Which CRM fits you, and what will three years cost?
Most CRM comparisons are written to sell you the most expensive one. This is not. Answer eight questions, get an honest pick with the reasoning, then cost the real three-year bill, seats plus migration, before you commit.
Read the full breakdown: HubSpot vs Pipedrive, the real 3-year cost
1. Which CRM fits you?
0/8 answered2. Three-year cost and migration calculator
Every price below is a published monthly list price (billed annually) you can edit to match the quote you were actually given. Regional pricing, discounts and add-ons vary, so treat the totals as an estimate, not a quote.
Migration effort
3-year total
€1,887 to €2,112
Subscription over 36 months plus one-off migration.
- Subscription (3 seats x €14 x 36 mo)
- €1,512
- Migration effort
- 5 to 8 h
- Migration cost
- €375 to €600
- Average per month
- €56
Migration estimate = base hours for your source system, plus one hour per ~2,000 records, plus automation rebuild and light training. It is a planning figure, not a fixed bid.
How the pick is made
The quiz scores three options against your answers: HubSpot, Pipedrive, and a free or lightweight starter. There is no hidden weighting toward the paid tools. If your team is small, your pipeline is simple and your budget is zero, the quiz will tell you to stay free, because that is the right call and pretending otherwise would just lose your trust.
When each one wins
HubSpot earns its higher per-seat price when marketing automation, inbound lead capture or joining sales and support on one record is the actual reason you are buying. Pipedrive is the sharper, cheaper choice when the job is simply closing deals and a small team needs a pipeline they will keep updated. A free or lightweight CRM (HubSpot Free, Zoho Bigin, or a disciplined spreadsheet) is the honest answer for solo founders and tiny teams who have not hit a real bottleneck yet.
Why the three-year view matters
A CRM looks cheap at the monthly sticker price and expensive once you multiply by seats and 36 months and add the migration. The calculator makes that total visible, and every price is editable, so you can drop in the exact quote you were given rather than trust a number we picked. The migration estimate is a transparent planning figure, not a fixed bid.
An honest note on the links
When the pick is HubSpot or Pipedrive, the button is an affiliate link, so a paid signup may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. The free recommendation has no link to sell, and the quiz will still hand it to you when it fits. That is the deal: useful first, monetised only where it is genuinely the right tool.
Affiliate disclosure
This page participates in the HubSpot Affiliate Program (30% recurring commission, 12 months, 180-day cookie) and the Pipedrive Partner Program via PartnerStack (30% in year one). We have not joined yet, so the buttons currently point to a clearly marked placeholder until the real partner links are in place. Recommendations are scored impartially and the free option is recommended whenever it is the better fit.
CRM cost questions, answered
Which CRM is cheapest for a small team?
It depends on the team, which is why this tool scores HubSpot, Pipedrive, and a free or lightweight option against your actual answers rather than naming one winner. For a solo founder or tiny team with a simple pipeline, a free or lightweight CRM is usually the cheapest honest pick. For a small sales team that needs a real pipeline, Pipedrive tends to cost less per seat than HubSpot. Use the cost calculator to compare them on the price you were actually quoted.
How do I choose a CRM on cost?
Do not stop at the monthly sticker price, because the real bill is the per-seat price multiplied by your number of seats over three years, plus the one-off cost of migrating your data. This tool works out exactly that total, and every list price is editable so you can drop in the quote you were given instead of trusting a default. Then weigh it against fit, since paying for automation or reporting you will not use is wasted money.
Is the cheapest CRM really the cheapest?
Not always, because the lowest per-seat price can hide a larger total once you add the work of moving your data, rebuilding automations, and training the team. This tool keeps that migration effort as a separate line so you can see the subscription and the one-off switching cost together over three years. A slightly pricier CRM that fits how you work can end up cheaper than a free tool you outgrow and have to migrate away from again.
The data-story behind this tool
HubSpot vs Pipedrive: the real 3-year costOn list seat prices, HubSpot Sales Hub Professional is 90 euro per seat against Pipedrive Professional at 49 euro. Over three years for a 5-seat team that is about 16,200 euro versus 8,820 euro, before HubSpot onboarding and contact overage.
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