TL;DR
Close's Solo plan starts at $9/month (annual) and scales to $139/month for Scale, with calling billed separately at roughly $0.02/minute plus about $1/month per phone number — and its native dialer earned it the highest G2 rating of the four at 4.7/5. HubSpot Sales Hub is the only alternative with a genuine free tier (2 seats, 500 calling minutes), but jumps steeply to $90-100/seat/month for Professional plus a mandatory $1,500 onboarding fee to unlock automation. Pipedrive undercuts Close on price (Lite at $14/month annual) and is built around a best-in-class visual deal pipeline rather than communication tools, ranking #6 on G2's 2026 Best Sales Software list.
Salesloft isn't a CRM at all — it's a sales engagement layer that typically runs on top of Salesforce or HubSpot, is quote-based with no published pricing, and typically requires 10-15 minimum seats. Close's focus on native calling, SMS, and its 2026 Chloe AI voice agent make it the strongest fit specifically for phone-heavy outbound teams, while its per-seat pricing climbs quickly once automation is needed.
Close CRM Alternatives 2026: How Pipedrive, HubSpot Sales Hub, and Salesloft Actually Compare
Close has built its reputation on one thing: a CRM where calling, email, and SMS live natively inside the record instead of being bolted on through a third-party integration. G2 reviewers consistently describe it as having "the best built-in dialer in any CRM", and in 2026 Close added Chloe, a built-in AI voice agent that reportedly handles qualification calls and books meetings autonomously.
That focus makes Close a strong fit for a specific buyer — a small, phone-heavy outbound sales team — but it isn't the only sales-first tool in this price range, and its per-seat pricing climbs quickly once you need automation. This comparison looks at three genuine alternatives with different trade-offs: Pipedrive (pipeline-visualization CRM), HubSpot Sales Hub (CRM-plus-suite with a free tier), and Salesloft (a dedicated sales engagement layer that typically sits on top of Salesforce or HubSpot rather than replacing your CRM).
Product Overview
Direct answer: Close is a standalone CRM purpose-built for outbound teams. Every plan includes native calling, email sync, and SMS; the Growth and Scale tiers add a Power Dialer and Predictive Dialer that auto-dial through call lists, plus call coaching (listen/whisper/barge). Close's own pricing page lists four tiers — Solo, Essentials, Growth, and Scale — with calling billed separately at roughly $0.02/minute plus about $1/month per phone number.
Pipedrive is built around a visual, drag-and-drop deal pipeline rather than communication tooling. In 2025 it restructured its five legacy plans (Essential/Advanced/Professional/Power/Enterprise) down to four: Lite, Growth, Premium, and Ultimate. Pipedrive ranked #6 on G2's Best Sales Software Products 2026 list, and reviewers most often cite the deal-board UX and fast setup as its strength, with reporting depth and support responsiveness as the recurring complaints.
HubSpot Sales Hub is the sales module of HubSpot's broader CRM suite, and it's the only one of the four with a permanent free tier (2 seats, 1 pipeline, 500 calling minutes). HubSpot's official pricing page shows a steep jump from Starter ($7-$20/seat/month) to Professional ($90-$100/seat/month, plus a mandatory $1,500 onboarding fee) — Professional is where workflow automation, multiple pipelines, and lead scoring actually unlock.
Salesloft, now operating as "Clari + Salesloft" following its December 2025 merger with the revenue-forecasting company Clari, isn't a CRM at all — it's a sales engagement platform (cadences, conversation intelligence, forecasting) that most customers run alongside Salesforce or HubSpot. It doesn't publish list pricing; it's quote-based per seat with an annual contract.
Quick Answer
- If you're a small, phone-heavy outbound sales team → choose Close, because every plan includes native calling, SMS, and email sync in one record, plus the highest G2 rating of the group at 4.7/5.
- If you're cash-strapped or just starting out and need a genuinely free CRM → choose HubSpot Sales Hub, because it's the only one of the four with a permanent free tier (2 seats, 500 calling minutes).
- If visual pipeline management matters more than built-in calling → choose Pipedrive, because its deal-board UX is described as its core, best-in-class differentiator, and it ranked #6 on G2's Best Sales Software Products 2026 list.
- If you already run Salesforce or HubSpot and just need sales engagement/cadences on top → choose Salesloft, because it's explicitly built to layer on an existing CRM rather than replace it.
