HubSpot alternatives for small service businesses
We make Swiftly Workspace, so read this with that in mind.
The right HubSpot alternative matches where your work ends. If it ends in an invoice, Swiftly Workspace keeps customers, projects, approved timesheets and invoices in one native Apple app. If it ends in a closed deal, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM and Salesforce Starter Suite are built for selling.
HubSpot is a fine place to start. Its free CRM plan lets you start without paying, and the platform grows into marketing, sales and service tools. Small service businesses often find they use a slice of it, while the work that pays the bills (projects, hours and invoices) happens in other tools. Below, four alternatives, each described from its vendor's own pages.
The options at a glance
| Tool | Mac | Single sign-on | Pricing model |
|---|---|---|---|
| HubSpot | Listed as "Designed for iPad" | Professional and Enterprise tiers | Per seat, with a free CRM plan |
| Swiftly Workspace | Native Mac app | Not offered today | Left out of this roundup |
| Pipedrive | Listed as "Designed for iPad" | All plans | Per seat |
| Zoho CRM | No Mac version listed | Not compared here | Per user per month; free for up to three users |
| Salesforce Starter Suite | No Mac version listed | All editions | Per user per month |
Every tool here has an iPhone and iPad app. Checked 2026-10-18 on hubspot.com, support.pipedrive.com, zoho.com, salesforce.com and the App Store: HubSpot CRM pricing, HubSpot's listing, Breeze Assistant and HubSpot single sign-on; Pipedrive's plan features and its listing; Zoho CRM pricing and its listing; Salesforce small business pricing and its listing; HubSpot Sales Hub pricing; and Salesforce single sign-on help. We leave prices out on every side.
What HubSpot does well
HubSpot's free CRM plan covers up to two users, and paid seats add the sales and marketing tools as you need them. Its Breeze Assistant is included with every subscription, and HubSpot's Sales Hub pricing page describes credits for usage-based agents. Single sign-on and SCIM provisioning are available on the Professional and Enterprise tiers. On Apple devices it has an iPhone and iPad app, and the App Store lists its Mac version as "Designed for iPad". If marketing campaigns and a growing sales team are your plan, HubSpot is built for that. Our comparison of Swiftly Workspace and HubSpot goes point by point.
Swiftly Workspace: a CRM with the invoice built in
Swiftly is a native Mac app with an iPhone and iPad app, built for service businesses. The customer record is where the work and the money meet. Our post on why a CRM with invoicing beats two separate tools explains the idea.
- Customers with contacts and addresses, plus vendors and their bills.
- Invoices, credit notes and proforma invoices on the customer, each a draft a person finalizes, and customer payments allocated to the open invoice they pay.
- Projects as Phases, Work Packages and Tasks, with timesheets reviewed in Timesheet Approvals and Invoice this project to turn approved billable hours into a draft invoice.
- Forms you shape: make a field visible, required or give it a default value. An advisory VAT check against VIES, and a change history on each record.
- In Conversations, ask about your own customers and invoices; the assistant fetches what the question needs. Use your company's own key for a provider such as OpenAI, Gemini or Mistral, or Apple Intelligence on the device.
What Swiftly doesn't have: no marketing automation or email campaigns, no mail client in the app, no estimates, and no company single sign-on today. It runs on Apple devices. If your growth depends on marketing, HubSpot will serve you better.
Pipedrive: a CRM built around the pipeline
Pipedrive is priced per seat and lists single sign-on on all plans, with AI email features on Premium and higher plans. It has an iPhone and iPad app, and the App Store lists its Mac version as "Designed for iPad". Choose it if your team's day revolves around moving deals forward. More options in our list of Pipedrive alternatives.
Zoho CRM: free for small teams
Zoho CRM is free for up to three users, then priced per user per month. Its AI assistant is Zia, and Zoho documents an option to use an OpenAI key in CRM Plus. The app covers iPhone and iPad, with no Mac version listed on the App Store. See how Swiftly compares with Zoho CRM.
Salesforce Starter Suite: an entry point to a large platform
Salesforce Starter Suite is priced per user per month and includes what Salesforce calls Assistive AI with Employee Agent. Salesforce's single sign-on help page lists federated authentication, its term for single sign-on, in all editions. The app covers iPhone and iPad, with no Mac version listed. Choose it if you expect to grow into the wider Salesforce platform. Our Salesforce Starter comparison covers the details.
What a service business needs from a CRM
A sales CRM is built around deals: a pipeline, stages and forecasts. A service business has deals too, but most of its time goes into the work after the deal is won. That changes what matters.
- One record per customer, shared by the people who sell, deliver and bill.
- Projects and hours attached to that customer, so you can see what was done and what is left in the budget.
- Invoices and payments on the same record, so nobody has to ask finance whether a customer has paid.
- Permissions that show each person the fields their role needs.
If most of that list describes your week, a CRM with invoicing is worth a look. If your week is mostly prospecting and follow-ups, a sales CRM stays the better tool.
What to test before you commit
Take one customer you won recently and follow it through each tool, from the opening contact to the paid invoice. Note where the record had to be copied into a second tool, and how many people needed access to finish the job. A CRM that keeps that whole path in one place usually saves more time than one with a longer feature list.
How to choose
- Name the end of your process: a signed deal or a paid invoice. Sales-led teams lean toward HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM or Salesforce; service teams that bill hours lean toward Swiftly.
- Check the devices your team uses. If they live on Macs, compare a native Mac app with a "Designed for iPad" version. Our roundup of native CRM options for Mac goes further.
- Decide whether you need single sign-on now, and on which plan each vendor offers it.
- Read our small business CRM guide before you commit.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a HubSpot alternative with invoicing?
Swiftly Workspace has invoices, credit notes, proforma invoices and customer payments in the same app as your customers and projects, on iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Does HubSpot have a native Mac app?
On 2026-10-18 the App Store listed HubSpot's Mac version as "Designed for iPad", Apple's label for an iPad app that runs on a Mac with Apple silicon.
Which HubSpot alternative is free for a small team?
Zoho CRM was free for up to three users when we checked on 2026-10-18, and HubSpot's own free plan covers up to two. Plans change, so confirm on each pricing page.
Can I move my HubSpot contacts to Swiftly Workspace?
Export your companies and contacts to CSV. Swiftly Workspace imports customers and their contacts, vendors, items, open invoices, payments and projects from CSV or XLSX files, so your HubSpot companies come in as customers and their people as contacts, with the columns mapped as you go.
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Create your account on the web, then set up your workspace in the app on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.
