CentriWebMost people looking for HubSpot alternatives have hit the same point: the free tools or Starter worked, and the next tier up costs several times more, plus a one-time onboarding fee. The usual alternatives are Zoho CRM for sales features at a lower per-user price, Pipedrive for a focused sales pipeline, GoHighLevel for a flat price with texting and booking built in, and ActiveCampaign for email marketing. Before switching, check whether you need the higher tier at all.
Facts below come from each vendor’s own pages as at November 2026. Check their page for current prices. HubSpot says its prices are in US dollars; other vendors show bare “$” amounts, so confirm the currency. CentriWeb builds many client systems on GoHighLevel, one of the options here, so weigh our view with that in mind.
Where HubSpot’s price jumps
HubSpot’s low end is generous. Its CRM pricing page lists free tools for up to two users and 1,000 contacts, and Starter at $20 a seat a month at the standard price, with new-customer discounts shown.
The jump comes at Professional, usually because a team wants more automation, reporting or marketing tools:
- Sales Hub. Professional is listed at $90 to $100 a seat a month depending on billing, plus a required $1,500 onboarding fee. Enterprise is $150 a seat with a $3,500 fee.
- Marketing Hub. Professional is listed at $800 to $890 a month with three core seats and 2,000 marketing contacts, plus a $3,000 onboarding fee. Enterprise is $3,600 a month with a $7,000 fee.
A worked example with those figures: a team of five moving from Starter to Sales Hub Professional, billed annually, goes from about 5 × $20 × 12 = $1,200 a year at the standard Starter price to 5 × $90 × 12 = $5,400, plus $1,500 onboarding, in year one. Our guide to HubSpot pricing covers each hub in detail.
First, do you need the next tier?
Switching CRMs takes weeks of work. Before you start, check what’s pushing you up:
- One feature. If it’s a single workflow or report, an automation tool or a marketplace app may fill the gap for less.
- More seats. If only some people work in the CRM daily, check whether the others need a paid seat at all, or just a weekly report.
- Texting. HubSpot’s SMS guide says its own SMS sends only from US numbers to US and Canadian recipients. An Australian business needs a third-party app either way, so that alone isn’t a reason to upgrade.
If the answer is still “we need Professional”, compare it against the alternatives below on a full first-year cost.
HubSpot alternatives at a glance
| What it is | How it charges | Who maintains it | Who it suits | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zoho CRM | Sales CRM in five editions | Free for three users, then per user by edition | An owner who enjoys configuring, or a partner | Teams wanting mid-tier features for less |
| Pipedrive | Pipeline-first sales CRM | Subscription plans plus add-ons | The sales manager | B2B sales teams |
| GoHighLevel | All-in-one CRM, texting, calls, booking, websites | Flat monthly, unlimited users, plus usage | Usually an agency | Local businesses with many logins |
| ActiveCampaign | Email marketing with CRM | Plans by contact count | A marketer or the owner | Email-led follow-up |
Zoho CRM: similar features, lower step-ups
Zoho’s pricing page lists a free edition for up to three users, then Standard, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate, each per user per month. It didn’t render those figures when we opened it, so check them there. It says annual billing saves up to 34%. Standard already lists workflows, reports, dashboards and forecasting.
For businesses leaving HubSpot partly over data location, Zoho’s data centre page lists Sydney and Melbourne. Our Zoho CRM vs HubSpot comparison goes deeper.
Pipedrive: a focused sales pipeline
If your team uses HubSpot mainly for deals, Pipedrive is built around exactly that. Its features page lists pipeline management, email tools, automation, AI help, mobile apps and more than 500 integrations, with a 14-day trial and no free version. Its pricing page wouldn’t open for us, so check plans and add-ons there. Calling and SMS come through marketplace apps. Our Pipedrive vs HubSpot comparison covers the swap.
GoHighLevel: a flat price with texting built in
GoHighLevel’s pricing page lists Starter at $97 a month and Unlimited at $297 a month, with unlimited users and contacts, plus usage charges for phone numbers, SMS, email and premium AI. For a team of ten that all need logins, a flat plan changes the sum a lot: ten people on Starter is still $97 a month before usage, where ten Sales Hub Professional seats at $90 would be $900 a month. Usage for texts, calls and email then has to be estimated and added, and for a busy business it can be a real line on the bill. Two-way SMS, calling, booking calendars, forms and reviews are built in.
The trade-offs: usage makes the bill vary month to month, it’s built for agencies so most businesses use it through one, and its security overview says its infrastructure is in the United States.
ActiveCampaign: if email does most of the work
If you use HubSpot mainly for email sequences and newsletters, ActiveCampaign’s pricing page lists Starter, Plus, Pro and Enterprise plans priced from a base of 1,000 contacts, with one to five users depending on plan and SMS as an add-on. It didn’t show dollar figures when we opened it, so check there. Price climbs with your list size rather than your team size.
Match the alternative to your reason for leaving
The reason you’re looking matters more than any feature list. Pick the row that sounds most like you:
- “The seat price is killing us as we hire.” A flat-priced platform keeps the subscription the same as the team grows. Budget for usage on top, and compare a full year.
- “We only use the pipeline.” A pipeline-first tool does that job with less to learn. Keep your existing email and phone tools and connect them.
- “We need automation but not Professional prices.” Zoho’s middle editions list workflows and process automation at per-user prices. Check the figure for your currency.
- “Our follow-up is mostly email.” An email-first platform priced by contacts may cost less if your team is small and your list is modest.
- “We need texting in Australia.” Either add an SMS app to whatever CRM you choose, or pick a platform with two-way SMS built in.
For a builder or a trade business, also ask whether the problem is the CRM at all. If enquiries arrive fine but quotes go quiet, the fix is a follow-up sequence, which most of these tools can run. Building businesses often need that before they need a new platform. Our guide to what a CRM costs in Australia shows how to compare the first-year totals once you have a shortlist.
When a system built and looked after for you fits better
In our experience, many HubSpot accounts that feel too expensive are under-used: a few pipelines, some forms, and automations nobody trusts. Moving to a cheaper tool won’t fix that on its own. A system built and maintained for your business starts with the part that costs you most, such as quotes that never get chased, and connects it to what you keep. Our CRM setup work does that on HubSpot or any of the alternatives here.
It doesn’t suit everyone. If you’re a small team on HubSpot’s free tools or Starter and it does the job, stay there. If you enjoy running the CRM yourself, the self-serve options above are built for you.
How to move off HubSpot cleanly
- Export contacts, companies, deals, notes and email history, and check the files open properly.
- List every form, workflow, sequence and integration, and note which ones you actually use.
- Check your contract end date and notice period before you give notice.
- Rebuild in the new tool, run both in parallel for two weeks, then switch.
- Update website forms and email signatures that point at HubSpot.