Pricing guide
Alternatives
HubSpot Alternatives in 2026: Official Prices for Mid-Market Email and CRM, Not a Full-Suite Swap
Official USD prices for HubSpot Marketing Hub and tools people compare with it, especially ActiveCampaign for mid-market email and CRM automation, checked on November 13, 2026. Not a claim that any one tool replaces the full HubSpot suite.
On this page
- The short answer
- How we researched this guide
- What you would actually be replacing
- When official ActiveCampaign is a plausible Marketing Hub alternative
- When another official tool may fit better than ActiveCampaign
- Official mid-market prices, side by side
- Official Marketing Hub details that change the real bill
- A decision tree from official limits, not from brand preference
- FAQ
- Sources and method
The short answer
A "HubSpot alternative" search often mixes two jobs. One is replacing Marketing Hub — email, automation, and marketing operations — with a tool whose official starting price is much lower than official Marketing Hub Professional. The other is replacing HubSpot as a platform — Marketing plus Sales, Service, CMS, and operations hubs. Those are different official catalogs, and this page does not treat them as the same task.
On November 13, 2026 (America/Denver), official HubSpot Marketing figures from the catalog that hubspot.com/pricing/marketing loads were:
- HubSpot Free: $0
- Starter (the Marketing merch card maps to the official CRM-suite Starter bundle, which packages Starter Sales, Marketing, Service, CMS, and Operations hubs): list price $20 per month per seat, with an official new-customer promotion of $10 a month month-to-month or $7 a month billed annually ($84 a year). Official inclusions: 1,000 contacts, 1 core seat, 500 HubSpot Credits.
- Marketing Hub Professional: $890 a month list, or $800 a month billed annually ($9,600 a year). Official inclusions: 2,000 contacts, 3 core seats, 3,000 credits. Official extra Professional seats: $50 a month list, or $45 billed annually. Official required onboarding: $3,000.
- Marketing Hub Enterprise: $3,600 a month billed annually ($43,200 a year) in the catalog we recorded. Official inclusions: 10,000 contacts, 5 core seats, 5,000 credits. Official extra Enterprise seats: $75 a month billed annually. Official required onboarding: $7,000.
If the job is mid-market email plus CRM automation, official alternatives we recorded the same day include:
- ActiveCampaign: Starter / Plus / Pro / Enterprise from $15 / $49 / $79 / $145 a month billed yearly (or $19 / $59 / $99 / $179 month-to-month) at 1,000 contacts, with official CRM add-ons from Plus upward. This is the closest official mid-market comparison we can support. It is not a full HubSpot suite replacement. Details: ActiveCampaign vs HubSpot and ActiveCampaign pricing.
- Mailchimp: official Free plan; Essentials from $13 and Standard from $20 at 500 contacts; Premium from $350 at 10,000 contacts.
- Klaviyo: official Free plan; Email from $20 and Marketing from $25 list at 500 active profiles.
- MailerLite: official Free plan; Comfort from $12 a month ($10.80 yearly-billed) at 500 subscribers.
- Brevo: official free plan; Starter from $9 a month; Professional from $499 a month.
If the job is a full multi-hub platform, those marketing tools do not officially publish an equivalent Sales + Service + CMS + Operations bundle at Professional or Enterprise. Stay on official HubSpot packaging, or compare each hub's official price, rather than assuming ActiveCampaign or Mailchimp fills every hub.
See ActiveCampaign's official plans
Affiliate link: we may earn a commission if you buy through this link. You pay the same price.
How we researched this guide
HubSpot figures come from the official Marketing pricing page and its public product catalog API, checked November 13, 2026 (America/Denver). ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp, Klaviyo, MailerLite, and Brevo figures come from those vendors' official pricing pages or official catalogs, as cited at the end. We did not invent prices, and we did not test every HubSpot hub hands-on.
What you would actually be replacing
Marketing Hub only. Official Professional already starts at $800–$890 a month plus $3,000 onboarding, with 2,000 contacts and three seats included. Official Enterprise starts at $3,600 a month plus $7,000 onboarding, with 10,000 contacts and five seats. Many teams looking for "alternatives" are really looking for official email and automation prices in the tens or low hundreds of dollars a month. ActiveCampaign's official four-plan ladder, Mailchimp's official Essentials/Standard ladder, and MailerLite's official Comfort/Power ladder live in that band.
Starter only. Official HubSpot Starter, at a $20 list price per seat or the current official $7–$10 new-customer promotion, is already in the same neighborhood as official ActiveCampaign Starter and official MailerLite Comfort. The official difference is packaging: Starter is a multi-hub bundle with 1,000 contacts included. Switching away from official Starter is less about saving $800 a month and more about whether you want that bundle.
The whole platform. Official Sales Hub, Service Hub, and other lines have their own prices, which we did not fully reprint here. ActiveCampaign officially sells CRM pipeline add-ons, not a Service Hub or CMS Hub catalog. If ticketing, a full CMS, or HubSpot's official AEO product (listed in the Marketing catalog as a standalone at $50 a month, or $45 billed annually) is in scope, confirm those official pages separately.
