The short answer
HubSpot Free is a fair deal for one or two people, and it already connects to Claude and ChatGPT. The case for a HubSpot alternative starts at the third person, when HubSpot starts charging per seat and selling its own AI by the credit. Zyflow is one price for up to 10 people and runs no AI of its own. It never bills your AI’s calls, and it labels every AI change, with an Undo.1
Zyflow vs HubSpot at a glance
HubSpot and Zyflow both let your AI app read and update your customer records, and both do it on a free plan. The differences are how each charges for people and for AI, what your AI can make through the connector, and what HubSpot adds around the CRM: marketing, email sync and card payments.
| Row | HubSpot | Zyflow |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per seat. Free covers 2 users | One price for the whole team: Solo up to 3 people, Team up to 10, Pro up to 30 |
| Free plan | 2 users, 1,000 contacts, plus up to 1 million other records | 1 person, 5,000 contacts, companies and deals, 1 GB of files, no time limit |
| How the CRM’s own AI is billed | Breeze runs on HubSpot Credits: 500, 3,000 or 5,000 a month on Starter, Professional or Enterprise, then $0.01 each; no rollover | Runs no AI of its own, so there’s nothing to bill |
| Bills your own AI’s connector calls? | Not listed on its pricing pages (Oct 3, 2026) | No: never billed, no AI credits |
| Which plan includes MCP | Every account, including Free (since Apr 13, 2026) | Every plan, including Free |
| AI apps | A Claude connector, a ChatGPT plugin, and other MCP apps through its remote MCP server | Claude, ChatGPT,2 Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, any MCP app |
| Invoices and quotes your AI can make | Through MCP: quotes can be written (beta); invoices are read-only (beta). In the app: invoices and payment links on Free | Invoices, quotes and letters on every plan. Ask your AI in one sentence; Zyflow numbers the document, does the math and files the PDF |
| Collect card payments | Yes: HubSpot Payments in the US, UK and Canada, Stripe elsewhere; processing fees apply | No. Records payments and tracks money owed |
| Files your AI can use | Files aren’t listed among the objects in HubSpot’s MCP docs (Oct 3, 2026) | A files drive your AI can browse, search and tidy |
| Email and calendar sync, marketing tools | Yes | No |
| Restore deleted records | 90 days, on every plan | 30-day trash, on every plan |
| Onboarding fee | $1,500 on Sales Hub Professional, $3,500 on Enterprise | None |
Zyflow records payments; it doesn’t collect them, and there are no card payment links. Unit prices come from what you or your AI enter; there’s no price list. Through Zyflow, your AI can see images up to 5 MB and text files up to 1 MB, but not the text inside PDFs, Word or Excel files.
Undo isn’t in this table yet: we’re running the same undo test on every CRM’s MCP server first. See how we check competitor facts.
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.
What 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10 people pay
For 1 or 2 people, HubSpot Free costs $0 and is hard to beat. From the third person, HubSpot charges per seat, so each hire adds to the bill. That’s where a cheaper alternative to HubSpot starts to save money. Zyflow charges one price for the whole team: $10 a month, billed yearly, for up to 3 people, and $25 for up to 10.
| People | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zyflow, billed yearly ($12 / $30 billed monthly) | $0 Free | $10 Solo | $10 Solo | $25 Team | $25 Team |
| HubSpot Free, then Sales Hub Starter from $7 a seat, billed yearly (new-customer price) | $0 | $0 | $21 | $35 | $70 |
| HubSpot Free, then Sales Hub Starter at $20 a seat, billed monthly | $0 | $0 | $60 | $100 | $200 |
| HubSpot Smart CRM Professional, $45 a seat, billed yearly | $45 | $90 | $135 | $225 | $450 |
| HubSpot Sales Hub Professional, $90 a seat billed yearly, plus a $1,500 onboarding fee | $90 | $180 | $270 | $450 | $900 |
With the $1,500 onboarding fee, a first year of Sales Hub Professional costs $2,580 for 1 person, $3,660 for 2, $4,740 for 3, $6,900 for 5 and $12,300 for 10. A year of Zyflow Team costs $300 for up to 10 people.
Software that costs more every time you add a person quietly discourages you from growing.
Reading the table fairly
- At 1 and 2 people, HubSpot Free costs $0. Zyflow Free covers 1 person, so a second person needs Solo.
- At 3, 5 and 10 people, Zyflow costs less than HubSpot Starter, even at HubSpot’s new-customer price.
- HubSpot’s pricing page shows Starter “from $7” a seat on annual billing; that price is for new customers.
- Some flat-priced CRMs may cost less than Zyflow at some team sizes.
