HubSpot is a customer platform built on a free CRM, with paid "Hubs" for marketing, sales, customer service, content and operations. Its appeal is that every tool writes to the same contact timeline, removing the integration work that a stack of separate point tools creates.
HubSpot ranking and coverage
- In Sales
- #1 of 11 tied
- Overall
- #18 of 122 tied
- Terms score
- 7.4 /10
- Referenced here
- 14 pages
Cost position 9.1 · Portability 5 · Subscription flexibility 8 - Ranked on published terms only: entry price against category peers, portability and subscription flexibility, equally weighted. This is not a quality score.How the rank is calculated.
HubSpot: the short answer
Every line below is drawn from facts verified on 19 August 2026.
- What it is
- CRM platform bundling marketing, sales, service and CMS around one contact record
- Best for
- B2B teams wanting marketing and sales on one record
- Starts at
- Free CRM; Starter from $7/month per seat billed annually ($20 monthly)
- Free option
- Free plan available, 14 days on most Professional products trial
- Biggest strength
- Free CRM is unusually capable, though the pricing page now caps it at 2 users
- Biggest drawback
- The step from Starter to Professional is steep, and carries a required onboarding fee
- Based on
- Primary-source research, not hands-on use
- Closest alternative
- Pipedrive - Much cheaper and simpler if you only need a sales pipeline
- True annual cost
- from $84 a year on Starter, the cheapest paid tier ($7 a month)
HubSpot at a glance
| Best for | B2B teams wanting marketing and sales on one record, Companies replacing three or four disconnected point tools, Sales managers needing pipeline reporting without an admin |
|---|---|
| Category | Sales, Marketing, AI |
| Starting price | Free CRM; Starter from $7/month per seat billed annually ($20 monthly) |
| Free plan | Yes |
| Free trial | 14 days on most Professional products |
| Pricing model | subscription |
| Company | HubSpot, Inc. |
| Founded | 2006 |
| Headquarters | Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States |
| Founders | Brian Halligan, Dharmesh Shah |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android |
| Public API | Yes |
| Browser extension | Yes |
| Mobile apps | iOS + Android |
| Self-hosting | No |
| Affiliate programme | Reported 30% recurring commission for up to one year on referred sales |
| Data source | Vendor pricing page and public records |
| Last checked | August 2026 |
HubSpot pricing
Prices below were read from the vendor's own pricing page on 19 August 2026. Pricing model: subscription. Free trial: 14 days on most Professional products.
| Plan | Price | Billing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | per month | Contacts, deals, forms, live chat and basic email with HubSpot branding. Free for up to 2 users, per the pricing page read on 19 August 2026 |
| Starter | $7 | per month | per seat, billed annually - $20 per seat paying monthly |
| Sales Hub Professional | $90 | per month | per seat, billed annually - $100 per seat paying monthly, plus a required one-time Professional Onboarding fee of $1,500 |
| Sales Hub Enterprise | $150 | per month | per seat, billed annually - Plus a required one-time Enterprise Onboarding fee of $3,500 |
| Marketing Hub Professional | $800 | per month | $890 paying monthly, including 3 core seats; additional core seats from $45. Plus a required one-time Professional Onboarding fee of $3,000 |
| Marketing Hub Enterprise | $3,600 | per month | Additional core seats from $75. Plus a required one-time Enterprise Onboarding fee of $7,000 |
| HubSpot Credits | $9 | per usage | Per 1,000 credits when paid annually, for agent and AI actions |
What HubSpot actually costs over a year
A monthly price is not the same thing as a monthly contract. These are the plans above resolved both ways, per seat or unit where the plan is charged that way. Where a vendor quotes only a yearly figure it is divided by twelve rather than left out, and the Quoted column says which figure the vendor actually publishes.
| Plan | Quoted | Monthly | Over 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starterper seat, billed annually | per month | $7 | $84 |
| Sales Hub Professionalper seat, billed annually | per month | $90 | $1,080 |
| Sales Hub Enterpriseper seat, billed annually | per month | $150 | $1,800 |
| Marketing Hub Professional | per month | $800 | $9,600 |
| Marketing Hub Enterprise | per month | $3,600 | $43,200 |
Which HubSpot plan should you buy?
| Your situation | Recommended | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You need a CRM and have no budget | Free | Contacts, deals, forms and live chat at no cost, for up to 2 users, with HubSpot branding as the trade. |
| You want branding removed and basic automation | Starter | $7 per seat billed annually, or $20 monthly. Cheap and genuinely useful. |
| You need real marketing automation and reporting | Marketing Hub Professional | $800 a month including three core seats, plus a required $3,000 onboarding fee. This is the cliff, and it is where most HubSpot budget shock happens. |
| You need sales automation, sequences and forecasting | Sales Hub Professional | $90 a seat billed annually, plus a required $1,500 onboarding fee. Cheaper per seat than the Marketing Hub bundle, and a different purchase. |
| You are consolidating three or four point tools | A Professional hub, priced per hub | Justifiable when it replaces separate email, CRM, forms and reporting subscriptions. |
| You only need email marketing | Do not buy HubSpot | MailerLite or Brevo do that for a fraction. Professional is not an email tool purchase. |
| You cannot commit annually | Reconsider | Monthly billing costs materially more, and the Professional tiers assume annual terms. |
Verdict by who you are
B2B team wanting one customer recordYes
Marketing and sales on the same record genuinely removes the handover problems that separate tools create.
