Copper CRM alternatives: where to go and how to move without losing anything
Seven CRMs reviewed, one pick per reason to leave, and an eight-step migration plan.
The short answer: HubSpot if you want a free CRM that can sync with Copper while you switch, Pipedrive if your team lives in its sales pipeline and you want a free migration, Attio if Copper's automations and reports hold you back, Streak if you refuse to leave Gmail, Nutshell if part of the team works in Outlook, Close if your reps are on the phone all day, and folk for a small team that mostly manages a network of relationships. Before you pick, know two things. Copper doesn't refund a year you've started: cancellation kicks in on your next renewal date. And the standard export leaves out activities, which you have to request from support. We compared these seven destinations and their import paths from Copper in 2026.
Some links are affiliate links. The ranking is editorial: a sponsored spot is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
Why teams outgrow Copper, and what keeps them stuck
Copper gets one thing very right: it lives inside Gmail as a sidebar, and a small team is up and running fast. People leave for other reasons. It usually happens when the team grows, when someone needs smarter automation, or when a new hire shows up with Outlook. These are the six reasons that come up again and again in user reviews and in write-ups from teams that left in 2026.
Automations that can't branch
Copper can create tasks automatically, and Professional adds workflows. But one team that moved to Attio explains it couldn't combine conditions, say, flag a deal with no activity for ten days and above a certain value. There are no conditional fields either, so record views get crowded: every field shows for every user, whether it applies or not.
Reports you end up rebuilding in a spreadsheet
Basic reporting arrives with Professional, custom reports only with Business at $99 per seat. Teams that want conversion by source or a forecast per rep export to Google Sheets and work from numbers that are stale by the next morning. The API, which teams that pushed it describe as tightly rate-limited, doesn't fix much.
Nothing for Outlook or Microsoft 365
Copper is built for Google Workspace. It has no native Outlook or Microsoft 365 integration, only third-party connectors and a one-way Zapier route. If your company moves to Microsoft, or a partner won't give up Outlook, Copper turns into a CRM for half the team.
A price that climbs with headcount
There's no free plan. Basic is $23 per seat per month billed yearly ($29 monthly) but caps you at 2,500 contacts, with no workflows or integrations. Professional, the real team plan, jumps to $59 ($69 monthly) for 15,000 contacts. For five people on Professional, that's $3,540 a year before tax.
A year paid up front, no refund
The price is shown per month, but the annual plan is charged in one go. When you cancel, it takes effect on the next renewal date, and Copper doesn't do partial refunds. Some users say they canceled the very day the charge went through and got nothing back. It's the sharpest complaint in negative reviews, ahead of support, which some find painfully slow.
Everyday friction
None of these alone makes a team leave, but they pile up: a mobile app reviewers call limited, deleted records you can't restore, duplicate companies you merge by hand, an importer that handles duplicates poorly, and a sidebar that eats too much of a small laptop screen.
You're leaving because… go to…
The right Copper alternative depends on what's pushing you out. Usually only one line applies. Each card jumps to the full write-up below.
Free for 2 users and 1,000 contacts, with no time limit.
Your sales team lives in its pipelinePipedriveFree Copper migration through Import2, up to 1,000,000 records.
You've hit the ceiling on automation and reportingAttioFlexible data model, free Copper migration from a paid plan.
You won't leave GmailStreakThe CRM stays in your inbox, just like Copper.
Part of the team runs on OutlookNutshellGmail and Outlook sync, free data migration during the trial.
Your reps spend the day on callsCloseBuilt-in calling at around $0.02 a minute.
Copper alternatives, tool by tool
For each tool: why move to it, who it's for, its catch, how to migrate from Copper, and what it costs. Scores come from our full reviews, and prices are what each vendor lists in 2026, in US dollars, per user per month.
HubSpot: the free CRM that lets you run both tools side by side
Best free landing spotWhy move to HubSpot. It's the only option here that offers a soft landing. HubSpot's marketplace has a two-way Copper sync app: Copper companies, people and leads become HubSpot contacts, opportunities become deals, and notes, tasks, calls and meetings come along. So your team can start working in HubSpot while Copper is still live. And the free CRM covers 2 users and 1,000 contacts with no time limit.
