CRM Price Index (October 2026): What 16 CRMs Cost at 1, 3, 10 and 25 Users

The CRM Price Index, in short: across 16 CRMs with a sales pipeline, the cheapest paid plan costs a median of $20 a month for one user and $400 a month for 25 users on annual billing (Scalry excluded). The automation tier costs a median $51 for one user and $1,012.50 for 25. Annual billing saves a median 19.1%. All prices are US list prices in USD, with promotions excluded.

More on this topic: CRM and sales tool pricing, every guide in one place.

Every CRM pricing page answers a different question: price per seat, per workspace, per bucket of seats, or a base fee with users on top. This index puts them on one axis — what a team actually pays each month at 1, 3, 10 and 25 users — for two tiers and both billing options. The dataset (JSON) and the script that computes every number are published with the study, so you can check the arithmetic or rerun it with your own team size.

Key takeaways

Disclosure: this article is published by Scalry, which appears on the list. We have tried to describe every tool as its own users would, including where they beat us — but read it knowing who wrote it, and check the claims against each vendor.

How was the CRM Price Index built?

The index takes each vendor's US list price, in US dollars, from its own pricing page, applies the vendor's seat rules, and computes the monthly cost for 1, 3, 10 and 25 users on monthly and annual billing. Every figure comes from a pricing guide we published or updated in October 2026, each of which names the vendor page and the date it was checked; Scalry's come from its own live plans.

• Two tiers per vendor. The entry tier is the cheapest paid plan that includes a sales pipeline. The automation tier is the first plan the vendor's own page positions for automation — automated workflows or email sequences beyond basic task rules. Where plans differ only by capacity (GoHighLevel, Keap, ClickFunnels), both tiers are the same plan.
• Seat rules applied. Seat minimums and buckets (monday CRM sells 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and up), user caps (Close Solo: 1; Attio Plus: 10; ClickFunnels: 2, 5, 10 or 20) and included users (Keap: 2) decide which plan a team can buy. If no published plan fits, the cell says “Not offered”.
• Annual billing is a monthly equivalent. Where a vendor quotes a yearly total, it is divided by 12 (Scalry $790 a year = $65.83 a month).
• Free plans are reported separately and never used in the rankings, because their user and record caps rule them out for most teams.
• Scalry, which publishes this index, is included at its own list prices, and every median is also given without it.
• Excluded from the cost: taxes, promotions, add-ons, usage (calls, texts, AI credits), contact-tier upgrades and one-time fees. One-time fees are listed in the dataset table.

One figure needed a second look. HubSpot's Sales Hub page shows $7 and $20 for Starter and $90 and $100 for Professional without saying which is the annual rate, so we fetched it again on 26 October 2026. The index uses $20 for Starter on both billing options (the $7 is a new-customer offer) and treats $90 as Professional's annual and $100 as its monthly price.

Which CRMs are in the index, and what do they charge?

The index covers 16 CRMs: 12 priced per seat, three flat or capacity-priced platforms, and one base fee with users on top. The table is the raw dataset; each vendor name links to the pricing guide the figures come from.

Index compiled on 26 October 2026 from US list prices on each vendor's own pricing page, checked between 25 and 26 October 2026 (Pipedrive: October 2026, US list prices; its page shows lower prices in some other regions). USD, excluding taxes, promotions, add-ons, usage and one-time fees. Prices change often — confirm with the vendor before you buy.

What does the cheapest CRM cost at 1, 3, 10 and 25 users?

On annual billing, the cheapest paid CRM with a pipeline costs $7 a month for one user (Bigin Express), $21 for three (Bigin), $24.17 for ten and 25 (Scalry Starter, flat). Without Scalry, the cheapest at ten users is Bigin at $70 and at 25 users GoHighLevel at $80.83.

Monthly cost per team on annual billing, sorted by the ten-user column. Two rows jump because of seat rules rather than price: Attio at 25 users must move from Plus to Pro, because Plus stops at ten seats, and monday CRM charges one user for three seats.

