What Does a Marketing Software Stack Actually Cost in 2026?

Real list prices for the tools small agencies and solo consultants actually buy, plus a calculator that works out what an all-in-one platform would truly cost you once you add back the tools it cannot replace. Every number below comes from the vendor's own pricing page and is dated.

Prices verified 7 August 2026 from each vendor's public pricing page, in USD. Software pricing changes often and promotional rates expire. Check the vendor link before you buy. If you find a number here that has gone stale, it is a mistake worth telling me about.

Disclosure: two links on this page (Systeme.io and GoHighLevel) are affiliate links, and I may earn a commission if you sign up through them at no extra cost to you. Every other vendor on this page is linked only to its own pricing page, with no affiliate tracking and no commission to me. I set up CRMs for a living, so the honest limits below are the ones I actually run into.

How much does a full marketing stack cost per month for a small business?

If you buy each job separately, the seven tools below come to $374.99 a month at the cheapest rate each vendor advertises. That is one plausible upper-bound stack, not a typical one. Most people own three or four of these, which is what the calculator is for.

The point-tool stack, cheapest advertised rate, verified 7 Aug 2026
JobTypical toolPlanPriceBilling basis
Funnels and landing pagesClickFunnelsLaunch$97/moMonth to month ($81 annual)
Courses and membershipsKajabiBasic$179/moMonth to month ($143 annual)
Forms and surveysTypeformBasic, 100 responses/mo$29/moMonth to month
Email marketingMailchimpStandard, 500 contacts$20/moPromotional rate, 12 months
CRMHubSpotStarter, 1,000 contacts, 1 seat$20/seat/moAnnual commitment
Automation between toolsZapierProfessional, 750 tasks/mo$19.99/moAnnual billing ($29.99 monthly)
Scheduling and bookingCalendlyStandard, 1 seat$10/seat/moAnnual billing
All seven, one seat each$374.99/moMixed, see note

Sources: ClickFunnels, Kajabi, Typeform, Mailchimp, HubSpot, Zapier, Calendly.

Why that total is not one purchasable price. It mixes billing terms, and I would rather say so than round it into something tidier. Zapier's $19.99 and Calendly's $10 are annual-billing rates, HubSpot's $20 requires an annual commitment, Mailchimp's $20 is a promotional rate for the first 12 months, and ClickFunnels and Kajabi are shown month to month. On strict month-to-month terms with no promotions, the real total is higher than $374.99, not lower. Treat it as a floor.

And these seven overlap. ClickFunnels, Kajabi and HubSpot each already do several of the other rows' jobs, so almost nobody buys all seven: if you own ClickFunnels you are unlikely to be paying HubSpot for CRM as well. That matters because $374.99 is the denominator for every savings figure on this page, and against a realistic three or four tool stack the savings are smaller. The calculator exists precisely so you compare against your own stack instead of this one.

Calculator: what would you actually save by consolidating?

Most comparison pages subtract the all-in-one's price from your current total and call the difference savings. That is wrong whenever the platform does not do one of the jobs you are paying for, because you keep paying for that tool. This calculator adds those retained costs back and shows you the net.

Tick the tools you currently pay for

The calculator needs JavaScript. Every price and coverage judgement it uses is in the tables on this page, so you can work it out by hand if you prefer.

Tools you pay for
$97
$179
$29
$20
$20
$19.99
$10
You are paying about
$137.00 / month

    The coverage judgements are deliberately strict. Where a platform does a job only partially, the calculator counts it as not covered rather than pretending it replaces the tool you ticked. Systeme.io stores contacts and tags them, but that is not the pipelines-and-deal-stages CRM you are paying HubSpot for, and its opt-in forms are not a survey tool. Being strict makes the savings figures smaller, including for the two products I earn a commission on. Understated and correct beats flattering and wrong.

    Systeme.io vs GoHighLevel vs ClickFunnels vs HubSpot: what do the all-in-ones cost?

    All-in-one platform entry pricing, list, verified 7 Aug 2026
    PlatformFree planEntry paidNext tierTrial
    Systeme.io Yes. 2,000 contacts, 3 funnels, 1 course, 1 custom domain, unlimited emails $17/mo (Startup, 5,000 contacts) $47 Webinar, $97 Unlimited Free plan, no card
    GoHighLevel No $97/mo (Starter, 3 sub-accounts) $297 Unlimited, $497 Agency Pro 14 days, eligible new accounts
    ClickFunnels No $97/mo (Launch) $197 Scale, $297 Optimize 14 days on self-serve plans
    HubSpot Yes, limited $20/seat/mo (Starter, 1,000 contacts) $800/mo Professional, annual, 3 seats, 2,000 contacts, plus $3,000 one-time onboarding Free tier
    Kajabi No $179/mo (Basic) $249 Growth, $499 Pro Trial offered

    Sources: Systeme.io, GoHighLevel, ClickFunnels, HubSpot, Kajabi.

