The short answer
- For 10 people on Salesforce Pro who use contacts, one pipeline and tasks, Bigin Express is modeled to save $10,260 in year one. the math
- The Replace with AI path, one pipeline with CSV import and export, roles and a weekly digest, is modeled to save $7,320, if someone on the team owns it. the math
- Twenty is an open-core CRM you can self-host; the catalog doesn't price it yet, so check its license and your server cost. the math
- Stay if you use CPQ, territories, complex forecast rules or a large set of integrations. recipe
Four ways to stop paying for Salesforce and HubSpot
A cheaper vendor
Switch vendor Bigin Express: saves $10,260 in year one (+3 more below)
Open source
Twenty: costs $1,160 more in year one (+2 more below)
An agent skill
Agent skill: keep a sales pipeline in CSV files you own: saves $150 in year one (+1 more below)
Replace with AI
The best option of each kind, modeled, not measured: each figure links its math. Keeping Salesforce and HubSpot is a valid answer too.
Who should switch, and who shouldn't
Switch if
- Your team uses contacts, companies, deals, tasks and a simple pipeline report, and not much else. recipe
- You pay per-user suite prices for a pipeline a lighter CRM covers: the gap grows with every seat (see the table below). salesforce.com
- You've checked that an export keeps your relationships intact: contacts to companies, deals to contacts. recipe
What Salesforce and HubSpot cost today
List prices from each vendor's pricing page, as stored in the Stackcut catalog. Each price links its source.
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly (per month) | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salesforce Starter Suite | $25/user/mo | $25/user/mo | Per user, billed monthly or annually. Lead, account, contact and opportunity management; sales flows and lead routing; email, event and contact sync; email marketing; 10 GB data storage per org |
| Salesforce Pro Suite | not shown | $100/user/mo | Per user, billed annually only. Adds customization and automation, quoting and forecasting; 10 GB per org |
| Salesforce Core | not shown | $195/user/mo | Per user, billed annually only. Sales Cloud with AI, Slack Business+ and Tableau Next |
| HubSpot Sales Hub Starter | $10/user/mo | $7/user/mo | Per seat. Pay monthly (monthly commitment) $10 or pay annually $7 a month; the page shows $20/mo/seat struck through next to both prices. 500 HubSpot Credits; calling (500 minutes); up to 15 pipelines; up to 50 workflows with restricted triggers; 30 dashboards |
| HubSpot Sales Hub Professional | $100/user/mo | $90/user/mo | Per seat. $100 billed monthly on an annual commitment, $90 billed yearly; plus a required one-time $1,500 Professional Onboarding. 3,000 HubSpot Credits; sequences (up to 500 email sends/user/day); forecasting; up to 100 pipelines; 300 workflows |
- HubSpot's Professional price doesn't include a required one-time onboarding fee of $1,500. hubspot.com
The alternatives, ranked
10 ways out, ranked by modeled saving in the first year after setup and upkeep (10 priced). Modeled, not measured: each figure links the math on the recipe page.
- Bigin and the build path are modeled for 10 users against Salesforce Pro Suite at $100/user/mo billed yearly. recipe
- Tested by Stackcut: 14 of 14 synthetic cases passed a file checker and a strict rubric after 3 rounds (11, 13, 14); an independent round (a fresh agent ran every case, a separate agent graded it) passed 14 of 14. our test
- No new subscription if you already pay for an agent that runs skills: a skill is a folder of files the agent loads. agentskills.io
- Your pipeline is five CSV files you own. Every change is shown as a diff first, and the script refuses changes that would leave the files invalid. Deletions need a separate yes. our test
- No email sync, reminders, pipeline board or mobile app: you paste messages in and ask for the due list. our test
- One editor at a time: no concurrent editing and no user permissions. our test
- HubSpot's free CRM covers up to 2 users and 1,000 contacts at $0, with a UI. hubspot.com
Compare a specific alternative
Considering a specific destination? Read its checked comparison before deciding what to move.
- Salesforce vs Bigin Checked migration details, public switching accounts.
- Salesforce vs Twenty Checked migration details, public switching accounts.
