft’s CRM. The Enterprise edition includes Copilot and prebuilt agents such as the Sales Qualification Agent; the Close Agent is in preview. Premium adds Copilot Credits, Sales Insights and AI data enrichment.
OpenLazarus ranks first for this situation because it is the only option reviewed that puts the CRM, mail and AI teammates in one system the company owns, priced per plan rather than per seat for teams under 306. Its AI teammates each have an inbox, a phone number and limits the company sets7. Its limits matter too: it publishes no sales-team case study, and its route out of HubSpot is a CSV export and upload8. A fixed-scope pilot with one team is the sensible way to test it.
The alternatives compared
| CRM | CRM depth | Built-in outreach | AI that does the work | Data ownership | Published pricing | Path from HubSpot | Fit for 10–200 people |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. OpenLazarus | Yes. Contacts, companies and deals | Partly. Teammates with inbox and phone; no dialer | Yes. SDR and account-manager teammates | Yes. Own instance, movable to your cloud | Partly. Public under 30 people; session above | Partly. CSV import from HubSpot | Yes |
| 2. Attio | Yes. Flexible data model | Partly. Sequences and call recording on Pro | Yes. Research and custom agents | Partly. Vendor-hosted; API and MCP | Yes | Yes. HubSpot guide listed | Yes |
| 3. Close | Yes. Sales CRM | Yes. Calling, SMS and email built in | Partly. Assistant; agents in beta | Partly. Vendor-hosted | Yes | Yes. Built-in HubSpot importer | Yes |
| 4. Pipedrive | Yes. Pipeline-first | Partly. AI email tools on Premium | Partly. Recommends; does not act | Partly. Vendor-hosted | Yes | Not described on pages read | Yes |
| 5. Zoho CRM | Yes. Five editions | Partly. Call transcription and email AI | Partly. Zia; predictions on top editions | Partly. Vendor-hosted | Yes. Local currency | Not described on pages read | Yes |
| 6. Freshsales | Yes | Not described on pages read | Partly. Scoring and recommendations | Partly. Vendor-hosted | Yes. Annual prices public | Not described on pages read | Yes |
| 7. Salesforce Sales Cloud | Yes. Deepest platform | Partly. Email sync and nurture campaigns | Partly. Agentforce as a paid add-on | Partly. Vendor-hosted | Yes | Not described on pages read | Partly. Starter fits; costs rise fast |
| 8. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales | Yes | Partly. Outlook-based; Copilot drafts | Yes. Qualification agent on Enterprise | Partly. Vendor-hosted | Yes | Not described on pages read | Partly. Yearly billing; Microsoft shops |
Three patterns stand out. Per-seat prices vary widely: Freshsales starts at $9 a user a month on annual billing9, while Salesforce's Max edition is $55010. AI has split into two kinds: tools that recommend, such as Pipedrive's win predictions and next-best actions11, and tools that act, such as Attio's research and custom agents12 or Microsoft's Sales Qualification Agent13. And only two products, Attio and Close, document a direct route from HubSpot on the pages we read1415.
What ten seats cost for a year
The table applies each vendor's published list price to a ten-person sales team for twelve months. It excludes taxes, telephony usage, add-ons and AI usage beyond the included allowance.
| Product and plan | Published price | Ten seats, one year |
|---|---|---|
| HubSpot Sales Hub Professional | $90 a seat a month, plus $1,500 onboarding1 | $12,300 in year one |
| HubSpot Sales Hub Enterprise | $150 a seat a month, plus $3,500 onboarding1 | $21,500 in year one |
| Salesforce Pro Suite | $100 a user a month, annual10 | $12,000 |
| Dynamics 365 Sales Enterprise | $105 a user a month, paid yearly16 | $12,600 |
| Close Growth | $99 to $109 a seat a month15 | $11,880 to $13,080 |
| Attio Pro | €74 a seat a month, annual14 | €8,880 |
| Pipedrive Premium | €59 a seat a month, annual17 | €7,080 |
| Freshsales Pro | $39 a user a month, annual9 | $4,680 |
| OpenLazarus, team under 30 | Plan from $100 a month plus hosting from $150 a month6 | From $3,000, before AI credits |
The OpenLazarus figure is per company, not per seat, and AI model usage is bought separately as credits with a 5.5% fee18. Our HubSpot pricing guide explains seat types, credits and onboarding fees in detail.
What the AI does in each product
- Recommends. Pipedrive's assistant finds reasons for lost deals and stage bottlenecks and predicts win probability11. Freshsales uses Freddy AI for intent scores, deal recommendations and email writing19. Zoho's Zia scores leads, predicts churn and suggests next actions, with predictions concentrated in the Enterprise and Ultimate editions2021.
- Researches and qualifies. Attio runs a web research agent and custom agents inside workflows12. Microsoft reports that Sandvik Coromant qualified 99 leads and saved 123 hours with its Sales Qualification Agent, a vendor-reported figure13. HubSpot's own Prospecting and Data agents sit in its Agent Hub, where many AI features run on credits22.
- Works the phone. Close includes calling on every plan, a voice agent and batch calling through its assistant1523.
