Top 15 HubSpot alternatives and competitors for 2024
The right software makes it easy to enhance CX, sales, or marketing. Our guide will help you find the best HubSpot alternative so you can achieve your goals.
Why you might want a HubSpot alternative
Última atualização em February 15, 2024
HubSpot is a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) platform that offers a suite of tools for marketing, sales, customer service, content management, operations, and commerce. Though known for its Sales Hub and inbound marketing software, HubSpot also has customer service software: Service Hub. Service Hub includes a shared inbox, a ticketing system, a knowledge base, live chat, and customer feedback tools. But HubSpot’s catch-all solution might not be best for businesses looking to enhance their customer experience (CX).
Businesses may find it easier to achieve CX goals with specialized software. HubSpot’s service offerings are relatively new, and the company is still working on adding and expanding features to compete with more established alternatives. For example, the customization of knowledge base settings can be particularly challenging with HubSpot, as there’s no option to duplicate articles. These feature limitations can result in switching costs that increase your total cost of ownership (TCO) and slow your return on investment (ROI). Additionally, HubSpot is touted as one of the more expensive CRM software across review websites, with some users finding its marketing add-on especially costly.
All this to say, it might be a good time to consider an alternative to HubSpot. We’ve cut out the guesswork and compiled a comprehensive guide to help you pick the right software that meets your business needs, including a list of the top HubSpot alternatives, features, pricing tiers, and capabilities.
More in this guide:
- Best HubSpot alternatives and competitors at a glance
- A deep dive into the top alternatives and competitors to HubSpot
- Frequently asked questions
- How to choose the best alternative to HubSpot
Best HubSpot alternatives and competitors at a glance
Check out our comparison chart for quick information, like starting price, free trial length, and key features.
| Zendesk | $19 per agent/month (billed annually) | 14 days | Customer experience |
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| ActiveCampaign | $19 per user/month (billed annually) | 14 days | Sales and marketing |
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| Keap | $159/month (1,500 contacts and 2 users) (billed annually) | 14 days | Sales and marketing |
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| Salesforce | $25 per agent/month (billed annually) | 30 days | Sales and marketing |
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| Mailchimp | $0 per month (500 contacts) | Not applicable | Sales and marketing |
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| Pipedrive | $14.90 per user/month (billed annually) | 14 days | Sales and marketing |
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| Zoho | $0 per user/month (up to 3 users) | Not applicable | Sales and marketing |
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| EngageBay | $0 per month (250 contacts) | Unavailable | Sales and marketing |
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| GetResponse | $15.60 per month (billed annually) | 30 days | Sales and marketing |
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| Ontraport | $24 per month (billed annually) | 14 days | Sales and marketing |
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| Help Scout | $20 per user/month (billed annually) | 15 days | Sales and marketing |
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| Freshdesk | $0 per month (up to 10 agents) | Not applicable | Sales and marketing |
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| Drip | $39 per month (up to 2,500 contacts) | 14 days | Sales and marketing |
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| Insightly | $0 per month (up to 2 users) | Not applicable | Sales and marketing |
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| Nutshell | $16 per user/ month (billed annually) | 14 days | Sales and marketing |
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A deep dive into the top alternatives and competitors to HubSpot
Our detailed list of the top HubSpot competitors and alternatives will help you spot the best customer service solution for your business.
1. Zendesk
Zendesk is a customer service solution built for the customer experience. Our CX expertise provides businesses of any size with the tools, best practices, support, and guidance they need to deliver exceptional customer service.
Our agile product sets up quickly and is easy to learn, resulting in a fast time to value and better ROI. Because our scalable solution grows with your business and customer base, you’ll have the tools and functionality you need now and in the future.
Where Zendesk excels:
- Unified Agent Workspace: Our intuitive omnichannel interface allows agents to seamlessly manage customer conversations across channels, view customer data and context, and easily collaborate in one place.
- Intelligent routing and triage: AI-powered tools identify the intent, sentiment, and language of incoming customer service requests and automatically direct them to the best-suited agent.
- AI-powered Content Cues and knowledge management tools: These features provide teams with quick insights into creating and optimizing help center articles and self-service content.
- Pre-built and custom reporting and analytics: Plug-and-play reporting dashboards and customizable reports provide businesses with real-time metrics and actionable insights.