What a CRM costs at 1, 5 and 20 users
Every option here is priced per user. Prices billed yearly, so they compare like for like; monthly billing costs more where offered.
| Option | List price | 1 user | 5 users | 20 users |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salesforce Starter Suite today | $25/user/mobilled yearly | $25 | $125 | $500 |
| Salesforce Pro Suite today | $100/user/mobilled yearly | $100 | $500 | $2,000 |
| HubSpot Sales Hub Starter today | $7/user/mobilled yearly | $7 | $35 | $140 |
| HubSpot Sales Hub Professional todayplus a one-time onboarding fee | $90/user/mobilled yearly | $90 | $450 | $1,800 |
| Pipedrive Lite | $14/user/mobilled yearly | $14 | $70 | $280 |
| Bigin Express | $7/user/mobilled yearly | $7 | $35 | $140 |
| Bigin Premier | $12/user/mobilled yearly | $12 | $60 | $240 |
| Twenty Pro (cloud)confirm billing cadence at checkout | $9/user/mobilled yearly | $9 | $45 | $180 |
| Twenty (self-hosted) | $0 licenseopen-core; check the license | $0+ your server | $0+ your server | $0+ your server |
How people actually left Salesforce and HubSpot
4 public accounts of leaving Salesforce and HubSpot: 2 switched, 1 went back, 1 evaluated. Summaries are ours; each links the original, and each was checked against its page before it appeared here.
A first-person account of moving an 8-person sales team from HubSpot Sales Hub Starter to Attio Pro: migration via Import2 took three weeks not a weekend, stage history and activity logs were the casualties, reporting and integration gaps accumulated, and the team went back to HubSpot Starter after roughly three months. Medium (SaaS Tools blog)
A daily Salesforce user self-hosted Twenty 1.0, extended the data model, synced real organization records from a side project through the API, and concluded it cannot replace Salesforce — while saying many organizations that do not need Salesforce breadth would benefit from it. (Review of Twenty 1.0; the gaps he lists carry Q3/Q4 2025 roadmap dates.) hyteck.de blog
A Galway software consultant who had explored Salesforce Essentials and found it limited and hard to use discovered Bigin while in development in November 2019, adopted it for his own firm, and now runs client and supplier pipelines on it and recommends it to small-business clients. Bigin by Zoho CRM
Twenty own customers page lists Alternative Partners as having replaced Salesforce with a self-hosted Twenty instance, using agentic AI to compress the migration; the listing gives no dates, volumes or cost figures, and detailed story page was not separately fetched. Twenty
How to leave Salesforce and HubSpot
Export first, then cancel. Every step links the vendor's own help page, checked on the date shown.
- Before you ask to cancel, read the renewal and notice terms in your order form: a contract you signed overrides help-center pages. help.salesforce.com
How to leave Salesforce
Export first
- All your data: Setup → Data Export → Export Now or Schedule Export (ZIP of CSV files). Weekly exports need Enterprise, Performance or Unlimited; other editions export monthly. The ZIP files are deleted 48 hours after the email, not counting weekends. help.salesforce.com
Cancel
- Export your data first (see export).
- For a paid subscription, contact Salesforce's Customer Service Billing Department: its help page offers no self-serve cancel.
How to leave HubSpot
Export first
- Contacts, companies, deals and other records: CRM → the object → Export at the top right of the list view (CSV, XLSX, XLS). The download link arrives by email and expires after 30 days; very large exports arrive as several files in a ZIP. knowledge.hubspot.com
Cancel
- Export your records first (see export).
- Account name → Account & Billing → Subscriptions → Cancel auto-renewal.
- Takes effect
- On your renewal date, not right away. Mid-contract downgrades aren't permitted.
- Notice
- For a downgrade, contact HubSpot at least 5 business days before the renewal date. A notice of non-renewal goes to the billing admin.
- After you cancel
- The account moves to HubSpot's free tools. You can delete it once no subscription has an active commitment.
Not covered by the paths above, per the recipe: CPQ, Territories, Complex forecast rules, Large integration estates, Enterprise security parity. If you rely on one of these, keep the incumbent or check the path closely.
Moving your data, destination by destination
What each destination's importer carries over, what it leaves behind, and any help it offers switchers.
