Short answer
Bigin vs HubSpot comes down to budget and direction. Bigin costs ₹400 to ₹1,080 per user per month billed yearly and includes WhatsApp from Express. HubSpot Free covers two users, Starter is ₹585 per seat on promotion (₹1,670 regular), and sequences and forecasting start at Sales Hub Professional, ₹7,497 per seat plus ₹1,25,000 onboarding.
Bigin vs HubSpot: what is the real difference?
The difference is not features on day one. It is what each product is designed to grow into, and what that growth costs.
Bigin is Zoho's pipeline-first CRM for small teams. It is priced per user, includes a free single-user plan, and connects natively to other Zoho apps such as Zoho Books and Zoho Invoice from the Express plan, according to Bigin's pricing page. The natural next step from Bigin is Zoho CRM, which Zoho supports with its own migration path.
HubSpot gives away a free CRM and earns its money on paid hubs: Marketing, Sales, Service, Content and Data. The HubSpot pricing page shows the free tools for up to two users and a bundled Starter Customer Platform with all five Starter hubs. Moving up to Professional brings sequences, forecasting and 300 workflows, and a mandatory onboarding fee.
So the honest framing for a small Indian business is this: Bigin is the cheapest way to get a team working in a shared pipeline with WhatsApp and Zoho finance apps attached. HubSpot is the easiest way to start free and later run marketing and sales on one platform, if the budget will be there when you need Professional features.
How much do Bigin and HubSpot cost in India?
Bigin is cheaper at every paid level, and HubSpot's Starter price depends on a promotion. Both tables are as shown on the official pricing pages on 17 October 2026, before GST.
| Plan | Billed yearly | Billed monthly | Main limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | ₹0 | ₹0 | Single user, 1 pipeline, 500 records, 3 automations |
| Express | ₹400 | ₹550 | 3 team pipelines, 50,000 records, 30 automations, email and WhatsApp Business integration |
| Premier | ₹720 | ₹900 | 5 team pipelines, 1,00,000 records, 50 advanced automations, stage transition rules, multiple currencies |
| Bigin 360 | ₹1,080 | ₹1,260 | 15 team pipelines, 10,00,000 records, 100 automation rules, 1,000 mass mails a day |
| Plan | Billed yearly | Billed monthly | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free tools | ₹0 | ₹0 | Up to 2 users, contact and deal management, 10 dashboards |
| Starter Customer Platform | ₹585 (regular ₹1,670) | ₹835 (regular ₹1,670) | All five Starter hubs, 1,000 marketing contacts, 15 pipelines, 50 workflows, 500 calling minutes |
| Sales Hub Professional | ₹7,497 | ₹8,330 (annual commitment) | Sequences, forecasting, 100 pipelines, 300 workflows, plus ₹1,25,000 one-time onboarding |
GST is added on top on both sides. HubSpot bills Indian business customers through HubSpot India Private Limited and sends GST e-invoices with an IRN and QR code to the billing contacts, as its India e-invoicing FAQ explains. For a full breakdown of HubSpot tiers, seats and billing terms, see the HubSpot price in India guide; this page only covers the levels a Bigin buyer is likely to compare.
HubSpot free CRM vs Bigin free: which free plan is more useful?
HubSpot's free plan is more generous for a team of two; Bigin's free plan is a single-user trial of the product in all but name.
- Up to 2 users with no credit card
- Up to 1,000 contacts on the free CRM, per HubSpot's CRM page
- Free marketing, sales and service tools, with HubSpot branding
- 10 dashboards with up to 50 reports each
- Live chat and simple bots, with branding
- No workflows: automation starts at Starter
- One user only
- One pipeline and 500 records
- 3 automations
- Built-in phone and third-party telephony integration
- Webforms, booking page, business card scanner and mobile apps
- No WhatsApp or email integration until Express
For a founder and one salesperson who mainly need a shared contact list and a pipeline, HubSpot free vs Bigin Express is the real comparison, not free against free. HubSpot free costs nothing for two people but has no workflows. Bigin Express costs ₹400 per user per month billed yearly (₹9,600 a year for two users before GST) and adds 30 automations, three pipelines and WhatsApp. If automation and WhatsApp matter, Express is usually the better value; if you only need a tidy list and pipeline, HubSpot free is hard to beat on price.
