HubSpot CRM vs. Salesforce Starter

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
HubSpot CRM
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
HubSpot’s CRM enables growth-minded businesses to optimize their relationships with leads and customers. Through harnessing the power of carefully crafted sales, marketing, customer service, content management, and operations tools, the software aims to make it easy to unify team strategy and drive conversion. Additionally, the software allows users to connect with over 875 integration apps, APIs, and solutions partners to create a customizable user experience that suits the way teams work.…
$0
Per Month [Unlimited Users]
Salesforce Starter
Score 8.5 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
Salesforce Starter (formerly Salesforce Essentials) is a small business CRM that replaces the former SalesforceIQ product. It is priced at $35 per user, on a monthly basis, or at $25 per month for if billed annually ($300) and can be tried free for 14 days on a trial.
$35
per month per user
Pricing
HubSpot CRMSalesforce Starter
Editions & Modules
Free Forever
$0
Per Month [Unlimited Users]
CRM Bundle
$50
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
HubSpot CRMSalesforce Starter
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
HubSpot CRMSalesforce Starter
Considered Both Products
HubSpot CRM
Chose HubSpot CRM
The biggest and most notable reason for using HubSpot was price. We don't have a big budget so this was a viable option for us to use for our new and growing sales department. I had used HubSpot previously for a brief time and thought it was a good CRM but liked Salesforce
Chose HubSpot CRM
I was not a part of the initial selection process of HubSpot, but I will say that I'm glad we use HubSpot instead of Salesforce. The primary driving force for this is that HubSpot's base level layout if far more intuitive that that of Salesforce, and overall it seems like a …
Chose HubSpot CRM
HubSpot is easy to customize and implement without an architect
Chose HubSpot CRM
HubSpot CRM offers a user-friendly interface and robust marketing tools, making it ideal for small to medium-sized businesses. Salesforce Essentials, while powerful, can be more complex and better suited for larger organizations. We chose HubSpot CRM for its simplicity, …
Chose HubSpot CRM
(NOT SURE IF I TAGGED THE RIGHT VERSION OF Salesforce) My previous organization built so many customizations in Salesforce that it made it nearly impossible to use them efficiently, and it wasn't very good. Finance ran the show on the CRM adoption and didn't consult sales …
Chose HubSpot CRM
HubSpot blows the other products I have used in the past out of the water.
Chose HubSpot CRM
Like I mentioned previously, I love the built-in sequencing software that is in HubSpot. You don't need to spend extra money to pay for services like Outreach and Salesloft, and it's much cheaper than Salesforce!
Chose HubSpot CRM
HubSpot is more applicable for the business we are in compared to Salesforce & ClubReady because of the simplicity of it. The option to log phone calls, emails, LinkedIn messages, WhatsApp messages, etc. is incredibly valuable and saves time. The quote & deals functionality is …
Chose HubSpot CRM
HubSpot provides a robust amount of tools and integrations at an affordable cost. Most other systems have more overall limitations at a higher price point. HubSpot allows smaller businesses to grow as needed, and offers even more detailed tools when the time is right.
Chose HubSpot CRM
Salesforce is like this juggernaut that takes a lot of customization to get it working correctly. I have worked with Salesforce when the admin did a great job modifying the platform in such a way that it worked well, and I have worked with a company who did a terrible job of …
Chose HubSpot CRM
Salesforce was used for 2 years, and it's just too much. Wasnt a big fan of it and from feedback from management, it's overpriced for the use of the salesperson. I'm sure it has better uses for management but for the day-to-day task and sales flow, Hubspot is hard to beat and …
Chose HubSpot CRM
I’d say it only ranks behind Salesforce and Odoo in customization, and wins amongst all four when it comes to ease of use and scalability in startups and scaleups
Chose HubSpot CRM
Compared to Outreach + SFDC combo in many other answers in the review. Overall find it gives the same experience for a rep in a little bit cleaner package.
Chose HubSpot CRM
After evaluating other products, we settled on Hubspot for ease of setup, and the person performing the setup already had experience with Hubspot. Also, we found for the price we were paying; there were more features available than some of the other CRMs researched. Hubspot, we …
Chose HubSpot CRM
HubSpot offers more personalization possibilities, filters and features in general. Dashboards helps having real-time statistics and evaluate actions to take. After events such as trade shows the follow-up through automated sequences with lists of contacts per sales are smooth.
