CRM alternatives, compared
Compare Zyflow with the CRMs you’re considering
You already pay for AI. Your CRM shouldn’t charge you for it again.
Free plan. No card.
Zyflow makes this page and sells a competing CRM. Where another CRM is the better choice, we say so.
Zyflow is a lightweight small-business CRM your AI app keeps up to date (Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT Business, any MCP app). Every AI change is labeled. Zyflow works with any AI app that supports MCP, the standard way AI apps connect to tools.
The short version:
HubSpot, Attio, Pipedrive and folk CRM charge per seat. HubSpot and Attio sell their own AI by the credit, and folk CRM caps AI features by plan. Zyflow runs no AI of its own, never bills your AI’s calls, and charges one price for the whole team. Prices checked Oct 2, 2026.
Why small teams look for a CRM alternative
Small teams usually look for an alternative when the bill grows with every hire, or when the CRM sells its own AI on top of the AI app they already pay for.
Seats add up quickly. Five people on HubSpot Sales Hub Professional pay about $6,900 in the first year: $90 a seat a month on annual billing, plus a required $1,500 onboarding fee (hubspot.com/pricing/sales, checked Oct 2, 2026).
Credits add a second meter. HubSpot includes 500, 3,000 or 5,000 HubSpot Credits a month on Starter, Professional or Enterprise, then charges $0.01 a credit, and unused credits don’t roll over (hubspot.com/pricing/sales, checked Oct 2, 2026). Close, a sales CRM, includes 500 to 2,000 AI credits per user, depending on the plan (close.com/pricing, checked Oct 2, 2026).
According to the US Chamber of Commerce (October 2026), 66% of US small businesses use AI. If you’re one of them, a CRM that sells its own AI means paying for AI twice. Why buy more AI from your CRM when you already pay for the AI you use?
Where the seat-and-credit CRMs are fair
Some of them get parts of the model right:
- HubSpot Free is a fair deal for two people: 2 users and 1,000 contacts, at $0.
- Pipedrive includes its Nova AI on Lite, its entry plan.
- Pipedrive, Attio and Twenty don’t bill an outside AI app’s MCP calls through credits.
HubSpot, Attio, Pipedrive and folk CRM alternatives
Each page compares one CRM with Zyflow and other options, using dated prices from the vendor’s own site,3 and says when that CRM is the better choice. Start with the CRM you use now.
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HubSpot
Free covers 2 users and 1,000 contacts. After that it’s per seat, plus HubSpot Credits for its Breeze AI.
Better choice if: you need marketing email, email sync or invoices with payment links on a free plan.
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Attio
Free covers up to 3 seats, 50,000 records and 50 GB, more than Zyflow Free. After that it’s per seat, plus seat and workspace credits for Attio’s own AI.
Better choice if: you want a deeply customizable data model and Attio’s own AI.
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Pipedrive
No free plan: it’s per seat, from $14 on Lite. MCP has been on every plan since June 30, 2026, and Lite includes its Nova AI.
Better choice if: you run a pipeline-heavy sales team that needs email sync and automations.
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folk CRM
It’s per member, with no free plan: after a 14-day trial, the account is blocked until you upgrade. MCP is on every plan, and the REST API starts at Premium.
Better choice if: you need outreach and enrichment, such as email finding, plus sequences on Premium.
Zyflow, HubSpot, Attio, Pipedrive and folk CRM at a glance
Connecting your AI is standard now: all five products here have MCP on every plan. The differences are how each CRM bills its own AI, whether it bills your AI’s calls, and what’s included, such as files, invoices and quotes. Zyflow is ours, so it sits first.