The catch with any free plan is the move to paid. HubSpot's step from free to Starter is small on promotion, but the step to Professional is large (see the next section). Bigin's steps are small all the way to Bigin 360, and the step after that is a move to Zoho CRM.
Bigin vs HubSpot feature comparison for small businesses
A criteria table built from each vendor's own pricing and help pages. Where a product does not list a capability at a level, the table says so rather than guessing.
| Criterion | Bigin | HubSpot |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid seat (yearly) | ₹400 (Express) | ₹585 on promotion, ₹1,670 regular (Starter) |
| Free plan users | 1 | 2 |
| Pipelines | 1, 3, 5 or 15 by plan | 15 on Starter, 100 on Sales Hub Professional |
| Automation | 3 to 100 automations by plan | None on free, 50 workflows on Starter, 300 on Professional |
| WhatsApp in the CRM | Express and above | Marketing Hub or Service Hub Professional or Enterprise |
| Sales sequences | Not listed on the pricing page | Sales Hub Professional |
| Forecasting | Not listed; Premier has a target meter dashboard | Sales Hub Professional |
| Calling | Built-in phone and third-party telephony from Free | 500 minutes on Starter; HubSpot-provided numbers not supported in all countries |
| Finance apps | Zoho Books, Zoho Invoice and QuickBooks from Express | Through the app marketplace |
| App ecosystem | Zoho apps plus toppings and developer APIs | Over 2,000 apps listed on HubSpot's pricing page |
| Customer data location | .in accounts stored in Zoho's India data centre | EU, Canada, Australia and US data centres; India not listed |
| Onboarding | Free onboarding session and data import help on paid plans | Required paid onboarding from Professional |
Where each one sits
Bigin or HubSpot for your team: fit and cost checker
Put in your real numbers. The result shows the plan each product would need, the INR cost, and the gaps at that level.
Bigin vs HubSpot fit and cost checker
Enter your team size and what the CRM has to do. The tool picks the lowest Bigin plan and the lowest HubSpot tier that cover it, prices both in INR from the official pricing pages, and lists what each one cannot do at that level.
Bigin covers this brief at a lower cost. Start there, and revisit when you need sequences, forecasting or a deeper app ecosystem.
Bigin: nothing you selected
HubSpot: WhatsApp chats inside the CRM record
Prices: Bigin INR per user per month from bigin.com/pricing (Express ₹400, Premier ₹720, Bigin 360 ₹1,080 billed yearly; ₹550, ₹900 and ₹1,260 billed monthly). HubSpot INR per seat per month from hubspot.com/pricing with currency set to INR: Starter Customer Platform ₹585 yearly or ₹835 monthly as a new-customer promotion (regular ₹1,670), Sales Hub Professional ₹7,497 yearly or ₹8,330 monthly plus the required one-time ₹1,25,000 onboarding. All checked 17 October 2026, before GST. Limits: Bigin pipelines 1/3/5/15, records 500/50,000/1,00,000/10,00,000, automations 3/30/50/100, Free is one user. HubSpot Free covers up to two users and 1,000 contacts and is treated as one pipeline with no workflows; Starter allows 15 pipelines and 50 workflows; Sales Hub Professional 100 pipelines and 300 workflows. A need marked as a gap is either not listed for that product or, for HubSpot WhatsApp, needs Marketing Hub or Service Hub Professional, which this tool does not price. Fit score = 100, minus 18 for each gap, minus 30 if no plan meets your numbers. It ranks fit; it does not measure usability.
