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The cheapest CRM for a small sales team in 2026

A CRM for two to five salespeople is priced per seat, and the per-seat price is where the bill is decided. These are the real numbers for the four CRMs we track, including the free tiers, re-checked from the vendors' own pages this week.

Prices last re-checked 2026-09-27. Every number below is read from the vendor's own pricing page.

Which one should you pick?

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The short answer

Short answer: Cheapest for a team of three or fewer: Zoho CRM is free for up to 3 users, then $14 per user per month on Standard billed annually ($20 monthly) with 100,000 records, scoring rules and workflows. Prices were read from each vendors own page on our last weekly check.

ToolEntry priceBest for
Free$0/mo (no annual discount published)Up to 3 users, 5,000 records, basic lead and deal management
Standard$20/mo, or $14/mo billed annuallyPer user. 100,000 records, scoring rules, mass email, workflows
Professional$35/mo, or $23/mo billed annuallyPer user. SalesSignals, inventory management, 25,000 records per module
Enterprise$50/mo, or $40/mo billed annuallyPer user. CommandCenter, multi-user portals, custom modules, 100,000 records

Prices checked 2026-09-27.

Cheapest for a team of three or fewer: Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM is free for up to 3 users, then $14 per user per month on Standard billed annually ($20 monthly) with 100,000 records, scoring rules and workflows. For a three-person team that is $0, and for five people it is $70/mo billed annually - the same as Pipedrive Lite, which has no free plan. The trade-off: the interface is denser than HubSpot's and the free tier caps at 5,000 records.

See Zoho CRM pricing

Best free CRM for your own pipeline: HubSpot

HubSpot's CRM is free for up to two users and 1,000 contacts, with a deal pipeline. Starter is $20 per seat per month ($15/mo billed annually). If the team only needs its own sales pipeline, that is the cheapest real answer and the cleanest interface here. The trade-off: the jump from Starter to Professional is $80 per seat per month, plus a required $1,500 onboarding fee.

See HubSpot pricing

Best pipeline-first tool if you will pay annually: Pipedrive

Pipedrive is $14 per seat per month on Lite billed annually (US$168 per seat per year); monthly billing is $24. It is the most sales-shaped tool here - pipelines, activities, deal rottenness - and at the annual rate it matches Zoho's entry price. The trade-off: the cheap rate only exists on annual billing, and Pipedrive is sales-only, with no marketing automation or helpdesk in the same bill.

See Pipedrive pricing

Only if you resell to clients: GoHighLevel

GoHighLevel Starter is $97/mo with 3 sub-accounts, unlimited contacts and unlimited users. That is not a cheap CRM for your own team - it is a client-management platform, and it is the right answer only if you are running other people's pipelines. For a five-person sales team it costs more than the whole Zoho bill ($97/mo against $70/mo for five Standard seats billed annually) and adds sub-accounts you do not need.

See GoHighLevel pricing

The prices, plan by plan

Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM is free for up to 3 users, then $14 per user per month on Standard, $23 on Professional and $40 on Enterprise, billed annually. Ultimate is a custom quote; Zoho no longer prints a price for it.

PlanPriceWhat you get
Free$0/mo (no annual discount published)Up to 3 users, 5,000 records, basic lead and deal management
Standard$20/mo, or $14/mo billed annuallyPer user. 100,000 records, scoring rules, mass email, workflows
Professional$35/mo, or $23/mo billed annuallyPer user. SalesSignals, inventory management, 25,000 records per module
Enterprise$50/mo, or $40/mo billed annuallyPer user. CommandCenter, multi-user portals, custom modules, 100,000 records
Ultimatecustom quoteBespoke deployments with the highest feature limits, consultation-based pricing (contact Zoho)

Prices checked 2026-09-27.

What to watch: Zoho prints the annual per-user rate by default; the monthly-billing rates come from the page's monthly toggle. Zoho's free tier caps at 3 users, which is the lowest free-user cap in this cluster.

Source: https://www.zoho.com/crm/zohocrm-pricing.html, read 2026-10-05.

See Zoho CRM pricing

Pipedrive

Pipedrive starts at $14 per seat per month on Lite, $39 on Growth, $59 on Premium and $79 on Ultimate, billed annually (US$168 / $468 / $708 / $948 per seat per year); monthly billing costs more. Each card offers a 14-day trial and says no credit card is required.

PlanPriceWhat you get
Lite$24/mo, or $14/mo billed annuallyPer seat. Lead, deal and activity management, 3,000 open deals, 10 pipelines. US$168 per seat/year billed annually.
Growth$49/mo, or $39/mo billed annuallyPer seat. Email sync, workflow automation, 100,000 open deals, 15 pipelines. US$468 per seat/year billed annually.
Premium$79/mo, or $59/mo billed annuallyPer seat. Revenue forecasts, team goals, projects, 30 pipelines. US$708 per seat/year billed annually.
Ultimate$99/mo, or $79/mo billed annuallyPer seat. Project templates, 5-minute sync, phone support, 100 pipelines. US$948 per seat/year billed annually.