| Row | Zyflow (ours) | HubSpot | Attio | Pipedrive | folk CRM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | One price for the whole team: Solo up to 3 people, Team up to 10, Pro up to 30 | Per seat | Per seat | Per seat | Per member |
| Free plan | 1 person, 5,000 records, 1 GB of files, no time limit | 2 users, 1,000 contacts | Up to 3 seats, 50,000 records, 50 GB | None; 14-day trial | None; 14-day trial, then the account is blocked |
| How the CRM’s own AI is billed | Runs no AI of its own, so there’s nothing to bill | HubSpot Credits for Breeze: 500, 3,000 or 5,000 a month on Starter, Professional or Enterprise, then $0.01 each; no rollover | Seat credits (100 to 2,500 a person a month) and workspace credits (250 to 10,000 a month) by plan; 5,000 more a month for $70 to $85 | Nova included on Lite | Monthly caps per AI feature by plan, such as 2,000 Magic Fields on Standard and 5,000 on Premium |
| Bills your own AI’s MCP or connector calls? | No: never billed, no AI credits | No | No | No | Not listed (Oct 3, 2026) |
| Which plan includes MCP | Every plan, including Free | All accounts, including Free (since Apr 13, 2026) | Every plan, including Free | All plans (since Jun 30, 2026) | All plans; REST API from Premium |
| File storage | A files drive on every plan; 1 GB on Free | Not checked yet | 50 GB on Free and Plus; unlimited on Pro | Not checked yet | Not listed on its pricing page (Oct 3, 2026) |
| Invoices and quotes | Invoices, quotes and letters on every plan | Invoices and payment links on Free; quotes from Professional | Not listed on its pricing page (Oct 3, 2026) | Not checked yet | Not listed on its pricing page (Oct 3, 2026) |
Zyflow records payments; it doesn’t collect them. There are no card payment links.
Undo isn’t in this table yet, because we haven’t finished testing it in the other CRMs. See how we test it.
We check every competitor fact against the vendor’s own page and date it. Where a competitor does something better, we say so. Spot an error? Tell us, and we’ll fix it.
Free plan. No card.
What a team pays
Most CRMs charge per seat, so the bill grows with every person you add. Across the 15 CRMs we checked on October 2, 2026, the median entry tier costs $18 a seat a month on annual billing. Zyflow is a CRM without per-user pricing. Billed yearly, Solo covers up to 3 people for $10 a month, Team up to 10 for $25 and Pro up to 30 for $75 ($12, $30 and $90 billed monthly).
| People | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zyflow (ours), billed yearly | $0 Free or $10 Solo | $10 Solo | $25 Team | $25 Team | $25 Team | $75 Pro |
| HubSpot Starter, from $7 a seat yearly for new customers ($20 monthly); Free covers 2 users | $0 | $21 | $28 | $35 | $70 | $210 |
| Attio: Free to 3 seats; Plus $35 to 10 seats; Pro $79 beyond | $0 | $0 | $140 | $175 | $350 | $2,370 |
| Zoho CRM Standard, $14 a user; Free covers 3 | $0 | $0 | $56 | $70 | $140 | $420 |
| Bigin Express, $7 a user; Free covers 1 | $0 | $21 | $28 | $35 | $70 | $210 |
| Twenty Pro, $9 a user | $9 | $27 | $36 | $45 | $90 | $270 |
| Pipedrive Lite, $14 a seat | $14 | $42 | $56 | $70 | $140 | $420 |
| Less Annoying CRM, $15 a user | $15 | $45 | $60 | $75 | $150 | $450 |
| folk CRM Standard, $24 a member | $24 | $72 | $96 | $120 | $240 | $720 |
monday CRM Basic lists at $12 a seat with a 3-seat minimum, so even one person pays $36.
Where another CRM costs less
- At 1 person, Zyflow Free costs $0, and so do HubSpot, Attio, Zoho CRM and Bigin. On paid plans, Bigin Express ($7) and Twenty Pro ($9) cost less than Solo ($10).
- At 2 to 3 people, HubSpot Free covers 2 users, and Attio Free and Zoho CRM Free cover 3. Solo costs less than every paid entry tier in the table.
- From 4 to 10 people, Team costs less than every plan in the table. At 4 the gap is small: Bigin is $28.
- From 11 to 30 people, Pro costs less than every plan in the table. At 11 it’s close: Bigin is $77.
- Some flat-priced CRMs we haven’t verified may cost less. We never call Zyflow the cheapest.
Why it costs less: Zyflow runs no AI, so it has no AI costs to pass on and nothing to meter.
No hidden costs: no onboarding fee, no seat minimum, no AI credits and no overage charges. Free has no time limit.
Your AI’s calls are never billed. Prices in US$ and don’t include VAT, GST or sales tax where it applies.
Not a fit if...
It’s also not for you if you don’t use an AI app and don’t plan to.
Zyflow doesn’t read your inbox, calendar, calls or WhatsApp. Tell your AI, or paste the thread, and your AI files it after showing you what it found.
Zyflow isn’t a fit yet if you need:
- email or calendar sync, sequences, campaigns, dialers or forecasting
- dispatch, booking or texting for trades and field service
- a home for regulated data, such as patient records
- property listings and showings for real-estate work
- a WhatsApp inbox
- card payment collection or e-signature
- SSO, two-factor sign-in or per-person permissions
- certifications such as SOC 2, or EU data residency
- a native mobile app, or a language other than English
- more than 30 people
Other comparisons
Thinking of building your own CRM with Claude Code instead? Don’t build a CRM for Claude. Connect one. Build vs connect covers the parts that break a homemade CRM: matching the right customer, duplicates, undo, and sign-in for each AI app.
