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HubSpot alternatives for small service businesses

Short answer

If per-seat pricing is the problem, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM and Less Annoying CRM all list lower per-seat prices than HubSpot’s Professional tier. An open-source CRM such as Twenty drops license fees if you can host it, and a custom CRM ends seat fees entirely. Stay with HubSpot if your team lives in its marketing tools.

  • Last reviewed October 2026
  • Prices from each vendor’s own site. See sources
  • Disclosure: OWNIT builds custom software, one of the options here
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What per-seat pricing adds up to

HubSpot prices its paid plans per seat. Sales Hub Professional is its mid-tier sales plan. Set your team size to see what the list price adds up to.

  • Every person who edits records needs a paid seat. View-only seats are free.
  • Professional adds a one-time onboarding fee of $1,500.
  • The math below leaves out tax, add-ons and promotions, so a real quote can differ.
Seat mathHubSpot Sales Hub Professional, list price
Billing
10 seats × $90 × 12 months
$10,800
One-time onboarding fee
$1,500
Year one
$12,300
Each extra seat adds
$1,080 a year

Running total, year by year

  1. Year 1$12,300
  2. Year 2$23,100
  3. Year 3$33,900
  4. Year 4$44,700
  5. Year 5$55,500

Source: hubspot.com/pricing/sales, checked October 2026.

HubSpot and five alternatives, side by side

The five things that decide whether a CRM still makes sense in three years: how you pay, who owns what, how you leave, where the limits are, and who it suits.

HubSpot and five alternatives, side by side. Prices as of October 2026.
OptionPricing modelWho owns data and codeLock-in and exitLimits to knowBest for
HubSpotPer-seat suitePer seat, by tier. Free for up to 2 users. Sales Hub Professional from $90 per seat a month billed annually, plus a $1,500 onboarding fee.Your records, HubSpot’s software, used under HubSpot’s terms.Records export to CSV or Excel on every plan. Workflows, sequences and reports are HubSpot features, so they are rebuilt elsewhere.Features are gated by tier, and AI features draw on a monthly allowance of HubSpot Credits.Teams that run marketing, sales and service in one suite and use most of it.
PipedrivePer-seat CRMPer seat, four tiers from Lite to Ultimate. From $14 per seat a month billed annually; prices vary by region.Your data, Pipedrive’s software.Your data can be exported. Automations and pipeline setup are rebuilt in whatever you move to.Usage limits on items like deals, reports and automations, with paid top-ups from the Growth plan.Sales-led teams who work from a visual pipeline.
Zoho CRMPer-user CRMPer user. Free for up to 3 users; paid editions from $14 per user a month billed annually in the US.Your data, Zoho’s software.Your data can be exported. Custom modules and workflows are Zoho-specific and get rebuilt.Deep customization takes admin time, and advanced features sit in higher editions.Budget-minded teams, especially ones already using other Zoho apps.
Less Annoying CRMFlat per-user CRMOne plan at $15 per user a month. No tiers and no contracts.Your data, their software.Month to month with no contract, so leaving is simple.Deliberately simple. They suggest staying under roughly 50,000 contacts.Small teams who want a plain contact and follow-up tracker.
Open-source CRM (Twenty)Open sourceSelf-host the open-source core for free, or use Twenty’s cloud from $9 per user a month.Self-hosted, you run the code on your own server and the database is yours.Your database is yours, so you can take it anywhere.Someone has to host, secure, back up and update it.Teams with technical help who want control without license fees.
Custom CRM by OWNITBuilt and ownedOne-time build at a fixed price agreed before work starts. No per-seat fees. Optional care plan.You own the code and the database, in accounts in your name.Full export any time. Documented, so any developer can pick it up.An upfront cost and a few weeks to build, and it needs ongoing care.Service businesses with their own process and a team that keeps growing.

List prices in US dollars unless marked, from each vendor’s site in October 2026, before tax, add-ons and promotions. Sources

30 minutes. We will tell you honestly if renting is the better deal for you.

Each option, described fairly

Every one of these is a good product for someone. Here is what each does well, what to watch, and what it costs today.

HubSpot

Per-seat suite

The broadest suite here: marketing, sales, service and content tools sharing one customer database.

Strong at

  • One database across marketing, sales and service
  • A free plan for up to 2 users
  • Free view-only seats for people who only need to look

Watch for

  • The bill rises with every paid seat
  • Professional and Enterprise carry one-time onboarding fees of $1,500 and $3,500
  • Many features, and the HubSpot Credits allowance, are set by tier

Price check, October 2026Sales Hub Professional from $90 per seat a month billed annually ($100 monthly) plus $1,500 onboarding. Enterprise from $150 per seat a month plus $3,500 onboarding. Starter is listed at $20 per seat a month, with new-customer offers at the time of review. Source

Pipedrive

Per-seat CRM

A sales pipeline tool first, with a clean visual board that keeps deals moving.