WhatsApp, telephony and data location: the India-specific differences
For many Indian small businesses the CRM decision is really a WhatsApp decision. This is where the two products differ most.
WhatsApp. Bigin lists email and WhatsApp Business integration from Express, so a ₹400 seat can show WhatsApp chats against the contact record. HubSpot's native WhatsApp channel in the conversations inbox needs Marketing Hub or Service Hub Professional or Enterprise, according to HubSpot's knowledge base. The same article requires a verified Meta Business Manager to go beyond 50 business-initiated conversations a day and caps template messages at 1,000 a month across connected accounts. On lower HubSpot tiers, teams use a WhatsApp provider's HubSpot app instead; that route is compared on the Interakt vs Wati vs AiSensy page and explained in the HubSpot WhatsApp integration guide.
Whichever CRM you pick, Meta charges per delivered template message on top of the CRM licence; see WhatsApp Business API pricing in India for the current rate card.
Calling. Bigin includes a built-in phone and third-party telephony integration even on Free. HubSpot Starter includes 500 calling minutes, but its pricing page notes that HubSpot-provided phone numbers are not supported in all countries, so check Indian number availability or plan on a telephony app.
Data location. Zoho's privacy FAQ maps accounts on the .in domain to its Indian data centre. HubSpot's data centre page lists the EU, Canada, Australia and two US locations, and India is not among them. If a customer contract or sector rule asks for India-hosted CRM data, that settles the question before price does.
Bigin lists Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok lead ads integration from Express. HubSpot's free ad management covers lead syncing, with retargeting audiences and conversion events limited on lower tiers. Either way, map the campaign and ad set into CRM fields from the start, or WhatsApp and lead ad attribution becomes guesswork later.
What happens when you outgrow each one?
The cost of a CRM shows up at the second decision, not the first. Plan the upgrade path before you sign up for either.
Typical upgrade paths
- ₹0StartBigin Free or HubSpot free tools
- Small teamFirst paid stepBigin Express at ₹400, or HubSpot Starter at ₹585 promotional
- Rules, sequencesProcess controlBigin Premier or 360, or HubSpot Sales Hub Professional
- Several teamsPlatformZoho CRM editions, or HubSpot Professional and Enterprise hubs
| Setup | Per seat per month | Year 1 | Year 2 onwards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bigin Express | ₹400 | ₹24,000 | ₹24,000 |
| Bigin Premier | ₹720 | ₹43,200 | ₹43,200 |
| HubSpot Starter (promotional price) | ₹585 | ₹35,100 | ₹35,100 if the price holds |
| HubSpot Starter (regular price) | ₹1,670 | ₹1,00,200 | ₹1,00,200 |
| HubSpot Sales Hub Professional | ₹7,497 | ₹5,74,820 (incl. ₹1,25,000 onboarding) | ₹4,49,820 |
Out of Bigin, the usual move is to Zoho CRM, with the signals listed on the Bigin vs Zoho CRM page. Out of HubSpot Starter, the move is to Professional on one or more hubs, which is where the ₹1,25,000 Sales Hub onboarding fee appears. A team that expects to need sequences, forecasting and marketing automation within 18 months should price that step now; one that expects to stay a simple pipeline for years will rarely need to leave Bigin. If the choice ends up being between the two full platforms, HubSpot vs Zoho CRM covers that decision, and Zoho CRM alternatives covers the wider field.
Can you move from HubSpot to Bigin, or from Bigin to HubSpot?
Yes in both directions. Bigin has a built-in HubSpot importer; the reverse is a standard CSV import into HubSpot.
Bigin's help centre documents an import from HubSpot started from the data administration settings: you choose HubSpot, pick the target team pipeline, sign in to HubSpot, and the import runs. The limits of your Bigin plan apply during the import: custom fields per module (10 on Express, 25 on Premier, 50 on Bigin 360), tags, sub-pipelines, up to 250 stages, and the record cap of the edition. Imported users land as invited users and must be re-invited. Skipped records can be downloaded, fixed and imported again, and an import can be undone from the import history.