For CRMs other than HubSpot, see what a team pays elsewhere.
Free plan. No card.
When HubSpot is the better choice
HubSpot is the better choice if you run marketing from your CRM, need your inbox synced, or want customers to pay invoices by card. Stay with HubSpot if:
- you run email campaigns, forms or landing pages from it
- you need email and calendar sync, sequences or calling
- you want card payments on invoices, through HubSpot Payments in the US, UK and Canada, or Stripe elsewhere
- you’re two people and fit within 1,000 contacts
- you rely on its marketplace of more than 2,000 apps, or its native mobile apps
- you work in ChatGPT without a Business, Enterprise or Edu plan: HubSpot’s plugin is in ChatGPT’s directory, and Zyflow writes from ChatGPT only in developer mode on those plans2
Not a fit if...
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
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.
Other HubSpot alternatives worth a look
If HubSpot’s seat pricing is the problem but Zyflow isn’t the right fit, five other CRMs are worth a look. Three of them are free HubSpot alternatives for small teams: Attio and Zoho CRM are free for up to 3 people, and Bigin for 1.
| CRM | Best for | Free plan | Entry price, annual | MCP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attio | Founder-led teams that want a flexible, modern data model | Up to 3 seats, 50,000 records | Plus: $35 a seat | Every plan |
| Zoho CRM | A full business suite at a low per-user price | 3 users, 5,000 records | Standard: $14 a user | Zoho MCP, $0 license |
| Bigin by Zoho | A very small pipeline at a low per-user price | 1 user, 500 records | Express: $7 a user | Zoho MCP for Bigin |
| Pipedrive | Teams that sell through a visual pipeline | None; 14-day trial | Lite: $14 a seat | Every plan, since Jun 30, 2026 |
| Less Annoying CRM | People who want a simple CRM with no AI | None; 30-day trial | $15 a user, one plan | No official server listed |
Attio
Attio Free covers more people and records than Zyflow Free, and Attio doesn’t bill an outside AI’s MCP calls through its credits. Past three people you pay per seat ($44 a seat billed monthly on Plus), and Attio’s own AI runs on seat and workspace credits.
Zoho CRM
Standard includes Zia, Zoho’s own AI, and Zoho MCP reaches more than 50 Zoho apps, invoicing included. Setting up MCP is admin work in the Zoho console, though, and its calls count against your plan’s API limits.
Bigin by Zoho
Zoho MCP for Bigin connects Claude, and Bigin’s own AI credits start on Premier. Free stops at 500 records, and MCP is set up through the Zoho console.
Pipedrive
Nova, Pipedrive’s own AI, is included on Lite, and actions through its MCP server are recorded in Pipedrive’s change logs. There’s no free plan, only a 14-day trial.
Less Annoying CRM
It has one plan, at $15 a user a month, with no tiers to compare. Its site lists no AI features and no official MCP server (checked Oct 3, 2026), so Claude or ChatGPT would need a third-party connector to reach it.
Zyflow vs HubSpot in detail
When your AI writes
After a call, tell Claude: “Had a call with Maya at Northwind, she wants the revised quote by Friday.” Your AI logs the call and sets the follow-up on the customer you already have, then reads back the date: Fri, 9 Oct. In Zyflow, the change shows up labeled “Added by Claude via MCP”, with an Undo.
What keeps that safe:
- Each thing your AI does is one change, and one click undoes it, even 40 contacts edited at once.1
- When a name could mean two people, Zyflow sends your AI the candidates, and your AI asks you which one you mean.
- Zyflow finds the record you already have, so a save updates it instead of making a copy.
- AI apps can only move things to a 30-day trash, and bulk edits show a preview first and stop at 200 records.
- “What your AI did” on Today lists the last 24 hours, app by app.
Your AI will get things wrong sometimes. Plan for that.
HubSpot has safeguards of its own. Its MCP server works within your HubSpot user permissions, and HubSpot restores deleted records for 90 days on every plan, longer than Zyflow’s 30-day trash. HubSpot’s help pages also say its audit log records changes made through its Claude connector. We haven’t finished testing undo in HubSpot’s MCP server, so this page doesn’t compare undo yet.
Every member, and every member’s AI, can see and edit every customer. There are no per-person permissions yet.
What your AI can reach in one record
Before a call, ask “What do we know about Northwind?” Your AI gets the facts, deals, follow-ups, money owed (marked OVERDUE when late), files and the next step, in one lookup. Money and paperwork sit in the same record:
- “Northwind owes $4,800, will pay by the 15th.” Zyflow records the balance, the promise date and a reminder that closes itself once the payment is recorded.