When official ActiveCampaign is a plausible Marketing Hub alternative
ActiveCampaign is a plausible official alternative when you need email, multi-step automation, and a CRM path, and official Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise is more platform than you will use — or more than you will pay.
At 1,000 contacts, official ActiveCampaign Plus is $59 a month or $49 yearly-billed, and official Pro is $99 or $79 yearly-billed. Official Marketing Hub Professional is $800–$890 a month before extra contacts, extra seats, or onboarding. At 10,000 contacts, official ActiveCampaign Plus is $239 or $189 yearly-billed, and official Pro is $469 or $375 yearly-billed; official Marketing Hub Enterprise, which includes 10,000 contacts, is $3,600 a month billed yearly.
Official ActiveCampaign Plus is also the first AC plan whose published grid includes landing pages, generative AI, cross-channel marketing, and add-on CRM pipelines and SMS. Official Pro adds predictive sending, conditional content, advanced segmentation, and three seats — the same official included-seat count as Marketing Hub Professional, at a different official price and a different official contact inclusion (AC Pro's price is still banded by contacts; Marketing Hub Professional includes 2,000).
What this does not mean: that ActiveCampaign includes official HubSpot ads tools, CMS, service ticketing, or the rest of the Professional/Enterprise hub catalog. If those items are why you bought HubSpot, compare official hub prices, not only Marketing Hub versus ActiveCampaign Pro.
When another official tool may fit better than ActiveCampaign
Stay on official HubSpot Starter if the multi-hub bundle and official $20 list (or current official promotion) already cover you, and you do not need official Marketing Hub Professional.
Mailchimp if you want an official free plan or official Essentials/Standard prices and do not need ActiveCampaign's official CRM add-on path.
Klaviyo if official ecommerce-style profile pricing and the official Marketing bundle matter more than an ActiveCampaign-style CRM add-on.
MailerLite or Brevo if official entry prices below ActiveCampaign's 1,000-contact minimum are the point of the switch.
Official mid-market prices, side by side
| Official item (13 Nov 2026) | Starting published price | Included contacts or profiles (official) | Included seats (official) |
|---|---|---|---|
| HubSpot Free | $0 | Not listed as a paid inclusion in the Starter/Pro/Enterprise packaged maps we recorded; confirm current Free caps on official docs | — |
| HubSpot Starter (list / official promo) | $20 per seat / $10 monthly or $7 annual promo | 1,000 | 1 |
| Marketing Hub Professional (annual / list) | $800 / $890 a month, plus $3,000 onboarding | 2,000 | 3 |
| Marketing Hub Enterprise (annual) | $3,600 a month, plus $7,000 onboarding | 10,000 | 5 |
| ActiveCampaign Starter at 1,000 contacts | $15 yearly-billed / $19 month-to-month | 1,000 (plan minimum; Starter max 25,000) | 1 (max 2) |
| ActiveCampaign Plus at 1,000 | $49 / $59 | 1,000 | 1 |
| ActiveCampaign Pro at 1,000 | $79 / $99 | 1,000 | 3 |
| ActiveCampaign Plus at 10,000 | $189 / $239 | 10,000 | 1 |
| ActiveCampaign Pro at 10,000 | $375 / $469 | 10,000 | 3 |
| Mailchimp Standard at 10,000 | $135 a month | 10,000 | 5 |
| Klaviyo Email at 10,000 profiles | $150 a month | 10,000 active profiles | Not stated as a simple included-seat count on the cards we recorded |
Check ActiveCampaign's official quote
Affiliate link: we may earn a commission if you buy through this link. You pay the same price.
Related: ActiveCampaign vs HubSpot, ActiveCampaign alternatives.
Official Marketing Hub details that change the real bill
A list price is not the whole official quote.
How you pay for Professional. In the official Marketing catalog we recorded, Marketing Hub Professional is $800 a month when billed annually ($9,600 a year) and $890 a month as the list / monthly-payment figure. The official monthly payment with an annual commitment was still $890 ($10,680 a year) — it is not the $800 annual rate paid in monthly installments. Confirm the live checkout path on HubSpot's official page; do not assume a lower monthly debit equals the annual catalog rate.
Onboarding is a required official line item at Professional and Enterprise. Official required onboarding was $3,000 on Marketing Hub Professional and $7,000 on Marketing Hub Enterprise. Those amounts sit next to the monthly rates, not inside them. Starter, in the catalog we recorded, did not carry that required onboarding line.
Seats and contacts are packaged, then extended. Official Starter includes 1 core seat and 1,000 contacts. Official Professional includes 3 seats and 2,000 contacts; extra Professional seats were $50 a month list or $45 billed annually. Official Enterprise includes 5 seats and 10,000 contacts; extra Enterprise seats were $75 a month billed annually. Official ActiveCampaign, by contrast, prices the marketing plan itself on a contact ladder, with included seats of 1 / 1 / 3 / 5 on Starter / Plus / Pro / Enterprise and a Starter maximum of 2 seats. We did not find a published ActiveCampaign per-seat dollar rate in the catalog entitlements we read, so this page does not invent one.