Salesforce Starter
Chose Salesforce Starter
Salesforce Starter is exactly what it says. It's specific to getting a small business up and running effectively, without unnecessary development or internal overhead required. It doesn't allow for a ton of customization, but it provides more than most other providers across …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
HubSpot CRMSalesforce Starter
Sales Force Automation
Comparison of Sales Force Automation features of Product A and Product B
HubSpot CRM
7.8
1590 Ratings
1% above category average
Salesforce Starter
8.8
7 Ratings
13% above category average
Customer data management / contact management8.61532 Ratings8.17 Ratings
Workflow management7.91502 Ratings00 Ratings
Territory management5.0184 Ratings7.87 Ratings
Opportunity management8.11435 Ratings9.27 Ratings
Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)8.41547 Ratings9.76 Ratings
Contract management8.0185 Ratings00 Ratings
Quote & order management7.71050 Ratings9.15 Ratings
Interaction tracking8.61492 Ratings8.36 Ratings
Channel / partner relationship management8.2186 Ratings9.75 Ratings
Customer Service & Support
Comparison of Customer Service & Support features of Product A and Product B
HubSpot CRM
7.4
1061 Ratings
2% below category average
Salesforce Starter
-
Ratings
Case management7.7987 Ratings00 Ratings
Call center management7.0854 Ratings00 Ratings
Help desk management7.5908 Ratings00 Ratings
Marketing Automation
Comparison of Marketing Automation features of Product A and Product B
HubSpot CRM
8.3
1401 Ratings
9% above category average
Salesforce Starter
7.8
6 Ratings
3% above category average
Lead management8.51322 Ratings7.86 Ratings
Email marketing8.11332 Ratings00 Ratings
CRM Project Management
Comparison of CRM Project Management features of Product A and Product B
HubSpot CRM
7.7
1452 Ratings
1% above category average
Salesforce Starter
8.6
5 Ratings
12% above category average
Task management8.21393 Ratings9.55 Ratings
Billing and invoicing management7.1724 Ratings7.05 Ratings
Reporting7.81285 Ratings9.25 Ratings
CRM Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of CRM Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
HubSpot CRM
7.6
1421 Ratings
1% above category average
Salesforce Starter
9.2
5 Ratings
20% above category average
Forecasting7.41120 Ratings9.25 Ratings
Pipeline visualization7.91350 Ratings8.95 Ratings
Customizable reports7.51309 Ratings9.55 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
HubSpot CRM
7.1
1356 Ratings
7% below category average
Salesforce Starter
8.1
6 Ratings
7% above category average
Custom fields7.71329 Ratings8.46 Ratings
Custom objects7.01155 Ratings8.45 Ratings
Scripting environment6.3132 Ratings7.35 Ratings
API for custom integration7.4945 Ratings8.45 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
HubSpot CRM
8.5
1313 Ratings
2% above category average
Salesforce Starter
9.2
6 Ratings
10% above category average
Single sign-on capability8.51174 Ratings9.26 Ratings
Role-based user permissions8.41250 Ratings9.26 Ratings
Social CRM
Comparison of Social CRM features of Product A and Product B
HubSpot CRM
6.8
898 Ratings
7% below category average
Salesforce Starter
7.7
5 Ratings
6% above category average
Social data6.7880 Ratings00 Ratings
Social engagement7.0870 Ratings7.75 Ratings
Integrations with 3rd-party Software
Comparison of Integrations with 3rd-party Software features of Product A and Product B
HubSpot CRM
7.7
1006 Ratings
6% above category average
Salesforce Starter
7.5
5 Ratings
3% above category average
Marketing automation7.6999 Ratings7.95 Ratings
Compensation management7.8657 Ratings7.25 Ratings
Platform
Comparison of Platform features of Product A and Product B
HubSpot CRM
7.9
1193 Ratings
7% above category average
Salesforce Starter
8.7
6 Ratings
16% above category average
Mobile access7.91193 Ratings8.76 Ratings
Best Alternatives
HubSpot CRMSalesforce Starter
Small Businesses
Salesmate
Salesmate
Score 9.8 out of 10
Salesmate
Salesmate
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.5 out of 10
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.5 out of 10
Enterprises
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.5 out of 10
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.5 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
HubSpot CRMSalesforce Starter
Likelihood to Recommend
8.1
(1634 ratings)
9.2
(7 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.7
(29 ratings)
4.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
7.8
(1482 ratings)
8.7
(4 ratings)
Support Rating
6.7
(23 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.8
(8 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
HubSpot CRMSalesforce Starter
Likelihood to Recommend
HubSpot
I can't really think of any scenarios or anything where HubSpot is is not appropriate but some areas that HubSpot is well suited like I previously stated is definitely the social media scheduling. Prior to HubSpot I would have to log on to each social account and upload status', images, videos separately and set posting times live whereas now I have control of all of our social channels and can schedule out posts for our most optimal posting days and hours. I also really love the automated workflows, it feels like I don't have to do anything and the CRM is making updates and sending things out to prospects/clients to our liking 24/7 whenever it is most appropriate. It's also really well suited for data tracking whether its my marketing team benefiting or our sales team and managers able to track calls. I know the sales team loves how well organized and grouped their lists and contacts are as it makes it easier for them to communicate within their general sector of the business
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Salesforce
If you own a business that has complex selling processes or requires integrations with 3rd party tools/systems, you should look at Professional, Enterprise, or Unlimited editions. Salesforce operates very well across pretty much every industry, but not all sales, marketing, and operational processes are created equal. If your marketing process requires a long list of sendable contacts then I would recommend adding on Pardot or Hubspot. Always start small and scale up, to avoid boxing yourself in down the road.
