For founder-led teams of 1 to 10: Sales Montana (which we make) is $99 a month flat for up to 3 users, with the dialer and CRM together. Close starts at $99 per user a month billed annually if the CRM comes first. JustCall Pro is $49 per user a month billed annually. Eight tools are compared below, each with a source.
By Nabil Irfan, founder of Sales Montana · Updated
| What is Sales Montana? | |
|---|---|
| Sales Montana is a power dialer and CRM for B2B teams. Montana, its AI head of sales, finds leads, reviews every interaction and tells each rep where to focus. He grades every connected call and writes each rep's morning brief. One flat price for the platform, pay as you go for leads and minutes: Engine is $99 a month flat for up to 3 users, Pro is $297 a month flat for unlimited users. We make Sales Montana, so this page lists it among the competitors it is being compared to. About Sales Montana. |
Cold calling software for a startup is a tool that lets a founder or a small team work through a call list without typing phone numbers, logs the outcome of every call, and keeps the next step in a CRM a non-sales co-founder can also open. The simplest versions sit inside a browser tab and need a headset. The ones below also record calls, run cadences across call, email and SMS, and review calls so the pitch improves each week. Our power dialer page covers what a dialer does; this page is about which tool fits a founder-led team.
Founder-led teams of 1 to 10 pay in two patterns: a per-seat plan that grows with every hire, or a flat plan that stays the same. Per-seat is cheaper for a solo founder on a tight contract. Flat is cheaper from the second or third rep. Both patterns appear below, with the published price next to each pick.
| Tool | Best for | Lowest price with a dialer | CRM built in | AI call review | Min seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales Montana | Flat price, CRM and call review | $99/mo flat, up to 3 users (monthly) | Yes | Every connected call | None |
| Close | CRM-first teams | $99/user/mo (annual) | Yes | Add-on | None |
| HubSpot Sales Hub | No-budget start, HubSpot-centered | Free for 2 users (CRM only; dialer via credits or add-on) | Yes | On paid plans | None (Free) |
| JustCall | Unlimited US and Canada minutes per seat | $49/user/mo (annual) | No | Transcription included; scoring on Pro Plus | 2 |
| Dialpad Sell | Phone system plus dialer | About $95/user/mo (annual) | No | On Essentials and up | Not stated |
| PhoneBurner | Single-line dialer with a CRM | $140/user/mo (annual) | Yes | Premium only | Not stated |
| Aloware | HubSpot teams up to 3 users (startup plan) | $199/mo for up to 3 users (startup plan) | No | Voice Analytics minutes included | 5 on uPro |
| Aircall | Support and sales in one tool | $50/user/mo (annual) | No | On Professional and up | 3 |
Best for: founders and teams of 1 to 10 who want a dialer, CRM and AI call review from one vendor, without buying a seat for every hire.
| Price | Engine $99/month flat for up to 3 users. Pro $297/month flat for unlimited users. Billed monthly. |
| Dialing | Single-line power dialer. No parallel or predictive. |
| CRM | Built in: companies, contacts, deals, tasks, cadences. |
| AI call review | Montana, the AI head of sales, grades every connected call and writes each rep's morning brief. Includes 1,000 (Engine) or 3,000 (Pro) pooled talk minutes, then 3 credits (3 cents) a minute. |
| Trial | 14 days or 100 minutes; a card is required to start, nothing is charged during the trial. |
We make Sales Montana, so weigh this entry with that in mind. Pro also includes a client portal, team analytics, a leaderboard and floor alerts. Founders dialing alone on Engine pay the same $99 as a founder with two reps. See Sales Montana for founders. Source: Sales Montana (Sales Montana pricing page). Checked October 5 to October 8, 2026.
Best for: founders who want the CRM to be the center of the workflow, with the dialer sitting inside it.
| Price | Startup $19/user/month billed annually. Growth $99/user/month annually ($109 monthly) adds the power dialer. Scale $139 annually ($149 monthly) adds predictive. Calls at cost, about 2 cents a minute. |
| Dialing | Power on Growth; predictive on Scale. |
| CRM | Built in. Close has been a CRM first since 2013. |
| AI call review | Call Assistant add-on $50 a month per organization plus 2 cents a minute. |
| Trial | 14 days, no card. 30-day money-back guarantee. |
No seat minimum, so a solo founder can start on Growth and add seats one at a time. The power dialer sits inside the CRM, so one lead view and one call log. Source: Close (vendor pricing page). Checked October 5 to October 8, 2026.
