Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools have become indispensable in any business' quest to provide the best service possible. And among the plethora of these platforms, HubSpot and Salesforce emerge as the more popular names. Thanks to their reliability and unique features, they have become leaders. Here's a quick guide on how these two fare against each other to help you decide which is the one for you.
Overview of HubSpot and Salesforce
Let's take a quick look at HubSpot and Salesforce to give you an idea of how they compare:
An all-in-one platform for growing businesses, Hubspot provides a wide array of tools for marketing, customer service, and sales. It shines with an easy-to-navigate interface, flexible paid plans, and a free tier one, among other features. One of its best strengths is its focus on inbound marketing. However, compared to Salesforce, HubSpot has fewer options for customization and reporting capabilities.
On the other hand, Salesforce is a favorite CRM platform, thanks to its highly customizable solutions for sales, marketing and customer service. It shines in handling complex sales processes with its extensive customization options, deep functionality, and robust reporting and analytics. Compared to HubSpot, Salesforce has a steeper learning curve and is a bit on the expensive side.
Features Comparison
Choosing between HubSpot and Salesforce will depend on your specific business needs. To find out which you should choose between the two, let's take a closer look at what each can offer:
Contact and Lead Management
HubSpot and Salesforce both allow for contact organization, interaction tracking, and lead qualifying. However, Salesforce will give you more advanced features such as lead scoring and nurturing for a more sophisticated approach.
Sales Forecasting
HubSpot only has the most basic tools for sales forecasting compared to Salesforce which has robust forecasting capabilities with its customizable dashboards to give you in-depth sales pipeline insights.
Email Tracking
Both these platforms track email opens, clicks, and engagement. However, Salesforce will provide more detailed tracking with its advanced analytics tools.
Interaction Tracking
HubSpot can track website visits and form submissions, while Salesforce can create custom objects for richer data collection.
Integrations
Both these CRM tools integrate with popular marketing and sales apps. Still, only Salesforce can speak of more extensive integration options that allow for connection to a multitude of software.
Customizability
Salesforce has a slight edge here as it offers highly customizable options for creating custom fields, workflows, and automation. HubSpot provides customization options but is limited.
Ease of Use
When it comes to ease of use, HubSpot tops the user-friendliest CRM list. It has clear menus, intuitive icons, and a drag-and-drop functionality. All of these translate to building workflows, emails, and landing pages quickly and easily. Its extensive onboarding resources and in-app tutorials further lower its learning curve, making it suitable for non-technical users.
On the other hand, Salesforce is packed with features specifically geared toward the more complex sales processes. This is why it has a steep learning curve, which can be frustrating for users with limited technical skills. While Salesforce offers granular controls for tailoring the platform to a business's specific needs, you will need sufficient training and knowledge to handle and navigate its more advanced technicalities.
User Interface
HubSpot boasts of a clean and sleek interface that prioritizes positive user experience. Its clear menus and easy-to-access features all point to a modern aesthetic. On the flip side, Salesforce focuses on functionality with its data-driven layout. It prioritizes displaying information and metrics. While it offers customization, it is way behind HubSpot's detailed offerings.
Ease of Setup and Customization
Now that we see the clear divide with the ease of use in these two platforms, we can differentiate each of their setups. HubSpot has an intuitive user interface that is faster to set up than Salesforce's, thanks to its basic configuration. This, while Salesforce's extensive customization options makes setting it up time-consuming. It may even require in-house expertise or the assistance of an external consultant.
Pricing
Here's a breakdown of the pricing plans of HubSpot and Salesforce:
HubSpot
- Free: Hubspot CRM is available for free with up to 1,000,000 contacts and unlimited users
- Starter: Costs $50/month
- Professional: Priced at $1780 per month
- Enterprise: Available at $4000 per month
Salesforce
- Starter Suite: $25 per user per month
- Professional: $80per user per month
- Enterprise: $165 per user per month
- Unlimited: $330 per user per month
- Einstein 1 Sales: $500 per user per month
Customer Support
Depending on your subscription plan, HubSpot and Salesforce offer varying customer support. HubSpot has a free plan that will get you access to a robust knowledge base filled with valuable articles, tutorials, and community forums.
Its paid plans will let you in on additional support channels, including email and chat support. Higher-tiered plans may offer phone support for your urgent issues and concerns. Again, the response times will depend on your subscription plan.
Alternatively, Salesforce offers a similar structure with its tiered support. Its free plan and lower-tiered plans usually have support options but are limited. It has resources such as online documentation and community forums that let users get the information themselves.
You will get access to priority phone and email support with faster response times as you go up the subscription ladder. In addition, its optional Premier Support plans offer dedicated account managers and proactive assistance for Enterprise customers.
HubSpot vs Salesforce: How to Choose
HubSpot and Salesforce are two CRM giants. However, looking closely at each of their features, you'll see that they cater to different business needs.
Choose HubSpot if your priorities include ease of use, marketing and inbound sales focus, and affordability. HubSpot is easy to learn and use, making it an excellent choice for those without technical skills. It excels in marketing automation, lead capture and nurturing which makes it the best option if you are looking to attract and convert leads.
Otherwise, if you have complex sales processes and deep customization needs, Salesforce may be your best bet, especially if you are a large enterprise. It is a powerhouse for complicated sales cycles, offering comprehensive customization options, powerful reporting and analytics, and advanced lead scoring.
