Editions & Pricing Strategy
HotCRM edition definitions, plugin-based pricing tiers, and feature mapping.
Editions & Pricing Strategy
HotCRM's plugin-based architecture enables flexible pricing through edition tiers that bundle different combinations of business plugins. Each plugin can also be licensed individually as an add-on.
Edition Tiers
Essentials
The entry-level edition for small teams getting started with CRM.
Included Plugins:
- ✅
@objectstack/spec— Foundation - ✅
@hotcrm/crm— Sales Cloud (Account, Contact, Lead, Opportunity, Activity, Task, Note)
Key Capabilities:
- Account & contact management
- Lead capture and qualification
- Opportunity pipeline tracking
- Activity logging
- Basic reporting
Target: Small teams (1–10 users), startups, freelancers
Professional
Full sales and marketing automation for growing businesses.
Included Plugins:
- ✅ Everything in Essentials
- ✅
@hotcrm/marketing— Marketing Cloud (Campaigns, Email Templates, Forms, Landing Pages, Lists) - ✅
@hotcrm/ai— AI Services (Lead Scoring, Sales Co-Pilot)
Key Capabilities:
- Campaign management and ROI tracking
- Email template library with A/B testing
- Landing page and form builder
- Marketing list segmentation
- AI-powered lead scoring
- Sales Co-Pilot agent
Target: Growing teams (10–50 users), SMBs with marketing needs
Enterprise
Complete CRM suite with revenue management and customer service.
Included Plugins:
- ✅ Everything in Professional
- ✅
@hotcrm/products— Revenue Cloud CPQ (Products, Pricing, Quotes, Bundles) - ✅
@hotcrm/finance— Revenue Cloud Billing (Contracts, Invoices, Payments) - ✅
@hotcrm/support— Service Cloud (Cases, SLA, Knowledge Base, Queues, Routing)
Key Capabilities:
- Configure-Price-Quote (CPQ) workflows
- Product catalog and price book management
- Contract lifecycle management
- Invoicing and payment tracking
- Case management with SLA enforcement
- Knowledge base and self-service portal
- Skill-based routing and escalation
- Multi-channel support (Email, Web, Social)
Target: Mid-market companies (50–500 users), enterprises with complex sales cycles
Ultimate
Everything included, with HR Cloud and advanced AI capabilities.
Included Plugins:
- ✅ Everything in Enterprise
- ✅
@hotcrm/hr— HR Cloud (Employees, Recruitment, Performance, Payroll, Training) - ✅ Advanced AI Agents (Recruitment Assistant, Performance Coach, Inbox Agent)
Key Capabilities:
- Full employee lifecycle management
- Recruitment pipeline (requisitions → onboarding)
- Performance reviews and goal tracking (OKR)
- Time off and attendance management
- Payroll processing
- Training and certification tracking
- AI-powered recruitment assistant
- AI performance coach
Target: Large enterprises (500+ users) needing unified CRM + HCM
Plugin Add-Ons
Individual plugins can be purchased as add-ons to any edition:
| Add-On Plugin | Available From | Description |
|---|---|---|
@hotcrm/marketing | Essentials+ | Marketing automation and campaign management |
@hotcrm/products | Professional+ | CPQ and product catalog |
@hotcrm/finance | Professional+ | Contract and invoice management |
@hotcrm/support | Professional+ | Customer service and SLA management |
@hotcrm/hr | Enterprise+ | Human resources management |
@hotcrm/ai | Essentials+ | AI services and ML models |
Feature Comparison Matrix
| Feature | Essentials | Professional | Enterprise | Ultimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales Cloud | ||||
| Accounts & Contacts | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Leads & Opportunities | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Activities & Tasks | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Assignment Rules | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Marketing Cloud | ||||
| Campaign Management | — | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Email Templates & A/B Testing | — | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Landing Pages & Forms | — | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| List Segmentation | — | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Unsubscribe Management | — | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Revenue Cloud — CPQ | ||||
| Product Catalog | — | — | ✅ | ✅ |
| Price Books & Rules | — | — | ✅ | ✅ |
| Quoting & Approvals | — | — | ✅ | ✅ |
| Product Bundles | — | — | ✅ | ✅ |
| Revenue Cloud — Billing | ||||
| Contracts | — | — | ✅ | ✅ |
| Invoicing | — | — | ✅ | ✅ |
| Payments | — | — | ✅ | ✅ |
| Service Cloud | ||||
| Case Management | — | — | ✅ | ✅ |
| SLA & Escalation | — | — | ✅ | ✅ |
| Knowledge Base | — | — | ✅ | ✅ |
| Queue & Routing | — | — | ✅ | ✅ |
| Multi-Channel Support | — | — | ✅ | ✅ |
| HR Cloud | ||||
| Employee Management | — | — | — | ✅ |
| Recruitment Pipeline | — | — | — | ✅ |
| Performance & Goals | — | — | — | ✅ |
| Time & Attendance | — | — | — | ✅ |
| Payroll | — | — | — | ✅ |
| AI & Intelligence | ||||
| Basic Reporting | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| AI Lead Scoring | — | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Sales Co-Pilot | — | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| AI Case Routing | — | — | ✅ | ✅ |
| AI Recruitment Assistant | — | — | — | ✅ |
| AI Performance Coach | — | — | — | ✅ |
| Platform | ||||
| API Access | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Custom Objects | — | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Workflow Automation | — | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Advanced Analytics | — | — | ✅ | ✅ |
| Custom AI Agents | — | — | — | ✅ |
Pricing Principles
-
Plugin-Based Licensing: Each plugin is an independently licensable unit. The edition tiers are convenience bundles — customers can always add individual plugins.
-
Per-User Pricing: All editions are priced per user per month, with volume discounts for larger deployments.
-
No Feature Gating Within Plugins: When a plugin is licensed, all of its objects and features are available. There is no micro-gating within a plugin.
-
HR as Independent Product: The HR Cloud (
@hotcrm/hr) is positioned as a standalone product that can be purchased independently of CRM, targeting organizations that need HCM without CRM. -
AI as Value Multiplier: AI capabilities are distributed across editions to increase upgrade incentive — basic AI in Professional, advanced AI agents in Ultimate.
Implementation Notes
The plugin architecture already supports edition-based licensing through plugin dependency resolution:
// Essentials Edition - only CRM
const essentials = [CorePlugin, CRMPlugin];
// Professional Edition - CRM + Marketing + AI
const professional = [CorePlugin, CRMPlugin, MarketingPlugin, AIPlugin];
// Enterprise Edition - Full CRM suite
const enterprise = [
CorePlugin, CRMPlugin, MarketingPlugin, AIPlugin,
ProductsPlugin, FinancePlugin, SupportPlugin
];
// Ultimate Edition - Everything
const ultimate = [
CorePlugin, CRMPlugin, MarketingPlugin, AIPlugin,
ProductsPlugin, FinancePlugin, SupportPlugin, HRPlugin
];License enforcement can be implemented at the plugin loader level by validating which plugins are authorized for the customer's edition before loading them into the runtime.