Finding the perfect sales and CRM platform is essential to furthering your business. On this page, we carefully evaluate two of the most successful CRM platforms, HubSpot and Salesforce, so you can make an informed decision that works best for your company.

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Key takeaways:

The platforms your sales, marketing, and development teams will require, as well as how large your company is. 

If your organisation is of sufficient size to demand a comprehensive CRM system such as Salesforce, know that merging it with HubSpot can result in powerful synergy.

Rather than being in opposition to one another, think of Salesforce and HubSpot as two sides of the same coin. Although these companies both generally target similar audiences and offer comparable features, their objectives are distinct. HubSpot’s CRM serves as a complimentary add-on to the paid sales and marketing software offerings, serving as a beneficial accent. Conversely, Salesforce’s CRM is the core base over which thousands of applications, integrations, and other tools interact. Both companies recognize the advantages of each other’s products, offering integrations so users gain from both systems. 

However, don't limit yourself to just these two options. There are tons of CRM solutions available - why not get personalised advice tailored to your company's needs? Visit our CRM software page now to receive quick, free suggestions from one of our technology experts. Don't hesitate - start finding the optimal solution right away!

Let’s take a glance:

Introducing you to HubSpot CRM!

HubSpot and Salesforce offer a comparable range of features, from automation and streamlining of sales processes to marketing tools, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) capabilities, forecasting and analytics, contact scoring, VoIP services, and customer service features. Let's dive into some of the core distinctions between these two powerful programs in more detail and see how their main features stack up against each other.

Sale reporting and forecasting with Salesforce - An over edge choice

When it comes to sales reporting and forecasting, Salesforce has a distinct advantage. Its platform offers built-in reporting and forecasting features, making it a superior choice for users who prioritize these functions. Additionally, Salesforce is more cost-effective on a per-user basis for forecasting, although it is a secondary feature for both platforms.

Although HubSpot's dashboards are impressive, Salesforce's standard dashboard provides a comprehensive overview of the user's pipeline, including estimated potential revenue and source data based on past and current information

The pipeline report in Salesforce provides detailed information on the number of sales in the pipeline, their estimated value, and the value of sales that did not convert.

To assess current leads, you can enter details such as the anticipated close date, the stage of the funnel, the expected amount, and the probability of closing. Salesforce's contact scoring tools use various customer fit criteria to evaluate the quality of leads accurately, especially when combined with a well-trained sales team.

HubSpot is also capable of providing solid forecasting and reporting features. Their custom report creation tool is user-friendly and useful for creating reports quickly, and you can watch the reports build out in real-time. While HubSpot's reporting appears more modern than Salesforce's, Salesforce offers superior functionality.

Both platforms provide useful reporting and sales overviews, but Salesforce offers more detailed forecasting, making it the better option for users seeking straightforward reporting and sales summaries.

Comprehensive marketing capabilities for numerous plans at HubSpot CRM

HubSpot's plans offer a comprehensive sales and marketing solution with more well-rounded marketing features than Salesforce. Unlike Salesforce, HubSpot bundles marketing features instead of offering separate plan packages or individual apps.

One example of an inclusive feature is the pay-per-click (PPC) ad management, which allows you to create and manage PPC ads from within the platform. This feature enables businesses to execute a wide range of tasks within one platform.

HubSpot's other marketing features include page optimization suggestions, email and landing page templates, triggered action-based marketing automation, social media account management and publishing, website and webpage builders, blogging, automatic site-wide SEO recommendations, and website performance analysis via Google Search Console integration.

Salesforce's marketing features are also extensive, including email automation, lead nurturing, AI capabilities, competitor monitoring, and site page creation. However, their marketing packages are priced separately from the CRM, with the lowest tier starting at $1,250 per month for up to 10,000 contacts. Depending on your needs, Salesforce may prove unaffordable and inaccessible to businesses with tight budgets. However, for larger teams, their pricing model could still be comparable to—or even more affordable than—HubSpot's.

HubSpot & Salesforce CRM tools come with great onboarding experience

Both HubSpot and Salesforce CRM options offer great onboarding experiences for new users. HubSpot provides a detailed, dynamic, and intuitive onboarding process that starts with a series of milestone guides and shows what tasks need to be completed to get started. The platform's dashboard layout is easy to navigate, making it simple for users to start using it right out of the box without a steep learning curve.

