What small business software really costs
We read the pricing pages, the footnotes and the fee schedules, so you know the bill before you talk to sales. Every guide lists the vendor pages its numbers came from.
Browse all guides
Latest price checks
List prices in US dollars, from each vendor's own page.
- ActiveCampaign Starter $15 a month for 1,000 contacts, Plus $49, Pro $79, all billed yearly.
- Ahrefs Lite $129 a month, $1,290 a year. Standard $249, Advanced $449. Free plan for your own sites.
- Hootsuite Standard $99 a user a month billed annually, Professional $199, Advanced $399.
- Klaviyo Free to 250 active profiles. Email plan $20 a month for 500, $150 for 10,000.
- monday CRM Basic $12 a seat billed yearly, Standard $17, Pro $28. Sold from 3 seats.
- Pipedrive Lite $14 a seat billed annually, $24 monthly. Growth $39, Premium $59, Ultimate $79.
- Semrush SEO plan $139 a month, $117.33 billed annually. Starter $199, Pro+ $299. One user included.
The gap adds up
The same five-person team, priced on six CRMs. From Salesforce Alternatives for Small Businesses That Cost Less.
What five CRM users cost in the first year
Show the numbers
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Bigin by Zoho | $420 |
| monday CRM Basic | $720 |
| Zoho CRM Standard | $840 |
| Pipedrive Lite | $840 |
| HubSpot Starter | $1,200 |
| Salesforce Starter Suite | $1,500 |
| Salesforce Pro Suite | $6,000 |
| HubSpot Sales Pro | $6,900 |
CRM
What HubSpot, Zoho, Salesforce and other CRMs really cost a small business, which plan you need, and the cheaper alternatives worth a look.
Accounting & Payroll
QuickBooks, payroll and invoicing software for small businesses: current prices, add-on fees and the alternatives that cost less.
Email Marketing
Constant Contact, Mailchimp and the cheaper email tools compared on price per contact, sending limits and the features small businesses use.
-
Alternatives
Mailchimp Alternatives for Small Businesses: MailerLite, Kit and Constant Contact
Updated
SEO Tools
Semrush, Ahrefs and the cheaper SEO tools compared on price, limits and what a small business or freelancer actually needs.
Website Builders
Wix, Squarespace, Webflow and other website builders compared on real monthly cost, templates, ecommerce and what each plan includes.
Social Media
Hootsuite, Buffer and other social media schedulers compared on price, channels and features for small business marketing teams.
How we check prices
Prices come from the vendor's own pricing page, opened when we write or update a guide. Where a vendor shows a promotion, we give the list price as well and say what the offer requires.
If we can't confirm a number, it isn't on the page. Some vendors show different prices depending on the country you browse from; we only quote US dollar prices we have seen.
Some links earn us a commission. That never decides what we recommend. Read the full editorial policy.