Salesforce alternatives
The best Salesforce alternatives for a small business (2026)
The best Salesforce alternatives for a small business are HubSpot for marketing and sales on one free CRM, Pipedrive for a simple pipeline, Zoho CRM for enterprise features at small-business prices, monday CRM for boards, Close for phone sales, Attio for a custom data model, and Mojobase if you'd rather not run a CRM at all.
Updated . Prices and features checked on each company's own site
Why do people look for alternatives to Salesforce?
- Pro Suite, with quoting, forecasting and custom objects, is $100 a user a month billed yearly, and needs a contract.
- Both small-business suites are starting prices, and Salesforce notes that transaction fees apply.
- The Free Suite stops at two users, and Premier Support and Success Plans are sold separately.
- Custom apps, Flows and AppExchange reward a dedicated admin, which most teams of five don't have.
What are the best Salesforce alternatives?
| Tool | Best for |
|---|---|
| HubSpot | Marketing, sales and service on one free CRM |
| Pipedrive | A pipeline salespeople like using every day |
| Zoho CRM | Enterprise CRM features at small-business prices |
| monday.com | A CRM built on boards your team already knows |
| Close | Sales teams that live on the phone |
| Attio | Startups that want Salesforce's flexibility without the admin |
| Mojobase | Small teams that would rather not maintain a CRM |
1. HubSpot: best for marketing, sales and service on one free CRM
HubSpot is Salesforce's most direct rival for small businesses: one CRM under marketing, sales and service, with free tools for two users and no expiry. Smart CRM Professional adds teams, custom reports and calculated properties. Breeze, its AI assistant, researches companies and preps calls even in the free CRM.
- Free plan: Yes. Free Tools: free for up to 2 users, no credit card required. Includes free Marketing, Sales, Service, Content, Data and Revenue tools. Free CRM page says it has no expiration date.1
- Smart CRM Professional: $45 per seat per month, Pay Annually; $50 billed monthly2
- AI: Breeze Assistant: AI assistant that researches companies, preps sales calls and summarizes CRM records; listed in the free CRM.3
2. Pipedrive: best for a pipeline salespeople like using every day
Pipedrive drops most of Salesforce's configuration for a drag-and-drop pipeline with deal alerts when something goes stale. Premium adds lead routing, scoring and AI email tools. Its AI Sales Assistant predicts which deals you're likely to win, and its MCP server works in Claude and ChatGPT.
- Premium: $59 per seat per month, billed annually (US$708 per seat per year); marked most popular4
- Feature: Visual drag-and-drop pipeline with customizable stages and 'rotting' deal alerts.5
- AI: AI Sales Assistant predicts which deals you are most likely to win or lose and suggests which leads to pursue.6
3. Zoho CRM: best for enterprise CRM features at small-business prices
Zoho CRM is the closest feature match to Salesforce at a fraction of the price: process management, CPQ quoting, customer portals and predictive intelligence on Professional. Zia agents come prebuilt or built in Agent Studio, and it connects to 55+ Zoho apps.
- Professional: $23 per user per month, billed yearly (Annually selector); marked most popular; $35 billed monthly7
- Feature: Professional: process management, inventory management, predictive intelligence, unlimited reports, CPQ, custom portals, customer journeys.8
- AI: Zia Agents: build your own agents in Agent Studio or use prebuilt ones from the Zia Agents Store: SDR, sales coach, follow-up scheduler, deal analyzer, quote generator, revenue growth specialist, deal closure reminder.9
4. monday.com: best for a CRM built on boards your team already knows
monday CRM uses the same boards as monday.com's work management, with pipelines, quotes and invoices, email tracking and forecasting. Standard adds AI agents for outreach, lead sourcing and meeting prep. It suits teams that want sales and project work in one place.
- monday CRM: Standard: $17 per seat per month (page quoted at 10 seats), billed yearly; $25 shown struck through; $25 billed monthly10
- monday CRM: Standard includes: 3 workspaces, 5 dashboards, 10,000 active contacts and deals; 50 quotes and invoices per month; 250 custom automations per month; AI agents: outreach caller, lead sourcer, meeting prep, build your own; AI meeting notetaker11
- Feature: monday CRM: pipelines, lead management, quotes and invoices, email tracking, sales automations and forecasting.12
5. Close: best for sales teams that live on the phone
Close builds calling, SMS and email into the CRM, with power and predictive dialers on higher plans. Chloe, its AI agent, calls down lead lists and keeps records updated on monthly credits. It imports from HubSpot and Pipedrive directly. It suits inside sales teams.
