HubSpot vs Salesforce: which CRM is best suited to your business in 2024?

HubSpot and Salesforce are both customer relationship management (CRM) tools that help businesses streamline processes to improve customer service and increase profitability. But which, if either, is best for your business? Find out in this detailed guide. 

Salesforce and HubSpot each have a lot to offer those in the market for a CRM, each boasting functionalities to help you organize projects, manage customer relationships and automate marketing processes, to name but a few. 

To help you discover which CRM is best for your business, we’ve assessed which platform performs better across eight different criteria:

• Features 
• Ease of use
• Security
• Customization
• Integrations
• Accessibility
• Pricing
• Customer support
  

But before we dive into the comparison, let's take a quick look at each platform.

What is HubSpot?

HubSpot is a CRM that aims to connect marketing, sales, content management, and customer service in one unified space. It is made up of several ‘hubs’ or tools that can be bought separately or used together, depending on your business needs. 

What is Salesforce?

Salesforce is cloud-based software primarily aimed at helping businesses manage their customer relationships. It is a digital toolbox that companies can use to track sales, manage customer information, offer customer service and market products or services. 

HubSpot vs Salesforce: how do they compare? 

1. Features

HubSpot and Salesforce are both CRMs that aim to create an all-in-one digital workspace for an entire organization. 

It is worth mentioning early on that HubSpot is best known as a marketing tool, while Salesforce is known for (as the name suggests) being a sales CRM. With this in mind, it’s fair to say that both products share features, to a degree. 

HubSpot and Salesforce both have extensive dashboards to help you track your team's progress and engage more people in the sales funnel. 

HubSpot’s main selling point here is its simplicity. The platform has an all-in-one approach making it a strong contender for small to medium-sized businesses that value a more user-first experience. 

What I like best about HubSpot Sales Hub is very easy to navigate. Its features are very useful for my daily work routine - Verified HubSpot user, G2 

Their interface has a distinct focus on marketing tools which we think makes it a stronger choice for businesses concentrating on inbound marketing strategies. HubSpots standout features include email marketing, ads software, marketing analytics, and 24/7 support included in your plan. 

Meanwhile, Salesforce is a tool more suited to larger businesses and not just because of its higher price point. It has a wide range of advanced features and customization options, making it an ideal choice for large or expanding businesses.

As a platform, it is better suited to handling the complex CRM needs that often come with larger enterprises, though it's consistently criticised for its clunky interface. 

Salesforce has a few standout features such as the ability to create custom databases with the precise information you want and build efficiency-boosting workflows. Not to mention its extensive app store and API functions, which make it a highly customizable tool. 

API integrations are super easy to work with inside the Salesforce platform - Verified Salesforce user, G2

Both platforms have strong automation capabilities, each embracing AI and integrations with open arms. For example, Salesforce has a native AI solution called Einstein, while HubSpot offers various AI-enabled features such as AI Email Writer and Social Caption Generator. 

The G2 reviews below from verified HubSpot and Salesforce users highlight the strengths of each platform: 

The best thing about HubSpot is it's a single platform where that connects you with everything to scale your business - Verified HubSpot SalesHub user, G2 

The best part is that once everything is set up & customized, it's fairly intuitive for our end-users to interact in meaningful & impactful ways - Verified Salesforce user, G2

Although some users are happy with the platform functionality, others noted some improvements that could be made: 

The features can be overwhelming for beginners. Out-of-the-box solutions are not very user-friendly and need some level of customization - Verified Salesforce user, G2

HubSpot's power is undeniable, but it does come with a slight learning curve. Getting to know all its bells and whistles might take some time - Verified HubSpot Marketing Hub user, G2

Both tools offer features that suit different user needs. Salesforce is praised for its extensive suite of tools and versatility for sales reps. From managing leads and opportunities to tracking customer support cases, it covers all bases necessary for larger teams. 

While HubSpot is less renowned for its sales capabilities, it’s still praised for its straightforward user interface and marketing capabilities, including excellent email automation and tracking. It is also worth noting HubSpot has a good enough content management system to host a website there. 

This, alongside its reporting and analytics features, makes it well suited to smaller companies that want to improve both their sales and marketing performance. 

2. Ease of use

In a direct comparison, HubSpot is understood to be easier to use than Salesforce, as it has a very intuitive user interface. In comparison, Salesforce is a larger and more complex platform that is more customizable, with an extensive app store and a well-executed API interface.

