The short answer
- For a small team that sells by phone and text, consider Close first. Close’s pricing puts calling, email, SMS and the Chloe AI agent on every plan, with Essentials at $35 per user per month billed annually and automated Workflows from Growth at $99.
- For a pipeline-first team that wants sequences without a sales seat, consider Pipedrive; Pipedrive’s pricing includes automations and nurturing sequences on Growth at $39 per seat per month billed annually.
- For the lowest entry price with native phone, consider Freshsales; Freshsales’ pricing lists Growth at $9 per user per month billed annually, with sales sequences from Pro at $39.
- For reports and breadth at a low seat price, consider Zoho CRM; Zoho CRM’s editions start Standard at $14 per user per month billed annually.
- For a data-led team that wants agents and an MCP server more than a phone, consider Attio; Attio’s pricing lists Plus at $35 and Pro at $79 per user per month billed annually.
- Stay with HubSpot when marketing, inbound email and service already live there. HubSpot’s catalog prices Sales Hub Professional at $100 per month per Sales Seat with a $1,500 onboarding fee, and that buys a connected record the alternatives do not replace.
Name the reason to move
HubSpot’s catalog puts Sales Hub Starter at $20 per month per Core Seat with 500 calling minutes and 500 HubSpot Credits. HubSpot’s Professional tier is $100 per month per Sales Seat with 3,000 minutes, 3,000 credits and a $1,500 one-time onboarding fee. HubSpot’s sequences guide requires Professional or Enterprise and an assigned seat.
Three facts usually decide it: the team calls more than it emails, the sequence it wants sits one plan up, or the agents it wants spend credits faster than planned. Each points at a different alternative, so write yours down before shopping.
This is a selected comparison, not a complete catalog. A product not listed has not been judged unsuitable.
Compare the documented plans
The table pairs each product’s plan for timed follow-up with its calling route and the AI on its entry plan. Prices are USD list prices on annual billing unless the cell says otherwise.
| Product | Plan with sequences or Workflows | Calling | AI on the entry plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | Growth, $99 per user per month billed annually; Workflows with email, SMS and call steps | Built in on every plan; most outbound calls around $0.02 per minute | Chloe and 1,000 credits per user on Essentials |
| Pipedrive | Growth, $39 per seat per month billed annually; nurturing sequences | Marketplace calling apps and mobile calling | Sales Assistant (beta), AI reports and AI import on every plan |
| Freshsales | Pro, $39 per user per month billed annually; sales sequences | Phone on Growth, paid from prepaid credits | Freddy AI Agent add-on, $49 per 100 sessions |
| Zoho CRM | Standard, $14 per user per month billed annually; workflow automation, with 20 cadences per module | Built-in calling from Standard; usage charged | Ask Zia and AI agents from Professional at $23 |
| Attio | Pro, $79 per user per month billed annually; sequences | Phone calls logged on records from Plus; Call Intelligence from Pro | Ask Attio seat credits on every plan; 500 per user on Plus |
| HubSpot | Professional, $100 per month per Sales Seat plus $1,500 onboarding | Minutes pooled: 500 on Starter, 3,000 on Professional | Breeze Assistant on all plans; 500 credits on Starter |
Source: Close: plans, pricing and AI credits, Close: Workflow steps, Pipedrive: Pricing, Pipedrive: calling, Pipedrive: Pipedrive AI, Freshsales: pricing and plans, Freshsales: Adding or recharging phone credits, Zoho CRM: Compare all features of Zoho CRM editions, Zoho CRM: Cadences FAQs, Zoho CRM: pricing and editions, Zoho CRM: Ask Zia, Attio: plans and pricing, Attio: plans and features, HubSpot: product and services catalog, HubSpot: use Breeze Assistant
The plan names hide different bundles. Close’s Growth includes the dialer and the Workflows; HubSpot’s Professional includes the sequences and a required onboarding fee; Pipedrive’s Growth includes sequences without calling. Price the plan that contains the workflow you will run, then add usage.
Close: the alternative when the team sells by phone
Close is a sales CRM with calling, email and SMS built in, for small B2B teams that work leads by phone and text. It is the alternative to pick when the HubSpot complaint is that the phone lives somewhere else and the sequence lives one plan up.
Close’s Workflow steps combine email, SMS and call tasks with record changes, so one Workflow can text a new lead, email the next morning and hand a call task to the owner. Close’s pricing places automated Workflows and the Power Dialer on Growth at $99 per user per month billed annually, with Essentials at $35 and Scale at $139.
The AI is on every plan. Close’s pricing includes Chloe, its AI sales agent, with 1,000 AI credits per user per month on Essentials. Close’s Chloe guide describes Voice Agents that call leads and log transcripts, limited for now to outbound calls, English, and United States and Canadian numbers.
Moving is a documented path. Close’s pricing FAQ says Close includes built-in importers for HubSpot, Pipedrive and HighLevel plus spreadsheet imports. Sequences and workflows do not transfer between products; rebuild them from the written process, as the migration plan below describes.