Who it's for. A small team that wants sales and marketing in one place and would rather start at $0 before committing to anything.
Who it's not for. The three-person team that loved Copper because it needed zero setup. HubSpot does more, so it takes longer to configure, and some small teams head back to Copper for exactly that reason.
The catch. The sync needs an active Copper subscription, and mapping your custom fields requires at least Data Hub Starter. Starter seats list at $20 per month, and the jump to Professional is where the bill gets serious.
How to migrate. Install the Copper app from the HubSpot marketplace, run the sync, then check that a Copper lead shows up as a contact with the lifecycle stage set to Lead. Cancel Copper only once both databases match. Our full HubSpot review breaks down the tiers.
- Score
- 4.2/5
- Free
- 2 users, 1,000 contacts
- Paid
- Starter at $20/seat/mo
- Migration
- Copper sync app
Pipedrive: the easiest move for a sales team
Free migrationWhy move to Pipedrive. Copper is one of the CRMs supported by Import2, the migration service built into Pipedrive, and the migration is free up to 1,000,000 records. Very few Copper accounts get near that, so for most teams moving costs nothing. Pipedrive is built around the pipeline, with every stage visible at a glance.
Who it's for. Sales teams that move deals stage by stage and want to know each morning who to follow up with.
Who it's not for. Anyone looking for a free CRM: Pipedrive only has a 14-day trial, no credit card needed.
The catch. Every plan is paid. Lite is $14 per seat per month billed yearly ($24 monthly), Growth $39 ($49), Premium $59 ($79) and Ultimate $79 ($99), before tax. Five people on Growth comes to $2,340 a year.
How to migrate. Before you launch Import2, invite every user and build your pipelines in Pipedrive. Skip that, and every imported deal belongs to whoever ran the migration, so you reassign it all by hand. Allow 24 hours for the import. Our Pipedrive review compares the four plans.
- Score
- 4.2/5
- Free
- 14-day trial
- Paid
- Lite at $14/seat/mo
- Migration
- free Import2, 24 h
Attio: when Copper can't keep up with how you sell
Most flexibleWhy move to Attio. The main gripes about Copper (automations that can't branch, thin reporting, a rigid data model) are exactly what Attio is built to solve. One team that left Copper says it switched for those three reasons. Attio also handles the Copper migration through Import2 at no charge from its Migrate button: companies, people, deals, notes, tasks and files.
Who it's for. Startups and service teams that want custom objects (investors, partners, candidates) and automations with several conditions.
Who it's not for. Anyone who wants the Gmail sidebar back. That same team needed a few weeks to stop missing it, and Attio doesn't create contacts from your emails automatically the way Copper did.
The catch. The free migration needs a paid plan (Plus, Pro or Enterprise) and an admin to run it. Call recordings don't come across. The Free plan is fine for a trial run: 3 seats, 50,000 records, 3 objects and 200 emails a month. After that, Plus is $35 per seat billed yearly ($44 monthly) and Pro $79 ($99).
How to migrate. Turn on the Deals object before you start, or your Copper opportunities have nowhere to land. Attio dedupes on email and domain, so clean up company domains and add the country code to every phone number, or the row gets rejected. The team mentioned above wrapped up its move in about four weeks. More in our Attio review.
- Score
- 4.2/5
- Free
- 3 seats, 50,000 records
- Paid
- Plus at $35/seat/mo
- Migration
- free Import2 from Plus
folk: for a small team that runs on relationships
LightestWhy move to folk. folk keeps what people liked about Copper: a simple CRM built around contacts and conversations rather than a rigid pipeline. It's quick to pick up, and it doesn't ask you to model your whole sales process first.
Who it's for. Small teams whose work is their network: partnerships, fundraising, PR, recruiting, consulting.
Who it's not for. A structured sales team that needs forecasts and detailed reports. folk stays light there.
The catch. No free plan. After a two-week trial with no card, the account is locked until you upgrade, though your data is kept. Standard is $24 per user per month, Premium $48 and Custom $80. Five people on Standard runs $1,440 a year.
