Zoho CRM as a HubSpot alternative: a full CRM with a free tier

Contents

1. What Zoho CRM does
2. Published evidence
3. Strengths and limits
4. Pricing
5. Questions to ask Zoho
6. Sources

Type	CRM within a business suite
Pricing	Published
Website	zoho.com

Zoho CRM is sold in Free, Standard, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate editions. The free edition covers up to three users permanently⁠1Zoho CRM pricingZoho.

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.

Not the right fit for: Teams that want the advanced AI predictions without buying the Enterprise or Ultimate edition.

What Zoho CRM does

Its AI, Zia, ranks leads by likelihood to convert, predicts churn and deal outcomes, recommends products and next actions, enriches records from the web and signatures, and transcribes calls with sentiment summaries⁠2Zia, the AI in Zoho CRMZoho. Zoho's edition comparison places the prediction builder, recommendation generator and churn prediction in Enterprise and Ultimate, with higher limits in Ultimate⁠3Compare Zoho CRM editionsZoho.

Zoho shows prices in the visitor's local currency, with lower rates on annual billing, so the figure a buyer sees depends on region⁠3Compare Zoho CRM editionsZoho. Lite users are available on Enterprise and Ultimate for accounts with at least 25 regular licences⁠3Compare Zoho CRM editionsZoho.

Published evidence

No case studies with named customers are published.

Strengths and limits

Strengths

• A permanent free edition for up to three users.
• Zia covers scoring, churn and win predictions, recommendations, enrichment and call transcription.
• Part of a wider suite, so other business apps can be added later.

Limits

• The edition comparison shows Zia’s prediction features only in Enterprise and Ultimate.
• Prices are shown in the visitor’s local currency, which makes comparison across regions harder.
• A HubSpot migration route is not described on the pages we read.

Choose another option if: You want AI agents included on a mid-priced plan (Attio), or built-in calling (Close).

Pricing

Published in local currency; free for up to 3 users; Standard, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate priced per user a month, cheaper on annual billing.

Questions to ask Zoho

• What is the price in our billing currency, monthly and annual?
• Which Zia features would we lose on Professional compared with Enterprise?
• What does Zoho provide to import HubSpot deals with their associations?

See how Zoho CRM compares with the other alternatives in the main guide.

Sources

1. Zoho CRM pricing. Zoho. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
2. Zia, the AI in Zoho CRM. Zoho. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
3. Compare Zoho CRM editions. Zoho. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.

Further reading

• Buyer's guide · Updated quarterlyThe best HubSpot alternatives in 2026An 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.
• Guide · PricingHubSpot pricing by seat in 2026, explainedHubSpot's bill is built from seat types, onboarding fees, credits and contact tiers. This is how each part works, what a typical team pays and how the alternatives price instead.
• Guide · CRM and AICRM with AI agents in 2026, what the AI actually doesEvery CRM now advertises AI. The useful distinction is between AI that writes, AI that recommends and AI that acts on records, and each comes with its own costs and controls.