    Which jobs does each one actually cover?

    Coverage for the two platforms I use and can speak to first-hand. "Partial" means it does something in that category but will not replace the dedicated tool named above.
    JobSysteme.ioGoHighLevel
    Funnels and landing pagesYesYes
    Email marketingYesYes
    Courses and membershipsYes, though lighter than KajabiYes, basic course hosting
    Standalone forms and surveysPartial. Opt-in and order forms, not a survey toolYes
    CRM with pipelines and deal stagesPartial. Contacts and tags, no real pipelinesYes
    Automation between separate toolsPartial. Internal rules only, will not replace Zapier for external appsYes, internal. External integrations may still need Zapier
    Scheduling and bookingNoYes
    SMS and phoneNoYes, usage billed on top

    Are there hidden costs in GoHighLevel?

    Yes, and this is the number most comparison pages leave out. The subscription price is not the whole bill. Phone calls, SMS and email sending are metered separately and billed on top of the monthly plan. GoHighLevel's own pricing page describes rebilling phone and email at cost on the Unlimited plan, and with a markup on Agency Pro, which is the giveaway that this usage is a separate line item rather than something included in the $97 or $297.

    What this means in practice: the plan price is a floor, not a ceiling. GoHighLevel approaches a flat $97 only if you incur no separately billed communications usage at all, and since email sending is metered too, that is a narrower condition than "do not use SMS." If you plan to send at any volume, budget for it as its own line.

    The equivalent honest note for Systeme.io: the free plan is genuinely free and does not expire, but it has no scheduling or booking tool and no SMS, its forms are opt-in forms rather than surveys, and its contact management is not a pipeline CRM. If booking calls is core to how you sell, price it as Systeme.io plus Calendly.

    What is the cheapest all-in-one funnel builder for a solo agency?

    Among the platforms compared on this page, Systeme.io's free plan. It is the only one here that gives you funnels, email, a course and a custom domain at $0 with no card and no expiry, at 2,000 contacts and 3 funnels. For a solo consultant who has not yet outgrown three funnels, free is genuinely enough to start, and $17 a month for Startup raises the contact limit to 5,000.

    The caveat that decides it: no scheduling. Systeme.io free plus Calendly free is $0 and covers a lot of solo consultants. Systeme.io free plus Calendly Standard is $10 a month.

    Start on the Systeme.io free plan, no card needed

    Is GoHighLevel worth $297 a month?

    For most buyers the honest answer is no, and $97 does the same work. Unlimited sub-accounts are the main reason an agency upgrades: Starter caps you at three, so if you manage more than three clients the $297 tier is the one that fits. It also adds basic API access and rebilling of phone and email at cost, so sub-accounts are the principal difference rather than the only one. If you are one business running your own marketing, Starter is the right plan.

    Priced against the seven-tool stack above, GoHighLevel Starter at $97 covers every job in it, against $374.99 bought separately. That is the real argument for consolidating. The argument against is that one vendor then holds your CRM, your funnels, your calendar and your phone number, and migrating out later is genuinely painful.

    Try GoHighLevel free for 14 days

    Is HubSpot too expensive for a small agency?

    HubSpot Starter is not expensive. At $20 per seat per month on an annual commitment, with 1,000 marketing contacts, it is one of the cheaper entries in the table, and HubSpot currently advertises a promotional rate as low as $7 per seat per month for new customers only. The expense arrives at the next tier: Marketing Hub Professional is $800 a month on annual commitment, $890 monthly, and carries a mandatory one-time onboarding fee of $3,000. Enterprise is $3,600 a month plus $7,000 onboarding.

    The two tiers are not like for like, so compare what you get as well as the price. Starter is $20 per seat with 1,000 marketing contacts. Professional is $800 a month including 3 core seats and 2,000 marketing contacts, plus the workflow automation Starter does not have. Per seat that is a smaller jump than the headline suggests, but the entry cost still multiplies by roughly forty, and that step is the one that catches small agencies.

    Do I need Zapier if I use an all-in-one platform?

    It depends on whether your Zaps connect tools inside the platform or outside it. Zapier exists to move data between products that do not talk to each other. When the funnel, the email tool, the CRM and the calendar become one product, the internal handoffs that used to need a Zap become built-in automation, and GoHighLevel's workflow builder covers those natively. What consolidation does not remove is integration with everything still outside the platform, your accounting software, your scheduling of client deliverables, your internal tools. Those Zaps survive.

