The short answer
- Choose HubSpot if marketing drives your pipeline and you will use its email, forms, and app ecosystem. It is the most capable suite and the most expensive as you grow.
- Choose Zoho if you need deep customization at a moderate per-user price and do not mind running CRM and helpdesk (Zoho Desk) as two connected products.
- Choose OG CRM if you are a small team that wants contacts, deals, and support tickets on one record at the lowest cost, from an EU-based vendor. Skip it if you need marketing automation or telephony.
Full disclosure: we build OG CRM & Ticketing, so we have tried to make this comparison useful even if you pick a competitor. Prices are the vendors' published USD list prices as of October 2026, excluding promotions and taxes. CRM pricing changes often, so confirm on the HubSpot and Zoho pricing pages before you buy.
Side-by-side comparison
| Feature | OG CRM | HubSpot | Zoho CRM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes: up to 100 contacts, basic ticketing | Yes: up to 2 users, 1,000 contacts | Yes: up to 3 users (CRM); Zoho Desk free for 3 agents |
| Entry paid plan | Pro: €8/user/month, 14-day trial, no credit card | Starter: $20/seat/month list (promotional discounts often run) | Standard: $14/user/month billed annually, $20 monthly |
| Next tier up | Enterprise: custom pricing | Professional: $50/core seat/month; Sales or Service seats $100 | Professional: $23/user/month billed annually, $35 monthly |
| Helpdesk / ticketing | Built in, on the same customer record as deals | Basic ticketing in free tools; full help desk in Service Hub | Separate product (Zoho Desk), integrates with Zoho CRM |
| Marketing automation | Not included | Strongest of the three (Marketing Hub) | Separate Zoho marketing apps |
| Workflow automation | Workflows on Pro | Simple on Starter, full on Professional | Workflow rules on Standard, Blueprint processes on Professional |
| Customization | Custom fields and tags on Pro | 10 custom properties on free, more on paid | Deepest: custom modules from Standard |
| Data import | CSV/JSON with column mapping, email validation, duplicate skipping | CSV import (free: 50 imports/day) | CSV/Excel import with field mapping |
| Vendor headquarters | EU (Vienna, Austria) | US, EU data center available | India, EU data center available |
| Best for | Small teams that want sales and support in one place for the lowest cost | Marketing-led growth and a large app ecosystem | Teams that want deep customization across a broad suite |
What a 5-person team actually pays
Sticker prices hide the real comparison. Here is the yearly list-price cost for a five-person team that needs both CRM and ticketing, at the entry paid tier:
- HubSpot Starter: 5 seats × $20 × 12 = $1,200/year. Starter covers sales and service basics. Moving to Professional (5 core seats × $50) brings it to $3,000/year, and dedicated Sales or Service seats cost $100 each per month.
- Zoho CRM Standard + Zoho Desk Standard: 5 × ($14 + $14) × 12 = $1,680/year billed annually, because ticketing is a separate product. On Professional for both, it is 5 × ($23 + $23) × 12 = $2,760/year.
- OG CRM Pro: 5 users × €8 × 12 = €480/year, with CRM and ticketing included in the same seat. Even after currency conversion, that is less than half of HubSpot Starter and roughly a third of Zoho CRM + Desk at list price.
Model your 24-month cost at the headcount you expect then, not today. Per-seat pricing that looks cheap with three users can be the biggest line item with thirty. Our CRM buyer's guide covers the fine print: contact caps, features locked to higher tiers, and onboarding fees.
HubSpot: strongest suite, steepest growth curve
HubSpot's advantage is breadth. Marketing email, forms, landing pages, live chat, and the CRM share one database, and its app marketplace is the largest of the three. If inbound marketing feeds your pipeline, that integration is worth paying for.
The trade-off is cost as you scale. The free tools stop at 2 users, and the jump from Starter to Professional more than doubles the per-seat price. Some AI features also use HubSpot Credits on top of the subscription.
Zoho: most customizable for the money
Zoho CRM gives you custom modules, multiple pipelines, and sales forecasting from the Standard edition, with Blueprint process automation on Professional. It is the best value if you need to shape the CRM around an unusual sales process.
The trade-off is assembly. Ticketing lives in Zoho Desk, a separate product with its own pricing, so support agents and sales reps work in different apps connected by an integration. That works, but you pay twice per user and configure two systems.
OG CRM: sales and support on one record
OG CRM puts contacts, companies, leads, opportunities, activities, and helpdesk tickets on the same customer record. When a customer opens a ticket, the agent sees the open deal and the last call. The importer maps CSV or JSON columns before anything is written, flags invalid emails, and skips duplicates.
The trade-off is scope. There is no marketing automation, no built-in telephony, and the integration ecosystem is far smaller than HubSpot's or Zoho's. The free plan is capped at 100 contacts, lower than HubSpot's 1,000. If those gaps do not affect you, it is the simplest and cheapest way to run sales and support together. See plans and pricing.
Switching from HubSpot or Zoho
Both HubSpot and Zoho export contacts and companies to CSV. Before you import anywhere, clean the file: remove duplicates with the CSV Deduplicator, check addresses with the Email List Validator, and normalize numbers to E.164 with the Phone Number Formatter. All three run in your browser, so customer data never leaves your machine.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is HubSpot or Zoho cheaper?
At list price Zoho is cheaper per user: Zoho CRM Standard is $14/user/month billed annually versus $20/seat/month for HubSpot Starter. The gap widens at the next tier: Zoho Professional is $23/user/month while HubSpot Professional starts at $50 per core seat. HubSpot frequently runs promotional Starter discounts, so check the live price on the day you buy.
Which free CRM includes a helpdesk?
All three have a free option with some ticketing. OG CRM includes basic ticketing on the same record as contacts and deals (up to 100 contacts on free). HubSpot free tools include basic ticketing for up to 2 users. Zoho keeps ticketing in a separate product, Zoho Desk, which has its own free plan for up to 3 agents.
Can I migrate from HubSpot or Zoho to OG CRM?
Yes. Both HubSpot and Zoho export contacts and companies to CSV. OG CRM imports CSV and JSON with column mapping, flags invalid emails, and skips duplicate emails inside the file. Deduplicate and validate the export first with our free CSV Deduplicator and Email List Validator.
Which CRM is best for EU companies?
It depends on your data-residency requirements, not only the vendor. HubSpot and Zoho both offer EU data centers. OG CRM is built by an EU company in Vienna. For any vendor, ask for the Data Processing Agreement, the hosting region, and the sub-processor list before you import personal data.
