HubSpot Marketing Hub vs. Zendesk Suite

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
HubSpot Marketing Hub
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
HubSpot's Marketing Hub is an all-in-one inbound marketing engine that includes tools for email marketing, landing page creation, social media marketing, content management, reporting & analytics, search engine optimization (SEO), and more.
$15
per month per seat
Zendesk Suite
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Zendesk is a customer support solution with built-in ticketing, conversational messaging, and live chat, designed to help businesses of all sizes and industries deliver personalized service at scale. Zendesk's AI agents are trained in CX to help Service teams resolve customer issues faster and more accurately while still providing a human-centered experience. Zendesk ultimately aims to help businesses improve time to value, reduce effort per ticket, and keep costs low.
$69
per month per agent
Pricing
HubSpot Marketing HubZendesk Suite
Editions & Modules
Marketing Hub Starter
$15
per month per seat
Marketing Hub Professional
$890
per month Includes 3 Core Seats (Additional Core Seats start at $50)
Marketing Hub Enterprise
Starts at $3,600
per month Includes 5 Core Seats (Additional Core Seats start at $75)
Suite Team
$69
per month per agent
Suite Growth
$115
per month per agent
Suite Professional
$149
per month per agent
Suite Enterprise
Contact Sales
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
HubSpot Marketing HubZendesk Suite
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredOptional
Additional Details20% discount available with annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
HubSpot Marketing HubZendesk Suite
Considered Both Products
HubSpot Marketing Hub
Chose HubSpot Marketing Hub
HubSpot appeared to be the most user-friendly, with intuitive interfaces and comprehensive training. We also liked the level of support offered by HubSpot when setting up the system, as well as learning how to be good marketers.
Zendesk Suite
Chose Zendesk Suite
HubSpot was a better product. Our organization was already using Zendesk and it was less expensive than Zendesk. That said, we will be switching soon.
Chose Zendesk Suite
Zendesk is currently on par with both of these services in that they are great ticketing software programs but are light in Contact/Sales management. The autoresponder with Zendesk is much easier to implement and customize compared to the other options. The option of the mobile …
Features
HubSpot Marketing HubZendesk Suite
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
HubSpot Marketing Hub
8.0
383 Ratings
5% above category average
Zendesk Suite
-
Ratings
WYSIWYG email editor8.2346 Ratings00 Ratings
Dynamic content7.9346 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content8.1321 Ratings00 Ratings
Landing pages8.3374 Ratings00 Ratings
A/B testing6.7298 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile optimization7.9369 Ratings00 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting7.9377 Ratings00 Ratings
List management8.8378 Ratings00 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences8.5290 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead Management
Comparison of Lead Management features of Product A and Product B
HubSpot Marketing Hub
8.2
374 Ratings
5% above category average
Zendesk Suite
-
Ratings
Lead nurturing automation8.0369 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead scoring and grading7.8336 Ratings00 Ratings
Data quality management8.1344 Ratings00 Ratings
Automated sales alerts and tasks9.0313 Ratings00 Ratings
Campaign Management
Comparison of Campaign Management features of Product A and Product B
HubSpot Marketing Hub
7.1
334 Ratings
4% below category average
Zendesk Suite
-
Ratings
Calendaring7.3318 Ratings00 Ratings
Event/webinar marketing7.0262 Ratings00 Ratings
Social Media Marketing
Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Product A and Product B
HubSpot Marketing Hub
7.3
358 Ratings
1% below category average
Zendesk Suite
-
Ratings
Social sharing and campaigns7.0354 Ratings00 Ratings
Social profile integration7.6343 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
HubSpot Marketing Hub
8.1
383 Ratings
10% above category average
Zendesk Suite
-
Ratings
Dashboards8.3380 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports8.1376 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports8.0338 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
HubSpot Marketing Hub
7.6
355 Ratings
2% above category average
Zendesk Suite
-
Ratings
API7.9263 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based workflow & approvals7.8294 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizability8.2316 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Salesforce.com7.5235 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM7.4103 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with SugarCRM7.093 Ratings00 Ratings
Incident and problem management
