Who this is for
Small sales teams starting from zero, choosing between a free CRM and a free prospecting tool, or deciding which to add first.
Side by side
| Compared on | HubSpot (Sales Hub and free CRM) | Apollo.io |
|---|---|---|
| What it is for | A CRM for contacts, companies and deals, with email tracking and meeting booking. | A built-in contact database to find people, reveal emails and phones, and run outreach. |
| Starting price (checked 2026-10-09) | $0 (Free, up to 2 users); Starter $7/month per seat billed annually ($20 monthly). | $49/month (Basic), $99/month (Professional); free plan. |
| Free plan limits | 2 users, 1,000 contacts, 3 email templates, 2,000 email sends a month. | No time limit; API at 50 requests a minute and 600 a day. |
| Where it breaks | Professional is $90 per seat billed annually plus a $1,500 onboarding fee; reviewers complain of price rises and auto-renewal. | Mobile reveals add 8 credits; no credit rollover; reviewers report wrong numbers and high bounce rates. |
| Setup | No-code. | No-code. |
| Best for | A small team that wants a real CRM for free. | A small sales team that wants finding and sequencing in one tool on a tight budget. |
| A custom build beats it when | You track only a short list of deals; a spreadsheet does the job. | Rarely; custom helps only to verify or score exports before sending. |
The verdict
Both have a free plan with no time limit, but they do different first jobs. HubSpot's free CRM tracks contacts, companies and deals with email tracking, templates and meeting booking for up to 2 users and 1,000 contacts, and Starter is $7 per seat a month billed annually; the step up to Professional is $90 per seat plus a $1,500 onboarding fee. Apollo finds people in a built-in contact database, reveals emails and phone numbers and sends sequences, from $49 a month on Basic, but credits reset each cycle, a mobile number costs 8 credits on top of the profile, and reviewers report wrong numbers and bounces.
Pick HubSpot if you already have leads and need to keep deals from slipping; pick Apollo if your problem is finding people to contact.
Read the full take on each
Sources
- hubspot.com/pricing/sales
- hubspot.com/products/crm
- legal.hubspot.com/hubspot-product-and-services-catalog
- trustpilot.com/review/hubspot.com
- apollo.io/pricing
- docs.apollo.io/docs/api-pricing
- docs.apollo.io/reference/rate-limits
- trustpilot.com/review/apollo.io
Spotted something out of date? Email indra@kratuva.com.