An architecture CRM software helps grow your architecture firm by optimizing and unifying all data and tasks related to your clients. In the context of architecture firms, companies can keep a solid track of their potential and existing clients and effectively manage all their projects, contracts, and gigs to foster good relationships.  

Moreover, CRM software aids in other activities like following up with the leads, keeping track of client retention and satisfaction, managing the sales pipelines, and capturing essential customer data. 

This 2025 guide reviews the latest CRM tools built to support architecture firms’ unique workflows and evolving client demands.

In this article, we will discuss the top 11 CRM tools for architectural firms that should be on your shortlist.

What Is a CRM for Architects?

A CRM software for architects is an automation software that helps architects and architecture firms manage their clients, nurture leads, launch marketing campaigns, close deals, and streamline operations from a single platform. 

Though there are generic CRM software used by various industries and businesses, an architecture CRM software caters specifically to the architecture industry. Picking the correct CRM system is crucial for success and can greatly impact revenue and customer relationships.  

Why Architects Need a CRM Tailored to Their Industry

Architecture firms juggle an intricate web of project stages, evolving client needs, bids, and contracts—each demanding precise coordination and clarity.

A CRM built for architecture brings together project-centered client management, automated lead tracking, and seamless collaboration within a single, integrated platform.

It allows firms to nurture leads from intake to contract, monitor project progress in real time, and streamline multi-channel communication, all while preserving design-driven workflows.

In essence, such a CRM isn’t just about managing contacts—it’s designed to reflect the rhythm, complexity, and creative collaboration that define architectural practice.

What Core Features Does an Architecture CRM Software Offer?

These core features offered by architecture CRM software can help improve various business processes: 

• Automation
• Email marketing
• Project management
• Lead tracking
• Team collaboration and management
• Client segmentation and personalization
• Sales pipelines
• Integrations

Let’s get started. 

Automation

Automation simplifies lead management as it helps architects capture and organize leads from different sources. In addition, the automation feature helps architects nurture client relationships through automated reminders for appointments, communication updates, and more.

Automating mundane and repetitive tasks frees up time for more important activities, helping freelance architects and architecture firms achieve their goals quickly.

Email marketing

Email marketing helps architects send personalized content and marketing messages directly to their prospects’ inboxes. An architecture CRM software provides a streamlined way to nurture leads through email marketing: capture leads, segment them, send nurturing emails, and convert them into paying customers.

This consistent outreach through drip marketing campaigns can help improve client engagement through a series of planned marketing messages, service information, and portfolios.

Project management

Project management is at the heart of any architecture CRM software. This feature helps architects streamline their project workflows and centralize data management.

A CRM for architecture firms with project management helps architects share and collaborate with team members and clients, minimizes siloes, and reduces communication gaps – ensuring efficiency. Architects can set goals, create timelines, assign tasks, and keep track of progress.

Lead tracking

Lead tracking lets architects manage potential clients and grow their firms. Lead tracking lets architects collect key information about leads from various sources, including forms, landing pages, events, and more.

All lead information is stored in one place and scored based on their activities, helping architects focus on the ‘hot’ leads, while also re-engaging with ‘cold’ ones. This feature also helps architects monitor the progress of each lead across the sales pipeline all the way from the initial contact to deal closure.

Team collaboration and management

Team collaboration lets architects work together as one cohesive team, minimizing data siloes, miscommunication, and missed opportunities. An architecture CRM software offers a shared platform where team members can easily share project details and updates, provide feedback, share ideas, and streamline communication.

Managers can also assign and track tasks, manage responsibilities, set deadlines, and balance workloads. Reports generated by the CRM software can be used to gain insights into team and individual performance and make data-driven decisions.

CRM for Architecture Firms
 

Read also: A Close Look At The Top 8 CRM Tools For Sales Reps

Client segmentation and personalization

Segmentation lets architects categorize their leads and clients based on various criteria, including online behavior, preferences, purchase history, location, and more. This lets marketers craft personalized messages and tailored services, increasing brand awareness and engagement.

Architects can understand their clients better, thus offering better services and design solutions. This can ultimately lead to more sales and better customer satisfaction.

Sales pipelines

Sales pipelines help architecture firms and sales professionals streamline the complete sales process – from lead generation all the way to deal acquisition.

Sales pipelines give sales reps a visual overview of the overall sales process through various stages. This makes it easier for managers and reps to assign prospects to specific stages of the sales pipeline, helping them optimize conversion rates.

Integrations

Most CRM software offer integrations. This helps broaden the capabilities of a CRM software as it allows architects and users to connect to their favorite applications. Tools may include accounting platforms, eCommerce solutions, email marketing tools, appointment schedulers, and other productivity tools.

Read also: 7 Simple CRM Tools for Every Business Reviewed

Benefits Of CRM Software for Architecture Firms

First, let’s look at the key benefits of CRM software for architecture firms.

#1. Helps You Know Your Customers Better

Using CRM tools, businesses can gain valuable insights about their clients. 

They can track their progress as they move through the different stages of the sales pipeline. 

Moreover, CRM platforms help capture relevant data, such as purchase patterns and consumer preferences, to understand their target audience better.

#2. Improved Communication

With CRM software, architecture firms can use omnichannel marketing to communicate with their customers. 

This implies contacting customers through multiple platforms, including email, phone calls, video calls, live chat, and social media, all from your CRM dashboard. 

What’s more, many CRM platforms have a mobile application, helping you stay in touch with clients anywhere and anytime.

Read also: Marketing Strategies for Architects to Build a Brand

#3. Increased Sales

Architects can experience an increase in revenue using CRM software. 

It is because CRM platforms help identify and target qualified leads, customize sales strategies according to their needs, and address any issues they face in the sales pipeline, immediately. 

Moreover, CRM tools help architects contact customers through different platforms, helping them improve client experience.

Read also: 10 Easy To Use CRM Tools (Features, User Reviews, Pricing)

11 Best CRM Tools for Architecture Firms

Find out the key features, pricing, pros, and cons of 11 of the best architecture CRM software:

Insights:

• Top-rated in customer satisfaction: Monday leads with a 4.7 G2 rating—excellent for firms prioritizing ease of use and project visualization. EngageBay and HubSpot also score high (4.6 and 4.4 respectively) and include free plans for budget-conscious firms. 

• budget-friendly options: Pipedrive and EngageBay start under $13/month, while Zoho offers a well-rounded plan at $18/month. These are great for smaller firms looking for value. 

• Enterprise-level flexibility: Salesforce has a premium starting price near $2,245/month but delivers highly customizable features. 

• Unique pricing models: Dubsado is annual ($200/year), appealing for small practices; Unanet requires contacting sales—indicative of tailored enterprise solutions. 

• Middle-tier performers: Keap, Maximizer, and Nimble provide solid functionality around $25–$129/month, with G2 ratings in the 4.2–4.5 range.

#1. Salesforce

Salesforce’s CRM software, known as Customer360 is a cloud-based CRM platform that is ideal for all types of teams. It also provides customized CRM tools based on the industry your business is based in.

Features

• Genie: It is one of Salesforce’s key tools that provides users with a 360-degree view of customer data. Using Genie, you can get real-time information on your clients as they move through the different stages of the sales pipeline, automate your operations, and customize your dashboard. 
• Digital HQ: Salesforce is integrated with multiple collaboration tools such as Slack to help you connect with your teams and clients on a single platform. Known as Digital HQ, it allows you to share ideas, documents, and files, and communicate with others in real-time, from a single dashboard.
• Self-Service: Includes a live chatbot and knowledge forum that consists of blogs to help customers find answers to their issues without having to get in touch with customer service agents.
• Case Management: This tool helps direct the right case to the right agent, track the status of every project, and provide a detailed list of the steps teams need to follow to complete a task.

Pricing: Architecture CRM pricing comparison

Salesforce provides three pricing plans for architects, Manufacturing Cloud—Sales, Manufacturing Cloud—Service, and Manufacturing Cloud—Sales and Service.

The Manufacturing Cloud—Sales Plan starts at $225 per user per month. Some of its key features include sales cloud functionality, enterprise account forecasting and sales agreements, and a manufacturing data model.

With the Manufacturing Cloud—Service Plan, you can avail of additional features like service cloud functionality, service forecasting framework, and digital processing automation, for $225 per user per month.

Under the Manufacturing Cloud—Sales and Service Plan, businesses can get more tools like embedded analytics and rebate management, for $250 per user per month.

Pros

One of the best features of the Salesforce CRM tool is that it has a short learning curve, making it easy for customers to navigate the platform with a few simple clicks.

Cons

Despite its advantages, Salesforce has an expensive pricing model, making it costly for small and growing businesses.

Read also: Top 9 Salesforce Competitors And Alternatives [Comparison Tables]

#2. HubSpot

HubSpot is a free CRM platform that provides tools across multiple functionalities. An architect can take care of different aspects of their business, including marketing, sales, content management, operations, and customer service – from a single platform. 

Features

• Call Tracking: This feature helps you make, record, and automatically log calls on your CRM dashboard. It also enables you to prioritize the client calls you need to make.
• Payments: It helps you create a secure payment gateway for customers to pay in multiple currencies. You can build relationships overseas and expand your business.
• Sales Analytics and Reporting: Provides complete visibility into your sales pipeline to identify any bottlenecks and generates customized sales reports within minutes.
• Mobile CRM: Allows you to access your dashboard remotely and contact your clients from anywhere.

Pricing

HubSpot CRM boasts three pricing plans, Starter, Professional, and Enterprise.

The Starter Plan starts at $45 per month and comes with features such as live chat, meeting scheduling, document sharing and creation, and conversation routing.

With the Professional Plan, you can avail of additional tools such as sales analytics, automation, one-on-one video messaging, eSignature, and custom reporting, for $800 per month.

The Enterprise Plan costs $3,200 per month and includes advanced features like conversation intelligence, predictive lead scoring, and advanced permissions. 

Pros

HubSpot’s Sales Hub is known for its user-friendly interface, making it easy for customers to adapt to it.

Cons

Due to its expensive pricing model, it can be difficult for businesses to scale up or purchase additional contacts.

Read also: 8 HubSpot Competitors That Cost a Lot Less

#3. EngageBay

EngageBay is an award-winning platform for managing your sales, marketing, and customer service activities. It offers a robust yet affordable solution for any architectural firm, allowing them to streamline their business and grow their revenue with ease. 

Features

• Contact Management: Using contact management, companies can use multiple tools to contact their customers, including email sequencing, social media messaging, phone, and video calls. Moreover, they can access a range of built-in templates to improve their communication process.
• Lead Scoring: It helps you categorize leads based on their scores and identify which ones are likely to lead to sales.
• Project Management: This tool helps you create and assign tasks to your team members and track their status in real time, making EngageBay one of the best CRM for architects. 
• Appointment Scheduling: This helps you automatically create and schedule appointments and sends automated follow-up reminders with its integration with Google Calendar and Office 365.

Pricing

EngageBay offers four pricing plans, Free, Basic, Growth, and Pro.

The Free Plan is EngageBay’s forever-free plan. It offers up to 250 contacts, a 360-degree customer view, email tracking, and appointment scheduling.

With the Basic Plan, you can avail of up to 750 contacts, predictive lead scoring, third-party integrations, and tag management, for $14.99 per user per month.

Under the Growth Plan, there are over 20,000 contacts, along with email scheduling, sales automation, and multi-currency payment options, for $64.99 per user per month.

For large enterprises, the Pro Plan works best. Here, users can get up to 30,000 contacts, autodialer, proposal analytics, role management, and call recording, for $119.99 per user per month.

Pros

EngageBay is considered the ideal choice for small and growing businesses, owing to its fully automated functionality and easy navigation.

Cons

At times, the mobile app can be difficult to use due to a few missing features, including responding to emails or calling customers.

EngageBay All-in-one Marketing, Sales, and Service CRM
 

Learn more about EngageBay

#4. Pipedrive

Pipedrive CRM is one of the best CRM for architectural firms that are looking to onboard new clients into their business. It provides clear visibility into your sales pipeline, ensuring that no leads get lost. 

Features

• Visual Sales Pipeline: It helps you visualize your sales pipeline and track the progress of your prospects. Moreover, you can update your deals by dragging and dropping them.
• Web Forms: Allows you to gather information about your leads by creating online forms using built-in templates.
• Revenue Forecasting: This helps you predict sales volume and revenue according to the progress of your sales pipeline.
• Team Collaboration: This feature enables you to collaborate on deals and activities with team members in real-time by sharing notes and documents with each other. 

Pricing

Pipedrive comes with four pricing models, Essential, Advanced, Professional, and Enterprise.

The Essential Plan starts from $9.90 per user per month and includes lead, deal, and pipeline management, simple data import, and over 300+ integrations.

With the Advanced Plan, you can get group emailing, workflow builder with triggered automation, and complete email sync, at $19.90 per user per month.

The Professional Plan is Pipedrive’s most popular plan and costs $39.90 per user per month. It includes additional features such as eSign documents and contracts, enhanced custom reporting, and revenue projections. 

Under the Enterprise Plan, users can avail of unlimited user permissions, advanced security permissions, and phone support, for $59.90 per user per month.

Pros

Pipedrive’s main advantage is its straightforward and easy-to-use platform, making it quick to implement and onboard employees.

Cons

Limited third-party integrations and frequent software glitches affect the functionality of the Pipedrive dashboard.

Read also: 6 Perfect Pipedrive Alternatives With Better Tools (Features, Pricing)

#5. Keap

Keap, as a CRM tool for architects and designers, is very much efficient as it aids in capturing and generating lead information. In other words, it helps businesses to expand their customer base while streamlining and optimizing all their daily operational activities. 

Features

• Automated Lead Capture: Helps you organize your contacts automatically using custom lead forms, social media, and landing pages.
• Segmentation: Helps you tag and segregate contacts that trigger automation personalized to client data and activities.
• Centralized Database: Allows you to access client data and activity logs from a single dashboard, either through a desktop or mobile app.
• Integrations: Keap is integrated with several well-known tools, including PayPal, Gmail, Quickbooks, and so on.

Pricing

Keap CRM offers two pricing plans, Pro and Max.

The Pro Plan starts at $129 per month and includes up to 1500 contacts. Some of its key features include email marketing, sales and marketing automation, automated lead capturing, text marketing, and sales pipeline management.

The Max Plan costs $199 per month and provides up to 2,500 contacts. Here, you can get email marketing, a dedicated phone line, built-in landing pages, web forms, and appointment scheduling, as some of the additional features. 

Pros

One of the best features of Keap is that it helps users extract relevant information about their clients through multiple platforms, including social media, email, and so on.

Cons

In terms of Keap’s interface, some users found it difficult to customize and navigate it.

Read also: Keap Pricing & Comparison with EngageBay — 12X More Affordable Alternative

#6. Dubsado

If you struggle to manage your projects, Dubsado might be the best CRM solution for your firm.

Features

• Built-In Templates: Dubsado helps you capture important information about your clients using in-built web forms, questionnaires, contracts, and proposals. You can also choose to customize the templates as per your needs.
• Online Invoicing: This tool enables you to create online invoices in multiple currencies and automatically send them to clients, along with follow-up reminders.
• Interactive Client Portals: Using Dubsado, clients can track the status of their projects, payments, and invoices in real-time.
• Built-In Scheduler: It helps your clients track and schedule appointments right from your website over sending emails or making phone calls.

Pricing

Dubsado has two types of plans, Starter and Premier.

The Starter Plan costs $200 per year and boasts unlimited projects and clients, invoicing and payment plans, and built-in forms and email templates.

With the Premier Plan, users can avail of appointment scheduling, automated workflows, project proposals, and multiple lead capturing, for $400 a year.

Pros

Dubsado boasts a range of in-built templates, making it easy for users to send emails in bulk at once.

Cons

Companies with large teams or multiple clients find it difficult to optimize their services using Dubsado.

Read also: 9 CRM Tools for Web Designers to Streamline Client Management

#7. Monday

Monday is another CRM that is ideal for architects and construction companies managing several projects at a time. 

Features

• Gantt Chart: It allows you to keep a track of the status of your project, including milestones, dependencies, and key metrics.
• Project Dashboards: This tool enables you to visualize and access real-time data for budgets, goals, and resources.
• Project Templates: This provides you with a variety of built-in project templates that can be customized later.
• Workload View: The feature helps you track the projects assigned to each team member, and their status, and adapt to changing priorities.

Pricing

Monday has five plans on offer, Individual, Basic, Standard, Pro, and Enterprise.

The Individual Plan is a forever-free plan and can be used by 2 team members. It includes up to 1000 tasks and brainstorming initiatives.

With the Basic Plan, you can avail of unlimited free viewers, unlimited projects, centralized project communication, and a customized dashboard, for $9 per user per month.

Under the Standard Plan, users can get a calendar view, timeline and Gantt views, guest access, milestone tracking, and task rollup, for $12 per user per month.

The Pro Plan comes with private boards and work docs, resource allocation, and dependencies, for $20 per user per month.

For large companies, the Enterprise Plan works best. It is a customizable plan that boasts advanced features like multi-level permissions, advanced reporting and analytics, portfolio management, and project life cycle management. To buy this plan, businesses can contact Monday’s sales team directly.