    Zapier Professional starts at $19.99 a month for 750 tasks on annual billing, $29.99 month to month, and the free plan allows 100 tasks a month. If consolidating drops your remaining external Zaps under 100 tasks, that line goes to zero rather than shrinking.

    How much can you actually save by consolidating?

    Take the full seven-tool stack at $374.99 a month and replace it with GoHighLevel Starter at $97. Starter covers all seven jobs, so nothing is retained, and the saving is $277.99 a month or $3,335.88 a year, before any metered phone, SMS or email usage. Call it up to $277.99, not a flat $277.99.

    Systeme.io is the more instructive case because it does not cover everything. Systeme.io Unlimited at $97 replaces the funnel builder, the email tool and the course platform, but you keep Typeform at $29, HubSpot at $20, Zapier at $19.99 and Calendly at $10. Net cost $175.99, saving $199.00 a month rather than the $277.99 a naive subtraction would claim. That gap, $78.99 a month of tools people forget they still pay for, is the single most common error in stack-consolidation maths.

    Nobody actually owns all seven. Use the calculator with only the lines you really pay, because a two-tool stack rarely justifies a migration and a six-tool stack usually does.

    Frequently asked

    What does GoHighLevel actually cost per month?
    $97 for Starter with 3 sub-accounts, $297 for Unlimited with unlimited sub-accounts, and $497 for Agency Pro with SaaS mode. All three include unlimited contacts and unlimited users, and HighLevel advertises a 14-day free trial for eligible new accounts. Phone, SMS and email usage is metered and billed on top of the plan.
    Is there a genuinely free alternative to ClickFunnels?
    Systeme.io's free plan is the closest among the platforms compared here. It gives 3 sales funnels, 2,000 contacts, unlimited emails, 1 course and 1 custom domain at $0 with no card and no expiry, against ClickFunnels' $97 entry plan. The tradeoffs are a less polished page editor, no scheduling tool, and forms that are opt-in forms rather than surveys.
    Systeme.io vs GoHighLevel: what is the actual difference?
    Systeme.io is built for solo creators and starts at free. GoHighLevel is built for agencies managing other people's marketing, has no free tier, and adds pipeline CRM, a booking calendar, SMS, phone and client sub-accounts that Systeme.io does not have. If you have no clients, Systeme.io. If you run marketing for clients, GoHighLevel.
    What does ClickFunnels cost in 2026?
    $97 a month for Launch, $197 for Scale and $297 for Optimize on monthly billing, dropping to $81, $164 and $248 on annual billing. There is also a Dominate plan at $5,997 a year, annual only. The self-serve plans advertise a 14-day trial.
    What is the real cost of Kajabi against an all-in-one?
    Kajabi Basic is $179 a month, Growth $249 and Pro $499, dropping to $143, $199 and $399 on annual billing. Both Systeme.io and GoHighLevel include course hosting inside plans costing less than Kajabi's entry tier, so on subscription price alone the all-in-ones win. Kajabi's course, commerce and community tooling is deeper, so this is a genuine feature tradeoff rather than a pure saving, and neither figure includes payment processing fees.
    How much do Typeform, Calendly and Mailchimp cost together?
    $59 a month at the cheapest rates each advertises: Typeform Basic $29 for 100 responses a month, Calendly Standard $10 per seat on annual billing, Mailchimp Standard $20 at 500 contacts on a 12-month promotional rate. All three also have free tiers, which is often the right starting point if your volumes are below those limits.
    What should a solo consultant pay for their software stack?
    If your needs match what these tools do, $0 to $30 a month is achievable at the start: Systeme.io free plus Calendly free covers funnels, email, a course, opt-in forms and booking at no cost, and $17 a month for Systeme.io Startup raises the contact limit when you outgrow it. That assumes you do not need pipeline CRM, surveys or SMS. If you do, price those separately rather than assuming an all-in-one absorbs them.
    What is the cheapest CRM that includes funnels and email?
    Among the platforms on this page, Systeme.io at $0 if tagged contact management is enough. If you need real pipelines, deal stages and a booking calendar in the same product, GoHighLevel Starter at $97 is the cheapest here that includes all of it. HubSpot Starter at $20 per seat is cheaper than GoHighLevel but does not include a funnel builder in the same sense.
    Which all-in-one marketing platform has a genuinely free plan?
    Of the five compared here, Systeme.io. Free with no expiry and no card, 2,000 contacts, 3 funnels, 1 course, 1 custom domain and unlimited email sending. HubSpot also has a free tier, but it is a limited CRM rather than a full platform. GoHighLevel, ClickFunnels and Kajabi have no free plan, only trials.