Comparison of Incident and problem management features of Product A and Product B
HubSpot Marketing Hub
-
Ratings
Zendesk Suite
8.8
173 Ratings
7% above category average
Organize and prioritize service tickets00 Ratings9.3172 Ratings
Expert directory00 Ratings8.2118 Ratings
Subscription-based notifications00 Ratings8.7119 Ratings
ITSM collaboration and documentation00 Ratings8.2122 Ratings
Ticket creation and submission00 Ratings9.4173 Ratings
Ticket response00 Ratings9.2172 Ratings
Self Help Community
Comparison of Self Help Community features of Product A and Product B
HubSpot Marketing Hub
-
Ratings
Zendesk Suite
8.2
157 Ratings
2% above category average
External knowledge base00 Ratings8.1151 Ratings
Internal knowledge base00 Ratings8.3144 Ratings
Multi-Channel Help
Comparison of Multi-Channel Help features of Product A and Product B
HubSpot Marketing Hub
-
Ratings
Zendesk Suite
8.8
169 Ratings
10% above category average
Customer portal00 Ratings9.1138 Ratings
IVR00 Ratings8.471 Ratings
Social integration00 Ratings8.4112 Ratings
Email support00 Ratings9.3166 Ratings
Help Desk CRM integration00 Ratings9.0128 Ratings
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Score 9.0 out of 10
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Score 9.0 out of 10
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Score 9.0 out of 10
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User Ratings
HubSpot Marketing HubZendesk Suite
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(668 ratings)
9.1
(208 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
6.0
(372 ratings)
10.0
(43 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(119 ratings)
8.8
(82 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(25 ratings)
9.1
(14 ratings)
Performance
8.9
(17 ratings)
9.1
(11 ratings)
Support Rating
8.4
(88 ratings)
5.6
(31 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.1
(8 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
9.1
(26 ratings)
6.4
(10 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.3
(48 ratings)
9.1
(19 ratings)
Configurability
7.3
(2 ratings)
9.1
(4 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
8.9
(5 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.3
(7 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.1
(3 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(3 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
HubSpot Marketing HubZendesk Suite
Likelihood to Recommend
HubSpot
As I said previously, I was not a fan at the beginning because, like everyone, I don't take change so well. Once I started following leads through HubSpot Marketing Hub, I integrated it with my email and created templates for what I needed, I started to see the positives immediately. My time working was better spent as I eliminated time put in routine tasks. I was able to track all communication in HubSpot Marketing Hub, we created systems in the office assigning tasks to one another and, through HubSpot Marketing Hub, our leads were able to book meetings in my calendar automatically. To be honest, if you are in sales and marketing, I cannot think of scenarios where HubSpot Marketing Hub cannot help. All I would like to say is, when using templates, pay attention to where you send them - you may need some personalization. I would encourage the management of HubSpot Marketing Hub to create short tutorials for beginners like me who need to configure and start using various features: setting up deals, templates, and dashboards.
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Zendesk
Being a customer support agent, I found it very good when it comes to send an email or call or chat- with the user. I can do all that from the one single platform which is so easy and time saving for you. It does not take much time to use this, We can chat- with the user and at the same time we can send an email to them as well.
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Pros
HubSpot
  • All-in-one software - the main thing HubSpot does well is the breadth of functionality.
  • Easy of use - personally, I find it more intuitive than Marketo, which is the other MAP that I know well.
  • Ads - I like that we can drill down on ads by channel, ad group, campaign, and even create and see performance data at each level.
Read full review
Zendesk
  • UI/UX; mature macros and automations, slick and well thought out UI.
  • Reporting, reporting, reporting. With user, org, and ticket level tags, we can track every aspect of our ticket flow.
  • Extensibility; the app marketplace is a great resource for expanding functionality from the baseline offering.
Read full review
Cons
HubSpot
  • While Hubspot has added some collaborative tools, I think this could improve. I'd like to see more options to comment on emails and ways of being able to share out changes as well as approval channels.
  • The ability to update ads via the calendar is pretty cumbersome. There's no good way to bulk edit or update. You have go into each one individually.