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Pros
HubSpot
  • Personalized email campaigns: It helps to create highly effective personalized emails with its wonderful content tokens.
  • Scheduling of meetings: It eliminates the bottlenecks in the process of meeting schedule with its amazing integrating capabilities with other calendar tools like Google calendar. It also ensures the automatic reminders of meetings to the participants of meeting.
  • Automation for follow-up : With its feature called "sequences", follow-up emails made easy.
Read full review
Salesforce
  • Tracking phone calls is extremely easy when using the app on the iphone. After a phone call is complete it prompts the user to enter in call details.
  • SalesforceIQ also automatically logs emails for us. This has saved us time from entering in information manually.
  • SalesforceIQ was easy to set up and allowed us customization for fields that were relevant to our business.
Read full review
Cons
HubSpot
  • A lot of my companies have one URL for a ton of branches and each branch has their own name and location so I have to manually enter all the information because they all have the same URL so I can't easily use an Excel file to import those contacts so a faster solution to this would be appreciated
  • Making Corporate and branch associations is very tedious, it would be nice if the companies that all share the same url would automatically associate with the corporate company so I didn't have to manually do it
  • I would like to not see all the extra feature tabs in my layout because I am not using them so it would be nice to be able to turn them off (even the ones that are in my plan that I don't use, it would be nice to turn them off)
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Salesforce
  • Table views can be sorted by column. Filters can be applied, but only to one column. Multi-column filtering like Excel allows would be extremely useful and a big improvement.
  • The ability to quick copy data in a table view would also be helpful, like (ctrl ') in excel.
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Likelihood to Renew
HubSpot
To be honest there are some barriers due to which we are unable to use Hubspot at it's full potentials. The region that we work in has some restrictions that don't allow us to make calls or text which leaves us to just Email to the client.
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Salesforce
No answers on this topic
Usability
HubSpot
It is a very intuitive tool that can be used without much training or preparation. You can easily search for what you want and quickly check the information of interest. The system works without any problems; there are no crashes or glitches that could affect daily work. Compared to the systems I've worked on, this one appealed to me the most.
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Salesforce
The system is very user-friendly on a desktop but lacks mobile friendliness. The Customer relationship manager disappears after the deal is signed. We struggled to get the system in a usable format, which was not cost-effective. The CRM system on desktop was great but way more complicated than it should be.
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Support Rating
HubSpot
Because when I needed help HubSpot responded immediately and provided me with the information I needed which enabled me to realize that HubSpot was even more customizable and easier to use than I thought! And I already thought HubSpot was very user friendly and easy to use, and then Support showed me how to manipulate the settings, columns and the appearance of the tool.
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Salesforce
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
HubSpot
If you've had any prior experience with cloud based marketing automation or group communication tools, you can do the implementation without paid outside support. Though getting to a SLA (service level agreement) would be best achieved with the help of a third party who can facilitate
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Salesforce
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
HubSpot
HubSpot is different as it allows us to see all deals as we wanted to compare to others as other apps don't have those features Hubspot has to view deals in different views and make it according to your pipelines the way you want to see the deals and data track the daily reports very easily and review our own performance for the day to grow more.
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Salesforce
more expensive but as an industry leader and go, the learning curve pays for itself in ROI in lost time in onboarding
Read full review
Return on Investment
HubSpot
  • HubSpot is great for tracking deals - we use the deal pipeline to understand the part of the lifecycle that each and every deal is currently in. It also provides good historical information.
  • The contacts section is great for storing and managing engaged users for our mailing list. We utilise this feature with the free version.
  • The customisable dashboard is a great feature that enables you to keep the most important information on the home screen at log-in
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Salesforce
  • It made the job more efficient for staff so they can spend time doing other tasks rather than configuring and maintaining Salesforce Starter.
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ScreenShots

HubSpot CRM Screenshots

Screenshot of Store, track, manage, and report on the deals (sometimes referred to as “opportunities”) your sales team is working.Screenshot of Our contact record enables your team to record and retrieve information on anyone your business interacts with, helping everyone to stay on the same page.Screenshot of The product library gives you visibility into the goods and services you sell, then associates them with individual deals. With products, you can easily track what you're selling to your customers and from what channels.

Salesforce Starter Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of