Best HubSpot CRM alternatives for small teams in 2026
Key factsCopper suits Gmail-native sales teams; Dex is a personal CRM, not a pipeline
- Copper integrates directly with Gmail and Google Calendar, showing contacts and deals where email already happens.
- Dex is a personal CRM for keeping in touch with contacts you know, not for managing a sales pipeline with stages and quotas.
- Pipedrive is positioned as a pipeline-only tool without HubSpot's marketing automation features.
- Staying on HubSpot's free CRM makes sense if your team already uses its forms, blog, or email sequences.
- Dex offers $25 off a first purchase through the partner link referenced in the article.
HubSpot's free CRM is how a lot of teams start. People look for alternatives when the upgrade to Sales Hub is the real product, when the portal feels like a marketing suite wearing a contacts list, or when they just wanted a Google Workspace CRM that stays out of the way.
Two tools we reviewed sit in that gap: Copper and Dex. Dex has a $25 off first purchase through the partner link on the review. Copper is the Gmail-native CRM. Techpresso already covers Copper in best CRM for Gmail.
This is not a page that pretends Copper beats Salesforce. If you need the HubSpot marketing machine, stay.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Not for |
|---|---|---|
| HubSpot (free) | A real CRM with room to grow into the suite | Teams that will never buy Marketing Hub |
| Copper | Google Workspace sales teams | A full inbound engine |
| Dex | A personal CRM of people you actually know | A 20-rep pipeline |
| Pipedrive | A pipeline and nothing else | Marketing automation |
Copper
Copper lives next to Gmail and Google Calendar. Contacts and deals show up where the email already is. That is the whole pitch. If your team works in Workspace and hates opening a second tab to log a call, this is the category.
Read the Copper review for current pricing. We do not have a flashy percent-off on this one. The reason to switch is the inbox, not a coupon.
Dex
Dex is a personal CRM. Reminders to stay in touch, a list of humans, not a forecast. Founders who keep a "people I should not lose" spreadsheet are the user. A sales org with stages and quotas is not. The $25 off is a first-purchase nudge. Details on the review.
Stay on HubSpot if...
You already use the forms, the blog, or the sequences, or you will next quarter. Switching CRMs to dodge one paid seat and then buying Marketing Hub six months later is a waste of a migration.
Related
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Across our whole catalogue the median is $24 a month and 33% of tools advertise a free tier. Figures are the lowest recurring monthly price quoted in our own review of each tool, read on 2026-08-19. Full method and every category.
