March 28, 2024

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SalesForce vs. HubSpot: A Side-by-Side Comparison (2020)

When considering CRM solutions there are two major players that need to be talked about. This post on SalesForce vs. HubSpot attempts to do this to help.

In the year 2020, no matter what the size of your company or business the selection of the best client management software is not an easy task. I’ve just created this 6-Round head-on-head comparison for SalesForce vs. HubSpot which are two of the best options out there. Let’s see who takes the lead.

Many questions went through my mind while selecting the best CRM system. I asked how exactly I could improve marketing results with customer satisfaction. How can I opt for the best contact management software? In the end I managed to get the most of the best CRM system I selected for myself and I used the same selection criteria I’m using for this comparison.

The selection of the best client management software is no doubt an investment that guarantees the growth of your company and engages more clients. I’ve talked about Why Does the Right CRM Make a Difference in an earlier post and I’ve also talked about The 5 Best CRM Systems in 2020 so I’m not going to go into too much depth about CRMs in general here.

HubSpot vs SalesForce

There are as many differences between these two products as there are similarities.

HubSpot sells software specially designed for content management and search engine optimization under inbound marketing.

Salesforce is one of the cloud computing services that focus on customer relationship management (CRM). It connects the different customers and partners by using cloud technology. HubSpot enables small businesses to grow fastly with the lead generation whereas Salesforce possesses the attributes to streamline sales operations.

CRM is a model that automates and organizes marketing and sales for better customer service. CRM allows your team to maintain a relationship strategy by increasing shared intelligence and functionality. In short, I can say that companies manage their interactions with present and future customers under customer relationship management (CRM).

This detailed SalesForce vs. HubSpot comparison will help you out.  Remember, the comparison is based on the top six features you need to look for. It is not an easy task to compare two of the best client management software, but taking the features one by one can make things a lot easier. It will be a guide for your ideas to make a clear understanding of the right direction for solid reasons.

In this post comparing SalesForce vs. HubSpot we will be looking at the following key areas:

  1. Features
  2. Reporting and Analytics
  3. Marketing and Automation
  4. Cost
  5. Implementation and Support
  6. Scalability

ROUND 1. Features

Salesforce Features

  • It follows the lead process and shares an organized contact list with the team.
  • It assigns various tasks to the team and oversees the schedules.
  • It manages the analytics and sales for future forecasts and completes all contract requirements.

HubSpot Features

  • HubSpot learns about customer needs and creates targeted campaigns to enhance customer service.
  • It also examines new prospects for the support and products under the lead segmentation.
  • HubSpot boosts your revenue by targeting the sales and it is the core module of the system.
  • It also manages the contacts and sends email templates along with books the meetings.

Round 1 Winner?

If your target is the sales and content marketing field then try HubSpot as it better than SalesForce and easier to use.

ROUND 2. Reporting & Analytics

Salesforce Reporting & Analysis

  • Salesforce is always on time in terms of analytics and reporting as a small delay can cause the information to become outdated.
  • It provides the proper analytics dashboards and continuously receives and delivers the reports without any delay.
  • The output of the analytics dashboard is that users can access it and operate it easily with the best features of intuitive controls.

HubSpot Reporting & Analysis

  • The reporting and analytics of HubSpot evaluate the progress and marketing of the sale.
  • It comprised of reports, analytics tools, dashboards. HubSpot analytics tools do not provide a deeper idea of customer behavior and marketing trends.
  • It does not give deeper insight and metrics relating to the performance of the business by combing the CRM software.
  • It does not properly guide relating to the traffic tags or UTM parameters on your traffic data

Round 2 Winner?

HubSpot needs improvement in reporting and analytics. Thus, Salesforce is more beneficial in terms of Reporting and analytics.

ROUND 3. Marketing Automation Platform

Salesforce Automation

  • It is not easy to get accustomed to the software system and personal touch disappears with automation.
  • A high level of cost is included in the installation and for handling the system due to which it doesn’t increase productivity.
  • It is very difficult to every time update the system and deleting the irrelevant entries.
  • It also not easy to compete for the market advantage in terms of revenue and cost.

