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HubSpot CRM vs Salesforce Essentials comparison

HubSpot and Salesforce are both solutions in the CRM category. HubSpot is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.2, while Salesforce is ranked #17 with an average rating of 7.8. HubSpot holds a 2.2% mindshare in CRM, compared to Salesforce’s 0.3% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of HubSpot users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Salesforce users who would recommend it.
HubSpot CRM
Read 47 HubSpot CRM reviews
  • 959 Views
  • 649 Comparison Views
98% willing to recommend
Salesforce Essentials
Read 13 Salesforce Essentials reviews
  • 108 Views
  • 55 Comparison Views
91% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

HubSpot CRM and Salesforce Essentials compete in the CRM category. HubSpot appears to have the upper hand for small businesses due to its affordability and ease of use, while Salesforce offers a broader feature set for businesses with complex needs.

Features: HubSpot CRM is known for its strong integration capabilities, particularly with email systems, and a suite of marketing tools that includes automated sales sequences and lead tracking. Salesforce Essentials is recognized for powerful AI capabilities, finance and order management, and its ability to handle complex business processes.

Room for Improvement: HubSpot CRM needs improvement in email capabilities, offers limited customization at lower licensing levels, and requires better duplicate removal processes. Salesforce Essentials would benefit from enhanced integration with systems like SAP, improvements in AI functionalities, and more flexible pricing packages for smaller teams.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both products are available through Public Cloud deployment. HubSpot is praised for its responsive technical support and community resources, while Salesforce's support experiences vary, with some users finding it less proactive.

Pricing and ROI: HubSpot CRM provides a free version and offers modular pricing, making it generally affordable for small businesses. Salesforce Essentials is considered expensive, with high licensing costs noted as a disadvantage. HubSpot presents a more budget-friendly option, though both report favorable ROI outcomes from their use.

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Buyer's Guide
HubSpot CRM vs. Salesforce Essentials
April 2025
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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.7
HubSpot CRM enhances lead generation and revenue, offering ROI through efficiency, security, and integration with sales processes.
Sentiment score
8.0
Salesforce Essentials enhances sales growth by simplifying implementation, navigation, and automating processes, benefiting testing, development, and daily operations.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.3
HubSpot CRM's customer service is excellent, though some users desire more live support and improved issue handling.
Sentiment score
7.7
Salesforce Essentials offers responsive customer service with fast responses, though some users suggest improvements for even better efficiency.
There is always an account rep that's available, and there is a technical account rep that is available for every account.
HubSpot's customer service is excellent and fast.
Part of it is different language use, and while that's okay, it wasn't immediately evident where to find help, verify, or submit a question and get responses.
For more quotes and insights, download the HubSpot CRM report
Salesforce Essentials has excellent customer service.
For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Essentials report
Kartikeya Prahlad - PeerSpot reviewerMarianaPiñeres - PeerSpot reviewerCharles Dickens - PeerSpot reviewer
GS
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
HubSpot CRM is praised for its scalability and adaptability, especially benefiting small to midsize businesses with growth management.
Sentiment score
7.3
Salesforce Essentials scales efficiently for diverse user volumes, earning high praise for supporting organizational growth and flexibility.
There are a lot of enterprises using it, however, even as a GTM for HubSpot, their target market is predominantly SMB.
Handling around 100 to 150 users is fine.
For more quotes and insights, download the HubSpot CRM report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Essentials report
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
HubSpot CRM is stable and reliable, with high ratings and minor delays not affecting overall user satisfaction.
Sentiment score
8.1
Salesforce Essentials is reliable with smooth SAP integration, though some users experience delays in automation processes.
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the HubSpot CRM report
Salesforce Essentials has proven stable, with no downtime that affects my work.
For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Essentials report
 

Room For Improvement

HubSpot CRM needs improved email integration, customization, pricing, mobile app, technical support, navigation, and automation capabilities.
Salesforce Essentials struggles with integration, user-friendliness, and pricing, needing improved automation, AI, and analytics features.
A package covering everything in a particular area without requiring the entire purchase would be excellent.
A better CRM can be achieved by providing more customization features.
They are not at the pace or effectiveness of AgentForce by Salesforce.
For more quotes and insights, download the HubSpot CRM report
There are other competitors, like Zoho CRM, that offer similar features at a lower cost.
For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Essentials report
Charles Dickens - PeerSpot reviewer
KA
Kartikeya Prahlad - PeerSpot reviewer
GS
 

Setup Cost

HubSpot CRM offers flexible pricing with free and paid plans, modular features, but may be costly for small teams.
Salesforce Essentials is considered costly by users due to high licensing fees and additional professional service expenses.
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the HubSpot CRM report
The costs associated with Salesforce Essentials are substantial, which is a drawback compared to competitors who offer similar services for less.
For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Essentials report
 

Valuable Features

HubSpot CRM is user-friendly, scalable, and integrates seamlessly, offering powerful marketing, reporting, and automation features, even for free.
Salesforce Essentials provides scalable, flexible solutions with cloud deployment, AI customization, and mobile support, enhancing productivity despite high costs.
HubSpot stands out for its ease of use, especially with sequence creation compared to other CRM solutions.
All the automation features, where I can completely automate a cadence like emailing, lead scoring, and lead qualification, everything can be automated, including all workflows.
The feature that I find valuable is the customer 360-degree view and the marketing automation.
For more quotes and insights, download the HubSpot CRM report
Salesforce Essentials is excellent because it is one of the most flexible CRMs available.
For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Essentials report
MarianaPiñeres - PeerSpot reviewerKartikeya Prahlad - PeerSpot reviewer
KA
GS
 

