How far can you use HubSpot, monday.com and Asana for free?

The work that fits within each free plan

A seat is a paid user licence. An item is a row on a monday.com board. A custom field holds information specific to your work, such as a budget or renewal date. Count those needs before comparing prices.

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Sources: HubSpot Free and Starter comparison, HubSpot catalog, monday.com Free Plan help, Asana pricing (10 October 2026).

monday.com can add 100 items per eligible referral, up to eight referrals and 1,000 items in total. Archived or deleted items do not count toward the active-item limit. Without archiving or referrals, adding one item a day fills 200 items in 200 ÷ 30.4 = about 6.6 months; using three rows per case takes about 2.2 months. These are planning examples, not an expiry date for the free plan.

HubSpot's free tier is not entirely without automation: its Free/Starter comparison lists one automated action per email and one automated email per form. Check the exact workflow you need, rather than assuming that any automation requires payment.

How much does adding a third person cost?

For three seats, HubSpot Starter's current new-customer offer is $7 × 3 × 12 = $252 on annual billing, or $10 × 3 = $30 on monthly billing. The regular $20 seat price would be $720 for 12 months. The offer is temporary; its price is not a guaranteed renewal rate.

Asana Starter is $10.99 per user per month billed annually, or $13.49 monthly: three seats work out to $395.64 for a year or $40.47 per month. Its seat options increase individually from two through five, then in blocks of five through 30 users. Six people therefore need ten seats: $10.99 × 10 × 12 = $1,318.80 a year, an increase of $659.40 from five seats.

monday.com starts paid plans at three seats, then uses five-seat blocks: four people need five seats, six need ten. Basic's US annual-billing seat rate is $9, so three seats alone calculate to $324 a year. That is a seat subtotal, not a complete checkout quote. The current AI work platform purchasing model also requires AI credits for customers joining on or after 6 May 2026 who are offered that model. Introductory credit discounts can change the total; this rule does not apply to monday CRM, dev or service.

Sources: HubSpot Starter, Asana prices and seat increments, monday.com pricing, monday.com seat groups, AI credit purchasing conditions (10 October 2026). All examples use US dollars before tax; annual figures are calculations from published monthly equivalents. Annual billing requires an upfront commitment. Currency, tax and available offers depend on the billing country. See how seats are counted and annual versus monthly billing.

What happens when you return to free?

On monday.com, data above the free limits remains accessible in view-only mode, with no new items or boards. Reduce the account to two users and convert private or shareable boards to main boards before downgrading. Unsupported columns removed on Free cannot be added back until you upgrade.

Asana's pricing FAQ says it does not offer refunds. Cancellation leaves paid access until the current period ends; after expiry, access to paid features and their associated data is lost. HubSpot's terms, sections 4.1–4.2 generally rule out cancellation during the term and refunds of unused prepaid fees, subject to contractual exceptions; turn off automatic renewal before the term ends. monday.com's section 9.1 allows a prorated refund requested in writing within 30 days of the initial purchase, excluding usage-based fees. It does not cover renewals, upgrades or later purchases. These terms were checked on 10 October 2026; statutory rights and an individual order may affect them.

Choose from the work you need to share

Use HubSpot's free plan to evaluate customer and deal management within its contact and field limits. If you only need shared tasks for two people, Asana Personal may avoid a paid subscription. monday.com Free can fit a small set of boards when manual updates are acceptable.

For custom fields or rules in Asana, evaluate Starter. For monday.com automations and integrations, compare Standard or higher: Basic is not the right choice merely because it has the lowest paid seat price. Count the actions you need and include any required AI credit purchase. Do not choose HubSpot solely because its promotional seat price is lower if customer management is not your purpose; check whether you need a CRM.

If your present task list or spreadsheet already covers the work, you need not subscribe. Otherwise, test a small, appropriate sample of your data while the account is free, and check the required features, paid seats, full initial charge and renewal terms before moving the team.

Sources and scope

The official pages linked beside each comparison and calculation were checked on 10 October 2026. This compares HubSpot Free Tools, monday.com's free work platform and Asana Personal, not three interchangeable products. HubSpot's precise behaviour above the free contact limit and a complete reconstruction of every paid feature after downgrading have not been established here. Export important data and check the provider's current downgrade guidance before changing plans.

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