HubSpot CRM Review: Is it Actually Worth It in 2026?
The short version: HubSpot has the best free CRM out there if you're a small business or solopreneur. It's easy to pick up, the free tier is legitimately useful (not just a glorified trial), and it plays nice with pretty much everything. That said, once you start looking at paid plans, the price tag climbs fast — and some of the advanced features feel more complicated than they need to be.
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What I Actually Tested
I spent a full 30 days running HubSpot CRM for a real consulting business — we're talking 50+ contacts, 15 deals in motion, and daily email back-and-forth. I started on the free plan, then bumped up to the Starter tier ($20/month) to see if the extra features were worth opening my wallet for.
Here's what I put through its paces: contact management, deal pipeline tracking, Gmail integration, meeting scheduling, task management, reporting, the mobile app, and — because I'm that person — I also tested how fast their customer support actually responds.
The Good and the Bad
✅ What I Liked
- The free plan is genuinely free — No constant upgrade nags or features locked behind a paywall countdown
- Ridiculously easy to get started — I was up and running in about 10 minutes, no tutorials needed
- Gmail integration just works — Emails sync both ways without me having to think about it
- The interface is actually pleasant — Clean, modern, and something I didn't dread opening every morning
- Solid mobile app — Full-featured on both iOS and Android, not some stripped-down afterthought
- Sales pipeline is a standout — Deal tracking and the visual pipeline view are really well done
❌ What Bugged Me
- Paid plans get pricey in a hurry — You go from $0 to $20/month per seat, and before you know it you're north of $100/month
- Reporting on the free tier is pretty bare — Want custom reports? That'll cost you
- Support was sluggish — Took about 48 hours to hear back on the free plan, which felt like forever
- Email tracking is a bit... much — Getting a ping every time someone opens your email starts to feel invasive
- Overkill for tiny operations — If you're tracking fewer than 10 contacts, honestly just use a spreadsheet
Who's This Actually For?
- A freelancer or solopreneur (the free plan is a no-brainer)
- Running a small sales team of 2–5 people
- In a service business that needs to keep tabs on clients
- Currently managing contacts in a spreadsheet and ready to level up
- Already in the HubSpot ecosystem with Marketing Hub or Service Hub
- A large enterprise (the pricing at scale gets absurd)
- A team that needs deep customization (Salesforce handles that way better)
- On a tight budget but need features that live behind the paywall
- Dealing with complex, multi-stage B2B sales cycles (HubSpot's a bit too simple for that)
Let's Talk Pricing
Free Plan: Unlimited users and up to 1,000,000 contacts — yes, a million. You get the core CRM, email tracking, a meeting scheduler, and the mobile app. And this isn't some sneaky trial that expires. It's genuinely free, indefinitely.
Starter ($20/user/month): This is where you unlock custom reporting, email sequences, conversation intelligence, and ditch the HubSpot branding. If you need automation, this is the tier to consider.
Professional ($100+/user/month): Full-blown marketing automation, advanced workflows, predictive lead scoring — the works. But unless you're running serious sales operations, this is probably more firepower than you need.
How It Stacks Up Against the Competition
vs. Salesforce: Salesforce can do more, but it's also about 10 times harder to learn. If you need heavy customization and don't mind a steep learning curve, Salesforce is the move. If you want something that works the day you sign up, go with HubSpot.
vs. Pipedrive: Pipedrive comes in cheaper at $14/month and is laser-focused on sales. The pipeline view is arguably better, but you won't get nearly as much for free.
vs. Zoho CRM: Zoho packs in more features at a lower price, but the interface can be frustrating to navigate. HubSpot's user experience alone makes the price difference worth it, in my opinion.
My Final Take
If you're a freelancer or small business owner who's been juggling contacts in Gmail or a messy spreadsheet, HubSpot's free plan is going to feel like a breath of fresh air. It's polished, it's professional, and it's not going to start charging you out of nowhere.
The paid plans are a tougher sell. Once you're looking at $100+/month per user, you're in Salesforce territory — but you're not getting Salesforce-level power. That's a hard gap to justify.
What I'd actually do: Start with the free plan and see how far it takes you. If you bump up against its limits and want automation, give the $20 Starter tier a one-month test drive. If even that's not enough, you've probably outgrown HubSpot — at that point, it's time to look at Salesforce.
HubSpot's free plan doesn't ask for a credit card and it never expires. You can be up and running in 10 minutes flat.
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Tested by: UnbiasedSaaS | Last updated: February 2026 | Questions? Get in touch