Categories and Ranking

HubSpot CRM
Ranking in CRM
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
47
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Salesforce Essentials
Ranking in CRM
17th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the CRM category, the mindshare of HubSpot CRM is 2.2%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Essentials is 0.3%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
CRM
 

Featured Reviews

Charles Dickens - PeerSpot reviewer
Effortlessly manage relationships with seamless contact data integration
The primary area to improve is creating deployable packages. When I buy into HubSpot, I have a list of checks, however, I am left to figure out how to use it. I start with a budget, and it's just a persistent sales demand. HubSpot should establish some pre-deployable packages that, when contracted, offer basic functionality. It is important to be clear about what it doesn't provide or what else is needed. I can outfit myself with my own tools or other options as I evaluate the board. They are building businesses for themselves. However, there's always a limiting function encountered. Understanding limitations upon entry would be beneficial so I don't constantly stumble upon unknown constraints. A package covering everything in a particular area without requiring the entire purchase would be excellent.
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Srini-Dhanaraj - PeerSpot reviewer
Manages service requests and dispatches engineers to resolve issues
I work from home for a heater manufacturing company. They wanted to move away from their current SAP CRM system to Salesforce. There is a fulfillment process, which involves taking an order, delivering it, and providing service. Salesforce is used to manage the order-taking process. Once an order is taken, the backend system, SAP ERP, handles product manufacturing, delivery, and installation. After installation, the Service Cloud in Salesforce takes over for ongoing service management. Once your order is confirmed, integration with the SAP ERP backend will be seamless. The system takes the sales order from Salesforce and starts processing it for procurement, starting with creating a production order, manufacturing, and then delivery. Once the product is delivered, this information is passed back to Salesforce Service Cloud. In the Service Cloud, a service engineer receives a notification indicating that a product needs to be delivered to a specific location for installation. The engineer then inspects and installs the product at the designated site. SAP ERP manages the product manufacturing and delivery processes. After the product is delivered to the customer, Salesforce Service Cloud takes over. It manages service requests and dispatches engineers to resolve issues reported by customers. Service Cloud captures the information and creates an incident record when a customer reports a product fault. Engineers receive this information and promptly visit the client site to fix the issue. The solution is easy to implement. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Read full review
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Government
11%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about HubSpot CRM?
The best thing about HubSpot is its clear workflow. Anyone can understand the flows of your contacts, your emails, their delivery dates, and the reasons behind their movements.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HubSpot CRM?
The cost is about the same price, currently charged monthly.
See all answers
What is your primary use case for HubSpot CRM?
I primarily use the solution for CRM.
See all answers
What do you like most about Salesforce Essentials?
Salesforce provides the best they have with the current version. Most of the features we need are already there, and it's very easy to use.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Salesforce Essentials?
The pricing is a bit on the expensive side, maybe when we compare it with other solutions. I would rate the pricing a nine out of ten, with one being low price and ten being high price. The licensi...
See all answers
What needs improvement with Salesforce Essentials?
I have seen Salesforce evaluate a lot of AI and analytics into that. But as an end user, I don’t have that much input. So, I would like to have more AI functionality here. That would be really help...
See all answers
 

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
HubSpot CRM
April 2025
HubSpot CRM reportDownload HubSpot CRM product report
Buyer's Guide
Salesforce Essentials
March 2025
Salesforce Essentials reportDownload Salesforce Essentials product report
 

Overview

HubSpot CRM is a comprehensive customer relationship management software that helps businesses manage their sales, marketing, and customer service activities. It offers a wide range of features, including contact management, email tracking, deal tracking, and task management. 

With its intuitive interface and easy-to-use tools, HubSpot CRM allows users to streamline their sales processes, track customer interactions, and improve overall productivity. It also integrates seamlessly with other HubSpot products, such as marketing automation and customer service, providing a complete solution for businesses of all sizes. 

Whether you're a small startup or a large enterprise, HubSpot CRM can help you organize and grow your customer relationships.

HubSpot

Salesforce Essentials is a cloud-based CRM tool for businesses seeking flexible, scalable, and customizable solutions to enhance sales and customer support processes.

Designed for seamless integration across multiple channels, Salesforce Essentials includes Sales and Service Cloud to simplify sales tasks and customer management. It enhances finance, credit, and quality processes with user-friendly AI capabilities and predictive analytics. Despite its strengths, there is room for improvement in SAP integration, interface simplicity, and report generation. Cost-effectiveness and support for diverse languages are also potential upgrade areas. Businesses use this CRM solution for lead management, opportunity tracking, and automating sales workflows, transitioning from paper-based methods to digital efficiency.

What are the essential features of Salesforce Essentials?
  • Scalability and Flexibility: Accommodates growth and customization needs.
  • Multiple Channel Integration: Enhances finance and quality processes.
  • User-Friendly: Easy navigation with AI capabilities.
  • Cloud Deployment: Includes Sales and Service Cloud features.
  • Predictive Analytics: Improves productivity and tracking.
  • Mobile App Support: Facilitates on-the-go access and management.
What benefits or ROI can users expect from Salesforce Essentials?
  • Improved Productivity: Automation features save time and streamline tasks.
  • Enhanced Customer Management: Centralizes interaction and data handling.
  • Ease of Transition: From manual to automated workflows.
  • Performance Monitoring: Standardizes processes for better oversight.

In the retail industry, businesses employ Salesforce Essentials for customer data management and transparency in order processing. Healthcare providers use it for patient engagement and streamlined communication. Financial services utilize it for billing management and compliance, harnessing automation tools for efficient data handling.

Salesforce
 

Sample Customers

digimind, easyrecrue, software2, subaru, suzuki
Information Not Available
Buyer's Guide
HubSpot CRM vs. Salesforce Essentials
April 2025
Free Report: HubSpot CRM vs. Salesforce Essentials
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