Startup with no CRM at allYes
Start on Free. It costs nothing and is better than the spreadsheet you are using.
Small business needing newslettersNo
Vastly more platform than the job needs, at a price that reflects that.
Sales manager needing pipeline reportingYes
Reporting works without an administrator, which is the main advantage over Salesforce.
Company with a highly bespoke sales processCompare first
HubSpot has opinions. Salesforce is more configurable if your process genuinely is unusual.
Should you buy HubSpot?
Buy HubSpot if…
- B2B teams wanting marketing and sales on one record
- Companies replacing three or four disconnected point tools
- Sales managers needing pipeline reporting without an admin
Do not buy HubSpot if…
- Very small teams who only need email marketing
- Buyers who cannot commit to annual contracts
- Highly bespoke sales processes needing deep customisation
Key features
- Free CRM with contact, company and deal records
- Marketing email, landing pages and forms
- Workflow automation across marketing and sales
- Sequences and meeting scheduling for sales
- Ticketing and knowledge base for support
- Content Hub for hosting a website and blog
- Reporting dashboards and revenue attribution
- Large app marketplace and open APIs
Integrations
- Gmail and Outlook
- Slack
- Salesforce
- Shopify
- Zoom
- Canva
- WordPress
- HubSpot API and app marketplace
HubSpot screenshots
Captured by us in August 2026 at 1440px, unedited. Interfaces change, so these show the product as it looked on the date we verified this profile. Pricing pages are captured from a US vantage point, so the currency shown matches the USD figures recorded above.
Our assessment
HubSpot's free CRM is one of the best pieces of free software in B2B, and it is a legitimate reason to start here. The commercial model is the thing to understand before committing: the Starter tiers are cheap and genuinely useful, but the capabilities most marketing teams actually want - real automation, custom reporting, attribution - sit in Professional, where the price step is large and often accompanied by a mandatory onboarding fee and an annual term. It is excellent value as a consolidation play and poor value as a single-purpose tool.
What works in HubSpot
- Free CRM is unusually capable, though the pricing page now caps it at 2 users
- One contact timeline across marketing, sales and support removes integration work
- Reporting is strong without needing a dedicated administrator
- Very large marketplace and well-documented APIs
What doesn't
- The step from Starter to Professional is steep, and carries a required onboarding fee
- Marketing contact tiers make costs unpredictable as lists grow
- Annual commitments and onboarding fees are common at Professional and above
- Overkill and overpriced if you only need email marketing
EveryAny Decision Score
3 of these 8 dimensions are calculated from verified facts; the rest are our judgement, shown as a band rather than a figure unless something specific sits behind them. How each score works.
- Cost position9.1/10
derivedentry tier at $7 a month against a category median of $24 a month across 11 comparable tools
- Portability5/10
derivedpublic API
- Subscription flexibility8/10
derivedfree plan, free trial, subscription, monthly billing
- Feature depthVery high
editorialour judgement, with no measurement behind it
- Ease of learningHigh
editorialour judgement, with no measurement behind it
- CollaborationHigh
editorialour judgement, with no measurement behind it
- AI capabilityHigh
editorialour judgement, with no measurement behind it
- Professional adoptionVery high
editorialour judgement, with no measurement behind it
What leaving HubSpot would cost
moderate lock-in
HubSpot scores on public API. Portability 5/10 ; lock-in is the inverse. How this is calculated.
HubSpot competitors and alternatives
| Alternative | Why you might pick it instead |
|---|---|
| Pipedrive | Much cheaper and simpler if you only need a sales pipeline. |
| Salesforce | More configurable and more expensive, and needs an administrator. |
| Zoho CRM | Broad suite at a far lower price point, with a less polished experience. |
Mailchimp
Marketing
Email marketing and automation platform aimed at small and mid-sized businesses.
Checked Aug 2026
Apollo.io
Sales
B2B contact database combined with outbound sequencing and light CRM.
Checked Aug 2026
The free CRM is not a demo
Unlike most free tiers, HubSpot’s free CRM is a working product: unlimited users on core records, contact and company management, deal pipelines, forms, live chat and basic email. Small teams run on it for years. HubSpot’s bet is that once your customer data lives there, buying the paid Hubs is the path of least resistance. That bet is usually correct, which is worth knowing going in.
