Zoho One alternatives for small business: 6 simpler options compared
Fewer apps and simpler pricing: how HubSpot, Bitrix24, Odoo, GoHighLevel, Thryv and WebNewBiz compare with Zoho One on website, CRM, invoicing and setup.
Zoho One puts more than 40 business apps under one subscription, and for a company that uses most of them it is good value. Many small teams find the opposite: they pay per person, open four or five of the apps, and spend weeks connecting CRM, Books, Sites and Campaigns. This guide compares six simpler options at the time of writing (October 2026): HubSpot, Bitrix24, Odoo, GoHighLevel, Thryv and WebNewBiz. We look at the website, CRM, invoicing, email marketing, automation, setup effort and what a team of five pays, and we say plainly when Zoho One is still the better choice.
Why small teams look for a Zoho One alternative
Zoho One is not a bad product. It is a big one. Zoho's own FAQ describes more than 40 applications, and the pricing page lists 50+ apps in the Standard bundle. That breadth is the point, and it is also the problem for a team of three to ten people.
- Per-person pricing. The All Employee plan is about $37 per employee per month on annual billing ($45 monthly), and every employee on payroll must be licensed, including staff who never log in. The Flexible User plan lets you license only the people who use it, at about $90 per user per month annually ($105 monthly).
- Separate apps to connect. The website lives in Zoho Sites, leads in Zoho CRM, invoices in Zoho Books, newsletters in Zoho Campaigns and automations in Zoho Flow. They integrate well, but each has its own settings, and someone has to build and maintain the links.
- Allowances tied to headcount. Zoho Campaigns gives 5,000 contacts per employee licence, and Zoho Sites gives organisations of up to 50 employees one site per 10 employee licences.
- Setup time. User reviews on software comparison sites regularly mention a steep learning curve and real effort in onboarding and configuration. Plenty of small businesses pay a Zoho partner to set it up.
If your team uses five or more Zoho apps every day, including accounting, HR or a help desk, think carefully before leaving, because nothing simpler covers all of that. The options below make sense when your real needs are a website, a CRM, invoices and some email marketing, in fewer places and with a more predictable bill.
What to check before you switch
Before comparing brands, write down what you actually use today. This checklist keeps the comparison honest.
- Website: do you need a full site on your own domain, an online store, or only landing pages? Who will edit it week to week?
- CRM: how many contacts, how many people need logins, and should website enquiries arrive in the CRM automatically?
- Invoicing: do you need quotes and invoices with online payment, or full accounting with bank feeds and tax reports? These are different jobs.
- Email marketing: how big is your list and how often do you send?
- Automation: list the three automations you rely on most, such as a follow-up after an enquiry or a reminder before an appointment. If a tool cannot do those three, it is the wrong tool.
- Pricing model: per user, flat per company or per plan? Work out the bill for your headcount in two years, not just today.
- Setup effort: can you set it up yourself over a weekend, or will you need a consultant?
The accounting question matters most. Zoho Books is a proper accounting package. Of the alternatives here, only Odoo includes full accounting. The rest handle invoices and payments, and most small businesses pair them with a separate accounting app their accountant already knows.
Zoho One alternatives compared at a glance
| Option | Pricing | Website | CRM | Invoicing | Email marketing | Automation | Setup effort |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zoho One | Per employee or per user | Zoho Sites | Zoho CRM | Zoho Books, full accounting | Zoho Campaigns | Zoho Flow plus app rules | Medium to high |
| HubSpot Starter | Per seat | Included | Strong | Invoices and payments | Included, contacts extra | Simple, record-based | Low to medium |
| Bitrix24 | Flat per company | From Basic | Basic CRM on free plan | From Standard | From Professional | From Professional | Medium |
| Odoo Standard | Per user | Included | Included | Full accounting | Included | Marketing Automation app | High |
| GoHighLevel | Flat, plus usage fees | Sites and funnels | Included | Invoices and estimates | Email and SMS | Strong workflows | High |
| Thryv | Per product | Separate product | In Business Center | Estimates and invoices | Email and text | Reminders and scheduled messages | Low, guided ($250 fee) |
| WebNewBiz | Flat per plan | AI-drafted, every plan | AI CRM from Growth | Self-chasing invoices from Growth | From Pro | Trigger-based workflows | Low |
Prices in this guide are US list prices at the time of writing, on annual billing where offered, except WebNewBiz, which is shown monthly. Zoho and Odoo both show different prices in different countries, so check the figure for yours.
