{"dataset":"CRM Plan-Gate Dataset 2026","publisher":"Miloosh","generatedAt":"2026-09-27T01:04:47.771Z","sampleSize":7,"inclusionRule":"The 7 CRM vendors named in the mission brief (Pipedrive, Close, HubSpot, Zoho CRM, Freshsales, Salesforce, monday CRM) -- not a hand-picked-to-fit-a-conclusion list, and not exhaustive of the CRM category.","rows":[{"key":"pipedrive","catalogSlug":"pipedrive","vendor":"Pipedrive","officialPricingUrl":"https://www.pipedrive.com/en/pricing","entryPlanName":"Lite","entryPlanPrice":"US$14/seat/month billed annually (US$24/seat/month billed monthly)","emailSyncGate":"Growth (and above). Lite includes no email sync at all. Growth/Premium/Ultimate include two-way sync of 1/3/5 email accounts per user respectively.","emailSyncOnEntryPlan":false,"automationGate":"Growth (and above). Lite has no Workflow Automation. Growth unlocks 50 active automations/company (3 if/else steps); Premium 150/10; Ultimate 250/20.","automationOnEntryPlan":false,"sequencesGate":"Growth (and above). Sequences do not exist on Lite. Growth includes 5 sequences/company, Premium 25, Ultimate 50.","sequencesOnEntryPlan":false,"pipelineLimits":"No cap on the number of pipelines or stages on any plan. The tiered cap that does exist is on combined \"leads + deals\" records: Lite 2,500/seat, Growth 5,000/seat, Premium 15,000/seat, Ultimate 20,000/seat -- each capped at an absolute 300,000/company regardless of seat count.","pipelinesUncapped":true,"minimumSeats":null,"minimumSeatsStatus":"unknown","contactScaling":"\"Pipedrive has no usage limits for contacts\" on any plan (per Pipedrive's own usage-limits article). The separate \"leads + deals\" record type does scale by tier, as above.","annualBillingRequired":false,"hasFreeTier":false,"hasFreeTrial":true,"trialDays":14,"sourcesChecked":["https://www.pipedrive.com/en/pricing","https://support.pipedrive.com/en/article/how-does-pricing-work-in-pipedrive","https://support.pipedrive.com/en/article/new-pipedrive-plans","https://support.pipedrive.com/en/article/email-sync","https://support.pipedrive.com/en/article/sequences","https://support.pipedrive.com/en/article/automation-limits","https://support.pipedrive.com/en/article/usage-limits-in-pipedrive","https://support.pipedrive.com/en/article/how-can-i-have-multiple-pipelines"],"confidence":"high","unknownFields":["minimumSeats -- no Pipedrive-owned page states a minimum-seat requirement; third-party sites claim none, but that is not a primary-source confirmation"]},{"key":"close","catalogSlug":"close","vendor":"Close","officialPricingUrl":"https://close.com/pricing","entryPlanName":"Solo","entryPlanPrice":"$9/user/month billed annually ($19/user/month billed monthly)","emailSyncGate":"No gate -- two-way email sync is included on all four plans (Solo, Essentials, Growth, Scale). Only the NUMBER of connected accounts is tiered: 3 accounts on Solo/Essentials, 10 on Growth/Scale.","emailSyncOnEntryPlan":true,"automationGate":"Growth ($99/user/month annual) is the minimum tier. \"Automated Workflows\" is Not included on Solo or Essentials.","automationOnEntryPlan":false,"sequencesGate":"Growth -- same gate as automation. Close markets this entirely under \"Automated Workflows\" today (its own developer API still calls the underlying object \"Sequences\"), and it is unavailable on Solo/Essentials.","sequencesOnEntryPlan":false,"pipelineLimits":"No tier-based numeric cap disclosed. \"Pipelines\" is Included on all four plans with no count limit given (unlike Leads/Contacts, which explicitly say Unlimited). The only numeric limit found is a non-tiered cap of up to 300 opportunities per lead.","pipelinesUncapped":true,"minimumSeats":null,"minimumSeatsStatus":"unknown","contactScaling":"\"Leads\" capped at 10,000 on Solo; Unlimited