To Bigin
Official guide bigin.com · Tools: Bigin one-click CRM import, Bigin CSV import
Moves: contacts and companies (fidelity not stated); deals and pipelines (fidelity not stated); notes, emails and activity history (fidelity not stated). bigin.com
Watch out for:
- Field-type mismatches are the fiddly part: dates stored as text, phone numbers in mixed formats bigin.com
- The move is the moment to leave duplicates and dead leads behind, not a forklift job bigin.com
- Deep email and note history adds time, not drama bigin.com
Community guide crminstructors.com · Tools: Bigin direct CRM import (HubSpot option)
Moves: contacts (full); deals, pipelines, companies, custom fields (full). crminstructors.com
Watch out for:
- The direct CRM import is a full transfer, not selective: contacts, deals, pipelines, companies and custom fields all come crminstructors.com
- If the source CRM is cluttered, Bigin ends up cluttered too; CSV gives more control for a clean start crminstructors.com
- Fields missing in Bigin get skipped or mis-mapped crminstructors.com
Switching help: Free migration assistance and data-import help for new users: Bigin says its support team helps if the Salesforce export gets awkward, and every paid plan includes a 30-day dedicated onboarding service plus data-import assistance. bigin.com
Switching help: 15-day free trial with no credit card required; when the trial ends you drop to the Free plan rather than being charged automatically, and Bigin adds a money-back guarantee (45 days on annual plans, 30 days on monthly). bigin.com
To Twenty
Official guide docs.twenty.com · Tools: Twenty CSV import, Twenty REST/GraphQL API
Moves: companies (full); contacts (People) (full); deals (Opportunities) (full); notes and activities (partial). docs.twenty.com
Doesn't move: workflows, views, permissions; File attachments (not in CSV exports); Workflows (recreated manually); Views and permissions configurations (recreated manually). docs.twenty.com
Watch out for:
- Fields must exist in Twenty before import; the CSV import creates records, not fields docs.twenty.com
- Domain format is critical: use https://domain.com or duplicates appear when email/calendar sync connects docs.twenty.com
- User assignments import as empty if invitees have not accepted their invitations docs.twenty.com
Community guide buildrhaus.com · Tools: Twenty CSV import, Twenty REST/GraphQL API, n8n / Make
Moves: contacts → People (full); companies → Companies (full); deals → Opportunities (partial); notes and tasks (partial). buildrhaus.com
Doesn't move: calls, meetings, logged emails; workflows and sequences; Deal stage history as history; BCC-logged email archive; HubSpot lead scores (frozen snapshots only); Dashboards and native reports. buildrhaus.com
Watch out for:
- Deal-stage timestamps are where the truth hides; lose the export and days-in-stage metrics become unknowable buildrhaus.com
- Notes land under the importing user unless original authors exist in Twenty and are mapped explicitly buildrhaus.com
- Twenty's self-hosted single-tenant build was only marked production-ready in 2026; treat older builds as pilots buildrhaus.com
Switching help: Twenty's partner directory lists migration ('Move your data out of Salesforce, HubSpot or spreadsheets'), customization and apps, self-hosted operations, and training and RevOps; partners are hired and booked directly, and Twenty offers to match you with one. twenty.com
Switching help: Twenty supports CSV import for standard Salesforce datasets on its own, and its REST/GraphQL API (batching up to 60 records per call) handles bulk transfers for 50,000+ record migrations at no extra migration-software cost. docs.twenty.com
To Bigin by Zoho CRM
Switching help: Bigin supports single-click migration from HubSpot; all paid plans include assistance with data import plus a free onboarding session; the 15-day trial needs no credit card so a test import runs first. Full refund within 30 days (monthly) or 45 days (annual). zoho.com
To Attio
Switching help: Per a first-person migration account, Attio offers a free migration service through Import2 for anyone on a paid plan: connect HubSpot, map objects, and it pulls contacts, companies and deals over. saas-tools.medium.com
From each destination's own migration docs and switching pages, plus community write-ups where no official guide exists, each checked against its page. Confirm terms on the linked page before you rely on an offer.
