CRM
HubSpot vs Pipedrive
Pipedrive is the better pure sales CRM for a small team: cheap, obvious, and it takes an afternoon to set up. HubSpot makes sense if you want marketing, sales and support on one record and can live with the price jump from Starter to Professional.
- No affiliate links
- Public pricing only
- Updated by hand
Add your website — see your ranked plan in about a minute, free.
PREVIEW FREE — NO CARD7-DAY TRIAL — CARD TO START
HubSpot or Pipedrive — which should you use?
Pipedrive is the better pure sales CRM for a small team: cheap, obvious, and it takes an afternoon to set up. HubSpot makes sense if you want marketing, sales and support on one record and can live with the price jump from Starter to Professional. HubSpot starts at Starter from roughly $20 per seat per month; Professional is several times that (free tier: Free CRM with unlimited users and limited features across all hubs.); Pipedrive starts at From roughly $14–24 per seat per month billed annually (free tier: No free plan; 14-day trial.). Prices are list prices and change, so check the vendor pages before buying.
Last updated 3 August 2026
HubSpot's free CRM is real and unlimited on contacts, which is why so many companies start there. The commercial model is that you outgrow it — Starter is affordable, Professional is roughly five times more per seat and usually carries a mandatory onboarding fee.
Pipedrive has no such cliff. It's a pipeline tool that does deals, activities and reporting, priced in a narrow band per seat.
Side by side
HubSpot and Pipedrive in short.
HubSpot
CRM platform with free core, plus marketing, sales, service and CMS products.
- Free
- Free CRM with unlimited users and limited features across all hubs.
- Paid from
- Starter from roughly $20 per seat per month; Professional is several times that
Good at
- Free tier is genuinely useful and never expires
- One contact record shared by marketing, sales and support
- Enormous app marketplace and template ecosystem
Weak at
- Steep price step from Starter to Professional, often plus a one-off onboarding fee
- Contact-tier pricing on marketing means costs grow with your database
Pipedrive
Sales-first CRM organised around a visual deal pipeline.
- Free
- No free plan; 14-day trial.
- Paid from
- From roughly $14–24 per seat per month billed annually
Good at
- Reps understand it in ten minutes, which means the data actually gets entered
- Predictable per-seat pricing without cliffs
- Activity-based selling nudges: every deal must have a next step
Weak at
- Marketing features are add-ons and basic
- Reporting is weaker for anything beyond sales
The differences
Where they actually diverge.
| Feature | HubSpot | Pipedrive |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes, unlimited users | No |
| Marketing automation | Strong, on paid tiers | Add-on, basic |
| Price predictability | Steps up sharply | Flat per seat |
| Setup time | Days | An afternoon |
| Best for | Marketing plus sales in one place | Sales teams under 20 people |
Pick one
Which one fits you.
Choose HubSpot if
- Marketing and sales need the same contact record
- You want to start free and decide later
- You'll use forms, landing pages and email from the CRM
Choose Pipedrive if
- Sales is the only team using it
- You want reps entering data without training
- Predictable cost matters more than breadth
When neither is the answer
Under about 50 open deals, a spreadsheet with a next-action column beats both. Buy a CRM when you forget to follow up, not before.
Questions
Common questions.
Is HubSpot's free CRM really free?
Yes, indefinitely, with unlimited users and up to a million contacts. The limits are on features — email sending, automation, reporting depth and branding removal.
How painful is migrating between them?
Contacts, companies and deals map cleanly and both offer importers. Email history, sequences and automations don't move. Most teams migrate in a weekend and rebuild automations over a fortnight.
Prices are list prices published by each vendor and change often — check the linked pricing pages before you buy. We take no affiliate commission and nobody pays to appear here.
Keep reading
Related comparisons.
Related elsewhere on gtm.help
Best CRM tools for solo founders
Six tools, honest pricing, and the setup time you'll actually spend before it's useful.
PlaybookEnterprise pipeline plan for a B2B SaaS company
Eight moves for SaaS companies moving upmarket from self-serve deals into six-figure enterprise contracts.
ChecklistMarketing checklist for marketing agencies
12 tasks to fill your agency's own pipeline, ranked by return.
Tool guideBest form builders for lead capture
Six tools, honest pricing, and which ones actually sync clean lead data into your CRM.
Elsewhere on gtm.help
Keep exploring.
Free marketing tools
Calculators and generators that run without a signup.
BrowseGrowth playbooks
Step-by-step plans by industry and goal.
BrowseTool guides
What to use, what it costs, when it earns its keep.
BrowseMarketing checklists
Task lists by business type and competitive situation.
BrowseStraight answers
The growth questions founders ask, answered with numbers.
Browsegtm.help
Skip the tool research. Get the plan first.
Paste your website and gtm.help reads it, then writes a ranked growth plan for your business — with the tools each task needs, what they cost, and what to do first. Seven days free.
Add your website and judge it on your own plan.