How to migrate. folk has no official Copper import guide. Export your people and companies from Copper, save each .xlsx file as CSV in a spreadsheet, then import. For a large history, specialist migration services can do it for you. See our folk review.
- Score
- 4.2/5
- Free
- 2-week trial
- Paid
- Standard at $24/user/mo
- Migration
- CSV file
Streak: stay in Gmail, just like with Copper
Closest to CopperWhy move to Streak. It's the only pick here that lives entirely inside Gmail. Your deals, contacts and pipelines show up right in your inbox. For a team that chose Copper for exactly that, it's the least disruptive switch.
Who it's for. Small teams that spend the day in Gmail: agencies, firms, freelancers who track client work over email.
Who it's not for. A team with Outlook users, or one that wants to stop depending on Gmail. You'd recreate the same lock-in you had with Copper.
The catch. The free plan has no CRM pipelines. To manage deals you need Pro at $49 per user per month billed yearly ($59 monthly). Automations and native integrations need Pro+ at $69 ($89). Enterprise is $129 ($159). In return, every paid plan has unlimited contacts, pipelines and records.
How to migrate. CSV, Google Sheets and Excel imports come with Pro, and import help is included. Copper exports to .xlsx, so its files go in almost as is. Start with a test pipeline of twenty deals before the rest. Our Streak review covers the plans.
- Score
- 3.7/5
- Free
- yes, no pipelines
- Paid
- Pro at $49/user/mo
- Migration
- Excel import from Pro
Close: for a team that sells by phone
Best for callingWhy move to Close. Copper tracks email; Close is built for teams that dial. Calls, texts and email are built in, with no phone system to wire up, and outbound calls run around $0.02 a minute.
Who it's for. Inside sales and outbound teams that make call after call and want the full history on the record.
Who it's not for. A team that sells mostly by email and meetings. You'd pay for calling you don't use.
The catch. The Power Dialer only comes with Growth, at $99 per rep per month billed yearly ($109 monthly). Solo is $9 ($19) but for one user only, and Essentials, the real team entry point, is $35 ($49). There's a 14-day trial with no card and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
How to migrate. There's no dedicated Copper bridge, so go through Copper's export converted to CSV: companies and people first, then opportunities. Use the 14-day trial to import a sample and check how fields map. Read our Close review.
- Score
- 3.8/5
- Free
- 14-day trial
- Paid
- Essentials at $35/rep/mo
- Migration
- CSV file
Nutshell: the cheapest option, with the migration done for you
CheapestWhy move to Nutshell. Two reasons. Price: Foundation is $13 per user per month billed yearly ($19 monthly), with no seat minimum. And the exit: Nutshell offers free data migration during its 14-day trial. It also syncs with both Gmail and Outlook, which solves the half-Google, half-Microsoft team.
Who it's for. Small and midsize businesses that want a full CRM without paying $59 a seat, and teams that mix Google and Microsoft.
Who it's not for. A busy team on Foundation: that plan is capped at 100 open leads.
The catch. Past Foundation, Growth is $25, Pro $42, Business $59 and the top tier $79 (billed yearly). Quotes and invoices add $79 a month, the marketing add-on $49. Five people on Foundation comes to $780 a year.
How to migrate. Start the trial, then ask the Nutshell team for the migration before the 14 days run out, since that's when it's free. Have your Copper exports ready before you sign up so you don't burn trial days. Our Nutshell review covers the add-ons.
- Score
- 3.8/5
- Free
- 14-day trial
- Paid
- Foundation at $13/user/mo
- Migration
- free during trial
All 7 alternatives side by side
Our default picks: HubSpot to start without paying, Pipedrive for a sales team that wants a hands-off migration. For a sense of scale, take a five-person team on annual billing: Copper Professional costs $3,540 a year, Pipedrive Growth $2,340, Attio Plus $2,100, folk Standard $1,440 and Nutshell Foundation $780. HubSpot stays free for two users. One row per tool: on the left, what you can use without paying; on the right, the entry price and how to migrate.