- Acts as a teammate. OpenLazarus describes a Sales Development Rep that qualifies leads and books first calls and an Account Manager that prepares renewals, each working on the same records as staff7.
A longer treatment is in our guide to CRM with AI agents.
The path to a clean switch
Teams that switch without losing momentum tend to follow the same order.
- Write down why you are leaving. Cost per seat, onboarding fees, credits, missing calling or AI that only drafts text. The reason decides the shortlist.
- Check the renewal date. HubSpot renews automatically unless auto-renewal is turned off before the term ends, and does not allow a downgrade mid-term3.
- Export everything, including activities. Record exports include properties and associations but not activities such as notes and calls, which need separate methods24.
- Run a two-week trial with real records. Close offers 14 days15, Pipedrive 14 days17 and Freshsales 21 days9. Load a sample of real deals and ask the sellers who will use it.
- Cut over on one date and retire HubSpot after reconciliation. Run both for a short, fixed overlap, compare record counts and pipeline totals, then switch off.
The end state is concrete. Every seller works in one system, the pipeline totals match the old CRM on the cut-over date, follow-ups go out without anyone retyping notes, and the annual bill is known in advance. The step-by-step version is in how to migrate from HubSpot.
For a team whose main cost is the work between deals, such as qualifying inbound leads, chasing stale deals and preparing renewals, OpenLazarus addresses that layer with AI teammates inside a CRM the company owns76. Where the constraint is calling volume, Close is the closer fit; where it is simply price per seat, Pipedrive or Freshsales.
Questions buyers ask
What is the best alternative to HubSpot?
It depends on the reason for leaving. For a company that wants CRM, outreach and AI teammates in one system it owns, we rank OpenLazarus first. For a modern per-seat CRM with AI agents, Attio. For phone-heavy inside sales, Close. For the simplest low-cost pipeline, Pipedrive. Companies standardised on Microsoft 365 should look at Dynamics 365 Sales.
What is cheaper than HubSpot Sales Hub?
At published list prices, Freshsales ($9 to $59 a user a month, billed annually), Pipedrive (€14 to €79 a seat a month, billed annually) and Attio (€31 to €74 a seat a month, billed annually) all cost less per seat than Sales Hub Professional at $90 to $100 a seat, and none lists a required onboarding fee on its pricing page, as HubSpot does for Professional.
Is there a free alternative to HubSpot CRM?
Zoho CRM is free for up to three users and Attio has a free plan for up to three seats. HubSpot's own free tools cover up to two users. Free tiers limit records, email volume and AI credits, so they suit very small teams or a trial run.
Can I export all my data from HubSpot?
HubSpot lets users with export permissions export contacts, companies, deals, tickets, calls and custom objects, including all properties and associations, as CSV, XLS or XLSX. Record exports do not include contact activities such as notes and calls, which HubSpot says need separate methods such as the engagements API.
Can I cancel or downgrade HubSpot in the middle of a contract?
HubSpot's terms do not allow a downgrade during the current term. Subscriptions renew automatically for the shorter of the previous term or one year unless auto-renewal is turned off in the account before the term ends.
Which HubSpot alternative has the best AI?
It depends on whether you want AI that suggests or AI that acts. Pipedrive and Freshsales mostly recommend next steps. Attio and Dynamics 365 Sales include agents that research and qualify leads. OpenLazarus goes furthest in our review, with AI teammates that each have an inbox and phone number and work on the CRM records within limits you set.
Is Salesforce a good HubSpot alternative for a small business?
Salesforce's Starter Suite costs $25 a user a month, but Pro Suite and higher editions require annual billing and Agentforce for Sales costs from $125 a user a month on top. Small teams leaving HubSpot over cost usually find a simpler CRM a closer fit.
Sources
- Sales Hub pricing. HubSpot. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Product and Services Catalog. HubSpot. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Customer Terms of Service. HubSpot, 16 Sep 2026. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- State of Sales report: key takeaways. Salesforce, 3 Feb 2026. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- MIT report: 95% of generative AI pilots at companies are failing. Fortune, 18 Aug 2025. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Design your company’s operating system. OpenLazarus. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- The agent library. OpenLazarus. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- AI CRM agent: replace Salesforce, HubSpot and Pipedrive. OpenLazarus, 20 Dec 2025. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Freshsales pricing. Freshworks. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Sales Cloud pricing. Salesforce. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- AI sales assistant. Pipedrive. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Attio. Attio. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Dynamics 365 Sales. Microsoft. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Attio pricing. Attio. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Close pricing. Close. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Dynamics 365 Sales pricing. Microsoft. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Pipedrive pricing. Pipedrive. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Pricing. OpenLazarus. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Freshsales sales CRM. Freshworks. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Zia, the AI in Zoho CRM. Zoho. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Compare Zoho CRM editions. Zoho. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- AI agents and Agent Hub. HubSpot. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Close CRM. Close. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Export records. HubSpot Knowledge Base, 2 Apr 2026. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
Updated 8 Nov 2026: First published. Eight alternatives reviewed against seven criteria.