Your CRM is the hub of all communication and data for you, your team members, and all your buyers and sellers. If you want to grow your business, you need a CRM that is powerful enough to handle your data while also making it easy to scale. While competing CRMs on the market offer similar features, Salesforce and HubSpot dominate the industry for medium and enterprise businesses. Both platforms offer unique features and abilities, but there are a few key considerations that businesses should keep in mind when considering adoption or migration.
To help ease your process, we're going to take an objective look at both HubSpot and Salesforce to see how current users, or users looking to switch, can take advantage of these powerful platforms. We'll compare features such as marketing automation, lead scoring, sales pipeline management and reporting to help you determine which CRM is best for your needs. We'll also explore a hybrid model which uses both systems in a symbiotic, complementary fashion. 
If you're a current HubSpot or Salesforce user, you may be considering making a switch. While Salesforce is the most widely used CRM on the market, HubSpot has carved out new space in the industry with its dynamic, user-friendly platform.
If your business has grown beyond its original capabilities, or you're struggling with a cluttered workflow that doesn’t scale well with multiple users, it may be time to upgrade your CRM. This HubSpot-Salesforce comparison can help guide your next moves.
HubSpot is generally more affordable than Salesforce, with a lower monthly price per user, making it great for small businesses. Starter plans begin at $25/month and Enterprise plans start at $120/user. Find more info on HubSpot pricing here.
In contrast, Salesforce has a higher price but more extensive features. Their Essentials plan is $25/user/month, but it lacks the powerful functionality you’d get from a full-priced plan. The Professional plan for Sales Cloud is $75/user/month but it’s based on a “land and expand” tactic. This means that to get the full functionality, you’ll have to pay extra fees.
Here’s a quick price comparison created by HubSpot.
Salesforce is a complex CRM that is great for enterprise-level businesses. It's fully customizable, packed with advanced features, and built to scale. With seemingly endless features, Salesforce offers a CRM system that can easily outshine your competitors. That said, this level of customization requires highly technical expertise. If you don’t have the right team in place to execute this system fully, you may not see the full benefit.
By comparison, HubSpot is intuitive and easy for anyone with basic computer skills to navigate right away. It has been consistently ranked the most user-friendly CRM and is quickly adopted by teams big and small.
While Salesforce wins in features and customization, you have to consider what your team can actually use. If your business is better off with a user-friendly CRM, HubSpot may be the solution for you.
Automation is the key to scaling your marketing. HubSpot makes it easy for you to set up automated workflows, so that leads are nurtured throughout the customer journey with targeted email campaigns and personalized messages. You can also automate blogging, JavaScript actions, territory management, renewals, and more.
Salesforce offers automation for its Approvals, Process Builder Workflow, and Flow Builder tools, but it doesn't have automation options for blogging or JavaScript actions. If you want to use the same tools across multiple platforms and automate similar tasks on different websites—for example, from one blog to another—you’ll need to write custom code. Small teams and companies will need to resource extra time to use this feature effectively.
Both HubSpot and Salesforce are built to scale. If your company is on a growth trajectory, you're probably facing bigger data demands, a need for more efficient pipeline processes, and a desire to do more with reporting.
HubSpot is built on a SaaS model, so it has the flexibility you need for your business now and into the future. HubSpot CRM gives users access to every feature in real-time without any customization needed.
Salesforce is far more powerful and customizable than its SaaS counterpart. While it may need extra coding and technical expertise, its possibilities are nearly endless, and great for teams looking to build something new.
While some companies are choosing HubSpot over Salesforce due to its usability, if your business is looking for a highly customized process, Salesforce might be your best bet.
Choosing a CRM can be difficult, but what if you didn't have to choose? HubSpot and Salesforce can be integrated to allow you to pass data between both CRMs.
By integrating HubSpot and Salesforce together, you can easily send lead scores between systems, attribute revenue from closed-won deals, track offline conversions, easily import campaign responses, and automate your entire system.
There are a few cons to this system, namely:
A HubSpot-Salesforce integration combines the power of Salesforce with the usability of HubSpot, creating a full-service CRM that is built to scale.
HubSpot is an incredibly user-friendly CRM that gives businesses the ability to track leads through their entire lifecycle. The HubSpot dashboard makes it simple for marketers of all experience levels to find what they need quickly and keep their sales and marketing processes efficient.
Similarly, Salesforce is one of the most powerful CRMs on the market and is equipped with flexible, customizable features that can help any small business or large organization maximize marketing and sales efficiency. Salesforce has an intuitive, well-designed interface that makes it satisfying to use. That said, to get the most out of your Salesforce plan, you need technical expertise.
When adopting a CRM, it’s important to consider the level of expertise your employees have. If you're just starting out, Hubspot could be a great option because there is no need for training. That's not to say Salesforce is too complex to be effective; however, many marketers find that once they've mastered Hubspot, transitioning to another CRM can feel daunting.
Not sure what to do? Major Tom has expertise in both systems and would be happy to offer some advice. We are also a HubSpot Gold Partner and offer HubSpot consulting services to our growing list of clients. Reach out and let's connect!
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