Pros

One of the best features of Monday is its highly intuitive dashboard that helps first-time users easily navigate the platform.

Cons

More features could be added to certain tools such as the calendar.

Read also: Pipedrive vs Monday — Which Is Better? A Side-By-Side Review

#8. Maximizer

Maximizer is an excellent CRM for architects that helps them close sales faster.

Features

• Sales Management: It provides you with a range of tools to make your sales process more efficient. These tools can be customized as well.
• Full Visibility: This helps you track your customers and the sales pipeline in real-time, helping you visualize and identify any bottlenecks.
• Productivity Tools: Maximizer boasts a range of productivity tools, including automated email integration, task management, quota tracking, and built-in templates.
• Analysis Capabilities: This enables you to track renewal opportunities in your database to increase your chances to cross-sell, up-sell, and expand base revenues.

Pricing

Maximizer offers two types of plans, Base Edition and Sales Leader Edition.

The Base Edition Plan starts from $55 per user per month. It has features such as an advanced contact management system, opportunity management, data visualization, and up to 10,000 contacts.

With the Sales Leader Edition Plan, you can track and monitor sales teams on Kanban boards, forecast sales, and get valuable insights into revenue, for $75 per user per month.

Pros

A key advantage of Maximizer is that it automatically logs any phone calls that can be tracked later.

Cons

More webinars could help reduce the learning curve for new and first-time users.

#9. Unanet

Unanet is a CRM software provided by Cosential. If you are searching for a CRM platform designed specifically for architects, then this is best suited for you.

Features

• Proposal Management: It allows you to assess your firm’s sustainability certifications to understand its capabilities and get future projects.
• Reporting: This provides real-time updates on the performance of your business as well as any specific details.
• Business Development: The feature enables you to access company data from anywhere, be it your desktop or mobile app, and generate data and reports within minutes.
• ERP: It helps firms drive success by providing accurate, real-time data on current and upcoming projects.

Pricing

Unanet CRM offers bespoke solutions to its customers. You need to contact their sales team to get a quote.

Pros

Unanet has a large and centralized database that allows users to record all types of information including projects, clients, any new opportunities, and so on.

Cons

Unanet’s search platform is quite old, implying that it is slow to load and not very user-friendly.

Read also: Enhance Manufacturing Operations with CRM: Insights, Reports, and Solutions

#10. Zoho

Zoho is an affordable CRM software designed for small businesses. Zoho CRM is part of the Zoho Office Suite, which offers project management, invoicing, spreadsheets, word processing, and presentation software. 

Features

• Marketing automation: Zoho offers a plethora of marketing automation features, including lead nurturing, sub-campaigns, email campaigns, event management, marketing attributions, and campaign analysis. 
• Predictive sales analysis: Zoho’s ‘Zia’ is an AI-based predictive sales analysis tool that helps users voice and text commands for various sales requirements, including workflow recommendations, assignments, data enrichment, and sales predictions. 
• Customization: Zoho offers customer layouts and fields, lead segmentation, data entry optimization, and more. Zoho also works great with other in-house software.

Pricing

Zoho offers four pricing plans: Standard, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate. 

The Standard plan starts at $18/month and offers sales force automation, pipelines, sales forecasting, and email insights. 

The Professional plan starts at $30/month and offers webhooks, custom functions, Google Ads, and more. 

The Enterprise plan starts at $45/month and offers autoresponders, web form analytics, custom reports, and more. 

The Ultimate plan costs $55/month and offers advanced features like audit logs and Zoho Analytics.

Pros

Zoho is known for its affordability and integrations with other in-house software. 

Cons

Though Zoho offers integrations with other software, it is fairly complicated and requires extensive support – sometimes even expensive consultations. 

#11. Nimble

Nimble is a CRM software designed for marketers, sales teams, and support reps. Nimble CRM is simple yet powerful because it integrates quite well with the tools you already use, like Gmail, Outlook, and social media. 

Features

• Contact management: Nimble lets you capture and curate contact information from various sources, including inboxes, social media, and calendar appointments. This lets you get a 360-degree view of your customers. In addition, Nimble offers segmentation and AI. 
• Activity tracking: Nimble’s dashboard offers an array of charts and visuals to help you gain an understanding of all the KPIs. You get to know the number of successful deals, task information, outgoing call rates, and more. 
• Workflow automation: Nimble offers triggers to help automate various marketing and sales tasks. You can also create sales pipelines and customize them through various fields. Automated deal reports offer revenue projections and other critical forecasts. 

Nimble pricing

Nimble offers only one plan, starting at $24.90/month. This plan offers email, calendar, and contact sync features for its Microsoft and Google integration, workflows, automations, and more. 

Pros

Nimble is known for its integration with Google and Outlook, as well as email tracking. 

Cons

Nimble can be a bit overwhelming for small businesses and beginners owing to the steeper learning curve and complex features. 

EngageBay vs HubSpot

Read also: The Best CRM Tools for Small Business Owners

Wrap Up

An architect has to manage a lot of tasks, including designing projects to generate leads, managing contracts, and more. Having a CRM system that is specifically designed to cater to the architecture and design industry can further enhance their business efficiency. 

These top CRM tools for architects come equipped with pre-built templates that are easily customizable to add your brand feel and look. EngageBay makes for one of the best choices for an architectural firm as it comes with a wide range of functionalities in a single platform. 

What’s unique about it is that it is free for up to 15 users, making it a perfect choice for a small architectural firm. Furthermore, you can identify and target the right clients, track ongoing projects, bids, and contracts, and communicate with customers through multiple channels. 

If you aren’t sure about where to begin, sign up for our demo today. 

The post CRM Tools for Architecture Firms: Best CRM Software for Architects in 2025 appeared first on EngageBay - All-in-one marketing, sales, and service.

With the suite of tools in both software, you can automate repetitive work and buy back your time to do other tasks.

But while both software share similar features for email automation, form automation, ad management, and many more, they differ in pricing, quality of support, contract, and functionalities.

In this post about the HubSpot vs Mailchimp comparison, we’ll discuss everything that’ll help you decide which software is best for your brand — HubSpot or Mailchimp.

Here’s what we’ll cover: 

• An overview of HubSpot vs Mailchimp
• Key features of HubSpot vs Mailchimp
• HubSpot vs Mailchimp comparison
• What to consider before choosing your marketing software
• HubSpot vs Mailchimp alternative for SMBs

HubSpot vs Mailchimp 2025: An Overview

HubSpot is an integrated CRM platform with tools for managing businesses’ marketing, sales, and customer service processes. The software comprises five hubs, which include CMS, Marketing, Service, Sales, and Operations hubs.

As for Mailchimp, it’s an all-in-one marketing automation platform that started out as an email marketing software but has evolved to offer features that span across social media management, website design, and customer relationship management.

HubSpot vs Mailchimp 2025: Key Features

As mentioned, HubSpot has five different hubs, while Mailchimp’s core offering is its marketing automation platform.

So in this post about the HubSpot vs Mailchimp comparison, we’ll focus on HubSpot’s Marketing hub versus Mailchimp’s marketing automation platform. We’ll compare both platforms across these categories:

• Email marketing
• Landing pages
• Forms 
• Contact management
• Automation tools
• Pricing
• Contract
• Customer support
• G2 customer reviews

Let’s dive in. 

Read also: Mailchimp vs Drip — Which Is the Best Email Marketing Platform?

HubSpot vs MailChimp 2025 Comparison

There’s no time to beat around the bush. It’s time to find out the ultimate winner.

1. Email marketing

Today, businesses are generating $36 for every $1 spent on email marketing. This is huge. That’s why your preferred software should have email marketing features for engaging, nurturing, and converting customers. The software must also be affordable.

With HubSpot, you have access to a free plan containing basic email marketing tools you need, like a drag-and-drop editor and email templates.

Source

Using the free plan gets you a 2,000 email send limit per month. Upgrading to HubSpot’s paid plans increases this limit to at least 5000, 20,000, and 200,000 email sends for the Starter, Professional, and Enterprise plans, respectively.

If automated email nurturing is a staple in your business, HubSpot’s free plan may be unideal because you have just one automation. With the Starter plan, you have 10, while the Professional and Enterprise plans allow unlimited automations. Also, you have access to reporting dashboards and on all plans.

Parisa H. (Senior Campaign Manager) says HubSpot is a true “one-stop shop,” praising its integrated funnels, email, and customer history—and notes support/account management is easy to reach when needed. (G2)

Mailchimp’s email marketing features are closely similar to HubSpot. Like HubSpot, you have access to email templates on Mailchimp.

Source

Free plan users may email up to 2,000 contacts with a daily and monthly send limit of 2,000 and 10,000, respectively.

This email send limit skyrockets to 500,000 and 1,200,000 for Mailchimp’s Essentials and Standard plans. This beats HubSpot’s email send limit by a mile. Also, for this feature, Mailchimp’s plans are way cheaper than the comparable HubSpot plans.

However, Mailchimp has decreased the number of contacts from 2,000 to 500 for free users, starting this August.

Unlike HubSpot, MailChimp offers a single-step automated email nurturing for the free and Essential plans. And while you can only access Mailchimp’s multi-step automated email nurturing with the Standard and Premium plans, it’s vital to note that these features are cheaper in Mailchimp compared to HubSpot.

Tim W. (General Manager – E-commerce) highlights Mailchimp’s updated visual builder for faster branded emails, strong analytics, and smooth e-commerce automations; he calls deliverability “consistently strong.” (G2)

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of some email marketing features of HubSpot and Mailchimp: 

Email Marketing Features	HubSpot	Mailchimp
Drag-and-drop editor
Personalized emails
Custom templates
Email scheduling
A/B testing
Reporting

Read also: HubSpot vs Insightly: Pricing, Functionality, Features & More

It’s a long article, for sure

Want to watch a video instead? Here’s the marketer Megan Grant on the HubSpot vs Mailchimp comparison:

2. Landing pages

If you run multiple one-off campaigns across the year, the ability to create landing pages in your digital marketing platform will be incredibly useful. You can achieve this with HubSpot and Mailchimp landing page builders. 

So what can you get from both software?

HubSpot CRM allows its free plan users to build up to 20 landing pages with access to simple templates.

Source

To build more landing pages, you must upgrade to any of HubSpot’s paid plans. Also, if you want to do A/B testing to compare different versions of your landing page, you must upgrade to HubSpot’s Professional plan, which starts at $800 per month. 

See our Landing Page Builder Guide for best practices.

With Mailchimp, it’s different.

Not only do you have access to Mailchimp’s landing page templates, but you can also build an unlimited number of landing pages on the free plan.

Source

Plus, you can start doing A/B testing with Mailchimp’s Essential plan, which starts at $11 per month. Both software also allow you to do on-page SEO by helping with SEO title, SEO description, etc. 

Here’s a quick head-to-head comparison of HubSpot vs Mailchimp landing page features:

Landing Page Features	HubSpot	Mailchimp
Drag-and-drop landing page builder
On-page SEO optimizations
Landing page templates
Scheduled publishing		x
Use custom domain
Analytics

Read also: Constant Contact vs Mailchimp and Other Email Tools [Tables]

Comparison table showing HubSpot vs Mailchimp features and pricing (updated 2025)

3. Forms 

Whether you’re building a landing page or a website, you’ll likely need forms. Forms allow you to collect the information of people who visit your page and helps you get the info into various segments of your email list.

HubSpot’s free plan comes with standalone, pop-up, embedded, and collected forms with GDPR options.

Source

You can access additional functionalities like custom styling upon upgrading to the Starter plan. Code customizations, dependent fields, smart fields, custom email validation, and custom targeting are only available in HubSpot’s Professional and Enterprise plans. 

Mailchimp offers similar features except for dependent fields. Dependent fields allow you to display additional form fields based on the response to a previous field. 

For instance, a marketer may offer multiple services like writing blog posts and ebooks. With dependent fields, this marketer can create questions specific to blog posts and ebooks. So, if a customer clicks the first field and says they want a blog post, the blog questions show up next, and it’s the same with ebooks. 

Read also: EngageBay vs HubSpot — Market Leader or Emerging Powerhouse?

4. Contact management

HubSpot and Mailchimp offer similar features for contact management.

With HubSpot, you can easily create new contact profiles, update them, and delete those you don’t need.

Source

Besides this, you have access to several filtering options for segmenting your contact list. These contact profiles are also a goldmine for gaining insights about a specific customer or an audience segment.

Mailchimp provides similar contact management functionality. The exception? You can only update contacts in bulk by importing them. Also, the filtering capabilities in Mailchimp are a premium feature.

Contact Management Features	HubSpot	Mailchimp
Update contacts in bulk		Via import
Filtering options for list segmentation
List management
Custom contact properties

Read also: How Does Mailchimp’s Pricing Compare To Its Competitors?

5. Automation tools

As your business grows, you’ll need to automate many tasks to free time for other important tasks. That’s why you must ensure the automation tools in your marketing platform suit your business.

HubSpot’s marketing automation tools allow you to send triggered emails, create automated email sequences and manage your contacts.

Source

Mailchimp’s marketing automation includes features like automated welcome sequences, product retargeting emails, and date-based automations. Also, while Mailchimp’s marketing automation features focus mostly on email marketing, HubSpot’s features are more expansive and focused on your entire business.

Source

Head-to-head comparison of HubSpot vs Mailchimp automation features:

Marketing Automation Features	Hubspot	Mailchimp
Email sequences
Email scheduling
Omnichannel marketing		x
ABM tools & automation		x
Contact management
Email & chat support

Note: There are more marketing automation features in both HubSpot and Mailchimp.

Read also: Convertkit vs Mailchimp vs EngageBay — Which Tool is the Best for Small Businesses?

6. Pricing 

Coming to Mailchimp vs HubSpot pricing, both HubSpot and Mailchimp paid plans operate on a sliding scale. This means you have to pay for every additional contact in each payment tier.

Besides HubSpot’s free plan, the marketing hub paid plans include: 

• Starter plan: $45/month with a contact limit of 1,000
• Professional plan: $800/month with a contact limit of 2,000 
• Enterprise plan: $3,200/month with a contact limit of 10,000

Michael G. (Owner & Marketing Director) likes HubSpot’s power and integrations but calls the menus/navigation “confusing” and says pricing is high for smaller teams (Capterra)

Not happy with HubSpot’s pricing? See our top picks for the best HubSpot alternatives in our comprehensive article.

Source

You can also combine plans from other hubs to create a bundle that suits your business needs.

HubSpot also made major updates to its pricing plans in March 2024. Two new seats were introduced: View-Only and Core. 

While this move is advantageous in some instances, it makes an already expensive software even more expensive. 

Let’s get into the details.

The unlimited View-Only seat is free and offered in all the plans. It also offers view-only access to emails, tasks, and more.

The paid Core seats offer edit access to all the features in the particular subscription tier and are useful for CEOs, managers, and team leaders who need access for review and approval. 

The catch here is that the now paid Core seat was offered for free as part of the free plan previously. Businesses that enjoyed edit access now have to either pay more for the same privileges or do away with a view-only plan. 

This table puts things into perspective: 

Small businesses and startups may find it difficult to justify the price

Mailchimp’s paid plans for 500 contacts include: 

• Essentials plan: Starts at $11/month with a contact limit of 50,000 
• Standard plan: Starts at $17/month with a contact limit of 100,000
• Premium plan: Starts at $299/month with a custom contact limit

Source

Read also: An In-Depth Look At HubSpot vs Pipedrive

7. Contract 

Getting locked in on an annual contract isn’t always pretty. 

However, this is what you must commit to if you subscribe to HubSpot’s Professional or Enterprise plans, meaning you cannot downgrade your plan until your contract expires. 

Also, if you cancel your subscription before the end of your contract’s term, you still have to pay for the unused months.

Mailchimp charges users a monthly recurring fee and you can cancel anytime. But, if you go over the email send limit or contacts limit of your plan, they will charge an additional fee for overages. They also offer a pay-as-you-go option for irregular senders. 

Here’s how HubSpot and Mailchimp stack up regarding contracts:

*The above terms apply to plans in HubSpot Marketing Hub 

Read also: What is MailerLite? Reviews, Pricing, Pros and Cons, Alternatives

8. Customer support 

Email and chat support is available to all HubSpot users on a Starter plan and above. Customers on the free plan can get help from HubSpot’s community or library of resources. 

HubSpot users on the Professional and Enterprise plans have access to email, chat, and phone support.

Mailchimp offers users on the Standard and Premium plans email and live support. However, phone support is only available to users on the Premium plan. Free plan users have access to email support for only their first 30 days.

They also have an extensive library of guides, resources, and tutorials that users can explore to find answers to their challenges. 

Read also: HubSpot vs Mailchimp vs EngageBay — Which Tool Worth Spending Money?

9. Customer reviews

HubSpot and Mailchimp both have a legion of customer feedback. Overall, reviews of HubSpot’s Marketing Hub on G2.com suggest many users love the software. However, lots of users also complain about excessive functionalities and its high price tag.

Here’s what one user said:

“HubSpot is a really heavy tool that has far more functionality than I need and is fairly cumbersome to use. The price tag is eye-watering and I much prefer to use a combination of other specialty tools that get the job done more easily and at far lower cost.”

