HighLevel vs the rest › HighLevel vs HubSpot
Quick answer: For a small business, by a wide margin. HubSpot Starter is $20 per seat with 1,000 marketing contacts and simple 10-step automation, no texting and no social planner. Multi-step workflows start at Marketing Hub Professional, $800 a month on annual billing or $890 monthly, plus a required $3,000 onboarding fee, on a 12-month commitment either way. HighLevel gives multi-step workflows, pipelines, texting and calling at $97.
HighLevel gives 30 days through my link, no card hold.
Every number below is from the vendor's own pricing page and help centre, read 20 Sep 2026. HighLevel is the one I use and teach, and I'm an affiliate, so I show you the numbers instead of asking you to trust me.
Nine ways the number on the price tag turns into a different number on your card. Most of these are published, just not on the big price tag. Every cell is from the vendor's own pages, read 20 Sep 2026.
| The fee | HighLevel | HubSpot |
|---|---|---|
| Cap on contacts | None. Unlimited on every plan. | 1,000 / 2,000 / 10,000 marketing contacts. One contact over = next tier, billed now, no downgrade till renewal. |
| Fee per user seat | None. Unlimited users. | $20 per seat on Starter. Professional: 3 included, then $50 each on monthly billing ($45 annual). Can't reduce seats till renewal. |
| Cut of your sales | 0% on top of Stripe. | 0% (payments via Revenue Hub have a platform fee). |
| Email charges | $0.675 per 1,000 sent. 10,000 emails = $6.75. No monthly cap; brand-new accounts ramp up over their first weeks. | Capped at 5x / 10x / 20x your contact tier. 1,000 contacts on Starter = 5,000 emails. |
| Texting (SMS) | Built in. About $0.012 per text, number $1.15/mo, pay as you go. | Not on Starter. Professional/Enterprise add-on $75/mo for 1,000 segments, then $15 per 1,000. Calling: 500 minutes and 1 number on a Starter Sales seat. |
| AI charges | Separate on every plan: pay per use, or $50/mo AI Employee Growth, $97/mo Unlimited. Never included in the $97. | Credits: 500 on Starter, 3,000 on Professional. Customer Agent is Professional and up and burns 50 per conversation. Over the limit: pay 1¢ per credit as you go, or buy a capacity upgrade that runs for the rest of your term. |
| Onboarding or setup fee | None. | Required: $3,000 Marketing Pro, $1,500 Sales Pro, $7,000 Marketing Enterprise. |
| Commitments and cancellation terms | Month to month. Cancel any time. Numbers and texts used during the trial are billed at usage rates. | Professional and Enterprise are 12-month commitments even when paid monthly. Auto-renews. Seats can't be reduced until renewal. |
| Price rises this year | Same $97 / $297 / $497. | Starter is on a "$7" promo that returns to $20. |
30 things a business actually needs to run, and whether HighLevel and HubSpot have it built in. "Add-on" means you pay extra. "Limited" means it's there but capped or tier-gated.
