HubSpot has the best free CRM on the market. The question is what happens when you outgrow it. Figures below come from HubSpot's own Sales Hub pricing page, checked 8 August 2026.
If you are two people who need a CRM today and have no budget, use HubSpot's free tier — it is genuinely good and we have nothing that competes with free. If marketing automation is your centre of gravity, HubSpot has spent fifteen years on it. If you need a large partner ecosystem, or software you can buy this afternoon rather than request access to, choose HubSpot. KaryaFlow is in private preview and founded in 2026.
| Dimension | KaryaFlow | HubSpot | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free tier | None — private preview, access by request | Free CRM for up to 2 users, no credit card | Favours HubSpot |
| Entry paid tier | US$20 per user / month (Starter) | US$7 per seat / month billed annually, US$20 monthly (Sales Hub Starter) | Favours HubSpot |
| Next tier up | US$99 per user / month (Growth), covering nine functions | US$90 per seat / month annually, US$100 monthly (Sales Hub Professional) — one Hub | Favours KaryaFlow |
| One-time onboarding fee | None | US$1,500 at Professional, US$3,500 at Enterprise | Favours KaryaFlow |
| AI cost model | Agent runs included in the plan | Credits bundled per tier (500 / 3,000 / 5,000), then US$9.00 per 1,000 credits annually | Favours KaryaFlow |
| Scope of that price | One licence covers nine functions | Sales Hub is one Hub; Marketing, Service and others are priced separately | Favours KaryaFlow |
| Ecosystem and maturity | Founded 2026, private preview | Large partner network, deep integration marketplace, mature marketing automation | Favours HubSpot |
HubSpot's ladder for Sales Hub runs: free for up to two users, US$7 per seat per month on Starter with annual billing, then US$90 per seat per month on Professional. That is roughly a thirteenfold jump in one step.
On top of it, Professional carries a one-time US$1,500 onboarding fee, and Enterprise US$3,500. That is listed openly on HubSpot's pricing page, but it rarely features in the mental model of a team starting out on Starter — and it lands in the same month as the per-seat increase.
None of this makes HubSpot expensive for what it is. It makes the step function worth planning for. For an Indian SMB the figures are also in US dollars, so the effective cost moves with the exchange rate and lands before GST. Work out the Professional number at your real seat count before you commit to Starter, not after.
Scope note: every figure on this page is Sales Hub. Marketing Hub and Service Hub are separate products with their own ladders, so a team running two or three Hubs multiplies this, not adds to it. We have not published their rates here because we could not read them from HubSpot's own pages — check hubspot.com/pricing for the Hubs you actually need.
HubSpot bundles credits with each tier — 500 on Starter, 3,000 on Professional, 5,000 on Enterprise — and sells more at US$9.00 per 1,000 credits on annual billing.
This is the same pattern Freshworks uses with Freddy sessions, and it has the same consequence: the more useful the AI becomes, the more it costs, and the cost arrives as a variable line item rather than a decision you made once.
KaryaFlow includes agent runs in the plan price. Estimate your monthly credit burn at realistic volume before comparing headline seat prices — for AI-heavy teams that number can exceed the seat cost, and it is the part of the bill nobody models in advance.
HubSpot grew from a CRM outward. Each Hub is a strong product, and the cross-object reporting between them is better than most rivals manage. But the commercial unit is the Hub, and that shapes how you buy: you add capability by adding products.
KaryaFlow ships one data model across all nine functions. The contact a marketer emails is the same row a support rep updates and the same row an AI agent reasons over — and adding a function does not add a subscription.
Whether that matters depends on how many functions you actually need. For a team that only ever wants sales, HubSpot's focus is a feature, not a limitation.
Read from HubSpot's own pricing page on 8 August 2026. Prices change — verify before relying on this.
HubSpot, Sales Hub, Marketing Hub, Service Hub, and Breeze are trademarks of HubSpot, Inc. KaryaFlow is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by HubSpot. Names are used for identification and comparison only.
Tell us your seat count and which Hubs you are eyeing. We will work through both bills — and say so if HubSpot is the better fit.