Reviews from several Mailchimp users show that the software is intuitive and easy to use. While users also appreciate the availability of several integrations, some are unhappy with limited functionality and subpar support.

Below is a side-by-side comparison of HubSpot and Mailchimp G2 user ratings:

*Ratings sourced on August 23, 2022.

Want to find a more affordable solution to Mailchimp? Our article on the top Mailchimp alternatives will help you make the right choice.

Mailchimp free plan changes 2025

Mailchimp’s Free plan has undergone significant changes in recent years. The maximum number of contacts allowed has been reduced from 2,000 to just 500 contacts, and monthly email sends are now capped at 1,000, with a strict daily limit of 500 emails. This means that even if you have the full 500 contacts, you can’t email your entire list more than twice in a single month.

In addition to these limits, starting June 1, 2025, Mailchimp discontinued the Classic Automation Builder for Free plan users. This tool previously allowed automated workflows like welcome sequences, abandoned cart reminders, and follow-up emails. Automation features are now only available on paid plans, making it harder for Free users to run effective drip campaigns or automated customer journeys.

Chelsea (Education Management) appreciates Mailchimp’s free features for startups but flags that advanced capabilities are paywalled and costs “grow quickly” as contacts increase; some customizations feel less intuitive. (SoftwareAdvice)

While the Free plan still includes unlimited landing pages and basic design tools, the combination of reduced contact limits, lower send caps, and the removal of automation features makes it much more restrictive for growing businesses compared to earlier versions of the plan.

Mailchimp Free Plan: Before vs Now

What to Consider Before Choosing Your Marketing Software in 2025

Selecting a marketing automation software requires more than functionalities. Pricing, email sending frequency, need for dedicated landing pages and many more factors come into play. Let’s go over them:

• Number of contacts in your email list: Opt for a marketing software that can handle the number of contacts in your email list at an affordable price.
• Email sending frequency: If you email your list say twice a month, your needs will differ from a business owner that sends out a daily or weekly email. Your number of contacts will also come into play here as this impacts your email send limit.
• Number of monthly email sends: Marketing software providers have limits on the number of emails you can send in a month. So ensure the monthly send limit of your preferred marketing tool aligns with your email marketing needs.
• Need for dedicated landing pages: If you frequently run email campaigns, you’d likely need landing pages. Factor this into your software choice, especially if you need to create 20+ landing pages.

And that’s it. Now, you have an excellent idea of HubSpot’s and Mailchimp’s functionalities and you can quickly reach a decision on which to use.

Perhaps you’re a small business owner that’s thrilled with HubSpot’s robust functionalities, but its subscription costs scare you. 

Not to worry. 

You can have both Mailchimp and HubSpot features without a hefty price tag. 

Enter EngageBay—an excellent HubSpot and Mailchimp alternative for SMBs.

Read also: MailerLite vs Mailchimp and Other Email Tools

HubSpot vs Mailchimp Alternative for SMBs 2025

Like HubSpot, EngageBay goes beyond being an email marketing software but an all-in-one marketing platform built for small business owners. 

Because of this small business focus, EngageBay has affordable pricing, high-quality support, and several interesting features, even for its free plan users. 

Here’s why EngageBay is the best marketing platform for small businesses: 

Affordable pricing plans 

For $0, users can access several free tools and a free forever service bay with features like live chat transcripts and conversation routing.

Pricing for the Marketing Bay starts at $12.99 for the Basic plan, $49.99 for the Growth plan and $79.99 for the Pro plan.

Unlike HubSpot and Mailchimp, EngageBay doesn’t bill users based on a sliding scale. There’s a fixed price that unlocks all features for you on each tier. 

See what an EngageBay user says:

Source

Read also: How To Move From Mailchimp to EngageBay: An Exhaustive Guide

No annual contracts 

EngageBay doesn’t lock you into annual contracts. You pay-as-you-go on a monthly basis.

And you can cancel anytime. No questions asked. 

Source

Rich functionality, quality support

EngageBay offers all the marketing tools a small business needs.

With features like a social suite and customer journey data, EngageBay helps you own your marketing from start to finish.

You also get powerful features and advanced automation capabilities, including lead management, segmentation and personalization, multi-step visual automation builder, marketing campaign management, welcome and transactional emails, landing pages and email templates, sales pipelines, dashboards with team and campaign performance metrics, and so much more. 

Fist bump for our quality support, too.

Source

Easy to use 

EngageBay is easy to use. There’s no steep learning curve. You get a hang of the software immediately after you sign up. 

Source

Plus, if any challenge ever pops up, you get all the support you need through email, chat, phone, or a dedicated account manager.

Source

Free plan access and onboarding 

You don’t have to pay a single cent for EngageBay’s onboarding. And you can sign up for a free trial to get a feel of how EngageBay’s software works before upgrading to a paid plan. 

Source

Learn more about EngageBay:

• Compare EngageBay with HubSpot
• Visit our website
• Request a demo with our experts
• Check pricing

Sign up with EngageBay for free

Conclusion

There you have it: a thorough review of the key features, pricing, and quality of support of HubSpot Marketing hub and Mailchimp marketing platform. 

HubSpot and Mailchimp are key players in the marketing software market. You won’t be wrong to use Mailchimp. After all, it’s a lot cheaper.

And if you want many functionalities, HubSpot may do the work.

But like many users say, you can access these functionalities at an incredibly affordable price tag.

Source

Want to try the all-in-one marketing software that’s specifically built for small business owners?

Grab your free plan now.

Explore the most potent HubSpot competitors in our insightful blog post. Understand their strengths, weaknesses, and pricing. Dive in today!

Related reading: 

• The best CRM Tools for Small Businesses
• The 14 Best CRM Automation Software in 2024
• 15 Best Marketing Automation Tools for Small Businesses
• Is HubSpot Worth It? In-Depth Review for Small Businesses

The post HubSpot vs Mailchimp: Best Email Marketing & CRM Comparison [2025] appeared first on EngageBay - All-in-one marketing, sales, and service.

But when you compare HubSpot vs GetResponse pricing and features, you will see that they both different pricing models and unique features that set them apart and differ in how easy they are to use.

So, I signed up for both platforms to see how they compare. And in this detailed HubSpot vs GetResponse guide, you’ll learn:

• The key differences between HubSpot and GetResponse
• The pricing difference between the two platforms
• How the HubSpot vs GetResponse CRM features look and feel differ 
• A more affordable, smarter alternative

Quick Comparison: HubSpot vs GetResponse at a Glance

Feature	HubSpot	GetResponse
Entry-level price (1 k contacts)	Starter plan – $20 / mo	Email Marketing plan – $19 / mo
Email send limit (same tier)	5 × contact tier per month; free tools capped at 2 000 sends	Unlimited monthly email sends
Built-in CRM & shared inbox	Free CRM + omni-channel shared inbox	No CRM (marketing platform only)
Webinar hosting	Not included natively	Built-in live & on-demand webinar studio
eCommerce promo codes & AI product recs	Basic (via integrations)	Advanced native toolkit
Social Ads Creator	Not offered	Built-in video/banner Ads Creator
Account-based marketing (ABM)	Native ABM workflows & company scoring	Not supported
Free-plan contact limit	1 000 contacts	500 contacts
Support on entry plan	Email + chat; phone from Pro tier	24/7 email + chat; no phone

HubSpot vs GetResponse: Main Differences

Both platforms have similar features that’ll help you attract an audience, convert them into leads, and engage with customers. 

Such features include landing pages, forms, marketing automation, email marketing, social media management, ad manager, live chat, and a website builder.

But there are key things that set the two platforms apart. Here are the main differences: 

Comparing HubSpot vs GetResponse

We’ll compare both platforms and review them based on seven factors – ease of use, pricing, email marketing, CRM integration, landing page creation, marketing automation, and analytics.

HubSpot vs GetResponse: Ease of use

In this section, we’ll review the customer support and UI, and look at the resources available to help you get started.

HubSpot 

HubSpot is an all-in-one tool, but it’s easy to navigate through the different hubs. All the hubs are on the top navigation bar, with specific features in each hub available in the drop-down menu. This makes it easy to navigate to the main features in HubSpot Marketing Hub with only a few clicks.

But to some, this all-in-one nature isn’t relevant to them. As Kaitlin Hay, a Digital Marketing Specialist, says:

“There is a lot on the site that I don’t use, there seems to be a lot of extra bells and whistles that aren’t essential to running a marketing program.”

But in terms of using its marketing tools, HubSpot is user-friendly, as Kaitlin explains:

“Setting up automated drip workflows is user-friendly and they really do think of everything! Its intuitive and easy to use, makes creating drip campaigns easy. Also love the email analytics and how easy it is to create grey list and blacklist email lists to remove old subscribers to improve the open rate.”

Customer support includes email and in-app chat support for the starter plan (we’ll review the pricing next), and the professional and enterprise plan includes phone support. They also have a multilingual support team that caters to international customers. 

You can also ask questions in the community center and get in-depth answers from certified HubSpot partners. When you need instant answers for common tasks, you can use the extensive knowledge base to find answers.

GetResponse

It has a clean UI since it’s only an email marketing platform. All the features are a click away and include in-app step-by-step guides to help you get the most out of each feature.  

I also found the tutorial videos and the help center to be resourceful. But HubSpot has more in-depth and useful step-by-step guides related to each feature, unlike GetResponse. 

Customer support includes email and chat support but lacks phone support. Overall, GetResponse is easy to use, and you can run your marketing campaigns in no time with the help of customer support. 

Here’s how Richard Tunnah, CEO of Redman Capital, summed up his experience:

“GetResponse is easy to get started with as they offer help videos and support to get you through the difficult first email campaign set up. I have tried a few of the leading email campaign companies including Aweber, Constant Contact and Mailchimp, GetResponse was the easiest to set up your first campaign.”

Ease of use verdict

Both platforms are easier to use. However, according to customer ratings on G2, HubSpot is easier to use and has better customer support compared to GetResponse.

HubSpot: Pros and Cons in a Nutshell (2025)

Read also: The Best HubSpot Alternative

GetResponse vs HubSpot: Pricing

This is the major difference between GetResponse and HubSpot. It could be the deciding factor. So, let’s review their pricing.

How much does HubSpot cost?

HubSpot’s pricing varies depending on the type and number of contacts you have. It has two types of contacts:

• Marketing contacts: These are the normal contacts you can send emails to, target with ads, and run automations on. They count towards your pricing plan.
• Non-marketing contacts: These contacts don’t count toward your paid plan. You can’t send marketing emails or target these contacts with ads.

All the plans include 1 million free non-marketing contacts. You can store these contacts in the free CRM.

HubSpot offers various suites/plans:

• HubSpot Marketing Hub
• HubSpot Sales Hub
• HubSpot Service Hub
• HubSpot CRM Suite

Each has three paid plans and one free plan:

Starter plan – Pricing starts at $20/month

This plan suits small teams and individuals. It includes the main features that’ll help you attract and engage with leads. 

Features in this pricing plan include: 

• Email marketing
• Forms
• Landing pages
• Live chat 

This price includes 1,000 marketing contacts. Here’s the pricing structure for additional contacts:

• The first 1,000 contacts are included in your monthly starter plan
• 1,001 to 3,000 contacts – $20/month per 1,000
• 3,001 to 5,000 contacts – $18/month per 1,000
• 5,000+ contacts – $16/month per 1,000

One thing to note: HubSpot limits the number of emails you send per month. In the starter plan, your account limit is 5X your marketing contacts.

Professional plan – Pricing starts at $890/month

This plan is best for you if you have a bigger team and want to expand your marketing efforts beyond just emails, landing pages, and forms. 

Key features in this plan include:

• Teams (you can organize users into teams based on various criteria such as product line and region)
• Omni-channel marketing automation
• Email marketing campaigns
• Custom reporting 
• Social media
• You also get additional features and increased limits on features in the starter plan.

It includes 2,000 marketing contacts. Additional contacts are priced as follows:

• The first 2,000 contacts are included in your monthly professional plan
• 2,001 to 22,000 – $250/mo per 5,000
• 22,001 to 42,000 – $225/mo per 5,000
• 42,001 to 62,000 – $200/mo per 5,000
• 62,001 to 82,000 – $175/mo per 5,000
• 82,000+ – $150/mo per 5,000

Two things to note:

• Your email send limit in this plan is 10X your marketing contacts. 
• Mandatory onboarding is required with a one-time fee of $3,000

Enterprise plan – Pricing starts at $3,600/month billed at $43,200/year

This plan is billed yearly, and you must commit to it for a year. It’s suited for enterprise companies or large teams. 

Key features include:

• Hierarchical teams. It helps you manage users much better
• Partitioning which gives you the ability to give teams different permissions on features and marketing assets
• Custom behavioral events that let you track actions visitors take on your website 
• Custom objects that let you store data only relevant to your business

It includes 10,000 contacts, and additional contacts are priced as follows:

• The first 10,000 contacts are included in your enterprise plan
• 10,001 to 50,000 – $100/mo per 10,000
• 50,001 to 100,000 – $90/mo per 10,000
• 100,001 to 200,000 – $80/mo per 10,000
• 200,001 to 500,000 – $70/mo per 10,000
• 500,000+ – $60/mo per 10,000

Two things to note:

• Your email send limit in this plan is 20X your marketing contacts
• A one-time onboarding fee of $6,000 is mandatory

HubSpot 2024 pricing update

In March 2024, HubSpot introduced two new seats: View-Only and Core. Here’s a breakdown of the new changes: 

• The View-Only seat does not offer any edit access. All plans offer unlimited View-Only seats. 
• The Core Seat offers users edit access to all the features in their subscriptions — useful for CEOs, team leaders, and managers.
• The catch: The free edit-access seats that HubSpot was offering previously no longer exist – they are now the paid ‘Core Seats’. This means that those who enjoyed having free edit access previously should now purchase at least a Core seat to continue editing (or do away with a View-Only seat).

This table can help you understand better: 

Not happy with HubSpot’s pricing? See our top picks for the best HubSpot alternatives in our comprehensive article.

How much does GetResponse cost?

GetResponse has four pricing plans: Email Marketing, Marketing Automation, eCommerce Marketing, and Max plan. The Max plan is a custom-built plan specific to your needs, so we’ll only review the first three plans.

But two things to note about GetResponse pricing that are different from HubSpot: 

• • GetResponse has unlimited monthly email sends. You are not charged for the number of emails you send per month.
  • When an email address is allocated to several lists, it will be considered as separate contacts and charged accordingly.
  • GetResponse charges based on the number of contacts in your list.

Email Marketing plan – Pricing starts at $19/month 

This plan suits you if you need an email marketing platform to capture and nurture an audience. 

Key features include:

• Email marketing. You can run basic functions like sending unlimited newsletters, A/B testing, and click tracking.
• Autoresponders to automatically send out welcome emails.
• Basic segmentation based on contact details, tags, contact action, and lead magnet. No segmentation based on scoring and events.
• Website Builder
• Landing pages and signup forms
• Access to only the automation templates
• Limited live chat

Here’s the pricing structure for the Email Marketing plan:

• 1,000 contacts – $19/month
• 2,500 contacts – $29/month
• 5,000 contacts – $54/month
• 10,000 contacts – $79/month
• 25,000 contacts – $174/month
• 50,000 contacts – $299/month
• 100,000 contacts – $539/month

Marketing Automation plan – Pricing starts at $59/month

This plan suits you if you need to scale your marketing operations. Features in this plan include all the features from the previous plan plus:

• Marketing automation. You can access the automation builder and additional automation features like contact scoring, drip campaigns, and event-based automation.
• Live webinars
• Limited web push notifications
• Fully unlocked live chat
• Advanced segmentation

Here’s the pricing structure for this plan:

• 1,000 contacts – $59/month
• 2,500 contacts – $69/month
• 5,000 contacts – $95/month
• 10,000 contacts – $114/month
• 25,000 contacts – $215/month
• 50,000 contacts – $359/month
• 100,000 contacts – $599/month

eCommerce Marketing Plan – Pricing starts at $119/month

This plan suits eCommerce brands because all the additional features, when compared to the Marketing Automation plan, are eCommerce based. 

Features in this plan include:

• eCommerce tools like order confirmation automation, abandoned order recovery, quick transactional emails, synced promo codes.
• eCommerce segmentations
• Additional webinar features like on-demand and paid webinars
• Unlimited web push notifications and automation
• eCommerce and product recommendation reports

GetResponse’s Advanced eCommerce toolkit—AI product recommendations, promo-code generation, Social Ads Creator—gives sellers growth features HubSpot only offers through add-ons.

Here’s the pricing structure for this plan:

• 1,000 contacts – $119/month
• 2,500 contacts – $139/month
• 5,000 contacts – $169/month
• 10,000 contacts – $199/month
• 25,000 contacts – $299/month
• 50,000 contacts – $444/month
• 100,000 contacts – $699/month

Pricing verdict

GetResponse is cheaper than HubSpot. HubSpot locks key features under a paywall, so you have to upgrade, and the steep price jump from the starter plan to the pro plan is a deal breaker for many. 

GetResponse selectively provides key features in each plan and doesn’t force you to upgrade to a higher subscription like HubSpot.

