This list is written for a team that wants less than HubSpot offers: fewer products to learn, fewer tiers to climb, and a tool that does the sales part without the marketing platform around it. It also covers a few tools for teams that want something HubSpot does not centre on, such as calling built into the CRM or a data model they can shape themselves.
This list covers nine real options, what each one says it is built for, and the kind of team it suits. JRNY is on it, because we make it.
Transparency note: JRNY is built by BetterQA, a software testing company in Cluj-Napoca. We describe the other tools from their own websites, read in October 2026. We leave prices out because they change often; check each vendor's pricing page for your team size.
Before you switch: what HubSpot does well
HubSpot offers a free CRM and sells Marketing Hub, Sales Hub and Service Hub on top of it, with a marketplace of more than 2,000 app integrations. If inbound marketing (content, forms, landing pages, email marketing) is how your leads arrive, few alternatives replace all of that in one place. If that is your situation, the cheaper move may be to stay and use less of it. The JRNY vs HubSpot comparison goes through the differences in detail.
The alternatives
Pipedrive
Pipedrive calls itself "the easy and effective CRM for closing deals". Its core is a customisable visual pipeline, with workflow automation, a sales inbox with two-way email sync, AI suggestions on which deals to prioritise, reporting dashboards and a marketplace of 500+ integrations.
Fits: a sales team that wants a clear deal board and nothing else to learn. See the JRNY vs Pipedrive comparison.
Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM keeps much of HubSpot's breadth: separate spaces per team, an AI assistant called Zia, and integrations with more than 1,000 applications through Zoho Marketplace. It also has a freemium edition for small teams.
Fits: a business that wants a configurable CRM and is happy to spend time setting it up, especially one already using other Zoho apps. See the JRNY vs Zoho CRM comparison.
Salesforce Starter Suite
Salesforce's small-business offer, Starter Suite, says it automates "sales, marketing, and service" in one product, with built-in email and calendar integrations (its FAQ's wording) and guided onboarding. Salesforce says teams can start without a dedicated IT department.
Fits: a small company that expects to grow into the wider Salesforce platform and wants to start on it now rather than migrate later.
Freshsales
Freshsales, from Freshworks, is a sales CRM with kanban pipeline views, drag-and-drop deal cards and an AI assistant, Freddy AI, that gives lead intent scores.
Fits: a team that wants a straightforward sales CRM with lead scoring, particularly one that already uses other Freshworks products.
monday CRM
monday CRM replaces a fixed CRM layout with boards you shape yourself: "flexible boards, fields, views, automations, and dashboards", with no code. It can also send email campaigns from the CRM, which covers some of the email work HubSpot's marketing tools did.
Fits: a team that already runs projects in monday.com, or one that wants to shape its own CRM layout rather than adopt a fixed one.
Attio
Attio presents itself as a CRM that syncs and structures your data, enriches records automatically, connects to your inbox and calendar, and runs workflows across the revenue process.
Fits: a startup or technical team that wants a modern, flexible data model and is comfortable configuring it.
folk
folk describes itself as "one platform for your entire sales motion", with pipeline management, contact enrichment, messages and sequences, and dedicated pages on using it as a CRM for LinkedIn.
Fits: a small team whose selling runs on relationships and LinkedIn conversations. See the JRNY vs folk comparison.
Close
Close's homepage says "calling, email, SMS, automation, and AI are built in", and it can work through a call list for you.
Fits: a team that makes a lot of calls and wants the dialer inside the CRM. See the JRNY vs Close comparison.
JRNY
JRNY is the furthest step down from HubSpot on this list. It drops marketing entirely and keeps the parts a small sales team uses every day. A new workspace gets:
- Import from an .xlsx file, with handling for duplicates.
- Company and contact records, with pipeline statuses Pre, Hot, Cold, Signed and Closed.
- Gmail connection, so you send from JRNY and the sent mail stays on the company record.
- AI drafts for emails, replies and follow-ups, on your own OpenRouter API key. You pay OpenRouter directly for that usage.
- A meeting notes parser that pulls contact details, timeline, budget, urgency and a fit score out of pasted notes.
- Email campaigns where every AI draft waits for a person to approve it. They turn on when you connect Gmail.
- A shared team workspace you can invite teammates into.
What you give up: marketing tools, landing pages, forms, configurable stages and the large app marketplaces the others have. It is free for the first year, on one plan.
Fits: a small team that wants its Excel list in a CRM on day one, and mostly needs help writing follow-ups and keeping notes tidy.
How to choose
Start from the reason you are leaving.
- HubSpot feels like too much software. Pipedrive, Freshsales or JRNY. All three are narrower; JRNY is the narrowest.
- You want to shape the CRM yourself. Attio, monday CRM or Zoho CRM.
- You still need marketing and service under one login. Salesforce Starter Suite or Zoho CRM.
- Your team sells by phone. Close.
- Your selling runs on relationships and LinkedIn. folk.
Whichever you shortlist, import a real slice of your own contact list during the evaluation. A demo account full of sample data tells you little about how the tool handles your duplicates and your notes.
If you came here because HubSpot's pipeline tools are what you actually use, our list of Pipedrive alternatives covers the other direction: teams that outgrew a pure deal board.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free alternative to HubSpot?
It depends on what you need from free. HubSpot itself has a free CRM, and Zoho CRM has a freemium edition. JRNY is free for the first year, on one plan, with AI running on your own OpenRouter key.
What is the simplest HubSpot alternative for a small team?
Pipedrive is the usual answer for a team that wants a visual deal pipeline. JRNY is simpler still if your starting point is a spreadsheet of companies and your main job is writing follow-up emails.
Is Salesforce a good alternative to HubSpot?
For a company that wants one vendor for sales, marketing and service and expects to grow, Salesforce Starter Suite is a direct alternative. For a small team that wants less software, it moves in the opposite direction.
Set up JRNY on your own list
Book a setup call. We set up your workspace with you on a short call: your OpenRouter key, Gmail and your first companies from your own spreadsheet. JRNY is free for the first year.