- Essentials: $35 per user per month, billed annually; $49 billed monthly13
- Feature: Multi-channel inbox view and task list; built-in calling, email and SMS; power dialer (Growth) and predictive dialer (Scale).14
- AI: Chloe is on every plan with monthly AI credits: 500 (Solo), 1,000 (Essentials), 1,500 (Growth), 2,000 (Scale) per user.15
6. Attio: best for startups that want Salesforce's flexibility without the admin
Attio offers custom objects and attributes, like Salesforce, in an AI-native CRM with workflows on every plan. Pro adds sequences, call intelligence and up to twelve objects. Its MCP server lets Claude or ChatGPT read records freely and asks before every write.
- Pro: $79 per user per month, billed annually (Save 20%); marked popular; $99 billed monthly16
- Feature: Custom data model: custom objects (Plus up to 5, Pro up to 12, Enterprise unlimited), custom attributes, record and entry templates.17
- Agents and MCP: MCP reads are auto-approved and writes ask for confirmation; tools cover records, notes, tasks, meetings, emails, lists, comments, reporting and SQL.18
7. Mojobase: best for small teams that would rather not maintain a CRM
Mojobase has no CRM to configure: it finds customers in your email, calendar and Stripe, and shows each one's mail, meetings, support conversations and unpaid invoices on one page. The AI drafts the follow-ups. There are no deal stages, forecasts, custom objects or marketing campaigns.
- Price: $39 a month for the first person and $25 for each after; the first 10 companies pay $29 and $19, for life
- AI: included, with your choice of model, or bring your own
How should a small business choose a Salesforce alternative?
Ask whether you need Salesforce's flexibility or just its CRM. Salesforce's strength is that it can be shaped into almost anything with custom objects, Flows and AppExchange apps. That's valuable with an admin to maintain it and a process complex enough to need it. A small team usually needs contacts, a pipeline or relationship view, email sync and reminders.
If you need the shape-it-yourself part, look at Attio or Zoho CRM. If you need a clear pipeline, Pipedrive or Close. If you need marketing next to sales, HubSpot. If the problem is that nobody keeps the CRM up to date, a CRM that fills itself is the fix.
How do Salesforce alternatives compare on price?
Prices are per user a month, billed yearly unless noted, from each company's own pricing page.
| CRM | Free plan | Entry plan | Mid plan | Commitment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salesforce | Free Suite, 2 users | $25 (Starter Suite) | $100 (Pro Suite) | Required on Pro Suite |
| HubSpot | Free tools, 2 users | $7 a seat for new customers ($20 list) | $45 (Smart CRM Professional) | Annual commitment on Professional |
| Pipedrive | None | $14 (Lite) | $59 (Premium) | None stated |
| Zoho CRM | 3 users | $14 (Standard) | $23 (Professional) | None stated |
| monday CRM | None | $12 a seat (Basic, quoted at 10 seats) | $17 (Standard) | None stated |
| Close | None | $35 (Essentials) | $99 (Growth) | None stated |
| Attio | 3 seats | $35 (Plus) | $79 (Pro) | None stated |
| Mojobase | None | $39 a month for the first person, $25 each after | Same plan | Monthly billing |
Salesforce marks its prices as starting prices with transaction fees. Mojobase's price includes email, calendar, team chat, support, tasks, documents, Numbers and a monthly AI allowance; for five people it's $139 a month.
What does Mojobase do instead of Salesforce?
Mojobase replaces the CRM with the work it records. Everyone you email or meet is found and grouped by company; customers who pay through Stripe arrive with their subscriptions and invoices. Each person's page shows the latest mail, past and next meetings, open tasks, files, the support conversation and what they owe, gathered live and limited to what the viewer could open anyway.
From there, the AI does the follow-through. It flags who's owed a reply and who's gone quiet, drafts the check-in from your last conversation, and chases a late invoice after checking what was agreed. Ask "prepare me for Thursday's call with Northside" in Quick actions (⌘K) and it pulls the emails, the open invoice and the promises made.
What it doesn't do: opportunities with stages, forecasts, quoting, custom objects, lead scoring, marketing email or an app marketplace. It's built for 1 to 25 people, and it works well for teams up to 100.