GetResponse Free Plan: A Comprehensive Overview

Read also: HubSpot Pricing and Comparison with Affordable Alternatives

GetResponse vs HubSpot: Email Marketing

Both platforms have powerful email features that’ll help you target campaigns to a specific audience or run A/B tests to optimize your email campaigns. We’ll look at how each email marketing tool performs and give you a review of each.

HubSpot 

Its drag-and-drop email builder is powerful yet user-friendly, with simple navigation. However, you may be limited by the few templates and design options. 

As Kaizer Ahmed says:

“While the (HubSpot) platform offers a lot of customization options, some users may find that they are limited by the available templates and design options.”

The smart content and personalization tokens in HubSpot help you create a more engaging experience for your audience. Your email’s content will change based on people’s interests and behavior. Examples of personalization tokens in HubSpot include job function, last engagement date, last marketing email click date, last page seen, lifecycle stage, and many more. 

After creating your email, you can add it to marketing and sales automation right before sending the email. These workflows automate what happens after a contact engages with your email. 

GetResponse

GetResponse has a ton of email templates compared to HubSpot. Although most of the templates are for eCommerce brands, they are a great choice for those who don’t have the time or resources to start from scratch.

Its email editor is simple and easy to navigate. But it’s less easy to navigate when compared to HubSpot. It’s too simple and lacks certain features like automatically creating a web version of the email or creating an A/B test directly from the email editor like HubSpot. 

Email marketing verdict

HubSpot is by far better compared to GetResponse. It has more email automation features to engage with your audience, like smart content, and its editor is designed to save you time.

Read also: Marketing Automation Software for Small Businesses

GetResponse vs HubSpot: CRM Integration

It’s important to choose an email marketing automation platform that integrates with your CRM because you’ll have more automation options, such as targeting new leads added to your CRM. You’ll also use data from your CRM to improve your leads scoring system.

HubSpot 

HubSpot has a native CRM since it’s an all-in-one platform. It provides seamless integration with your customer data, advanced lead management options, and marketing automation capabilities.

The direct HubSpot integration gives you more lead-scoring options and contact management features. For example, the smart contact database lets you view a lead’s entire interaction with your company, from social media and emails to tickets raised. You can also set automations triggered by events in the CRM.

Free CRM + omnichannel shared inbox let teams see every contact, deal, email, chat, Messenger thread, and form submission in one place.

HubSpot also integrates with popular CRMs like Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Close, Copper, Bitrix24, Freshsales Suite, Insightly, Sugar CRM, Nimble CRM, Redtail CRM, Freshsales (classic), Nutshell, Bigin, Salesmate, Vtiger CRM, Ontraport and many more.

GetResponse

GetResponse lacks a native CRM like HubSpot. So you won’t get the advantage of a seamless data transfer and more customization options. But it natively integrates with popular CRMs like:

• Salesforce
• Microsoft Dynamics 365
• Sugar CRM
• Zoho CRM

You can also connect to other CRMs like HubSpot, Capsule, and Salesflare. 

CRM Integration verdict

HubSpot has more integration options than GetResponse. This makes it effective to create more personalized email campaigns and improve your marketing and sales efforts.

Read also: Free CRM with Marketing Automation

GetResponse vs HubSpot: Landing Page Creation

Creating landing pages within your email marketing software saves you time and improves user experience. However, the creation process has to be easy and intuitive, and the marketing automation tool should have the right features. In this section, we’ll look at what both platforms have to offer.

HubSpot 

The landing page builder is really easy to use. You don’t need any coding experience to create a page, as it’s all done through a drag-and-drop interface. There are also a couple of pre-designed templates to choose from, which you can customize to fit your brand and messaging. 

You can add forms, calls-to-action, and other conversion-focused elements to the page to encourage people to take action, and then run A/B tests to see which version of the page performs better. 

Smart content modules display different versions of your content based on categories like ad source, device type, country, preferred language, lifecycle stage, or how they found your site.

GetResponse

It has over 100 design templates available. You can choose from popular categories like Download, Discount, Optin, and Webinar Invite. You can also build a landing page from scratch.

One downside to its builder is the outdated design and few customization options compared to HubSpot. 

Here’s how Meriah Kruse summed up the landing page builder:

“Although I appreciate the landing page maker, I am also still hoping for some improvement in the landing page construction functions, which I find stodgy and finicky.”

You can also personalize the sign-up form on your landing page by adding custom fields and customizing the text on the button. And if you want to organize the content of your page with sections or add videos, it’s easy – just drag and drop the video placeholder into the workspace and paste a link to a video URL.

GetResponse: Built-in webinar studio (live, on-demand, YouTube/Facebook streaming, polls, CTAs) comes at no extra cost.

Landing page creation verdict

HubSpot has a better landing page builder compared to GetResponse. Its UI is more user-friendly, and it lets you optimize your pages for SEO.

Read also: Is HubSpot Worth It? An In-depth HubSpot Review for Small Businesses

HubSpot vs GetResponse: Marketing Automation

Marketing automation allows you to send targeted and personalized emails to your subscribers based on their behavior, interests, and preferences. Both platforms have automation capabilities, but which one is intuitive, easy to use, and more powerful?

HubSpot

You can create a new workflow from scratch or use a template to guide you. When creating a workflow from scratch, you can select from different objects like Contacts, Companies, Deals, and more. Once you’ve chosen your object, you can then select the type of workflow you want to create, like a Blank Workflow or a Scheduled Workflow.

HubSpot’s Native ABM workflows with company scoring and automation help target high-value accounts—capabilities GetResponse lacks.

If you prefer to use a template, you can search for one that aligns with your goals and explore different automation options. Once you’ve selected a template, you can edit, add, and remove actions in the editor.

After selecting your object and type, you can set enrollment triggers to automatically enroll records in the workflow based on certain criteria. You can configure triggers, conditions, and actions to deliver the most effective emails to the most relevant recipients at optimal times. 

The advanced segmentation in HubSpot ensures that only the appropriate contacts are enrolled in your workflows. And by integrating data from your CRM, you can personalize your emails for maximum effect.

It’s important to note that the actions available to you depend on your subscription, and locked actions require an account upgrade to use. Once you’ve added your actions, you can clone or move them to streamline the workflow-building process.

Read also: The Best GetResponse Alternatives (Features, Pricing)

GetResponse

It allows you to create targeted, personalized campaigns that are triggered by specific user actions, such as signing up for a newsletter, landing page visits, or abandoning a shopping cart. This is different from HubSpot, which lets you create triggers not only from contacts but also from company details, deals, quotes, and tickets.

The GetResponse email marketing software has a ton of automation templates to choose from. They range from different categories such as welcome emails, engagement and retention, post-purchase, abandoned cart, online courses, webinars and events, and affiliate marketing. 

Marketing automation verdict

HubSpot is more powerful and has more features compared to GetResponse. But choosing between the two depends on your needs. GetResponse offers automation in cheaper plans than HubSpot but is geared towards small businesses, while HubSpot is expensive and suitable for large teams.

Read also: GetResponse Vs TinyEmail — In-Depth Analysis With Key Differences

EngageBay: A More Affordable and Powerful Alternative

HubSpot is a more powerful all-in-one CRM and email marketing platform. It’s user-friendly and better in most aspects compared to GetResponse. But it’s not suited for small teams or individuals who want an affordable and simple email marketing platform.

Showdown: HubSpot vs EngageBay

GetResponse is a cheaper alternative with similar features. It has more unique features like webinars and more eCommerce tools, but its interface is not user-friendly, and it’s a bit expensive compared to other email marketing platforms.

That’s where EngageBay comes in. It’s cheaper than both platforms and has all the essential features. 

For example, the $49.99/month plan allows you to run marketing automation. It includes additional features such as push notifications, site messaging, a dedicated account manager, and free onboarding sessions, which are not available in GetResponse’s marketing automation plan ($59/ month).

You can also automate your lead scoring process. Simply add triggers that will change lead scores based on their activities, such as link clicks and website visits. You can also run email sequences, SMS marketing, site messaging, and create landing pages and web forms.

Learn more about EngageBay:

• Compare EngageBay with HubSpot
• Visit our website
• Request a demo with our experts
• Check pricing

Sign up with EngageBay for free

Wrapping Up

So, when we compare HubSpot vs GetResponse pricing, features, and other aspects, we see that HubSpot suits you if you have a big team or need a platform that will grow with you.

It’s better than GetResponse but it’s expensive.

GetResponse is cheaper and good for you if you need to run simple email marketing activities. But when compared to other platforms, it’s expensive and less easy to use.

As for the HubSpot vs GetResponse CRM features are concerned, HubSpot scores higher as well.

Check this simple comparison that clearly shows which platform is the best for small businesses:

EngageBay is a great alternative since it’s cheaper than both platforms, has similar and additional features, and is easier to use.

Related reading: 

• The best CRM Tools for Small Businesses
• The 14 Best CRM Automation Software in 2024
• 15 Best Marketing Automation Tools for Small Businesses
• Is HubSpot Worth It? In-Depth Review for Small Businesses

The post HubSpot Vs GetResponse: Head‑to‑Head Comparison (2025) appeared first on EngageBay - All-in-one marketing, sales, and service.

Choosing the right CRM software can be a rigorous process. And most often, HubSpot CRM comparisons are all over the place.

Luckily, you’ve successfully narrowed your choices to two powerful options — EngageBay vs HubSpot.

This also means you’re now faced with the dilemma of choosing one CRM that caters to your business needs.

For one, EngageBay and HubSpot CRM share some similarities. They both have a fully integrated CRM suite and specific tools that support marketing, sales, and customer service teams. 

However, when you compare EngageBay vs HubSpot, there are key differences like pricing, specific features, quality of support, and more that you should consider before investing in either CRM.

In this post, we’ll give you all the information you need to make the right choice before opting for EngageBay or HubSpot CRM.

Here’s what you’ll learn: 

• What are EngageBay and HubSpot CRM?
• EngageBay Vs HubSpot: Pros & Cons at a Glance
• EngageBay vs HubSpot: Key differences
• Who is HubSpot best for?
• Who is EngageBay best for?
• What is it like to use a HubSpot CRM alternative?
• How do EngageBay and HubSpot compare in usability?
• How do EngageBay and HubSpot compare in marketing automation?
• How do EngageBay and HubSpot compare in sales tools?
• How do Engagebay and HubSpot compare in service tools?

What are EngageBay and HubSpot CRM?

EngageBay is an all-in-one CRM with a suite of tools to help your business acquire, engage, nurture, and convert leads into customers. Its unified CRM suite has marketing, CRM & Sales, and Service Bays. It is widely recognized as a more affordable HubSpot alternative.

Also an integrated email marketing software, HubSpot CRM consists of tools that make it easy to manage customer data, communications, and related processes. It comprises Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, CMS Hub, and Operations Hub. 

EngageBay Vs HubSpot: Pros & Cons at a Glance

Take a look at the Pros & Cons for both EngageBay and HubSpot:

EngageBay Pros

• Free, full-featured help desk & live chat – The EngageBay free CRM offers unlimited tickets, agents, and chats for life.

• Budget-friendly pricing that starts at $0 – paid CRM Suite begins at $14.99/user per month; no contracts or onboarding fees.

• All-in-one toolset for SMBs – marketing automation, sales, service, and 360° contact view inside one interface.

• Top-rated ease of use (9.1/10 on G2) with a clean, intuitive UI.

• Responsive human support on every tier – live chat and email even on the free plan, plus a dedicated CSM from Growth upward.

• Free assisted migrations to make switching painless.

EngageBay Cons

• Smaller native app marketplace – relies heavily on Zapier/Integrately; far fewer one-click integrations than HubSpot.

• Limited enterprise features – no custom objects, granular permission sets, or marketing-events object.

• Template & page editors feel clunky – newcomers report a steeper learning curve when exploring the many modules.

HubSpot Pros

• Generous free CRM – up to 1 million contacts, unlimited view-only users, plus email marketing, forms, live chat, and pipelines.

• Massive feature breadth & ecosystem – six hubs (Marketing, Sales, Service, CMS, Ops, Commerce) and 1,000+ vetted integrations.

• Polished UX & guided onboarding – drag-and-drop tools and structured tutorials speed up adoption.

• Seat-based pricing can lower entry cost – Core seats at $20 each, view-only seats remain free.

• Deep analytics & automation at Pro tier – advanced SEO, ABM, AI content assistant, and revenue attribution.

HubSpot Cons

• Total cost rises quickly – Starter may be $18–$50/month, but Professional jumps to ~$890/month (Marketing Hub) plus $3k–$12k onboarding and annual contracts.

• Complex seat structure & lost free edits – 2024–25 pricing shift introduced paid Core seats and license confusion.

• No live support on the free plan – community forums only; real chat/phone support starts at Starter.

• Limited chatbot depth & analytics compared with specialist providers; no built-in AI for live-chat flows.

• Template customisation can be restrictive for power users needing bespoke layouts or advanced objects.

How to use this list

• Early-stage or cost-sensitive? EngageBay’s forever-free help desk and low-commitment paid plans keep risk minimal.

• Scaling fast with complex data models? HubSpot’s breadth, custom objects, and vast marketplace may justify the premium—just budget for onboarding and potential seat creep.

Match your must-have features (e.g., advanced automation, deep integrations) against your budget horizon to choose the best fit.

Enhance your email marketing with our free email templates designed to boost engagement and conversions.

EngageBay vs HubSpot: Key Differences

Here, we’ll focus on the main differences that exist between EngageBay and HubSpot in terms of the Marketing, Sales, and Service bays/hubs and the all-in-one CRM suite. 

EngageBay Vs HubSpot Pricing 

EngageBay Pricing

Starting at $0 for the EngageBay free CRM, EngageBay offers free tools and a free-forever Service Bay tailored to startups and SMBs. EnagageBay also offers affordable paid plans starting from:

• CRM Suite: $14.99/mo for Basic, $64.99/mo for Growth, and $119.99/mo for Pro
• Marketing Bay: $12.99/mo for Basic, $49.99 for Growth, $79.99 for Pro
• Sales & CRM Bay: $12.99/mo for Basic, $49.99/mo for Growth, 79.99/mo for Pro

Also, you get an 8% discount if you choose a yearly subscription and a 15% for a biennial subscription.

HubSpot Pricing

While HubSpot also has a free tool, the paid plans cost significantly more. Here’s how much you’ll spend on each plan:

• HubSpot CRM Suite: $50/mo for Starter ($18/mo for new users), $1,780/mo for Professional, and $5,000/mo for Enterprise. One-time mandatory onboarding fees for the last two plans costs an additional $3,750 and $12,000 respectively. 
• HubSpot Marketing Hub: $50/mo for Starter ($18/mo for new users), $890/mo for Professional, and $3,200/mo for Enterprise. The one-time mandatory onboarding fees for the Pro and Enterprise accounts costs $3,000 and $6,000 each.
• HubSpot Sales Hub: $50/mo for Starter ($18/mo for new users), $500/mo for Professional, and $1,200/mo for Enterprise. One-time onboarding fees for the last two plans are $375 and $3,000 each.
• HubSpot Customer Service Hub: $50/mo for Starter ($18/mo for new users), $400/mo for Pro, and $1,200/mo for Enterprise. The one-time onboarding costs an additional $375 for Pro and $3,000 for Enterprise.

You get 10% off if you opt for yearly billing in the hubs only. Also, HubSpot allows you to combine plans from different hubs to create a bundle. 

HubSpot 2024 pricing update

In March 2024, HubSpot introduced two new seats: Core and View-Only. The View-Only seats are unlimited and free and offer view-only access to that particular subscription’s features. The paid core seats offer edit access and are helpful for management, team leaders, and CEOs.
Here’s the catch. The new paid Core seats were previously part of the free plan, meaning users now need to pay to enjoy the privileges they had for free before.

This table can help you understand better: 

Winner between EngageBay and HubSpot in Pricing: EngageBay

“In the past I used HubSpot and Salesforce. I expected switching to EngageBay would be hard, but it was actually simple. The platform is incredibly user-friendly, feature-rich and intuitive—perfect for anyone coming from other CRMs.”
— Birendra K., Small-business user, March 2025 (G2)

Marketing Madness: HubSpot vs EngageBay Face-Off!

Read also: HubSpot Pricing and Detailed Comparison with Other Alternatives

EngageBay Vs HubSpot Contract

EngageBay’s Terms

There are no mandatory annual contracts or commitments on EngageBay. You can choose to pay for as many months as you like and cancel at any time. This allows you to assess if the CRM meets your needs before investing in a yearly or biennial plan. 

HubSpot’s Terms

Only HubSpot’s Starter plans allow you to commit to a monthly payment. While you can pay monthly in the Professional packages, you’ll have to commit to an annual contract.

Here’s how it works: 

Let’s say your contract requires a 12-month commitment and a monthly billing cycle. If your needs change in month 7 and you cancel your subscription, you’ll still have to pay for the unused 5 months.

This mandatory yearly commitment also applies to the Starter and Pro plan for the CRM suite.

For the Enterprise plan in all HubSpot’s products—hubs and CRM suite—you have to pay upfront for a year’s subscription.

Winner between EngageBay and HubSpot in Contract: EngageBay

Read also: Top 5 HubSpot Competitors For The Cost Conscious

No time to read so much? No worries! Here’s a video explaining how EngageBay compares to HubSpot:

EngageBay Vs HubSpot – Which Is Better for CRM?

