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The cheapest CRM for a startup in 2026
A startup CRM has two jobs: be free until you have customers, and not punish you per seat when you hire. These are the real prices for the four CRMs we track, re-checked from the vendors' own pricing 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?
- Pick Zoho CRM if you need the cheapest real CRM. Visit Zoho CRM
- Pick HubSpot if you need the best free tier. Visit HubSpot
- Pick Pipedrive if you need the best pipeline-first tool. Visit Pipedrive
Some buttons are affiliate links — how this works.
The short answer
Short answer: Cheapest real CRM: Zoho CRM Free for up to 3 users, then Standard at $14 per user per month billed annually ($20 monthly) with 100,000 records and workflows. The free tier caps at 3 users, so it stops being free the moment you hire a fourth seller.
| Tool | Entry price | Best 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 annually | Per user. 100,000 records, scoring rules, mass email, workflows |
| Professional | $35/mo, or $23/mo billed annually | Per user. SalesSignals, inventory management, 25,000 records per module |
| Enterprise | $50/mo, or $40/mo billed annually | Per user. CommandCenter, multi-user portals, custom modules, 100,000 records |
Prices checked 2026-09-27.
Cheapest real CRM: Zoho CRM
Free for up to 3 users, then Standard at $14 per user per month billed annually ($20 monthly) with 100,000 records and workflows. The free tier caps at 3 users, so it stops being free the moment you hire a fourth seller.
See Zoho CRM pricingBest free tier: HubSpot
HubSpot's CRM is free for up to two users with a deal pipeline and 1,000 contacts. The paid jump is steep: Starter is $15 per seat billed annually, Professional $90.
See HubSpot pricingBest pipeline-first tool: Pipedrive
Lite is $14 per seat per month billed annually ($24 monthly) and the whole product is built around the deal pipeline.
See Pipedrive pricingThe 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.
| Plan | Price | What 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 annually | Per user. 100,000 records, scoring rules, mass email, workflows |
| Professional | $35/mo, or $23/mo billed annually | Per user. SalesSignals, inventory management, 25,000 records per module |
| Enterprise | $50/mo, or $40/mo billed annually | Per user. CommandCenter, multi-user portals, custom modules, 100,000 records |
| Ultimate | custom quote | Bespoke 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 pricingHubSpot
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.
| Plan | Price | What 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 annually | Per seat. Simple automation, 2 paid seats, email tracking, 1,000 marketing contacts |
| Professional | $100/mo, or $90/mo billed annually | Per 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 pricingPipedrive
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.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Lite | $24/mo, or $14/mo billed annually | Per 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 annually | Per 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 annually | Per seat. Revenue forecasts, team goals, projects, 30 pipelines. US$708 per seat/year billed annually. |
| Ultimate | $99/mo, or $79/mo billed annually | Per 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 pricingGoHighLevel
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.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $97/mo | 3 sub-accounts, unlimited contacts, unlimited users, all core features |
| Unlimited | $297/mo | Unlimited sub-accounts, rebill phone & email at no markup, basic API |
| Agency Pro | $497/mo | SaaS mode, automated sub-account creation, rebill with markup, advanced API |
| Enterprise | custom quote | Custom 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 pricingQuestions people ask
What is the cheapest option here?
Zoho CRM - Free for up to 3 users, then Standard at $14 per user per month billed annually ($20 monthly) with 100,000 records and workflows. The free tier caps at 3 users, so it stops being free the moment you hire a fourth seller.
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 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.