- “Invoice Northwind for 3 workshop days at $1,200, plus 10% tax.” Zyflow numbers the invoice, works out the total ($3,960), files the PDF under Northwind and returns a link that works for 7 days.
Zyflow records payments; it doesn’t collect them. Zyflow sends nothing to your customers. Your AI drafts; you press send.
HubSpot Free does have invoices with payment links in the app, and its MCP server can write quotes and read invoices, both in beta (checked Oct 3, 2026). See how Zyflow works as a CRM with invoicing.
What you pay as the team grows
Team covers up to 10 people, and AI apps and API keys never count as people. Between 4 and 10 people, adding someone or connecting another AI app doesn’t change the bill.
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.
Every workspace starts on Free. If you’re weighing per-seat CRMs against ones that advertise unlimited users, our CRM unlimited users guide compares them.
Setup
Paste one link into your AI app, then sign in and approve one workspace: about two minutes in Claude. On ChatGPT Business, an admin switches on developer mode first.2 HubSpot’s connector is quick to add too.
One difference if you’re on Claude Free: HubSpot’s help page says its Claude connector needs a paid Claude plan (Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise; updated Sep 17, 2026). Zyflow works on every Claude plan, and Claude Free allows one custom connector.
Switch AI apps and keep your customer memory: what you tell Claude today, Cursor can read tomorrow. Setup steps for each app are on the Claude CRM and ChatGPT CRM pages, and the technical detail is on the CRM MCP server page.
How to switch from HubSpot
To switch from HubSpot, export your contacts and companies as CSV files, import them into Zyflow, then connect your AI. You can keep HubSpot Free running while you try.
-
Export from HubSpot. Go to CRM > Contacts, choose the view you want and click Export. Choose CSV and “All properties on records”. HubSpot emails you a download link, which expires after 30 days (HubSpot Knowledge Base, checked Oct 3, 2026). Do the same for Companies.
-
Import into Zyflow. Upload each CSV. You see a preview and the guessed column mapping before the import runs. Rows that match a record you already have update it, and rows that could match several records are skipped and listed. Each file can hold up to 50,000 rows and 10 MB, and the whole file is one undo.1
-
Connect your AI and ask: “What do we know about Northwind?”
What doesn’t come across:
- Files must be CSV, not XLSX, so choose CSV in HubSpot’s export.
- Only contacts and companies import. Deals, notes, emails and tasks stay in HubSpot, so tell your AI about your open deals and it saves them in Zyflow.
- Each row brings up to 2 emails and 2 phone numbers.
- A company column also creates those companies, and they count as records, within your plan’s limit (5,000 on Free).
And if Zyflow isn’t for you, export your records, documents and history any time, on every plan.4
HubSpot alternatives: common questions
What is HubSpot and why do teams use it?
HubSpot is a customer platform that combines a CRM with marketing, sales, service, content and revenue tools. HubSpot says it has more than 306,000 customers in over 135 countries. Teams choose it for its free CRM, its marketing tools, email and calendar sync, and a marketplace of more than 2,000 apps.
Is HubSpot CRM free for unlimited users?
No. HubSpot’s free CRM covers up to 2 users and 1,000 contacts, plus up to 1 million other records (checked Oct 3, 2026). More people need paid seats: Sales Hub Starter is from $7 a seat a month on annual billing for new customers, or $20 billed monthly.
Does HubSpot work with Claude and ChatGPT?
Yes. HubSpot’s MCP server has been available on every HubSpot account, including Free, since April 13, 2026, and it can read and write contacts, companies, deals and activities. HubSpot also has a Claude connector and a ChatGPT plugin, and it’s the only CRM in Anthropic’s Claude for Small Business bundle.
Are there free HubSpot alternatives?
Yes. Zoho CRM and Attio are free for up to 3 people, and Bigin is free for 1 person and 500 records (checked Oct 2–3, 2026). Zyflow Free is for 1 person, with 5,000 contacts, companies and deals and no time limit. It includes invoices, quotes, a files drive and undo.1
Does HubSpot charge for AI?
For its own AI, yes. Breeze runs on HubSpot Credits: 500 a month on Starter, 3,000 on Professional and 5,000 on Enterprise, then $0.01 per credit, and unused credits don’t roll over. HubSpot’s pricing pages don’t list a Credits charge for using your own Claude or ChatGPT (checked Oct 3, 2026). Zyflow runs no AI, so there are no credits.
Can I move my HubSpot contacts to Zyflow?
Yes. Export your contacts and companies from HubSpot as CSV files, then import them into Zyflow. The import finds records you already have, and you can undo it in one step.1 Deals, notes, emails and tasks don’t come across, so tell your AI about your open deals and it saves them in Zyflow.