EngageBay Vs HubSpot Functionality

Both CRMs have great tools to help you attract visitors, connect with customers, and close more deals. In subsequent sections, we’ll explore specific features in EngageBay and HubSpot’s CRM suites and bays/hubs. 

Let’s look at some prominent features:

EngageBay CRM Features

Offers contact management, sales & marketing automation, appointment scheduling, deal management, forms & landing pages, email sequences, ticket management, chat form customization, analytics & reporting, integrations, ABM tools, and more, making it a top HubSpot alternative. 

HubSpot CRM Features

Offers campaign management, meeting scheduling, analytics & reporting dashboard, email marketing, live chat, contact management, sequences, landing page & form builder, lead tracking, lead management, marketing automation, ticketing, integrations, and more.

Winner between EngageBay and HubSpot  in Functionality: Tie

Read also: What is HubSpot? Definition, Features, Pricing, Who it’s Best for

EngageBay Vs HubSpot Customer Support

EngageBay 

EngageBay provides 3 customer support options—Email & chat, a dedicated account manager, and phone support. The best part is that all users have access to email & chat assistance, even if you’re on the free plan. 

According to customers’ reviews, the text support is quick, incredibly helpful, and exceptional. Here’s what a customer has to say (EngageBay review):

The Growth plan and above come with a dedicated account manager. If you upgrade to the pro version, you’ll get additional phone support.

HubSpot

HubSpot offers email & chat support for all Starter plans and above. From customers’ reviews, the chat option is an easy way to get help.

On the Professional and Enterprise accounts, you’ll get additional support via phone. 

However, unlike EngageBay, there’s no support for the free plan in HubSpot. You’ll have to follow conversations on the HubSpot community or get answers from other users. 

Winner between EngageBay and HubSpot in Customer Support: EngageBay 

Enhance Your Email Marketing

Want to make your emails more impactful? Check out our beautiful, easy-to-customize email templates. Designed to boost engagement, these templates from EngageBay will help your emails stand out. Just customize the images, headings, and CTAs for your brand, and hit send in a few minutes!

 Browse the Template Library 

Who Is HubSpot Best For? 

HubSpot targets businesses of all sizes that wish to optimize their marketing, sales, and customer service processes on one platform. However, as many businesses have varying needs, what’s ideal for a large-scale enterprise may not be the same for a startup or SMB.

HubSpot bridges this gap by providing free, Starter, Professional, and Enterprise plans that fit the needs of small to large businesses.

But when it comes to pricing, the odds are tilted slightly against small businesses. For instance, you may start with the free plan. As your business needs increase and you need ABM tools and automation, you’ll have to upgrade to the Professional plan, which costs $890/mo in the Marketing hub, a one-time $3000 mandatory onboarding, and an annual commitment.

This expensive pricing makes HubSpot less ideal for most SMBs and more suited to large organizations with deep pockets.

Boost your email campaigns with our free, customizable email templates that drive results.

Read also: An In-Depth Look At HubSpot vs Pipedrive

Who is EngageBay Best For?

EngageBay is built with small to mid-sized businesses in mind.

SMB owners can get all the features they need at incredibly affordable and much lower prices. This includes up to 26 features on the EngageBay free CRM plan and powerful functionality like 360-degree customer view, timezone-based email delivery, and landing page A/B testing in the paid packages.

EngageBay’s pricing is budget-friendly too. For example, to get marketing automation, you’ll only have to pay $34.99/mo on the Marketing bay. Onboarding is free and you aren’t locked into a mandatory annual commitment either. 

If you’re an SMB owner looking for a scalable CRM that’s affordable, EngageBay checks all the boxes.

Read also: Is HubSpot CRM Truly Free? An Unbiased Guide (with User Reviews)

What Is It Like To Use a HubSpot CRM Alternative?

Imagine an all-in-one CRM software where you get all the features you need to run your business, an easy-to-use platform, and high-quality support for a fraction of HubSpot’s pricing. That’s what it’s like to use an excellent HubSpot alternative like EngageBay. 

Don’t take our word for it. Let’s see what customers who used HubSpot but switched to EngageBay have to say:

Read also: CRM Showdown — HubSpot vs Zoho Review and Comparison

How Do EngageBay And HubSpot Compare in Usability?

Choosing a CRM your team can implement without any special training could save you from lots of CRM nightmares, like relying on inaccurate data due to a wrong configuration. This makes usability a key factor to consider when choosing between EngageBay and HubSpot CRM. 

Let’s look at the usability of both CRMs:

EngageBay CRM

Nearly all customer reviews reflect ‌that EngageBay has an intuitive UI that’s easy to use with or without customer support. 

Of course, experiences vary. This explains why a few users also note that EngageBay has a bit of a learning curve as they expect in any other CRMs during setup.

Here are EngageBay’s ratings in G2’s usability score:

Ease of use: 9.1. Ease of setup: 9.1

HubSpot CRM

According to reviews from most HubSpot customers, the platform is user-friendly. However, other customers also mentioned that using HubSpot can be complicated, with a learning curve ranging from moderate to very high.

Here are HubSpot’s ratings in G2’s usability score:

Ease of use: 8.6. Ease of setup: 8.1

How Do EngageBay And HubSpot Compare In Marketing Automation?

While both CRMs have some similar functionality, there are features in EngageBay that aren’t present in HubSpot and vice versa. The best CRM, in this case, comes down to the features you need from your ideal CRM software. 

Note: There are more features in both HubSpot and EngageBay than those listed below (and in other sections), but we’ll focus on the prominent functionalities of both CRMs.

Free Plan

Feature	EngageBay	HubSpot
Email marketing
Reporting dashboard
Integrations
Marketing events object	×
Custom user permissions & management	×
Basic predictive lead score		×
SSL-enabled landing pages		×
Social suite		×
Email sequences		×
Technical support	Email & chat	×

Basic vs Starter Plan

Feature	EngageBay Basic	HubSpot Starter
Multiple currencies	×
Payments	×
Email health insights	×
Custom fields
Lead scoring		×
Email & chat support

Growth vs Professional

Feature	EngageBay Growth	HubSpot Professional
A/B testing
Automation
Blog &  SEO tools	×
Triggers
Single sign-on		×
Technical Support	Email, Chat, & dedicated account manager	Email, chat, & phone

Pro vs Enterprise

Feature	EngageBay Pro	HubSpot Enterprise
Predictive Lead scoring
Role management
Hierarchical teams
Advanced analytics
Single sign-on
Technical Support	Email, Chat, & dedicated account manager, phone support	Email, chat, & phone

  Enhance your email marketing with our email templates.

Read also: HubSpot vs Insightly — Pricing, Functionality, Features & More

How Do EngageBay And HubSpot Compare In Sales Tools?

Below are notable features you’ll get from each plan in EngageBay Sales Bay and HubSpot CRM to support your sales process:

Free Plan 

Feature	EngageBay	HubSpot
Meeting scheduling
Reporting dashboard
Contact management
Integrations
Social suite	Twitter, Facebook, Instagram	×
Deals
Email templates
Email tracking
Technical support	Email & Chat support	×

Basic vs Starter Plan

Feature	EngageBay Basic	HubSpot Starter
Calling minutes
Goals
Sales Automation	×
Deal pipeline customization
Technical support	Email & Chat support	Email & Chat support

Growth vs Professional

Feature	EngageBay Growth	HubSpot Professional
Sales Automation tools
Timezone-based email delivery/smart send times
Email sequences
Proposals
Multi-currency
Technical Support	Email, Chat, & dedicated account manager	Email, Chat, & phone

Pro vs Enterprise

Feature	EngageBay Pro	HubSpot Enterprise
Proposal analytics
Role management
Call transcripts
Account-Based Marketing
Playbooks/Sales scripts
Technical Support	Email, Chat, dedicated account manager, phone	Email, Chat, & phone

How Do EngageBay And HubSpot Compare in Customer Service Tools?

Here’s a shocker: EngageBay Service Bay is completely free! You have unlimited access to the two software—the Free Help Desk and the Live Chat—within this Bay.  

For HubSpot Service Hub, you have to pay $50/mo for Starter, $500/mo for Pro, and $1200/mo. Don’t forget the additional one-time onboarding fee of $375 for Pro and $3000 for Enterprise. Let’s look at how EngageBay and HubSpot Service tools stack up:

Feature	EngageBay	HubSpot
		Free	Starter	Pro	Enterprise
Ticketing
Live chat
Canned responses
Smart workflows/workflow automation feature		×
Permission sets	×	×	×
Field-level permissions	×	×	×	×
Custom objects	×	×	×	×
Reporting
Integrations
Conversation routing		×
Feedback management		×	×
Live chat transcripts		×	×	×
SLAs		×	×	×
Technical support	Email & chat support	×	Email & chat support	Email, chat, & phone	Email, chat, & phone

Learn more about EngageBay:

• Compare EngageBay with HubSpot
• Visit our website
• Request a demo with our experts
• Check pricing

“I have a lot of experience with HubSpot and Salesforce. HubSpot’s functionality was great but far too expensive for my current company. EngageBay delivers most of the same features at a fraction of the price.”
— Jason T., Project Manager (Construction industry), July 12 2024 (Capterra)

Sign up with EngageBay for free

EngageBay Vs HubSpot (2025)

Wrap Up: EngageBay vs HubSpot CRM

There you have it: the key differences of the EngageBay vs HubSpot CRM comparison: ideal target businesses, tools, prices, and more! 

HubSpot offers a CRM suite and standalone tools you need for your sales, marketing, and customer service. 

To use HubSpot’s CRM,  you can start with the free plan or a Starter plan that costs $50/mo upwards, a Professional account of $400/mo and above, or an Enterprise plan of $1200/mo+ for the lowest priced hub. 

HubSpot’s Professional and Enterprise plans require a mandatory onboarding fee that costs between $375 to $12,000 and an annual contract commitment.

However, if you’re a small and mid-sized business owner who needs an integrated CRM with tailored features at affordable pricing, try EngageBay as the best HubSpot alternative. 

You have access to an all-in-one CRM or three standalone tools —Marketing, CRM & Sales, and Service (free) bays.

Pricing for the paid plans ranges from $12.99/mo to $119.99/mo, making it very budget-friendly for SMBs, and the best HubSpot alternative. 

Sign up free for a first-hand experience of how EngageBay can help your business.

Discover the strengths of the top HubSpot competitors in our detailed guide, and see what suits your business best.

Related reading: 

• The best CRM Tools for Small Businesses
• The 14 Best CRM Automation Software in 2024
• 15 Best Marketing Automation Tools for Small Businesses
• Is HubSpot Worth It? In-Depth Review for Small Businesses

Have you tried our email templates? Share your experience in the comments below, and let us know how they worked for your campaigns!

The post EngageBay Vs HubSpot (2025): Ultimate CRM Showdown for Price, Features & Support appeared first on EngageBay - All-in-one marketing, sales, and service.

HubSpot.

HubSpot is one of the popular all-in-one CRMs. And like most well-known unified CRMs, the HubSpot CRM platform provides a suite of sales, customer service, content management, and operations tools.

Having ‌these tools in one place is a win because you get to skip the trouble of juggling from one software to another. The best part is that, like many CRM software, HubSpot has free plans ‌you can explore before you opt for a paid plan. 

For some businesses, the HubSpot CRM platform is a good starting point to streamline marketing and sales-related processes. But is HubSpot really the best CRM software for you as an SMB owner (even with its free plan)?

Not quite.

Several factors make HubSpot CRM a less ideal choice for small and mid-size businesses. These factors range from limited functionality to hefty pricing plans and more which we will cover in this guide.  

Here is exactly what you’ll be learning today about the HubSpot CRM:

• What is HubSpot?
• Is HubSpot CRM Free to Use?
• Why is HubSpot expensive?
• Is HubSpot Worth the Money For Small Businesses?
• What is a Great HubSpot Alternative for SMBs?

But before we dive in, here’s a quick comparison of HubSpot’s with two other popular CRMs:

Even though HubSpot offers a robust CRM, here’s how it compares with top alternatives like EngageBay and Zoho CRM:

• Cost to get started: HubSpot’s Starter Customer Platform sits at $20–$50 / mo but its contact‑based pricing climbs fast; EngageBay’s Basic Plan is $12.74 / user / mo (plus a free‑forever tier) and Zoho’s Standard plan is $14 / user / mo, so both stay friendlier to small budgets.

• Automation unlock point: Full workflow automation kicks in for HubSpot only at the $100 / seat Professional tier; EngageBay introduces multi‑channel automations in its Growth Plan ($55.24 / user / mo) (and basic triggers even in Free), while Zoho adds advanced “Blueprint” automation at $23 / user / mo (Professional).

• Hidden fees & branding: HubSpot layers on mandatory onboarding ($1.5K – $7K) and keeps its logo on free assets; EngageBay and Zoho drop the branding once you’re on a paid plan and charge no onboarding fees.

• Free‑tier seat limits: HubSpot Free caps you at 2 users; Zoho Free offers 3 users; EngageBay Free lets 15 users collaborate—big advantage for lean teams.

• Best‑fit snapshot:

  • HubSpot → Enterprise‑grade inbound stack if budget isn’t a blocker.

  • EngageBay → All‑in‑one sales‑plus‑marketing suite at startup‑friendly pricing (Basic $12.74, Growth $55.24, Pro $101.99).

  • Zoho CRM → Affordable per‑user model with deep customization for growing SMBs.

Now let’s get to the details.

What Is HubSpot CRM and Why It Matters

HubSpot is a cloud-based CRM that rolls marketing, sales, service, content‑management, and operations tools into a single workspace. Instead of toggling between disparate apps, teams get a unified dashboard for capturing and nurturing leads, automating follow‑ups, tracking deals, and publishing inbound content—all under one roof.

Why does that matter? Because centralization fuels better data visibility and faster revenue cycles. With customer emails, chat transcripts, deal stages, and analytics living in one ecosystem, reps can deliver timelier, more personalized outreach. Marketers, meanwhile, can build end‑to‑end campaigns—from blog post to closed‑won—without exporting lists or stitching reports together. The result is higher productivity, smoother hand‑offs, and a clearer picture of ROI at every touchpoint.

That said, while the free version lets you test up to 23 core features, many advanced functions—like custom reporting, sophisticated automation, and premium support—sit behind steeper paid tiers. So before committing, SMBs should weigh HubSpot’s comprehensive toolkit against their budget and growth roadmap. Still, when businesses ask “What is HubSpot”, the short answer is: a powerhouse CRM that unifies your customer journey and scales your inbound strategy—provided the price fits your plan.

Is HubSpot CRM Free to Use?

Uhmmm…this question is a tough nut to crack. And a single-word answer wouldn’t do it justice. Let’s walk through HubSpot’s free plans to help you get the full picture.

HubSpot’s free CRM software allows you to use up to 23  free features such as ad management, email marketing, list segmentation, contact management, ticketing, deal pipeline, and app marketplace integrations.

Source

On its standalone solutions such as the HubSpot all‑in‑one marketing hub, you also have access to any of these free features relevant to each hub. 

But that’s where the good news ends. 

While these features are free, they have considerable limitations. An example is HubSpot’s built-in reporting—a critical tool for every business. On the free plan, you only have access to basic analytics. With insufficient data, optimizing your processes and scaling your business becomes an uphill battle.

Source

Source

So even though you might start out free, you need to upgrade to a paid plan for better functionality of these essential features. 

Read also: Is HubSpot CRM Truly Free? An Unbiased Guide (with User Reviews)

HubSpot Paid Plans

Currently, there are two categories in HubSpot’s paid plans; the all-in-one CRM suite and the single hubs. 

The all-in-one CRM suite combines all the tools in single hubs into one software. Moving from free tools to HubSpot’s best CRM suite plan could cost you up to $5,000 every month and $60,000 when billed yearly.

$60,000 a year is not a chicken change for SMBs. That’s a fortune.

Source

How about you opt for a single hub? Well, you’ll pay a lower but still substantial amount. 

A hub is a system within a CRM suite that caters to specific processes. These systems can function independently of others. For example, EngageBay’s Marketing Bay, CRM & Sales Bay, and Service Bay are equivalents of hubs. 

There are 5 hubs within HubSpot’s CRM suite. Let’s briefly look at each one, its pricing plan, and its functionalities.

HubSpot Marketing Hub

The HubSpot all‑in‑one marketing software provides marketing tools businesses need to attract visitors, convert leads, and generate reports.

Notable features in HubSpot’s marketing hub include tools for content creation, SEO, ads management, social media management, landing page builder, marketing automation, multi-touch revenue attribution, and reporting & analytics.

HubSpot Marketing Hub Pricing

Source

• HubSpot Marketing Hub Starter: Comes with 1000 marketing contacts and increased functionality of free features for $50/month. 
• HubSpot Marketing Hub Professional: Designed for up to 10 teams, gives you access to 2,000 marketing contacts, everything in the starter pack, and additional features. Pricing starts from $890/monthly plus a one-time onboarding fee of $3,000. 
• HubSpot Marketing Hub Enterprise: Supports 300 teams, 10,000 marketing contacts, more scalability in what’s available on the pro pack, and other features. It costs $3,200/month paid yearly and a $6,000 one-time onboarding fee. 

