HubSpot Is Too Expensive: Do You Really Need to Switch CRMs?
“HubSpot is too expensive” can mean several different things. You may still be paying for licences that some users no longer need. Your marketing contact database may have moved into a higher pricing tier. You may have upgraded your plan and picked up onboarding fees. Or you may simply be missing a feature that matters to your business.
In all four cases, switching CRMs is not necessarily the right answer.
Before looking for an alternative, it is worth understanding what is actually driving your costs. If the problem is two unused licences or one missing step in your workflow, replacing the entire platform could cost far more than fixing the issue.
What does “HubSpot is too expensive” actually mean?
When you start looking at HubSpot alternatives, you usually have your invoice in front of you, but not necessarily a clear picture of what is making it increase.
CRM comparison articles do not help much here. They often assume that the problem is the software itself and move straight to a list of cheaper alternatives.
Start by looking at four things.
Seats. Some HubSpot subscriptions are priced according to the number of seats you have. A licence that is no longer being used can therefore continue to add to your bill.
Marketing contacts. Marketing Hub pricing also depends on the number of marketing contacts included in your subscription and the additional tiers you need. This part of the bill can therefore increase even if your team stays the same size.
Plan upgrades. Moving to a higher-tier plan can also involve onboarding or implementation fees, depending on the product and the terms of your contract. This is a one-off cost, but it arrives at the same time as your subscription is already becoming more expensive.
The feature you are missing. This is the case people tend to overlook. If the problem is one specific step in your sales or administrative process, replacing the entire platform just to handle that step may not make much sense.
So the first question is not:
“Which CRM costs less than HubSpot?”
It is:
“What is actually costing me money today?”
Count your active seats before comparing anything
Look at the users who have actually logged in recently and compare that number with the licences you are paying for.
That does not mean every inactive licence should automatically be removed. Someone may still need access even if they have not logged in for several weeks.
But a significant gap is worth investigating.
A salesperson who left months ago, a partner who asked for temporary access, or an account created for someone who ultimately never needed it: these situations are fairly common.
And they are easy to check.
Do this before comparing competitor pricing. If you are paying for twelve licences but only eight people genuinely need access, a cheaper CRM will not necessarily solve the problem. You may simply recreate the same situation with another tool.
What does leaving HubSpot actually involve?
CRM comparisons tend to focus on subscription prices. They say much less about when you can realistically leave your current platform.
That is one of the first things you should check.
The terms of your subscription determine its duration, renewal, cancellation rules and how amounts already paid are handled. You may therefore not be able to stop your subscription as soon as you decide to leave.
Your actual end date should be one of the first pieces of information you record.
If your current commitment ends in eleven months, for example, that gives you time to prepare the migration properly. You can clean up your data, document your processes, test another tool and train your team without having to rush everything.
A migration is more than exporting your data
Contacts, companies and deals can be exported from HubSpot. That does not mean moving them to another CRM will be automatic.
Some data can be imported directly. Other elements will need to be transformed or rebuilt: custom properties, reports, automations, sequences, workflows or objects specific to the way you work.
This is something to clarify with the provider you are considering.
Ask exactly what will be migrated, what will need to be rebuilt and what will remain your responsibility. If an important part of your current setup needs to be recreated, make sure it is included in the project scope and the proposal.
The monthly price of the new CRM is therefore only one part of the equation.
Three options — and switching CRMs is only one of them
Once you know what is actually driving your costs, there are several ways forward.
Reduce what you are paying
If the problem mainly comes from licences, contact volumes or a subscription tier that has become too large for your needs, start by looking at what you can adjust in your current subscription.
This is usually the simplest option. You keep your data, your existing habits and the processes your team already knows.
Switch CRMs
If the cost remains too high compared with the value you get from HubSpot, or if your business has changed enough that the platform no longer fits your needs, switching CRMs may make sense.
But compare the total cost of the project, not just the price shown on the pricing page.
You need to factor in data migration, rebuilding automations, training and the time your team will spend adapting to the new system.
A cheaper CRM on paper can therefore cost more during the first year than an existing subscription that you already know how to manage.
Build only what you are missing
This is an option that CRM comparison articles almost never consider.
You do not necessarily need to replace your entire platform because one part of your process is not handled properly.
Take a simple example. Your quotes require a technical site visit before they can be sent, but your CRM does not support that step. Today, you may have “quote to prepare” followed by “proposal sent”, with no proper way to track the visit in between.
You could switch CRMs to get that feature.
Or you could build just that part and keep the rest of your existing setup.
At Numinam, a targeted internal tool starts at €7,140 and a business application at €16,660, based on a €595 daily rate. These amounts should of course be compared with the total cost of the project and the length of time you expect to use the solution.
The right comparison is not always HubSpot versus another CRM.
It can also be the cost of a complete switch versus the cost of building the feature you are missing.
What a new CRM will not fix
There is one problem that changing software will not solve on its own: data that nobody keeps up to date.
If your records are incomplete because nobody fills them in, a new CRM is unlikely to change much. You will simply have a new system to learn, followed by the same data problems a few months later.
In that situation, look at why the data is not being entered in the first place.
Does updating a record take too many clicks? Are some fields unnecessary? Do salespeople know which information actually matters? Are they expected to enter it at a point in the day when they realistically have time to do it?
Most importantly, look at what happens in an actual deal. Who enters what? When do they enter it? And what prevents that information from being recorded?
If the answer is “nobody does it unless they happen to remember”, the problem is probably not your CRM.
It is better to fix that part before changing tools. Without reliable data, the automations and reports you build on top of it are unlikely to deliver much value.
Key takeaways
- Before comparing CRMs, look at the licences actually being used and identify the ones that could be removed or adjusted.
- Check your contract and note your actual end date. That date will determine the realistic timeline for a potential migration.
- Do not compare monthly subscription prices alone: factor in migration, data transfer, rebuilding automations and training.
- If your problem is one specific business process, compare the cost of building it with the cost of replacing your entire CRM.
- If your teams are not keeping records up to date today, a new CRM probably will not solve the problem.
Before choosing a HubSpot alternative, look at what actually happens in your deals.
That is often when you discover that the problem is not the entire CRM, but an unused licence, a poorly designed process or a step that the platform simply does not handle properly.
And when switching CRMs costs more than improving what you already have, it may make more sense to automate what is missing around your existing subscription.