Open-source and forkable options
- Twenty: Suits a team with someone to run a small server (2 GB RAM): the self-hosted Pro edition is free. License: open_source
- SuiteCRM: Suits teams that want a Salesforce-style CRM with reports, workflows and campaigns on their own server, with no per-user fees. License: open_source
- EspoCRM: Suits teams that want a mature PHP CRM on their own server; reports and workflows add $395 a year (Advanced Pack). License: open_source
Open source means no license fee, not free to run: the server, backups and upgrades are yours. Read the license before you fork or resell; several of these are open-core or source-available.
Replace with AI, or hand it to an agent skill
Replace with AI Replace with AI: bespoke pipeline: 10 users; one pipeline, CSV import/export, roles and weekly digest. First year: saves $7,320 (modeled, not measured).
Agent skill Agent skill: keep a sales pipeline in CSV files you ownTested by Stackcut · Works, with caveats: 1 to 3 people, one editing at a time, no email sync. The pipeline lives in five CSV files you own. The agent reads pasted emails, call notes and LinkedIn messages and proposes every change as a diff, and a small Python script applies it after you approve (deletions need a separate yes). The same script lists what's due and writes the weekly report. Follow-ups are drafted, never sent. First year: saves $150 (modeled, not measured).
Agent skill Small Business plugin (Anthropic knowledge-work-plugins): Three small-team seats: a sales CRM (crm-autopilot builds and keeps a four-tab spreadsheet CRM when there is none), an AI email-writing add-on (inbox-manager drafts replies in the owner's learned voice), and a KPI-report tool (report-builder and report-pack rerun saved report definitions on a schedule from connectors or a CSV). First year: costs $230 more (modeled, not measured).
- The spec builds or configures one pipeline, a CSV migration, access controls and a weekly digest, and says to prefer a ready-made CRM before building from scratch. recipe
Tested by Stackcut
Stackcut's own test, not a customer: we ran the path end to end on one of our own products.
Small-team CRM seat → an agent skill that keeps the pipeline in CSV files you own
Question. Can a skill folder plus a small script keep a 1-3 person sales pipeline in plain CSV files, updated from pasted emails, call notes and LinkedIn messages with every change approved as a diff, well enough to replace a CRM seat?
Numbers
- 14 synthetic cases, a file checker and a strict rubric
- Pass rate by round: 11, 13, 14 of 14; independent round (fresh runner, separate grader): 14 of 14
- The file changes passed the checker in every round; every failure was a draft or a summary line
- Author rounds were self-graded; the independent round used a fresh runner and a separate grader: 14 of 14
- About 2.6 to 4.6 minutes of agent time per round
Verdict
For one to three people who already pay for an agent, it keeps a working pipeline in files they own: contacts, companies, deals, tasks and a weekly report, with every change shown and approved first. It passed all 14 cases by round 3. An independent round (a fresh agent ran every case, a separate agent graded it) also passed 14 of 14. At HubSpot or Pipedrive seat prices it doesn't pay back in money once upkeep is counted; the gain is owning your data.
Good fit when
- One to three people, one editing at a time
- You already pay for an agent that runs skills and can run Python
- You want the pipeline in files you own (CSV, kept in git or a synced folder)
- A few dozen open deals, updated from messages you paste in
Not a fit when
- You need email or calendar sync, reminders, or a mobile app
- Several people update the pipeline at the same time, or you need permissions
- You want a pipeline board or dashboards
- HubSpot's free CRM (up to 2 users and 1,000 contacts) already covers you
FAQ
How do I get my data out of Salesforce?
Setup → Data Export → Export Now or Schedule Export gives a ZIP of CSV files. Weekly exports need Enterprise, Performance or Unlimited; other editions export monthly, and the files are deleted 48 hours after the email. help.salesforce.com
How do I cancel Salesforce?
Salesforce's help page lists no self-serve cancel for paid subscriptions: you contact its Customer Service Billing Department. help.salesforce.com
When does a HubSpot cancellation take effect?
On your renewal date, not right away. Mid-contract downgrades aren't permitted, and a downgrade needs contact at least 5 business days before renewal. knowledge.hubspot.com
Do I lose my HubSpot contacts if I cancel?
Cancelling moves the account to HubSpot's free tools rather than deleting it. Export your records anyway: the download link expires after 30 days. knowledge.hubspot.com
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find_alternatives({"vendor": "Salesforce", "seats": 10,
"features_used": ["Contacts", "Deals", "Tasks"]})