Best for
Best for small teams that want a CRM, email marketing and a helpdesk on one contact database rather than three separate subscriptions.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
CRM Comparison
EngageBay vs. HighLevel
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for marketing agencies running campaigns for many clients from one account, rather than a single in-house sales team.
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | EngageBay | HighLevel |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | lower value Free plan; Basic from $14.99 / user / month Monthly billing. Yearly billing takes Basic to $13.79 and biennial billing to $12.74 per user per month. Growth is $64.99 and Pro $119.99 per user per month on monthly billing. Plans meter contacts and email volume, not just features. | From $97 / month Priced per agency account, not per user, with unlimited contacts and users on every plan. Starter $97 / month or $970 / year, Unlimited $297 / month or $2,970 / year, Agency Pro $497 / month or $4,970 / year. Enterprise is quoted by the vendor. AI modules and premium add-ons are charged on top. |
| Free trial | Free plan for up to 15 team members, 250 contacts and 1,000 branded emails, no credit card required | 14-day free trial, no credit card required to start |
| Users | Not stated | Unlimited users and contacts on every plan; sub-accounts are the unit that scales |
| API | Yes, a developer API plus direct connectors and Zapier | Yes, a REST API with OAuth 2.0, webhooks on more than 50 events, an app marketplace and an official LeadConnector MCP server |
| Hosting | Cloud (SaaS) | Cloud (SaaS), with a mobile app |
| Contacts and companies | Yes, a shared contact database across all three bays, with interaction logging | Contacts with unlimited records on every plan, smart segmentation, lead capture through forms, surveys, quizzes, chat widgets and landing pages, and a prospecting tool |
| Deal pipeline | Yes, deal management and sales pipeline tracking on every plan, including the free one | Sales pipelines with lead scoring, estimates, proposals, invoicing and one-click upsell funnels at the closing end |
| Email and calendar | Yes, email sync plus an integrated calendar and appointment scheduling that avoids double bookings | Email and SMS marketing, inbound and outbound calling, ringless voicemail, and booking calendars with automated appointment reminders. A unified inbox collects SMS, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp conversations |
| Workflow automation | Email sequences on every plan; marketing automation arrives with Growth at ten workflows of fifteen nodes each, and Pro raises that to fifty nodes | Yes, a workflow automation builder covering nurture sequences, reminders and broadcast campaigns, with Conversation AI and Voice AI answering across channels |
| Reporting and forecasting | Reporting on the paid plans, with custom reporting on Pro | Custom dashboards and reporting, call tracking, and user reporting from the Unlimited plan |
| Integrations and API | Yes, a developer API, direct connectors and Zapier, covering more than 250 tools | Yes, a REST API with OAuth 2.0 and private integration tokens, webhooks on more than 50 events, an app marketplace, and an official LeadConnector MCP server exposing more than 550 operations across 38 domains. Basic API access comes with Unlimited, advanced access with Agency Pro |
| AI features | Yes | Yes |
| MCP-ready | No | stated Yes |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Onboarding | Not stated | Documentation and knowledge base |
| Company size | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized | Small and mid-sized, Enterprise |
| Integrations | Zapier, SendGrid, Shopify | Not stated |
Add a tool
Adds a column to the table, from the tools in this category.
Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.
The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price EngageBay Free plan; Basic from $14.99 / user / month HighLevel From $97 / month
- Free trial EngageBay Free plan for up to 15 team members, 250 contacts and 1,000 branded emails, no credit card required HighLevel 14-day free trial, no credit card required to start
- Company size EngageBay Freelancers, Small and mid-sized HighLevel Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
- Hosting EngageBay Cloud (SaaS) HighLevel Cloud (SaaS), with a mobile app
- MCP-ready EngageBay No HighLevel Yes
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
EngageBay
Strengths
- The free plan covers up to 15 team members, not one or two
- CRM, marketing and helpdesk sit on one contact database on every plan
- Deal pipelines are already in the free plan
- Biennial billing takes fifteen percent off
- Developer API, direct connectors and Zapier across more than 250 tools
Limitations
- Plans meter contacts and email volume, so a large list can force an upgrade before any feature does
- Marketing automation needs the Growth plan, which is more than four times the price of Basic
- Custom reporting and SSO are reserved for Pro
- The free plan is limited to 250 contacts and one landing page
- Each bay is thinner than a dedicated CRM, email or helpdesk product
HighLevel
Strengths
- Priced per agency with unlimited users and contacts, so a growing client list does not raise the bill
- Replaces a stack of separate tools: CRM, funnels, email and SMS, calling, calendars, payments and reviews
- SaaS mode on Agency Pro resells the whole platform under the agency's own brand
- Official MCP server and a documented REST API with webhooks on more than 50 events
Limitations
- AI modules are metered on top of the subscription rather than included
- Starter is capped at three sub-accounts
- The entry price is high for a single in-house team that will not use the multi-tenant side
Plans
Pricing
EngageBay
- Free $0 Up to 15 team members, 250 contacts, 1,000 branded emails, one landing page and two email sequences, with CRM, helpdesk and live chat.
- Basic $14.99 Per user per month on monthly billing, $13.79 yearly and $12.74 biennially. 500 contacts, 3,000 branded emails, ten landing pages, SMS marketing and integrations.
- Growth $64.99 Per user per month on monthly billing, $59.79 yearly and $55.24 biennially. 5,000 contacts, 25,000 branded emails, marketing automation with ten workflows and A/B testing.
- Pro $119.99 Per user per month on monthly billing, $110.39 yearly and $101.99 biennially. 50,000 contacts, unlimited landing pages and forms, workflows of up to fifty nodes, custom reporting, SSO and a dedicated account manager.
HighLevel
- Starter $97 Per month, or $970 per year. Three sub-accounts, unlimited contacts and users, 24/7 support.
- Unlimited $297 Per month, or $2,970 per year. Unlimited sub-accounts, rebilling for phone and email, basic API access.
- Agency Pro $497 Per month, or $4,970 per year. Adds SaaS mode, automated sub-account creation and advanced API access.
- Enterprise Custom Quoted by the vendor.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
EngageBay
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.
HighLevel
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.
Where this comes from
Where this comes from
EngageBay https://www.engagebay.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-10
HighLevel https://www.gohighlevel.com · no check date recorded yet
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.