| Free plan or trial | Entry price and migration from Copper | |
|---|---|---|
| CopperWhere you start | 14-day trial with no card, no free plan | Basic $23 per seat (2,500 contacts), Professional $59 (15,000 contacts), billed yearly |
| HubSpotFree for good | 2 users, 1,000 contacts, no time limit | Starter at $20 per seat; two-way Copper sync app |
| PipedriveSales teams | 14-day trial with no card | Lite at $14 per seat; free Import2 up to 1,000,000 records |
| AttioMost flexible | Free: 3 seats, 50,000 records | Plus at $35 per seat; free Import2 migration from Plus |
| folkRelationship CRM | 2-week trial with no card | Standard at $24 per user; Copper export saved as CSV |
| StreakStays in Gmail | Free, without CRM pipelines | Pro at $49 per user; Excel import with help included |
| ClosePhone sales | 14-day trial, 30-day guarantee | Essentials at $35 per rep; Copper export saved as CSV |
| NutshellCheapest | 14-day trial | Foundation at $13 per user; free migration during trial |
Entry prices per user per month, billed yearly, before tax, subject to change. Our CRM pricing index tracks the rest of the market.
Move off Copper in eight steps
Order matters. Step one protects your budget, the middle steps protect your history, and the last one keeps you from pulling the plug too early.
Find your renewal date first
Day 1Open Copper's billing settings and write down your renewal date. Cancellation only takes effect on that date, and Copper won't refund time you've already started. If you're on annual billing and renewal is six weeks out, that's your real migration deadline.
Only the account owner can cancel. Make sure that's someone still on the team, not a former partner or an agency.
- Where
- Settings, then Billing
- Cost of skipping
- another full year
Inventory everything that lives in Copper
Day 1List your pipelines and stages, custom fields, activity types, workflows, projects and integrations (Zapier, web forms, invoicing). One row per item, with its equivalent in the new tool.
Copper groups data into six record types: people, companies, opportunities, projects, tasks and leads. Keep that list handy, since each one exports separately.
- Time
- one to two hours
- Cost of skipping
- a forgotten field or integration
Export each record type
Day 2In Copper, go to your profile, then Workspace Settings and Export Data. Run one export per type: People, Companies, Opportunities, Projects, Tasks and Leads. Each one arrives by email as an .xlsx file.
For a filtered export (one team, one pipeline), use a list view instead, except for tasks. That option needs a permission an admin has to switch on.
- Format
- one .xlsx file per type
- Who
- an admin
Ask support for your activity export
Day 2This is the one teams miss most: the standard export doesn't include activities (logged calls, meetings, the history of your conversations). Copper exports them on request, as a one-off, through support.
Send the request on day two. Support doesn't have a reputation for speed, and you want that file before you cancel, not after.
- How
- request through Copper support
- Cost of skipping
- lost history
Save emails and attachments separately
Day 3Your emails stay in Gmail, which is good news. But they don't move cleanly into a new CRM: through Import2 they arrive as notes, because of Copper's API restrictions, and attachments are neither exported nor imported.
Flag the attachments that matter (contracts, signed quotes). They're often already in Google Drive; if not, file them in a folder per client before you switch off.
- Emails
- imported as notes
- Attachments
- save them yourself
Clean the files before you import
Days 3 to 4Open each .xlsx file in a spreadsheet. Merge duplicate companies, which Copper tends to let through. Add the country code to every phone number (+1 415…), fix company domains, and delete dead records.
If the new tool only reads CSV, save each sheet as CSV. Keep an untouched copy of the raw exports in case you need to check something later.
- Format
- CSV if required
- Tip
- country codes everywhere
Set up the new tool, then import in order
Day 5Before any import, invite your users and build your pipelines in the new tool. In Pipedrive, anything imported without an owner belongs to whoever runs the import. In Attio, turn on the Deals object.
Then import in this order: companies, people, opportunities, and finally notes and tasks. A deal can only attach to a contact that's already there. Run a test migration on a sample (around fifty records), check the fields, then run the full migration.