Best for: founders who want a free CRM for the first two seats and are willing to add a dialer later.
| Price | Free up to 2 users. Starter from $7/user/month. Professional from $90/user/month (with a required $1,500 Professional Onboarding). |
| Dialing | No built-in dialer. Calling runs through 500 HubSpot Credits per Starter seat per month, or an Aircall or JustCall integration. |
| CRM | Built in and free for up to 2 users. |
| AI call review | AI meeting summaries on paid plans; HubSpot Credits also meter the dialer. |
| Trial | Free Hub is free; no card is required for Free Tools. |
The Free Hub is a reasonable starting point if calling volume is low and HubSpot is already the plan of record. Professional starts to feel expensive at $90 a seat plus the one-time $1,500 onboarding fee. Source: HubSpot Sales Hub (vendor pricing page). Checked October 5 to October 8, 2026.
Best for: two-rep founder teams that dial heavily and already live inside HubSpot, Pipedrive or Salesforce.
| Price | Pro $49/user/month billed annually ($69 monthly), 2-seat minimum. Pro Plus $89 annually ($109 monthly) adds AI call scoring. |
| Dialing | Power dialer on Pro and above. Predictive up to 10 lines and dynamic dialer on SalesPro, by quote. |
| CRM | None. 100+ integrations. |
| AI call review | Unlimited AI transcription on all plans; AI call scoring on Pro Plus. |
| Trial | 14 days, no card. |
Outbound minutes are unlimited within the United States and Canada under JustCall's fair use policy. The 2-seat minimum means a solo founder pays for 2 seats on day one. See JustCall pricing. Source: JustCall (vendor pricing page). Checked October 5 to October 8, 2026.
Best for: founders who want a business phone number and a sales dialer in one bill.
| Price | Advanced about $95/user/month billed annually ($110 monthly, per third-party reads of the pricing page). Dialpad's own help center lists the newer Dialer on Sell Premium at about $150 annually ($170 monthly). |
| Dialing | Power dialer in Sell. The newer Dialpad Dialer is progressive, with N:1 lines per agent. |
| CRM | None. Integrates Salesforce and others. |
| AI call review | AI recaps and transcription on Essentials; scorecards and playbooks on Premium. |
| Trial | 14 days per the signup page; card requirement not stated. |
Dialpad is a business phone system first, so support, call routing and the dialer share one app. Reviewers disagree on which tier the dialer sits on, so get the quote in writing. The Dialer sits inside Dialpad's AI Contact Center on the newer plan. Source: Dialpad Sell (vendor pricing page). Checked October 5 to October 8, 2026.
Best for: founders calling a vetted list where every connection matters, and who want a CRM included.
| Price | Standard $140/user/month billed annually ($165 monthly). Premium $183 annually ($215 monthly) adds call transcription and the AI note-taker. |
| Dialing | Single-line power dialer only, by design. No parallel or predictive. |
| CRM | Built in, plus Salesforce, HubSpot and Zoho integrations. |
| AI call review | Call transcription and AI note-taker on Premium only. |
| Trial | Free minutes, no card; length not published. |
PhoneBurner says its power dialer keeps a live rep on every connection, so a prospect never hears the pause a parallel dialer can cause. US and Canada only. Source: PhoneBurner (vendor pricing page). Checked October 5 to October 8, 2026.
Best for: small HubSpot-centered teams that want a HubSpot-native dialer with a flat monthly rate for the first few seats.
| Price | Startup plan listed at $199/month flat for up to 3 users (500 minutes, 500 texts). uPro $60/user/month annually ($70 monthly) past that, 5-seat minimum. |
| Dialing | Power dialer, one call at a time. |
| CRM | None. HubSpot (deepest), Pipedrive, Zoho, Salesforce on xPro. |
| AI call review | AloAi Voice Analytics minutes included: 1,000 (iPro), 5,000 (uPro), unlimited (xPro). |
| Trial | 7 days, no card. |
The startup plan at $199 for up to 3 users is a close competitor to Sales Montana Engine for HubSpot shops. Past the first few seats, the 5-seat minimum on uPro kicks in. See Sales Montana vs Aloware for how they compare on CRM depth. Source: Aloware (vendor pricing page). Checked October 5 to October 8, 2026.
Best for: founders who already need an inbound support line and want the same tool for outbound.
| Price | Professional $50/user/month billed annually ($70 monthly), 3-seat minimum. |
| Dialing | Power dialer, up to 1,000 numbers per session. |
| CRM | None. 250+ integrations. |
| AI call review | AI summaries and conversation intelligence on Professional; AI Assist Pro live coaching add-on $49/seat. |
| Trial | 7 days per the help center; card requirement not stated. |
The 3-seat minimum means a founder with 1 or 2 reps pays for 3 seats. If you also need an inbound support line, the shared number pool and routing can be worth it. See Aircall pricing and Sales Montana vs Aircall. Source: Aircall (vendor pricing page). Checked October 5 to October 8, 2026.
