Both HubSpot and Salesforce provide customer relationship management (CRM) tools that make it easier for marketing and sales teams to monitor interactions with leads. HubSpot is a more small business-friendly CRM due to its ease of use and free-forever plan, while Salesforce is suited for enterprises and small businesses that want the availability of advanced features.
When to Use HubSpot
HubSpot CRM is an ideal option for businesses that need a robust free CRM tool. This is because it supports customization, unlimited users, lead generation, and essential CRM features like contact management. However, users do have to pay extra for things like workflow rules, ad management, or telephone and email access to customer support.
When to Use Salesforce
Salesforce is a good option for small businesses that want a comprehensive CRM plan. All Salesforce plans, which start at $25 per user per month, include access to phone support and the ability to upgrade into plans that offer advanced features like quote management, web-to-lead capture, workflow automation, and opportunity registration.
HubSpot vs Salesforce at a Glance
HubSpot | Salesforce | |
|---|---|---|
Pricing | Free | Plans start at $25 per user per month |
Dashboards | ✔ | ✔ |
Email Integration | ✔ | ✔ |
GDPR Compliant | ✔ | ✔ |
Lead & Contact Management | ✔ | ✔ |
Mobile Apps | ✔ | ✔ |
Third-Party Integrations | ✔ | ✔ |
Lead Scoring | ✔ | N/A |
Workflow Rules | ✔ | N/A |
Ease of Use | Easy to use | Somewhat difficult to use |
More Information |
How We Evaluated HubSpot vs Salesforce
When comparing HubSpot vs Salesforce, we’ve found both small business-friendly CRM tools are low-maintenance and, thanks to their browser-based interface, provide quick and easy access to customer records and management dashboards. However, upon further inspection, there are some key differences that affect the ability of each system to serve individual businesses effectively.
Therefore, we evaluated HubSpot vs Salesforce using the following criteria:
- Pricing & Features: We compared the pricing of each tool, as well as the features included at each price-point.
- Customization: The ability to add tailor pages, dashboards, reports, and fields can be important to teams who want a CRM that mirrors their own processes, so we examined each system’s capacity for customization.
- Ease of Use: We examined how each CRM is to set up and to use.
- Reporting: How well the tools enable detailed reporting and analytics was carefully considered.
- Workflow Rules: We reviewed the capacity of both software for automated workflows.
- Customer Support: Options for post-sale customer support were also taken into consideration.
We chose HubSpot as the better choice for small businesses. HubSpot CRM offers low-maintenance, cloud-hosted environments for teams of any size who want access to account, lead, and deal management. HubSpot pricing is its biggest advantage over Salesforce as the system is completely free.
HubSpot vs Salesforce: Pricing & Features
HubSpot CRM is completely free for unlimited users. Salesforce, however, offers paid plans only, including an entry-level plan that is $25 per user per month. In terms of affordability, this makes HubSpot the clear favorite for small businesses. However, teams who want specific things like workflow automation, partner management, or access to phone support may prefer a paid plan from Salesforce.
HubSpot Pricing
HubSpot CRM offers its comprehensive plan for free. Included are marketing tools that can help generate healthy leads, sales tools like customized deal management that can help reps keep potential sales on track. Additional marketing and service features like ad management and live chat are also available starting at $50 per month.
HubSpot Features
HubSpot’s free CRM plan accommodates an unlimited number of users, setting it apart from the user-limited introductory plan from Salesforce. The package also includes pop-ups, reporting dashboards, document storage, meeting scheduling, and numerous third-party integrations through the HubSpot marketplace.
More key, free features from HubSpot CRM include:
Contact Management
New contact records are easily stored and managed within HubSpot CRM. Fields that display the associated company account, tickets, and marketing lists provide individual users with relevant information at a glance, and related activities like calls and emails are also logged in chronological order. Though not unlike the contact management offered with Salesforce, the layout is less overwhelming, which could make it easier for users to decipher information.
Email & Marketing Management
HubSpot CRM free users can select from templates to create custom, branded emails, and newsletters. The emails and newsletters can be scheduled for automated sending in the future, and administrators can monitor engagements like opens, clicks, and replies as they occur. The ability to capture such detailed data can be especially useful in the development of future and more successful marketing campaigns.
Pipeline Management
Despite the fact that price books and products are not included with the free plan as they are with Salesforce’s Professional plan and some HubSpot competitors, deals can be created, updated, and quantified with the addition of dollar values that reflect revenue potential. Deal stages and forecast percentages can be customized as well so that they mirror internal processes and promote continuity between the business itself and its CRM.
HubSpot CRM contact interface
Source: HubSpot
Salesforce Pricing
Salesforce’s introductory tier is $25 per user per month and includes essential CRM functionality like the management of accounts, contacts, leads, and deals, as well as customizable sales processes, dashboards, and reports. Additional packages offer more features and range from $75 to $150 per user per month.