| You need | HighLevel | HubSpot |
|---|---|---|
| CRM with sales pipelines | ✓ | ✓ |
| Websites and funnels | ✓ | limited 30 pages |
| Courses and memberships | ✓ | ✕ |
| Community | ✓ groups, channels, gamification | ✕ |
| Documents and contracts with e-signature | ✓ | limited quotes, 10 e-signs/mo |
| Invoicing and estimates | ✓ | ✓ 0.75% fee on Stripe |
| Subscriptions and payment plans | ✓ | ✓ |
| Forms and surveys with conditional logic | ✓ | limited conditional: Pro only |
| Chat widget on your website | ✓ | ✓ |
| add-on $10/mo + Meta fees | limited Pro, $800/mo | |
| Missed-call text-back and call tracking | ✓ | limited 500 min, no text-back |
| Affiliate program manager | ✓ | ✕ |
| Blog | ✓ | ✓ 1 blog |
| Mobile app for you to manage leads | ✓ | ✓ |
| Webinars, built in | ✓ | ✕ |
| Course quizzes and certificates | ✓ | ✕ |
| Google review requests | ✓ | ✕ |
| Email marketing | ✓ metered | limited 5x contacts |
| Texting from the app | ✓ | add-on $75/mo, Pro+ |
| Phone numbers and calling | ✓ | limited 500 min, 1 number |
| Booking calendars | ✓ | ✓ |
| Reviews and reputation | ✓ | ✕ |
| Social media planner | ✓ | limited Pro, $800/mo |
| AI that talks to customers (chat, voice) | add-on pay per use or $50/mo, every plan | add-on credits, auto-upgrade |
| Multi-step automation | ✓ | limited 10 actions on Starter |
| Separate accounts for clients | ✓ 3 on $97, unlimited on $297 | ✕ Enterprise only |
| Your brand on the software (white label) | limited $297 plan and up | ✕ |
| Sell the software to clients (SaaS) | limited $497 plan | ✕ |
| Unlimited contacts | ✓ | ✕ |
| Unlimited users | ✓ | ✕ |
| Free trial | 30 days | 14 days Marketing Pro, no card |
| Built in, no add-on | 26 of 30 | 7 |
Counted: a ✓ with no "limited" or "add-on" tag, trial row excluded. Each column is that tool's entry plan shown in the close-up cards below, except Kartra, where I use the $119 Starter because the $59 plan is not a real starting point. A grey ? means I couldn't find it on the vendor's own pages, so I didn't count it either way. Read 20 Sep 2026 from each vendor's pricing page and help centre; links in the footer.
Plans, the fees behind them, what's missing, who it's honestly good for, and what people said about it in the last 30 days.
Not because HighLevel is always the cheapest line. Because of what the price tag can't show.
| Tool | Your brand on the software | Separate accounts for clients | Resell it and set your own price |
|---|---|---|---|
| HighLevel | Yes, from $297: white-label desktop app and custom domain | Yes: 3 on $97, unlimited on $297 | Yes, on $497: SaaS mode, clients sign up and pay you automatically, you mark up their usage |
| HubSpot | No | Multi-account management on Enterprise only, up to 30 accounts | No. Partner program pays referral commission |
Short answers. Every number is from the vendor's own pricing page, read 20 Sep 2026.
For a small business, by a wide margin. HubSpot Starter is $20 per seat with 1,000 marketing contacts and simple 10-step automation, no texting and no social planner. Multi-step workflows start at Marketing Hub Professional, $800 a month on annual billing or $890 monthly, plus a required $3,000 onboarding fee, on a 12-month commitment either way. HighLevel gives multi-step workflows, pipelines, texting and calling at $97.
Kajabi, Kartra, ClickFunnels, HubSpot, ActiveCampaign and Flodesk all price by contact tier. HubSpot and Flodesk auto-upgrade you the moment you cross a tier; Kartra auto-upgrades and adds a fee; ActiveCampaign stops your campaigns at the cap. HighLevel has unlimited contacts on every plan.
All six. Kajabi $5 per extra seat, ActiveCampaign $10 to $40, HubSpot $20 to $75. Kartra, ClickFunnels and Flodesk have hard seat caps with no add-on, so you must jump a whole tier. HighLevel has unlimited users on every plan.
Only HighLevel has texting, phone numbers and calling built in, at about 1.2 cents per text. HubSpot sells it as a $75 a month add-on on Professional and above. ActiveCampaign sells credits from $21 a month. Kajabi, Kartra and ClickFunnels require your own Twilio account. Flodesk has no SMS at all.
Yes, and it is required, not optional: $3,000 for Marketing Hub Professional, $1,500 for Sales Hub Professional, $7,000 for Marketing Hub Enterprise and $3,500 for Sales Hub Enterprise. HighLevel, Kajabi, Kartra, ClickFunnels, ActiveCampaign and Flodesk have no setup fee.
HighLevel and Kajabi both offer 30 days. HighLevel's is 30 days through an affiliate link with no card hold (14 days on the public page); Kajabi places a $149 hold on your card. Kartra, ClickFunnels, ActiveCampaign, Flodesk and HubSpot Marketing Hub Professional offer 14 days, and ActiveCampaign caps its trial at 100 emails. HubSpot also has a permanent free tier with HubSpot branding.
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