HubSpot vs listmonk: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of HubSpot and listmonk to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
HubSpot
6.9/10
HubSpot is a CRM platform with a free tier and paid per-seat Sales Hub plans, plus companion marketing and service hubs, aimed at small and mid-sized businesses.
listmonk
6.6/10
listmonk is a free, open-source, self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager. Technical teams use it to send high-volume email campaigns and transactional email through their own SMTP providers.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.9/10 | 6.6/10 |
| Scalability | 7/10 | 9/10 |
| Ease of Use | 8/10 | 4/10 |
| Customization | 6/10 | 9/10 |
| Security | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 3/10 |
| Cost | 5/10 | 10/10 |
| Integration | 9/10 | 5/10 |
| Analytics | 7/10 | 5/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | $20/user/mo Sales Hub Starter | Contact for pricing |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $200/mo Sales Hub Starter | Free Self-hosted (open source) |
| Features | ||
| Email Marketing | Not listed | |
| Segmentation | Not listed | |
| SMS Marketing | Not listed | |
| Webinars | Not listed | |
| More features | ||
| Marketing Automation | Not listed | |
| Built-in Calling | Not listed | |
| Customer Support Management | Not listed | |
| Integrations | Not listed | |
| Sales Automation | Not listed | |
| Opportunity Management | Not listed | |
| Contact Management | Not listed | |
| Reporting & Analytics | Not listed | |
| Mobile Access | Not listed | |
HubSpot vs listmonk cost by team size
HubSpot and listmonk cost the same at 1 user; listmonk costs less from 5 users.
| Team size | HubSpot | listmonk |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | FreeFree | FreeSelf-hosted (open source) |
| 5 users | $100/moSales Hub Starter | FreeSelf-hosted (open source) |
| 10 users | $200/moSales Hub Starter | FreeSelf-hosted (open source) |
| 25 users | $500/moSales Hub Starter | FreeSelf-hosted (open source) |
| 50 users | $1,000/moSales Hub Starter | FreeSelf-hosted (open source) |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose HubSpot
- Higher Ease of Use score (8/10 vs 4/10)
- Higher Integration score (9/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for marketing teams (8/10 vs 4/10)
- Better fit for small business (9/10 vs 5/10)
Why choose listmonk
- Lower estimated cost for 10 users: Free vs $200/mo
- Higher Cost score (10/10 vs 5/10)
- Higher Customization score (9/10 vs 6/10)
Pros & Cons
HubSpot
Pros
- The free CRM has no time limit and covers contacts, deals, tickets, a shared inbox, a reporting dashboard and mobile apps.
- The HubSpot Marketplace lists over 2,000 integrations.
- Sales, marketing and service hubs share one customer database, so teams avoid syncing separate tools.
- G2 reviewers often praise the sales automation and how easy everyday use is.
Cons
- The free tier is now limited to two users and 1,000 contacts.
- Professional and Enterprise tiers require one-time onboarding fees of $1,500 to $7,000, depending on the hub.
- Reviewers report a steep price jump from Starter to Professional, and extra costs from marketing-contact tiers and credits.
- Reviewers cite annual contract lock-in and setup and administration complexity as recurring complaints.
listmonk
Pros
- The software has no licence or per-subscriber fees. A reviewer estimates 100,000 subscribers on weekly sends costs about 45 USD a month in hosting and SES fees.
- Reviewers report it handles hundreds of thousands to millions of subscribers on modest hardware.
- Multi-SMTP queues with rate limiting let you mix providers such as SES, Postmark or Mailgun.
- SQL-based segmentation and Go templating give developers very fine control.
- It includes a transactional API, OIDC SSO, role-based permissions and scoped API tokens.
Cons
- You must set up and run Docker or the binary, PostgreSQL, a reverse proxy and SMTP yourself.
- Support comes only from the community on GitHub, with no SLA.
- It has no behavioural automation or drip sequences.
- Deliverability and list cleaning depend on your own DNS and provider configuration.
- Reviewers say it has fewer integrations, templates and tutorials than commercial platforms.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
HubSpot scores higher on our Marketing criteria: 6.9/10 against 6.6/10 for listmonk. The largest gap is in Cost: 5/10 for HubSpot and 10/10 for listmonk.
Listmonk costs less for 10 users: free on its Self-hosted (open source) plan, against about $200/mo on its Sales Hub Starter plan for HubSpot, billed monthly.
Yes, both HubSpot and listmonk have a free plan.
HubSpot is the better fit for marketing teams: we rate it 8/10 for them, against 4/10 for listmonk.