on Essentials/Growth/Scale. \"Contacts\" (individual people) are Unlimited on all four plans, including Solo.","annualBillingRequired":true,"hasFreeTier":false,"hasFreeTrial":true,"trialDays":14,"sourcesChecked":["https://close.com/pricing","https://help.close.com/docs/plans-and-billing","https://www.close.com/changelog/starter-plan","https://help.close.com/docs/email-sequences","https://help.close.com/docs/connect-your-email","https://developer.close.com/api/resources/sequences"],"confidence":"high","unknownFields":["Explicit minimum-seat-count policy for Essentials/Growth/Scale (pricing shows per-seat from 1 user; Solo is capped at a maximum of 1 user, but no minimum is stated for the other three)","Exact numeric cap, if any, on pipelines or pipeline stages"]},{"key":"hubspot","catalogSlug":"hubspot","vendor":"HubSpot (Sales Hub)","officialPricingUrl":"https://www.hubspot.com/pricing/sales","entryPlanName":"Sales Hub Starter","entryPlanPrice":"$20/seat/month billed monthly; $7/seat/month billed annually. Sits above a permanently free $0/month CRM (up to 2 users), which is not counted as a paid plan here.","emailSyncGate":"Free tier. Two-way inbox connection (Gmail, Outlook, Microsoft Exchange) is listed under HubSpot's Free Tools and available on every plan, including Free -- no paid plan is required for sync itself.","emailSyncOnEntryPlan":true,"automationGate":"Sales Hub Starter, with restrictions: \"Up to 50 workflows with restricted triggers and actions.\" Full automation requires Professional (300 workflows) or Enterprise (1,000, plus the ability to trigger sequences).","automationOnEntryPlan":true,"sequencesGate":"Sales Hub Professional. Sequences are listed only under Professional (5,000/account) and Enterprise (same cap, higher daily send limits) -- no Sequences row exists for Free or Starter.","sequencesOnEntryPlan":false,"pipelineLimits":"Free: 1 pipeline per object type. Starter: 15 total pipelines/account. Professional: 100. Enterprise: 350.","pipelinesUncapped":false,"minimumSeats":null,"minimumSeatsStatus":"confirmed_none","contactScaling":"Free CRM caps at 1,000 contacts. Paid tiers have no fixed public per-tier contact ceiling; HubSpot states an overall platform maximum of up to 15 million contacts, with each account's actual limit set per contract.","annualBillingRequired":true,"hasFreeTier":true,"hasFreeTrial":true,"trialDays":14,"sourcesChecked":["https://www.hubspot.com/pricing/sales","https://legal.hubspot.com/hubspot-product-and-services-catalog","https://knowledge.hubspot.com/connected-email/connect-your-inbox-to-hubspot","https://www.hubspot.com/products/sales"],"confidence":"high","unknownFields":["Exact published per-tier contact/record cap for paid Starter/Professional/Enterprise plans -- HubSpot discloses only an overall 15-million-contact platform ceiling, set per account by contract"]},{"key":"zoho-crm","catalogSlug":"zoho-crm","vendor":"Zoho CRM","officialPricingUrl":"https://www.zoho.com/crm/pricing.html","entryPlanName":"Standard","entryPlanPrice":"$14/user/month billed annually (about $20/user/month billed monthly)","emailSyncGate":"Standard (the entry paid tier). Real two-way email sync (IMAP/POP3/Gmail API/Graph API) is unchecked on Free and checked starting at Standard. (The separate \"SalesInbox\" unified client is Enterprise/Ultimate only, but underlying sync is available from Standard.)","emailSyncOnEntryPlan":true,"automationGate":"Free. Basic workflow rules exist even on the Free edition (10 rules/module, 5 active). Standard raises this to 30/15, Professional 80/40, Enterprise 125/75, Ultimate 150/100.","automationOnEntryPlan":true,"sequencesGate":"Standard. Zoho calls this \"Cadences.