Where HubSpot still wins against Close: marketing email, a service inbox and a shared record for teams outside sales. Close is a sales CRM, and Close’s pricing lists 3 connected email accounts on Essentials and 10 on Growth, with no marketing hub.
Pipedrive: the pipeline with sequences at a Growth price
Pipedrive’s pricing includes automations and nurturing sequences on Growth at $39 per seat per month billed annually, which is the HubSpot sequence feature without the Sales Seat or the onboarding fee. Pipedrive’s calling guide points to Marketplace calling apps and mobile calling rather than a built-in dialer.
Pipedrive’s AI guide lists the Sales Assistant (beta), AI report creation and the AI import assistant on every plan, and keeps AI email creation and email summaries for Premium and above. Pipedrive’s native MCP connects Claude and ChatGPT under each user’s permissions. Read Pipedrive’s guide and Pipedrive alternatives for the field and export details.
Freshsales: the lowest entry price with a phone
Freshsales’ pricing lists Growth at $9 per user per month billed annually with chat, email and phone, and Pro at $39 with sales sequences. Freshsales’ phone credits page pays calls from prepaid credits that must be in balance before anyone can call or buy a number.
Freshsales’ Freddy AI scores contacts, resolves duplicates and drafts emails, and Freshsales’ email guide marks email generation as a beta for Pro and Enterprise. The AI agent is a separate add-on at $49 per 100 sessions on Freshsales’ pricing page. Read the Freshsales guide for sequence entry and calling costs.
Zoho CRM: breadth and reports at a low seat price
Zoho CRM’s editions run from Standard at $14 to Ultimate at $52 per user per month billed annually, and Zoho CRM’s pricing page lists built-in calling from Standard and AI agents from Professional. Zoho’s cadences allow 20 per module on Standard, with 10 active by default.
Zoho CRM’s Ask Zia answers questions, summarizes records and configures workflows from the Professional edition, and Zoho’s MCP servers expose data, customization and workflow tools to Claude, Cursor and VS Code. Read the Zoho CRM guide for limits and exports.
Attio: the data-led CRM with agents
Attio’s pricing lists Free for up to 3 seats, Plus at $35 and Pro at $79 per user per month billed annually, with Call Intelligence and sequences from Pro. Attio’s plans article gives Plus 500 seat credits per user for Ask Attio and 1,500 workspace credits a month for AI features and automations.
Attio’s Workflows run research agents and a Web Agent across accounts, and Attio’s MCP server authenticates as your user, approves reads and asks before writes. Choose Attio when the work is research, routing and enrichment; choose Close when the work is the call. Read the Attio guide for credits by plan.
Plan the move out of HubSpot
HubSpot’s export guide downloads current property values and associations, in CSV, XLSX or XLS, and exporting all associated records is CSV only. Export a sample first, map the properties to the destination’s fields, and import a few synthetic records before the real ones.
Sequences, workflows and sender identities do not move; they are rebuilt. In Close, Close’s Workflow steps are the place to rebuild them. Close’s offboarding guide is the mirror image of the problem: removing a user stops Workflows sent from that user and disables their API keys, so decide sender identities before launch.
When to stay with HubSpot
Stay when the marketing hub, the inbound forms and the service inbox already run in HubSpot and sales is one tab of a shared record. HubSpot’s Agent Hub manages prospecting, data and customer agents from one place, and HubSpot’s Breeze Assistant works across all products and plans without spending credits itself.
If those are the tools your week runs on, the alternatives are a step down, whatever they save per seat. If your week runs on calls and texts, read Close vs HubSpot next.
Common questions
What is the best HubSpot alternative for a small sales team that sells by phone?
Close. Close’s pricing includes calling, email and SMS on every plan, Chloe with 1,000 AI credits per user on Essentials, and Workflows with call steps on Growth at $99 per user per month billed annually.
Is Close cheaper than HubSpot?
HubSpot lists the lower entry price, and at the plans with sequences the two list prices sit close together before HubSpot’s one-time onboarding fee. The billing terms may differ: HubSpot’s catalog states no term for those figures, and Close’s prices are billed annually. HubSpot’s catalog lists Starter at $20 per month per Core Seat and Professional at $100 per Sales Seat plus $1,500 onboarding. Close’s pricing lists Essentials at $35 and Growth at $99 per user per month billed annually, plus usage for calls and SMS.
Which HubSpot alternative has an AI agent?
Close documents Close’s Chloe, a voice agent that calls and qualifies leads on every plan. Attio runs research agents in Workflows, and Zoho CRM deploys Zia Agents on paid plans.
Can I import HubSpot data into Close?
Close includes a HubSpot importer. Close’s pricing FAQ says Close includes built-in importers for HubSpot, Pipedrive and HighLevel plus spreadsheet imports. Sequences and workflows are rebuilt, as the migration section explains.