- Order
- companies, people, deals
- Test
- about fifty records
Run both tools, then cancel
Weeks 2 to 4Keep Copper open, read-only, for two to four weeks. The team that moved to Attio took about four weeks to migrate and a few more to shake the sidebar habit. With HubSpot, the sync app keeps both databases running in parallel the whole time.
Once everything checks out, the account owner cancels under Settings, Billing, Request Cancellation, before the renewal date from step one.
- Time
- two to four weeks
- Who cancels
- the account owner
Is your tool missing from this page? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
What makes a Copper migration go wrong
The same mistakes show up in user reviews and in vendors' import guides. None of them are technical. They're oversights, and each one costs more than the time it would have taken to avoid it.
Canceling without checking the date
Cancel a month after your annual renewal and you've paid eleven months for nothing. Write down the date the day you decide, and plan the migration backward from it.
Assuming the export has everything
Copper's export gives you records, not activities. A team that cancels without requesting the activity export loses every client's history: who called, when, and what was promised.
Canceling before the sync is done
HubSpot's sync app needs an active Copper subscription. Cut Copper off too soon and the sync stops halfway, leaving you with a half-copied database.
Importing into an empty shell
No users invited, no pipelines built, no Deals object turned on: deals all land under one person's name, or nowhere at all. One hour of setup saves days of reassigning.
Ignoring duplicates
Copper handles duplicates poorly on import, and its exports often contain them. Re-import them as is and you just move the mess. Attio even rejects badly formatted rows, so clean before, not after.
Comparing prices without comparing plans
Copper Basic at $23 has no workflows or integrations. Compare the new tool with the Copper plan you actually use, often Professional at $59. Our best CRMs for Gmail and our overall CRM ranking help you decide. To keep Copper connected to your other apps during the switch, the Copper and Zapier guide lists the available triggers.
- Copper renewal date noted, account owner identified
- Inventory of pipelines, fields, workflows and integrations
- One .xlsx export per record type, saved outside Copper
- Activity export requested from and delivered by support
- Key attachments filed in Google Drive
- Duplicates merged, phone numbers with country codes
- Users invited and pipelines built in the new tool
- Test migration on a sample, then the full migration
- Cancellation requested by the owner before renewal
Copper CRM alternatives: frequently asked questions
Does Copper CRM have a free plan?
No. Copper only offers a 14-day trial with no credit card. If you want a free CRM to replace it, HubSpot covers 2 users and 1,000 contacts with no time limit, and Attio Free gives you 3 seats and 50,000 records.
How much does Copper cost per user?
$23 to $99 per seat per month billed yearly: Basic $23 ($29 monthly), Professional $59 ($69), Business $99 ($134). Prices are in US dollars and exclude taxes. Annual billing saves up to 26%, but you pay the year up front.
Is Copper only for Google Workspace?
In practice, yes. Copper has no native Outlook or Microsoft 365 integration, only third-party connectors and a one-way Zapier route. If your team uses Outlook, Nutshell syncs with both Gmail and Outlook.
Can I get a refund if I cancel Copper?
No. Copper doesn't offer partial refunds: cancellation takes effect on your next renewal date, and you keep access until then. Use that window to export your data and run both tools in parallel.
How do I export my activity history from Copper?
Ask Copper support. Activities aren't part of the standard export in settings; Copper runs a one-off export on request. Ask at the very start of your migration, since replies can take a while.
Which CRM works inside Gmail like Copper?
Streak. It shows deals and contacts right in Gmail, but its free plan has no CRM pipelines, so budget $49 per user per month for Pro. Our best CRMs for Gmail covers more options.
Which CRM imports directly from Copper?
Pipedrive and Attio, both through Import2. Pipedrive's migration is free up to 1,000,000 records; Attio's is free from its Migrate button on a paid plan. HubSpot uses a sync app, and Nutshell runs the migration for you during the trial.
Is it hard to migrate from Copper?
Not technically, but it takes longer than people expect: from a few days to about four weeks. The import itself takes around 24 hours in Pipedrive. The time goes into cleaning duplicates, rebuilding workflows and getting used to life without the Gmail sidebar.
Get the next migration guide in your inbox
One tool to leave, one destination, one migration plan. Nothing else.