HubSpot Automation

  • Through HubSpot, you can attract the visitors, build the community, and convert leads as it is a marketing automation software.
  • It has no coding issues and most of the organizations already using it are familiar with it.
  • It enables content management systems to move in the right direction across multiple channels.
  • The team creates add-ons and peripherals at the right time for the system. HubSpot sends an email at the right time to your potential and valuable clients.

Round 3 Winner?

HubSpot offers better and simpler automation as compared to Salesforce with better tools and standards. As it is also easy to use at the user interface and anyone can access it easily even through the mobile app. The key point is that it is simple and easy to setup.

ROUND 4. Cost

Salesforce Cost

  • There is no free plan of Salesforce for the benefit and convenience of customers.
  • Salesforce tends to force and pressurize you to purchase preferably their yearly plans.
  • They use hidden tactics to attract customers and they start paying for Sales Cloud at $150/user/month for their Lightning Enterprise plan.

HubSpot Cost

The major feature of CRM is the fact that it is free in HubSpot and starter plans are as follows

  • Service hub: starts from $50 – $1,200 per month
  • HubSpot CMS: starts from $300 per month
  • Marketing hub: starts from $50 – $3,200 per month
  • Sales hub: starts from  $50 – $1,200 per month

Round 4 Winner?  

If your budget is low then you should go for the HubSpot as it also provides the Free (Forever Plan)

ROUND 5. Implementation & Support

Salesforce Implementation & Support

  • Salesforce is expensive and its setup and configuration are intricate. Only a plan of 14-day free trial offers by the Salesforce and there is no free CRM
  • It asks for the add-ons payment and cluttered interface makes tasks complex.
  • The Salesforce customer support is limited and most of the queries remain unanswered due to the weak support system.
  • The internet connection should be stable as it relies on it. So, for the persistency of business and CRM support connection must be secured.

HubSpot Implementation & Support

  • HubSpot provides the feature of free sign up and you can import all your contacts and can match the existing standards and properties. Hubspot easily integrates with Gmail and other mail clients.
  • HubSpot keeps the same software as your company grows and track the leads. It simplifies the administrative tasks by saving the contact information and emails following the CRM.
  • In HubSpot, CRMs can collect and oversee the data including the sales dashboards. Personal performance can also be evaluated and monitored.

Round 5 Winner?

HubSpot wins this round, not because SalesForce is not capable, but rather due to its ease of use. SalesForce can do almost anything you want, but to implement those solutions you need a dedicated team working on the solution. HubSpot by contrast can be quickly and easily configured with little to no knowledge and still be a useful solution.

ROUND 6. Scalability

Salesforce Scalability

  • Salesforce has the potential to design and scale the teams along with the thousands and millions of the users
  • Salesforce scalability increases with the increase in the needs of the customer.
  • It supports the merchandising, marketing, and artificial intelligence that maximizes the B2C and B2B user integration.

HotSpot Scalability

  • You can start with the free plans but as companies grow, they might need a more robust solution for their B2B and B2C requirements.
  • Sometimes HubSpot develops workflows as confusing and features are a little bit overwhelming.
  • Extra programming is required for integration in HubSpot and CSS knowledge is though required

Round 6 Winner?

Salesforce is better than the HubSpot as far as scalability is concerned, but what I observed that both needs the improvement

Verdict

It’s a tough competition as both, Salesforce and HubSpot are contributing more and more to the industry. Both have attracted millions of clients from all over the world. Both client management software have an extensive and reliable history. I’ve decided based on minor differences that HubSpot is better than Salesforce, especially for small and medium businesses. This does not mean that Salesforce isn’t a wise choice, it’s just there is a better and cheaper option out there.

About Author

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I am an ITIL Expert and extremely passionate about customer service, customer experience, best practices and process improvement. I have led support, service, help desk and IT teams as well as quality and call center teams in Canada and the UK. I know how to motivate my teams to ensure that they are putting the customer first.

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