  • Real time edits would be nice. If you have multiple people working on the same thing, you'll get kicked out and your changes might not be saved.
Read full review
Zendesk
  • Is there a way for AEs and CSMs to be informed in a weekly summary of all their accounts and any tickets? Example: Disney submitted a ticket on XYZ. Google has an urgent issue on X still unresolved.
  • Is there a way for CSMs or AEs to have a Dashboard that's specific to their accounts instead of seeing all the tickets in the queue that are not relevant to them?
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Likelihood to Renew
HubSpot
Our business relies on the HubSpot platform to manage our marketing, sales and CRM processes. HubSpot marketing automation helps us define our activities and streamlines them in a cohesive and efficient way. Without HubSpot, we will have to revert to the 'old way' of doing everything with a variety of disparate systems.
Read full review
Zendesk
Zendesk is an amazing tool for communicating with your customers easily. The communication tickets from sellers to us or from us to sellers are stored, and there are statuses used to make communication easy. We have internal conversations between departments, linked with useful software such as Zingtree, Talkdesk, and Webs.
Read full review
Usability
HubSpot
While there are some frustrating things that pop up unexpectedly ("wait... I can't do X?"), I have found HubSpot to be easy to use and extremely helpful to my daily work. The documentation is really good, and when it's not helpful, the support staff have been amazing.
Read full review
Zendesk
Pros: The agent interface is sleek, contemporary, and relatively easy to learn compared to many other enterprise tools. For common tasks, admins are given point-and-click options- adding fields, modifying workflows, constructing macros. The knowledge base (Guide) editor is easy to use for non-developers. Drawbacks: Once you move past the initial things - complex automations, reporting/analytics in Explore, and/or customizations integrating the API, it requires much more advanced training to use successfully. Navigating between the different modules (Support, Explore, Chat, Guide) can feel very disconnected; often you are reminded that it really is a "suite" of products brought together -not really one unified platform. If you're using multiple brands managing simultaneous support tickets, or heavily customizing workflows to meet your brand, you may run into a bit of struggle with usability. So: it's a lot more user friendly than the palaces (Salesforce Service Cloud, ServiceNow), but is not used as quickly or with as much streamlined flow as a product made for a small shop. So if you are looking for a great balance, this is a good option if you are a net new organization or an organization on their way to scaling from 15 - 50 employee. Expect some elbow grease from the admin team once learning, adapting, and working efficiently once you move past the basics with your support tickets and initial customizations.
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Reliability and Availability
HubSpot
They have had issues with system availability over the course of days. Sometimes the system is unusable, other times updates simply take a long time to show up. It's better now but, from a reliaibility standpoint, HubSpot is not Salesforce.com yet. Still great software though.
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Zendesk
In the past year, I'd say I have only noticed maybe two hours total of downtime in my own usage. Very minimal.
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Performance
HubSpot
With all the new features in HubSpot, the system can get a tad slow sometimes... That said, most of the time it is lightning fast and I have no problems. Because most of the integrations are API, they silently work in the background. I have not had trouble with lag due to HubSpot integration
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Zendesk
There has been minor performance degradation on a very few days out of the two years I have been using the product.
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Support Rating
HubSpot
During the few times I've needed it, HS support has been accessible, helpful and efficient. Often rolling up their sleeves to make changes for you as opposed to leaving you with a list of instructions to decipher on your own.
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Zendesk
We rarely need to contact their support team, but when we do they are responsive. However there have been notable times when communication between myself and the support rep was challenging despite me providing clear explanation of the issue, screenshots, and a thorough explanation of the goal we hope to achieve. It took several back and forth attempt, on a few occasions, to get resolution on an otherwise simple request
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In-Person Training
HubSpot
I did the 2-day classroom at HubSpot's corporate office in Cambridge. First off, it was amazing to see their corporate office in general. They have such a cool office environment. But it was also great to have the ability to learn in a workshop format with other HubSpot users and meet my Account Manager/ Inbound Marketing Consultant in person.