What do you lose by leaving Salesforce?
You lose the platform. Salesforce's custom objects, Flows, sandbox and AppExchange let a company model any process, and its small-business suites bring sales, service with case management and omni-channel routing, marketing campaigns and a connected Slack workspace into one product. Its AI agents follow up on leads and answer service requests around the clock.
If you've built your operations on custom Salesforce objects, or expect to grow into a large sales organization, the cost of leaving may be higher than the cost of staying.
How do you move off Salesforce?
Export accounts, contacts, leads and opportunities, and keep the files. Check whether your new CRM has a direct importer; Close, for example, imports from HubSpot and Pipedrive, so check each tool's own list for Salesforce. Rebuild only the reports you actually read.
Give the team two weeks with both systems, then make Salesforce read-only. With Mojobase, connect the mailboxes and calendars first, so the customer list builds itself before you switch.
Questions people ask
What is the best Salesforce alternative for a small business?
HubSpot, for most. It covers marketing, sales and service on one CRM like Salesforce does, starts free for two users, and is easier to set up without an admin. Choose Pipedrive if you only need a sales pipeline, or Zoho CRM if you want Salesforce-level features for less.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Salesforce Pro Suite?
Yes. Zoho CRM Professional lists at $23 a user a month billed yearly with CPQ and process management, and Pipedrive Premium at $59 with lead routing and scoring. Both are well below Pro Suite's $100 a user.
Which Salesforce alternative has the best AI?
It depends on the job. Close's Chloe works the phones, Pipedrive's Nova and AI Sales Assistant help close deals, Attio runs custom agents on every record, and HubSpot's Agent Hub covers marketing and support. Mojobase's AI drafts from email, calendar, invoices and support together.
Can I move from Salesforce to Mojobase?
You don't import a CRM into Mojobase; you connect your mailboxes, calendar and Stripe, and the people you work with appear with their history. Opportunities, custom objects and reports stay in Salesforce, so export them first if you'll need them.
Does Mojobase work alongside Slack like Salesforce does?
Mojobase has its own Team chat, so customers, email and conversations live in one place rather than connected across two products. Agents and the AI post in Team chat as members, and guests such as customers can join chosen channels for free.
Sources
- HubSpot: Free plan. hubspot.com/pricing/suite, checked 7 Nov 2026.
- HubSpot: Smart CRM Professional. hubspot.com/pricing/smart-crm, checked 7 Nov 2026.
- HubSpot: AI. hubspot.com/products/crm, checked 7 Nov 2026.
- Pipedrive: Premium. pipedrive.com/en/pricing, checked 7 Nov 2026.
- Pipedrive: Feature. pipedrive.com/llms.txt, checked 7 Nov 2026.
- Pipedrive: AI. pipedrive.com/, checked 7 Nov 2026.
- Zoho CRM: Professional. zoho.com/en-us/crm/zohocrm-pricing.html, checked 7 Nov 2026.
- Zoho CRM: Feature. zoho.com/en-us/crm/zohocrm-pricing.html, checked 7 Nov 2026.
- Zoho CRM: AI. zoho.com/crm/zia/agents.md, checked 7 Nov 2026.
- monday.com: monday CRM: Standard. monday.com/pricing, checked 7 Nov 2026.
- monday.com: monday CRM: Standard includes. monday.com/pricing, checked 7 Nov 2026.
- monday.com: Feature. monday.com/llms.txt, checked 7 Nov 2026.
- Close: Essentials. close.com/pricing, checked 7 Nov 2026.
- Close: Feature. close.com/pricing, checked 7 Nov 2026.
- Close: AI. close.com/pricing, checked 7 Nov 2026.
- Attio: Pro. attio.com/pricing, checked 7 Nov 2026.
- Attio: Feature. attio.com/pricing, checked 7 Nov 2026.
- Attio: Agents and MCP. docs.attio.com/mcp/overview, checked 7 Nov 2026.
- Salesforce: Pro Suite. salesforce.com/small-business/pricing/, checked 7 Nov 2026.
- HubSpot: Starter Customer Platform. hubspot.com/pricing/suite, checked 7 Nov 2026.
- Pipedrive: Lite. pipedrive.com/en/pricing, checked 7 Nov 2026.
- monday.com: monday CRM: Basic. monday.com/pricing, checked 7 Nov 2026.