Best HubSpot alternative

AI's answer · live, with web access

Zoho CRM

Open

88/100 slot score

92% of answers name it

#2 avg. position

+8 ahead of Pipedrive

Zoho CRM leads the HubSpot alternative question on strength, but Pipedrive is the only brand appearing in every single answer.

Pipedrive is the one brand all 12 answers recommend, yet its position-weighted score of 80 still trails Zoho's 88 because Zoho lands at average position 2 versus Pipedrive's position 3. Zoho also misses just one answer across the full set, and the actual excerpts frame it as the sharpest cost-and-features replacement for HubSpot specifically. EngageBay and ActiveCampaign fill mid-list slots consistently, but neither cracks the top two positions in enough answers to threaten the leaders. No brand clears the threshold to own this question outright, leaving real purchase influence spread across at least four names rather than concentrated in one.

AI-generated analysis of the September 2026 measurements.

The full field

Every brand recommended for this question, from 12 answers across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini.

#	Brand	Slot score	Appears in	Avg. position
1	Zoho CRM	88	92%	#2
2	Pipedrive	80	100%	#3
3	EngageBay	72	92%	#4
4	ActiveCampaign	61	83%	#4
5	Salesforce	58	92%	#5
6	Freshsales	46	67%	#5
7	Brevo	24	50%	#7
8	Monday CRM	19	42%	#8

Slot score is position-weighted, 0 to 100: being recommended first counts far more than a trailing mention. "Appears in" is the share of answers naming the brand at all.

How this was measured

ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini each answered this question in two phrasings, several times each, with live web access and citations: the closest API-reachable version of the real assistant experience (no personalization or account memory, which no vendor can provide). Model-memory answers (no web) are measured separately and shown above as a comparison surface. A brand counts once per answer that recommends it. The exact questions:

• "What is the best alternative to HubSpot CRM?"
• "We're on HubSpot today but the price keeps climbing on us. Which CRM should we use?"

Part of the CRM ranking. Method details on the methodology page. Rankings reflect measured AI answers, not paid placement.

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