The work that actually takes time is not the record transfer. It is deciding which HubSpot properties, lifecycle stages and workflows have an equivalent in Bigin, and which do not. The same logic applies in the other direction. The site's Zoho CRM to HubSpot migration checklist and HubSpot to Zoho CRM migration guides cover the field mapping and cut-over steps, and a CRM data dictionary is worth writing before either move.
- Export a full backup from the current CRM before importing anything.
- Count custom fields per object and check them against the target plan's limit.
- List every workflow or automation and decide which ones survive.
- Map lifecycle stages and deal stages one to one, in writing.
- Run a test import of 50 records and check owners, stages and dates.
- Re-invite users and re-connect email, WhatsApp and calling after the move.
Choose Bigin if, choose HubSpot if
A short, fair decision guide. Neither list is a verdict on quality; both products are widely used for exactly these jobs.
- You want the lowest paid seat price and predictable increases
- WhatsApp in the CRM matters and the budget is under ₹1,000 a seat
- You already use, or plan to use, Zoho Books, Zoho Invoice or other Zoho apps
- Customer data must be hosted in India
- Your sales process is a pipeline, not a multi-team operation
- You expect your next step, if any, to be Zoho CRM
- Two people can work on the free plan for a while
- Marketing (email, forms, landing pages) will run from the same system
- You expect to need sequences, forecasting and deeper reporting
- A large app marketplace and broad integrations matter
- You can budget for Professional seats and onboarding when you grow
- Your buyers or investors expect HubSpot reporting
A quick decision tree
Will marketing automation run from the CRM within 12 months?
See the whole decision tree
Will marketing automation run from the CRM within 12 months?
- Yes
Can you budget for Professional seats and onboarding?
- YesHubSpotStart on free or Starter and plan the Professional step.HubSpot price in India →
- NoZoho routeBigin now, Zoho CRM with Zoho Campaigns later, at a lower per-seat cost.Bigin vs Zoho CRM →
- Yes
- No
Do you need WhatsApp or more than 2 users with automation?
- YesBigin Express or PremierThe lowest-cost way to get WhatsApp and automation for a small team.Bigin CRM setup →
- NoHubSpot freeTwo users, no cost. Revisit when you need workflows.HubSpot CRM setup →
- Yes
Mistakes small teams make choosing between Bigin and HubSpot
Myth HubSpot is free, so it is the cheaper choice.
Reality It is free for two users without workflows. Once you need automation for a team, Bigin is cheaper at every paid level on the official INR pages.
Myth The Starter promotion is the long-term price.
Reality HubSpot labels it special pricing for new customers for a limited time. Budget the regular ₹1,670 per seat for later years.
Myth Bigin is just a cut-down Zoho CRM.
Reality It is a separate product with its own limits and pricing, designed for small teams. Moving to Zoho CRM is a planned migration, not a switch.
Myth Any CRM tier can run WhatsApp natively.
Reality Bigin lists it from Express. HubSpot's native WhatsApp inbox needs Marketing or Service Hub Professional; lower tiers rely on provider apps.
Myth Migration is mostly moving records.
Reality Records move in hours. Mapping fields, stages and automations is the real work, and plan limits can block an import.
Are you ready to choose a CRM?
Ask which one fits your team
Share your team size, current tools and sales process. The reply recommends Bigin or HubSpot, the plan, and what the setup should include.
Rahul D Sarker is an independent CRM and RevOps consultant based in Kolkata. He does not resell Bigin or HubSpot licences and is not a Zoho or HubSpot partner, so the recommendation is not tied to a commission. The site offers setup for both: Bigin CRM and HubSpot CRM, within the wider CRM consulting service. For HubSpot hiring specifically, see the HubSpot consultant in India page.