What does a CRM with automation cost at each team size?

On annual billing, the automation tier costs a median of $51 a month for one user, $126 for three, $390 for ten and $1,012.50 for 25, excluding Scalry. The cheapest per-seat option at every size is Bigin Premier; the most expensive at ten users or more is Close Growth.

HubSpot's figures exclude the required $1,500 Professional onboarding fee and Keap's exclude its $500 implementation package; both land in year one. Close's exclude calling, which its own guide shows can rival the seat cost for a phone-heavy team.

How much more do you pay when billed monthly?

Paying month to month raises the median automation-tier bill from $51 to $69 for one user and from $1,012.50 to $1,210.50 for 25 users, excluding Scalry. The same automation table on monthly billing:

The annual discount on the automation plan, from the same data:

Across all 46 plans with both prices published, the median annual discount is 19.1%. The largest is Close Solo (52.6%: $19 monthly, $9 annual), followed by Pipedrive Lite (41.7%: $24 monthly, $14 annual); the smallest is Capsule Ultimate (4.0%). HubSpot Starter and Enterprise are left out of that count because the page does not label a separate annual rate.

Cheapest, median and most expensive at each team size

The summary every other table feeds. Medians exclude Scalry; the cheapest column names Scalry where it is cheapest, with the next cheapest in brackets.

ClickFunnels is not priced at 25 users, because its largest plan allows 20 team members, so the 25-user rows rank 15 CRMs.

At what team size does flat pricing beat per-seat pricing?

Against a flat $79-a-month plan (Scalry Pro, $65.83 billed annually), the median per-seat automation tier becomes more expensive at 2 users. Against a $199 flat plan ($165.83 annually), the median crossover is 4.5 users on annual billing and 5 on monthly.

Annual billing on both sides. Bigin is the outlier: at $12 a seat it stays under a $79 flat plan until the sixth user. The crossover says nothing about features — a cheaper bill for a tool that lacks something you need is not a saving.

What does automation add to a per-seat CRM bill?

Among the 12 per-seat CRMs, the automation tier costs a median 2.42 times the entry tier for a three-person team on annual billing. The smallest step is monday CRM (1.42 times, Basic to Standard); the largest are HubSpot (4.5 times, Starter to Professional) and Freshsales (4.33 times, Growth to Pro).

• HubSpot Starter to Professional: $20 to $90 a seat, plus $1,500 onboarding.
• Freshsales Growth to Pro: $9 to $39 a seat — Growth's basic workflows do not include sequences.
• Nutshell Foundation to Pro: $13 to $42 a seat.
• Close Essentials to Growth: $35 to $99 a seat; Essentials has no workflows.
• Pipedrive Lite to Growth: $14 to $39 a seat, 2.79 times.

Which CRMs have a free plan?

Five of the 16 have a free plan with a pipeline: HubSpot (up to 2 users), Zoho CRM (3 users, 5,000 records), Attio (3 seats, 50,000 records), Capsule (2 users, 250 contacts) and Bigin (1 user, 500 records). None is used in the rankings above, because each caps the team or the data in a way most growing teams pass within a year.

Which sales tools were left out, and why?

We also priced seven sales tools in the same week but kept them out of the index, because they are not billed per user for a pipeline CRM.

Where does Scalry sit in the index?

Scalry is the cheapest CRM in the index at 10 and 25 users on both tiers, because it charges $29, $79 or $199 a month per workspace with no seat limit. For small teams it is not: at one user, ten per-seat entry plans cost less than Scalry Starter's $24.17, and at three users Bigin Express ($21) still does. On the automation tier, Bigin Premier ($36) and monday CRM Standard ($51) undercut Scalry Pro ($65.83) for a three-person team.

Price is not the whole comparison. Scalry has no LinkedIn automation, no power or predictive dialer and no live call coaching, which Close, lemlist and others sell. Its plans include the CRM, pipeline, cold email sequences, booking, forms and funnels, with workflows from Pro. If a feature it lacks is central to your process, the per-seat tool that has it is the better buy at any team size.