What a team of five pays each month
Here is a rough monthly bill for a five-person business that wants a website, CRM, invoicing and email marketing.
| Option | Plan for five people | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|
| Zoho One | All Employee, 5 licences | $185 |
| HubSpot | Starter Customer Platform, 5 seats | $100 at list price, plus marketing contacts as your list grows |
| Bitrix24 | Standard (invoices) or Professional (adds email marketing and automation) | $99 or $199 |
| Odoo | Standard, 5 users | About $156, lower in the first year |
| GoHighLevel | Starter | $97, plus SMS, email and phone usage |
| Thryv | Business Center plus Marketing Center Starter | $284, plus a $250 onboarding fee |
| WebNewBiz | Pro (5 team members, email campaigns) | $149, or $79 on Growth if 3 team members and no campaigns are enough |
Two patterns stand out. Per-user tools (Zoho One, HubSpot, Odoo) grow with every hire, while flat-priced tools look expensive for one person and cheap for twenty. And the lowest line is not always the lowest bill: usage fees on GoHighLevel and contact tiers on HubSpot can add up as you grow.
HubSpot: the strongest CRM, priced per seat
HubSpot is the closest swap if the CRM is the heart of your business. There is a free CRM to start with, and the Starter Customer Platform adds a drag-and-drop website and landing page builder, email marketing, simple automation, and invoices with payments, all in one interface rather than separate apps.
Starter lists at $20 per seat per month. At the time of writing HubSpot is running a limited-time offer for new customers ($7 per seat on annual billing, $10 monthly), but budget for the list price, because offers end. Marketing contacts are bought separately, so a big email list raises the bill.
Watch out for: the jump to Professional, where the stronger automation lives. It costs many times more than Starter and usually comes with a one-time onboarding fee. Our guide to HubSpot CRM alternatives for small business covers this in more detail.
Bitrix24: flat pricing for bigger teams
Bitrix24 charges per company, not per user, which makes it cheap for teams. There is a free plan for 1 to 2 users with basic CRM and tasks, then Basic at $49 a month for up to 5 users, Standard at $99 for up to 50 users and Professional at $199 for up to 100 users (annual billing; monthly billing is $69, $144 and $289).
It covers a lot: CRM, tasks, chat and video calls, a website builder from Basic, invoices and estimates from Standard, and email marketing and sales automation from Professional. That last point matters. If you want campaigns and automation, the real price is $199, not $49.
Watch out for: the interface. Bitrix24 does a great deal inside one app, so it has a lot of menus, and some teams who left Zoho because it felt crowded find Bitrix24 just as busy. Our Bitrix24 alternatives guide covers simpler options.
Odoo: depth and real accounting in one system
Odoo suits businesses that need Zoho-level depth, especially accounting, inventory or manufacturing, but want it in one consistent system. The One App Free plan gives you a single app, such as CRM or Website, free for unlimited users. The Standard plan includes all apps (Website, eCommerce, Accounting, CRM, Email Marketing and more) for about $31 per user per month on annual billing in the US, with a lower rate for the first year.
Better than Zoho One when: you want accounts, stock, website and CRM in the same database. Odoo's accounting is a genuine strength.
Watch out for: setup. Odoo is modular and powerful, which means configuration, and many companies hire an Odoo partner to implement it, which costs extra on top of the licences. It is still priced per user, so it fixes the many-separate-apps problem more than the per-head pricing problem.
GoHighLevel: strongest automation, built for agencies
GoHighLevel (often just called HighLevel) was built for marketing agencies, though many local service businesses use it directly. It combines a website and funnel builder, CRM, email and SMS, booking, invoices and estimates, and flexible workflows that can react to form fills, calls, missed calls and payments. Pricing is flat: Starter $97, Unlimited $297 and Agency Pro $497 a month.
Better than Zoho One when: fast lead follow-up is how you win work and you want automation at the centre.
Watch out for: usage charges for SMS, email, phone and AI on top of the plan, and a learning curve that reviewers measure in weeks rather than days. It is designed around agencies managing sub-accounts, so a single business pays for structure it will not use. See our GoHighLevel alternatives for simpler choices.
Thryv: guided setup for local service businesses
Thryv is aimed at local service businesses such as trades, salons and clinics. Thryv Business Center ($185 a month plus a $250 onboarding fee at the time of writing) covers CRM, scheduling with online booking and reminders, estimates and invoices, digital payments, email and text marketing, and a client portal. It also connects to QuickBooks.
The website is a separate product. Marketing Center Starter ($99 a month for one user) adds an AI website, listings on 60+ directories and review management, and annual billing saves 15% on Marketing Center plans.
Better than Zoho One when: you want hands-on onboarding and support more than flexibility.
Watch out for: the total. Both products together come to about $284 a month before discounts, and automation is mostly reminders and scheduled messages rather than open workflows. Read the contract terms before you sign.
