HighLevel
Best for: Agencies and local service businessesPros
- CRM, SMS, funnels and booking in one account
- White-label option for agencies
- Flat plans, not per-seat
Cons
- Steep learning curve
- SMS/calls billed by usage
HubSpot
Best for: Teams scaling marketing + salesPros
- Genuinely useful free CRM
- One database across Hubs
- Huge integration marketplace
Cons
- Professional tiers get expensive
- Native texting limited
HighLevel and HubSpot both store contacts and send follow-up. They are not substitutes until you know how many client accounts you need and whether texting is part of the sale. Prices below were read on 6 November 2026 unless a cell says otherwise. This is not a hands-on test.
Side by side
| HighLevel | HubSpot | How sure | |
|---|---|---|---|
| List price | Starter $97/mo or $970/yr. Unlimited $297/mo. Founder $497/mo. | Not captured. Open the pricing page. | HighLevel high. HubSpot unknown. |
| Who the plan is for | Starter: up to 3 sub-accounts. Unlimited: unlimited sub-accounts. Founder: SaaS mode, and the FAQ still says Pro. | Free CRM, then paid Hubs. Seat math was not on the HTML we could read. | HighLevel high. |
| Contacts and users | Unlimited on the plans above. | Free tier exists. Paid limits were not listed in what we read. | HighLevel high. |
| SMS and calling | Usage-priced on top of the plan. Rates were not a stable table. | No SMS price list in the pages we opened. | HighLevel high. HubSpot unknown. |
| Trial | 14 days. Billing starts unless you cancel. Usage fees can apply during the trial. | Not read from a price card. | HighLevel high. |
| This site's link | Affiliate link | Official site, not an affiliate link | High |
HighLevel monthly prices and the Starter annual price are from gohighlevel.com/pricing on 6 November 2026. The Founder name is also in HighLevel's help article from 27 October 2026, which says Founder is the old $497 Agency Pro plan and still costs $497 a month. We are not printing annual totals for Unlimited or Founder: the yearly figures in the pricing-page markup do not follow Starter's ten-times pattern. HubSpot list prices are blank on purpose.
Which one fits
| Your situation | Look at |
|---|---|
| Agency or local service business, text and book in the first minutes | HighLevel |
| Two or three client accounts | HighLevel Starter, if three sub-accounts is enough |
| Four or more client accounts | HighLevel Unlimited, then decide if you need Founder for SaaS mode |
| You want a free CRM and will add marketing or sales seats later | HubSpot, after you read the live seat price |
| You cannot watch a messaging wallet | Do not assume HighLevel's $97 is the bill |
| You only need a newsletter | Neither. See the email comparison. |
Illustrative bills, not measurements
These are arithmetic on published HighLevel list prices plus assumptions we label. They are not invoices and not customer results.
| Case | Assumptions | Arithmetic | What we will not claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two client brands | Starter covers 2 sub-accounts. Someone assumes $40 of SMS and email usage. That $40 is not from HighLevel. | $97 + $40 = $137 | HubSpot's total. We did not get a seat price. |
| Eight client locations | Starter stops at 3 sub-accounts, so the list plan is Unlimited. Usage is unknown, so it is not added. | $297 before usage | A HubSpot Marketing-plus-Sales total. Still unknown. |
Questions to answer before you buy
- Do leads need a text, or is email enough?
- How many separate client accounts do you need in the first year?
- Will you rebill phone and SMS? HighLevel's Unlimited and Founder plans are the ones that describe pass-through billing.
- Does the team already work in HubSpot?
- Can someone check the messaging wallet every month?
Where to read next
HighLevel pricing · HighLevel review · CRM for agencies · Best CRM and marketing tools · How we research · Disclosure
See HighLevel plans →Affiliate link
Open HubSpot's site →Official site, not an affiliate link
How this page was made: from each provider's official product and pricing pages and its public documentation, read on the date named in the page. We have not run a hands-on test, lab benchmark, or paid user study for this page. A step-by-step section describes the vendor's published flow. It is not a test we performed.