- If you need automation without HubSpot's $1,500 onboarding fee → choose Close or Pipedrive over HubSpot Professional, because HubSpot only unlocks workflow automation, multiple pipelines, and lead scoring at the $90-100/seat Professional tier plus that upfront cost.
Feature Comparison Matrix
| Feature | Close | Pipedrive | HubSpot Sales Hub | Salesloft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standalone CRM (no other CRM needed) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No — layers on top of Salesforce/HubSpot |
| Native built-in calling | Yes, all plans | No (integrations/add-ons) | Yes, minutes included by tier | Dialer is a paid add-on |
| Power/Predictive Dialer | Yes (Growth & Scale) | No | No | Add-on, priced separately |
| Built-in AI voice/calling agent | Chloe (2026) | No | AI features via Breeze | No (AI is workflow/forecast-focused) |
| Free plan | No | No | Yes (2 seats) | No |
| Deal pipeline visualization | Yes | Best-in-class, core differentiator | Yes | N/A (engagement layer) |
| Workflow automation | Growth tier and up | Growth tier and up | Professional tier and up | Included (Rhythm) |
| Minimum seats | 1 | 1 | 1 (free) / no stated minimum on paid | Typically 10-15 |
Pricing Comparison
Direct answer: All prices below are per user/month, annual billing unless noted, per each vendor's own pricing page or G2's pricing data as of August 2026.
| Plan tier | Close | Pipedrive | HubSpot Sales Hub | Salesloft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry | Solo: $9 (annual) / $19 (monthly) | Lite: $14 (annual) / $24 (monthly) | Free: $0 (2 seats) | — |
| Low/Mid | Essentials: $35 / $49 | Growth: $39 / $49 | Starter: $7 / $20 | — |
| Mid/High | Growth: $99 / $109 | Premium: $49 / $79 | Professional: $90 / $100 + $1,500 onboarding | Advanced: est. ~$100-140 (quote-based) |
| Top | Scale: $139 / $149 | Ultimate: $79 / $99 | Enterprise: $150 + $3,500 onboarding | Elite: est. ~$140-185 (quote-based) |
| G2 rating | 4.7/5 | 4.3/5, 3,172 reviews | 4.4/5, ~12,000 reviews | 4.5/5 |
Two things worth flagging. First, Close's power and predictive dialer — its headline feature — is locked behind the Growth tier ($99+/user/month annual), so the entry-level Solo and Essentials plans don't actually include what most buyers come to Close for, per Close's pricing page. Second, Salesloft doesn't publish pricing at all; the ranges above are third-party buyer estimates from Vendr's pricing marketplace data, not vendor-quoted figures, and typically require a 10-15 seat minimum and annual contract — a materially different buying motion than the other three, which are self-serve.
Who Should Choose What
Direct answer: Choose Close if you're a small, phone-first outbound team (SDRs/founders making dozens of calls a day) and you want calling, email, and SMS in one interface without stitching together a dialer integration. Budget for the Growth tier if the dialer is the reason you're buying — the cheaper plans don't include it.
Choose Pipedrive if your team's core workflow is visual pipeline management and you don't need heavy native calling — it's the cheapest entry point here ($14/user/month annual) and reviewers consistently cite it as the fastest to set up, though you'll likely outgrow its reporting on Lite/Growth plans.
Choose HubSpot Sales Hub if you're already using (or plan to use) HubSpot's marketing or service hubs, want a genuinely free starting tier, and can absorb the steep cost jump to Professional once you need automation and multiple pipelines.
Choose Salesloft if you already have a CRM (typically Salesforce) and need a dedicated, enterprise-grade engagement layer — multi-channel cadences, conversation intelligence, and now Clari's forecasting — rather than another CRM. It's the most expensive and least self-serve option, built for mid-market and enterprise revenue teams rather than solo reps or small startups.
Related comparison: leaving Pipedrive
Direct answer: This comparison starts from a Close CRM replacement decision. If Pipedrive is the product you are replacing, use the Pipedrive alternatives comparison instead.
Sources
- Close.com — official pricing page
- Close — G2 reviews and rating
- Pipedrive — G2 pricing data
- Pipedrive — G2 reviews and rating
- Pipedrive — "Ranks #6 in G2 Best Sales Software Products 2026 List" (newsroom)
- Forbes Advisor — Pipedrive Pricing (2026 Guide)
- HubSpot — official Sales Hub pricing page
- HubSpot Sales Hub — G2 reviews and rating
- Salesloft — G2 reviews and rating
- Vendr — Salesloft pricing marketplace data