Credits. Official Marketing inclusions we recorded were 500 HubSpot Credits on Starter, 3,000 on Professional, and 5,000 on Enterprise. Official ActiveCampaign's comparison grid lists 500 Active Intelligence credits on all four marketing plans. Those are different official credit products; do not treat the numbers as interchangeable.
Standalone items in the same official Marketing catalog. The catalog also listed AEO as a standalone product at $50 a month, or $45 billed annually. That is an official HubSpot line, not an ActiveCampaign equivalent, and not a reason to subtract $50 from a Marketing Hub quote.
Do not use a stale promotional banner as a list price. Older Marketing-page banners can linger in screenshots. We treated only the current official catalog figures dated November 13, 2026 as the quote. If a third-party article cites a different "HubSpot Pro starts at…" figure, open the official page and the current catalog rather than copying the screenshot.
A decision tree from official limits, not from brand preference
If you are on official HubSpot Free or Starter and the official bundle is enough. Official Starter already packages several Starter hubs, 1,000 contacts, and 1 core seat, at a $20 list price per seat or the current official new-customer promotion of $7–$10. Official ActiveCampaign Starter at 1,000 contacts is $19 month-to-month or $15 yearly-billed, with tighter official Starter caps (email-only on the grid, five automation actions, five lists, a 25,000-contact maximum, two seats maximum) and no official free plan. Switching from official Starter to official ActiveCampaign Starter is not an automatic saving, and it gives up the official multi-hub bundle. Stay, or compare specific official inclusions, before you move.
If the quote you are trying to escape is official Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise. This is the band where official mid-market email tools look inexpensive on paper. Official Professional starts at $800–$890 a month plus $3,000 onboarding, with only 2,000 contacts included. Official Enterprise starts at $3,600 a month plus $7,000 onboarding, with 10,000 contacts included. Official ActiveCampaign does not publish a 2,000-contact row; the next official catalog step after 1,000 is 2,500 contacts, where Plus is $119 month-to-month or $95 yearly-billed, and Pro is $189 or $149 yearly-billed. At 10,000 contacts, official Plus is $239 or $189 yearly-billed, and official Pro is $469 or $375 yearly-billed. Those official AC prices still do not include Professional or Enterprise hub features that live only in HubSpot's catalog.
If you need the rest of the official HubSpot platform. Sales Hub, Service Hub, CMS Hub, and operations tooling are official HubSpot product lines with their own prices. ActiveCampaign officially sells CRM pipeline add-ons (Pipelines, and Pipelines & sales engagement) and an SMS add-on on Plus, Pro, and Enterprise — not on Starter — and does not publish a Service Hub or CMS Hub catalog. We did not record complete public add-on dollar rates, so get those from the official ActiveCampaign calculator. If ticketing, a full CMS, or official HubSpot AEO is in scope, an ActiveCampaign marketing plan is not an official substitute for that whole stack.
If official price is the only problem and the job is lighter than Plus. Official MailerLite Comfort, official Mailchimp Essentials or Standard, official Klaviyo Email, and official Brevo Starter may fit at published entry prices below official ActiveCampaign's 1,000-contact minimum. Use the dated tables on MailerLite alternatives, Klaviyo alternatives, and ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp.
FAQ
What is the best cheaper alternative to HubSpot?
"Cheaper" only makes sense against a specific official HubSpot plan. Versus official Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise, several official email tools start much lower, including ActiveCampaign's four-plan ladder. Versus official HubSpot Starter, official prices already overlap ActiveCampaign Starter and MailerLite Comfort. Versus the full HubSpot platform, there is no single official cheaper clone in the sources we checked.
Can ActiveCampaign replace HubSpot CRM?
ActiveCampaign officially offers CRM pipeline add-ons on Plus, Pro, and Enterprise. HubSpot officially includes Sales Hub Starter in the Starter bundle and sells Sales Hub as its own line at higher tiers. We did not treat those as identical products.
Is the HubSpot Starter $7 or $10 price a coupon from this site?
No. It is an official new-customer promotion in HubSpot's Marketing catalog. The official list price is $20 per seat per month.
Is Marketing Hub Professional really about $800 a month?
On November 13, 2026, the official catalog listed $800 a month billed annually ($9,600 a year) and $890 a month as the list figure. Required onboarding was an additional official $3,000, and only 2,000 contacts and three seats were included. Extra contacts, extra seats, and other hubs are separate official quotes.
Does ActiveCampaign include a 2,000-contact price like Marketing Hub Professional?
No official ActiveCampaign catalog row at 2,000 contacts was published in the USD catalog we checked. Official steps go 1,000 then 2,500. Compare official AC prices at 2,500 contacts, and remember that official Marketing Hub Professional's $800–$890 starting rate includes only 2,000 contacts.
Should I treat a screenshot of a HubSpot promotion as the current price?
No. Use the official pricing page and current catalog. This article uses figures checked on November 13, 2026 (America/Denver). Vendor promotions change.
Sources and method
Checked November 13, 2026 (America/Denver): HubSpot Marketing pricing and official MARKETING product-group catalog API; ActiveCampaign pricing and official USD catalog; Mailchimp pricing and official USD API; Klaviyo pricing; MailerLite pricing; Brevo pricing.