Top 6 Salesforce Alternatives in 2026
Small and mid-sized companies leave Salesforce because of what it takes to run. Licenses climb steeply by tier, changes need an administrator, and the team uses a fraction of what it pays for. The Starter Suite plan costs $25/user/mo, about $250 a month for a team of ten. At that size, 5 of the 6 tools below cost less. HubSpot ($20/seat/mo) joins marketing and sales in one easy system, with steep jumps between pricing tiers. Zoho CRM ($14/user/mo) offers deep customization at a low price, behind a busy interface. Pipedrive ($14/seat/mo) is a focused pipeline tool for small sales teams, with no free plan.
01Quick Comparison
| Tool | Entry price | Team of 10, per month | Free plan | Value score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HubSpot | $20/seat/mo | $200 | Yes | 4.6/5 |
| Zoho CRM | $14/user/mo | $140 | Yes | 4.6/5 |
| Pipedrive | $14/seat/mo | $140 | No | 4.3/5 |
| Monday Sales CRM | $12/seat/mo | $120 | No | 4.1/5 |
| Close | $9/user/mo | $350 (Essentials) | No | 3.7/5 |
| Copper | $23/seat/mo | $230 | No | 4.1/5 |
| Salesforce (current) | $25/user/mo | $250 | Yes | 4.3/5 |
02The Alternatives
HubSpot
From$20/seat/moTeam of 10$200Value score4.6/5
Compared with Salesforce: A team of ten pays about $200 a month, $50 less than on Salesforce; its free plan allows up to 2 users.
HubSpot starts as a free CRM and grows into a suite: marketing, sales, service and content tools that share one contact database. It is easy to use, and sales and marketing see the same records without integration work. The catch is the pricing, which steps up sharply between tiers and with the size of your marketing list.
- Best for
- Growing businesses that want an integrated go-to-market stack
- Pricing
- Sales Hub Starter plan, billed monthly. Free plan: up to 2 users.
- Key features
- Contact and deal management, Email tracking and meeting scheduler, Marketing and support hub integrations
Where it falls short: Costs jump between tiers, and the useful automation and reporting sit on the expensive ones.
HubSpot plans and pricing HubSpot vs Salesforce in detail Visit HubSpot
Zoho CRM
From$14/user/moTeam of 10$140Value score4.6/5
Compared with Salesforce: A team of ten pays about $140 a month, $110 less than on Salesforce; its free plan allows up to 3 users.
Zoho CRM offers a great deal for the money: sales automation, workflow rules, forecasting, an AI assistant and deep customization, at prices well below the big names. It is one piece of Zoho’s large family of business apps, which is a strength if you use them and a source of clutter if you do not.
- Best for
- Budget-conscious businesses that still need CRM customization
- Pricing
- Standard plan, billed annually. Free plan: up to 3 users.
- Key features
- Lead, contact, and deal management, Blueprint workflow automation, Email and telephony integrations
Where it falls short: The interface is busy, setup takes patience, and integrations work best with Zoho’s own apps.
Zoho CRM plans and pricing Salesforce vs Zoho CRM in detail Visit Zoho CRM
Pipedrive
From$14/seat/moTeam of 10$140Value score4.3/5
Compared with Salesforce: A team of ten pays about $140 a month, $110 less than on Salesforce; unlike Salesforce, it has no free plan.
Pipedrive is a sales CRM built around the pipeline view. Deals are cards that reps drag from stage to stage, and the system nudges them toward the next activity on each one. It does that one job well and leaves marketing and customer service to other tools.
- Best for
- Sales teams that want a focused CRM without heavy complexity
- Pricing
- Lite plan, billed annually.
- Key features
- Visual pipeline management, Email sync and templates, Sales automation
Where it falls short: There is no free plan, and features such as lead generation and email campaigns are paid add-ons.
Pipedrive plans and pricing Pipedrive vs Salesforce in detail Visit Pipedrive
Monday Sales CRM
From$12/seat/moTeam of 10$120Value score4.1/5
Compared with Salesforce: A team of ten pays about $120 a month, $130 less than on Salesforce; unlike Salesforce, it has no free plan.
Monday Sales CRM, sold today as monday CRM, is a sales tool built on monday.com’s boards. Pipelines, contacts and activities are customizable tables with automations and dashboards on top, so it feels less like a traditional CRM and more like a flexible workspace arranged for selling. It makes the most sense for teams already using monday.com for project work.
- Best for
- Teams that want a customizable, visual CRM workspace
- Pricing
- Basic plan, billed annually ($18 billed monthly), 3-seat minimum.
- Key features
- Lead and pipeline boards, Email sync and tracking, Activity logging
Where it falls short: Seats have a minimum, there is no free plan, and dedicated sales features are lighter than in CRMs built for the job.
Monday Sales CRM plans and pricing Monday Sales CRM vs Salesforce in detail Visit Monday Sales CRM
Close
From$9/user/moTeam of 10$350 (Essentials)Value score3.7/5
Compared with Salesforce: A team of ten pays about $350 a month, $100 more than on Salesforce; unlike Salesforce, it has no free plan.
Close is a CRM for inside sales teams that live on the phone and in the inbox. Calling, SMS, email sequences and a power dialer are part of the product, so reps work through a list of leads without switching tools. It is built for speed of outreach, not for marketing or account management.
- Best for
- Sales teams running high-volume inside sales motions
- Pricing
- Solo plan, billed annually ($19 billed monthly), 1 user only.
- Key features
- Built-in calling and SMS, Email sequences, Power dialer
Where it falls short: There is no free plan, little for marketing or service teams, and the cost per seat rises quickly on the higher tiers.
Close plans and pricing Close vs Salesforce in detail Visit Close
Copper
From$23/seat/moTeam of 10$230Value score4.1/5
Compared with Salesforce: A team of ten pays about $230 a month, $20 less than on Salesforce; unlike Salesforce, it has no free plan.
Copper is a CRM that lives inside Google Workspace. Contacts, deals and email history appear beside Gmail and Calendar, and much of the data entry happens automatically from the inbox. It is aimed at relationship-driven businesses such as agencies and consultancies, not at high-volume sales floors.
- Best for
- Google Workspace-first businesses that want a simple CRM
- Pricing
- Basic plan, billed annually ($29 billed monthly).
- Key features
- Gmail and Google Calendar integration, Pipeline management, Task automation
Where it falls short: It only makes sense for companies on Google Workspace, there is no free plan, and reporting and automation are modest.
Copper plans and pricing Copper vs Salesforce in detail Visit Copper
03FAQ
What is the closest alternative to Salesforce?
HubSpot. HubSpot starts as a free CRM and grows into a suite: marketing, sales, service and content tools that share one contact database. A team of ten pays about $200 a month, $50 less than on Salesforce; its free plan allows up to 2 users.
What is the cheapest alternative to Salesforce?
Zoho CRM: free plan, then $14/user/mo. Standard plan, billed annually. Free plan: up to 3 users.
Which Salesforce alternatives have a free plan?
HubSpot and Zoho CRM. Free plans differ a lot in what they limit, so check the plan tables on each tool’s pricing page.
Is Salesforce still worth using?
Yes, if you have a complex sales process and the staff to administer the system. Its strength is modeling a complex sales process exactly, and reporting on it at any level of detail. The weakness: implementation takes time and money, and the tiers a growing company actually needs cost far more than the entry plan.
04Bottom Line
If cost is why you are leaving Salesforce, start with Zoho CRM. If you want the least disruption, HubSpot is the closest in spirit: it joins marketing and sales in one easy system, with steep jumps between pricing tiers. If you would rather simplify, Pipedrive is the easiest of the group to adopt.