HubSpot offers a CRM tool that's free for a lifetime and boasts a long list of features. Does it sound like a great option for small businesses? Sure. But does it truly serve its purpose and deliver results?
How does Bigin compare to HubSpot? Find your answers here.
HubSpot's free CRM is real, and it's a good on-ramp. It's also where the generosity ends: the free tools stop at two users, put HubSpot's branding on your emails, forms and meeting pages, and leave out what a sales team actually runs on. No automation, no sequences, no calling minutes, no custom reports.
Upgrading is where the bill turns serious. Starter stays cheap but keeps the engine locked, and the features HubSpot advertises sit in Sales Hub Professional at $90/user/month, with a mandatory $1,500 onboarding fee and an annual commitment before you send your first automated follow-up. Bigin gives a small team the whole engine from $7/user/month, AI included at $12. No setup fees, no seat math.
Why is Bigin the go-to CRM for small businesses?
We built Bigin around how small teams work, and priced it that way. Everything a customer-facing team runs on comes in the box: customizable pipelines, a built-in phone with IVR, WhatsApp and email in one place, and automation that starts on the free plan.
AI joins at $12/user/month with 1,000 credits included, not at $90 plus a $1,500 setup fee.
There's a forever-free plan to start on, easy migration from HubSpot when you're ready, and 50,000+ small businesses already running on it.
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What are HubSpot's limitations?
Free for two seats, with HubSpot's name on your work
HubSpot's free plan is genuinely free, for exactly two users. It comes with HubSpot branding on your emails, forms, chat and meeting pages, three email templates, 200 email-open alerts a month, one pipeline, and no automation or calling minutes at all. Bigin's free plan is single-user, but it includes a built-in phone, workflow automation and a web form, and the first paid seat costs $7, not $90.
A Starter plan that keeps the engine locked
Sales Hub Starter removes the branding and not much else that matters. Automation stops at stage-change triggers, and there are no sequences, no custom reports, no forecasting, two pipelines, and 500 calling minutes a month shared across your whole account. Bigin Express includes 30 workflows, mass email, WhatsApp and payment links at $7.
The real price is $90, plus $1,500 before you start
The features on HubSpot's brochures, workflows, sequences, forecasting, custom reporting, live in Sales Hub Professional: $90 per user/month billed annually, a mandatory one-time $1,500 onboarding fee, and an annual commitment. A five-person team pays $6,900 in year one. The same five people on Bigin Premier pay $720, with AI included.
Quotes moved to a different Hub
Quote management is no longer part of Sales Hub at any tier. It now lives in HubSpot's Revenue Hub, listed at $95/user/month for its Professional edition, and payments only work for US accounts. Bigin handles quotes and invoicing through Zoho Books and Zoho Invoice on every paid plan, and payment links come with Express at $7.
AI that runs on a meter
Breeze Copilot ships with paid seats and it's genuinely useful. The autonomous agents are metered: they draw on a pooled monthly allowance of HubSpot Credits (500 on Starter, 3,000 on Professional) and bill by outcome once it's spent, $1 per recommended lead and $0.50 per resolved conversation, with top-ups at $10 per 1,000 credits and no rollover. Bigin Premier includes the full AI toolkit, a writing assistant, replies, summaries, Cross-sell and churn signals, at $12 with 1,000 credits a month.
Marketing your contacts is a separate bill
Storing contacts in HubSpot is free and generous. Emailing them at scale is not: mass email lives in Marketing Hub, the free tier caps at 2,000 sends a month with HubSpot branding on every message, and marketing contacts are billed in tiers on top of your seats. Bigin Express includes mass emails, templates, email insights and WhatsApp Business integration in the $7 plan.
Calling minutes are metered, and there's no IVR
HubSpot's built-in calling starts at zero minutes on the free plan, 500 a month on Starter pooled across the entire account, and 3,000 on Professional. There's no IVR at any tier, so call routing means a third-party phone app from the marketplace. Bigin comes with a built-in phone and IVR from the free plan onward, plus 100+ telephony integrations.
Support you have to earn
On HubSpot's free plan, support means the community forum. Email and in-app chat open with Starter, and a human on the phone starts at Professional. Every paid Bigin plan includes phone, email and live chat support, a free onboarding session and data-import help.
Here's a list of features that Bigin offers for your business:
Built-in pipelines dedicated to different operations
Case and ticket management through Email-in
Connected records (When a record reaches the desired stage in one team pipeline, you can create a record automatically in another team pipeline that captures the next set of business activities.)
Built-in dashboards for detailed insights into your business
All you need to take your business to the next level
Bigin is the right choice for your small business and is trusted by over 50,000+ small businesses globally. We want to help you scale up your business and achieve consistent growth. And in the future, if your business needs more than what Bigin can offer, you can always switch to Zoho CRM or Zoho CRM Plus. We're here to help you at every milestone your business reaches.
