EngageBay vs HubSpot: what the cheaper price actually buys
HubSpot Marketing Hub Professional starts at $800 a month plus a required $3,000 onboarding fee. EngageBay Pro is $119.99 per user per month. Prices, contact limits and seat rules from each vendor's pricing page.
About this guide
Published by StackOnSale. Publisher: Emmanuel Grenier. Guide updated: 2026-09-23.
Research based on official vendor pages, not a hands-on review.
StackOnSale may earn a commission through disclosed affiliate links on the site. This does not decide which tool fits your needs.
The two offers we list
Published prices before tax. HubSpot's required onboarding fee applies to Professional and Enterprise, not to the free CRM.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-22. These are dated plan details, not a live checkout quote. Confirm current pricing and eligibility on the official pages.
Some vendor links on offer pages are disclosed affiliate links; this is not a paid ranking.
| Plan | Recorded price | Billing and limits | Before choosing |
|---|---|---|---|
| EngageBay Growth | $55.24 per user/month | On the two-year term; $64.99 billed monthly | The two-year price is a 24-month commitment. EngageBay does not state the renewal price. |
| HubSpot free CRM | $0 | Free for up to 2 users | Marketing Hub Professional starts at $800 a month plus a required $3,000 onboarding fee. |
The short answer
HubSpot Marketing Hub Professional starts at $800 a month and requires a one-time $3,000 onboarding fee. EngageBay's top published plan, Pro, is $119.99 per user per month.
The gap is real, but it is a gap in contact limits and seat model as much as in features. EngageBay's published plans stop at 10,000 contacts. Above that, HubSpot has a published path and EngageBay does not.
If your list is under 10,000 contacts and you do not need HubSpot's ecosystem, EngageBay costs a fraction of HubSpot in year one.
Prices were read on the vendors' own pricing pages on September 22, 2026. StackOnSale has not tested either product. This page compares published prices, limits and contact ceilings only, not feature quality, deliverability or support.
Starter to Professional: no tier in between
HubSpot's Starter tier displays "Starts at $7/mo/seat", with "$20/mo/seat" struck through, and includes 1,000 marketing contacts. The next published tier, Professional, "Starts at $800/mo" and includes 3 Core Seats and 2,000 marketing contacts. There is no published tier in between.
HubSpot does not state on that page whether the struck-through $20 is the monthly-billed rate or a former price, or whether $7 applies only to a first term. We could not verify either, so we do not state it.
The required onboarding fee
HubSpot's own wording: "Cost shown does not include the required, one-time Professional Onboarding for a fee of $3,000." For Enterprise, the same sentence names $7,000.
So Professional in year one is not $800 x 12 = $9,600. It is $9,600 + $3,000 = $12,600, before any extra seat or contact. That is StackOnSale arithmetic on HubSpot's published figures.
Extra seats are priced too: "Additional Core Seats start at $45/mo" on Professional and "start at $75/mo" on Enterprise.
What EngageBay costs, including the two-year price
EngageBay prices per user per month and offers two commitment discounts, labelled "8% Off" for yearly and "15% Off" for two years. The table shows the All-in-One suite under each billing tab.
EngageBay's free plan is described as "Free for teams of up to 15 members".
The two-year price requires a 24-month commitment. It is not a coupon. EngageBay does not state on its pricing page whether the two-year price holds at renewal. We could not verify that.
| Plan | Monthly | Yearly | Two years | Contacts | Branded emails |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | $0 | 250 | 1,000 |
| Basic | $14.99 | $13.79 | $12.74 | 500 | 3,000 |
| Growth | $64.99 | $59.79 | $55.24 | 5,000 | 25,000 |
| Pro | $119.99 | $110.39 | $101.99 | 10,000 | 50,000 |
Read on engagebay.com/pricing under the Monthly, "Yearly (8% Off)" and two-year tabs, September 22, 2026.
The contact ceiling is the real decision
EngageBay attaches a contact ceiling to each per-user plan. HubSpot sells a platform fee with seats and marketing contacts included, then charges for extra seats. A per-seat comparison alone is misleading in both directions. Compare on the number of people who need access and the size of your list.
EngageBay Pro tops out at 10,000 contacts and 50,000 branded emails in the published table. HubSpot Enterprise includes 10,000 marketing contacts and sells more. If your list is 40,000 contacts, EngageBay's public pricing has no plan for you.
