HubSpot alternatives for startups: what's free, what it really costs and 7 options

A note on transparency. This comparison is written by the GTM Flow team, and GTM Flow is one of the options on the list. We have tried to be fair to all of them, HubSpot included. Prices are the public list prices from each vendor's pricing page, in euros where the vendor publishes European pricing, and every figure links to its source. HubSpot's prices were checked again on 22 October 2026; the dates for each of the others are in the sources at the end.

• To get sequences without paying for a Pro plan: Pipedrive, from Growth.
• For a free plan that holds more people: Zoho CRM, free for up to 3 users.
• To sell over WhatsApp in Spanish-speaking markets: Clientify.
• To work your network and LinkedIn: folk.
• To shape a CRM around your own data model: Attio.
• For email and LinkedIn in a simple CRM: Salesflare.
• For cold email, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and calls in one place: GTM Flow, in early access.

The free CRM is why so many startups begin on HubSpot, and it is a good reason. According to the Sales Hub pricing page, the free plan covers up to 2 users, asks for no card and includes the free marketing, sales, service, content and data tools. These are its limits for selling:

• Templates and snippets: up to 3 email templates per account and up to 3 snippets.
• Meetings: one personal meetings link, with HubSpot branding.
• Reports: 10 dashboards with up to 50 reports each.
• Calls: no minutes included; they start on Starter, with 500.
• Sales automation: no workflows; Starter allows up to 50, with restricted triggers and actions.
• Sequences: not in the free plan and not in Starter either. HubSpot's help article on sequences places them in Sales Hub and Service Hub Professional and Enterprise, with a sales or service seat assigned.

In practice, HubSpot free works while you sell on your own or with a co-founder and prospecting happens by hand or in another tool. The moment to look at alternatives is when you want automated follow-ups by email, a third rep joins, or you need WhatsApp and calls on the customer record.

There are two more costs worth pricing in. The first is WhatsApp: HubSpot's help article on WhatsApp says connecting a WhatsApp Business account to the conversations inbox requires Marketing Hub or Service Hub Professional or Enterprise, so Sales Hub on its own is not enough. It also does not accept personal WhatsApp accounts, only syncs messages received after the connection, and caps template messages at 1,000 a month shared across connected accounts.

The second is LinkedIn: the Sales Navigator integration starts on Pro, and the pricing table itself notes that LinkedIn actions inside sequences require a Sales Navigator subscription. HubSpot also sells credits for its AI features: paid Sales Hub plans include 500 (Starter), 3,000 (Professional) or 5,000 (Enterprise), and extra credits cost $0.010 each on hubspot.com, that is, $10 per 1,000.

As a reference point, our own estimate using public September 2026 list prices is that a team combining HubSpot Starter with a cold email tool such as Instantly, a LinkedIn tool such as HeyReach and a WhatsApp add-on pays between €150 and €250 per user per month. That is the sum worth doing before you choose, with any CRM.

The HubSpot for Startups program, as published on 22 October 2026, has two tiers. Startups that raised pre-seed, seed or Series A, but not Series B or later, and that are affiliated with an approved partner or have verified venture funding, are eligible for 90% off in year one, 50% in year two and 25% in year three. Startups tied to an approved entrepreneurial organization are eligible for 30% off in year one and 15% in year two. It applies only to net-new Professional or Enterprise products and requires an annual commitment.

• Funded startup that qualifies and wants HubSpot's marketing tools too: HubSpot for Startups is hard to beat in year one. Budget for the price stepping back up in years two to four, when moving your data is harder.
• Bootstrapped small business or a startup with no verified funding: you pay list price. Three seats on Pipedrive Growth cost €1,404 a year, on Salesflare Pro €1,764 and on Zoho CRM Standard €504, all billed annually (prices in the comparison table below, with their dates). Pipedrive and Salesflare show no onboarding fee on their pricing pages. For a team of five reps, our CRM for small sales teams comparison does the same sum against HubSpot Starter and Close.
• Small business that sells over WhatsApp: HubSpot's WhatsApp inbox needs Marketing Hub or Service Hub Professional on top of Sales Hub; Clientify includes it in one plan.
• Founder still doing every sale yourself: start on a free plan and read our guide to choosing a CRM as a founder before paying for seats you do not need yet.

If what you are missing is less a cheaper HubSpot and more a CRM where the call notes, the next step and the outreach live on the same record, look at the AI CRM for startups in GTM Flow. It is in early access, and its planned pricing is public.

1. Shop for the feature, not the plan. If you need sequences, compare the plan that includes them in each tool: in HubSpot that is Sales Hub Pro, in Pipedrive it is Growth, in Attio it is Pro and in folk it is Premium.
2. Count the users you will have in a year. A free plan for 2 or 3 users stops working the moment the first rep joins.
3. List the channels you use today. Email, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and phone. Write down which ones the CRM solves and which will stay in another tool with its own bill.
4. Ask about one-off and variable costs. Mandatory onboarding, AI credits, phone numbers or WhatsApp messages change the final number.
5. Decide how much marketing you need. If you run email marketing, landing pages and forms, HubSpot or Clientify make sense; if you sell one to one, a lighter sales CRM is usually enough.

If you are a founder still running sales yourself, our guide to founder-led sales helps you work out what you need before you pay for it.

1. Clean up before exporting. Merge duplicates and archive contacts you will not work: migrating dirty data only moves it somewhere else.
2. Export each object from its list view. Go to, say, CRM > Contacts, hit Export at the top right of the table and choose CSV, XLS or XLSX, as HubSpot's help article on exporting records explains.
3. Include every property and association. Under Customize you can pick all properties and associations rather than just the columns in the view, so you do not lose the links between contacts, companies and deals.
4. Download in time. HubSpot emails you a link that expires after 30 days. Above a million rows in CSV or XLSX, you will get several compressed files.
5. Handle activities separately. The record export does not include activities such as calls or notes; HubSpot's help points you to exporting individual contact data, certain reports or its API.
6. Import in order and run both for a few days. Companies first, then contacts and finally deals. Keep HubSpot read-only for a week or two before you cancel.

GTM Flow imports CSV files, including HubSpot and Pipedrive exports, syncs with Pipedrive over its API, and during early access we help you bring the data over, so the pipeline, deals and call notes start with your history. If part of your data sits in Pipedrive, our Pipedrive alternatives comparison covers how to export it.

• Stay on HubSpot if you also do marketing, the free plan is enough for you, you already pay for Marketing Hub or Service Hub Pro, which is what its WhatsApp integration requires, or you are a funded startup that qualifies for 90% off Professional through HubSpot for Startups.
• Pipedrive if you want sequences without HubSpot Pro's onboarding fee: Growth costs €39 per seat per month billed annually.
• Zoho CRM if you want to stay on a free plan with up to 3 users, or to have sequences from €14 per user per month billed annually.
• Clientify if your customers message you on WhatsApp and you want marketing and Spanish-language support in the same plan.
• folk if you sell through your network and LinkedIn is your main channel.
• Attio if your team wants to build its own data model and start free with up to 3 seats.
• Salesflare if you prospect mostly by email and want LinkedIn alongside it without typing data in.
• GTM Flow if you want cold email, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and calls in a single tool, with AI agents that act on every reply. You cannot buy it today: join the GTM Flow waitlist and we will get in touch in sign-up order. The planned pricing is public.

Whichever you pick, read our guide to B2B cold email before you switch sequences on: your own mailboxes, warm-up and unsubscribe handling are what decide whether your emails reach the inbox.