The best HubSpot alternative depends on the job you need done. If you need marketing automation, email sequences and a CRM your whole team shares, pick another sales or marketing CRM. If you need every deal, deadline and invoice in one place from pitch to paid, a deal tracker can be enough, and it usually costs less.
This page is for freelancers, consultants, solo sellers, creators and talent managers who close the work and deliver it themselves. Inside: a one-question filter, what each free plan covers, when HubSpot is still the right pick, and where Kromadic fits and where it doesn't.
What job are you hiring a HubSpot alternative to do?
Start by naming the job, not the brand. Most lists of HubSpot alternatives skip this step and hand you fifteen marketing tools, which is how a freelancer looking for something simpler ends up shopping for another suite.
Ask one question: do you need software that finds and nurtures leads for a team, or software that holds the deals you already have, from the first pitch to the day the money lands?
| The job | You probably need | Examples on this page |
|---|---|---|
| Inbound marketing: landing pages, forms, email automation, marketing and sales in one place | A marketing or CRM suite | HubSpot, Salesforce |
| A visual sales pipeline for a team: sequences, synced inboxes, forecasts for reps | A sales CRM | Pipedrive, Attio, Zoho CRM, Salesforce Starter |
| Keeping track of people and relationships, with light pipelines | A simple contact CRM | Less Annoying CRM, folk |
| Deals you pitch, deliver and invoice yourself, with the fee, dates and terms on each one | A deal workspace | Kromadic |
If what you want to replace is HubSpot's Marketing Hub (ecommerce email, webinar funnels, ad campaigns), marketing suite roundups cover that lane in depth. This page covers deal tracking for people who sell and deliver.
Free HubSpot alternatives (what "free" actually means)
Several of these tools have a free plan, but free rarely means the paid features people switch for. Here is what each free plan covers, as published on the vendor's page:
- HubSpot lists a free CRM on its Sales product page. It is a real starting point; check HubSpot's current free limits before you plan around it.
- Zoho CRM is free for up to three users.
- Attio has a free plan for up to three seats.
- Kromadic Free covers 10 active deals (agreed through invoiced; pitches and paid deals don't count), 40 questions to Kroma a month and 3 contracts read into deals, with no card (see the plans).
folk, Less Annoying CRM, Pipedrive and Salesforce Starter have no free plan; check each pricing page for a free trial.
One warning: a free plan that includes marketing email usually limits how much you can send, and a free CRM usually holds back the automation and reporting you would upgrade for. Decide what you need the tool to do for you every week, then check that the free plan does that one thing.
HubSpot alternatives for freelancers, consultants and small service teams
Freelancers and consultants usually need fewer hubs and a clearer path from agreed work to a paid invoice, not more marketing automation. Three examples show the difference. They are illustrations, not customers.
A freelance designer wins a brand project. The contract arrives by email, the client pays net 30, and the files are due in three weeks. What helps is one card holding the fee, the due date, the terms and whether the invoice has gone out. A classic CRM such as Less Annoying CRM can hold the contact; a deal workspace holds the deal itself.
A consultant runs five retainers, writes proposals in Docs and sends invoices from another tool. What helps is stages that run all the way to paid, not lead scoring. If a team of reps is coming, Pipedrive or Attio grows with them. If it stays one person, a deal workspace is less to keep up.
A creator or talent manager juggles brand deals, deliverables and usage terms, often for several people on a roster. An unpaid post hurts far more than an unopened marketing email. What helps is seeing which deals are late, which are unpaid and what each contract said.
Kromadic only fits these cases when you own the deal from pitch to paid and don't need shared team inboxes. When an invoice goes quiet anyway, here is how to chase an unpaid invoice.
When HubSpot is still the right pick
Stay on HubSpot when you use its hubs as hubs. It is a strong product, and it fits better than any tool on this page when:
- inbound content, forms, landing pages and marketing email are how you win work;
- several people need one shared CRM, with permissions, reporting and sequences;
- you already live in HubSpot's free CRM and the paid features you would get are ones you would use every week;
- you rely on a large marketplace of integrations and a deep library of help and training.
Switching tools has a cost in time and in history left behind. Don't switch only because a list ranked a competitor first.