\" Not available on Free; available from Standard (20 cadences/module, 10 active, 18 follow-up steps max), scaling up through higher tiers.","sequencesOnEntryPlan":true,"pipelineLimits":"Free and Standard: limited to the single default sales pipeline. Professional: up to 5. Enterprise: up to 10. Ultimate: up to 20.","pipelinesUncapped":false,"minimumSeats":null,"minimumSeatsStatus":"confirmed_none","contactScaling":"Record/data storage scales by tier: Free ~5,000 records (~10MB), Standard ~100,000 records (~200MB), Professional/Enterprise ~10GB (~5M records), Ultimate ~30GB (~15M records).","annualBillingRequired":false,"hasFreeTier":true,"hasFreeTrial":true,"trialDays":15,"sourcesChecked":["https://www.zoho.com/crm/pricing.html","https://www.zoho.com/sites/default/files/crm/zohocrm-edition-comparison-usd.pdf","https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/crm/connect-with-customers/email/user-functions/articles/email-configuration-for-imap-and-pop3"],"confidence":"high","unknownFields":[]},{"key":"freshsales","catalogSlug":"freshsales","vendor":"Freshsales (Freshworks CRM)","officialPricingUrl":"https://www.freshworks.com/crm/pricing/","entryPlanName":"Growth","entryPlanPrice":"$9/user/month billed annually ($11/user/month billed monthly)","emailSyncGate":"Growth (entry paid plan) and above -- two-way email sync is absent on the Free plan and present from Growth up through Pro and Enterprise.","emailSyncOnEntryPlan":true,"automationGate":"Growth includes \"Basic workflows\" (~20 cap per Freshworks help doc). Pro raises this to \"Custom\" workflows (~50 cap); Enterprise has the highest/no stated cap. Free has none.","automationOnEntryPlan":true,"sequencesGate":"Pro. Freshworks' current live pricing page lists Sales sequences as new at Pro (not Growth or Free); an older help doc's conflicting claim of a capped Growth allowance was treated as stale.","sequencesOnEntryPlan":false,"pipelineLimits":"Growth and Free: limited to a single sales pipeline. \"Multiple sales pipelines\" unlocks starting at Pro; no numeric maximum disclosed for Pro/Enterprise.","pipelinesUncapped":false,"minimumSeats":null,"minimumSeatsStatus":"unknown","contactScaling":"Not stated on the main pricing page for plain Freshsales. A Freshworks help doc for the bundled \"Freshsales Suite\" (same plan names/prices) lists Free 100 active contacts, Growth 1,000, Pro 3,000, no cap stated for Enterprise -- not independently re-confirmed for the plain, non-Suite SKU.","annualBillingRequired":true,"hasFreeTier":true,"hasFreeTrial":true,"trialDays":21,"sourcesChecked":["https://www.freshworks.com/crm/pricing/","https://www.freshworks.com/crm/software/free/","https://crmsupport.freshworks.com/support/solutions/articles/50000002465-how-to-activate-the-free-plan","https://crmsupport.freshworks.com/support/solutions/articles/50000002466-what-are-the-features-you-tend-to-lose-on-downgrade-","https://dam.freshworks.com/m/4bf615e1eea87a7/original/Freshworks-Price-List.pdf"],"confidence":"high","unknownFields":["minimumSeats -- no primary source states a minimum for any plan","exact contact/record caps for the plain (non-Suite) Freshsales SKU specifically","exact maximum pipeline count for Pro/Enterprise (only confirmed as \"more than one\")"]},{"key":"salesforce-sales-cloud","catalogSlug":"salesforce","vendor":"Salesforce (Sales Cloud)","officialPricingUrl":"https://www.salesforce.com/sales/pricing/","entryPlanName":"Starter Suite","entryPlanPrice":"$25/user/month (billed monthly or annually). Sits above a $0/user/month Free Suite tier whose sync coverage could not be confirmed.","emailSyncGate":"Starter Suite ($25/user/month) is the minimum plan that explicitly advertises \"AI Automatically Syncs Emails, Events, and Contacts.