Methodology & data sources
Transparency is the core of our E-E-A-T. This page documents exactly where each price comes from, when it was captured, and the formulas behind every derived figure.
The dated-snapshot method
CRM vendors publish prices on their own pricing pages, but many render the numbers with JavaScript and change them often. We therefore use a dated snapshot: a human gathers the current published per-seat figures from each vendor's pricing page, structures them into a committed dataset, and stamps every page with the capture date (snapshot captured June 2026, i.e. as of June 2026). The site never fetches prices at build time — it reads only the committed snapshot — so what you see is exactly what was verified on the capture date.
We do not fabricate figures. Where a tier is quoted only on request, it is labelled "custom — contact sales" and rendered as "Custom" / a dash, never a guessed number. Where a vendor does not publish a separate monthly price (annual-only), the monthly column shows a dash. Prices change frequently — verify on the linked vendor pricing page before relying on them.
What we cover
20 CRM and sales-software vendors with clearly published per-seat pricing. We focus on per-seat (per user/month) SaaS sales-CRM pricing. Two vendors price differently and are labelled as such: Bitrix24 prices flat per organization (with user caps), and Keap sells a flat base plan with a per-user add-on. ActiveCampaign is primarily contact-priced marketing automation whose sales CRM is an add-on; we show its seat add-on and note this. This site is distinct from per-unit API/developer-tool pricing sites — here the billing unit is a user licence.
Per-vendor sources
Each vendor's figures are taken from its own published pricing page:
| Vendor | Most-popular tier | Cheapest paid tier | Free tier? | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HubSpot Sales Hub | Sales Hub Professional ($100/seat/mo) | $15/seat/mo | Yes | HubSpot pricing |
| Salesforce Sales Cloud | Sales Cloud Enterprise ($175/seat/mo) | $25/seat/mo | Yes | Salesforce pricing |
| Zoho CRM | Professional ($23/seat/mo) | $14/seat/mo | Yes | Zoho pricing |
| Pipedrive | Advanced ($29/seat/mo) | $14/seat/mo | No | Pipedrive pricing |
| monday CRM | Standard CRM ($17/seat/mo) | $12/seat/mo | No | monday.com pricing |
| Freshsales (Freshworks) | Pro ($47/seat/mo) | $11/seat/mo | Yes | Freshworks pricing |
| Zendesk Sell | Sell Growth ($55/seat/mo) | $19/seat/mo | No | Zendesk pricing |
| Close | Essentials ($35/seat/mo) | $9/seat/mo | No | Close pricing |
| Copper | Professional ($59/seat/mo) | $9/seat/mo | No | Copper pricing |
| Insightly | Professional ($49/seat/mo) | $29/seat/mo | No | Insightly (Unbounce) pricing |
| Keap | Keap (base plan, includes 2 users) ($249/seat/mo) | $39/seat/mo | No | Keap (formerly Infusionsoft) pricing |
| Nutshell | Growth ($25/seat/mo) | $13/seat/mo | No | Nutshell pricing |
| Capsule CRM | Growth ($38/seat/mo) | $21/seat/mo | Yes | Capsule pricing |
| Less Annoying CRM | Single plan ($15/seat/mo) | $15/seat/mo | No | Less Annoying CRM pricing |
| SugarCRM (Sugar Sell) | Standard ($59/seat/mo) | $19/seat/mo | No | SugarCRM pricing |
| Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales | Sales Enterprise ($105/seat/mo) | $65/seat/mo | No | Microsoft pricing |
| Vtiger CRM | One Professional ($30/seat/mo) | $12/seat/mo | Yes | Vtiger pricing |
| EngageBay | Growth ($45/seat/mo) | $13/seat/mo | Yes | EngageBay pricing |
| Bitrix24 | Standard (up to 50 users) ($99/seat/mo) | $49/seat/mo | Yes | Bitrix24 pricing |
| ActiveCampaign (Sales CRM) | Plus (1,000 contacts) ($49/seat/mo) | $15/seat/mo | No | ActiveCampaign pricing |
Data sources (summary)
| Source | Refresh cadence | License / nature |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor pricing pages (HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Pipedrive, monday, Freshsales, Zendesk, Close, Copper, Insightly, Keap, Nutshell, Capsule, Less Annoying CRM, SugarCRM, Microsoft, Vtiger, EngageBay, Bitrix24, ActiveCampaign) | none | Public list prices (each vendor's own pricing page); dated June 2026 snapshot. |
How we derive figures
- Cheapest paid tier = the lowest non-zero, non-custom annual per-seat price a vendor publishes. Free tiers (price 0) and custom/contact-sales tiers are excluded from this figure.
- Most-popular ("representative") tier = a single mid-market tier per vendor that buyers most commonly choose, used for the home/comparison tables and rankings. It is an editorial selection, stated on each vendor page.
- Calculator total = per-seat price (annual or monthly, as you choose) × number of seats. It runs entirely in your browser; we don't store inputs. Custom/contact-sales tiers show a quote message instead of a total.
- "Cheaper for small / at the popular tier" verdicts compare the cheapest paid tier and the representative tier. They are heuristics, not quotes.
- "Free tier" classification = vendors with a genuine always-free plan (a tier priced $0), not a time-limited trial.
What's excluded
Our headline comparisons and the calculator focus on the per-seat licence price. They do not include one-time onboarding/implementation fees (e.g. HubSpot's $1,500-$3,500), add-on modules (marketing/service hubs, dialers, AI credits), metered usage (calls/SMS), contact-tier overages, storage, taxes, or negotiated enterprise discounts — all of which can materially change your real bill. See our hidden CRM costs guide.
Limitations & accuracy
Figures are estimates for general information and may lag the underlying source or contain errors. This is an informational comparison, not a quote or purchasing advice. Always verify against the vendor's pricing page before relying on it. See our disclaimer.
Last updated: 2026-06-22