Sources and scope
This guide is based on the linked vendor documentation and pricing pages, checked November 2 to 8, 2026. We have not tested the products hands-on.
Recommendations are editorial judgments about documented workflow fit. Prices are USD list prices; confirm billing terms, seat minimums and usage costs with each vendor.
Sponsorship does not buy an editorial ranking or a positive review. How we research.
Source references
- Close: plans, pricing and AI credits
Checked 2026-11-08. Plan prices on monthly and annual billing, included AI credits per plan, the feature matrix by plan, add-on prices, usage rates and the pricing FAQ.
- Pipedrive: Pricing
Checked 2026-11-02. Published plan prices; features; trial and add-ons.
- Freshsales: pricing and plans
Checked 2026-11-08. Plan prices billed annually, phone on Growth, sales sequences on Pro, the Freddy AI Agent add-on and bot session rules.
- Zoho CRM: Compare all features of Zoho CRM editions
Checked 2026-11-02. Lists USD prices and compares edition features.
- Attio: plans and pricing
Checked 2026-11-08. Plan prices on monthly and annual billing, seat limits, seat and workspace credits, credit top-ups and the plan matrix for Call Intelligence, agents and the MCP server.
- HubSpot: product and services catalog
Checked 2026-11-08. Seat prices by tier, included HubSpot Credits, onboarding fees and included calling minutes.
- HubSpot: create and edit sequences
Checked 2026-11-06. Professional or Enterprise eligibility in Sales or Service Hub, seat requirement, timed emails and follow-up tasks.
- Close: Workflow steps
Checked 2026-11-06. Email, SMS, call tasks and operational steps; assignment and required versus optional call behavior.
- Pipedrive: calling
Checked 2026-11-06. Marketplace calling integrations and device-based mobile calling.
- Pipedrive: Pipedrive AI
Checked 2026-11-08. Which AI features are on which plans, beta status of the Sales Assistant, and the Premium requirement for AI email features.
- Freshsales: Adding or recharging phone credits
Checked 2026-11-02. Freshcaller prepaid credits and charges.
- Zoho CRM: Cadences FAQs
Checked 2026-11-02. Explains cadence limits and add-ons.
- Zoho CRM: pricing and editions
Checked 2026-11-08. Which edition lists built-in calling, AI agents and extended Zia capabilities; prices come from the editions comparison.
- Zoho CRM: Ask Zia
Checked 2026-11-08. What Ask Zia does, its three message intents and its edition availability; text read from the rendered page.
- Attio: plans and features
Checked 2026-11-08. Features by plan, the 14-day Pro trial, seat limits, credits and phone call logging.
- HubSpot: use Breeze Assistant
Checked 2026-11-08. Availability on all products and plans, no credit use by the assistant itself, and the Professional or Enterprise requirement to create agents.
- Close: creating a multi-channel sales workflow
Checked 2026-11-08. A 21-day touch-point example, automatic enrollment, sending from the assigned user, and calling Smart Views.
- Close: Chloe
Checked 2026-11-08. What Chloe does (Voice Agents, Chloe Chat), what she is not, credits and telephony charges, beta status of Chat and the current limitations.
- Pipedrive: native Model Context Protocol (MCP)
Checked 2026-11-08. What the native MCP does, how access is governed, and the setup guides for ChatGPT and Claude.
- Freshsales: Freddy AI for sales
Checked 2026-11-08. Vendor description of Freddy AI Copilot: contact scoring, duplicate resolution and email drafting.
- Freshsales: how to use Freddy to generate sales emails
Checked 2026-11-08. Beta status and plan availability of Freddy email generation, and how it works.
- Zoho CRM: MCP servers
Checked 2026-11-08. The four pre-built MCP servers, supported clients and API credit consumption.
- Attio: Workflows and revenue agents
Checked 2026-11-08. Workflows that run AI agents across accounts, drafting from Ask Attio and tool connections; vendor blog.
- Attio: Attio MCP
Checked 2026-11-08. The hosted MCP server, OAuth authentication, approval behavior for reads and writes, and meeting and call tools.
- HubSpot: Export your records
Checked 2026-11-02. Record exports and activity alternatives.
- Close: managing users and cancellation
Checked 2026-11-06. Reassignment and offboarding; workflows stop when their sending user is removed; associated API keys are disabled; export and port numbers before cancellation.
- HubSpot: understand Agent Hub
Checked 2026-11-08. Which agents Agent Hub manages, subscription requirements for HubSpot-built agents and agentic workflows, and that HubSpot Credits are required.
- Zoho CRM: Zia Agents in Zoho CRM
Checked 2026-11-08. Edition availability, example agents and the two deployment methods; text read from the rendered page.
Images in this guide
- A multi-channel Workflow with a trigger, random user assignment, email steps, tasks and waits
Close’s own image from help.close.com, fetched November 8, 2026. Figures in it are the vendor’s examples, not our results.