Side by side
The table compares what each vendor publishes, plan by plan. The last row is StackOnSale arithmetic, not a vendor quote. Either vendor may add tax, overage or other charges not shown on its pricing page.
| Item | EngageBay | HubSpot |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan price | $0 | $0 |
| Free plan users | "Free for teams of up to 15 members" | "Free for up to 2 users. No credit card required." |
| Free plan contacts | 250 | Not verified |
| Entry paid plan | Basic, $14.99 per user per month on the Monthly tab, 500 contacts | Starter, "Starts at $7/mo/seat", "$20/mo/seat" struck through, 1,000 marketing contacts |
| Mid plan | Growth, $64.99 per user per month, 5,000 contacts | No published tier between Starter and Professional |
| Professional tier | Pro, $119.99 per user per month, 10,000 contacts | "Starts at $800/mo", "$890/mo" struck through, 3 Core Seats, 2,000 marketing contacts |
| Extra seat | Priced per user | From $45/mo on Professional, from $75/mo on Enterprise |
| Required onboarding | None published | Professional $3,000, Enterprise $7,000, "required, one-time" |
| Highest published tier | Pro, $119.99 per user per month | Enterprise, "Starts at $3,600/mo", 5 Core Seats, 10,000 marketing contacts |
| Yearly discount | "8% Off" | Not verified |
| Two-year discount | "15% Off" | None published |
| Year one, 3 people, mid tier | Growth at the two-year rate: $55.24 x 3 x 12 = $1,988.64 | Professional, 3 seats included: $800 x 12 + $3,000 = $12,600 |
Read on engagebay.com/pricing, hubspot.com/pricing/marketing and hubspot.com/pricing/crm, September 22, 2026. The last row is StackOnSale arithmetic on the unit prices above.
When HubSpot wins
Your list is above 10,000 contacts. EngageBay's published table ends there. HubSpot has a published path beyond it.
You want a paid onboarding service. HubSpot's onboarding is required on Professional and Enterprise and sold as a one-time fee. It matters less if you planned to pay for setup help anyway.
You need a published price for each seat above the included ones. HubSpot publishes its extra seat price. On EngageBay, every added person multiplies the per-user price.
You depend on a feature we did not verify. This page does not compare feature depth, reporting, deliverability or support. If your decision rests on one feature, trial both.
What we could not verify
Whether EngageBay's two-year price holds at renewal. What HubSpot's struck-through "$20/mo/seat" and "$890/mo" represent, and whether "$7/mo/seat" is limited to a first term. HubSpot's free plan contact limit. HubSpot's price for additional marketing contacts. Any tax, overage or setup charge not displayed on either pricing page.
If your list is above 10,000 contacts but your budget is below HubSpot Professional, compare the Zoho, Freshsales and Bitrix24 offers listed below.
Questions
Does HubSpot really charge $3,000 before you start?
For Marketing Hub Professional, yes. HubSpot writes that the cost shown "does not include the required, one-time Professional Onboarding for a fee of $3,000". Enterprise onboarding is $7,000. Read September 22, 2026.
How many people can use each free plan?
HubSpot: "Free for up to 2 users." EngageBay: "Free for teams of up to 15 members." Both read September 22, 2026.
How many marketing contacts come with HubSpot?
Starter 1,000, Professional 2,000, Enterprise 10,000, read September 22, 2026 on hubspot.com/pricing/marketing.
What does an extra HubSpot seat cost?
From $45 a month on Professional and from $75 a month on Enterprise. Read September 22, 2026.
Is EngageBay's two-year price a real saving?
The 15 percent label is EngageBay's own. What it costs you is a 24-month commitment. EngageBay does not state on its pricing page whether that price holds at renewal.
Related offers
- EngageBay Growth on the two-year term
- HubSpot free CRM and startup program
- Zoho CRM free edition
- Freshsales Growth, billed annually
- Bitrix24 Standard, billed annually
Read next
- Cheapest CRM for Small Business: 2026 CRM Pricing Compared
- EngageBay: the two-year price you are shown first, and the contract that never mentions it
- CRM for nonprofits: free licences, limits and the cost of upgrading
- EngageBay pricing: Free, Basic, Growth and Pro plans
- EngageBay vs Zoho CRM: pricing for 1, 3 and 10 users
- HubSpot alternatives: EngageBay, Freshsales, Zoho, priced
Sources
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