- 1,500+ apps in the Zendesk Marketplace: Enhance the capabilities and functionality of your current help desk—and get a 360-degree view of the customer—with best-of-breed support, marketing, and CRM software integrations (or build your own customized integration using the Zendesk API).
Roughly 160,000 businesses trust Zendesk as their CX solution. And it’s not just our customers singing our praises—we’ve received best software awards from G2 and Forbes.
Key features:
- Apps and integrations
- Reporting and analytics
- AI and automation
- Ticket management
- Industry-leading unified agent workspace
- Extensive SLAs and operational level agreements (OLAs)
Pricing:
- Support Team: $19 per agent/month
- Support Professional: $55 per agent/month
- Support Enterprise: $115 per agent/month
*Plans are billed annually.
Free trial:
14 days2. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a cloud-based CRM and marketing automation platform. It offers features including email marketing tools, sales and marketing automation, task management, and a knowledge base. Its email marketing capabilities allow users to create and send targeted customer messages using customizable templates and automation.
With the platform's CRM, users can manage customer data, track interactions, and gain insights into customer behavior and preferences. ActiveCampaign features lead scoring based on customer engagement and activity and offers reporting and analytics dashboards so users can track the performance of sales and marketing campaigns.
Features:
- Apps and integrations
- Reporting and analytics
- AI and automation
- Ticket management
- Sales automation
- Lead scoring
- Email alerts and notifications
Pricing:
- Plus: $19 per user/month
- Professional: $49 per user/month
- Enterprise: Contact ActiveCampaign
*Pricing listed is for Sales plans, which are billed annually.
Free trial:
14 days3. Keap
Keap provides small business software that combines CRM, marketing automation, and e-commerce tools to help businesses manage customer interactions. Its CRM enables users to organize and centralize customer information, track interactions, and manage leads and contacts in a single interface.
Keap offers marketing automation tools, allowing users to create and send emails to targeted customers. The software also includes customizable drag-and-drop templates for emails and landing pages, helping users design marketing materials.
Features:
- Apps and integrations
- Reporting and analytics
- AI and automation
- Ticket management
- Lead capture
- Lead management
Pricing:
- Pro: starts at $159/month (1,500 contacts and 2 users)
- Max: starts at $229/month (2,500 contacts and 3 users)
- Max Classic: Contact Keap
*Plans are billed annually.
Free trial:
14 days4. Salesforce
Salesforce is CRM software that provides businesses with a centralized platform to manage customer support, sales, and marketing tasks. Its features include contact and lead management tools so businesses can store and organize customer data and track customer interactions. In addition to its marketing and sales products, Salesforce includes customer support and service features, which can help businesses manage customer requests and handle issues.
However, Salesforce doesn’t include a native voice solution and requires add-ons for chat, messaging, knowledge, and self-service software. Customers without technical knowledge can find it complex and difficult to customize, requiring an investment in consultants and dev teams to make the changes. This can ultimately drive up the total cost of ownership.
Features:
- Apps and integrations
- Reporting and analytics
- AI and automation
- Ticket management
- Process management
- Chatbots
Pricing:
- Starter: $25 per agent/month
- Professional: $80 per agent/month
- Enterprise: $165 per agent/month
- Unlimited: $330 per user/month
- Unlimited+ $500 per user/month
*Plans are billed annually.
Free trial:
30 days5. Mailchimp
Mailchimp is an email marketing automation software that can help businesses create, send, and analyze marketing campaigns. Its email marketing features allow users to design emails, newsletters, and automated drip campaigns, too.
Mailchimp provides tools for case management, like email alerts and notifications. The software also offers reporting and analytics, allowing users to track campaign performance and view metrics, like open and click-through rates.
Features:
- Apps and integrations
- Reporting and analytics
- AI and automation
- Ticket management
- Customizable email templates
- SMS marketing
Pricing:
- Free: $0 per month (500 contacts)
- Essentials: starts at $13 per month
- Standard: starts at $20 per month
- Premium: starts at $350 per month
Free trial:
30 daysLearn more about the Mailchimp app for Zendesk.
6. Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a CRM software for sales pipeline management. It can help sales teams track leads, deals, and sales activities. With features like customizable pipelines, users can create a visual of their sales processes and statuses.