What HubSpot, Salesforce and Attio do that Kromadic does not
Kromadic is a deal workspace for one person per account, not a HubSpot replacement for teams. If you need any of these, pick one of the team CRMs above:
- Team seats. Each Kromadic account is one person. On Pro, the roster is the list of names you run deals for, not extra logins.
- Inbox sync. Kromadic doesn't read your inbox. You paste an email or drop a contract in, and you send your own mail.
- E-signatures. A contract can become a deal card in Kromadic; signing it happens in another tool.
- Marketing automation. There are no landing pages, email campaigns or ad tools.
What Kromadic does do: it tracks each deal from pitch to paid. Paste a client email or drop a contract and Kroma drafts a deal card with the fee, dates and terms, and you check every detail before it is saved. Money shows who owes you, how much and how late, and finished work becomes an invoice PDF. Clients pay you directly, and Kromadic never takes a cut. The deal facts sent to Kroma are used to answer you and are not used to train models.
We wrote more about why we built Kromadic and who it is for.
Where Kromadic fits
Kromadic fits when you are the person who pitches, delivers and invoices, and your problem is keeping it all straight rather than finding more leads.
- Who it's for: freelancers, consultants, solo sellers, creators and talent managers.
- What it costs: Free for 10 active deals; Solo is $14 a month with unlimited active deals; Pro is $49 a month with more Kroma, unlimited contract reads and an unlimited roster. See the plans.
- What a day looks like: one board from first pitch to paid, each deal with its terms and dates, and a Money view that shows what is late before you have to go looking.
If you also need an invoice right now, our free invoice template for Google Docs and Sheets works with any of the tools on this page.
How to switch without making a mess
Write down what you have, pick stages that match how you already work, and move open deals first.
- List what is live. Put every open deal and every unpaid invoice in a sheet: who, what, fee, due date, status.
- Choose your stages. For service work, something like Lead, Pitched, Agreed, In progress, Invoiced, Paid. Use the words you already say out loud.
- Move open deals only. Recreate or import what is still moving, and archive the rest. In Kromadic you can paste one line per deal ("Pemberwick Bakery rebrand, $6,500, due Nov 20") and check each card before you create it.
- Keep the old tool readable for 30 days. If you are unsure, export your data and keep the old account until the new one has been through a full month of real work.
Questions people ask
Is there a free HubSpot alternative?
Yes. HubSpot itself has a free CRM, Zoho CRM is free for up to three users, Attio is free for up to three seats, and Kromadic Free covers 10 active deals with no card. Free plans differ a lot, so check each vendor's pricing page for current limits before you commit.
What is the best HubSpot alternative for small business?
It depends on the job. For marketing automation, look at marketing suites. For a sales pipeline shared by a team, look at Pipedrive, Zoho CRM or Attio. For one person tracking deals from pitch to paid, a deal workspace can be enough. Use the filter at the top of this page before you pick a brand.
What is the best HubSpot alternative for freelancers?
Freelancers usually need deals, terms and invoices in one place more than they need a marketing hub. Pipedrive or Less Annoying CRM work if you want a classic CRM. Kromadic fits if you want to paste emails or contracts into deal cards and invoice from the same board you track the work on.
Is HubSpot free?
HubSpot offers a free CRM, listed on its Sales product page. The paid Sales Hub plans, Starter, Professional and Enterprise, are charged per seat, and Marketing Hub is priced separately. Check HubSpot's live pricing page before you budget, because the free CRM and the paid hubs are priced very differently.
Does Kromadic replace HubSpot?
Not if you need team seats, inbox sync, sequences or a marketing suite. Kromadic replaces the spreadsheet and inbox routine for one person running deals from pitch to paid: the fee, dates, terms and invoice on each deal, and who still owes you. Read what it doesn't do, above, before you switch.
Who is HubSpot's biggest competitor?
There is no single answer, because it depends on the job. Salesforce often competes with HubSpot as a full suite. Pipedrive, Zoho CRM and Attio compete as sales CRMs. For many freelancers, the real competition is a spreadsheet. Pick by the job you need done, not by whichever tool a headline crowns.
Start with the deals you have
Kromadic keeps every deal from pitch to paid on one board, with the terms, dates and invoice beside the work. The Free plan covers 10 active deals and needs no card. Start free, or compare the plans first.
