Head to head · 2026
HubSpot vs Freshworks
Quick answer
HubSpot is the better fit for small businesses moving off spreadsheets to a free CRM. Freshworks is the better fit for SMB and mid-market support teams that want a help desk running in days, not months. On our scores HubSpot comes out ahead overall (4.5 out of 5).
HubSpot
HubSpot is one of the easiest ways for a small business to get a real CRM, email marketing and pipeline in one place, and the free plan is genuinely usable. Starter is cheap, especially on the current new-customer deal. The catch is the jump to Professional, which starts at $890/month for Marketing Hub, so plan for that before you build your whole business on it.
- ✓Free CRM with no expiry, covering contacts, deals, email tracking, forms, live chat and quotes
- ✓Starter is $20 per seat per month, with a limited new-customer offer of $7 annual or $10 monthly
- ✓Over 2,000 integrations in the HubSpot Marketplace
- –Free plan is limited to two users and 1,000 contacts, with HubSpot branding
- –Marketing Hub Professional starts at $890/month and Enterprise at $3,600/month
Freshworks
Freshworks gives small and mid-sized companies help desk, IT service management, chat and CRM tools that are easier to set up and cheaper than Zendesk, ServiceNow or Salesforce. The Growth tiers are good value. Costs climb on Pro and Enterprise, and AI is billed separately: AI Agent sessions at $49 per 100 after the first 500 and Copilot at $29 per agent.
- ✓Clear per-agent pricing: Freshdesk Growth $19, Freshservice Starter $19, Freshsales Growth $9
- ✓Free trials across products: 14 days for Freshdesk and Freshservice, 21 days for Freshsales
- ✓Freshchat has a free plan for up to 10 agents
- –AI costs extra: $49 per 100 AI Agent sessions after the first 500, Copilot $29/agent/month
- –Big jumps between tiers, such as Freshdesk Growth $19 to Pro $55 per agent
Side by side
| HubSpot | Freshworks | |
|---|---|---|
| Brent score | 4.5 | 4.3 |
| Features | 4.8 | 4.4 |
| Ease of use | 4.5 | 4.4 |
| Value | 3.8 | 4.2 |
| Support | 4.2 | 4.0 |
| Price | Free CRM; Starter $20/seat/month (new-customer promo from $7, annual) | Freshsales from $9/user/month; Freshdesk and Freshservice from $19/agent/month (USD, annual) |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | No | Yes |
| Best for | Small businesses moving off spreadsheets to a free CRM | SMB and mid-market support teams that want a help desk running in days, not months |
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Compared on Brent Technologies using the same scoring method for both products.