Salesforce Tiered Features
Essentials | Professional | Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|---|
Pricing | $25/user per month | $75/user per month | $150/user per month |
Users | Up to 10 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Account, Contact, Lead & Opportunity Management | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Customizable Reports & Dashboards | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Customizable Sales Process | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Gmail and Outlook Integration | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Email Templates | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Web-to-Lead Capture | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Collaborative Forecasting | N/A | ✔ | ✔ |
Orders, Price Books, Products, and Quotes | N/A | ✔ | ✔ |
Opportunity Registration | N/A | ✔ | ✔ |
Rules-Based Scoring | N/A | ✔ | ✔ |
Sales Teams | N/A | N/A | ✔ |
Workflow and Approval Automation | N/A | N/A | ✔ |
Essentials
Salesforce Essentials is a comprehensive CRM software plan available for $25 per user per month. Web forms can be fed into the system as new leads, kick-starting the sales cycle, and up to 10 users can manage accounts, contacts, leads, deals, and support cases.
Essentials plan subscribers gain access to dashboards and reports which can be configured to show the fields and data most meaningful to individual teams. Although the plan does not offer email tracking as does HubSpot, email integration with Gmail and Outlook is supported, as well as the use of pre-loaded email templates designed for engaging and following up with prospects.
Professional
The Professional plan is $75 per user per month and adds rules-based lead scoring and collaborative forecasting onto the base plan. Forecasting helps sales teams collectively monitor pipeline health, including estimated close dates, and, as a result, helps companies improve inventory management, order fulfillment, and resource planning.
Also included are the management of price books, products, sales quotes, and sales orders as well as opportunity registration. Not only can salespeople provide detailed product and price information, they can acknowledge and reward resellers who have identified and helped to drive new business. HubSpot does not offer any of these features with its free plan which makes it perfect for teams with partner programs and those who want built-in inventory management.
Enterprise
Salesforce’s Enterprise plan is $150 per user per month and builds on the features of the preceding plans by introducing automated workflows, something not included with HubSpot. Administrators can enact rules that signal the automatic performance of specific tasks like lead assignment when triggered by specific criteria such as geographical location. It’s perfect for teams who want to relieve administrators who are stretched thin by tasks and requests.
Even larger businesses may require a CRM plan that offers even more. Salesforce offers an Unlimited option for a price of $300 per user per month that includes unlimited workflow rules and 24-hour technical support services. We think this plan is best for sales organizations with multiple departments and teams with varied needs.
Salesforce opportunity reporting
Source: Salesforce
HubSpot vs Salesforce: Ease of Use
HubSpot and Salesforce each make information readily available in the form of reports and dashboards that can help users to quickly action next steps. However, in a comparison of site navigation, customization, and everyday use, HubSpot is the clear winner.
HubSpot Ease of Use
HubSpot employs a simple, clean layout and is extremely easy to use. Icons are arranged neatly, and page names are clearly labeled. End users, and even those who are not particularly adept at working with new technologies, should not feel overwhelmed using HubSpot without much training.
Salesforce Ease of Use
Salesforce’s platform is very feature-laden, and the complex layout can make site navigation difficult for some users. End-user training is especially helpful for new Salesforce users and can help speed up and improve adoption.
HubSpot vs Salesforce: Customer Service
HubSpot only offers email and phone support to some of its customers, while all Salesforce users have access to email and phone support during business hours. Both provide access to ample product resources, but overall, Salesforce offers a more flexible service experience.
HubSpot Customer Service
HubSpot offers live chat from its website, putting visitors in touch with representatives quickly. However, access to email and telephone support are not included with its free CRM plan, and free subscribers must rely on HubSpot’s online knowledge base.
Salesforce Customer Service
Salesforce provides email and telephone support to all customers as well as the option to upgrade to 24-hour support. Salesforce also offers free trial and paying customers multiple web-based resources including how-to videos, role-specific training and certifications, and a community of fellow users who can exchange best practices.
HubSpot vs Salesforce: Customer Reviews
Both HubSpot and Salesforce score well with users whose comments reveal how truly effective the platforms can be in different business environments. However, HubSpot vs Salesforce, as it concerns customer reviews, sees HubSpot with the slight edge.
HubSpot Customer Reviews
HubSpot boasts a rating of 4.5 stars out of 5 with our readers. They mention the user-friendly interface and marketing automation as their favorite features. Some readers, however, say that pages can be slow to load and that the platform sometimes feels sluggish. To learn more, check out our HubSpot user reviews page.
Salesforce Customer Reviews
Though some of our readers say that it can be challenging to learn, most of them rate Salesforce favorably for its dashboards, reporting, and ability to integrate with other applications. Read more reviews on our Salesforce user reviews page.
Bottom Line – Salesforce vs HubSpot
The winner in the match-up between Salesforce vs HubSpot comes down to what you need in terms of pricing and specific functionality. Teams who need access to phone support and businesses with reseller programs should consider Salesforce. Most small businesses, however, will appreciate HubSpot’s free CRM plan for supporting customization, comprehensive marketing, sales, and service management, and unlimited users.
HubSpot CRM gives users access to account, contact, and ticket management, plus the ability to track customized deals and emails opens and clicks, helping both marketing and sales teams to perform and improve upon activities. To start using HubSpot for free or to learn more, visit its website today.
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