How much does a CRM cost for a small business? Entry plans run $9–$25 per user a month on annual billing, mid-tier plans run $17–$100, and free plans cover the smallest teams — but the real first-year bill often runs two to four times the sticker price once onboarding, add-ons and AI features are added. A five-person team typically pays $588–$6,900 in its first year. The headline rate is never the whole story. Our guide to how much digital marketing costs shows where a CRM sits in your wider budget.
How much does a CRM cost for a small business?
The honest answer is a band by tier, not a single number. Free plans cover the smallest teams: HubSpot up to two users, Zoho up to three. Entry paid plans cost $9–$25 per user a month on annual billing — Freshsales Growth $9, monday Basic $12, Zoho Standard $14, Pipedrive Lite $14, HubSpot Starter $20 at list, currently $7 for new customers. Mid-tier plans, where most growing teams end up, cost $17–$100 per user a month: monday Standard $17, Zoho Professional $23, Pipedrive Growth $39, HubSpot Professional $90 and Salesforce Professional $100. Salesforce Starter sits at $25. The realistic range for most small teams is $9–$40 per user a month — but the subscription is only part of the bill.
What does each CRM actually cost per user?
Start with the four names most small businesses compare. HubSpot’s Sales Hub is free for up to two users, then Starter at $20 per seat a month at list — currently $7 for new customers on annual billing — and Professional at $90 a seat a month on annual billing, plus a required one-time $1,500 onboarding fee; Enterprise is $150 a seat plus $3,500 onboarding. Check the current offer on HubSpot’s pricing page before you buy, because $7 is a new-customer promo against a $20 list price. Pipedrive charges $14 a seat a month for Lite, $39 for Growth, $59 for Premium and $79 for Ultimate on annual billing, with a 14-day free trial — see Pipedrive’s pricing page. Zoho CRM is free for up to three users, then Standard $14, Professional $23 and Enterprise $40 per user a month on annual billing. monday CRM has no free plan: Basic is $12, Standard $17 and Pro $28 per seat a month on annual billing, with a three-seat minimum, so the smallest paid account is $36 a month on Basic and $51 on Standard. Salesforce Starter is $25 a user a month, and Professional is $100. For a five-person team on entry plans, that is roughly $540–$1,500 a year; on mid-tier plans, $1,020–$6,000 a year before onboarding.
Why does the real CRM bill run 2–4x the sticker price?
Four costs hide behind the headline rate. First, onboarding: HubSpot charges a required $1,500 for Professional and $3,500 for Enterprise, and Salesforce and Zoho charge for implementation on larger setups — a fee that can exceed a whole year of seats. Second, the tier jump: the feature that makes you switch — automations on monday start at Standard, sequences on HubSpot start at Professional — is usually the feature you actually need, so the entry price is rarely the price you pay for long. Third, add-ons and AI: extra contacts, marketing seats, AI credits and premium support are all charged separately. Fourth, seat maths: monday sells seats in buckets of three, then five, then ten — a four-person team buys five seats — and every part-timer with a login costs a full seat. Add migration, training and setup, and a $9-a-user CRM easily costs $30–$40 a user in year one. Budget the first-year total, not the monthly rate.
How do you pick the right CRM tier?
Pick by the feature you cannot work without, not by the price. If you only need contacts, deals and a pipeline, an entry plan is enough — Pipedrive Lite at $14 or Zoho Standard at $14 will do the job, and HubSpot’s free tier covers a two-person team entirely. If you need email automation, sequences or a sales forecast, you are a mid-tier buyer: monday Standard at $17, Zoho Professional at $23 or Pipedrive Growth at $39, depending on whether you value automations, reporting or email tools most. If you need forecasting or custom objects, you are paying Professional prices — HubSpot at $90 plus onboarding or Salesforce at $100. Try the free tier or the 14-day trial with real data before you pay: a CRM your team will not open is the most expensive one of all. And remember the CRM is only one part of the stack — our guide to how much UI/UX design costs covers the website your CRM leads will land on, and our guide to email marketing cost covers the campaigns the CRM will send.
CRM cost FAQs
How much does a CRM cost for a small business in 2026?
Entry plans run $9–$25 per user a month, mid-tier $17–$100, and free plans cover teams of two to three. A five-person team typically pays $588–$6,900 in its first year.
Is there a genuinely free CRM for a small business?
Yes. HubSpot is free for up to two users and Zoho for up to three, covering contacts, deals and a pipeline. The free tier ends when you need automations, sequences or more seats.
Why is HubSpot Starter $7 and $20 at the same time?
The $7 figure is a limited-time new-customer promo on annual billing; the list price is $20 per seat a month. Quote both — the promo ends, and the list price is what you renew at.
What is the cheapest CRM that is actually worth using?
For a tiny team, HubSpot free or Zoho free. For a paid plan, Freshsales Growth at $9 or monday Basic at $12 are cheapest; Pipedrive Lite at $14 is the simplest pipeline. Trial it with real data first — the cheapest plan is only cheap if your team uses it.