\" The $0 Free Suite tier's own feature list does not mention this.","emailSyncOnEntryPlan":true,"automationGate":"Flow Builder is Included starting at the $0 Free Suite tier (capped at 5 flows/org) -- so it is also present on Starter Suite. Pro Suite ($100/user/month) adds \"greater customization and automation.\"","automationOnEntryPlan":true,"sequencesGate":"Sold separately as \"Sales Engagement,\" a $50/user/month add-on. Bundled at no extra cost only starting at Advanced ($395/user/month) and Max ($550/user/month). Whether it can be purchased as an add-on specifically on Starter Suite/Pro Suite was not confirmed by the pricing pages.","sequencesOnEntryPlan":false,"pipelineLimits":"No explicit numeric cap on pipelines, deals, or stages found on the official pricing page for any tier.","pipelinesUncapped":null,"minimumSeats":null,"minimumSeatsStatus":"unknown","contactScaling":"No hard contact/record ceiling stated per tier; scaling is expressed via unquantified \"Data Storage Per User\" / \"File Storage Per User\" rows. The only explicit number found (2,000 leads/contacts) applies to the 30-day free trial only, not to any subscription.","annualBillingRequired":false,"hasFreeTier":true,"hasFreeTrial":true,"trialDays":30,"sourcesChecked":["https://www.salesforce.com/sales/pricing/","https://www.salesforce.com/sales/free-trial/overview/?d=pb","https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/salesforce-simplifies-editions-2026/","https://www.salesforce.com/sales/engagement-platform/pricing/","https://www.salesforce.com/editions-pricing/sales-cloud/sales-engagement/"],"confidence":"high","unknownFields":["pipelineLimits -- no explicit numeric cap found on the primary pricing page","minimumSeats -- no minimum-seat language found","exact per-tier data/file storage figures (rows exist in the comparison table but values were not reliably extractable)","whether the $0 Free Suite tier includes email/event/contact sync (only confirmed from Starter Suite up)","whether Sales Engagement can be purchased as an add-on on Starter Suite/Pro Suite specifically, or only from Core upward"]},{"key":"monday-crm","catalogSlug":null,"vendor":"monday CRM","officialPricingUrl":"https://monday.com/crm/pricing","entryPlanName":"Basic","entryPlanPrice":"$12/seat/month billed annually ($18/seat/month billed monthly); flat per seat across the 3-50 seat range.","emailSyncGate":"Standard. Two-way Gmail/Outlook inbox sync is not on Basic; monday's help doc confirms it starts at Standard.","emailSyncOnEntryPlan":false,"automationGate":"Standard. No automation allotment exists on Basic. Standard includes 250 custom automation actions/month; Pro raises this to 25,000/month; Ultimate is effectively unlimited.","automationOnEntryPlan":false,"sequencesGate":"Pro. \"Set email sequences\" is listed under Pro's \"Includes Standard, plus...\" -- not available on Basic or Standard.","sequencesOnEntryPlan":false,"pipelineLimits":"No cap found. monday's help doc states plainly for Basic: \"Unlimited customizable pipelines.\" Higher tiers are therefore also unlimited.","pipelinesUncapped":true,"minimumSeats":"3 seats minimum to purchase any paid plan. Beyond 40 seats, monday directs buyers to a custom quote.","minimumSeatsStatus":"confirmed_minimum","contactScaling":"\"Active contacts & deals\" caps scale by tier per the live pricing page: Basic 1,000 / Standard 10,000 / Pro 100,000 / Ultimate Unlimited. (A monday help article instead states Pro is Unlimited -- the live pricing page was treated as authoritative since it is the primary source of record.)","annualBillingRequired":false,"hasFreeTier":false,"hasFreeTrial":true,"trialDays":14,"sourcesChecked":["https://monday.com/crm/pricing","https://monday.com/crm/features","https://support.monday.com/hc/en-us/articles/25760992782226-Available-plan-types-on-monday-CRM"],"confidence":"high","unknownFields":[]}]}