Hubspot vs Salesforce – Which CRM to choose?

It is likely that you are thinking of hiring a CRM to start automating the management of your business, but you are having a hard time deciding on one. Your options are probably Hubspot or Salesforce , because these CRMs are two of the best you can find on the market.

But, obviously they are not 2 identical tools, they have their small differences that can make you opt for one or the other. Who will win in the Hubspot vs Salesforce battle?

Why hire a CRM like Hubspot or Salesforce?

CRMs are increasingly important for companies, both large and SMEs, so it is essential to choose the CRM that best suits your business. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, so pay attention to the features that matter most to you based on your business needs.

7 Factors to take into account to opt for Hubspot or Salesforce

Below we detail 7 factors that you should look at to choose between one of the 2 best CRMs on the market, Hubspot or Salesforce .

For each factor we will declare a winner, who will take the point. A tie can be declared and half a point awarded to each. If either of them manages to reach 4 pts, they win.

The fight begins!

Hubspot-VS-Salesforce-2

Image source: hubspotusercontent10.net

User interface and configuration

HubSpot is easier to learn, but has less customization and menu options than Salesforce.

The main objective of any CRM is to facilitate the management and organization of each and every one of the data related to the client. This includes contacts, leads , and active accounts alike.

Need to quickly see the biggest deals in your pipeline and who to contact to close the sale?

How about adding phone numbers and emails of new sales leads you met at a conference?

These are precisely the types of activities that both Salesforce and HubSpot are designed to simplify. And because of the sheer amount of data you’ll be working with, ease of use is crucial.

Both dashboards have a similar structure , with the ability to quickly navigate to Accounts, Contacts, Deals, and Reports via a menu bar near the top of the screen. In both systems, you can easily drill down to specific contacts, for example, to see things like the contacts’ email address, phone number, and activity history. And by setting up both, you can easily import your contacts through Excel.

As you get set up, you’ll notice that Salesforce offers a lot more options for how menus can be customized , as users can add tabs for items like Quotes, Tasks, Files, and Sales Groups , along with the standard tabs.

When you become a Salesforce customer, you’ll likely get a dedicated account manager and implementation specialist who will take the time to make sure the user experience is optimized to best meet your needs. Or what is more recommended, you will have a Salesforce partner who will help you with everything you need. This is useful to make sure you are getting the most out of your new tool.

HubSpot is quite a bit easier. It can be configured in many cases in a matter of minutes because the basic version is free, without the need to go through a sales process, make an initial payment or sign a contract.

In summary, in this case it is difficult to choose one, Husbpot may be easier to learn but Salesforce provides you with more and better options.

So for now we split the first Hubspot point 0.5-0.5 Salesforce.

Overall toolset

Now, let’s compare HubSpot and Salesforce in terms of the toolsets each offers . Here, Salesforce often comes out on top in different surveys for its richness of features.

Salesforce has many tools , such as Marketing Cloud , Social Studio, and Mobile Studio among many others, that come with a full set of features and varied prices. When used together, all of these tools allow the marketing team to support the sales team with qualified leads.

It’s true that Salesforce has a better set of tools and offers more customization , but maybe that’s too much for a small business. It is more suitable for companies with a high business level that have the qualified personnel to make it work, or a Salesforce partner that helps them in all the processes. 

With HubSpot, your business can personalize messaging for all levels of your audience. The software offers a number of marketing automation tools, such as lead streams and collection forms, to help keep your sales pipeline active.

At the same time, HubSpot’s marketing automation tools help optimize audiences and enable contact segmentation. Marketing Hub at HubSpot also includes tools for content strategy, split testing, and even integrates with Google Search Console.

In short, Salesforce has a more extensive and powerful set of tools, here we think it’s clear…first point for Salesforce.

Generation, Recruitment and Management of Leads

Salesforce has highly customizable lead management and scoring, while HubSpot can get small businesses up and running quickly with lead generation through content marketing.

HubSpot is unique in its approach to inbound marketing and content marketing ; in fact, that is the core of what the company does. Users can pay extra to use HubSpot as a content management system (CMS) to post blogs and white papers, for example, to generate inbound leads that feed directly into the CRM.

Salesforce requires you to perform these activities in a separate service, like Marketo, and then integrate it with CRM.

Both CRMs have basic lead capture functionality, with the ability to automatically import contact information into the system when someone makes an inquiry through your website, for example. And both systems allow users to email contacts directly from the CRM or connect the system to an email client like Gmail so that any correspondence is automatically recorded in the CRM.