Salesforce has a relatively less involved approach to onboarding its users. It provides pop-up notifications that guide users through the process and brief demos as they navigate the platform's features. Additionally, there is a help dropdown menu located in the top navigation bar, which offers resources that are tailored to the specific page the user is currently using.

The onboarding experience for Salesforce may be slightly more difficult to grasp, as it divides the dashboard and its features in a particular manner. Users need to search for individual apps by name, and not all apps may be available for their plan. This can create some friction for new users.

HubSpot has integrated its apps and features directly into its platform, resulting in a clean and easy-to-navigate layout. The features are grouped into relevant categories, and if they are not available in the user's plan, a clear icon notifies them that an upgrade is necessary to access them.

Both platforms offer a great onboarding experience, but if easy onboarding is a priority, HubSpot is the clear winner.

Salesforce comes with better customisation

When it comes to customisation as an important CRM feature, Salesforce is the preferred option. It allows you to add specific new features with standalone apps, which can be mixed and matched with additional tools, and provides access to custom coding, making it possible to customize virtually anything you want. This is especially beneficial for larger companies that operate with complex or highly specific business processes. This year, Salesforce introduced the Code Builder beta, which has made coding even more accessible to users. This feature allows for development from anywhere, without requiring any additional software.

HubSpot also offers a high degree of customizability for most of its individual features, such as from-scratch and templated workflow, report, and task creation. TRecently, they have incorporated GitHub integration, which facilitates project code storage and leverages GitHub tools. HubSpot CMS is also highly functional and enables the creation of customized web pages, blogs, forms, and even simple applications. However, it does not provide the same level of CRM customization capabilities as Salesforce's custom coding.

With an abundance of apps available at Salesforce, HubSpot's app hub stands apart with its crystal-clear interface

The winner for the most extensive app selection is Salesforce. With App Exchange, users can access numerous third-party and native apps, including DocuSign, Mailchimp, Aircall CTI, Conga Composer, Salesforce Adoption Dashboards, and Zapier. Although the interface is a bit cumbersome, Salesforce still gets the job done.

On the other hand, HubSpot's App Marketplace doesn't have as many apps, but the experience is more polished and user-friendly. HubSpot created most of the app integrations, ensuring seamless functionality. The app pages offer comprehensive details, including feature highlights, transparent pricing packages, and utility roadmaps that showcase the apps' compatibility with other features.

For the majority of typical apps, you can find them on either platform. However, if you rely on more specialized apps, it's best to check both marketplaces to ensure their availability.

HubSpot vs. Salesforce pricing

To distinguish between HubSpot and Salesforce comparison, you can examine their pricing models, especially since the package you require can differ considerably depending on the number of users and the features that are most important to you.

Comparing HubSpot's Sales Hub with Salesforce's Sales Cloud is a suitable approach since they are more similar than their other products and come in several different packages.

Hubspot pricing plans

Salesforce pricing plan

HubSpot or Salesforce: Which is best for you?

HubSpot and Salesforce offer similar CRM, sales, and marketing resource management tools, packaged differently. In summary, Salesforce outperforms in reporting and customisation, whereas HubSpot has a shorter learning curve, offers a better interface, and provides a more comprehensive set of accessible marketing and sales tools, including a free tier.

As both platforms offer similar functionalities, it is advisable to create a list of price-affecting factors such as necessary features, number of contacts, and users to determine the most suitable package.

Product comparison: An overview

To simplify the decision of choosing between HubSpot and Salesforce CRM, the crucial differences to consider are external resources and company focus. Startups and SMBs with limited budgets and the capacity to handle more manual follow-ups for sales and marketing leads should consider HubSpot. It provides various potent features that come with the CRM Free package, which can aid teams in automating their sales and marketing processes.

On the other hand, established companies with a larger lead and contact base should evaluate Salesforce to determine if its features are worth the per-user cost. Since both tools can integrate, businesses can start with HubSpot and switch to Salesforce as they expand, minimising disruption.