HubSpot alternatives for agencies and service businesses: six options and where PLYNTUM fits

HubSpot sells one customer platform in hubs: Marketing, Sales, Service, Content, Data and Revenue. The free tools cover up to 2 users and 1,000 contacts, with no time limit. Starter is $7 per seat a month billed annually, or $10 billed monthly, as a limited-time offer for new customers (the list price is $20). Sales Hub Professional is $90 per seat a month billed annually ($100 list), plus a required one-time onboarding fee of $1,500; Marketing Hub Professional is $800 a month with 3 seats included, plus $3,000 for onboarding (checked 24 October 2026). Service businesses that bill clients usually leave for one of these reasons.

• The price jumps at Professional. Email sequences, custom reports and forecasting start on Sales Hub Professional. Ten Professional seats cost $900 a month billed annually, or $12,300 in the first year with onboarding.
• HubSpot stops at the deal. Its pricing pages list quotes, invoicing and payments, but no time tracking, timesheets, cost rates or profit per project.
• Marketing you do not use. Email marketing, ads, social media and inbound automation are HubSpot’s strength; an agency that wins work through referrals pays for a platform built around them.
• The language. Georgian is not among the 17 languages of HubSpot’s interface. PLYNTUM works in Georgian and English.

If inbound marketing, email campaigns and marketing automation bring in your new clients, HubSpot is probably still the right tool.

1. Does marketing bring in your clients? If email campaigns and automation matter, compare like for like: Zoho CRM has mass email and campaigns from Standard, monday CRM has mass email and sequences on Pro, and Pipedrive sells email campaigns as a paid add-on. PLYNTUM has no email marketing.
2. Do you only need a pipeline? Pipedrive and Zoho CRM are sales CRMs with lower seat prices; both leave projects and time to other tools. A wider comparison of sales CRMs is in our small-business CRM guide.
3. Do you bill clients for time? Then timesheets, budgets and invoices matter more than lead scoring. Productive, Bonsai and PLYNTUM keep the deal, the hours and the invoice in one tool; Teamwork.com does it next to HubSpot.
4. Must clients pay online? HubSpot (HubSpot payments in the US, Canada and UK, Stripe elsewhere) and Bonsai collect online payments. PLYNTUM records payments by hand.
5. What will 10 people cost? Multiply the seat price, then check minimums and onboarding fees. The table below does the arithmetic.
6. What language does the team work in? Check each vendor’s interface languages before you commit.

Prices in this text are the vendors’ own, checked 24 October 2026, excluding tax and on annual billing unless stated. Read from Georgia, Zoho CRM and monday CRM showed euros; the others showed US dollars. Nothing is ranked, and PLYNTUM, which we make, has its own section.

Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a sales CRM built around the pipeline. Lite is $14, Growth $24, Premium $49 and Ultimate $69 per seat a month billed annually ($19, $34, $64 and $89 billed monthly), excluding VAT, with a 14-day trial. Two-way email sync, automations and email sequences start on Growth. Quotes, proposals and e-signatures (Smart Docs) and the Projects add-on are included from Premium, as paid add-ons below it; email campaigns are a paid add-on on every plan. The pricing page does not mention invoicing or time tracking (checked 24 October 2026).

Best for: sales-led teams that want a pipeline CRM at a lower seat price.

Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM has a free edition for up to 3 users. Standard is €14, Professional €23, Enterprise €40 and Ultimate €52 per user a month billed annually (€20, €35, €50 and €65 billed monthly), plus local taxes; the page showed euros for our region, and its price file lists Standard and Professional at the same figures in US dollars. Mass email and marketing campaigns start on Standard; quotes, sales orders and invoices come with Professional. Georgian is not among the 28 languages Zoho lists for the CRM (checked 24 October 2026).

Best for: a low per-user price, with email campaigns and invoices inside the CRM.

monday CRM

monday CRM runs leads, contacts and deals on monday.com boards. Basic is €12, Standard €17 and Pro €28 per seat a month billed yearly (€18, €25 and €41 billed monthly); Ultimate is priced on request, plans start from 3 seats, and the price depends on the billing country. Every plan includes quotes and invoices: 20 a month on Basic, 50 on Standard and 250 on Pro. Gmail and Outlook sync starts on Standard; mass email, sequences and time tracking are on Pro; client projects and collection tracking only on Ultimate. Georgian is not among monday.com’s 15 interface languages (checked 24 October 2026).

Best for: teams that want boards, with simple quotes and invoices, inside the CRM.

Productive

Productive is agency software for sales, projects, resources and finances. Essential is $10 and Professional $25 per user a month billed yearly ($12 and $29 billed monthly), with a 3-seat minimum. Every plan includes deals, a sales pipeline (1 on Essential, 3 on Professional), proposal export to PDF, turning a deal into a project, budgets, time tracking and invoices. Professional adds billable time approvals, rate cards, retainer invoicing, payment reminders and accounting integrations; the HubSpot integration is on Ultimate, priced on request (checked 24 October 2026). PLYNTUM vs Productive

Best for: agencies that want the pipeline, budgets and invoices in one tool.