Build your business using the most powerful app ecosystem
HubSpot markets itself as the platform that does everything through its stack of Hubs. What it doesn't advertise as loudly is how quickly the bill climbs once you move past the starter tiers. Zoho One hands you the same breadth of capability, and plenty more, in a single suite built to run your entire company. For $37/user/month you sidestep HubSpot's expensive Professional and Enterprise upgrades entirely.
Expert reviews and ratings
Rating Platform
HubSpot Sales Hub
Bigin
4.4/5
4.6/5
4.5/5
4.7/5
4.5/5
4.7/5
4.5/5
4.7/5
4.4/5
4.4/5
4.5/5
4.7/5
4.6/5
4.5/5
*The names and logos for Zoho are trademarks of Zoho Corp. All other trademarks, brand names, or product names belong to their respective holders. Comparison information as of 4/08/2026. Prices mentioned are in USD.
Trusted by 30,000+ small businesses globally
As a small business with a big vision, having access to accurate and relevant data about customers and prospects is critical! Bigin and their onboarding team assisted us on our journey. The one-on-one onboarding sessions, easy-to-use platform and mobile application have been well received by our team - although we are early into using Bigin we are already experiencing the benefits!
Joel Gustafson,Chief Operating Officer, Car Trade Go Inc
Bigin was easy for us to use from the very start. Within a couple of weeks all users were able to use most features and benefit from them. Quick training and implementation from the Bigin support team was helpful. Users was immediately able to see the benefit to themselves, to their teams, and to the company as a whole. All this is the value we derive from this very comprehensive, easy, and intuitive application that we use on a daily basis.
Chirag Selarka,Head of Business Development, Simplifie
I was looking for a simple sales-oriented CRM and was going through and signing up for the top five. Each one had way more features than I needed and I wanted something that had an app, wouldn't drain my time learning how to use, and just did what I needed to do and didn't cost an arm and a leg per user. Then I came across Bigin—not sure how—but it was exactly what I was looking for. Only started with it about three weeks ago, but I'm a very happy camper.
Nachum Klingman,CEO, Book Like A Boss Ltd
The Bigin team at Zoho has brilliantly solved the software adoption dilemma faced by sales organizations today. Now, with the ability to customize pipeline views, stages, module names, and fields, the moment one of our salespeople starts using the app, it simply works, and they love using it. It requires virtually zero training. In today's environment, the importance of simplicity, focus, and ease of use cannot be overstated, and the team at Bigin has just delivered a world-class tool.
Seth Campbell,President, Five Doors Inc
Love the new features. It helps make the entire CRM system more personal and germane to our workflow. The searches seem to be more pointed and concise. Bigin has the capabilities and customization for my growing business and no bloat to clutter my process. Overall, Bigin was the perfect option for what I needed.
Derek Osborne,CEO, Osborne Real Estate and Business Brokerage
Still have more doubts? Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions!
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Is HubSpot really free?
Yes, and the free CRM is a genuine on-ramp: contact storage, one pipeline, email integration and a meeting scheduler at $0. The catch is the shape of it: two users maximum, HubSpot branding on your emails, forms and meeting pages, three email templates, no automation and no calling minutes. Bigin's free plan is single-user but includes a built-in phone, workflow automation and a web form, and paid plans start at $7.
How much cheaper is Bigin than HubSpot?
Bigin's paid plans run $7 to $18 per user/month (billed annually); Sales Hub runs $9 to $150 per seat, plus one-time onboarding fees of $1,500 (Professional) and $3,500 (Enterprise). The like-for-like gap is the point: workflows, sequences and custom reports start at $90 with HubSpot but at $7 to $12 with Bigin. For a five-person team, year one on Sales Hub Professional costs $6,900. The same year on Bigin Premier costs $720.
Does HubSpot include AI on its cheaper plans?
Partly. Breeze Copilot comes with paid seats and handles drafting and summaries. The autonomous agents bill by outcome through HubSpot Credits: $1 per recommended lead, $0.50 per resolved conversation, from a pooled allowance of 500 credits a month on Starter, with top-ups at $10 per 1,000 and no rollover. Bigin includes its full AI toolkit, a writing assistant, email replies, record summaries, CrossSell Genie suggestions, and churn alerts, from Premier at $12, with 1,000 AI credits a month.
How do I migrate from HubSpot to Bigin?
Bigin's import tools bring over your HubSpot contacts, companies, deals, and notes, and paid plans include a free onboarding session and data-import assistance from our team. And if it doesn't work out, Bigin has a money-back guarantee, 30 days on monthly plans and 45 on annual.
What's missing from HubSpot's cheapest paid plan?
Sales Hub Starter removes the HubSpot branding, but automation is limited to stage-change triggers, and there are no sequences, no custom reports and no forecasting. Pipelines cap at two, calling minutes at 500 a month for the whole account, and quote management needs the separate Revenue Hub. Bigin Express covers workflows, mass email, WhatsApp, and payment links at $7.
Will I outgrow Bigin?
Bigin scales from a free single-user plan to Bigin 360 ($18/user/month) with 15 team pipelines, one million records, 100 automations, and 3,000 AI credits a month. If you eventually need more, your data moves to Zoho CRM with one click, so you never migrate platforms twice.
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