Per-seat prices hide the real bill, because seat minimums and add-ons change the total. For three reps on the cheapest published plan that includes a power dialer or a credit-metered dialer:
| Tool | 3 reps, billed annually | 3 reps, billed monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Sales Montana Engine | Monthly billing only | $99/mo |
| HubSpot Free Hub | $0, 2 seats only; third seat moves to Starter at $7/user/month, no built-in dialer | |
| JustCall Pro | $147/mo | $207/mo |
| Aircall Professional | $150/mo | $210/mo |
| Aloware startup plan | $199/mo listed, billing term not stated | |
| Dialpad Sell Advanced | About $285/mo | About $330/mo |
| Close Growth | $297/mo plus calls at cost | $327/mo plus calls at cost |
| PhoneBurner Standard | $420/mo | $495/mo |
Minutes differ too. JustCall includes unlimited US and Canada outbound minutes under fair use. Close bills calls at cost, about 2 cents a minute. Sales Montana Engine includes 1,000 pooled talk minutes a month, then 3 credits (3 cents) a minute, so a team that talks more than that each month should add the overage to the comparison.
Start with three questions. First, where does the CRM live? If HubSpot is already the plan of record, start on the Free Hub and layer calling later with Aircall, JustCall or Aloware. If no CRM is in place, pick a tool that includes one: Sales Montana, Close or PhoneBurner. Second, how many conversations will a rep run through in a day? Single-line power dialing suits warm lists and voicemails that get listened to; parallel dialing suits cold lists where ten dials buy one answer. Parallel dialing lives in the best power dialers list, not here, because the published prices sit well above a founder budget. Third, how fast will the team grow? Per-seat prices grow with every hire. Flat prices do not. Sales Montana Engine at $99 for three users costs less than any per-seat plan here from the third rep onward. Pro at $297 for unlimited users costs less than JustCall Pro from seven reps and less than Aircall Professional from seven reps.
Write a cold-calling script before the first call. Our cold calling script page has openers, permission lines and objection replies ready to copy, so the first ten calls do not get spent writing one on the fly.
Montana finds your first 10 leads from your website, and the dialer and CRM are in one tool. Start the 14-day trial or read Sales Montana for founders.
What is the best cold calling software for a startup?
It depends on how calling fits the workflow. A solo founder who wants a flat price and a CRM in one tool can start on Sales Montana Engine ($99 a month for up to 3 users). A founder who wants the CRM to be the center of the workflow with the dialer inside it should look at Close Growth ($99 per user per month, billed annually). A HubSpot-centered team that already pays for the CRM can use HubSpot's Free Hub plus an Aircall or JustCall integration. Dialing-heavy teams of 2 or more that live inside HubSpot, Pipedrive or Salesforce get the lowest per-seat price with unlimited US and Canada minutes on JustCall Pro ($49 per user per month, billed annually).
How much does cold calling software cost for a small team?
For three reps billed annually, Sales Montana Engine is $99 a month flat, JustCall Pro is $147, Aircall Professional is $150, the Aloware startup plan is $199, Close Growth is $297 plus about 2 cents a minute for calls, and PhoneBurner Standard is $420. Orum, Nooks and Kixie do not publish prices; reviewers put them higher. Minutes vary: JustCall includes unlimited US and Canada minutes under fair use, Close bills calls at cost, Sales Montana Engine pools 1,000 talk minutes a month then charges 3 credits (3 cents) a minute.
Do I need a CRM separate from the dialer?
Not if the dialer has one. Sales Montana, Close and PhoneBurner include a CRM. HubSpot Sales Hub is a CRM with calling layered on. The other options sync to a separate CRM through an integration. A separate CRM is useful when a bigger operations team already runs on Salesforce or HubSpot, since the dialer stays swappable.
What does a founder-led sales team actually need in the first year?
Three things carry a founder-led team through the first year of calling: a dialer that gets through the list without typing, a CRM so a conversation on Monday carries into the follow-up on Thursday, and a way to review calls so the pitch gets better each week. Live transfers, parallel dialing and predictive dialing are features worth paying for once a dedicated SDR is on staff, not before. Pick a tool that includes the first three without adding seats for a sales ops person.
What is the cheapest cold calling software with AI call review?
Sales Montana Engine at $99 a month includes AI call review on every connected call, pooled across up to 3 users. JustCall includes AI transcription on every plan and adds AI call scoring on Pro Plus at $89 per user per month billed annually. Aloware includes AloAi Voice Analytics minutes on uPro at $60 per user per month annually with a 5-seat minimum. Close has a Call Assistant add-on at $50 per organization per month plus 2 cents a minute. See the best power dialers list for the full comparison.
We make Sales Montana and list it here. Every other entry links to the vendor page we read, checked October 5 to October 8, 2026. Reported prices for vendors that do not publish them come from third-party reviews and may be out of date. See also: Sales Montana for founders · best power dialers · all dialer comparisons · Sales Montana pricing.
Sales Montana Engine is $99 a month for up to three users; Pro is $297 for unlimited. CRM, cadences and AI call review included. 14 days or 100 minutes free: a card to start, nothing is charged during the trial.