Teamwork.com, next to HubSpot

Teamwork.com is project software for client work that can run next to HubSpot. The Free plan covers up to 5 users; Basics is $9.99 (3-user minimum) and Accelerate $24.99 (5-user minimum) per user a month billed yearly ($13.99 and $29.99 billed monthly). Accelerate builds client invoices from logged time and connects to HubSpot and QuickBooks; Optimize, priced on request, adds quotes and turns the CRM pipeline into projects (checked 24 October 2026). PLYNTUM vs Teamwork.com

Best for: keeping HubSpot and adding projects, time and invoicing.

Bonsai

Bonsai is an all-in-one tool for small agencies and consultancies. Basic is $9, Essentials $19, Premium $29 and Elite $49 per user a month billed annually ($15, $25, $39 and $59 billed monthly); Elite needs at least 3 users, and the trial is 7 days. Basic includes the CRM, time tracking and projects; Essentials adds invoices and online payments, proposals, contracts and a client portal; Premium adds a deals pipeline, profit reports and QuickBooks and Xero integrations (checked 24 October 2026). PLYNTUM vs Bonsai

Best for: small teams that want proposals, contracts and online payments with their projects.

Ten seats on the plan most service firms would compare, per month, tax excluded. It is arithmetic, not a quote: add-ons are left out, onboarding fees are noted, and the plans differ in scope.

While the offer lasts, HubSpot Starter is the cheapest line here, and Zoho CRM’s free edition costs nothing for up to 3 users.

PLYNTUM is business management software for agencies and service companies: CRM core, projects and tasks, recorded time, invoices, expenses and receivables in one workspace. It is neither a marketing platform nor a dedicated sales CRM.

• CRM core on every plan. Contacts, organizations, opportunities, a sales pipeline and manual follow-ups, for founder, CEO, commercial and manager roles as workspace permissions allow. Launch has 1,000 contacts, 100 open deals and 1 pipeline; Core 5,000, 500 and 3; Scale 25,000, 2,500 and 10. See CRM access and limits.
• From deal to project. From Core, internal proposal drafts and won-deal handoff turn a won deal into a client and a project; Scale adds manual forecasts based on the probabilities you enter.
• Hours and money. People record time with a timer or by hand on every plan. From Core, a manager approves each person’s week, which locks it, and project profitability shows what each client earns you. Invoices and receivables are on every plan, with recurring invoices from Core.
• Clients. From Core, each client can get a private, read-only portal link to their projects, invoices, payments and balance, with no account or password.

Where it does not fit.

• No marketing tools. There is no email marketing and no marketing automation.
• No email from the CRM. Inbox channels are a separate rollout, there are no email sequences, and proposal drafts stay internal: they are not emailed to clients.
• No online payments. Payments are recorded by hand against the invoice, and clients cannot pay by card through PLYNTUM.
• No HubSpot connection. PLYNTUM does not integrate with HubSpot. Your accountant gets CSV exports; there is no QuickBooks or Xero integration today.
• It costs more than HubSpot Starter. For 10 people, Core is $1,440 a year billed annually, against $840 for HubSpot Starter at the current offer.

Core costs $150 a month for up to 10 members, or $120 a month billed annually. See pricing.

• Marketing brings in your clients. If email campaigns, forms and marketing automation produce your leads, HubSpot’s Marketing Hub does that in one place; PLYNTUM does none of it.
• You collect payments online. HubSpot lists invoicing and payments on every plan, with HubSpot payments in the US, Canada and UK and Stripe elsewhere.
• You are a team of two. HubSpot’s free tools cost nothing for up to 2 users and 1,000 contacts.
• You only lack the delivery side. Keep HubSpot for marketing and sales and add a delivery tool next to it. Teamwork.com connects to HubSpot; PLYNTUM runs alongside it without a connection, so you create each won client by hand.

PLYNTUM has no HubSpot importer. Its CSV import covers clients, employees and expenses, with a preview and an undo within 24 hours; open deals and projects are set up by hand. So move one client at a time.

1. Decide what stays in HubSpot. If marketing runs there, keep it and move only sales follow-up and delivery.
2. Keep a copy of your data. Check HubSpot’s export options for your plan before you change anything.
3. Bring in your clients. Import the companies you work for as PLYNTUM clients through the CSV import, and enter open deals in the pipeline.
4. Start with one client. Create the project, record time from day one and raise the next invoice in PLYNTUM.
5. Compare after a month: deals, hours, invoice and margin for that client. Then decide on the rest.

Start on Launch’s 7-day trial, no card needed; won-deal handoff, timesheet approval, profitability and the client portal need Core. For help planning the move, write to us.

Every price was checked on the vendor’s own pricing page on 24 October 2026. If something has changed, tell us at info@plyntum.com and we will correct it.

• HubSpot pricing
• Pipedrive pricing
• Zoho CRM pricing
• monday CRM pricing
• Productive pricing
• Teamwork.com pricing
• Bonsai pricing

• Sales CRM software for service businesses
• Best CRM for small business (2026): 9 CRMs compared on price
• Productive alternatives: nine tools and who each one suits
• Bonsai alternatives: six options and where PLYNTUM fits