HubSpot Sales Hub

The sales hub allows sales teams to track leads and prospects, optimize sales processes, and close more deals. Popular features include email templates & tracking, conversation intelligence, live chat, pipeline management tool, sales automation, sales analytics & reporting dashboards.

HubSpot Sales Hub Pricing

Source

• Starter: Includes 2 paid users, fewer limitations of the free features, and additional features for $50/month upwards.
• Pro: Pricing starts from $500/month for the starter pack tools plus 5 paid users, automation, advanced reporting & analytics, personalization tools, technical support, and price & quote configuration. Currently, the required one-time onboarding fee is $375. 
• Enterprise: The enterprise plan allows for everything in the pro plan, 10 paid users, extensive customization, advanced permissions, and more features for $1,200/month paid yearly. You’ll also pay a one-time $3,000 onboarding fee.     

HubSpot Customer Service Hub

HubSpot’s customer service hub contains tools for communicating with customers and delivering great customer service. Features here include omnichannel messaging, live chat & conversational bots, automation, knowledge base, and canned snippets.

HubSpot Service Hub Pricing

Source

• Starter: For $50/month, you’ll get more features within the free tools plus bots, calling features, shared inbox, email templates, basic ticket automation, and other simple features.
• Pro: You have access to the starter tools, help desk automation, knowledge base, customer experience/service analytics, customer portal, and more. Currently, pricing starts from $400 but will soon increase to $500, according to HubSpot. The one-time onboarding fee is $375.
• Enterprise: The ultimate sales plan comes with more access to what’s available on the pro and other advanced features the HubSpot platform offers. Pricing starts at $1,200/month paid yearly with an additional one-time onboarding fee of $3,000.

Not happy with HubSpot? Take a look at our blog post introducing the top HubSpot competitors.

HubSpot CMS Hub

In the CMS hub, you can access content marketing tools for building a website and creating blog posts. This includes a website hosting tool, drag-and-drop editor, security features, SEO recommendations, contact attribution reporting, and payment support. 

HubSpot CMS Hub Pricing

Source

• Starter: Pricing starts at $25 for premium hosting, content delivery network, website security, basic website building tools, live chat, & forms, and reporting.
• Professional: You get everything in the starter plan, default user & team permissions, dynamic personalization, Google Search Console integration, and additional features for $400/monthly.
• Enterprise: Besides the pro tools, you can access advanced features like single sign-on, site performance monitoring, adaptive testing, and web apps. Pricing starts at $1,200/month paid yearly. 

HubSpot Operations Hub

Tools within HubSpot’s latest operations hub help businesses automate their processes and connect data and apps into one place. Tools in this hub include data sync, data quality automation, workflow extensions, custom process automation, and custom report builder.

HubSpot Operations Hub Pricing

Source

• Starter: This plan offers the free CRM plus customer data sync, reporting dashboard, list segmentation, multiple currencies, and email/in-app support for $50/month. 
• Pro: You’ll get everything in the starter plan plus additional features like programmable automation, record customization, standard customer scoring, and webhooks for $800/month.
• Enterprise: Finally, the most expensive plan in this hub gives you access to the pro tools and advanced customization and data management features for $2,000/month paid yearly.

Read also: HubSpot vs MailChimp — A Complete Product Comparison

HubSpot 2024 Pricing Update

Based on the above information, you might already have guessed that HubSpot is quite expensive. 

How would you feel if I told you HubSpot’s new pricing changes indirectly makes the software even more expensive?

Let’s get started. 

In March 2024, HubSpot introduced two new seat-based pricing model for all new users (existing users will be moved to the new structure during renewals). Here’s a quick summary of the model: 

• The two new seats: Core seats and View-Only seats.
• The View-Only seat does not offer any edit access. All plans offer unlimited free View-Only seats. The Core Seat offers users edit access to all the features in their subscriptions.
• The free edit-access seats that HubSpot was offering previously no longer exist – they are now the paid ‘Core Seats’. This means that those who enjoyed having free edit access previously should now purchase at least a Core seat to continue editing (or do away with a View-Only seat).
• The Sales & Service seat offers core seat capabilities as well as extra features for sales and service. 

This table can help you understand the new pricing updates further: 

HubSpot Pricing Decoded (2025): What They Don’t Want You to Know
 

Why Is HubSpot CRM So Expensive for SMBs?

First off, HubSpot’s suite of tools can serve organizations with up to 300 teams. This makes it ideal for larger businesses. That said, it’s no surprise that their pricing plan reflects this targeting, even if you’re on their lowest-paid package.

Source

Besides the plans, add-ons follow the same route and can quickly result in huge bills. Say you’re using the starter package, which costs $50, and you decide to get a little functionality boost. The only API limit increase available for this level costs $500. That’s 10x higher than the initial plan. 

Let that sink in for a second. 

Of course, large companies with higher needs and bigger budgets can afford these astronomical fees and justify their use. But for startups and small businesses with limited resources, using the HubSpot CRM platform requires lots of thought because of the hefty price tags. This results in the big question … 

Read also: HubSpot vs SharpSpring — A Side-by-Side Comparison of Key Features

Is HubSpot Worth The Money For Small Businesses?

To understand if HubSpot is a good choice for your small business, there are three main factors to consider:

Your Business Needs

The value of CRM software depends on how well it meets your business needs. Carefully evaluate your immediate and future needs against the features in HubSpot. Does it fit into your processes? Does it support your overall marketing goals and objectives? Is it scalable? Also, what is HubSpot used for?

It’s important to know that while the HubSpot CRM platform has some cool features, critical tools that you’ll need in the future are likely locked away in more expensive plans that cost at least 1,000% more than their starter plans.

Here’s what a customer says about this:

Source

This was two years ago. Today, the outlook is still the same. 

Read also: 9 CRM Best Practices for Small to Large-scale Businesses

Your CRM Budget

How much do you want to invest in a CRM? Your budget goes beyond the monthly/yearly cost of the software. You need to factor in implementation costs, future upgrades, add-ons, and integrations.

Source

For a clearer view of what HubSpot might cost you, imagine you want to create sequences. To do this, you’ll have to choose the PRO VERSION within the CRM suite.

A simple breakdown: 

• Depending on the discount offered, this plan = $1,600 
• Billed annually, we have= $19,200
• Add a combined one-time HubSpot onboarding fee= $3,750
• You’ll have to cough up $22,950

That’s a huge bill that’s out of reach of many small businesses. As such, you’ll have better chances with other tools that offer these HubSpot CRM features for a fraction of the cost.

For example, on EngageBay, you can create a limited number of email sequences for free!

Technical Support

There’s only so much that free help guides and tutorials can cover. To get quality help for your CRM implementation success, you need specialized training and support that aligns with your processes. 

Most software like EngageBay that targets small businesses offers extra functionality like email & chat support in the free CRM, free onboarding, and more.

But in the HubSpot CRM platform, you won’t have that support in the free tools. Also, getting implementation guidance is tricky as onboarding fees can get up to $6,000 in most plans. 

If, after evaluating these factors, HubSpot isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, below is a powerful alternative worth checking out.

Read also: 9 Challenges of CRM Implementation & How to Dust Them Off

What is a Great HubSpot Alternative for SMBs?

Like HubSpot, EngageBay is an all-in-one CRM platform with tools that can transform your digital marketing, sales, and customer service.

EngageBay Vs HubSpot – Which is Better for CRM?
 

However, what makes it an excellent choice for SMBs is its affordable pricing, powerful features, flexible plan, and exceptional customer service.

Source

Here’s a closer look at what makes EngageBay a prime choice:

Affordable Pricing Plans

EngageBay pricing plans are a match made in heaven for SMBs.

Source: HubSpot vs EngageBay

You can start at $0 on the free plan and get additional features for as low as $12.74/month (biennially) in the all-in-one CRM basic plan.

Source

As your business grows, you can advance to the growth package from $55.24/month for comparative features in the HubSpot Pro plan.

The highest package, which gives you access to all the features you need plus a dedicated account manager, costs $101.99/month only. You’ll scarcely find any HubSpot alternatives that offers such functionality at this friendly pricing. 

EngageBay also offers 10% off on all yearly plans and 20% off on biennial plans. 

Rich Functionality

EngageBay has an impressive arsenal of tools for SMBs. From the free CRM tool, you get lots of features like email marketing to 500 contacts, live chat, email sequences, landing pages, 360-degree contact view, lead grabbers, and autoresponders.

Source

The basic plan comes with additional features like SMS marketing, ticketing management, a social suite, web pop-ups, canned responses, and group management. You’ll also get 1000 contacts, 3000 branded emails, and an SSL for your landing pages.

Source

For the Growth package, you’ll have access to A/B testing, marketing automation, push notifications, proposals, call reports, and more.

Finally, the Pro EngageBay plan not only comes with advanced functionality of what exists but adds role management, conversational inbox, role management, web analytics, etc. 

These are highlights. To know what tools are available for your business, check out EngageBay’s extensive features for free & paid plans. 

Read also: HubSpot vs Keap — Is HubSpot Really a Better Product?

Easy To Use

A common scenario: You buy a CRM, try setting it up, and find out it’s as complex as navigating a spaceship. This leaves you no choice but to waste huge amounts of time setting up simple tasks or spend lots of money on onboarding. 

That’s not the case in EngageBay.

Our software is intuitive and super easy to use whether you’re a seasoned marketer or a beginner. In fact, each feature and bay is designed to help you perform tasks in just a few clicks. 

You Aren’t Locked Into Annual Contracts 

Flexible pricing is the way forward, and we’re here to help. Regardless of which plan you choose, you have access to monthly and yearly plans. There’s no mandatory annual commitment.

You can use EngageBay for as many months as you like and cancel anytime. 

Read more: 8 Fantastic HubSpot Alternatives for Small Businesses (Features, Pricing)

Responsive Customer Support Team

Run into a snag? Our customer support team is always available to offer technical support. It doesn’t matter if you’re not using a paid plan. All EngageBay users can get help from our email or chat support to solve from the simplest issues to complex ones.

If you’re looking for highly specialized assistance beyond these options, you can also get a dedicated account manager in the pro plan.

Are you looking to see what EngageBay offers? You can sign up for a free trial; no credit card is required.

What’s more? If you eventually commit to any package after the trial, we offer free onboarding that saves you thousands of dollars.

Marketing Madness: HubSpot vs EngageBay Face‑Off! 

Learn more about EngageBay:

• Compare EngageBay with HubSpot
• Visit our website
• Request a demo with our experts
• Check pricing

Sign up with EngageBay for free

Wrap Up on HubSpot CRM, Features, and Pricing

We believe this post has given you a high-level overview of what to expect from HubSpot CRM. On HubSpot, you have three options: the free tools, the CRM suite, or any of its various hubs.

The free tools come with many limitations that could affect your ability to scale your business. On the other hand, if you choose any of HubSpot’s paid plans, you have to buckle up because high subscription fees will come hitting on your business.

Plus, there are one-time onboarding fees depending on the chosen plan. All of these can quickly balloon up to $22,950 – $72,000 for the pro and enterprise packages.

For a small business owner with a limited budget, this is a steep price.

The best CRM is one that offers you the features you need at a fair cost. And such a software solution is the EngageBay CRM designed specifically for SMBs that want maximum value at affordable pricing.

Looking to see how EngageBay CRM can help you grow your small business? Sign up for free today.

Related reading: 

• The best CRM Tools for Small Businesses
• The 14 Best CRM Automation Software in 2024
• 15 Best Marketing Automation Tools for Small Businesses
• Is HubSpot Worth It? In-Depth Review for Small Businesses

The post What Is HubSpot? A Complete Guide to HubSpot CRM, Marketing, Sales & Service Tools appeared first on EngageBay - All-in-one marketing, sales, and service.

Despite the hype, some marketers dig deeper with vital questions: “What’s in it for me?”, “Is HubSpot worth it?”, “What is the best HubSpot bundle for me?”, and, “Is HubSpot the best for my business?”

There’s no one correct answer to these questions. However, a good understanding of HubSpot and its many features will help you know whether or not it suits your business.

This is why I’ve done weeks of research to come up with this in-depth review of HubSpot – to help you answer the question:

Is HubSpot worth it?

This guide article will help you understand HubSpot and how much value you can expect for your money. 

Also, I’ve shared four software products that offer similar features at more affordable prices. I’ll explain the pricing structure first, and then compare HubSpot with the four alternatives based on features. 

Is HubSpot Worth the Money in 2025? TL;DR

In 2025, the question “Is HubSpot Worth It” boils down to hard math: is the platform still worth the money and can it create a measurable return on investment (ROI) quickly enough to cover its swelling price tag?

HubSpot’s own study claims users see 129 % more inbound leads and a 109 % higher close rate after 12 months—eye‑catching figures, but only if the costs don’t eat the gains. 

1. New seat‑based pricing pushes breakeven further out

• The 2024 rollout of “View‑Only” vs. “Core” seats turned formerly free editing rights into a paid line item, inflating every active user’s cost in 2025. 

• Mandatory onboarding now starts at $3,000 for Professional and $6,000 for Enterprise—fees due before you send a single campaign. 

2. Real‑world ROI timelines

• Sales Hub users close 36 % more deals after one year, illustrating that HubSpot’s payoff is rarely immediate. 

• An agency benchmark shows teams need weekly content, constant social promotion, paid ads, 26+ hours of HubSpot training, and monthly reviews just to reach positive ROI. 

• Add seat upgrades, ad spend, and staff time, and most SMBs face a 12‑ to 18‑month payback window.

Is HubSpot worth it? Break-even ROI timeline

3. When HubSpot really is worth the money

HubSpot tends to justify its premium when you:

• Run complex, multi‑touch funnels where even a 1 – 2 % conversion lift equals six‑figure revenue

• Employ dedicated marketers who can exploit its deeper automation and reporting layers

• Budget comfortably for every “Core” seat your editors, analysts, and sellers will need

Bottom line for 2025

If you have the scale, skill set, and cash flow to meet those criteria, HubSpot’s compounded lead‑gen gains can outstrip its fees. But for leaner teams, flat‑fee alternatives like EngageBay often return ROI sooner and with far less financial strain.

Let’s dive into the details now!

Overview: What Is HubSpot?

HubSpot is a popular cloud-based marketing automation and customer relationship management (CRM) software that offers many tools for lead acquisition, conversion, and customer retention.

The cloud-based system provides five major solutions – sales, marketing, service, CMS, and operations – to empower small, medium, and large-scale businesses across several industries.

Founded in 2006, HubSpot has built great features that enable businesses to scale faster. A 2022 report from HubSpot reveals that customers, after using HubSpot for at least 12 months, acquire 129% more inbound leads and have a 109% better deal close rate.

HubSpot combines the functionalities (email marketing, content management, lead generation, help desk, etc.) of several applications to help you have an all-in-one system.

According to a user on Capterra, HubSpot beats other CRM platforms in terms of functionality and versatility.

However, several businesses may require a more suitable or tailored platform that meets their needs – the worthiness of HubSpot depends on your business type and operations.

Read also: HubSpot Pricing and Comparison with Affordable Alternatives

Is HubSpot Worth It? An In-depth Review

Summary: HubSpot is a comprehensive marketing automation and CRM software tailored towards larger businesses and corporations, offering a powerful suite of features with a balanced UI.

So, is HubSpot worth it? While it’s a great tool, the complexity, cost, and commitment required for an optimal ROI from HubSpot make it a bad choice for SMBs, startups, and freelancers.

For smaller operations, more affordable alternatives like EngageBay and Sendinblue provide similar functionalities without the financial strain, making them better-suited options for those with limited resources (as you’ll see in this detailed HubSpot CRM review). 

HubSpot ROI: What Real Users Say” 2022 ROI stat (Source)

From creating attractive emails to customizing web pages, closing sales, and tracking customer interactions, HubSpot has a unique feature for every digital marketer.

However, it’s essential to understand what this sophisticated product offers, as many small businesses and startups with simple marketing needs may get overwhelmed by the complexities and advanced functionalities.

And, chances are, they may end up paying extra fees for the additional features they won’t use.

From pricing to features, ease of use, and customer support, check out what you stand to gain from HubSpot when you sign up for a plan.

A. HubSpot Pricing

EngageBay vs HubSpot (2025) – Which CRM Tool Gives You More Value?

HubSpot has a flexible pricing model, and although it offers powerful features, it may not be well-suited for all businesses. The pricing is steep, and the free plans come with several limitations.

If you want access to more advanced features, you have to be willing to pay massive monthly fees, just as this user shared on GetApp.

HubSpot provides a wide range of pricing tiers based on its products – marketing, sales, service, CMS, and operations. The various products, alongside their prices, are outlined thus:

i. Marketing Hub

This pricing covers your marketing activities, such as lead generation, email marketing, automation, inbound marketing campaigns, etc.

HubSpot charges you based on the number of contacts you have and the number of emails you send. The HubSpot Marketing Starter plan costs between $9 – $15/month ($18/month for new customers) for 1,000 contacts, for example.

