Salesforce vs HubSpot CRM: Choose the Best Option for You

HubSpot CRM has the edge over Salesforce when it comes to affordability. HubSpot CRM’s free-for-life platform is an excellent option for budget-conscious small business owners who want a robust set of lead generation and contact management tools. Plus, the free version supports unlimited users so companies can continue to use the software at no cost as they scale. When users are to upgrade their plan, they can do so from HubSpot’s free CRM to Sales Hub.

Salesforce is pricier than HubSpot CRM overall, especially if you opt for any of Salesforce’s myriad add-on features. However, Salesforce’s Essentials plan is $25 per user, per month – only $2 more than the per-user price for HubSpot CRM's lowest paid plan (Sales Hub Starter). Salesforce doesn’t have a free version of its software, but there is a 30-day trial (14 days with Essentials). Salesforce Sales Cloud includes four levels: Essentials, Professional, Enterprise, and Unlimited.

HubSpot CRM has a solid feature set to help businesses effectively manage contacts, track opportunities, and generate leads. Many of these tools are available on HubSpot’s free platform; premium upgrades include advanced analytics, sales forecasting, and contact scoring. HubSpot CRM’s core CRM features are straightforward and accessible so anyone can learn how to use them in a short amount of time, regardless of technical skill.

Salesforce, however, boasts powerful features to help sales professionals optimize their workflow, access comprehensive contact information, generate accurate forecasts, and stay on top of every opportunity. Even the base Essentials tier includes custom reports and advanced automation tools. Of course, such high-level features contribute to Salesforce’s steep learning curve – but with proper time and training, sales professionals will see the benefits.

HubSpot CRM is regarded as one of the most user-friendly CRMs. Its guided setup, along with HubSpot’s vast knowledge base and quality customer service, make implementation a fairly simple task that likely won’t require outside assistance. Users appreciate HubSpot CRM’s intuitive interface and how easy it is to add third-party apps, although they wish reporting and customization were more robust.

Salesforcehas plenty to offer when it comes to features and flexibility, but the trade-off is a steep learning curve and a clunky interface. Setup is a time-consuming process due to the malleable nature of the software. Despite that, fans of the Salesforce platform praise its high level of customization, along with its excellent reporting tools and thousands of integrations.

HubSpot CRM includes a wide selection of pre-made report types that users can filter and customize, albeit with limitations. For more granular reporting, HubSpot CRM offers a custom report builder, although it’s only available with its two highest-paid plans. For baseline reports HubSpot CRM is quite reliable, but businesses that require regular deep data dives may want to consider Salesforce instead.

Salesforce offers basic templates and custom reports at all price points. Its higher-tier plans include advanced reporting features such as cross filters and buckets to help businesses better organize and group their data. Salesforce’s custom report builder has more variables than HubSpot CRM, which will allow business owners and sales leaders to build comprehensive reports based on any CRM metrics they wish to track.

HubSpot CRM’s sales automation features are largely tied to the sales pipeline. For instance, it’s able to automate email follow-ups, data entry, and team-wide notifications when certain actions are taken. Depending on the plan, users can set up as many as 1,000 workflow rules. However, sales automation is noticeably missing from HubSpot’s free CRM.

Salesforce, on the other hand, supports a much broader range of sales automation functions. Its point-and-click Lightning Flow Automation tool enables users to build flows and processes around nearly every function of the CRM. It can also automate internal admin requests such as expense reports and travel approvals. All Salesforce plans include a minimum of five workflows, with unlimited rules reserved for the highest tiers.

HubSpot CRM has a mobile app that features many of the user-friendly lead management tools of its parent software. It also includes app-exclusive functions like a business card scanner and the HubSpot Keyboard, which inserts HubSpot CRM contact data into compatible third-party messaging and scheduling apps. However, it falls short when it comes to offline access, a crucial component given how unreliable phone and wireless networks can be while traveling.

Salesforce’s mobile app syncs with the desktop version and allows for data caching of up to seven items at a time, including dashboards and opportunities. (The HubSpot CRM mobile app, on the other hand, only enables offline access for contact data.) The Salesforce mobile app also features AI-powered insights courtesy of Einstein Analytics, along with the ability to customize the app to match company branding.

HubSpot CRM and Salesforce both support a large volume of third-party applications. The ever-growing HubSpot App Marketplace currently has over 1,000 native integrations. Forty-five of those apps are free – some of which include Gmail, Mailchimp, and Facebook Messenger.

Salesforce AppExchange, meanwhile, boasts more than 7,000 apps that span a range of use cases, although most of them cost money to implement. Among the most popular free integrations in the AppExchange are Zoom, Slack, and Asana.

HubSpot CRM offers its paid Sales Hub subscribers 24/7 access to live chat, phone, and email support. (Note that phone support is not available with the Starter plan.) Users of HubSpot’s free CRM are unable to access these support channels, but they can turn to HubSpot’s active user community and vast knowledge base for help at any time.

All Salesforce plans come with email and live chat support, along with access to Salesforce’s community forums and knowledge base. Premium support plans can be purchased separately, regardless of which Salesforce tier you have. (Pricing for these support plans is available upon request.) They include 24/7 support, one-on-one coaching, and advanced diagnostics.