WebNewBiz: AI-built website, store and CRM under one login
WebNewBiz is our own product, so weigh this section with that in mind. It suits owners whose main needs are a website, an online store and a CRM, and who want them under one login rather than in five apps. You describe your business in plain language, the AI drafts a complete site (pages, layout and copy), and you change it by chatting with the AI Copilot. Hosting, SSL and a full WordPress CMS come with every plan.
Starter ($29 a month) adds an online store with cart and secure checkout by card, Stripe, Apple Pay or Google Pay. Growth ($79) adds the AI CRM, which reads and scores leads, tracks deals, tasks and bookings, sends invoices that chase themselves and connects to your own email. Website enquiries land in the CRM automatically and store buyers become contacts, which is the joining-up work you would otherwise do between Zoho Sites, CRM and Books. Workflow automations run on triggers such as a form submission, a date or a birthday. Pro ($149) adds email campaigns and social media posting (see our marketing automation page).
Pricing is per plan, not per user. The CRM on Growth includes 3,000 contacts and 3 team members, and Pro raises that to 10,000 contacts and 5 team members. Every plan costs $1 for the first month, there is no minimum contract, and if you cancel, the account stays read-only so you can export your content.
Watch out for: WebNewBiz is a young platform with a much smaller app ecosystem and community than established names like HubSpot or Zoho. The cheapest plan (Lite, $9) has no store or CRM, the CRM starts at $79, and there is no free plan. It is not an accounting, HR or help desk suite, so keep an accounting app alongside it. And the AI first draft still needs your own photos, facts and edits.
Which Zoho One alternative should you choose?
- Stay with Zoho One if you use accounting, HR, help desk and CRM together every day and have someone to run it. Few tools match that breadth per head.
- HubSpot if the CRM is the centre of the business and you plan to grow a sales and marketing team.
- Bitrix24 if you have many staff, a tight budget and want chat, tasks and video calls next to the CRM.
- Odoo if you need proper accounting or stock control in the same system and can invest in setup.
- GoHighLevel if quick follow-up by SMS and email wins you work and you will put in the learning time.
- Thryv if you run a local service business and want guided onboarding.
- WebNewBiz if you want an AI-built website, an online store and an AI CRM under one login, priced per plan, and can accept a younger platform.
How to move off Zoho One without losing data
Most switches go wrong in the details, not the big decision. Work in this order:
- List the Zoho apps you actually use and the automations between them.
- Export contacts, deals and notes from Zoho CRM, customers and invoices from Zoho Books, and subscriber lists from Zoho Campaigns, including unsubscribes and consent records. CSV is the usual format.
- Decide on accounting first, with your accountant. Zoho Books is also sold on its own, so some teams keep it and drop the rest of the bundle.
- Rebuild the website on the new platform. Text, images and your domain move; layouts do not.
- Recreate your three most important automations and test each one with a real enquiry.
- Point your domain, check that forms land in the new CRM, and run both systems side by side for 2 to 4 weeks.
- Cancel Zoho licences only after a clean billing cycle, and check your renewal date first, because annual licences are paid in advance.
If you want a feel for a new site before committing to anything, the free AI Website Preview designs a homepage from one sentence.
Quick answers
What is the best Zoho One alternative for a small business?
It depends on what you use. HubSpot is strongest for CRM, Odoo for accounting and stock, GoHighLevel for lead follow-up automation, Thryv for guided setup, Bitrix24 for larger teams on a budget, and WebNewBiz for an AI-built website, store and CRM under one login.
How much does Zoho One cost at the time of writing?
About $37 per employee per month on annual billing ($45 monthly) if you license every employee on payroll, or about $90 per user per month ($105 monthly) on the Flexible User plan. Prices vary by country, so check the figure for yours.
Is there a free alternative to Zoho One?
Bitrix24 is free for 1 to 2 users with basic CRM and tasks, HubSpot has free CRM tools, and Odoo's One App Free plan gives one app to unlimited users. Free plans are limited, so they suit testing the idea rather than running a whole team on them.
Which Zoho One alternative replaces Zoho Books?
Of the options here, only Odoo includes full accounting. HubSpot, Bitrix24, GoHighLevel, Thryv and WebNewBiz handle invoices and payments, so most small businesses keep a separate accounting app or keep Zoho Books on its own.
Can I move my website from Zoho Sites to another builder?
Your content and domain move, but the layout is rebuilt on the new platform, because website builders do not share a file format. For a small site, allow a few days to rebuild it, check the forms and point the domain.
See if one login is enough
If an AI-built website, store and CRM under one login sounds closer to what you need than a bundle of separate apps, have a look at how our AI website builder works. You can start for $1 for the first month and cancel any time. If it is not the right fit, the comparison above should still point you to the tool that is.