You must pay additional charges to expand your list size as you exceed your limits. It has a free plan but doesn’t support free trials. The pricing tiers include:

• Free – $0/month
• Starter – $9 – $15/month for 1,000 contacts ($18/month for new customers)
• Professional – $800/month for 2,000 contacts
• Enterprise – 3,600/month for 10,000 contacts

ii. Sales Hub

The Sales Hub supports powerful CRM functionalities that allow sales teams to manage pipelines, enhance the sales cycle, boost team productivity, and deepen customer relationships.

Unlike Marketing Hub, it charges based on the number of paid users. Additional users will attract additional fees. Moreover, it has a free plan but doesn’t support free trials. The pricing plans include:

• Free – $0/month
• Starter – $45/month for 2 paid users ($18/month for new customers)
• Professional – $450/month for 5 paid users
• Enterprise – $1,200/month for 10 paid users

iii. Service Hub

HubSpot Service Hub provides unique features that make your support team proactive, responsive, and readily available to improve customer retention and satisfaction.

It features a 360° customer view to help your support team monitor customer interaction and resolve issues.

It shares similar pricing plans with HubSpot Sales Hub.

iv. Content Management System (CMS) Hub

The CMS Hub provides great functionalities well-built to enhance your website infrastructure.

It supports web page creation and optimization, and with the CRM addition, it further improves your customer experiences.

The CRM Hub has a free plan, but unlike Sales, Service, and Marketing Hubs, it offers a 14-day free trial on the HubSpot Professional and HubSpot Enterprise plans. The pricing tiers include:

• Free – $0/month
• Starter – $23/month ($18/month for new customers)
• Professional – $360/month
• Enterprise – $1,200/month

v. Operations Hub

This Hub simplifies your integrations with third-party applications. It offers excellent features that let you automate and enhance your business processes by extracting, cleaning, and syncing your data between HubSpot and dozens of third-party apps.

Like the CMS Hub, it offers a free plan and a 14-day free trial on Professional and Enterprise plans. The pricing tiers include:

• HubSpot Free Plan – $0/month
• Starter – $45/month ($18/month for new customers)
• Professional – $720/month
• Enterprise – $2,000/month

Enhance Your Email Marketing

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Browse the Template Library

HubSpot Starter CRM Suite

This is an all-in-one plan that covers all of HubSpot’s major products – sales, marketing, service, CMS, and operations.

If you run a small business and cannot afford to pay individually for separate tools, you can buy the Starter CRM Suite for $50/mo ($18/month for new customers).

This gives you access to the starter plan features for all products.

HubSpot onboarding starts at $3,000/month for the Professional plans and $6,000 for the Enterprise plans. 

EngageBay Vs HubSpot – Which is Better for CRM?

HubSpot 2024 pricing update

HubSpot made an important update to its pricing plans in March 2024. Frankly put, this move offers a myriad of benefits for many users. However, affordability is not one of them. 

Here’s a brief explanation. 

HubSpot has introduced two new types of seats for all its subscription tiers and hubs. The new seats are View-Only and Core. 

While the View-Only seats do not offer any edit access, the Core seat offers users edit access to most of its features.

Sounds familiar?

Well, the catch is that edit access that users enjoyed for free is now part of the paid ‘Core’ seat.  

This table can help you understand better: 

This table clearly shows how expensive HubSpot is becoming year on year.

The new pricing update moves an already expensive CRM/marketing automation platform out of reach of most SMBs. 

Perhaps this is the best time to look for a HubSpot alternative

Read also: Is HubSpot CRM Free? An Unbiased Guide (with User Reviews)

Affordable Alternatives to HubSpot (Pricing)

Now, let us look at some marketing & CRM software that are not as pricey as HubSpot.

1. EngageBay

EngageBay is a powerful marketing, sales, and support platform that allows small businesses to attract visitors, track sales, and manage tickets. It has a pricing model similar to HubSpot; however, it is a much more affordable option.

Is HubSpot worth it? 2025 yearly cost vs EngageBay

This makes it a well-suited platform for small companies and startups. Moreover, it provides a free plan on all products – you can use it free forever. The pricing includes:

i. All-in-one

• Free – $0/month for 250 marketing contacts
• Basic – $14.99/month for 500 marketing contacts
• Growth – $64.99/month for 5,000 marketing contacts
• Pro – $119.99/month for unlimited marketing contacts

ii. Marketing Bay

• Free – $0.month for 250 contacts
• Basic – $12.99/month for 500 contacts
• Growth – $49.99/month for 3,000 contacts
• Pro – $79.99/month for 30,000 contacts

iii. CRM and Sales Bay

(Same as Marketing Bay)

iv. Service Bay

Service Bay is free

Too long to read? Watch this video review of HubSpot instead:

Learn more about EngageBay:

• Compare EngageBay with HubSpot
• Visit our website
• Request a demo with our experts
• Check pricing

Sign up with EngageBay for free

2. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is a marketing and sales software designed to help small businesses create better customer experiences.

It is a more affordable alternative to HubSpot, but costlier than EngageBay. It doesn’t have a free plan but offers a 14-day free trial. The pricing includes:

i. Marketing

• Lite – $29/month
• Plus – $49/month
• Professional – $149/month
• Enterprise – Custom quote, contact sales

ii. CRM and Sales

• Plus – $19/month
• Professional – $49/month
• Enterprise – Custom quote, contact sales

Read also: Find Your Perfect CRM Match: HubSpot vs ActiveCampaign

3. Brevo (fka Sendinblue)

Brevo (Sendinblue) is a powerful email service provider with a free CRM and sales feature. It is designed to help small businesses improve their digital marketing campaigns and boost revenue.

Like EngageBay, it is an affordable HubSpot alternative, having a free plan and no free trial.

Unlike other email platforms, Brevo (Sendinblue) charges based on the number of emails you send rather than the number of contacts you have – all plans support unlimited contacts. The pricing includes:

i. Marketing Platform

• Free – $0/month for 300 emails/day
• Starter – $25/month for 20,000 emails
• Business – $65/month for 20,000 emails
• BrevoPlus – Custom quote, contact sales

ii. Sales Platform

• Free — $0/month
• Pro — $12/month

iii. Conversations

• Free – $0/month
• Pro – $15/month

Read also: Sendinblue (Brevo) Pricing — What You Need to Know Before Signing Up

4. Insightly

Insightly is a simple but powerful CRM solution built with unique features tailored to help small businesses close deals, create engaging customer journeys, sync data across third-party applications, and create better customer experiences.

It has a free plan, as well, as a 14-day free trial. The pricing includes:

i. All-in-one

• Plus – $349/month
• Professional – $899/month
• Enterprise – $2,599/month

ii. CRM

• Plus – $29/month
• Professional – $49/month
• Enterprise – $99/month

iii. Marketing

• Plus – $99/month for 2,000 contacts
• Professional – $499/month for 10,000 contacts
• Enterprise – $999/month for 20,000 contacts

iv. Service

• Plus – $29/month
• Professional – $49/month
• Enterprise – $99/month

Read also: HubSpot Pros And Cons — A Candid Assessment

Is HubSpot Worth the Cost for Small Businesses?

It depends – there are no right or wrong answers.

HubSpot is definitely an overkill for businesses that need only email marketing and automation functionalities.

This is because HubSpot offers several advanced features that cut across various marketing channels and operations. So, you’re likely going to pay for advanced products you won’t use.

While HubSpot offers powerful features at an increased price, other tools like EngageBay, Sendinblue (Brevo), and ActiveCampaign can provide similar functionalities at affordable fees.

Conversely, if you’re a fast-growing business and need more than email marketing and CRM features, you can opt-in for the HubSpot all-in-one plan, which covers marketing, sales, service, CMS, and operations.

You can still integrate your CRM system with a more powerful CMS like WordPress and other third-party applications to expand your functionalities.

Here’s a simple infographic to help you weigh the pros and cons and decide if HubSpot is worth it.

B. HubSpot Features

What do you get when you pay for Sales, Marketing, or any other HubSpot product? Knowing the features HubSpot provides will help you understand how to fit each product into your business processes.

HubSpot is an extensive CRM software built with a wide array of powerful functionalities. It supports robust automation features, as well, as advanced content management capabilities. Based on the products it offers, here are a few features:

i. Marketing Hub

The HubSpot Marketing Hub provides great features that let you run successful inbound marketing campaigns at scale across various channels like emails, social media, and blogs.

When used with other products (sales CRM, CMS, etc.), it becomes a powerful tool for handling and automating your business operations. Some of these features include:

• Social media management/social media marketing
• Dynamic content
• Landing pages and forms builder
• Marketing automation
• Email marketing
• Marketing analytics and reporting
• Blog and SEO features

The reports show that after 12 months, Marketing Hub customers see traffic to their website increase by 25% or more. Also, customers on higher plans experience more returns than others on lower plans.

ii. Sales Hub

HubSpot supports a powerful sales CRM product that empowers sales teams to facilitate lead generation, enhance pipeline management, and close deals more effectively. Some features include:

• Email and call tracking
• Sales automation
• Live chat
• Meeting scheduler
• Sales analytics and reporting
• Conversation intelligence

From the HubSpot ROI annual report, the number of closed deals increased by 36% for Sales Hub customers after using the tool for 12 months. The figure multiplies for customers on higher plans (Professional and Enterprise).

iii. Service Hub

The Service Hub aims to build stronger customer relationships and improve customer satisfaction.

Its connection to the HubSpot CRM platform expands its functionalities and empowers support teams to respond to customer requests, onboard new customers, and deliver personalized services.

Some of the features include:

• Customer Portal
• Knowledge base
• Live chat
• Shared inbox
• Omni-channel messaging
• Customer feedback surveys (NPS, CSAT, CES, etc.)
• Help desk and ticketing
• Service Analytics
• Team management
• Automated customer service
• Service level agreement (SLA)

iv. CMS Hub

Marketers who don’t rely on email marketing alone would opt for a powerful content management system (CMS) for creating blogs and high-converting web pages.

HubSpot CMS Hub provides unique features that enable marketers, developers, and IT teams to build responsive and attractive websites. Some of the features include:

• Website Builder
• Pre-built themes and templates
• Web hosting
• Blog maker
• Code alerts
• 24/7 security monitoring
• Custom CDN configuration
• Standard SSL certification
• Dynamic content

According to the reports, CMS Hub customers on Professional and Enterprise plans, after 12 months, see traffic to their websites increase by 211% or more.

v. Operations Hub

Asides from having a CRM system as a marketer, you may also need additional third-party applications for processing payments, handling orders, creating documents, scheduling meetings, etc.

With HubSpot Operations Hub, you can easily gather your customer data from these applications to help your teams stay aligned, giving you a clean database. Some of the features include:

• Data sync
• Data quality automation
• Workflow extension
• Programmable automation
• Data sets
• Custom report builder
• Team management and permissions

Read also: 8 Top HubSpot Competitors That Cost a Lot Less

Other HubSpot Alternatives with Similar Functionalities (Features)

Again, here are other tools that give you the same or more advanced features at a much lower cost.

1. EngageBay

Like HubSpot, EngageBay also supports unique features well-suited for marketing, sales, and service teams.

Although it doesn’t provide a pre-built content management system (CMS), it supports seamless integrations with third-party CMSs like WordPress, Shopify, etc. Based on EngageBay products, the features include:

i. Marketing Bay

• Marketing automation
• Email and SMS marketing
• Inbound Marketing
• Push notifications
• Landing pages and web forms
• Pre-built templates
• Social post scheduling

ii. Sales Bay

• 360° customer view
• Sales CRM
• Project management
• Lead nurturing and scoring
• Contact management
• Appointment scheduling
• Deal pipeline management
• Sales automation

iii. Service Bay

• Live chat
• Macros
• Service level agreement (SLA)
• Tickets
• Service Automation
• Support groups
• Help desk reports
• Automated follow-up sequences

Read also: Pipedrive vs HubSpot vs EngageBay — Which CRM Is Smarter

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2. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign features are more tailored to marketing and sales teams. They help you understand your customer journeys so that you can send more personalized and targeted emails.

ActiveCampaign also supports simple eCommerce features that allow you to make seamless integrations with top eCommerce platforms and sell your digital products.

Based on the products, ActiveCampaign features include:

i. Marketing

• Email and SMS marketing
• Site tracking
• Landing pages and forms
• Marketing automation
• Pre-built email templates
• Dynamic content

ii. CRM and Sales

• Lead nurturing and scoring
• Contact management
• Sales automation
• Lead generation
• Sales engagement
• Sales pipeline
• Attribution

iii. eCommerce

• eCommerce automation recipes
• Product Catalog
• Abandoned cart reminders
• Cross-sell emails
• Transactional emails
• Transactional emails
• Integrations with WooCommerce, Shopify, BigCommerce, Stripe

Read also: HubSpot vs ActiveCampaign — Find Your Perfect CRM Match

3. Brevo (fka Sendinblue)

Brevo (Sendinblue) supports advanced automation features for several digital marketing channels like emails, texts, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc.

It also has basic sales CRM and chat functionalities that let you manage your contacts and interact with your customers. Based on the products, Sendinblue offers the following features:

i. Marketing Platform

• SMS, email, and WhatsApp marketing
• Push notifications
• Marketing automation
• Facebook Ads
• Landing pages and sign-up forms
• Pre-designed email templates
• Send time optimization

ii. Sales and CRM

• Deal tracking
• Pipeline management
• 360° customer view
• Team collaboration
• Meeting scheduler
• Contact management

iii. Chat

• AI chatbot
• Personalization
• Live chat
• Multi-channel conversation

Read also: 5 of the Best Brevo Alternatives (Pricing, Advantages)

4. Insightly

Insightly provides simple but powerful sales, marketing, and service team features. It also supports an additional unique feature, AppConnect, that helps you connect with other third-party applications.

Based on the products, Insightly offers the following features:

i. Marketing

• Segmentation and personalization
• Pre-defined emails templates
• Landing pages and forms
• Email marketing automation
• Journey builder
• Marketing insights and analytics
• A/B testing

ii. Sales CRM

• Lead management
• Workflow automation
• Sales pipeline management
• Lead routing
• Task and deal management
• Custom fields and objects
• Customizable reports and real-time insight cards

iii. Service

• Comprehensive ticket editor
• SLA tracking and management
• Knowledge base
• Macros
• Team collaboration

Read also: HubSpot vs Insightly — Pricing, Functionality, Features & More

C. HubSpot Customer Support

HubSpot has a 24/7 customer support team that handles issues, offers valuable resources, and helps you navigate the platform.

Your access to support is based on your subscription package. Regardless of the product you purchase, HubSpot offers the following types of support:

• HubSpot community
• HubSpot Academy
• Knowledge base
• Live chat
• Email support (starter plan)
• Phone support (professional and enterprise plans)

Since most users on lower plans – Free and Starter – may not have access to phone support, HubSpot provides a wide array of helpful resources to guide both new and experienced marketers and help them resolve technical issues.

Through HubSpot certified courses, webinars, blogs, and eBooks, HubSpot helps users understand how the platform works and how to use the features to improve their marketing processes.

According to G2 reviews, HubSpot is rated 8.6 out of 10 for support quality. Moreover, some users on Capterra applaud HubSpot’s support team for their responsiveness and excellence.

A few users, however, may have had poor experiences with their support team.

D. Ease of Use

No matter how sophisticated a tool is, it is only as valuable as its simplicity or ease of use.

HubSpot is an extensive system with several digital marketing tools, so it can be a bit complex for a new marketer to navigate through – but this is not always the case.

Despite its complexities, HubSpot provides helpful resources, guides, and (of course) a responsive customer support team to help both new and experienced marketers understand how to use the system.

On Software Advice, HubSpot is rated 4.4 out of 5 for ease of use.

Read also: Mailgun vs Sendgrid and Other Email Tools

HubSpot vs EngageBay vs ActiveCampaign

Read also: ActiveCampaign vs HubSpot vs EngageBay – Which CRM Is Best?

HubSpot vs Brevo (Sendinblue) vs Insightly

Read also: Insightly vs HubSpot vs EngageBay — Find Out Which CRM Is Best For You

Create and launch successful email campaigns with EngageBay’s all-in-one solution and stunning, free email templates. Don’t miss out — get started today!

Bottom Line: Do You Really Need HubSpot?

If you want a powerful marketing automation tool, think Mailchimp or Constant Contact.

For an extensive content management system, think WordPress.

For a help desk solution, think ZenDesk.

If you need an exclusive tool for sales, think Pipedrive.

But, if you want to combine the power of these tools, it may be difficult to sync your data into one database. Moreover, paying for these tools individually will take a massive chunk of your marketing budget.

This is why HubSpot remains the go-to source for many marketers, as you can manage several business processes from one dashboard without jumping from one platform to another.

Moreover, your data is clean and can be extracted easily for proper analysis and tracking. And the pricing is relatively fair for its advanced features, as opposed to using these separate tools.

Despite its versatility, it’s still not the perfect fit for many small businesses, because the pricing can get steep as you scale.

The Free or Starter plan may be budget-friendly, but the limitations can force you to upgrade to a higher plan.

And, if you’re not ready for the big shift, you will have to either migrate to a more affordable platform or upgrade and hope for a positive ROI.