Additionally, Pipedrive offers lead and contact management tools, providing a central hub for storing and organizing customer data and interactions. Sales teams can use other tools like sales automation, email integration, and reporting features.
Features:
- Apps and integrations
- Reporting and analytics
- AI and automation
- Ticket management
- Activity reminders
- Visual sales pipeline
Pricing:
- Essential: $14.90 per user/month
- Advanced: $27.90 per user/month
- Professional: $49.90 per user/month
- Power: $64.90 per user/month
- Enterprise: $99.00 per user/month
*Plans are billed annually.
Free trial:
14 daysLearn more about the Pipedrive integration for Zendesk.
7. Zoho
Zoho offers a suite of business applications, including CRM, customer service, sales, and marketing products. With Zoho CRM, businesses can organize customer data, manage leads, and create reports.
The platform also provides project management tools so teams can collaborate, track and automate tasks, and manage customer requests. Zoho also offers an email marketing app for businesses to create custom email marketing campaigns.
Features:
- Apps and integrations
- Reporting and analytics
- AI and automation
- Ticket management
- Customer portals
- Social listening
Pricing:
- Free: $0 per user/month (up to 3 users)
- Standard: $14 per user/month
- Professional: $23 per user/month
- Enterprise: $40 per user/month
- Ultimate: $52 per user/month
*Plans are billed annually.
Free trial:
Not applicable8. EngageBay
EngageBay offers CRM, marketing automation, email marketing, sales automation, and customer support tools. The CRM feature enables businesses to keep customer data in one place, handle customer inquiries, and automate common tasks for their sales and marketing teams.
EngageBay's marketing automation capabilities allow users to create marketing emails and automate lead sequences, while the platform's sales automation tools can help sales teams manage their leads and sales pipelines.
Features:
- Apps and integrations
- Reporting and analytics
- AI and automation
- Ticket management
- Email reports
- Prewritten responses
Pricing:
- All-in-One Free: $0 per month (includes 250 contacts)
- All-in-One Basic: $13.79 per user/month
- All-in-One Growth: $59.79 per user/month
- All-in-One Pro: $110.39 per user/month
*Plans are billed annually.
Free trial:
Unavailable9. GetResponse
GetResponse is an online marketing solution that offers features including automated email marketing, landing page creation, and webinars. Email marketing features enable users to customize emails, build and segment contact lists, and track email metrics with reporting and analytics.
Users can create automated workflows that trigger based on customer behavior. GetResponse's tools allow businesses to host webinars and engage with their audience in real time for lead generation and customer education purposes.
Features:
- Apps and integrations
- Reporting and analytics
- AI and automation
- Ticket management
- Sign-up forms and pop-ups
Pricing:
- Email Marketing: $15.60 per month
- Marketing Automation: $48.40 per month
- Ecommerce Marketing: $97.60 per month
- GetResponse MAX: $999 per month
*Plans are billed annually.
Free trial:
30 days10. Ontraport
Ontraport is an all-in-one platform for small and medium-sized businesses to automate email marketing, as well as manage sales and leads. Its marketing automation capabilities can help teams perform A/B testing with marketing materials and track leads throughout the sales funnel.
The platform also features tools that can help users create custom landing pages. And its e-commerce tools can enable businesses to build a better online and social media presence to assist with marketing and sales.
Features:
- Apps and integrations
- Reporting and analytics
- AI and automation
- Ticket management
- Business support
- Community forums
Pricing:
- Basic: starts at $24 per month
- Plus: starts at $83 per month
- Pro: starts at $124 per month
- Enterprise: starts at $249 per month
*Plans are billed annually.
Free trial:
14 days11. Help Scout
Help Scout is a customer support platform that offers a shared inbox, knowledge base, and reporting tools. The shared inbox feature allows support teams to collaborate and respond to customer emails, issues, and inquiries from a unified interface.
Help Scout offers a knowledge base tool that helps businesses create and maintain help center articles for self-service. Help Scout also has reporting and analytics for businesses to track response times, customer satisfaction (CSAT), and other support metrics.
Features:
- Apps and integrations
- Reporting and analytics
- AI and automation
- Ticket management
- Live chat
- In-app messaging
Pricing:
- Standard: $20 per user/month
- Plus: $40 per user/month
- Pro: $65 per user/month
*Plans are billed annually.
