We needed to pick a new CRM system for our business recently. Our main requirements were contact management, email marketing automation, and custom forms for capturing leads.
I looked at several options including Pipedrive, Zoho, Monday, and a few others. We were using HubSpot before but paying way too much - around 1100 euros monthly for their professional plan. That was killing our budget so we wanted to switch when our yearly contract ended.
I tried Pipedrive’s trial version and liked their professional plan at 49 euros per month. The interface is really clean and easy to use. You can get started pretty quickly with their help. But then I found out that email automation and lead capture forms cost extra money on top of the base price. This wasn’t obvious from their pricing page.
Meanwhile our HubSpot rep was trying to keep us as customers. Even though we said our max budget was 150 euros monthly, they only offered plans that cost much more.
Then someone we work with told us about HubSpot’s starter bundle package. It includes all their basic tools for just 15 euros per month and has most features we need. So we ended up staying with HubSpot at this lower price point. Kind of annoying that their sales team never mentioned this cheaper option when we were trying to reduce costs.
Your situation highlights exactly why proper CRM evaluation takes so much time. We went through something similar two years ago and ended up creating a spreadsheet comparing total costs including all necessary add-ons rather than just base pricing. The HubSpot starter plan is actually quite capable for basic operations, though you might hit some limitations with reporting depth and advanced workflow features down the road. We’ve been using it for about eighteen months now and it handles our core needs without major issues. What really bothers me about your experience is how the sales process worked. When companies don’t present suitable options upfront it wastes everyone’s time and creates unnecessary friction. Makes you wonder how many businesses overpay simply because lower-tier solutions aren’t properly communicated during initial conversations. Hope the starter plan continues working well for your requirements.
that’s crazy how hubspot reps tried to upsell you when you clearly stated your budget constraints! sounds like they were fishing for bigger deals first. pipedrive does look clean but yeah those hidden costs are sneaky - learned that the hard way myself. glad you found the starter bundle, 15 euros is pretty decent for what you get.
Interesting experience with both platforms. I had similar issues with CRM pricing transparency when we were evaluating options last year. The hidden costs for essential features like email automation really add up quickly and most vendors don’t make this clear upfront.
We actually went with Pipedrive initially but ended up switching after six months because those add-on costs became substantial as our team grew. The base functionality is solid but you’re right that forms and automation aren’t included in the standard pricing.
It’s frustrating that HubSpot’s sales team didn’t present their starter option from the beginning, especially when you explicitly mentioned budget constraints. This seems to be a common sales tactic where they push higher-tier plans first. The starter package works well for smaller operations though the feature limitations become apparent as you scale.
For anyone else evaluating CRMs, I’d recommend asking specifically about all required add-ons during initial demos and getting total cost estimates in writing before making decisions.