Strong at

  • A visual pipeline that is quick to learn
  • A 14-day free trial with no credit card
  • 500+ integrations, including Zapier and Zoom

Watch for

  • Charged per seat, whether or not the seat is assigned to someone
  • Usage limits and paid top-ups on deals, reports and automations
  • Price depends on your region and billing cycle

Price check, October 2026From $14 per seat a month billed annually (Lite), with four tiers up to Ultimate. Source

Zoho CRM

Per-user CRM

A highly customizable CRM with a free edition and the wider Zoho suite behind it.

Strong at

  • Free for up to 3 users
  • Custom modules and fields from the Standard edition
  • Connects to the rest of the Zoho suite

Watch for

  • Setup and customization take admin time
  • Per-user pricing still grows with the team
  • Prices and taxes vary by country

Price check, October 2026Free for up to 3 users. Paid editions from $14 per user a month billed annually in the US; local prices vary. Source

Less Annoying CRM

Flat per-user CRM

A deliberately simple CRM at one flat price, built for small businesses.

Strong at

  • One plan with every feature included
  • A 30-day free trial with no credit card
  • No contracts

Watch for

  • Still priced per user, so cost grows with the team
  • Built to stay simple, so it is not a marketing suite

Price check, October 2026$15 per user a month, plus applicable tax. Source

Open-source CRM (Twenty)

Open source

An open-source CRM you can run on your own server or use as a hosted service.

Strong at

  • Self-host the open-source core for free
  • Your data stays on infrastructure you control
  • Paid cloud plans if you would rather not host it

Watch for

  • Self-hosting means patches, backups and uptime are on you
  • SSO and row-level permissions sit in the paid Organization plan

Price check, October 2026Self-hosted core free. Cloud Pro $9 and Organization $19 per user a month. Source

Custom CRM by OWNIT

Our option

A CRM built around your stages, fields and follow-ups, that you own outright.

Strong at

  • No per-seat fees, so the whole team can use it
  • Code and database in accounts in your name
  • We migrate your data from HubSpot, Pipedrive or Salesforce

Watch for

  • You pay for the build up front
  • Go-live takes weeks, not days
  • Hosting, updates and backups need a plan, ours or someone else’s

How we priceA fixed price agreed in writing before work starts. You get an honest ballpark on a free call.

When HubSpot is the right choice

Switching has a cost. Stay where you are if most of these sound like you.

  • Your marketing team runs email, landing pages and campaigns in HubSpot every day, and sales needs to see that activity.
  • Your team is small and stable, so per-seat costs stay predictable.
  • You want one vendor for marketing, sales and service, with its app marketplace and partners.
  • Nobody on your team wants to own software, even with someone else maintaining it.
  • The free plan covers you: two users and the basics.

How OWNIT does it

Own the CRM instead of renting seats

We build a CRM around how you sell: your stages, your fields, your follow-ups. It runs in accounts in your name, so the code and every record are yours, and adding a person never changes the price. You pay once for the build, at a fixed price agreed in writing before work starts. Hosting and support are an optional monthly plan.

See custom CRMs
Run your own numbers

You own

  • The code
  • The database and every record
  • The automations and reports
  • The right to host it anywhere

You still pay for

  • Hosting, on your own account or our care plan
  • Third-party services you choose, like SMS or email sending, at their rates
  • Changes after launch, unless they are in your care plan

Questions, answered

Short, straight answers. Anything else, ask us on a free call.

Go deeper in the OWNIT Journal

Custom CRM or HubSpot? How small businesses should decide
What is the best HubSpot alternative for a small business?

It depends on what you use HubSpot for. For a simple pipeline, Pipedrive or Less Annoying CRM cost less per seat. For a broad suite on a budget, Zoho CRM. If per-seat fees are the real problem and your process is specific to you, a custom CRM you own removes them for good.

Is HubSpot free?

HubSpot has a free plan for up to 2 users with basic CRM tools. Paid plans are priced per seat, and Professional and Enterprise add one-time onboarding fees of $1,500 and $3,500, as listed in October 2026.

Can we move our data out of HubSpot?

Yes. HubSpot lets you export records such as contacts, companies and deals to CSV or Excel on every plan. Workflows, sequences and reports are HubSpot features, so they need to be rebuilt in whatever you move to.

How does a custom CRM compare on cost?

A custom CRM is a one-time build priced on your pipelines, automations and integrations, with no per-seat fees afterwards. Compare it with your seat count times the per-seat price over three to five years. Our own vs rent calculator does that math with your numbers.

Will we lose features if we leave HubSpot?

Possibly. HubSpot bundles marketing, sales and service tools. List what your team uses every week before you switch, and if marketing automation is central to how you work, plan for its replacement too.

How long does a move to a custom CRM take?

Most CRMs we build go live in weeks, not months, depending on scope and how much data moves across. Contacts, companies, deals and history come with you, mapped to your new pipeline.

Sources

We checked every price and feature above on the vendor’s own website in October 2026. Prices change and some vary by region, so confirm on the vendor’s page before you buy. If something here is out of date, tell us at hello@ownit24.com and we will fix it.

Keep comparing

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