According to an agency report, this is the minimum commitment needed to use HubSpot with a positive ROI:

1. Regular content creation: Produce at least one piece per week (500-1,000 words).
2. Weekly social media activity: Share new content and company updates.
3. Paid ads on social media channels.
4. Complete and maintain Inbound Marketing course (6 hours).
5. Complete and maintain HubSpot Marketing Software course (20 hours).
6. Maintain a company blog or initiate a new one.
7. Develop basic SEO knowledge for content optimization.
8. Monthly performance reviews: Evaluate traffic, quality of contacts, and content engagement.

If you or your team can’t commit to these minimum requirements, choosing HubSpot is a massive waste of money and resources. 

Alternatively, you can save yourself the stress and choose a more affordable solution like EngageBay, ActiveCampaign, or Brevo (formerly Sendinblue).

Read also: 14 Surprisingly Awesome HubSpot Alternatives

EngageBay: The Best Alternative to HubSpot

EngageBay is the ideal alternative to HubSpot, as you get all products – sales, marketing, and support – at a price that small companies, solopreneurs, and small business owners can easily afford.

It also offers seamless integrations with third-party apps to extend your marketing functionalities. Starting at $14.99/month, you can access a wide array of marketing functionalities.

Exciting HubSpot Alternatives to Watch in 2025

If you’re unsure about the best plan, sign up for free or book a demo to learn how the platform works.

Related reading: 

• The best CRM Tools for Small Businesses
• The 14 Best CRM Automation Software in 2024
• 15 Best Marketing Automation Tools for Small Businesses
• Is HubSpot Worth It? In-Depth Review for Small Businesses

The post Is HubSpot Worth It in 2025? Unbiased Cost-Benefit Breakdown for Small Businesses appeared first on EngageBay - All-in-one marketing, sales, and service.

Well, whether you are a small business owner, founder of an early-stage startup, or manager of a sales and marketing team, you surely feel the pulse of every single dollar you spend on tools that power your business operations.

You likely pay for customer service tools, project management tools, team collaboration tools, and productivity tools, and before you know it, expenses pile up. At this point, adding a costly CRM tool to the mix doesn’t cut it. But if the tool is free, it makes your life a thousand times easier, right?

This is exactly why you want to know if the HubSpot CRM software is truly free. In this guide, you’ll get our unbiased opinion about the HubSpot free forever plan which is rooted in cold hard facts.

We’ll share unfiltered feedback about the HubSpot free CRM — both good and poor — from people who have used the HubSpot CRM free version and review why these HubSpot users hit a roadblock.

Note: This a detailed guide — it’ll take some time to read through it. If you want a quick overview instead, watch Megan Grant’s video decoding HubSpot’s free plan.

Let’s get into it.

What You Get with HubSpot’s Free CRM Plan

HubSpot’s Free CRM includes essentials across marketing, sales, and service hubs. Here’s a quick breakdown as a ready reckoner:

Core CRM Features (Free Plan)

• Shared inbox for managing customer messages

• Live chat (HubSpot-branded)

• Reporting dashboard: 3 dashboards, each with 10 reports

• Facebook Messenger integration with quick replies

• Email reply tracking (basic; detailed insights need upgrades)

• Email health reporting (basic deliverability stats)

• Custom properties, user management, mobile app access

• Basic bots and marketing events tracking

• Team email and custom permissions

Sales Hub Features

• Custom quotes (no eSignature or Stripe support)

• Email tracking and notifications (200/month limit)

• 5 canned snippets and 5 email templates

• 5 sales documents (HubSpot-branded)

• Deal pipeline (1 per account)

• Meeting scheduling with 1 personalized link

• Email scheduling and Slack integration

Marketing Hub Features

• 10,000 form submissions

• Email marketing: 2,000 emails/month (HubSpot branding)

• Ad management for 2 accounts and basic audience creation

• Landing pages: 20 simple pages on HubSpot domains

• List segmentation: 5 active and 1,000 static lists (max 3 filters per list)

• 1 follow-up email per form

• Ad retargeting limit of $1,000 in spend

For further details, read on ahead!

The Story Behind HubSpot’s Free CRM Plan

HubSpot is unarguably one of the most popular CRM today. While their steady rise to CRM dominance was fueled by content, they were once little fishes in a sea of shark-like competitors. 

In 2005, the customer relationship management market was booming. Major players were SAP, Siebel, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Salesforce, and Amdocs. Together, these CRM heavyweights had a large share in the $5.7 billion CRM market at the time. 

And where was HubSpot? Not in the picture. Why? They ran their business like everyone else by asking prospects to only schedule a demo.

Because the “schedule a demo” lead generation approach wasn’t very effective, HubSpot decided to spice things up in 2009 by asking prospects to try HubSpot free for 7 days. 

Did this work? Not quite. 

So what did HubSpot do? They increased access to their free plan for 30 days.

This strategy worked like magic because according to the SEC, HubSpot’s total revenue increased from $28.6 million in 2011 to $51.6 million in 2012 and $77.6 million in 2013.

These were huge growth figures for HubSpot, thanks to their ideal customers which were largely not small businesses, early-stage startups, but B2B businesses with a ton of deep pockets.

How do we know? Well, one of HubSpot’s early free trial sign-up pages says it all.

According to HubSpot, one element that qualifies you for a HubSpot trial at the time is this:

You sell a product or service to businesses (your business is B2B).

The copy on the sign-up page implies that if you’re not in B2B and you don’t have adequate resources, you don’t qualify for the free trial. Plus, it clearly shows who is best suited for the HubSpot CRM. HubSpot made this clear because they want to define who they help (majorly B2B businesses).

Also, it doesn’t take rocket science to figure out that the goal of this trial is to convert the free HubSpot user to a paid customer. For sure, upselling isn’t wrong. We do it too. It’s just that you don’t want a free CRM that becomes too expensive when your business gains steam and you need to upgrade to access more functionalities.

This is what some HubSpot users face today and HubSpot’s free forever plan doesn’t also help. 

Take it from Leandro N., the owner of an e-learning company that used HubSpot for 2 long years.

In Leandro’s unfiltered feedback, he says:

“HubSpot is a potentially excellent business suite that is hobbled by its numerous paywalls. Overall, HubSpot has a great starter plan that resembles the software mechanics of “free-to-play” games. The user interface, integrations, email marketing, and contact tracking are all top-notch. As long as your contact list is small, your email marketing frequency is sparse, and you don’t need automations, you are good to go. However, as your business grows, your contact list will swell up, your email marketing frequency will increase, and the sheer scale will make automations a must.

So what is the problem?

Let me give you a quick rundown of the costs involved, using 2,000 contacts as a baseline:

1. You can start with HubSpot’s Free CRM (0$ per month)
2. Once you need a few features, then you upgrade to the Growth Starter suite, which is $67 per month, or $804 per year.
3. Once you need automations, you must upgrade to the professional growth suite, which is currently at $1,253 a month, with a 12-month commitment, and a $3,500 onboarding fee, which means your yearly costs balloon to $18,536.”

You see that cost right there … $18,536. 

That’s a boatload of money that’ll make a sizable number of SMBs and early-stage founders absolutely agree with Leandro’s final take on his HubSpot CRM experience. 

“I do not think there is any startup or early business that can afford to increase its marketing and CRM suite costs by 2,300%. Most businesses must make the painful decision to abandon HubSpot and find new CRM suites with much more reasonable cost escalations.”

HubSpot’s Free Plan vs Starter Plan

Summary of Key Differences between HubSpot’s Free Plan vs Starter Plan

• Free Plan gives you essential CRM tools: contact management, live chat, basic reporting, forms, and branded marketing assets—but no automation or custom reports.

• Starter Plan (~$50/month) expands limits (contacts, dashboards, email sends), introduces light automation, removes HubSpot branding, unlocks fuller integration access, and adds email/chat/phone support.

HubSpot Free CRM vs Starter Plan feature & limit comparison table

Read also: HubSpot vs MailChimp — A Complete Product Comparison

HubSpot CRM Free Features

Now that you know how HubSpot’s free CRM plan evolved over the years, let’s explore what to expect from their free forever plan. While HubSpot lists some of what you get in this plan, some info that’ll help you make an informed decision are absent. 

Not to worry, we’ve done the legwork and outlined the features and limitations of the free plan. Specifically, we’ll be exploring the free CRM plan for HubSpot’s most popular products — that is, HubSpot Marketing and HubSpot Sales Hub. Afterward, we’ll look into some of the HubSpot free CRM limitations in detail.

Here’s what to expect from these hubs:

Free HubSpot CRM Features in Both Marketing and Sales Hubs

Other free CRM features common to both hubs are: 

• Custom properties
• Team email
• Basic bots
• HubSpot mobile app
• Marketing events object
• User management
• Custom user permissions

Read also: An In-Depth Look At HubSpot vs Pipedrive

Free HubSpot CRM features in Sales Hub

Other free CRM features in the HubSpot sales hub are email scheduling and Slack integration.

Read also: HubSpot vs SharpSpring — A Side-by-Side Comparison of Key Features

Free HubSpot CRM features in Marketing Hub

Read also: Top HubSpot Competitors That Cost a Lot Less

Key Limitations of HubSpot Free CRM

No doubt, HubSpot’s free CRM features are great for a new business without lots of clients or leads they need to follow up on. But once that business experiences the slightest growth, the shortcomings of these free CRM features become clear as day.

Infographic showing 5 major limitations of HubSpot free CRM

Let’s dig into some of the HubSpot free CRM limitations to see how they can impact your business. 

1. Large contact lists is a heavy smoke screen

One major benefit of the free HubSpot CRM is your ability to create 1,000,000 detailed contacts that store information about an individual. This sounds good on paper. But the blunt truth is that HubSpot is prepping you to spend a ton of money in the future.

Here’s what we mean. 

Undoubtedly, you’ll expect or want your business to grow after a while. When that happens, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan in HubSpot Marketing Hub. Once you do, the 1,000,000 free contacts clause no longer exists.

This means you’ll start paying for every contact in your database except the first 2,000 and 10,000 in HubSpot’s Professional and Enterprise plans. 

To give you some context, HubSpot users can have a maximum of 87,000 marketing contacts in the Professional plan of the HubSpot Marketing Hub. Having these contacts will cost you $47,892/yr. 

While the Enterprise plan can handle 1,000,000 contacts, brands on this plan will have to cough out a whopping $119,400/yr.

These high costs may or may not be an issue for enterprise users but what’s definitely a problem is getting charged for numerous contacts that you neither interact with nor send emails.

This was the case for Darragh Geoghegan after one year of using HubSpot. 

Here are Darragh’s own words:

“So our Marketing contact list is at 24,000 names (maybe 15,000 engaged contacts opening mails and interacting) – we look to cull the active list a bit to make sure we are not paying for leads on the marketing automation side that are not valuable (if just using Marketing Automation these would not be charged) and HubSpot now imposes a cost on every contact held within the CRM (even if we are not sending them emails or interacting with them at all). 

So to even hold a record in our CRM we now have to pay handsomely.

So HubSpot as a standalone CRM – may be free… but when you look at utilizing their paid services they may look to hit you with a double whammy…. beware.”

Darragh isn’t the only one sharing these sentiments about HubSpot marketing contacts. According to Sassberto, who’s a top Reddit user:

“… HubSpot gets really expensive if you’re successful because you pay based on the size of the database of contacts!”

If you go through the complaints about HubSpot, this is the most common thread you’ll find:

2. HubSpot free CRM users lack quality customer support

Non-existent access to email, in-app chat, or phone support is another tough challenge for HubSpot users. While some users think HubSpot offers quality customer service, a lot more believe that their customer service could improve.

For instance, according to Leandro N., who we earlier quoted: 

“HubSpot customer support was top-notch. The few times I had some issues, I had access to a huge library of FAQs sites, and the chat support was quick as well. They do tend to try to upsell you some features while they help you, but it is not too naggy.”

Sure, this is okay. However, it’s important to reiterate that HubSpot free CRM users do not have access to email, in-app chat, or phone support.

The best you get as a free CRM user is access to:

• HubSpot Academy
• HubSpot Community
• HubSpot Knowledge Base
• HubSpot library of inbound marketing resources

Even with these resources, some paid HubSpot users run into challenges because they say HubSpot platform is difficult to understand. This makes them incessantly contact the HubSpot support with questions. The response they receive? Unsatisfactory. 

“The platform itself is hard to understand. I find myself calling customer support at least once a week, often more. Additionally, when I do call, most don’t know the answer to my question and have to do additional research. If your customer support team doesn’t know the answer, how will the customer know?”

3. Email templates and snippets are super-quick to exhaust

Email templates help to shorten the time you spend on writing and scheduling emails for prospects and customers. You may want to have templates for:

• Nurturing leads
• Welcoming new prospects
• Pitching your product and services
• Sending numerous follow-ups

And so on. 

See how easy it is to create at least 5 email templates?

Well, once you’ve used up 5 email templates, you have to opt for a paid HubSpot plan to create more email templates.

But that’s not all. 

According to Alexia R., the Marketing Coordinator of a small engineering company:

“Some functionalities, especially with the email templates, do not always work. Also, you cannot put email tasks to company accounts, only contacts.”

Similar to email templates, snippets are prewritten replies to common questions your audience asks via live chat or email. 

Free users of HubSpot CRM only have access to five snippets. I mean, your audience probably has tons of questions and 5 snippets will barely scratch the surface.

Read also: CRM Showdown — Zoho vs HubSpot CRM Review and Comparison

4. Limited documents max out fast

Documents are files you can email to your prospects. These files take center stage when you’re running a digital marketing campaign and being limited to just five could hamper the success of your salespeople. 

Having lots of documents that outline regular questions your prospects ask is crucial. You want a document that shows:

• The cost of your product 
• The best product option you can suggest for your prospect 
• How your best product option compares to others
• Social proof specific to your different products

And more.

Done right, these documents will help your salespeople:

• Save time
• Respond to prospects quickly
• Fill your sales pipeline with more leads
• Focus on closing leads

Interested in HubSpot competitors? Read our blog post for a deep dive into some of the best alternatives to HubSpot.

5. Custom reporting is basic

Sales reporting is the lifeblood of small businesses and early-stage startups. They help you assess the effectiveness of your sales process and your sales team performance, give direction on sales strategies to adopt, and above all, reduce or maintain the length of your sales cycle.

Without adequate sales reports, you can’t execute any of the above. 

This is exactly what Kevin M.O faced as the Director of Marketing in a food and beverages company in almost two years of using HubSpot.

In Kevin’s words: 

“Reporting capabilities are very limited (easy to get data in, difficult to summarize well to drive process adherence) – Company to customer relationship hierarchy lacks the ability to support more complex business models and B2B companies.”

Shan A., the sales and marketing manager of a big pharmaceutical company, also holds a similar opinion.

According to Shan:

“… HubSpot is expensive to use for ALL small and medium-size businesses. And also, the reporting is quite basic.”

The list of similar stories goes on and on with a small business administrator in the banking industry saying this:

“I’m not able to get detailed reporting with upgrading the product. Product is expensive.”

If paid users think the custom reports aren’t comprehensive, that means what you get from the free CRM leaves much to be desired. 

6. HubSpot’s new 2024 pricing update constricts the free plan even more

If you thought HubSpot’s free plan did not feel right for you, wait till you hear about the new update. 

On March 5th, 2024, HubSpot rolled out its updated pricing model for new customers. We won’t go into details, but here’s a brief explanation to help you understand. 

• HubSpot has introduced two new types of seats, Core and View Only. 
• The Core Seat offers users edit access to all the features in their subscriptions. This is useful for managers and other team members who need to edit or approve changes.
• The View-Only seat does not offer any edit access. All plans offer unlimited View-Only seats.
• The free edit-access seats that HubSpot was offering previously no longer exist – they are now the paid ‘Core Seats’. This means that those who enjoyed having free edit access previously should now purchase at least a Core seat to continue editing (or do away with a View-Only seat).

Didn’t get it? This table might help you understand better: 

Contact Limit: Capped at 1,000 marketing contacts. You can store more, but can’t email or segment beyond this limit without upgrading. Branding: All customer-facing assets (emails, forms, chat, landing pages) carry mandatory HubSpot branding. Automation: No access to marketing workflows or sales sequences—automated follow-ups require at least a Starter plan. Support: Limited to self-service via HubSpot’s knowledge base and community forums. No live chat or email support. Reporting: Only 3 dashboards with up to 10 reports each. No custom reports or advanced analytics features.

Is HubSpot Really Free? Uncovering the Hidden Costs”

Read also: HubSpot Pricing and Comparison with Other Alternatives

Should SMBs and Early-Stage Startups Use HubSpot Free CRM?

Simple answer: Yes and no. 

We’ll tell you why. 

Some businesses tend to go all-in with sales by applying both inbound and outbound marketing strategies, and whatnot. Others drive business revenue by showing up quickly for their prospects on live chat. 

These businesses have varied needs, and therefore, HubSpot’s free CRM platform may or may not be suitable for them. 

Read also: 9 Amazing Marketing Automation CRM Software [Comparison Table]

Who is HubSpot Free CRM Platform Best for?

Let’s explore who the free CRM is suitable for and who is better off with a HubSpot CRM alternative.

1. Small businesses with minimal customer interaction

If you minimally use marketing tools to communicate with customers, HubSpot’s free CRM plan may be a fit. Keep in mind that you cannot track and get more than 200 email notifications every month.