When the CRM is a symptom of a wider revenue problem (leads going cold, unclear attribution, reporting no one trusts), the starting point is the Revenue Diagnostic: two weeks, read-only access, fixed at ₹90,000 for companies in India ($1,500 elsewhere), credited if the work continues. Smaller questions about lead handling can start with the lead routing delay cost calculator or the CRM ROI calculator.
Tell me about your sales team
A few details are enough to recommend a product and plan. No licences are sold through this form.
Bigin vs HubSpot: common questions
Is Bigin cheaper than HubSpot?
Yes at every paid level on the official INR pricing pages checked 17 October 2026. Bigin Express is ₹400 per user per month billed yearly, against HubSpot Starter at ₹585 per seat on a new-customer promotion and ₹1,670 regular. HubSpot's free tools cost nothing for up to two users, which Bigin's single-user free plan does not match.
Is HubSpot free CRM better than Bigin free?
For two people, yes: HubSpot's free tools allow two users, while Bigin Free is limited to one user, one pipeline and 500 records. Bigin Free does include three automations and telephony, and HubSpot free has no workflows. Most small teams end up comparing HubSpot free with Bigin Express rather than the two free plans.
Which is better for a small business in India, Bigin or HubSpot?
Bigin suits Indian small businesses that want low per-seat costs, WhatsApp in the CRM, Zoho finance apps and India-hosted data. HubSpot suits businesses that will run marketing and sales on one platform and can budget for Professional seats later. The fit checker on this page prices both for your team size.
Does Bigin have WhatsApp integration?
Yes. Bigin's pricing page lists email and WhatsApp Business integration from the Express plan. Meta's per-message charges for WhatsApp templates are billed separately from the CRM licence.
Does HubSpot Starter include WhatsApp?
Not natively. HubSpot's knowledge base lists the WhatsApp channel for Marketing Hub or Service Hub Professional or Enterprise. Teams on Starter usually connect WhatsApp through a provider's HubSpot app.
Are these prices inclusive of GST?
No. Bigin's page states that local taxes such as GST are charged in addition, and HubSpot issues GST e-invoices to Indian business customers through HubSpot India Private Limited. Add GST to every figure on this page when budgeting.
Can I migrate from HubSpot to Bigin?
Yes. Bigin has a built-in HubSpot import in its data administration settings. Plan limits apply during the import, including custom fields per module, tags, sub-pipelines and the record cap, and imported users must be re-invited.
Where is my data stored with Bigin and HubSpot?
Zoho's privacy FAQ says accounts on the .in domain are stored in its Indian data centre. HubSpot's data centre page lists the EU, Canada, Australia and the United States, and does not list India.
When should a Bigin user move to HubSpot instead of Zoho CRM?
When marketing automation, sales sequences and a broad app ecosystem matter more than per-seat cost, and the budget covers HubSpot Professional seats and onboarding. If cost and the Zoho ecosystem matter more, Zoho CRM is the more natural next step from Bigin.
Sources
- Bigin Pricing and Editions, Zoho (Bigin). Accessed 2026-10-17.
- What is the real starting price of Bigin by Zoho CRM in India?, Zoho (Bigin). Accessed 2026-10-17.
- Bigin features, Zoho (Bigin). Accessed 2026-10-17.
- Import from HubSpot, Bigin Online Help (Zoho). Accessed 2026-10-17.
- Free Tools and Starter Customer Platform pricing (INR), HubSpot. Accessed 2026-10-17.
- Sales Software Pricing (INR), HubSpot. Accessed 2026-10-17.
- Free CRM software, HubSpot. Accessed 2026-10-17.
- Connect WhatsApp to the conversations inbox, HubSpot Knowledge Base. Accessed 2026-10-17.
- India electronic invoicing frequently asked questions, HubSpot Knowledge Base. Accessed 2026-10-17.
- HubSpot data centers: locations in Europe, Canada, Australia, and the United States, HubSpot. Accessed 2026-10-17.
- Privacy FAQ, Zoho. Accessed 2026-10-17.