Once your leads are in your system, Salesforce shines with its customization options . In HubSpot, you can add and edit certain fields within a lead, contact, or deal (for example, country, industry, gender, etc.). But Salesforce takes things a step further, with the ability to set up lead assignment rules, automatically add leads to marketing lists, and set security access levels so only authorized users see the kinds of data they’re supposed to see. must see.

In this case, in generating and capturing leads Hubspot would win , but in Salesforce management it may be slightly above , so we are going to give each one a tie and a half point.

Hubspot 1-2 Salesforce.

Pipelines

The more complex your sales processes are , the better Salesforce will perform. For small and medium businesses, businesses with “normal” sales cycles, HubSpot streamlines the process better.

When it comes to pipeline management, Salesforce is more customizable by setting up deal stages that match your business’ sales processes.

While HubSpot allows users to edit and add to its seven preconfigured sales pipeline stages (Appointment, Qualified, Show Scheduled, Built-in Decision Maker, Contract Sent, Closed Won/Lost), the system only allows one pipeline per organization. That means if you have very different sales processes for your products or services, Salesforce may be a better option.

The conclusions are the same. Unless you have a particularly complex sales pipeline and process, Hubspot may be a better option, but if your sales processes are particularly complex and vary quite a bit between services, Salesforce may be the right choice.

In this case we are going to stay with Salesforce, although as you are seeing, there is not one better than another, but it depends a lot on your needs. Salesforce winner.

Hubspot 1-3 Salesforce.

Integrations with other tools

All modern businesses today use third-party integrations as a means to increase productivity and efficiency . These integrations help a CRM directly connect and exchange data with other software, making workflow easier.

Since it’s been around longer, it’s easy to integrate Salesforce with a larger number of third-party plugins. Salesforce data exchange features come standard with multiple HR, ERP, and SCM software such as SAP.

Plus, Salesforce even has its own dedicated AppExchange that provides access to thousands of integrations. AppExchange is considered to be one of the largest (if not the largest) commercial app marketplaces on the internet.

However, when it comes to sales-focused integrations, HubSpot CRM is much better than Salesforce . Sales teams typically need to focus on marketing data, and HubSpot acts as the central database for all sales and marketing processes.

Since its launch in 2014, HubSpot has been increasing the number of integrations it offers . The CRM currently provides over 200 integrations and is still expanding. In addition, companies can also use OpenAPI to create custom integrations.

That is why we are going to give a draw and a point to distribute.

Hubspot 1’5-3’5 Salesforce

Customer Support

On the customer support front, HubSpot is way ahead of Salesforce . Even without a paid plan, you get access to HubSpot’s rich library of online content. The company also offers many courses on HubSpot Academy , its own e-learning center where you can brush up on HubSpot tools.

Should you decide to become a paying customer, HubSpot also gives you access to 24-hour phone support . You even have the option to contact customer support via email and you can take advantage of the live chat feature.

However, with Salesforce, you’ll need to pay for a paid plan to get access to any form of customer service . With low-level licenses, the support you get is somewhat limited; once you hit the enterprise level, you’ll have access to the wealth of Salesforce resources in the Trailhead hub.

There is no question about the fact that HubSpot is the clear winner when it comes to customer support. Their inbound marketing expertise, rich content library, and 24/7 customer support lead the way.

Winner: HubSpot

Prices

HubSpot ‘s pricing model caters to small, medium, and large businesses by breaking down its software into a variety of tools with more basic features that are also cheaper, benefiting small and medium-sized businesses that can’t afford , (and they don’t need) the complete pack of all the functionalities.

When it comes to pricing, Salesforce and HubSpot have drastically different models , and the needs of each individual business will determine which is most appropriate.

If you’re just starting out Hubspot may be a better option , as you may only need certain features, if you want to go all-in from scratch, you should go to each one’s website and compare the plans you’d need in each CRM .

(No, we do not dare to put exact prices because these can always vary over time)

For its accessibility to SMEs, we would say that Hubspot wins in this case.

Conclusions of Hubspot vs Salesforce. Which one do we choose?

In our 7-round bout we declared a technical tie between Salesforce and Hubspot . The reality is that it depends a lot on your company and what you need, although Salesforce is increasingly adapting to SMEs and small businesses and is beginning to stand out as the best current CRM.

If you are an SME, years ago Hubspot would have been the best option, nowadays it is not so clear, if instead you are a large company it will depend on your sales processes and what you need exactly, and also on your priorities or what you give more importance, but Salesforce is probably the best option. 

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SAKHRI Mohamed
SAKHRI Mohamed

I hold a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and International Relations in addition to a Master's degree in International Security Studies. Alongside this, I have a passion for web development. During my studies, I acquired a strong understanding of fundamental political concepts and theories in international relations, security studies, and strategic studies.

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