For the technical side, read how Zyflow’s CRM MCP server handles tools, sign-in and safety.
How we compare CRMs
Every competitor fact on this site comes from the vendor’s own pricing page, docs, help center or changelog, carries the date we checked it, and links its source. We re-check prices every three months, AI and MCP facts every month, and everything on the day a page is published. Zyflow publishes these pages and makes a competing CRM. We earn nothing from the vendors we compare.
The rules we follow
- Prices: US-dollar list prices on annual billing, per seat or per user as each vendor states them. Promotional prices are noted, not used.
- Team totals: the entry tier’s price times the number of people, counting free plans where they cover the team. Zyflow’s column uses its yearly list price, never the founding price.
- “No” or “Not listed”: we write “No” only when the vendor’s docs or a hands-on trial confirm it. Otherwise we write “Not listed” with the date.
- No affiliate links, ratings or reviews, and no vendor logos.
How we’ll test undo
We haven’t finished testing undo in other CRMs’ MCP servers, so we don’t compare undo yet. For the test, we connect Claude to each CRM’s official MCP server on a named plan and run the same scripted writes (create, edit, a 40-record bulk edit, delete). Then we try to reverse each one, in the CRM and through MCP, and record the plan and the date.
We check every competitor fact against the vendor’s own page and date it. Where a competitor does something better, we say so. Spot an error? Tell us, and we’ll fix it.
Checked and maintained by [FOUNDER NAME], founder of Zyflow.
Questions people ask before switching
Do I need a CRM with its own AI if I already use Claude or ChatGPT?
No. You need a CRM your AI app can connect to, and most of the big CRMs now have an MCP server. Then compare how each one bills its own AI, and what happens when your AI writes to it. Zyflow runs no AI of its own. It labels each AI change with the app that made it, and you can undo recent ones.1
Can Claude or ChatGPT update my CRM?
Yes, if the CRM has an MCP server and your AI plan allows writes. Claude can write on every plan (Claude Free allows one custom connector). ChatGPT writes need developer mode on Business, Enterprise or Edu, switched on by an admin.2 HubSpot, Attio, Pipedrive, folk CRM and Zyflow all accept writes over MCP.
What’s the cheapest CRM alternative for a small team?
It depends on team size. For 1 to 3 people, HubSpot Free covers 2 users, Attio Free and Zoho CRM Free cover 3, and Bigin Express costs $7 a user a month (checked Oct 2, 2026). From 4 to 30 people, Zyflow’s Team and Pro cost less than every plan in our table, though flat-priced tools we haven’t verified may cost less. We don’t claim to be the cheapest.
Can I move my contacts from HubSpot, Attio, Pipedrive or folk CRM?
Yes, as a CSV. Export your contacts from your current CRM and import the file: up to 50,000 rows, within your plan’s record limit. Rows that match a record you already have update it, unclear rows are skipped and listed, and the whole file is one undo.1 Contacts and companies import; deals don’t.
Who checks these comparisons, and how do I report a mistake?
[FOUNDER NAME], Zyflow’s founder, checks every competitor fact against the vendor’s own page and dates it. Spot an error? Email us and we’ll fix it.
- 1 Undo works within your plan’s history window: 30 days on Free, up to 3 years on paid plans. Deleted items can be restored for 30 days on every plan. Settings changes, such as pipelines, custom fields and tag renames, are logged but can’t be undone.
- 2 Writing to Zyflow from ChatGPT needs developer mode on a ChatGPT Business, Enterprise or Edu plan. It’s in beta, on the web, and an admin switches it on. Claude works on every plan. Checked October 2026.
- 3 Competitor prices are list prices in US dollars, per month on annual billing, from each vendor’s own pricing page, checked Oct 2, 2026. Prices and plans change often.
- 4 Export gives you six CSV files, or one JSON file with your records, documents, change history (up to 100,000 changes) and links to every file. File contents download separately from Files.
Last updated Oct 3, 2026
Your AI talks. Zyflow remembers.
Tell your AI what happened. Zyflow keeps the record.
If your AI gets something wrong, undo it.1 If Zyflow isn’t for you, export your records, documents and history.4
Free plan. No card. Connect your AI in about two minutes.