HubSpot users often share how easy the platform is to navigate and follow up with sales leads, as seen in the reviews below:

Being able to follow up with the clients and leads has never been that easy - Verified HubSpot SalesHub user, G2

Lead management is very easy and has made my job simpler as a representative to check all my leads and work on them without missing any follow up - Verified HubSpot CRM user, Capterra

However, the platform can take time to set up and become comfortable using. According to independent reviews on G2, extensive features can make it a steep learning curve for new users:

The platform can sometimes feel overwhelming because of its range of features making it take longer to get the hang of - Verified HubSpot Marketing Hub user, G2

There are so many features that take time to fully learn and set up in a way that's the most streamlined and efficient for our business - Verified HubSpot SalesHub user, G2

Salesforce’s user interface was positively spoken about by users, despite the tool’s complexity due to the number of features and degree of customization available. Users also highlight this in relation to scaling and flexibility, according to reviews:

It is intuitive to use, and provides a solution that is both flexible and scalable - Verified Salesforce user, G2

We've been able to tailor Salesforce to our specific needs, creating a CRM solution that aligns perfectly with our business processes  - Verified Salesforce user, G2

So, if you’re looking for a tool that is a functional and user-friendly solution and do not mind a longer adoption process, HubSpot is the smarter choice.

But if you have a larger team looking for a more customizable experience and don’t mind a more complicated UX, Salesforce might be a better fit for you.

3. Security 

When it comes to security, both HubSpot and Salesforce offer a secure experience and comply with the relevant laws and data regulations. They both also comply with strict security standards.

Salesforce and HubSpot each have a dedicated security section on their website, dedicated to explaining compliance, see Salesforce and HubSpot. 

Both are compliant with: 

• CCPA
• GDPR
• SOC 2
• SOC 3
• TRUSTe

Salesforce has several additional certifications based on geographies such as ASP SaaS the information disclosure certification system for Japan and the Canadian CCCS assessment. 

Ultimately, both tools meet rigid security and compliance standards expected of cloud-based platforms, so both can be used across a variety of businesses to streamline the customer experience and create more revenue from the pipeline.

4. Customization

Customization is something both these CRMs are consistently praised for across review sites. HubSpot and Salesforce users can each customize their dashboards, allowing teams to personalize their experience and access only the necessary data for their role.

Salesforce is particularly strong in this aspect, as numerous reviews highlight:

The ability to customize around any data solutions that your company needs is a huge benefit of the platform - Verified Salesforce user, Capterra

Meanwhile, HubSpot’s CRM customization allows you and your team to create and move custom objects, properties and associations to organize specific data models in your chosen CRM. As hinted at below: 

HubSpot can be customized and functionality can be greatly expanded through workflows and webhooks -  Verified HubSpot user, Capterra

Bear in mind that both platforms offer variations depending on the job function of users and offer particular customizations for these. 

5. Integrations

Salesforce offers a lot more integrations than HubSpot, offering 2,500+ integrations. That said, HubSpot is not far behind with its app marketplace being home to 1,000+ integrations. 

Across both platforms, users can integrate with key tools, including: 

• Microsoft Applications  
• Google applications 
• Slack
• Zoom 
• LinkedIn 

And of course, Salesforce and HubSpot can integrate. Both are praised for their integration functionality, though Salesforce seems to pip HubSpot to the post on this point, with one user praising its “integration ecosystem”. 

The most powerful thing about it is the integration with other systems and apps - Verified Salesforce user, G2

For sales teams, integrating Salesforce with another business platform enabled users to automate routine admin tasks like repetitive and manual data entry.

In comparison, some independent reviews suggest that HubSpot integrations are limited in comparison to Salesforce:

While the platform's integration possibilities are admirable, some more specialist or industry-specific integrations may be unavailable, necessitating workarounds or the use of extra tools - Verified HubSpot SalesHub user, G2

A more comprehensive set of integrations with certain specialized tools would be beneficial - Verified HubSpot SalesHub user, G2

That said, many users from both platforms praise their integration with one another, particularly when it comes to aligning sales and marketing teams. Due to this, many companies choose to buy both platforms, using Salesforce as a source of truth for sales and HubSpot for marketing, with their two-way integration keeping data in sync.

The integration with Salesforce connects with Hubspot's reporting, which is pretty convenient and something our previous tool wouldn't provide - Verified HubSpot Marketing Hub user, G2

We've finally achieved data transparency between HubSpot and SFDC and reporting is now a breeze - Verified Salesforce user, G2

6. Accessibility

This category covers both the accessibility of the platform and the accessibility of data within the platform. In terms of the former, HubSpot seems to rank higher than Salesforce, as one user put it: 

It's not a lovely or intuitive design like HubSpot, but what it lacks in looks it makes up for in functionality - Verified Salesforce user, G2

Users frequently comment on how simple HubSpot is to use in terms of its design functionality and accessibility to internal users. 

I like the accessibility of the program, it took me less than 30 min to understand it and learn the basics of how to use it  - Verified HubSpot Marketing Hub user, G2

Though Salesforce is consistently praised for its extensive tools and increasing teams' visibility into data, it is not as highly rated for its user accessibility. The platform has committed to increasing accessibility, particularly in terms of design, which is yet to be filtered down into user experience. 