Free trial:
15 days12. Freshdesk
Freshdesk’s shared inbox allows support teams to centralize customer emails, tickets, and inquiries in one place. It offers businesses self-service knowledge base software where they can create and organize articles, FAQ pages, and resources to help customers find answers to common questions and issues. Freshdesk has ticketing and automation features, enabling businesses to prioritize and assign tickets to agents and automate repetitive tasks.
However, Freshdesk’s limitations include a lack of custom attribution (how customers reach conversion) and correlation (how metrics are related), which means there’s limited reporting and analytics. The platform is also missing omnichannel reporting, so you’ll need to run separate reports per channel. This can impact visibility into customer issues and team performance.
Features:
- Apps and integrations
- Reporting and analytics
- AI and automation
- Ticket management
- Self-service portal
- Custom widgets
Pricing:
- Free: $0 per month (up to 10 agents)
- Growth: $15 per agent/month
- Pro: $49 per agent/month
- Enterprise: $79 per agent/month
*Plans are billed annually.
Free trial:
14 days13. Drip
With Drip, users can create and send customized email campaigns. The platform includes customer segmentation and tagging features, which help businesses organize their subscribers by behavior and preferences and allow for more accurate email targeting.
Drip's marketing automation capabilities enable users to set up workflows triggered by specific actions or events, such as website visits or email opens. Drip also has reporting and analytics which can be used to gather insights based on custom metrics.
Features:
- Apps and integrations
- Reporting and analytics
- AI and automation
- Ticket management
- Customer segmentation
- On-site pop-up marketing campaigns
Pricing:
- Starts at $39 per month for up to 2,500 contacts
Free trial:
14 days14. Insightly
Cloud-based CRM software Insightly helps businesses manage and organize customer data. Insightly provides a central platform to store and access customer data, track interactions, and maintain a comprehensive CRM database.
The software offers project management features that allow users to create and manage projects, tasks, and milestones, making it easier to collaborate and keep teams organized. Insightly also includes email integration, which enables businesses to track email communication and easily associate emails with specific contacts or projects. Reporting and analytics tools provide insights into sales performance, project progress, and customer engagement.
Features:
- Apps and integrations
- Reporting and analytics
- Ticket management
- SLA countdown
- Custom reminders and alerts
Pricing:
- Free: $0 per month (up to 2 users)
- Plus: $29 per user/month
- Professional: $49 per user/month
- Enterprise: $99 per user/month
*Pricing listed is for CRM plans, which are billed annually.
Free trial:
14 days15. Nutshell
Nutshell is a cloud-based CRM software designed to help small and medium-sized businesses manage their sales and customer interactions. Nutshell offers core CRM features that centralize and organize customer data, track interactions, and create a clear view of the sales pipeline.
Nutshell includes reporting and analytics features, which provide insights into sales performance, conversion rates, and other key metrics, helping businesses make data-driven decisions. The software offers email integration as well, enabling users to track email communication with leads and customers.
Features:
- Apps and integrations
- Reporting and analytics
- AI and automation
- Pre-built email templates
- Sales pipeline management
- Contact management
Pricing:
- Foundation: $16 per user/month
- Pro: $42 per user/month
- Power AI: $52 per user/month
- Enterprise: $67 per user/month
*Plans are billed annually.
Free trial:
14 daysLearn more about the Nutshell integration for Zendesk.
Frequently asked questions
How to choose the best alternative to HubSpot
Bottom line: HubSpot's lack of features and capabilities can make it challenging for businesses to scale their CX. It’s so important to meet customers on the channels they use most. HubSpot’s lack of native SMS and popular social channels can create a barrier between customers and your business. Product gaps like these may give HubSpot competitors a leg up in CX.
With Zendesk, you get flexible software that scales with businesses of all sizes. Our robust marketplace of apps and integrations lets you adapt on the fly to meet evolving customer expectations and changing business needs. If you like a low total cost of ownership and better ROI, our quick setup and intuitive interface allow your team to skip the onboarding and training and start delivering an amazing CX from day one.
Make day one today and start your free trial.
Zendesk vs. the rest: Related guides for software alternatives
Check out these HubSpot competitors and alternatives. These guides are packed with information to help you pick which customer service software is the right fit for your business.