What are the limits of this index?

• List prices only. No promotions, negotiated discounts, startup or nonprofit programmes.
• No taxes, add-ons or usage. Calling, SMS, email volume, AI credits beyond the allowance, extra pipelines and contact-tier upgrades all raise real bills, and they fall unevenly across vendors.
• One-time fees are listed, not added. HubSpot Professional ($1,500) and Keap ($500) carry required onboarding or implementation.
• Tier choice is a judgment. “Automation tier” follows each vendor's own positioning; where a page is ambiguous (Attio, Bigin, HubSpot) the dataset notes the choice.
• Features differ. A row is a price, not a verdict. Plans at the same price can do very different amounts of work.
• Prices change. This is a snapshot from 25 and 26 October 2026. Regional pricing (Bigin, monday, Attio, Pipedrive) can differ from the US figures used here.

How can you use the index for your own team?

• Use your team size in 12 months, not today. The ranking changes most between 3 and 10 users.
• Pick the tier you will actually need. If you will want automated follow-up, compare the automation table, not the entry table.
• Check seat rules first. Minimums, buckets and caps decide the plan before the price does.
• Add usage and one-time fees for a year-one total. See how much a CRM costs for how to do that by hand.

Questions to ask before you commit

Whichever way you are leaning, these are the questions that change the answer. Work through them against your own numbers rather than anyone's feature matrix — including this one.

• Is there a seat minimum, bucket or cap on the plan I am pricing?
• Which plan first includes automated workflows and sequences?
• Which figure on the page is annual and which monthly? Several pages do not label them.
• Is there a required onboarding or implementation fee?
• What is billed by usage — calls, texts, email volume, AI credits?

If you cannot answer the first three, you are not ready to choose between Scalry and any CRM on your shortlist yet — you are still deciding what you need, which is a cheaper problem to solve first.

Frequently asked questions

What is the average cost of a CRM per user in 2026?

In this index, the median cheapest paid CRM costs $20 a month for one user on annual billing, and the median plan with automation costs $51. For per-seat CRMs, the automation tier is a median 2.42 times the entry tier. Figures checked 25 to 26 October 2026.

What is the cheapest CRM with a sales pipeline?

Bigin by Zoho Express at $7 per user per month on annual billing ($9 monthly) is the cheapest paid plan in the index. HubSpot, Zoho CRM, Attio, Capsule and Bigin also have free plans for 1 to 3 users.

How much does a CRM cost for a team of 10?

On annual billing, a CRM with a pipeline costs a median $180 a month for 10 users, and a CRM with automation a median $390, excluding Scalry. The automation tier ranges from $65.83 (Scalry Pro, flat) and $80.83 (GoHighLevel) to $990 (Close Growth).

How much does a CRM cost for 25 users?

On annual billing, the median automation tier costs $1,012.50 a month for 25 users, excluding Scalry, from $80.83 (GoHighLevel) to $2,475 (Close Growth). ClickFunnels has no plan for 25 team members.

How much do you save by paying for a CRM annually?

A median 19.1% across 46 plans in the index, ranging from 4.0% (Capsule Ultimate) to 52.6% (Close Solo). Pipedrive Lite saves 41.7%, and Zoho CRM Professional and monday CRM Standard save about a third.

When is a flat-priced CRM cheaper than a per-seat CRM?

Against a $79 flat plan, the median per-seat automation tier costs more from the second user; against a $199 flat plan, from about the fifth. Bigin Premier is the exception, staying cheaper than $79 flat until six users.

Can I check the calculations?

Yes. Download the dataset (list prices, seat rules, source page and check date per vendor) at scalry.com/data/crm-price-index-2026-10.json and the script that computes every table at scalry.com/data/crm-price-index.py. Each vendor's figures also link to the pricing guide that cites the vendor page.