HubSpot vs Salesforce: Which CRM platform should you choose?
Which CRM should you choose between Hubspot and Salesforce? Here is a complete guide to help you select the best CRM adapted to your business!
In the CRM battle, HubSpot shines for its simplicity and efficiency, ideal for start-ups, SMEs and large companies. It offers clear pricing and an easy interface, perfect for sales and marketing teams.. Salesforce, on the other hand, is the choice of very large companies requiring customization and advanced functionalities, although more expensive and complex.
As you can see, the two CRMs are the best on the market. The question that arises is the following: Which one is right for your business?
A CRM is an investment that may not be profitable if it is not adapted to your type of business and the composition of your sales teams.
This article is a comparison that will help you weigh the pros and cons of the characteristics of these platforms and make the choice of the best CRM for the growth of your business. Let's go!
Hubspot, Salesforce: what is the best interface?
Let's take a look at the HubSpot and Salesforce interfaces. Which is the most maneuverable and the clearest?
Salesforce has a complex interface, with a lot of tabs that are not always intuitive and require multiple clicks for simple actions.
Results: navigation can be difficult, and learning the software takes a long time, especially when there is a large sales team to train!
In contrast, HubSpot offers a simpler and clearer interface. The tabs are organized in a more logical way, making navigation easier. Fast learning guaranteed!
In addition, HubSpot offers a wide range of educational videos and a detailed blog, allowing you to learn independently how to use all its functionalities and become familiar with the best practices in Inbound Marketing and Inbound Sales.
You can also pass 11 Hubspot certifications to become an inbound marketing expert ! And last but not least: it's free.
⭐️ The Growth Room review: For us, HubSpot is distinguished by its intuitive interface, unlike Salesforce, which has a much more complex and cluttered interface.
What are the features of Hubspot and Salesforces?
It is time to take stock of the common and distinct functionalities of these two CRMs.
HubSpot and Salesforce share several key features, including:
- Lead scoring and lead segmentation according to specific criteria.
- Lead nurturing to offer content adapted to leads and guide them in their buying journey.
- Marketing and sales automation, with emailing sequences to engage prospects.
- The Social CRM, essential for monitoring interactions on social networks and Social Selling.
- Sales support tools, such as managing appointments, quotes, and contract signatures.
These functionalities are more or less well designed according to the CRM. For example, HubSpot offers an elegant appointment scheduling tool in the form of a calendar, while Salesforce offers a less customizable appointment email. Here, the user experience is better on the Hubspot side.
But in practice, the main difference lies in their targeting. Historically, HubSpot targets marketers with tools that focus on lead generation : SEO, SEM, social media marketing, CMS, blogging...
These tools aren't found in Salesforce, which focuses more on the needs of sales teams, with functionalities focused on post-sales customer support, for example.
⭐️ The Growth Room review: you must make your choice according to your priorities. If you're looking for a marketing focused CRM, HubSpot is ideal, offering all the tools you need for lead generation. For sales-focused use, Salesforce is better suited. That said, both HubSpot and Salesforce can help align your marketing and sales teams with a common goal: lead conversion to increase sales.
What type of reporting on Hubspot and Salesforce?
A CRM must effectively support your teams in managing prospects, while optimizing your marketing and sales strategy. For this, a precise and efficient vision is crucial.
So which CRM excels at reporting?
There's no denying that Salesforce excels. Its highly customizable dashboards allow a detailed and real-time view of your opportunity pipeline.
However, HubSpot has made huge strides recently. With the launch of its custom report generator in 2021, almost all of the data in the interface is now viewable. Even more, HubSpot offers the possibility of integrating Google Sheets to overcome certain limits. He is catching up quickly!
⭐️ The Growth Room review: in our opinion, both are equal! It's up to you to see which of the two reports you are more comfortable with!
What customization is possible on both CRMs?
HubSpot CRM is very efficient in allowing salespeople to customize their settings individually. Users can create and save custom contact properties and settings, like lead scoring or customizing form fields.
This ensures theaccess to the most relevant data, presented in a clear and useful way.
Conversely, Salesforce centralizes customization by an administrator, which is perfect for maintaining consistent team relationships, but may be less convenient for each member. Administrators create tailor-made databases, ideal for businesses in specific markets.
However, Salesforce has limits on the number of custom objects available. While this is beneficial for some, it can be burdensome for other users.
⭐️ The Growth Room review: HubSpot is ideal for individual representatives, while Salesforce excels at managing tasks at an organizational level.
Hubspot, Salesforce: what are the rates?
Let's start with the Hubspot rates. Big advantage: you can use the platform for free, with no time limit. But if you want advanced features like the CMS for marketing, or unlimited information on contacts and businesses for the salesperson, you have to subscribe to Hub Marketing Pro or Hub Sales Pro.
The “Starter” pack starts at 46€/month. For more functions, opt for “Pro” (740€/month) or “Enterprise” (2944€/month). To properly compare HubSpot offers according to your needs, you can talk to an expert from our Hubspot agency
On the Salesforce side, no free version after the 30-day trial. The price varies according to the number of users and the add-ons chosen. Even with a tailor-made plan, plan for around 150€/month per user for basic functionalities such as email automation or API integration.
⭐️ The Growth Room review: It all depends on what you plan to use your CRM for and how much budget you are prepared to spend on it. However, we recommend that you start with the free version of Hubspot.
Why? Its very easy interface will allow you to set up useful actions for your sales team. In a second step, you can upgrade to the paid version according to your needs.
Besides, as a certified agency, we can help you get the most out of your Hubspot CRM !
Hubspot vs Salesforce: Summary
To make your choice even easier, we have put together a comparison of the two CRM platforms for you: