HubSpot Alternative
A CRM that doesn't need a sales team to run it
HubSpot is a powerful marketing platform — but for indie hackers it's expensive, complex, and built for workflows you'll never use. TinyCRM is $9/month flat, installs in 30 minutes, and shows every customer across all your products in one unified table.
The problem
Why indie hackers look for HubSpot alternatives
Per-seat pricing adds up fast
HubSpot's free tier covers basic contact management, but the moment you need real features — automation, sequences, detailed reporting — you're looking at $20–100/user/month. A small team of 5 on HubSpot Professional pays $500/month. That's more than most indie products earn in revenue.
Complex setup that takes weeks
HubSpot is built around pipelines, lifecycle stages, and marketing workflows. Getting it configured for your use case requires portal setup, deal stage definitions, team permissions, data mapping, and often a paid onboarding. That's weeks of work before you see a single customer.
Built for sales teams, not developers
HubSpot's API is designed around their CRM objects model: contacts, companies, deals, activities. Integrating it into a Next.js sign-up flow or a serverless function requires navigating OAuth, association types, and a verbose API surface. It wasn't designed for a server-side identify() call.
Steep learning curve
HubSpot has its own terminology, its own workflows model, and its own way of thinking about data. Learning it is a skill in itself — HubSpot even has a certification program. For an indie hacker who wants to spend time on their product, not their CRM, that's an expensive distraction.
The solution
How TinyCRM is different
Developer-first NPM SDK
Install tinycrm-sdk, call identify() from your sign-up handler, and every customer across all your products lands in one unified table. Two methods, zero config, works in Node.js, Edge, and serverless environments.
$9/month, no per-seat pricing
One flat price for your entire team. No tiers, no feature gates, no per-seat tax. Whether you're a solo founder or a 10-person team, you pay $9/month. A 5-person team saves $5,892/year vs HubSpot Professional.
Unified cross-product view
TinyCRM merges every customer by email across all your products. One row in the table, multiple project badges, all their data in one place. HubSpot tracks contacts per portal — it has no concept of one person across your indie hacker portfolio.
Feature comparison
| Feature | TinyCRM | HubSpot |
|---|---|---|
| Flat monthly pricing (no per-seat) | ||
| NPM SDK (identify + ping) | ||
| Unified view across multiple products | ||
| Setup in under an hour | ||
| CSV import | ||
| CSV export | ||
| Custom fields / JSONB params | ||
| Customer status tracking | ||
| No dedicated admin required | ||
| Email marketing sequences | ||
| Ad tracking / attribution | ||
| Meeting scheduling | ||
| Sales pipeline / deal stages | ||
| Free tier | ||
| Large integration marketplace |
Want a deeper breakdown? See the full TinyCRM vs HubSpot comparison.
Integration
Two lines of code, not two weeks of setup
HubSpot's Node.js client requires you to understand their object model — contacts, associations, properties. You need to handle OAuth tokens, refresh logic, and map your data to their schema before a single customer appears in your dashboard.
TinyCRM ships a purpose-built NPM SDK. Install it once, call identify() from your sign-up handler, and your customers are live. No schema mapping, no OAuth, no configuration.
// npm install tinycrm-sdk
import { TinyCRM } from "tinycrm-sdk";
const crm = new TinyCRM({
apiKey: process.env.TINYCRM_API_KEY,
});
// In your sign-up handler
await crm.identify({
email: user.email,
name: user.name,
status: "free",
params: {
plan: "starter",
source: "product-hunt",
},
});
// Later, when they upgrade
await crm.ping({
email: user.email,
status: "paid",
params: { plan: "pro" },
});Frequently asked questions
Is TinyCRM cheaper than HubSpot?
Yes. TinyCRM costs $9/month for your entire team — no per-seat pricing, ever. HubSpot's Starter plan is $20/user/month and Professional is $100/user/month. A solo founder on HubSpot Professional pays $1,200/year; the same founder on TinyCRM pays $108/year. A 5-person team on HubSpot Professional pays $6,000/year compared to $108 on TinyCRM.
Can I migrate my HubSpot contacts to TinyCRM?
Yes. Export your contacts from HubSpot as a CSV file (Contacts → Export), then use TinyCRM's built-in CSV importer to bring them in. The importer lets you map HubSpot column names — like firstname, lastname, email — to TinyCRM fields. Custom HubSpot properties map to the JSONB params field.
What does HubSpot do better than TinyCRM?
HubSpot is a full marketing and sales suite with email marketing, ad attribution, meeting scheduling, sequences, and a large ecosystem of third-party integrations. If you need those features, HubSpot's free tier is a strong starting point. TinyCRM is focused entirely on being a unified customer database for developers running multiple products — it doesn't do email marketing or sales pipelines.
Is there a free plan for TinyCRM?
TinyCRM offers a 14-day free trial with up to 100 customers — no credit card required. After the trial, it's $9/month flat.
Does TinyCRM have an NPM SDK?
Yes. TinyCRM ships a first-class NPM SDK (tinycrm-sdk) with two methods: identify() and ping(). Install it in your Node.js, Edge, or serverless backend and call identify() from your sign-up handler. HubSpot has a Node client, but it's built around their CRM objects model and OAuth flows — not around a simple server-side identify call.
Ready to switch from HubSpot?
14-day free trial. $9/month after. No per-seat fees, no sales team required.
npm install tinycrm-sdk
Also see: Full TinyCRM vs HubSpot comparison · All alternatives · Solo founder CRM