What to watch: Pipedrive prints the annual per-seat rate by default. On 2026-10-13 those cards still showed Lite $14, Growth $39, Premium $59 and Ultimate $79. The monthly toggle was not opened, so the monthly column stays the 2026-10-05 reading. Each card says a 14-day trial with no credit card. The Premium card carries Pipedrive's own Most Popular badge. This page does not treat that badge as a count of customers. Add-on starting prices were read on the annual view. Prices are per seat, so a 5-person team pays five times the seat rate.

Source: https://www.pipedrive.com/en/pricing, read 2026-10-05.

See Pipedrive pricing

HubSpot

HubSpot's free tools cover up to two users and up to 1,000 contacts. Sales Hub is then $20 per seat per month on Starter and $100 per seat per month on Professional, billed monthly. Professional requires a one-time onboarding fee of $1,500.

PlanPriceWhat you get
Free$0/mo (no annual discount published)Up to 2 users and up to 1,000 contacts, deal pipeline, contact management. The catalog's 1 million figure is for other standard objects, not contacts.
Starter$20/mo, or $15/mo billed annuallyPer seat. Simple automation, 2 paid seats, email tracking, 1,000 marketing contacts
Professional$100/mo, or $90/mo billed annuallyPer seat. Sequences, forecasting, custom reporting, 2,000 marketing contacts. Onboarding is required, a one-time fee of $1,500.
Enterprise$150/mo (no annual discount published)Per seat. Custom objects, predictive scoring, 10,000 marketing contacts

Prices checked 2026-09-27.

What to watch: HubSpot's free tools are free, and they cap at two users and 1,000 contacts. The paid tiers are per seat. Sales Hub Professional requires a one-time onboarding fee of $1,500. Marketing-contact limits are separate from CRM contacts.

Source: https://www.hubspot.com/pricing/crm, read 2026-09-27.

See HubSpot pricing

GoHighLevel

GoHighLevel is $97/mo Starter, $297/mo Unlimited and $497/mo Agency Pro, or $970 / $2,970 / $4,970 billed yearly. Every plan includes unlimited contacts and unlimited users. The cards say 14 days free. Billing starts on its own unless you cancel, and phone, text, email, and AI fees can apply during the trial.

PlanPriceWhat you get
Starter$97/mo3 sub-accounts, unlimited contacts, unlimited users, all core features
Unlimited$297/moUnlimited sub-accounts, rebill phone & email at no markup, basic API
Agency Pro$497/moSaaS mode, automated sub-account creation, rebill with markup, advanced API
Enterprisecustom quoteCustom quote

What to watch: Every plan price, annual total and add-on price on this page was read from gohighlevel.com/pricing itself. GoHighLevel does not publish a free plan. On 2026-10-11 the plan cards said 14 days free, and the page's own disclaimer said billing starts automatically unless you cancel, and phone, text, email, and AI usage fees can apply during the trial. Add-ons are extra. Some are billed per sub-account, some are a flat monthly fee, and WordPress hosting is per site. The same page also lists the certification program at $97 a month, online listings at $30 a month per sub-account, the premium prospecting tool at $29 a month per sub-account, and WordPress hosting from $10 a month per site. On 2026-10-12 the Unlimited card carried GoHighLevel's own Most Popular badge. This page does not treat that badge as a count of customers.

Source: https://www.gohighlevel.com/pricing, read 2026-10-19.

See GoHighLevel pricing

Questions people ask

What is the cheapest option here?

Zoho CRM is free for up to 3 users, then $14 per user per month on Standard billed annually ($20 monthly). Pipedrive Lite is the same $14 billed annually and $24 month to month, but has no free plan. HubSpot's CRM is also free, for up to two users, but its paid tier starts at $20 per seat per month.

Is the free tier enough for a real team?

For three people, Zoho's free plan is the one that fits - it covers 5,000 records with basic lead and deal management, and HubSpot's free CRM covers up to two users and 1,000 contacts. What you give up is automation, scoring and reporting, which is what the paid tiers are actually for.

What does the per-seat price not include?

Email sending, phone and SMS, and marketing contacts. HubSpot counts marketing contacts separately from your CRM contacts, and GoHighLevel bills phone and email usage per sub-account. The seat price is the floor, not the bill.

Are these prices first-party?

Every number on this page is read from the vendor's own pricing page or from the source named under each tool. Where a vendor renders prices in JavaScript, the caveat under that tool says so and names the source we used instead.

How often are these prices re-checked?

The dataset behind this page is re-checked against the vendors' own pricing pages every week, and the date at the top of the page is the last time every tool on it was confirmed.

Do you take payment for placement?

No. Some links on this page are affiliate links and we may earn a commission if you buy through one, at no extra cost to you. The order of the picks is set by price and fit, not by commission.

Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through one we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We do not accept payment for placement, and the price tables are generated from the same dataset we re-check weekly. Full disclosure. How we check prices.

Reviewed by Jason Albera, founder of AI Tool Authority. Jason reads each vendor pricing page by hand every week, keeps this site independent (no vendor pays for placement), and takes no sponsorships - the only income is affiliate commission through links marked partner links. Questions or a stale number? About & contact.