Where the money actually is
The pricing conversation that catches people out is not Starter - it is Professional, and which hub you buy it in changes the number completely. Read on 19 August 2026:
| Professional tier | Price | Required onboarding fee |
|---|---|---|
| Sales Hub | $90 per seat/month, billed annually | $1,500 one-time |
| Marketing Hub | $800/month including 3 core seats | $3,000 one-time |
The onboarding fees are not optional extras: HubSpot describes them as required, and they are footnoted rather than shown in the headline figure. Enterprise raises both - $150 a seat with a $3,500 fee on Sales Hub, $3,600 a month with a $7,000 fee on Marketing Hub.
Marketing contacts, explained
Paid marketing tiers include an allowance of marketing contacts - the ones you can email or target. You can store far more contacts than that at no cost, but moving a stored contact to marketing status consumes allowance. Growing lists therefore create step increases in cost that do not appear on the pricing page as such.
When consolidation is the right call
HubSpot makes sense when you are currently paying for a CRM, an email tool, a scheduling tool and a form tool, and none of them talk to each other. Add those invoices up before comparing. It makes much less sense as a replacement for Mailchimp alone.
HubSpot questions, answered
- Is HubSpot worth it?
- HubSpot's free CRM is one of the best pieces of free software in B2B, and it is a legitimate reason to start here.
- How much does HubSpot cost?
- Free CRM; Starter from $7/month per seat billed annually ($20 monthly). The cheapest paid tier we recorded is Starter, published at $7 a month, which works out at $7 a month or $84 over a year. Verified against the vendor's pricing page.
- Does HubSpot have a free plan or free trial?
- HubSpot has a free plan. A free trial is available: 14 days on most Professional products.
- What is the best HubSpot alternative?
- It depends on the job. Pipedrive: Much cheaper and simpler if you only need a sales pipeline. Salesforce: More configurable and more expensive, and needs an administrator. Zoho CRM: Broad suite at a far lower price point, with a less polished experience.
- Can I self-host HubSpot?
- No. HubSpot is a hosted service only, so your data lives on the vendor's infrastructure.
What this profile is based on
Every claim below is about our work, not about HubSpot. A "no" is recorded rather than omitted, because the difference between a tested review and careful desk research is the reader's to weigh. How we research a profile.
-
Prices read from the vendor : yes
Read from HubSpot's own pricing page on 19 August 2026
-
Plans and terms recorded : yes
7 rows, each with its billing period
-
Original screenshots : yes
2 captured by us: homepage, pricing page
-
Sources cited and dated : yes
5 primary sources, each with the date it was read
-
Product used first-hand : no
Not tested. This profile is desk research from primary sources
-
Alternatives used first-hand : no
None, so comparisons here rest on published facts rather than use
-
Vendor contacted : no
Not contacted for this profile
Where HubSpot appears on this site
14 other pages here reference HubSpot. Every one is listed below, so the figure can be checked rather than taken.
- Buyer guide Best CRM software in 2026, priced on what the contract actually says ranked #5
- Article How to Read a SaaS Pricing Page (and Find the Real Cost) listed as related
- Article What a SaaS Affiliate Programme Reveals listed as related
- Article What Is Software as a Service (SaaS)? A Plain Definition listed as related
- Article When to Use a SaaS Free Trial vs a Free Plan listed as related
- Another profile Apollo.io names it as a competitor
- Another profile Attio names it as a competitor
- Another profile Close names it as a competitor
- Another profile Mailchimp names it as a competitor
- Another profile Microsoft Dynamics 365 names it as a competitor
- Another profile Pipedrive names it as a competitor
- Another profile Salesforce names it as a competitor
- Another profile Twenty names it as a competitor
- Another profile Zoho CRM names it as a competitor
Counts pages on this site that name the product by choice - buyer guides, articles, deal records and other profiles. Category and directory indexes list everything automatically and are not counted.
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Provenance and freshness
When each fact was last checked
- Pricing ·
- Plans ·
- Free trial
- Features
- Platforms
- Integrations
- Affiliate programme
- Company details
What has changed
-
August 2026
- Separated the Sales Hub and Marketing Hub ladders, which were conflated. Sales Hub Professional is $90 a seat and Enterprise $150; the $800 and $3,600 figures are Marketing Hub bundles
- Recorded the required one-time onboarding fees - $1,500 and $3,500 on Sales Hub, $3,000 and $7,000 on Marketing Hub
- Recorded that the free tier is now capped at 2 users
- Added HubSpot Credits at $9 per 1,000 paid annually
-
August 2026
- Seat and platform pricing verified, annual and monthly
- Added plan picker and verdicts
Sources & verification
Facts on this page were read from the sources below on the dates shown. Where a vendor does not publish a figure, we record it as not disclosed rather than estimating it.
- HubSpot pricing page - checked 19 August 2026
- HubSpot Sales Hub pricing - checked 19 August 2026
- HubSpot Marketing Hub pricing - checked 19 August 2026
- HubSpot affiliate programme - checked 9 August 2026
- HubSpot investor relations - checked 9 August 2026
Spotted something out of date? Email [email protected] and we will re-check it. Corrections are logged on the page.