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Zendesk
No answers on this topic
Online Training
HubSpot
I went through Inbound Marketing University in 2006. Great training and helped my transition from traditional (outbound) marketing to inbound marketing that I've been able to apply to a number of businesses from wastewater and water reuse, to professional services and SaaS. Share information of value to build awareness and trust. Answer customers' questions in a transparent way to generate more qualified leads. Understand the difference between a marketing qualified lead and a sales qualified lead and put together a lead nurturing program. Your sales and marketing efforts will see significant ROI.
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Zendesk
Zendesk has tons of available material for training - videos, webinars, articles, etc. The only reason this is not a 10 is because it can be hard to figure out how to navigate to these things and find what you are looking for.
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Implementation Rating
HubSpot
My biggest piece of advice for those who are implementing Hubspot is that you need to devote the time up front and learn how to use the product. Once you learn how to use Hubspot, it will be much more effective as well as much easier to use in the long run
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Zendesk
I was very satisfied. They have a free trial for 30 days and I recommend you do that and use it. It is very easy to get started with the basics and the build on over time.

The only thing technically complex was single sign-on and integration to Salesforce.com required some tweaks – otherwise setting up system was very easy
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Alternatives Considered
HubSpot
Other competing software such as Zoho and Boomtown may have more bells and whistles, but it is too cumbersome and has many parts that only advanced users can operate. With HubSpot, each function is within reach of the average agent. It doesn't overpromise and then makes you feel incompetent when you can't use it all...
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Zendesk
The customisable reporting every time. Our leadership reply on me to run my team and want to know what customers are telling us so they can elevate our products. We have extensive custom reports that tie up all aspects of our product and customer journeys. I've not found another product that allows me as much freedom as Zendesk Suite explore does, so far.
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Scalability
HubSpot
HubSpot is addressing this more and more. Currently you can assign tasks to designated sales teams, which grow as you grow. They've added free baseline products for those just getting started. These and more contribute to the scalability of HubSpot - so I gave it an 8 and am hoping for more in the future!
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Zendesk
WHY we will use Zendesk in HR and PD internally
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Return on Investment
HubSpot
  • HubSpot has helped us increased our lead generation.
  • HubSpot has allowed us to continue to grow our customer base without having to spend a ton of marketing dollars on advertising.
  • HubSpot has allowed our company to standardize our process and bring the company onto one platform for sales and marketing.
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Zendesk
  • Integrating other AI solutions for an organization with high volumes can cost about USD5000 monthly. With Zendesk AI and by building onto the same with AI powered apps built for Zendesk Suite we save a projected USD4000 monthly.
  • Robust Zendesk APIs have enabled us to integrate our internal system with a customized app saving us hundreds of hours every quarter spent loading customer profiles that are not loaded instantly from the app.
  • Plug and play apps like Round robin save us weeks of sprint delay timelines as they do not require additional coding or developer support to install and start using.
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ScreenShots

HubSpot Marketing Hub Screenshots

Screenshot of Marketing Automation with HubSpot. Here, marketers can define workflows for highly targeted and personalized nurturing campaigns that send leads and prospects the right targeted content at the right point in their decision-making process.Screenshot of HubSpot Analytics. These help track engagement with the entire funnel through real-time reporting on website performance, traffic and marketing effectiveness.Screenshot of HubSpot Social Media. HubSpot’s social media publishing helps improve scheduling and publishing social media content.Screenshot of HubSpot Blogging and SEO. HubSpot provides an integrated set of tools for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) which makes getting found online a natural part of the inbound marketing mix. More than a simple CMS, HubSpot provides an integrated authoring view with SEO-oriented suggestions as blog posts are written.Screenshot of Marketing Automation with HubSpot. Here, marketers can define workflows for highly targeted and personalized nurturing campaigns that send leads and prospects the right targeted content at the right point in their decision-making process.Screenshot of HubSpot Contacts. Integrating with most common CRMs, HubSpot provides a view of view contacts, and allows for customized and personalized email communications.

Zendesk Suite Screenshots

Screenshot of the Zendesk Agent WorkspaceScreenshot of Omnichannel MessagingScreenshot of Zendesk TicketingScreenshot of Bots powered by Zendesk AIScreenshot of Tone shift with Zendesk AIScreenshot of Zendesk ticketing side conversations