The user experience is not good, I would like something more modern and powerful  - Verified Salesforce user, G2

Although, others disagree: 

Sales cloud offers excellent UI and accessibility, with this we can have easy access to opportunities and required data at our fingertips - Verified Salesforce user, G2

In terms of information accessibility, both tools are reviewed highly, with comments highlighting how using a CRM has changed their organizational power. When it comes to Salesforce, reviewers focus on this impact in their sales function. 

The most important aspect to us is that it allows us to keep all of our information and updates in one place easily organized and accessible across our organization  - Verified HubSpot user, Capterra

Salesforce Sales Cloud lets us integrate with multiple data feeds to give our organization the most comprehensive view of what our customers are purchasing - Verified Salesforce user, G2

7. Pricing

Salesforce and HubSpot are both fairly open about their pricing models, with greater transparency accessible within the sales process.

Put simply, Salesforce is a more expensive platform marketed at enterprise businesses and beyond. Although they do have a plan available for smaller businesses, users seem to still find the price point high. 

Salesforce Sales Cloud is expensive for small businesses - Verified Salesforce user, G2

Sales cloud can be a bit expensive, especially if you are a small business  - Verified Salesforce user, G2

Most Salesforce plans are ‘per user’, which means the cost can add up quickly.

In the UK, a small business user starter begins at £20 a month. This graduates to £1000 a month for their Marketing Cloud Account Engagement, a suite of marketing automation tools for any size team (up to 2,000 contacts) - this plan is also only available annually. 

For enterprise users, plans start at £132 per user per month. It is also worth noting that several chargeable add-ons may be added to your user plan, so not every cost is upfront, as noted in the review below:

The cost of paying for Salesforce licenses along with licenses for one or more plug-in apps can get quite spendy - Verified Salesforce user, Capterra

In contrast, HubSpot places itself as a market leader for small and growing businesses looking for a CRM solution that adds value across every team. 

HubSpot’s pricing plans state a set price for a set number of users on a given plan, for example, £396/mo for up to 5 users in their Sales Hub. 

Their Marketing Hub is billed based on contacts, as opposed to users. Customers seem to look favourably upon the pricing plans, commenting: 

The only thing is the price but believe me, it is worth it, I knew nothing about marketing CRMs when I started but HubSpot is amazing for beginners  - Verified Hubspot user, G2

Another user does note that, like Salesforce, certain features are only accessible for an extra monthly cost. 

Some of the features are barred behind expensive price gates - Verified Hubspot user, G2

Overall, it’s clear that HubSpot is a more affordable solution for small businesses than Salesforce, though it lacks some of the capabilities that large enterprise businesses may require. This is worth considering when comparing the two tools.  

8. Customer support

HubSpot is rated better than Salesforce when it comes to customer service. 

HubSpot is rated an average of 8.7 across its sales and marketing hubs for quality of support, while Salesforce is rated an average of 8.0. 

One of the main points highlighted by HubSpot users was how easy it was to access customer service over a variety of channels. 

The customer service time has been very helpful via chat and phone - Verified Hubspot user, G2

I've not had a lot of issues and when I do, the customer service and support teams are available to answer questions - Verified Hubspot user, G2

Generally speaking, HubSpot and Salesforce users can receive live support by phone, email, or via online chat. However, for Salesforce users, access to customer support over the phone supposedly comes at an additional cost. 

This has left Salesforce users on independent review sites at times unhappy with their customer service experience.

The customer service is bad. Unless you are looking to upgrade your account somehow or purchase a new product you won't be able to contact anyone - Verified Salesforce user, Capterra

In addition, some independent Salesforce reviews suggest that their customer service isn’t always the most reliable either:

Customer service is unresponsive sometimes and some emails and calls remain unanswered, they should be more dedicated toward customer support - Verified Salesforce user, G2

In a direct comparison of customer service functions, it is evident that HubSpot comes out on top. 

HubSpot vs Salesforce: which is best overall?

HubSpot and Salesforce are both market-leading CRM solutions for a reason. But they’re also rather different. 

HubSpot users get access to a suite of essential tools that are well integrated with a more modern user interface, particularly well suited for start-ups and scaling businesses. 

While Salesforce users, on the other hand, pay more for more. Salesforce offers double the number of integrations and a powerful CRM but is harder to customize and a difficult-to-use platform. 

If you’re looking for a CRM that primarily supports a sales team, you can’t go far wrong with Salesforce. But if you’re looking for a more rounded business CRM, HubSpot may just be for you. 

Juro for CRM users

Whichever CRM you choose, getting contracts signed when those deals are ready to close is key. To do this, you need a contract lifecycle management tool that integrates with your CRM. 

That’s where Juro can help. Juro is an all-in-one contract automation software that allows users to create, negotiate, sign, store, and manage contracts - all in one workspace. 

Book a demo below to help enable sales reps to create and track contracts from the platform they use every day.